Uniqueness of India

India is a unique country. Notwithstanding its numerous problems there are plenty of advantages of living in India.

1. It is a land of plentiful sunshine. Sunshine which is our primary source of energy is abundant here and most of us wake up to a cheerfully shining sun outside our windows. Imagine the days when the bleak and gloomy weather outside makes us feel depressed as well.
2.  It has the most beautiful and magnificient beaches and hill stations. Being a peninsula itis surrounded on three sides by oceans and seas, the Indian ocean, the Bay of Bengal Andthe arabian sea cover the coastline of India. Due to this unique geography India has some of the most amazing beaches in the world and the advantage that one can bathe almost the whole year round. Puri beach has the most magnificient waves which are so huge sometimes to be almost like mini tsunami. The coastline covers a range of 7500km which is more than the distance from Kolkata to London.

3. India is straddled by the Himalayan mountain ranges, the longest, highest, most pictureesque mountain ranges in the world to the north. They act as a natural barrier to the cold winds flowing in from Siberia and Afghanistan. The highest peaks like Everest and Kanchanjunga are found here.  The mountains cover a stretch of around 2000 km. The mountains are the birthplace of the most sacred rivers of India - Ganga, Yamuna , and Brahmaputra. Some of the most beautiful places in the world nestle in the hills and mountains like Kashmir, Shimla, Shillong, Darjeeling and Kulu.

4. Apart from seas and mountains there are some beautiful islands to visit here like Andaman and Lakshwadeep. There is also Thar desert in Rajasthan and The Sunderbans in Bengal both very distinct and unique features.

5. The people of India are also unique and varied. From the almost foreign fairness of people from Kashmir, there are dark skinned people of South India. Home to twenty different languages and 200 dialects, study of the culture and customs of India can turn up to be an anthropologist’s dream.

6. This is a place where you will never get bored as there are too many things to do and see than can be covered in a single lifetime.

Problems faced in India

Some common  problems in India

1. Population
2. Unemployment
3. Energy scarcity in many regions
4. Garbage & its disposal
5. Competition for jobs and its accompanying stress which burden school children and adults alike.
6.  Children have to carry bags filled with schoolbooks weighing as much as 5kg to school everyday which adds to their work load.
7.  Very bad state of public transport in states like Maharastra
8.  The stress and pace of everyday life leaves no time to enjoy life.
9. Rote learning based education system which makes going to school a bore
10.  Unfulfilling jobs which makes going to office a bore
11. Insipid and uninspiring serials on TV which make watching TV a bore
12. Very few good authors with the same ole stories which makes reading books a bore

The views expressed here are personal and in no way try to demean anyone.

The Class Divide

On reading the book Half Girlfriend by Chetan Bhagat where he has described the class divide between those who speak english well and those who don’t I kept thinking about the psychology of the uneducated, illiterate masses in India. There is a story worth writing about in exploring the psyche of the unprivileged. Why should they keep the country clean, not spit on the roads, swear and shout , rob and murder , if they have not even had the chance to survive, eat two meals, be literate, at least preserve the rudiments of humanity. We as a society look down upon those less privileged than us, pity them at the most or tolerate them. 

One line answers

The news in yesterday’s newspapers was that PM had decided to cut down the number of policemen required to secure his travel route when a forthright police constable told him that policemen were kept so busy on bandobust duty of vips that they had no time for other activities referring to pm’s swach bharat campaign of keeping the thana clean. This short, honest and succinct answer made me think about one line answers as compared to long winded verbose and lengthy replies which are inherently diplomatic and tends towards dishonesty. A long and lengthy explanation would have been polite, for example if the constable had replied that inspite of their trying to keep the premises clean the people who came to the station had habit of spitting, dropped empty packets and polythenes which dirtied the surroundings that too would be correct but only half the truth. One line answers are seldom appreciated by the person asking the question. This is because they are either yes or no replies. If reply is positive which is most often not the case as then the queztion itself would be too easy or facile. If the reply is negative which is most often the case, it leaves little room for manoeuvre to the replier or the questioner. If the answer is fuzzy , it gives the replier a chance to modify, amend or firm up his reply when he gets his next question, depending on the tenor of the next question and the attitude of the person asking it. Generally a person who gives one line replies can fall in three categories only
1. When a superior is replying to a subordinate’s question, or a stranger asking questions of another will not think it necessary to qualify his answers.
2. A person who replies in monosyllables is considered to be dim witted, dull, apathetic or suicidal
3. A person who is honest and egoistic enough to believe that he need not qualify his answer as it is the truth.
So it is very obvious that most of us give long replies when asked troublesome or tricky questions as it has the advantage of politeness, tact,and partial correctness.

I wonder what consequences the police constable will now be facing from his superiors over his hasty reply.

My theory about unique ideas & their popularity

My theory of unique ideas and their universal popularity is as follows
1) The idea, concept or product should have intrinsic value, ie it should have  true goodness to be valuable. For exp a book such as Pride and Prejudice is so great that even 400 years later people of the 21st century are still reading it.

2) Truly great ideas are extremely simple. But the simplicity is so obvious that people who are generally used to complexity and grandiose rhetoric as a means to elicit awe cannot appreciate the truly simple. We all have a childlike nature innate within us which is curious, inquisitive, empathetic and simple. As the child is subjected to outside influences and experiences it learns to cover its intrinsically honest and simple outlook with guile and subterferge to fit into a complex world.

3) A great idea would require little or no advertisement. If the product or idea is great word of mouth should be enough to make it popular.

4) Radically new , unique ideas are few and far between. Generally looking at the large pool of human resources and increasing knowledge and literacy levels it would seem that the number of radical new ideas would be plentiful. But it seems that the 19th and 20th centuries had the best share in generation of new ideas as well as the greatest scientific brains and technology development. The age of industrial revolution, the age of Newton, Einstein , Darwin and the age of quantum mechanics was a slice of time when the generation of new and unique ideas was phenomenal. After this golden era there is quite a hiatus in the generation of new and radical ideas among scientists. In today’s world there is hardly any scientist , or author or even a revolutionary new idea which is worth writing about.











ss

Chess Game

The origin of the game of chess must be very interesting. It must have been a very astute mind which thought up this game and its intricate rules. We can infer that chess might have come from the numerous wars that were fought at the time by warring sides. So in chess the two sides black and white with their king, queen, horse, elephant,knights and soldiers. To make the battle equal both sides have the same number of pieces and similar rules for each piece. The outcome of the game then depends on the skill of the player, all othsr things being the same. It is a great tactical game, a game where you can learn some of the starting rules of office politics
1. The king is of prime importance. If the king is sacrificed the game is lost. The king can be symbolic of one’s most imp project or boss in the office. To protect the king till the end is the prime objective.
2. Pawns are the foot soldiers, the most in number, also the ones with the least power, who are the ones whose heads must roll most often. A pawn who survives the heat of battle can get transformed into the queen if it reaches the last line of squares in the chessboard. As an example from history we have the slave king Illtutmish who came originally from a slavedynasty but became king due to his fighting abilities.
3. The knight is the only piece which can jump over another piece. This makes it a most useful piece in the initial phase where the chessboard is crowded.
4. In terms of movement the queen is the most powerful piece. It can move diagonally or straightways . Losing the queen is as good as losing the game.

The game of politics in the office is similar to chess moves in many ways.
The king or boss is always right &to be protected under all circumstances. Not pleasing the boss means kissing promotions and projects goodbye. Some aspects differ in from the conventional game
 In chess the home team and the opponent are clearly defined. Not so in office politics where people change colours all the time. The boss too has to think about who to pull up and whom to pull down, otherwise the person he promotes may take away his job one day.

Oh Calcutta!

Summer in Calcutta is unbearable! It is impossibly hot, humid & sultry. We came to Calcutta on 29th April. Although the sun’s intensity is same as it is in Pune, the humidity makes the weather worse. It is hot, sticky and sometimes the air is still and unmoving, so not a particle of sweat can evaporate, leading to a close, airless feeling. In such an atmosphere, I could really bless the inventors of air conditioning and pity the fate of hapless people who had to face the harsh heat of the afternoon sun.
       The heat changes the character of people too, making them irritable and angry, flaring up at the least of provocations. Yesterday was impossibly hot- in the afternoon when I entered the kitchen it felt like an oven.
       Today morning the weather has changed. A cool fresh breeze is blowing which is not only refreshing but magical. I was wondering how the hot air of the previous day could so suddenly give way to this sort of cool refreshing breeze. Within a few short hours the hot stale air was swept away by the force of the cool new wind giving respite to oppressed men ,animals and plants. The winds of change. The winds of revolution and new beginnings. How sweet it feels. Hope this fresh new weather of Calcutta lasts for a long while, not merely till morning gives way to afternoon.

Makeover of showcase

I thought my showcase looked really awful and disorganised. So I did a little rearrangement & here are the before and after pics! A great change.

The showcase before the rearrangement

The showcase after the rearrangement. Looks neater now.

This is my kitchen, which really needs a makeover

This is my Drawing Room, which looks nice, with the croton growing well.                                              

India Demographics

The demographics  of India is briefly given below

Population	1,220,800,359 (July 2013 est.)
Age structure	0-14 years: 28.9% (male 187,236,677/female 165,219,615) 15-24 years: 18.2% (male 117,385,009/female 104,516,448) 25-54 years: 40.4% (male 253,642,261/female 239,219,931) 55-64 years: 6.9% (male 42,307,170/female 41,785,413) 65 years and over: 5.7% (male 32,992,850/female 36,494,985) (2013 est.)
Dependency ratios	total dependency ratio: 52.4 % youth dependency ratio: 44.3 % elderly dependency ratio: 8 % potential support ratio: 12.4 (2013)
Median age	total: 26.7 years male: 26.1 years female: 27.4 years (2013 est.)
Population growth rate	1.28% (2013 est.)
Birth rate	20.24 births/1,000 population (2013 est.)
Death rate	7.39 deaths/1,000 population (2013 est.)
Net migration rate	-0.05 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2013 est.)
Urbanization	urban population: 31.3% of total population (2011) rate of urbanization: 2.47% annual rate of change (2010-15 est.)
Major cities - population	NEW DELHI (capital) 21.72 million; Mumbai 19.695 million; Kolkata 15.294 million; Chennai 7.416 million; Bangalore 7.079 million (2009)
Sex ratio	at birth: 1.12 male(s)/female 0-14 years: 1.13 male(s)/female 15-24 years: 1.12 male(s)/female 25-54 years: 1.06 male(s)/female 55-64 years: 1.01 male(s)/female 65 years and over: 0.91 male(s)/female total population: 1.08 male(s)/female (2013 est.)
Mother's mean age at first birth	19.9 (2006 est.)
Infant mortality rate	total: 44.6 deaths/1,000 live births male: 43.28 deaths/1,000 live births female: 46.08 deaths/1,000 live births (2013 est.)
Life expectancy at birth	total population: 67.48 years male: 66.38 years female: 68.7 years (2013 est.)
Total fertility rate	2.55 children born/woman (2013 est.)
Contraceptive prevalence rate	54.8% (2007/08)
HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate	0.3% (2009 est.)
HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/AIDS	2.4 million (2009 est.)
HIV/AIDS - deaths	170,000 (2009 est.)
Drinking water source	improved:  urban: 97% of population rural: 90% of population total: 92% of population unimproved: urban: 3% of population rural: 10% of population total: 8% of population (2010 est.)
Sanitation facility access	improved:  urban: 58% of population rural: 23% of population total: 34% of population unimproved: urban: 42% of population rural: 77% of population total: 66% of population (2010 est.)
Major infectious diseases	degree of risk: very high food or waterborne diseases: bacterial diarrhea, hepatitis A and E, and typhoid fever vectorborne diseases: dengue fever, Japanese encephalitis, and malaria water contact disease: leptospirosis animal contact disease: rabies note: highly pathogenic H5N1 avian influenza has been identified in this country; it poses a negligible risk with extremely rare cases possible among US citizens who have close contact with birds (2013)
Nationality	noun: Indian(s) adjective: Indian
Ethnic groups	Indo-Aryan 72%, Dravidian 25%, Mongoloid and other 3% (2000)
Religions	Hindu 80.5%, Muslim 13.4%, Christian 2.3%, Sikh 1.9%, other 1.8%, unspecified 0.1% (2001 census)
Languages	Hindi 41%, Bengali 8.1%, Telugu 7.2%, Marathi 7%, Tamil 5.9%, Urdu 5%, Gujarati 4.5%, Kannada 3.7%, Malayalam 3.2%, Oriya 3.2%, Punjabi 2.8%, Assamese 1.3%, Maithili 1.2%, other 5.9% note: English enjoys the status of subsidiary official language but is the most important language for national, political, and commercial communication; Hindi is the most widely spoken language and primary tongue of 41% of the people; there are 14 other official languages: Bengali, Telugu, Marathi, Tamil, Urdu, Gujarati, Malayalam, Kannada, Oriya, Punjabi, Assamese, Kashmiri, Sindhi, and Sanskrit; Hindustani is a popular variant of Hindi/Urdu spoken widely throughout northern India but is not an official language (2001 census)
Literacy	definition: age 15 and over can read and write total population: 62.8% male: 75.2% female: 50.8% (2006 est.)
School life expectancy (primary to tertiary education)	total: 11 years male: 11 years female: 10 years (2010)
Child labor - children ages 5-14	total number: 26,965,074 percentage: 12 % (2006 est.)
Education expenditures	3.3% of GDP (2010)
Maternal mortality rate	200 deaths/100,000 live births (2010)
Children under the age of 5 years underweight	43.5% (2006)
Health expenditures	3.9% of GDP (2011)
Physicians density	0.65 physicians/1,000 population (2009)
Hospital bed density	0.9 beds/1,000 population (2005)
Obesity - adult prevalence rate	1.9% (2008)

                                      

Unemployment Figures in India :

1. India has 40 Million Unemployed people

2. Current unemployment rate is 9.4%

3. Unemployment rate is 10.3% in rural and 7.3% in urban areas

4. Agriculture is the predominant occupation employing more than 50% of the population. Service sector            accounts for more than 25% while industrial sector employs more than 10%

5. Per capita income is touching Rs 54,835 per annum in 2010-11

6. Towns and cities make more than two thirds of the Indian GDP, even though less than a third of the        population live in them.

7. In 2010, Indian emigrants are estimated to be sending home remittances totaling $55 billion, the most of    any country, constituting about 4.5% of GDP.

8. Various sectors falling under the India GDP includes food processing, transportation equipment,      petroleum, textiles, software, agriculture, mining, machinery,chemicals, steel, cement & many others

9. The share of services in India's GDP is 58.5% in 2011. The share of agriculture and industry are 13.5%      and 28% respectively.

The Right Road

The Road Not Taken

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim
Because it was grassy and wanted wear,
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I,
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference. 

Robert Frost

This is the famous poem by Robert Frost, which has influenced many people including me. But I would like to lead my life on a different principle - That of choosing the right path, the correct path, always - to see how this turns out, or if at all there is such a thing as the right path. Till now I have tried to walk the right path & do the right thing by everybody near and dear to me. I may have slipped once or twice & punished more than enough for it as far as I could judge.

        I read an interesting article in today's times of india by Gurcharan Das 'Modern marriages arn't made in heaven'. Superb insight into the psyche of men. The movie Waitress with Nathan Fillion was also good. Learnt about the Johari  window from Sum. He attributed my qualities as 'quiet', 'introvert', 'independent', 'organised' & 'logical'. I would have preferred 'kind' , 'loving', 'warm', 'witty' & 'spontaneous'. I will now make spontaneous efforts to change myself .

The many roles of a person

I was just wondering about the eternal question 'Who am I'? 'I' am defined by my many roles with respect to society and family. In that way I am a woman,a daughter, a wife, a mother, sister, cousin, a working woman, a neighbour, a boss, a subordinate, and so on. In each of these roles others will view me in a particular way which I am unable to perceive myself which may be very important in knowing myself. My child may view me as strict parent, my parents as a dutiful daughter , my boss as a pushover etc. When I reconcile all these viewpoints, then maybe I will be able to form a self image of myself, as I truly am. Moreover at a certain point in life I have to remove all these external impressions - the various roles in which society casts me and therefore I cast myself, to truly understand myself and my motivations. Another dilemma is whether I should act on my motivations? I may be motivated to fall in love with a handsome stranger but my role as a wife and mother holds me back and prevents me from doing so. So these roles may be important in certain ways but to what limit? In my role as a working woman I am often looked down upon in the office, as it is perceived I am not serious enough about my job- taking too many leaves etc, whereas the same problem is not faced by my colleagues. At home too, I am unable to join the gossip and kitty parties of my neighbours who are housewives and I am excluded from this group due to my exalted status as a 'working woman'. I feel to truly live one must explore all the senses to the fullest and try one's hand at different things and occupations, not be boxed in by what society says one must 'be' and 'do'. After all this may be the only life I have and so I need to make the most of it & live to the fullest without hurting anyone so that at the end of the day I can say that I know myself, if only partially.

1st Jan 2014

The first day of the new year went off well. Morning we went for a walk and met Mrs N of 404, and chatted with her for a while. Seems they are coming back from J as they prefer west to the east as she said. In the morning one pigeon got stuck in the balcony net which we had strung outside. S struggled with letting it out for a long time , till at last it flew off after loosing few of its feathers and getting a terrible scare in the process. I made friedrice and chilly paneer for lunch which was quite a change from usual dal rice and vegetables. Got calls from Sidda, dada in the evening. Its raining heavily in Ld and they are really fed up of the bad weather there. Its lovely sunshine here, the weather is really gorgeous. I feel like lazing in the sunshine the whole day long. In the evening we went to Kali temple to ask for divine blessings. We were just exiting the temple after puja when a man offered us prasad- laddos. I ate a whole one and S & Sh shared one. I was really pleased as I had not taken any sweets to the temple and received the prasad there itself. Evening Sona went off to her friends place for dinner to which she alone was invited & it relly annoyed me when I called at 10.30 and she told me that she had not had dinner even then. I told her sharply to come home, so she comes down 5 mins later saying she had some rice and chicken. S went to B Tut and got all the info on admissions- its all good or half of it is.