Holy Tetris!

I have heard about the craziness with which the Chinese and the Japanese work. I have seen them in action sometimes. But I have always wondered how much more crazy can they really get. And the bar keeps rising....

Last mile of my complete self

It is said that man is made of 80% water ( and 20% matter ). But that is not where it really ends. What makes a man complete? Atma, morality... well it gets too spiritual if I walk down that road! Attitude, perspiration... Crap now I sound more like my manager. So, I look all over and around me and find that there is one thing that covers the "last mile" of my complete self! Brands of 10 things that I currently can't live without!

Toothbrush: Colgate
Shaving kit: Gilette
Soap: Medimix
Deo: Axe (Pulse)
Best Garment: Nike
Watch: Titan, Casio
Shoes: Sketchers
Bag: Samsonite
Mobile: Samsung C200
Subscriber: Vodafone

Tagging
Aishwarya Mishra
Anand
Driver
Maaya
Kavya Roy

Hat-trick of the firsts!

Its a day of pleasant and unusual events. My mom has been retired for over a decade now. While she used to have her set of friends, after she got her voluntary retirement, over the past decade, her gang of friends have also subsequently retired and she seemed to lost touch with them. But last week, she dug up her address books and spent about two hours on phone with her friends. Following that, today one of her friends visited her. This is the first time in her life in Chennai (since 1978) that someone is visiting her!

After about three to four hours of catching up with the past, her friend decided that its time for her to leave. My mom suggested that she would join her to visit another common friend of theirs! She dressed up quickly and told me. "Badhri! I am going to visit my friend along with her. I may come late in the afternoon!'. That is something that I have never heard from my mom! It is usually I who says those words to my mom! :) That is another unique first!

And it doesn't stop there! After about my half-an-hour, I woke up from my work to hear someone cooking in the kitchen! I was about to get up to find out who it was, but my dad came to me with a plate of "Adai" (a dish similar to dosa, only a little thicker and made of a different flour), beaming with a self-congratulatory smile. He said "Now that your mom has gone to visit her friend, I am free to play in the kitchen! I called your sister, got instructions on how to make Adai and tried it out! Come come, try it and let me know how it is!".

My dad has cooked before, if my mom fell sick or if she has gone out of station. But I wouldn't say that he enjoyed the freedom at the kitchen. Unguided by my mom, he usually screwed up a dish or made a big mess at the kitchen, or did something for my mom to come back and complain later. But this time, my dad's adai turned out to be perfect! Six pieces, all circular, none over-fried. A little salty for me, but my dad likes the extra salt. I called my sister and told her my dad's achievement! She gave the credit to where it belonged. But the best credit was what was not said. When my mom came back, she had her share of adai, examined the kitchen, came back and settled down without a word to watch Velukkudi Krishnan's explanation of the meanings of Bhagavat Gita!

Splendid! That is another first. Hat-trick!

How to make the humans not to emulate dogs?

Hyderabad has a very "liberal" attitude when it comes to answering natures calls. Almost everyone seems to think "As long as it is out of your body, it doesn't matter where it goes".

I stay in an apartment adjoining a stream of sewage. Right on the main road, is a long compound wall and a relatively well constructed pavement. These are very attractive places for the "Filled-up and the Restless" to relieve themselves. There is also a moderately maintained Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation's (GHMC) public toilet. GHMC has strategically constructed such toilets at various locations in Hyderabad close to such places that are used as public toilet. However, the GHMC toilets are clearly not used properly. I think it is because of the one-rupee that is charged for use. Now this is a problem statement. The solution is to conceive a way by which the use of this (or any public) toilet can be enforced.

I think this issue is directly related to Standard of Living, though the benefits can be intangible prima facie. So, I am interested to do something to ensure that this trend doesn't continue. I am willing to take suggestions on this.

The questions that I have be answered are

1. If you live in Hyderabad or a place that has similar attitude, do you think the cause the one-rupee charge?
   
2. If, so, is that the only cause?

On my part, since I feel the money is the problem here, we can create a public fund of one rupee coins and allow (meaning persuade) "the Filled-up and the Restless" to use money from the fund for the toilet instead. That is the theory. I do understand practical considerations.

• How to collect the money?

• How to safe-guard and disburse the money (vending machine?)

• How to advertise the fund and advertise against the use of compound wall or sewage.
  

But before all that

1. Do you have any alternative/better/easier/more sensible ideas?
2. If not at least do you think that this idea can be modified/improved?

We need to keep in mind that the idea may have to be implemented at different places in Hyderabad and elsewhere. This may be a farsighted consideration, but I think it is important nevertheless!