Rest in peace

I was vigorously browsing through the internet on June 8th when BBC Radio reported the stabbing of 14 people in Akihabara. "Is it the same Akihabara that I visited a few days ago?" I was still registering the question when a reported from the place confirmed it saying "...is a buzzing street known for the electronic goods...".

Quite honestly, for reasons unknown, I didn't feel too sentimental about it then. Yesterday, my friend and I went out to the nearby mall and on the way he mentioned about going to Akihabara for purchasing a few toys for his kids. Only when he started walking toward the railway station did I realize that he meant to go to Akihabara right then. Having nothing better to do, I just followed. "I wonder where the stabbing happened?". As I stepped out of the Akihabara railway station, I noticed the usual buzzing activity of people walking in and out of the numerous electronic stores, a nearby cafe playing music aloud, traffic policemen regulating movement and sales men from unknown companies yelling at the crowed urging them to buy their product. I thought I would never know where the stabbing occurred and somehow that thought relieved me.

After ten minutes of loitering around inside a shop and and a cup of cafe latte from a French cafe, the stabbing incident disappeared into oblivion once again. I was inquiring a wireless headset in a couple of small shops. All of them directed me to the biggest shop in the area for computer hardware called "Softmap". As we walked towards the shop, my colleague insisted that we first go past Softmap to another shop to purchase the toys he wanted get back to Softmap on our way back to the station. As we walked along gossiping all the way to the signal right outside the entrance of Softmap my colleague walked directly into the field of vision of a guy training his camera on to something. "Bhaskar you are walking..", I stopped suddenly when I noticed a small white shed with people standing around it. We went closer to take a look. The shed was full with an assortment of bouquets, chocolates, water bottles, cool drinks, juice cans, pictures and numerous other things. Just then a man walked to the shed, placed a sealed water bottle, moved away, brought together his hand and started sincerely praying with his eyes closed. After a minute, he started walking into his routine. I noticed then that all who gathered around there did the same.

That was the place where the stabbing occurred. Right in front of Softmap where I was standing days earlier, waiting for my friends to complete their shopping. This is the closest I got to a killing. The realization, instead of giving me a sense of horror, made me feel ashamed. Seven people died in a violent manner right at the place where I was standing a few days earlier! Until that moment, to me, those seven people were just a number mentioned on BBC Radio. I realized how insensitive I was to the stabbing when I heard the news in the BBC. Seeing the people pray with such sincerity was a very humbling experience. On my way back, I added a bottle of juice and prayed...May none die in vain again. May their soul to rest in peace.

Gold Spot

Saving paper, saving trees? A few answers

I have posted the same post on NGO Post and got a few answers

First is a video that gives an idea about the tree-to-paper relationship





So, the number is 1 tonne of paper = 17 trees. One of the articles from ecology.com says

"Unfortunately, the paper making process is not a clean one. According to the U.S. Toxic Release Inventory report published by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), pulp and paper mills are among the worst polluters to air, water and land of any industry in the country. The Worldwatch Institute offers similar statistics for the rest of the world. Each year millions of pounds of highly toxic chemicals such as toluene, methanol, chlorine dioxide, hydrochloric acid, and formaldehyde are released into the air and water from paper making plants around the world.

Paper making also uses up vast quantities of trees. But trees are a renewable resource, which means that once one is cut down another can be planted in its place. In fact, much of the wood used by paper companies in the U.S. comes from privately owned tree farms where forests are planted, groomed and thinned for harvest in 20 to 35 year cycles, depending on the tree species. Around the world, tree farms supply 16% of all wood used in the paper industry while the bulk comes from second growth forests. Only 9% of the wood used to make paper is harvested from old growth forests, which are impossible to replace because of their maturity.

Yet, while tree farms or plantations help feed the demand for wood, they can't provide the plant and animal diversity found in natural forests. Plus, according to a 1996 report from the U.S. Forest Service, the rate of harvest for softwood trees in the southern United States outpaced growth for the first time since 1953."

To summarize, manufacturing paper results in environmental degradation less because of cutting trees and more because of the method used. Though this offers a good idea about paper and its impact on environment, one must note that these are data mostly associated with US. In the Indian context, I found this in Myth and Reality about Plastic

Paper is not eco-friendly

We need to remind ourselves that making of paper and products consumes a lot of chemicals and requires a large amount of water and effluent problems are severe. Besides paper, unless coated with polymeric materials (or wax), cannot withstand wet conditions which are widely prevalent in India, particularly during monsoon periods. Paper making also consumes a lot of energy. In the Indian context the most serious problem is the availability of pulp. Environmental degradation has unquestionably occurred due to pulp manufacturing activities as commercial forestry, on large scale, is still a taboo. Padmabhushan Prof. M. M. Sharma (FRS) "

I have also stumbled upon information related to conservation in general, not necessarily related only to papers.

The story of stuff has a 20 min video about how consumption-minded lifestyle is killing the planet's life. Its a lot of talk (not necessarily cliche) with lots of statistics. But the core point is

- Recycling is important, but most of the products used are not recyclable and
- Lesser consumption pays off better in preserving environment.

Another link portrays people's consumption in the US in a unique pictorial representation rather than plain statistics. For a listing of companies all over India, involved in recycled paper products click here.

Is saving paper, saving trees?

I head an employee-driven CSR team in my company in India. I get numerous suggestions about saving paper by replacing paper cups with ceramic mugs and re-using papers printed on one-side for "personal" print-outs.

Though I don't oppose these ideas, I have my reservations about their efficacy. Following are the questions that have surfaced to my mind repeatedly.

- Trees cut for making papers have to be replanted because, we will run out of papers otherwise. We have no idea about the number of trees we are losing because of making papers. We also don't seem to be running out of papers. So, in the end we don't know if we are really causing a significant depletion of trees. May be we are, but is there data?

- The only way to cut lesser trees without compromising the supply of paper is to recycle paper. India seems to have a defunct system of recycling wastes. If we are indeed degrading environment by cutting a lot of trees, it is possible that this trend can be more significantly minimized by putting a system in place that recycles most of the paper wastes when compared to small initiatives in individual companies to save papers.

Of course we are better off taking these small initiatives irrespective of the status of recycling, but my concern is, we have no way to measure how many trees we end up saving. What if the contribution of 100 companies with an average of 100 employees actually comes to saving 5% of trees, while setting up a recycling plant that can recycle paper in the neighborhood (companies, homes, schools any and building where paper is used) can reduce the number of trees cut of paper by 50%?

Simply put, how can one make this initiative measurable? Is there a comprehensive and accepted research that can answer my questions?

How to delete folder in Google Reader

Google Reader is my platform for my daily dose of news, opinions, blogs, social research and almost all of my daily intake of information. But I had been facing problems with organizing my feeds in my Reader. When I create a folder for a few of my feeds and later want to delete it, I could find no options anywhere to do it. So, the empty folders just messily stay on like the elusive stone inside my shoes. After much searching around, finally I found the stick that could remove the stone and it turned out to be ridiculously simple, only folders are also called "tags" here. Basically "folder" is a duplicate naming..

Anyway,
Manage Subscriptions ->Tags -> (select tags to delete) -> Delete selected

For the un-initiatied
Google Reader: is an application that can be used to store a collection of "RSS" feeds from a your favourite websites. Using these feeds Google Reader regularly searches and shows you any updates made to the website . So, you always know what is new in the website.

RSS Feeds: are similar (but not the same) to a common website address. But these are more "active" since these help readers (like google readers) search the website for latest updates. If you want to know the latest updates on, say, BBC and wondering where to get the RSS feed link, just go to BBC and search the page for "RSS" (usually at the bottom or top of the page with smaller font, like "contact us"). Click on it and it will lead to a separate page that has the RSS feed links for all the sections of BBC like news, podcasts etc.

8 facts

Liked the topic, muscled Ponnarasi to tag me

RULES :
Tagged bloggers should
1) post these rules first.
2) present 8 random facts/habits about themselves.
3) write on their own blog
4) choose eight people to tag and list their names.
5) leave a comment telling them they’re tagged

1. Used to be a very very silent kid, now I just can't shut up!
2. Belong to the few who studied in the US, but returned work in India
3. Avid coffee drinker - sometimes wonder if I consume coffee or coffee consumes me.
4. Like visiting temples with historic, architectural and cultural richness. Just worshiping with no tendency to understand background is a sin in itself.
   
5. Decent cook. But almost nobody knows about it. Best weapon to impress girls - Sambar. Getting good at Rasam (aim to get to mom's rasam). Other weapons in the arsenal, avial, fried rice, veg. pulao.
   
6. Actively take initiatives for improving Indian society - Why do I do it? Well, why don't others?
7. Almost never show a straight face when I get photographed! Orkut for evidence.
   
8. Love good movies! Don't believe in first-day-first-shows. I choose. Anything that doesn't have a story or a good comedy is money down the drain. Shawshank Redemption, Nayagan and Dil Chahta Hai are insurmountable bests in respective languages.

Tagging
Maaya, Anand, Aish, Doodler

Are slum-dwellers poor?

Off late I have been running into urban poverty and slum-dwelling a lot through articles on Urban Poverty alleviation and Slum displacement in India Together and a post in ThinkChange India.

At least articles in India Together suggest that slum-dwellers are subconsciously considered poor and marginalized group of people. However, one detail I came across in ThinkChange-India's (TC-I) post slum tourism got me thinking.

"There were two figures that Girish [tourist guide] kept repeating during the tour: 10,000, which is the number of small-scale industries operating in Dharavi, and USD 665 million, which is the annual turnover Dharavi’sresidents are estimated to generate."

When I read the Slum displacement article about the "unfair manner" in which Delhi Development Authority has has displaced the "poor" slum-dwellers to a slightly improved, but small tenements far from the city, I instinctively set out for an arm-chair investigation to ascertain the validity of both of the quoted adjectives.

Google-god :) blessed me with (only) two academic papers related to this topic. (Both open as PDFs)

[1] SLUMS IN CHENNAI: A PROFILE, Dr. C.Chandramouli, I.A.S.Director of Census Operations, Tamilnadu

[2] Livelihoods and Collective Action among Slum Dwellers in a Mega-City (New Delhi), IASCP conference 2002 **unpublished draft version**

The India Together article talks about the finding of a research done on Delhi's slums. The article's main argument about the "unfairness"

"... the plots are given [to slum-dwellers] on a five-year lease and there is no guarantee that the plot holders can continue to live there after that.....Why would anyone, rich or poor, be willing to relocate without a guarantee that they had the right to stay in the new location? "

However, [1] says that about 40% of Chennai slums are rented and indicates the active presence of land mafia. Chances are Delhi's case falls in the same ballpark. [2] directly says that vested interests actively collude the government officials/politicians in keeping slum-dwelling insecure. Given that, a 5-year guarantee of own land seems be a windfall to the displaced slum dwellers.

Further, [2] states that

"Average income about Rs 3000 (NOK 500) per month – more than twice that of official poverty line"

and

"Majority posessed a one- or two-room brick house (pucca)"

If so, they should be thankful for a 5 year accommodation with better standards of living (as claimed by the India Together article) in spite of not being exactly poor. After 5-years? Well, how about they finding their own way instead of looking for government help?

One possible source discrepancy could be the research methods carried out by the researcher quoted in India Together and the researcher referenced above. I have left a comment for the author in the website, and an e-mail to the authors of [2]. Hopefully that will throw some light.

To add more to this, before watching it in the movie Mudhalvan (Nayak in Hindi) I heard about instances when slum-dwellers do illegally rent out the flats that slum clearance board alloted with an intention to move them out of the slum to a nearby area with better living condition. Consequently, in spite of getting richer from the rent, they continue to more subsidies for being slum-dwellers by choice. I don't have any accepted material for this, but if I were a slum dweller it would make sense for me to do this. Now who is at the receiving end of corruption? The slum dweller or the government?

Getting to the question,
- Are the slum-dwellers really poor? Or are they just institutionalized to living in poor conditions?
- Do they really live there for want of choice or simply to extract more subsidies from govt and NGOs by selling "poverty"?

I think a typical slum is a mix of both, but I get a feeling that the scale is gradually tilting towards the latter on both the questions.

Finally, I later noticed that the post in TC-I carefully addressed only the living condition of Dharavi and refrained from poverty. Well done!

Personalized Orkut theme

Free Orkut Themes for Orkut Lovers | BizzNtech
Has a way to change the theme of your orkut home. If you are a Firefox user it works great! Here is a capture of my page!

Trade Balances due to rise in food-prices

The following is an interesting map that shows the trade-balances due to the projected price rise in food. The condition of African countries seem to be very bad! An already poor continent is projected to lose more than 1% of its 2005 GDP in trade! Looks like the only "middle-class" countries that get to gain reside in South America.

While I know that the map's projections show an unfair trend, I don't understand what trend is fair! Would the situation be fair if the developed nations lose and poor nations gain? How much the loss in the developed nations will in turn affect the under-developed ones? This is still a projected data. So, the more important questions are...can anything be done at all to avoid this projection from sliding into reality? If so, are the stake-holders, the UN, the developed nations and NGOs willing to make the relevant sacrifices?

British aid to India?

BBC Radio broadcast a short debate between two people, one from a British pro-taxpayer's organization called The Taxpayer's Alliance arguing against the British (taxpayer's) aid to India and the other from Christian Aid arguing for aid it.

The point behind the former's argument is the country has a fast growing economy and has a lot of money at its disposal. India should find means to redistributing its wealth itself instead of depending on British tax payers. Christian Aid says that taxation is the only means the Indian government has for redistributing its wealth, but faces unique problems like a large poor, population with very less means to earn their living, socially exclusion like the caste system, all of which call for immediate attention instead of waiting for a set of social reform policy to be implemented effectively.

I feel that a revamp in public administration, policy making and enforcement especially for poverty alleviation on part of Indian government is due even if this discussion is not considered. If the British funding is indeed revoked, it would be a blessing in disguise since (hopefully) it will put Indian government in a tight(er) spot and push for some innovative solution.

Demonizing plastic

"Never reuse coke bottle for storing drinking water. It may cause cancer", I was told by a friend once. That was shocking! I thought, "Can plastics react with food material in time and cause such harmful effects? Can't trust things with looks, can you?". Yet, somehow the statement seemed to make sense. After all, it is plastic! Its non-biodegradable, and with so much campaign to ban plastic, it has to be right!

From then on, when I see a plastic bottle lying around my kitchen or being reuse, my stomach used to churn and images of cancer victims vomiting blood on to the wash-basin or white kerchief (the colour contrast dramatized the fear factor!).

Recently, however, I came across a link to that talks about Myth and Reality about plastic Environmental Information System (ENVIS) an Indian government sponsored body "...to collect, collate and disseminate information relating to Environment to Universities, Registered Societies or Private Bodies or State Government Departments / Organisations."

Apparently, the whole campaign about plastic and cancer is just a sensational media campaign of what was a Master's Thesis that didn't go through the rigour of scientific peer review. Reuse of plastic is still not recommended for fears of spreading infection resulting from human contact and improper cleaning. But no cancer involved. This link and the pages that follow (find the small "next" link right at the bottom of this page link) offer a good insight not only into plastics, but also into the difference possible between the object and the perception of the object! For example, the link calls into question the use of paper as an alternative to plastics. It says

"Paper is not eco-friendly

We need to remind ourselves that making of paper and products consumes a lot of chemicals and requires a large amount of water and effluent problems are severe. Besides paper, unless coated with polymeric materials (or wax), cannot withstand wet conditions which are widely prevalent in India, particularly during monsoon periods. Paper making also consumes a lot of energy. In the Indian context the most serious problem is the availability of pulp. Environmental degradation has unquestionably occurred due to pulp manufacturing activities as commercial forestry, on large scale, is still a taboo. Padmabhushan Prof. M. M. Sharma (FRS) "

The article's take is that the only factor that can be called malicious to life is human. It repeatedly points out that plastic is not bio-degradable, but they are 100% recyclable. The solution to managing plastic is to recycling and recycling is entirely in our hands!

However, few details are unclear to me. My understanding is that there are recyclable thermoplastics like those used for making poly-bags and non-recyclable ones like Bakelite. What of the second kind?

Further, the link offers incineration as a way to get rid of plastic. I find from other links dedicated to protecting the environment that incineration is a widely hated method of generating energy from the waste. Unless an alternative method to this method exists, it seems that minimizing the use of plastic seems to be the best way forward.

Kam khatam, Dukhan band

This strip of land right opposite to our office building in Japan was occupied by a building of about 8 to 10 floors. Demolished, cleared, leveled, metaled and bordered with those iron rails. Total time taken 2 days!

Toriniku Roku-Ju-Go

If you are an Indian, and if you are especially a southie, you would have definitely heard of Chicken-65. If you are a non-vegetarian, you are a likely fan of Chicken-65.

Chicken? Yea! You know... then one that usually comes out of a hen's egg? The bird with under-developed wings that is part of the famous chicken-or-egg riddle? Ya! That one. Chicken. Now that you've got the first part, what the hell does "65" mean?

What wiki says is interesting. It says that the most logical conclusion is that it originated in North America, named after its price in cents, failed and managed to travel all the way to South India where it became a super-hit. This explanation would be logical if we are talking about Chick-Khans like Mumait Khan or Negar Khan. But here its chickens. Unfortunately!

That it was invented in 1965 seems more convincing. But its bland, unlike the spicy dish itself (I will take my Non-veg friends' words and C-65's looks for truth!). But I vote for the age of the chicken in days (65) as the reason for its name! Its unconventional and the mid violent after taste the explanation leaves behind looks more suitable to the possible taste dish itself might offer!

What the hell does Toriniku Roku-Ju-Go have to do with any of all this? Its just Japanese for Chicken-65.

Toriniku = Chicken
Roku = 6
Ju = 10
Roku-Ju = 60
Go = 5
Roku-Ju-Go = 65!

Haa Haa! All you non-vegetarian Rascala! Mind it!

Repetitve Strain Injury (RSI)

Its a video that we community relations team of our company for the wellness of employees. Its useful for all of us who have managed to establish a symbiotic relationship with our comp for a living!

Enjoy!

uRayoor

Prologue:
Its a sort of a deja vu, a semi-repeat of what I had experienced about two years ago. It was a hot and sultry May morning in Madras and I was on Koodal express towards Madurai. Then I had met my uncle, with grace I could make one of the most unforgettable visit to SriVilliputtur.

Now its again summer, hot and sultry evening and I was on Rock Fort Express to attend the wedding of my friend's sister in the Holy Sri Rangam. Its been over ten years since I met my friend. So, that was exciting in itself! As I already expected, all I could do was watch him run hither and thither taking care of the proceedings, as his sister kept smiling broadly throughout! The wedding went well and I took my leave after savoring the unique trichy wedding meals. Mission accomplished! :)

Earlier, as I was preparing for this journey, all I had in my mind was to accommodate the visit of Sri Rangam temple in my tight schedule (after Trichy, I visited Coimnbatore, all in a span of two days!). But my mom introduced me to uRaiyoor Nacciar Koil and said that it is a must-see for temple enthusiasts (like me!)! So, off I went to uRaiyoor!

Moolavar: Azhagiya Manavaalan
Thaayar: Kamal valli Nacciyaar


Temple architecture:
It was not more than a 10-15 minute bus travel from the Chatram Bus stand. At first sight Nacciyaar koil was a disappointment. The main Pagoda (gopuram), with just 5 storeys, was puny in comparison to the imposing Raja Gopuram of Sri Rangam (11 storeys). But upon close examination, it seemed to have some exquisite artforms so far not witnessed by me in other temples. For example, to one side of the gopuram, was the young Krishna flirting with gopikas. There was also Vishnu sitting on Adi Seshan flanked probably by a Chola king, with his sword and shield on his hips. On the other side of the Gopuram was a grand wedding ceremony of Lord Vishnu marrying Sri Devi. That is probably Azhagiya Manavaalan marrying Kamala valli Thayar!

I entered the Gopuram into the temple compound. If one were to have a top-view at the temple compound she would find the temple building at the center, a mid-sized pushkarni (the temple tank) occupying top-left, Swarga vaasal (entrance to the Heaven) towards the center-right. Towards the bottom-right would be a small mandapam. The entire area left for circumambulation is covered by the stone roof extended from the temple building and supported by stone-pillars with beautiful carvings, few of which depict a mythological instance. Towards the top-right side of the top-view, were two pillars, one depicted a couple of monkeys, the other humans, indulged in sexual intercourse. Now, I find that such depictions are more common in temples than one may think. I have found such depictions in Chenna Keshava temple, Chennai and in Govindaraja Perumal temple, Tirupati. It would be interesting to find out the underlying motive behind such depictions.

Inside the temple building, and facing the sanctum sanctorum is Garudar (The Eagle, who is the personal transportation for Lord Vishnu). Here He is called Amrutha Kalasa Garudar, as he is seen carrying a vessel of elixir (amruth). One pillar in this area carries a statue of Lord Anchaneyar (Hanuman) right along the height of the pillar. This temple has some fondness to Lord Hanuman for unknown reasons as his images are found on various pillars around the temple.

As I walk towards the sanctum sanctorum, I find the image of Gaja Lakshmi (with two elephants garlanding her from both sides) on top of the inner entrance.




Significance of the Moolavar and the Stalam:
Just as I was about to worship the Moolavar, it was time to close the temple for preparation for Tirumanjanam. During a quick Dharshan, I noticed that the frontal view of the Cakram (the disc) was not visible as is the case in all the other Vishnu stalams. However, only the side-view was visible. As the sanctum sanctorum was closed down, I came out of the main entrance to find the high priest of the temple walking around yelling orders at his disciples. Prima facie he seemed to be a rude person who doesn't entertain unsolicited enquiries about the temple. However, I felt that this could be a great chance to extract the temple history from the horse's mouth. So, I approached him rehearsing my almost forgotten Iyengar accent hoping that it would mitigate his wrath a bit. But when I asked for the "sthala purnam", he seemed to have taken aback by the phrase. Probably because he didn't expect a modern dude like me to even know about such a thing. He said, "I may have time to talk about the Moolavar, but I think it may take too long to answer your questions on the statues on the gopuram. Why don't we sit down?" (Yoohoooo! The Iyengar accent worked afterall!)

• This is the second of the 108 divya desams of Vishnu
  
• Moolavar, Azhagiaya Manavalan presents Himself along with Kamal valli Thayar (in a sitting posture) after marrying her!
• He is the exact replica of the Utsava murthy of Sri Rangam since Sri Ranganathar of Sri Rangam came here to marry Kamala Valli Thayar. Hence there is no Utsavar here.
  
• The Moolavar presents Himself in the posture of using this Cakram against the demons, a unique selling point of the Stalam
• The Stalam is devoted to Kamala valli thayar, since she is born to the Chola King Dharma Varman who ruled over this place.
• This place is also the birth place of Tiruppaan Azhwar.
  

Stala puranam:
Kamala valli Thayar took birth as a human due to the curse of Brihu muni. So, naturally, once the curse is over Lord Ranganathar has to come back for Her. Now it seems Lord Ranganathar had been a little too busy with taking care of people since he arrived here at uRaiyoor as an elderly person. As Kamala valli thayar was fetching water from the river, He promptly proposed to her (!!!) Shell-shocked by his proposal, Kamala Valli thayar dropped the pot (kudam) which rolled into the river. This only worsen her anxiety. Seizing the opportunity, Lord Ranganathar stuck a deal. He said, "If I get the pot for you, you should marry me!". Kamala valli thayar, told herself "There is no way this old man could do that, it is the easiest way to beat his appoaches". She promptly said "Sure!" with out knowing that this old man is The Lord Himself.

The Lord went into the river and came back a handsome young man holding her pot. Understandably, Kamala Valli Thayar sense something fishy about this and said, "now how is that possible!". He said in response, "Sure! it is possible becaaauseeeeeee..." and grew in size and showed is "Viswa Roopam". After this, Kamala Valli Thayar was comprehensively beaten and she was only too happy to marry him. Just as in any other love story, they live happily ever after right here in uRaiyoor! :)

By the way, the river is called Kudamurutti river (Kudam = river, urutti = to roll) after its vital role in the turning point of the love story!

Epilogue
After this I visited Uttamar koil, which has some powerful USP's

• A one-stop-temple to worship Brahma, Vishnu, Shiva and Saraswati (ASTOUNDING combo!)
• Probably the only place where Lord Brahma has a sannidhi (not verified!)
• Purushottaman, the name of Lord Vishnu here, who presents Himself at the request of Manavaala muni

After this I visited Coimbatore where I visited Marudamalai. My first ever visit to a Murga temple. It was on an auspicious day and had a good darshan of Him along with a good Tamil slokam recitation (nothing like a sloka that you can actually understand!)

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!

Blah blah blah ... Wah!

That was hilarious! Everything about that was right except that Headlines Today is also among the pack. But why blame the news channels alone? Turn to entertainment and out of about 25 channels (or is it more than that?) not a single one seems to have found a source of entertainment that is not related to movies and the slow-moving soaps. And the lesser I talk about the channels that strive to "deliver the divine truth" the better it would be. It is startling that humans, in spite of being different in almost every aspect starting from DNA, facial features, fingerprints, cornea, brain structure, blood group and so on, seem to be hopelessly and boringly SAME when it comes to airing a television program, publishing a newspaper or making a movie!

But then this isn't such a new point to talk about. The boredom is so much around us that we seem to have become institutionalized to it. How else do you explain the fact that there are so many worshipers of so many soaps with blaring and ill-fitting background score and ignominious dialogues? How else do you explain the fact that a well-known hero, a new-face model, a party number and its remix and a bunch of sleazy encounters (though lifted off from hollywood) can easily offset a storyline that doesn't exist, roles that calls for no acting and actors who don't have roles to become box-office hits?

Now this whole post may be self-referential! You may ask me "You talk about trite. What is so new about this post? This is talked about by almost everyone who maintains a blog! Your post is only as different as the programmes you talk about!"

Good point! That is why I shut up for such a long time! But for sometime now, it appears that at least somebody in the broadcasting business has finally got bored of the sameness. The Tamil channel called "MakkaL TV" - "MakkaL" being Tamil for the work people - stands as a proof for the fact that....

1) ... entertainment extends beyond movies
For the last two weeks that I have caught a glimpse of this channel, I didn't find a single program that is related to movies! Yet the channel has managed to come up with programs that entertain people. Considering the dependence of the other channels on movies for their survival, this channel seems to have taken up a very bold challenge and won it hands down ! The most attractive programmes are interactive. To highlight a few..

• "Tamil pesu, thanga kaasu" (Speak Tamil and win a gold coin) is a challenge to the general public to speak continuously with out usage of any other language.
• "Sol vilayattu" (word game) is another 3-round challenge played live over the phone, Word jumble, "cross-word", and "who is in the picture?", at the end of which the winner wins a handsome prize, a silk Saree!
• Over the phone employment advise for the unemployed

2) ......one can speak Tamil with minimal use of English and still not sound weird!
The presenters of all the TV programs in this channel stick to colloquial yet unadulterated Tamil language and are dressed in traditional and simple tamil attire such as dothi, Khadi shirts and Saree (though not always). The more important aspect is that the channel doesn't seem to overplay the pro-Tamil sentiment and stops well short of looking and sounding Tamil-chauvinistic.

As a downside, I must point out one fact. Like most of the other Tamil channels, this is also run by a political party and an ally in the current DMK coalition government, Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK). And I haven't watched their news reports yet. That gives me a fear that I might have come up with this post a little too soon!