Feast for Thought

Truly bemused. At the multiple versions of progress and development in my country. We 'progressed' from a smaller car to a small car about 10 years ago, that takes us conveniently on short road-trips to simple destinations, for down-to-earth purposes. Roads, cars, water Earlier this week, we traveled to Rameswaram and Dhanushkodi to take in sights of the bluest expanse of seas, temples tiny and huge, holy theerthams, cyclone-ravaged ruins, and awesome achievements in infrastructure. Salt in the making  A modified salt-making process could provide potable water, surely? Ruins at Dhanushkodi Azure seas - sight for city-sore eyes, but livelihood for fisherfolk  For faster and smoother progress But with the senses long awakened to the rather obvious 'downsides' of tourism, we have returned with less solace (not that we went seeking any). Women and girls with water pots in their hand and heads are a familiar sight all over arid regions in Indi...

Did you get to read " War of the worlds in the theatre of the mind "?  I did, and sent a mail message to the author, appreciating the article, and the power of the radio. ( The author is a retired Deputy Director-General of AIR and former Station Director of AIR, Chennai).  I share the author's reply - " I greatly value your comments about my article on the radio play 'War of the Worlds' and your appreciation for AIR's Public Service Broadcast.As you have rightly said AIR, Thiruvanathapuram is an acclaimed leader in broadcasting. I had the privilege of heading that station during 2003-2004.You may be surprised to see the attachment to this mail (Letters to the Editor-The Hindu dated 13 Nov.2009) which always finds a mention in my presentations on how AIR is held in high esteem by the intelligentsia. " The attachment contained a digital copy of one of my letters to the editor (can be accessed online here ).  So have no doubts at all tha...

A couple of recent print ads seem quite insensitive / ironical,  or a combination of both, given the glaring and present reality. Farmer, forgive the MoA for they know not..... Own a piece of earth? cosmos? universe? Indeed!

A little contrived I thought, but I wish them all the best.

Shimshipa Vrksham, the species of tree associated with Sita at Lanka Flowers of the Shimshipa tree The canopy of the Shimshipa tree

" One major reason for this difference is the KPK. Since it began operating in 2004, the KPK has investigated and prosecuted well over 300 cases, including dozens of members of Parliament, ministers, heads of government agencies, governors, mayors, judges and police officers. It has an astonishing 100 per cent conviction rate and has recovered state assets worth hundreds of millions of dollars."  Surely all our well-meaning whistle-blowers can get together and bring about a similar organization? A ‘gecko’ with a taste for corruption - The Hindu

In the defense organization where I served, every meal prepared in the mess for serving personnel is tasted by the officer on duty, well before meal time. I am sure there must be such procedure in the MDM system of the HR ministry. It is possible that such a routine is not followed by (the mostly) indifferent staff? Have a look at the MDM website . All features of the site relate to budget and monetary aspects of the scheme. A message to the new MOS - "In your tenure can you please make the HRD ministry’s MDM website relate much better to the human aspect?" did not elicit any response, of course. Tragic incidents will continue to take place, while the website continues to offer, at best, bland / cold / hard facts transferred verbatim from the paper files at your ministry. Achievements would get recorded, and these unfortunate incidents will be found in only news archives. Utterly saddened.... What it takes to deliver midday meal | Down To Earth

Friends, Indians, country-people, lend me your intellect-connected senses.  I had the opportunity to speak to Mr Selvam, who runs a roadside recycling business near Ulloor in Trivandrum, Kerala. All sorts of plastic and packaging material do go for recycling. If only you would take the trouble of segregating the waste generated in your house. I do.  I clean milk sachets and stack them I empty polythene packages that dry grocery comes in and collect them over a period. All you need to do is take the trouble of segregating readying them for the recycler. If you cannot deposit the stuff yourself, Mr Selvam and colleagues can arrange for pick-up.  Dear friends, these days there are two aspects of public life that stink in this capital city of God's own country. One is the garbage, the other is politics. As concerned citizens, we can certainly do our bit for reducing the ill-effects of the former. As to the latter, we have to let our 'representatives' battle it out on t...

The dishonesty in counting the poor Excellent and hard-hitting... but targeted at people, already thick-skinned, who fortify themselves in air-conditioned boardrooms located on the top floors of glass edifices. These 'planners' look at figures on paper and at numbers crunched out by lifeless statistical codes, and then doubtless carry out extremely specialised normalisation and other adjustments.  Reminds me of the STORY about a group of scientists who tested a particular pattern of monkey behaviour ("monkey ladder banana experiment")

"This is the point that I brought back to Washington — that it would be to the U.S.’s advantage to actually work with the Indians because there are things the Indian nuclear complex can do in their facilities that we no longer can do. There are people that they have and programmes that they have that we have abandoned. As the U.S. looks seriously to get back into the nuclear energy business, it should look towards India as to how to do cooperative research for the benefit of the Americans." My take: The interviewer's ndtv affiliations are apparent. The interviewee's current interests are not quite evident though. Also, what was the purpose of the current visit?  "it would be to the U.S.’s advantage to actually work with the Indians" - more clarity needed here. US's ECONOMIC advantage perhaps? "As the U.S. looks seriously to get back into the nuclear energy business, it should look towards India as to how to do cooperative research for the ...

1. Big Retail = Consumerism + High Volume Junk (Packaging + processed food). 2. Will the Govt look at FDI in Recycling and Waste management, please? 3. Will the Recycling be made a sector, and given importance, ahead of manufacturing? 4. Will Big Retail take all the junk back to their countries? 30 % local sourcing norm can't be met: Walmart

I am proud of being a citizen of the nation where Gandhiji live as a SANATHANI. I am proud of having been able to hear first hand accounts of Mahaa Periyavaa. I am proud of living in  Bharatvarsh , where we "share a way of life common to all, a spiritual and material culture so all-pervading as to be invisible to those within it like the air they breath...". What do you feel after reading  What Hindus can and should be proud of  by Ramachandra Guha? [Note for the author Mr RAM..G: Not sure if you have attempted to understand Sanathana Dharma in its entirety. That way of life is beyond politicized petty-minds and conditioned elitists. I note that in page 582-583 of your book India After Gandhi as well as in your present article, you emphasize that Rama is a mythological character, not a historical one. Your insistence is unfortunate].  Quoting from  Sanathana Dharma Blog " Santhana Dharma, because of its diversity and flexibility has no single ...

The planning commission should get out of air conditioned rooms and sit among the slum-dwellers in cities or / and set up camp near village panchayat locations. To do that of course, they should first step out of their coat, suit and tie, and get into more comfortable local wear that suits the outdoor weather. Believe me, their thinking will undergo a change for the better! I am not being cynical. This is a seriously sincere suggestion. Vanishing poverty trick - The Hindu Indian Boardrooms  

If you are a music buff and happen to be in Trivandrum till 13 Jan, perhaps you may think of attending concerts at the Swathi Sangeetholsavam.event. Venue: Kuthira Maliga, adjacent to Sree Ananthapadmanabhaswamy Temple. Dates: Jan 4 to Jan 13 Complete schedule Frankly, I am trying to keep superlatives under control, after attending the second day's concert by Prince Rama Varma, accompanied by  Sri S.Varadarajan (Violin),  Sri B.Harikumar (Mridangam), and  Dr S.Karthick (Ghatam) ,  were each expert artistes by themselves. It was easy to see "democracy" on stage, as the singer-prince put it, all the five artistes (including the tanpura player) displaying their individualism and their perfection as accompaniments.     (But why do members of the audience persist in applauding in between numbers?) The outdoor setting in the palace premises, with the stage probably directly below the room where Maharaja Swati Tirunal composed his ma...