Feast for Thought

"After You Sir"

noreply@blogger.com (Swarna) — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 16:03:00 +0000

The Sainik School at Kazhakoottam, Trivandrum which happens to be the Alma Mater of so many of my friends, is observing the Golden Jubilee of its existence this academic year, and the grand finale is scheduled for 21 Jan 2012.

One of the SSKZM alumni has brought out a collection of school stories titled "After You Sir", with a noble intention that reads "All the royalty accrued from the sales of the book is donated to Sainik School to support economically disadvantaged students."

What's special about these stories? They are written or recounted by alumni
- who were once upon a time raw rural lads who left home at the tender age of 10.
- who faced the physical vastness of a rather unsophisticated residential school so different from carefree village bylanes.
- whose EQ is phenomenal, with their hearts - and minds - in the right place.
- who are ever ready to give their all to the Alma Mater.

Read plaudits about this love offering - for that's what the book is - here.

(This blogger is happy to be associated with the book-reading session later this week)

The Cartoon Speaks for all

noreply@blogger.com (Swarna) — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 07:26:00 +0000

The Hindu : Opinion / Cartoon : Cartoonscape, December 5, 2011

FDI in Retail in India

noreply@blogger.com (Swarna) — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 04:48:00 +0000

The debate rages on.
This is one area where ringing in the new may not be quite what the nation needs....
Instead of the friendly neighbourhood, dhoti-clad grocer selling you rice, atta and dal, you will be piling up all sorts of mostly superfluous items on to your shopping trolley and get checked out of store by young, suited and booted, extra-polite MBA degree holders.
Among the many pros and cons of the issue of FDI in retail, I am concerned that the aspects of consumerism and environmental burden receive no mention at all. We already have plenty of supermarket chains chock-a-block. In the race to offer items at cheaper rates, supermarkets outdo each other with very alluring offers. Those who can afford it, will continue to make use of these offers, even if they do not need the item!

All these chains most likely include CSR departments, whose most evident job is to put out notices of reduced plastic / polythene use, even as more items are packaged attractively in plastic. Why is nobody addressing issues of extended producer responsibility and solid waste management, other than cursory unimplementable notifications from the MoEF? It is ironical, besides being disgusting, to see the cityscape and the countryside littered with waste packaged in Big Retail’s branded carry bags. Amazingly, the average customer does not realise the ruse of charging additionally for the carry bag - the cost ought to act as a deterrent. Couldn't-care-less shoppers, however, happily dish out the change. (See Explicit pricing of carry bags contained in Ministry of Environment and Forests Notification, dated 4 February 2011, amended up to 2.7.2011).
Perhaps the need of the hour is to regulate existing supermarket / hypermarket / megamart / ultra-chains to display enough social responsibility in all aspects of their operation, and also to regulate quality standards in unorganised retail, instead of introducing international chains who will add to the existing civic burden.
PS: Don't look for political shades - this is just someone batting for the environment.

A Font Type Inspired by Gandhiji

noreply@blogger.com (Swarna) — Thu, 28 Jul 2011 08:15:00 +0000

"Mahatma Gandhi - A different type" aptly sums up the design of a font inspired by the Mahatma. You can download the font from gandhijifont.com.

Let's strive to keep everything simple!

Indian Boardrooms

noreply@blogger.com (Swarna) — Mon, 25 Jul 2011 12:07:00 +0000

Pic courtesy - The Hindu
In Indian boardrooms, we hardly see any colour and some sense of national identity. Why do we don dress that is appropriate in some other climate, and also use extra energy to cool. Big Paradox!

'The riches belong to nobody, certainly not to our family'

noreply@blogger.com (Swarna) — Tue, 12 Jul 2011 03:02:00 +0000

'The riches belong to nobody, certainly not to our family'

If this has been reproduced verbatim, Hail MArthAnda Varma!

Temple's Riches

noreply@blogger.com (Swarna) — Tue, 05 Jul 2011 03:55:00 +0000

The Lord's abode is in the news, because material treasures have been found in secret vaults under the temple precincts.
I can't help contrasting this event with the other incidents where treasure taken away from India have been merrily auctioned away.
If kings and chieftains elsewhere in India had also reposited / donated similarly, Indian history and civics and perhaps even geopgraphy would have been very, very different!
View this slideshow from a recent visit to Sree Anantha Padmanabha Swamy temple, this April.

"It is sad to see intricate jewellery and artefacts displayed in innumerable museums in the West when they should rightly be displayed at where they belong — our temples. How these treasures disappeared from India is narrated in Peter Watson's “Sotheby's: The Inside Story.” Let's hope that ruthless elements do not devour the treasures discovered in the vaults of the Padmanabhaswamy temple. We need to study the history of our country in its real glory rather than reading about it in history text books. The jewels should be displayed amid foolproof security just like the arrangements made for the Crown jewels in London...." says a writer to a newspaper.
About Peter Watson - An art journalist who "spent years investigating rumors that Sotheby's — along with Christie's, the hoity-toitiest auctioneering house — regularly sold artwork and artifacts that had been illegally exported from their mother countries. Sotheby's: The Inside Story traces Watson's sophisticated sting operations in Italy and India — complete with actors posing as art sellers, and Sotheby's higher-ups caught on hidden video cameras explaining their smuggling practices — that cast serious doubt on the auction house's denial of wrongdoing. ... Watson here elaborates his crusade against devious art dealing into a provocative, exhaustive, at times exhaustingly detailed account".
The author of Sotheby's: The Inside Story has also penned "The Medici Conspiracy" (read Exposing the Culture Theives)
Just today there was a mail message that says - "As soon as the first UPA government took charge, the Italian President was one of the first visitors to India. 15 agreements were signed without much publicity. One of the agreements stipulated that Italian companies be ‘consulted’ and allowed to manage all Indian archeological sites and antique stuff, with provision to take the stuff out of India if deemed necessary.... Sooner or later therefore, the Italians might step in in the matter of the Padmanabha treasures."

Scary!

Kerala's hartals / bandhs/ 'strike'

noreply@blogger.com (Swarna) — Fri, 20 May 2011 09:33:00 +0000

Arrived here night of 6 Apr 2011.
Just trying to record the days of Hartal / Strike / Bandh
29 April 2011 - Anti-endosulfan strike, by the State Government
20 May 2011 - Anti-petrol-price-hike strike, by the Transport workers
To be contd....!

"It's a pity...."

noreply@blogger.com (Swarna) — Sat, 14 May 2011 11:26:00 +0000

A lot happened in a neighbouring country on MayDay.

Here are three relevant articles that bring out the crux of the entire situation.

It's a pity...

The author, Professor Richard Jackson who is Secretary, British International Studies Association and Editor, Critical Studies on Terrorism, writes - ..."And it's a pity that so many are celebrating using violent means to fight a violent group, and that it will most likely lead to a continuing, maybe even intensifying, cycle of violence. It's sad that so few today recognise or understand that the use of violence rarely leads to any long-term solutions, but instead, most often creates ever more violence and suffering in the long run. This event and the response to it are an opportune moment to reflect on our addiction to political violence and our belief that conflict can best be solved by killing…"

...."It's a pity that this event will do nothing to end the sheer stupidity and shameful waste of ten years of war and violence."

US Military's history of changing its stories
"Stories told of Private Jessica Lynch, American footballer Pat Tillman and British aid worker Linda Norgrove were all incorrect." ... "Giving evidence at a congressional hearing four years later, Lynch said: “I am still confused as to why they chose to lie and tried to make me a legend when the real heroics of my fellow soldiers that day were, in fact, legendary ... [The] bottom line is the American people are capable of determining their own ideals of heroes, and they don't need to be told elaborate tales.” Nor was Lynch's an isolated case. In 2002, moved by the devastation of 9/11, Pat Tillman gave up a lucrative career in American football to enlist in the U.S. army. His selfless decision was hailed by President Bush, and, when Tillman was killed in Afghanistan in April 2004, the footballer-turned-soldier was held up as the epitome of American heroism. The Pentagon described him as a war hero, and he was posthumously awarded the silver star and the purple heart."

The manufacture of consensus and legitimacy
The author says - "Foreign intervention, as seen in Libya and Côte d'Ivoire, raises important questions about the limits of national sovereignty, an idea that does not seem applicable to nation states like the UNSC members."... "Put simply, instrumentalities such as the R2P devised by the ‘international community,' like the ongoing demeaning of the democratic political process in India by positing against it ‘non-political politics,' are yet another weapon being crafted to assist the relentless process of recolonisation under way in many formerly colonised countries."

Can't help but think that personnel of advanced military and much of the aggressor country's political class are really juvenile delinquents who are trigger-happy, and like to ape the monstrous gadgets and toys and automated machines that their designers churn out. They should go back to one of the numerous alien worlds that their film industry called Hollywood continues to create, and stay there.

A cross-country move!

noreply@blogger.com (Swarna) — Sat, 14 May 2011 11:24:00 +0000

That's nothing new, of course, and this move is as welcome as any other. It will suffice to say - we moved from an overgrown metropolis to an overgrown village!

Heard of a 'haiku'?

noreply@blogger.com (Swarna) — Fri, 18 Mar 2011 11:30:00 +0000

Wordsmith, the home of A.Word.A.Day newsletter, celebrates 17 years, and featured five 17-letter words this week. To further mark the milestone, subscribers were invited to take part in a haiku contest - send in a haiku to define or illustrate each of these 17 letter words. (What is a haiku?)
My entries -

predestinarianism
My will or your will
Have no doubt - it is His will
that has the last word!

triskaidekaphobia
Did thirteen say Boo?
Will you fear an extra loaf
in a baker’s doz

contradistinguish
At either end of
V I B G Y O R
reside Black and white

laryngopharyngeal
Out comes noise or sound
while air water and food go
their ways - up or down!

perspicaciousness
See, observe details
read not only ‘tween the lines -
but also letters

That exercise was enjoyable. And I continue to look forward Wordsmith's daily doses sent to a million+ linguaphiles.

What We Too Can Do

noreply@blogger.com (Swarna) — Thu, 10 Mar 2011 05:30:00 +0000

What You Can Do « The Story of Citizens United v. FEC | THE STORY OF STUFF PROJECT: SEASON 2
Here's Annie Leonard with yet another story. I wish her all success in her efforts. The sooner they - the US citizens - succeed in their efforts at reclaiming democracy from the corporates and put the people in charge, the sooner can other democracies get back to being truly of, by and for the people.

For the Indian Weavers' cause

noreply@blogger.com (Swarna) — Mon, 28 Feb 2011 12:02:00 +0000

Kalpana Sharma has written so eloquently on the woes of India's weaver community. See Disappearing warp and weft.
It made me wonder - All our celebrities could easily take up this cause. For example - they could sport the decent sari, or a suitable Indian handloom garment, in international forums, instead of aping the West in the kind of clothes they choose to wear. (Yes, like Aishwarya Rai and her ilk at the Ocsars)

Delhi's Garden Tourism Festival

noreply@blogger.com (Swarna) — Mon, 21 Feb 2011 09:02:00 +0000

I have always felt that Delhi looks drab in winter, the leaves in the trees looking grey and blending with the lifeless concrete around. However you can discover pockets of plant life in Lutyen's Delhi and within parks and well-maintained campuses.
The Garden of Five Senses is a park that you can escape into, bang in the middle of the city, near the Qutub Minar.
We were lucky to catch glimpses of the Garden Tourism Festival (3rd weekend of Feb every year).
Any idea of the names of the flowers above?

Visit more worlds

Heralding X'mas at the end of Kaarthigai month

noreply@blogger.com (Swarna) — Thu, 16 Dec 2010 13:37:00 +0000

On 'phone-o-grams'

noreply@blogger.com (Swarna) — Fri, 03 Dec 2010 04:27:00 +0000

I continue to prefer phone-o-grams (telegrams booked and conveyed over the telephone from the sender's end) for conveying sentiments on special / unusual occasions, and find the public-sector Indian telephones' related services great for the purpose. You can probably see it as a connection to older, better worlds, apart from being a convenience at effort-saving...
(Phone-o-gram - not to be confused with existing definitions of phonogram)
In case you wish to use those services - here are the details:

1. MTNL (Delhi, Mumbai) - Call 1584 / 1585, respond to the IVRS. On call-back, state the addressee's details and your message in Hindi or in English, and you're done.

2. BSNL (rest of India) - Call 1585, respond to the IVRS. On call-back, state the address details and your message, and you're done.

You could personalize the messages, of course. I prefer to avoid the phonetics, though, and choose the appropriate message number from the list of standard phrases - appended below. I just sent out No 16 for a dear cousin's wedding, on behalf of an elder in the house.

LIST OF STANDARD PHRASES FOR GREETING TELEGRAMS (Code,Phrases)
1 Heartiest Diwali Greetings
2 Id Mubarak
3 Heartiest Bijoya Greetings
4 A Happy New Year to You
5 Many Happy Returns of the Day
6 Hearty congratulations on the new arrival
7 Congratulations on the Distinction Conferred on you
8 Best Wishes for a long and Happy Married Life
9 A Merry Christmas to you
10 Congratulations on your Success in the Examination
11 Best Wishes for a Safe and Pleasant Journey
12 Hearty Congratulations on Success in Election
13 Many thanks for your Good Wishes I/we Reciprocate Most Heartily
13(a) Heartiest Greetings on the occasion of Chatrapati Maharaja Shri Agrasen Jayanti
13(b) I Pray at the feet of Maharaja Shri Agrasen for the success of programme organised
14 Congratulations
15 Loving Greetings
16 May Heaven's Choicest Blessings be showered on the Young Couple
17 Wish you Both a Happy and prosperous wedded life
18 Kind Remembrances and all good wishes for the Independence Day
19 Sincere Greetings for the Republic Day Long live the Republic
20 Heartiest Holi Greetings
21 Wishing the Function Every Success
22 Many thanks for your kind message of Greetings
23 Best Wishes for your Success in the Examination
24 Best Wishes for your Success in the Election
25 Blessings to the Newly Married Couple
26 Heartiest Pongal Greetings
27 Heartiest Gur Parb Greetings
28 Greetings on the Occasion of Paryushan a day of universal forgiveness
29 Heartiest Onam Greeting
30 Best Wishes on your Weeding Aniversary
31 Wish you a Happy Retired life
32 Wish you a Speedy Recovery
33 Heartiest Ugadi Greetings
34 Congratulations on your Victory
35 Wish you a Happy Bihu
36 A Happy Easter
37 Heartiest Greetings on Buddha Jayanthi
38 Heartiest Congratulations on Graha Pravesh
39 Heartiest Guru Ravidas Prunima Greetings
40 Heartiest Greetings on Navroz
41 Heartiest Greetings on the Occasion of Jhulelal Jayanti
42 Heartiest Greetings on the occasion of Makara Sankaranthi
44(a) Happy Varsh Pratipada(Hindu Nav Varsh)
44(b) Happy Gudi Padwa (Hindu Nav Varsh)
100 Our Deepest Condolence
I remember once bemusedly looking at the only entry in the printed telegram when I happened to be at the receiving end - '5'. Laziness (read Effort-saving) can tele-propagate, apparently. I fervently hope my uncle does not have to decipher 'सोलह' when the postman comes visiting later today...

"The Story of Electronics"

noreply@blogger.com (Swarna) — Wed, 10 Nov 2010 07:26:00 +0000

Here's the next story in this series - "The Story of Electronics".

Make 'em safe, Make 'em last, Take 'em back is a catchy enough jingle, but WHO is listening?

That same philosophy applies to cosmetics, furniture, plastics(!) and - well -relationships.

Anyway - spare a thought to what Annie Leonard talks about - perhaps that's the least a diehard consumer - if you are one - can do.
The alternative is to put into practice Bertrand Russell's thought "To be without some of the things you want is an indispensable part of happiness."

Some notes - Sep 2010

noreply@blogger.com (Swarna) — Thu, 23 Sep 2010 09:14:00 +0000

1. The hype about 24 Sep 2010

- Ishwar-Allah tere naam, SABKO SANMATI de Bhagwan!

2. Mamta's state, Mamta's Govt Dept, this time 7 pachyderm victims

- May the gentle souls rest in peace.

3. The Rain God has been generous to the capital which is experiencing a very good monsoon. Shouldn't we be calling it the BEST in 30 years? The sense-of-priority-challenged media is terming Nature's benevolence 'worst monsoon in 30 years'.

A cartoon = a million essays

noreply@blogger.com (Swarna) — Mon, 20 Sep 2010 07:38:00 +0000

This has been said before, and I repeat it here. "If a picture = 1000 words, this cartoon = million essays".

Cartoon courtesy: The Hindu

Yet another scathing write-up on food security

noreply@blogger.com (Swarna) — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 05:14:00 +0000

"Maharashtra ended famine forever by passing an Act that deleted the word ‘famine' from all laws of the State."
Food Security - by definition
"....Who will you export it to? Are there good global prices for rotting grain? Grain that even when in best condition was not of superior quality? What you will do is flog it at rock bottom prices to traders who know you won't consider any other option — like letting the hungry eat it — and can knock your prices through the floor. And then the traders can export it as cattle feed — like India has done before in this very decade. About the only thing Iran and Iraq could agree on in 30 years was that the grain exported to them from India was unfit for human consumption. Both rejected shipments early this decade. But there are always, never fear, European cattle. Talk of sacred cows — these will be subsidised by some of the hungriest humans on the planet....."

Why isn't P Sainath our Minister for Agriculture?

If you have read this far, here are even harsher and more uncomfortable questions -
"A dismal debate all around. Yet, in the next few weeks, the government, the NAC, Parliament, and the judiciary will all be called upon to take major decisions, even vital steps, on the food security of the Indian people. They might want to remember that there is existing legislation to draw from. Legislation far superior to and of a very different kidney from the “Maharashtra Deletion of the Term ‘Famine' Act, 1963.” That is, the Directive Principles of State Policy — that give us the vision and soul of the Indian Constitution.

Of course, the moment we speak of the Directive Principles, up pops the point: “but these are not enforceable!” Yet, the very line of the Constitution which says they are not enforceable goes on to say they are “fundamental in the governance of the country and it shall be the duty of the state to apply these principles in making laws.” How the state — and others — perform their duties will be on display in the next fortnight.

Will the courts say anything about the notion of shipping grain abroad when millions go hungry at home? Will the government say something other than ‘no' to the needs of the hungry? Will the NAC rethink its stand on a universal PDS? Will Parliament accept fraudulent definitions of food security? Will anyone speak for the Directive Principles of State Policy and how policy must work towards strengthening them? It would, of course, be silly to expect a government of this sensitivity to care a fig for the Directive Principles. But perhaps we can hope that the Supreme Court does?"

An ordinary reader is bound to be ashamed of the country's 'heavily burdened' food minister, insensitive Agricultural ministry and greedy bureaucracy.
(cartoon courtesy: The Hindu)

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO.......! We need Swaraj once again...

noreply@blogger.com (Swarna) — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 03:10:00 +0000

The morning's headlines have given an extremely sick feeling in the pit of the stomach.
Government set to let suppliers off the hook

We will need to renew Tilak's call - "SWARAJ is my birthright, and I shall have it".

Swaraj, this time, from predatory nations, corporate classes and political asses.

Commemorating the 6th of August

noreply@blogger.com (Swarna) — Fri, 06 Aug 2010 12:17:00 +0000

It's now six decades and a half since Hiroshima-Nagasaki. It appears that this person is the only surviving member of the 12-member crew on Enola Gay that brought hell on Earth.
Apparently he has no regrets over what he did - "I've never found a way to fight a war without killing people. If you ever find that out, let me know."

No, I did not consider that interview worth my time.

Sincerely do not wish to sound cynical - to me it appears a typical US mind-set. In 1945, becoming a war hero at the age of 24, he may not have heard of MK Gandhi - the simply-clad son of the soil somewhere in the third world - actively trying to fight just that kind of 'war', ...
Surely he's wiser now? Apparently not. Only older. Someone should let him know.

As GVK put it, "Astonishing. His is an acute case of conscience-deficit disorder."

74 nations participated at a memorial event in Hiroshima.
"Hiroshima was careful to ensure that the memorial — while honoring the 140,000 who died on or soon after the attack on Aug. 6, 1945 — emphasized a look-forward approach, focusing not on whether the bombing was justified, a point which many Japanese dispute, but on averting a future nuclear attack."
That was an extract from this report on the event, that has plenty of its readers supporting that final action on 200,000 civilians that ended WWII.

Japan seems to have learnt its lessons from history, and has abstained from poking the nose in other regions in all these years. The world will have to wait much much longer before its neighbour across the Pacific keeps beak and claws to itself instead of thrusting them half way around the world and beyond...

Greed and cowardice "cooked the planet"

noreply@blogger.com (Swarna) — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 06:32:00 +0000

Our daily newspaper carries Nobel laureate Paul Krugman's column, and I used to wonder why the happenings in Wall Street and Washington DC should jostle with much more serious local issues in the op-ed page.
For a change, today's piece (a part of it placed below), "Who cooked the planet?" is more globally relevant than the other pieces in that column thus far.
(it appears that the online version of this newspaper no longer carries the same column, only the print edition does)
"....it wasn’t the science, the scientists, or the economics that killed action on climate change. What was it?

The answer is, the usual suspects: greed and cowardice.

If you want to understand opposition to climate action, follow the money. The economy as a whole wouldn’t be significantly hurt if we put a price on carbon, but certain industries — above all, the coal and oil industries — would. And those industries have mounted a huge disinformation campaign to protect their bottom lines.

Look at the scientists who question the consensus on climate change; look at the organizations pushing fake scandals; look at the think tanks claiming that any effort to limit emissions would cripple the economy. Again and again, you’ll find that they’re on the receiving end of a pipeline of funding that starts with big energy companies, like Exxon Mobil, which has spent tens of millions of dollars promoting climate-change denial, or Koch Industries, which has been sponsoring anti-environmental organizations for two decades.

Or look at the politicians who have been most vociferously opposed to climate action. Where do they get much of their campaign money? You already know the answer.

By itself, however, greed wouldn’t have triumphed. It needed the aid of cowardice — above all, the cowardice of politicians who know how big a threat global warming poses, who supported action in the past, but who deserted their posts at the crucial moment.

There are a number of such climate cowards, but let me single out one in particular: Senator John McCain.

There was a time when Mr. McCain was considered a friend of the environment. Back in 2003 he burnished his maverick image by co-sponsoring legislation that would have created a cap-and-trade system for greenhouse gas emissions. He reaffirmed support for such a system during his presidential campaign, and things might look very different now if he had continued to back climate action once his opponent was in the White House. But he didn’t — and it’s hard to see his switch as anything other than the act of a man willing to sacrifice his principles, and humanity’s future, for the sake of a few years added to his political career.

Alas, Mr. McCain wasn’t alone; and there will be no climate bill. Greed, aided by cowardice, has triumphed. And the whole world will pay the price."

More stuff from 'The Story of Stuff' team

noreply@blogger.com (Swarna) — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 05:08:00 +0000

Watch Annie Leonard as she explains the ills plaguing / wrought by the US cosmetic industry (and by the 'trickle-down' effect is applicable elsewhere also). Most cosmetic products carry a tongue-twisting what's-in-it list, intelligible only to the producer and competitors. No commercially advertised and aggressively marketed product is free of harmful chemicals - whether it's an after-shave, lipstick, or baby shampoo.
"Herbal", "Natural", "Organic" carried on labels may turn out to be meaningless.
Beware! Be Aware!
(I wish Annie had included a note on the the amount of trash - recyclable or otherwise - that eventually piles up - directly proportionate to the company's profits)
More stories from SoS team
The Story of Stuff
The Story of Cap and Trade
The Story of Bottled Water
The Story of Electronics (planned later in 2010)

Photo contest of North East India

noreply@blogger.com (Swarna) — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 11:24:00 +0000

Beautiful tropical countryside - see entries for the contest in several categories
Funny
Culture
Faces
Greenest

Welcome to the North East of India's unique states - Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Manipur, Sikkim, Nagaland