Another MileStone!!!

Tuesday, January 29, 2008 (Tirupur, TN)
Tirupur, popularly known as the knitwear capital of India had the country's first ever privately financed drinking water project.The area had an acute water shortage that was affecting the hundreds of dyeing and bleaching units. Villages in the area too were facing great water stress.So in 2003 the Tamil Nadu government roped in Mahindra and Mahindra and the local industry to pitch in funds and bring water to Tirupur.A Rs 1,000 crore public-private partnership came up by 2006, and was supplying 110 million litres to the local communities and industrial units per day.Before that the villagers used to pay tanker operators up to Rs two for a pot of water that too for an irregular supply. And now for just Rs 4 they get two-and-a-half hours of water everyday. And if they pay fee in the beginning of the year it comes to just Rs 1.92 per day.''They charge Rs 700 for the whole year. It's better than spending two or three rupees for a pot of water. They supply water for two and a half hours everyday. So there's nothing wrong,'' said a villager.But for the Rs 11,000 crore knitwear industry, ironically their dream is coming at a higher price. They have to pay Rs 45 per 1,000 litres of water, six times the domestic price.''When it is under private-profit, criteria are more important than social utility and social cause. It's a double edged sword,'' said Anil Kumar, Owner, Dyeing and Bleaching Unit. But a better part of the industry backs the project.''Price is of course a concern, but we are trying to promote ancillary companies. Once we pay up the loans, we can even lower the prices. It's a very successful project, it could be done in Tirupur only because the industrialists are ready to buy the water,'' said A Sakthhivel, president, Tirupur Exporters' Association.''In other places, it may not be viable because people may not pay such high prices. They tried it in two three places, they couldn't do it. In Tirupur industries came forward to finance this project,'' he added.This is perhaps the only privatisation model in the whole of Asia about which the people concerned have good things to say. But it is too early to assess its success especially at the level of cost.Technology is being brought in to recycle the costly water. All parties involved are also trying to pay off the loans before due date. Once that happens water costs will come down.Will then the New Tirupur Area Development Corporation finally be able to create a model project for all to follow?

Pearls of Wisdom

I have a strong feeling that toughest and versatile persons are the auto-rickshaw drivers…
Particularly after having so many discussion with them during the travel…

They are irritating:

There is no ‘meter’ concept in Chennai auto-rickshaws.
One has to finalize the fare before starting.
Every time one has to argue with them, finally they’ll agree for a fare.
Once your destination is nearing, they’ll start murmuring.” Had I known if this is beyond this point I wouldn’t have accepted…blah blah blah…”
Again there will be a session of argument finally we end up giving them extra 10 rupees.
I hate this community of auto drivers.

They do not help in case of urgency:

Even government buses will change its route in case of necessity, but autoricshaws don’t.
You can hear them say, we are going straight, if that is not your way see some other auto.
This is totally annoying in case of emergency, when you are not well or if you need to take your fellow companion to hospital and waiting for another auto at that moment is dangerous.
Even if they agree to come, the amount they demand is exorbitant.

They are Funny bunch:

I have had an interesting conversation with one auto-wala.
It was a cloudy evening we were traveling in the ESI road.
The already poor and congested road was blocked for some ‘Baghavan oorvalam’
It was a pathetic evening for the commuters that day.
Most of us were irritated.
My auto-driver, who was some 20-21 years old, a standard 7 drop out, started spilling his wisdom.

Pearl 1:
He wanted heavy down pour at that instance itself. This will test the sincerity of the devotees. He bet that every one will surely place the palanquin and run helter shelter, which I agree 100%. He said show your bhakthi in the way that will not disturb or annoy others. Why the so-called educated, elegant class of people doesn’t think about such public annoyance, which they cause in the name of almighty?

Pearl 2:
He said happiness is short lived in our shortest life span, and then why cry unnecessarily?
We buy a motorcycle; we are happy and drive it everyday.
But suddenly we meet an accident, so all the happiness that we had will wither, we start cursing the motorcycle.
We burn crackers during Deepavali and enjoy it.
But if suddenly we meet with an accident, we start cursing the crackers.
So happiness is relative and short lived.
Why do you need to cry?
Quite Valid!

Pearl 3:
I asked him why didn’t you study further and why can’t you continue now?
His reply: What’s the big point in studying; even the guy who is a graduate is selling books on the T-Nagar pavement. Even without graduation I am doing a good business starting in the morning and reaching home evening, enjoy family and TV and sleep well. Do you Software guys can follow this pattern? (Valid again!)

Pearl 4:
He doesn’t like casting vote because whoever comes is not going to give him his per-diem. (Valid?)

Eventually, when I got down from the rick, I gave him the agreed fare.
He asked me “Evalavu nalla pesinene. Koncham 10 rooba extra thagalen?”(Cant you gimme extra 10 rupees for my brilliant conversation?)
Birds of the same feather flock together, how true!

They are intelligent:

Once when I happened to ask a driver about the distance meter usage in Chennai.
He said that the government hasn’t fixed the proper rate for per kilometer usage hence they can’t bite the dust.
It seems the auto wala s have raised this issue to the government many times and haven’t got any solution. So they demand and make use of the government’s red-tapeism.
As commuters isn’t our responsibility to raise a voice as well?

Whatever I scratch (scrap), here again I am waiting for one Indigenous Auto-wala

Gods have been brought down from the heavens on to a microchip ..!!

Read an article in ndtv.com,

http://www.ndtv.com/morenews/showmorestory.asp?category=National&slug=Stay+connected+with+God+through+mobiles%21&id=92016

Does prayer means spending money in the name of GOD????
Cant we silently stand or sit and think about him and can t we offer a small sloka if we think thats going to complete a prayer...

Every temple has a unique way of contruction which conveys lot more than what we consider as worship....

GOD is also a Business Unit now.................

Thaniya okkandhu yosippangaLo...?

Latest Kadi from e-mail....

Prove that...

If tan x = n, then...
Zebra = Horse.

Answer:

Given: tan x = n..

cancelling 'n' on both sides...we get

tax = 1...

multiplying by horse on both sides, we get

Tax horse = horse

now...most important....

Tax horse in Tamil is Vari kudhirai, which is Zebra in English...

Therefore...

Zebra = Horse...

Therfore LHS = RHS Proved

( Thaniya okkandhu yosippangaLo...? )

Vanara Kula Veeran

Officers in transportation department of TN thought people can undestand the pictorial representation of a man or woman so that they can understand that the seats are supposed to be given to them..
The system didnt work..
Women were(are) standing while men were(are) sitting in the supposed to be given ........................
Later they got some clarity so they started writing in Tamil near the pictorial representation to make them understand....
Now again the system is not working...
Women are standing while men are sitting in the supposed to be given ........................
Is it that men cant read or understand a picture or they are not able to recognize a woman..
Not able to recognize a woman may be a valid argument ..coz a girl may appear like a man at times..
But its not the case always...............
Cant they recognize a 75 years old woman wrapped in a 9 yard saree..who is surely looking like a perfect woman....

Then what s the problem..?????

Wonders.......

Few of the ignoble wonders of India..

Dustbins on the platforms..brilliant idea….it will be easy for the garbage collectors to make the roads shabby..

Driving on the platforms (Believe me today an auto was driven on the platform, pedestrians on the pavements ran into the nearby shop)

Stopline on the signal is the place where the last vehicle on the signal waits (Waiting for the signal itself is a big deal 4 most of us)

Left or Right anything is right as far as the driver and his vehicle is safe.

You can drive, chat over mobile phone, can smoke as well listen to FM radio ..Everything simultaneously ..(Only in India Indians can do)

Helmet … an instrument to spoil one’s hairstyle (Hairstyle is important than life ..u c..)

Distance Meter in Auto is a vestigial instrument…(c its tough to make the kids understand its purpose)

Road is the best place to learn about life…Life is also full of pits and falls..isnt it?

Spit anywhere, this is a democratic country….

We jus speak and write..But never try to do anythingthat really works…

zzzzzzzzz....

How do sadhus resist most of the temptations in life????

Bcoz they keep on chanting OM OM OM.....and more the no. of OHMS, more is the resistance!!! :-)

Quota System -- An extract...

AIIMS campus, 9 pm, Barkha Dutt interviewing students,. Protestors, fasting Laying across the lawns, been hungry for over 200 hours now, more than 100 have been hospitalized. Air smelling of sweat, smelling of injustice, smelling of revolution. Strong words like civil war, mutiny cross my mind. Also some words that don’t leave my subconscious are quota and Mandal.
“Quota” the word has many implications, but here it mainly refers to the reservations of seats in professional colleges for sc st obc classes.
Food for thought: at the national post graduate level examinations, upto 30% seats are reserved. In states like Tamil nadu and Madhya Pradesh there is an upto 68 percent reservation. And according to the F.I.C.C.I nearly 80 per cent of Dalit students never make it past Class X; more than 80 per cent of the reserved seats in vocational institutes remain unused; and in engineering colleges more than 90 per cent of seats in the reserved category just lie empty. These are just figures, even otherwise quota people on a whole mostly under perform in professional colleges.
If I ask my self a question as to whom all a quota must include, immediately mind springs in the answer “ underprivileged”, those who want to be somebody, bring them to an equal level with the acceptable norms and giving them the free reign to fight in the open competitions. Now when a person is a full fledged doctor, does he still needs a quota to move ahead in life, to get a post graduate seat? Do we need that quality of surgeons?
The way I think if u need to uplift a person u support him with his primary education, give him books, give him teachers, clothes, the environment, knowledge and empower them in the process to compete head to head with the “privileged” folks, and he then gets where he should be. Won’t it be cruel to be a sharma, poor and unfortunately not be a “sc st or obc?” Where does that guy go? Because he’s got no quota to go to, and he in real time might need help! How is our state justifying his reason?
Are all obc/ sc / st, poor? Do all of them need to be lifted? I’m asking this, cause im curious, are all other guys, Brahmins, jains, etc essentially rich? They don’t need any help? No upliftment?? Shouldn’t there be ways to uplift economically deprived than to uplift a whole chunk of vote bank?? Helping people who cant afford, uplifting people from backwards area, igniting their dreams, and getting then to a common pedestal and then letting them compete… isn’t that what our logical aim should be?
The priorities are all set wrong, the methods seemingly adapted by our ‘leaders’ are thru shortcuts, than to work hard. Increase a quota and Win a vote bank. It’s a guaranteed, “never fails u method” to poll success. I mean seriously, Mr. Singh Keep a 5 seat quota for digamber jains in aiims, and I swear ill vote for u the rest of my life.
Now all of us know that some of the most backwards part of our country that needs to be worked upon, got no primary education, got no primary health, got no infrastructure. murdeThe infant girl is still murdered, people are still dying of polio, measles still lingers around, iodine defeciency needs aren’t met but yes they think that by increasing a seat for a 27 year old doctor, is gonna help all this. His becoming a super specialist is gonna help them dude and not focusing on primary health care, which in all aspects is severely lacking in our nation.
Arjun Singh, look at the guy, look at him in a pic, he’s gone senile. Man don’t we need someone younger more sensible to take decisions for us? Someone who walks our walk? Someone more in tide with time? Some one taking more deliberated ‘right’ decisions?It’s like he’s the old wise man of the party playing the ruse in time. Playing the right cards to win the game. Now where is the young congress, where is Mr. Rahul Gandhi? Priyanka? More sensible Sonia Gandhi? Where is our president Abdul Kalam? Ignited minds? And moreover the universal penchant existing among political parties is understandable. Who would raise a voice and take the risk of loosing a vote bank.
There are strikes all over the country, rang de basanti or rage against the machine,who so ever has been the influence should be applauded. There is a reason for which they all have come together. Daily we read about doctors getting thrashed. Ill-treated. Delhi, Mumbai and now Amritsar. Who is suffering? The common man. The common man in us, doctors, and the common man, in patients who queue up right from 5 am at aiims fighting for a number, only to witness empty opd’s thanks to the strike.
His highness the “non smoker” health minister had a solution today. He warned that If the senior residents don’t get back to their job he will recruit doctors from outside and sack them and have been served notices to vacate their hostels.. This seemingly has become a favorite form of threat. Couple of years back when doctors went on strike in Madhya Pradesh against the 65 percent quota in post graduate examinations; Digvijay Singh did the same thing. Even Last year also Mumbai doctors where threatened that their registrations will be revoked. Now, who are these guys, how qualified or what privilege do they have to have a right over our hard work anyways? We work so hard to get where we get. The average amount of time an average student (non quota and not brilliant), has to put in his post graduate preparation is about 2 years. 2 years of studying every day, night, 2 years of not earning. 2 years of looking upto your parents for funding.2 years of anxiety, 2 years of patience. U won’t ever know if u haven’t been there, because it’s frustrating, its killing, its choking, but we have to do it, cause that exactly what competition is all about. And what’s the climax of it all, 2 years of ur hard work? it often times does give u a rank in post graduate examinations, but it might turn out that u’ve either missed on a seat, or u cant get a pg seat of ur choice, because there are 30 to 68 percent reservations. And there might be some other guy who is not as highly ranked as u, but he gets the seat you should have got, why because he was born underprivileged. Ironic.
The gist of it all is, unsubstantiated, illogical decisions have been ruling our country forever. It’s time folks stop playing Gandhi and let him rest, seriously the sc st card is over used now, and approach people of our country from a more mature point of view. Understand the new India and its pulse and then govern it, rather then being stuck in time, and playing the same games all over again.” Push a quota get a vote” rather than “deserving a vote”.
Whatever is the outcome of the whole episode, we feel good that a voice was raised, right noises were made. Doctors from aiims are going door to door in Delhi, addressing the cause. Prayer meetings and all, ala “rdb”, are happening.The grand march which brought together nearly 8000 of 'us' has generated a fabulous responses, from all over the country,as witnessed on news channels.IItians, J.N.U students are all waking up and how !!I.I.Tians are proving their point by cleaning the streets.. It’s pushing us together; youth for equality is for real and dude its working too, at least momentarily. We shouldn’t be divided at this juncture; we shouldn’t see in anyone a sc or st, who snatched our right from us tomorrow, without fighting for it equally. People live their professions, only the deserving should be given the chance. Think, if there was a quota for me in publishing and if I were to write daily columns, man people would stop reading!! And we are talking about real time human lives out here.
Things just keep on going in a circle, they happen and they die, These guys(politicians) did it before; they are doing it now, Mandal happened before, it’s happening now, There was a revolution then, there is a revolution now, Nothing happened then,............. Hope the sentence gets completed in a different tone and color. 50%of 100 or 50% pf a 1000, still is a 50%,its still a slap on ur face.Increasing the number of seats and pumping in 8500 crores at post graduate level without consolidating basic education is baseless.I hope right steps are taken this time around, towards a logical system, and not Blindfold, dogmatic, impetuous decisions aimed selfishly at nothing but the elections. Its time to change, its time to take a stand.The writing on the wall hasnt been clearer. i hope we dont give up.