March 31, 2007

Parzania

Watched the movie Parzania

Only one comment: Fucking bastards! To hell with extremism...

Each Gujarati should watch this movie...


March 29, 2007

Another pat?

Not that I'm boasting... :-D

Sometime back, I had mentioned about "real appreciation"; of being a nice person.

Got another one today... While chating with me, my ex-team-member mentioned this: "One thing..., I was very happy working in your team... Here the folks who work are made to slog like bulls. They get nothing extra out of it..."

Sometime back when I was taking a stern stand on NOT letting the lazy folks get away with their laziness, some "wise" guyz advised me not to attempt to "correct" the world. My reply was: "I agree... Don't correct the world; but correct my team and team members"

Today I know I was right...


March 25, 2007

The Fifth Mountain

Read Paulo Coelho's Fifth Mountain - A typical Coelho novel...

Given below are some of the quotable quotes from the book...
The woman divided human beings into two groups: those who took joy in, and those who complained about, what they did.

Angel: Every man hath the right to doubt his task, and to forsake it from time to time; but what he must not do is forget it. Whoever doubteth not himself is unworthy - for in his unquestioning belief in his ability, he commiteth the sin of pride. Blessed are those who go through moments of indecision.

Elijah: At this moment, many people have stopped living. They do not become angry, nor cry out; they merely wait for time to pass. They did not accept the challenges of life, so life no longer challenges them. You are running that same risk; react, face life, but do not stop living.

Angel: A man must choose. Therein lieth his strength; the power of his decision.

Elijah: If you have a past that dissatisfies you, forget it now. Imagine a new story of yur life, and believe in it. Concentrate only on those moments in which you achieved what you desired, and this strength will help you to accomplish what you want.

Elijah: A child can always teach an adult three things: to be happy for no reason, to always be busy with something, and to know how to demand with all his might that which he desires.

Elijah had fled from doubt. From defeat. From moments of indecision. But the Lord was generous and had led him to the abyss of the unavoidable, to show him that man must choose - and not accept - his fate.

Elijah: Take advantage of the chance that tragedy has given you; not everyone is capable of doing so.

Elijah: The Lord often has his prophets climb mountains to converse with Him. I always wondered why He did that, and now I know the answer: when we are on high, we can see everything else as small. Our glory and our sadness lose their importance. Whatever we conquered or lost remains there below. From the heights of the mountain, you see how large the world is, and how wide its horizons.


March 22, 2007

Consistency principle

I hit upon this dilbert blog which states: Most of the truly stupid things done in this world have to do with this consistency principle. For example, once you define yourself as a loyal citizen of Elbonia, you do whatever the King of Elbonia tells you to do, no matter how stupid that is. And your mind invents reasons as to why dying is a perfectly good life strategy.

I guess I got the answer to why people stick to a company inspite of having a horrid experience there...


Answer to prejudice...

Given below is a mail written by a North Indian who got posted in Chennai...
From: Ankur.Rathi@cognizantxxx.com [ Not giving out the exact email id ]
Sent: Monday, March 05, 2007 5:11 PM
Subject: Chennai Update

Hi friends,

This is a live update from chennai.

Language - Tamil, tamil and tamil. Even if they know hindi, they dont speak up.
People - We never heard anyone laughing here (I wonder if they ever laugh or shout) So conservative, that noone talks even in the bus
Food - Idly, sambhar, rice, dosa, vada, pongal. We have to cook our food ourselves (unbelievable naa).
Weather - summer from october to feb and rest of the year it's deadly summer.
Lesiure - TV, dormitery, dirty sea beaches on weekends
Rent - 6.5 K / 1 BHK
Advance - 6 months
Aata - Rs. 26 /kg
Apple - Rs 100 /kg
Orange - Rs. 10/piece
Banana - Rs 3 /piece
Mausmi Juice -Rs 18 /glass
Jeans Dryclean - Rs.40
Phulka - Rs. 8 (idly also Rs.8)

Interesting facts and incidents :
1. Here you cannot buy a needle after 6 PM (strange).
2. We asked an auto driver, "hindi aati hai"?. He replied in hindi "Hindi nahi aati".
3. The most common suffix here is 'a', e.g.
straight - straighta
2 cup tea - 2 cupa tea
4. Even dogs eat curd rice.
5. In north, names are like Gori Shankar, gauri prasad etc. Here the names are like Kaliraj, kalicharan etc.
6. When there is a 't' in any name, they add 'h' to it.
jayant - jayanth
bharat - bharath
7. Here is a culture of adding mystical alphabets after ones's name, like Mahesh R, Sandeep T etc.
8. Cable connection is of no use here as only tamil channels are broadcasted on cable TV, if anyone wanna watch hindi channels then you need to buy a set up box (Rs.4000).
9. Cognizant navallur office is actually not in chennai, it comes under a district called Chengalpet which is 51 kms from main city.
10. Once we saw a girl in the food court, she was looking and acting like a north indian. My friend became exited and planned to talk to her, but just then we noticed her breakfast and then "dil ke armaan aansuon mein beh gaye", she was having pongal. (disguise!!)
11.How dare anyone come to chennai : Cognizant Chennai MCity comes under SEZ(special economic zone), swap and transfers from here are not possible.
12. No life after 9 PM.
13. No need to worry for Tsunami, because noone will be left to cry on your grave.

Bye Bye (waiting for banglore, pune, hyderabad update)

Thanks and Regards,
ANKUR

Given below is the Answer to that mail...

From: Cheryle Mariam Jacob
Sent: Wed 3/7/2007 10:44 AM
Subject: RE: Chennai Update

See i think a few things are pretty true here...But most of it are just mere exaggeration. He has just written all his effusive frustration here..!! I live here in bangalore, and trust me its much more expensive than wht he thinks.. i have lived in Chennai and Bangalore, and in Kerala, so i do know the difference between most of the places in South India.. Chennai is supposed to be the second cheapest metropolitan city after Calcutta and any other cities in India.

Language - Tamil, tamil and tamil. Even if they know hindi, they dont speak up.

For your Kind information, nobody knows Hindi here. Only non-tamilians living in Chennai take Hindi (like me) while most of them take French. And excluding the non-localites, people converse in ENGLISH.

People - We never heard anyone laughing here (I wonder if they ever laugh or shout). So conservative, that noone talks even in the bus.

They are not conservative damn it...ALL INDIANS are like that..!! The same happens in Bangalore, Hyderabad or Pune..U dont strike a coversation with a stranger out of the blue..!!

Food - Idly, sambhar, rice, dosa, vada, pongal. We have to cook our food ourselves (unbelievable naa).

Excuse' Moi ..!! When i went to the north (not specifying which place), me being a south-indian, had a tough time, hunting for some good rice to eat, because all i got was Aloo Paratha, Aloo Gobi, Gobi Manchurian, Aloo Muttor, Aloo Roast etc.. Wonder if they invented Aloo Juice.. Each of them have their own culture for taste and sense..!! So dont blame any place.

Weather - summer from october to feb and rest of the year it's deadly summer.

Damn it, dont tell me you would complain that it dint rain or snow in Sahara when you where there..!! Oh please, for heaven sake, each area has a difference in climate. India is not small as u get to see in the world map.

Lesiure - TV, dormitery, dirty sea beaches on weekends

Hahahaa....Atleast you get to see a beach buddy..!!

Rent - 6.5 K / 1 BHK

Do you know the size of the rooms?? They would be huge. I pay 7K for a 1BHK, that is just as big as my bathroom in Chennai..!!

Advance - 6 months

Buddy, i pay an adavnce of 11 months.. !! So who is to blame??

Aata - Rs. 26 /kg
Apple - Rs 100 /kg
Orange - Rs. 10/piece
Banana - Rs 3 /piece
Mausmi Juice -Rs 18 /glass
Jeans Dryclean - Rs.40
Phulka - Rs. 8 (idly also Rs.8)

Hahahaaa..!! Pillsbury Aata costs the same all over India dear..!! Sorry these things dont worth an argument..

1. Here you cannot buy a needle after 6 PM (strange)
God give me a break..!!

2. We asked an auto driver, "hindi aati hai"?. He replied in hindi "Hindi nahi aati".
Buddy, thats the only thing they would have learnt in Hindi..!! For heaven sake, stop having false impressions that hindi is our National Language..!! It isnt..i have no time for this argument again..!! I never knew they speak Tamil in Delhi or Bombay..!! So why Hindi in Chennai..!! Use a more worldy used language, ENGLISH.

3. The most common suffix here is 'a', e.g.
straight - straighta
2 cup tea - 2 cupa tea
Yes, like the way you'll pronunce, thirty (therty as thartty) and fourteen (forteen as farteen)..!! Somebody stop me..!!

4. Even dogs eat curd rice.
Atleast they get to eat something, not starved to death.. and yeah, less stray dogs, that they would be famished and start feeding on children.

5. In north, names are like Gori Shankar, gauri prasad etc. Here the names are like Kaliraj, kalicharan etc.
What else do what us to name?? Elvis Presley or Brad Pitt?? Atleast Elizabeth Hurly or Angelina Jolie never asked you, why your name was Gauri Prasad..!!

6. When there is a 't' in any name, they add 'h' to it.
jayant - jayanth
bharat - bharath
Well, in Hindi you wrtie 'Ta' as t, and in Tamil we write 'Tha' as Th..!! Dont find faults with such silly matters.

8. Here is a culture of adding mystical alphabets after ones's name, like Mahesh R, Sandeep T etc.
Sorry, instead to keeping 'Abhishek Anandkumar Khare' or 'Sunaina Swapan Teja', we just name them as 'Abhishek A.K' and 'Sunaina S.T'

9. Cable connection is of no use here as only tamil channels are broadcasted on cable TV, if anyone wanna watch hindi channels then you need to buy a set up box (Rs.4000).
Hahaha...You guys where the ones who started making a big fuss about making Hindi Channels as paid Channels...we never wanted to watch Hindi here, so who cares.. Nobody uses STB (Set Top Box), Tamilians watch all south-indian languages for free..!!

10. Cognizant navallur office is actually not in chennai, it comes under a district called Chengalpet which is 51 kms from main city.
Escuse me..!! Hahaha..!! Infosys or any other office in Bangalore, in Electronics City, is actually in Hosur Road..!! Dont expect Narayan Moorthy to build such a huge campus in the heart of the city..!! Ask questions that make sense..!!

11. Once we saw a girl in the food court, she was looking and acting like a north indian. My friend became exited and planned to talk to her, but just then we noticed her breakfast and then "dil ke armaan aansuon mein beh gaye", she was having pongal. (disguise!!)
I saw a cute south-indian guy...But what??? Ohhh..!! Shucks, he is having Aloo Paratha :'(

12.How dare anyone come to chennai : Cognizant Chennai MCity comes under SEZ(special economic zone), swap and transfers from here are not possible.
Be in Chennai learn something here, so that you could live anywhere in the world and stop making a upheaval with small matters of life.. They sent u here, so that u learn :)

13. No life after 9 PM.
Do u know what life is than just going to Disco's and Pubs?? Partying and Boozing??

14. No need to worry for Tsunami, because none will be left to cry on your grave.
Atleast we wont sit and fight among ourselves, shoot or die cause of bomb blast..Oh Boy, i want to look sweet when i die, dont wanna look like a roasted chicken ;)

No offence meant in this mail.. But just wanted to let you noe that DON’T BELIEVE ALL ARE TRUE.

I live in Bangalore, and I do love this place, and I would love it anywhere I live..!! Learn to adjust, and not to make a big riot over static things in the world..!!

Best Regards,
Cheryle Jacob
Software Engineer @ REU Bangalore
REUD, Infosys Technologies Limited.

My two pence on this... It is a narration of two incidents that I witnessed in Bangalore...

Incident A:
Venue: A shop in Commercial Street, Bangalore.

I'm checking out the shoes that are displayed in the shop. A couple standing next to me are busy discussing and examining the type of footwear they need to buy for some ceremony. They finally select one and approach the sales boy. The lady shoots some question in “extra-fluent-hindi”. The sales boy doesn't understand her and blurts something in puzzlement. That doesn’t go well with her. So she choose to shout at the sales-boy: “Aap ko Hindi nahi aati??!!” (Don’t you know Hindi??!!). The sales-boy continues to grin in an attempt to pacify his customer.

Now… there was something special in that shout of hers. It had the arrogance that expected and demanded a sales-boy from Karnataka to know Hindi!!! Imagine her going to France and shouting like that to a French sales-boy.

Incident B:
Venue: A bus trip to Cauvery Fishing Camp

The driver tunes to an FM station. Sweet kannada music starts flowing from the speaker. The guy sitting in front of me starts getting restless. After a few seconds he stands up, rushes to the driver and asks “Koi Hindi gana nahi suna sakte??!!” (Can’t you put some Hindi Song??!!) The driver tries to comply to his “request”. He tunes to different channels. But almost all were broadcasting kannada music. The guy exasperates: “Arae band karo yaar!” (Please stop it!)

I took a look around. There were many kannadigas in the bus. None responded. I tried hard to picturise this guy in Germany, shouting at a German Driver who has tuned to a German Music Station.

Why don't parents teach their kids the importance of values??!! Perhaps the parents are less educated to inculcate it in their kids. This is coroborated in the HDI studies of India.

PS: I'm a non-kannadiga



March 20, 2007

Art for sale...

The art work given below is for sale. Any interested folks can contact me... ;-)




The artist - my niece - with her master piece :-)


March 08, 2007

Quotable quotes...

Women, no offence meant. Got the following interesting and funny one liners...
By all means marry. If you get a good wife, you'll be happy. If you get a bad one, you'll become a philosopher.

Woman inspires us to great things, and prevents us from achieving them.

The great question... which I have not been able to answer... is, "What does a woman want? **

Two secrets to keep your marriage brimming
1. Whenever you're wrong, admit it,
2. Whenever you're right, shut up. **

If you want your wife to listen and pay strict attention to every word you say, talk in your sleep.

Married life is very frustrating! In the first year of marriage, the man speaks and the woman listens. In the second year, the woman speaks and the man listens. In the third year, they both speak and the neighbours listen.

When a man opens the door of his car for his wife, you can be sure of one thing: Either the car is new or the wife is.
Happy Women's day...
Happy World Kidney day...


March 06, 2007

Cruelty

The links given below are truly truly disturbing! Open those links at your own risk. It is about the cruelty against dogs and cats.

Extremely disturbing links!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vfHnGc1WeQs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NoL8QPzaLM8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IaXmRSvn2Oo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KjiNMZxqd9I
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v8ooOHBN6uk

But... what captured my attention was another link. Click here to see it. It is a video on dog-eating captured by a Caucasian. The subtle sarcasm is conspicuous. Hello Mr. Caucasian, let us reverse the role for a while and think! Do the vegetarian-Indians make fun of you for eating your staple diet - beef? NO... right? Similarly please stop making fun of the Chinese for eating dogs! That is their culture. Learn to respect it!



I HATE...

"I HATE it when people look at me that way"
"I HATE it when THAT happens"
"I HATE it when THIS happens"
"I HATE when bla bla bla..."

Have you not heard some people using the word HATE here-and-there in their conversation? Have you...? I have! Sometimes I wonder if 'HATE' is leading such people's life.. and not 'LOVE'! Do these folks realize the negative impact they create in their own mind and others'? Perhaps not. Perhaps they don't realize that 'HATE' is the opposite of 'LOVE' - a feeling that is considered to be the best of all the lot! Which would imply that, they don’t realize that ‘HATE’ is the worst of all the feelings! And by using that word here-and-there they are proclaiming to the whole world that they are filled with that 'worst feeling'. Gosh!

Using the word HATE without second thoughts is like using the word FUCK. Keep using 'FUCK' here-and-there and see (a) how your behavior changes over a period of time and (b) how people start approaching you in a different way (negative way of course). Same is the case with 'HATE' or as a matter of fact, any negative words. So... if you are a person who is addicted to using negative words esp. HATE or FUCK, please try not to do so. Else people like me will run away from you...

Before signing off… here's one video clip for you… which you may NOT HATE. :-)




March 05, 2007

EDI report and the trap

Kerala topped again! This time in Educational Development Index (EDI). [ I have appended this info to my previous blog: "A peek into HDI" ]

After reading the news item the question that came to my mind was: is Kerala aware of the trap laid? Are the foolish Kerala politicians going to rejoice the "sabashi"; ignore the trap and demand nothing from the Center?

The news item states: "In its action-taken report, the Ministry said that as much as 51 per cent of the total outlays under the SSA had been allocated in 2006-07 to Bihar, UP, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan which have been treated as Special Focus States."

I would read that statement as: "More money for the cow-belt-states that underperformed; and less money for Kerala"! Is this fair? Was it due to the Center funding that Kerala made huge strides in education? NO! Has the Center given sufficient support to Kerala to let it achieve this enviable position? NO! On the contrary the Center has created hurdles for the state. Forgot incidents like moving out the IIT prospect from the Kerala platter?

Kerala Politicians awake! Go and ask the Center: "Why penalize us for performing well? Give us more funds"

PS: I'm no "kattarvadi". Just pointing out the trap.


BSNL STD Locking...

A few days back I figured out that BSNL has blessed my phone with STD facility without me requesting for it!! That perhaps explained why my Feb BSNL bill shot up to Rs 1505/- !! I suspected unsolicited outgoing calls. With the resolve to get the STD facility 'locked' I dialled +91 80 25701000 - my exchange's help desk on these matters. The lady at the other end guided me with some instructions. As and when she was guiding me, I thought "This info could be there in the net". I did a google and to my joy saw those instructions in the net. Here it goes...





































FUNCTION


E10B & OCB Exchanges DIAL


EWSD Exchanges DIAL


i) Password Registration


123 xxxx xxxx


xxxx :dial twice you r4 digit

password


123 0000 xxxx

xxxx : your 4 digit

password


ii) Allow all Calls


124 xxxx 0


iii) Bar only STD Calls


124 xxxx 1


iv) Bar STD Trunk (180) & Internet (172) Calls


124 xxxx 2


v) Allow NSD, Cellular, Local & Trunk Calls


124 xxxx 3


vi) Bar all Out going Calls



124 xxxx 4


vii) Allow Local but Bar Cellular Calls


124 xxxx 5


viii) Change your Password


123 xxxx yyyy Where, xxxx : Existing Password & yyyy : New Password.


March 04, 2007

Black Friday

Watched the movie Black Friday. I liked it quite a bit. After watching the movie I did some googling to know more about Rakesh Maria. I hit upon this article that has his statement on the recent Bombay Blasts (25-Aug-2003). Words of wisdom gained from his experience:
Unlike the 1993 serial blasts in which the underworld was used to plant 12 bombs that killed over 250 people, these blasts are performed by a different brand of people, says Maria. There is a rapidly growing list of men - and now women - who are committed to a cause and will do whatever it takes for that. They are not paid to do the work. These men are in fact well-educated and have held good jobs. For instance, of the 23 who have been arrested in connection with the recent explosions, five are engineers, three are doctors, two are doctorate holders, one is a Master of Business Administration and another is studying for his doctorate. "We need to understand what society is doing to make these people resort to this form of terror," says Rakesh Maria.
I'm sure the communalist political leaders of India will laugh at his statement...

Rakesh Maria



Blind Pride

In today's TOI, Shashi Taroor said: "Nor that depicting Indians, who as a people rank amongst the most hospitable on earth to foreigners of any kind, as being neither welcoming not courteous but positively nasty to strangers, is unfair and untrue: it both promotes xenophobia and denies our true national character". He was commenting on the Nimbus World Cup Ad controversy.

I don’t think one can generalize Indians as the "MOST hospitable"! Take a look at the auto rickshaw walas. The moment they see foreigners only one thing runs in their mind: how to con them and strip them off their money. Look at the govt. boards placed in popular tourist destinations: the entry fee for foreigners will be 10 times that of Indians!

Pride should be based on facts. Overlooking facts won't help much. Will it?


Naadi Astrology

The first time I heard about Naadi astrology from a good friend of mine I was surprised. She was well educated, ambitious and forward looking. Why does she believe in this so blindly? May be because the Naadi Shastra predicted that she will settle abroad and will be very rich. Girls fall for it. Who would want to deny the imagination of a prosperous future?

I came across Naadi, the second time, through a blog. It was about how a guy conned a Naadi astrologer and made him predict wrong! Unfortunately I don't have that link with me. (I had forwarded that link to my Naadi-believer-friend.)

Why am I mentioning this today? In today's TOI I came across this news item which talks about a customer suing his Naadi astrologer! Cool!


"Reckless trekking" unwound

In one of my previous posts I had mentioned about reckless trekking. One of the diseased guys mentioned in the post - Teja - happened to be a friend of my friend. As per my friend (who is a seasoned trekker) Teja was a trekking guru. He thinks there is little chance of Teja getting lost in that forest; esp. during the summer season. Teja had led many trekking teams into dense forests and that forest is not that tough for seasoned trekkers. My friend suspects a homicide. Whatever it be... I hope the soul of the diseased will rest in peace.


When not to download your mentation (Part II)

Sometime back I had written "when-not-to-download-your-mentation".

Here's one case study...

When we joined MBI we were put up in Le Meridian Hotel for the 1st week. There we met this gentleman called Krishna who loved talking to young lads. And those days we were young :-) So Krishna was glad to see us. He befriended us and started speaking his heart out. He enquired about our hobbies and we babbled something. For courtesy sake we asked him his hobby and he said "trekking". He started talking about trekking and went on to describe the best place he has ever trekked. That place happened to be near to our college. He got excited and started describing the trek and the place: "This place comes after Pookode lake. You will have to trudge up the hill; a difficult walk; and then descend a bit; and there you will see this BEAUTIFUL green-clad lake in the shape of a heart - the most serene scene I have ever seen!". We all listened… and after a while left to our respective rooms...

In the room, my friend Sandy started mocking Krishna, imitating his description about the place. I was amused at Sandy's skill to imitate Krishna and joined the other gang in laughing and ridiculing Krishna. We were young, inexperienced, and unaware how to appreciate what Krishna had said. We had no doubts that Krishna was boasting out of hubris trying to project himself as an adventurous cool guy.

Years passed.

We started getting interested in hobbies like... Trek. My friends got a chance to go to a place called Chembra. Somehow I couldn’t make it with them. They had a nice trek; were excited to be at Chembra; came back and described to me that place! Their description rang the bell in me. It met what Krishna had mentioned years ago. I asked them where Chembra is located. They said it is near Pookode lake!

Question: Was Krishna wrong in sharing his experience with a bunch of young foolish lads? Shouldn't he NOT download his mentation amongst the wrong audience?



March 03, 2007

Submission and Innocence

Submission and innocence can disarm one’s opponent from his/her anger and ego; and win his/her heart completely. Isn't that why people love kids? Isn’t their submission and innocence that plays the trick?


On carrying rotten stuffs...

What will happen if you go to bed with a small-tiny-little piece of bad thought/feeling? And, on the following day, carry it for a few hours?

Like bad things, bad thoughts/feelings rot! It will rot in your mind. And your mind will catch its rotten smell. You can't go around unnoticed wearing foul-smelling rotten socks. Can you?

So... what is the solution? Vent it out? Vent out the bad feeling/thought? Will it not pollute the surrounding? Will it not affect the folks around you?

What can be the solution then? How about destroying the foul smell within your mind? Why not eliminate the bad thought/feelings? Is it easy to ‘eliminate’ ‘it’?


The Lake House Riddle

Were you able to interpret the ending of the movie - "The Lake House"? I took it as a riddle! There could be two (or maybe more) interpretations of the ending. I believe the 1st one, given below, makes more sense.

Interpretation 1: Kate dashes to the lake house hopping to save Alex. She puts the note in the mailbox and waits... and waits... to realize that she can't get Alex back! That he is already dead! She is heart broken and... she dies there... on that spot. Her soul doesn't realize that she is dead. And so it continues the wait till Alex (Alex's soul of course) steps in and hugs her.

Interpretation 2: Caveat: This interpretation can have lots of loopholes as I'm trying to patch the inherent flaw of the storyline, which is, resurrecting Alex - a tough ask. But for those who love happy endings, I guess this might be acceptable...: When Alex realizes that Kate won't talk to him, he plots a plan. As per the plan he gives the key of the lake house to Kate's boy friend. This he did to make sure that he is constantly there in her mind. Once that was done he wanted 'sympathy' to do the rest of the job - he wanted her to think that he is dead! So that... 'guilt' would turn her into him. For that he decides against turning up at Il Mare (the restaurant) in 2006. And in 2008, he tells his younger brother to tell all the customers - who enquires about him - that he is dead. When Kate learned about Alex's death (false death) she is heart broken. Guilt and love makes her rush out from Henry's office. She reaches the lake house to meet... ALEX! Da..Da.. Happy Ending!


A peek into HDI

Bumped into this link that has India's Human Development Index (HDI) Report... The report looks very professional. Some of the graphs and tables of the report are given below.

As expected, Kerala was on the top. I was particularly interested in Uttar Pradesh. Mainly because a good friend of mine hails from that State. I wanted to know what the report talks about these two states. Some excerpts are given below...
"At the State level, Chandigarh, Delhi, Kerala, Punjab and Himachal Pradesh were among the States with better HDI at both points of time. States like Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Orissa were at the other end. In fact, in the early eighties, these States had HDI close to half that of Kerala. The rural-urban gap in the HDI was the least in case of Kerala."

"The gap between Kerala and next best State, i.e. Punjab remains quite significant, though it has declined. By and large the States maintained their relative position between 1981 and 2001."

"In general, women were better off in Southern India than in the Indo-Gangetic plain, comprising mainly the States of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh."

"The inter-State differences in the HPI (Human Poverty Index) are quite striking. It was in the range of 55-60 per cent in the early eighties for the worse off States, namely, Orissa, Bihar, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam and Uttar Pradesh, and between 32-35 per cent in the better off States like Kerala, Punjab and Himachal Pradesh."


Intrigued by this report I started googling more on HDI and got the following excerpts from Hindu Business Online...
"Explaining the conundrum of why accelerated income growth has not propelled India into a faster poverty reduction track, the HDR says that extreme poverty is concentrated in the rural areas of the northern poverty-belt States including Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal, while income growth has been most dynamic in other States, urban areas and service sectors."

"There is a chronic under-provisioning of health services in high-mortality northern States, which is linked to unaccountable State-level governance structures. Not surprisingly, four States — Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh — account for more than half the child deaths. These States are also marked by some of the deepest gender inequalities."

"Fifteen years after universal childhood immunisation was introduced, National Health Surveys suggest that only 42 per cent of children are fully immunised. The coverage is lowest in States with highest child death rates and less than 20 per cent in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. This is indeed a sorry state of affairs and needs urgent attention."

"For instance, the largest number of hospitals and dispensaries without doctors or medicines, primary schools without proper buildings, regular teachers or even black-boards are in Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Orissa."
Some from The Tribune...
"Interestingly, in India there exists massive regional variations in the development parameters, implying that there are pockets within the country which compare with the riches (Kerala vis-a-vis USA) and parts of Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar which are comparable with the sub-Saharan standards."

“Still, a number of areas appear to have been excluded from these trends, particularly along the Pakistani and Nepalese border. Furthermore, gaps in literacy between low social classes and the rest of the population remain extremely high, particularly in the poorest states — Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar — and in Karnataka”
And from UNDP...
"Kerala has stood apart from the Indian experience in both education and health, achieving social development levels that are close to those found in the rich developed countries.Kerala has been a model state for some time in terms of human development not only for India but for the developing world as a whole."

"Only the state of Kerala records achievements in health that are better than not only the rest of India but also the rest of the developing world and often at par with the Western developed countries."

"Among the fourteen major states, Kerala has always stood out as a star in terms of social development"

"In the poorest states, especially the states of Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh which comprise what are known as the BIMARU (‘sick’) states and Orissa, very high rates of poverty incidence are human failures rather than lack of natural resources."

"Low levels of literacy, as depicted by the light yellow colored districts are concentrated in Rajasthan, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Orissa."
National Family Health Survey-III from TOI...
"The latest National Family Health Survey-III Bihar topped the list of women abused at home. It is followed by Rajasthan (46.3%), Madhya Pradesh (45.8%), Tripura (44.1%), Manipur (43.9%), Uttar Pradesh (42.4%), TN (41.9%), West Bengal (40.3%) and Arunachal Pradesh (38.8%). Kerala, with 16.4%, was not at the bottom of the list. Himachal took that spot."
Human Resource Development Ministry's Educational Development Index (EDI) from IBN Live...
"Having earned the distinction of being the most literate state, Kerala has also topped the list of states in providing better primary and upper primary education."

"The report presented to Parliament last week said Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Jharkhand were still have to go a long way to bring every child to school."
Sometimes, when 'certain' people from these 'sick' states (mentioned above) behave in a snobbish and 'sick' manner, I used to wonder why they do so. After reading articles on HDI, perhaps I have an answer to it...




Wah Ustad... !

On 2-Mar-07, Ustad Amjad Ali Khan and Ustad Zakir Hussain performed live in Bangalore. This was after a span of 12 years! Given below is one 'jhalkiya' of the 'jugal bandhi'... Enjoy!