Government has the right to kill you if you are 'Ordinary'!

Another proof of the 'world class quality' is revealed with the collapse of suspension pedestrian over-bridge at the venue, Jawahar Lal Nehru Stadium a couple of days ago in New Delhi. Strangely no one seems to be accountable to it.
Public works minister told the reporters that the bridge was meant exclusively for athletes and officials. But later Delhi CM Sheila Dikshit played it down saying that the over-bridge was meant for ordinary spectators.
What a shame, for a chief minister to say those words. Does it mean that this Public works department is not concerned about the safety of ordinary people. It has right to kill anyone who is 'ordinary'. Or are the lives of ordinary people so worthless? It is nothing but the crass insensitivity of the people in power.
God save India with such people at power.

Environmental Friendly Vinayaka Idol

We have been celebrating Vinayaka Chaturthi with fervor at home as well at community level for years. There has been a steady evolution of idols.

Years ago we used to install an idol made of plaster of Paris, painted with synthetic colours. As my environmental consciousness has increased, we changed to an idol made of clay. This year there has been a talk of idols made of paper. Taking a leaf out of the environmental friendly book, we too have performed puja to a "green" Vinayaka this year. It is made of dough. All credits to my better-half for making it.

Here are the pictures of the 'Dough Vinayaka'.

This picture is taken before performing puja, Vinayaka sitting in palm.



This one after we performed puja.

The 'Aam Admi' Ministers

The PMO a few days ago made public the ministers' assets and liabilities giving over 400 pages of complete details filed by the elected representatives. It took PMO a year after, Subhash Chandra Agrawal, a RTI activist, filed an application regarding the assets and liabilities of Cabinet Ministers.

It has proved that India is ideal place which gives equal opportunity to all. Even aam admi can win in general elections and become an MP and then become Minister.

According to the reply to the RTI request :
1) Commerce minister Anand Sharma's personal wealth is Rs.26,741
2) Food Processing minister Subodh Kant Sahai has assets of Rs.1.4 lakh
3) Urban Development Minister S.Jaipal Reddy's assets are worth just Rs.3.3 lakhs
4) The Renewable Energy Minister, Farooq Abdullah, maintains his flamboyant lifestyle with Rs.6.5 lakhs assets.

These are only a few of such great revelations. It is no secret that their assets are registered in the names of wives and children , and may be 'loyal dogs'.
Why don't they own large assets? or Why do they hide them? What do they fear if it is not ill-gotten wealth?

All this is nothing but a big mockery perpetuated by people at highest level. They are in fact showing the asli aam admi's the path to take.

Honey, Who Shrunk the Soap Cake!

So many things in our daily life go unnoticed. We do not pay attention to these because we take them for granted. I will give an account of what I have observed.

For some time I was wondering why the soap cakes at home are getting finished sooner. I have been using the same brand of soap 'M' for almost a decade and a half with the exception of a couple of weeks in between. Long ago these were available in 75gm (small) and 150gm (big). I cannot say much about smaller ones, but the weight of the bigger one is reduced to 125 gm and the price increased, may be a couple of years ago. When I go to shop I ask for 'big', I thought I am buying 125gm ones. Off late I have been observing that they are not lasting the same no. of days they used to. When I looked on the pack it is written 125g with a check box ticked. I was wondering if the composition in the soap is changed that it gets worn off quickly. Or is it the rats that started eating them mistaking them to be candy?

I understood why it was happening only when I read what is written on wrapper. And it was written in a very small font. The reason is that the soap is not weighing 125g as mentioned prominently, but weighing less : it is actually 113g.

May be the changed economics or competition with other brands or whatever it be that these companies are facing that they employ such tricks, the fact is I got less than what I thought I was getting.

When I looked at other brands the same thing is happening. And if it goes on like this, the soap gets smaller and smaller, may come in the size of match box. But still the weight mentioned as 125g, without people ever raising an eyebrow.

People are more interested in IPL and soap shows than to know what is happening around us that concern our lives. No one is really bothered. Then why should I?

Categories of people based on 'Knowledge'

I have read this some where which I felt would be good to share with others. Perhaps told in so many different ways that I do not know if the wordings are same or not. I am presenting it as I understood. Sorry that I forgot to mug things up and reproduce them word to word long ago.

Based on knowledge people can be divided into four categories. People who :
1) know that they know
2) do not know that they know
3) know that they do not know and
4) do not know that they do not know.

When you come across the first category, it would be good to just follow them. When you meet someone belonging to second category, try to make him/her to know that he/she knows . People belonging to this category are capable of doing miracles. Third category person needs to be taught. If you know more then teach him/her.

And what about the fourth category!

When you meet anyone belonging to the last category : RUN AWAY! JUST RUN AWAY and be as far away as possible from him/her. That person is certainly going to put you in trouble.

Reducing Carbon Footprint : A Small Step

Milk is stored are at temperature below 10 degree Celsius for longer shelf life. A lot of energy is wasted if it is heated directly from that temperature. So when I want to heat it, I take the sachets out of fridge and give sufficient time for the milk to reach the room temperature. This I do either by putting the sachets in a bucket of water or by just leaving them to open air for some time.

Let me put the calculation of fuel saved by this. Assuming the properties of milk to be same as those of water, 1 gm of LPG is required for raising the temperature of 1 liter of milk by 1 degree Celsius. So if we let 1 liter of milk to gain 10 degrees by the above method we are actually saving 10 gm of LPG. It may appear too small to care for, but in long run it helps in increasing the life of LPG cylinder.

We have been following this at home for a long long time. It's not difficult. Only a little bit of planning is required.

Carbon Footprint

The name is self-explanatory. It is the green house gases that are left behind because of the activities that we do. Every activity that we do ultimately leads to increase of carbon dioxide and other green house gases. These heat up earth causing a lot of imbalances whose effects are far ranging, all increasing misery for every one.

I believe anyone who understands the above mentioned sentences should be putting some effort to reduce the 'Carbon Footprint'. The readers of my blog will come across many tips, which I follow, to reduce energy consumption without affecting our daily lives. Some may feel they are inconsequential. Some may laugh at the ideas but I leave it to their judgment. I just don't care.

Blog About Everything.

My interest is in everything that concerns my life and the people around me. The blog topics can be environment, economy, education, hobbies or books, just anything and everything under the sun. One on the nice thing that I like about internet is it gives so much freedom to express myself - right or wrong. The reach it gives is immense and I need not be that much bothered if it is read by anyone else or not. I JUST DON'T CARE.