Juicy Bytes

we are a hungry country

2010-02-17T10:49:00.000-08:00

Baawara introduced me to Malthusian Catostrophe, it basically states that once the population growth has outpaced the food production growth over a sufficient period of time the human's will be forced to return to survival techniques (hunting and gathering etc). The Malthusian essay also talked about the impact of this phenomena on the limits of economic growth.

These conversations encouraged me to do some research on how India is doing on this front, given the fact that our agri sector has not been doing too well. The land holdings are getting smaller, productivity is falling even in Punjab, which has comparatively large land holdings and seems more oriented to technology aided farming. The data that I got hold of food availability is shocking. Here are some facts

1. Per capita availability of food grains has drastically decreased from 495 grams
per capita per day (1989) to 422 grams per capita per day (2005).
2 Cereal intake of the economically poor (bottom 30% of the population) continues
to be disproportionately low compared to the cereal intake of the economically
better off (top 30% of the population).
3 The cereal intake of the economically poor has continued to decrease: In 1993
cereal intake was 12kg per month and by 2005 it had fallen to 11.3 kg.
4 Unemployment among agricultural labour households has sharply increased from 9.5%
in 1993-94 to 15.3% in 2004-05(Planning Commission 2006).
5 Between 1998 and 2006 there was virtually no change in the statistic that 47% per
cent of children (0-3 years old) were underweight.
6 More than 50% of women and 75% of children in India are anemic (no decline in
eight years).
7 A pregnant Indian woman gains only 5kg, whereas the world average gain is 10 kg,
This is a leading cause of babies being dangerously underweight, and high infant
and mother mortality rates.

Have not been able to dig more recent data, but am not sure how different it will be. More to come.

@Prasanth dude try to exprience hunger once and than u will get the answer to ur questions of So What?

Remembering Tank Man

2009-06-04T06:54:00.000-07:00

Psychophants Unlimited

2009-04-13T23:10:00.000-07:00

I think that flattery is so strongly ingrained in our DNA that it refuses to go away. The "mai baap" mentality from which most of us suffer is so blatantly obvious that people accept and applaud it. A few events that have led me to this hypothesis

1. Impact probe from Chandrayaan hitting the moon surface on 14th November

2. Indian media obsession with the question "When will Rahul Gandhi become the prime minister?"

3. The way ppl fawn at Priyanka Gandhi and make every two bit she utters into a breaking news. In another nation I bet she would have had a hard time getting on a news channel unless she was caught shop lifting or driving drunk. Times of India is running this story on its home page. ( Someone is describing Priyanka's 5 & 7 year olds as born charmers, well someone should tell this person every kid in that age is a charmer and the paper should note that these children are not "Gandhi's" they are "Vadera's", hardly the 5th Generation Gandhi's news paper report claims. The reporter I guess was too busy being charmed by the kids rather than paying attention to factual details)

4. Constituiencies voting MP's from same family in each election

5. Every third road in this country is named after a politician, most of them not worth the concrete on which their name is written today.

There are a host of other incidents where I have seen this phenomena unfold right in front of my eyes. Students sucking up to mediocre teachers, interview candidates flattering prospective employers, hell sometimes there is not even a positive outcome expected people just doing it so they don't lose the habit of flattering others.

Sometimes i am able to laugh it off, but most of the times incidents like these leave me bewildered, thinking if I should join the gang or watch them engage in this orgy.

Youngsters in Politics

2009-03-31T13:52:00.000-07:00

I don't know the break up of the Lok Sabha hopefuls by age group, but it would not surprise me if a big majority of them are like over 50 yrs in age. The second hypothesis that I am putting forward is that most of the under 40 yrs candidates have a political legacy running in the family. They are like lesser versions of Rahul, Varun, Jai, Sachin, Jyotiraje etc etc. all but who did not screw up like Rahul Mahajan.

US Toxic Asset Buy Back

2009-03-30T07:18:00.000-07:00

US buy back of toxic assests is turning out to be the largest ever government investment plan, with the US government now planning to buy approximately $1.2 trillion worth of toxic assets (not all of this money will come from the governement, they are planning to fool some private investors into this as well). I understand the need for this measure, but this also points to a desperation on part of the US government to artificially prop up some financial institutions that are not healthy enough to survive. The policy makers in US smoothly transitioned from being staunch capitalists to socialists in a span of about 11 months. As a result of these actions the countries worldwide now feel that US is no longer the role model when it comes to managing the financial makets and economy. In the forth coming G-20 summit we will see loud calls from some countries for more say in how the global financial makets work. Countries across the world are sitting up and taking notice of the fact that US will be running budget deficits for sometime to come (some estimates put the budget deficit at $500 billion in 2013, with no balanced budget in sight for a long time to come). Russia and China are already talking about the idea of a new global reserve currency.
Here are a few observations about the plan

US government seems to be putting in good money to buy bad money
US governemnt did not let free markets work as it selectively propped up sick
US dollar could lose its status as a global currency as a result of this plan
US government will enjoy disproportionate power over the private sector players receiving government money for some years to come (GM CEO was made to resign today)

Whats interesting in this huge plan is that the governement does not seem to have any idea of the timeline, ask them by when they expect a turn around and u will see blank faces. Heads are gonna start rolling all around if we dont see some positive indicators in the next 6-8 months or so.

Healing a wound by burying the ghost

2008-12-15T11:27:00.000-08:00

we buried the ghosts of 1999 today as the master provided us with balm

Feeling Helpless

2008-12-02T20:58:00.000-08:00

Am still to recover from the scenes of mindless violence in Mumbai. What has shocked me is the sheer cold-blooded manner in which innocent lives were cut short. Its one thing placing a bomb and leaving the place before the mayhem strikes, its another thing killing people and spending good 60 hours in the place where the victims lifeless bodies are littered. Not to say that bombings are better or worse than shooting incidents.

How do you fight these people who are devoid of remorse or guilt? Voice of reason does not seem to be an answer because these people seem to have a very different value system. Detection and prevention of such incidents is tough given the state of our political, intelligence and law enforcement agencies. An armchair enthusiast can come up with a plan to fight this menace but whatever said I find it very hard to be optimistic about fighting this new age terror in the light of systemic deficiencies that plague India

Highly unstable and weak governments in all neighboring countries (Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Nepal),
Large disenfranchised population in India
Multicolored social and religious fabric
Low IQ law enforcement personnel
Centralized power structure
Politicians interested in only guarding power and making money

The list goes on. For once i don't see light at the end of the tunnel. We are all safe until one dark day we find ourselves in middle of something like 26/11.

Rabbit Proof Fence

2008-11-18T10:48:00.000-08:00

Just finished watching this amazing movie. Based on a true story from 1930's in Australia, its a story of three young girls (8-14 years) who escaped from government run camp where native Australian girls were "protected against themselves" and trained to work as domestic helps in white households. Not to add the fact that these children were converted to Christianity. The government used to snatch these kids from their parents and put them in the camps. This practice continued until as recently as 1970 and Hayden calls India a "third world country".

2008-11-10T08:13:00.001-08:00

"You are locked into your suffering and your pleasures are the seal"

Fab Four

2008-11-05T20:01:00.000-08:00

This day marks the start of the last test in which the"Fab Four" will play together. Its been a long and eventful journey for these stalwarts. I take this opportunity to congratulate Ganguly and wish him luck for life post cricket. I expect him to write a book which will be more colorful than "True Colors" by Gilchrist. Here are a few things i liked about the Fab Four

Sachin Tendulkar - Ability to soak in the pressure of expectations and perform for such a long time, without showing too many emotions and with very little to say and ofcourse his straight drives.
Rahul Dravid - Mr. Perfect...strikes the right posture most of the time. Copybook style very effective in grinding the bowling machines to a halt
Saurav Ganguly - Taking the aggression to the opposition. Dada works on the classic mumbai saying "tension lene ka nahi dene ka" and how many times have we seen Dada stand up in adverse conditions and score runs - started with lords, Brisbane, Bangalore, Taunton.....a long list, and last but not the least who can forget the number of times he made Steve Waugh wait for toss....do i hear the term "Mental Disintigration" somewhere
VVS Laxman - Lazy elegance - these two words describe laxman. The real nemesis of Australians for the last 12 yrs. The most underrated yet the most talanted of the Fab Four - yes even more than Sachin. But i guess he lacked the hunger that others had, the main reason he ended with lesser runs apart from the fact that he used to bat at number 5 mostly

Hats off to you guys for entertaining us for all these years. I have been fortunate to live in this era of Fab Four.

Melting Down

2008-09-18T10:06:00.000-07:00

World seems to be coming to an end on the wall street. Capitalism preachers are doing what socialist were preaching some 90 years back. US Fed has spent close to $900 billion to prop up companies and buy them in worst cases. All the mortgages held by Finnae Mae and Freddie Mac have been nationalized as is AIG. But as they say you aint heard anything yet. Whats happening in the financial world is a classic example of systemic risk taking over. The real pain days are ahead. Till now it was the financial markets where the bloodbath was happening, wait till it starts rubbing off on real economy.

Olympics Medals at Last

2008-08-20T15:11:00.000-07:00

Call me an optimist but i will stick out my neck and say that this is the turning point in our Olympic history. Multiple medals for the first time.

Kudos to Bindra, Sushil and Vijeyndra for making us proud. This is truly a blood sweat and tear story for these three. The best part is that i have been a fortunate to view 2 of these events live. I would take this opportunity to mention a couple of others who did not make it. Akhil Kumar can hold his head head high, he punched out the World Champion. Neha in badminton could have done better, but I hope she will do us proud in London.

Cheers

Working Class Hero

2008-04-02T03:53:00.000-07:00

Heard this John Lennon song amazing lyrics, the more i read and hear him the more i admire him for being able to put life in context so beautifully.

As soon as your born they make you feel small,
By giving you no time instead of it all,
Till the pain is so big you feel nothing at all,
A working class hero is something to be,
A working class hero is something to be.
They hurt you at home and they hit you at school,
They hate you if you're clever and they despise a fool,
Till you're so fucking crazy you can't follow their rules,
A working class hero is something to be,
A working class hero is something to be.
When they've tortured and scared you for twenty odd years,
Then they expect you to pick a career,
When you can't really function you're so full of fear,
A working class hero is something to be,
A working class hero is something to be.
Keep you doped with religion and sex and TV,
And you think you're so clever and classless and free,
But you're still fucking peasants as far as I can see,
A working class hero is something to be,
A working class hero is something to be.
There's room at the top they are telling you still,
But first you must learn how to smile as you kill,
If you want to be like the folks on the hill,
A working class hero is something to be.
A working class hero is something to be.
If you want to be a hero well just follow me,
If you want to be a hero well just follow me.

John Lennon said

2008-04-02T03:48:00.000-07:00

"Time you enjoy wasting was not wasted"

Choice

2008-03-27T00:18:00.000-07:00

Ever wondered what having choices do your life. I guess it makes life complex, results in buyers remorse and dissatisfaction.

Camp Kyari

2008-03-26T23:20:00.000-07:00

On the holi weekend i spent a night in a holiday camp located in village Kyari about 10 kms from Ramnager. It was one of the most amazing trips i have had, even though it got cut short due to various reasons. I was happy to get away from the city hustle and spend a night under the stars. The trip filled with me with joy but at the same time the experience goaded my core for being an arm chair protagonist. I saw a live example of what a determined soul can do to the life of a village. This holiday camp was started some 10 years back by our man "Manoj". He worked his heart out along with a bunch of village folks to turn this camp into a holiday destination with a difference. The camp is a model of social entrepreneurship which has opened my eyes to the boundless opportunities to make a difference at the bottom of pyramid. In case you guys want to visit this place take a look at www.wildrift.com

Breaking News : Symonds, Hayden and Ponting to be felicitated by BCCI

2008-03-07T02:03:00.000-08:00

BCCI today announced that it will be felicitating Roy, Haydos and Punter when they tour India the next time. In fact BCCI will probably fly Punter on their own expenses as he is set to lose his position in the Aussie cricket team (Punter has reportedly been seen training his hounds that he grooms for dog racing). BCCI is also in talks with other teams to promote sledging against Indian players, given the success of Sydney incident in stirring the Indian team. BCCI has gone to the extent of asking players to focus on Yuvraj, he has been out of form for a long time. In the recent past we have seen how a few words have been able to spur Yuvi to form in T20 world cup. Sharad Pawar had some words of praise for Sanjay Manjrekar also, he was responsible for waking up the slumbering giant of Indian team into action. This decision has triggered a flurry of activity in Cricket Australia head quarters. Last news was that Aussie officials are busy charting out a plan to "weed" sledging out of the game.

2006-11-07T04:12:00.000-08:00

Over the weekend i went to meet an old pal of mine. While talking to him it dawned on me that there are so few of us who are happy with what they have. I wonder was it the same for the generation before us or is this discontent a by product of the consumerist culture that we seem to be adopting so fast. When i stop and take a look at people around be it in malls, or eating joints, coffee shops, pubs, roads everyone seems to be caught up in this constant desire to possess. The desire to have the next coolest mobile, the lovely shades, the latest gizmo.....the list goes on. The media is playing the cupid to perfection. Bombarding the hapless population with seductive overtures or using negative motivation to create fear of societal rejection. Is it me or is this really happening.

Tantrums of a senile la-ire

2006-10-31T22:58:00.000-08:00

Ram Jethmalani is at it again this time he will be the defense counsel for Manu Sharma. This guy just does not stop amazing me. He has already acted as defense counsel (sometimes successfully) for people like Hinduja Bros in the Bofors scam case, Harshad Mehta and Ketan Pareekh in the stock scam, the assassins of Indira Gandhi and scores of other high profile criminals. What is it that drives him to pick up some of the most clear cut cases of convictions? Does he get vulgar kicks out of defending a criminal successfully? The pleasure being all the more when he knows for sure that the person has broken the law. I think the guy has serious problems. As the Americans say every personality disorder can be traced to a traumatic childhood. I think this guy had a tough time as a kid, was held responsible for all the pranks in school, neighborhood, at home, in the play ground. Spanked hard made to sit in the corners, grounded at home...Any punishment that you can think of this guy has seen it all. That's one of the reasons I can think of which explains his obsessive compulsive desire to defend murderers, gangsters, smugglers, scamsters etc.

You know what i have a sneaking feeling that this guy will also defend Santosh Singh in the Supreme Court. May the force not be with him this time around.