Toilets

It was a “spine shivering” winter morning. I managed a window seat with some decent space to stretch my legs.

It was a 6 ‘ O’ clock train. The station was deprived from sunshine and window panes were engulfed with fog. The iron doors leaked sufficient breeze that soothed my muffler-covered hairs.

Suddenly a strong jerk vanquished my drowsiness. As I looked from the window, I saw a group a naked men running towards the bush. With utter excitement I saw a muffler wrapped fat fellow excreting chunks of feces in the track. He was wearing a red muffler and holding the signal pole firmly.
Sadly millions of people in India are still forced to defecate openly: either in street, railway tracks or in fields. Mostly men and children are involved in such activities. However women in rural India, usually wake up early morning to get some privacy. Generally half of the population is devoid of quality sanitation and proper toilet facility. From market place to street, the best place for doing toilet is either beside a tree or between two compartments of a train. It is very ridiculous to see big fellows opening their zip in front of huge crowd.

We Indians try to maintain hygiene: whether it is Sulabh souchalai or stinky railway toilet, we try to clean every bit of poop from our butt. (P.S- hahaha).

It hardly matters whether there is a broken mug or an eaten soap ; all that concerns us is a clean and polished butt. However the new government’s motto: toilets first then temple is a bold initiation for public development. With a strong population of 1.2b people, India is a tough place for cultivating smart toilets. Smart toilets are self cleaned toilets extensively used in Japan and UK. They are based on latest technology and can be carried to any place. More than half of the population does not have a proper toilet facility. Although it is seen that this major half is gifted with two sim cards and a cell phone. The fact is that cell phone is easier to grab and toilet is “promise meant to be broken”. However with a stumbling economy and steady stream of corrupt scandals, people have lost their faith of owing a smart toilet.

Festival of joy

As the month of September approaches, a spark of joy creeps into the mind of everyone.
 And this feeling evokes from thinking. The excitement to think, how will I spent those 5days!!! What I will wear and what will I do!! makes everyone  feel “its Durga Puja time”.

The month September means:
        Time to do a lot of shopping, buy something special, tone yourself etc etc …
          From “local gymkhana to facial hotspots”, one can find countless heads, trying to make their curves slimmer and sexier.

          This unprecedented ambition and desire to shed their lifelong junks is very speculative.

• Tired of his protruding belly, Nikhil said “this puja I will definitely astonish my wife’s friend, Ritu” 

• Meena , a teen of  20s ,sick with her pimples, skips her college every Monday for facial treatment .

• Madhu a voluptuous lady in late 40s, still dreams of “sri devi . Her husband, a rich business man, purchased a Chinese belt  from online.

Whether it is sagging skin or dark circles, people invest a lot of money in beauty products.

            According to me Durga puja is a year waited “preserved fun”. My childhood days: a nostalgic Astumi morning, I, in an orange kurta, holding a plastic gun running here and there with friends. I used to run and run until mom stopped me. Then I used to offer prayers to “Devi Durga” for good results and good handwriting. After that a local pundit chanted some mantra. And unfortunately they were never digested nor know to me.

              These 5 days, when the city is dressed up at her best. And thousands of people out on the streets visiting pandals that are decorated in the most tasteful way. The Decorations that detect lifestyle, traditions and breathe taking themes amalgamated with mouth watering delicacies.
           From yo yo honey to racy beats of dhak, people of all age: whether young or old, men or women, all are tuned into rhythm of puja.  It doesn’t matters if it is a traditional or classy ethnic wear, everyone is ready to rock the streets..

  So let’s enjoy and be the part of celebration. It’s not an ordinary puja, it’s the fusion of sense, taste and love.

Frugal Innovation

What is frugal and what makes me to write this topic?

It is basically a mantra of “DOING MORE WITH LESS RESOURCES” i.e. we are cutting down the cost and non essential parts without compromising its quality of the product.

Why we should act in frugal manner?
To fight against decrease in resources, we need to introduce greener, efficient and reliable products which cause zero impact on our environment. And the solution to this problem is frugal engineering.
Frugal engineering is extensively practiced in developing countries like India, Brazil and China. Since the per capita income is very less in emerging markets, frugal engineering can widely cultivated here. Today many of sectors like industrial automation, consumer electronics, oil giants and construction houses are practicing sustainable ways to become frugal. Jaipur leg, solar cells and mobile banking are common glimpses of it.

Tata nano, the Indian middle class car is the beautiful reproduction of frugal engineering.

And it is possible because of Mr Ratan Tata, who transformed the dream of a common man’s 3 seated scooter into a roof covered 4 wheel vehicle.
His journey from Singur to Sanand was not at all comfortable. His project was a miracle of market study. Designing, making changes, deleting errors and simultaneously keeping in mind the cost, quality and safety of the passenger was a “tremendous effort undertaken”. When the product was completed, it was declared as a “challenge of dreams”.

To sell a product, you need to appeal customers. And for a country like India, “price comes first after quality”. Thus the manufacturer should keep an eye on the changing life style of the Indian customer.

If we talk of nokia, we can notice how it has degraded. When companies were busy investing in their R&Ds to make products much faster and multitasking enabled, nokia was happy with its old symbian os. Gradually its downfall opened the markets for various handset makers like Micromax,Lenovo and asus.
However from this post, we can say “competition is frugal, frugal is quality”. With the launch of FDI and free flow of cash exchange, India can be the arena for investing giants like US , Uk and Europe.
Today consumers are budget constrained and demanding, so it is very difficult to fool them. Therefore there are lot of challenges and limitation in the path of frugal. But with the advent of low cost _quality products, there is a greater possibility of technology mutation.

Sleep with it…wake with it…live with it

Roti ,kapra and makan

The three basic needs for human existence.

However my poor sixth sense says “we have four”, i.e. food, clothing, shelter and cell phone.

Cell phones are like sensory organs. They teach us how to change, what to change and when to change! It is what you wake up and fall asleep with.
Whether it is text, call or updating status we always hook around for 22 times in24hours.
Just look at me; I walk and talk, check online prices, change tracks, play games and watch movies whenever I get bored..I even check my facebook likes and whatsaap messages while studying, going to bed or talking with someone.

Typically it begins with an hour long daily activity consisting of internet, gaming and social media _which spirals into obsessions and consumes 8 to 9hrs a day. We try not to work and study, avoid friends, family outings, food and sleep. And when we are not a part with it, we get aggressive and outraged.

These are however “the synchronized addicts of today’s generation”; the people with no public relations, the people with stress and frustrations; the people with uncultivated brains..
Some of the common glimpses that you face daily;
Your mom always says, “You are on it for a long”, and you get defensive, claiming that you expect calls and texts from matters regarding studies...But is it so? Or you get a chance to fool your mom.

You are convinced that you cannot do two things at the same time; text and study or call and drive. You never switch it off unless the battery dries off: and make sure that it is in your pocket or bag.

I have acquired a habit of sleeping with it.

I check the last notification at night and wake up impetuously cancelling the snooze button.

After saying so many things, I admit that, “I cannot live without my cell phone”.

Mr. X

The most versatile and ‘highly suspicious’ letter in English alphabet is ‘X’.
From solving simple mathematics to high school problems, ‘Mr. X is the mysterious man in demand’.
           However, it is the blessings of “counting goddess Seshat” who tied a knot with alphabet X for creating mystery in mathematics. This less known highly anticipated alphabet has abundant quench for accepting numbers, variables and data.

My reminiscent thought recapitulates the childhood days of finding ‘X’.
        My father used to squeeze my ears like “toothpaste tube” whenever I failed to find the square root of x^3, There were innumerable other occasions when ‘x’ tried to bully me in his style. Not only me, it is the story of every Ram and Rita, who scratch their head twice before "finding the unknown value of ‘X’’.

 Mathematics would have been less interesting if there were no Mr. ‘X’.

Everyone hates his mischievous nature. He is at times cool and at times unruly. His best friend is ‘Y’ and his distant neighbors are ‘w’ and ‘z’.
Our dependence on grey cells is highly enhanced if Mr. X is with us. He is perhaps the master key that opens every lock.

           Although, above praises makes no sense unless you are stuck by a problem. At that moment, he tries to replicate complications by increasing step complexity. His malignant brothers keep "the trouble on the go" by injecting variables at multiple places.

             Despite his strange behavior, I imagine him as  "ups and down" of human life.
All of us are running for a stable value of ‘x’.  In this process our life is succumbed with x amount of pain and x^2 amount of happiness.
          When our value will fall to x=0, nobody will remember us then...  At that time we may rise up again, enduring all values of pain and move towards the “unknown value of ‘x” ’…..

All about FDI

India has become the favorite destination for foreign investors. Over 1.2 billion people and 40% middle class, India’s retail sector is a hunting ground for biggies in western world.
       FDI, Foreign Direct Investment is a “direct investment into production” or “business in a country by some other country”. It can be a modified business to an existing one or a completely developed technical infrastructure.

In simple words:

An “x” company visits India and opens its own store for capturing local markets or a “y” company takes over an Indian company to boost productivity.

It is called “home-host business”. The home country earns millions of dollars by expanding its business though overseas while the host country acquires the technical and managerial skills from it. In engineering language it is called “technology transfer; where technology and skill is transferred from one country to another.
          The historical background of FDI in India can be traced back with establishment of East India Company. It was under the guidance of Gandhiji who started boycotting foreign clothes by introducing swadeshi movement.
Soon after independence we saw a lot of changes in Indian market. Foreign players like PepsiCo, kfc, Honda could not widen up their business due to stringent laws and regulations. These laws were meant to keep a balance between domestic market and multi brand retail.

           Development is a very time taking phenomena. No matter how organized the union Budget is, it is very impossible to build a world class infrastructure in a poverty stricken country. To remove inflation we require heavy flow of foreign money and technically sound infrastructure.

           However Indian government has allowed 51% FDI in retail sector. So giants like Wal-Mart will be selling quality products at cheaper rate.



I have gathered some pros and cons of FDI:

Pros

• With best technologies, excellent packaging and superior manufacturing units wastage of products is minimized.
• 
  
•  Due to non involvement of middle men, farmers will get the right price for their crops.
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•  Steep competition means frugal engineering; “Better quality at lower price”
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•  There will be transparency in cash flow. Right Taxes will add revenue to the government.
•  Because of “technology transfer” domestic production will get a new shape. Use of updated machinery and assembly line will boost  production.
•   Huge employment of technicians, engineers and skilled persons.

Cons

•  It will destroy the income of local retailers and middle men. Lakhs of people will become jobless.

•  Multi brand retain will introduce a variety of Chinese products which may ruin our domestic sales.

However if we see the present scenario, we need FDI as soon as possible. Poverty, unemployment, inflation and corruption have eaten up sectors like Telecom, Rail, oil and power. To build world class renewable system, fast internet, quality food and excellent transport system, we need money and technology. And unfortunately we don’t have both.
          Rail, defense and telecom have already shown  green signal towards FDI and it is our hope to see how the present government copes up with the modern environment.

IRAQ: - The battleground for oil

 

Iraq is the birthplace of writing and a cradle of ancient civilization. It is an oil rich country, sharing borderline with Iran, Syria and Saudi Arabia.

1991
 
There are three of Islamic groups in Iraq; the Kurd, Shias and Sunnis. In late 90s Iraq, under Saddam led Sunni government invaded Kuwait and formed the greatest ever gulf war. However US intervention shunned down the Iraq government taking control over exports and oil reserves.
Soon after 9/11 attack in World-Trade-Center, the Bush government declared that Saddam Hussein is connected with Al-Quida terrorists and his country was producing ‘weapon of mass destruction”(WMD- weapons that cause heavy threat to mankind)
 

2003

The war raged the entire world. Billions of dollars were pumped to remove Saddam Hussein and his extremists. Countless Iraqis died, raped and tortured.
The US intervention destroyed Iraq’s infrastructure, cleansed ethnic buildings and blocked electricity. Many US soldiers were wounded and died in the open clash.
After 5yrs of wear and tear, Saddam was finally captured and executed. The US failed to find any traces of WMD. The accusation turned out to be false and Bush led America was under extreme pressure.
This led to a cold war between Islamic nations and western countries.


2013-14

 
After the execution of Saddam, a Shunni led militant group was developed in middle east. Popularly known as ISIS (Islamic state in Iraq and Syria), responsible for recent conflicts, car bombing and mass attacks in Iraq. ISIS is trying to take control over central Iraq by threatening Baghdad and its rich oil fields. Thousands of brutal murders are taking place with open firing and kidnapping of women.
Neighboring countries like Iran (an anti US and Shia majority nation) is fighting against ISIS to gain control over central Iraq. This has further impacted several conflicts in Syria and its neighboring Shia-Sunni nations.

chit funds

A chit fund is a typical saving scheme practiced in India. It was originated in Europe and was popularly known as pyramid scheme. From time immemorial, money has always been borrowed from lenders in exchange of gold, land or valuable items.
Chit fund is basically know as’ chiity’ or ‘kuri’ in India and it is extensively practiced in states like Rajasthan, Kerala and Tamil Nadu.

HOW DOES ITS WORKS?

Suppose a person deposits 1000rs ($17), every month.
Similarly 50people like him deposits the same or more amount.
So net principal becomes=1000*12*50=6lakhs ($200)

This net amount is auctioned in various fields like constructions; share markets and underworld gambling. This interest feeds the company’s employees and its customers. The downfall occurs when there is a slowdown in economy or landslide in share market. In that case the chit fund company endures a huge loss impacting the root customers.

IS HOLDING A CHIT FUND COMPANY ILLEGAL?

Operating or holding a chit fund is legal. The concept is very unique with several merits. It provides jobs to many unemployed youths; secondly it boosts up micro finance, household development and promises a smile to many customers.

E.g.; a poor farmer keeps a part of his income in the chit fund company for a hope of getting a large interest to meet his daughter’s marriage in future.

WHY THEY ARE SO POPULAR?

Chit funds schemes are usually lucrative. They drag attention of customers and convince them to keep their money  in the company.
They are eye-catching because they provide huge interest (somewhat double the government banks) and are almost hassle free (no documentations or official work is required).

WHAT IS PONZI SCHEME?

Ponzi is a fraudulent investment operation that pays a very high rate of interest usually 10-15%. It was usually named after Charles Ponzi in 1920, who was notorious for fraud investments.

WHAT ARE ITS DEMERITS??

Although it is prescribed by ministry of finance, but the entire power lies in the hands of state government. As a result lots of unimportant laws is created.

WHY THE SYSTEM COLLAPSES?

• External market forces
• Weak economy
• Withdrawal of quick cash
• Declining economy
• Poor share markets
• Demanding agents