Undeserving martyrdom foisted

31st October!!!. Lot of memories flood back. 25th Anniversary of Indira Gandhi being assassinated and 25 years to the day that changed my life forever - the day I got my MBA admission. I can remember that day, a quarter century ago, as it happened yesterday. I had posted on this in June 2009, and again reproduced it in the IGNOU Kuwait E-Magazine. Still, for those who missed both, here is the link,

http://rajanvenkateswaran.blogspot.com/2009/06/unforgettable-day-25-years-ago.html

I was watching the TV yesterday where the anchor in NDTV (congress mouthpieve of course), kept on repeating about the Martyrdom of Indira Gandhi!!. Something irked me. I went and looked up at the dictionary for the meaning of the word 'martyr' - A martyr is somebody who suffers persecution and death for refusing to renounce a belief - Now, now, could someone enlighten me as to what belief Mrs Gandhi held, and what persecution she suffered????. True, Indira Gandhi was killed by her Sikh Body Guards after she tried to root out Sikh militancy in Punjab. But, the Sikh militancy was something she fed and nourished over the years - a monster she created to counter the Akalis politically - through supporting Bhindranwale and his ilk. It was more of a case of 'She who lives by the sword (pun unintended), dies by the sword'.

Disgraceful

A report on Railway amenities suggested that the current AC coach windows are small, do not give a clear view of the countryside and hence need to be replaced with bigger windows with clearer panes is welcome. The moot point is whether one needed a committee that spent a couple of crores to suggest something so obvious. Then comes the shocker! The committee has suggested that every train has a separate luxury coach that is open, listen to me, 'Foreigners'.!!!!

This means this coach will not be accessible to Indians. Mahatma Gandhi, who prefered to be thrown out of a First Class compartment in South Africa, to move to a third class one meant for blacks and Indians, must be turning in his grave. This is demeaning to all Indians.

While no one disputes the necessity to improve tourism, having an exclusive coach for 'White coloured caucasians' is the ultimate way of insulting the indians. This comes from a mindset that Indians do not deserve anything that is good, even if he has the money, but that the best of this country should be made available to the White Sahibs. This, being suggested, by a committe comprising of Indians, funded by the Indian Railways, which in turn is funded by the Common man, is disgraceful to say the least.

With people like these committee member working for the Government, is it any wonder India as a nation is not respected in the International circles?

Deem(Doom)ed Universities

HRD ministry and minister Kapil Sibal do not want to talk about the report on deemed universities by its own review committee, because the panel has said that over 40 universities, most of them private, do not deserve deemed status.

The committee found only 38 deemed universities to have excellent infrastructure and 44 could retain deemed status after improving certain aspects of infrastructure, research and administration. The rest, a little over 40, were beyond redemption and could not retain deemed university status. Of the deemed universities that do not deserve deemed status, three were in Haryana, two each in Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh but thehe bulk of deemed universities not found fit are in South India, especially Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.

The reason why ministry does not want to talk about the report, sources said, is due to the fact that it will find it impossible to take away the deemed status of any university (Doesn't it strange that these Universities that affect the life of thousands of students cannot be held accountable by anyone?) .

The reason is not far to seek. Powerful politicians who run many of the deemed universities have been working to thwart any disciplinary action and have ensured that laws were enacted to protect their interests in perpetuity.

Even legally, the ministry cannot take action as under the UGC Act, deemed status is given at the recommendation of UGC. And UGC, the regulatory authority is corrupt to the boot. Deemed University status were given by UGC flouting all basic norms. A similar process has to be followed in case of revocation of deemed status. The funniest part is that while Ministries committee has found many deemed Universities to be unfit, UGC's review committee of deemed universities has not found fault with any of them.

The biggest inadequacy of deemed universities, according to the review report, is the manner in which they have started hundreds of study centres all over India. Fee and administrative structure of private deemed universities are totally unregulated and are run in a whimsical fashion, the report said.

A substantial section of the report deals with how higher education was being run as a business and academic and administrative posts were held by family members and relatives of promoters. Research output of most private deemed universities was sub-standard.

Now is there any wonder why all these led to this Headline?

No Indian university among world's best 100, Harvard tops the list

Round up

Eight times grand slam winner Andre Agassi has admitted using the recreational drug crystal meth and lying to men's governing body the ATP to escape a ban - It has come to a stage that one can't get around to believe any sportsman is clean. Agassi was the epitome of disciplined training (in fact gut wrenching training. it is said that Pete Sampras once stayed in Agassi's house for a vacation and tried to replicate Agassi's physical fitness regime, but vomitted half way through, and Pete was a superb athlete and no.1 tennis player in the world then). At least he was, in the second half of his career. It is such a let down for his legion of fans to know he used drugs.

President Pratibha Patil is in London to receive the baton for Commonwealth Games from Queen Elizabeth II on October 29. The President is all ready to get the dubious distinction of the first-ever head of state of a Commonwealth country to receive the baton from the Queen Elizabeth. It’s a ‘baton’ that’s customarily given to the host country of the Commonwealth Games. The Commonwealth has 53 member states including Nauru, and none of them ever thought it prudent to be so obsessed with the colonial hangover that their head of the state would go and be a durbari in the former coloniser’s palace - It is a crime that we are hosting Commonwealth Games by spending $ 1.6 billion in the times of Global recession, a meaningless games at best. If the idea is to develop sports infrastructure, one just has to do an audit of how the 1982 Asian Games facilities were 'utilized' in later years. Also, the AAFI has not deemed it fit to conduct National Games for 2 or 3 years in a row now. Any wonder we are not getting even bronze medals in International meets? And now, our esteemed President is displaying India's spinelessness and subservient mentality in the global arena. A crying shame!

Prime minister Manmohan Singh said India will press Pakistan to curb the activities of those elements that were engaging in terrorism in this country - Whew! I was always wondering why Pakistan were keeping quiet. Now I know! They were just waiting to get the green signal from Manmohan Singh. We can expect Pakistan to take stringent action against terrorist now, for the genius MMS has spoken at last - What an AH we have as our PM!!!

Maths made easy

Vedic Mathematics is interesting and has many Sutras (Rules).

For example,

If you want to find the square of 65, you can employ the Ekadhikena Purvena sutra ("By one more than the one before").

The rule says since the first digit is 6 and the second one is 5, you will first have to multiply 6 and (6 +1), that is 6 X 7, which is equal to 42.

Then multiply 5 with 5, which is 25.

Hey Presto! The answer is 4225.

Now, you can try this method to find the squares of all numbers ending with 5.

Troubled Economy

All is not well on the Economic front. The UPA 1 had blamed the Left Parties for not allowing them to spur the Reforms. The Left has been out of the Ruling Front for the past 2 years and the Government is spending lavishly on the social sector front while all the parts of the Economy are crying for help. It is almost like Nero fiddling while the Rome is burning.

The Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Council (PMEAC) in its report released yesterday, has put a wonderful spin on the state of economy not backed by any strong data or fundamentals. It has predicted that India's GDP will grow at 6 1/2%. But this is based on the assumption that the North East monsoon will be normal and we will have a bumper Rabi crop, which is wishful thinking to say the least.The Council also assumes that manufacturing and services sector output will accelerate in growth which is extremely unlikely due to the credit squeeze and foreign loans are drying up for the manufacturing sector. What is worrying is that the central budget fiscal deficit has soared to 7% of GDP, double the level two years ago, and the Government is hardly doing anything to reduce the deficit.

The stimulus package announced by the Government envisages pumping in money into the economy. This is more likely to increase inflationary pressures while the economy suffers stagnation in demand. Though the WPI index shows the inflation at <>

The economy is in crisis, and the saddest part is that the Government, headed by the 'Economist' has absolutely no clue as to how to go about. All they can think of is pumping more RBI printed notes into the economy such as through NREGA which is siphoned off by the corrupt elements. This results in more black money being created that is sent abroad through hawala to re-cycle it back to the stock market via the Participatory Notes. This helps to artificially boost the equity market, where unscrupulous traders and Institutional investors make huge gains through manipulation of the SENSEX.

As long as the SENSEX booms, Government is happy. And damn the poor and the needy. They dont need them as the elections are more than 4 years away.

Chalta Hai Syndrome?

The Nano, the world's cheapest car, appears to have developed a technical snag. Three cases have been reported of the car developing short circuit near the combination switch in the car's steering column, igniting small fires. The company has called two of them back for repairs. The problems, that are similar in nature, have been noticed in three cars — one each in Ahmedabad, Lucknow and Delhi. The cars have seen smoke emanate from near the steering column area, even when parked with ignition switched off, following which some of the area around it has melted due to heat - This could be pretty damaging for Nano. Safety is a big issue in Auto Industry, especially in the West which Tatas are targeting, following the relentless fight done by Ralph Nader in the 1960's. Something like this could kill the product.

Is this a result of the 'Chalta Hai' attitude that is so typical of Indians? Something which I have been running a crusade against?

24x7 insufferable news channels

The 24 hour news channels from India are pathetic. Some of the Regional Channels are pretty good, but the English News Channels are horrible. All of them are funded by foreigners, have a specific agenda, twists the news to suit their agenda, are extremely biased and at the best of times concentrates of trivia. The anchors screech and scream (just listen to Burkha Dutt of NDTV - Insufferable), the reporters on the ground mouth inanities and more often than not news is based on available visuals rather than the other way around. Worse still, Indian channels must of the only ones in the World where they keep on repeating a 10 second visual 6 times during the course of a one minute news clip, which can be so irritating to the viewer. Then, there is the 'Breaking News'. The concept of Breaking News is to alert the viewers as to a major news story developing that the viewer needs to be aware of immediately. But, for our news editors anything ranging from a stray dog getting run over in Delhi, to Sanjay Dutt being taken to court to Manmohan Singh opening the toilet door is Breaking News. Finally, note the kid glove treatment meted out to Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi. Hardly, one negative word is uttered against them. How many of you know that Priyanka Gandhi's Father-in-law (Robert Vaderas father) committed suicide 6 months back? Channels that splash Aarushi murder case for days on never bothered to even mention this.

Recently, I read this hilarious take on how NDTV will report,............................. well, let it be a suspense. Read for yourself by clicking the following link,

http://india-in-my-nightie.blogspot.com/2009/10/two-persons-hurt-in-climbing-mishap.html

Sins cannot be undone

How does one feel when one realises after nearly 3 decades that one misjudged a person and his/her intentions all these years. It dawned on me yesterday that I have been unfair to my Aunt and her family all these years, had such a negative opinion about them that I used to look upon them as enemies of my family.

With a sickening feeling, I realised that I was totally in the wrong. Can I make amends for my poor behaviour towards them? I guess I can't. It is far too late to show remorse. Maybe it isn't as they are well into their old age and I can still take corrective action.

Oh God! I have been blind all these years. Why did you not open my eyes earlier?

"Sins cannot be undone, only forgiven.” - Will I get forgiveness? I doubt

Were they really the 'Good Old Days"

I have never been one of those brigades who talk about the 'Good Old Days'. I do talk about my past, but that is just to give an example of a concept while teaching. Other than that, I am a firm believer that the present has much more to offer than the past and the current generation is much superior to what we were in their age. I scoff at people who talk about 'the golden good old days'. It is nice to see an eminent journalist Ayaz Memom echoing my thoughts in http://www.dnaindia.com/

"It is in the human condition, perhaps, to see the past full of virtues, in a glowing, non-objective perspective filled with romance and nostalgia, and the present as bleak and niggardly -- almost as if the world is about to come to an end.

Grandparents, parents, teachers and mentors like to tell their inheritors of how glorious the previous times were, and how the world is struggling today -- in matters of food, climate, crime etc and more particularly in manners, attitude, and a more livable society -- almost none of this backed by hard fact.

"Such sentiments are misleading,'' says the liberal philosopher A C Grayling, "because they promise a belief that somewhere or sometime the world had something which has since been lost -- a cosy, chintzy, afternoon-teatime era when there was neither danger without nor unease within. But when we begin rummaging among these myths to provide solutions to present-day troubles, which is what moralisers do, we are in trouble indeed.''

It hardly needs rocket science to understand Grayling's compunctions. A 'hardened' moralising position emerges from insecurity about the present and a fear of the future"

Touche!!!

Happy Deepavali

HAPPY DEEPAVALI TO ALL MY READERS

How politicians make money

Want to know how politicians and their cronies make money?

Here is the case of the sale of 2G spectrum by the Telecom Ministry, headed by DMKs A M Raja, one of the most corrupt ministers. His and his party's take in this deal. A paltry few Thousand Crore Indian Rupees.

1. Department of Telecom (DoT) gives licences without Cabinet approving the first-come-first-served condition
2. Licences were granted in 2008 at a rate fixed in 2001
3. The cut-off date was dubiously revised from October 1 to September 25
4. Real estate companies like Swan and Unitech are the major beneficiaries
5. Swan got licence for Rs 1,537 cr and within weeks offloaded 45 per cent of its shares to UAE-based Etisalat for Rs 4,500 cr
6. Unitech got licence for Rs 1,650 cr. Within weeks, it also offloaded 60 per cent of shares to Norwegian Telenor for Rs 6,200 cr.
7. As Telenor is operating in Pakistan and Bangaldesh, the Home Ministry raised objections
8. Raja had arm-twisted BSNL to enter into an unprecedented Intra-Circle Roaming Agreement with Swan. This was done just a few days before the Etisalat deal. This deal with BSNL helped Swan to boost its share price

The in-house investigation by the Chief Vigilance Commissioner (CVC) had pinpointed “malafide motives and blatant corruption” by Raja’s own men — former Telecom Secretary Siddharth Behura, former Private Secretary RK Chandolia (currently Economic Adviser to DoT) and DDG of Access Service AK Srivastava — in the dubious spectrum allocation, resulting in a loss of more than Rs 60,000 crore to the public exchequer, said sources.

Despite the allegations against Raja, and despite the PM not wanting him in the Cabinet, Karunanidhi put his put down and arm twisted Sonia to include him in the same Ministry. Within 24 hours of Raja’s second entry in Telecom, Delhi High Court slammed the spectrum allocation and observed that “spectrum was sold like cinema tickets”.

But no one is indicted and no one will be punished. People get away if they have the political backing.

Utterly inexplicable

Maharashtra, Haryana and Arunachal Pradesh went to polls yesterday, 13th October 2009. Electronic Voting Machinses (EVM's) were used in all these three States.

The very purpose of having EVM's is to facilitate easier counting. In fact, for Assembly elections, the counting can be done in less than 2 hours, including the counting of Postal Ballots.

I can't for the life of me understand the logic behind Election Commission defering the Counting of Votes till the 22nd of October.

Apart from defeating the very purpose of having EVMs, this gives credence to the suspicions of EVM's being manupulated to suit Congress, as raised by many concerned people.

The hilarious thing is that, in 1970' and 80's, when paper ballot were used, the results used to be announced not more than 48 hours after the final vote is cast. And counting paper ballot is so cumbersome.

Utterly inexplicable!

Need for inclusive development

"Maoists today blew up railway tracks and torched three trucks in Jharkhand and blasted a tower of a private telecom firm besides blocking roads in Bihar during a two-day shutdown called by them in protest against the Centre's decision to crackdown on Naxals.

In Jharkhand, Maoists blasted railway tracks at Jharandih in the Coal belt Industrial Chord section in Dhanbad which led to the Shaktipunj Express and local trains being held up at various points, Senior Public Relations Officer of Dhanbad Rail Division Amrendra Das said.

A group of 12 armed Maoists also set fire to three trucks in Giridih district's Isri area and blocked the Dumri-Giridih road with felled trees, Giridih Superintendent of Police Ravi Kant Dhan said. They also partially damaged a road bridge connecting Dumri to the Grand Trunk Road using explosives, the police officer said, adding gunshots were heard being fired in the area. "

In Bihar, armed Maoists bombed a tower of a private telecom firm with dynamite at Salaiya village and dug roads in Aurangabad district, officials said. They also dug up a 15 metre stretch of a road at Chanda village in the district disrupting traffic between Deo and Dhibra this morning. The Maoists left behind pamphlets claiming responsibility for the attacks, the sources said. - Source TOI

Our Country is being bled to death by Kashmir Extremists in North, Imported muslim terrorism in North and West, and Maoist Terrorism in the North and the North East. And we dont seem to have a deterrent. We have steadfastly refused to develope a world class internal security framework, revamp the judicial system to give exemplarary punishment to wanton killers and just lacks the political will and the administrative capabilty to face this grave threat to the nationhood.

The enemy is within , not outside. The Mumbai attack would never have happened without local assistance. Ditto any other terror attack. There are sympathisers to terrorism across the country. We need to weed them out. Prevention is always a better security option than deduction and punishment once the crime has been committed.

But the root cause of all these is the imbalance between the rich and the poor. The country is growing alright, but the benefits dont reach the common people. With 60% earning less than one dollar a day, there is serious discontentment that is being exploited by the terrorists. The long term solution to this is better governance and policies that bring benefit to all, not just Ambanis, Tatas, Mittels and politicians

Price of inaction

“All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing,”

Mr.President, you have been awarded the Nobel Farce Prize

Ring.........Ring..........Ring....................

"Hello............................."

"Mr. President. This is the Head of the Jury for the Nobel Farce........oops sorry........Peace Prize"

"Who or What is Nobel Farce, Fart or Peace Prize?"

"Sir, this is the Annual award given to the person who has contributed maximum to World Peace"

"What is 'Peace' ?"

"Err...........we are not sure ourselves but we understand that it denotes a condition where hostility is absent"

"Hostility! Ya, now you are talking my language. It is what we, as a nation, are good at. We have been at it for ages. And who is Nobel?"

"Sir, Nobel was the physicist who invented Dynamite................................."

"Dynamite!!!!!!!!! Can you give me his cell number? I need him to immediately supply Pentagon a million tonne of bunker buster, cave buster, ass buster dynamites in Afghanistan and Iraz and half a dozen other places in the world. I need to send it along with my additional troops of 20000 who are on their way right now to Afghanistan. Will give the buggers a shot in the arm and will help them to kick some ass out there"

"Sir, let me ....................................................."

"While we are at it, could you identify some arms suppliers who shall supply unmanned drones, which we need in droves, Long Range ICBMs that will help us to take a pot shot at that guy Osama in Pakistan while sitting in White House whenever we are bored, and a guided laser bomb that shall target Iran's toy bomb factory...............dangerous guys all you know. And dont worry about collateral damage of lives, for I shall ensure that UN Security council tows my line, like they did in Iraq.............."

"But Sir..................................................................."

"I have a dream. A dream where only US of Assholes shoots, bombs and kills people. After a decade of this, we wont have anyone to shoot at. Thus the hostility shall come to an end."

"Sir, that is one of the reasons why we are giving you the award. We are proud to intimate you that you have been chosen as the Nobel Peace Prize winner of 2009 "

"Oh yeah! I have seen that guy, Sean Connory, as James Bond 007, Licensed to kill. I presume 009 indicates license to Bomb"

"Well, Mr. President...........not exactly............"

"Let us cut the crap. Tell me what do I have to do after accepting the award?"

"Nothing much Mr.President. You can continue doing the excellent work you are doing now........"

"Whew.......that is a big relief. So you mean to say I can keep on bull shitting about global peace, disarmament, CTBT (whatever the heck all those are) without doing anything"

"Yes, Mr.President. Also, the Award comes with a Medal , Citation............................"

"Shit. Who wants those"

".............and a sum equal to One Million US Dollars................"

"Now, you are talking my language. One Million US Dollars. Whew...........hang on...............( could be overheard telling his wife "Michelle, some guy is offering me One Million US $, we shall be able to buy those undergarments you so much wanted for Christmas ).............oh Hello buddy, thanks, One Million US Dollars............. what a relief..........with these Global recession, I havent been paid since I took over. This shall help me pay my kids school fee and buy some Christmas Gifts. Times are tough, you know"

"Err! Sir, we knew about that when your White House cronies begged us to give you the Award and asked us to bail you out financially. So we take it that you are accepting..................."

"I am on my way...............................................Air Force 1. File a Flight Plan to Sweden, wherever the heck that is"

Tiger ................say cheese

"If humans can have unique identity cards, why can’t the big cats? Tigers across all 37 reserves in the country will have their respective photo ID cards. The Centre has okayed a proposal by the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) to allot each tiger an identity card across all the tiger reserves located in 17 States. Authorities at Kanha Tiger Reserve in Madhya Pradesh have so far photographed as many as 69 big cats and profiled them in a photo-directory"

This I should see.

I can imagine the photographer roaming around in the jungle in search of Tigers to photograph. When he finds one,

"Good morning Mr.Tiger. Could you kindly pose for a photograph. This is for issuing a Photo ID card?"

"Grrrrrr........."

"Thank you. Now, that is not the pose I want. I want you to lie down regally, with your face turned towards me............. yaaaaa, that is correct"

"Purrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr........................."

"No no no. You are looking too meek, like a cat. Look a bit more aggressive. You are a Tiger"

"GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR......................"

"That is better.......now say Cheeeeeeese.(click, click, click)...............once more..............that is good........(click, click, click)"

"Thank you. That was a nice photo session. Now, would you like to see a preview. Please come over"

"Grrrrrrr..............................................."

SITUATION VACANT (in the next days papers)

Wanted skilled nature loving wild life photographer for a special assignment. Should have 10 years experience. Compensation will be as per Government norms. Please contact : recruitment@tigerphotoid.nic.in

Add to your vocabulary

Some of the most looked upon words in a Dictionary,

Paradigm - an example that serves as a pattern or model. We frequently talk of Paradigm shift in an Organizations Strategy, meaning they are deviating away from their existing model of business.

Oxymoron - A figure of speech where in which contradictory words appear side by side. Examples are 'Original Copy', 'Ill Health', 'Terribly Pleased'

Ubiquitous - omnipresent. Example is 'Terrorism has become an ubiquitous part of our life'

Hubris - overbearing pride; arrogance.

Esoteric - intended for or understood by only a particular group.

Hyperbole - an exaggeration. "Ente uppuppakkoranendarinnu". This famous quote from Vaikom Muhammed Basheers book is a classic. There is a lady in the book who always tells that her grandfather owned an elephant, which was finally proved to be a hyperbole.

Paradox - an apparent contradiction which may nevertheless be true. Example
"Some day you will be old enough to start reading fairy tales again." The paradox here is that normally one doesnt associate older people to read fairy tales, but it is true that one has to go back to reading fairy tales at a later stage in life to really understand the meaning hidden in it.

Pragmatic - dealing with facts and actual occurrences; practical. "I was not a very pragmatic person earlier in my life. But experiences these last 8 years have made me very very pragmatic"

Wisdom in cooking

I read with interest the story titled Ten Kitchen Spices with Healing powers on rediff.com with interest and again wondered at the wisdom of our forefathers' lifestyle.

Since I have some modest expertise in South Indian Brahmin Vegetarian day to day cooking, let me go through the list one by one for you,

Fenugreek Seeds (Venthayam or Uluva) is used on a daily basis while making Sambhar and Laban based curries. It is also soaked in laban overnight and given to pregnant ladies to prevent gastric problems. "Fenugreek seed and leaves are good for increasing breast milk in lactating women. It is also helpful for treating diabetes and lowering cholesterol as it helps in reducing blood sugar levels. It also purifies blood"

Coriander Seeds (dhania) is used again for Sambhar, Rasam again on a daily basis. "They strengthen the stomach, relieve flatulence and increase secretion and discharge of urine. Coriander seeds reduce fever and promote a feeling of coolness" --- umm ........so wise

Cummins (jeerakam) is used extensively in making curries and in rasam along with pepper. In our grandparent's house they used to drink only Jeerkam water boiled and cooled. "They are a good source of iron and keeps immune system healthy. Water boiled with cumin seeds is good for coping with dysentery"

Asafoetida (perum kayam) is used in making Sambhar and Rasam again. It is a digestive aid.

And of course we use Turmeric (Manjal podi) powder extensively in cooking. It is a cleaning agent and removes germs.

Healthy cooking and living has been a way of life. The ingredients of our traditional cooking ensured health and prevented diseases. But we have ditched it for junk and fancy western foods. Such a pity!

Reminiscence

One of the earlier memories of my childhood was me travelling from Vadakara to Olavakkod Jn and from there to Kollengode on the Palghat-Pollachi metre gauge passenger train. This was in late 60s when i was less than 10 years old.

The Vadakara-Olavakkod journey took 5 hours. The No.1 Mangalore mail was powered by the Steam Locomotive. There were two types of steam locomotives. The more powerful one with a pointed nose and a star on its nose (my hero)

and the other one which had a round frontage, which I contemptuously called the flat one, for I hated it.

Looking back now, perhaps it is the power that was associated with these engines that attracted me to them and maybe I liked the Star Engine because it was aesthetically pleasing.

Anyway, the very infrequent trips to Kollengode were the highpoints of my life. I shall look out of the second class window, craning my neck to get a glimpse of the engine when the train takes a turn. I watched with awe at the huge puffs of black smoke that the Engine belched. It didnt matter that I was covered with soot nor did it matter that I got coal dust on my eyes. All it mattered was I was travelling, absorbing the scenic beauty of the Bharathappuzha (river Bharathappuzha) banks. The beautiful lush green paddy fields, the fine sand on the river banks, the cool breeze, the cold dhal vada you get on the railway platform.

Those were the days of single line traffic. I watched with interest the skill at which the train driver hooked the big 'Chavi' containing the clearance for him to travel upto the next station. The train will be whizzing past a small station where it doesnt halt. At the beginning of the platform, the train driver will throw down the 'big key shaped thing (almost the 3 ft in length) containing the steel ball that indicates the line being blocked firmly inside a leather pouch in the key. And the Assistant Station Master will be holding up the Chavi vertically so that the train driver can hook his arm on the chavi head and take it inside, all when the train was travelling at 80 kms per hour.

I groaned when the signal indicated us to stop, for I always wanted my train to be never late, dont ask me why. It was a question of my pride. And I used to look out for the train from the opposite direction when we have stopped to allow it to cross.

My father taught me how to calculate the speed of the train from the telephone posts on the side that had markings of the distance from chennai on every post with even the fraction of a kilometer mentions as 334/2, 334/4 etc. All I had to do was to check how many seconds it took for my train to move from 334.0 to 335.0. If it had taken 40 sec, then the train was travelling at 90kms per hour (figure it out how for yourself).

Shoranur Railway Station had a loco shed. I could see tens of Engines there doing shunting. Also there was a well with a bridge that was used to turn these monsters around. The steam engine had to be turned around unlike the Diesel or Electric locomotives that can be driven forward and back with equal felicity. What they do is to drive the Steam Engine to a well that had a bridge containing rails as diameter (the size of the engine). Then they turn this bridge 180 degrees, so that the Engine now is turned around fully and can be driven away.

At Shornur, father will take me close to the engine so that I can have a look at the furnace burning brightly with the engine drivers shovelling coal to build up the steam. I also watched in awe at the huge water pipes at the top that dumped thousands of gallons of water into the engine. For me, it was a beautiful monster that I just loved.

At Olavakkod, we got down and went to Platform one to take the Pollachi Passenger, which in my opinion was the pits as it stopped on all the stations, and was run by the flat engine on metre gauge. I would have become a black monkey from all the soot by then.

But it didnt matter one bit, for I had travelled by the then modern day miracle, the train powered by my favourite, the Star nosed Engine!!!

With time, the steam locomotives that kept a young kids dream alive ( I wanted to become a steam locomotive driver) were phased out with initially Diesel Locomotive and later with Electric Engines. Southern Railway was the first to phase out all steam locomotives for more efficiency and to ensure less pollution. And I cried. I was a grown up young man by then. But I still felt lot of sadness, which I still carry with me.

Where does your and mine taxes go?

Where does your and mine taxes go?

Well, to facilitate the travel of the CMD's "Family" of Air India and erstwhile Indian Airlines!!

Now what does "Family" mean for the purpose of unlimited FREE TICKETS.

The memorandum of an Indian Airlines meeting in January 1997 says that the definition of family for an employee includes -- "spouse, children, parents, brothers, sisters, dependent relatives and dependent in the household.". Thank god that it do not include mistress and call girls.

One CMD did not use this facility much. He just availed 171 FREE PASSAGE for his 'FAMILY' in an year. Another 163 times.

Now this Airline wants a bail out package of Rs 20,000 crore of our money from the Government!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Why can't we leave him in peace?

The point where the Indian moon probe lands may be named after Mahatma Gandhi.

Mont Blanc to come out with a special edition Gandhi pen that costs a lakh and a half.

Government today renamed its flagship rural job guarantee programme - National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA), after Mahatma Gandhi. The Union cabinet has decided to rechristen NREGA as Mahatma Gandhi Rural Employment Guarantee Act," Prime Minister Manmohan Singh told a gathering of heads of villages to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the launching of Panchayati Raj.

Why can't we leave him in peace?

Of Bamboo Curtains and Shining Bottoms

Much nonsensical ramblings are going on about sprucing up Delhi's image during the period of the Commonwealth Games. This ranges from rounding up all the beggars using mobile courts, sending them all to nearby Haryana, teaching Delhiites politeness and manners etc. etc.

Laughable but understandable to some extend. But not this,

Delhi will use bamboo screens to keep poverty out of the public gaze: “We thought of putting up cloth, vinyl or even natural screens like bushes in front of slums. Then we thought, why not bamboo?” says Rakesh Mehta, chief secretary, Delhi. As of now, authorities are sourcing the lathi bamboo from Rajasthan, but talks are also on with the Mizoram and Assam governments. “We are enlisting the help of National Mission on Bamboo Technology and Trade Development in order to find out whether the varieties from Mizoram would be able to survive in Delhi’s climate or not,” says KK Sharma, principal secretary, PWD Delhi.

WTF - Hiding poverty behind 'Bamboo Curtain'!!!!!!

It is like middle aged women hiding their facial wrinkles behind an inch of pancake! You know how ghastly they look when they do that.

I have a brilliant idea. Give each slum dweller a 2 ft by 2 ft hard board that can be used to cover their shining bottoms when they squat beside the Railway lines and road side. But this might result in the Sunglasses manufacturers like Rayban crying foul as they expect the foreigners who come for the Games to buy Glasses in dozens to protect them from the glares of what Jawaharlal Nehru once famously said "Shining Bottoms".

Much fun. Watch this space as we near the Commonwealth Games