Train journeys always make me want a write (quite like some people might want a smoke hehehe) thats not the case with planes. this is very personal. a personal account of the people who might or might not have anything to do with my life..
i had to make a visit to tanjore on a sleeper class return ticket coz the AC ticket i was entitled to was unavailable. the heat was everywhere. inside my nostrils, inside my laptop bag and inside my laptop. AC was banned from our HQ in Tanjore n so be it. i spent an entire day in the blank heat that was everywhere and permeating everything. i was scared my laptop would explode. where would heat escape to if it was hotter outside?
on my return trip that evening, my train copassengers were a mixed lot. the sweetest was the relatively new couple, they were new but not so new coz she looked 7 months pregnant. and pregnant for the second time, as i came to know.. the coincidence that couldnt be missed was the fact that they travelled with me in Sleeper just 12 hours back from chennai to tanjore. apparently they had gone to tanjore for "temple visit".
then there was a noisey family of dad, mom n daughter, hefty but not obese. there was the really stupid SM - Side Middle Berth the mom was trying to occupy. (its laloo's idea of increasing capacity beyond 100%... a berth between the upper and lower side berths...) the Mom made a valiant attempt to CLIMB on board the KSRTC bus that was the Side Middle Berth but she just couldnt crack the game on how to approach the climb so that it ends in a success.. watching it brought the image of one of those Eddie murphy big momas' luxurious butts to my mind and the newly wed/pregnant lady burst out laughing like a pricked balloon! i dint find it funny at all but the cute husband's gentle chastising of his wife resulted in a half smile on my face which immediately became a quick fake frown when i caught the glimpse of the big Moma's big daughter (12 yr old but really tall)'s look of horror and genuine sadness...
the next lady is the overweight lady in red.. yes, the completely red chiffon saree with black polkadots who was mad at all passengers when boarding her compartment coz they were all "blocking the way".. her angry statement was "is this a general compartment for you people to block ways as you please?".. of course her fear was founded on the rather genuine fact that the train might leave when her 1 foot was on the train and the other was on the platform.. not that the train was to leave so soon, but just that if it were to happen even once in a million train journeys, she just wouldnt be able to save herself by performing either ways, ie, hop into the train, or hop off onto the platform.. for sure..
this same lady within a span of the next 5 mins turned on all her charm on me saying "mele paduthukko paa".. (take the upper berth for my sake..).. some things that only indians had unwritten rules for..i almost forgot.. her husband was with us too, only thing he was quite inconspicuous in his presence like Richard, Hyacinth's husband in "keeping up appearances"...
Finally, to the last person, sitting next to me - the lungiman in the white and white 2 piece with the heavy gold bracelet (more like a leash) and the heavy gold watch and the 2 heavy ruby rings.. an apparent tamil nadu politician; not a rowdy in appearance.. i thought he might be going to chennai to be next to Karunanidhi or Jayalalitha, couldnt figure out who. but it seems he is going to chennai just to vote..tomorrow was May 13th, the D-day (elections) for TN...as for me, i got a meeting in office plus an appointment at the salon for polling day..
the neem trees, ubiquitous in TN, cast their shadows on the open-air railway stations i pass by in the sweltering summer.. i on the upper berth, hung out my head like the head-less dressed chicken, basically cranning my neck out for that tiny motor called fan.
all were finally tucked in..the politico lungiman (quite the gentleman, probably just an introvert and maybe the reason he would remain a chinna politico) got up, removed his shirt and folded it up neatly before hitting the berth.. after all, tomorrow was polling day and he dint want to look un-neatly dressed in a creased not-so-white-anymore shirt..i am impressed.
so, was i just a mere spectator in this drama with nothing valuable to offer? of course not! i did my bit too with my take on nadi jothisham (an age-old revered practice of reading your life and your previous and your future lives from your thumbprint)that kinda thwarted all the hype that the red chiffon-saree lady made about it.. she now has a new way of looking at naadi jothish - as something a bunch of jeans-clad nouvo-rich youngsters do in their spare time.
Friday, December 11, 2009
Friday, November 6, 2009
cold wet evening in Chennai
sitting next to a raindrop window pane
looking out at the wet skyline
not clear not black just bleak and grey
the cars on mount road
lights slowing down at the red
and quickening pace at the green
i cud sense a suddenness in their acceleration today
i was here yesterday
and the day before
looking at the same rain
and the same headlights
and the same patterns in randomness
of silhouettes with their umbrellas and their wet clothes
and the same flow of water down the window pane
making the same scattering
of light beams from the roads below
and the same stagnant ripple of water on the pavement
not in a hurry to flow off into the labyrinth below
but the suddeness was new to today
the cars seem to have a place they want to be
and the silhouttes take a tad too many steps this time
a subtle new meaning to urgency
thank God its Friday..?
looking out at the wet skyline
not clear not black just bleak and grey
the cars on mount road
lights slowing down at the red
and quickening pace at the green
i cud sense a suddenness in their acceleration today
i was here yesterday
and the day before
looking at the same rain
and the same headlights
and the same patterns in randomness
of silhouettes with their umbrellas and their wet clothes
and the same flow of water down the window pane
making the same scattering
of light beams from the roads below
and the same stagnant ripple of water on the pavement
not in a hurry to flow off into the labyrinth below
but the suddeness was new to today
the cars seem to have a place they want to be
and the silhouttes take a tad too many steps this time
a subtle new meaning to urgency
thank God its Friday..?
Friday, October 23, 2009
Friday, September 4, 2009
The future is from Europe but theres more Sun in India
its for REAL and those are REAL rays
i was soo excited reading this in the magazine that I couldnt put down it down nor sleep well for a considerable amount of time.. Natgeo couldnt lie..pls pls pleeeease read the entire article.. and these links too (pics of PS10).
There are the 2 major ways to go about it..a solar thermal plant, such as in the pic, with 1000s of curved mirrors reflecting sunlight into a focal point where liquid gets heated to as much as 400°C! and a photovotaic system that can be spread across rooftops. Either ways, its just a matter of time before efficiencies become worth it and good enough ways to store the energy are figured out (better than molten salt or compressed air).
Its logical, beautiful, surreal, unlimited and free.... its better than digging up more and more earth in search of lesser and lesser fossil fuel.. its better than having unending tracts of land producing sugarcane to ferment into alcohol thats burnt in a jiffy in a car engine.. its better than a whole lot of other things.. it doesnt matter that today the set up, operating and maintenance costs are soo high that even governments dont touch it...
but i am imagining a time in India, when say in Rajasthan or maybe even Ladakh, we have similar structures in place..maybe barren land can be taken on lease to set up stuff like this.. or maybe every building can have photovoltaics plastered on its terrace and its walls to do the job.. wherever theres sunlight, and thats A LOT of sunlight we get anyways..
I just hope I'm alive enough to be part of it!!!!
Death by Prawn
Me and my roomy went to a nice restaurant that serves continental fare. And being in love with prawns made in Kerala, I ordered something that contained prawn. Unfortunately, it was a white coloured bland liquid with 4 large whole prawns, deveined of course but utterly tasteless. After tryin my best to eat it, I ended up unable to swallow the 4th and final one...But what i want to write about is the fact that this 4th prawn had lived and died in vain. Neither did it achieve its purpose in life (It would have if it had the opportunity to mate and reproduce before the fishing trawler came by its way, we never know) nor did it serve as food for a higher order being like me nor for a lower order being like another fish.. Hopefully it might serve the lowest order being (none the less very very smart)bacterium that would feed off its decomposing body parts. I just hope against hope the prawn I callously wasted isnt wrapped up in a sealed black plastic bag that would prevent the last rites from taking place. :(
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
food wars
here's some controversial news...
Fat people contributing to climate change, says UK's green guru (link)
But i think the not-so-fat people and the diet-freaks and the exercise-addicts and the diet-supplement pill-consumers are equally to blame. For instance, the above people in developed nations eat tons of vegetable and fruit which are grown in third world countries, where, thanks to exchange rate differentials, it works out much more profitable to grow these water-gobbling juicy vegetables in desert-like regions where indigenous crops could have been grown to feed the indigenous mouths.. Now how does that actually work out? Simple... Just use tons and tons of fossil or other non-renewable fuel to pump water over long distances, to transport produce across continents, and to keep them as fresh and juicy by extensive cold storage..and so, these juicy vegetables are not cheap, and we can, with quite a bit of accuracy predict who are going to be obese and who wont, which ones have the purchasing power to actually invest in quality (though less tasty) food Vs the ones who can afford only bags of potato chips for a meal. So much for free markets.
Now who is to blame for global warming?.. But why are we even trying to find someone to blame when all are equally doomed? But hats off to this green guru to be so outspoken. Obesity is an epidemic, and is as important as H1N1, as is AIDS. Perhaps it could be faced head-on by encouraging local cultivation and consumption and by banning the McDonalds and the KFCs(lol).. Not to mention, the taste-wars that would ensue. But is it the government's prerogative to do so, when its an individual's choice of food? Maybe the 5 mins of pleasure I derive from munching on a leg of KFC is worth a year cut out from my life. Maybe it really is.
Please tell me this post is all BS :(
Fat people contributing to climate change, says UK's green guru (link)
But i think the not-so-fat people and the diet-freaks and the exercise-addicts and the diet-supplement pill-consumers are equally to blame. For instance, the above people in developed nations eat tons of vegetable and fruit which are grown in third world countries, where, thanks to exchange rate differentials, it works out much more profitable to grow these water-gobbling juicy vegetables in desert-like regions where indigenous crops could have been grown to feed the indigenous mouths.. Now how does that actually work out? Simple... Just use tons and tons of fossil or other non-renewable fuel to pump water over long distances, to transport produce across continents, and to keep them as fresh and juicy by extensive cold storage..and so, these juicy vegetables are not cheap, and we can, with quite a bit of accuracy predict who are going to be obese and who wont, which ones have the purchasing power to actually invest in quality (though less tasty) food Vs the ones who can afford only bags of potato chips for a meal. So much for free markets.
Now who is to blame for global warming?.. But why are we even trying to find someone to blame when all are equally doomed? But hats off to this green guru to be so outspoken. Obesity is an epidemic, and is as important as H1N1, as is AIDS. Perhaps it could be faced head-on by encouraging local cultivation and consumption and by banning the McDonalds and the KFCs(lol).. Not to mention, the taste-wars that would ensue. But is it the government's prerogative to do so, when its an individual's choice of food? Maybe the 5 mins of pleasure I derive from munching on a leg of KFC is worth a year cut out from my life. Maybe it really is.
Please tell me this post is all BS :(
Friday, March 20, 2009
Difference between Microcredit and Livelihood Finance as explained by Vijay Mahajan
Taken from a speech delivered by Vijay Mahajan (BASIX microfinance):
"I had tried to explain the difference in a lecture in January 2004, in the memory of my colleague the late Jimmy Mascarenhas. To repeat, let me take you to a village called Rozkund in the Bijadandi block of the Mandla district of Madhya Pradesh, truly the heartland of India, known for the Kanha Tiger Reserve. The village is 16 kms from a tarred road. The district was densely forested, though now the forest cover is denuded near inhabited areas. The rainfall is plentiful, between 1200-1400 mm pa. The soil cover is still good. The inhabitants are mainly tribals – the Gonds, who till a generation ago lived off the forests and patches of valley land, irrigated by rivulets.
Anokhe Lal Gond, a resident of this village has 3 acres of cultivable land and a separate patch of 2 acres on the hill slope. He has about twenty livestock, including a scrub buffalo, two cows, a pair of bullock and a dozen goats. He is married and has three children, and his old mother lives with him as his father is no more and his brothers have separated. Anokhe is unable to make a living from his land and goes to Jabalpur, about 100 kms away for about six months every year. His wife joins him for part of the time, but comes back after every two weeks to look after the children and the cattle. With all this, we estimate Anokhe Lal’s annual income to be Rs 15,000 (about $US 330), putting him squarely below the poverty line.
On first sight, Anokhe Lal looks like a potential candidate for microcredit. But I maintain microcredit will not benefit him much, if at all. Let us take the typical microcredit loan, through the SHG route which his wife could get by being a member of an SHG. For this, she will have to join an SHG, which someone, perhaps an NGO or a government agency would have to form. No such agency is in sight. But even if an SHG were formed, and then its members met and saved regularly, it would take a bank at least 18 to 24 months before the SHG would qualify for a loan. By that time Anokhe’s wife would have saved say, Rs 20 per month, or Rs 360 ($US 8) in 18 months, to eventually get an SHG loan of perhaps Rs 1000 or 1500 ($US 22 to 33). What would Anokhe and his wife do with this loan?
• They cannot level or bund their 3 acres of farm land, to conserve soil cover and rainfall, since it requires at least Rs 3,000 per acre or Rs 9,000 ($US 200).
• They cannot dig a well, which they need, since that requires Rs 20,000 ($US 440) and which, if it has not to dry up requires treatment of the watershed.
• They cannot buy a diesel pumpset and pipeline to raise water from a nearby stream, since that needs another Rs 15,000 ($US 330). The stream also requires watershed treatment if it has not to dry up.
• They cannot buy a buffalo, for that needs Rs 9,000 ($US 200) even for a graded Murrah, and even if they do, without insurance, it can be a major risk. Once bought, it needs fodder, feed, veterinary care and the milk will have to be sold outside the village.
• They cannot plant trees on their 2 acres of slopy land, since that needs Rs 5,000 ($US 110) and the trees need protection from grazing for the first three years
• They cannot get a road to their village or an electric line to their field, since the proportionate cost of each of these is Rs 15,000 ($US 340), or Rs 30,000 for both a road and a power line.
• They cannot educate their elder daughter beyond the local school as it will need Rs 12,000 ($US 265) for her to pass a Teacher’s Training Course.
Yet, each of the above “investment” opportunities has positive rate of return, shown by numerous World Bank and NABARD studies to be in the range of 25-30% and more. But all of them require larger, longer-term loans, with long moratoriums and no possibility of repayment for a number of years. Repayment is not only after a long-term but it is also rife with all kinds of uncertainties, since there are a number of externalities in the projects. This is the kind of situation which makes financial institutions shy away.
Even if we found a financial institution to give a loan for any or all of the above investment opportunities to Anokhe Lal, he alone cannot make much use of it, because almost all of these require collective action. Even digging a well in his own land, which looks like a simple, private thing to do, is no good, since unless the ridges and slopes overlooking the valley where his land are treated, the chances are that the water table will go down in a few years and his well will dry up.
Even if Anokhe gets water in his well, for him to make a return on investment on his well and pump, he will have to at least partially grow cash crops such as vegetables and there is no way he can sell those, being 16 kms away from a tarred road. In any case, drawing water from a well using a diesel engine is expensive, so unless he can get electricity, there is no point having a pump. Thus, if the productive base of the village has to go up, it cannot be just for Anokhe Lal alone, but for a much larger number of farmers, if not all of them. This necessarily means they have to be brought together in various groups -self-help groups for savings and credit, watershed groups for land and water conservation, forest protection committees for regenerating the degraded patches.
Thus, in one shot of reality, we find that a Rs 1500 micro-credit loan is at worst an apology for no access to formal credit, and at best a palliative to be used to smoothen consumption in those months when Anokhe and his wife cannot even migrate to Jabalpur. What Anokhe needs is not microcredit but Livelihood Finance. In that paradigm, the Livelihood Finance Institution or LFI would begin with forming self-help groups, not for disbursing credit but for encouraging savings and building a sense of solidarity. Other institutions – farmers’ club, watershed committee, forest protection committee, dairy cooperative - in the village would also be formed or strengthened. Over a period of a few years, investment would be made on all the above projects, adding up to Rs 100,000 ($US 2,220) just for Anokhe Lal’s household.
But we need to remind ourselves that Livelihood Finance is not only about finance. For the land treatment to work, the trees to grow on the land on the hill slope, and for the road to be built, functioning local institutions such as watershed committees, forest protection committees and panchayats are needed. To sell his vegetables or milk from his buffalo, in Jabalpur or Mandla, Anokhe needs to get together with other farmers, to transport the produce collectively. As we know, this rarely happens on its own. Some outside motivation and initial training is needed, from an NGO or a specialized agency such as an NDDB team forming dairy cooperatives. Once formed, to function effectively, these groups/committees/cooperatives require regular hand-holding and ongoing institutional development. Intangible though that process is, it also requires an investment. Let us say this will need 25 percent on the Rs 100,000 of project investments we mentioned above. After several more years, as the projects start yielding benefits, Anokhe would get a (back of the envelope) return of Rs 25,000 -30,000 ($US 550 - 660) per annum and after paying interest and principal instalments, he would be able to increase his net annual income by at least 50-60 percent. He would also diversify his livelihood portfolio, reduce the risk due to rain failure after the crop is flowering and generate much needed work for his wife and his mother, while staying in their village. The investment would generate wage employment for landless families in the same village for an additional 60-120 person days. It would conserve land, water and increase the tree cover. Anokhe’s eldest daughter could study and become a teacher, and the additional income would also enable the two younger children to finish school, and perhaps even pursue higher studies."
"I had tried to explain the difference in a lecture in January 2004, in the memory of my colleague the late Jimmy Mascarenhas. To repeat, let me take you to a village called Rozkund in the Bijadandi block of the Mandla district of Madhya Pradesh, truly the heartland of India, known for the Kanha Tiger Reserve. The village is 16 kms from a tarred road. The district was densely forested, though now the forest cover is denuded near inhabited areas. The rainfall is plentiful, between 1200-1400 mm pa. The soil cover is still good. The inhabitants are mainly tribals – the Gonds, who till a generation ago lived off the forests and patches of valley land, irrigated by rivulets.
Anokhe Lal Gond, a resident of this village has 3 acres of cultivable land and a separate patch of 2 acres on the hill slope. He has about twenty livestock, including a scrub buffalo, two cows, a pair of bullock and a dozen goats. He is married and has three children, and his old mother lives with him as his father is no more and his brothers have separated. Anokhe is unable to make a living from his land and goes to Jabalpur, about 100 kms away for about six months every year. His wife joins him for part of the time, but comes back after every two weeks to look after the children and the cattle. With all this, we estimate Anokhe Lal’s annual income to be Rs 15,000 (about $US 330), putting him squarely below the poverty line.
On first sight, Anokhe Lal looks like a potential candidate for microcredit. But I maintain microcredit will not benefit him much, if at all. Let us take the typical microcredit loan, through the SHG route which his wife could get by being a member of an SHG. For this, she will have to join an SHG, which someone, perhaps an NGO or a government agency would have to form. No such agency is in sight. But even if an SHG were formed, and then its members met and saved regularly, it would take a bank at least 18 to 24 months before the SHG would qualify for a loan. By that time Anokhe’s wife would have saved say, Rs 20 per month, or Rs 360 ($US 8) in 18 months, to eventually get an SHG loan of perhaps Rs 1000 or 1500 ($US 22 to 33). What would Anokhe and his wife do with this loan?
• They cannot level or bund their 3 acres of farm land, to conserve soil cover and rainfall, since it requires at least Rs 3,000 per acre or Rs 9,000 ($US 200).
• They cannot dig a well, which they need, since that requires Rs 20,000 ($US 440) and which, if it has not to dry up requires treatment of the watershed.
• They cannot buy a diesel pumpset and pipeline to raise water from a nearby stream, since that needs another Rs 15,000 ($US 330). The stream also requires watershed treatment if it has not to dry up.
• They cannot buy a buffalo, for that needs Rs 9,000 ($US 200) even for a graded Murrah, and even if they do, without insurance, it can be a major risk. Once bought, it needs fodder, feed, veterinary care and the milk will have to be sold outside the village.
• They cannot plant trees on their 2 acres of slopy land, since that needs Rs 5,000 ($US 110) and the trees need protection from grazing for the first three years
• They cannot get a road to their village or an electric line to their field, since the proportionate cost of each of these is Rs 15,000 ($US 340), or Rs 30,000 for both a road and a power line.
• They cannot educate their elder daughter beyond the local school as it will need Rs 12,000 ($US 265) for her to pass a Teacher’s Training Course.
Yet, each of the above “investment” opportunities has positive rate of return, shown by numerous World Bank and NABARD studies to be in the range of 25-30% and more. But all of them require larger, longer-term loans, with long moratoriums and no possibility of repayment for a number of years. Repayment is not only after a long-term but it is also rife with all kinds of uncertainties, since there are a number of externalities in the projects. This is the kind of situation which makes financial institutions shy away.
Even if we found a financial institution to give a loan for any or all of the above investment opportunities to Anokhe Lal, he alone cannot make much use of it, because almost all of these require collective action. Even digging a well in his own land, which looks like a simple, private thing to do, is no good, since unless the ridges and slopes overlooking the valley where his land are treated, the chances are that the water table will go down in a few years and his well will dry up.
Even if Anokhe gets water in his well, for him to make a return on investment on his well and pump, he will have to at least partially grow cash crops such as vegetables and there is no way he can sell those, being 16 kms away from a tarred road. In any case, drawing water from a well using a diesel engine is expensive, so unless he can get electricity, there is no point having a pump. Thus, if the productive base of the village has to go up, it cannot be just for Anokhe Lal alone, but for a much larger number of farmers, if not all of them. This necessarily means they have to be brought together in various groups -self-help groups for savings and credit, watershed groups for land and water conservation, forest protection committees for regenerating the degraded patches.
Thus, in one shot of reality, we find that a Rs 1500 micro-credit loan is at worst an apology for no access to formal credit, and at best a palliative to be used to smoothen consumption in those months when Anokhe and his wife cannot even migrate to Jabalpur. What Anokhe needs is not microcredit but Livelihood Finance. In that paradigm, the Livelihood Finance Institution or LFI would begin with forming self-help groups, not for disbursing credit but for encouraging savings and building a sense of solidarity. Other institutions – farmers’ club, watershed committee, forest protection committee, dairy cooperative - in the village would also be formed or strengthened. Over a period of a few years, investment would be made on all the above projects, adding up to Rs 100,000 ($US 2,220) just for Anokhe Lal’s household.
But we need to remind ourselves that Livelihood Finance is not only about finance. For the land treatment to work, the trees to grow on the land on the hill slope, and for the road to be built, functioning local institutions such as watershed committees, forest protection committees and panchayats are needed. To sell his vegetables or milk from his buffalo, in Jabalpur or Mandla, Anokhe needs to get together with other farmers, to transport the produce collectively. As we know, this rarely happens on its own. Some outside motivation and initial training is needed, from an NGO or a specialized agency such as an NDDB team forming dairy cooperatives. Once formed, to function effectively, these groups/committees/cooperatives require regular hand-holding and ongoing institutional development. Intangible though that process is, it also requires an investment. Let us say this will need 25 percent on the Rs 100,000 of project investments we mentioned above. After several more years, as the projects start yielding benefits, Anokhe would get a (back of the envelope) return of Rs 25,000 -30,000 ($US 550 - 660) per annum and after paying interest and principal instalments, he would be able to increase his net annual income by at least 50-60 percent. He would also diversify his livelihood portfolio, reduce the risk due to rain failure after the crop is flowering and generate much needed work for his wife and his mother, while staying in their village. The investment would generate wage employment for landless families in the same village for an additional 60-120 person days. It would conserve land, water and increase the tree cover. Anokhe’s eldest daughter could study and become a teacher, and the additional income would also enable the two younger children to finish school, and perhaps even pursue higher studies."
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