Billy (cat)

i don't like billies,
i actaully hate them,
they are so useless,
they are so dumb,
sometime I think they are cute,
but thats it,
something gotta be more than just being cute; right!
dogs are right in chasing them out of this planet,
we got one in out apartment complex,
thats worse,
she's itching,
always staring myteriously,
she's always looking for someone to stare at,
Maybe I should rediscover billies someday,
but as of now I don't like them :(

Supernovae

Supernovae -- those mysterious stars which suddenly are born in great brilliance and, as quickly, become celestial cinders could be evidence that sentient beings in other planetary systems had reached the point in their scientific knowledge where we stand now, [and] having failed to solve the problem of living together, had at least succeeded in achieving togetherness
by cosmic suicide.

-von Neumann (On development of Atomic Bomb)

Dal, Chawal and Roti

I often think that dal, chawal and roti is perhaps the best food that Indian ever invented. Its really simple to make and tests the best. Its has perfect balance in terms of nutrients requirement. Roti and chawal fulfill your need on energy and carbohydrates and some desired quality fats and several other minerals. Dals are known to have all kinds of protein and vitmins in them . Thats all you need in your diet. You could literally survive your whole life just by eating dal, chawal and roti. To make it more interesting, we always of have lot of other thing always going on. Dhaniya ki chutney, Nimbu or aam ka aachar, papad, lassi, desi ghee, Mattha, aloo ki subji, raw salad of tomatoe, onion and carrot mix with lemon juice and kala namak. Bus ho gaya. Wah wah, kya khana hai. Who need complicated recepies for chicken and lamb etc. Simple, pure and satvik food is the best food. Mummy!!!!! where are you? I am coming for the dal, chawal you just made.

Mummy!

My mom is wonderful,
She surprise me everyday,
With her patience,
With her never ending love,
With her never tiring schedule,
With her ever smiling face,
With her productive age,
With her enthusiasm,
With her attitude,
With her cooking,
With her availability,
With her simple living,
With her no-requirements,
With her high morals,
With her multiple roles,
With her vision,
With her worries,
With her solutions,
With her no education,
With her cooking,
With her fasts,
With her devoteeness,
With her cleaning requirements,
With her promptness,
With her large heart,
With her uniqueness,
With her commonness,
With her dress,
With her little space,
With her management skills,
With her financial skills,
With her ability to shop,
With her list of TODO,
With her.........
I don't know,
I am afraid,
She is wonderful,
My mom is wonderful,
Most moms are wonderful.

A Chinese Poem

I came across this Chinese poem somewhere, I liked it so much.......


Every morning in Africa, a gazelle wakes up.
It knows it must run faster than the fastest lion or it will be killed.
Every morning a lion wakes up.
It knows it must outrun the slowest gazelle or it will starve to death.
It doesn't matter if you are a lion or a gazelle.
When the sun comes up, you better be running.

My Reading list

Some of the recent books I have enjoyed reading and rereading recently: someday I promise to write reviews for them….

1. Mahatma and the Poet; Letters and Debates Between Gandhi and Tagore 1915-1941 -- by Sabyasachi Bhattacharya
2. The world is flat: A brief history of 21st century -- by Thomas L. Friedman
3. Guns, Germs and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies -- by Jared Diamond
4. Gorillas in the Mist -- by Dian Fossey
5. Critical Chain -- by Eliyahu M. Goldratt
6. The Goal -- by Eliyahu M. Goldratt, Jeff Cox
7. Small Miracles: Extraordinary Coincidences from Everyday Life -- by Yitta Halberstam
8. Ten Great Works of Philosophy -- by Robert Paul Wolff
9. The Rules -- by Ellen Fein, Sherrie Schneider
10. Lolita -- by Vladimir Nabakov
11. The Taliban Phenomena -- by Kamal Matinuddin
12. The Lexus and the Olive Tree: Understanding Globalization -- by Thomas L. Friedman
13. The Art of War -- by Sun Tzu
14. The Crest of the Peacock -- by George Gheverghese Joseph
15. The Worldly Philosophers : The Lives, Times And Ideas Of The Great Economic Thinkers--- by Robert L. Heilbroner
16. Story of Philosophy: The Lives and Opinions of the World's Greatest Philosophers -- by Will Durant
17. The Selfish Gene -- by Richard Dawkins
18. Corruption in India -- by N. Vittal
19. Prisoner's Dilemma -- by William Poundstone
20. Game Theory for Applied Economists -- by Robert Gibbons
21. Glimpses of World History -- by Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi
22. My Autobiogrpahy -- by Jawaharlal Nehru
23. Discovery of India -- by Jawaharlal Nehru
24. Gandhi An Autobiography: The Story of My Experiments With Truth -- by M.K.Gandhi
25. History of the Freedom Movement in India -- by R. C. Majumdar
26. Ancient India -- by R.C. Majumdar
27. Freedom at Midnight -- by Larry Collins, Dominique Lapierre

How about a parable

A Parable on Poverty:

Once Wealth and Poverty approached a merchant and introduced themselves as Goddesses. The merchant offered his salutations to both of them and said: "May I know what brings you to my humble tenement?" The Goddess of Wealth said: "We want you to judge and tell us as to who is more beautiful between us two?" The merchant was in a fix. He knew he was between the devil and the deep sea. If he were to declare wealth as more beautiful than poverty, poverty would curse him. If he were to declare poverty as more beautiful, than wealth, wealth would forsake him. However, he regained his composure and said: "I have great respect for you both. Would you please act according to my instructions? Then only I can judge properly." The Goddesses agreed. He said: "Mother wealth, would you please go to the entrance (gates) and walk into the house? Mother, poverty! Would you please walk from here towards the gates? I can have a good look at you both, from near and far." The two Goddesses did walk as the merchant wished them to. Then the merchant happily declared: "Mother wealth! You appear very beautiful when you enter the house. Mother poverty! You look very beautiful when you leave the house!" The Goddesses appreciated the wit and wisdom of the merchant. The Goddess of wealth happily stayed in his house while the Goddess of poverty cheerfully walked away.

When a serious problem confronts us, if we look within and think calmly, a ray of hope and light will beam forth and show us the way. One can argue, that he/she can maintain his/her composure in difficult situation like the one mentioned above but those two goddesses never show up to his/her place. True! Many of us may not have chance to talk to Goddesses, but the Goddesses mentioned above are nothing but the opportunities we often encounter with. We need to recognize them as Goddesses and we have to show the right ways to them in order to make best use of them simultaneously, particularly when they are of contradictory nature.

Medha Patkar

Last year I met Medha Patkar, she was a very impressive person, we talked for long time and after she left I was wondering if I could write on her. I just wrote something that evening, just want to share.

Today Medha Patkar is not just an Indian name; it’s a terror in World Bank and name of a Didi and Tai of thousand of people in Narmada Valley. Medha has been an ace organizer and chief campaigners of Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA), a people's movement organized to stop the construction of a series of dams planned for India's largest westward flowing river, the Narmada. While taking on footpath of Mahatma Gandhi, she almost died during a 22-day hunger strike in 1991. Unperturbed Medha underwent two more long protest fasts in 1993 and 1994. Today due to her continuing efforts and struggle for almost 2 decades now, the world community knows that Narmada Valley Development Project, one of the world's largest river development projects funded by World Bank. Upon completion, Sardar Sarovar would submerge more than 37,000 hectares of forest and agricultural land. The dam and its associated canal system would also displace some 320,000 villagers, mostly from tribal communities, whose livelihoods depend on the natural resources of affected area.

AID-Austin has been very fortunate to have her talk in Austin, thanks to Chandrika’s efforts to bring her down in Austin and our sponsors Saheli, Third Coast Activist Resource Center, UT Center for Asian Studies, and UT Department of Anthropology and The Sierra Club. Aid-Austin volunteers did a marvelous job in publicizing her talk “Who Pays for Progress?” The UT Daily news paper gave an half page article on publicity effort brought down by volunteers showing the picture of 3 AID volunteers drowned in water in front of Gregory Gym. On the day of the talk Nov 4th, LBJ Auditorium was full of audience.

Medha Patkar received long introduction, there was a continued silence during her talk. After an hour and half long intense talk she answered questions from audience for about an hour and was still available to talk to anyone interested. Calm and Serene and homely looking Medha when talks about Narmada and its people become a fierce lady like a Durga. Passionate, full of knowledge, confidence and courageous Medha has mixed characteristics of Gandhi and strategic leaders. It was rightly said in her introduction that current generation if wish to see Gandhi, it should see her.

The NBA under her leadership has been working to obtain just compensation for people affected by dams which have already been built on the Narmada as well as opposing other dams in the Narmada Valley. As an outgrowth of her work to stop dam construction, Medha has helped establish a network of activists across the country - the National Alliance of People's Movements.

Rainwater Harvesting

A sufficient, clean drinking water supply is essential to life. Millions of people throughout the world still do not have access to this basic necessity. Moreover the groundwater as a dependable source and its increased use for various uses has is always reflected in the drastic lowering of water levels and subsequent disappearance of water locally cannot be ruled out, since the efficacy of surface water bodies (tanks, lakes and canals etc.) for recharging to the ground water has reduced drastically for simple reason that the local water levels are too deep to recharge. Today Even after decades of work by governments and NGOs to bring potable water to the poorer people of the world, the situation is still severe. Water problem has different reasons for different people and different areas but in general, when we say water problem we refer to the access of water to the poor people since they cannot afford water supply systems available for money, which are not scarce. We need to come up with an idea that works effectively and viable for poor too. Apparently Rainwater harvesting (not a noble idea though!) is an option that has been adopted in many areas of the world where conventional water supply systems have failed to meet people’s needs. It is a technique that has been used since the beginning of civilization. Today, all we need to do is to promote the idea and make the information available to poor around the world.

Rainwater is often used for drinking and cooking and so it is vital that the highest possible standards are met. Rainwater, unfortunately, often does not meet the World Health Organization water quality guidelines. This does not mean that the water is unsafe to drink. It is lot better than most of the resources in use. Also treatment of this water makes it absolutely acceptable as potable water. There are several simple methods of treatment for water before drinking.

• Boiling water will kill any harmful bacteria, which may be present.
• Adding chlorine in the right quantity will disinfect the water.
• Slow sand filtration will remove any harmful organisms when carried out properly.
• A recently developed technique called solar disinfections utilizes plastic bottles, which are filled with water and placed in the sun for one full day. The back of the bottle is painted black.

Examples of rainwater harvesting systems can be found in all the great civilizations throughout history. In industrialized countries, sophisticated systems have been developed with the aim of reducing water bills or to meet the needs of remote communities or individual households in arid regions. Traditionally, in Uganda and Sri Lanka, for example, rainwater is collected from trees, using banana leaves or stems as temporary gutters; up to 200 liters may be collected from a large tree in a single storm. Many individuals and groups have taken the initiative and developed a wide variety of these systems throughout the world. It is worth distinguishing, between the various types of systems practiced throughout the world. Rainwater harvesting has come to mean the control or utilization of rainwater close to the point rain reaches the earth.

A question that can be raised is: are we not blocking off run-off water from reaching downstream? There are two explanations possible: One, in most of the villages around the urban area and urban areas, run-off water “goes down the drain” becoming contaminated and useless. Two, the harvestable run off is just a very small percentage of the total rainfall. Thus, there is no question of totally blocking the run-off water nor there is a scope for real upstream-downstream conflicts.

It is worth bearing in mind that rainwater harvesting is not the absolute answer to household water problems. There is a complex set of inter-related circumstances that have to be considered when choosing the appropriate water source. These include cost, climate, hydrology, social and political elements, as well as technology, all play a role in the eventual choice of water supply scheme that is adopted for a given situation. Rainwater harvesting is only one possible choice, but one that is often overlooked by planners, engineers and builders. The reason that rainwater harvesting is rarely considered is often due to lack of information

Don't let an end to come!

i am sharing no secret with you,
it's known for centuries,
if you are in love,
you feel great,
and you have a feeling,
that you have won the world,
love is great indeed,
base it on feeling,
sustain it on faith,
grow it on sharing,
brighten it on surprises,
enjoy it on every moment,
spread the message of love,
love is great,

now I am sharing a secret with you,
its not so known,
if you are in love,
you are made feel great,
i am not sure about having
won the world,
love is great as long as,
it sustains,
be ready for an end,
it arrives eventually,
you may feel devastated,
you may learn a lesson,
however, a useless and unwanted one,
because, love is great as long as,
it sustains,

a poem is never completed,
it is always abandoned,
i leave it saying
love is great for sure,
don't let an end to come,
base it on true feeling,
keep it naive,
grow it, brighten it,
enjoy it, spread it,
but don't forget,
love is great as long as,it sustains,
don't let an end to come,
don't let an end to come,
don't let an end to come........,

Poem for babies :)

“Welcome to Planet Earth”

I don’t remember,
which planet,
I was on,
in my last birth,
There are many,
I don’t know
which planet
You were on,
in your last birth,
There are many,
I don’t know,
which is the best one,
I don’t know,
if you would like the one,
We are on,
There aren’t many,
Whatever is the case?
You are welcome in any case,
Welcome to Planet Earth,

Love and Math

I am sure, I am in love,
alas! I don’t know ways,
to express my love to my love,
she doesn’t believe me,
she wants a proof,
an evidence, an empirical evidence,
some support data, some math,
perhaps a deal with numbers,
a plethora of theorems,
love doesn’t know math,
it’s based on axioms,
it doesn’t prove anything,
it doesn’t seek any proof,
it is defined on feelings,
it cares, doesn’t seek care,
my love axioms are simple,
simple for simple man,
harder for heartless,
perhaps hardest for mathematicians,
I ask a mathematician,
what is infinity? how can I feel it?
he says, infinity is a concept,
it is an axiom,
anything beyond calculation,
is believed to be infinity,
universe is infinite,
no one has proved it,
you axiomize universe as an infinity,
this makes astronomy simple and interesting,
math embraces infinity,
infinity beautifies mathematics,
makes it easier and attractive,
same is the case with love,
it is an axiom in life,
when life embraces love,
love beautifies life.
O’ Jesus, what do I do,
I can teach math,
I fail to teach love,
I fail to prove my love,
perhaps love is never taught,
it can’t be taught,
can only be felt,
I don’t know a way better,
than to write a poem,
to express my love to my love,
I am sure, I am in love,
math in my love is simple,
perhaps amusing too,
what mesmerizes me,
is a complex combination,
of her intellect, beauty, simplicity,
maturity, talkativeness, patriotism,
braveness, feelings and body language,
my objective is to minimize the distance
between hearts, there are no constraints,
I guess, problem is simple,
solution exists and,
it is well known,
decision are simple,
and have beautiful interpretation,
this is why, I am sure, I am in love,
but don’t know the way to express
my love to my love.
I am sure, I am in love,

Can we eliminate the poverty by law!

Poverty of Indians must be studied with a significantly different perspective than the poverty of other societies due to the deep religious faiths of her people. Sadhus such as Nagas may be poor by the Western definitions, but for them, it is a chosen way of life, which is infinitely richer. Many of the beggars in India do so to follow family traditions, and to fulfill vows made to a deity.

While colorful literature is available on past glories of a great land but in contemporary India, of whom the poverty remains a Himalayan problem. Most will agree with this that we haven’t been able to solve this problem for more than 5 decades now. Although, lot of research has been done to understand poverty and researchers have come up complex plans and schemes to eliminate poverty. But one has succeeded so for because people forget the fundamental fact of economics essentially saying “You can’t legislate poverty away!!” The one very naïve idea is, why not raise the minimum wage high enough to put everybody above the poverty line? It sounds so simple, elegant and painless. Alas, it will not work because of the law of unintended consequences, if eradicating poverty was so simple, people would surely have done this centuries ago? There is an interesting tale teaching the same thing. The Emperor Tughlak tried something of the sort by decreeing that silver was equal in value to copper. He thought poor people holding copper coins would instantly become as rich as those having silver. Instead rich quickly submitted copper coins to the treasury and demanded silver in return. Soon the treasury was empty of silver, the rich had got richer and the poor were as badly off as ever. Tughlak had not thought through the unintended consequences of his decree. He failed to realize that the fundamental economic fact - that silver is relatively scarce and copper relatively abundant - cannot be changed by mere legislation (this parable is taken from Swaminathan's original article in TOI 2003).

Many of the policies implemented so far in India suffered from the same disease, they lacked the vision and were merely focused on legislating poverty away, farm-subsidies, loan Melas, controlled rates and rationing of food grains and kerosene and many more, all of them actually benefit the rich and marginalize the poor, for the simple reason that by the time poor recognize the benefits (intended for them only) in a policy it turns out that our “rich-poors” have already tapped all the potential and policy has becomes a fiasco.

It’s been a while, since we have seen a new idea coming up to eradicate poverty, seems that we have actually ran out our think tank and waiting for a miracle. Remember! Mahatma Gandhi once said, "Poverty is but the worst form of violence." Yes! It is. Everybody needs to contribute to solve this problem otherwise you are actually ignoring the violence that is happening around you. Start thinking today.