I was travelling recently and chanced upon a newspaper whose headline read “Designer Babies-Parents could soon choose their kids’ genes”.

Since the newspaper was not in my hand, I could hardly read the full content. Initially, my thought was that it was some fashion statement where “genes” was misspelled for “Jeans”…but later on I realized it could be very well beyond my imagination. I couldn’t stop my curiosity and wanted to find out more.

The same evening, I did a little bit more research on Designer Babies and guess what I found out ?…Just what I had feared when I found this interesting article in Time. It says

Until just a few years ago, making a baby boy or a baby girl was pretty much a hit-or-miss affair. Not anymore. Parents who have access to the latest genetic testing techniques can now predetermine their baby’s sex with great accuracy

It further goes on to say

Within a decade or two, it may be possible to screen kids almost before conception for an enormous range of attributes, such as how tall they’re likely to be, what body type they will have, their hair and eye color, what sorts of illnesses they will be naturally resistant to, and even, conceivably, their IQ and personality type.

It sounded like a baby shopping experience, just like buying a car and then its accessories. How ridiculous is that?

Agreed science and technology has made our life simpler in many ways more than one. We can no longer live without them – they are part of an urban life, these days. But having to think that my grandchildren will be a combination of the traits picked and chosen by my children, brings butterflies to my stomach. At least that is a path that I would never want my kids to take.

It is a dangerous road that is being laid out in front of the world. I hope that India, even at a distant future, doesn’t encourage such innovations or technological advancement. It does seem unlikely that India will follow suit given that it is illegal even to determine the sex of the child, leave alone its genetic traits.

This, according to me, is totally against the nature and anything against the nature will have its own repercussions.

America –Are you listening?

Image Credit: Jenn Jenn

Popularity: 47%

While everyone has been quite generous in heaping praise on Shri Lalu Prasad Yadav – the Hon’ble Minister for Railways , Government of India – for the amazing turnaround that he has been credited for bringing about in the Indian Railways, I quietly tend to disagree.

The general public and the press have been almost tom-toming and singing praises of Bihar’s favorite son.

Here are a few things he has done to the Indian Railways that he should not have. Each reason seen individually might not seem to account for much. Add up the money saved/earned by these methods and you will know why Indian Railways has started making profits.

Increase in Tatkal Quota

This one is double edged. While enabling the last minute traveller to get confirmed reservations more easily, it also adds up to the money box. Each Sleeper Class/Second Class reserved passenger shells out Rs 150 extra while an AC traveller has to shell out Rs 300 extra. Only in the ‘Non-peak’ months of July-Sep this is halved. That too only for a few ‘unpopular’ trains. Initially when Tatkal was introduced, it used to be 10% of the carrying capacity of each class. Today in most of the popular trains it is half the carrying capacity while in all others it is a quarter of it. Count the bucks !

Enhanced Reservation Fee

If you book a ticket from a station which is not the originating point of the train, you are charged Rs 10 or Rs 20 extra per ticket for Non AC / AC classes respectively. This means that if you book a Mumbai to Kolkata ticket at Delhi, you are charged extra. Infact, this also applies to return journeys. Booking a ticket from Hyderabad to Delhi at Hyderabad will not attract premium, but booking your return journey ticket together with it will do so. Add up the cash!

The Advance reservation period has also been increased to 90 days from the earlier 60 days. That means you can now book the tickets 3 months in advance. That also means Lalu will keep your money for an extra 30 days with him, stack it in the bank and get tonnes of interest on it. Awesome, right?

POH period enhanced

Each coach which carries passengers on Indian Railways undergoes what is termed as Periodic Overhaul (POH) every 12 months. You can find at the back of each coach the date markings of the date when POH was done, and the scheduled date of return for the next overhaul.

Technically, this should be 12 months. But a lot of coaches are actually marked for 18 months. Some are marked 12, but it is common to find coaches which have exceeded that. This means that instead of every 12 months, a coach undergoes overhaul every 15-18 months.

If a workshop was servicing 50 coaches a month (example) a couple of years ago, it is still doing the same even though a number of new coaches have been added to stock. So instead of 60, it still does 50.

In a POH, the broken parts are repaired, light bulbs/tubes replaced, torn seats replaced, suspension overhauled, batteries replaced, wiring repaired if needed, additional charging plug points provided and the coach is repainted.

It costs the Indian Railways about 3-4 lakh Rupees for POH of each coach. Add up 4 lacs for each of the 10 coaches per week per workshop. There are atleast 2 such workshops in each of the 16 zones on Indian Railways.

The Annual figure is staggering.

Increase in Freight charges

This is one area the passengers will not clammer about. The freight charges on Indian Railways are one of the highest in the world. The only reason the system runs is because the customers find it faster and cheaper by rail considering that most roads in the country are in shambles, lack of good high capacity trucks and the fact that inter-state goods transport attracts so many taxes and long detensions by officials and police to extract moolah.

Overloading of Freight trains

These days, wagons are made to carry more than what they are originally intended to. CC+8+2 or CC+4+2 is now a common terminology. Filling a wagon upto 10 tonnes more than its approximate carrying capacity of 55 tonnes is helping Lalu reap profits everyday. But in the long run, this leads to rail fatigue, fractures, wagons may not last their lifetime and would need overhauling more frequently.

This cost may not appear in the account books today, but would pile up and spoil the figures tomorrow.

Getting Side-Middled

For a couple travelling by train, the side berths have been the most convinient. Whether it is Sleeper Class or AC 3 tier, the side berths are the preferred berths, unless one can give the Big B some competition in height. You gotta forget that soon. Thanks to Lalu’s new innovation – The Side Middle Berth (SMB).

As in the main bay, even the sides will have 3 berths soon. The Side Upper is going to be raised to a height which will leave only a couple of inches above your face while sleeping! The extra person is going to sit in the main bay. So in the main bay, instead of three on one side, there will be four.

Whether you are in the main bay or the sides, you are cramped for space. This adds up 9 passengers per coach in Sleeper and 8 in AC 3 Tier. Add up the fares and you can dream of getting rich!

Dummy Superfast Trains

Approximately, about 450 Mail/Express trains (excluding Rajdhani/Shatabdi) run on the Indian Railway network. More than 250 of these are termed ‘Superfast’. That means that they achieve an average speed of 55kmph in both up and down journeys. Now, out of these 250, at least 150 of these have their average speeds in the range of 55.1 – 60kmph. In other words, if these trains get late by a few minutes, their average speeds go down below 55, which is below the Super Fast (SF) mark specified by Indian Railways.

Atleast 50 such trains exist which would loose their SF tag if they are late by even 5-10 mins. Considering the legendary non-punctuality of Indian trains, it is more a norm that they run late. An example of a train which I frequently use. The 2747 Guntur-Vikarabad Palnadu express takes 385mins to cover 354kms at an average speed of 55.16 kmph. If this train gets late by even 2 minutes, its average speed dips below 55kmph. I have never ever seen this train reach VKB without a delay of atleast 20mins.

Now, why am I giving this description?

Because for every superfast train ticket, a passenger pays Rs 8 for Second Class, Rs 20 for Sleeper Class, Rs 30 for AC 2/3 tier and Rs 50 for AC 1st Class over above the basic fare structure. If one books a Tatkal ticket, that premium applies too.

Now, go figure out how much Indian Railways gains by these methods!

Popularity: 29%

I received the following content as an email, while I am not sure of it’s authenticity, I certainly like what was talked about. Very thought provoking and referring to the actions that we need to take. So here it is for your reading.

Quote

DR. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam’s Speech
Why is the media here so negative?
Why are we in India so embarrassed to recognize our own strengths, our achievements?
We are such a great nation. We have so many amazing success stories but we refuse to acknowledge them. Why?

We are number one in Remote sensing satellites.
We are the second largest producer of wheat.
We are the second largest producer of rice.
We are the world number on in milk production.

I was in Tel Aviv once and I was reading the Israeli newspaper. It was the day after a lot of attacks, bombardments and deaths have taken place in Israel. The Hamas had struck. But the front page of the newspaper had the picture of a Jewish gentleman who, in five years, had transformed desert into an orchid and a granary. It was this inspiring picture that everyone woke up to. The gory details of killings, bombardments, deaths were somewhere deep inside in the newspaper, buried among other news.

In India we only read about death, sickness, terrorism, crime. Why are we so NEGATIVE?
Few more questions:
Why are we, as a nation so obsessed with foreign things? We want foreign televisions, foreign apparel and technology.
Why this obsession for everything that’s imported. Do we not realize that self-respect comes with self-reliance?

I was in Hyderabad giving this lecture, when a 14 year old girl asked me for my autograph. I asked her what her goal in life is. She replied, “I want to live in a developed India.” For her, you and I will have to build developed India. You must proclaim, India is not an under-developed nation; it is a highly developed nation.

Got 10 minutes for your country? If yes, then read; otherwise, choice is yours.

YOU say that our government is inefficient.
YOU say that our laws are too old.
YOU say that the municipality does not pick up the garbage.
YOU say that the phones don’t work, the railways are a joke. The airline is the worst in the world, mails never reach their destination.
YOU say that our country has been fed to the dogs and is the absolute pits.
YOU keep saying all these. What do YOU do about it?

Take a person on his way to Singapore. Give him a name – ‘YOURS’. Give him a face – ‘YOURS’. YOU walk out of the airport and you are at your International best. In Singapore you don’t throw cigarette butts on the roads or eat in the stores. YOU are as proud of their Underground links as they are. You pay $5 (approx. Rs. 60) to drive through Orchard Road (equivalent of Mahim Causeway or Pedder Road) between 5 PM and 8 PM. YOU come back to the parking lot to punch your parking ticket if you have over stayed in a restaurant or a shopping mall irrespective of your status identity. In Singapore you don’t complain, DO YOU? YOU wouldn’t dare to eat in public during Ramadan, in Dubai. YOU would not dare to go out without your head covered in Jeddah.

YOU would not dare to buy an employee of the telephone exchange in London at 10 pounds (Rs.650) a month to, ’see to it that my STD and ISD calls are billed to someone else.’YOU would not dare to speed beyond 55 mph (88 km/h) in Washington and then tell the traffic cop, “Jaanta hai main kaun hoon’ (Do you know who  am I?). I am so and so’s son, take your two bucks and get lost.” YOU wouldn’t chuck an empty coconut shell anywhere other than the garbage pail on the beaches in Australia and New Zealand .

Why don’t YOU spit Paan on the streets of Tokyo ? Why don’t YOU use examination jockeys or buy fake certificates in Boston ? We are still talking of the same YOU. YOU who can respect and conform to a foreign system in other countries but cannot in your own. In America every dog owner has to clean up after his pet has done the job. Same in Japan. Will the Indian citizen do that here? You who will throw papers and cigarettes on the road the moment you touch Indian ground. If you can be an involved and appreciative citizen in an alien country, why cannot you be the same here in India ?

We go to the polls to choose a government and after that forfeit all responsibility. We sit back wanting to be pampered and expect the government to do everything for us whilst our contribution is totally negative. We expect the government to clean up but we are not going to stop chucking garbage all over the place nor are we going to stop to pick a up a stray piece of paper and throw it in the bin. We expect the railways to provide clean bathrooms but we are not going to learn the proper use of bathrooms. We want Indian Airlines and Air India to provide the best of food and toiletries but we are not going to stop pilfering at the least opportunity. This applies even to the staff who is known not to pass on the service to the public.

When it comes to burning social issues like those related to women, dowry, girl child and others, we make loud drawing room protestations and continue to do the reverse at home. Our excuse? “It’s the whole system which has to change, how will it matter if I alone forego my sons’ rights to a dowry.” So who’s going to change the system?

What does a system consist of? Very conveniently for us it consists of our neighbours, other households, other cities, other communities and the government. But definitely not me and YOU. When it comes to us actually making a positive contribution to the system we lock ourselves along with our families into a safe cocoon and look into the distance at countries far away and wait for a Mr.Clean to come along & work miracles for us with a majestic sweep of his hand or we leave the country and run away.

We run to America to bask in their glory and praise their system. When New York becomes insecure we run to England. When England experiences unemployment, we take the next flight out to the Gulf. When the Gulf is war struck, we demand to be rescued and brought home by the Indian government. Let not just use the Country but lets do what India needs from us.

Thank you

Unquote

Image Credit: Wikipedia

Popularity: 19%

It was the early morning of 19th December 2008 and I was getting ready for a Scotland trip. The tour was to begin at 0830 in the morning, and I was thinking we are already late to reach the pick up point. My wife was upset with me all the way for delaying and later making her rush to the spot. Fortunately we were in time and we started the tour along with some other Asian folks up to the north of Scotland, which is considered to have severe weather conditions in winters. Although I would not believe the cold conditions would be any severe than one finds in our own Himalayas.

As our van has gone past the scenic beauties, we started enjoying the tour with nice green vegetation welcoming us on both sides of the road, andice capped mountains inviting all the mountaineers to try adventurous sports. Our guide started explaining about snowfall and how slippery the mountains would be in this season. I thought to myself this is nothing in front of our Himalayan range that this guide is exaggerating about Scotland.

We stopped by a small mountain range to have a small walk onto a small mountain. All of us made a war cry just to make sure we lift up our spirits and make our ways to the top of this mountain. Well I am ashamed to call it a mountain; it was rather a mound that we were trying to climb upon. It was so slippery that each one of us started sliding slowly off that mound hurting us under those extreme gutsy conditions. I was no different to the other guys and started to lose my grip on the ground and slowly started to slide off the mountain. I could hear my wife shouting and warning me about this from behind.

That moment I just thought for a minute how tough it’s for one to climb a mountain under extreme cold conditions and balance oneself. I immediately realized about our Indian army constantly guarding borders at Siachen glacier. Firstly it’s so tough to focus under such conditions let alone holding the gun and guarding the border with ammunition. Our Jawaans would not have any near and dear with them to warn about any dangers while they climb up the mountains and they will be completely focused with one mindset of guarding our India from enemies.

We sleep under the blanket of security that our Jawaans provide to us. As I have personally experienced this condition I could imagine how difficult it’s for them to guard. And they do it without a single complaint. As they say, unless you experience it personally you would not know inside of a job. I have experienced this, and I whole-heartedly salute the Indian Army from bottom of my heart for this tough job.

This is just my small attempt to reach out to all my friends and make them realize (if they have not already) about our Indian Army’s tough job that they do for us.

I Salute Indian Army guarding our nation.

Maa Tujhe Salaam, Jai Jawaan, Jai Hind

Image Credit: ilker

Popularity: 15%

There’s more to the Antulay story than the man himself

Minority affairs minister Abdul Rehman Antulay added his name to a growing list of anti-India Indians living and breeding on Indian soil by considerable vainglory and style with his contemptuous remarks on Hemant Karkare’s death.

The irrational statements, coming directly from a Union cabinet minister’s mouth, have hence opened the door for not only self-styled Pakistani analysts and self-proclaimed observers of the “real India” but also our very own pseudo-secularist intellectuals and others of the type to create a ripple effect at a time when the country was chasing a dreaded and proven enemy on the other side of the border with some consistency.

But Antulay’s story is interwoven with more than what “meets the eye”, so to speak in the man’s own words. Why blame him alone, as many in his band of anti-Indians would say. Antulay and his band of the eternally “oppressed” have not only provided fodder for our neighbors to feed on India’s self-created divisions with giggles and chuckles and high-fives but have confirmed in all retrospect as to where their true loyalties lie. Not in aiding Pakistan’s so-called “Hindu Zionist” campaign. Not in the progress of the “oppressed” who’s cause they so passionately have picked up. It lies in their firm fundamentalist mindset, where the right wing is the mother of all evils and the cause of so much pain and agony in our lives. Not just so much. In fact, all of it does.

In no other free-minded democracy does the base of the system itself prove so costly – the freedom. Freedom in India is reaching intolerable levels and most terror attacks or so-called anti-minority actions are followed up with all sorts of abuse by the leftist intellectuals.

Arundhati Roy articulately calls Islamic terrorism a deserving return-shot from the oppressed and asks India to look thoughtfully at the reasons for which jehad is being waged. Barkha Dutt proceeds to divide India on communal lines herself by indicating that Antulay’s remarks have embarrassed the Indian Muslim, clearly giving belief to the thought that India is divided from within. Pankaj Mishra, Vinod Mehta, Teesta Setalvad, Rajdeep Sardesai, Sagarika Ghose and so many like-minded “scholars” feed on India’s gullible freedom like bedbugs not letting you sleep, pests screwing your crop and lice biting away on sensitive areas.

Left-liberalism is reaching unseen heights in India. Their hatred for all things Indian is not only increasingly evident but even unchanging. These sympathizers of the distressed challenge the Indian state each and every day with their uttering and hysteria-driven pedagogy.

How dare they even claim to be Indians. How dare they apply for a passport and travel abroad and preach hatred towards India. How dare they call themselves concerned “human rights” activists with a natural belief that Indians are not humans, but only abusers of human rights. How dare they speak and speak and speak without any sense of responsibility.

This dreaded brand of terrorists has their “terror camps” in the mainland. They sleep, preach and breathe anti-Indian sentiments every passing day, from our own soil. They operate abroad with their weapons (ink pens and A4-size sheets) and know that they can take refuge in their freedom that always forgives and mutter any nonsense that will always find readers because intellect is admired by many, no matter how much the nonsense ingrained within it – an intellect which is actually pseudo-intellect.

By Indians, who are actually pseudo-Indians.

Article Credit: Jay Maniyar

Image Credit: Carter Comics

Popularity: 14%

Yesterday I was scouring Internet and stumbled upon something, which read “Paul Merton in India“. The title caught my attention and I dove right into it. Well it is about a British Comedian, Paul Merton, and his travel to different cities in India. I watched a few episodes of this series on the Channel 5 website. I was certainly not happy of what I have seen.

Why was I unhappy? Here’s why.

The show lands in Delhi and visits Eunuch extortionists, there ends the matter with Delhi, moves on to Rajasthan to show us a temple filled with rodents, meet sadhu’s who worship Lord Shiva and hang heavy stones off their genitals. The show then moves to south, hits Hyderabad to show a 20-minute coverage of Friends of Snake society, where they catch snakes in neighbourhood.

Travels further southwest goes to Bangalore and guess what the show cover? Visits a jail and shows the details of

Image Courtesy: Wikipedia

caterer supplying food for a jail. Shows the condition of the jail, cramped people taking some strange dance classes. Get’s on a train and sets off for Chennai, meets an artist on train who paints with a brush in his mouth.

Episodes next week will cover the show will visit to Chennai and Mumbai and from what preview shows me, they will be on beach filming people fight, meeting Mumbai railway children who spent their life on platform and a record holder father who gets his genitals kicked by his son.

If this fair is supposed to seem funny, then well it at least did not seem funny to me. What leaves me baffled is purpose of this program? What is it trying to explain to people of Britain? Is it educating them about conditions in India? I disagree; it shows things that give an impression that the land of the country is full of street performers, snake charmers and other lot.

While it mentions cities as IT Capitals, Tourism spots, what follows the description is some content, which will leave a the same image of the country. Any person, who is shown such content, will carry a wrong impression of the country.

I am not denying that what has been shown happens in India, it does. However, I would have been glad for people to see all this along with the magical sculpture works of Belur and Hallebeedu of Bangalore, mind blowing palaces of Rajasthan, all those festivities, culture and lives of people, which depict other side of India. I feel showing only one side of the coin, is not right. People who have visited India might spot the difference, the rest might have a permanent impression and truly tag it “Incredible India”.

I hope Channel 5 comes up with something else, which will show India in true colours, rather than this portrait painted only in grey!

Do watch an episode or two on this Channel 5 and let me know what you think. For me my instantaneous reaction was, “There is more to India”.

Popularity: 20%