https://youtu.be/t8Gz_SGnDFU

My kids are learning what my father studied 50 years ago and what i studied 29 years ago

My kid is studying in class X and in Tamil grammar she has got 'Ani Ilakanam', which is quite interesting grammar and i love it even during my school days

What surprises me is that the example what is there in her text book is the same as what i read 29 years ago

Have we not thought about any new example.  Is collective intellect of our teachers, scholars, professors drained out and we could not get any new examples to explain this

On one hand, we are fighting that new education policy of central government is not acceptable due to various reasons and on the other hand, we are still teaching what my father studied 50 years ago, what i studied 29 years ago

I only hope my grand children will get a different syllabus and thought process, albeit with knowledge of grammar

Autos as Drones in Chennai

Drones are been seen as next best way of communication, replacing couriers, pizza delivery, medical emergency, etc.  Just a thought came to my mind on whether Chennai will have drones in the near future.  On second thought, our auto rickshaws act as better alternate to drones

Last week, i have been to Chennai and my return train was at 10.50 at Tambaram.  I got auto rickshaw only at 10.15pm at Karapakkam and it is around 15 Kms to Tambaram

I told the auto driver about my train timings and quite usual of Chennai auto drivers, he said, 'Poiralam Sir' (means we can do it sir).  A journey which normally takes 1 hour, took only 25 minutes and he dropped me at Tambaram station at 10.40, well in time for me to reach the platform and took the train

Thinking that instead of drones, if only our auto rickshaws get wings... :)

Floods, floods everywhere, but no one talks about inter-linking of rivers

Every alternate year we see floods in north india.  This is an annual feature in bihar and assam every year.  Mumbai is no exception.  No politician, even our high profile PM who has got better vision about the country, does not talk about this.  Bolavaram dam alone, if completed can remove the drought of entire south india.  Inter-linking bolavaram dam with kosi and ganga would remove poverty from entire country

No one thinks and no one has got any answer

Entry and Exit of Killer

Killer - that's how we called the Golden Retriever breed which we brought.  It was a 47 days old puppy when it came.  True to its breed, it was playful from the time it entered our home

For the next 1 month, it was total fun at home with the new entrant taking all of us for a ride with its play.  Roaming through all the 3 bedrooms, playing with ball and also for the gentle morning walk, it was keeping all of us busy

Unfortunately for us, we are in an apartment where co-dwellers objected for having pets at home and the association objected as well.  I understand from our family friend, legally we can have pets at home and advised me to take a stay from a local court

I initially thought it as a better advice, but later decided to give away the pet rather than taking stay

With heavy heart, amidst crying from my kids and to some extent from my wife, Killer was given to another friend

A dog can change the way you see life and its mere presence keeps you busy.  I have promised my kids that i will get them a pair of Greden and German Shepherd in 2 years time

UN Languages

Recently, i read that at United Nations only 6 languages are used. Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian, and Spanish.  Many Devanagari and Dravidian languages are spoken by millions of people across India, but none of them figure in the official languages of UN

One reasons might be that all Indian languages are not international languages like English or Spanish or Portuguese.  What about Chinese, Arabic, French and Russian.  They are also spoken only in their respective countries and not global languages.  Is this because, 5 permanent members of the UN security council made their language as UN language ignoring other major languages of the world

None of our leaders raise this at UN annual meet and i don't know why.  We fight internally over which of our language is better and we discriminate within our country based on language and like slave accept other languages thinking that they are global languages

Probably, many of us are not aware that out of 5 ancient languages of the world, 2 are from India.  Greek, Latin, Hebrew, Sanskrit and Tamil are 5 original languages of the world

When will this end

Colleges have started and as usual menace of college students climbing bus roof top, their gang wars also has started.  Two days ago close to 30 students from Pachaiappan college had climbed the roof top of a city bus and paralyzed the traffic.  It has happened near police commissioners office

What i wonder is that, why no government is taking action against this menace.  Why this is happening only in Chennai even after repeated court orders to stop this menace

Where is the loss

I read an article which said petroleum prices in pakistan, sri lanka, bangaladesh and nepal are very much lower than that of India.  All these countries depend on imported fuel like India and i was surprised how these countries sell petrol for less cost as the purchase price of crude will be same for all the countries

I realized that taxes might be the reason for this as we have close to 100% central taxes in the form of excise and customs on these products.  Even after considering all these things, there is still a vacuum between cost and selling price.  We can also add state government taxes on it to bridge the gap.  Even after all these things assume that you have to add your margin to arrive at selling price.  Assume that you add 10% margin to the cost.  Even after all these things, our selling price is way too high compared to cost, so i am amused to know where the actual loss is

State run oil marketing companies claim that they are incurring losses and government claims that they have a burden of 1lakh crore as subsidy on petroleum products and price has to be increased.  Successive governments have been doing this without any clarity to the common man.  As a lay man, i would like to know, where is the loss.  If there is a loss, then how the oil companies are paying dividends to the government

Polavaram Dam

Polavaram Dam - This dam was proposed to be built during 1940 based on recommendations of erstwhile Madras presidency and the cost estimated was approximately Rs.7 crore.  This dam was supposed to bring in enormous benefits to the entire north madras presidency.  Surplus water from the flooding godavari river is supposed to get stored.  It was taken up again post independence, but at a revised cost of Rs.12 crore

Somehow, this project got shelved by successive governments and Vajpayee government took this up for consideration in 1999 and when YSR became CM of Andhra in 2004, funds was allocated and after 30% of work being completed, environment ministry put a tab on it.  This dam once built will have the capacity to save upto 900 tmc feet of water and also the flood waters can be diverted to krishna river and subsequently to water starved chennai city.  This dam can also come with a power generation capacity of 900 MW.  This dam and inter linking of water will benefit the entire south india

The flip side is that it will submerge 50000 acres of farm land and also will displace equal number of people mostly tribals and already telengana chattisgarh and odisha governments have voiced concern about displacement of people and submergence of farm land.  This project might bring in additional areas under cultivation with continuous supply water and power alongwith meeting drinking water requirements

I think that with proper rehabilitation of tribals, this project can be taken up as this will benefit more than 15 crore people of this country