31.12.08
India Shining
I have never understood what really development is, so many tried to explain to me the situation when a country is developed. They showed me the towering skyscapers, 12,000 mark cross by the sensex, billion of dollars profit being made by the Indian IT fraternity, the acquisition of Jaguar by Tata, Ambanis in the top 10 rich earthlings and many other golden feathers. More industries, more cars, inflation, MTV, V channel, crackpot MBA English speaking people called 'junta'. For years when the junctions of the promoinant road in a prominent city used lock down in heavy jams, it had to be IT industrialists who were able to tickle the vital points of beauraucracy and democracy and soon highways were elevated, not for ordinary people, but for the extra ordinary people who are skilled( and known to have provided the technology services to items ranging from F1 cars and AirBus wings to Playboy magazines's inventory management) to reach office in time. Even though talking in regional languages are rude, you can still tell Kick ass, shit, f****, etc and gain quick admiration isnt it? I told my mom translated into Malayalam that when I wake up first thing I watch is Kick ass morning(I was warned by the ethics of bloggery from writing even the transliteration of the malayalam word for that!!) funny little developments….isnt it? All these have made my country one of the overrated countries, not outside India but very well within.
In Convenience
Couple of years back when the electricity went off for 24 hrs in California, the newspapers saw it as a major news because that country couldn't’t survive without electricity. This may sound silly to a town dwellers of india where the power cuts are quite frequent. But this was rather a scary picture of a convenience hungry world. We have moved from one world to another, there was a time when you could live without phones, travel without bikes or cars, enjoy by not having TV at home and now we all have moved to a new world where the life dawns when the petrol price increase, when traffic block stops your travel, when you don’t get a house with a European commode, when water stops to come for 1 hr. Gazing from the window of that house what you can just do is see the past days of total independence disappearing away into gloom getting replaced by a cripple nation heavily dependent on the machines, and for that you still may have to use your brains.
23.12.08
Not all stars make it to the skies..
'There is only one thing that arouses animals more than pleasure, and that is pain. ' ~ William of Baskerville,The Name of the Rose
It was a dim cloudy evening in Bangalore when I met Narayanan after some 7 years since we left the school. He has improved a lot or was it again my assumption. Even after advising myself that how and who am I to judge someone's behaviour, I am surprised in a good way to see him behaving quite sensibly or maturely. We spoke about what each of them is doing, where are working, do we have contact of anyone else and then he bade good bye and went on our ways. Definitely he has improved, but not sure how much ever he need to catch up with his age. This reminded me a very sad story of one of the most mentally and physically abused lads I have come across in my non-fictious past.
His disability in understanding the society where he has to live, his reserved nature, lack of communication, isolation from any group activities and disobedience towards unruly mobsters made him the favourite target for Bullying in school for many. He was never retarded, his intelligence was exemplary so was his academics. But psychologically he probably felt like trapped in a dark well, so he attacked any thing and everything in the darkness. There wouldn’t be anyone whom he trusted, he never had any best friends in his school. His acute isolation was never psychologically treated, neither by his parents nor by his school. Through the ravages of time his schizophrenic mind kept on hating external world. Meeting him this time, I felt that he has found a cure himself. Hope he will soon be a part of this world, however insane be it.
Clinically this behaviour is being called Autism - a borrowed label from adult psychiatry where it had been used to refer to the progressive loss of contact with the outside world, experienced by schizophrenics. And it is clearly visible from the age of 1 and is curable if treated in their early ages. There is no specifically known medication or therapy, the treatments include educating the parents and integrating the children into a society enlightening him and encouraging to get involved with the outside world. In the initial stages I think he should be allowed to observe, listen, see the surroundings and letting him free until he finds a fitting position in that scene. Teach him to trust, never compare him to anyone so as to invoke the inferiority complex in him, give him challenging tasks suiting for that age, teach him the practice of helping others, introduce him to the world of music, dance and sports as much as you do for academics. If not sure about how to deal with it consult a paediatric or psychiatrist. The primary aim is to build his confidence and to let him understand the need and capability to build that, his lack of confidence could discourage him from confronting anything external. He will be hesitant to mingle, his actions if ridiculed could worsen the situation.
This is a very common and a highly neglected illness so it is very important to observe each and every behaviour of the children. They are much more rational that we all think of, they have the ability to understand and differentiate the reality and story, which is the shocking truth behind this illness. It is probably us who take time to understand and learn from children than them. If you find any kid who is just shying away to join the crowd, who is staring blindly on nothing, who is so concentrated on finding symmetry in everything, inform his/her parents about this. It could be that the kid is perfectly normal but still that it is all right to be aware, because the 'He/She' could be your very brother, sister, friend, son, daughter . .
(reference: wikipedia)
It was a dim cloudy evening in Bangalore when I met Narayanan after some 7 years since we left the school. He has improved a lot or was it again my assumption. Even after advising myself that how and who am I to judge someone's behaviour, I am surprised in a good way to see him behaving quite sensibly or maturely. We spoke about what each of them is doing, where are working, do we have contact of anyone else and then he bade good bye and went on our ways. Definitely he has improved, but not sure how much ever he need to catch up with his age. This reminded me a very sad story of one of the most mentally and physically abused lads I have come across in my non-fictious past.
His disability in understanding the society where he has to live, his reserved nature, lack of communication, isolation from any group activities and disobedience towards unruly mobsters made him the favourite target for Bullying in school for many. He was never retarded, his intelligence was exemplary so was his academics. But psychologically he probably felt like trapped in a dark well, so he attacked any thing and everything in the darkness. There wouldn’t be anyone whom he trusted, he never had any best friends in his school. His acute isolation was never psychologically treated, neither by his parents nor by his school. Through the ravages of time his schizophrenic mind kept on hating external world. Meeting him this time, I felt that he has found a cure himself. Hope he will soon be a part of this world, however insane be it.
Clinically this behaviour is being called Autism - a borrowed label from adult psychiatry where it had been used to refer to the progressive loss of contact with the outside world, experienced by schizophrenics. And it is clearly visible from the age of 1 and is curable if treated in their early ages. There is no specifically known medication or therapy, the treatments include educating the parents and integrating the children into a society enlightening him and encouraging to get involved with the outside world. In the initial stages I think he should be allowed to observe, listen, see the surroundings and letting him free until he finds a fitting position in that scene. Teach him to trust, never compare him to anyone so as to invoke the inferiority complex in him, give him challenging tasks suiting for that age, teach him the practice of helping others, introduce him to the world of music, dance and sports as much as you do for academics. If not sure about how to deal with it consult a paediatric or psychiatrist. The primary aim is to build his confidence and to let him understand the need and capability to build that, his lack of confidence could discourage him from confronting anything external. He will be hesitant to mingle, his actions if ridiculed could worsen the situation.
This is a very common and a highly neglected illness so it is very important to observe each and every behaviour of the children. They are much more rational that we all think of, they have the ability to understand and differentiate the reality and story, which is the shocking truth behind this illness. It is probably us who take time to understand and learn from children than them. If you find any kid who is just shying away to join the crowd, who is staring blindly on nothing, who is so concentrated on finding symmetry in everything, inform his/her parents about this. It could be that the kid is perfectly normal but still that it is all right to be aware, because the 'He/She' could be your very brother, sister, friend, son, daughter . .
(reference: wikipedia)
14.12.08
An evening in Thrissur Zoo
THRISSUR: A 17-year-old camel in the zoo here died on Tuesday. According to the zoo authorities, the animal had not been keeping well for the last two weeks.
Thrissur: One of the two porcupettes (baby porcupines) born at the Thrissur zoo on Sunday was gored to death by its mother, zoo veterinarians said on Monday.
Founded in 1885 by the joint venture of Travancore-cochin kingdom, for the animal enthusiasts, Thrissur boasts a zoo, 2km from the town centre. Within the 13.5 acres of the compound live a variety of fauna like the lion tailed macaque, sloth bear, species of birds and deer. The snake park has a reptilian collection of King Cobras, Kraits, Vipers and Rat Snakes. That is enough for the marketing division.
Today the zoo is congested, being in the center of the city there is nop space left to expand the zoo premises. Recently the government and Thrissur corporation have decided to move the zoo to Peechi forest few 10-15 miles from the city which already houses a natural reserve. The plan includes building a natural reserve and giving more freedom to the animals who has seen just a stinky small cage in the lifetime. On the wake of this positive move and though the zoo was improved many times after my visit before my last one, I must confess the sights I devoured in the my last visit to the Thrissur zoo.
I have always had interest in nature, animals, trees etc and I loved to visit zoos. One of my friend once asked me if you like animals how could you love watching them behind bars and he suggested that I should discourage zoos and other animal captivities. And that's why I decided to visit the Thrissur zoo to realise that.
The main problem of that zoo were
1. the hygiene of the cages.
The cages stink of uncleaned excreta, rotten food mixed with dirt, damp moss covered walls in times of rain, rusting cage bars. Probably it is difficult to mend the rusting cage bars, in which case they should be coated with non-rusting material or replace it with strong Aluminium cages. Regarding the cleanliness, the cages are cleaned only once a week and most of the cages are dark ang gloomy. The food is thrown into the cages and if the animals don’t eat them it just lie there and rot inviting infection and epidemic. Why are the animals so unhealthy even when there is a well known veternary hospital in the town. Hippopotamus tank when installed you could see them playing joyfully in the water, mainly encouraged by the new clean water. But the merry is long lost the water stinks of dead fish and algae. Everything seems to be there but a little dedication in lacking.
2. overpopulation
All of the deer enclosure and monkey cages are almost full, one monkey cage contains 15-16 monkeys jampacked quarelling with each other for the bread crumbs, peanuts or fresh air. Talking about monkeys they are the most active animals who love to jump around exploring the world, and here you find them trying to find that joy in a rusty enclosure. There were many instances of monkey prison breaks too. This time I visited the Sambhar enclosure too was overcrowded, they were fighting to drink water from a narrow tank. The ways to check overpopulation would be to gastrate the males or just should have let the older ones free into jungles and keep the fresh littles ones inside.
3. institutionalisation of animals (see Shawshank redemption)
Though the worst of the criminals get life imprisonment they just need to spend 14 years of their life in prison. Many animals when they are sent to the zoos it is imprisonment to life indeed for many never get a chance to see a forest or river or any of their habitats. Now that I suppose the Instincts are born out of the cirumstances these animals are getting more and more unfit to the jungles. The animals should be cycled between the zoos and cages. A tiger when it comes to a zoo doesn’t have to live there till its death, why cant they be released after 5 years to some wilderness. Same is the case of monkeys, there are plenty of monkeys already loose in the town so why do we we have to keep more of them in cages.
This is just a case study, the situation is more or less the the same everywhere. Please encourage the movements towards the freedom of animals. They would still live happily even if you don’t go and visit them. Make visits to natural reserves and forest rides to encourage the forest maintainance and preservation of the nature.
The immaturity of the childhood eluded the harsh realities with painted fascination, it took ages to realise the errors and still a lot to travel be worthy to be called human.
Thrissur: One of the two porcupettes (baby porcupines) born at the Thrissur zoo on Sunday was gored to death by its mother, zoo veterinarians said on Monday.
Founded in 1885 by the joint venture of Travancore-cochin kingdom, for the animal enthusiasts, Thrissur boasts a zoo, 2km from the town centre. Within the 13.5 acres of the compound live a variety of fauna like the lion tailed macaque, sloth bear, species of birds and deer. The snake park has a reptilian collection of King Cobras, Kraits, Vipers and Rat Snakes. That is enough for the marketing division.
Today the zoo is congested, being in the center of the city there is nop space left to expand the zoo premises. Recently the government and Thrissur corporation have decided to move the zoo to Peechi forest few 10-15 miles from the city which already houses a natural reserve. The plan includes building a natural reserve and giving more freedom to the animals who has seen just a stinky small cage in the lifetime. On the wake of this positive move and though the zoo was improved many times after my visit before my last one, I must confess the sights I devoured in the my last visit to the Thrissur zoo.
I have always had interest in nature, animals, trees etc and I loved to visit zoos. One of my friend once asked me if you like animals how could you love watching them behind bars and he suggested that I should discourage zoos and other animal captivities. And that's why I decided to visit the Thrissur zoo to realise that.
The main problem of that zoo were
1. the hygiene of the cages.
The cages stink of uncleaned excreta, rotten food mixed with dirt, damp moss covered walls in times of rain, rusting cage bars. Probably it is difficult to mend the rusting cage bars, in which case they should be coated with non-rusting material or replace it with strong Aluminium cages. Regarding the cleanliness, the cages are cleaned only once a week and most of the cages are dark ang gloomy. The food is thrown into the cages and if the animals don’t eat them it just lie there and rot inviting infection and epidemic. Why are the animals so unhealthy even when there is a well known veternary hospital in the town. Hippopotamus tank when installed you could see them playing joyfully in the water, mainly encouraged by the new clean water. But the merry is long lost the water stinks of dead fish and algae. Everything seems to be there but a little dedication in lacking.
2. overpopulation
All of the deer enclosure and monkey cages are almost full, one monkey cage contains 15-16 monkeys jampacked quarelling with each other for the bread crumbs, peanuts or fresh air. Talking about monkeys they are the most active animals who love to jump around exploring the world, and here you find them trying to find that joy in a rusty enclosure. There were many instances of monkey prison breaks too. This time I visited the Sambhar enclosure too was overcrowded, they were fighting to drink water from a narrow tank. The ways to check overpopulation would be to gastrate the males or just should have let the older ones free into jungles and keep the fresh littles ones inside.
3. institutionalisation of animals (see Shawshank redemption)
Though the worst of the criminals get life imprisonment they just need to spend 14 years of their life in prison. Many animals when they are sent to the zoos it is imprisonment to life indeed for many never get a chance to see a forest or river or any of their habitats. Now that I suppose the Instincts are born out of the cirumstances these animals are getting more and more unfit to the jungles. The animals should be cycled between the zoos and cages. A tiger when it comes to a zoo doesn’t have to live there till its death, why cant they be released after 5 years to some wilderness. Same is the case of monkeys, there are plenty of monkeys already loose in the town so why do we we have to keep more of them in cages.
This is just a case study, the situation is more or less the the same everywhere. Please encourage the movements towards the freedom of animals. They would still live happily even if you don’t go and visit them. Make visits to natural reserves and forest rides to encourage the forest maintainance and preservation of the nature.
The immaturity of the childhood eluded the harsh realities with painted fascination, it took ages to realise the errors and still a lot to travel be worthy to be called human.
16.11.08
Development.... in double quotes
if at all you decide to enter a river with fast current, the only thing you need to wish for is a safe rock to hold on. The lady who comes to clean my house had a story to tell. She used to live in a similar small locality, a village, no pucca roads, far too quite, no traffic blocks, no shopping malls. And all of a sudden like the sky darkens before the downpour comes hoodies, dirty, ugly, in foreign car, they wore gold bracelets for no reasons, they spit everywhere of heat and frustration. Well here they came and showed some think bundles of currencies. He had a box full, in turn he just wanted the land, it was a straight forward deal, he was talking about malls, development, infrastructure, oppurtunities, city, IT etc etc and asked to imagine some dirty looking slum with dirty looking people wearing dothees and hardly any footwears around, she didn’t understand probably, she agreed infact that it may not look impressive. She sold her land, so did many others and they all shifted 10 kms outer from the city. Soon the investments grew, builds grew, road width grew, vehicles grew and within a blink of the eye the city grew from its boundaries, people from every nook and corner flocked in…some compained about the poor development while some appreciated the excellent development. She saw all that, occassionally boasting to me that the 8000/month rent house where I am staying used to be her home. Each time when she finish saying that, I feel that inside her when she lowers her head and in silence her vanity and sadness torture her to a bad shape, I tried imagining her in her old home in her old fashioned un-developed town…it would have looked like my own village, my own house. Her expenses have risen now, she wasn’t aware of the 'development' that was happening in the city filled with people earning 5 digits salary per month and who crib in the liesure time claiming that they are not able to meet their basic needs with such a "meager" income and at the same time redeculing the useless bunch going on protest (and disrupting the development) . She then said her friends are going for a protest lead by the present opposition to find a solution for the inflation and infrastructure, so I didn’t let my previous thoughts speak out. She came to me yesterday and said that she is moving out of this city, few people dressed in disgustingly bright white shirt and dhothi came to her house and asked for land to allow multi national car companies to build the cheapest cars for common man to improve the economy and boost development in the country. It made lot of sense, even when there are plenty of uncultivated arid land available the best business pro government can give the best available land after all it is for the development. Again they were ready to pay her the best quote - double the cost and were very eager to displace the whole housing colony as soon as possible. Some say that the City is crushing the villages underneath it, while some are saying that City is bringing better prospects to Villages, I try to stay unbiased. She left the next day, don’t know where to... but how far could have she gone…..Every now and then I hear the news of India's development…and now my ears have started to ache!
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