BJP – Vinash kale vipreet buddhi!!

As all of you know I’m nonpolitical but I had a slight inclination toward BJP’s original policies, which most of them got diluted in last 10 years. I do not approve of their religion based politics, but they are more progressive than Congress. Off late BJP is in self destruction mode. By expelling its senior leaders like Jaswant Singh & Yashwant Sinha, it is not really setting a good example for others in the party. But I’m not concerned about their example setting. What is more worrying is that a strong opposition is must for a healthy democracy. In absence of BJP in parliament, Congress will be free to do what it likes.

I was especially surprised about Jaswant Singh’s expulsion, and it was probably not required. First he has only published a book and only expressed his own views, which may be different from BJP’s. What was more surprising was that they do not see they own benefit these days. The book criticizes Congress for creating a separate country and not Jinha for it was Nehru who refused to share power. This is not something new, and we have heard and seem this multiple times. For instance 8 Oscar winner movie Gandhi shows the same. So why make so much fuss about the book and expel a senior leader like Jaswant Singh!

Anyway, there is an old proverb in Hindi – “Vinash Kale Vipreet buddhi”, which means when your days are near your brain stops working!!!

The inhuman face of media and locals in Mumbai Attack…

Life has become so much uncertain that one never knows what may happen. The brutal act of killing civilians has been never seen before. At the time of national crisis when whole India was praying for the safety of the hostages and glued to TV, there were few  trying to increase the TRP of their channel or put their face on TV.

I m not trying to be generic but many of the media people and locals were insensitive to the whole situation in Mumbai.

Yesterday night, while many of the journalists were reporting on the camera about the operation at Taj hotel, many people standing behind them were smiling and waving at the camera… I just can’t stop wondering how someone can be so insensitive to the whole situation. On another channel CNN a foreign journalist was reporting from the Taj area, and people standing behind were more interested in her than in anything else. How can someone be so stupid to be on an international channel and behave so stupidly?

The news media only worry about their TRP ratings and how to make things sensationalized. It was pretty evident the way they were approaching the released hostages asking them stupid questions, when none of them were interested in answering them. It has also come to light that ATS chief Hemant Karkare died while trying to protect one journalist who was not moving from the scene.

Bad roads and bad traffic is killing our economy

I have been a strong advocate of following traffic rules. Indians have the best of brains in the world and I recently got a mail which tried to prove so by giving the statistics of number of Indian doctors in US, number of scientist of Indian Origin, or number of people who get H1B visa from India. And I don’t deny the fact that we Indians are sharp and are good learners.

That was the rosy side, but let’s faces this – other side of the story is not as beautiful. Rather I will say that it is too ugly to be shown to anyone. And we all should be ashamed of that.

Now, since I have given some vent to my anger and frustration, let’s talk about the actual subject. Over the last couple of months I have been observing a sharp increase in the traffic situation in Hyderabad. The city is close on its heels to becoming another disaster like Bangalore – Bad to worst roads and never improving traffic sense of hyderabadi drivers. The result is long traffic jams, rise in number of impatient people and above all loss of money.

Below are some key observations:
-    2 months back it took me 20-25 minutes to drive from my home to office, around 14 kms.
o    Today, the time has increased to 45 minutes
o    Even if I start as early as 8:30 AM, it takes 30 minutes
-    2 months back my car gave an average of 17 kmpl
o    Today it gives around 12 kmpl

Based on this if I calculate the loss of time than that comes to 40 to 60 minutes a day, which amount to roughly 20 hours a month.

Let’s see about the fuel – I am spending roughly around .5 liters extra everyday, which results in consuming an extra 10 liters a month. This doesn’t end here. Consuming more fuel also means that our contribution to global warming has also increased. This is the story of just me, imagine now for all the vehicles on the road.

So who is the culprit right now? Bad city planning, bad roads and worst drivers. Combine all three and you will find our new Hyderabad. All drains have been closed in the name of road expansion. Uneven roads with no proper slopes and water exits lead to water clogging. Potholes at some places are 1ft deep. After every rain, you may find a new pothole on the road.

And what are out local civic bodies doing? I guess enjoying mansoon and having samosa, mirchi bhaaji & tea.

According to one story, the world has roughly only enough fossil fuel to sustain for next 40 years. That study was done 5 years back. So what are we doing now? We are increasing the rate of consumption, why wait for another 40 years, lets finish it fast is the new mantra!!! Imagine a world without OIL in your lifetime. Life will be so calm, no traffic, no pollution. Back to stone age!

Railway station is a happening place

Yesterday I went to Universal Studio, Los Angeles. LA is 2:30 hour by train from Santa Barbara. I had taken an early morning train, so most of the time I spent sleeping while going. There was a Chinese guy sitting next to me. We didn’t talk with each other, and we both kept listing to our individual ipods. The only thing I remember asking was “How far are we from LA?” He just replied that it was the next station.

Rest of day I spent in Universal City. My return train was at 7 PM, but I reached the station at around 5 PM. Since I was tired, I spent rest of the time in the waiting room.

While waiting and listening to my ipod, I kept watching and observing people crossing by of different shape, sizes, and personalities. A girl passed by, with a warm and delicate smile. I saw her for few seconds and then went back at looking at other travelers. Time passed by and I in the mean time drank one cold coffee and an orangeade (similar to lemonade).  Then I walked to sit somewhere else, close to boarding place. A girl came by and sat beside me. She was wearing a pajama and a t-shirt. A weird combination to travel in, but I guess everything works here. She looked liked an Indian but only till she started speaking to someone sitting next to her.

When the time came, I went to stand in the boarding queue. There was a guy standing ahead of me nicely dressed. I think he was not an american (I m yet to see a guy dressed well in US).  Behind me was girl on a bicycle in small shorts. After few minutes she just stepped out of the queue and walked somewhere else, I didn’t followed.

Now the girl standing next to me was the same I saw with a warm and gentle smile, we shared a glance and then I kept looking ahead waiting for the announcement of arrival of the train. And she does arrive after couple of minutes on track 9B.  Everyone rushed towards the track.

I took my seat in the train, but when the train started moving I realized that I was sitting in the opposite direction of the movement and that makes me dizzy.  So I decided to find another seat that faces the direction of the moving train. And I noticed that girl at the end of the train, so I moved to her seat and asked if I can sit with her. She removed the bag from the seat and I then sat there. That smile on her face left a long lasting impression so I choose to sit with her instead of the other good looking passengers.

Her name was Cristina. She was very friendly; we talked a lot for next 2 hours. The time just flew, otherwise which would have been so boring. Then her station came and she left with a warm hug. Sometimes I wonder that we make friends at most unlikely of the places.

This train journey will be remembered for a long time!

Energy needs and it’s effect on global warming!

My company is starting a initiative “Go Green – Reduce Reuse Recycle” on ‘Earth Day’ i.e. celebrated around the world by earth lovers. This initiative includes:

• Travel smart - You reduce 1.5 kg of carbon dioxide pollution for every 5 km you don’t drive. Use public transport, avail of the company transport, or simply try car-pooling. You not only contribute to less pollution, you also cut down on fuel cost and stress pills because of less driving.
• Tree plantation – The company is providing 55 trees, to be bought, and will be planted in the company’s campus.
• Reduce paper – Resist the urge to print everything. A visit to the printer room reveals how much paper we waste. As a “green” measure, all printers are by default to duplex print. Also, hand dryers are provided in the wash rooms to reduce the paper usage.
• Vermi-composting on Company’s Campus - Vermi-composting is the technique of using EARTH worms to break down the organic waste generated out of food, paper etc. to create fertilizer. The company will produce vermi-compost fertilizer for all trees on the campus.

This seems to be a really nice initiative at a company level, but the success of it depends on the individuals. Company cannot enforce them, these are just suggestion and best practices. It is left up to individuals to realize their responsibility and find out ways how they can contribute in making earth a better place to live. Companies like mine have started a small but a significant step toward making a greener earth.

I think the demand of energy is directly proportional to the green house gases which are the main source of global warming. Consider this – the electricity used in IT to keep the industry running is huge. The number of computers is doubling every year. Each computer consumes a lot of power and generates a lot of heat. This is not all – to keep the computers cool, air conditions are installed, which again consumes the equivalent amount of energy or perhaps more. Big companies like Google & Microsoft have huge data centers with tens of thousands of computers. They consume massive amount of energy. There is a lot of scope of reducing this electricity consumption by having more energy efficient computers with generate much less heat or does not require any external cooling. I read somewhere that Microsoft was planning to open a big datacenter in Russia or Siberia. I wonder if that is the step to reduce the air conditioning bill…

We all know from our school days that the primary source of electricity are coal (thermal), water (dams), nuclear. Wind and Solar energy is tried at some places but they have not gained the popularity, primarily because ROI is not good. Electricity produces from bio-wastes have been experimented successfully, but again there is the problem of adoption. People tend to use things which are easily to install and use. Wide adoption of alternate fuels requires willingness from both the government and individuals.

Fuel seems to be the major source of contaminating the environment because when it burns it releases CO2 and other gases participating in green house effect. It is very unlikely that the consumption of fuel may be reduced because our demand for energy is only going to increase with each passing day. We need to find better and efficient ways of using the available resources. Scientists are busy finding alternates to currently available fuels option – like in Brazil, ethanol produced from sugarcane is used as an alternate to petrol. Ethanol is cheaper then petrol and produces less green house gases. More than 70% of the gas stations in Brazil now have ethanol available. This was only possible by the willingness and participation of government and citizens.

Government in US is forcing the auto industry to come up with more fuel efficient engines, with alternate to petrol and diesel. With each passing year emission norm are becoming tougher. Hybrid cars are the future, but they are a long way from adoption by common man. We have long heard and seen nuclear powered submarines, but that technology is still far from being used in cars & planes. But there will be one day when our cars will have a small nuclear battery inside that may never be required to be replaced for the car’s entire life.

All this is a big plan, most of them may not even see the light of the day, but as individuals we should thrive of discipline to use our natural resources efficiently. Charity starts from home, so shall any good cause.

Celebrate ‘Earth Day’, everyday!

How expensive will it be to maintain a car in future?

Today I spent my complete day with a friend of mine. We are neighbors. So after our lunch we were watching an old movie ‘chupke chupke’, where in once scene the driver repairs the car, and the owner of the car says to his wife that if the car had been taken to workshop then then minimum Rs100 bill would have come. This was some 30 years ago. I am not an economist, but will do some simple math without bringing any inflation or current salary trends in.

Today if you take your car to workshop then  you will spend minimum Rs.1000, and I m only talking about a samll car. So it is almost 10 times more than that as it used to be in 70’s. If we continue to go at this pace, then in next 20 to 25 years taking a car to workshop may be as expensive as spending 2 nights in a 5 star hotel today.

Now look at the petrol price today, it is above Rs.52 per liter, which 30 years ago was just Rs.10. I still remember taking my father’s scooter out and then 2-3 rupees from friends and filling petrol for Rs.10.  The oil prices today we get are highly subsidized by government but which still means the price of petrol has gone up by 5 times. In next 25-30 years this price of petrol may be equivalent to taking a family of 4 for a movie today.

It will be so good if there is some machine which does not require any maintenance and fuel.

Nuke the world!

We are energy hungry, no matter how much source of energy we have, we always find ways to make them insufficient. With each passing decade the oil is getting costlier, coal resources are depleting. There is an ever increasing pressure on automobile companies to increase fuel efficiency. Energy governs the economy – no one is untouched by the high energy demands and high costs. Consider yourself… what are your energy needs? You need oil/gas for you car, electricity for keeping your home, maintaining temperature at home (warm/cool, depending on the place you live), LPG or electricity to cook food, for your gadgets, etc…

Non conventional sources of energy like solar and wind are clean sources of energy and sounds promising but have not gained popularity due to size and output ratio. Another seemingly unlimited source of energy is nuclear energy. For a long time scientists are trying to contain the energy and make it available for general use. Imagine a nuclear powered car, which does not required refueling for its life. Examples such as this are abundant, and I guess everyone is hope that something happens real fast on these lines.

Recently a colleague told me about a company Hyperion Power Generation, formed last month to develop the nuclear fission reactor at Los Alamos National Laboratory and take it into the private sector.

Hyperion doesn’t like to think of its product as a “reactor.” It’s self-contained, involves no moving parts and, therefore, doesn’t require a human operator.  “In fact, we prefer to call it a ‘drive’ or a ‘battery’ or a ‘module’ in that it’s so safe,” Hyperion spokeswoman Deborah Blackwell says. “Like you don’t open a double-A battery, you just plug [the reactor] in and it does its chemical thing inside of it. You don’t ever open it or mess with it.”

Often referred to as a “cartridge” reactor or “nuclear battery,” the Hyperion hydride reactor is self- regulating with no moving parts to break down or corrode.  It is small, compact, portable, cleaner, & less expensive. I strongly  suggest that you go once through Hyperion Power Generation website to know more details.

Vultures – where are they?

For a long time the conservationists have given importance to only legendary animals – like Tiger, Panda, etc. and have missed out on animals and birds which are closely related to humans. Vultures are one such example.

Recently I was reading an article which states that total number of vultures have been reduced to such an extent that they are now endangered species and even few of them have already been extinct.

Till recently, extinction of vultures was considered to be the result of loss of their natural habitat and pollution. A recent study conducted on the extinction of Vulture has bought out a new dimension the problem. Population of vultures has been drastically reduced, partly due to poisoning by the anti-inflammatory drug diclofenac which is often given to human & cattle. In human and cattle it is given for pain relief, whereas in Vultures it causes renal failure.

Everyone knows that vultures are scavengers surviving on dead animal carcasses, especially cattle. Apart from this vultures also have a very important role in some religions like Zoroastrian (Parsis) & Hinduism.

Vulture is an important part in Hinduism. ‘Jatayu’ – the vulture king tried to save Sita in Ramayana from abduction by Ravana.

It has been traditional for dead Parsis to be taken to eaten by vultures, because earth, fire & water are all considered to sacred elements, which should not be defiled by the dead. Extinction of vultures has been resulting in serious problems at both the fronts. Their extinction means that the dead bodies will be left to rot and decompose slowly. If I am  correct then in Mumbai Parsis take the corpse to the ‘Tower of Silence” where the city vultures eat it. After the slow extinction of Vultures from the city the bodies are taking a long time to decompose.  Parsis in Mumbai have installed solar panels to speed up the decomposition process of corpse, which is met only with partial success.

Apart form this there are other side effects as well. According to a recent article in “American Scientific India” magazine, extinction of Vultures mean that the food it abundant for stray dogs thus giving rise in there population, which in turn result in the rise be rabies cases.It is just one of many examples of side effects that may happen with the extinction of one species.