Belgium and Bombay…… 9 January 2008

A recent newspaper article about Belgium forced me to compare that country with Bombay (the world still knows Mumbai as Bombay). An advanced, modern, clean country vs. a decaying, filthy metropolis? Please read on to find out the contrasts and decide; I have used B for Belgium and M for Mumbai.

· B is a country, M is just the capital of one state in India.

· Population: B – 10.5 million; M – approximately 14 milllion (may be even more)

· M – a melting pot of multiculturalism; people from all parts of India representing all religions and speaking many languages have been living together for years and generally peacefully (leaving alone a few aberrations) with an elected government.

· B – majority population is Dutch-speaking living in the Flanders region; minority French-speaking living in the poorer southern part. These two groups are finding it difficult to co-exist. Because of this, the results of the election held in June last year 2007 were indecisive; there is no proper elected government and some have speculated that the country may even breakup.

S .Gopal
….Keying in is better than idling

Units of Measurement and Morons…… 22 December 2007

The sales man who took us around the flats said:`this flat is 1 600, that is 1 400’. After some time he said referring to the same two flats: `this flat is 2 500 and that 2 600’. Of course, the intelligent (that excludes me) prospective buyers amongst us understood. Of course, 1 600 and 1 400 meant floor area of the flat in square feet; 2 500 and 2 600 meant the sale price in Rupees per square foot of floor area. Coming to the area of sites (in some places they are referred to as plots), 4 000 would mean 4 000 square feet in Bangalore and 4000 square yards (which is equal to 36 000 square feet!) in Hyderabad.

When a shop keeper tells you the price of the product is two fifty, it can mean Rupees two hundred and fifty or Rupees two and paise fifty.

Unenlightened, nitpicking morons like me would prefer units of measurement expressed clearly along with any value. Thankfully, such tribe is a small minority!

S .Gopal ….Keying in is better than idling

Building Bridges….. 21 December 2007

Recently somebody forwarded to me pictures of a dozen complicated and neat road bridge clusters from different cities of Europe and the Gulf region and contrasted the same with our own Indian roads.

On yet another day an Indian immigrant from the US, who was on a visit to Bangalore, remarked that India can never even dream of building in next fifty years, such good roads and bridges as in the US.

Let me emphasise that I am not against urban roads and bridges. I am concerned with the fixation of the rich with such structures and equating the same with development. We must understand that there is a larger country beyond our limited urban vision.

The need of the times is to build bridges of the other kind, many small ones that remove the urban-rural disconnect. These have to be physical structures as well as emotional ones. Let’s not forget the Indian rural underprivileged and the disadvantaged, who form the majority and who feed the nation. The earlier we realise this, the better it is!

S .Gopal ….Keying in is better than idling

Obscurantist practices… 11 December 2007

Yesterday I heard that some well-educated, upper middle class, and not-so-old ladies known to me walked for five hours from their homes in suburban Mumbai to the Siddhi Vinayak Temple in Prabhadevi. I was also told that `even’ Amitabh Bacchan did the walking!

I can see only two reasons why they undertook this exercise.

· to thank the God for fulfilling their wishes

· to ask for more favours

Several related questions:

· Is modernity and civilisation limited to owning swanky cars, marbled house, overflowing wardrobe and other material acquisitions? Is it not time to effect a change in the mindset?

· Is God so naïve as to grant favours to someone who undertakes such an exercise?

· Is punishing the body like this is good for health for such individuals who are not used to such rigour in daily life?

· What happens to the theory that God is everywhere (including within oneself) and knows everything?

I know what the answer will be: You don’t ask questions when matters of faith are involved. Period.

S. Gopal

… keying in is better than idling

Why do I go to the Santhe? … 12 November 2007

(almost 400 words)

Yesterday was a Sunday. As it happens every Sunday, the santhe came into being in the morning at the usual open space about a kilometer away from my residence. Santhe (known as haat in some cultures) is a congregation of vendors of a particular variety of products. This santhe is dedicated to vegetables.

Whenever I am in town and as far as possible, I go to this santhe to buy the weekly quota of vegetables needed by my house.

Why do I do so?

• First and foremost, is nostalgia. As a boy, I used to buy vegetables in such markets in Delhi. It brings back memories of my childhood.

• It is at walking distance.

• It is interesting to watch stuff being unloaded, opened and laid out for sale.

• The vegetables look fresh and appealing.

• I have never compared prices with other outlets, but purchasing here gives me a good feeling that I have bought items at `wholesale rates’ meaning `I have got a good value my money’

• This gives me an opportunity to `cock a snook’ at the corporate marts, who I feel have usurped from the urban disadvantaged a few remaining chances of engaging in some economic activity.

• I feel some satisfaction that I am helping those who are being uprooted from their traditional vocation.

• Here you can listen to some creative sales talk of the vendors in praise of the vegetables they are selling (for example this is `homegrown’, Sir; see you can feel the smoothness and softness); in contrast nobody talks to you in a supermarket.

While I do not haggle (my point is: how much am I going to save by that?) I see with amusement people arguing with the vendors for 50 paise or one rupee, more so because these are the people I saw alighting a little while ago from their Honda Cities, Ford Ikons, or Toyota Innovas. (these people park their cars about half-a-kilometer off; they do not want the vendors to get wind of their economic strength and `exploit’ them. Exploiters never want to be exploited !!!)

S .Gopal ….Keying in is better than idling

Deepavali-the Sensible and the Senseless 9 November 2007

Yesterday I visited a relative. While he was itching to burst crackers, his two school-going boys refused to do so saying that it would lead to environmental pollution and also support child-labour in the factories manufacturing fire-works !

On the contrary, another family (who are into jewellery business) boasted to me that they have purchased crackers worth Rupees one and a half lakhs.

The municipal authorities in Bangalore are losing their night’s sleep wondering how they will clear 14 000 tonnes of cracker-garbage that they will confront them tomorrow morning. They are also worried that it may get into the newly-cleared drains and clog them. In the meanwhile the garbage-clearing contractors have planned a stir in protest against the authorities not allocating enough dumping yard.

While the chest and allergy specialists have warned of increased incidences of breathing problems due to cracker smoke, a biology lecturer has a different take on the subject. She says: `Sulphur and nitreous smoke from fireworks will kill *microbial pathogens* and free the community from virus-related illnesses`.

S .Gopal
….Keying in is better than idling