Trip To New Delhi

Traveled to New Delhi on October 9th. Landed in the swanky Terminal 3. Nice ambiance. I have been told that it is better than some of the foreign air port terminals. Nice to note that!
Traveling around in Delhi Metro train was a breeze. If one had to go to NOIDA in olden days, it would have taken hours together. Now moving from Karol Bagh to NOIDA is barely 35 minutes in air conditioned coaches. If one purchases a smart card for Rs. 50, the trouble of standing in the queue for getting ticket can also be avoided. One can re-charge the smart card with required amount. Icing on the cake is that while going off from Delhi, one can refund the card value also! Anyway i decided to keep the card with me since i might come back again !!
Developments on the infrastructure especially roads & bridges in NOIDA is to be seen to believe in. I earnestly hope that every Indian state makes one well planned city like NOIDA.
Security was kind of beefed up in view of the impending festivity season. Already people are out onto the streets for Diwali purchasing. Hope nothing untoward comes up.
I was feeling bit unwell. I thought it was the change of place/environment etc. However, to my utter dismay,, i found the fact that old age is catching up with me. I guess i will have to take things sportively ;-)

Onam 2011

Been to Kerala for celebrating Onam with my family. The trip was nice. However the climate could have been better! It was raining incessantly for most of the time. Normally rains end by the time Malayali starts to celebrate Onam. The festivities in kerala continue to grow with government patronage. As of now, Onam has become more of a shopping festival than a harvest festival. Probably owing to the rains, most of the paddy/rice cultivation were destroyed leaving farmers high & dry. Hope some ceremonial harvesting occurred somewhere. In any case, farming has lost its charm long long ago in many parts of the state. With ever increasing cost for seeds, fertilizer, man power etc there is not much of returns. Ever appreciating land cost & tendency to break further in to nuclear families have seen the farm lands getting divided & sub-divided and finally getting into dwelling places. There is no other activity other than farming/cultivation in the world where input multiplies. Still farmers are fast becoming extinct variety. Many of the kerala farmers have switched from food grains to rubber and spices long back in pursuit of better financial returns. Kerala now feeds on rice from Andhra Pradesh. If the trend continues to other southern states, soon paddy fields will become memory & preparation of rice a luxury.

Fasting against Corruption

In this whole materialistic world, it is nice to find persons following Gandhian ideology. I hope the ongoing fast at Delhi's Ram Lila Maidan shall become triumphat. In my humble opinion, victory has already been achieved. As they say, you conjure up things in your mind/heart first. Already a lot of awareness have been created in the minds of common man on the issue of Lokpal Bill. That is a great achievement. However i am bit wary of yet another legislation. We do have enough of them. The crux of the issue is its implementation. We can have umpteen laws prohibiting corruption. Effective implementation of provisions of law must be enforced. Speedy disposal of cases must be ensured. I feel it is better not to have many appellate authorities like we have in Judiciary so that all procedures can get concluded faster.
P.S. With the kind of salary our government officials have (Take the case of a traffic policeman standing in grime & dust in busy junctions) i have a feeling that a little corruption is required in the system for smooth running.. !

Temple Treasure - Saga Continues....

Sri Padmanabha Swamy Temple has been in the lime light for quite some time for the temple treasures kept in its coffers. There is one more to be opened yet. There had been a 'Deva Prasnam' (ritual to find out the position of deity on these matters). Declared results indicates that deity is not happy with opening of coffers. It is not His desire to account & assess these materialistic wealth. It is seen in the 'Deva Prasnam' that if the last coffer is opened, many bad things can happen to members of the team opening coffer. The Royal family who are the chief trustees of the temple are also bound to suffer. Some kind of mitigatory measures like various 'Puja' s have been prescribed. I am just wondering where all these things are leading us to.
It seems in legal circle, Deity of a temple is considered a legal entity & can have lawyer(s) too. In any case trustees have lawyers to plead the case. The million rupee/dollar question is what happens to the treasure !

To quote from bible try Luke 20:25

Global Cues

M/S Standard & Poor has reduced the ratings of US of A from 'AAA' to 'AA+'. I am not sure as to what these 'A's represent. Nevertheless, there has been a downgradation. In many of the western economies, a slump is seen around. This is bound to have an effect on Indian Econoomy too atleast in the short run. Global stock markets underwent a 'correction' in yesterday's trading session. Market analysts use 'correction' but actually it is a downslide i suppose. Is there any bigger 'Correction' is in the offing ? I guess it is better to ask an astrologer rather than to a stock analyst.

In days to come, value of money or the buying power of money is going to dwindle. In the mid nineties, taking up an insurance policy for a few lakhs was considered to be sufficient. As of now a few tens of Lakhs is the requirement. By the time retirement of the individual comes, whatever he/she has set apart might prove to be insufficient ! It is a never ending saga of Gap NOT bridged. The only industry which multiplies the input is farming. However gross neglect has beaten up this sector in India. There had been innumerable suicides by farmers in many states of India. If we do not address the root causes, it will be difficult for us to sustain in the long term. May wisdom prevail....