TERROR FROM TRAFFIC

                                               

For last 15 years or so, there has been a perceptible improvement in the national economy, facilitating the individuals to go for luxury items. On the top of this list is a four-wheeler. Every service holder or businessman aims at owning his own car. As a result, the number of vehicles on road has multiplied so much that incidents of road rage, accidents and blockage of pedestrian tracks have become rampant. Besides casualties, road accidents are crippling a number of people daily. The state of affairs is worsening day by day because of unrestricted number of heavy vehicles, cars and two as well as three- wheelers coming on the already congested roads.

I am in Delhi continuously since 1986. At that time, the total number of vehicles on road was 13 lakh. Within next a couple of years or so, it rose to 25 lakh. As a result, due to pollution caused by these vehicles, the air in the metropolis became so polluted that it was leading to massive health hazards. The Supreme Court intervened to remove old trucks and buses from the road and encouraged three wheels and cars to opt for CNG. This brought a definite change. One American visitor told me that in this respect Delhi was better than Washington. However the multiplying number of new vehicles on road puts the situation back to the old score. According to a latest figure, the present population of Delhi is around one crore seventy lakh. On the other hand there are 85 lakh vehicles on road today out of which cars alone are 50 lakh. The roads are insufficient to take the load, parking space is pathetically less and the rate of accidents is mounting to all time high. What should be done?

The Government and the policy making thinktank must be having solutions needing strict implementation. We can take a cue from Singapore. In that island state, everybody is not entitled to purchase and drive a car despite his paying capacity. Only very senior executives and the leaders of other sectors are allowed to have  cars whether provided by office or personally purchased. To general people, the govt encourages them to use public transport. They have an excellent system of buses and metros. Before we copy them straightway, there should be a ban on purchasing cars without a parkijg space. It will give a respite to the choked up lanes, streets and pavements. Any delay in this regard may push the problem beyond redemption.     

OSHO RAJNEESH

                               

                LISTEN TO YOUR BEING. IT IS CONTINUOUSLY  GIVING YOU HINTS; IT IS A STILL, SMALL VOICE. IT DOES NOT SHOUT AT YOU, THAT IS TRUE. AND IF YOU ARE A LITTLE SILENT YOU WILL START FEELING YOUR WAY.                BE THE PERSON YOU ARE. NEVER TRY TO BE ANOTHER, AND YOU WILL BECOME MATURE. MATURITY IS ACCEPTING RESPONSIBILITY OF BEING ONESELF, WHARSOEVER THE COST. RISKING ALL TO BE ONESELF,THAT’S WHAT MATURITY IS ALL ABOUT.

               

ZOO ANIMALS GETTING FATTER

                                         

I remember to have put two posts on my blog pertaining to growing incidence of obesity in the modern society, leading to life style diseases and ultimately causing health hazards. I do not intend to go into details of this trend of going fatty. What has surprised me today is a research finding that the animals in zoos are gaining weight. Another research in the USA has found that all animals, pet or otherwise, living in human company are getting their bodymass heavier. Is not it strange to find animals going human way in assuming body weight?

The zoo keepers and doctors attending on the animals have revealed that these captive animals have started suffering from life style disease like their human counterparts. They have found the animals suffering from BP, diabetes, cardiac disorders so on and so forth. The trend is also in non-pet animals like dogs, cats etc living in human company. As a result, the zoo managements have not only to manage food for their captive animals but also additionally spend on their medical care. This new side effect of better food is causing a great problem in the zoo managements.

We know that the life style diseases are caused due to faulty life style of the individuals. Straightway we can say that such diseases are the result of more nutritious food intake and lack of physical labour to digest the food. Normally diabetes, BP and coronary complications are prevalent in developed societies where food is of high quality and the man is leading a sedentary life style as almost for all domestic chores, machines are available. Exactly in the same way, zoo animals have also started suffering as they get good and hygienic food and medical aid without any movement. The forest animal cannot afford gaining flab as he has to struggle for the food for subsistence and self defence.

To cope with this problem, the zoo authorities have decided to widen the enclosures and provide facilities so that the animals can play and have fun. They have also decided to stop visitors from feeding junk food to the animals. Instead they can deposit the food in a provided container to be sorted out by the zoo keepers. Is not it a lesson for us as well?   

A DESI PRIME MINISTER

                                So far from Nehru to the present incumbent, there have been one dozen prime ministers in India. Pt. Nehru, the first PM being foreign educated, was in true sense an Anglophile. He loved western culture though not at the cost of our own rich traditions. He spoke good English and was an important politician at international level. Except his churidar, sherwani and Gandhi cap giving him an Indian appearance inside the country, he loved to get dressed in three-piece suit and enjoyed the company of European politicians and diplomats. Though very close to Mahatma Gandhi, he did not subscribe to his bucolic Indianness and native ideas.

Out of those one dozen premiers, to me the true desi models were Lal Bahadur Shastri, Morarji Desai and now Narendra Modi. I am leaving out a few who wore the mantle for some days or months only. In that case one cannot ignore Chandrashekhar, charan Singh, G.L. Nanda and Devegauda. We have to consider that only outer appearance is not sufficient to tell a leader that he is desi. One has to think and live a life in which the interest of the motherland is reflected in every decision and the democratic system is strengthened. On this yardstick, one can point out some decisions of Pt Nehru, Mrs Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi and Chandrashekhar not qualifying entry. What about NaMo ?

At the present juncture, it would be foolhardiness to compare Narendra Modi with some of the above giants of Indian politics. He will have to perform for complete five years to be taken in the estimation. For the present, we can only point out some of the personality traits of Modi which appear to justify that he is a desi PM. During his 12-year stint as the CM of Gujarat, he gave a very good account of solving the problems through measures enshrined in domestic talent and taking his state to a new height. His dress has already become a brand. He is not a product of any foreign university. In the editorial column of the Sulabh India (English monthly, May 2014), it is written: ‘History repeats itself again when a tea-seller of Gujarat becomes  the Prime Minister of India, struggling for 40 years without any advantages of high-born, English speaking elite or the power or money’.

He invariably speaks in Hindi even with the foreigners with the help of a translator like the Russians, French and Chinese. He eats native Gujarati recipes with no liking for non-veg and wine. He touches the feet of not only his mother but also the senior party leaders. He is deeply rooted in Hinduism with no illwill for any other faith. He says, India first, neighbours second and then the world at large. He has the ambition of India leading the world by making it economically affluent and militarily strong for self defence.

Let us hope that his tryst with destiny will see him through and he would carve a niche in  the domestic as well as international politics.

COMFORT BEGETTING DISCOMFORT

 About five years back, I had seen some forty students of a school being run by a foreign embassy, who had come to see a museum. To my utter surprise, I found that more than half of them were overweight. Some of them were awkwardly flabby.They had problems in standing erect and maintaining a normal gait. Particularly the girls, who were of around 10-12 years of age, appeared carrying their bodymass with some difficulty. Since they were from a reputed and costly public school, they must be hailing from affluent sections. We may call it the side effects of opulence.

Yesterday, I was talking to a family member of mine, settled in Singapore. She surprised me by telling a similar but more awkward story from the USA. I could learn that in certain parts of that great country, people have started taking only hotel food. They argue that cooking the food at home is not only time consuming but also costlier. To cater to their need, the famous eatery joints including KFC have lowered the cost to attract more and more customers. Since the world renowned chicken preparations of KFC and Macdonald contain bad cholesterol, the people enjoying this dainty food are growing fatter. The matter does not stop there. The things have come to such a pass in these areas that even the normal coffins are not big enough to adjust these dead fatties. The society needs bigger coffins for the disposal of dead bodies.

The physical complications like diabetes, hyper tension, coronary complications etc are defined as lifestyle diseases. These ailments are caused by sedentary lifestyle. Most of the domestic chores are being done today by machines. Several kitchen ingredients are available redymade. Moreover, the rich enjoy highly processed and nutritious cuisine which in absence of matching physical labour begets unwanted fats. These people need corrective orientation. If they find time for seeing films, net surfing, gossiping etc why they cannot spare some time for cooking. Like mother’s milk for the new born, there is no substitution for home cooked food. If we did not learn this unpleasant appearing suggestion, in the days to come  we will have no bed in already overcrowded hospitals.

INDIAN FOOTBALL

Ever since the Federation of Football Associations (FIFA) World Cup 2014 matches started in Brazil, I have been virtually weeping as India did not figure in 32 qualifying teams. This has been our fate for years. The Indian team last time shone at any international outing was in early 60s when at Jakarta we grabbed the Asian championship. Those days the then Czechoslovakia was the world champion. Like our Mohun Bagan, a famous team of that country, named Tatbanaya came to play friendly matches with the india-eleven. In the match played in the Ferozeshah Kotla ground Chuni Goswami was our captain and Dr Radhakrishnan, the then President of India had come to see the match. We lost perhaps by two goals to nil. Since then even on Asian level we have been losing ground and new teams from China, South Korea and Japan have pushed us far behind. In the obsession for cricket, the country appears to have sidetracked this globally and popularly played football. The victories in sports are a mirror of the economic wellbeing and good health of a country. Till almost 1980s, in Olympics, we figured only in hockey. After that the success of Green Revolution and overall improved performance in other economic sectors, India started making its presence in other sports as well. The most remarkable field has been lawn tennis. We have regularly been giving good international level players. Till recently in badminton and table tennis, the East Asian countries like China, Indonesia, Malysia and japan were enjoying monopoly. Now India has made a noticeable entry in these games as well. Over and above these, india is also putting effective challenges in shooting, weightlifting, archery and wrestling. These are auguring well. But where is lost the traditional football? If you see the teams of ongoing FIFA matches, the football appears to have been monopolized by South America and Europe. Africa has only three teams- Algeria, Ghana and Nigeria. Only Nigeria could manage to figure in the pr-quarterfinalist 16 teams and in the quarterfinal surrendered to France. Asia is represented by Iran, Japan and south Korea having hardly any prospect in reaching semi-final stage. Rest of the 26 teams hail from Europe and Latin America if we leave out Australia and USA. This time the dominating Europe is also shaky under the whirlwind performance of the Latinos. The last Champion Spain was eliminated at initial stages itself. Even strong teams from England, Portugal, Switzerlaand, Russia, Italy etc have licked dust. Only the Netherland,Belgium, France and Germany are still in the race. However, the experts and even the betting people have forecast that the final will be between Brazil and Argentina. My personal guess is that in the final any two teams out of the three – Argentina, Netherland and Colombia will clash. I am not impressed yet with the lower than expectation performance of the favourite Brazil. So far Argentina and Colombia have given a superb account of themselves. Let Indian players see these matches to draw an inspirational lesson.