You are currently browsing the monthly archive for December, 2005.
2005 has been a uneventful year largely. Apart from the shift from Hyderabad to New Delhi and the Big Decision, nothing much has happened. As I grow up, time seems to fly faster. When I was a kid, a year was a very long time. These days, a year is nothing. My project seminar seems just like yesterday.
Here are some of my memorable events in 2005:
1. Getting the admit and I20 to Arizona State University.
2. The day I saw my 4.2 results. I realised I narrowly won a distinction.
3. Nirvana and Surge at MGIT. There was some work to do in an otherwise boring period i.e., March and April.
4. The party that we i.e., Raptor, Sravanth and myself had, the days before I left for New Delhi.
5. Buying my new notebook.
6. Ms. Neetu Singh saying "Good Chaitanya. You're understanding of Geographical Thought is very good", during a weekly test discussion, a few weeks back. ; ) After that, my classmates who overheard were all over my test paper, looking at what was so good about my answers. 
)
7. England beating Australia in the Ashes. That was some spectacle.
Some hard moments:
1. When I saw the email from University of Florida at Gainesville about my application getting rejected. Had I got an admit, I would've been in Gainesville now, getting ready for a New Year's Eve bash.
2. Making the Big Decision i.e., to drop the path of green pastures by dropping my MS in US plans and to choose the path of hardship and uncertainty of the Civil Services.
3. Leaving Hyderabad. It was pretty tough.
4. Standing in the queue near goddamn Vajiram and Ravi on that fateful day.
5. One night I cleaned my room and washed my clothes. I was shocked to see that the time was 12.00 AM. It was midnight. There wasnt a store open. All I had that day was some biscuits and some fruit juice. I took strength from the fact that millions of poor people in the country must be starving at that time and went to bed.
I've learnt a lot of things in 2005.
Here's the story of my neighbour: Mr. Sivaprasad Raju. He is 28 years old, from Bobbili, Srikakulam district, AP. He comes from a middle class family, has a brother and two sisters. He lost his father at 18, when he started going to college. His mother earns a pension. His father was a government employee. Under the sympathy quota, Mr. Raju got a government job. He used to work part time till he finished college and then switched to full time. He used to work close to higher officials like the District Collector etc. That is how he nurtured the dream of writing the CSE and becoming an IAS officer. But he was financially constrained for he had to get his sisters married first. Now, after he did all that, he came here to prepare for civils, at 28. And he has just two attempts. 30 is the age limit. He cant speak English or Hindi properly but never feels bad about it. He says "I'll learn". That's the spirit of the man. Now that's who I call a dude! Man, there are things to learn from him.
Here's another story:
One evening, as I pass by on the pavement, a small kid, not more than 4 or 5 years of age comes to me and presents a soiled plate with a picture of a goddess on it. She says, "Uncle?" and I get out a coin out of my pocket and drop it in the plate in no time. Her nose was wet. Her hands, feet, hair were covered with dust. It was obvious that no water ran on her body for quite a few weeks. She wore a gown, which color I couldnt find out, for that too was covered with grime. I doubt if she gets to eat atleast one decent meal everyday.
A few paces ahead, another kid walks by with his mother, wearing pant, shirt, jacket, socks, sandals and monkey cap, licking on a lollipop, asking his mom for more. On the road, hundreds of people zoom by in their glittering sedans.
In the park in front of my room, tens of people – families – men, women, kids spend their time in the sun, with no job, no shelter. On the road sides in Karol Bagh, poor, jobless people and their families spend their nights sleeping out in the open, covered with half torn blankets.
The big lesson reruns in my head everytime I see them: "I'm extremely lucky to have the parents that I have".
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Hmmm.. coming to 2006, I have the feeling it's going to be the most important year of my life. The goals I've set for myself are no secret. By nature, these goals are improbable for a person like me, unless I work out of my skin and to the bone. A hell lot of work is to be done to get anywhere near them. My current state is not too encouraging. I have to make large amendments to my lifestyle.
On a casual note, it looks like the numbers are in my favour this year. Yes, I'm a numeromaniac, if such a word is there. The number 8, my lucky number and my favourite number, is all over the place. The number 2006 itself gives 8 when you add all the digits. I was surprised to see that the code number for my optional, Geography, was 8 in the application form and also 8 it was the centre – Delhi. There are a lot more 8s but dont remember now.
Ridiculous as it may seem, I hope there's a real connection between numbers and reality 
) And so I wish myself and all my beloved readers a very Happy New Year! Cheers world!
Eleven days after they were caught accepting bribes from media persons to put questions in the Paliament, eleven Members of Parliament were expelled from the Parliament. This is a national shame. It is a shock that persons occupying some of the highest positions in the country committed such an ignominious act.
This is evidence of how deep the roots of corruption are in India. While corruptions scams are not new in this country, the fact that it took a form as cheap as accepting currency notes from media persons in return for asking questions in the Parliament, is unsettling and shameful for every Indian. Nobody knows how many such acts have been committed in over half a century of parliamentary governance. Thanks to the new face of the Indian media, such acts have been brought to light after a daring sting operation.
L. K. Advani has termed the expulsion a "disproportionate" punishment! In my view, they must be hanged. In fact, the idiots must feel pretty happy that they werent taken to court and prosecuted on the issue. They've done a disgrace to the Parliament, to the country and the very people they were representing.
The presence of such elements is a threat to parliamentary democracy and must be dealt with an iron fist. The two Houses did a good job in losing no time to expel the MPs. It must serve as a warning to every other legislator in the country that they just cant screw around with public trust.
My congratulations to the media, national and local, on not only this but several other behind-the-sheen issues they have uncovered in the past few years. I hope they keep up and intensify the trend and show more and more reality to the Indian citizen.
Old tigers dont die gracefully. When in youth, they rule their territory with tigerish authority and ferocity. When they become old, they become weak, their fangs fall out, face competition from young tigers and live their final years in solitude. The famed Bengal Tiger, Sourav Chandidas Ganguly doesnt seem to be an exception.
His fangs have fallen out. The famed offdrive has become rare. Those long innings riddled with sixes over longoff and longon against the off spinners have become rare. Gone are the days of the long opening partnerships with Sachin Tendulkar. Some cubs out of which he manufactured match winning tigers dont like to see him in the team any more. A much older tiger who has been authorised to coach the young tigers in the team has made his opinions on the Tiger known to the authorities. As of now, he's out of the team and possibilities of making a come back are remote considering the number of young tigers waiting to roar into the team.
Yes. Bad fielder, hates bouncers, doesnt drag his bat into the crease, behavioural problems etc. but the sight of a tiger at the twilight of a majestic and eventful career is a heartrending one, irrespective of whether he's a good tiger or a bad tiger.
But an old tiger is never to be underestimated, for an old tiger is still a tiger.
Delhi being very cold and all is a myth. It can get cold but not too cold. The worst Delhi ever had was 1 degree Centigrade minimum. I've been looking at last year's winter temperatures in Delhi. The average in January is 15-20 deg. C maximum and 4-9 deg. C minimum., which is fine weather, with clear skies and the sun shining down. Of course, intense fog affects life here but that's limited to January. Otherwise, it is fine winter weather.
I tried something a few days back. I went to class with no sweater, while the rest of Delhi was wearing them. I did that to find out how cold it actually is and I can say that it isnt too bad. You can be comfortable without a sweater. A dark thick shirt will do.
So, it is a myth that Delhi is chilly. In fact, my friends in the northeastern USA dont like this at all.
Animals…
Aussie! Aussie! Shame! Shame!
Some days back, we were discussing this interesting concept in class, called "Limits To Growth". It was originally put forward in a book with the same title by the Club of Rome in 1972.
In the beginning, the book was viewed as very pessimistic in nature because of it's central argument – at the current exponential growth rate of population and thereby, economic growth, a time will come in the future when we'll be left with few or no resources to use, ensuing in starvation deaths and culminating in a human ecological disaster – take note of this, better slow down and use your resources with moderation.
Apparently, when it was first released, it was given a look and conveniently relegated to an obscure corner in the bookshelf. Nobody was probably ready to accept the idea of slowing down so that something which might happen in the future may be averted. But looking at the gigantic population increase in the last few decades and the rapid economic growth, it does feel that we might come to a stage when we may no longer have resources waiting for us, to be tapped – because the earth simply does not hold infinite resources. Sooner or later, we're going to run out of resources.
It goes something like this:
Decrease in death rate -> Population grows and exceeds resource base -> Requirement of new technologies -> Technological development -> New resources found -> Full utilisation of resources -> Excessive exploitation -> Human ecological disaster.
So, the book says, governments of world nations should include in their policies, a way of judicial use of resources with a careful eye on the future. One must note that, the concept does not ask people to stop or drastically reduce using resources but to use them judicially.
Trends and world models
Along with growth in population, we did experience a rapid growth in technology. But population growth has always exceeded growth rates in technology, development and resources. It must be noted that resources are discovered and tapped only when they are needed. Nobody was crazy about oil before the Internal Combustion Engine was invented. The IC Engine was a product of technological development, which means new resources are found following new technological developments.
If that is so, then why should we worry about resources getting exhausted in the future? After all, we're seeing immense growth in technological development, arent we? Well, yes. This is a favourite argument put forward by critics. But remember, the earth has finite resources. Technological development also means better lives and a natural increase in population. This population increase will always make the new resources small and they'll run out too. If we dont control the use of these resources, we might run out of them till a newer resource is discovered. If the newer resource is not discovered or not discovered soon, then… doom! You have what they call a human ecological disaster there.
Five standard world models have been developed to depict possible future scenarios:
1. Standard world model with limited resource base.
2. Standard world model with doubled resource base.
3. Standard world model with doubled resource base + increased agricultural productivity.
4. Standard world model with doubled resource base + increased agricultural productivity + pollution control.
5. Standard world model with doubled resource base + increased agricultural productivity + pollution control + birth control.
Model 1 is more or less as it is now. Model 2 is a better world – say some new resource is discovered following a new technological development – resource exhaustion is delayed. The subsequent models just present better scenarios in their increasing order but all of them have a common characteristic – they're only delaying the inevitable because population growth rate only increases in a better world. Population will nullify new achievements.
There are other threats which accompany growth like global warming, pollution, poverty and hunger due to excessive population etc. All in all, it is a scary prospect. The future doesnt look too good. We might be proud of our technological development but something in my mind tells me it just wont be enough. But some critics think it will be. They say, if the earth is exhausted, we can move to the other planets and start exploiting resources there… but I dont see farmers harvesting paddy on Mars.
The temperature has really crashed the last two days. Yesterday's minimum i.e., night temperature was 5 degrees Celsius. The maximum i.e., the day temperature was 22. It's chilly and wearing a sweater is compulsory. The water is so cold that washing my butt is a torture. My lips are getting parched like hell. I'm forced to apply vaseline every now and then to prevent my lips from looking like a dried up salt lakebed.
It's a real pleasure to slip under the razai when I go to sleep. A hot water bath is heaven. Standing in the sun is heaven. I fell in love with the sun. I go whereever the sun goes. Heartbreak is setting in because in January, the dense fog will separate us. : (
Fortunately my room's warmer than outside but that's no consolation as it is getting colder. My owner doesnt allow a room heater. I have to manage somehow.
I've been using this new technique to warm my hands. I light up a candle and put my hands over the flame. It's good but not that good. I got a better idea. How about taking some ten or eleven candles, tying them up into a bunch and then lighting all of them? Aah, that would be good. I can get a black cloth, put it over the flame and when it heats up, I can put it over my face and hands. ; )
But my joy over the new idea was shortlived as I realized that burning candles means releasing a lot of soot, CO2 and lots of other gases. I keep all my windows and the door closed to prevent the cold air from coming in, which means all the soot and gases from the candle will stay in the room and if I do too much of it, I'll choke to death.
Any newer and safer ideas will be appreciated.
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