Latte with Phoenix

In my earlier post ‘SHORTAGE’  I had mentioned these items continuing in short supply….. 1980 onwards        Electricity & continuing           Water  Cooking gas  Fertilisers  Pulses  Milk  Text books of primary classes  Admission to Professional courses 2000 onwards        Train berths / seats & continuing         Skilled workers These items continue to be in short supply, and I feel some more items can be added. Criteria for any item to be considered should be that the majority should be affected by it. Such an item that can be added is Public transport.                                 Public transport, whether provided & run by Municipal authorities or State authorities or by Private enterprise is in acute short supply across India in nearly all the cities.                               Laws of Nature say that supply shall flow towards the area of shortage and there cannot be any shortage for long. The laws of supply

The government introduced a system of marking the price of articles on its packing so that the public is not cheated into paying more than a reasonable price           Under the Weights and Measures (Packaged Commodities) Rules, all packed goods should carry certain essential information on the package which includes among other things the maximum retail price ( MRP ). Under the Consumer Goods (Mandatory Printing of Cost of Production and Maximum Retail Price) Act, 2006, certain guidelines have been provided so that the consumer cannot be charged over the maximum price printed on the goods by the manufacturer.                                                    This MRP is so devised that it includes the cost including profit of the manufacturer + the cost of transportation to a far point in India from place of manufacture + all the taxes on it (the highest possible State tax on that item in India) + profits of the distributing chain + profit of the retailer. The defe

If you go out from home with some work, and find out on getting there that there is a strike in the department etc, it not only irritates you, wastes your time but also spoils the day. The past history of Lucknow shows that some departments go on strike on a regular basis.                        GREECE had a  STRIKE CALENDAR this year from 10 to 14 Sept 2012 as given below ….. TEI -technical university – teachers: 5-day strike, Sept 10-14/2012 University and TEI professors: 48-hour strike, Sept 10-11/2012 School teachers (elementary & secondary) public and private schools: 24-hour strike      Sept 12/2012, one day after the schools opening Public Sector union ADEDY: work stoppage after 12 o’ clock noon, Sept 12/2012 State hospital doctors: 24-hour strike, Sept 12/2012 Tax officers: 4-hour work stoppage, Sept 13/2012 Fuel Stations: Crete : 48-hour strike, Sept 10-11/2012 Municipalities: 48-hour strike, Sept 12-13/2012 (source: apergia.gr) On Sept 12/2012

A   NATIONAL   SECRET  ?                                Now-a-days in India …. - You can buy / acquire unlimited land, flats, farm houses, hill-station bungalows all over the country – no question asked, - You can buy tones’ of gold – no question asked, - You can spend oodles of money in 5 to 7 star hotels – no question asked, - You can spend crores of rupees on giving parties to thousands of persons – no question asked, - You can buy any number of SUV beasts, and buy unlimited amount of petrol / diesel to run them – no questions asked, - Etc., etc.,  etc., - BUT  YOU CANNOT  GET A  GAS  CYLINDER  FOR  COOKING  YOUR  FOOD  WITHOUT  GIVING YOUR  ‘JANM KUNDLI’ TO  THE GOVERNMENT                               Is a gas cylinder of some secret national importance which the general public knows nothing about except the oil companies ? It is bizarre in the extreme, to say the least !

IS  IT  SUBSIDY - 1 A retail vegetable seller normally goes to the wholesale vegetable market and buys a load of tomatoes and brings them to his shop. He sorts them into say 3 heaps – one – the larger and sturdy ones, - two – the unblemished but average sized, - three – the smaller and softer ones.                  Now if his purchasing price of the tomatoes averaged Rs 10/= per kilo, he would sell his heap A at probably Rs 20/= a kg, heap B at probably 15/= per kg, and heap C at probably Rs 8/= a kg. Is a subsidy being given on heap C ?  By him / by the Vegetable sellers association / by the citizen’s welfare group / by any other agency ? The answer is NO. He is keeping a differential pricing according to the type of tomatoes, so that he is able to clear all his goods accumulated in the transaction. His pricing is such that the better variety costs more, the average costs average, while the lesser value costs less. Besides it also suits the pockets of different cus

Why INDIA is in trouble..... ..   Population: 110 crore 9 crore retired   37 crore in state Govt;   20 crore in central Govt. (Neither category works)   1 crore IT professionals   (don't work for India ), ha, useless 25 crore in school,   too childish.   1 crore are under 5 years, unaware of the ways of the world.   15 crore unemployed and   irresponsible 1.2 crore you can find anytime in hospitals, therefore crippled.  Statistics say you find 79,99,998 people anytime in jail   The Balance   two are YOU and ME.   YOU   are busy checking Mails   /sending forwards....!!   HOW CAN I HANDLE INDIA alone?  

CURRENT  DISCUSSIONS - 1 Now-a-days all over India, with the availability of so many scams, there is no dearth of any material to talk about – whether in the office,  tea stall, local train, home or with relatives in any gathering. With a fresh scam every other day, there is enough new material for discussions, which can be carried out with gusto. If you mark carefully, you shall make out early enough that people in such discussions fall into one of the following categories and they take their stand accordingly.           1. Outraged people – Such persons are outraged and very angry at the scamsters and want them to be punished fast and severely. If you tell them that probably Anna shall recommend whom to vote for in the next general elections; and whether they shall vote for such a person, the majority of such persons would say – ‘yes’. 2. Diversionary people – These persons instead of discussing the scam will immediately and skillfully change the flow of discussi

ASSHOLE We come across all sorts of persons, and someone among them is branded as conceited, or a show-off, or as a pain in the ass. You may come to the conclusion, or think deep down in your mind that, that some one is really the type of person as described above.  If no, this guide probably is not for you. If yes, congratulations, you're well on your way to recognising an Asshole ! Are they "A Born Asshole" or they have worked towards becoming one. Let’s find out. I came across this gem of an article on the net, and am reproducing it for everyone’s benefit. After going through the article, no prizes are being offered for recognizing or naming any asshole among your acquaintances, relatives, neighbours or colleagues. How to be an asshole        by   Evil Catullus Assholes usually follow these easy steps, to ensure that people think of them as an asshole, and not as a mere jerk, putz, loser or boor. Step One: Have impossibly refined sen

Retired or Working We in India , being an old-fashioned country, are not used to see people idling or having private means and taking life easy. We place our friends / relatives / people surrounding us – whether male or female as to whether they are Working, Retired or still Unemployed. But are these 3 categories enough to group all persons ? Let us see – off hand I can think of several categories – such as …. 1.      Working and getting a Salary 2.      Retired and getting a Pension 3.      Retired and getting no Pension 4.      Unemployed – totally 5.      Sporadic employment 6.      Self employed – hence no retirement 7.      Not having to work – having private means Of course there can be some more categories, but let us consider the above one by one 1. Working and getting a Salary At the employable age, we all want to know whether person X is employed or not. We place all persons in regular employment, whether in the Public sector or in the Private s

The progress of the Nouveau-Riche THEN or the Stage - I In the 1950’s and 60’s, a class of people came to be known as the Nouveau-Rich. They were mostly tradesmen who became very rich by selling grocery / vests & underwear / chole – bhature / or bricks & sand etc. These, the Nouveau-Rich loved to show off their money among themselves, made mistakes in manners etc., but were rich ! They gave their children professional education with the backing of capitation fee (seats in medical / engineering colleges in that era were very limited). Being tradesmen / businessmen they were polite towards the salaried officer class, and did not put on airs in public. Among themselves they called the other class as snobs The salaried class whether employed in the government or industry, was better educated professionals, and sometimes offspring of similarly employed officer parents. Their paths crossed at railway trains or tourist spots. The salaried class did not mix with them and t

SHORTAGE Dictionaries describe “shortage” in various ways, such as …… ·         A complete absence of a particular thing, ·         Something that is needed but is in short supply or missing, ·         Not to have something that is needed, ·         To have too little of something, ·         An insufficient supply of something, ·         An inadequate supply of something necessary, ·         A situation in which there is not enough of something,       and so on.  But we in India have forgotten the above meanings. At least the last three to four generations have been born and brought up in a situation of shortage of one item or another. The leaders of the country are prone to blame any shortage on various things.  It could be such a serious thing as draught in the Antarctica or shortage of penguins in Africa . The people of course have been forced to take it as something which is ordained to their karma. Let us take a view of the items whic

                         MALAI MAKHKHAN of LUCKNOW The Nawabs of Lucknow have been known to be connoisseurs of several things and food is one of them. Gifts were given to the khansamas whenever a new dish was prepared and liked by the Nawabs. The khansamas turned out several items which were unique and Lucknow is still famous for several of these food items. Milk was supplied to the Kaiserbagh Palaces from the cattle keepers of Thakurganj – a mohalla adjoining Chowk. These people developed the art of making kulfi, which took up about 8 months of the year. During the months of winter these people of Thakurganj invented a mouth watering dish called “ Malai Makhkhan “.                           Malai Makkhan  is one of the most amazing sweet snacks sold during the winters in Lucknow . While the name may scare the diet conscious, the true product is much lighter and does not have any noticeable fat content. It has a slightly sweet flavor of frothy cream which just

Bada Mangal of Lucknow The month of Jyestha has started, and with it the series of four tuesdays in the month known as Bada Mangal of Lucknow.                             Of course only the first tuesday has the honour of being known as Bada Mangal. The last tuesday of the month of Jyestha is known as Budhwa Mangal (it could be 4th or sometimes the 5th). The rest of the tuesdays in between do not have any special name. The month of Jyestha falls during the period of early May to mid June                             The occasion is the special Darshan of Lord Hanuman and asking of wishes in the Hanuman Temple at Aliganj, and the accompanying mela. The darshan and occasion are specific to the two temples (old and new) at Aliganj, but with time all Hanuman Temples in Lucknow have started organising similar festivities and mela. May be it is better business sense to do so. History In the year 1718 Awadh Queen Alia Begum was getting a palace