Nothing like Home!!

Earlier I was watching an Youtube video from back home. In that video I happened to hear the cukoo cukoo of Koyal or the Cuckoo Bird. This was too teasing, bringing back the older memories from back home.
I realized that among the things I miss the most from home is mainly
1. The Sounds of home.
Continuing on the cukcoo, I can recall days where I used to mimic it and call it out every time I felt happiness from within or like sharing things.
Another common sounds are the crowds when one goes to a market. The word fish market is almost applicable to even a small size market run by vendors.
Something very similar is a hand-cart vendor calls out while going by his/her route on the road.
Another sound was when one goes to a movie theater, all the hooters, whistling, clapping is another feel which one can't get any where else.
Sometimes even the Cacophonic sounds of a wedding or Ganesh immersion procession  is something which I miss.
2. The Smells of Home
Let's keep the bad smell arising from the open Nalla's and the Autowala's throwing semi-burned kerosene fumes from their half broken silencer exhaust trying to create a terrestrial acrobatic smoke display.
But a simple smell of some one doing their morning pooja at their home with Agarbathi (incense) lit, or be it aromatic smells from the kitchens all over. Even while walking down the street, the smell of special Elaichi Chai (Cardamon flavoured Tea) entices me a lot. Walk by the bakery for smell of freshly baked bread, or temple where smells of burnt camphor welcome the devotees in adobe. Fresh smell of soil when first showers of rain spray their droplets on the ever virgin land. Exquisite are the smells which we are so used to.
3. The Sights of Home
The very presence of multitude of colours which the rich Indian culture is second to none in the entire world. Even with all the giant LCDs and Neon Sign radiating heat and calling in the consumers and tourists alike in cities like New York or Tokyo are no where comparable to days when we see houses decorated with flowers, mango and neem leaves on a festival or an inviting rangoli decoration in the entrance of the house. Nothing equals the diya's on Diwali or the thousands of kites filling our skies on a sankranti. The colours of our Indian women adore are a visual treat in itself which is quite contradictory to white and blacks or earthly tones of the west. We can't get a place filled with colours as on a day of holi which incidentally resembles the rainbows.If one thinks am not going over board the flora and fauna in India no matter how rare they are becoming are quite unique and are a special treat in themselves.
4. The Tastes of Home
Nothing is parallel to what mom cooks. Yes she burns my biryani in the bottom of dish, I eat the bottom one the most. Yes my mom uses a lot of oil and salt, but I still like it and grew eating it. Yes I am choosy and hate my greens which mom makes, but heck I don't eat them, any of them outside. I miss my favourite Dil Khush (Tutty Fruity Pastry Puff), I miss my favourite Paneer Butter masala, the special hyderbadi biryani with mirchi ka salan, or a double ka meeta. I don't even want to recall the milk mysorepaak or Potharekulu from Godavari district or fruit biscuits from Karachi bakery. So many yummy yummy things. Enough of the stupid pizzaa's, and burgers with french fries or onion rings; Nothing tastes and smells better than home made Indian food; only thing which comes second is the one which we get in those famous stall and restaurants making mouth watering foods. Yum yum yum...
5. The Feel of Home
What tops it all is the warmth one gets back home. It is simply unequal. The warmth, the love, the affections is a treasure house in itself which can't be filled anywhere. The parents, the relatives, the kids its so much so happening. We are cared for, we are loved for, wanted for (in a good sense), seeked for, reached out to, and even sometimes an occasional curse after some praise. The joy with which people run around the apartment complex, the way festivals and get togethers are celebrated, the way elders are revered and relationships given importance makes me so so wanting to experience that all over. There is always that energy generating back home which makes a place to be called home lack of it makes it a house. Even in general places one could always stop by and ask help or directions if you are lost; in here one might not be surprised if the other person draws a concealed weapon or pepper spraying you thinking of some danger. Trust is something which exists in general walk of life back home, which to some extent is lesser in the western world.

No matter where one goes and explores the thing called happiness is no equal to a place called Home. A man travels the world over in search of what he needs and returns home to find it, so true, so really really true. Perhaps that's why even the wild animals return to their native/home roots when they want to breed their offspring. No wonder

American's Shop till they drop: Record Thanksgiving Sales for 2011

In my Earlier blog Exagerrated Poverty Levels in the USA, I was mentioning how the American media was projecting the state of affairs of US economy and particularly the poverty levels. While there are cries over increasing poverty, falling salaries, increasing unemployment numbers a surprising and contradictory scenario emerged from the Thanksgiving sales.

Thanksgiving apart from being an American tradition is the most happening Sales season in the US, where the retailers and consumers across the country and from neighboring countries get into a shopping frenzy.

What's rattling are the emerging numbers from the National Retail Federation (NRF), USA. NRF reported that estimated sales of $52.4 billion during the four-day weekend, up from $45 billion last year. With 9% unemployment numbers and $15 trillion in debt, this is rather surprising figures. The consumer spend continues and no conservatism seems to ever return. Whatever the news of bad economy and recession are the spending in the holiday season has not on held on but also rose year on year.
The retailers make about 20% of the revenue over the Thanksgiving weekend sales which typically lasts 4 days.

Annual revenue earned by Indian I.T. which is estimated $88 billion in revenue in 2011 according to Indian I.T. trade group, NASSCOM looks like a ridiculous figure comparing what the retailers make in an year which is around $500 Billion. One could imagine how deep the consumerism in the US is and how it drives the debt, prices and costing skyward.The same spending can not only eradicate poverty and hunger in the US but the world over !!!!
 

A few observations

1. Exceedingly heavy promotions this year, couple with staggered store openning times drew more consumers. More stores participate and many opened at midnight or even earlier - during Thanksgiving Thursday - rather than waiting until 5 or 6 a.m. as they used to.This added shopping hours in peak season mean that year-on-year comparisons will be skewed. For example Walmart opened it stores at 10pm instead of 12am Kohls and Target opened early at 12am. Many retailers followed this suite. For myself I had my own road map based on store openings. There were beelines everywhere huge huge lines. Even the afternoon sales at North Face and Coach outlets had a line for getting into to the store and billing. North face we stood in entry line for 30minutes and another 55 minutes for billing. 
2. What was ironic was most of the Apparel and few regular consumables have been marked up by atleast 15% in comparison to last year.Add inflationary measures the cost of merchandise has actually increased. Am pretty sure that the basket size of shopper definitely shrunk this year compared to earlier years.
3. Thirdly the hardships of 2008 seems to be taken care as of today, as many consumers either got of debt or reduced their debt or refinanced it better. With worse off shoppers did manage to indulge in some impulsive buying suppressed previously.
4. To sum it up the observed human condition behind the supposedly bullish Thanksgiving weekend sales indicates a bearish consumer mindset. Even though small-scale personal anecdotal experience is rarely cause for significant investment action, the nature of the encounter serves to reinforce my belief that the so called bullish Black Friday sales numbers were borne out of both consumer and seller desperation rather than some sort of resurgent confidence.

Behind the Statistics of NRF, ShopperTrak
Here is the survey method from NRF.
The survey, conducted Nov. 24-26 by BIGresearch for NRF, polled 3,826 consumers and has a margin of error of plus or minus 1.6%.* NRF’s definition of “Black Friday weekend” includes Thursday, Friday, Saturday and projected spending for Sunday. The survey estimates number of shoppers, not number of people. 
 

For a person like me who had been working with statistics for a major part of my career can say the sample set is rather misleading and too unrepresentative of the actual population. The numbers given out by NRF are sample projection to a population and not actual numbers by any means. There is a significant error factor in the same. More so going by the Thanksgiving numbers it is highly improbable to predict how the rest of the holiday season which is to follow will pan out. Dampening, fatigue is never ruled out looking at 2008 numbers.
Secondly the shoppers numbers is actually traffic and not count of people who shopped. In traffic it is again an estimate of people who went to a shop.

Some more Interesting Numbers
$11.4 billion Retail sales on Black Friday alone.
28.7 million Shoppers who visited stores and websites on Thanksgiving Day
37.8 % Spending done online
48.7 % Shoppers went to department stores
37.5% Shoppers went to discount retailers
51.4% Bought clothing and accessories 39.4% Bought electronics 32.6% Bought toys
More than 9,000 People waited outside the Macy’s flagship store in New York City’s Herald Square for a midnight Friday opening
$2Price of waffle irons that set off a frenzy – or a “near-riot” as some have called it – among shoppers at a Walmart near Little Rock, Ark
20 People injured at a Los Angeles area Walmart when a woman eager to buy an Xbox 360 reportedly pepper sprayed her fellow shoppers


Financials
On Black Friday alone, retailers raked in an estimated $11.4 billion, up 6.6% from last year, according to ShopperTrak. It was the biggest year-over-year increase since an 8.3% surge in 2007, and easily surpassed the anemic 0.3% growth rate reported last year. Nationwide, about 227 million shoppers visited stores and websites during the long weekend, up from 212 million last year, the retail federation said. Foot traffic on Black Friday jumped 5.1%, ShopperTrak said.
Spending during the period is closely watched by retailers to gauge how sales might go in the final sprint before the holidays, and is also monitored on Wall Street because consumer spending accounts for about 70% of the U.S. economy. The market loves the news flow overall, by close of trading, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 291.23 points (2.59 %), the S&P 500 gained 33.88 points (2.92%).

Exaggerted Poverty levels in the USA

Every now and then the American media cries aloud on how poverty is on a rise in the US and how the government is failing to arrest the same. I find it surprising for the most prosperous nations media's insane cry on poverty rise where both the government and business focus on consumerism and spending as means of economic growth. One fails to understand that spending doesn't mean to spend on unnecessary items and luxury. The context here is seems to be within the developed/Industrial world. The poverty levels are no where comparable to rest of the world.
If a country is getting deep into poverty there should be steps taken by government and public alike to increase savings in view of the tougher times, but he opposite seems to happen here. USA's is building on it debt to finance more and more spending and feed corporate greed and do nothing to stem the financial problems for the long term. No wonder US today has got a debt mounting to 100% of its GDP. Germany's debt accounts to more than 150% of its GDP. Compare that to India which has got only 25% GDP in debt.
About the cartoon: Poverty stricken people all over the world might be starving but the poor fill their diet with cheap fast food like McDonalds. Obesity by poverty and fast food chains is rampant in lower class in the US, while the opposite is true in India. Middle class and effluent communities cherish the American fast foods like the McDonalds, KFCs, Dominos and hence put on weight.
Behind the poverty definitions
Definitions of poverty vary considerably among nations. For example, rich nations generally employ more generous standards of poverty than poor nations.
Dictionary.com - the state or condition of having little or no money, goods, or means of support; condition of being poor.
Standard definition - Significant material deprivation, an inability to provide a family with adequate nutritious food, reasonable shelter and clothing.
What does poverty in India actually mean? It is difficult for those living in an industrialised country to truly appreciate the level of poverty in our country.
In the West, even those living in poverty can live in well-constructed dwellings, with heating, clean running water, indoor toilet facilities, access to health care, and even a vehicle. But such luxuries are a distant dream for India's poor.
In the US, the poverty level defines a earning threshold of $22,350 (total yearly income) for a family of four. If a family of four falls below this level its considered in poverty.





Statistics
USA - Nearly 46 million in poverty that's 15% of US population (as per US Census Bureau)
India - Nearly 415 million in poverty that's 41% of Indian Population (as per World Bank)
There has been no uniform measure of poverty in India.The Planning Commission of India has accepted the Tendulkar Committee report which says that 37% of people in India live below the poverty line(BPL)

The Arjun Sengupta Report states that 77% of Indians live on less than INR 20 a day (about $0.50 per day).The N.C. Saxena Committee report states that 50% of Indians live below the poverty line.
India has 33% of World's poorest population. India's number of 415 million are more than combined numbers of Africa's 26 poorest countries.

Income Levels of poor
USA - Poverty level for 2011 was set at $22,350 (total yearly income) for a family of four. That's $5587 per person per year. This doesn't take into consideration Social security, unemployment, food stamps and state paid benefits. If one where to consider these benefits most of them are above the threshold.
India - 80% of Indian Population earns less than 2 $ per day. That is less than 750$ per annum if they earn for 365 days. Which is 7 times less than what US follows as its standard.


What do the Poor Own ?
USA - According to data compiled by US government agencies, the typical household considered “poor” by census officials has a car and air conditioning. For entertainment, the household has cable or satellite TV, two color televisions, a DVD player and a VCR. If children (especially boys) are in the home, they have a video game system such as Xbox or PlayStation. In the kitchen, the household has the ordinary conveniences: refrigerator, oven, stove, microwave. Half the poor now have a personal computer. A third have a widescreen TV (plasma or LCD); a quarter have a digital video recorder such as TiVo.

India - In India the poorest are living a life of real deprivation: a large family crowded into a leaky, overcrowded, unsanitary slum-like shelter. In most situation most of the poor might not even have roof when they go to sleep on the hard ground. One can only wonder when was the last time when such person would have had stomach full of food. Life is despair and miserable, with no materialistic possession at all. Government and NGOs alike try to provide Food, Cloth and Shelter as bare minimal, but these efforts are far from reaching the millions and millions.

Hunger

USA - The media cry with alarm that “nearly one in four kids” in the nation are hungry. Again, government data show otherwise. Fully 96 percent of poor parents stated that their children were never hungry at any time during 2009, despite the severity of the recession, according to data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

India - It is estimated that about 42.5% of the children in India suffer from malnutrition. The World Bank, citing estimates made by the World Health Organization, states that "About 49 per cent of the world's underweight children, 34 per cent of the world's stunted children and 46 per cent of the world's wasted children, live in India. The child malnutrition rate in India is twice as great as sub-Saharan Africa. Data from The World Bank shows that the percentage of underweight children in sub-Saharan Africa is 24% while India has almost twice the amount at 47%.

Moreover, the malnutrition is not just common among children but about one third of adults in the country also come under the same category with their weight less than the set standard (body mass index- 18.5).

Indian Government says that food subsidy would rise if there was any increase in the number of BPL families. Food subsidy stood at about Rs 720 billion (or $16.5 billion) in 2010. Considering the food shortages and inflation in India things are only to get worse.

An Unequal World

In 1960, the 20% of the world's people who live in the richest countries had 30 times the income of the poorest 20%; by 1995 it was 82 times.

The world's 225 richest people have a combined wealth of over $1million million. Only four per cent of this wealth - $40 billion - would be enough for basic education and healthcare, adequate food and safe water and sanitation for all the world's people.

There is a satire in corporate world saying "We are not here to solve World Hunger". May be its time to think beyond making exotic swaps and derivatives and driving economies into recession by self driven greed of gobbling more and more wealth for what ??

THE GOOD NEWS: in the past 50 years poverty world over has fallen more than in the previous 500. Since 1960 child-death rates have been halved and malnutrition has declined by a third. Developing countries have covered as much distance in human development during the past 30 years as the industrial world managed in over 100.
THE BAD NEWS: one in four of the world's people still live in severe poverty. It's worse for women than for men; and for black people than for white. Even in the so-called 'rich' world increasing numbers of people do not have enough to live on.

US needs to ask itself in retrospective....
1) Were you aware of the growing gap between the rich and the poor? May be

2) Why do you think the U.S. has higher income inequality than other industrialized countries? Capitalism

3) Why do you think the U.S. has some of the highest poverty rates among industrialized countries? Overspending

For the US, it's time to focus on human development and raising the standard of living by cutting down the disproportionate wealth between the rich and the poor. Cutting down on spending defense (rather offense) expenditure for all the conflicts they get into around the world. As for the general public it would be more of indulging in conservatism and moderation while trying to let go off unwanted fashion, luxury and fad. On the hind-sight obsession with alcohol, tobacco and other in-toxicants also needs to go.

Regrettably, however, most discussions of poverty in the U.S. are riddled with exaggeration and misinformation. Effective anti-poverty policy must be based on an accurate assessment of actual living conditions and the long-term causes of real deprivation—especially the collapse of marriage and erosion of the work ethic. Does any media houses in the US understand and even remotely interested in this. May its time not to just boost ratings by giving exaggerated numbers of their own country while rest of the world suffers on misdeeds, over consumption and greed of a few. Wake up nation.

Credits - Poverty: Dimantling myths, "How poverty is calculated in India" on rediff.com, Wikipedia and Robert Rector in Real Clear Politics

Fatenning lifestyle

Nov 14 in India is remembered as "Children's day" remembering Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru the first Prime Minister of India on his birthday. Nov 14 world wide is also marked for a rather notorious reason, it is the World Diabetes day.
The statistics world over are startling with rising number of cases with ever growing percentage of population being effected by this health condition. Estimated by 2030 1 in 5 in the US would be diabetic. India is not way to far, it has the highest diabetic population in the world. Whats alarming these numbers are set to increase and grow in unmanageable proportions with the current generations failing to realise the simple cause for this an epidermic problem. Our children, the younger generations are more obese than the other age groups.
Obesity is one of the primary causes to diabetes in addition to genetic makeup. People fail to realise that diabetes as condition is a safety mechanism by which the human body is genetically evolved over centuries to survive hardships of mother nature. This bodily condition maintains and controls the blood glucose level to what is required, sustainable and needs to be stored for future needs.
In Indian or African races where the population is geographically and historically exposed to repeated famine and malnutrition the human races here have evolved to adopt the life of famine. The way the body achieves this is by responding to small indication or triggers for starvation. Human body or brain to be precise receives an indication of anxiety, stress and reads it as stress and anxiety driven from fear of lack of food; lack of food was foremost primeval fear of mankind; fear of immediate loss of life drives adrenaline, and energy boost to take evasive action. The anxiety and tensed state of mind drives automatically triggers in the body for the preservation mechanism to kick in and convert as much of energy as possible into fat reserves and slow down the metabolism. There is a human hormone called "Cortisol" which is released into the blood stream during those anxious and stressed out moments. Any amount of "Cortisol" means the self preservation and fat storage mechnism of the body starts. Once the days of anxiety and fear have passed, the human body slowly returns back to higher metabolic rate and lower fat storage. This has been a successful mechanism to sustain life during the difficult days of famines and lack of nutrition which the human race has sustained and conquered during the evolutionary periods and this embedded in the genetic make-up.

What is happening today ?

1. Stress levels are high; why ? Today's world all over has become so competitive that everyone is forced to run fast with time and each and every one is playing an endless catchup with each and everyone. Result is people are stressed out trying to reach the targets set by family, by their schools, by their organization to top it all personal goals and targets if any only make the things worse. Stress, stress and more stress piles up. Anxiety and tension of future goals triggers a brain triggered chemical reaction sensing the need of self preservation against non-existence. Only that non-existence in the present is not driven by hunger. Hence the effect of body stacking up fats and slowing down metabolism. While this continues we are not only high on calories we are loosing control on our calorie intake.


2. Then there is a thinking in the recent generations that you got to enjoy what ever you can today as you have no tomorrow. Result is people are over indulging in Sweet beverages, fried foods , bakery foods and sweet savoury. Add to this the idiot box, the movies, the game boxes, the smart phones implying an addiction and a complete lack of control on physical activity. With people drooling all over these devices and snacking in with all those sodium and fat rich foods exponentially implodes the problem.


3. There is no physical or mental activity. True we are so much used to luxury and things happening on push of a button, that we hardly get to do anything which sustains a healthy living lifestyle. Evolutionarily be it hunter-gatherer or forger, the amount of physical activity which the human body endured during the lifetime today is not equal to what out ancestors might have endured in an year or lesser. We live a complete sedentary life, full of materialistic indulgences, cravings and ever growing desire for more more and more.

What does the body which is already in preservation mode do ?? With all the tension it continues to pile more and more fat for future needs. This is a cycle triggered by the stress around us and uncontrollable appetite of unhealthy foods which follows us. Lack of activity, slower metabolism !!! Recipe for disaster
So how can we reverse this ?
1. Cut down stress levels. Reassess what is that one will finally achieve by going 100 miles an hour. One needs to apply brakes voluntarily or else we will run into huge road bumps.
2. Think positive and be happy. Stop worrying so much of everything and anything. What is the worse that can happen is someone will die. But everything in this world has expiration date isn't it. We either do what we are supposed to do or worry about what can't be done. We have a choice
3. Be active - Both mentally and physically. As long as one is really engaged and occupied with determination and goals, the focus of the body and brain are all on achieving one singular purpose and as long as on is unabated they will tend to have control on what the brain activity is like. Physical activity on the other hand will keep challenging the body physically to improve, keep all of its systems running. If any part of body are not used, the body responds by shutting it down slowly. Ex. Lesser we walk, lesser the challenge on leg muscles, lesser the challenge on sustaining those muscle groups, hence under nourished over a period of time leading to weak lower body.
4. Be conscious of what we eat - This may be the last. Why ? if one is successfully in 1 & 2, the impact is there are no self preservation triggers from the brain. Hence the body is not getting into starvation and self preservation mode. If one is successful on 3, the body metabolism is still relatively high. This combined the body takes in only those which are essential and ejects which are not. This is in the same way the proteins or vitamins are minerals which are excess and not required are rejected by the body. The body has capacity to reject fats and excess calories one consumes if one trains oneself to those levels. This is achieved by a disciplined mind over matter and intelligent eating which prevents any trigger of starvation by the body.
It's my strong view point that one who has control over there brain and followed by positive self talk can achieve and sustain and relatively healthy physical state over a sustained period of time. Any negative thoughts, any stress any anxiety levels has such a negative effect that the impact of the same are beyond our comprehension. Let conquer or minds, tune them, calm them. Meditate slow down the pace and make space for happiness and well being.
Diabetes, obesity and related issues will not bother for a healthier part of life.

Another dictator down!!!

It's been 36 hours or so since Muammar Gaddafi was gunned and brutally killed by his own country men. American TV and Indian TV cloning the American news channels flood the news on the death of hard lined dictator. It was 7am or so for me watching the news saying Gaddafi was captured alive and in 15 minutes news quotes he is killed. Today morning while checking the videos I soon realise the brutality with which he was killed. Hiding after a air attack in his home town, Gaddafi crawled back into rain drain hole under the road. Only to be discovered and pulled out and shot in his legs to prevent him from running. As it wasn't sufficient, he gets paraded in his home town for almost an hour on a truck with fighters round him. After a while an already exhausted ex-leader is pulled down and executed by a shot in the head.
American government publicly announces this and appalling the fighters and claiming Libya is liberated. Today morning I woke up to search who Gaddafi was and why was he such a criminal in eyes of Western nations that they choose to train guns on him.
Born in 1942 trained in the Libyan military he rose ranks to lead the uprising against the monarchy and the King of Libya in 1969. What followed was a military rule of Socialist nature, nationalising most of the oil companies and threatening others in the process. He also closed the British, American and French military bases in Libya. During the last 40 years what has been recorded economically is far more surprising than many Westerners will even want to believe. In the Sub-Saharan African continent where there are civil wars, War lords, blood diamonds and no leader ever cared for the welfare of the people. This small country maintained and achieved 100% education, had a per capita GDP of 16,000 USD, while the rest of Africa had an average of 1,000 USD; the next closest I believe is small country of Botswana which had 6000 USD. Mandela after being liberated is seen meeting and thanking Gaddafi for his support.
If this is the legend of a this person why was he a rogue. Just because he had guts to sniff out the capitalists long term intent of plundering the nation's resources and being exploited ? He sure had balls to stand out strong against the capitalist interest, and resist being enslaved and being turned into another pawn of NATO.
I don't know what the acquisitions against him are. A bombing in German bar, blowing up of a Pan America flight, a British person killed in its embassy. I don't know what the proofs linked him to direct atrocities cited above. When I look at the biggest and strongest US Anti-Terror Ally Pakistan, their government through ISI has infinite links with various militant organisations all over, who have kidnapped, captured and killed American soldiers and civilians equally. But still because Pakistan is an ally USA turns a blind eye. Pakistan doesn't have resources but is strategic against China or India or even the middle east, so it can get away with it. More so Pakistan has been under dictatorship which sold / leaked WMD and small arms to many rogue nations.
Gaddafi was seen at the UN and I was shocked at his daring speech, which spoke more truth than lies, he was shaking hands with Tony Blair and may western diplomats. I mean why didn't the nations arrest him for the crimes he was accused when he came out. His son was seen meeting Hilary Clinton to improve the relations with the USA, but they turned their backs against him supporting and sponsoring an uprising by some rebels in the country.
What did the countries like USA, UK and France sponsor and mingle in affairs outside their own sovereignty. The unrest ensured Gaddafi and his government take a hard stance against the rebels. You don't expect the government to fight armed rebellion to be put down by a Taser Gun or a shock Baton. The suppression of the rebels to culture peace is opposed by the Western Allies by accusing them of suppressing freedom and human rights violation. (I couldn't find any report of violations before 2009) they through the UN impose a No Fly zone against the Libyan sovereign government. While NATO and US using the drones bombed the front lines killings soldiers and civilians alike weakening the Government forces. NATO never cared about Civil rights violations in Rwanda, Congo or Somalia coz there is nothing to plunder, but for Libya Syria, Yemen, Iran and Iraq there is no escape from the greedy capitalist western world. CIA, under cover operatives do the same things as the Pakistan ISI and its militant outfits try to do bring political instability, and bring down governments to their knees. Enslave them without the physical brutality of it. What these countries end up once they are done with their oil reserves is desert and lots of closed American fast food chains and products in their country which again would have eaten into the consumer taste locally. Strange vicious cycle, you export oil at cheap rate to the US, get back tons of Americans to establish shop on pretext of globalisation (now does one needs coke or McD to be healthy is another debate or even get an Apple iPhone) consume and reap consumerism wave, make profits and take back the same (oil)money back home. All the way its clear who is the winner, and who the looser is. Gaddafi never had nothing to gain from this.
On the flip side if the sentiment against him was so bad, he should have atleast tried to trigger a democratic process and tried to get the sense of what the ground reality was. As a smart ruler he should have sniffed out what ever was best in the long term interest of the country and taken constructive steps in the that direction.
May be its also time that the democratic regime of the world realise that democracy is not always the solution, but more of money-wasting force where the power rotates between a select few who through corrupt means loot and increase the gap between the rich and poor. Every time a new group comes to power their main intent is to maximize their motive of filling in their pockets and of their well wishers who sponsored their elections. The cycle of looting goes unabated, relentlessly pushing the economies to brink of collapse with a elite few controlling the maximum of funds. Be it India, or be it the USA this is happening if one agrees or choice to turn a blind eye to it.

On the flip side if the sentiment against him was so bad, he should have atleast tried to trigger a democratic process and tried to get the sense of what the ground reality was. As a smart ruler he should have sniffed out what ever was best in the long term interest of the country and taken constructive steps in the that direction.

I wonder when the capitalist greed would come to an end, I wonder when would one country stop poking its nose into affairs of sovereign republics, I wish there is a better solution and better place of all this.

Last words of Gaddafi pleading to his tormentors " What you are doing is wrong.... Do you know right from wrong?" and the voice was silenced for ever!!! No more gutsy speeches in the UN no more nightmares for capitalist barons. Do we know the real evil that is happening driven by this baseless greed on natural resources of an alien country. Bizarre!!!

Successful Telangana Agitiation

As I write this blog the "Sakala Janula Samme" or "The All People Agitiation" successfully completes it 1 month. No where you would here that an agitation of this proportions has entered 1 month and the Government choosing not to act on it while it waits for the agitation to wane out and fatigue out.
The Present Congress government is to be blamed for all of these short comings starting in 2001 when YSR agreed with then TRS leader to bifurcate the state and later in the December of 2009 where Chidambaram followed up with his midnight act of declaring the initiation of the process. Gross mishandling of the movement has brought in unprecedented sequence of events and circumstances which will prove to be more of a migraine than a headache that can be easily be done away with.
In the current times where world over hoards of public agony and frustration is pouring out against governments and world leaders around the world, our own government in power is trying to pretend that it is infact ruling the country. The ever mounting corruption charges being unearthed every day, the CAG reports, the Anna Hazare agitations, and battle against inflationary micro economics and ever looming threat in the fragile world economy has got all the possible daggers against it.
Inspite of all this there is negligible amount of crisis handling or even a light will to tackle these scenarios. At best Congress is trying its level best to be alive and ensure it makes a comeback in 2014 elections.
While the Telangana agitation continues to cripple lives of crores of people not just across the state but also in the neighbouring states. Farmers and daily wage labourers are sure suffering along with common man who struggles to go to work and who is as well unable to send their kids to schools which are shut down. It makes one wonder whether this is a justified cause with people in all walks of life suffering. Government neither moves against or infavor and continues its diplomacy and trying to mend the situation in a pro-congress mode than pro-people mode.
The Telangana agitation has been successful if not hugely successful in camflauging and diverting the huge huge short comings in the governance and corruption that has been happening by the same Telengana leaders who have for years turned a blind eye and piled up huge cash reserves. If it was not for the local leaders and if it was not for their continued coldness there would have been enough of voices and concerns being raised initially and corrective improvements taken up. Instead after all the plunder they realise that their is a way to regather public sympathy and lost trust on a whole and sole agenda of separation. This incidentally has to be fuelled by provocative and hatred entrenched stories and words. In a country which thrives on "Unity in diversity " these politician are successful enough in sewing a thick fabric of regional difference and divide to differentiate and diversify themselves. If this is the way we want to be lead to we are still being ignorant and foolish enough to be lead into the same traps which we always have been.
What surprises me is that the main political party which is leading this agitation has got most of its family members in its political cadre to run the activities, while the leader claims he will be a watch dog to the CM seat; but he will be a watch dog preventing any other one from taking over the seat as well. While he makes ridiculous statements of making a Dalit as a CM, he doesn't have even one Dalit leader either at a District level or at a Mandal level, so it is to be seen where that Dalit puppet candidate will be picked from.
Secondly they where indications to give two districts of Rayalaseema to Telengana. I say why only two; lets give Telangana all the districts in the state, make Hyderabad its capital. So they get Telangana and as a bonus they also get other districts of the state and not just 2 districts.
Jai Telangana !!!

Problem of Excess Consumption

In today's era and today capitalistic period we are seeing times of unprecedented growth, development happening at neck breaking pace that if one is to take a short nap they miss a whole lot and are viewed as backward and sometimes pre-historic.
Evolution on this earth has always been a slow and a continuous process. But rapid changes and dynamism is something which has never been tested and is bound to have unrealistically harsh repercussions.
For example simple things which come to my mind is over consumption. Yes things like obesity means we are over eating calories and piling on aditional reserve calories with no intent of ever getting to use them. With over eating comes growing demand for food (crops, farming, animals etc). With ever growing consumption comes ever gorwing need to produce more, increase acerage or yields. So comes the use of chemical fertilisers which are again based on fossil fuels which are so limited in quantity. We have more fossil fuels in one century than what Earth has taken to build this reserve. We are over using the resources to the brink of self extinction.
No with greater population also comes need of additonal water for purpose of drinking or otherwise, then arise need of quality breathable air and hygenic places to live. With ever growing demand and pressure on limited resources we are squeezing our world to the max.
Do we require that many disposable, use and throw stuff ?
Do we require ourselves to replace stuff because they look out of fashion every season (US has 4 seasons are we expected to keep building and remodelling the closet every Quarter) ?
Can't we be content with what we have and not be greedy of more and more ?
Can't we all slow down, take a break, look back and appreicate what nature offers and work for sustainance and preservation ?
Can't we give out those extra pounds of food containing tons of calories to those who can't even manage one decent meal a day ?
Never even stopping a minute to think of the future and whats to happen of the future generations. Am sure the future generation will have a lots to think and lot more to curse their ancestors for senslessness with which they abused the mother nature and exploited it as there was no tomorrow and rode on a way of consumerism driven by capitalism, virtual cash, imaginary wealth, while in reality everyone plundering the future generations of a comfortable life.
Give second or a minute think, reconcile life is there not to be put on a fast track and rip every other thing apart, but it is for slowly savouring and enjoying the pleasures of life while also ensuring that we all share the same with others especially the future generations.

Tryst with Fitness

Not that I got time after turning off Travian, which was a big addiction, I got back to concentrating a bit on my own fitness levels. Though I feel am still a kid at heart and mind, it's official am now in my thirty's. Amazing but yes.
sitting in my office I was thinking and recollecting my experiments with fitness and then goals. Hugely inspired my cousin Balaji who started bulking up after an pillage incident on him. Guess for me it was early engineering so 1999-2000 was when I started borrowing a few equipment like weights to start my exercises before hitting the Gym in middle of my 1st year and 2nd year 1st and 2nd term. During this time I used to do my routines at Power Junction Gym in Ashoknagar. I was following the guide and Apprehentice schedule of Bob Paris's "Flawless: The 10-week method fpr transforming your physique" which was to a lot of discomfort of the Gym owner cum coach. When I briefly stopped and came back after my term exercises in the 2nd year, I ended up injuring myself. I had a severe tendon tear in my right shoulder (Rotator Cuff - especially infraspinatus & Supraspinatus). This injury happened on back of heavy bench pressing with low warm-ups after a long break from strength training. The implication where far severe I was immobilised for over 2 years with little to no lifting of weights (not just the regular but household stuff). The resulting injury was so severe that I had problems while breathing and even while writing my exams. Till 2003 I was away and other priorities in life took over.
It was in mid-2002 I joined Art of living classes Level 1. Had a very good enriching experience but after 6-months or so gave it up as well. In 2003-04 while I was preparing for my CAT for a few months I managed 30min early morning jog at Necklace road Naveen accompanied me then. While I was in the IIM I tried sometimes for a Jog and occasional gym or Sudershan Kriya workout but not a regime that I could sustain for long.
Back at home I had a failed attempt of trying to get back the morning Jogs in but it sooned failed after the scooter I used to drive to Necklace road was robbed. This was mid-2006.
Oct 2007 to Dec 2007 while I was on verge of getting married for a breif 3 month period I joined Reign Gym in Nallakunta. But soon dropped out after overwhelming personal pressures.
Thereafter the focus on fitness was more sporadic, after the move to Pune it was more of stepping machine than any thing else. Then Travian and the virtual world and married life took over. By and large during the post 2008 period the focus has been on eating habits inspired by the naturopathy of Manthena Satyanarayana Raju, which even today I follow in some form or other.
In 2011 while I move and relocate in the USA, its been hard struggle to find healthy yet budgetary cheap food options, I seemed to have put on weight and was falling into a pre-hyper tension band. That triggered another emotional burst in the summer of 2011 to restart and rediscover all over.
First it started with small jogs and Manthena's 1 hour yoga in the evening and add some bit of summer sports like volley ball and cricket. These routines where soon replaced by infomercial inspired Turbo Fire workouts. I have been into these for 2 months in the prep schedule. End of this week I want to decide on whats the next step...
choose between
1. Turbo Fire - 20 week workout
2. P90x - 12 week
3. Insanity - 8 week workout

I'm planning to take the fitness tests this Sunday and weigh it against the equipment and weather conditions before I go ahead.

The Fairer Sex ??

From an old abstract
" Numerous behavioral studies have found women to be more trust-worthy and public-spirited than men. These results suggest that women should be particularly be effective in promoting honest government. Consistent with this we find rising women representation and relatively lesser corruption charges"

While India today is swaying to Anna Hazare's movement against corruption, things seem to be unnoticingly are getting worse. Women who be it selective were getting into administration and politics where considered genuine and trustworthy seem to be loosing that tag sooner than later.

Why ? What the heck ?
Yes in today's contemporary world the way of life is growth in a highly competitive environment. Women who get into competitive spheres are under more pressure particularly to outsmart their male counterparts and hog limelights. Women are definitely more competitive and focused and treat their tasks with lots of dedication. With immense expectation the natural outcome is win by any means. Definitely at some time this realisation dawns and the will to succeed supersedes any other thing. this makes them a easy prey to the dark side of life. Compared to percentage of men who take this path the percentage of women in relative terms is quite high.

Women are dedicated and trust worthy. Hell yeah !! but men are too, its just what women does goes unnoticed and overseen most of the times. Men can't hide their actions the same way women can't hide their emotions. So what ? May be it's not always right to blame a man - well yes barbarism is bad !! But still what the heck ? Well in every species the purpose of male is to fight, survive and bear fruits to a stronger next generation. I mean this is the way to ensure future generations are born fitter and stronger(stronger gene pool get propagated weaker perish). In today's world physically incapable men, mentally instable men mange to propagate their genes and grow weaker future generation. Well nature of men is to win and survive over competition to propagate their offspring. Interestingly with all talks of equality women either for the fun of it or for more sub-conscious want of bearing a child to a much healthy or stronger man go out. Ex. Arnold and his secret mistress affair

Corruption is a word alien to women. Women can be equally corrupt if not more than men. Why ? Yes women are naturally born seducers and the imbalance in the society teaches them right from the childhood that they can do better by their charm and feminity. Ok what is this ?? Back in school or college aren't there any cases of teachers being partial towards women...Wake up women knew they where treated differently for being a female being, and knew that they can take this to their advantage right from childhood. For men they have to earn that edge but possession of power. For this reason women are naturally born to fall prey to temptation of dishonesty and corruption if offered; may be more so than a man.
Everyone knows and says men are violent. Well agreed, but in most cases than lesser aren't they perpetrated by women. What the heck you may say ? Well I don't know how many men would troll over a young hot lingerie model over a young mother Theresa. Men run for their lust but its always driven by feminism. I don't want to sound extremist or Islamic, but isn't it not that men don't loose any opportunity to sway away from beautiful women with some skin or hair on the veil. Well if it wasn't for the temptress and mind of men loosing control and focus there wouldn't be a strong reason why women are ordered to cover themselves including hair in most religions (nuns cover themselves in Catholics, Persis, Muslims, even Hindu women cover themselves while in temples or like in Rajasthan they avoid stranger male sighting) There were reasons then , there are the same reasons why there is rise in crime today.
All the feminist and human rights activist protect the rights of women, but in most of the situation the women are victimised by these organisation and there is biased justice based on fairer sex and never ever the sensitivity on the role of women in the whole ordeal is ever played out.
Anyways there are lots of points which can argumentatively contested, but the zest is, that Women are not a fairer sex and with the term of equality and rights floating around, its not in best long term interest of humanity to boost special status to women. Women and men are born different and have their own purpose in humanity. As long as we recognise this and go about with contemporary way of life and avoid special stature to women it should all be good. Well there are cases of exploitation but my topic is beyond the times of exploitation. As long as there are confrontations between the two sexes their would victims. It's to be carefully chosen on the boundaries and also establish an unbiased society and mindset with neutral attitude towards the sexes.
It would be really be interesting to see this happen, but if its not we need to ensure we all maintain the harmony and understand each other limitations and capabilities and not just be unconventional and theoretical about the progress of humanity.

What's Happening - What's keeping me busy ?

Yippee some majorly minor changes..
I moved to new place within the USA!! What's so great...Well this is my 4th residence in less than an year in the US. And am lovingly hating it for the reason that it hits my pocket big time and cripples career growth and social life. So thy word is " Philadelphia, PA to New London, CT to Wilmington, DE to Milwaukee, WI"
https://picasaweb.google.com/pswaroop/GreaterMilwaukeeUSA
Second major change - I have not been playing Travian for 2 months - Great deal ?? Yes for a Travian addict whose lived and breath it for over 15 hours a day for 2 years thats possible a big relief for a few people round me.
Third - Finally my photographic journey as a hobby seems to be taking off slowly with time freed from Travian. Few can explored from the link above.
Fourth - Trying to improve active lifestyle by being more self focused and participate in sports and exercises - Outcome I (my team) won runner's up trophy for Volleyball. Yippee !!
Fifth - I get to buy a car. After almost 5 years of working and 1 year on site(in the USA) that by many onlookers standard is an achievement. Well who cares I bought my house before many others had it. :)
Sixth - I got a Facebook Account now!! Great ?? Well my socially networking has been severely diminished thanks to Travian, Hi-5 my first social network was burried alive long back. Orkut is now falling apart with Google step motherly treatment with launch of Google +. And a few friendly requests did help me to finally plunge in the FB way in Aug 2011.
Seventh - I jumped off the my Vertical at my company. Finally I got off the Life sciences vertical which I have been clinging on to without much happening in my career. New vertical is Retail, hope it brings in new avenues of success and faster career progression and "Retirement".
Lastly - I blogged almost an year after my last post..So this is good...

Tubofire - Intense Cardioworkouts

This summer I felt a need to get my body back to recondition. The relocation and eating all the Ready-to-eat high oil, sodium food did impact my health for the bad. Lots of sleeplessness, lack of focus, stamina, seemingly unmotivated lifestyle coupled with pre-hypertension indication with rising Blood pressure levels. I was shocked when I saw the BP meter turn up with 136 - 84 in the walmart.

So that's where I went to my old Manthena's Raw food regime. Being in the USA and now in this particular place am really starved of quality tummy filling lunch, that's where I went Raw food as a first step.

Second I started to fast every Saturday with just Water, honey and lemon. Occasionally Prasadam from temple breaks my fast in the evening.

Thirdly I continued my focus on fluid consumption and started adding vegetable juice(V8) for morning and any non-sugar based fruit juice in the evening. I am mixing some Whey Protein in the morning shake with some lemon and honey for extra energy as well.

Fourth was to include sprouts, dates, lettuce for breakfast; lettuce, boiled egg, sweet corn, carrots with occasional pizza for lunch followed by 200-300gm of soaked dry fuits(Cashews, Almonds, Walnuts, Pista, Apricots and Figs) and fruits as usually before 7pm

Fifth - I started with a 15min jog/run in the park followed by 20min of Pranayama and 40 minutes essential yoga as suggested by Manthena.

After this schedule for a month, I felt I can go up a level. That's where I started looking out for more intense and disciplined workout. That's where I got into Turbofire. It had taken me a few weeks to get started with getting the kit and a mibook for viewing the videos while working out in the park for workouts which would shake the floor below my feet.

My first impression...after a week

They are really intense and well choreographed and am still struggling at times with the moves and calls.

The Camera movements sometimes pan out during the transitions of moves which pains me a lot as I miss the next move.

The first week am left with sore back, sore lat, sore shoulders and knees the left runners knees has worsened because of all the leg kicks and twists around the knee(supposed to be toe).

The disclaimer for all new adopters is " People with lower back pains, Sciatic nerve pains keep out" Lower back pains will intensify given the fact that lots of routine and stretches have forward curls or crunches which involved arching the back forward which is absolutely to be avoided for such people. I suggest relax when any move asks for crunching /arching the back backward. It will only aggravate an already bad case of hunched and sore lower back. My suggestion get back to 40min of Yoga poses especially the ones by Manthena targeting the back/lower back and neck pain, before even touching Turbofire's full range of crunch routines.

Having said that Turbofire does borrow a whole lot of Yoga poses and Suryanamaskaras in their Stretch 40 routines.

Lastly Turbofire and its supporters are bent upon on supporting Shakeology shake powder which is a 120$ worth product exclusively sold by beachbody who also franchise Turbofire. They have done very well marketing this wonder product and being sold through Multi-level marketing mode (aka Amway mode) through consumer/seller franchises called Coaches. My suggestion to stick to as much as natural foods as possible and be as low on the supplements as possible.

Turbofire's diet and exercises routine are amazing but has to be taken with extreme caution by people with lower back pains, knee problems, shoulder problems. Prevent aggravation of any current situation and evaluate and understand the body response to the routines before committing further time and risking a bigger injury.