A case for Privatization

An not so pleasant experience with United India Insurance.

I have a policy for my 2 wheeler from a branch of United India Insurance company from branch Y. Now my office has shited and I wanted to renew  the policy. Office Y is 20 kms now from my office. Also all UII offices dont work on saturdays. Hence I decided I will renew the policy in office In  which is hardly 3 kms from my office. I try to call up In and nobody recieves the call.

I reach the office and I am refused to renew the policy. Reason? Bcos they cannot cater to whole of the city. They serve only people who stay nearby..Ha. Another reason, Theirs is not networked branch, hence she has to fill in all the details herself . Another very very valid reason.

I call up Y. They say In  might or might not renew the policy. No rules here. Depends on managers " marzi".

Anyway, I am happy that I dont have to suffer such inconviniences for most of the things. eg. Banking, Life Insurance Telephone etc etc. What if people are losing their job. They deserve it.


P.S.I have complained to UII on their website. Lets see what their response is.

Of biodiversity and mass production

Somebody had said " When there is a conflict of interest between a Law and Interest of the Masses, it is the masses which has to eventually win."

Today there is a big conflict between the laws governing the conservation of forests and the welfare of the masses living around the forests. The forests are the obstructions for the expansion of there fields, they hold wild animals which attack their fields and live stock, the forests contain immeasurable wealth in terms of flora and fauna which is 'so near yet so far'.

Today is a capitalist society where money is everything. One with money however far from nature will (it seems) lead a happy life, while a poor person even in the very lap of nature's best will remain hungry and lead an unhappy life. Thus the motivation for people to break the countries laws is getting bigger and bigger in terms of monetary benefits. Bigger the motivation, more the number of  criminals living of the forest illegally. And the motivation is bound to get bigger and bigger and so the destruction is going to be larger and larger. And more and more animals are going to get extinct.

The laws have to change as they are in conflict with general interest. And as anybodies guess this is going to be the end of the forests..may be in 50 years, 100 years? or even 10 years.

But there is hope. Teach the local citizens the ill effects of over-using forest. Show them the state of similar lands around the world and MOST importantly teach them how to maximize the benefits without destroying the nature. And even more important is to make sure that the benefited are not only the local elites but almost everyone.

And wait and see the forests flourish.

--
Rahul Vaidya
New blog added on 27th January in [http://reasonablethoughtsfromme.blogspot.com/ ]

Bigamy is having one wife too many. Monogamy is the same
-- Oscar Wilde

--
Rahul Vaidya
New blog added on 31st March in [http://reasonablethoughtsfromme.blogspot.com/]

Bigamy is having one wife too many. Monogamy is the same
-- Oscar Wilde

Thank God!!! No Bharat Ratna award this year

The list of "Padma" awardees was announced 2 days back.

Some of the notables are Adoor Gopalkrishna, Mahashweta Devi, A. K. Hangal etc who have achieved excellence in their own fields. They have also shown consitently that the talent is not just a "spark in the pan" but is deeply seated within them. They have strived to not only achieve excellence in theirn own fields but also to generate social awareness regarding various issues and in turn make india progressive. My sincere and hearty congratulations to all of them.

Some of the others including Infy chief Nilekani and TCS chief S. Ramadorai. Even though I respect their talent and dedication towards transforming their organisations into global giants and one of the best, do they really deserve "Padma" awards. May be may not be.

And lastly some of the shameful inclusions include Telugu actor Chiranjivi and tennis Player Sania Mirza. Chiranjivi has played 'Mass Roles' in most of his movies (few exceptions but not worthy of noting anything here) with the only intentions of satisfying the mad desire of the public to see ridiculous stunts and 'semi clad' dances. This disrespect for the profession in which he is in surely does not deserve a padma award.

Sania Mirza has great potential to transform into a world class player. But it is hardly less than one year since she came into limelight. And how many tournaments has she won? This false and (too early) recognition of her talents might as well be an obstacle in her path to success. Just because she is a girl and beautiful by tennis standards does not mean that she should be given undue awards. Especially since her co-awardees include those who got jyanpeeth decades back, and another who is a recognised filmmaker all over the world for many years now.

Bharat Ratna is the highest of the awards given by the Indian government. I am happy to note that at least, Bharat Ratna has been spared from such degradation by playing vote politics.

[Book Review] Bihar: by Vijay Nambisan

"Unfortunately you have to live in Bihar to love it"

"I will be dead by 40"-- Pushpa, House maid in the home of the author.

"We fell short of crackers for deepavali, so we burst local made bombs"-- Kishan, local friend of the author.

"Don't complain unless the corruption reaches the 60% mark" -- Union Minister to journalists when they complained that some minister is highly corrupt.

BIHAR by Vijay Nambisan gives us real insight into the life of the common biharis and some insight into why it is in such a state as it is today. It goes against the populist intellectual approach of Laalu bashing, and instead indicates that he is a symptom and not the disease afflicting Bihar.

Staying in a highly safe enclave in a highly violent town (named only as M____) where his wife is a surgeon in a missionary hospital. This hospital being donated by the local big shot is the reason why the hospital is safe. Seeing life in Bihar while being safely out of harms way(not very unlike observing poisonous snakes kept in a airtight glass container) is not the best way to comment on Bihar. However it still is a real sample of true life.

Starting off with the sad description of the 'richest' state which is today among the 'poorest', predicting that all of India will be in same situation in near future. Describing the floods during the monsoon and draught in the summer which follows year after year, the well and flourishing feudal system, the boldness of the crime makes us wonder whether people there were left behind the march of evolution.

The state of the road and the railways, the poverty of the people, Lalu's antiques make the situation pathetic. However.....there is still hope.

The author quickly draws us to the few uncommon people who still have hopes and greats dreams of changing Bihar. The story of a typical bramhin teaching and taking pride of his 'lower class' students is truly amazing especially in the caste based hierarchical society of Bihar. The Principals and teachers seem to be the beacon towards the change inspite of carrying the dead weight of the red tape and corruption. They seem to be the one and the only hope of bringing Bihar back from chaos.

There are some unrelated narration on the state of missionaries and the conversions. The state of the hospital run by the missionaries with more ambitions that just serving the people. The discrimination of Malayalee nuns towards non-malayalee nuns. And a short and sweet description of his experiences of Marwadi marriage in Bihar.

Overall the book is worth a read. May be even worth a buy.

--
Rahul Vaidya
New blog added on 5th December in [http://reasonablethoughtsfromme.blogspot.com/]

Bigamy is having one wife too many. Monogamy is the same
-- Oscar Wilde

New Year... New Ideas..

New Year,

New Year...New Hopes
New Hopes... New Beginings
New Begining.. New Ideas
New Ideas.. New Thoughts.
New Thoughts..New Person.

Hoping to be a different person..different Rahul..for better or worse.

Wishing Happy New Year to all the Readers.

From,
Rahul Vaidya

Inconvinient Yet Welcome Obstructors

The presence of Video and Photo graphers during marriage ceremony is a practice to block the view of the audience during the rituals so that the same people (and more) can be bored with repeated shows of the same.

A Tale of Two Societies

One Red-Indian in American Subcontinent. Another Japanese society.

1. Red Indian land was grabbed by European settlers. They refused to leave there traditions.. their traditional wepeans, there way of life. In short they dint want to make sense out of tradition in the changed environment.

Now they are restricted to few reservations accross Americas.

2. Japan. In 1868, Traditional closed inward looking society was forced to open its eyes when the US battleship forced it to open its borders. It was a big blow to there self-respect. But they decided to change their ways to suit the new situation. Change it to make sense of their traditions yet make concessions where the traditions dont make sense.

Now Japan is one of the world leaders in economy and a thriving soceity.

So is there something for India in this global age?

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