Teaching them the basics of life

If you thought that today’s school students are all interested in parties and mall hopping just think again. There are students who have dared to break such stereotypes by pushing the frontiers of their initiative. This is what two school students — Nanki Aneja of Subhadra Colony near Shastri Nagar and Anmole Jain from Pitampura, both students of class IX — just decided to do when they took up the noble cause of teaching the importance of hygiene to the little slum kids. As part of their curriculum project, Anmole and Nanki along with two other girls went to the slum area near Inderlok, Daya Basti to deliver health talk. Female foeticide and sanitation were the other topics taken up by them.

Since routine health talks make the session quite dull and uninteresting, the students preferred to drive home the message among these kids through an interactive street play. They even practised the street play five times before the D-day.

For Anmole, this was an entirely new experience to enter a slum area and see how the other half lives, where things are not so hunky dory. "I could never imagine this aspect of life, where nothing seems to be in place. I was shocked to see these kids living amidst the filthy surroundings," says Anmole while describing her experience at Daya Basti. Unlike Anmole, Nanki was a little more experienced. "I have visited these places a couple of times earlier to hold camps with my father. It was fun to interact with the kids as they responded quite fast," says Nanki.

While talking to the slum dwellers, these two girls got to know that the latter were aware of cleanliness in their homes. "These slum children didn’t know how to keep things in a proper manner. So we told them how this would also affect their health and that they need to keep their surroundings clean as well," said the girls. For these girls this special session will remain etched forever in their memories. "What made us proud was that eventually when we were about to wind up the programme, the kids just didn’t let us go and wanted us to continue," say Anmole and Nanki while sharing the sweet memories of the event. Leading by example, the girls are always ready to repeat this act.

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Here Taste is a leveller

From kids to youngsters to old people, everyone is fond of having something chatpata and masaledaar nowadays. And it is the ubiquitous thelawalas who can satisfy your taste buds as people prefer eating on the roadside to relish these lip smacking stuff.

Even though these popular roadside eateries don’t provide any place to sit, still food lovers can’t resist the temptation to go the whole hog at these places. There are many roadside vendors in North Delhi who are much sought after by food lovers. And the names that come to mind instantly are Santa, Banta and Basanta in Rohini’s Sector-8. All these three are running their business since 1998, 1997 and 1982 respectively. Their names have become so popular that people from all across the city make it a point to enjoy the yummy chole-kulchas of Santa, Banta and Basanta. When asked what makes people come to them, the response was quite humorous, "We add a pinch of love to make our kulcha special," said the smiling Banta. From the well-dressed to the rickshaw pullers, one can see them all at the stall of Basanta busy enjoying the chole kulchas. "We all are equally doing well," said Basanta when asked about his competitors Santa and Banta.

If one compares the prices of all these three chole kulchawallas, there is a great difference amongst them in terms of the rates. From Basanta, you can get kulcha with butter for Rs18 and without butter for Rs15 while Banta sells butter kulcha for Rs15 and kulcha without butter for Rs12 while Santa sells these things almost at the same price. You can have the taste of these delicious kulchas anytime between 10am to 5pm.

"We prepare our own spices without any adulteration," said Santa. People are more quality-conscious so they don’t mind relishing their favourite kulchas on a roadside eatery.

Sunil, a financial executive, has been relishing Basanta’s kulchas for the past four years. Says he, "The taste of kulchas remains as delicious as it was four years ago when I tasted it for the first time." On the other hand, Shambhunath Gupta, an auto driver says, "I never miss out on the opportunity to visit Banta whenever I come to this area."

It is not only the tasty kulchas they offer, but also their politeness which makes it even tastier. "These people really know how to do their business," says a customer. Vikas Sharma, a student, says, "Being a resident of Sector 16 Rohini, I specially prefer to travel around 7 kms just to have a taste of these kulchas rather than eating the easily available kulchas next to my place.

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Red or green, all’s the same for them

Good times never last. Alas, they never do. For if they did, nothing would ever go wrong in our lives; a smooth sail it would be. Same can be said about the roads in the city. Infamous as the ‘killer roads’ and ‘mean streets’, Delhi roads are fine for a while before there is a freak accident and they gobble up one human life after the other. But then one can’t blame the streets for it. The ones using them ought to take the responsibility for the same.It was in last December when a drive against jaywalkers was initiated by the Delhi Traffic Police under Section 28 of Delhi Police Act. Under this anybody found crossing the intersections without the traffic signal turning red were fined by the police. They were fined only Rs 20 and had to appear before a magistrate who could fine them up to Rs 100. The police made sure they verified the address of the offender with his or her I-card.

The drive on, suddenly workaholic Delhiites had to apply a brake to their maddening ritual of crossing intersections amidst busy traffic and learnt to wait patiently. The much touted drive was in news for a week. Later it fizzled out. But it did make pedestrians mind their road sense. For once, they were seen crossing roads only when the traffic signal turned red and all vehicles came to a stop right before the zebra crossing.

Less than a year since then, things have got back to ‘normal’. Yes normal; for the Delhiites, normal probably amounts to being indisciplined. The rule remains in effect, the policemen are right there but the pedestrians still cross the busy crossings, risking their lives and the eagle eyes of the cops wander conveniently. Though Rupinder Kumar, DCP Traffic (South), affirms that around three T-points in each of the 17 circles in the Southern Range have pedestrians being challaned for jaywalking, how many really know about it or care for such rules. Be it the busy Sant Nagar crossing or Nehru Place or the scene right outside Select Citywalk mall where people climb the huge divider to cross the heavy traffic and then to the other side to get an auto. Same scene outside Ansal Plaza. All this while the policemen stand right there, looking. At times it is the policemen themselves who flout the rules that they are in charge of implementing. Says Padma Nair, a resident of Sant Nagar and working at ITO, “The traffic signals at most of the intersections take so long to turn red. By that time, we would be at our office. How long can we wait?” Ask the authorities as to what would make such drives successful and they say that it has to be a two-way process. “People need to understand that it is for their own safety that such rules are there. But then you can’t expect them to follow rules if there is no infrastructure to support their cause. For instance, the only way one can get to the other side of the road at Dhaula Kuan is by taking a turn under the flyover. There is no underpass or FOB to facilitate them. You need to provide support structure too,” explains Kumar.

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Childish

Gautam Gambhir may not get to play in the next Test match against Australia despite his sterling double century at Ferozeshah Kotla. He faces a one-Test ban, pending an appeal, for elbowing Australian cricketer Shane Watson during his innings at Kotla. Sure, Watson provoked Gambhir verbally, but that’s no justification for anyone to respond physically. Even sledging, however unsporting that may be, has a way about it.

Aussies, who invented the thing, do it artfully: muttering expletives under their breath and out of earshot from the umpire. Our players, however, play into their hands and invite censure. Not surprisingly, Indians top the International Cricket Council’s (ICC) list of players who have faced disciplinary action. So, when they are called the bad boys of cricket, as an Australian newspaper recently wrote, the mud sticks.

Rather than search for a racist motive in ICC’s actions, it is time for us to introspect. Some of our young cricketers are impish and respond in kind when dared. Often, this becomes unnecessary bravado that goes against all norms of public behaviour. Repartee is almost an art form and it is important to cultivate it. It is more effective than any public display of anger. Remember how effective Anil Kumble was when he said only one team played cricket in its true spirit after the ruckus during the Sydney Test?

Kumble’s dignified response put the Test match in a context and shifted the spotlight to the Australian team. Sure enough, a resurgent India defeated Australia convincingly in the next match. The younger players should, perhaps, take lessons in on-field conduct from Kumble and seniors like Sachin Tendulkar and V V S Laxman.

Unfortunately, Kumbles are not so common in India’s public sphere. Many of our public personalities prefer to be loquacious and take pride in being abrasive. They seem incapable of restrained and nuanced response. Their behaviour seems to rub on to the public as well. Or, do these leaders merely reflect dominant social attitudes? One politician in Mumbai whips up ethnic hatred and his cadre beats up innocent people.

The response is equally menacing; crowds set trains on fire in Bihar. In Guwahati, crowds angry about the heinous act of terrorists attack public property and stone fire engines. We as a people seem unable to control ourselves in the face of a crisis.

For a country that aspires to be a global power, our public conduct leaves a lot to be desired. Our collective sense of victimhood has a lot to do with our colonial past, but we ought to have outgrown it. As an emerging power, India must look ahead and act with quiet confidence. We ought to be proud of our success — not gloat over it — and introspect on failures. Leaders keep their cool in times of adversity.

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RBI Desperate measures

The central bank on Saturday unexpectedly cut its repo rate or main short-term lending rate by 50 basis points to 7.5% and banks' cash reserve requirements by 100 basis points to 5.5%.It also cut banks' bond reserve requirements by 1 percentage point to 24% of their deposits with effect from November 8, 2008, the central bank said in a notification posted on its website.

The cut in its repo rate will take effect from November 3. The cut in banks' cash reserve requirements will take effect in two steps -- one from the fortnight beginning October 25 and the second takes effect from November 8 and will release Rs 40,000 crore into the banking system.

The move follows a 100 basis point cut in its main short-term lending rate last week and is the latest in a slew taken by policymakers to combat the spillover effects of a global financial crisis.
But given the present dynamic situation, it may be left with little choice but to do so. On Wednesday, banks borrowed Rs 56,095 crore worth of overnight money from the RBI, even as the inter-bank interest rate on such funds again shot up to around 12%.

RBI is now likely to cut its Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) — the cash deposits that banks are required to keep with the central bank — by one percentage point from the existing 6.5% to 5.5%, said a senior official. This would release almost Rs 40,000 crore into the system. The source said the central bank might also decide to advance the date of maturity of market stabilization bonds. At present, around Rs 1.71 lakh crore is locked in these bonds.

However, policy makers are divided on the issue of infusion of liquidity because of concerns over inflation. Sources in the finance ministry said RBI is still maintaining a cautious stand on the issue as surplus liquidity fuels inflation, which is already hovering around 11%. However, the planning commission and a section of the finance ministry are of the view that inflation is no more a concern as global commodity prices have fallen sharply in the past month. Therefore, they argue that the government should focus on maintaining growth rather than tackling inflation, which would anyway decline in the next couple of months.

In its mid-year review of credit policy on October 24, RBI did not resort to any rate cuts saying that it will infuse liquidity in the system as and when it is required. In October so far, the RBI released around Rs 1,45,000 crore in the system. It cut the CRR by 2.5 percentage points from 9% to 6.5%, releasing Rs 1,00,000 crore. At the request of the central government, it also gave banks Rs 25,000 crore to finance the farm-loans waiver schemes. Besides this, it provided Rs 20,000 crore to banks to lend mutual funds to meet redemption pressure.

The banking source said that the government also released Rs 15,000 crore to its employees as the first tranche of the arrears of their salary hikes as per the sixth pay commission recommendation.

But all these measures could not help much as RBI sells dollar and mops up rupee from the market. As FIIs are buying dollars to repatriate money to their home countries, the dollar demand has gone up substantially. Besides this, the import bill far exceeds that of exports. This also leads to huge demands for dollars in the market. In the last one and a half months since the financial crisis has surfaced, rupee has depreciated by around 12%.

The bank official said that RBI is selling around $ 1 to $ 2 billion every day to meet the dollar requirements. But, in the process it sucks off liquidity of Rs 5,000 crore to Rs 10,000 crore every day. Therefore, he said that the measures taken by the RBI found insufficient. In less than three weeks of implementing the measures to infuse Rs 1,45,000 crore in the system, liquidity has almost dried up.
At the same time, the demands for funds from industries have also gone up substantially in the current financial year. As companies are not able to raise funds from any other means like initial public offerings, external commercial borrowings and foreign convertible bonds, the borrowing from banks are the only recourse to the, in the last one fortnight ending October 10, while the banks' deposits increased by Rs 27,221 crore, total credit went up by Rs 64,937 crore. This clearly indicates the demand for funds from industries. If the RBI does not arrange for the liquidity in the system, the economy will face a tough time and growth will be compromised, said the official.

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Delhi Dil Se

Beautiful Green-Clean delhi

Family transport by pedicab
Indian Fast Food
Pepsi generation
Flower shop at Jhandewalah Temple

A common man in the street of power

A dhaba in ourskirts of Delhi

Kasmeri Carpet work in Old Delhi
A snake charmer in the street of Delhi
Vendor at India Gate Another one

Boat ride at India Gate

Monkey Business: 'Langoors' are called to keep monkey out at Parliament Premises

A rickshaw puller takes rest after hard day work

A vendor at India Gate- Sitting at one place in India gateis abig challenge as vendors keep on coming to you

A picture taken at Old Delhi 'anaaj mandi'

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Why some things never change

For long, there has been a dichotomy between players and sports administrators in the country. By and large, people who rule in the corridors of power at various associations have never donned national colours and those who actually sweat it out in the middle are kept away from the decision-making process.It's no wonder then that Indian hockey is in a muddle. It is one Olympic sport that still evokes pleasant memories, even if from 28 years ago. It is a team event that, in its best form, can still draw in the faithful and create converts -- I've known colleagues who specialise in cricket but still genuinely admire the beauty of the hockey and the spirit of its players. In short, it is a sport that can make money and produce stars -- we got a preview of that in 2003 -- but it doesn't because there is no one to market it.As long as the Indian Hockey Federation existed, it was a given that those in power were only concerned about themselves. A succession of players, home-grown coaches and managers were paraded, only to be dumped after a few outings. No one was allowed to speak -- 'don't name me' or 'please don't quote me' was a common refrain, the epilogue after you had spoken to anyone associated with the sport.Now we have an IOA ad-hoc committee that has, yet again, administrators with no idea of turf realities. The much-touted inclusion of Olympians -- people who have actually strived to get India their eight Olympic golds -- was only as selectors, with no powers when it came to taking decisions about how the game should be run."Olympians have been included to increase recognition, but people don't understand that we don't have any real powers," one of the selectors said recently. The result? Selections have become less controversial but administration remains hazy.Have things really changed? Not for the man on the streets, whose heroes now play on a 22-yard strip.

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Assam Terrorised

In what is being considered by far the worst attack in Assam, 66 people were killed and about 470 injured in serial blasts in Guwahati and three other districts of the state as suspected Harkat-ul-Jehad-e-Islami (HuJI) militants struck terror in the hub of the North-east.While 19 were killed and 64 injured in Kokrajhar, 12 died in Barpeta where 46 others were wounded.
The first of the 13 bombs, suspected to have been planted by Bangladesh-based HuJI members, went off at around 11.30 a.m. under the Ganeshguri flyover near the high-security capital complex housing the Assembly building,

followed by explosions at Paltan Bazar and Fancy Bazar here.Around the same time, bombs also went off in crowded market places of Kokrajhar, Bongaigaon and Barpeta districts in lower Assam.

While six blasts rocked Guwahati, three explosions each took place in Kokrajhar and Barpeta and one in Bongaigaon.Chief minister Mr Tarun Gogoi said that of the six blasts in Guwahati, RDX was used in two of the explosions, adding a special task force was being set up to unearth the conspiracy behind the blasts.

Police do not rule out the hand of Ulfa behind the blasts with help from HuJI or jehadi elements, though Ulfa has denied involvement.At least 33 people were killed and 235 injured in the blasts in Guwahati where an indefinite curfew was clamped following protests by residents, who accused the police of delayed action. Angry mobs went on a rampage, attacking and torching police vehicles, fire tenders and buses, and pelted stones on police barricades at the blast sites.

Five people were injured in Bongaigaon, principal secretary (home) Mr Subhash Das told PTI. Two of the injured were taken this evening to Siliguri for treatment at 7.30 p.m. Brothers Mr Bipul Dutta (40) and Mr Shanti Ranjan Dutta (44) of Kokrajhar (about 224 km from Siliguri) were admitted to a Sevoke Road nursing home with serious burn injuries.

Both are currently in the ICU.A red alert has been sounded across the state and the Army has also been put on alert in view of the security situation, Mr Das said, after Mr Gogoi held a review meeting with his Cabinet colleagues and top officials.President Pratibha Patil, Vice-President Md Hamid Ansari, Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh and BJP chief Mr LK Advani strongly condemned the blasts. The Prime Minister announced an ex-gratia amount of Rs 1,00,000 each for the families of the deceased and Rs 50,000 each to those seriously injured.

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