Crazy and Fabulous Times

Really… These days I get a feeling I don't own my own time anymore (ridiculous as it may sound!). There was a time when I could decide what I wanted to do when I wanted to do. But off late I notice if I decide to delay any activity for any reason, I will eventually never get time to do it. Its like procrastination is no more an option. Even if I plan efficiently to do something later on, something completely unexpected would come up and I would miss the deadline. And worse, I am not the only one who's affected by it anymore, but a lot of people around me are too. And I am not just talking about work but even personal errands. The truth suddenly dawns on me. I never had to manage time before. And now that's not the case. And I don't think time is going to turn back again. It's like end of an era. I am going to miss the old time when I owned my time.

I always refer to the rural development programmes as corruption programmes. Now have a look at this . It's about implementation of National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme. Main observations by Transparency International are that 61% of rural population were selected beneficiaries, 23% got job cards, 11% got paid and only 5% could demand unemployment allowance. And 1 out of 10 households had to pay bribes to get jobs, which amounts to Rs.7.15 cr paid by 9.65 lac rural households. I really believe that there are no free lunches and if there are, there's got to be something fishy there. What is required here is roll out of much needed agricultural reforms and create opportunities for these rural households rather than creating opportunities for the bureaucrats and politicians.

Indian politics is giving serious competition to bollywood masala flicks these days. I would really want to see this allegation by BJP to be investigated to the bottom. I personally feel there is equal probability for it to be true or be a complete hoax. But either way, it is serious bollywood masala stuff. And our news channels make it all so entertaining. NDTV played "Singh is King" for Manmohan Singh when he won!! Talk about dramatic! I love India. This is one of the crazy (not so fabulous!) times I am going to remember. On a serious note, I would want to see the nuclear deal through now and a dramatic topple of government once the bribery charges are proven. Ok… the second part was just to make it more dramatic. I too am an Indian afterall!

So…… I have been living in Mumbai for last two years and have been travelling by Mumbai locals for my daily commute using the three month 1 st class pass. And I buy it for Andheri to Churchgate even though I live in Matunga because I hate to stand in queues during one of those rare occasions when I might have to travel to Andheri on some weekend. And because of this I always have to renew my pass from Churchgate rather than Matunga, because (weirdly enough) pass between two stations could either be purchased from one of the two stations only and nowhere else. Initially, I would always forget to renew my pass on time and travel for 2-3 days without pass without even realizing that I don't have the pass. I would invariably remember after I reach office or back at home and could do nothing except swear that I'll buy it the next time I am in Churchgate. So if I am at office I would have to buy it while I return from Churchgate and if I am at home I would have to buy a one day tic...

Watched Sarkar Raj today. It was not half as good as original Sarkar and I was not impressed by Abhishek Bachchan's acting too. Aiswarya Rai was as usual so plastic. Plus it was a badly made movie. There are cameras from all weird angles and it was not because it would give an impact to the scene but just for the heck of it. Then there was intolerable "Govinda" chime in all different notes and pitches for different scenes. Most interesting trivia, which I observed, was that all the scenes were shot in dimly lit rooms. There's only one remote dim source of light from a dingy window, in every damn scene and all the ultra strategic political decisions by heroes and villains were made without seeing each other's face. May be that's the reason the whole movie was about building a power plant for Maharashtra. It was high time there was some light!!

You think they don't gel? Well, that's the exact reason why they don't gel. This attitude, the gender bias, is directly related to math skills in girls. Found one interesting study by Kellogg School of Management. They claim that math skill in girls is direct indication of the gender equality. So countries that have lesser gender bias have girls having better math skills than those countries with higher bias. Mathematically high correlation was found between women "emancipation" and absence of gender gap in math skills. In fact the effect is observed from a very young age. So that means from a very young age it is ingrained into them that boys are smarter and intelligent. Another Indian study also says that, gap in math skills "are not because boys are inherently better in mathematics than girls, but due to social messages encouraging boys to do better in this subject and probably discouraging girls". Isn't it quite obvious when you come to think of...

…. to the achievements of the UPA government. Came across this wonderful post , to which I cannot agree more. It so happened that I wrote my first post on the eve of this year's budget and it so happened (again!) that I mentioned that we are back to the times of rural _______ programmes (fill it up with anything you want; they all mean the same – corruption!). And it so happened (and again!)that right the next day the baap of all rural programmes was announced. The farm loan waiver. The scheme is flawed on so many levels I can't even begin to spell out. It's not just corruption this time. They are ruining the credit discipline of the entire agricultural sector. They are punishing the good borrowers. And they are not even covering the farmers who need it the most! We all agree agriculture is the priority sector for economy and yet such irrational and ruinous policy that backfires from all directions?!? I can't fathom how an economist prime minister could make any econom...