cost of education

my general regard to the times group publications is usually in the range of disregard.
the economic times has still not plumbed the depths of the other 'esteemed' publications yet and the local editions are perhaps just notches above the bombay/delhi editions.

so this article is interesting in its premise and values thrown up:
Educating your kids is no child's play

Our estimates indicate that it could cost on an average Rs 21 lakh (at today's prices) on education of a single child from school to college. This includes expenditure on school fees, coaching classes, books, stationery and so on. If you have to include post-graduation studies as well (MBA, for instance), the cost is even more. It reaches Rs 98 lakh.

while the 98 lakhs seems out of proportion, there is certainly some validity in the 21 lakhs.
i think private education is the sciences (engineering or medicine) will cost more than 21 lakhs.

and my estimation indicates that the majority of this cost (during the K-12 period) will be spent on private coaching/tuitions and the actual cost of school fees will be less than a quarter of the total cost of education.

one of the primary tasks of parents in the USA is to save up for their children's college education and looks like indians are headed that way too.

good luck mates.

where the streets have no name

this song is a classic from the U2 stable. from the album joshua tree.

just figured out today that they were actually singing about japan.
see para 4 under the address elements heading.

understanding men

in continuation with the theme, lets try to understand this one...

a man, well educated and 'on the road to enlightenment', closing in on equality and other virtues.
is put in a tough 'grinder' situation.
after extended back-and-forth negotiations, some decisions are taken, most of which is in his mind ....'serious concessions'.
he has not had the best interaction with either gender participants.

but he goes on to selectively disparage his opposite gender in a public forum.

out of character, or is it...?

understanding women

lets try to understand this...

an educated, earning woman who has spent her best years in an unequal married life, always aspiring for more say in decision making, etc.

when it comes to her son, she wants her clone (or even better, even more subjugated) for a daughter-in-law.

at an elevated level, we have the gut-churning female foeticide issue.

with the numbers at play, it could not even be termed non-average behaviour.

india, china on top

of economic growth

of corruption

of pollution

it is a imbalance, as topping in all 3 spheres is unsustainable.
i predict that economic growth will lose out top sheen.
india and china will continue to dominate the other 2 lists.

thats the way - Mahi ve

i was watching dhoni's interview on NDTV today after the bombay safari and wankhede ass-licking.
very impressed. aplomb is a word i have not used in this blog and am debuting the word to celebrate how dhoni handled sreenivasan jain.

also his pithy start to his speech at wankhede is very funny considering how tired he must have been

"A lot has been said in English and Marathi. Now let me stick to Hindi."

for the record, i have to state that i did not watch the final of T20.
partly to blame was the cable TV fiasco in tamilnadu and that my favourite team was not in the final.

a fantastic analysis of the win was by rajan bala in deccan chronicle.
he says this:

Gautam Gambhir top-scored in the final, but he might well have to watch the duo of Tendulkar and Ganguly going in first. How would he feel?

how indeed?

tenderising

Tender – delicate, soft, fragile

Also 'tenders' fill up at least 2 pages of the newspapers everyday. Really wonder how this usage originated. (or if this was the original, then how did the soft meaning arise)

In my indefatigable news-quest, I have expanded beyond the reported word to the paid-for words (namely the ads). And dominating this spectrum are our PSUs imploring contractors and businesses to come and partner in nation-building.
For example, in today’s Deccan Chronicle – Chennai Edition
1. Ordnance factory (makes ammunition and stuff) in Hazratpur, UP wants a 500 KVA DG set to be commissioned.
2. The National River Conservation Directorate wants consultants for Organisational Development, E-governance and Financial Management.
Come on guys, get real.
And all these are online on www.tenders.gov.in
search for "tender" on google and above site is tops. in fact the first page is full of india based sites.

For the readers who are not familiar with this system, tendering is a method to prevent corruption and ensure fair practices, and is a compulsory procurement policy.
Wonder why private sector purchase managers, almost as a rule, ignore this system.

Ok, here is where it gets more interesting.
Those who respond with offers and quotes, have to furnish something called and Earnest Money Deposit – which amounts to 2% of the total project cost (which interestingly has already been calculated to a rupee).
So in theory, if there are 10 respondents, the government automatically recovers one-fifth of the project cost via EMDs.
Through all this, it is so apparent that the very system aimed at eradicating corruption, is like a petri dish for bacteria.

wikipedia has more on tender.

agumbe

agumbe is a small town in karnataka.
it caught my attention when i was closely perusing the climate news in the hindu. (yes, i know i have a lot of time to kill).
among all the towns in south india, agumbe is by far the tops when it comes to total annual rainfall.
we all know the cherrapunji story. worlds wettest region with over 10000 mm of annual rainfall (i.e., 1000 cm or 10 m). which is a lot mind you.
by comparison, bombay gets peanuts - say 2500 mm a year.
to refresh your minds, in bombay on july 26 2005, it rained around 944 mm in a single day.

so....after cherrapunji, who? it is this humble town. nearly 7.5 m of rain a year.
ok, now back to more details on travel in agumbe . and here it is on wikipedia.

should go there sometime.

tsunami and stock markets

this curious connection was highlighted in a speech by sainath at an awards function yesterday.
here is the article where he briefly mentions this connection to bolster his arguments on the inequality inherent in today's much lauded 'india growth story'.

....he recalled how when the 2004 tsunami struck, the stock markets of five badly affected countries—India, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Malaysia and Thailand—boomed.

i found these archives on the sensex in december 2004. it is quite interesting to see the daily commentary towards the last week of the year.
on dec 27 2004, which was the first trading day after the tsunami hit, sensex and nifty hit new highs of 6567 and 2079 respectively.

ceiling

for all the hours spent staring at it.


The forgotten face of the room.
The poor, dark underside of the popular roof.
Once feted and caressed by the likes of Michelangelo, you now gaze wistfully at the Porcelano and Italiano.
Gone are those glory days. Of slopes and domes, of frescoes and inlays, of majesty and grandeur. Reduced to a laughable untruth….false ceiling.
Like the carpet, you also get the ‘sweep under’ treatment.
At least the carpet’s a looker.

what i had and what i did

this is the x-ray picture of the problem i had (representative):

and this is the current state of my spine (representative):

the explanation is available here (pics are from here) and here.

my slippage level was just over grade 2 (as per the diagnosis in july 07) and into early grade 3 (just before the surgery).

along with the implants, there is a thick bone dust formation which has been created between the same 2 vertebrae (L5 and S1) which will eventually solidify into a bone providing a unshakable solidity to the region.

am back

greetings to all.
exited the hospital yesterday and in one piece and good spirits.
so far the progress has been good and on track.
needs another month or so of kid gloves treatment.

will return to my home in madras tomorrow and recuperate and relax over 4-5 weeks.

hope to be able to write more.

brief break

i will be more intermittent in my blogging coming 2 months.
will be undergoing a minor medical procedure.

happy gokulashtami to all.

bias

was coordinating from mumbai some house spruce up work in bangalore being done by an agency.
was given a number of a krishnan, could not get through.
got another contact of a sayyed and got through.
spoke to him and fixed up the matter.

ending the conversation, i asked if i could get the number of krishnan.
sayyedbhai said, "krishnan, my assistant?"
i said, "oh, then i dont need, will be in touch with you."

my inbuilt bias assumed that the brahmin/hindu krishnan would be the boss of the muslim sayyed.

shame, shame...

somebody stop me

its evening and i am sitting at the entrance to the office (reception types).
2 agitated women walk in.
from the plastic hanging tags, i guess they are from the office in the nearest building.

they stand in front of the desk (around 10% of me is hidden by the monitor) and frantically look everywhere except at me.
they cry out plaintively, "somebody here?"
in my own style i reply, "i am somebody."

oops, they must have wanted to kill themselves (well at least an eye check-up...).
desultory enquiry about having some extra/left-over food (for at best 10 kids) and wanting to give it away to kids. how sweet and kind of them.
gave them some contacts of orphanages.
they ask, "will they come to pick up"

the bloody cheek, i say. again.

an hour's salary for a worthy cause

Work an Hour 2007 is a unique, simple and powerful annual fund raiser run by Asha for Education.
these are the projects that they are supporting this year.
online donations are done here.

my first dalliance with the organised development sector was through asha and it was that experience that led me to jump into this space full time.

hotel sharada

my strayingaround friend writes about the best eating out spots in town.

this is my own addition to these hallowed spots.
the best tamil eating spot in the city (other than my own house) - hotel sharada.



located just after matunga labour camp on the road going towards dharavi's 60 feet road.
take the straight road from over the matunga central station bridge and wind along until just 50 meters before the 60 ft road.
or
from sion hospital, take the road towards dharavi/mahim and take the second left and within 50 meters you will see the board on your right.

also known to the locals as 'kuppan's tiffin center'.
the sambar is so good that people drink it.
every item on the menu is just outstanding (try any of the uttappams, dosas for a 'palate'ial experience) . the pricing is unbelievable (4 super soft ultra-delicious idlis for Rs 12 with unlimited sides). service is also ultra fast.



it is now almost a weekly outing here.
don't miss it for the world.
the sambar is so good that people drink it :-)

sub-prime surprise

the monster which has been wrenching the economic markets over the last months. 'sub-prime'.

my simple 6 step explanation to the uninitiated.
1. people bought a lot of real estate in the US under variable interest rates.
2. the loans were made into financial instruments and sold many times down the chain until in reached the big banks.
3. when the interest rates moved northwards the EMIs followed.
4. the borrowers were in the high risk (i.e., low income) category, they foreclosed the loans/mortgages.
5. not only did the banks stop getting the monthly EMIs, the flood of housing in the market depressed the rates (more supply, less demand).
6. chaos reigns.

business line has this simple FAQ style explanation on this here.
here is more on wikipedia.

this fascinates me because it simplifies the understanding of economics and global financial institutions.
so much so, that i used this example to exemplify the pitfalls of a consumer economy in my sunday class.

letter to my students

dear friends,

i send my sincere apologies to each of you.
i am sorry for many things i have done and not done as a teacher.

while teaching you to aim for the stars, i have forgotten to tell you to build a nice clean path towards them.
while teaching you to aspire for the best, i have forgotten to tell you that the worst will have to be converted to the best.
while teaching you to be healthy and clean, i have forgotten to tell that 'you' means more than just you.
while teaching you to walk with pride, i have forgotten to tell you that the walk is never done alone.
while teaching you to speak confidently, i have forgotten to tell you to do the same with your family.
while teaching you to continue your education, i have forgotten to tell you that life is the best teacher.
while teaching you to respect your nation, i have forgotten to tell you that your community is just as important as your nation.

my apologies once again.

love

UPDATE: after i read this to them, with a poker face one boy said, "it's ok, bhaiyya. we forgive you."
one of life's exemplary lessons !!

orissa - climate change

one of the 'hottest' topics these days on all spectra is global warming.
there are enough local signs each of us are experiencing which indicate changing weather patterns.
there is again much debate in the scientific community on the ayes and nays regarding the impact of carbon emissions on global temperature, etc.
i almost come across an article everyday in mainstream media.

here is a series from the sidelines on the state of weather in orissa:

The state has been declared disaster-affected for 95 years out of the last 105 years: floods have occurred for 50 years, droughts for 32, and cyclones have struck the state for 11 years.

read part 1

People like my mother remember six distinct seasons -- grishma (summer), barsa (rains), sarata (autumn), hemanta (dew), sisira (winter) and basanta (spring).....
Today, there are no such signs. Orissa has only two seasons: the rains and summer, with winter being a mild transition between the two.

read part 2

Constantly pushed back by the sea, the local residents find themselves in a unique situation: technically they are encroachers as their legal documents show their lands are somewhere inside the sea. In fact, the government still asks for land revenue and the villagers pay it to maintain their legal status.

read part 3

Going by the Indian Meteorological Department’s cyclone statistics for 1877-1990, the Orissa coast has been hit the hardest. Of the 964 cyclones that crossed the east coast during this period, 422 struck Orissa.

read part 4