Monday, November 26, 2007
Saturday, November 17, 2007
Broccoli flowers
This is what broccoli flowers look like, if you don't eat the florets and let them flower. Does it make you feel guilty ?
New look (again)
For a lark, I decided to shave off my hair when we went to Tirumala. Quite stupidly I haven't been properly documenting the various stages. But for starters here's a photo taken today from my cellphone camera, couldn't find my normal one.
I'm quite kicked by the new look and wondering if I can keep it permanently. Its a bit ironical -- we read that the traditional rationale for shaving your head when going to a temple is that its a surrendering of the ego -- by reducing your 'face value'.
Wednesday, November 07, 2007
Water Posters
http://www.indiawaterportal.org/blog/index.php/2007/10/29/undp-posters-on-water/
Cool posters on water
To explicate the points being made:
1.) Water- and sanitation- related diseases even today, kill lots of people, especially children.
2.) Poor people (particularly women) in developing countries spend a huge amount of time on accessing water for the family, time that could otherwise be spent on income-generation or girl children going to school.
3.) There is a very paradoxical situation in developing country city slums. Most of the population of the city gets piped water supply at reasonable rates (usually subsidised). However the slums can't afford the cost charged for setting up a new connection for piped water or because the slum tenament is unauthorized, the corporation does not supply them water. They end up paying a lot more (upto 10 times more in some cities) for private water supply through tankers or some other source. This is not just an Indian phenomenon, also there in cities like Jakarta, Lagos, Nairobi. The thing about this is that for other necessities (like healthcare, education, food) the poor spend a lot less than others and get services of poorer quality. In the case of water, the poor are spending a lot more for less quality.
4.) The right to life is a human right but it doesn't mean much without water.
If you haven't tuned out yet -- from my reading, water is getting to be a serious problem even in the developed countries. The southwestern United States (including southern California) has been feeling more and more water shortages and muted arguments are beginnning, about sharing the limited water. This is besides the more well-known disputes with Mexico about sharing river waters. Another problem is the pipeline systems of cities. These are very expensive to maintain and replace and most utilities even in the developed world have neglected them. The result is that the water infrastructure of most cities is in urgent need of replacement but there are no funding sources.
We are off to Nemeli (Priya's place) for Diwali.
Cool posters on water
To explicate the points being made:
1.) Water- and sanitation- related diseases even today, kill lots of people, especially children.
2.) Poor people (particularly women) in developing countries spend a huge amount of time on accessing water for the family, time that could otherwise be spent on income-generation or girl children going to school.
3.) There is a very paradoxical situation in developing country city slums. Most of the population of the city gets piped water supply at reasonable rates (usually subsidised). However the slums can't afford the cost charged for setting up a new connection for piped water or because the slum tenament is unauthorized, the corporation does not supply them water. They end up paying a lot more (upto 10 times more in some cities) for private water supply through tankers or some other source. This is not just an Indian phenomenon, also there in cities like Jakarta, Lagos, Nairobi. The thing about this is that for other necessities (like healthcare, education, food) the poor spend a lot less than others and get services of poorer quality. In the case of water, the poor are spending a lot more for less quality.
4.) The right to life is a human right but it doesn't mean much without water.
If you haven't tuned out yet -- from my reading, water is getting to be a serious problem even in the developed countries. The southwestern United States (including southern California) has been feeling more and more water shortages and muted arguments are beginnning, about sharing the limited water. This is besides the more well-known disputes with Mexico about sharing river waters. Another problem is the pipeline systems of cities. These are very expensive to maintain and replace and most utilities even in the developed world have neglected them. The result is that the water infrastructure of most cities is in urgent need of replacement but there are no funding sources.
We are off to Nemeli (Priya's place) for Diwali.
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