The First Worldwide Website Where Nothing Happens

http://www.thefirstworldwidewebsitewherenothinghappens.com/

Save the Girl Child

The sequel to Freakonomics, 'Superfreakonomics' has an interesting analysis on female population in India. The analysis reminded me of one of my analyses on the major cause of alarming growth of population in India. It will also feature in my novel. Here it goes,

There is only one cause of alarming growth of population in India - the expectation of a boy child. Let me explain by way of a simple example. My colony in Golaghat has 30 families with 95 children out of which 60 are girls. Ideally, no one would want to have more than 2 children. The ideal children population of the colony should have been 60, i.e. two children per family. The extra children were the outcome of the Parents’ desire to have a baby Boy. It would be right to say that our colony contributed 35 extra children to the population of this country. Thus, one third of the population of this country is not ‘real population’ but is an outcome of Parents’ desire to have a ‘baby boy’.

Grow up India!!

Karva Chauth.... or Karwa Truth...

Karva Chauth… I have always failed to understand this ritual followed by Women in North India. I asked this question to many friends/relatives/neighbors, etc. and I got the same answer in most of the cases – this for the well-being and long life of my husband. One doesn’t have to prove it in front of the world… by keeping a fast just because others do. Majority of the women fast because if they don’t they will be seen as someone who don’t care for their husband as much as they should.

They show it in the movies and TV dramas because audiences love these rituals being aired on TV and movies. The only beneficiaries are the moms-in-law and elderly women whose false believes are rubber stamped by these rituals being aired on TVs. The problem is that we love to follow something blindly without questioning the head and tail and the reason behind the same and thus it gets passed on to generation after generation.

Why are most of these difficult and painful rituals always for Women?

The answer is simple… these started way back in 8th or 9th or similar single digit century when this was a male dominated society and anything that translated into a ‘torture’ was meant for Women only. Dowry, Sati… and the list is endless.

Karva Chauth is as bad as and similar to Sati. In both the rituals women suffers. The later leads to death and in the former you die many times during the day.

According to some, the ritual signifies extreme love and devotion to the husband, as evidenced by the wife's willingness to suffer for his well being’… wow… a big round of applause from my side…. There are other ways to show love and affection to your husband… Give me a break!

I also want to write about another ritual that I hate the most …… Dowry… watch out for my next post.

My Best Photograph Till Date

Moving Dividers on Indian Roads

The permanent concrete dividers on Indian roads should be replaced by this more common divider (i.e. a Cow).  The benefits are as under:

§         No development cost

§         No maintenance cost

§         Flexibility – can be shifted from once place to another depending on the traffic situation

§         No one would bang on this divider as it is considered a semi-God

The 7th Fundamental Right – Right to Relieve in Open Air

The Fundamental Rights are defined as basic human freedoms, which every Indian citizen has the right to enjoy for a proper and harmonious development of personality. These rights universally apply to all citizens, irrespective of color, sex, race, place of birth, religion or caste.

The Fundamental Rights in India is contained in Part III of the Constitution of India.

The six fundamental rights are:

1. Right to equality

2. Right to freedom

3. Right against exploitation

4. Right to freedom of religion

5. Cultural and educational rights

6. Right to constitutional remedies

There are some people in this world (like the ones above) who will love to have another Fundamental Right (the 7^th Fundamental Right), by virtue of their birth in India:

THE RIGHT TO RELIEVE IN OPEN AIR OR THE RIGHT TO RELIEVE IN PUBLIC

The Fundamental Rights were included in the constitution because they were considered essential for the development of the personality of every individual and to preserve human dignity.

Machine

Machine contributed 0.004 percent to the total population of 6,077,248 of Himachal Pradesh according to the last census of 2001. 

Try googling this word (Machine) and you will get 409,000,000 pages. However, I am sure that not even a single page will talk about what I am going to share.  The 409,000,001st page will be my page on Machine. 

Well... Machine is a name of a small village in Himachal Pradesh.  I was on my way to Koti (near Chail) and could not stop myself from clicking this photograph.  It's a village with a population of 234 according to the last census in 2001.  Initially I thought that there is an error on the board as there is no 'k' or 'lacs' or 'mn' suffixed to 234.  I am trying to find out the reason behind this mysterious name.  Will update once I have the answer. 

World's Highest Cricket Ground

I went to Koti (near Chail) in the 2^nd week of June 2008.  One of the most interesting places that I visited was the world’s highest cricket ground in Chail at a height of 2444 metres (7500 ft.).  It was built by the Maharaja of Patiala who was passionate about cricket.  Though it deserves a mention in the Guinness Book of World Records, it has not been considered for inclusion, as competitive cricket is not played here.  The ground is mostly used for local school matches or military sports and drills.