Indian Foreign Policy for Dummies – II

This is a Level-II course on Indian Foreign Policy. Please complete Level-I before you enroll. If you already have, read away.

Bhutan: The cute little toddler who is in awe of you. He’s very good for your ego since you can indulge your fantasies by posing like a superhero in front of him. You reciprocate his adoration by pretending to treat him like an equal. The regular supply of toffees from your side keeps the relationship firmly grounded. He always seems happy and contended. Your worst nightmare is that C may entice B with bigger toys and lure him away from you.

Pakistan and Bangladesh: (Continued from Level-I) The world was once very liberal..liberal enough for you to date twins. Of a different religion. At the same time(aich!). But things then got less liberal. You wanted to get married as per the provisions of the secular uniform civil code. They thought it undermined their religion. You broke up. One of them, P, doesn’t take the break-up well. She gets addicted to all sorts of drugs and has lots of rebound-sex. Gets herpes and blames you for it. Tells everyone that you are the one who gaveher herpes. She now wants to give you herpes. So keeps throwing herpes infected needles at you. She wants to hurt you more. Dresses up and offers herself to A and C to bully you. A and C also get a bit of herpes.

The other girl, B, P’s less glamorous sister, moved in with P after the split. However, P started abusing her when they moved in together prompting your intervention to separate the two. P has never forgiven you for interfering in what she feels was a domestic squabble. B remains estranged from P, emotionally and physically scarred by P’s violence. B wants to be get back to being friends with you though. She’s nice but has a bit of bipolar disorder. She is currently perfect for you, often helping out with your assignments. But she’s messy and leaves her things scattered in your place. But you need her. She needs you. But you are too messed up to realize that. Suffering awaits.

Nepal: That joint family living in the small house between two large apartments. Head of the family took ill recently leaving the four brothers to fight for the spoils. They fight over who gets to head the family business. You are like the neighborhood aunt who interferes and tries to fix the problems in all the families. Some of the brothers hate you for that. You tell them nicely not to fight. They listen to you because you lend them money sometimes and also because they are scared of you. They stop fighting and each one becomes CEO for a quarter till they figure out whom to make the permanent CEO but struggle to reach consensus. It’s a truly messed up family. You smile and say you only want what’s best for them as long as it is also best for you…

Sri Lanka: You love birds. You have many species of birds, including parrots. In fact, everyone appreciates the diversity of your collection. S was once a good friend who, like you, has been through troubled times. S also has parrots living with him. You are bound together by your love for parrots.

Then, for some reason, after the troubled times ended, S lost interest in parrots. He started mistreating them. Some Parrots got very agitated and started attacking him. You tried to pacify the parrots but some violent parrots poked you in the eye. You got angry and looked away while S put down the violent parrots.

Both of you want to be friends again. You want S to treat the parrots well. You offer to build nice nests for them.  But S finds it difficult to forget the violent parrots and forgive the rest of them. You are still trying to workout a compromise.

But you both share other common interests also. Recently, he sought your help with his science project. You sat on the offer, twiddling your thumbs and whining about issues. Suddenly, C barged in, completed the whole project and also built a telescope for him. Now you are scared bully C is watching you with the telescope fromS’s house.

Maldives: That beautiful girl you once saved from drowning. You hoped she would fall in love with you for that but she sees you as just a fat horny boy with a bleak future, so friend-zones you[Ouch!]. Recently, she complained of a head-ache and you offered her a laxative. She wasn’t impressed and threw away your friendship band. She’s now flirting with that muscular boy C. You are both scared and jealous.

Afghanistan: P’s glamorous cousin brother. You are very, very scared of him because he is violence prone and doesn’t get intimidated by size or wealth. P wants to use him as an ally in her fight with you but he is a bit of a loose cannon. Came out of a skirmish with R with a few broken bones and then got into a brawl with A which has left him bedridden. Both P and you are locked in competition in vying for his goodwill. When he was in deep coma, you arranged for his hospitalization and paid for his medicines. You pray that he remembers how good you have been to him and doesn’t pick up a fight with you after he becomes fully fit.

A note on being a sports fan in India

I belong to a country where people have their opinion in every matter on the face of the earth. The country where cricket is considered a religion, football a reason to fight and hockey a long lost twin of cricket. And not to mention Anand who is known as grandfather of chess (oops! it should have been grand master), Sania a face of beauty, Mary Kom a very strong woman and Sushil Kumar (is he somehow related to Khali?)

Anyways, that was not a full description of sports fanatic country. As far as I am concerned I belong to a group which follows cricket. I wake up early in the morning to check the scores when there's a match going on in Australia and stay late to follow the match happening in West Indies but sleeps when India is playing in India. One may ask why? Boss! it's simple; these players loves Indian ground, give them any target to chase they will do it nonchalantly. Why should I waste my time watching the match, they are going to win it anyways ;)

Cricket runs on an Indian's blood. But football and hockey are shoved down the throat at every given opportunity. Make no mistake of blaming anyone here. Indians are born tad lazy (exceptions are there), football, basketball are not their cup of tea. We are champions in cricket and chess. Bengal my place of birth is the epicenter of football in India. Mohun Bagan, East Bengal & Mohammedan Sporting club were the front runner clubs of India since the beginning of last century. Hockey keeps us reminding every now and then that they are the national sports of the country every now and then as their golden days are history and glorious days are yet to come.

Every 4 years Olympics act as a reminder, it comes with a green lantern and a ring more powerful than the one shown in Lord of the rings movie which makes cricket invisible for that short period of time. It is difficult to fathom how well it reminds us that there are other sports too in this world, there are other awesome athletes and sportsperson which deserves our attentions.

Rooting for the same team brings a sense of togetherness and creates an immediate sense of family. Watching sports can pump up your own workout and help you to burn your calories when you jump, cheer and clap during the showtime. A person may not be knowing if there exists a club called Shillong Lajong but he may very well know the full history of Liverpool football club. English premiere league is the most watched league in India. Since support is not backed by the sense of region the fight between the supporters of two teams is not as fierce when it comes to cricket. Indian and Pakistan cricket fans fight with their heart in the mouth because they know that the arguments they are presenting to win the debate may backfire and can be used against them. Lack of tennis players in India have transferred the support to foreign players. Supporting a basketball team is rare. Golf and chess is still there due to the brilliance of one or two individuals.

Being a fan is not always beautiful and it is not always about being happy and shrieking in success. We have to deal with the defeat of our team and debate against a fan of superior team. Sometimes lack of statistics/victories put us under the cone of shame. There are times when we have to deal with stubborn supporters of oppositions and those are the tough times because after that there is no clear winner of the debate, that just drains out the energy.

Prologue to a Travelogue !

The cab dropped him home, it was 3 AM. Usually he takes a bus to his place. He has to get down almost 500 m. before his place due to traffic and then he walks but that day was different. It was 3 in the morning, the day before was 4 but it's hardly any different. The cab had just stopped outside his room, and he could see the gate to his building, it was closed. It ought to be closed. He gets down and starts to walk towards his room. Meanwhile he takes out his phone; abruptly he dials his roommate's number. He didn't want to disturb him but he also had to get inside his room. His roommate picked, nonchalantly he says, "The door is open..." and then he disconnects. He realized that his partner must be tired and should be fast asleep but the good thing was the door was unlocked for him.

He tiptoed inside, threw his bag, and then ate whatever was there in the kitchen (hungry man devours anything). Moment was dull, time was running slow, he sat on the chair and looked straight towards the door of this room. He could hear some voices; some were from inside him, some outside his room. He could recognize the voices from inside. It was the story of his day. He was getting mad, annoyed, harassed; he wanted to get away from those voices. He stood up and walked towards the door as if to check what those noises were. The voices were not clear, it was echoing. He opened the door; it was illuminated as if he was put under a spotlight. He could see a stair, a spiral stair. He was standing at the base of it. Looking up he could see the stair spiraling upwards to the sky.

"They do not understand what is to be done" The voices inside him said and it echoed outside too. He decides to move his heavy legs up the narrow staircase. As he climb, the outside voice becomes clearer. He was not surprised but full of agony. It was the same voice that was disturbing him from inside. He couldn't understand where he was going on, but he wanted to go, far away from his miseries. The voices call out, “What you have done is madness, you should have used it at first instance, that could have saved you time", "But they should understand, time is the constraint" It was killing him. He started to move faster, the stair seem unending. The voices were no longer consoling, it was threatening, "You should be more aggressive when you reply, and that was not how you buy time"

He climbs the final stairs and arrives at the top. It was the damp morning air. Far ahead him he could see his office building not 4 kms. away. He will have to go there again after few hours and complete the responsibilities given to him, "Why me?" the voices said. It was then when he realized that the voices were his own. It was he who was talking to him. He wanted to ask what he should do. He has no knowledge; suddenly he started to feel like a child. "Take baby steps", the voice replied. He felt relieved on hearing that. That calmed him down. He wanted to meet the voice, the one who was talking to him. And so, he lifted his eyes and made a supplication to the Almighty. "Dearest Allah, I pray you to keep me in Your hands, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and wisdom to know the difference."

With that, he whispers his Ameen ... and as he was trying to turn around, he felt a hand touched him. It felt familiar. He turned around. The lights went off, everything went blurred in front of him. He wanted to know whose hand it was. When his vision came back his room was vibrating with the ring of his alarm clock. It was 5.35 AM. He couldn't contemplate why the alarm was ringing at that time. He sat there for a long time or as it seemed to him at that time. But just after 5 minutes, his thoughts cleared up and he realized it was time for "Fajr" the Morning Prayer. With that in mind, he stood up for the ablutions - to clean his hand and feet and get ready for the Namaaz.

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I marveled how your face looks different behind transparency. It was not merely your face but I also wanted to know how my face would look behind those transparent glass doors. Beyond the cities pollution, the stars seem to be brighter. Above the hills you could see the town living their life. It was the only time I believed every one of us could be beautiful, the deal is to keep moving. Rivers are not stagnant; the snow falls over the mountains every season. The leaves change its color, the trees change the leaves, and nobody is still. Sometimes I love to see my life's routine gets disrupted. The cab is booked and it leaves exactly at 1 AM

Indian Foreign Policy for Dummies – I

(This article first appeared in The Unreal times, authored by Ajayendar Reddy.)

 

Non-Alignment: You were once rich and naïve. You were travelling in a train with all your riches. A classy and rich looking dude comes and sits next to you. You like him; he is white. He offers you a biscuit, you eat it, but the biscuit’s drugged; he loots you, makes you his slave; tells others that you are his prettiest slave. Every day, you wish you hadn’t eaten that biscuit; then he lets you go. You hate biscuits now. You hate strangers now. You are scared of strangers now. You close the doors, shut the curtains, stay home and tell everyone to leave you alone. You make tea and convince yourself that you are good enough to be anything you want and it is your choice to sit at home and watch TV.

Panchsheel: Basically five principles, (1) Don’t trust strangers. (2) Don’t take biscuits from strangers. (3) Make your own biscuits. (4) Be nice to everyone but don’t make friends. (5) Dream of a world where biscuits are not drugged

China: The class bully; was your best friend in nursery; you cried when teacher beat him, but he saw you as the teacher’s pet. He pretended to be your best friend, but one day pulled your shorts down in front of girls. You were humiliated but could do nothing about it. You want to build muscles and one day take revenge, but you were too poor to buy protein for muscle; and too afraid to ask others (remember the drugged biscuit?)

C was also poor. C saved and almost starved himself to death so he can eat full meals later, but realized his folly. He is more pragmatic and cunning, so he went to richer people and did their work in return for chicken and eggs. He bulked up; he did more work and ate more eggs. Then he owned poultry. He traded eggs for iPods, became the cool and popular rich kid. Your stomach hurts because of jealousy, and also because you haven’t eaten in many days. You give him a condescending look and feel superior. Now he makes cheaper iPods, buys guns, bullies you. You reach out to your senior A in school, upload a picture with him on FB (in return for doing his homework) to show you are friends.

America: That guy in the senior class who only likes you because you do his homework. You like him because he is popular, rich, a hit with the ladies, has a pretty sister, lives in a big house and lets you in sometimes. You wish you were him; you also like him because he can bully any other bully. Lately, you started wanting to be friends with him because drugging biscuits is sort of illegal now.

But now he has more juniors who can do his homework; and he plays with C on the school cricket team. They are starting to hang out together, but A is in a run of bad form, while C is the new star of the team. C might be made captain soon. A is starting to get worried. He offers to pay for your coaching so you can become a better player, and displace C as the star of the team. But you are too fat, and too lazy. You blame it on your extra toe, and climate change and what not. You don’t mind being friends with A but you don’t want to trouble C, so you play cricket on the computer.

Russia: Another senior in school; once the philosopher and guide of C but later parted ways. Likes you a little because you once praised him at a party in front of all the parents and teachers; hates A. You love him. He gave you new pencils when no one else did; he sold you his old pencils for cheap. He once bullied both C and A. You love him also because he is selling you a fancy refurbished compass box. You want to become best friends but he finds you boring. Enjoys hating A; loves making A look like a fool.

Pakistan: The pretty girl you love to hate to love to hate. Once joined at the hips, both of you parted ways on a very bitter and acrimonious note. She harbors a grudge against you for keeping one of the crown jewels but as with all failed relationships, it goes beyond that. You still have feelings for her of a very complex sort, and take her abuse in your stride. She flirts with others, including C, as if to spite you, and has just come out of a very passionate and tempestuous, if not abusive, relationship with A. She always spurns your well-intentioned offers to let bygones be bygones and start afresh. The last time you offered to kiss and make up, she poured salad on your face in front of everyone and stabbed your feet with her sharp stiletto. Maybe, she will come around eventually, you hope. With women, you can never tell. Meanwhile, you just grin and bear it, sadly shaking your head as you watch her make a mess of her life.

 

What is the economics behind printing of currency?

(This article has been taken from the blog of Shahbaz Khan. I copied it here so as to make more people aware.) 

Take any currency note and have a look at it. You will find wordings similar to this.
“I promise to pay the bearer a sum of….”

So what does this mean? It means that the reserve bank of the country  (in other words the Government) promises that the person who possesses  the currency note (i.e the bearer) will be eligible to be paid goods  worth the amount mentioned on that currency note.
But what will the bank get in return for assuring and making that payment? To answer this we have to go back a bit in history, to the origin of the currency notes as we see them today.
Of course in US dollars, it would be “This note is a legal tender for all debts…”.

The ” Will pay to bearer on demand ” which was present in US dollars earlier vanished from it in 1934 and was replaced by “This note is a legal tender for all debts…” !!!

A 1918 US dollar note.
In other words, the dollar note is just a legal tender, meaning all  US banks will accept it, but other than that, nothing is promised by the  US Federal Reserves about its value. In fact Federal Reserve is NOT Federal i.e it is NOT owned by the US federal government , nor does it have any independent reserves. It is just a group of private banks working with the US treasury department.

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It all started…
In ancient times precious metals like Gold and Silver acted as the  currency. Which is why we see that the ancient coins were made of  precious metals. And there was no need for anybody to make a promise  about the value of a Gold coin because the coin in itself contained  precious Gold, unlike today’s paper currency.

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I promise to pay…
And then came the promissory notes, which were the ancestors of  today’s currency notes. Here, people used to deposit the precious metals  they had with a trustee who in turn used to issue them a promissory  note mentioning in it the worth of the Gold it represented. Then anybody  who gave this note to the trustee would get back Gold worth the value  mentioned in that promissory note. The trustee in turn would charge a  small amount to the people for safeguarding their Gold assets.
Slowly instead of using actual Gold to purchase goods people started  using these promissory notes instead. Different denominations of these  notes came into existence. These were the initial days of currency  notes, which is why even today you see on our notes a promise by the  reserve bank (today’s trustee) about the value of that currency note.  But then today these notes are NOT supported by Gold or any other  precious metal. How is that possible? Read on…
The promissory notes became popular because it meant carrying a  simple piece of paper instead of heavy metals. It not only reduced the  carrying burden, but also protected people from thieves who could  otherwise easily detect that you were carrying Gold/Silver.
Over a period of time the trustees observed that most of the people  who had deposited the Gold with them were not coming back to take back  the Gold, and instead simply kept circulating the promissory notes, much  like today’s currency notes. So the trustees thought why not issue more  promissory notes than the amount of the Gold reserves they had? And  thus was born the concept of modern currencies and the banking system.

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Deposited money exits through back-doors
Banks in those days simply issued more promissory notes than the  amount of Gold they had, based on a simple faith that all their  depositors wont come and demand their Gold back all at the same time!  Imagine a bank which had 100 kg Gold in deposits and which had issued  promissory notes for 200 kg of Gold. If all its customers came at the  same time demanding their Gold back, then the bank would go bankrupt!  But that doesn’t happen unless and until the bank loses the faith of its  customers. So based on the faith that the overall amount of Gold  withdrawn would always be little compared to the overall amount of Gold  deposited, Banks started overstating their Gold deposits.
What the banks did with those extra promissory notes was to lend  loans and earn interest. This is how the banking systems as we know  today came into existence. And this is what is practiced by banks today  in the name of fractional reserve banking . In other  words, the banks today keep only a fraction of the customer deposits in  reserves, and lend out all remaining money as loans to earn interest.  The interest on the loans would be more than the interest paid by the  banks for your deposits and thats how banks make profit. Your deposits  are nothing but loan offered by you to bank for which bank pays a small  interest, and in turn lends that money to others for a higher interst  rate.
So if the borrowers don’t pay back the loan amount, then your money  is gone! And that is what is exactly happening in US today in the name  of Sub-prime crisis. Borrowers have defaulted, banks have gone bankrupt  and so have the investors! Lehman brothers was just an example, and AIG  was bailed out by the US Government because it was too big to be allowed  to go bankrupt! The current US sub-prime crisis threatening the global  economy is nothing but Banks being unable to recover the billions of  dollars of depositors’ money which it had given out in the form of Bad  loans.
And how does the US Government bail out big bankruptcies? Simply by printing more dollars !In fact Billions of it!
The question is why can’t other countries simply print more of their  currencies and be rich? Because there will be no takers for mere paper.  Currency being a piece of paper has to be supported by something which  is really valuable, like the earlier Gold system. So what is supporting  the US dollar then? Read on…

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Post World War II – US Strategy
After the second world war most of the world economy was devastated.  Most of the world’s Gold reserves had ended up in US as all countries  required US help to rebuild themselves, the same way they needed US  weapons prior to that. It should be noted that US mainland was not at  all affected by the second world war and there have been conspiracy  theories about Pearl Harbor, the same way there have been conspiracy  theories about 9/11 .  UK had been the world leader till then, but now was desperate for help  after the devastating world war. It had enough of its own business to  mind and hence declared independence to countries like India which were  becoming unmanageable and which had already been looted to its core by  the British. The empire on which the Sun never set had started shrinking  to see its Sun setting. Britain’s prominent industries had been  destroyed by the war and it badly needed aid. It wasn’t able to import  more than half of its food and all raw materials, probably except Coal.
At the same time US had the ambition to replace UK as the world  economic power. At the end of second world war there was already great  inflation in US and there were strikes in all major US industries like  automobiles, steel etc. So US desparately wanted unhindered access to  markets across the world to get cheap stuff to fuel its own economy. US  agreed to give a loan worth 3.8$ dollar to UK provided it entered into a  new trade agreement with US. And thus was born the Bretton Woods agreement which  paved way for the creation of IMF, World Bank and laid foundation for  the world domination of the US dollar. Prior to this agreement US and UK  combined controlled over half of the world’s trade, and this agreement  ensured that US entered UK markets. It should be noted that if not for  the devastating effects of world war II on british economy, the british  pound would have been today’s dominant currency. It was infact a  dominant currency in the world prior to world war II.

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Bretton Woods Agreemen
US entered into this Bretton Woods agreement with UK and rest of the  world nations after the world war in 1945. According to this agreement  all member countries had to trade their currencies against US dollar  instead of against Gold or other currencies, and US dollar itself was  promised to have a fixed value in terms of Gold. In other words, by this  agreement US dollars became the new promissory notes of the world  economy! So a country need not worry if it didn’t have enough Gold to  support its currency, all it had to do was to buy US dollars, because US  promised its dollars to be supported by Gold!
Now, what would a country do when it had a currency deficit? Well, it  can take loans from the newly formed IMF and World bank(then known as  IBRD), which would obviously be in terms of US dollars. In return for  this loan IMF (on behalf of US) would set up rules and regulations on  that country’s economy, so as to favor the US (in the disguise of  helping that country overcome its crisis) and would put that country’s  economy under IMF surveillance. The US owned one-third of all IMF  quotas, more than enough to impose its rules and to veto any change it  disliked in the IMF.
To pay back the IMF loans (in US dollars) a country had to export its  goods and services to US so as to earn US dollars. Even otherwise,  countries wanted to earn US dollars since it was the default global  currency for international trade in the non-communist (non-soviet)  block. So all countries started selling their products to US for cheap  prices, since they had competition amongst themselves. This ensured that  US got best of the world products for lowest prices. And in the process  US economy and consumerism boomed because they got cheap goods of great  quality from all across the world! Pegging of world currencies to US  dollar ensured that the value of US currency remained stable and hence  there was no inflation in US and things became available for throw away  prices. That’s how US consumerism was fuelled and continues to be  fuelled even today.
While in the third world countries people think a thousand times  before throwing out something, in US it is the world’s largest amount of  garbage produced everyday, simply because in US its cheaper to buy than  to reuse. Things are(were) cheap in US at the cost of the rest of the world because  rest of the world compete(d)s to sell their goods to US, just to earn  US dollars, since it was supported by Gold. In other words US dollars  had the greatest purchasing power, thanks to the Bretton Woods system.  In return for making this agreement happen, US gifted its european  friends with its Marshall Plan , where in the european countries received aid in terms of grants instead of loans to  rebuild their economies. US offered a similar Marshall plan to the  communist states led by USSR but was rejected by the Soviets who were  well aware of US ambitions to dominate the world economy.

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Nixon Shock
All this went fine till one day the flaw in the system came out. US  had created a Pax Americana system in the world, where every developing  economy had this goal of exporting its goods and services to US to earn  more dollars. US continued to print dollars left and right and kept  distributing it to all countries to fuel its hungry consumers. But then  according to the agreement the dollar was being supported by a promised  denomination of Gold. But printing more dollars is not same as mining  more Gold! And hence insufficient supply of Gold broke the system.
While US dollar had a fixed value against Gold which was artificially  set just to enable US to print more dollars, the price of the Gold in  the open market was much higher than the Gold supported by an US dollar!  In other words, if Gold of amount x was available for a dollar, the  same Gold x cost 3 dollars in the open market!
This meant countries could now use their piled up US dollars to get  back cheap Gold from US government (since US had promised fixed amount  of Gold to its dollar according to the Bretton Woods agreement), and  then sell it in the open markets for higher prices! Just imagine all the  countries that had kept piling up US dollars, now opting to give it  back all, in return for the promised Gold. Well, this happened on March  17 1968 (along with violent protests in London the same day against US  involvement in the Vietman war) and US looked blank! Where is so much  Gold? US had Gold reserves to support only 22% of the dollars it had  printed so far! What about the rest, and obviously US cant give away all  its Gold and go bankrupt on its own either.
Thus came the Nixon Shock in 1971 on 15th of August  when the then US President Nixon simply refused to pay Gold for US  dollars anymore! He didnt even consult IMF before announcing his  decision. In other words, entire world economies collapsed since their  millions of dollar reserves were worth nothing more than a bundle of  paper! If any other country had done this to US, then US would have  nuked it out of existence, but since it was the great military power of  the world that had defaulted, all other countries had to keep quiet.
Once the US refused to pay Gold for its dollars, the world entered a  floating exchange rate system, where the markets decided the exchange  rates based on demand and supply principle for currencies. While the US  dollar was supported by Gold, other currencies were held weak in respect  to US dollars so as to facilitate cheap imports to US. Now that the US  refused to pay Gold for its dollars, its economy came down as other  countries stopped buying its dollars since it was no more than a piece  of paper now. So to boost US economy, US had to now export goods instead  of importing them. Gone were the days when US could buy anything and  everything just by printing more dollars. So, Nixon heavily devalued US  dollar to allow US exports to other countries, so that US economy could  get a boost. He even imposed 10% import duties so as to discourage  cheaper imports which would harm local industries.

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Enter Petrodollar
But how long could US be without a strong dollar? Absence of a strong  dollar meant US would have to compete with other countries on an equal  floor and dollar would no longer be a dominating world currency. This  would remove economic US advantage in the world since there would be no  demand for US dollars across the world, and if there is no demand to US  dollars then why will countries prefer exporting their products to US  only? And if that doesnt happen then how to fuel US consumerism?
It should be noted that it is the consumerism that fuels more buying  which in turn fuels innovation, provides funds for further research and  hence leads to growth of science and technology.
So between 1972 and 1974 the then US president Nixon held a series of  meetings with Saudi Arabia, the world’s largest oil exporter, and  struck a deal where in US would provide technological and miltary  assistance to Saudi, and in return Saudi had to trade its oil exports  only in terms of US dollars. Now this resulted in two major advantages  for US. One, all countries which import oil have to pile up dollars,  since only dollars are accepted by oil exporting countries. This was  because once Saudis agreed to trade oil in terms of dollars, even OPEC  (the organization of petroleum exporting countries) agreed to trade oil  only in terms of dollars. So oil importing countries again started to  trade with US and started selling their goods and services at throw away  prices just so that they could earn dollars to enable them to buy Oil.  So all oil importing countries started to build up dollar reserves, and  this boosted US consumerism, bringing back the world currency status to  US dollar, this time supported by Petroleum instead of Gold, and hence  the term Petrodollar.
The second advantage to US from the petro-dollar was it could simply  print more dollars to buy the oil it needed, and hence petroleum became  available in US at throw away prices, and this is what made owning  private cars almost one per head, cheaper in US. Without petroleum being  not just affordable, but cheaper, there was no way that a giant  automobile and airlines industry could have come up in US. Now that the  US dollar is losing its value again, the effects of increased petroleum  costs on US roads is becoming evident.
As described in earlier articles Iraq  was invaded simply because Saddam Hussein had started accepting Euros  instead of dollars to sell Iraqi Petroleum. This was a master blow to US  economy and hence Iraq was invaded. The WMD which Saddam had was none  other than Oil. After US invaded Iraq and dethroned Saddam the first  thing it did was to revert back oil exporting currency of Iraq to  dollars. Similary Iran is being threatened by US not because it has  started Uranium enrichment programme but because it has started  accepting Euros instead of dollars. Similarly Russia has started  accepting its own Roubles instead of dollars to boost its own economy.  Venezuela is also switching to Euros to export its Oil.
Iran, Venezuela and Russia account for about 25% of world oil  exports, and if they do away with dollars, then there is a serious  threat to dollar stability, and would lead to serious inflation and  recession in US. UAE central bank has said that it will convert 10% of  its dollar reserves to Euros. Even Kuwait and Qatar have hinted at the  same. Sweden has brought down its dollar reserves from 37% to 20%. If  there are no buyers for dollars, why will countries export their goods  to US, what will they do with the dollars paid to them?
Biggest threat to US economy today is China which is sitting on  world’s largest dollar reserves. If it releases those billions of  dollars it holds in its reserves, then US economy will simply collapse.  At the same time, the dollar reserves are a threat to China itself, for  if dollar value comes down due to some other reasons, then Chinese  collection of dollars would be mere paper notes. Slowly the ground below  the internation dollar shaking, and shaking violently .  It simply means US will have to go for a major war to bring back the  world economy into its hold again. The target can be Iran, North Korea,  Pakistan, anything and it has no ideological basis. It is the military  might which fuels the economic might and vice versa. When one is under  threat, use the other to recover. Its as simple as that.

---

What Promise?
By the way, today’s paper currencies have no inherent value in them.  Even though the Reserve Bank promises to pay the value mentioned in the  notes, consider inflation. What you get for 100 Rupees today, if you  have the same 100 Rupees three years from now its value will be less  worth than what it was when you earned that 100 Rupees. So where is the  promise? What is the promise all about?
Note that your money is not supported by any Gold or Oil. Its just a  piece of paper. The moment you earn money convert it into something  which has real value. For instance, buy Gold or invest in real estate.  Because these things have real value in them. If you just end up saving  your 10000 Rupees in a bank account, 5 years from now its value would  have reduced due to inflation and would be worth probably only 7000!  Understand the economics of money and play safe. Dont save money as  cash, other than for the minimum amount required to face any eventual  emergencies.
EDIT:
Watch this.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HP7L8bw5QF4#t=134

View Answer on Quora

I am blessed

I am blessed with wonderful parents, talented siblings, extra caring relatives and ever-ready-to-help friends. No, I am not boasting, I feel it everytime when I try to feel. They never let me down. In times of adversity which everyone does have, say for example when I am unable to meet expectations, others do come up to help me. I am blessed to have people around me who do not point fingers at me. After all being the eldest in the family do have some added benefits.

Life is not easy when you are nearing 25 years of age. Our life is indeed divided into 4 folds. 1.Dharma (duty), 2.Artha (finance), 3.Kama (pleasure of life) and 4.Moksha (liberation) are the four folds but these are not mutually exclusive. For me it occurs simultaneously taking their turns and teaching us their lessons on the way. There was a time not many years ago when having the cheapest ice-cream the one with the stick required contribution from friends. Going to a destination together in a auto or bus was difficult thing to perceive because the question was, who will pay? These kind of situation still exists but in a different frame altogether. We do not fight over who will pay what, but over who will pay when.

I am blessed with friends, talented friends. They have stories to tell. Recently during my Eid-ul-Fitr visit to a CA (Chartered Accountant) friend, I was told a story how he was stopped by his superior in his audit midway so that he can take the matter in his own hand.
Then there are stories from a Marine Engineer. He has the most interesting stories to tell. He told us how dolphins looked and how the Somali pirates behaved. What is the difference between the beaches of Brazil, Amsterdam and Singapore. What he did when there was a small fire and what he would have done if the ship started to drown.
Then there are few IAS aspirant in the group. One of them is probably the most intelligent being in the group, he shared how his journey took a turn from being an Engineer to a CTS Employee and then a student in IIFT and then again a big turn with clearing the prelims of UPSC.
Few had theories and other had practical experiences to share. There is one who can tell all the difference between all the smart phones available in the market and he can name a few websites too from which he gathers informations. To counter or support his points I have another friend who has used all the phones, be it from HTC or Apple or Samsung or Nokia. I name it, he used it.
Many dream for a government job with a huge paycheck. I can boast that I have a friend who fits into this criteria. "Government officer" - the phrase with which we use to make fun of him doesn't make him lazy like other government employees and hope he is like this forever.
Some has taken up teaching, a noble job indeed. Looking at the conditions of our society especially Muslims, I can guarantee you that there are plethora of opportunities to educate the society. We just need to open our eyes and fold our sleeves.
A friend in need is a friend indeed. Few months ago I needed some money, some contributed, some said no, elders to me said, "The Tanzeel I know, no one will doubt his honesty any day" juniors said, "I am really sorry I am unable to contribute, this is the first time you are asking and I am unable to help you, I am feeling sad"
In my group of friends Doctors and Engineers are there by default, but given by the circumstances in which I grew and the society in which I live where selling jeans and repairing mobile phones are best job one could imagine, coming this far is indeed a blessing for me (tears!). If I was a magician I can pull out a teacher, a marine engineer, an accountant, WBCS officer, a Chef, a consultant, a Senior web designer, a Senior Business Analyst, a technician, a local businessman and the list will continue. They are all growing with me. Faster than I would have imagined. They are planning to buy houses and all. Good for them, but no one has a bike. How unfortunate for us. I had to go to Colotolla - a area famous for kebabs, to buy some for Iftaar where I felt the importance of a bike. If only I had one I wouldn't have missed the Iftaar with my family that day.

Siblings! How well they have grown. I tend to think that it was not long ago but it is actually some 8-9 years ago when I used to take them to schools under an umbrella with all my might to stop them from getting drenched. Now they have reached my height. The youngest one have started to hit sixes off my bowling. He has crossed the highest score of many games in my phone. Not be behind in real life he crossed my score in Higher Secondary Examination except Mathematics where we were tied on 97, to which he still regret on his speed during the exam and on why he left that precious 3 marks question.
Seeing my sister teaching toddlers at home take me back to those days when I used to teach my younger brothers and sisters.
The elder of the younger brothers is a guy with a nonchalant attitude. He craves to wear branded dresses, buy stuffs which will last longer even though if it's expensive enough to empty his wallet. But as I told you, it doesn't matter to him. Even though he is younger to me, he gifts me shirts (takes away my T-shirts, watches and goggles, etc. that's a different story).

My parents say, "Why do you come back from Bangalore, when you stay outside all the time?" They spread (half true)rumor that I do nothing at home apart from only eating and sleeping , they do that infront of me but deep down I believe that they want me back at home every single day of the year and on knowing that that is not possible they send me all the blessing they have. This time it was in the shape of Ghee and sweet Paan.

I hate to hear these complains from relatives, "Last time you didn't visit us. If you do not come this time then you will see", "You came before Eid, who will come after Eid?", "You reached Kolkata, why didn't you call us", "It's been 4 days and you are calling us now", "Arre, you are here? You didn't inform us that you will be coming" and it goes on and on and on. No matter what I do, I will always hear the complains. So I have decided not to get fed up with these, neither get frustrated. On the contrary I have started to enjoy it. I feel blessed that so many people remember me. They want to know the whereabouts of me. And I do my part. I try to visit and call them as and when possible. Complains are temporary here, but blessings and prayers are forever.

It's been almost 10 years when I passed my Secondary but my teachers still remember me. I have grown beard so that tells you how difficult the remembering part is. Nevertheless, they give me a smile whenever I happen to cross them on the streets. When I last visited my school I could see that same watchman standing at the main gate whom we used to taunt him by saying "Oh! Saabji" I was surprised to know that even he remembers my face and on asking him if I could enter the school premises just to have a look, he replied, "It's your school, you can enter anytime" It made my day and I realized that I am truly blessed.

I am human & I need to be loved, just like everybody else does. Being the eldest in the family, I am expected to be more responsible, serious and more grown up. But I am forever tumbling, forever wondering, forever young but no one notices which is a blessing indeed. The blessings from Almighty makes me believe that everything around me is with a purpose. Living my life to serve that purpose will satisfy me. There are bountiful blessings, we need not chose.

Eid-ul-fitr 2013 was enjoyable experience and after 2 weeks of vacation I was back to my another blessing - a job which made me understand my responsibilities, help me meet new people, enjoy my life and understand my limitations. Being an average guy, this job looks unreal to me. First I used to feel that I got lucky. Perhaps it's not about luck, it's not about being lucky, may be it's because of being blessed. I am truly blessed!


 

The great fall of Indian Rupee

Gone are the days when people used to live in caves, and even the days when people used to exchange commodities for any transactions. Nations have come far in terms of the way of transactions. They have shifted to paper currency from gold and silver and this change is a forever continuous process.

With every passing day Rupee is making new lows but for a common person it is not easy to understand the reason behind this steep fall and he keeps on asking himself a question 'Why is rupee depreciating?' and the effects of the decreasing value of Rupee.

There has been a recent fall in rupee since some days ago and a dramatic increase in dollar. It was 49.50, then 50.12, 51.10, 52.60, 53.54, 54.40 and stable and then again steep fall, and now as I am writing this according to Google search of "1 US dollar to INR": 1 US dollar = 59.88 Indian rupee

It is also to be noted that the transaction rate of dollar against rupee was Rs.42 in 2009 and at present, the same has reached around Rs.60.  That means the value of rupee has had a free fall sliding by almost 45% in the span of 4 years and over 15% this year making it the worst performing currency in Asia, and the third worst globally.

 

Now let's look into why dollar is appreciating heavily against rupee. Recession is less in India, then why dollar is moving up when rupee must be strong. Don't you think that Indian rupee should go up and US dollar should move down?

I have tried to consolidate the reason in simple words. And here they are:

1. Difference in Supply and Demand: Understanding currency market is not a rocket science, here only simple economic law works, more demand means more price for the product and less demand means less price. According to that law the demand of Rupee is decreasing hence the price of rupee is also decreasing. Simple isn't it.

 

2. Foreign Investors pulling out from India: Most of the investments in India are from outside the country especially from US. But due to recession in US, big institutions are collapsing and many of them are on the verge of breakdown. To maintain their balance sheet investors are pulling out money from India and so the demand of dollars are rising and rupee is depreciating.

3. International Trade collapsing: Commodity prices are crashing at international level. Investors have to pay in dollars and hence the demand is increasing against rupee. Very few orders are exported to foreign countries from India, so the demand for rupee is very less when compared to dollars.

4. Euro Crisis: European Nations such as Greece and Spain are facing financial crisis. Investing in USA is better option than in these countries or emerging countries like India where growth has been slow. This has helped the demand of dollar to grow.

5. More demand for oil: India imports oil from foreign Nations. Since oil forms a major part of the economy and India has to pay in US Dollars to these countries, the demand for the same is increasing and so dollar is rising against INR. High oil prices also inflated the import bill and resulted in further widening of the current account deficit, which accelerated the rupee fall.

6. Corruptions and Scams in India: India has been amongst the midst of corruptions and major scams. These are not hidden from foreign investors. They have lost trust in Indian companies and hence pulling out their investments from India hence the steep fall of Indian Rupees.

7. Less demand for our exports: We have to pay in dollar for our imports, Pulling off FDIs from our country due to crisis in their countries are some of the reasons for the increase in demand of US dollar.

The value of a currency also depends on factors that affect the economy such as imports and exports, inflation, employment, interest rates, growth rate, trade deficit, performance of equity markets, foreign exchange reserves, macroeconomic policies, foreign investment inflows, banking capital, commodity prices and geopolitical conditions, etc. etc. Such factors causes fluctuations in currencies' values and that can happen very swiftly.

Its very complicated to review all the economic and political factors very systematically because the influence of these economic and political forces can not be measure accurately. There are lot of factors which influence the exchange rate for a currency. A person who is interested in knowing about exchange rate fluctuation should analyze the above mention factors separately and may acquire a sound reasoning about the currency fluctuation scenario.

Who is benefiting from this?

The major gainers due to rupee down were Indian IT companies including BPOs, call center outsourcing, Indians working in USA, medical transcription outsourcing and Indian content writers from their blog, especially Indian AdSense publishers who also earn in dollars from United States of America. The sharp fall in the rupee during the last few months has been a Godsend for some. As prices of various commodities fell globally, the rupee cushioned the impact on Indian investors, especially those who placed bets on commodities that are largely imported - crude oil, non-ferrous metals and edible oils.

Who is losing from this?

Studying abroad will be expensive and so will be tourism. Companies indebted to foreign bank will have to spend more to return their loan. Petrol price will further increase and hence inflation. The government will start increasing the value of Imports done by Indian companies and so they are also at loss. RBI will increase the interest rates which is not a positive signs because that will shoo away investors. So in my point of view rupee will further depreciate unless and stern steps are taken by the government of India.

source>>>> fivepoint5, ibtimes



 

Dan Brown's Inferno - Review

140 characters would not justify the review of this book and so I had to turn to my blog. Seriously, I had so much in my mind when I was reading the book but now I am out of words. Pray, why does it happen to me?

Anyways, I will try re-collecting my thoughts and put them here. I would like to alert you because there are SPOILERS AHEAD!!!!

Dan Brown's Inferno is one of the decent books I have read, not the best, sorry. Being a fan of Dan Brown, I pre-ordered (for the first time) and was not disappointed after the novel ended. The picturesque descriptions of cities were amazing. Dan took me to those places and I could imagine myself with Tom Hanks (yes, I can only think of him as Robert Langdon) and Sienna moving along the streets of Florence, Venice and Istanbul. If given a choice I would definitely want to go to Istanbul, one of the cities mentioned in the book.

Robert Langdon the usual protagonist in Dan's novel is simply brilliant. Even without his harris tweed jacket and the "mickey mouse watch" his problem solving techniques is amazing. The way he decipher the code is breathtaking. From the bone cylinder to death mask to St. Mark to Yerebatan Sirayi, the skills Langdon shows one could easily guess the amount to research Dan has put to bring out such a awesome novel.

With so many description of churches, palaces & corridors the story seems to be dragging itself. I had to just quickly read through it to get to interesting part. The time taken to complete the last 30% of the novel reduces drastically. The story takes a U-turn from where Sienna's identity was revealed. I had to turn back to the pages where FS-2080 met Zobrist and ended up being in his arms and re-read the chapters once again. Dan was using the code FS-2080 and a reader would have thought it to be Ferris but no it was Sienna. The twist in the plot was very well executed.

I was very much impressed by the way Dan mixed up an age old poem, Inferno of Dante Alighieri with current world problem - over population. The story revolved around Zobrist's attempt to sacrifice some of the world's population so that others in future may be benefited and can sustain their livelihood on Earth. Langdon along with WHO's director were thinking of some plague or catastrophe but ultimately Zobrist chose sterility, with no killing or mass murdering involved. Other reader must be thinking it is much simpler and easy solution better than killings but I am never impressed with any solution provided to curb over-population. There are somethings which we should leave it on God's hand and then forget it. God has His own plan of handling things. I plan and you plan but it's the God who's plan is the best.

Nevertheless, there was no antagonist in this novel. In the end I kept on thinking that if everyone was thinking for the betterment of humanity then why didn't they sit around a table and discuss, why run and hide from each other.

It was interesting to learn about trans humanism.  This is the best part of Dan Brown's novel. Freemasonry, Illuminati, Noetic Science, TRANSLTR, CERN, large hadron collider, Antimatter and now H+. Along with that it was a good amalgamation of WHO, SRS, ECDC, high IQ people and there own problems. If any motivation I got from this book, it was to visit Istanbul, Hagia Sofia and the blue Mosque and to know my IQ.

The book didn't have any lose end, and I think the plot of this book among others is the closest to reality. Though like any other I have few concerns:
1. With respect to the viral vector, I know scientists and genetic engineers are yet to formulate such kind of thing but henceforth if I see a married couple without a child I would have question to ask myself, "Have they already created the DNA-altering viral vector, or is it something related to 'no child before certain years of marriage' planning and enjoying youth life :P?"
2. Why did Zobrist chose Istanbul as ground zero? It could have been anywhere else, may be some more populated cities of the world. May be Tokyo, may be Mumbai, but why Istanbul? I can think of 2 reasons, 1) may be because Istanbul is the only city in two different continents - Europe and Asia, but this does not make much sense; or 2) may be because Dan has visited Istanbul recently and he may have liked the city and must have thought, ok I will include this city in my next novel.

Nevertheless, It was good travelling 3 cities in one day. I stretched it to around 50 days but I had a good experience. While just surfing through the web I found this, - the novel ends with "stars" just like how every poem of Dante does."
  - The sky had become a glistening tapestry of stars.

And now I have to think of how to use the bookmark. Probably Khaled Husseini is next.


 

That's a beautiful hand

"Hey Tanzeel, want to listen to a story?", my friend asked. And I was thinking aloud, "Why do you  even want to ask? Just amuse me." And he heard me and all the others too who were waiting patiently  or biryani to arrive. That night was my treat night. Just a day before I was recruited by Cognizant and  my friends wouldn't stop hitting me until I give them a good biryani treat.
We were at Arsalan and biryani was yet to arrive. I asked him to start his story. He said he will but but also added, "Don't share it with others". I was surprised, "But you are doing the same, you are telling me and others here (there were 4 other friends) and you want me not to share it with others, what difference does it make?" he justified, "I mean to say, do not tell this to unknown, you are a blogger and if you share the story with your readers, it will do no good to me and my sister." "Okay" I said, "I won't share it with others and if i will I won't reveal names". "Then it's okay" And he continued...

"Once my sister went on a excursion with her college friends, they were six of them. Their trip was not far from Kolkata, it was in Murshidabad a six hour journey from
the city."

Someone interupted, "What happened there?"

My friend continued, "Well, that may not be of interest to you. What may excite you is what I am going to tell you now. So, as I was saying they went to Murshidabad and had spent a day or so collecting all the informations they needed to regarding some palaces and historical places. They had a return journey by train starting late night at 11 PM. They choose this train because it carried less number of passengers and it will bring them back to the city early in the morning and hence they can go to the college that very day.

"So, they all were seated, their luggages all arranged beneath the seats. they were done with the dinner and all were ready to go to sleep. The train was rather empty and the ones present there were not making much noise. It so happened that one of my sister's friend quitely went to the toilet and when she came back, she was rather shivering with fear. Everyone asked her what is the matter? She didnt say anything in the beginning but slowly when she calmed down, she said that she saw a person
sitting near the gate. Nobody seemed amused. They said he must be a beggar and so she must not worry about him. But she defended herself asking why is he sitting near the gate? The train is not full,
he can come in and sit or sleep in his choice of seat. Her reasoning were logical but they were unable to think as to why is she so much concerned about that beggar.

"Then she said something that really got everyone interested. She said that beggar didn't seemed normal to her. On a day when the temperature was touching more than 35 degree celsius, he was wearing a dark colored shawl. She told them that she even had the guts to ask that guy if he wasn't feeling well then ahe and her friends could help him. That guy hesitated and ask her to simply leave him alone. As she was leaving that place, her eyes caught red colored liquid around his feet. She immediately understood that this was his blood and he is in trouble. She asked if she could really get help from her friends. The man then yelled at her and scolded her to mind her own business. She ran from that place and here she was trembling and shivering and sharing with everyone what she saw.

"The group got perturbed. They decided that they should go and check what was wrong. They hustled inside the moving train which was approaching a station, and indeed they found the man sitting there. The train stopped at a desolate station. They were astonished to see the man standing up slowly while holding his shawl. If they were to believe my sister's friend's words then there was something wrong as the beggar started to get down the train. The situation was turning into a nightmare for the group. They were unable to think as what to do, that man was already moving on the platform, the train would start any moment, should they get down and get hold of this man? But that would be too risky.

"They decided to let him go but one of them shouted to him, "What is wrong with you? Whay are you wearing a shawl in this hot night? Why are you bleeding? And why are you running away from us?" The man started to laugh and slowly he lifted his hand which was hidden beneath his shawl all this while and showed his priced possession to everyone, he couldn't wave it as it was too heavy for him to do so. Everyone was shocked to see what he was holding. Nobody moved, the groupe was numb, they turned around to see one of the girls fainted. The train was gaining speed, but they could still see the man standing there holding another person's mutilated hand, blood dripping from it. Two gold rings on the finger and a bangle could still be seen from the distance glittering under the station light and slowly faded away as the train took speed.

"Nobody spoke to one another, they were concerned about the girl who fainted. Slowly they took their place and tried to sleep, praying that nothing of that sort would happen to them.

"They reached the station early morning. Generally Howrah station is too crowded even at the early morning hours. They tried to move out of the station strolling their luggage around the people sitting there. Some were sleeping and there was one such woman who was sleeping with her hand beneath her head, pointing at her one of  my sister's friend shouted, "That's a beautiful hand". My sister hit him with her handbag and called him stupid. But that broke the ice and they went home with a light heart and not discussing on the events that happened to them last night."

We were all listening to my friends story. For one full minute we couldn't believe that the story was over and it happened for real. Our eyes were wide and mind still unable to digest what we heard. but my freind insisted that it really happened and why would he make up a story. Nevertheless on our way back home there was only one topic in discussion and you know what.

 

The odd job men do

May Day, that celeberation of the working man and homage to his chosen profession, is here. Frustated that you don't have any job or your job is not so interesting. Now, most people would take on the odd job to make ends meet. But what are the odds that you'd take up these jobs?

Odor Tester
Odor judges smell nasty morning breath or breath "insulted" with strong scents, like garlic or coffee. They rate the breath on a scale from one to nine, one being the worst. To test odor-reducing products like gum or mouthwash, they smell the breath again and assign it a new rating.
Loves: Axe Perfumes, children
Hates:Nanga Sadhus

Groom of the stool
Yes, the other stool. The son of a nobleman, the groom of the stool of the stool presided over the office of royal excretion, with exclusive access to royal posterior. He wiped the king's botton after his highness took a dump. It must have seemed a crap job on hindsight.
Loves: Toilet paper and health faucets.
Hates: Wind Instruments

Knocker-Up
Back when alarm clocks weren't invented and roosters weren't all that reliable, you paid the knocker-up a few cents a week to knock on your door and keep knocking until you woke up. If you lived on a higher floor, he used bamboo poles to rap windows. But be warned! The flipside is that helping your clients rise tends to get a rise out of them and the incessant knocking could get you knocked down.
Loves: Extended siestas
Hates: 'knock-knock' jokes

Bird Sexer
This job is a lot sexier than the title promises. Your mission, should you chose to accept it, is to separate male chicks from female ones. You get to toss fluffy chicken into giant vats and listen to chirping all day. However, if you're the sort who often wonders the gender of the person in front of you, this job isn't for you.
Loves: Soft toys and down pillows
Hates: Tweety bird cartoons

Crime scene cleaner
Yours would be the show after CSI. Collect debris, fix broken furniture, mend shredded upholstery and mop up bits of victim. Necessary skills are muted sense of smell, obsessive scrubbing and keeping the contents of your stomach down. For advanced courses, contact mummy of 'behind toilet bowl' and 'kitchen stove' classes
Loves: Steel wool and super-strong detergent
Hates: Ketchup

Paint drying watcher
Now this job involves a stop watch, so it must be exciting, right? Decidedly so, if your idea of a nail biting adventure is to sit in one place and well, watch paint dry. Touching is traditionally used as a test, but testers have been known to sit on paint, just to mix things up. It can seem dull but look at the bright side - you get to see some color on the job and even your toughest assignment lasts you till lunch-time.
Loves: To watch the whole IPL atches in ultra slow motion
Hates: Wallpapers

Odd job journalist
Well it's a job too. Someone ought to look for odd jobs and make a list of them, don't you think? Although admittedly, it is suspicious when a journalist does it. He is either looking for alternatibe career options or attempting to find a prifession that is weirder than his. Good luck with that.
Loves: Solitaire and Pac-Man
Hates: Employment

src> The Hindu newspaper


 

I cannot be more (un)lucky

Adventure began. Unlike adventures of kings, dwarves, elves, wizards or hobbits my adventure was an adventure which a common man would love to avoid but there are certain groups in our species who may not love to be a part of this adventure but does this quite often. Well the adventure that I am talking about is travelling in a general compartment of an Indian train and in my case there was an added glamour of 2000 km of distance to cover.
Not that I loved travelling in a general compartment neither do I avoid booking resevration tickets. It all happeed suddenly and I had to make quick decisions. No there was not a matter of life and death neither there was ememrgency situation back home. The thing I wanted was a simple break from work and be with my old friends and families and beloved ones back home.
The routined life was going on as usual and probably i missed booking the ticket by a day or two. When I first booked the ticket it was 215 waiting list, two days before the journey it became 30 W/L, a day before journey it gave hopes, hopes that assure you that what you are hoping of will be reality, and I was hoping of my ticket getting confirmed before journey. My train was at 8.30 PM and I had enough time to wait and watch and I had no role to play to that particular conversion. The situation was very much similar to any intense thriller match, just waiting and watching. The only difference being mine was whole day drama- drama that was going on in my head and not many was aware of. Ocassionally i logged into irctc.co.in to check the status of my ticket. It remained 5 W/L for the first few hours of the day. Whether or not the ticket will get confirmed if not what will I do, a full on conversation and arguments were going on inside my head. I could barely concentrate on what I was working on (yes I was in office that day) and from time to time that conversation from my head came out and were spilled to my teammates. They would assure me that 5 W/L before a day of travel, u needn't even check it will surely get confirmed. Then at afternoon it became 3 W/L and as the progression suggested it became 1 W/L at 1.30 3 hours before the chart will be prepared. I can tell you that it was very interesting to check the status every half an hour, more interesting than any last over cricket match because it was happening directly to me and I couldn't do anything, just play the game waiting and watching.

But all the arithmetic progression failed, all my friends and teammates assurance went down the drain, my mom's prayer were not answered, the status of my ticket remained 1 W/L and the chart was prepared. That instance a realisation was renewed in me. It was like this - that whatever we plan, whatever we think of, whatever assurance we give, however close we are to our finishing mark nothing is possible against the will of Allah as HE is the best of planners, HE has something else planned out.
W/L 1 meant couldn't travel with that ticket now as it was automatically cancelled because it was booked online. But I know Allah has planned my journey, how? I don't know. Train would start at 7.30 from its first station and at 5.45 I was still in the Office. There I decided I will go, I will tell the TT that my ticket was W/L 1 even if it didn't serve the purpose or I will take the general ticket but the thought of suffocating in that crowd made me feel uneasy. What will I do? I didn't know while leaving my place for the station but I just left probably play my favorite game of waiting and watch but for me there is a plus point and that is wait and watch keeping full trust in Allah. And here I would like to mention that Allah has given everyone that particular friend who will always be ready to help and I am gratefull HE gave me Ibrahim (my office collegue), he acted as a catalyst in helping me make my decision and other things which we would later see.
I reached the train's first stop, I decided going to the starting station maybe because that was too far or the ticket counter will have large queues. This station where I reached was a small one and had few people at the counter and I felt glad that I will not have rush and push everyone to get inside. Bought the General ticket and hence began the waiting game but now we were discussing as well that how to talk to TT, what requests to make and how much money to give all in all it was like making the TT a rockstar after whom everyone runs around to get his autograph on their ticket.
Now the train comes, I was standing on the platform where general compartment will stand. There I could see through the window the place where a person can hardly stretch his legs in that place 5 persons were seated, squeezed as it looked to me. The floors were full of people and now the gate, the gate through which I would enter were totally crowded. I somehow put a foot on the footboard of the gate, a bag hanging behind my back and my suitcase holding it well above my head and others head as well. Not 10 seconds and I decided against going through this, again all plans went down the drain. I got down the coach and decided I will go back to my room and book ticket for another day. Just then when I moving towards exit I saw a TT outside AC compartment and a moment of awesomeness flashed into my mind. If I had earlier got through the super server website irtctc.co.in a day before I would have been seating in this AC coach but that was not how my Allah has planned for me. However I asked the TT can I get the seat? mine was W/L 1? he nodded his head...."No! AC is full, go to coach S7 probably you will get a seat there." Hearing this we started to run. S13 crossed us. 6 more coaches to go. Hufffing and puffing we reached towards my ray of hope. The coach was yet to be occupied by passengers, probably they will do it in the next station. I kept me luggage, made myself comfortable even though it was for sometime it didn't matter to me. And now again the waiting game began, this time I decided to write this so that I can share it to others who would find this story full of struggle or funny and amusing or lessons to be learnt or like what's new-this happens everyday. While I was writing the TT passed by me twice and each time he said he will be back. Then at 1.30 AM he came back. At that point I was barely in my control my head was falling over my shoulders while I was keeping an eye to my luggage I was arguing with myself as to why I shouldn't be sleeping on the floor and how that will make my clothes dirty. But then TT comes and takes me to the gate. He started to make a ticket for me so that I can travel in sleeper coach, he took extra 100 rupees from me and then gave me a berth to sleep. It was like I was drowning and then given a twig to save myself and indeed it was enough. It was 2 AM and there's no explanation I need to give to make you understand my situation. I decided to continue writing this the next day. As of now I would love to get as much sleep as I can.

Here I am again. The next day I woke up with chitting chatting of men's and womens' in the coach early in the morning. Obviously I wasn't expecting a sleep that I use to get back at my room. But I have a task to do. I have decided to finish this post and it will only be finished once I reach Kolkata. Now is the first day of my travel, the first night a day before was quite okay. Another half a day and a full night of waiting and watching and including writing this and reading the book The Hobbit is yet to come.

Day passed as if I was with a genuine reserved ticket. But the real tough task was to spend the night. I had a seat to myself till 11 PM until someone with a reserved ticket came and politely asked me to make way for him. Untill then sleep didn't come to me, I just kept moving my sides. Standing near the gate I looked at my watch, it was 11.30 PM. Only 8 hours to go, i know counting the numbers of hours left brought happiness in me but to spend those remaing hours was a tough job to do.
The game of wait and watch began again. I didn't know what I was waiting for. But I watched people just sitting on the floor some even sleeping on it. I was just standing and writing this post. Once I am done with writing this I will read another chapter of Hobbit (I was close to finishing that book). I was wishing that the train stops at more number of stations so that I may get a chance to divert my attention to something new. Standing near the gate I read all the texts that were written there and suddenly all of them seemed very interesting and important too. I got to know the number of seats in one coach and how it will be very irresponsible of one if he accepts any eatery from another and then he gets robbed and how an individual can serve Indian railways. I can say that the mirror at the washing basin needed some cleaning and I demanded to no one in proper. Everyone had their own style of sleeping which they do not know of. I know it is very innapropriate to look at passengers with so much attention but I was helpless. Some keep their mouth open as if he is sure to eat a rosugullah. Some even go to the extent of carrying a pillow so as to make themselves feel at home with pillow, lungi and what not. I have mastered the art of not sleeping with pillow even if I am at home I avoid that. I saw parents getting up late at night to nurse their young ones which reminded me of my childhood and also giving me heads up as to what awaits me in future. Whatever happens I will definitely not travel with my family like this.
Then I realised I had my earphone with me, why not listen to the saved Ted talks. Will be back after sometime.
Ted Talks was very difficult to listen to. It was very hard to grasp what they were saying when the only thing I wanted was to stretch myself and sleep for few moments. God granted me that wish and I sat down near the gate at around 1 AM. I had my share 10-15 minutes of sleep with a lot of breaks in the next 3 hours. At 4 AM we reached a station where it was announced that the train was running 2.30 hours late. I stood and tried to look out of the window. The outside was getting ready to welcome the Sun. The transition period was on. I was glad that now my time will pass soon as I will keep myself busy alongwith the twilight. Around 30-40 minutes must have passed, the process was still on as the Sun was still not out, then suddenly a kind hearted man tapped me on my head and asked me to get some sleep, he was offering me his seat. How could I refuse that offer which I was so despearately waiting to come my way. I had still some time before my destination would reach. I slept and slept like a child, I am sure it was like child because I woke every now and then. At 7.30 my head was feeling okay and I could now not feel that I was deprived of sleep. It rained outside so weather was cooler, I decided to enjoy the scenery, continue with this post and play the game of wait and watch untill my destination is reached.