Caste

The caste system is a weak point in modern India. For over a century reformers from Ram Mohan Roy and Periyar campaigned to end the caste system. Atleast in Tamil Nadu the caste based surname system ended if not caste itself. As long as the reservation system exists, (which should for the forseeable future) caste will inevitably exist.

Anti Hindu and other lobby groups have often embarrassed Indians worldwide with outbursts on the Hindu caste system as if it discriminates against all. More often than not most sensitive Indians withdraw into a shell.

Not many realise that such systems existed in other parts of the world as well.

See attached link on Japan which had a system identical to India's. This is meant for the benefit of most overseas Indians and will hopefully make them feel better. I am not justifying one way or the other just making the point that from the UK in the west to Japan in the east and the middle east in between with its tribal affiliates (similar to caste) every group and region has practised some form of social hierarchy.

http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,25422301-663,00.html

http://www.theage.com.au/news/technology/google-earth-sparks-racial-row-in-japan/2009/05/04/1241289077306.html?page=fullpage#contentSwap2

CFLs - Blessing or Curse?

Recently I was involved in work for an environmental organisation and studied the impact of Compact Fluorescent Lamps (CFLs). CFLs aka energy efficient lamps are touted as the way of the future atleast until LED technology matures.

CFLs consume significantly less energy than traditional tungsten filament incandescent bulbs. With 12% of all energy consumed being attributed to just lighting, it is argued that if all lamps worldwide were to be CFLs, less electricity would require to be produced, consequently less coal would require to be burned and lead to less greenhouse gas emissions and a cleaner healthier world.

The Australian Government announced it will introduce a world first ban on the incandescent lamp. Effective February 2009 import of these has apparently ended. Retailers have until November to sell off their stocks. From November 2009 the sales of these are expected to be banned in Australia. The intent is to promote the energy efficient Compact Fluorescent Lamps (CFLs).

(refer: http://www.environment.gov.au/settlements/energyefficiency/lighting/faq-phaseout.html)

CFLs come with a warning though. They contain mercury and in the case of breakage require careful clean-up to avoid harm to the environment and individuals. Apart from the mercury, the phosphor coating can enter the blood stream through microscopic cuts and poison the body. Hence thick gloves are mandatory while handling breakages.

PROCESS FOR CLEAN-UP BREAKAGE

1. If available, wear a good respirator and thick rubber gloves
2. Open all windows and switch on any ventilation fans to evacuate contaminated
air
3. Pick up the visible pieces and seal them in plastic bags
4. Use a good HEPA-conformant vacuum cleaner to vacuum up the smaller pieces. Dispose the filter after use.
5. If one doesn't have a HEPA-filtered vacuum cleaner use a wet paper towel to mop up.
6. DO NOT vacuum if your vacuum is not HEPA filtered as it would most likely blow out contaminated air.

(refer for additional detail:

http://www.environment.gov.au/settlements/energyefficiency/lighting/faq-disposal.html).

CFLs should not be discarded like other household trash. Used lamps should be processed in processing units. Otherwise they have the potential to poison the groundwater and cause significant long term damage to the environment. Australia has put in place several processing units and a process is underway to educate households on CFLs.

But what about third world countries? Neither an awareness exists among the populations nor is there any process by governments to handle the range of issues posed by CFLs.

Firstly, CFLs contribute to a lower power factor (pf). Poor pf increases distribution losses and therefore the cost of supplying power. The claimed efficiencies (lumens per watt consumed) of CFLs is reduced when you factor in pf. All CFLs have a pf less than 0.6 which practically means that for a 13 watt bulb, the actual consumption is 13/0.6 = 22 VA.

CFLs last less longer when switched on and off frequently. Most CFLs in the market do not work in table lamps and with dimmers. I discovered this recently and still do not have a solution other than rewiring. Now how many people worldwide are going to be prepared for this hidden cost?

In an ideal world where people are educated and processes are in place for the safe disposal of toxic waste, CFLs would be the way to go. But we live in a world where basics like food, shelter and survival takes a priority and awareness of environmental issues virtually non existent in large parts of the world. Given the realities of such a world, banning CFLs would be a better way forward than the banning of incandescent lamps.

Don't be Dick from Third Rock from the Sun

Nearly every day newspapers carry details of yet another attack on an Indian and not just in Australia but in several other parts of the world. The Police in Victoria suggested that Indians should maintain a low profile not talking too loudly in public in their native languages.

This set me wondering if this was the correct response to what could be race related violence rather than a simple law and order issue. I am still unsure.

Loudness from anyone regardless of ethnicity is an irritant because it violates other people's space and privacy. Travel in public transport is often made unbearable by loud inconsiderate people. The decision by authorities to control this menace in WA and Queensland is a welcome step. Melbourne should follow suit.

From personal experience I know Aussies, Chinese, and Sub continentals are all guilty of inconsiderate behaviour. Sub continentals who could be anyone from a vast area stretching from the Middle East to Myanmar for want of a better definition get labelled collectively as Indians. They stick out like a sore thumb primarily because there are so few of them and they all bring attention on themselves by their loud behaviour. The loud ones from other demographic groups may be the exception, among Indians every one appears to enjoy intruding on other commuters' private space. Most commuters tend to be catching up on work on their laptops or PDAs, students trying to study for an exam and some just getting into a sleepy, dreamy world. The quiet peaceful travel experience is rudely disturbed by loud cacophony from inconsiderate people who are blissfully unaware of the boiling rage they provoke. And it is not just in public transport. Visitors from India tend to be so loud that neighbours often wonder what was going on, if everything was ok.

To some extent the sub continent has been like another planet disconnected from the rest of the world. With software industry and export education led boom in overseas travel, people from this region are increasingly visible. They need to understand how to behave in conformance to local expectations. Even a simple "do in Rome as Romans do" approach would help. Don't be Dick from "third rock from the sun".


.."Dayajot Singh, who helped organise a protest last year over attacks on Indians, said Indian students should be taught crime prevention as part of their university induction course. "They should be taught that if you go on public transport in this country, people don't talk loudly, they talk in a low voice. If you talk loudly it could be taken as violent behaviour. It's different cultural behaviour — speaking loudly to each other is not taken offence to in India."
http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/news/national/indians-warned-to-keep-low-profile-in-melbourne/2009/02/19/1234632935216.html

Chennai Metro - Why introduce a new gauge?

During the early seventies, the Central goverment decided that Calcutta and Madras needed underground trains to cope with a rapidly deteriorating traffic situation. The Indian Railways offered to construct one corridor along the city's eye sore Buckingham canal alignment using a low cost cut and cover method. This would have achieved two objectives - eliminate the large open sewer the canal had become while providing Madras with a nice underground metro.

Calcutta's project got under way. Due to a slow moving TN bureaucracy and subsequent financial constraints the Railways amended their original offer to a cost sharing project with the TN goverment having to fork out some of the money. The TN government refused point blank and the project never made it. Eventually some bright spark in the TN government decided that it would be significantly cheaper to have an elevated railway instead of an underground system and tried to persuade the Railways and Central govt to go ahead as committed with this cheaper project. Eventually the TN government had to share the revised project costs anyway and the people of Chennai are left with the hideous monstrosity that passes for the "parakkum rail" aka MRTS while the canal features on foreign TV stations as an example of India's extreme poverty and dirt.

While no TN government tried to improve Chennai's traffic woes, it was again left to the Central government via Sreedharan of Delhi Metro to initiate a Metro for Chennai. A previous TN government tried to convert this project from an underground to an elevated monorail system. Anyone who has visited the Jurong bird park in Singapore or the Sydney Darling Harbour Circular Quay systems can understand how monorails serve only low traffic volumes over short distances and are no answer to the large traffic volumes for a city of Chennai's size. Fortunately for Chennai that monorail project disappeared with the person who proposed it. The proposed underground metro project has most sections above ground and is thus fundamentally flawed. Now the current TN government must understand that a previous Railways Minister caused irreparable harm to the Railways finances by embarking on a foolish Uni gauge project for the country. All of Chennai's suburban railways are on one uniform broad gauge. Then why introduce a new gauge system now? The proposed Chennai Metro on a Standard Gauge doesn't allow for inter operability or provide key operating efficiencies as the rest of the Railways suburban system is on BG.

I realise that most educated middle classes in Chennai travel in chauffeur driven cars and couldn't care less what public transport system was implemented. However, for those who do care this is an issue worth pursuing.