Poverty in China

Chinese leaders esp. the new office-bearers who are to take over as Chinese President and Prime Minister in March, 2013 (Lee Hechiyang and Jee Chinping) are on a round of their country to have first-hand knowledge about the economic conditions of the downtrodden. It is worrying them that they still have some 20 crore people living below the poverty-line. Although this figure has come down from 50 crores some 30 years ago, they are still contemplating as to how to eliminate poverty from their nation by 2030 AD.

They are making serious attempts to set up industrial units in such backward areas to push up employment opportunities and thereby improve their earning power in the days to come. They are also tightening their administrative machinery to work with honesty and deliver the goods as planned from the above. It is also alarming that millionaires are increasing while the poor are becoming poorer.- a development defying their preferred goals.

Salute to Chinese Masters

Kudos to the Chinese brains and giants trying to prove their potential in achieving the very best and the very first in the field of economic activities especially in creating a superior infrastructure. Look at the latest record they have shown to the world by erecting a rail link to a distance of 2298 K.Ms between Beijing and a commercial town Quang Shu with fast trains running at a speed of 300 KMs per hour i.e covering in just eight hours instead of 20 hours needed in the past.

The fare is of course a little costlier at Rs 7600 for a second class ticket which is more than the air ticket as reported!

This is the longest rail link in the world as on date!!

Nature's Most Loyal Lovers

Magellanic penguins are the most loyal lovers in the animal world, as asserted by a finding after a 30-year study of the breed where researchers placed metal identity bands on the flippers of 50000 birds on the southern coast of Argentina, the Daily Mail from London reported.

One particular pair of Magellanic penguins, much to the surprise of biologists, have always returned faithfully to each other after long solo journeys totaling over three lakh kilometers over a 16-year period , a study has found. What a great unity and loyalty towards each other? Should one wonder at this couple or the nature for such a rare conduct?

Secondly let us look at the relationship maintained by a human couple as shown below:

• Village:  Punnapakkam near Poondi in Tiruvallur District of Tamil Nadu State in India.
• Married for 70 years before their death this week.
• Bride's age was 12 years & the bridegroom's age was 21 years at the time of marriage.
• Palayam was 91 years old when he died & Bhagya lakshmi was 82 years old. The gap between their deaths was only a few minutes. The lady collapsed the moment she heard the news of her husband's death.  
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• What a bond and reletionship between the two elderly persons? Hats off to this couple because some of the newly-wed couples are unable to live together even for a few days or months these days.

Sex and the V.I.P

The latest casualty linked to sex-based misconduct on the part of a VIP is the Head of American Intelligence David Patrias who resigned the other day under moral pressure. The US President Barack Obama accepted it although many an official in the administration felt bad looking to his ability and contribution to US military as its head and the Chief of US operations in Iraq and Afghanistan for quite some time. His own regret over the illegal relationship developed with Paula Bradwel, a researcher from Harvard University writing on the General’s life during his stay in Afghanistan was conveyed through an e-mail to the people concerned. He felt ashamed of his own conduct – a man having married life of 37 years with a lady and being the head of an organization at the national level. One should admire his step after all. There are many other individuals in public life who care little about such affairs till they are literally pushed off from their positions.

However a moot point to be raised and discussed here is why should people occupying very high positions in life or exhibiting extraordinary qualities and high achievers fall a pray to such passions and become an easy victim to female beauties like some saints and celebrities. Probably such individuals are not satisfied with one female in their life and likely to develop relationship with a female companion in their weak moments at their work places. It is human weakness and a necessity at some points of time in their life. How do you explain otherwise the strength of a harem in a King’s palace being discussed in history books or the modern leaders of public life practicing polygamy with impunity even now in certain places?

Worshiping God in a crowd

Lord Venkateswara is the presiding deity at Tirumala-Tirupati Dewasthanam (Seven Hills) in Andhra Pradesh. Thousands and thousands of devotees throng to this abode of faith and prayers throughout the year. But on certain special occasions there is an unmanageable crowd keeping the temple staff on their toes. Puratasi, a Tamil month is very special for the devotees to worship in the temple. The third Saturday is very special for them. The report is that there was a crowd of 76000 people on that day i.e on October 6, 2012. The people stood in the 4 KM long queue to have a darshan of Lord of Seven Hills. For free darshan the wait was for 16 hours, Divya darshan took 10 hours and quick darshan (on Rs 300-ticket per head) was possible after a wait of 7 hours.

Except for VVIPs the darshan means a 2-3 seconds standing only in front of the God. One wonders what sort of darshan the people are able to have in such a mad crowd. Either the Lord's idol could be made visible for more than 100 people at a time by widening the entrance and opening the sanctum sanctorum to a bigger audience, or booking the days of visit to the devotees in manageable sizes in advance that could avoid crowd on such occasions. Some planning is required in this direction from the management committee of the temple. A devout worshipper like me is unable to visit the shrine for the fear of the crowd and satisfy his soul by worshipping the God from his residence regularly.

Gandhiji - an avatar of God?

Bapu, the Mahatma Gandhi is no less than God in Salangapalayam, 25 Kms from Erode in Tamil Nadu. On Gandhi Jayanthi there is a stream of people from the neighbouring villages heading to the Mahatma Gandhi koil(temple) as it is locally known. The priest performs the arthi to a granite idol of Bapu as part of the daily puja.

A class 4 student, M.Sanghvi, studying at Appachimar Madam Government School prays at this shrine for obtaining first position in the class. Elders and senior citizens also visit the temple on special occasions. Strangely and in contrast to this Gandhi temple where any one can walk in and pray, there is a temple for Goddess Mariamman too in the vicinity where only upper caste people are allowed and not dalits.

Hey Ram! where are we leading to? Untouchability is still prevalent in Gandhi's land and he is worshipped as a God. This is a beginning. Lord Gandhi will be a god of millions in some hundred or thousand years' time  like in the case of several messiahs of humanity like Lord Ram, Lord Buddha.  

I was expecting this phenomenon for quite sometime now.

Reshuffle of ministers in AIADMK government

AIADMK party came to power in 2011 under the leadership of Ms J.Jayalalitha. The cabinet has been reshuffled several times so far by dropping 12 ministers. A number of senior and loyal leaders have been shown the door. It appears that they have either committed mistakes or lost the confidence of the chief minister who happens to be the supreme leader of the party.

Nobody can question the wisdom and authority of the CM to induct anybody or drop anyone from the ministry. But the way and the speed with which it is happening these days one tends to believe that the ministers are appointed on superficial grounds without assessing their actual background or they appear to be careless in their conduct leading to their ouster by the CM. It reflects the crop of leaders and their quality in Tamil Nadu politics at present. It is an unfortunate development depicting the absence of strong leadership in those departments held by such birds of passage. Where is the time for original and long-term thinking enabling the growth and development of the state?