Reflections

LOCATION : INDORE 3 Days Ago, {24th March, 2015} Old RTO Road, in front of RTO : {I noticed it lay open for at least 2 days prior to this}  TODAY, 27th March 2015, same place.. An open Manhole, lying open for days in a public place, in front of a Mandir...  What makes things worse is that this stretch goes isolated at night. And right in the middle, an open manhole. Wow, what governance! Cant the Municipal people at least put a cover on it? Isnt it a potential risk? Worse still : No one cares! Why should they? It isnt their lives, isnt it?  Update: Informed the authorities, nice and encouraging response. That is interesting, and raises questions on us the people. For the response was equally blunt : " aapne dhyaan rakkhhaa yeh kyaa kam hai "? Intend to send letter of thanks to the official once it is done... 

Crude Bombs Recovered From Delhi Bound Gondwana Express BE VIGILANT!  "A bag containing eight crude bombs was found on Sunday inside the Gondwana Express which runs between Jabalpur in Madhya Pradesh and Hazrat Nizamuddin station in Delhi, officials said. The bag was brought to the notice of the train ticket examiner by a passenger at around 3 pm, after the train had left Jabalpur" The Dainik Bhaskar is more specific in this news :  गोंडवाना एक्सप्रेस में मिला बम, पुलिस का दावा- बड़े धमाके की थी साजिश "जबलपुर-निजामुद्दीन एक्सप्रेस (22181) की एस-8 बोगी में रविवार रात बम मिलने से सनसनी फैल गई। बम बोगी की 14 नंबर बर्थ के नीचे एक काले रंग के बैग में रखा था। एक यात्री ने लावारिस बैग की सूचना जीआरपी को दी। सिहोरा रोड स्टेशन पर बैग चेक किया गया तो उसमें बम रखा मिला, जो एक मल्टी मीटर से जुड़ा था। " THE LEARNING A Passenger did what no one among us does : checks the luggage around him in the train. Had this person not checked, who knows ...

In the previous article, we took a look at the concept of values from a psychological perspective :  Life's Challenges : Are You Rough, Or Are You Tough? . Let us take a small peek at the definition and concept of the term Values from the perspective of Psychology, taken from the website "psychologytoday" :  One important concept in psychology is values.  Thus, it is important to define values.  What are values?   Values are judgements about how important something is to us.  There may be three basic attributes of values.  First, values are subjective judgments.   Second, we may make a judgement of how important something is relative to something else.  For example, one may judge that helping others is more important that becoming famous.   Third, values may be principles that help us make important personal decisions.  Values are beliefs, and refer to desirable goals that motivate action.  Values serve as standard...

The Axis Of Evil is a term of World War 2 vintage, used to denote the Axis Powers led by Germany. At the outset of this post, let me proffer my apologies for using this term for the present article; if any feelings are hurt, please accept my apologies. This article has no reference to the World War 2 or its ugly memories, or even Colonialism. This is a article on Modern India, and social issues within Modern India.  The word Evil, going by the dictionary term, means wicked; more pertinently, if we look at the secondary meanings of the word, we get the terms bad, infamous, bad or blameworthy, unpleasant, causing ruin or pain, indicating future misfortune... and my article is concerned with the secondary meaning of the word Evil, not the primary meaning.  A discerning observer can easily spot three or four behaviours of the people in contemporary India that are coming together to form what I call The Axis Of Evil In Contemporary India, as I mention in the article. Let ...

The Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, just launched by our Prime Minister, Mr Narendra Modi is the in thing nowadays; everyone - well, almost - is interested and full of praise for this effort, which is beyond even a shade of doubt a very praiseworthy initiative as  such. People are, for the first time,  talking about cleanliness, about dustbins, about Civic Sense & about presenting a clean India.  Our PM makes no bones about this - it is a long term initiative, and will require consistent effort and follow-ups for it to be successful.  He is the second celebrity personality to endorse a clean India campaign, and the first person from the echelons of power. The first was, of course, Aamir Khan with his incredible India campaign of a few years ago. Viewed as a standalone effort, this current campaign is most welcome, and highly praiseworthy. We are indeed lucky to have someone at the level of the PM drive this. He has got the attention of the nation; everyone in the m...