Greed

1954- Endosulfan, a revolutionary new pesticide was developed

1976- Widespread use of Endosulfan in farms and plantations in India

1979- Evidence of toxicity and bio-accumulation seen with birth of malformed cattle

1990- Children born with limb malformations, congenital anomalies, mental retardation, physical deformities, cerebral palsy,epilepsy, hydrocephalus

15 villages in Kasargod district in north Kerala, owing to the presence of large cashew plantations, were among the most affected. It was described as the biggest disaster since the Bhopal gas tragedy. Endosulfan’s toxicity and its effect on humans are well documented and many other countries had to deal with the same situation.

So tell me, why India is still the largest producer of Endosulfan? We produce a whopping 9500 tonnes of it, 4000 for domestic use and 4500 for export. The companies involved in it are Excel Crop Care, Hindustan Insecticides Limited (a govt. company) and Coromandel Fertilizers. In fact, India went the extra mile to make sure that it was not included in the Stockholm and Rotterdam conventions, which aims to ban the substance throughout. In 2001 the Kerala government banned it in the state, but it is still used in the rest of the country.

Now, think of all the people still exposed to this substance without even knowing the consequences. Think of their children.

If you want to know more about this tragedy you can visit the link below. Be forewarned: It is not for the faint hearted, as the pictures in it are quite graphic

http://www.endosulphanvictims.org/index.htm

Adbusters

A suggestion from a friend introduced me to ‘Adbusters’. The tagline ‘journal of the mental environment’ best describes the magazines intentions. This particular issue talked about Ecopsychology, on how the world is coping with the bitter truth of our increasing footprint on nature, laying the contents according to the Kübler-Ross model or the more familiar, ‘Five stages of grief’- Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression and Acceptance.

The description for bargaining was what caught my eye. It’s more relevant as the world powers realise their addiction to oil and need for drastic change, case in point- Copenhagen. Freedom and abundance gave birth to generations with bottomless want of consumption, so any restrain would be cutting into freedom- a basic right. Restraints brought about by depleting resources are now more in the form of monetary measures ensuring the ‘poor man’ still struggles in the pit of economic degeneracy.

Bargaining

“In an effort to protect what matters most- we sacrifice our pawns. We lower the thermostat and ease of the gas, surrendering small degrees of comfort and time. We change the colour of our consumption, adopting a greener model of consumerism and transforming each purchase into an act of environmental defence. We pull back, surveying the board and waiting patiently for the technological salvation that will surely be delivered from distant labs and ivory towers. And when all seems lost we pray. We’ll do anything- well, almost anything- to stave off planetary death and protect our role as kings”

The Karzai Itch

Hamid Karzai after taking over the helm of Afghanistan has probably not slept a day. He figures in the news lately as he has become quite a nuisance to the man in the White House. He should be a nuisance, considered that he’s trying to bring in peace into a war torn country.

Afghanistan is a country filled with nomadic tribes, each of these tribes act autonomously over their areas of dominance headed by leaders named elders (probably in Pashto). The country has always been in conflict. In the past 30 years the Soviets tried to capture it, then it had its own brand of civil war which the Taliban won, then the US came in to take them out and hasn’t left it yet. The Taliban still reiterate with small skirmishes.

Karzai, trying to bring peace to the country decided to call a ‘Loya Jirga’, a meeting of the ‘elders’ and has also invited the Taliban. He wants to devise a peace plan wherein all the tribes are pacified.

Now, this puts the US, UK and Pakistan in a pickle. If peace does come out of it, Uncle Sam and the Old Blighty has to bring back its troops putting a halt to their long term plan of attacking Iran (which has one of the largest oil reserves in the world!) and also the huge reconstruction plans of the country by which America’s corporate world can sell off their mediocre goods and use their scrapped off assembly lines to create ‘value’.

Pakistan, of course, has other plans. If Taliban directly talks to the Taliban, they would loose their stronghold over them. So, they demand that Afghanistan talk to the Taliban through the ISI (Pakistan’s intelligence agency) as they finance them and in turn provide Mujahideen to do their dirty work.

The Taliban can either risk it and go to the Jirga hoping they’ll have some say in running the government or continue to be loyal to Pakistan.I hope they do come together for an amicable solution and let peace prevail.

LSD

I usually procrastinate from watching Hindi movies, mostly because I can’t understand the language well. My interest in Love, Sex aur Dhokha spawned when I came to now that it was shot with an amateur camera. The descriptive ‘Amateur’ demeans the actual effort of the director; he’s faced with a bland canvas, unlike the usual background music and soft lenses which the professionals have. So, to effectively paint a scene, the director heavily relies on dialogue and editing, which needs talent.

Love, Sex aur Dhoka is an anthology movie weaving three different stories with each other. The love for voyeurism, brought about by the infamous DPS MMS Scandal of 2004 seems to be the inspiration for the movie.

“Love” tried to portray the relationship between a rich girl and a commoner, the usual Hindi fare, minus the bravado. The story tried to mock the well established romantic genre by bringing in the spoof element unsuccessfully; I tried hard to laugh at the slow running and the exaggerated emoting, in vain. Frankly, the girl in that was pathetic.

“Sex” was much more laudable as the characters did evolve a bit and manage to engage the viewers, but the plot did meander in between, which is quite forgivable. The guard was quite over the top making it feel like a cheap soap opera.  

“Dhokha”, swept everything out with a brilliant introduction and had continued to define the characters well. I loved the TV editor’s role of the ‘bitch’ and the crassness of the pop singer; the scene where he describes his trailer was pushing it though. I liked dhokha, because every character lived by the theme and the story was also able to carry it rather well. Throughout the movie, the attempt to bring about humor was entirely futile

On the whole, I applaud the effort. I feel such experimentations with a powerful canvas such as cinema should be encouraged more.

For those who haven’t seen the movie, you can read the plot from http://www.bollywoodhungama.com/movies/review/14205/index.html

IPL

Modi should feel like an ass right now. I, for sure haven’t seen a worse foot in the mouth situation. This guy tried to screw Tharoor and he ends up getting right one in the ass. It’s naïve to think that IPL is squeaky clean at all. Along with the citied reasons of “love of the sport” and “regional patriotism”, the opportunity to launder some dirty money and for some Dons to invest their “hard-earned” monies are not to be disregarded.

Look at the bright side, the money that would have gone to financing feudal wars and maintaining their existing business of drugs, extortion and prostitution would be used instead to cater to the masses as entertainment and provide the much needed exposure to the local talent. I don’t give a rat’s ass to who owns what. In the end, it’s the players battling it out not the owners (would love to see a cat fight between Shilpa and Preity though!)

These things will pass; IPL will come out unscathed because it’s too big to fail.  Hope the Kochi team survives, till then CSK rules

Milking it!

After what seems to be an eternity; I decided to write a post. The excuse for the hiatus was literary constipation brought about by anxiety, uncertainty and depression.  The insidious pleasure that a writer derives from pain and suffering to bring about incredulous manifestations are rather contrary to my modus operandi. By god’s grace it came to an end by Bangalore Stock Exchange making a mistake of hiring me.

It’s’ Microfinance’ that has caught my attention this time. Muhammed Yunus, the economist who started it all, remarked at an UN meeting, “We created microcredit to fight the loan sharks; we didn’t create microcredit to encourage new loan sharks”. I believe this statement says it all.  Microcredit, the darling of economists and celebrities alike was viewed as the solution to reduce abject poverty and to bring about financial inclusion, and it did with aplomb.

It all changed in 2007, the Mexican firm ‘Compartamos’ which started as a tiny non-profit organisation went public to amass $458million. Investors suddenly realised the immense potential of Microcredit, which is corroborated, as politicians have started to invest in such ventures through surrogates. The business model is quite sturdy. Money is taken from donations and banks at very low interest rates and given to Self Help Groups (SHG) which by design ensures that the risk is reduced to the minimum. The risk is further mitigated by imposing higher interest rates.

The world average interest rate charged by MFIs (Micro Finance Institutions) is a whopping 37%. This figure is highly dubious as actual figures are not available due to unaccountability of non-profit organisations. In some countries like Mexico, the average is 70% while some companies like Te Creemos charges up to 125%.

The problem of over lending also comes into the picture. Recent figures from Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka show that their coverage in some areas is 200 to 300%, that is, people have multiple loans at such high rates, often taken to repay previous loans. This could to lead to a debt spiral which defeats the whole purpose.

Legislation and governing bodies should be put in place to check such atrocities. In India, RBI does have a watchful eye, but the existing policies needed to be revised and adapted to bring MFIs under its more stricter purview and also to increase transparency.

The Washing Machine

A question that often quips up in conversations in these days is how you would spend your first salary (provided you get placed by ‘Team Usha’). It’s a perfect question to get a perspective of an individual’s priorities. The standard answer is to say that they would spend it on friends and family, call me a sentimentalist, I applaud that. The conceited of the lot say that they’ll spend it on clothes or a new phone or a new girlfriend, the list can be endless.

I, belonging to the latter would actually buy a washing machine, yes, a washing machine. Why? Because I consider it as the greatest invention after the automobile

Hear me out; nobody likes dirty clothes except for hobos and a few people in college who think it’s rather cool to wear them. I don’t know where they get that idea but it’s quite prevalent. So I’ve established need.

It is also one of the few innovations that have actually reduced effort. Some of you may argue that the microprocessor was a better example but think of it, your lives are more screwed up because of it. The constant pressure to keep in touch and be creative in your tweets or status messages is quite a vexation. Don’t even get me started on mobile phones. Washing machines are placid devices that don’t interfere with your life nor does it need your attention.

A front loading one is a perfect addition to any home. It’s multifunctional, it can be a table top for a round of cards, it’s the perfect height for ‘certain’ experimentations or for the more infantile pleasure of siting on top of it while it goes on spin dry. I have made up my mind though-a Siemens front loader is definitely in my list.