Friday, July 2, 2010
Vitamin water
Tap water has the added benefits of being all but free, and free of calories. Critics have bashed Vitaminwater for being a calorie trap. While a single eight-ounce serving has just 50 calories, a bottle contains 2.5 servings, so you could easily drink 125 calories -- just 15 shy of the calories in a can of Coca-Cola -- at once.
Kal aaj aur kal..
I was doing ‘house-keeping’ this weekend, and while cleaning up the closet – I came across 500 odd audio cassettes. Those were in vogue until 2001-2002 when I was adding those to my collection like crazy – it was still the time of ‘walkmans’ being very popular must-have gadgets. The same period saw the advent of portable ‘discmans’ or ‘cd players’ which further got shrunk to portable MP3 players / IPOD / Zune generation – and with Apple coming up with product innovations each year – I am not sure how long by Ipod Nano continues to be the ‘in’ thing. At least there is no physical storage associated with Ipod songs.. still haven’t decided what to do with the cassettes!!
Even the cars in India now come with MP3 players or USB interface on the steering wheel. Also, with 6 FM channels belting out Hindi songs, no one ever listens anything to other than FM radio
Even the cars in India now come with MP3 players or USB interface on the steering wheel. Also, with 6 FM channels belting out Hindi songs, no one ever listens anything to other than FM radio
Random...
Random
Ø In Pune, an apartment is called a ‘flat’, In Mumbai, an apartment is called a ‘block’ or a ‘flat’, the Page 3 folks call an apartment a ‘pad’
Ø In the US, there was some negative criticism regarding the release of ‘Death of a President’ in 2006 which was a fictional documentary type film showing the assassination of George W Bush. Some multiplex chains had even refused screening this movie in theatres, but ‘freedom of expression’ was maintained. In India, there is big uproar regarding the upcoming book ‘Red Saree’ by a Spanish author – about Sonia Gandhi – some sections in the book do not match with the image the Congress wants to portray
Ø Road side ads – the charm of seeing beautiful gals selling soaps, perfumes is gone. Neither can you see ads showing TV actresses promoting their soaps – mostly all the road side signs are now composed of ads selling flats, row houses and other real estate stuff- time to bring back the beautiful ladies on the the advertising boards.
Ø Public transport – the planned Pune metro seems to be going in endless rounds of planning, replanning, and blaming each other – while the Mumbai monorail/metro project (Phase I) gets ready for a launch later this year!!
Ø Why are South Indians leaving Calcutta - http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/21099823.cms
Ø In Pune, an apartment is called a ‘flat’, In Mumbai, an apartment is called a ‘block’ or a ‘flat’, the Page 3 folks call an apartment a ‘pad’
Ø In the US, there was some negative criticism regarding the release of ‘Death of a President’ in 2006 which was a fictional documentary type film showing the assassination of George W Bush. Some multiplex chains had even refused screening this movie in theatres, but ‘freedom of expression’ was maintained. In India, there is big uproar regarding the upcoming book ‘Red Saree’ by a Spanish author – about Sonia Gandhi – some sections in the book do not match with the image the Congress wants to portray
Ø Road side ads – the charm of seeing beautiful gals selling soaps, perfumes is gone. Neither can you see ads showing TV actresses promoting their soaps – mostly all the road side signs are now composed of ads selling flats, row houses and other real estate stuff- time to bring back the beautiful ladies on the the advertising boards.
Ø Public transport – the planned Pune metro seems to be going in endless rounds of planning, replanning, and blaming each other – while the Mumbai monorail/metro project (Phase I) gets ready for a launch later this year!!
Ø Why are South Indians leaving Calcutta - http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/21099823.cms
Reading time...
New ‘binge’ drinking game – now hugely popular in the US, driving sales of Smirnoff Ice like anything
http://www.ndtv.com/news/world/popular-new-drinking-game-raises-question-whos-icing-whom-30633.php?u=1010 and http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/09/business/media/09adco.html?scp=1&sq=Icing&st=cse
Ø O’hare – consolidated area for rental cars - http://www.suntimes.com/news/cityhall/2367868,ohare-rental-fees-increase-060810.article
Ø All Indian grocery stores – Food bazaar, Reliance Fresh, MORE – should have separate checkout lanes for ’10 items or less’. This is one thing that is missing from Indian stores, and if you unlucky enough to be sent by your wife to do some last minute grocery shopping (stuff that is typically difficult to find in Kiraana stores) – it’s a good wastage of an hour – just standing in the checkout lane!
Ø Another decade of US presence in Afganistan - http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/14/world/asia/14minerals.html?ref=world
Ø Another Indian American governor in the making - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikki_Haley
Ø Himesh is BACK!! - http://movies.rediff.com/report/2010/jun/10/review-himesh-is-back-with-kajraare.htm
Ø Now ‘early boarding’ fee - http://www.cnn.com/2010/TRAVEL/06/17/american.airlines.boarding.fee/index.html?hpt=T2
Ø Why China consumes so much cement and steel - http://business.rediff.com/slide-show/2010/jun/18/slide-show-1-stunning-bridges-of-china.htm
http://www.ndtv.com/news/world/popular-new-drinking-game-raises-question-whos-icing-whom-30633.php?u=1010 and http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/09/business/media/09adco.html?scp=1&sq=Icing&st=cse
Ø O’hare – consolidated area for rental cars - http://www.suntimes.com/news/cityhall/2367868,ohare-rental-fees-increase-060810.article
Ø All Indian grocery stores – Food bazaar, Reliance Fresh, MORE – should have separate checkout lanes for ’10 items or less’. This is one thing that is missing from Indian stores, and if you unlucky enough to be sent by your wife to do some last minute grocery shopping (stuff that is typically difficult to find in Kiraana stores) – it’s a good wastage of an hour – just standing in the checkout lane!
Ø Another decade of US presence in Afganistan - http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/14/world/asia/14minerals.html?ref=world
Ø Another Indian American governor in the making - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikki_Haley
Ø Himesh is BACK!! - http://movies.rediff.com/report/2010/jun/10/review-himesh-is-back-with-kajraare.htm
Ø Now ‘early boarding’ fee - http://www.cnn.com/2010/TRAVEL/06/17/american.airlines.boarding.fee/index.html?hpt=T2
Ø Why China consumes so much cement and steel - http://business.rediff.com/slide-show/2010/jun/18/slide-show-1-stunning-bridges-of-china.htm
Mumbai Pune Expressway – trip
9 years after India's first access controlled expressway was opened -----
Amrutanjan Point – it’s a British era viaduct/bridge which was used as a train reversing station. It’s a stone masonry structure and is the BIGGEST bottleneck on the expressway. From the Pune side, that the highest point on the E-way that you ascend to – and you begin your descent down the ghat once you cross this. The traffic moves here at 10 KMPH, with the heavy container trucks blocking almost all lanes. Its very common to find an overturned truck, or a truck with overturned goods – adding further to the traffic jam. Late night and early morning (around 4-5 AM) seem to be the WORST time to travel from Mumbai to Pune – the moment you cross the rest area prior to the ascent (when coming from Mumbai) – you get stuck in endless slow moving overloaded truck traffic, and you have to zig-zag through lanes after every 100 metres.
Made a trip on the expressway again last week, Mumbai bound 1 lane is closed in the ghat section, and an alternative Mumbai bound lane is provided in the Pune bound lanes, thus reducing the Pune bound lanes to 2!! The traffic from the rest area till you reach Lonavala is a mess – its takes you 1 hour in this section.. such is the volume of traffic on the e-way that the day is not far way when a Pune-Mumbai journey will take 5-6 hours to complete, the time it took before the e-way was constructed!!
There is a crane operator mafia that works as follows
Heavily trucks – the 22 wheel kind – make slow progress till they reach the Amrutanjan point. Just as you cross it, you start on a small gradient towards the Khandala tunnel – the traffic cops then stop the trucks just as you start on the gradient – and once the truck stops, it cannot start, and move thru the 1st, 2nd gears since you are already on the upward gradient. Heres when the crane / tow operators move in, and for a good fee, provide the initial momentum to the trucks so that they can overcome the gradient.
Amrutanjan Point – it’s a British era viaduct/bridge which was used as a train reversing station. It’s a stone masonry structure and is the BIGGEST bottleneck on the expressway. From the Pune side, that the highest point on the E-way that you ascend to – and you begin your descent down the ghat once you cross this. The traffic moves here at 10 KMPH, with the heavy container trucks blocking almost all lanes. Its very common to find an overturned truck, or a truck with overturned goods – adding further to the traffic jam. Late night and early morning (around 4-5 AM) seem to be the WORST time to travel from Mumbai to Pune – the moment you cross the rest area prior to the ascent (when coming from Mumbai) – you get stuck in endless slow moving overloaded truck traffic, and you have to zig-zag through lanes after every 100 metres.
Made a trip on the expressway again last week, Mumbai bound 1 lane is closed in the ghat section, and an alternative Mumbai bound lane is provided in the Pune bound lanes, thus reducing the Pune bound lanes to 2!! The traffic from the rest area till you reach Lonavala is a mess – its takes you 1 hour in this section.. such is the volume of traffic on the e-way that the day is not far way when a Pune-Mumbai journey will take 5-6 hours to complete, the time it took before the e-way was constructed!!
There is a crane operator mafia that works as follows
Heavily trucks – the 22 wheel kind – make slow progress till they reach the Amrutanjan point. Just as you cross it, you start on a small gradient towards the Khandala tunnel – the traffic cops then stop the trucks just as you start on the gradient – and once the truck stops, it cannot start, and move thru the 1st, 2nd gears since you are already on the upward gradient. Heres when the crane / tow operators move in, and for a good fee, provide the initial momentum to the trucks so that they can overcome the gradient.
Classic Indian approach to town planning
Recently there was a article in the Pune newspapers that a flyover is proposed at Dange Chowk, reasons being –
Ø Crowded square
Ø Too many illegal hawkers
Ø Daily wage laborers standing in the square to wait for thekedaars to show up and get picked up for a day’s work at some construction site
Ø Bus stop
Ø Lack of a traffic signal
So the approach is not remove encroachments, move the bus stop away from the square, install a traffic light…. The approach is .. lets build a 100 crore flyover, which will soon become 150 crores with cost over runs – and it will solve all the problems mentioned above!!
Ø Crowded square
Ø Too many illegal hawkers
Ø Daily wage laborers standing in the square to wait for thekedaars to show up and get picked up for a day’s work at some construction site
Ø Bus stop
Ø Lack of a traffic signal
So the approach is not remove encroachments, move the bus stop away from the square, install a traffic light…. The approach is .. lets build a 100 crore flyover, which will soon become 150 crores with cost over runs – and it will solve all the problems mentioned above!!
Neo Colonials
Indian Land Banks in Africa – Neo-colonials
Apart from Indian companies buying out ‘western brands’ as well as heavily investing/buying mines, oil and gas fields in other countries, Indian companies are also buying land in Africa to grow agricultural products that can be exported to large markets including India. Companies and investment houses prefer the African route to agriculture as direct investment in this sector in India is fraught with bureaucratic hurdles. Also land is relatively cheaper in Africa and the fertile, contiguous nature of land - a company can get large tracts of land - is the other main driver. According to statistics provided by governments of various countries in east Africa, more than 80 Indian companies have invested about £1.5 billion (about Rs 11,300 crore ) in buying huge plantations in countries in eastern Africa, such as Ethiopia, Kenya, Madagascar, Senegal and Mozambique that will be used to grow foodgrain for the domestic market.
Africa continues to get colonized – albeit in a ‘modern’ fashion!
Apart from Indian companies buying out ‘western brands’ as well as heavily investing/buying mines, oil and gas fields in other countries, Indian companies are also buying land in Africa to grow agricultural products that can be exported to large markets including India. Companies and investment houses prefer the African route to agriculture as direct investment in this sector in India is fraught with bureaucratic hurdles. Also land is relatively cheaper in Africa and the fertile, contiguous nature of land - a company can get large tracts of land - is the other main driver. According to statistics provided by governments of various countries in east Africa, more than 80 Indian companies have invested about £1.5 billion (about Rs 11,300 crore ) in buying huge plantations in countries in eastern Africa, such as Ethiopia, Kenya, Madagascar, Senegal and Mozambique that will be used to grow foodgrain for the domestic market.
Africa continues to get colonized – albeit in a ‘modern’ fashion!
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