Woman V/s Woman

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times (with apologies to Charles Dickens) for women in India.

For the first time in the history of independent India, a woman was about to be elevated to the post of president of the country. After a bitter fight to this high office a woman was elected to the office of the president of the country. The main opposition did not spare any effort to tarnish her image in the press and went to town about how this person was not at all qualified to become the president. The main party stuck to its guns and it had numbers in its favor thus they cooked a snook at all the slander that went around and ensured in a typical give-n-take (with the Communists) managed to bring a woman as the 13th president of the country. It was the best time for women of India.

Parallel to this was the sad development of a highly decorated and capable women officer being denied her due as the top cop of the capital city. Here was a women who is not only most decorated but has succeeded in every position that she has been assigned to but also has one of the cleanest image in the annals of police history. She was conveniently passed over by the same party that went to town about promoting women power. And what did the opposition do, it just sat there and twiddled its thumbs. It was the worst time for women of India.

Tragically both the stories unfolded almost simultaneously in the capital of the country.

What answer do you have to this Madam Sonia Gandhi

A building comes crashing down

In a recent man made tragedy, a seven floor building came crashing down in suburban Bombay. This happened essentially due to the shop owners allegedly tampering with the load bearing structure of the building in an attempt to increase their floor space of jewelery showroom.

The tragedy led to the death of 30 residents and left more than 20 grievously hurt. The death toll may increase as some of those injured lie comatose.

In Bombay, most of the buildings are co-operative societies where the ownership of the building is jointly held. Members carry out renovations and modifications to the structure without taking proper permissions and without doing mandatory structural stability test prior to their actions. They forget that they may be renovating their own homes but when the building comes crashing down, they too will meet the dust.

The need of the hour is for everyone to understand that 'We may have arrived on different ships, but we are in the same boat now" (quote from unknown source).

Wake up ye people of the city before it becomes your final sleep. Wake up ye local governments and other regulatory authorities before the city is reduced to a heap of rubble.

Wearing cotton can save your skin

News
Flamesafe Maxisoft® FR Cotton Knits help save your skin.

Here is an interesting article for all personnel involved in Electrical utilities, Petro Chemical and flash fire industries. It is taken from: Popular clothing off-limits to Marines in Iraq 1st Marine Logistics Group Story by Lance Cpl. Stephen Holt

CAMP TAQADDUM, IRAQ (April 10, 2006) -- Under direction of Marine Corps commanders in Iraq, wearing synthetic athletic clothing containing polyester and nylon has been prohibited while conducting operations off of forward operating bases and camps.

The ban on popular clothing from companies like Under Armour, CoolMax and Nike comes in the wake of concerns that a substantial burn risk is associated with wearing clothing made with these synthetic materials.

When exposed to extreme heat and flames, clothing containing some synthetic materials like polyester will melt and can fuse to the skin. This essentially creates a second skin and can lead to horrific, disfiguring burns, said Navy Capt. Lynn E. Welling, the 1st Marine Logistics Group head surgeon.

“Burns can kill you and they’re horribly disfiguring. If you’re throwing (a melted synthetic material) on top of a burn, basically you have a bad burn with a bunch of plastic melting into your skin and that’s not how you want to go home to your family,” said Welling.

According to Tension Technology International, a company that specializes in synthetic fibers, most man made fabrics, such as nylon, acrylic or polyester will melt when ignited and produce a hot, sticky, melted substance causing extremely severe burns.

The Under Armour company, a favorite among many service members here, advertises that the fabric used to make their garments will wick perspiration from the skin to the outer layer of the clothing allowing the person wearing it to remain cool and dry in any condition or climate. While these qualities have been a main reason for Marines to stock up on these items, the melting side effect can be a fatal drawback, said Welling.

This point was driven home recently at a military medical facility located at Camp Ramadi, a U.S. military base on the outskirts of the city of Ramadi, arguably one of the most dangerous cities in Iraq.

“We had a Marine with significant burn injuries covering around 70 percent of his body,” said Cmdr. Joseph F. Rappold, the officer in charge of the medical unit at the base.

The Marine was injured when the armored vehicle he was riding in struck an improvised explosive device, or IED, causing his polyester shirt to melt to his skin. Even though he was wearing his protective vest Navy doctors still had to cut the melted undergarment from his torso.

For years service members with jobs that put then at a high risk of flame exposure, such as pilots and explosive ordnance disposal personnel, were kept from wearing polyester materials because of the extra burn threat. Now, with so many encounters with IED explosions, the Marines are extending this ban to everyone going “outside the wire.”

A concern among commanders is that service members will down play the problem of wearing wicking materials in combat settings because they think their body armor or uniforms will protect them.

The camouflage utility uniforms are designed to turn to ash and blow away after the material is burned, but the burn hazard is still present, said Welling, who recommends wearing 100% cotton clothing while on missions.

Even Marines who never venture off their base should be aware of the risks associated with wearing the wicking fabrics.

Recently, there was a case where a Marine’s undershirt started smoking when he was shocked by an electrical current. Fortunately, it didn’t catch on fire or melt, but the potential was there, said Welling.

The directive is straight forward and simple.
“The goal is not to bubble wrap the warrior going outside the gate, the idea is to minimize the (hazards) we have control over,” said Welling.

Are you being overcharged?

Two recent events have caught my attention.

Recently while making a call using my BPL Mobile phone, I noticed that I had been charged for 2 calls even when the call had lasted for just 59 seconds.

I immediately called up the Mobile Assist Center of BPL Mobile. I asked them how I had been charged for 2 minutes when the call had lasted 59 seconds including the time taken to connect to the called party? Their reply surprised me, according to the lady on the other end of the line, their system calculates a minute as 58 seconds, a call exceeding 58 seconds is treated as having consumed 2 minutes.

This is indeed shocking and worth investigating. Are all mobile operators using the same method of calculation? If so, poor consumers are being taken for a ride.

I am sure this is the handiwork of some smart alec who wants to boost bottom lines of his company using unscrupulous methods.

Second is about an article that I read about the rich and famous stealing from hotels. Given the incident above, these people who indulge in such petty theft use the excuse of being overcharged by their hosts to justify their acts.

The question I want to ask is whether institutionalized robbery is better than petty theft?

As you sow, so shall you reap

Dear President Musharraf,

It seems that you have forgotten the old saying 'As you sow, so shall you reap'.

You have sown hatred, conflict, death, deceit and disorder. Now these actions have come back to haunt you. With the violence that has emanated from Lal Masjid, it has become clear to the world that places of religion are increasing being used by terrorists. In a similar development not very long back Sikh militants were flushed out of the holiest of Sikh Shrines, Shri Harmandir Sahib. This operation was done under the guidance of General A.K. Vaidya and Mrs. Indira Gandhi, then Prime Minister of India.

Incidentally both of them were assassinated by Sikh's who took strong umbrage to the desecration of their holy shrine.

It is also said that those who forget history are bound to reap the effects of the ignorance.

You have sheltered terrorists from all parts of the world. Your army has been responsible for creating Taleban and now you have to reap the bitter harvest of your actions.

You have forgotten that the terrorists have a very limited agenda and are fanatic, therefore till you are with them they will support you but when you turn against them, they will put their agenda before anything else.

For the record, it is well known that Sant Jarnail Singh Bhindrawale was the creation of congress which wanted to create a force against the Akali Dal. It was this same person who later turned around and lead the terror organization in Punjab during the late 70's and early 80's.

Insensitive Cities

Recently a woman was stabbed more than 20 times in broad daylight in a distant suburb of Mumbai.

The person who stabbed her was her spurned lover who later attempted to take his own life but failed. He was later arrested.

This incident happened in a busy area of the town where there were more than 30 bystanders who watched the sordid drama and did not think it fit to interfere. Later on this group of insensitive people also failed to offer any help to the girl who lay there losing vital blood.

The girl died yesterday. Her blood is as much on the hands of her murderer as much as it is on the hands of people who stood mute witness to this killing. Her father, a class IV employee, has called the people who stood and watched as eunuchs and rightly so.

Shame on you people who stood there watching. May you too meet such a fate as the poor girl did.

There have been times when this city has risen above tragedy but then there have been such shameless occasions when it has become completely insensitive to the plight of fellow citizens.

Bombay Sinks once again

This time around 400 mm of rain was enough to bring the city to a complete standstill. Last time around in 2005 it took 987 mm of rain, a record established after more than 100 years, to stop this city which is being touted as the Financial Capital of the Country.

This time around, Chief Minister and Chief of Disaster Management were both touring the United States in an effort of bringing investment to the beleaguered state of Maharashtra and answering some embarrassing questions on the traffic situation in Bombay (rechristened Mumbai by the ShivSena). Also I am sure they are not revealing that the state is in deep red as far as financial condition is concerned with a record deficit of 130000 Crores (US 33.5 Billion Dollars). They also must have failed to inform that most of this money has been spent on state sponsored irrigation projects which have failed to deliver and are far from being complete.

And now a political blame game circus has started amongst Shiv Sena that controls the local government which directly administers Bombay and Congress / NCP combine that uses the city as capital of Maharashtra State.

All we want is dry roads, freedom from water logging, clean drinking water, uninterrupted power supply and train services that run on time.

Dear Shiv Sena, Congress, NCP, Samajwadi Party, etc., if anyone happens to read this, please stop filling your pockets at the cost of people of this city.

Actions that we can take to stop this trend are

• Stop using plastic carry bags, switch to cloth or jute bags that are reusable. This action alone will prevent clogging of drains in the event of a deluge. Actively canvass for this switch amongst your friends and relatives.
  
• Report any incident of encroachment of public land, cutting of mangroves and indiscriminate reclamation of land.
• Promote rain harvesting.
• Purchase only dwelling units that are having a valid occupation certificate. This ensures that the builder has made the necessary payment for additional infrastructure to the municipal corporation. It also ensures that the building has followed all development control rules required for a proper planned city.
• Plant trees, prevent cutting of trees.
• Actively protest against companies that cut trees to put up advertisements by not using their products in the locality where such hoardings exist

And many more ways to correct this urban nightmare.