When exams are over

We all hate exams. Every year comes this event of fateful remorse and hate and frustration, once or twice depending upon your education system. The semester system brings two such events. And this is when I feel like being put into some cage, no coming out unless the show is over. The situation even worsens when the preparation is not satisfactory or the expectations are higher. Most of the times the lack of interest in the studies brings such a case. But the sheer normality of this event can't be negated even then. That this hatred would be there in everyone's psych more or less. Moral of the story being, we all hate exams. But despite all this, I miss the exams and their schedules once they are over. Its not because I like the exams but its what comes after the exams is over, nothing to do, no class to attend to, no assignments to be done.......a sheer hollowness shrouds all around, and I can feel it for more than a week after the examination. Hollowness, I was thinking is it bad or good and how is it bad or good? Ain't it the indication that during the exam period, when I was studying with utmost efficiency, I had achieved a proficiency to study hard, and go on like that? Shouldn't then this untapped skill be put to some use? Will sure do something this time and try to carry on this tempo only. God bless me..!

RURAL DEVELOPMENT for INTEGRATED DISTRICT DEVELOPMENT

The district tobe developed integrally (Sagar district, M.P. in this case) consists of mostlyrural areas, so they natural deserve more and careful attention. Recently Icame across a book “Spatial Organization for Integrated Rural Development”, bySuresh Chand Rai. Regarding my assignment I found very relevant points there.Excerpts are presented here:-

“Identify the primary service centres and delimittheir service areas which are viable enough to support a package of servicesbenefiting all the village people”.

“General ServiceCentre Plan” (GSCP) and its accompanying linkage system whereby agriculturalpoints are integrated with the other sectoral minimum-need-points. (Roy,Pradipto, & Patil, B.R. 1977)

…. “ Acombination (of agriculture, industry, commerce, health, etc.) ensuringproduction of those goods and services that matter to the masses…….(and)diffusion of opportunities for production and employment, are the basicobjectives of rural development”. – C.Subramanium, 1976

1. GSCP (General Service Centre Plan)

a. Identification of locational and functional gaps.

(Every settlement having thepopulation threshold of a function must have that particular function)

b. The Spatial Integration and Functional Coordination.

[spatial integration refers to “anexercise in completing(functionally) anincomplete system (of settlements) and attempting to combine the differentparts of that (regional settlement) system in a coherent pattern. ( Sen L.K.,et.al. 1971)]

Functional coordination ofsettlements can well be realized through their functional hierarchy.

2. Agriculture and alliedResources Development Plan

a. Removal of physical andcultural constraints

Physical Constraints:-

Vagaries of nature,

Infertile soil,

Bad surface drainage, etc. and

Cultural Constraints:-

Bad tenure system (of local selfgovernance),

Fragmented holdings (i.e. smallagricultural plots per farmer)

b. Institutional and structuralchanges like land reforms. Ceiling on Land Holdings, Consolidation of Holdings

c. Adoption ofseed-fertilizer-irrigation technology, for increasing the agricultural produce.

3. Planning for IndustrialDevelopment

a. Agro-based Industries

i. Cooperative dairy farming

ii. Cooperative poultry farming

iii. Flour mill and power-ghani

iv. Agricultural implements repairworks.

b. Forest-Based Industries

i. Bidi-Making

ii. Saw-mill

iii. Paper-mill

c. Cotton-Weaving Industries

i. Durries

ii. Handloom

iii. Power loom

iv. Khadi

v. Spinning mills

d. Other small scale industries

i. General repair works

ii. Dyeing and printing

4. Planning for Socio-EconomicFacilities

a. Social facilities

i. Education

ii. Health

b. Economic Facilities

i. Agricultural facilities likeseed-fertilizer distribution cntres

ii. Commercial facilities likebanking and cooperatives

iii. Marketing facilities

1^storder (wholesale mandi),

2^ndorder (retail daily markets),

3^rdorder (retail kirana shops)

iv. Veterinary Facilities

5. Man-power Organization,Environmental Control and Plan Implementation

a. Man-power planning

i. Self-employment (schemes needto be checked for efficiency)

ii. Food for work.

b. Women and rural youth indevelopment

Village sanitation, maintenance ofvillage roads, control of soil erosion, plantation of trees, etc can be takenup by Mahil Mandal, Nav-yuvak Mandal Dal, etc.

c. Rural Technology

i. Biogas

ii. Solar heater

iii. Water recycling

iv. Low-cost housing/ hay-boxes

d. Development of weaker sections

e. Cultural Development:- “Changes in social attitudes, concepts, beliefs, values and norms, etcprevalent in each society, which lead to the increased levels of consciousnessand aspirations” (Sundaran, K.V. et. al.)

f. Rural Housing

g. Floods and droughts

i. Dams

ii. Canals

h. Soil erosion and conservation

i. Embankments, etc. for checkingerosion

ii. Re-fertilizing the “usher” land

iii. Cultivating crops aftersoil-testing only.

i. Planning for socialforestry.

[Plants should be raised rapidly onall the available marginal lands, blank areas, road/canal-sides and gram-samajland. It will fulfill the purpose of maintaining the eco-balance, controllingthe soil-erosion, pollution, provision of fuel-wood, fodder, timber, fruits,etc.]

j. Plan Implementation and Management System

[ The conventional trickle-downtheory based on percolation-system has failed. So grass-root approach ofplanning should be emphasized upon.]

Identificationof growth poles is very important here, so that the whole district coulddevelop as a whole, integrally. Forthis we need to identify the urban or semi urban areas within the district.These semi-urban pockets (as coined by Harshad R. Trivedi) act as the catalyticpoints of development emanating from which the impulse of development willspark the growth in the adjoining and connected places. However Harshad Trivedifurther observes, “Semi-urban pockets provide a threat and challenge to theprogram of planned change in rural areasin so far as community development programs have overlooked the aspirations ofrural elites and needs of the under-privileged.”

Ref:

SpatialOrganization for Integrated Rural Development, by Suresh Chand Rai.

Coins collected

Over the years, the coins I kept aside just for my appreciation for their speciality have taken a form of collection, which I hope to go on increasing their numbers....!

THE ALCHEMIST

Browsing though the files and folders in my hard disk I came accross a notepad in which I had collected the best lines from the one of my favourite books, The Alchemist...........Thought it deserves a place here..

THE ALCHEMIST


1. He told himself that he would have to start reading thicker books ; they lasted longer , and made
more comfortable pillows.



2. It's the possibility of having a dream come true that makes life interesting .



3. A shepherd always takes his chances with wolves and with drought , and that's what makes a
shepherd's life exciting .



4. When someone sees the same people everyday , they wind up becoming a part of that person's life .
And then they want the person to change . If someone isn't what others want them to be ,the
others become angry . Everyone seems to have a clear idea of how other peoples should lead their
lives , but none about his or her own .



5. World's greatest lie : "at a certain point in our lives , we lose control of what's happening to us , and
our lives become controlled by fate ".



6. what is destiny ?
It's what you have always wanted to accomplish . Everyone , when they are young , knows what
their destiny is .



7. One great truth on this planet : whoever you are , or whatever it is that you do , when you really
want something , it's because that desire originated in the soul of the universe . It's your mission
on earth.



8. "When you want something , all the universe conspires in helping you achieve it ."



9. People learn early in their lives what is their reason for being . May be that's what why they give
up on it so early too. But's that 's the way it is .



10. Treasure is uncovered by the force of flowing water , and it is burried by the same currents.



11. Principle of favourability / Beginner's luck:-
When you play along cards the first time , you are almost sure to win . Because there is a force
that wants you to realise your destiny ; it whets your appetite with a taste of success.



12. In order to find the treasure , you will have to follow the omens . God has prepared a path for
everyone to follow . You just have to read the omens that He left for you .



13. "The secret of happiness is to see all the marvels of the world , and never to forget the drops of
oil on the spoon" .



14. "In the money there is magic ; whoever has money is never really alone".



15. "There is a language in the world that everyone understands , a language the boy had used
throughout the time that he was trying to improve things at the shop.
It is the language of inthusiasm, of things accomplished with love and purpose,
and as part of a speech for something believed in and desired."



16. "Making a decision was only the beginning of things . When someone makes a decision , he
is really diving into a strong current that will carry him places he had never dreamed of when
he first made the decision ."



17. "If I could , I'd write a huge encyclopedia just about the word "luck" and "coincidence" .
It's with those words that the universal language is written."



18. "The closure one gets to realizing his destiny , the more that destiny becomes his true reason
for being."



19. "Intuition is really a sudden immersion of the soul into the universal current of life , when the
histories of all the people are connected and we are able to know everything , because its all
written there ."



20. "When you want something with all your heart , that's when you are closest to the Soul of the
World . It's always a positive force ."

This is not just a human gift , that everything on the face of the earth has a soul , whether
mineral , vegetable , or animal - or even just a simple thought .

Everything on earth is being continuously transformed , because the earth is alive ......... and it
has a soul . We are part of that soul , so we rarely recognize that it is working for us.

21. Every blessing ignored becomes a curse.

chilly December

Its quite a comfort if I am enjoying the chill lying in the rajai and doing nothing. But the moment I see the people on the road, sitting and waiting for the chill to subside but nowhere to take a shelter, it disturbs me. I fail to grab any idea that could suggest me what I should do in that situation. Once I tried to distribute clothes among them. But is that enough ............... What I did .......?I collected my old clothes, packed in a bag and went to where I could find them the most....ie. Gandhi Maidan, gave them the clothes and returned with a heavy and....well light heart.

But that is not done there all that was. I kept fighting with my inner self.........u know why?

me: Hey why r u calling me bad names? what wrong did I do?

inner me: U used those people as a compost pit. Have u no shame? U swine?

me: how..?

inner me : uhh. Tell me, did u really want to help them?

me: Ofcourse.

inner me :Rubbish.....that's how u can interpret it to the others not me. I know very well that u had those clothes kept in ur cupboard for so many years. U surely wanted to get rid of them, but at the same time u didn't know of any place where u could easily throw them. Throwing on the road was never ur choice. That's why u dumped these in the Gandhi Maidan...................in the hand of these helpless guys...........

me: Hey, who the hell r u? How can u talk like that? Do u even have any idea, why I couldn't throw the clothes on the road...............?Because I always believed that everything has to be used in the best possible way. And that is not throwing.................By the way those clothes where not so worn that they couldn't be used to keep the chill at bay. I know that very well. And stop being so insensitive.

Even after many days, I still have such fights..............

Though these fights have nothing to do with the real world relationships but they are good in making my strong and emotional decisions...........though confusions try to gobble my mind.

 AFFORDABLE    HOUSING:  

If affordability is the main concern then , in all respects the cost of production is to be brought to the minimum. Because it is not the affordability of a millionnaire that we are interested in , but that of the least privileged .
       So , for affordable housings , the cost of production and hence that of purchase must be brought to the lowest possible level , fulfilling the minimum standards of human living.
       Here don't shy away in using the phrase "minimum standard". This is the level , below which man can't be happy and comfortable . Hence , I assert that the first and foremost aim of the architect should be to provide just the minimum standards of human living and not above that , because the more you provide, the more they will have to pay.
        Thinking in this direction, one may get temted to think of reducing the facilities to the extreme,so much so that it cuts the cost very much. But don't you think this has to stop to some limit. Nd this is tthe limit that i am talking about. You bring down the cost as much as you can , but you must provide those minimum facilities, otherwise , what you have planned won't be affordable housing but just a slum in disguise.

                                             MINIMUM STANDARS OF LIVING:

     * For any organism to survive , light , air and water are the first three main requisite elements . They must be provided to the minimum required level at least ........ , though they can be provided more that the minimum requirement level .... as they are naturally available and no one gets a bill for air and light at least . Increasing the level of light and air uplifts the spirit of the person living there and is appreciated in all respects.......... on the other hand it owuld be an extra edge.............
   
     * Living Spaces :
      
       1. bedroom/s  
       2. drawing room + children's bedroom + living room + dining room
   
     * Services / Facilities :
      
       1. kitchen
       2. toilet
       3. storing spaces


N.B. :   If anyone feels that these facilities are too little , then for sure it is not for you . It is for them who feel for it...........i.e. find it as comfortable and dream-like........ Because people do live like insects... It's for them. 


                                                                                                                           

lets Travel

Today I came across a remarkable article by Shashi Tharoor, explaining the merits of travelling, esp. within the country itself. I choose the word "remarkable" because this is very much similar to what I feel and to what I am trying to do whenever I get a chance. Following are the excerpts from that article that I would have liked to say but Shashi Tharoor made my job easier....!




To travel is to wilfully leap into the unknown - to give up the assured security of home for the exigencies of the world.

We inch closer, howsoever marginally, to becoming - as the Greek philosopher Diogenes first called himself - a "citizen of the world".


For some, like Mahatma Gandhi or Charles Darwin, travel provided intellectual and moral reasons to empathise with others

travel forces our minds to adapt, to rethink, to reevaluate our prejudices and to recalibrate our passions in ways far removed from conventional education.

We may know more facts about others, but our discourse suffers from Asperger's syndrome: the remarkable inability to empathise. Unlike those individuals who suffer from Asperger's, we have a choice.

If we are to grow into a country that is open-minded, we must learn to not just leave the windows of our homes open to the world, as the Mahatma advised us, but also step out and engage with the world. The best place to start is in India itself - large, multiple, diverse, and in many ways unknown to its own citizens. To encourage young Indians to travel through their own land would reify the idea of India for the next generation. It would be a journey well worth undertaking by all of us.

http://www.hindustantimes.com/editorial-views-on/columnsothers/The-end-is-a-journey/Article1-761529.aspx

Kedarnath

Kedarnath ......yes this time it was here that we landed up after a good dose of liquid and gaseous form of excitement.....! Like it has happened earlier too, this time we were in the best place we have here to hang out with friends, talking on non-topics and laughing on non-jokes, cursing on non-mattering matters....and gulping down the juices...! When you have all those non-mattering matters all around you, the minds seems to be excited being free...! So it brings fresh and genuine ideas....! This time the ideas was to go out and drink on the banks of Ganga. So we were out....!

Revolution2020

Just completed reading the latest book by Chetan Bhagat, "Revolution2020". Mixed reactions came up while reading and after I completed the book. Let me try and recall all those incidental reactions and sparks that erusted between the lines:

1. First of all I had not expected such a title from an author like Chetan. All his previous books testify that. Well it had to be new like every new book, so fine........its not very big issue......but I still feel he should have thought of some other title. (Most readers will agree here).

2. Even before the 1st reason this one comes.......yeah its the colour of the cover.....PINK.....! I mean pink is sure not a neutral colour.....so there must be some reason,......I deedn't get it however... Was it because two guys were after single girl and that girl to some extent was the core around which nearly all characters seemed to hover.....?.! But ain't that the plot of nearly all Chetan-Novels.......?

3. The book really succeeds in reaching out to the small town, non-achieving, mediocre mass that constitutes of the major(most infact) part of the face of the earth. North India being the stage of the drama, qualifies for that.

4. The author's research is impressive, right form the details of the ghats in Benaras, philosophy associated with the city, mindset of the average dwellers there and like cities in India, to how to start an educational institute on the highway........Good job really.

5. The book very innocently goes on to handle very complecated love scenes, though these might remind one of other great books featuring the same, like "The Fountainhead", in which Ayn Rand handles the same triangular love scene with uncomparable complicacy, which to most seems out of the world, but reading these two books together might give the readers some clue to understand what Ayn Rand wantd to portray through Dominique who was torn between the love from two sides and at the same time some hint of hate also..... Dominiquewas married to a successful architect Keating, but Howard Roark was someone whom she hated for his intelegence and was at the same time attracted to him for the same reason.....! She keeps on the same conflict for so long and keeps on fighting, though never gave up either of the two..... Here the two books are quite different in their approach and characters but the content of human feelings is to extent similar, however Chetan Bhagat has tried to maintain simplicity in his words.