Let’s Ban Diesel Vehicles In And Around The Himalayan Region

The ongoing climate negotiations in Cancun have brought back into focus the debate that whether soot or “black carbon” is contributing to global warming, and having adverse impact on the health of Himalayan glaciers.

Indian Minister of Environment & Forest Mr. Jairam Ramesh has understandably opposed the developed countries’ attempt to include the “black carbon” issue in the main framework of the climate negotiations. It is quite evident that the developed countries have raised this issue to divert attention from their own drawbacks as far as addressing the greenhouse gases emission is concerned. Besides, Mr. Ramesh has rightly pointed out that India’s “black carbon” emission percentage is too negligible to create any serious impact on the environment.

Moreover, it is practically impossible for the Indian government, at least till near future, to restraint certain soot producing practices like burning of wood or cow dung. The poor people of India who are into these practices cannot overnight be provided with any affordable alternative. It is a practical problem that the government of India cannot wish away.

However, if there are reports of soot posing a threat to Himalayan glaciers, then the same cannot be completely ignored. And I feel that the government of India can take at least one step in that regard, which is banning of one soot producing practice in and around the Himalayan region. And the soot producing practice that I am referring to is the use of diesel vehicles.

I know that the government cannot overnight ban the use of diesel vehicles in that region. But it can certainly be done in a phased manner. Initially the government can at least try to restraint the use of such vehicles in that area. Then, slowly but gradually it can go for complete ban.

Of course there are some factors that will hinder the implementation of any such step. One such factor is the inevitable rise in the transport cost in that area if there is a complete shift to petrol vehicles from diesel vehicles. However, hopefully the government will be able to address that as well, through ways like subsidies, etc.

Congrats To India For Showing The Guts To Attend Nobel Peace Prize Ceremony

It is really heartening to know that my beloved motherland India is going to attend the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony In Oslo (Norway), where the imprisoned Chinese human rights activist Liu Xiaobo will be bestowed with the award in absentia.

The shameless Chinese government had started arm-twisting the various governments of the world, ultimately forcing many of them to decide to give the ceremony a miss.

However, the government of India has remained committed to the age old ethics and values that India stands for, and has decided to attend the award ceremony in full defiance of China’s veiled threats.

I wholeheartedly congratulate our government for this bold step.

Assange – The Information Warrior With A Cause

Our dear Assange, you are a gutsy information warrior with a noble cause

You are the “Internet Knight” who has made all the world powers to suffer such a huge image loss.

We all salute your dedication, determination and courage

You are one of the greatest things to have happened in this Internet Age.

Words fail me to hail you. All I can say is that you are simply great

You will always remain a darling for the global civil society, I assure you mate.

Giving Due Space To Each Other – A Key Constituent Of A Successful Married Life

Must a person force his/her spouse to take interest in something simply because he/she takes interest in it? No. Never.

A husband must not force his wife to take interest in software, simply because he himself is interested about it. Yes, he may try to generate relevant interest in her, but should appreciate it if she keeps showing her lack of interest.

Similarly, a wife must not force her husband to take interest in Western Classical music simply because she herself is passionate about it. Again, she may try to generate relevant interest in him, but should appreciate it if he keeps showing his lack of interest.

In fact, this mutual respect for each other’s liking and disliking should be maintained even at the “micro level”. For example, while spending a Sunday evening at home, the wife may watch a TV programme that she is fond of. But she must not insist her husband to watch the same when he is more interested to spend the time by reading a thriller. Similarly, the husband may watch a sports channel on TV if he loves watching it in his spare time. But he must not insist his wife to join him, when she is eager to play her piano.

Let us not forget that a key constituent of successful married life is giving due space to each other. In plain speak, it means giving your husband/wife the opportunity to just remain himself/herself, free of any compulsion to change so that he/she can “gel” with the spouse. A person should always remember that his/her spouse is married to him/her, and not to his/her hobbies/interests. And therefore the spouse does not have any compulsion to take interest in the latter.

Dear Facebook, I Am So Indebted To You

You help me to find out all my long lost good friends

The people who many years back used to occupy in my life such a prominent place.

You help me keep touch with my beloved friends, cousins and relatives

We keep ourselves updated about our respective lives with so much comfort and ease.

You help me find out wonderful new friends, who share my hobbies and interests

Whether it is blogging, poem writing, reading or chess.

Trust me dear, I love you so much as I am really so indebted to you

I hope you will soon become more interesting after having features that are new.

An Appeal To The Delhi Metro Rail Authority

Dear Sir,

I am a regular commuter of the Delhi Metro Rail services, and I must say that I find it to be a manna from the heaven for the Delhites. Every person from Delhi (and other parts of NCR) will unhesitatingly admit how his or her life has become significantly easier with the introduction of Delhi Metro service. The commencement of Delhi Metro service simply marks a golden chapter in the public transport infrastructure of the National Capital Region.

However, certain issues have already started raising their heads. And while these issues are not that serious in nature, nevertheless I will love you to take not of them and address the same, lest they turn serious in the future.

Some issues created by the commuters

Male passengers are often being found to occupy seats meant for ladies, even when a lady is found standing. I do not think it is a good excuse to occupy a lady’s seat that there is a separate bogey for women.

The rule of not playing music inside the train is not being followed by some passengers, which is creating problems in hearing the announcements on the forthcoming station.

Some passengers are having things like coke and snacks inside the train, even through it is prohibited. It is mainly observed during the evening (when people are going back home from office). And it is mainly being done by, well, female passengers (I am so sorry if I hurt any lady by highlighting this).

Passengers are often being found to be sitting on the floor of the train, even though it is not permitted.


Some lacunae on the part of the Delhi Metro Rail people

Sometimes the announcements on forthcoming station are not there, leaving passengers confused about the station the train is going to enter next. And what is worse is that sometimes there is wrong announcement about the forthcoming station, thus making it more confusing for the passengers.

Sometimes the train gets stuck up in a station, or in the area adjacent to it. And it remains in that condition for at least 5-7 minutes, and sometimes even for more time. It is very irritating especially in the morning, when people are going to office and naturally every moment is valuable.

Sometimes I have found that the CISG personnel are not that serious about checking a passenger if he is a regular face in that station. This is a bit scary, as terrorists may try to use this as an opportunity.


So these are the problems that I wanted to share with you. I am a die-hard admirer of Delhi Metro Rail, and will love it to be impeccable and perfect. This explains why I shared these problems with you, as I felt that it would help you to make Delhi Metro Rail service more perfect, something that you also want.

Regards

Raja Basu

Noida

The Key To Language Preservation - Speak It In A Liberal Way

The rapid globalization has resulted in an all-pervasive spread (or intrusion) of the English language. And it is a common knowledge that it has threatened the survival of a number of languages in the world. (However, the languages that are getting extinct or are on the verge of extinction are actually victims of inadequate speakers, and not of the “invasion” of the English language).

So how to address this situation?

Well, an ordinary person as I am, I have decided to show the audacity of presenting some suggestions.

I feel there is a very simple solution for the problem – the native speakers of a language should keep speaking the language in a liberal way.

Now, what do I mean by speaking a language in a liberal way? Well, it means speaking the language without getting too much conscious about its purity and sanctity. Rather you should accept the ground reality, and speak the language by borrowing certain terms and words from the global language, i.e. English.

Let us be practical. Evolution is part and parcel of every aspect of human civilization, and human language is no exception. Your love for your language is understandable. But if you follow a puritan attitude, and try to speak the language without any touch of the modern world, then that will be more threatening for the survival of your language. Because if a language (or for that matter any form of socio-cultural expression) tries to deny evolution by remaining stagnant, then its very survival gets threatened. Because stagnancy is in direct conflict with survival. A language has only two choices - either to evolve and grow, or to die a gradual death. There is no room for the third choice, i.e. maintenance of a so-called purity (read stagnancy).


And why should you feel that borrowing words from the English language will reduce the sanctity of your language? Rather it will further enrich your language. I can give the examples of three languages of India, all of which are known to be rich (actually all Indian languages are rich). These three languages are Hindi, Urdu and Bengali. Significantly, all these languages have borrowed a huge number of words from various other languages. In fact, Urdu itself was born as an amalgamation of seven languages. As a native speaker of Bengali I know how proud we are about our mother language. But incidentally the Bengali that we speak today is embellished with a number of words from Portuguese, Arabian, Persian, Hindi, Urdu, English and many other languages. The so-called pure Bengali that was spoken by our forefathers is long extinct. But we do not feel that by borrowing words from other languages we have reduced the sanctity of our language. Nor we have any embarrassment about it. Rather we feel that the “intrusion” of non-Bengali words into our language has further enriched our already rich language, and has also made it sustainable.

And yes, we modern Bengalis use many new English words/terms/expressions which our predecessors would not use even just 30-40 years back, like “globalization”, “global warming”, “Information Technology”, and so on. And in general the use of English words while speaking in Bengali has increased a lot. But this practice has neither threatened the survival of our language nor has reduced its sanctity. If we would refuse to include these modern words and terms in our language, then it would have reduced the expressive quality of Bengali. We would find it difficult to express ourselves in our mother language, and would be forced to resort to other languages completely. And it is in this case that the survival of our mother language would have been threatened. And why has the use of English words increased? Well, it is a direct result of globalization, which we can not avoid.

In fact, English itself has always been open to change, and has borrowed a lot from other languages, starting from Latin and Sanskrit to French, German, Hindi, and so on (the list is actually endless). And it is actually this that has made that language so rich and expressive. English would not have become the global lingua franca if its native speakers still tried to speak it in the way it was spoken during the days when England was called Albion. Why, today’s English is so different from even the way it was spoken at the time of William Shakespeare.

So my friends, let us take pride in our respective mother languages, and speak the same with pride and passion. At the same time let us not have any flawed sense of pride, which will make us too much puritan about our language. Let us be open to change, and let us make our language both sustainable and further enriched by freely borrowing from the English language. It will not reduce the status of our language in comparison to that of English. Because English itself is indebted to many of our languages.

Shed your flawed idea of lingual purity, and be open to words and expressions from English (and other languages). That will not only ensure the survival of your beautiful mother language, but will also make it more rich, more lively and more vibrant.