Most media planners in India depend on Alexa rankings to determine the website ranking. But the media planners or those who use Alexa use it because there is no other way one can determine the traffic except from the owners of the domain themselves. In most cases the domain owners exaggerate the traffic figures. The other option is to ask for google analytics which is the most authentic figures since Google pays for the ads that is displayed on the domains. Now again the traffic that you see at the first instance is for home page while there are various sub pages which should be calculated cumulatively to get to a conclusion of web traffic.
Now this traffic doesn’t calculate the quality of traffic to your sites. Take for example a person with annual income of 3 lakhs visiting a site and a person worth 10 billion visiting the same site. How do you judge the quality of these two individuals? In other words the person with 10 billion is worth traffic of thousands. It is not possible to determine that. But it is possible to guess who will come to a particular site according to the nature of the site. If it is a media site, it will be media players, if it is a logistics site, it will be logistics industry and same goes with commodity players. Now the best way is to judge is to see how rich is the particular sector.
Want to see how Alexa is limited to those who have their tools installed in the sytem? By the admission of Alexa on their site, ‘Alexa's traffic rankings are based on the usage patterns of Alexa Toolbar users and data collected from other, diverse sources over a rolling 3 month period. A site's ranking is based on a combined measure of reach and pageviews. Reach is determined by the number of unique Alexa users who visit a site on a given day.’
Now read again. It says unique Alexa users and not the users of your domain name.
It further says ‘ Pageviews are the total number of Alexa user URL requests for a site. However, multiple requests for the same URL on the same day by the same user are counted as a single pageview. The site with the highest combination of users and pageviews is ranked #1.
It adds that Alexa's traffic rankings are for top level domains only (e.g. domain.com). We do not provide separate rankings for subpages within a domain (e.g. www.domain.com/subpage.html) or subdomains (e.g. subdomain.domain.com) unless we are able to automatically identify them as personal home pages or blogs, like those hosted on Geocities and Tripod. If a site is identified as a personal home page or blog, its traffic ranking will have an asterisk (*) next to it: Personal Page Avg. Traffic Rank: 3,456*. Personal pages are ranked on the same scale as a regular domain, so a personal page ranked 3,456* is the 3,456th most popular page among Alexa users.’
Now here is the Alexa tool bar which you have to download and install in order to determine which sites you visit : http://www.alexa.com/site/download/
So there is a toolbar community of Alexa users who gives web statistics to Alexa. Simply by using the Firefox and IE toolbars each member contributes valuable information about the web, how it is used, what is important and what is not. This information is returned to the community as Related Links, Traffic Rankings and more. The Alexa ranking is a relative measure of the number of Alexa toolbar users that visit the site. If your visitors include a high percentage of people using the toolbar, you’ll have a disproportionally low Alexa number. There are even automated bots that can game the Alexa ranking without you even having to visit your own site.
So why is everyone bothering so much about their Alexa ranking? Just because the web has developed but some tools are yet to be developed. For that to take place there are some copyright infringements involved. If IE and Firefox, two of the most used internet tool has to integrate collection of web statistics, you are automatically given to understand that it is intruding your privacy. So that is not taking place for want of legal issues. But that is the only way to truly determine the web statistics, not Alexa.
July 27, 2008
Yet another, yes - yet another blast
Yet another day and yet another series of bomb blasts. And yet another number of casualties and yet another enquiry and yet another report and yet another memory loss and yet another election – every thing rotates around yet another unknown, unseen power that runs the country – despite all its ill falls. Yes this is the story of Bangalore and Ahmedabad bombs. Now it is not clear who has planted these bombs though an organization named Indian Mujahideen claimed responsibility. Different people have different opinions. My neighbour says it is Pakistan while his employee says it is the Congress or BJP. Very interestingly my maid says it is Asaram Bapu who wanted to divert the attention.
But who will benefit from these blasts? Actually no one. Everyone will have only misplaced stories to tell on the blasts.
Winners
Political parties : Blame game on each other especially in the election y ear. Parties like BJP can even take advantage of this situation though the people of Gujarat cannot be foxed as it has done in 2002. So relax, there cannot be another sectarian violence
NGOs : Yet another opportunity to send press releases and condemnations from their plush offices. Yet another chance to show case and seek more funds for communal harmony and brotherhood
Losers
Common man
But who will benefit from these blasts? Actually no one. Everyone will have only misplaced stories to tell on the blasts.
Winners
Political parties : Blame game on each other especially in the election y ear. Parties like BJP can even take advantage of this situation though the people of Gujarat cannot be foxed as it has done in 2002. So relax, there cannot be another sectarian violence
NGOs : Yet another opportunity to send press releases and condemnations from their plush offices. Yet another chance to show case and seek more funds for communal harmony and brotherhood
Losers
Common man
April 25, 2008
Any Simon Wiesenthal for Gujarat?
Binu Alex
A number of movies all over the world depict how one man can change the system or the world. Well, that is not as easy task as depicted in movies. You cannot have a screen Arnold Schwarzenegger in real life. But there are people who try and try till they live. Simon Wiesenthal was one of those fighters who died at the age of 96.
He lived and died for a cause. He was a holocaust survivor turned Nazi-hunter. He brought to book many Nazi war criminals who would have otherwise got unpunished. But on the sidelines, it is also true that many of the survivors or their generations were least bothered about the pain and agony their forefathers have gone through. A few of the concentration camp survivors followed Wiesenthal in his mission. Though there will be hardly any Nazi war criminals left to be punished, the fact that many of them went without any punishment is itself a blot in the history of justice.
That was during World War II. Information age was yet to catch up during those times. But today at this modern age where religion, caste, nationality ceased to exist in a competitive world, we still have Adolf Eichmann and Franz Stangl types around us, alas we don’t have a Wiesenthal to enact a rewind.
If Eichmann and Stangl were some of the architects of the Holocaust we have far too many today.
Take the case of Sikh Massacres in 1984 or the
If anyone had the chance to visit any commission hearings, they will agree to this. The latest hearing is in the Nanavati-Shah commission where there are thousands of affidavits to be heard and cross examined. Prosecutors, one after the other, put up questions as if they are conducting an interview for a civil services examination. Many witnesses are dummies created by the government and those survivors who muster courage to come up for the examination cannot withstand the onslaught. Days, weeks and months and perhaps years, the commission drags on and gradually people forget what had happened to them and life gets back to normal until one day the commission presents its reports, mostly decades after the incident, and it becomes a tool for the opposition parties to play with for a short period of time.
That is democracy at its best. A democracy cannot provide justice to victims of such holocaust. What it can do at the best is to give the country people like Justice B N Srikrishna but at the same time trash his report on the riots in
It is sad for
Public memory is short. That is the reason that the victims of holocaust forgot that they endured the worst crime ever possible to humanity. But Wiesenthal did not. He slogged and slogged to bring the war criminals to justice.
But then how come the victims of Indian holocausts, whether it is
“You can forgive crimes committed against you personally, but in my opinion you are not authorized to forgive for others.”
These are the famous quotes credited to Simon Wiesenthal and how true it plays in today’s world is evident from the fact that we have forgiven – knowingly or unknowingly- all our criminals. So much so that some of them have contested and won elections. More than 89 of Wiesenthal’s’ family members - including his mother, stepfather, stepbrother and his wife - died in the Holocaust and perhaps this gave him the inner courage to fight. But compare that to the Indian scenario. It is not the survivors or the victims who are fighting for justice but rather people who have not lost anything in the mindless violence. Perhaps the survivors may not endure to fight in the melee of a huge number of NGOs who look for such opportunities to make name, fame and money. In the deluge of such unscrupulous organizations, genuine NGOs sink with no trace to know which one is genuine and which one is not.
Wiesenthal’s efforts bore fruit. Jewish
If we can produce a Wiesenthal, then we may perhaps avoid producing Eichmann and Stangl type of villains or else we need to produce a Schindler on whom we have to depend heavily to prepare a long list.
© Binu Alex
Health shops Vs Beauty shops
Dial for Health, Planet Health, Health Conscious. These are some swanky shops that sell medicines – oops, sorry, they don’t sell medicines but beauty products.
I think everyone of you have gone through this experience of getting into one of these chain of shops to buy a life saving drug and then returning with a shampoo, soap or a napkin. Yes, because the chances are they may not have the drug you have asked for. They are just an extension of the big mall culture that is coming up in the country. You will need to go to the medicine shop nearby your home or office to buy that tablet.
Planet Health claims it is a niche distributor of natural health products selected for their quality, reputation, innovation, ethics and philosophy. But I don’t see any of these. I always got a no to any sundry medicine I asked for. Instead they push for their membership card saying it has lot many benefits.
Dial For Health says they will deliver the products home. But the pity is that they don’t have any health products. They have beauty enhancing products instead. Go to any shop and you can yourself see how much space is consumed by health and how much by beauty. The biggest problem, as I see, is that many of these shops are owned by pharmaceutical companies. Dial for Health is by Zydus Cadila. But the irony is that even their own products are not available in these shops.
I think everyone of you have gone through this experience of getting into one of these chain of shops to buy a life saving drug and then returning with a shampoo, soap or a napkin. Yes, because the chances are they may not have the drug you have asked for. They are just an extension of the big mall culture that is coming up in the country. You will need to go to the medicine shop nearby your home or office to buy that tablet.
Planet Health claims it is a niche distributor of natural health products selected for their quality, reputation, innovation, ethics and philosophy. But I don’t see any of these. I always got a no to any sundry medicine I asked for. Instead they push for their membership card saying it has lot many benefits.
Dial For Health says they will deliver the products home. But the pity is that they don’t have any health products. They have beauty enhancing products instead. Go to any shop and you can yourself see how much space is consumed by health and how much by beauty. The biggest problem, as I see, is that many of these shops are owned by pharmaceutical companies. Dial for Health is by Zydus Cadila. But the irony is that even their own products are not available in these shops.
Who benefits from a Pay Commission?
Since the First Pay Commission was established in 1956 it is generally believed that all government employees benefit from it. Their salaries are revised and determined from time to time, here in this case for a ten-year period. But who are these government employees who benefits?
It is the creamy layer of the government employees who benefit from this pay rise. Take the case of a Chief Commissioner of Customs or Income Tax. The new pay commission will fix his salary at around 80,000 per month plus the perks like official car, accommodation and the usual extra income that comes unofficially. Now what is his work? No body has really examined what work these creamy layers of large organizations like Income tax or Customs are assigned or function. Their primary job is to waste at least a dozen employees at their disposal. There will be two peons, a driver, an officer on special duty to him and the staff under him and his personal secretary and junior personal secretary. He signs hardly two files a day but chats for hours with colleagues all over the country and perhaps orders service tea on an hourly basis. A service tea basically serves for at least three people and so the peons take the advantage of the rest of the tea and milk. Some of them pack the sugar and tea daily home or else it goes waste.
Now imagine a scenario without this post. His salary would employ at least a dozen employees and he already has a dozen. So altogether each top officer wastes twenty-four employees. Believe me we don’t have a dearth of such top-level officials in any department. Consider this. The number of Chief Commissioners of Income tax in Gujarat is more than the number of Lower Division Clerks in that particular department. Out of 3.3 million employees who will benefit from the implementation, 80 percent of the money will go to seven percent of this workforce. What a waste?
That is also the reason why the federal government's wage bill for serving and retired employees shot from Rs 218.85 billion in 1996-1997 to Rs 435.68 billion in 1999-2000 after the Fifth Pay Commission recommendations were implemented.
These are the creamy layers for whom the pay commissions work. And who threatens the government with dire consequences for setting it up? The poor class three and four employees. A World Bank report indicates that Indian government employee strength may not be too large but lacks balance in the skills. It pointed the Fifth Pay Commission as the 'single largest adverse shock' to India's strained public finances. The report says 93 per cent of the civil service comprised class III and class IV employees which means only seven percent takes away more than what they deserve. So 93 percent will strike work to serve for seven percentages!
Many wondered after the disbursal of arrears of the last pay commission why there was no improvement in the functioning of the government servants. Well it was because the creamy layer took the chunk of the money and it is anyone’s guess why its implementation destroyed the finances of the central and state governments.
But then why no corrections are made even after decades of such anomalies? That is primarily because the creamy layer group is so powerful that they lobby the government decisions in their favor year after year, commissions after commissions. Want an example to that? The Fifth Pay Commission's recommendations for reducing the government workforce by 30 per cent (which included the creamy layer too), abolishing around 350,000 vacant posts(which included the creamy layer too) and reducing the number of pay scales from 51 to 34 were never implemented.
On the contrary, the retirement age was increased from 58 to 60. Any government employee retires even before his retirement. During the period from 58 to 60, he prepares for the retirement and hardly is involved into work, especially the creamy layer. These creamy layers, during this two period, makes retirement plans in various ways which includes how much they can gather as quickly as possible, how much stationary they can get before they relinquish their office, how much tours they can undertake officially with their family to tourist places and how they can place themselves on a top position in any private firm after retirement so that their incomes that is shown mainly as agricultural incomes from non existent farms can be made legal.
If at all the government introduces a law to bring agriculture into the tax net, it will not be the big farmers – who take immense benefit from this – that will be objecting to this. It will be the creamy layer of the government service because if that option is done away with, it will be hell of a job for these babus to hide their wealth and at the same time show it in their property returns.
Another recommendation of the fifth commission or for that matter any commission will never be implemented is to link salary hikes to efficiency and administrative reforms. So another pay commission may not be the answer to the burgeoning problem of this disparity. What we need is a study of efficiency and working style of the government employees and how well they are placed to work and how much work each person is doing and whether it is justified. That will solve the problem forever.
Binu Alex
It is the creamy layer of the government employees who benefit from this pay rise. Take the case of a Chief Commissioner of Customs or Income Tax. The new pay commission will fix his salary at around 80,000 per month plus the perks like official car, accommodation and the usual extra income that comes unofficially. Now what is his work? No body has really examined what work these creamy layers of large organizations like Income tax or Customs are assigned or function. Their primary job is to waste at least a dozen employees at their disposal. There will be two peons, a driver, an officer on special duty to him and the staff under him and his personal secretary and junior personal secretary. He signs hardly two files a day but chats for hours with colleagues all over the country and perhaps orders service tea on an hourly basis. A service tea basically serves for at least three people and so the peons take the advantage of the rest of the tea and milk. Some of them pack the sugar and tea daily home or else it goes waste.
Now imagine a scenario without this post. His salary would employ at least a dozen employees and he already has a dozen. So altogether each top officer wastes twenty-four employees. Believe me we don’t have a dearth of such top-level officials in any department. Consider this. The number of Chief Commissioners of Income tax in Gujarat is more than the number of Lower Division Clerks in that particular department. Out of 3.3 million employees who will benefit from the implementation, 80 percent of the money will go to seven percent of this workforce. What a waste?
That is also the reason why the federal government's wage bill for serving and retired employees shot from Rs 218.85 billion in 1996-1997 to Rs 435.68 billion in 1999-2000 after the Fifth Pay Commission recommendations were implemented.
These are the creamy layers for whom the pay commissions work. And who threatens the government with dire consequences for setting it up? The poor class three and four employees. A World Bank report indicates that Indian government employee strength may not be too large but lacks balance in the skills. It pointed the Fifth Pay Commission as the 'single largest adverse shock' to India's strained public finances. The report says 93 per cent of the civil service comprised class III and class IV employees which means only seven percent takes away more than what they deserve. So 93 percent will strike work to serve for seven percentages!
Many wondered after the disbursal of arrears of the last pay commission why there was no improvement in the functioning of the government servants. Well it was because the creamy layer took the chunk of the money and it is anyone’s guess why its implementation destroyed the finances of the central and state governments.
But then why no corrections are made even after decades of such anomalies? That is primarily because the creamy layer group is so powerful that they lobby the government decisions in their favor year after year, commissions after commissions. Want an example to that? The Fifth Pay Commission's recommendations for reducing the government workforce by 30 per cent (which included the creamy layer too), abolishing around 350,000 vacant posts(which included the creamy layer too) and reducing the number of pay scales from 51 to 34 were never implemented.
On the contrary, the retirement age was increased from 58 to 60. Any government employee retires even before his retirement. During the period from 58 to 60, he prepares for the retirement and hardly is involved into work, especially the creamy layer. These creamy layers, during this two period, makes retirement plans in various ways which includes how much they can gather as quickly as possible, how much stationary they can get before they relinquish their office, how much tours they can undertake officially with their family to tourist places and how they can place themselves on a top position in any private firm after retirement so that their incomes that is shown mainly as agricultural incomes from non existent farms can be made legal.
If at all the government introduces a law to bring agriculture into the tax net, it will not be the big farmers – who take immense benefit from this – that will be objecting to this. It will be the creamy layer of the government service because if that option is done away with, it will be hell of a job for these babus to hide their wealth and at the same time show it in their property returns.
Another recommendation of the fifth commission or for that matter any commission will never be implemented is to link salary hikes to efficiency and administrative reforms. So another pay commission may not be the answer to the burgeoning problem of this disparity. What we need is a study of efficiency and working style of the government employees and how well they are placed to work and how much work each person is doing and whether it is justified. That will solve the problem forever.
Binu Alex
December 23, 2007
Stay away from Gujarat. Part I
It is not sour grapes any more. It is a reality and it is for every one to see. Modi has won with a thumping majority. I say Modi because it is only Modi who won the election and not the BJP. In fact Modi swallowed BJP the same way as asthma patients swallow fish somewhere in South India.No movement, no organization, no opposition, no anti-incumbency, no dissidents or no one could make any dent on Modi who is riding a charisma of a self made warrior out to protect the Hindus in India from an invisible devilish power. Blame this power on Muslims, Congress or any one but he has shown decisively that only one policy can make or break the voters.
It is the policy of religion. Gujaratis are peace loving people and they have only one god. You can call this god Lakshmi (Money) or any other synonyms but this remains the ultimate dream of any Gujarati. In fact there is no religious ideology here. The ideology is that of earning and accumulating wealth. Their temple of growth is the stock market. So Nilatpal Basu’s statement that Modi cannot be defeated electorally and should be defeated ideologically stands no chance. He has no idea the ideology that people here keep under the garb of religion. In a battle field, there can be only one winner. There is no room for a second winner. In Gujarat Modi is the ultimate winner because he has successfully projected everything that he planned to do but he couldn’t. Jyotigram yojana is one of them. He had a vision to make every village a model village by providing every facility right from drinking water to sewage. And he has done that with aplomb. His detractors say Muslims have been left out this plan. How can this happen? When facilities are provided to a village, everyone is included, a common phrase Prakash Javdekar, BJP spokesperson uses in all the television channels. What his detractors have failed to project is that the Muslims no longer live in harmony with their erstwhile Hindu neighbours any more. They live separately – either at a corner of the village or makeshift ghettos which have turned into large scale and separate but unofficial villages since 2002. They stay in a village within a village but with no official status of being a village. Being out of the village, they have no way to reap the dividends of the government scheme and they are not in a position to come back and stay where they stayed pre-2001. So his detractors are absolutely right but Modi’s rhetoric and charisma has hidden this naked truth. And in Gujarat no body wants to know what is happening behind the scenes. It is the surface that people scratch, beneath that is not important to them.
Modi’s thunders about development is also farce. Gujaratis are entrepreneurs number one and even with a presidents rule in the state, the development would have been the same if not better. There are developments in urban areas which can be seen from dugged roads for building bridges, laying pipelines etc. But the villages remain what is was in 2002. But the people have no choice but to elect Modi. I heard many people saying that if Modi is not returned to power, Muslim terrorism will be back on the streets. Some others say a Congress government can only offer riots and instability to the business in Gujarat and the best bet is to keep them away from Gujarat and retain them in Central government. They nurture bad experiences of a BJP government at the centre saying only a Congress government can put business in proper manner. BJP in states are good not at the centre. So there are double edged hypocritical norms that rule the DNA of a Gujarati. This DNA is called wealth creation. So stay away from Gujarat at least for another ten years. Unless people gets bored from Modi’s ‘only me’ speech, it will be very difficult to dislodge him.
November 20, 2007
Need thinking photographers
If is often said that photography has nothing to do with cameras or lenses. It has more to do with the photographers’ visions. And I am sorry to say very few in this country who handles cameras have brains. And if you ask me whether Gujarat has any, my answer is a strict no.
How can you get a good news photograph when all sundries enter this field wielding a toy called camera. Since digital cameras cost nothing and there is hardly any recurring costs, people from all walks of life have entered into this profession. Imagine an agency like UNI converting their mechanical operators, technicians, peons to photographers. Some photographers came to this profession from teaching, sales and marketing and to top it all even some elevator operators are also in the fray.
What many doesn’t understand is that news photography has no connection to product photography or wedding shots or any other areas of photography. A news photograph should be equivalent to a thousand words. But captions in the photographs of the vernacular dailies in Gujarat are bigger than the longest story they carry. People are not interested to read a long and boring story behind that photograph. If the photograph cannot express itself, that is not a news photograph.
Narendra Modi, Gujarat’s chief minister convened a get together for journalists yesterday followed by lunch. It is just a cosmetic meeting where jokes are cracked and greetings excha
nged. Today as I browsed through at least 17 local newspapers in Ahmedabad, I saw one single shot of the CM holding a camera and aiming, published in all the newspapers. It was carried by PTI, UNI, Reuters and all the agencies and so this photograph went all across the world. Not that every photograph was same but like a flock of sheep, all the photographers took one angle and not even one person applied their brain in taking a different angle. So much for the people responsible for publishing those photographs.
What is news photography after all? All compelling photographs that tells a contemporary story through compelling angles and picture selection is a news photograph. It is all about imagination. Many believe it is technology but it is not. You can take a good photograph even with your Rs 550 camera. Yes, it has to do with being in the right place at the right time. It is a situational advantage that makes a good photograph. But converting an average situation into an advantage is the skill of a photographer. Just take a look the award winning photographs below which I downloaded from www.southernshortcourse.com
Face of Malaria
Stricken with malaria and near death, a young Rwandan
girl lays on a cot at a clinic in Gisenyi waiting in vain for treatment.
Any other photographer here would have taken a picture of a general ward of the hospital saying there is a heavy rush of people because of the outbreak of a disease
Tearful Departure
photo by Andrew Craft, The Fayetteville Observer - Fayetteville, NC
Capt. Shelia Jenkins comforts her daughter, Khadyajah, 7, while holding the hand of her husband, Chief Warrant Officer Claude Jenkins, as he departs on a bu
s to his flight to Iraq, August 23, 2006. Jenkins is part of the 82nd Airborne Division Sustainment Brigade that is deploying to Iraq.
Here we would have a bus or a convoy of vehicles on the road with a long caption explaining who is who in the vehicles
Gathering Rain
photo by James H. Kenney Jr., Western Kentucky University - Bowling Green, KY
Since water is not readily available at Evangel Hospital, in Jos, Nigeria,
some of the women staying there take advantage of the rainfall to collect water.
Oh, any one can guess what the situation would be. A flooded road or a wet person in a two wheeler
They are simple but very effective.
Can we have some thinking photographers here please?
How can you get a good news photograph when all sundries enter this field wielding a toy called camera. Since digital cameras cost nothing and there is hardly any recurring costs, people from all walks of life have entered into this profession. Imagine an agency like UNI converting their mechanical operators, technicians, peons to photographers. Some photographers came to this profession from teaching, sales and marketing and to top it all even some elevator operators are also in the fray.
What many doesn’t understand is that news photography has no connection to product photography or wedding shots or any other areas of photography. A news photograph should be equivalent to a thousand words. But captions in the photographs of the vernacular dailies in Gujarat are bigger than the longest story they carry. People are not interested to read a long and boring story behind that photograph. If the photograph cannot express itself, that is not a news photograph.
Narendra Modi, Gujarat’s chief minister convened a get together for journalists yesterday followed by lunch. It is just a cosmetic meeting where jokes are cracked and greetings excha
nged. Today as I browsed through at least 17 local newspapers in Ahmedabad, I saw one single shot of the CM holding a camera and aiming, published in all the newspapers. It was carried by PTI, UNI, Reuters and all the agencies and so this photograph went all across the world. Not that every photograph was same but like a flock of sheep, all the photographers took one angle and not even one person applied their brain in taking a different angle. So much for the people responsible for publishing those photographs.What is news photography after all? All compelling photographs that tells a contemporary story through compelling angles and picture selection is a news photograph. It is all about imagination. Many believe it is technology but it is not. You can take a good photograph even with your Rs 550 camera. Yes, it has to do with being in the right place at the right time. It is a situational advantage that makes a good photograph. But converting an average situation into an advantage is the skill of a photographer. Just take a look the award winning photographs below which I downloaded from www.southernshortcourse.com
Face of Malaria
Stricken with malaria and near death, a young Rwandan
girl lays on a cot at a clinic in Gisenyi waiting in vain for treatment.
Any other photographer here would have taken a picture of a general ward of the hospital saying there is a heavy rush of people because of the outbreak of a disease
Tearful Departure
photo by Andrew Craft, The Fayetteville Observer - Fayetteville, NC
Capt. Shelia Jenkins comforts her daughter, Khadyajah, 7, while holding the hand of her husband, Chief Warrant Officer Claude Jenkins, as he departs on a bu
s to his flight to Iraq, August 23, 2006. Jenkins is part of the 82nd Airborne Division Sustainment Brigade that is deploying to Iraq.Here we would have a bus or a convoy of vehicles on the road with a long caption explaining who is who in the vehicles
Gathering Rain
photo by James H. Kenney Jr., Western Kentucky University - Bowling Green, KY
Since water is not readily available at Evangel Hospital, in Jos, Nigeria,
some of the women staying there take advantage of the rainfall to collect water.Oh, any one can guess what the situation would be. A flooded road or a wet person in a two wheeler
They are simple but very effective.
Can we have some thinking photographers here please?
November 13, 2007
Airline rates are full of air, bubble
A bubble always bursts and that is what is witnessing in the aviation tickets in India. The bubble is gone and people are returning to old ways of Indian Railways. But what is not palpable is the cheating process the airlines adopt to woo the vulnerable customers. But to my surprise, I found India is not the cheating capital of the world. In fact it is the European Union where a study by European Commission has found excess charging, failure to show taxes and other charges in the original fare etc. The difference between the Indian government and the European Union is that the latter could force offending websites to close next year if they fail to improve.
Try an airline search and find out why taxes are three times the airline fare? Can it be true to be believed? If yes, why should the airlines operate for such a small amount? Take the case of the figure mentioned here. If an Airbus A 320 or Boeing 737 can carry on an average 150 passengers and given the fact that there is 80% occupancy, the total amount that the airlines earns for a flight from Ahmedabad to Goa with a change over in Mumbai is Rs 1,70,000. With four landings and four take offs and a host of other charges, is this a viable option? If it is true, then why is that the taxes are not bifurcated? Why is that taxes differ from airline to airline?
A classic case of how British Airways made a mockery of their promotional schemes can be read in my earlier entry. Read it here
Try an airline search and find out why taxes are three times the airline fare? Can it be true to be believed? If yes, why should the airlines operate for such a small amount? Take the case of the figure mentioned here. If an Airbus A 320 or Boeing 737 can carry on an average 150 passengers and given the fact that there is 80% occupancy, the total amount that the airlines earns for a flight from Ahmedabad to Goa with a change over in Mumbai is Rs 1,70,000. With four landings and four take offs and a host of other charges, is this a viable option? If it is true, then why is that the taxes are not bifurcated? Why is that taxes differ from airline to airline?
A classic case of how British Airways made a mockery of their promotional schemes can be read in my earlier entry. Read it here
November 12, 2007
Charity without clarity
I always wondered why people ill-treated the so called low caste strata of the society. I could not get answers to hundred of millions of money spent on fireworks that lasts just seconds while a large majority of people in and around starve. I also couldn’t fathom the large invites sent to all sundries even by not so rich people for their children’s wedding. All these money could have been used to fund some one’s education, some one’s starvation and someone’s upliftment. I would have left wandering to find the answers to these silly questions had I not found answers the other day.
In my neighborhood itself, the residents would shout at the sweepers, who belong to the Bhangi community, one of the lowest among the lowest strata. It is interesting to note here that there are upper and lower castes among the lower castes itself. Vankars in Gujarat would not allow a Chamar to enter their house or touch their utensils. Being a person who extensively covered social issues, I had strict instructions to my family members to treat them at par with any human. In fact I would also advise some of my neighbors to give some respect to these people. None of them would allow them enter their house, leave alone touch them. By evening they would come to collect the leftovers. I was against giving these leftovers and so refused to part with them even if I had to force the dogs to finish it. I continue to believe that self respect is something that you cannot buy. It has to come from your actions, deeds and your way of thinking.
So one day I risked myself to ask the guy to stop the begging so that people look at him in a respectful way. He gave me a hard look and then without uttering a word, went down. Called for the lift from the third floor to reach down. He again looked up and disappeared leaving me in disappointment and gasping for answers whether I have asked something impossible or if I have hurt the sentiments of the guy. My friend who was standing nearby said I could even face a jail term for insulting him. “There is a provision that if he complains that you have insulted his caste, there is a non bailable warrant against you the next moment,” he left me speechless.
Not that I never knew these rules but I was left recollecting and noting down what exact conversation took place between us. I was left counting at the number of organizations working for the so called welfare of this strata of the society and none of them could stop this bad practice of collecting left overs. I am told that these left overs are sold to the cattle herders at a premium and very few use this as their supper. The sweeper at my apartment consists of the entire family. By 10 in the morning, the work is finished and they would sit idle till noon in some corner before leaving home. When I changed my old car to a new shining one, I thought of giving some income to the teenaged boy during this time and asked him whether he attends school. He told me his school ended forever when he was in 3rd standard and that is a long 7 to 8 years back. I offered him a sponsorship of fee, books and uniform for the rest of his schooling life if he attends the school. In return, he just need to wash my car every morning. He flatly refused saying he need to earn money instead of attending school. “Yes, I understand. I am giving you this soft work so that you don’t feel I am doing a charity on you,” I told him in my chaste Gujarati. Over and above the school expenditure, I offered to pay him Rs 200 per month. He even refused that and told me plainly that he would prefer cleaning toilets and take up a broom than doing any other work. I wasted a cool hour and a half trying to convince him and take him beyond his family occupation of cleaning toilets but to no avail.
That was two years ago. Early this year, his sister was getting married and they came up with a letter from the chairman of the society asking for financial help to each and every resident of the society. Very few helped and those who helped gave them the traditional Rs 11. My neighbours gave them Rs 5 each. I gave them Rs 101 and wished them luck. Also promised to give some cloths as soon as I get time to dig out my storage. During these times, the complaints that the residents had about them never ended. Our neighbours reprimanded us of why we are so soft towards them. But we had no complaints against them. ‘No, these people deserve worst treatment, my dear,” said one of them. “Otherwise, they will start ruling you.” Silly, we just brushed it off.
The girl returned after marriage. Her husband also worked as a sweeper in some society around us. We asked, to our neighbour’s discomfort, if the marriage went well. My wife reminded her that the old clothes promised are on its way any time. We were cleaning the house and so we next day we had double the normal garbage but only one fourth of the average daily dumping our neighbours usually have. We found that except our garbage, all the garbages were cleaned by this newly wed bride. We thought she had missed us this time. Next day when asked, she flatly refused to take the garbage saying she will not touch it because it was too heavy. Have to pay extra bucks to carry it. My wife was not surprised but I was. She just called me in asking if I need any more live examples of these people behaving with people who show them respect. “It is just an odd case dear,” I refused to endorse her. Days and weeks after that, she just refuses to touch our garbage and this time the excuse is we have not paid her boni – the bonus during Diwali that she thinks is her right to demand for. Should I pay it or risk being a courier guy to the garbage? I will have to take a decision this weekend. In the meanwhile, please continue your fireworks and big parties since you may also have faced a similar situation. But wait. Given a chance, I would always go back and think the same way I thought at the beginning. After all there is always the other side of the story.
In my neighborhood itself, the residents would shout at the sweepers, who belong to the Bhangi community, one of the lowest among the lowest strata. It is interesting to note here that there are upper and lower castes among the lower castes itself. Vankars in Gujarat would not allow a Chamar to enter their house or touch their utensils. Being a person who extensively covered social issues, I had strict instructions to my family members to treat them at par with any human. In fact I would also advise some of my neighbors to give some respect to these people. None of them would allow them enter their house, leave alone touch them. By evening they would come to collect the leftovers. I was against giving these leftovers and so refused to part with them even if I had to force the dogs to finish it. I continue to believe that self respect is something that you cannot buy. It has to come from your actions, deeds and your way of thinking.
So one day I risked myself to ask the guy to stop the begging so that people look at him in a respectful way. He gave me a hard look and then without uttering a word, went down. Called for the lift from the third floor to reach down. He again looked up and disappeared leaving me in disappointment and gasping for answers whether I have asked something impossible or if I have hurt the sentiments of the guy. My friend who was standing nearby said I could even face a jail term for insulting him. “There is a provision that if he complains that you have insulted his caste, there is a non bailable warrant against you the next moment,” he left me speechless.
Not that I never knew these rules but I was left recollecting and noting down what exact conversation took place between us. I was left counting at the number of organizations working for the so called welfare of this strata of the society and none of them could stop this bad practice of collecting left overs. I am told that these left overs are sold to the cattle herders at a premium and very few use this as their supper. The sweeper at my apartment consists of the entire family. By 10 in the morning, the work is finished and they would sit idle till noon in some corner before leaving home. When I changed my old car to a new shining one, I thought of giving some income to the teenaged boy during this time and asked him whether he attends school. He told me his school ended forever when he was in 3rd standard and that is a long 7 to 8 years back. I offered him a sponsorship of fee, books and uniform for the rest of his schooling life if he attends the school. In return, he just need to wash my car every morning. He flatly refused saying he need to earn money instead of attending school. “Yes, I understand. I am giving you this soft work so that you don’t feel I am doing a charity on you,” I told him in my chaste Gujarati. Over and above the school expenditure, I offered to pay him Rs 200 per month. He even refused that and told me plainly that he would prefer cleaning toilets and take up a broom than doing any other work. I wasted a cool hour and a half trying to convince him and take him beyond his family occupation of cleaning toilets but to no avail.
That was two years ago. Early this year, his sister was getting married and they came up with a letter from the chairman of the society asking for financial help to each and every resident of the society. Very few helped and those who helped gave them the traditional Rs 11. My neighbours gave them Rs 5 each. I gave them Rs 101 and wished them luck. Also promised to give some cloths as soon as I get time to dig out my storage. During these times, the complaints that the residents had about them never ended. Our neighbours reprimanded us of why we are so soft towards them. But we had no complaints against them. ‘No, these people deserve worst treatment, my dear,” said one of them. “Otherwise, they will start ruling you.” Silly, we just brushed it off.
The girl returned after marriage. Her husband also worked as a sweeper in some society around us. We asked, to our neighbour’s discomfort, if the marriage went well. My wife reminded her that the old clothes promised are on its way any time. We were cleaning the house and so we next day we had double the normal garbage but only one fourth of the average daily dumping our neighbours usually have. We found that except our garbage, all the garbages were cleaned by this newly wed bride. We thought she had missed us this time. Next day when asked, she flatly refused to take the garbage saying she will not touch it because it was too heavy. Have to pay extra bucks to carry it. My wife was not surprised but I was. She just called me in asking if I need any more live examples of these people behaving with people who show them respect. “It is just an odd case dear,” I refused to endorse her. Days and weeks after that, she just refuses to touch our garbage and this time the excuse is we have not paid her boni – the bonus during Diwali that she thinks is her right to demand for. Should I pay it or risk being a courier guy to the garbage? I will have to take a decision this weekend. In the meanwhile, please continue your fireworks and big parties since you may also have faced a similar situation. But wait. Given a chance, I would always go back and think the same way I thought at the beginning. After all there is always the other side of the story.
November 11, 2007
Loo liberates you, literally
Loo is not a common phrase in India. It is a common problem instead. It is shared by millions. No, not the loo but the problem. The United Nations estimates 2.6 billion people are without it and India's Rural Development Minister Raghuvansh Prasad Singh is investing $A3.79 billion in sanitation projects. I had the opportunity to do a number of features both print and audio on sanitation for various agencies I worked for. Fortunately none of the agencies were Indian because a problem in India is a problem for foreigners and not for Indians. The Gujarat sectarian riots of 2002 are not a problem for any one in Gujarat. It is a problem for people outside Gujarat. People across the world expressed remorse at this unfortunate happening, no body in Gujarat even bothered to look into it. No wonder these happenings makes interesting news for non-Indians.
During my early days of reporting, the state transport buses were the best way to reach wherever you need to reach. Undoubtedly, it still maintains that credo. To reach to the remote rural areas, these buses were my companions. I would take an overnight state transport bus so that I can avoid a nights stay in a hotel, would do the same that evening so that my two nights are in moving vehicles. In case of any delays, railway platforms acted as my suite. The benches and dogs were my companions in smaller stations. In stations like Mumbai, the local constables always would come and wake you up. But they avoid well dressed people. I enjoyed doing all these adventures. What I never enjoyed is getting a decent loo. My morning is incomplete without spending at least two English newspapers on a toilet seat. I don’t have that luxury in remote locations so I had no option but to approach toilets run by institutions like Sulabh International. I don’t know why they suffix international to their name but their approach was too local. Normally I would wait till the morning rush is over. But that never happens in a place like Mumbai and so I join the queue. I have a brief case with me and the toilet seat is Indian while I don’t have a newspaper to read. Your turn comes and you get in. You try to get a dry place to put your luggage and lo behold, the first knock comes from out side. Chalo Niklo, the guy with a stick outside would order. Hey, I haven’t even thought of even anything closer to loo and if you ask me to get out, what the hell I was standing for an hour’s queue. His problem is that there is another set of people waiting to get in. And as you touch your trouser zip, the second knock comes. Chalo Jaldi Niklo. I would not care. Instead I was treated with beats better than Jhankar beats. I would close my eyes and enjoy it as much as the audience enjoys in percussionist Sivamani’s drumbeats.I am happy to know that participants from 44 countries are grappling with health and sanitation issues and worse that I face in public places in a World Toilet Summit held recently in New Delhi. Sanitation problem endangers almost one-third of the world's people. I am also delighted that the top boss of the guy who used to order me, Chalo Niklo, founder of Sulabh International, Bindeshwar Pathak, opened the meeting by calling for a war footing in the effort to meet 2002 Millennium Development Goals. How far this is possible is a matter of debate.
It was one of the sanitation stories that I, along with a journo friend of mine, approached Mr Ishwarbhai Patel, Director, Safai Vidyalaya (The Environmental Sanitation Institute) in Ahmedabad. He takes pride in people calling him Mr Toilet. In the long conversation I had with him, a lot of information flowed. Interesting among them was his explanation about a design he has developed for rural folks. He explained in details how a person would defecate, the route on which the shit would flow and where it will reach. I was listening this with great eager and a little bit of bitterness. But his enthusiasm explaining this was more overflowing than the agony faced by the person early in the morning in any Indian village or a slum with a bottle of water in his hand. But before we began this, he had called up his peon and whispered him to bring something for us. We thought it would either be tea or coffee. In the middle of his explaining the road map from defecation process to destroyal, the peon came up with a tray. There were three ice cream scoops. We had great difficulty to even accept it not because we have diabetes but the colour was yellow. He continued to explain us how a person generates on average 400 grams of feces and 1.3 kilograms of urine daily. He then forced us to finish the ice cream before it melts. His story continued for another hour but we finished our ice cream within a minute.
During my early days of reporting, the state transport buses were the best way to reach wherever you need to reach. Undoubtedly, it still maintains that credo. To reach to the remote rural areas, these buses were my companions. I would take an overnight state transport bus so that I can avoid a nights stay in a hotel, would do the same that evening so that my two nights are in moving vehicles. In case of any delays, railway platforms acted as my suite. The benches and dogs were my companions in smaller stations. In stations like Mumbai, the local constables always would come and wake you up. But they avoid well dressed people. I enjoyed doing all these adventures. What I never enjoyed is getting a decent loo. My morning is incomplete without spending at least two English newspapers on a toilet seat. I don’t have that luxury in remote locations so I had no option but to approach toilets run by institutions like Sulabh International. I don’t know why they suffix international to their name but their approach was too local. Normally I would wait till the morning rush is over. But that never happens in a place like Mumbai and so I join the queue. I have a brief case with me and the toilet seat is Indian while I don’t have a newspaper to read. Your turn comes and you get in. You try to get a dry place to put your luggage and lo behold, the first knock comes from out side. Chalo Niklo, the guy with a stick outside would order. Hey, I haven’t even thought of even anything closer to loo and if you ask me to get out, what the hell I was standing for an hour’s queue. His problem is that there is another set of people waiting to get in. And as you touch your trouser zip, the second knock comes. Chalo Jaldi Niklo. I would not care. Instead I was treated with beats better than Jhankar beats. I would close my eyes and enjoy it as much as the audience enjoys in percussionist Sivamani’s drumbeats.I am happy to know that participants from 44 countries are grappling with health and sanitation issues and worse that I face in public places in a World Toilet Summit held recently in New Delhi. Sanitation problem endangers almost one-third of the world's people. I am also delighted that the top boss of the guy who used to order me, Chalo Niklo, founder of Sulabh International, Bindeshwar Pathak, opened the meeting by calling for a war footing in the effort to meet 2002 Millennium Development Goals. How far this is possible is a matter of debate.
It was one of the sanitation stories that I, along with a journo friend of mine, approached Mr Ishwarbhai Patel, Director, Safai Vidyalaya (The Environmental Sanitation Institute) in Ahmedabad. He takes pride in people calling him Mr Toilet. In the long conversation I had with him, a lot of information flowed. Interesting among them was his explanation about a design he has developed for rural folks. He explained in details how a person would defecate, the route on which the shit would flow and where it will reach. I was listening this with great eager and a little bit of bitterness. But his enthusiasm explaining this was more overflowing than the agony faced by the person early in the morning in any Indian village or a slum with a bottle of water in his hand. But before we began this, he had called up his peon and whispered him to bring something for us. We thought it would either be tea or coffee. In the middle of his explaining the road map from defecation process to destroyal, the peon came up with a tray. There were three ice cream scoops. We had great difficulty to even accept it not because we have diabetes but the colour was yellow. He continued to explain us how a person generates on average 400 grams of feces and 1.3 kilograms of urine daily. He then forced us to finish the ice cream before it melts. His story continued for another hour but we finished our ice cream within a minute.
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