The pond

It was when I was studying in 3rd standard, my father got me a story book on nature. Though I don't remember the title, I remember that it was published by KSSP. It was this book which told me that a pond was not just a simple water body. Pond is an ecosystem supporting large number of organisms. It has algae, plants, fish, snake and many other life forms that thrive in the pond.

But, the significance of the pond does not end there for humans. I remember the large pond we had at my mothers house, the water from which we used for irrigating the coconuts trees, bathing, washing clothes etc. In the village, neighbors used to come and use our pond for washing clothes and bathing. It was part of the social fabric.  When neighbors came to use our pond, they always found a minute or two to talk to the people in the house. Yearly cleaning of the pond where we will rent heavy duty diesel pumps, pump out the whole water, catch fish and remove mud from the bottom of the pond was nothing less than a festival. It usually happens in summer and we used to go there just to see it. Many people will come there to catch the fish on that day also to see the mighty diesel pump set in action. It is very difficult for me to think of my childhood without thinking of the pond. There was a bigger pond, which we called "Ambala-Kulam" (Temple pond) and when in summer, our pond used to have less water, we all went to this bigger pond. This pond to women was like the banyan tree for the men. It was here the women folk shared their daily gossip and even carried out many of the daily chores. While they did so on the one side of the pond, men enjoyed their bath and swim on other side of the pond.

I have heard that the temple pond was much bigger in past. When I started seeing it it was already less than an acre. I am not sure what is its size today and whether this pond still exists there. But, here is the interesting news that I read:

http://www.mathrubhumi.com/youth/features/school-students-and-kudumbasree-workers-combined-work-pond-digging-youth-story-malayalam-news-1.1610682

The news is in Malayalam. This is about a few school students digging a pond in about 2.5 hours at Talikulam (this is the native village of my mother). The pond will be used for irrigation and fish farming. I am glad that a new pond is born. A new link is created between human and nature and also between humans who worked together to achieve it. I hope this spirit will spread and there will me many more ponds born there.

Well, it will not be fair if I do not mention my paternal grandfather while talking about ponds. I remember him as a one man army. He had few acres of coconut plantation and after his retirement he used to work there all alone. However, his land was close to a river and he did not have much need of a pond or motor to irrigate his land. But, later, as years passed by, summer started becoming more and more punishing. My grandfather then dug small ponds on his land. All alone. At first he dug one and watered many trees which were in the vicinity. But, it was too difficult to carry water to all the trees from that single pond (He used 'kavu', two buckets tied to either end of pole which is carried on the shoulder by balancing at the mid point of the pole). He then dug 3-4 more ponds at different locations and watered the trees. I still remember him almost running down the steps of those ponds and running back with water on his 'kavu'. For me, he is the symbol of undying spirit and innocent love of a farmer towards his crops which he perhaps considered as important as his own children.

I wish all the best to the new generation that is striving to find new springs in soil as well as in the hearts of people.

Rs. 3600 Crore

Recently we have seen that government is spending Rs. 3600 Cores in making a monument for the Chatrapati Shivaji Maharaj. Like many others, I truly believe there are better ways to honor and remember the warrior king!

What can we do 3600 Crore? (This is about 0.53 billion USD)

1. Our mid day meal program costs about 2 billion USD per year (2013-14). So, we can feed all those children for 3 months with this money. (There might be considerable difference as today as food grain price is changed from BPL to NFSA price. NFSA prices are much lower compared to BPL prices)

2. Make 1200+ LHB coaches for Indian railways which is presently reeling under acute financial troubles. (LHB coaches can carry 80 people instead of 72 of traditional coaches and they are much safer and can move faster. Cost of LHB coaches is about 2-3 Cr. Current production capacity of these coaches is about 400 per year)

3. Build 250+ KM paved 4 line highway (Approximately 14 Cr is needed per KM - 2014-15). India has the one of the largest ratio of population to road network. We have about 0.07 KM per 1000 people where as the numbers for USA and France are 21 and 15 respectively. It is estimated that India loses 1-2% of its GDP (equal to 10 million jobs per year) due to lack of good road connectivity.

4. Provide Bullet Proof Jackets for 12+ Lakh soldiers. This will cover a major part of the soldiers  who actively guard our nation. Our Army had been asking for bullet proof vests for a decade and few months ago they got 50,000 (50K) jackets at a cost of 140 crores. We invoke them every now and then to talk about patriotism. We play national anthem before we see any movie. But, we seldom remember that this 140 crores that will save the life of our saviors is much less than the box office collection of many movies that we watch!

I can write a lot more. But, the key message that I want to convey is in our nation of poor, where the government talks about being pro-poor, being patriotic, being innovative, we should have found better use for that 3600 crores and immortalizing a great warrior king through more acceptable means!

Note: Most of the data for this is collected from wikipedia, quora and national news sites. Bullet proof vest price seems to be on a lower side (Rs. 28K). It was expected that army will get 1L vest

The Pravda joke

Few days back I read this joke. An old man once went to a restaurant in Russia and asked the waiter to bring him a tea and a copy of Pravda. (Pravda -'Truth' in Russian- was the official news paper of the communist party of former Soviet Union.)

The waiter politely told him that neither the the union exist any more nor do they publish Pravda those days. The old man then told the waiter to get only the tea.

This repeated for a few days. The old man will go to the restaurant and will ask for a tea and a copy of Pravda of that day. The waiter will give the same explanation and the old man will go back after having his tea.

One day, waiter got curious. The waiter asked the old man that why does he do that every day even though he looks to be in his good senses and appears to be a learned man? Why does he ask the same question every day though he had been told the answer many times in past?

The old man replies. My friend, I know very well that Soviet Union does not exist anymore and that they don't publish Pravda nowadays. However, I feel happy when I hear it from you!

So, why did I post it here now? As mentioned in a week old post (http://unlinkednotes.blogspot.com/2016/11/my-experience-with-honda.html), I have been trying to buy a Honda car. I was first given the impression that they will take two weeks to get the car. Then while registering, I was told they have ready stock of a red car and if I pay certain amount more than the nominal booking amount they will give me that vehicle. I did that and when I arranged loan and went back to them in about 4 days, they fumbled and told that they will give the delivery in a week. On talking about this to Honda121, I came to know that they have actually scheduled delivery after three weeks. On escalating this, they told me that I will get delivery in four days if I pay the full amount. So, I paid the full amount on last Tuesday and on a day before the promised delivery, when I called them, they told me that delivery will be made next week. So, I called Honda121 and told them in so many words that the customer service that I get from them is worse compared to what can get from a third rate street shop. They promised me that they will try their best to give me the car on same day (11-11-16). I haven't got it yet.

During all these conversations, Honda121 guys kept telling me that dealer will resolve my issues and I kept telling them that the so called dealer (Apco Honda, Calicut) is my issue (btw, this is the first time I am making their name public, that too because, I am really sick and tried of their attitude). If I were to deal with a dealer with just one or two shops and has no ethics, why should I go by the name of Honda? I bought a car from Apco Honda. Not from Apco some car dealer. Anyway, it just shows that Honda as a company does not care about their customer and for them their dealers are more important than customers.

Nevertheless, I will call back the Honda121 once again. And one day I might get to some tele-executive who might have already attended my calls and promised a delivery long back. Then he or she may ask... "Sir, you appear sane and knowledable. However, you keep asking when you will get your car and we keep giving some date or the other. Why do you still ask the same question knowing that we will never honour our word?"

Well, my friend, I just like to hear from you that you will definitely deliver the car on 《some paticular day》

My experience with Honda

Well, this is to talk about an experience that I had with Honda car dealer just two days back.

I have been looking at buying a car for my wife and after seeing a few cars, we decided to buy Jazz.  Last Tuesday, I took the test ride of Honda Jazz vcvt model and decided to buy the same. The sales rep and the manager told me that I can give 5000 and book the car. They told me it will take two weeks to get the car. However, they told me that if I pay 51000 they can give a car that is readily available with them. It's color was red. So, in the morning I paid them Rs. 5000 and told her to confirm the availability so that I can pay 46000 more and confirm the vehicle booking.

In the evening I received the call confirming that the car is available and I went and paid another 46000 conforming the booking. I told them that I am taking a loan and once the loan is ready, I will do an IMPS for the remaining amount.

On Saturday, loan was ready and after completing bank formalities, I went to the dealer for paying the difference. Before paying I just asked them if they can give the delivery on Monday itself. At this point the sales executive  started fumbling and she went and talked to the manager.

After some deliberation they both came and told me that there is some delay. As per their version at that point in time, vehicle is available with some dealer and they needed to check. As it was Saturday evening no one was picking the call. They assured me that I will get a car by this week.

I did not say anything as I understood clearly that they are telling a lie and decided to just leave without saying or paying anything to them. What is the use in talking to someone who will not honour their word?

After reaching home, I called Honda 121 executive and told him about it. He told me that it will take them 48 hours to look into this. I was given the ticket number 1-5783554143.

Today morning, I got a call from the sales Manager who was acting ignorant. She was asking me "were you told so?". This lady was very much present when sales executive was making that statement about car being readily available. And, now she was acting so ignorant. She told me that on 25th of this month some car will be shipped by Honda and the same will be delivered to me. She then told me that the car that they mentioned might be a cancellation which did not materialize. I asked her if that was the case, why they did not inform me before? I asked her if she thought whether their action were either professional or ethical. She did not answer that and instead cut the call by saying she will call back in 30 minutes, which has not happened yet.

Now, see the turn of events. They told me on Tuesday that in normal course, I will get a car in two weeks. Just after that they told me they have one readily available and I paid the amount without bothering much about the color etc. The car was meant for my wife and its main purpose was to let her commute from office to home in the afternoons for feeding our new born. So, I was ready to sacrifice choosing a color for faster delivery.  We troubled lot of our friends in getting all loan related documents from my wifes working place in a short time. My wife herself, who was on marernity leave did a lot of running around. Now, on Saturday, they claimed that I will get the car this week and today, two days after I called Honda 121, she says car will be shipped on 25th (not even delivered on 25th)!

I can't help comparing and contrasting here. When this lady was so merrily telling lies and telling us that on Saturday evenings Honda dealers are not reachable etc, I remembered, 5 years back, how sincerely Nippon Toyota guys came on a Sunday and delivered my Corolla Altis. It is particularly sad that Honda too is a Japanese company and their work ethics and culture are this pathetic.

PS: I have a few call recordings with me. Will post them later. (Perhaps after the 48 hours within which they claim to resolve the issue)