Overhaulin'

Do these oddities of our times, sadly surprise you, rudely shock you or just tickle you...?

1. We live in a nation where Rice is sold at Rs.40/- per kg and Sim Card is free! 2. Pizza reaches home faster than Ambulance and Police! 3. Car loan is available @ 5% interest, but education loan would be charged @ 12%! 4. Students with 45% marks get admissions in elite institutions thru quota system and those with 90% get out because of merit cut off at 95%!!!. 5. Where a millionaire would rather buy a cricket team instead of donating the money to any social utlity. And where couple of IPL teams are auctioned at Rs 3300 crores and there are still massive poor who survive on single frugal meals per day! 6. Where the footwear are sold in AC showrooms, while vegetables people eat, are sold on the footpaths! 7. Where everybody wants to be rich and powerful, rather than human and lovable! 8. Where a ten storeyed Assembly complex building gets ready in a few months while public transport bridges alone several years to be completed! 9. Where we make lemon juices with artificial flavors and find dish wash liquids with real lemon! You can add more oddities.. but the harsh fact remains that none of the unmerited supremacy of pompous entities over more urgent and needy goods and services, speak well of our value system as a society of cultured humans.. How would you react to this disturbing angularities of a hypocrytic haughty society and its leaders of this kind? Do share your sentiments.. More healing words would help.. Thanks for your time pals! You all seem to miss the message sadly, in the process of the exhibition of your wisdom, sans application of heart (feeling). Don't you find the subtle message behind the odd comparisons, beyond just business and economics? Don't you fine the hint of the human element involved in the comparisons?! Rice (livelihood issue), ambulance (health), education and placements (survival issues) etc are compared with the favours enjoyed by SIM (Cell) holders / pizza eaters / car owners etc, not just in money terms but in context of comforts that flow easily under some economic pretexts! Many of you are trying to explain the economic contexts that are understood already, but overlooking the ethical equity issues that are sought to be focussed! Nature had kept the most essential things like air, land and water abundant and free for all life forms! But kept costly wealth like precious minerals and gems hidden! Gold, coal and oils have to be accessed from Earth's bowels, with much strain! But hum contd... But human society keeps essential goods costly and luxury goods and services cheap! The message had not reached you: ''..but the harsh fact remains that none of the unmerited supremacy of pompous entities over more urgent and needy goods and services, speak well of our value system.."! In a society where massive waste of food grains are just brushed aside and loss of Spectrum sales discussed with gusto, it is no surprise that oddities exist with respect and realities hide in the backgrounds!

Public Comments

1. where did you get these..."facts"...?
2. Hello Dilli sir, I was thinking deeply about things like this, often passed on in emails among friends! I always have a feeling that these are simply over statements or mis statements reflecting self pity or a paranoid outlook about our own society, rather than logical comparisons! I shall like to comment on a few of your statements below, to dispel the illusions about these statements: 1. We live in a nation where Rice is sold at Rs.40/- per kg and Sim Card is free! Yes, rice is the product in heavy perpetual demand while its inflow is seasonal and subject to lot of hoarding and manipulation, lending itself to exploitation! But SIM is an opening for further telecom business, where its use by the client attracts the services and opens up a steady income to the Service Provider! So its ‘’free’’ offer is actually an invitation for business ! 2. Pizza reaches home faster than Ambulance and Police! Yes pizza is produced aplenty and is eager to move out for sale, while the Ambulance or Police are not aplenty but hard pressed to move to umpteen places of demand, particularly in crowded urban ambiances! 3. Car loan is available @ 5% interest, but education loan would be charged @ 12%! Yes, because Cars remaining unsold in the factories, occupying spaces and losing “interests’’ on their investment, suffer more losses than sales under low interests! While educational loans on prospective job seekers need no promotion, being in much demand! Selling properties for higher education or raising private loans etc are more wasteful than availing loans at 12% in public eye! May be banks may consider a lesser interest for poor families. But the bad loans are more among the poor ones, who may not get jobs in time or unable to finish courses in time! There are “many a slip between the cup and the lip’’ for bankers, who have to ensure better ‘’collection’’ also! After all they are using Depositors' money - not like Govt using public money at their pleasure! 4. Students with 45% marks get admissions in elite institutions thru quota system and those with 90% get out because of merit cut off at 95%!!!. This is an exaggeration often indulged by people, to sympathise with the OCs at the expense of backward classes (I am OC too)! Actually the BC / OBC kids, by and large, score as much as any of the OC class kids, under identical educational environments! An eminent VC in those days used to say that the Reservation was superfluous in the state (Tamilnadu) since the BC’s scored above cut off marks and even could compete with OCs! There are still people who rule out Reservation myth saying that already BCs / OBCs have more than the reserved places due to significant number of merited students among all communities! Xxxx Well, I can go on dismissing the whole series of “oddities” that are more fun stuff than rational criticism of contemporary social evils! I am not suggesting that our society is free from weaknesses and exploitations, but to impose all sort of imaginary and biased blames are not necessary! Hope you got my point sir!
3. Oddities are sadly but aggressively a part of human life in one way or other. See the natural limited life span to our life on this planet but all of us are practically sure next one is surely not me !! Material wealth creation gives satisfaction & is a joyful experience but not beyond a point when it is more a liability & burden than convenience & pleasure but still even those sworn with emancipated wisdom are seen madly amassing the opulence that would last more than twice his lifetime. We appreciate Shahid Bhagat singh, a forefront freedom fighter. But one would wish neighbour's offspring to emulate that role model rather than ones own dear one . On a more clearly tangible area people are seen madly indulging in exotic gastronomy consciously aware to get medicine support to take care of the resulting sickness. Every one expects more from others than he can deliver himself....is not this, in a way, a obvious oddity? thanks Dilly sir, have a nice day !!
4. Dilli sir, Yes on the whole it looks disturbing but see the facts also... 1. We live in a nation where Rice is sold at Rs.40/- per kg and Sim Card is free! - How many people who get the Rice @1 re, doe snot own at least one mobile phone and pay at least Rs.100 per month!! See in the streets sir, people having 2 mobile phones ....Oh........ People who do not by Rice at 40Rs use mobile phones!!! 2. Pizza reaches home faster than Ambulance and Police! - Yes Pizza reaches home faster coz of the service provided by the sellers, on the contrary, how many ambulances/Police available/employed!!! 3. Car loan is available @ 5% interest, but education loan would be charged @ 12%! - Yes very true, car loans are given based on the repayable basis, given only after verifying the source of Income and they can get back the car if they did not pay it! But can the bank get back the Education, once if the loan is left unpaid???? 4. Students with 45% marks get admissions in elite institutions thru quota system and those with 90% get out because of merit cut off at 95%!!!. - Yes i agree, but even they need to get educated, I agree there is a lot of malpractice in availing the seats, but nothing wrong in it. 5. Where a millionaire would rather buy a cricket team instead of donating the money to any social utility. And where couple of IPL teams are auctioned at Rs 3300 crores and there are still massive poor who survive on single frugal meals per day! - Yes, those Millionaire do pay taxes for the earned 3300 crores which is spent by the Govt to improve the standard of living in general. I agree the govt wastes it by giving freebies to get their votes, but do not blame the millionaires ( but pls check if they have paid the taxes due to the govt!). 6. Where the footwear are sold in AC showrooms, while vegetables people eat, are sold on the footpaths! - Sir, do you want the vegetable prices to shoot further??? compare the prices of the vegetables sold in market/supermarket compared to uzhavar sandhai(peoples market)... 7. Where everybody wants to be rich and powerful, rather than human and lovable! - Yes your question ( unavoidably ) supports it sir. 8. Where a ten storeyed Assembly complex building gets ready in a few months while public transport bridges alone several years to be completed! - Yes this is a pity! 9. Where we make lemon juices with artificial flavors and find dish wash liquids with real lemon! - Just advertisement sir to fool people! Yes there are many problems in the country, we are not a small mass to be handle easily, We have very diversified population from various religion, speaking various languages, different walks of lifestyle......... I agree the corruption has increased, but what have we contributed to the society and country to make it stable, just discuss and leave offff? Its hard to run a family of 4 members, to run a country of this big is not an easy job. Let us all contribute to make this world a better place to live.