YMCA

Last Sunday morning I visited the YMCA complex. This sports complex in Nandanam, Chennai (Madras) was a real life-saver for us kids who grew up in the neighbourhood. Life in the 1970s and the early 1980s was a time was a TV-less, internet-less existence. Which meant we had to spend time playing outside.

The YMCA was (and still is) a sprawling campus with a sports college, a school and multiple grounds meant for different sports disciplines - football, track and field, hockey, cricket etc. To the south of the campus lies the lush green golf club belonging to the Cosmopolitan Club and to its east/south-east flows the Adyar river.

We hung around a lot, especially during summer holidays, on the banks of the river, chucking stones into it, climbing trees, trying to catch a lizard or try to catch some fish with improvised fishing "rods" (made up of a string and a bent safety pin with earthworms as bait!) from a nearby artificial pond! Didn't think much about cruelty to animals and stuff...But that apart, it was a wonderful time! At the risk of sounding cliched, it does seem a long time ago when life seemed, well, different.

I was so glad that very little has changed, although one can see that the place seems a little run-down and less vibrant, primarily because I didn't see many kids around.

The YMCA offers a membership (the parking attendant quoted some ridiculously low figure that I need to verify) to use its facilities. I intend taking up one so I can maintain the connection to this wonderful place that was such an important part of my childhood!

90 orbits around the sun

One of the great science fiction writers of our time and visionaries Arthur C. Clarke is dead, aged 90.

Growing up in the 1980s, when the genre of science fiction was a lot more popular than it is today, Arthur C. Clarke, Isaac Asimov, Ray Bradbury were some of the authors who were popular. Great books, ultimate fantasy and adventure that was space travel would transport me to a different realm. God, am I glad that I grew up at a time when television didn't dominate our lives!! Coincidentally, I am reading one of his books, The Garden of Rama, right now. And who can forget the magical 2001: A Space Odyssey.

I am glad Arthur C. Clarke lived long enough to see Richard Branson's brave attempt at space tourism. Check out, what is probably, his last video message on his birthday in Dec 2007.

Farewell space traveller and thanks for all the magic!

The story of ten men

(P. Chidambaram's recent budget, in which he waived an unprecedented 60,000 crores of farmer debt, reminded me of this story (which I have reproduced below) I read sometime ago. Looks like things in India are headed in this direction!)

Suppose that every day, ten men go out for beer and the bill for all ten comes to $100.

If they paid their bill the way we pay our taxes, it would go something like this:

The first four men (the poorest) would pay nothing.
The fifth would pay $1.
The sixth would pay $3.
The seventh would pay $7.
The eighth would pay $12.
The ninth would pay $18.
The tenth man (the richest) would pay $59.

So, that's what they decided to do.

The ten men drank in the bar every day and seemed quite happy with the arrangement, until on day, the owner threw them a curve.

"Since you are all such good customers," he said, "I'm going to reduce the cost of your daily beer by $20."Drinks for the ten now cost just $80.

The group still wanted to pay their bill the way we pay our taxes so the first four men were unaffected. They would still drink for free. But what about the other six men - the paying customers? How could they divide the $20 windfall so that everyone would get his 'fair share?'

They realized that $20 divided by six is $3.33. But if they subtracted that from everybody's share, then the fifth man and the sixth man would each end up being paid to drink his beer.

So, the bar owner suggested that it would be fair to reduce each man's bill by roughly the same amount, and he proceeded to work out the amounts each should pay.

And so:

The fifth man, like the first four, now paid nothing (100% savings).
The sixth now paid $2 instead of $3 (33%savings).
The seventh now pay $5 instead of $7 (28%savings).
The eighth now paid $9 instead of $12 (25% savings).
The ninth now paid $14 instead of $18 (22% savings).
The tenth now paid $49 instead of $59 (16% savings).

Each of the six was better off than before. And the first four continued to drink for free. But once outside the restaurant, the men began to compare their savings.

"I only got a dollar out of the $20,"declared the sixth man. He pointed to the tenth man," but he got $10!"
"Yeah, that's right," exclaimed the fifth man. "I only saved a dollar, too. It's unfair that he got TEN times more than I!"
"That's true!!" shouted the seventh man. "Why should he get $10 back when I got only two? The wealthy get all the breaks!"
"Wait a minute," yelled the first four men in unison. "We didn't get anything at all. The system exploits the poor!"
The nine men surrounded the tenth and beat him up.

The next night the tenth man didn't show up for drinks, so the nine sat down and had beers without him. But when it came time to pay the bill, they discovered something important. They didn't have enough money between all of them for even half of the bill!

And that, boys and girls, journalists and college professors, is how our tax system works. The people who pay the highest taxes get the most benefit from a tax reduction. Tax them too much, attack them for being wealthy, and they just may not show up anymore. In fact, they might start drinking overseas where the atmosphere is somewhat friendlier.

Wisdom of the Buddha!

Read this while browsing randomly...Simply beautiful!

"Do not believe in anything simply because you have heard it.
Do not believe in anything simply because it is spoken and rumored by many.
Do not believe in anything simply because it is found written in your religious books.
Do not believe in anything merely on the authority of your teachers and elders.
Do not believe in traditions because they have been handed down for many generations.
But after observation and analysis, when you find that anything agrees with reason and is conducive to the good and benefit of one and all, then accept it and live up to it."

The Buddha

Inverse paranoid?! - What the hell is that?

"I have always been the opposite of paranoid. I operate as if everyone is part of a plot to enhance my well-being". - Stan Dale - founder of the Human Awareness Institute.

I had never heard about this Stan Dale till I read this quote by him in a great book that I am reading right now called "The Success Principles" by Jack Canfield, co-author of the Chicken Soup series of book.

But WHAT A THOUGHT!!

Pranab's faux pas

Several articles have been written in newspapers in connection with the release of Kashmir Singh, who languished in Pakistani jails for 35 years. I read one such article in Deccan Chronicle that talked about other people who could still be imprisoned in jails across the border and the attempts made by their families to get them released.

Turns out, some members of these long-suffering families met External Affairs Minister, Pranab Mukherjee to submit a petition. In response, the Congress veteran is supposed to have asked, "Do you really believe they are still alive?" A lady, whose husband went missing during the 1971 war, is reported to have tersely said, "But Minister, you are still alive." (The missing man is around the same age as the minister.)

And they gave this man the Padma Vibhushan this year!!

Sham of the Year!

My knowledge about Economics was fuzzy for a long time and even today, consider myself no expert. But even I was shocked by the absurdity of the sham that was the Budget 2008!

P. Chidambaram says "the budget will stimulate growth and investment" and his boss, the honourable Dr. Manmohan Singh calls it an "outstanding budget". The latter has a doctorate in Economics, so I guess the ordinary man is not supposed to question his credentials. But how does one manage to say such things with conviction after deciding to simply write off an incredible Rs. 60,000 crore?!! Either these men must be geniuses who deserve this year's Nobel Prize for Economics or, simply, people who are willing to sell the country down the river just for the sake of remaining in power.

I am tired of hearing people say what a nice gentleman our Prime Minister is, how he shines through in a Cabinet dominated by petty politicians etc. But a leader and, more importantly a patriot, is someone who has not only knowledge, but the vision and the strength to go against the flow and take tough decisions irrespective of electoral gains. Not someone willing to so shamelessly pander to the wishes of an ignorant and power-hungry bunch of colleagues and political allies!

A man has to be judged by his actions and not by reputation. History, in all probability, will judge Manmohan Singh as the man who presided over a government that presented a Budget that was shocking for the sheer audacity with which it has attempted to fool the people of this country! It will be ironical for a man who was instrumental in liberalising the economy and putting the country on the growth path.