Tail of two pets

I have been living with pets, read dog for the past 10 yrs. Initially I was fearful of dogs. That was until my brother got Prince our first pet Labrador retriever. Soon my fear turned to absolute love, so much so that I started observing our surroundings which was home to street dogs. Until Prince came I was not aware that they existed.

Prince passed away last February leaving a huge vacuum in my life. He was the soul of our house, everything just centered on him. He was omnipresent everywhere. He is the reason why I am enjoying a blissful married life now. It was Prince who got me two wonderful gifts, my husband and his pet Osty now our Osty .Osty is also a Labrador like Prince but like humans they are two different personalities.

Prince was trained by a professional trainer from the dog squad of Mumbai police. He was like those who went to finishing schools very polished, with loads of attitude. My brother prided in the fact that he was very obedient. While all the pet owners had people complain about their pets in our society, there was none against Prince. He was called the “Graduate Dog” as he was the only one fully trained. People who had kids who loved dogs used to come to us for a meeting with Prince, because they felt he is the only dog whom they can trust with their infants, Prince never let them down. Kids used to request me to get him down to play area so that they can pet him. He gave a complex to all other pets and their owners in our society.

I recall, it was not only fellow pets he gave complex to, he gave my friends as well. Prince was chosen to be featured in tv serials and his pay packet at the point of time was more than double pay of most of my friends and even higher than mine.  He was lovable, adorable, intelligent but had loads of attitude and was quite fussy when it came to food.  He would allow us to cuddle and pet him, but beyond a certain point he would move out to his own space. Prince had friends but he would not like them to enter his home, he would say bye to everyone at the door. His friend a golden retriever named Sergeant would come home to play with him, but Prince did not like his uninvited visits. Home was his private den, other than his immediate family he wanted no one around.

Enter Osty, a bundle of energy, bouncing all around and loves to have as many people around as possible. Osty has been trained by my husband.  He is an absolute foodie and his non fussiness about food astonished me. He is just the opposite of Prince. Osty has won many competitions on the looks front. All the guts he has are drawn from us via the leash. He is ready to take on any one as long as we hold his leash, the minute we retreat he retreats with double speed. He allows me to cuddle him as much as I want, he is very patient.  I introduced Osty to hide and seek, which I used to play with Prince a lot. Prince used to rely on his nose to search me out, Osty uses his eyes. He would never use his nose..He would look all around for me; needless to say he would struggle to find me unlike Prince who could do this in a jiffy. Osty loves to bark, Prince would only bark when any one rang the door bell. Osty can recognize the difference in the ring tones of our society intercom phone and our residence land line. Whenever the intercom rings, he runs barking loudly towards our front gate. He has linked the intercom rings to arrival of visitors. Initially I could not understand why he ran towards the gate when the intercom rang.

My husband says dogs take after their owners and he attributes the differences due to the different personalities that we are.  Osty has started a new life with me, we both are learning about each other. He has filled in the vacuum left by Prince and I am really grateful for that. I think Prince knew I would miss him too much and sent Osty couple of months after he passed away.

Familiar yet unknown !

I was walking back to my apartment lost in my thoughts when a lady whom I know for close to 10 years stopped me on the road. We do not meet often, occasionally running in to each other, occasions I can count on my finger tips. She lives in the same residential complex as me albeit a different wing. I call her aunty; don’t know what her name is. Aunty is very religious, a devout Christian. I like her because of the positive energy that she exudes.  I was carrying a pile of medical records and she enquired about my health. I told her I am expecting my first child and there she was ecstatic on hearing it. She told me that I was among a few for whom she prayed and she felt happy for me. I was touched. How many do that, not many I am sure that too for someone who bumps in to you once in a while. In today’s world one is out of mind if one is out of sight.

There are faces in the crowd that attract us. When I talk about attraction I am not referring to just physical appeal, it’s a kind of positive energy, a spiritual high or that pleasantness in ones face that draws you. Aunty is one among them, I once met her at a bus stop and instantly I liked her. She is serene when she speaks, there is no relationship between us, neither did we come to each other’s help, but still there is a bond. I automatically feel some warmth towards her.  May be we have a connection from our past lives, which I have come to believe after reading books written by Dr Brian Weiss.

I also know an elderly man whom I admire a lot. In this case we have not even spoken a word. This gentleman is in his late fifties/early sixties, immaculately dressed and a fine human being to the core. Even before I could get a proof of his fine traits, I always respected him. I am not the kind who smiles at strangers but I did whenever we crossed paths. There was such warmth without even knowing each other. Indian men are generally rude and rough to woman outside their immediately circle of family & friends. There was this young man who was a loving husband and father, but when it came to boarding a bus, his animal instincts used to come to the fore. I have seen him pushing women out of his way in an effort to grab a seat, that too for a 15 minute ride.  This was his usual behaviour. One day this elderly fine gentleman who was giving way to women in the queue saw this guy pushing his way ahead. He immediately reprimanded the young guy. The young guy was embarrassed that a man possibly twice his age was giving way but he was pushing for a seat. The day I saw this incident I realized why I had so much respect & warmth for this elderly gentleman. There was a connection even before I got to witness his impeccable manners.

It has happened with me so many times, that I come across people at airports/ on the road, just about anywhere and feel an instant connect. Most of them I never meet again but at that point in time when I see them there is a certain warmth. May be we knew each other at some point in our earlier lives how I wish I could recollect those!

Ask and you shall get what you want!

One morning my husband was making coffee and the maid was cleaning the kitchen. He offered her a cup of coffee. My maid shot back, I take coffee only with milk. My husband did not like the rejection his generous offer of black coffee met with. He shot back,” well that’s what I drink”. The maid leaned to see if his coffee was black too, she did not trust him.  My husband drinks only black coffee, the maid had to accept it grudgingly. My husband did not like her demanding when he expected her graciously accept what he generously gave her.

I told my husband, she knows how to survive, and this quality of asking upright what she needs without bothering about the decorum will help her. I was once at the receiving end of her demands. One day there was no fruit Jam and I made her peanut butter sandwich, to which she said she would prefer a Jam sandwich.  I had to eat the peanut butter sandwich myself.

When I was growing up my parents taught us to live within our means. Be happy with whatever you are given; never ask for more, it was construed as being greedy. I hold that lesson to this date. I had to live with whatever money my parents gave, or meet the gap by earning the difference. I could never make myself ask for anything. My husband has a 21 year old niece studying in a hostel. Often she calls up my husband to ask for money, and other luxuries like a cell phone etc.  When the first time she called, I was a little surprised at her ability to ask for money from her uncle. I just thought to myself, this girl will survive, because she knows how to ask. Later when I came to know she was 21, I was aghast that at this age when she should be fending for herself, she was audacious enough to put across her demands for cash and other electronics. I could never do that, I was always taught that it was wrong to ask for things. While my husband did not like the maid demanding, he never saw anything wrong in his nieces’ demands. Blame it on the feudal society we live in where principles are stretched to fit an individual depending on where ones rank in the social circle.

I held to this teaching of my parents even in the corporate world. I could never make myself ask for quantum of cash. All I could say was I think that I am not paid well. Needless to say the “I think” factor was latched on to by my bosses and they convinced me that it is indeed my thinking and not reality and that I was among the best paid J. I could ask for work, to prove my sincerity but could not demand cash for work. I would rue in private about less pay and more work but could never make myself demand what I want in terms of pay. The issue used to get manifold the moment I was asked by bosses what is that I expect in cash terms. I would meekly say whatever is as per the policy. Come on girl, I would say to myself, this is the time to quote a figure!!!! But no, how can I do it, only the greedy ask. In the end I get paid according to policy which is peanuts.

So I am very sure my maid and my niece will do in life, they have the ability to ask without guilt what they need without bothering about decorum or anything that comes close to it.

When taste buds go numb

Last week my mother was doing her monthly clean up and restacks of freezer space. She generally inspects her collection of pickle, chutney pastes, if required transfers them to the lower compartments for daily use. If she finds anything stale she throws it away. This time she found a packet of what she called chutney powder. Now she has the habit of making loads of chutney powder sufficient for a year’s supply and storing them in the deep freezer. This packet was rather small, she opened it, it was not exactly of the same colour, little blurred red/maroon colour. She tasted it and found it tasteless and threw it away and continued with her task.

Next day my brother who was away returned. My mother found my brother desperately looking for something in the deep freezer. On quizzing he said, he is looking for his fish feed. My mother said she cleaned the freezer and did not find any fish feed in there. He said it was small packet with DRY WORMS!!!. It still did not ring a bell..and my mother asked him to describe it. It slowly dawned on my mother that it was exactly that she delightfully devoured the other day!!!.She was in denial for two reasons, she is a pure vegetarian and second, she could not imagine she ate worms. My brother was hopping mad, as the dry worms that he got for his dear fishes are rare and apparently the supply of these worms are once in six months. My mother told him how she confused his worms for chutney powder, tasted it and then threw it.

It was almost a day since she had the worms and till then she had no issues. On learning what she ate, she immediately started vomiting.  She called me to say what happened, I could not control my laughter. I asked her how on earth could you not distinguish chutney powder from worms! She said her taste buds did not alert her. How about your eyes I asked, could you not see worms; she said it looked like shredded coconut! My mother spent that night vomiting every morsel of what she had in her stomach and the poor fishes starved.

FDI in Retail

With the government announcing FDI in retail, views and counter views on the decision has been floating around. Skeptics say it will lead to hundreds of job losses, kill domestic retail. Those in favor of the proposal say farmers will get better pay for their produce; there would less wastage of food and consumers better price.  I am not sure about the facts and figures behind this. In the past few years FDI in retail was disallowed to help domestic brands like Food Bazaar, More, Reliance Fresh to mushroom. I think enough time was given to them to help them strengthen their position.

Having lived abroad I can convincingly say that the Indian retail outlets are offering a substandard service. The quality of vegetables sold in outlets of More, Spencer and Food Bazaar is far from international standards. I often see vegetables and fruits kept without proper refrigeration. The vegetables are not cleaned. Potatoes and ginger carry mud. Quality of vegetables is far from being called good. Also I don’t see any price benefit to the consumer. I prefer buying vegetables from the local vendor, who offers fresh and better quality vegetables at the same price.

The Indian retail outlets have not benefitted the consumers, I am not sure if they have benefitted the farmers. I don’t think they would have. I personally want FDI in retail so that the local players are made to sit up and improve their service. Most of these global chains survive on wafer thin margins, and volumes drive growth. They are able to offer services at cut throat prices through excellent supply chain management. I am sure these giants will cut out the middlemen from the scene.  So the consumers will definitely benefit. Technically speaking the farmers should also benefit and they will get a direct link to the consumer. Farming is a lucrative profession in the western world because of this.  The other benefit will be reduction in food wastages. These giants have deep pockets to invest in cold storage facilities and have effective transportation logistics in place.

Coming to the negative side, critics say it will kill the local Kirana stores and also render middlemen jobless. The fear about Kirana stores is unfounded; they survived all these years and coped well with the influx of Food Bazaars, More etc. The key to the success of Kirana stores lies in their personal touch. They are much localized, present in residential colonies, provide service on call & deliver products at the convenience of your home. Next is the middlemen, they losing their jobs could be true as the service is unnecessary fat in the existing supply chain. This fat can be skimmed. Let’s not forget the jobs that these giants will create in the whole supply chain management space.

I believe this is a good step for the benefit of consumers and farmers. 

Get up and act!

Every day while on my way to work, I used to get stuck in a messy traffic block caused by an open man hole. The open man hole was a huge one and cars had to negotiate its way through causing the block. Like everyone else I too used to wait in the long snarl, wasting time, petrol and above all spoiling your mood.

After a week or two of waiting I decided to act. I had never done this before, but then the Anna Hazare wave was sweeping the country and I decided I should act. I first approached a cop who was manning the snarl and asked him who should be replacing the manhole cover. His response was destructive “ what is the point in replacing, some one will come and steal it the very next day”. He seemed disinterested and I thought to myself why this sense of resignation. This guy was standing there and directing traffic , inhaling all the pollutants yet he did not even wanted to attempt resolving it.

Next I took to the net and for the first time tried to understand who does what for Mumbai Municipality. I too was not hopeful, but I thought I should at least try. Surprisingly I found a lot of information on the net and from there I was guided to some help line numbers specifically for my ward. On my first attempt the receiver at the other end was very polite and asked me what kind of manhole was that, is it a storm water drain or sewage drain. Phew! how on earth would I know that. The guy at the other end patiently explained to me how to distinguish. Simple if it had dirty water spilling out of it then it is a sewage manhole!

I recalled that the drain was dry and he said then definitely it has to be storm water drain. He directed me to another number, at that point of time I thought this guy was just making me run from pillar to post. Nevertheless I called the number he provided me with.

This time it was answered by a curt guy, he did not ask me much detail other than what my complaint was about. He transferred the call and to my surprise the guy at the other end took my complaint and gave me a complaint number. He said the issue would be resolved in a weeks time. Honestly speaking I never expected to get a complaint number or a turn around time from a government department. Like how all Indians are eternal skeptics, I thought to myself  this cannot be true, nothing is going to happen. However before hanging up the phone I asked him what if it is not done in a weeks time, his response was “ call back and quote your complaint number”. Okay!

The complaint was lodged on a Saturday. On Tuesday when I was travelling to work in the morning I reached the highway seamlessly. It is only after reaching the highway did I realize that there was no block. I could not look back, I thought to myself, may be it’s a public holiday and fewer cars are on the road. I still could not believe that they would have closed the man hole. On my way back, I made it a point to slow down and see what has happened. Can you imagine a brand new man hole cover was in place and they had cemented it making it difficult for any one to steal it. It works!!!! I exclaimed to myself.

I was so happy that my effort worked, that I called up all my friends and narrated the story. They too were taken aback.

This incident proved that we Indians never attempt to resolve any issue, we just crib and complain that nothing works in this country. How many of us have even tried the system before passing the judgment. If each one of us makes it a point to resolve issues that affect us and make use of the system in place, it is bound to work. Systems are in place, but we always expect some one else to do it for us. In the end no one acts and then we lament “nothing works in this country”. My faith in the system has grown after this incident. As the Bible says “If you have faith as small as a mole hill, you can ask a mountain to move”. How true!

Adopting Green Energy

A landmark day in Japan was celebrated in May'2012  as they shut down the last of their nuclear plant. Germany has also committed to phase out nuclear power whereas the US has started investing in alternative and green energy like wind and solar.

Where does that leave India? The recent the protests over the Kundakulam nuclear plant brought to the fore the simmering issue once again. A country that has abundant sunlight twelve months a year is far far away when it comes to tapping in to this source of energy. Whenever I have tried to broach the topic of  Solar energy , people have dismissed it calling it an expensive source of power. This at a time when prices of  Solar panels have crashed over the years thanks to the growing demand for Solar energy in the rest of the world.

The problem with our policy makers is that they think big when it is not required. They talk of acute shortage of power and invest in mega nuclear plants . These plants cost millions of dollars when a localized solution costing a fraction of this costs can provide a more sustainable green energy. The developed nations are dumping technology that is being shunned in their part of the world and our policy makers are lapping it up throwing up acute shortage of power as a reason for the same.

Another factor, which discourages localized and green solutions, is the kickbacks that the babus get in mega deals. How much money exchange hands when such kinds of deals are signed is of common knowledge. I am appalled why a country which is facing huge fiscal deficit and ever-growing oil bill is not pushing the use of alternative green energy. The recent budget did provide some concessions to  Solar Thermal project but it left out  Solar Photovoltaic industry, which makes up bulk of  energy market today.

The good thing about Solar power is that you can have localized solutions for eg, a School /Hospitals / Residences can have their own source constructed within the vicinity. Recently I read an article where a house owner in Chennai is able to beat the incessant power cuts by installing Solar power source in his residence. He is the envied one in his locality which plunges in to darkness very often due to rampant power cuts. Of course it is expensive but with support from the government these solutions can be made affordable to a wider base.

NDTV greenathon programme has been successfully lighting remote villages  using  Solar lamps where conventional electricity would take ages to reach. It is amazing that just by providing light after dusk one can alter the quality of life and improve productivity of the rural populations. These villages have no source of power and a simple Solar lamp is playing the role of catalyst in the overall development. Some times exceptions rather than rule hold the key to development. The general mindset is to go by the rule but it pays to step back and think if an exception to rule can help.

If the industry gets the right push the prices will come down driven by growing demand. Scarce financial resources can re-directed to projects that badly need funding.  All this requires political will and also tremendous amount of foresight.