Full circle

From being abused as a parpanar, to being called an open minded hindu, to being called an atheist, life has indeed come a full circle.

Coffee @ Calgary

Note: If you are at UofC, please go through the entire article. The invitation is obviously extended to everyone but is made strong for visitors from UofC.

Coffee is the wonder drug that many a grad student, including yours truly, depends on to cleanse one of ones sins of procrastination. Its the caffeine (trimethylxanthine, C8H10N4O2 [1]) in coffee that gives us the enhanced sense of activeness. Caffeine works on the same section of the brain [1] as cocaine, heroine etc... and as a consequence of that, we get addicted to coffee. This human addiction to coffee has resulted in it being the most consumed beverage worldwide and made coffee one of the most important commodities being traded globally [2]. Estimates indicate that about 400 billion cups of coffee is being consumed worldwide every year [2]. A primary reason for such tremendously high levels of consumption is the ubiquitous coffee parlours in most of the western world and in many metropolitan cities in the third world. Any human activity that rapidly scales is bound to have a huge hidden cost. With most human activity, the cost of sudden and ad infinitum scaling is borne by the environment. Same is the case with coffee. So, it is imperative of us to, at the very least, be aware of the damages that we cause and reduce the impact of our actions whenever and wherever possible.

If you drink coffee at coffee shops even once a week, a really good thing you can do is to get a coffee mug. This is a very simple step and results in significant benefits. Every time you drink coffee out of the disposable cups, you are seriously disposing of a small percentage of the future of the earth. Though the cup you use might be recyclable, what really matters is whether it actually gets recycled and in most cases it is not. Energy is spent in mining the materials to make that cup, energy is spent in making that finished product, energy is spent in transporting it, energy is spent in disposing it. The earth cannot afford such a wastage of energy. Also, by using disposable cups one is unnecessarily generating garbage. I have an earlier post on waste that talks about the hazards of generating so much garbage. If you have your roots in third world countries and if you are living in a 'developed' nation, that post might have some significance to you. If you are a grad student at UofC (addressed to grad students primarily as I am one and most people visiting this space from UofC are grad students) then you do have an office to leave your coffee mugs safely. You dont even have to worry about carrying them everyday. All you need to do is to pick it up when you goto the coffee shop, enjoy your coffee and finally clean your mug. The only expense in this is the initial purchase of the coffee mug. If this is adopted on a large scale, it could significantly bring down the real expense of this coffee frenzy. Coffee mugs are available in almost every store inside the UofC. I bought one recently for $15. Considering the fact that most grad students at UofC are anyways heavily funded (in comparison with many other schools in Canada), this is definitely not big bucks.

If you dont agreed with my claim that buying a coffee mug is going to help, then its a waste of time for you to go beyond this point in this post. Trying to live in a sustainable fashion is not a one off charity act. Its also not an economic act for us to look for specific gains. It should be done because it is the right thing to do. But to do this, we need information. The next part of this post tries to provide just that.

Organic farming [3] is a form of agriculture which avoids or largely excludes the use of synthetic fertilizers and pesticides, plant growth regulators, and livestock feed additives. This is really good as it is gentle on earth and is humane to the farmers as it prevents them from getting exposed to carcinogenic chemicals. Chemical intensive farming naturally affects the environment around the area of the farm. If such a farm is huge, then we are assured of having chemical intensive environments. Coffee being one of the largest traded commodities worldwide, has to be grown in vast tracts of land around the globe. So chemical intensive farming in such vast tracts of land will automatically result in babies whose systems are rich in chemicals. The natural question is, then why doesnt everyone go for organic farming. The obvious answer is that it costs more. So, farms that grow coffee organically depend on you for support.

Vast production of coffee automatically demands huge amounts of agricultural land. Clear cutting of forests to acquire this land is followed by a large number of farmers to reduce the cost of production. But this is extremely deleterious to the health of the planet. Shade cultivation of coffee on the other hand does not need clear cutting of forests [4]. This really ameliorates the planets health. Shade cultivation was the traditional way of growing coffee. But recently sun resitant coffee breeds have been developed. These breeds need chemical intensive farming practices [4] and also encourage the clear cutting of forests. The short term benefit of higher yields are no compensation for long term destruction of the environment.

So, it is imperative of us to try and consume shade grown organic coffee as and when feasible. For those at UofC, there is a coffee business called good earth at ICT and as far as I know (I hope I am wrong and hope that there are more such businesses) that is the only business in campus that offers 100 percent organic and 100% shade grown coffee [5]. No, this is not a sales pitch for Good Earth and I've not been paid by them to write this. Even the ecoclub at UofC have lot of nice things to say about Good Earth [6]. So consider patronising places that sell organic and shade grown coffee. It might cost you a few dollars more every month but remember that you are being a whole lot nicer with the environment.

References

[1] How coffee works at HowStuffWorks
[2] Economics of coffee - article in wikipedia
[3] Organic farming - article in wikipedia
[4] Shade coffee explanation
[5] Good Earth homepage
[6] Ecoclub at UofC

Haiku
Inspired by a friend, here is my first attempt at Haiku. :)

I came
We saw
She left

Oli
[Another lunatic rant in Tamil. For some weird reason, I seem to want to write Tamil poetry these days, my obvious inadequacies with the langauge notwithstanding.]

Kanden antha pattu pona marathile oru oli
kanden avvoliyai keezh sinthi irukkum paniyile
shakti vadivana antha oliyai
kanden engum irukkum kallile

Paarvai mangivittatho endru anjinen
buthi kettatho endru varunthinen
pinbu ennangal marainthana ninaivugal urainthana
enenil, kanden avvoliyai ennil

Stand up for Singur

Almost everyone who reads this post would now know at least some information regarding Singur. The fact that Tata motors wants to construct a car manufacturing unit there and that farmers are not exactly willing to part with their land is old news [1]. The government of West Bengal wants to push the state in the path of industrialization and is pining for the car factory in Singur [2]. Tata motors apparently has the noble cause of empowering Indian youth by supplying them with cars at an affordable rate. Whether this is noble or not so noble is moot and is not relevant to this post. What is relevant is at whose expense is this being done?

The government initially claimed that most of the land was not highly cultivated [3]. Media and many organizations called the governments bluff [4]. Only the most naive person would believe that the land, that too in the gangetic basin, that supports so many people would be fallow. Finally the government admitted that it is difficult to find fallow land in West Bengal and hence implicitly they want the farmers of Singur to subsidize the cost of the Tata Motor small car with their lives.

The government claims that the farmers have been given money above the market value as compensation for their land and that one member of every family will be given a job in the car factory. While this claim in itself is debatable, again it is irrelevant to this post. At face value this might seem like a fair deal and that the farmers lives' are being properly taken care of. All this idealistic talk will hold water only if 'Ram rajya' were in place in Bengal. Unfortunately, the state of affairs in the state being quite different, idealistic statements are no good and practical realities need to be faced.

1.) What steps has the government undertaken to prevent the money given to farmers are not swindled by unscrupulous elements? There have been many reports of how even the few who were compensated by the Narmada dam being swindled [5]. There were many reports of widowed wives of soldiers killed in Kargil being swindled of their compensation too [6].

Is it the farmers fault to not know to handle a 'moneyed' life? What would a city bred person do if he/she is forced to live in say afghanistan albeit with a large amount of arms and ammunition? Will he/she be able to survive there for even a month?

2.) Usually only the people who are in the news are taken care of by the government. For e.g., in the case of the narmada dam, the people who made their living by fishing downstream in the narmada valley were hardly cared for by the government [7]. Similarly what about people who dont directly own farms but are otherwise dependent on the farmlands? Are'nt they humans and arent they entitled to basic human rights? Does the government plan to compensate them?

3.) What jobs will the farmers be given in the factory?
Most farmers would only have skills to farm and handle the crops. How on earth will they be able to handle machinery in the factory? If they are not, what will they be employed as? Scavengers?

4.) What about job security?
Right now, the farmers are primarily dependent only on the vagaries of nature. If the crops are bad one year, the probability of having a better yield next year is always there. But what if a farmer falls foul of a manager in the factory and looses his job? What happens next for the farmer and his family? What if the Tata's decide to modernize the factor and lay off workers? What happens next? As now only one member now works, the whole family will be in dire straits.

5.) What about other members of the family?
Usually the whole family takes part in agricultural activities. This has a salubrious effect on the social fabric as everyone is important and has to perform his/her role. If the factory comes up, only one person from a family gets a job. What happens to the social position of the non-earning members? There are many many such intangible but very important human issues. Is the government even thinking about them?


People such as these farmers in Singur, who are asked to subsidize the comforts of rich people with their lives, are the ones who lose all their dignity and end up in the slums in the big metros. They are the ones who are then found in the traffic signals begging with their perennially wailing children. The beneficiaries of their sacrifices, sitting inside Tata motors' 1 lakh car, display their generosity to the world by giving the beggars a few rupees or talk about developing India by eradicating these slums. A few of these subsidized humans, who are pushed to the very edges of life's existence, join the naxal movement which bombs the market place that the beneficiaries of their sacrifice frequent in Tata's car. They could also become the ones who kidnap children for, god forbid, organ trade.

Please be aware of the facts and Stand up for the farmers of Singur. It is in the interest of respect for human rights and in your own interest too. In order for humans to claim to have evolved past the stage of animals, we need to display a certain sense of right and wrong. Animals work based only on what is good for them and what is not. To claim that humans are any different, we need to show a sense of right and wrong. It is not right to expect even one person to subsidize the comforts of another by sacrificing his/her life. When such this case, asking hundreds of people to sacrifice their right to choice of livelihood, right to dignity, right to survival so as to subsidize the cost of comfort of a few others is diabolical.

Spend some time to muse on this and do your part. For starters, watch this singur documentary on google video and get to know the facts from another perspective. Sign the singur online petition. If you have a personal web space or blog, post your thoughts on that and vow publicly that, if at all the Tata factory comes up there, you will boycott the car.

Stand up for Singur.


Reference

[1] Hindu business line report
[2] West Bengal CM statement from telegraph india
[3] Rediff report on govt's initial claim
[4] Rediff report on Government claims being busted
[5] NBA report about compensation money being swindled
[6] Rediff report on some problems faced by war widows
[7] Report on Narmada dam that touches upon fishermen

Noida Killings

Figures from Rediff indicate that at least 17 skeletons [1] of young children have been identified in the house of a Noida suburb. Apparently, the prime accused Mr. Surender has confessed [2] that he and his employer Mr. Mahendra had abducted these kids and murdered them. More skeletons are being found [3] by further searches and the number of children who met this fate could go up. Many theories have emerged on what happened to these children before their eventual death. Theories of organ trade [4] and cannibalism have been going around [5], though the police have summarily rubbished all these claims [6]. The official line is that investigations are underway and that the police have not arrived at any conclusion. Some reports talk about the surgical precision with which the bodies of children have been cut [7]. They also so tantalizingly talk about a doctor who lives next door and who was an eventually acquitted suspect in a kidney racket that rocked his hospital a few years ago [8].

Political parties have jumped into the fray and are claiming responsibility for every single progress in this case. Big politicians visit the families of dead children. Evidently, most of these are just political stunts. Apparently more than 100 children [9] have gone missing from Kanpur in the last 5 years. Our leaders are probably not even aware of this.

I am totally ashamed of this. I am ashamed to call myself a person to be from the same country. It does not matter whether the accused are found to be guilty or whether the police find a twist in the case and find someone else to be guilty. The denouement of this case is inconsequential. The fact remains that 10 year olds have been brutally assaulted and murdered. The moral corruption in the society that this single act reflects makes me shudder. What is causing all this? Does all the so called development in the country matter when its children cannot play in the streets without fear of abduction, sexual abuse and death? Or does this development and the concomitant craze for money have an invisible hand in all this?

References

[1] http://in.rediff.com/news/2007/jan/02noida.htm
[2] NDTV report
[3] Report from sify
[4] Organ trade report from Hindustan times
[5] Cannibalism report from Times of India
[6] Cannibalism report from rediff
[7] Precision in killing
[8] Reports on doctor
[9] Kanpur lost children

Ivan Avan
(A post in Tamil. Sincere apologies to those who don't understand. A small poem on the dichotomies of my life.)

Ivan sey enraan
Avan seyyathe enraan
Ivan athai iyarkai enraan
Avan athai pavam enraan

Ivan porulai thedu enraan
Avan porul nilayatrathu enraan
Ivan munneru enraan
Avan ithaiya munnetram engirai enraan

Ivan padi padi enraan
Avan sinthi sinthi enraan
Ivan ulagam unakke enraan
Avan nee oru porutte alla enraan

Ivan peraiyum pugalaiyum thedu enraan
Avan ithu un aganthayin velipaade enraan
Ivan sathipathe vaalkayin latchiyam enraan
Avan sathanaiyum porulatrathu enraan

Ivan avanai thedinaan
Avan ivanai thedinaan
Ivan avanai esinaan
Avan ivanai nagaithaan

Piragu ivan avanil ivanai paarthaan
Avanum ivanil avanai paarthan
Pinbu avane ivan endru ivan arinthaan
Ivane avan endru avanum arinthaan