F***

I met two friends this weekend.
It had been quite some time since I saw them.
Both had come down from US to India on vacation.

I noticed both of them using a four lettered F word very frequently.
When I knew them before, the word was not so common in their dialect.

It was not the same word used by both though; they were two different words.
One of the four lettered F word was 'Fish'.

Improper Initial Perceptions

A florist shop in front of a wedding hall made me think “Wow! What a strategic place to open a florist shop. Wedding guests can buy bouquet in front of the wedding hall and present it to the hosts.”

But then I realized that not many wedding guests would know about the florist shop in front of the wedding hall and hence they would have already brought wedding gifts along with them to the wedding.

So its not such a strategic place after all…!

* * *

I noticed a water tanker ahead of me, while driving my car, spilling bucketful of water every minute onto the median through the outlet hose, as the tanker chugged along the bumpy road. It made me think what a waste it is to the owner of the water tanker or the company that owns it to have lost so much water in every transit.

But then I realized that the real loss is not to the water tanker or the company that owns it but to the customer - to whom the tanker is heading - who has actually paid for the tanker full of water! So if a customer pays Rs 500 for a tanker full of water, by the time the tanker comes to the customer’s place, the tanker will be about three-fourths full of water and the customer wont even now it!

So all that water onto the median was actually paid by the customer of the company that owns the water tanker…!

* * *

There is a shop at the end of our road which is a part of a 3-storey building, and time and again the shopkeepers need to switch on the water pump to pump water from the basement sump all the way to the tank three floors above. Extremely irresponsible citizens that they are, not a day passes without them switching the pump off before water overflows from the overhead tank. The ingenious architect of the building has so placed the overhead tank that whenever the water overflows from the tank, the water spills directly onto the pavement - where the shop customers are standing - and also a little bit onto the road. The ingenious architect along with the irresponsible shopkeepers thereby has created occasionally an artificial water falls for all passers-by to see and feel!

So, there I am again, thinking what a waste, to see all that good potable water getting spilt onto the road for no reason.

But then I realized that although the water from the tank is spilling onto the road, it is actually not joining the drainage water of the gutter. Due to the slope of the road – should I say architected by another ingenious engineer? – the water just stays there at the edge of the pavement, stagnant. This puddle of water either evaporates by itself or gets absorbed by the earth to add onto the ground water.

So, although it seemed that overflow of the tank was causing wastage of water, it, in fact, was a boon to the ground water table, financed by the shopkeepers!

* * *

Thought on the Mumbai Siege

How can anyone be convinced that killing people is for the good...?
Isnt it common sense that making people suffer is a bad thing to do...?
Arent we all aware of what is right and what is wrong, and that that is wrong is not to be done nor followed...?
Do not we have enough issues to battle as it is, of survival amidst depleting resources, amidst irrational weather behaviors, amidst hunger and unknown diseases instead of killing fellow human beings for two-pence attention and two-day glory...?

There have been many blog posts on the Mumbai Siege, but I liked Krish Ashok's the best. Read them here and here.

The night when the Universe smiled...

Source: http://www.indianaturewatch.net/displayimage.php?id=69921

Around the world:
http://www.canberratimes.com.au/news/local/news/general/over-the-moon-the-gods-are-smiling/1375482.aspx