When they decide to drown themselves in gallons of ethanol.
When they blow rings of life away.
When they sell their soul to the craving.
What seems so right to them, the evil treat.
That walk on the beach. The game of cards.
That potluck dinner. The long train ride.
The bliss you feel - the small joys,
Don't matter to them. Not anymore.
When they begin to look like the rest of them,
It's hard to pull 'em back. Astray.
Sunday 26 April 2009
Friday 20 February 2009
Tackling the Toilet Taboo
When you wake up every morning and have a toilet to use, you should feel lucky. Four out of ten people in the world have no access to toilets. Every twenty seconds, a child dies as a result of poor sanitation. Six out of ten girls drop out from schools on reaching puberty because of lack of water. Toilets, sanitation, sanitary napkins, open defecation - these are not things we like to talk about. But it’s about time we did.
With a percussionist drumming on toilet seats, the rhythmic beat at the last year’s inaugural conference of the World Toilet Association (WTA) seemed to tuck away the cultural taboos surrounding the embarrassing act of defecation. And the UN General Assembly declaring the year 2008 the ‘International Year of Sanitation’ fuelled the restroom revolution. The figures are staggering. 2.6 billion people in the world have no access to toilets and 2.2 billion people die annually from diarrhoea. "When around 4,000 children die each day because they do not have access to these basic services, which we take for granted, something is terribly wrong," said Vanessa J. Tobin of United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).
Sanitation is not just a good idea, it's a great investment. But, the people believe that a mobile phone is a necessity, and sanitation a non-priority. If the government really wants to do something for the poor, it might as well spend on food, health, education or even roads. Why sanitation? This is the common argument used by the families living below the poverty line, who don’t want to ‘waste’ money on building a toilet. It is estimated that the cost of meeting the target of reducing by half the proportion of people without basic sanitation is about 10 billion US$ per year, from now until 2015. Dr. Shiggeru Omi of World Health Organisation (WHO) says that it isn’t as expensive as it seems. “This sum may seem a lot, but if we reflect we realise that this amount is less than one percent of world military spending in 2005; one-third of the estimated global spending on bottled water, or as much as Europeans spend on ice-creams each year!’’ "Globally, if universal sanitation were achieved by 2015, it would cost $95 billion, but it would save $660 billion," writes Rose George in her newly released book "The Big Necessity." Now this is something that should feature in every Government’s smart saving strategies.
Half of India defecates in the open. The government’s far-fetched dream is to get all these 600 million people to start using toilets by 2012. That seems like a lot of toilets to build in less than four years. But, Kurukshetra district in Haryana has proven a point - providing clean sanitation to everyone is not an impossible task. In this district, a landless labourer’s pride is the outdoor toilet. They have no money to build a door. A jute curtain or a plastic sheet does the job. But they have a constant source of water. So the toilet remains hygienic and there is no stench. The design is a simple one, easy to maintain, with a soak pit that will not pollute the water table.
The women in the Bishangarh village, who are part of the Nigrani (vigilance) Samitis, go around with torches, sticks and whistles early in the morning. If they catch anyone defecating in the open, they blow the whistle and shine the torch on the crouching figure. This embarrasses the villagers to the point that they will not repeat it. No wonder, Bishangarh has received the Nirmal Gram Puraskar, the prize instituted by the central government in recognition of villages that are free of open defecation. West Bengal is also taking the lead in initiating sanitation drives in its villages and is targeted to become the first State in the country to achieve total sanitation by 2012. The State already has 76 per cent households covered, as against 27 per cent in 2001 when the sanitation drive began. Over 90 per cent schools have sanitation and 94 per cent have safe water supply.
While we deal with the problems regarding sanitation, eco-sanitation creeps in. It is the problem of dealing efficiently and ecologically with sewer systems, wastewater, treatment and purification, which is no less serious. In the UK alone, the sewage system emits some 28.8 million tons of carbon dioxide a year. In practice, ecological sanitation includes options such as flush-free (and odour-free) urinals, separation toilets for urine and faeces, dry and composting toilets, dehydration devices for composting of faeces, use of faeces or excreta for the generation of biogas, vacuum sewers and flush systems operating on minimal amounts of water etc. As sewers become overloaded with urban development, drought strikes various regions of the earth, and potable water becomes increasingly scarce, even the flush toilet is now put into question.
Sanitation solutions brought with them challenges like failing water resources, rapid urbanisation and population increases. "Approximately 1.7 billion people, one-third of the world's population, presently live in countries that are water-stressed. This number is projected to increase to about five billion by 2025, depending on the rate of population growth. Projected climate change could further decrease streamflow and groundwater recharge" warned Tobin of the WTA. The solution may lie with the Global Dry Toilet Association, which aims at making dry toilets an essential part of sustainable development, thus securing clean waters and a healthy environment for future generations. They intend to introduce dry toilets together with controlled management of toilet waste and also aim at making people aware of the benefits of dry sanitation. But before all this action takes place, the fundamental problem of providing basic sanitation has to be dealt with.
For us, the rare occasion of using a public toilet seems irksome and sometimes, even disgusting. For someone else, using a toilet signifies health and dignity. Let us not flush and forget.
With a percussionist drumming on toilet seats, the rhythmic beat at the last year’s inaugural conference of the World Toilet Association (WTA) seemed to tuck away the cultural taboos surrounding the embarrassing act of defecation. And the UN General Assembly declaring the year 2008 the ‘International Year of Sanitation’ fuelled the restroom revolution. The figures are staggering. 2.6 billion people in the world have no access to toilets and 2.2 billion people die annually from diarrhoea. "When around 4,000 children die each day because they do not have access to these basic services, which we take for granted, something is terribly wrong," said Vanessa J. Tobin of United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).
Sanitation is not just a good idea, it's a great investment. But, the people believe that a mobile phone is a necessity, and sanitation a non-priority. If the government really wants to do something for the poor, it might as well spend on food, health, education or even roads. Why sanitation? This is the common argument used by the families living below the poverty line, who don’t want to ‘waste’ money on building a toilet. It is estimated that the cost of meeting the target of reducing by half the proportion of people without basic sanitation is about 10 billion US$ per year, from now until 2015. Dr. Shiggeru Omi of World Health Organisation (WHO) says that it isn’t as expensive as it seems. “This sum may seem a lot, but if we reflect we realise that this amount is less than one percent of world military spending in 2005; one-third of the estimated global spending on bottled water, or as much as Europeans spend on ice-creams each year!’’ "Globally, if universal sanitation were achieved by 2015, it would cost $95 billion, but it would save $660 billion," writes Rose George in her newly released book "The Big Necessity." Now this is something that should feature in every Government’s smart saving strategies.
Half of India defecates in the open. The government’s far-fetched dream is to get all these 600 million people to start using toilets by 2012. That seems like a lot of toilets to build in less than four years. But, Kurukshetra district in Haryana has proven a point - providing clean sanitation to everyone is not an impossible task. In this district, a landless labourer’s pride is the outdoor toilet. They have no money to build a door. A jute curtain or a plastic sheet does the job. But they have a constant source of water. So the toilet remains hygienic and there is no stench. The design is a simple one, easy to maintain, with a soak pit that will not pollute the water table.
The women in the Bishangarh village, who are part of the Nigrani (vigilance) Samitis, go around with torches, sticks and whistles early in the morning. If they catch anyone defecating in the open, they blow the whistle and shine the torch on the crouching figure. This embarrasses the villagers to the point that they will not repeat it. No wonder, Bishangarh has received the Nirmal Gram Puraskar, the prize instituted by the central government in recognition of villages that are free of open defecation. West Bengal is also taking the lead in initiating sanitation drives in its villages and is targeted to become the first State in the country to achieve total sanitation by 2012. The State already has 76 per cent households covered, as against 27 per cent in 2001 when the sanitation drive began. Over 90 per cent schools have sanitation and 94 per cent have safe water supply.
While we deal with the problems regarding sanitation, eco-sanitation creeps in. It is the problem of dealing efficiently and ecologically with sewer systems, wastewater, treatment and purification, which is no less serious. In the UK alone, the sewage system emits some 28.8 million tons of carbon dioxide a year. In practice, ecological sanitation includes options such as flush-free (and odour-free) urinals, separation toilets for urine and faeces, dry and composting toilets, dehydration devices for composting of faeces, use of faeces or excreta for the generation of biogas, vacuum sewers and flush systems operating on minimal amounts of water etc. As sewers become overloaded with urban development, drought strikes various regions of the earth, and potable water becomes increasingly scarce, even the flush toilet is now put into question.
Sanitation solutions brought with them challenges like failing water resources, rapid urbanisation and population increases. "Approximately 1.7 billion people, one-third of the world's population, presently live in countries that are water-stressed. This number is projected to increase to about five billion by 2025, depending on the rate of population growth. Projected climate change could further decrease streamflow and groundwater recharge" warned Tobin of the WTA. The solution may lie with the Global Dry Toilet Association, which aims at making dry toilets an essential part of sustainable development, thus securing clean waters and a healthy environment for future generations. They intend to introduce dry toilets together with controlled management of toilet waste and also aim at making people aware of the benefits of dry sanitation. But before all this action takes place, the fundamental problem of providing basic sanitation has to be dealt with.
For us, the rare occasion of using a public toilet seems irksome and sometimes, even disgusting. For someone else, using a toilet signifies health and dignity. Let us not flush and forget.
Tuesday 6 January 2009
I predict a riot....
.... in my large intestine!! Read on to know why.
It was my last weekend in the most laid-back city in the world. And I was really keen on doing something fun to make up for my extremely lazy weekends this winter. Well, I indulged in Kolkata's greatest indulgence – No prizes for guessing – Food it is.
It was Friday evening and a good friend from Hyderabad was in town. He suggested Mama Mia in Ballygunj and we landed there. A fairly big scoop of Triple Chocolate and a yummy Sizzling Brownie later, I wanted something snacky. So we went to this Azad Hind Hotel nearby, which was more like a dine-in-your-car place. I stuffed myself with a double egg roll and a bhar (earthen cup) full of thick lassi. When I got home, I topped it all with some curd rice with my favourite mango pickle!
The next morning, I was in a hurry to get to the movie theatre to catch Madagascar’s sequel. I gobbled 3 thin alu parathas with the same favourite mango pickle and some curd. Couple of hours later, I couldn’t fight the urge during the movie interval and grabbed a large butter popcorn and giant glass of Mirinda. With the satisfaction of having watched a great animation film, I headed to New Market to shop and achieve the State of Greater Gratification. Agent S wanted to pick up cakes from Nahoum & Sons, a bakery which is apparently more than 150 years old! I accompanied him there and fell prey to the idea of treating my family (and err..myself) with a pound of rich plum cake. While I was waiting to pay for it, my eyes fell on the cashew cookies. I made a packet mine. After some jewelry browsing and the-right-black-bag hunt, I convinced myself that I’ll not get to eat chaat in Calcutta till June, and should grab some immediately. Spicy puchkas went down my throat in rapid succession. Across the road, I saw a vendor and on his cart were the words ‘Kesar Kulfi’ in a dull, faded red. But suddenly the letters seemed brighter than anything else and I animatedly asked him for one. In the meanwhile, Agent S bought a masala thumsup! I tried a sip of the fancy concoction made of Thumsup, a generous dash of lime and of course a secret masala-ish ingredient – thankfully didn’t like it much, stayed away.
I got back home and my worried Amma enquired whether I had eaten lunch. “Only junk food all day? Chi chi!”, she shrieked and the dining table was soon adorned with hot rasam rice, potato curry, and cruchy appalams to go with it. Later in the evening, my parents and I were getting back home from the Hanuman Mandir. Amma expressed her burning desire to make my last weekend nicer - Sharma’s to treat ourselves to Luchi and Alur Dom! Half a shingara and some luchis got dumped in tummy and I thought I would almost burst. My helpless groan probably sounded like raucous exclamations of delight to Appa. He wanted to honour the sweet tooth I possess!! Some pretty fancy milk sandesh, rabri et al were added to my human warehouse. “That’s all I can eat today!”, I mumbled. Little did I know that I would find a bowl of delectable gaajar ka halwa staring back at me on the table. Amma gave me a wide grin. Should I? Should I not? Should I? Should I not? I knew it could leave me quite winded, but I was being a brave soul. Who can deny Gaajar ka halwa? Not me I learnt.
It was a Sunday and I got busy with the day’s paper and my hot chai, as usual. But well, what can get better than hot jalebis on a wintry morning. Sometimes, I think my Dad’s telepathic! In an effort to be a good daughter, I decided to cook and looked up some recipes online. “Mutter Paneer and Jeera Rice for lunch”, I declared. It was surprisingly good and I ate heartily, also marveling how each grain of rice and each cube of paneer had been cooked to perfection. I suddenly felt the urge to (again) seek the State of Greater Gratification and went shopping in Metro Plaza. When Agent R and I ran out of batteries, we decided to recharge ourselves in Peter Cat, one of the most popular restaurants on Park Street. What I thought would be an evening snack turned out to be a late lunch, and may I add ‘heavy’ to it! Some sweet corn soup followed by Chelo Kebab (Steamed rice topped with butter served with paneer and vegetable tikka, and not to forget the portion of stuffed capsicum!) A friend stopped at The Street in The Park hotel to pick up a salad. Minutes later, I found myself lost in a brownie swimming in oodles of hot chocolate sauce. During the cab ride back home, I was thinking how I could write a book on ‘Do-it-yourself Weight Gaining’ or maybe ‘Expand your waistline in 3 days’ and the like.
Hmmm… Have I forgotten to mention anything? Oh… I also gobbled 7 or 8 rosogollas over the weekend. I am certainly going back to college looking like one!
It was my last weekend in the most laid-back city in the world. And I was really keen on doing something fun to make up for my extremely lazy weekends this winter. Well, I indulged in Kolkata's greatest indulgence – No prizes for guessing – Food it is.
It was Friday evening and a good friend from Hyderabad was in town. He suggested Mama Mia in Ballygunj and we landed there. A fairly big scoop of Triple Chocolate and a yummy Sizzling Brownie later, I wanted something snacky. So we went to this Azad Hind Hotel nearby, which was more like a dine-in-your-car place. I stuffed myself with a double egg roll and a bhar (earthen cup) full of thick lassi. When I got home, I topped it all with some curd rice with my favourite mango pickle!
The next morning, I was in a hurry to get to the movie theatre to catch Madagascar’s sequel. I gobbled 3 thin alu parathas with the same favourite mango pickle and some curd. Couple of hours later, I couldn’t fight the urge during the movie interval and grabbed a large butter popcorn and giant glass of Mirinda. With the satisfaction of having watched a great animation film, I headed to New Market to shop and achieve the State of Greater Gratification. Agent S wanted to pick up cakes from Nahoum & Sons, a bakery which is apparently more than 150 years old! I accompanied him there and fell prey to the idea of treating my family (and err..myself) with a pound of rich plum cake. While I was waiting to pay for it, my eyes fell on the cashew cookies. I made a packet mine. After some jewelry browsing and the-right-black-bag hunt, I convinced myself that I’ll not get to eat chaat in Calcutta till June, and should grab some immediately. Spicy puchkas went down my throat in rapid succession. Across the road, I saw a vendor and on his cart were the words ‘Kesar Kulfi’ in a dull, faded red. But suddenly the letters seemed brighter than anything else and I animatedly asked him for one. In the meanwhile, Agent S bought a masala thumsup! I tried a sip of the fancy concoction made of Thumsup, a generous dash of lime and of course a secret masala-ish ingredient – thankfully didn’t like it much, stayed away.
I got back home and my worried Amma enquired whether I had eaten lunch. “Only junk food all day? Chi chi!”, she shrieked and the dining table was soon adorned with hot rasam rice, potato curry, and cruchy appalams to go with it. Later in the evening, my parents and I were getting back home from the Hanuman Mandir. Amma expressed her burning desire to make my last weekend nicer - Sharma’s to treat ourselves to Luchi and Alur Dom! Half a shingara and some luchis got dumped in tummy and I thought I would almost burst. My helpless groan probably sounded like raucous exclamations of delight to Appa. He wanted to honour the sweet tooth I possess!! Some pretty fancy milk sandesh, rabri et al were added to my human warehouse. “That’s all I can eat today!”, I mumbled. Little did I know that I would find a bowl of delectable gaajar ka halwa staring back at me on the table. Amma gave me a wide grin. Should I? Should I not? Should I? Should I not? I knew it could leave me quite winded, but I was being a brave soul. Who can deny Gaajar ka halwa? Not me I learnt.
It was a Sunday and I got busy with the day’s paper and my hot chai, as usual. But well, what can get better than hot jalebis on a wintry morning. Sometimes, I think my Dad’s telepathic! In an effort to be a good daughter, I decided to cook and looked up some recipes online. “Mutter Paneer and Jeera Rice for lunch”, I declared. It was surprisingly good and I ate heartily, also marveling how each grain of rice and each cube of paneer had been cooked to perfection. I suddenly felt the urge to (again) seek the State of Greater Gratification and went shopping in Metro Plaza. When Agent R and I ran out of batteries, we decided to recharge ourselves in Peter Cat, one of the most popular restaurants on Park Street. What I thought would be an evening snack turned out to be a late lunch, and may I add ‘heavy’ to it! Some sweet corn soup followed by Chelo Kebab (Steamed rice topped with butter served with paneer and vegetable tikka, and not to forget the portion of stuffed capsicum!) A friend stopped at The Street in The Park hotel to pick up a salad. Minutes later, I found myself lost in a brownie swimming in oodles of hot chocolate sauce. During the cab ride back home, I was thinking how I could write a book on ‘Do-it-yourself Weight Gaining’ or maybe ‘Expand your waistline in 3 days’ and the like.
Hmmm… Have I forgotten to mention anything? Oh… I also gobbled 7 or 8 rosogollas over the weekend. I am certainly going back to college looking like one!
Monday 5 January 2009
Guppy, The Brown Guy & The Indians
Statutory Warning: This is a result of one whole month in Kolkata and in an ad agency. Enter at your own risk.
There lived a man named Guppy Ram in a remote village near Puri. He loved a thing called Papeto more than anything else in the world. But the Jains in the village hated it and wanted to get rid of it. So he decided to change the way Papeto looked. So that they never find it and hence can never destroy it.
Guppy Ram sought the help of a brown guy who sprouted a white moustache often. This brown guy with the help of his hot Indian frens disguised Papeto and gave him a complete makeover. The Jains never found Papeto and Guppy Ram was elated. But then, Orissa got flooded and Puri got filled with water. This led to the birth of Pani Puri!
[A few months later]
Guppy Ram was really sad and remained chup after that disaster. So Pani puri is called Gup-Chup in Orissa. And oh.. Guppy Ram was obese... Probably why in North India, they call him Gol-Guppa!
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