23 November 2006

sound VS sight.....

sometimes i wonder whether we indians rely more on our hearing senses than our visual senses...

i have generally observed this phenomenon which is of coz quite pronounced on the roads, if not restricted to roads.... both while driving a vehicle myself or as a pedestrian . the sound stimulus it seems causes more sense of alarm than the sight of an onrushing vehicle, atleast in this respect we're quite similar to the animal herds crossing the roads who move out of the way only when u r honking like mad. when u r drivigng on indian roads u better use the horn generously, people move out of ur way immediately if u r honking continiously and if u r not , they dont seem to bother as their safety is the concern of the vehicles moving on the roads, well maybe im not an exception whne im myself crosing the roads, u can blame the condition of hte roads or the incredible bumper 2 bumper traffic in the rush hour .. but in the end if u r too concerned about sound pollution then ...my friend u seem to be in trouble..... so, keep honking!!

03 November 2006

deaths due to starvation ...

death due to undernourishment and starvation are higher in number than deaths due to killer diseases like cancer or aids or any other disease ...

of all the possible reasons hunger is the most cruel and deplorable , more so because it can be easily stopped.
when i was reading an article about hunger death , i was uderstandably getting disturbed about the stark disparity in the rich and desolate divide, esp in the africa and sub saharan countries, the pictures invoke strong feelings and i even feel guilty sometimes when im spending close to a grand or two for a meal for me and my friends.....

it was reported that there were around 800 million people in the world who are suffering due to malnutrition and Every 3.6 seconds someone dies of hunger.... who will not be shocked at those statistics when there are reports going around that countries like america have dumped some million tonnes of wheat into the sea just to keep the prices under control or that the spending on ice-cream alone among teenagers is in order of millions of USD...

when i was reading that article i was agitated and was thinking that why the hell dont the governamets of those countries do something for it ..... then the facts slowly descended upon me .... ONE FOURTH of the malnourished people in the world are in INDIA. that came as a rude shock to me , i was expecting the number to be high but not as high as 25%. even wiht all these NGO 's who create a hue and cry whenver a dam is about to be built or when land is been acquired for any companies .... why dont they do anything about it , but everyones concerned only with hype and the media interest it concernes .....

recent times we've seen all the hollywood stars clobbering for africa all they want is media attention , when is some one going to do anything material and practical to really help them ......