« February 2006 | Main | May 2006 »
April 29, 2006
damn the anti-dam
a cloth billboard in matunga [central bombay] displays the current sentiments of many or is it few?..for the dams being built in the narmada river, one of the largest projects. three states are involved, the rehabilitation has been wanting! displaced were supposed to be given comparable land, a minority lucked out while many have received nothing or been given unagricultural land with no water sources or other arrangements.
the narmada bachao andolan started with opposing dams, large dams are ineffective they say...nearly thirty years they opposed but have since shifted their focus a bit to campaign for the displaced. egotistical activists, corrupt politicians and shortsighted beaurocrats have played their own games. sure, the construction contractors must have pocketed a bunch of money as well...
where we do we get energy to feed the growing millions? these critics have no answer..they protest for nuclear energy, oil is way too expensive, you rely on the middleeast mafia or african anarchies. the govt subsidizes petrol/gas here as the citizens dont want to pay the real cost for it. local coal found in bihar is atrocious, by the time it reaches the power plants, its mixed with stones which damages the turbine blades. no wonder that couple of indian states import coal from australia and elsewhere.
and i hear our fellows screaming that we should conserve...conserve what?..there are already power cuts..are you telling me to stop running that ceiling fan i have on other times of the day?..are you telling me to run my laptop with a handcrank attached to it? pah..send them to las vegas.
solar and wind are not economical yet..do they even know how much thermal power plants pollute? and what about the bad coal, the transmission loss, the transmission thefts and the generating efficiency?
water is only commodity we have that we own irrespective of whether we are dependent on the vagaries of nature. we pay for outside coal, uranium we beg from others and we are extorted for oil.
big problems..but armchair critics focus solely against construction of dams. why dont ya focus on rehabilitation? yeah i understand the NIMBY phenomenon and unlike other plants i cant move dams to wherever..have to build on then on the rivers.
waters when we get in excess runsoff to the ocean..this water is so valuable for it to be wasted like this. fresh rainwater is scarse especially with exponential growth in populations. small dams cannot generate enough energy and hence large ones are required. yes, need to diversify the energy generation.
pah!..these activists at times need to take a hike.
Posted by ananth at 02:33 PM
April 09, 2006
unnikrishnan at shanmukhananda hall
unnikrishnan [carnatic vocalist] gave a very good performance at shanmukhananda hall, his accompanists however took the concert to a more higher level. they were brilliant especially the mridamgams and ghatam's jugalbandis and play alongs. s varadharajan on violin, sri tiruvayoor vaidyanathan on mridangam and s kartik on ghatam were fantastic.
the concert stretched for four hours..pretty long as requests came coming in..
the setlist is as follows:
1: ragam nattai - varnam - parmeshwar bhagavathar
2: ragam gurjari - krithi - varalandu - thyagaraja
3: ragam panthuvarali - sambo mahadeva - thyagaraja
4: ragam bahudari - alaapaanai/krithi - sadananda thandavam
5: ragam ananda bhairavi - krithi - jagadamba - shyma sastri
6: ragam kuntalavarali - bogindra shayinam
7: ragam thodi -
8: tukada
9: sloka - ragamaalika
10: song - tamil - on krishna
11: ragam - sri chakram bhaje
12: song - malayalam - on guruvayoorappan
13: ragam nattai - kurum unrai illai
14: song - chinna chinna kileye - bharathiyar
15: venkatachala vaikunta kulabasa
16: javali - ragam khamas - janna ro
17: song - hindi - hey govinda hey gopala
18: ragam - hamsanadi - thillana
19: mangalam
Posted by ananth at 10:55 PM
political rally or gathering, sleep at the office!
so the political party big leader comes to town. ya'll block the main road and the busiest intersection, erect stages and what not hours in advance..the photoop facing the road statue cant be missed, the ideal location as a backdrop for this leader.
too bad for you office goer and the vendors on the street stalls. shut them hours ahead, move to a different place, we dont care of your daily earnings..the regular flower vendor who sits in the footpath decides to pack up and head home, yesterdays rice and left overs, no food money for today.
the sign thats there for construction projects sometime..'inconvience is regretted' is missing! argh! would be nice to have this atleast. maybe i should get it from the perpectually dugged up roads not too far away..
the midafternoon april sun scorches, the security is tight and the leader fashionably shows up two hours late. the mutual appreciation club precedes his speech, he rails against whoever, touches on a couple of current insecurities and then rallies the faithful..who else would be present in this busy monday morning?
Posted by ananth at 02:12 PM