Our Progress: Good or Bad

I travel by trains everyday. Today it got me thinking about what India would be like without this tremendous medium of transportation. I don't know much about the period when the British ruled India but I thank them for providing education, judiciary, transportation and technology to us. We can't imagine what our country would be like without this progress.
But it also holds a counter view. What if the British had never ruled over India. We might have become independent of the world. Right now we all follow the British legacy, be it the education system, the transportation or the judiciary. Even our economy has major contributions from foreign countries mainly due to offshore work provided due to our ease with the English language. Maybe we would be like Japan or China, independent and sustaining our own economy. One wonders.

Progress now seems to be coming at a snails pace in India. Sure we have a booming economy to talk about. But that seems only in the urban areas. Rural areas have always been ignored. Only the progress of the people of the country can result in the progress of the country. Also we are too selfish to consider of the progress of the country. I don't mean about things like working for your country not for a foreign country and all that stuff. Working depends on an individual and if he wants to earn money it is in his right to do so. But one of the things that I mean is the cleanliness. We Indians keep our houses spic and span, but empty the garbage on the streets. Education and progress does not have meaning until and unless it is utilized. Somehow we have lost civic sense along the way. Corruption is the major force which is eating away at the progress of the country. In fact, it is considered as a norm in most of the government offices.

Frankly, I don't see any solutions for all these problems. India seems to be trying to become a country that could have been but just isn't. Well, too bad Adbul Kalam. Your vision 2020 just doesn't seem possible.

Men of honor

This post could be considered as an appeal maybe. It is with reference to the atrocities against women especially in the city and the country, whether it be the Juhu molestation case, rape of tourists in the country, child molestation, female infanticide or eve teasing.

Journalists and women groups seem to generalize this disgusting behavior with all the men of the country. Any article about such incidents talk about men being unable to control their instincts. The articles seem to reflect that all men are evil monsters incapable of respecting women.

I would like to remind them that men of honor still exist. There still are men who respect women. In the Juhu case, a lot of people who helped the women were men. Yes, there are also men who are perverts. Especially seen eve teasing in trains and buses. For them women are just objects. Many of them do seem to come from parts of the country where women are suppressed. So seeing women participating shoulder to shoulder with men is somewhat unacceptable to them. Unfortunately nothing much can be done against such people.

So an appeal again. Men with values do exist. So next time we generalize, please give a thought to the good guys as well.

If cold is so common why is there no cure?

I've been down with the common cold for about a week now. All the symptoms, sneezing, coughing, body ache, head ache, even fever. So if cold is so common that many of us get sick from it every time the temperature changes, why is there no perfect cure?

The reason is that the cold virus mutates every time. It means that if we create a cure for it one time. The next strain of virus will be immune to it. Nature is so interesting that it has given resistance to every living being on this planet. It is like we get inoculated against viruses like polio, hepatitis and stuff, in which we actually allow our body to be attacked by a small dose of them. The common cold virus is smart enough to mutate.

So how to protect ourselves from the common cold? As they say prevention is better than cure. It may sound stupid to receive advice from a guy who throws caution to the wind in such matters but best way is to restrict cold water intake and to drink purified water. And even after this if we get a cold, as we will, the best way is to expect it to remain for a week. So get your handkerchiefs and tissue papers out. Rest and chicken soup can help a lot. Chicken soup contains a mucus-thinning amino acid (got that from the internet :D). Nasal decongestants can be used to get relief from a blocked nose (like I am having right now).

Oh, I forgot there is another way to get relief from the common cold. Share it with your enemies (or friends) with a handshake ;P