tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-60813753769755635202024-03-19T06:18:10.528+05:30Hari Batti's Green Light DhabaEnvironment, Economics and Outrage every Tuesday and ThursdayHari Battihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14789125444941418973noreply@blogger.comBlogger244125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6081375376975563520.post-20194957109917500412011-06-16T23:49:00.000+05:302011-06-16T23:49:50.319+05:30Chutti!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOpulXDSK4XQe0ZI_CfhwH81jXaiP3j2KJTiK2kG62fZGFVzhAK7Nb5mLaG5TT6yqSKp_WdUc0IvutUEYOxswqHQEN3aY5g23wQl1U6NVihZOm-w-VLzI7Hdn4TJ1sT_mlL3Krg__yHFA/s1600/green+star.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="162" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOpulXDSK4XQe0ZI_CfhwH81jXaiP3j2KJTiK2kG62fZGFVzhAK7Nb5mLaG5TT6yqSKp_WdUc0IvutUEYOxswqHQEN3aY5g23wQl1U6NVihZOm-w-VLzI7Hdn4TJ1sT_mlL3Krg__yHFA/s200/green+star.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">For nearly two years, I've been writing on the environment, economics and outrage every week, at least twice a week. At first it was a struggle to find new topics, but now I think I could write a post a day, if I had the time--once you get started, you realize 'green' touches every aspect of our lives.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I've had a wonderful time and I've learned a lot about what there is to worry about, and a little about what we might do to improve the bad situation we have inherited and made. But now other obligations, commitments and interests are calling. It's time for me to take a break, a sabbatical, a chutti.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Though I won't be cooking up any essays at the dhaba for a while, I will open the place up for guest chefs. The Green Light Dhaba is a pretty good blog machine, and it has consistent readership. If you have something green and interesting that you want to share, look </span><a href="http://www.greenlightdhaba.org/2010/07/help-wanted-dhaba-is-hiring.html"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">here</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> for what we are interested in and how to contact us. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And if you are new here and want to learn more about green issues in India in particular, take some time to look through the pages at the top of the dhaba. We've published close to 250 posts and and many more links to other information and resources.</span></div>Hari Battihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14789125444941418973noreply@blogger.com182tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6081375376975563520.post-88339640145769204222011-06-13T07:57:00.000+05:302011-06-13T07:57:43.433+05:30Remembering Shanno Khatun and the need for non-violent schools<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I've taken the past couple of weeks off to visit my Mrs. Batti's side of the family and to think about the future of the Dhaba. During that time, all kinds of corruption and abuse of power have been in the news-- a telecom minister stealing phone lines for his brother's business, a religious figure threatening to train thousands of 'nationalist' (read: RSS) youth in how to beat up the police , and of course the police tear gassing thousands of peaceful protesters. Where to start? I'm not even going to try. Instead, I'm going to write about a story that </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">wasn't</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> in the news these past few weeks. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Two years have passed since eleven year old </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Shanno Khatun died in an MCD school after allegedly being abused by her teacher. A month or two back, a </span><a href="http://judesessions.blogspot.com/2011/06/seasons-keep-changing.html"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">blogger I respect</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> suggested I write about the case, and the fact that it seemed to be going no place fast. I agreed, but found it hard to know where to start. </span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">For those who don't recall the details of the story, here's an excerpt from 2009 article in the </span><i><a href="http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2011-04-23/delhi/29466206_1_shanno-mcd-girls-primary-school-corporal-punishment"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Times of India</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">:</span></i></span><br />
<blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Shanno was allegedly made to stand out in the sun for more than an hour after she failed to recite the English alphabets properly. The teacher had allegedly made her squat like a hen and put bricks on her shoulders. The girl had started vomiting and was rushed to a hospital, where she slipped into a coma and died two days later. </span></span></blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Here's something from a piece in </span><i><a href="http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1895495,00.html"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Time</span></span></a></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">:</span><br />
<blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">[Shanno's father, Ayub Khan] gets emotional as he describes Shanno's last hours. "She kept on asking for water but the teacher ignored her," Ayub describes what he says as his daughter's suffering. Her two sisters, Saima and Sehnaz, say that Shanno pleaded with the teacher that she would learn her alphabet properly after lunch, but was ignored. (The parents of several other children at the same school say their children describe the incident in similar terms.) Shanno's sisters Saima and Sehnaz then ran to get their mother. "We thought our sister was dead," Saima said. When their mother arrived, she found Shanno lying on the ground, Khan says, and by the time Shanno was taken home she had slipped into a coma. He breaks down while relating Shanno's last words to her mother: "I never want to go to school again." Shanno died the next day, on April 17. </span></blockquote><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Shanno's t</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">eacher </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><a href="http://www.hindustantimes.com/Shanno-s-teacher-claims-innocence/Article1-401879.aspx"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">denied any wrong doing</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">. </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In July, 2009, the </span><a href="http://www.indiaedunews.net/Delhi/Shanno_died_of_epilepsy,_police_tell_court_8757/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">police found that Shanno died of epilepsy</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">, though there was a dissenting opinion given by the Delhi Commission for the Protection of Child Rights. Shanno's parents have denied she even had epilepsy. </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sudden_unexpected_death_in_epilepsy"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sudden Unexpected Death in Epilepsy </span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">is something that very rarely happens in childhood; it is typically something adults with severe epilepsy worry about. Children, on the other hand, are more vulnerable than adults to </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heat_illness"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">heat stroke</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">, especially in the kind of weather we find during April in Delhi. . </span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In May, the </span><a href="http://www.indianexpress.com/news/shanno-case-hc-notice-to-govt/454579/0"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Delhi High Court finally took up the matter</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">, demanding, among other things, that the Delhi government and MCD explain why corporal punishment is widespread, in spite of it being banned. </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">Where it will go from here, I don't know. I'm neither a legal expert nor a doctor. I do hope justice is done in this case, because to deny justice to the weakest among us sends a powerfully toxic message. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But I also hope a larger point is not lost in the heat generated by this case. Corporal punishment in schools is not bad only because it can be, on rare occasions, deadly. It's bad because in almost every case, it undermines learning. </span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A year after Shanno's teacher was cleared, <i>Outlook</i> ran this piece by an MCD school teacher who argued that, "</span><a href="http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?265985"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">a slap or two doesn't hurt.</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">" It is a defense of corporal punishment, but you can tell it is written by someone who is conflicted about the issue, because there is frustration and ambivalence throughout: </span><br />
<blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">...the children who come to study here are from an economic strata where the parents double up as domestic help or daily-wage labourers. And they have only one desire—to make their children literate...We occasionally have to slap them so that they can understand the importance of coming to school on time. It is for their welfare that we have to resort to such disciplinary measures, otherwise they won’t study at all. I know slapping is not a solution, but how else do you ensure some discipline in their lives?</span></span></blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The job of the MCD teacher, the job of our schools in general, is extraordinarily difficult. But this teacher is right about one thing: slapping is not a solution. If we are only able to motivate children to come to school on time by slapping them, then I suggest we agree to let them come late until teachers, parents, and community members can collectively think of an approach that does not require violence.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I know many of us can point to an effective teacher who resorted to the occasional slap. But in almost every case, I would guess that the teacher was actually effective for reasons other than violence. Knowledge, and the desire and ability to think, are simply not things we can beat into children. Respect nurtures learning and thinking; fear spoils it. </span><br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtLLOkTpgcHotNRVwss7tm6-9aD8kcv8GZoRGe69sn3CJFm_1hA-uKQMtyr1oF6FtL5fXvP0W5h7eM-8ihmlJCxGOH_QzA_Nd2TQZyLqbWsZdOFVsbPwqftjM8hwQvY5mI1TIZkLGw5u0/s1600/students.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="176" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtLLOkTpgcHotNRVwss7tm6-9aD8kcv8GZoRGe69sn3CJFm_1hA-uKQMtyr1oF6FtL5fXvP0W5h7eM-8ihmlJCxGOH_QzA_Nd2TQZyLqbWsZdOFVsbPwqftjM8hwQvY5mI1TIZkLGw5u0/s200/students.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">No slapping allowed!</td></tr>
</tbody></table><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">How to make our schools truly effective will take a lot of thinking and a lot of discussion--and probably a lot more resources. It will be worth the effort, because the environmental crisis looming in India--falling water tables-rising fuel prices-deteriorating farmland-changing climate and extreme weather--could easily lead to widespread famine and social breakdown if we do not see some very impressive problem solving over the next few generations. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We need to train a generation of students--in all our our schools--who know how to think well and understand the problems we all face. It won't be easy. But making real the courts' ban on violence in our schools is a good place to start.</span><br />
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</span></div>Hari Battihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14789125444941418973noreply@blogger.com36tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6081375376975563520.post-28754038669794731702011-05-26T08:15:00.000+05:302011-05-26T08:15:54.420+05:30More lessons from the Commonwealth Games<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Locking up Suresh Kalmadi may be satisfying, but it doesn't fix what was wrong with the CWG</b></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Former Commonwealth Game Head <a href="http://www.pbd.in/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=14277:kalmadis-jail-stay-extended&catid=2:metro-news&Itemid=4">S</a><a href="http://www.pbd.in/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=14277:kalmadis-jail-stay-extended&catid=2:metro-news&Itemid=4">uresh Kalmadi has spent a lot of time in jail lately.</a>. It's tempting to think that justice is finally being done. And maybe it is--to a degree. After all, corruption was one of the things that we all complained about during the CWG. It's good to see some kind of action being taken, even if it is after the fact.</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">But before we revise our thinking about the CWG to something like 'all's well that ends well,' we should take a walk through CP. It's a mess because the work wasn't properly done and now those streets need to be dug up so the job can be finished. </div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhP3s3BWpeNAUJ5rwO7Y5RB-EYR0gtl6suLmKUj-KRUEhA7SpllgoQcDy1ssfYW2gRx2iD2u6q-TBQHmqPH4EyX2IRSCAqrwkrCwOfhh8zI_DgzE1acwN86sghfdP_Mavao8xp_gvzP6O0/s1600/Photo0068.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhP3s3BWpeNAUJ5rwO7Y5RB-EYR0gtl6suLmKUj-KRUEhA7SpllgoQcDy1ssfYW2gRx2iD2u6q-TBQHmqPH4EyX2IRSCAqrwkrCwOfhh8zI_DgzE1acwN86sghfdP_Mavao8xp_gvzP6O0/s640/Photo0068.jpg" width="480" /> </a> </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6_8COCQKztri0ez18V9gsFFtFSukTG9gkQcCbKIYMCWz5KiQWZl_Ao95c5vMctE9jW5pv0lPk4j9TChQywy-kiNXIhku20196EjPW0ZNmhhYmC6UPKSW0nxAfKroUb7_EPkhJwtDLQf0/s1600/Photo0070.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6_8COCQKztri0ez18V9gsFFtFSukTG9gkQcCbKIYMCWz5KiQWZl_Ao95c5vMctE9jW5pv0lPk4j9TChQywy-kiNXIhku20196EjPW0ZNmhhYmC6UPKSW0nxAfKroUb7_EPkhJwtDLQf0/s640/Photo0070.jpg" width="480" /></a></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">CP reminds us that the corruption we saw during the CWG was not just about expensive rolls of toilet paper; it was about infrastructure that wasn't built right. Most of those problems won't surface for years.</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Take a walk along your local nallah, drink unfiltered DJB water for a week, or visit your local government school, and you'll be reminded that the CWG was also about missed opportunities. We have a lot of new flyovers and stadiums in Delhi. But millions of Delhi residents still don't get reliable, safe drinking water. We may be covering a few more drains, but the water running through them and into the Yamuna is still poisonous. We can't enforce child labour laws effectively, and middle class residents continue to avoid sending their children to government schools. </div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Fixing our water delivery system, cleaning our river, taking care of our children properly would all take crores and crores of rupees--some things just cost money. We chose not to do those things so that we could have a World Class Sporting Event. In and of itself, that choice was not literally corrupt, but it was unethical, and it will cost us dearly in the long run. Let's hope we don't make the same mistake again.</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><i><br />
</i></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><i>For more on this, read our <a href="http://www.greenlightdhaba.org/p/cwg.html">CWG page.</a></i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6_8COCQKztri0ez18V9gsFFtFSukTG9gkQcCbKIYMCWz5KiQWZl_Ao95c5vMctE9jW5pv0lPk4j9TChQywy-kiNXIhku20196EjPW0ZNmhhYmC6UPKSW0nxAfKroUb7_EPkhJwtDLQf0/s1600/Photo0070.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><br />
</a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6_8COCQKztri0ez18V9gsFFtFSukTG9gkQcCbKIYMCWz5KiQWZl_Ao95c5vMctE9jW5pv0lPk4j9TChQywy-kiNXIhku20196EjPW0ZNmhhYmC6UPKSW0nxAfKroUb7_EPkhJwtDLQf0/s1600/Photo0070.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><br />
</a></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6_8COCQKztri0ez18V9gsFFtFSukTG9gkQcCbKIYMCWz5KiQWZl_Ao95c5vMctE9jW5pv0lPk4j9TChQywy-kiNXIhku20196EjPW0ZNmhhYmC6UPKSW0nxAfKroUb7_EPkhJwtDLQf0/s1600/Photo0070.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><br />
</a></div></div>Hari Battihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14789125444941418973noreply@blogger.com66tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6081375376975563520.post-88144066621888579802011-05-24T08:15:00.000+05:302011-05-24T08:15:27.510+05:30The (not so) surprising truth about what motivates us<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Why do we do the things we do? Corporate ideologists tell us we are motivated by money and the stuff it buys. And too often we believe them. That's why we have green ambassadors like Priyanka Chopra <a href="http://www.greenlightdhaba.org/2011/03/priyanka-chopra-do-we-really-need-role.html">giving out cash prizes</a> to motivate green activists. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The problem with the corporate understanding of the world is that it leads us down an unsustainable road. We'll eat up our land and the people who live on it, until there is nothing left. What happens then is ugly--and probably violent. At her book launch last Friday, <a href="http://www.outlookindia.com/peoplehome2.aspx?author=arundhati%20roy&pid=4112">Arundhati Roy</a> argued that since since the Indian state and corporations have no other countries to colonize, they have turned inward and made colonies out of the interior--it's a form of self-cannibalism. And in some cases, violence is met with violence. It's not a new argument, but she makes it in a compelling manner. By the way, <a href="http://www.indiatogether.org/opinions/psainath/">P. Sainath</a> understands this question from a different angle, but he sees a similar dynamic.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">That's all very depressing, but it leaves us to wonder: is there any hope? Is there a way the world could change which does require the barrel of a gun to impose it? When it comes to the ground realities we face, I just don't know. And this short essay is not going to try to get into speculation about how change might or might not happen. I'll just say that I take it for granted that any change will require a massive movement of people and a rejection of the idea that people are motivated primarily by the drive to get money and stuff. (It will also, by the way, require the rejection of the idea--historically favoured by some on the left--that people are motivated by being told what to do!)</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I've always believed that once people have achieved enough to insure their survival, that other factors come into play. I think people do things because we care about power, autonomy, and the good feeling we get when we master something. I think we do things because love and belonging feel good--that's where duty comes in, by the way. I think we do things because we like to have fun. Sure, new things are fun to have--and having new stuff may make us feel powerful. But there have always been sustainable ways to feel powerful, loved or to have fun in the world; people were basically the same social animals we are today before we had a hyper-consumer culture, and we can go back to that way of being more easily than we think. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It turns out I'm not the only one who think this. There are even some corporate types who have realized that if they want to motivate people, money is not necessarily the best way. This animated video does not really get into the way a sustainable world might look. But it does explain why people might well enjoy living in one. Do watch it. It will give you something to think about.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><object height="385" width="640"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/u6XAPnuFjJc&hl=en_US&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/u6XAPnuFjJc&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="640" height="385"></embed></object></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Video from <a href="http://www.karmatube.org/">KarmaTube</a></span><br />
</div>Hari Battihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14789125444941418973noreply@blogger.com87tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6081375376975563520.post-9072154622728289322011-05-19T18:01:00.000+05:302011-05-19T18:01:55.656+05:30Really Stupid Greenwash: Budweiser's grow a beard, save water campaign<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://t0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQtT_pywi_MPBAXmRcaVDCgguPP4v0LSuXYedsh50qv3hy3kS3b" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://t0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQtT_pywi_MPBAXmRcaVDCgguPP4v0LSuXYedsh50qv3hy3kS3b" width="287" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; line-height: 16px;">We use 1,500 gallons of water to make </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; line-height: 16px;">one 32 gallon barrel of beer!</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The American beer company Anheuser-Busch, makers of Budweiser, is urging American men to grow a beard between now and World Environmental Day on June 5. According to Budweiser, the average American man uses 5 gallons (almost 20 litres) of water each time he shaves. They estimate that their 'grow a beard campaign' can save a million gallons of water.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I first heard of this campaign as an advertisement on Onion News Network. A husky American guy was out fishing in a motor powered boat, urging men to stop shaving. I thought it was a joke, but it's not--you can read about it </span><a href="http://www.mnn.com/money/sustainable-business-practices/blogs/save-water-grow-a-beard"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">here</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">. You can pledge your support on the Budweiser </span><a href="http://www.facebook.com/Budweiser"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">facebook page</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This is the worst kind of green wash, because it makes people believe they are doing something, when they are not. Sure we need to save water. And yes, shaving does require water. But so do a lot of things in life that we do every day. Why not stop doing them? </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When he heard of this campaign, my 11 year old sun suggested that American men give up bathing and washing their clothes from now until June 5. That would be smelly, but it would certainly save more water than not shaving. Alternatively, since it takes a huge amount of water to grow and process food, American men could give up eating potato chips for the next few weeks--that would be healthier--and I'll bet it would save a lot of water. Really committed men could simply go on a three week fast. (Sorry, but you'll die if you actually stop drinking water, so I don't recommend that, though it would save a lot of water...). </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The problem is that real change--the kind of change the planet needs--will require more than feel good symbolic steps. We need to change the way we live--every day. Shave, if you want, but don't use 19 litres of water when you do it--simply turn off the tap between strokes. Take a bucket bath. Use the water you rinse your clothes with to wash the next load--that kind of thing. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Even more important, we need to make some big changes in things that we don't often think about when we think about water. Like the food we eat. Long grain rice, for example, uses much, much more water than traditional millets. Actually, wheat uses a lot of water also. Far more water is used by food production than by toilets and bathing. And then you have our modern consumer society. Those blue jeans you are wearing? They took 6800 litres to make; an automobile takes nearly 1,50,000 litres to produce! (Figures at </span><a href="http://www.treehugger.com/files/2009/06/how-many-gallons-of-water.php"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Treehugger</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">; use </span><a href="http://www.unitsconversion.com.ar/volumeunitsconversion/gallon-litre.htm"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">this site</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> to convert gallons to litres).</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The purveyors of greenwash don't want you to change the things that matter, because that would mean you might consume less. They know many people around the world are profoundly worried about the way things are going. They want to help ease our minds; otherwise we might use our minds to figure out a new way to live.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">By the way: the makers of Budweiser beer know that a </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 16px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">32 gallon barrel of beer takes 1,500 gallons of water to make (see that Treehugger link for the details). In other words, if you give up one 330 ml Budweiser, so save 15 litres of water--or just about 4 gallons, which is almost as much as you'll save by not shaving. And if you forgo a big 650 ml bottle of beer, well, you've practically saved the world!</span></span></div>Hari Battihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14789125444941418973noreply@blogger.com43tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6081375376975563520.post-62051614254967711892011-05-17T18:02:00.000+05:302011-05-17T18:02:22.901+05:30Tailor Made Green Jeans<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhK0J_IuPQATuSV4HYXfjtuLKfRouXdfEgO1BFB5oqw03nhwWEm_ECDq1Op19MPBnwgVlZ4aKlVGFg0oDX8g-F6pKCD_aOdTLeaoS8xdQwU8Ufp8I-EKnL7iFnPNyxuliRgMsA5X-wbblo/s1600/Image0332.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhK0J_IuPQATuSV4HYXfjtuLKfRouXdfEgO1BFB5oqw03nhwWEm_ECDq1Op19MPBnwgVlZ4aKlVGFg0oDX8g-F6pKCD_aOdTLeaoS8xdQwU8Ufp8I-EKnL7iFnPNyxuliRgMsA5X-wbblo/s320/Image0332.jpg" width="240" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Tailor made jeans: half the price, twice the green</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If you are in the market for a new pair of jeans, you have many choices. You can spend a few thousand rupees on a pair of branded jeans from a high end show room; you can troll the export surplus in Sarojini Nagar market. Or you can have a pair stitched for you by a tailor.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If you don't care about politics or price, then buy the Levis from the Levi store. Or choose another brand--it really doesn't matter too much. They are all made in similar places, by factories with workers who are paid similar amounts. I couldn't find numbers on India, but by the time jeans get from the factory where they are made to the US, their total cost is about $7.50 (Rs. 340 ). Of that, just under $2.00 (Rs. 90) goes to labour; about $3.00 (Rs. 135) goes to cloth. The rest goes to shipping, taxes, etc. I'm guessing the numbers in India are similar. You can read all about it in an article called "<a href="http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2010/03/how_much_does_a_pair_of_jeans.html">Global Poverty and the Cost of a Pair of Jeans.</a>" (Of course if we figured in the true cost of the environmental destruction that comes from shipping jeans all over the world, the price would be significantly higher.) </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">That pair of basic jeans that cost $7.50 to make and ship goes on to sell in the market for $20-$40 (Rs. 900-1800). Where does that extra money go? A lot of places: the jean company makes lots of profits; the retailer takes a large share, there is transportation within the country once the jeans arrive on the dock.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If you only want to save money, and you wear a common size, the cheapest bet is to hit a market like Sarojini Nagar. But if you are looking to make a green choice, then have your jeans tailor made. In <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #222222; line-height: 21px;">Mohan Singh Place, a shopping complex next to PVR Rivoli and around the corner from the Regal Cinema in Connaught Place</span>, you can get jeans made from a wide variety of shops for about Rs. 750 ($16.50) or less. I've gone to Satkar Jeans (shop number 42) a few times and have had pretty good luck. They'll even give you fake Levis labels and buttons if you care about fashion or have a sense of humour. (And while you are shopping, why not go upstairs and have a snack at the Indian Coffee House?)</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Why are tailor made jeans greener? In part because they require much less shipping--the cloth, must be shipped, but the stitched jeans are sold on site--which also means there is no need for a large factory--and no need to ship the final product anywhere. The wages may not be great, but I'd bet the skilled tailor that takes your measurements is doing better than an assembly line worker in Nicaragua or China. And best of all, you don't have to support the overpaid bosses or shareholders of the large jean companies either--all the money stays local! (And if you like to think literally, you probably really could get yourself a pair of green jeans--though I've never tried that myself.)</span></div>Hari Battihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14789125444941418973noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6081375376975563520.post-75182509971451829242011-05-13T22:47:00.000+05:302011-05-13T22:47:19.397+05:30Photo Essay: Green Delhi, Accessible Delhi!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;">All good greens care about trees and animals. But it's my belief that environmentalists should also care about the environments people live and travel in. We've written about Delhi's housing, it's malls, it's water, it's roads, it's buses. Today,let's our at our built environment from a new point of view. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;">Most of us agree that a green city should prioritize sustainable forms of transportation. But I think we too often fail to even consider how our design decisions impact many people we live with. Green Park Market was given a face lift this summer. One of the things it got was a series of ramps connecting different parts of the market. Ramps are great, because they work for pedestrians, but they also work for cycles and wheelchairs. In fact one evening not long ago, I saw a half dozen people with wheelchairs shopping in Green Park Market; they were using this very ramp.</span> </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3PACrpugRXA65A7pDhxJ2rU8v9u5Txg-uHO_QPTZ61q_0Pb_dsJkcSBUUbJXagzX_QhhoQTYNvbQC2ED85cmeRYUqAfgTdjtnONSUD6PVdmt_PHAMxXVMWZvqXE2D3h-IzHwhP33UFTw/s1600/access.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3PACrpugRXA65A7pDhxJ2rU8v9u5Txg-uHO_QPTZ61q_0Pb_dsJkcSBUUbJXagzX_QhhoQTYNvbQC2ED85cmeRYUqAfgTdjtnONSUD6PVdmt_PHAMxXVMWZvqXE2D3h-IzHwhP33UFTw/s640/access.jpg" width="640" /></a></span></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">However, this kind of accessible construction is the exception, not the rule in Delhi. Here we see what one resident's welfare association did to keep cycles from moving from one side of the colony to the other. In so doing, they obviously limited people who use wheelchairs as well.</span></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIJikiezJWoLE_AloMB9KTC1aLrdld-3vCZkaS6gkoXogrcw4ikoQqo-ebGrO53VWxxO_w6vmdr-sv6SAkTQqPPD27QyjdbZ1nnW9aAgN0D9uxT-xvlf2x-4tdd1nNPfo380OeaVQLruU/s1600/block+cycles.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIJikiezJWoLE_AloMB9KTC1aLrdld-3vCZkaS6gkoXogrcw4ikoQqo-ebGrO53VWxxO_w6vmdr-sv6SAkTQqPPD27QyjdbZ1nnW9aAgN0D9uxT-xvlf2x-4tdd1nNPfo380OeaVQLruU/s640/block+cycles.jpg" width="640" /></a></span></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">This park has wide, well manicured paths that could be used by cyclists, people in wheelchairs and pedestrians alike. </span></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-uVRH2TjSOvdTUWYzbiRnUjyOf5THybt4hLNH9uUWRse5II-BY84zUHJjM7MQPqgthXBw-U1RZL-eUk_UQQ5NZgaFmvhNnc89auSNLfIAVCoZcWqSd0tl9EEoW4yrgCw5RZTImMtcW-k/s1600/park.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-uVRH2TjSOvdTUWYzbiRnUjyOf5THybt4hLNH9uUWRse5II-BY84zUHJjM7MQPqgthXBw-U1RZL-eUk_UQQ5NZgaFmvhNnc89auSNLfIAVCoZcWqSd0tl9EEoW4yrgCw5RZTImMtcW-k/s640/park.jpg" width="640" /></a></span></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Except that it is almost impossible to get into the park with a cycle or a wheelchair because of this wall.</span></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPSYqW46VHC02W6iiIEZIYbqUWxEo67fLYypKwyp8O7Bj-PcmGQODujDoQA7s1B3OxBAaEbLfhNVPX1fwEcZHNqUhyRpD0S0IkgmlJvfrdJPXuibH1j9uTcYbcd2wD57ajxSZxKa4jgKw/s1600/entrance+to+park.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPSYqW46VHC02W6iiIEZIYbqUWxEo67fLYypKwyp8O7Bj-PcmGQODujDoQA7s1B3OxBAaEbLfhNVPX1fwEcZHNqUhyRpD0S0IkgmlJvfrdJPXuibH1j9uTcYbcd2wD57ajxSZxKa4jgKw/s640/entrance+to+park.jpg" width="640" /></a></span></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Speaking of wheelchairs, when is the last time you saw one on a Delhi bus? Not often. In many places in the world people with disabilities regularly take public transportation, but making that possible in Delhi in a meaningful way would mean putting a more buses on the road and making accessibility a priority. I'm not an expert here. I know this would cost money. But we have to assert that our city should be for all people, including people with disabilities.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPRCLmm4RBlehY7ZvZ8x8EegYa2dQz99N0zsQl0iTjCnoEXqbCm0wuVjMyGcQkhLS7dmv4iUTp7RD3_qy_-ZibsZlR5lai69epPm6GSYH-JVh4VsktlzCFaSsxFxGotujG0uqmOIhYYEg/s1600/BUS.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPRCLmm4RBlehY7ZvZ8x8EegYa2dQz99N0zsQl0iTjCnoEXqbCm0wuVjMyGcQkhLS7dmv4iUTp7RD3_qy_-ZibsZlR5lai69epPm6GSYH-JVh4VsktlzCFaSsxFxGotujG0uqmOIhYYEg/s640/BUS.jpg" width="640" /></a></span></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">And as for cyclists, we have plenty of them here. But they almost always have to share the road with motor vehicles. And even on the BRT,where there is a designated lane for them, it is often overrun by motorcycles.</span></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhupFr-THwYxRUDmJR6M0D27WQ0R7uBakjHg6WJbaxWBUoLvjGzs7Df2QaPR9_vuB5oY2YZ85ucGgrLR4wLivnnPTmfkGs9hmCDISoHW44tyN5oBJMmjd8s62x5mndbRX6-n_MMdRqsMqA/s1600/brt+bikes.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhupFr-THwYxRUDmJR6M0D27WQ0R7uBakjHg6WJbaxWBUoLvjGzs7Df2QaPR9_vuB5oY2YZ85ucGgrLR4wLivnnPTmfkGs9hmCDISoHW44tyN5oBJMmjd8s62x5mndbRX6-n_MMdRqsMqA/s640/brt+bikes.jpg" width="640" /></a></span></div></div>Hari Battihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14789125444941418973noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6081375376975563520.post-43766982534709248632011-05-10T08:07:00.000+05:302011-05-10T08:07:14.455+05:30Best green sweets: Jalebi Wala, Chandni Chowk<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiu8lN9p1HetUnITeCjqCulaIvmArZpoC_97OBYF7BRshGm7KSDzouS1NlL9lB_cmFfCDSWlHy9p8eitsjWP2TEhsR6J2P_xvA0hDxic37CXBzPhSU1MOq_8EoSStJPRU6P4JR17s7kCF8/s1600/Image0108.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiu8lN9p1HetUnITeCjqCulaIvmArZpoC_97OBYF7BRshGm7KSDzouS1NlL9lB_cmFfCDSWlHy9p8eitsjWP2TEhsR6J2P_xvA0hDxic37CXBzPhSU1MOq_8EoSStJPRU6P4JR17s7kCF8/s320/Image0108.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I love Jalebis. They may not be high on the health food list, but who can resist a hot fresh jalebi? Not me, especially on a cold January evening. But I'll confess this to you: I love jalebi so much, I'll eat them in May. Just last night, I had a few while standing outside Evergreen Sweets in Green Park Market. Some evenings in Shahpur Jat you can get decent jalebis at <a href="http://www.greenlightdhaba.org/2010/12/best-dhabas-in-delhi-jagdamba-bhog.html">Jagdamba Bhog</a>. On Thursday evening, after listening to qawwalis at <span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nizamuddin_Dargah">Nizamuddin Dargah</a>, nothing tastes better than jalebis. Or wander down the main road in Chirag Dilli, just off the BRT. Those jalebis are tasty, even if the oil they're fried in has been recycled a few too many times. One key variable, of course, is freshness. Jalebis taste best fresh; otherwise, they can acquire an aftertaste, which makes them less than perfect. </span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;">However, all things being equal, the best Jalebis in Delhi may well be at Jalebi Wala in </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;">Chandni Chowk. </span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;">Jalebi Wala has had a facelift in the last couple of years--new sign, etc. I liked it better before. But it's still well worth checking out, because the jalebis there are outstanding. Old Delhi jalebis are different in subtle ways from what you find in South Delhi. I'm not going into that here; go see for yourself. You can find Jalebi Wala on Chandni Chowk, between t</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;">he Gurdwara Sis Ganj Sahib</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;"> and Red Fort. (It's on the right if you are walking toward Red Fort.) Or look <a href="http://maps.google.co.in/maps/place?um=1&ie=UTF-8&q=jalebi+wallah&fb=1&gl=in&hq=jalebi+wallah&hnear=New+Delhi,+Delhi&cid=3099509770516328612">here</a>. (After eating your jalebis, walk back past the Gurdwara to the light where you need to turn to find the metro. On that very corner, cross the street and you'll find a very nice cup of tea. )</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;">Why are Jalebis green? First, they are made with local ingredients and most jalebi walas--even a well-established place like Jalebi Wala--are fairly simple places. No AC; no need for plastic forks or spoons--fingers are sufficient. And if you look at it, Old Delhi is a pretty green place. High population density in cities means more room in the countryside for farms and forests. Also, Old Delhi is full of non-motorized transportation. </span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;">But there's a larger point I want to make. Sure, jalebis are unnecessary. They are a luxury. But a little luxury is good for us. It's the five star hotels and airlines that will ruin the world in the long run. Jalebis? We can live with them! </span></span></div>Hari Battihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14789125444941418973noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6081375376975563520.post-39198318934528768462011-05-05T07:35:00.000+05:302011-05-05T07:35:13.764+05:30Photo Essay: Delhi's mobile markets<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Most greens have a sense that overconsumption is killing us. Mines and factories spew poison into the air and water, as do the trucks and ships required to move goods all over the world. And of course the energy required to make and move all the stuff we buy is doing more than pollute our environment--it's changing our climate.</span><br />
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</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But people still need to buy things, though we probably need to learn to do with a lot less in the long run. And as long as we need to buy things, we will need markets in which to buy them. Though many people tell us the future of consumption is in mammoth malls like the one below, I'm not convinced.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlEr8YMjv4tNHSNoXG1k788v9PvycZ2SfgxMzEASwIeuYuKzqKmI0Q3SS6PB6gs9WEkKC_VzQtyH5tH_nSiQ_shMft3bxTdiGbzMSW0Ig8p7NcOJD5DLRpBLQ6zsA9v6PZFkgR8niEdRg/s1600/mall+watre.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlEr8YMjv4tNHSNoXG1k788v9PvycZ2SfgxMzEASwIeuYuKzqKmI0Q3SS6PB6gs9WEkKC_VzQtyH5tH_nSiQ_shMft3bxTdiGbzMSW0Ig8p7NcOJD5DLRpBLQ6zsA9v6PZFkgR8niEdRg/s640/mall+watre.jpg" width="640" /></span></a></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There are many problems with giant malls. I won't go into them all here, because I already did that in a <a href="http://www.bhagwad.com/blog/2009/rights-and-freedoms/hari-battis-musings-on-malls-a-holistic-picture.html">guest post over at Bhagwad's Expressions</a> sometime back. But this much, I will say: malls--and large retail establishments in general--require a huge investment in capital to build, and they typically require consumers to travel long distances. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Contrast that with Delhi's many mobile--or moving-- markets. Moving markets shift from place to place, often occupying places on the margins of this great city, and bringing them to life once or twice a week. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">On most days, the road that runs along side the Chirag Dilli nallah is a friendly, but fairly bleak stretch. But on Thursday and Friday evenings, it is transformed into a bustling market. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiCr-P1CQs4nkcgMWqpXsy2CFMRv04VH8drovZo72Xx1zWYgs2aGrQ415Nd4K8Z1AI7mqRbMsl4YxPVjDseAUF4F-VWza-GkI9t6X7iIbsvpCWN1uZjJyfiCNovTGn1blQmlMJV7XpbFQ/s1600/IMG_5679.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="442" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiCr-P1CQs4nkcgMWqpXsy2CFMRv04VH8drovZo72Xx1zWYgs2aGrQ415Nd4K8Z1AI7mqRbMsl4YxPVjDseAUF4F-VWza-GkI9t6X7iIbsvpCWN1uZjJyfiCNovTGn1blQmlMJV7XpbFQ/s640/IMG_5679.JPG" width="640" /></span></a></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A few weeks back, I went looking for a hammer. I picked one up from the iron workers who used to live by the Chirag Dilli flyover--they've had to shift several times in the last few years, but are still managing to make ends meet. Then I took a walk down the lane and snapped a few photos. . </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
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</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhddSs6_JSQis2B9LYJDHtMM2qiKlYAlHfDai5HmeRab1ktVjN5ARsK64j_UhahRdwKXDXaiyj1GwdjQTrq1aCnxQtXwKnycTcuZOTrT3Jnw3kFjDjwWs4H-qEtoti61f17ehmJ_XQVoqo/s1600/IMG_5685.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhddSs6_JSQis2B9LYJDHtMM2qiKlYAlHfDai5HmeRab1ktVjN5ARsK64j_UhahRdwKXDXaiyj1GwdjQTrq1aCnxQtXwKnycTcuZOTrT3Jnw3kFjDjwWs4H-qEtoti61f17ehmJ_XQVoqo/s640/IMG_5685.JPG" width="640" /></span></a></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">You can get all kinds of things for the kitchen: food, utensils, etc. But there are also bangles and clothes...</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwvfD2va4XqQ6pN_0xbQA1zs5eRpqx5qyhZ6Fge9g0GJgwHZ5pCqLbKBl0u3XtJNo3ERRW-rtufKs9zzTnPBE8PXUJrQFS0a615NXl9uBOfNEhAJVZH1s2zgVybpF3UJyNOuD43CeAy74/s1600/IMG_5681.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwvfD2va4XqQ6pN_0xbQA1zs5eRpqx5qyhZ6Fge9g0GJgwHZ5pCqLbKBl0u3XtJNo3ERRW-rtufKs9zzTnPBE8PXUJrQFS0a615NXl9uBOfNEhAJVZH1s2zgVybpF3UJyNOuD43CeAy74/s640/IMG_5681.JPG" width="576" /></span></a></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Lots and lots of clothes.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjU5IC41kVSTkzcsKwP2BULErVI4nlzPm_cFxktHjaM8UYdeE2-6-aplfZxmZd2_fPP0kt4nqwY_bv3cNlrv0aAdAAjlzwvFWMMnQX9ruHJ01G2hEoWqzI8MbIxvz4-2iN68HE4n8IN0Hg/s1600/IMG_5682.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjU5IC41kVSTkzcsKwP2BULErVI4nlzPm_cFxktHjaM8UYdeE2-6-aplfZxmZd2_fPP0kt4nqwY_bv3cNlrv0aAdAAjlzwvFWMMnQX9ruHJ01G2hEoWqzI8MbIxvz4-2iN68HE4n8IN0Hg/s640/IMG_5682.JPG" width="640" /></span></a></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There is plenty of traffic on the road, though it slows down later in the evening. But almost all of the consumers are coming on foot from Chirag Dilli, <span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 15px;"><em style="font-style: normal;">Sheikh Sarai, or </em></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 15px;">Malviya Nagar. </span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 15px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiktzgXZkWY7weZVV47QpgviwSZ5TtwxSBaU5xn3tjVunY6nyV-U4OOxNM69aiKa7cLBiZ40H_Sprxu7pP_alw2mvn9Ezrlrezo57Eb-ozvtXMAxHujdwlohWqhxRiwqzCmz4gYHf5jC5w/s1600/IMG_5683.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiktzgXZkWY7weZVV47QpgviwSZ5TtwxSBaU5xn3tjVunY6nyV-U4OOxNM69aiKa7cLBiZ40H_Sprxu7pP_alw2mvn9Ezrlrezo57Eb-ozvtXMAxHujdwlohWqhxRiwqzCmz4gYHf5jC5w/s640/IMG_5683.JPG" width="640" /></span></a></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 15px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 15px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Most of the goods are delivered to the market by tempos. Given the amount of customers you see at these markets, it's a safe bet that it's more efficient to deliver the goods to a population that shops on foot than it is to drive the shopping population all over the city. It makes life easier, too, for the vast majority of Delhi's residents who do not own a car.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 15px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4duzclK1d-aBqfhN8XXjnkgC9X7qiUYYy1XI1hhCoDXVCpofaouFiyO1kPwQmuovqHFiQPKra5px8qZKLL5mVn8WOxy599bdH_iPsvRB0WW5UF7FzmpNvc1LPZ1LOX45zIfz8_T-_-2Y/s1600/IMG_5686.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4duzclK1d-aBqfhN8XXjnkgC9X7qiUYYy1XI1hhCoDXVCpofaouFiyO1kPwQmuovqHFiQPKra5px8qZKLL5mVn8WOxy599bdH_iPsvRB0WW5UF7FzmpNvc1LPZ1LOX45zIfz8_T-_-2Y/s640/IMG_5686.JPG" width="640" /></span></a></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 15px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 15px;">On the way home, Mrs. Batti and I picked up a few plates of tasty chow mein for the kids. It may have been a bit on the salty side, but there were not complaints on the home front that Thursday. Definitely, <i>cheap and best!</i> </span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 15px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 15px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Of course, there are 'moving markets' all over Delhi. But if you want to sample this one, you can find some version of it in the following places:</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 15px;"><br />
</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 15px;">Chirag Dilli Nallah: Thursday/Friday</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 15px;">East of Kailash: Saturday</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 15px;">Saket Mall: Monday (I've never been to this one, but it's supposed to be big. Still, it would be an interesting contrast).</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 15px;">Sheikh Sarai (near Bhagat Singh College: Wednesday)</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 15px;">Gouvindpuri: Wednesday</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 15px;"><br />
</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 15px;">There's another great market that appears in the Shahpur Jat/ Panchsheel Park area on Thursdays/Fridays.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 15px;"><br />
</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 15px;">For more ideas how low tech is often greener than high tech, check out our <a href="http://www.greenlightdhaba.org/p/cheap-and-best.html">low tech green page</a>.</span></span></div></div>Hari Battihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14789125444941418973noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6081375376975563520.post-6098863601258294862011-05-03T18:36:00.000+05:302011-05-03T18:36:54.030+05:30Wanted: US Salesman (aka 'Ambassador') to India<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><i>Requirements: Must have a minimum of five years experience selling weapons to poor countries, or the equivalent in political connections. Candidates who are bilingual (English/Miltary-Industrialinglish) will be given preference. </i></b></span><br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d3/Timothy_J._Roemer.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d3/Timothy_J._Roemer.jpg" width="170" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ambassador Roemer: "...an unbeatable <br />
platform at a competative price!"</td></tr>
</tbody></table><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A few eyebrows were raised last week when US ambassador Timothy Roemer announced his resignation just a day after India said it would not buy 10 billion dollars worth of fighter jets from either of the two American companies competing for the mega-contract. The <a href="http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/article1978917.ece">US denied that the timing was anything but coincidence</a>, but many were not convinced, in part because it was widely reported that Roemer had linked the future of Indo-US relations to the deal.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I'm not really sure it matters why Ambassador Roemer resigned. What's interesting is the fact that defense deals like this seem to matter to much to American diplomats. Here is Roemer on the deal, via <a href="http://news.oneindia.in/2011/04/28/timothy-roemer-disappointed-with-defence-deal-fail-aid0120.html">Oneindia.in:</a></span><br />
<blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 20px;">"We are respectful of the procurement process. We are, however, deeply disappointed by this news...</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 20px;">I have been personally assured at the highest levels of the Indian government that the procurement process for this aircraft has been and will be transparent and fair...I </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 20px;">am extremely confident that the Boeing F/A 18IN and Lockheed-Martin F-16IN would provide the Indian Air Force an unbeatable platform with proven technologies at a competitive price."</span></span></blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Doesn't he sound like a salesman? You'd almost think he's getting a commission on the deal. Do you ever hear US officials talking about green technology like that? Do they ever push competitively priced water purification plants? </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">To be fair, Roemer's prose is not as bizarre-sounding as a real fighter jet sales person. Here's something <a href="http://www.hindu.com/2011/04/29/stories/2011042966311500.htm">via The Hindu</a> from a Boeing press release:</span><br />
<blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; line-height: 15px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“We believe we offered the Indian Air Force a fully compliant and best-value multi-role aircraft for the defined mission. We will continue to look for opportunities to help India modernise its armed services and enhance its aerospace industry."</span></span></blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">(This is really serious business, but that little bit of prose is till making me laugh..<i>.best-value...multi-role...defined mission</i>..<i>enhance its aerospace industry</i>...can we really call that <i>English?</i> Or is it really better described as a sub-dialect of <i>Bizglish, </i>maybe <i>Military-Industringlish?)</i></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When US President Obama came to visit last November, a large part of what he was doing was selling military hardware to the GOI. In fact, the list of weapons India has recently ordered from the US is very long and has cost us billions of dollars. (For a partial list of recent sales check out the last bit of<a href="http://www.hindu.com/2011/04/29/stories/2011042966311500.htm"> this article</a> in <i>The Hindu</i>.) </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If you read the papers (and Wikileaks) you realize that the US is not just providing a public service to poor countries that need to protect themselves; they are using all sorts of hard sell tactics to pressure countries into buying American-made killing machines. Why? Who knows. Maybe they aren't good at making anything else anymore. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Ever wonder about why Indo-US relations seem so important to both the US and Indian government? Maybe it's got something to do with the fact that the US is the<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arms_industry#World.27s_largest_arms_exporters"> world's leading exporter of arms</a>, and India is the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arms_industry#World.27s_largest_arms_importers">world's leading importer of arms</a>. Hmm.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">For me that raises two questions:</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1. Why is the US going around the world pushing it's weapons on poor countries?</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">2. Why are poor countries wasting so much money on killing machines when we are facing all kinds of bigger threats like farmer suicide, climate change, and falling water tables? We don't even have the equipment necessary to <a href="http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2011-04-29/delhi/29486772_1_shoe-factory-peeragarhi-fire">rescue workers from burning buildings in the NCR</a>--what right do we have to spend $10 billion on fighter jets?</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It's time we start investing in life. Let's put the merchants of death out of business. </span></div>Hari Battihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14789125444941418973noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6081375376975563520.post-89888913327170225762011-05-01T11:55:00.000+05:302011-05-01T11:55:40.401+05:30Call the Shramik Helpline--NMIZ labour policy inhumane, unsustainable<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Legalizing slavery and allowing strip mining in tiger reserves would be the logical extension of the arguments being advanced by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry</b></span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKOytDRnFGDSzk5fsT2bUnhX3o0bJhe76ouSA4fFLp26LEeOLQjvrTnaR4_nXpBXPDvTewi1zEG87IPWbDnJQvuFy1ov0HAY9BFK8Rb3dxJt4PuOLCS_boRqfgCwVc12blOjhbY4gTQHA/s1600/hauling.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><br />
</a></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Last night, I was reading the electric message board at the front of the bus I was riding. It was announcing various helplines' there was a woman's helpline, a student's helpline, a senior's helpline. Who can argue with a helpline, I thought, though it would be nice if the phone numbers didn't flash by quite so quickly. That way, someone in need might actually be able to write them down and use them.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Today, I read the CM Dikshit has announced another helpline, timed to coincide with May Day. The <a href="http://news.in.msn.com/national/article.aspx?cp-documentid=5145669">Shramik Helpline</a> will protect the rights of workers and will be used to combat child labour. Here's something from a <a href="http://www.indianexpress.com/news/cm-to-launch-helpline-for-workers-on-labour/781980/">report in the Indian Express</a>:</span><br />
<blockquote><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“The helpline is being commissioned to provide a sense of confidence and assurance to workers and make it an effective tool for approaching the authorities in case of denial of the minimum wages by the employers and (for) enforcement of all labour laws,” a statement from the government read....In case of a call regarding child labour, the Labour department will ensure that the child is rescued. </span></blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I think this helpline has arrived just in time. I just read today that the Ministry of Commerce and Industry is pushing something called National Manufacturing and Investment Zones (NMIZ). According to an official quoted in today's issue of Delhi's <i>Sunday Guardian:</i></span><br />
<blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"The proposed policy will help achieve higher GDP by exempting labour laws and prohibiting formation of trade unions in the zones...This will help in increasing the share of the manufacturing sector in the GDP from the current level of 16-17% to 25% by 2022."</span></blockquote><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKOytDRnFGDSzk5fsT2bUnhX3o0bJhe76ouSA4fFLp26LEeOLQjvrTnaR4_nXpBXPDvTewi1zEG87IPWbDnJQvuFy1ov0HAY9BFK8Rb3dxJt4PuOLCS_boRqfgCwVc12blOjhbY4gTQHA/s1600/hauling.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKOytDRnFGDSzk5fsT2bUnhX3o0bJhe76ouSA4fFLp26LEeOLQjvrTnaR4_nXpBXPDvTewi1zEG87IPWbDnJQvuFy1ov0HAY9BFK8Rb3dxJt4PuOLCS_boRqfgCwVc12blOjhbY4gTQHA/s200/hauling.jpg" width="169" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There is widespread, brutal poverty in the land. Of course we need economic growth. But </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">advocates of "growth at all costs" don't really care about that. The growth they advocate is neither sustainable, nor humane. It will result in </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">a ruined environment, larger slums and a few more super-rich factory owners. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Think about this: if you are willing to suspend labour rights in the name of economic growth, are you also willing to allow strip mining in our wildlife parks? Or maybe just go the whole way and legalize child labour and slavery. After all, with the price of raw materials rising, there is probably more short term money to be made from iron ore and lumber than there is from tigers and deer. That's what zoos are for. Besides, there is a great deal of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_on_the_Cross:_The_Economics_of_American_Negro_Slavery">new historical research</a> that suggests slavery was actually very profitable, and that it fueled economic growth. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sorry, but no thanks. I think it's time someone call that worker helpline to complain: we don't need these NMIZ's. We need just, sustainable growth.</span><br />
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</script></div>Hari Battihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14789125444941418973noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6081375376975563520.post-31315047522440400992011-04-28T15:44:00.000+05:302011-04-28T15:44:03.972+05:30Delhi Stupid: We can do without this podcar scheme!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/ae/ULTra_001.jpg/800px-ULTra_001.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><b><img border="0" height="240" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/ae/ULTra_001.jpg/800px-ULTra_001.jpg" width="320" /></b></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Podcar: AKA 'Personal rapid transit'. (Wikicommons)</b></td></tr>
</tbody></table><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>One has to wonder: who is making money off the CM's latest "Green Scheme"?</b></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Last night I read in <i><a href="http://www.hindu.com/2007/11/08/stories/2007110854100400.htm">The Hindu</a></i> that the Delhi city government is considering an elevated pod car system. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">CM Dikshit, quoted in the <a href="http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/news-by-industry/transportation/shipping-/-transport/delhi-government-eyes-pod-car-system-for-better-transport-in-capital/articleshow/8096900.cms">Times of India </a>, had this to say about the effort: <span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;">"We are willing to consider a new modern, convenient, pollution-free and affordable City Pod Car System to supplement the existing modes of public transport in the capital." Officials promise the city won't have to pay anything and the rides will be affordable. The cars, they say, would be battery powered. Hmm.</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;">Apparently, Smt. Dikshit is disappointed by her government's failure to <a href="http://www.hindu.com/2007/11/08/stories/2007110854100400.htm">eliminate pollution in Delhi through construction of new flyovers</a>. So she figures that we can do the same though the use of high-tech, battery-powered elevated pod cars.</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;">Now I have been known to employ <a href="http://www.greenlightdhaba.org/2011/04/superbug-newsleak-delhi-chief-minister.html">parody when writing about the CM</a>. But not this time; this is all real.</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;">For the record, I want to be clear: this is an <i>incredibly stupid idea</i>. I just can't figure out why the press seems to be simply printing government-issued press releases on the subject with no critical questions whatsoever. </span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;">We <i>have </i>a public transportation system, we just need to improve it. If we want to get people to stop using their private cars, we need to think of a way to make driving more expensive. The 'good news' there is that the world energy market will do that for us if we don't get around to being proactive about it. What we do know is that nobody is going to stop driving just because the can travel in a system that seems to be something out of a science fiction film.</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;">This reminds me of the times Smt. Dikshit said we should eliminate auto rickshaws. Or the time World Class Toilets (<a href="http://www.greenlightdhaba.org/2010/09/top-5-commonwealth-games-pet-peeves.html">number 1 on my CWG pet peeve list</a>) were built--but never operationalised--in many Delhi markets.That, my friends, was a high cost, high-tech <i>scam</i>. There is a pretty good chance that this pod car stupidity is one more way for some friends of some powerful person to get a contract to build something we don't need. </span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;">Let's be realistic. Put more buses on the road--the ones we have are full; if we build more, those will also be full. And while we are at it, we can add more trains to the metro. I love the metro, but it is also bursting at the seems. The other day, my 11 year old son whispered to me while we were riding on the Yellow line at rush hour: "YOU think this is bad? <i>I'm</i> at armpit height! I can't wait till I grow a little bit...it won't smell so bad then!"</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;"> As for this high-fi, sci-fi pod car thing--forget about it. It's a stupid idea!</span></span></div>Hari Battihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14789125444941418973noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6081375376975563520.post-42553442394854609852011-04-26T15:45:00.000+05:302011-04-26T15:45:28.156+05:30Wrong turn at the Barapullah Nallah elevated corridor<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Covering a nallah is not bad in itself, but we could have done so much better than this...</b></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I was shooting by Nehru Stadium early one morning in March and was surprised to see a crowd gathered by the side of the road. I asked the auto driver to stop and was told that <i>Agent Vinod</i> was being shot just below. While I didn't get to meet Saif Ali Khan--didn't even get a photo of him--I did get a photo of the Barapullah Nallah corridor and the film set. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEip6gCjrs7_ttsFpCbSA9jBMWa0H0fOdM4cpdd5pxbs2MhMSfutMhhW_gMpMdmlLKG7Dd7lmNjk0-MfteUF6jHSvWbNN0Rs1k0iWVndrBcmdgmY4s4siw6jNOZzN1e2bUtDzWngPQKdKbw/s1600/nallah.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEip6gCjrs7_ttsFpCbSA9jBMWa0H0fOdM4cpdd5pxbs2MhMSfutMhhW_gMpMdmlLKG7Dd7lmNjk0-MfteUF6jHSvWbNN0Rs1k0iWVndrBcmdgmY4s4siw6jNOZzN1e2bUtDzWngPQKdKbw/s640/nallah.jpg" width="640" /></span></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I realized that I used a shot from the same place for my <a href="http://www.greenlightdhaba.org/2010/03/world-water-day-special-delhis-nallahs.html">photo essay on Delhi's Nallahs</a>. A lot has changed in the year and a half since the first photo was taken.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjt5pCy-HBTSWuqx5_p2Cntp8phSwg0J1cC9I4PwO8DxwtQcvCHZnffRULHVDzn07sDXhGlWzw8LVNrF-lWAx85CDTQDQw8JCZvN_xZgHMbvJXjlDyG7G0lr5d-B44uyrhwXxDFqN7465g/s1600/4+house.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjt5pCy-HBTSWuqx5_p2Cntp8phSwg0J1cC9I4PwO8DxwtQcvCHZnffRULHVDzn07sDXhGlWzw8LVNrF-lWAx85CDTQDQw8JCZvN_xZgHMbvJXjlDyG7G0lr5d-B44uyrhwXxDFqN7465g/s640/4+house.JPG" width="640" /></span></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I guess you could say it looks nicer--it certainly smells nicer. But a lot of people lost their homes because of this project. What if, instead of a road and a massive parking lot, we'd built a park instead, with a dedicated path for cyclists and pedestrians. There would still be room for some low cost housing to replace what was taken earlier.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Here's the view from the other side of the road. My son saw it one day and asked if it was an airport--so much empty space, it seemed like a runway.</span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhx6TiiwjAD_engI6_e90UpZTKf5rptsPuqHaVORCBVWchPVQbJhWl7PrjmUoF71WXrh0fqwmzeptWNBfyNu-lWTgMJQKGYCDntXtIBkt05ZDNf29aiHSW-YV7G4OWReD2yR-nUs0iU4-E/s1600/nallah+3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhx6TiiwjAD_engI6_e90UpZTKf5rptsPuqHaVORCBVWchPVQbJhWl7PrjmUoF71WXrh0fqwmzeptWNBfyNu-lWTgMJQKGYCDntXtIBkt05ZDNf29aiHSW-YV7G4OWReD2yR-nUs0iU4-E/s640/nallah+3.jpg" width="640" /></span></a></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Ripping out a road, or covering a nallah in order to make a public space is not unheard of. I was just down at Dilli Haat the other day and was reminded that it was built on top of a covered nallah. And when I did a web search, I found pictures of <a href="http://www.google.co.in/imgres?imgurl=http://vintageportland.files.wordpress.com/2011/02/a2000-006-208-sw-harbor-drive-waterfront-north-morrison-bridge-1969.jpg&imgrefurl=http://vintageportland.wordpress.com/2011/02/02/sw-harbor-drive-1969/&usg=__DXxGZTG-5HNIvTQ4yf8FPJhMyo8=&h=2147&w=3077&sz=526&hl=en&start=15&zoom=1&tbnid=VosLQHYlYIBKbM:&tbnh=114&tbnw=149&ei=fxC1TYOjPISevgOvvYmHBw&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dportland%2Bwaterfront%2Bpark%2Bhighway%2BTom%2BMccall%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DX%26biw%3D1078%26bih%3D527%26tbm%3Disch0%2C4130%2C413&itbs=1&iact=hc&vpx=579&vpy=224&dur=5863&hovh=187&hovw=269&tx=125&ty=109&page=2&ndsp=19&ved=1t:429,r:9,s:15&biw=1078&bih=527">one highway in the US</a> that was <a href="http://www.google.co.in/imgres?imgurl=http://www.uyau.com/usa-western/or-portland/images/MSC10_Waterfront-Park.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.uyau.com/usa-western/or-portland/index.html&usg=__2MtkWasxiquqgnM0H8964G7T7dE=&h=500&w=752&sz=192&hl=en&start=0&zoom=1&tbnid=5zwrLEJ7T1LAOM:&tbnh=112&tbnw=147&ei=LxG1TYbEEorprQfU-JHJDQ&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dwaterfront%2Bpark%2Bportland%26hl%3Den%26biw%3D1078%26bih%3D491%26tbm%3Disch&itbs=1&iact=hc&vpx=348&vpy=72&dur=2776&hovh=183&hovw=275&tx=134&ty=99&page=1&ndsp=18&ved=1t:429,r:2,s:0">converted to a park</a> 40 years ago. It happens, though not very often.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A little imagination goes a long way. Besides, if we continue to let cars dictate our urban planning, we will be left with little but tarmac below and hot sun above.</span></div>Hari Battihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14789125444941418973noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6081375376975563520.post-21001629485068233212011-04-21T11:59:00.001+05:302011-04-21T11:59:00.260+05:30Green Weekend Out: National Gallery of Modern Art, Delhi<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKhTcP_aV_NhqNgV_5HBwmKpc16KWZ7M0bC3v1UrIZRUc7A0EcER1PSiE4bds7QbKfx416fBAb5_huYbrmfx3n0xn_ZrWTnmLt3SD4T1G7gH7IIeQXtdWxOj_vf6RkKFjBXzNLqztibCs/s1600/Image0252.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKhTcP_aV_NhqNgV_5HBwmKpc16KWZ7M0bC3v1UrIZRUc7A0EcER1PSiE4bds7QbKfx416fBAb5_huYbrmfx3n0xn_ZrWTnmLt3SD4T1G7gH7IIeQXtdWxOj_vf6RkKFjBXzNLqztibCs/s320/Image0252.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Art: Good for the whole family!</td></tr>
</tbody></table><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If you are looking for something green to do on the weekend with kids now that it's getting hot, why not take a trip to the National Gallery of Modern Art? M<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;">useums are green because they fly in the face of modern throw-away culture. They are about preservation and sharing--not disposal. And they are democratic: unlike private collections, museums are a way for us all to share all kinds of interesting things--and the ideas they inspire. You will not like everything you see in the National Gallery of Modern Art, but it will make you think a lot more than an afternoon in front of the TV would.</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;">We went a few weeks back and had a great time wandering through several exhibits, talking about the photography and paintings we saw. I taught the kids the "See-Think-Wonder" thinking routine I mentioned in <a href="http://www.greenlightdhaba.org/2011/04/summer-holiday-homework-advice-for.html">Tuesday's post</a>, and they actually enjoyed it--after the requisite eye rolling, of course. It generated some good discussion and thinking. More than that, I think it gave us all a structure that allowed us to engage with art that otherwise might have seen intimidating to talk about. </span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;">One thing you have to love about the museum is the price tag: Rs. 10 for adults and Rs. 1 for children. Not bad--at that price, you can let your kids invite a friend and still have enough left for a Mother Dairy Lick Lolly afterward! </span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;">The National Gallery of Modern Art is</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> located as it is <span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;">at the end of Rajpath, facing the India Gate. For more information about ticket prices and what's showing, go to its <a href="http://ngmaindia.gov.in/index.asp">official website.</a> </span></span></div>Hari Battihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14789125444941418973noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6081375376975563520.post-53977480289647963952011-04-18T12:02:00.000+05:302011-04-19T07:56:48.128+05:30Summer Holiday Homework Advice for Teachers<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I've written about summer holiday homework several times in the past, so at this time of year, I always get a few dozen of visitors looking for something related to that. Some of these visitors are probably teachers considering what to assign their students. So here is a little unasked for advice from a parent of children who nearly always HATE summer holiday homework. I'll call it the<i> Green Light Dhaba's Summer Holiday Homework Don'ts and Do's! </i></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And in case you are wondering why greens should care about the state of education, let me remind you that our world is facing deep and multiple ecological and social problems. If our children do not have very good problem solving skills, how will they solve the problems we have left them with?</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>The Summer Holiday Homework Don'ts</b>:</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikPGgqv-IdbO1yX65p0yBmrAvZ0IT_wyREhMstPy68PrXFMUSKBCbtVMnfsPZJ-PtnjbWViQx6sObgifmODlxpHeylB7BPcbMC7MjXxhZCLSgwa7Te_Mz3JX0o-yLSxRtvqbCkr9V-QlI/s320/sign.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikPGgqv-IdbO1yX65p0yBmrAvZ0IT_wyREhMstPy68PrXFMUSKBCbtVMnfsPZJ-PtnjbWViQx6sObgifmODlxpHeylB7BPcbMC7MjXxhZCLSgwa7Te_Mz3JX0o-yLSxRtvqbCkr9V-QlI/s320/sign.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Too many students just buy their projects!</td></tr>
</tbody></table><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>1. Don't assign so many projects. </b> Most kids don't enjoy projects like you think they should. That's partly because they had no choice in coming up with the idea for what to do. Also, most teachers care more about how a project looks than the thought that went into it, which means only those students who make neat looking projects get rewarded. Because of this, <a href="http://www.greenlightdhaba.org/2009/09/whats-wrong-with-our-schools-and-why.html">many children just buy their projects in the market</a>, or copy them word for word off the internet. Think about the lesson that teachers. If you have to assign a project, consider giving students a choice. Oh yes, and don't forget to reward originality and thought as well as presentation.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>2. Don't make math such a chore</b>. A little review of math facts is fine. Excessive practice solving five digit by five digit multiplication or division problems is unnecessary and won't help much anyway. Instead, have students solve problems that require them to use their minds. I'm not, by the way, talking about the kind of word problems that follow a page of subtraction practice where all you have to do is look at the two numbers and subtract the smaller from the bigger. I'm talking about problems that make you think! Here's a site for <a href="http://www.figurethis.org/teacher_corner.htm">8-12 years old</a>; here's a site for students, <a href="http://www.mystfx.ca/special/mathproblems/welcome.html">classes 5-12</a>. Assign two or three problems a week, but give students permission to say, honestly, that they tried, but could not figure out the answer to at least one problem a week. Effort matters, and so does honesty.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>3. DON'T have students mug up content</b>. Summer holidays should be about play and thinking. No mugging facts should be allowed. They'll forget it anyway by the time school reopens.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>The Summer Holiday Homework DOs</b></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>1. DO assign reading, not grammar</b>: Reading literature is a far more effective way to learn the inner workings of a language than grammar exercises. Have students keep a reading log, in which they record all the books they read. Reading matters. Hold a contest to see who can read the most books. Tell the students they need to be prepared to talk about the books briefly, but only assign one formal 'book report'. Tell them to pick their favorite book for that. Don't be too strict about what students read, but do say you expect they read at least 30 minutes a day in their primary language of instruction and 20-30 minutes a day in their secondary language (e.g., Hindi if they are studying in Delhi). If students do this, it will actually help a great deal. But you have to give them less work elsewhere, or they won't have time. If students complain they don't have books, then suggest they team up with some friends in the neighborhood and share. This is an opportunity for problem solving of the best kind. Be flexible in what you accept as reading material, but do not compromise on the need to read.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>2. DO expect thinking: </b>Here's one great assignment. Have students present a photograph or a piece of art and complete a short "s<i>ee-think-wonder</i>" routine. There are plenty of great photos in the newspaper these days, so access is no issue.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">See--describe the art/photo;</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Think--tell what this makes you think about.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Wonder--tell what this makes you wonder about; what questions do you have, etc.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It doesn't have to be a lot of work. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Here's a short one my 11 year old did in response to t<a href="http://www.magnumphotos.com/C.aspx?VP3=ViewBox_VPage&VBID=2K1HZSFLT14N&IT=ZoomImage01_VForm&IID=2TYRYDDGZIKT&ALID=2K7O3R13L27M&PN=23&CT=Album">his photo by Raghu Rai</a>.</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I <i>see</i> two men inside a wrestling school.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I <i>think </i>there are two other men in the background.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I <i>wonder </i>if the photographer positioned the wrestlers hand on purpose so that it would be aligned with the gate.</span><br />
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</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Nothing earth shaking, and he would have done more if it had been assigned by his teacher. But if you look at the photo, the <i>wonder </i>is exactly what we all want to know. This kind of 'thinking routine' can evoke some good thinking and some great discussions.</span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>3. Do assign less</b>. Assigning too much homework leads students to bad habits: copying from the internet; learning mathematical formulas without understanding them, etc. Also, homework might help you mug up for an exam, but I challenge any teacher to find conclusive research that shows homework (aside from independent reading) actually helps young students in the long run. Most research says it doesn't, or that it has a very small affect...but go look for yourself--consider it...<i>homework</i>! </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">For more good homework ideas follow our <a href="http://www.greenlightdhaba.org/search/label/homework%20helper">homework helper label.</a></span></div>Hari Battihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14789125444941418973noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6081375376975563520.post-23832455324577827372011-04-15T12:02:00.009+05:302011-04-15T12:02:00.463+05:30Superbug newsleak: Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit to announce "Drink Up, Delhi!" Campaign<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><b><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Tired of the 'negativity', Delhi Chief Minister to chart out a bold new effort to re-brand Delhi water!</span></i></b><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><i>Not happy!</i></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A highly-placed source close to Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit has informed the Dhaba that the chief minister plans to re-brand Delhi water in the response to an "unscientific" scientific study published recently in the <i>Lancet. </i>The study claims that Delhi drinking water has been contaminated by antibiotic-resistant 'superbugs.' According to our source, the CM thought the matter should have been put to rest by <a href="http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-newdelhi/article1695519.ece">Wednesday's press conference</a>, where she joined government scientists and Delhi Jal Board officials in claiming, "There is no superbug, no cause for worry."</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"When that didn't work," says our source, "the CM felt she had no choice but to be more proactive--after all the reputation of the city is at stake...she decided to launch a bold PR campaign stressing the World Class aspects of Delhi tap water."</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">According to our source, before settlling on "<b>Drink up, Delhi!</b>" several slogans were considered for the campaign. Top contenders included:</span><br />
<i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Meri Delhi, meri nal ka pani!</span></i><br />
<i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">DJB--cheap and best!</span></i><br />
<i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Incredible Delhi's Drinking Water!</span></i><br />
<i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">DJB: Thirsty Kya? </span></i><br />
<i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Delhi Jal Board: people you can trust!</span></i><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Apparently, several members of the CM's inner circle suggested a more "pragmatic" approach, given the <i>Lancet's</i> reputation of as one of the world's most respected scientific journals. They suggested the following slogans:</span><br />
<i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Superbugs for a Supercity!</span></i><br />
<i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We've never met a cholera bug we couldn't treat!</span></i><br />
<i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We've got super gastro-intestinal specialists in New Delhi!</span></i><br />
<i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">No evidence of increase in Drug resistance in Cholera!</span></i><br />
<i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Delhi Water: what doesn't kill you will make you stronger!</span></i><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Those advisers were promptly fired, said our source. "The CM felt we needed a positive spin on the issue, regardless of what the 'science' says. What is 'science' anyway? Everyone knows a positive attitude can overcome any small thing like Typhoid! The CM has never regretted making bold statements, like when she claimed flyovers would help Delhi to become <a href="http://www.hindu.com/2007/11/08/stories/2007110854100400.htm">pollution-free by 2010</a> or when she repeatedly claimed Delhi would be ready for the CWG in <a href="http://www.cwgame2010.com/recent-commonwealth-games-news/by-august-end-delhi-is-all-set-for-commonwealth-games-sheila-dixit.html">plenty of time</a>...it's perception that matters in politics, no?"</span><br />
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<li><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><b>‘</b>No evidence of increase in drug resistance in cholera'</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">'</span></i></li><br />
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</tbody></table><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The <b>Drink Up, Delhi </b>campaign will feature pictures of prominent Delhi residents drinking glasses of tap water and smiling. Expect hoardings to go up by the end of the month, with TV spots to follow.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> "We'd like to have Manmohan Singh drinking a glass of water in front of India Gate, Alka Pande sipping in front of the Habitat Centre, US Ambassador Roemer drinking straight from an American Embassy irrigation pipe--that sort of thing." When asked whether these figures had agreed to actually drink unfiltered Delhi Jal Board water, our source was non-committal: "The common man wants to know we care about his plight...what's in the glass is not important. Besides, everyone knows how much money we spent making our city World Class for the CWG...they can't expect us to have piles of cash laying around to invest in things like 'public health' and clean water!"</span></div>Hari Battihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14789125444941418973noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6081375376975563520.post-84483559418611052122011-04-14T15:31:00.000+05:302011-04-14T15:31:08.506+05:30Energy efficiency--rebound, backfire and other problems with efficiency-only policies<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div dir="rtl" style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><i>Some economists are saying that, by themselves, efforts to be more efficient may lead to increased energy consumption </i></b></span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If you read the 'green-oriented' press these days, you will run into any number of statements like <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/29/business/29efficient.html?ref=energyefficiency">this one</a>: </span><br />
<blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Renewable energy sources like wind and solar are getting a lot of attention these days as a way to reduce the impact of energy use on the environment. But even enthusiastic supporters of alternative energy agree that the easiest way to cut carbon emissions and air pollution is to focus more on efficiency, less on pollution-free generation.</span></blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It's hard to argue against efficiency. Policies that encourage efficiency don't have to tax or cap the consumption of energy, so they are politically more palatable. Unfortunately, it appears they don't work very well either, if the goal is reducing carbon emissions. Here's a small bit from <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/08/science/08tier.html">a piece by John Tierney that ran recently in the <i>New York Times:</i></a></span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqHFxuR2-YUPCEkC-j2d_l__HojJnnR_9WbTGcLNCwhnIysqgZrj9zN9SI4a3vyXPrej6bYghybOc-PuqwMMfdqHPDuZYNSemDuL8hTyo2cuSIO_ss83-x6Nsa_x3XyhV7W3nryuadwss/s1600/cfl.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqHFxuR2-YUPCEkC-j2d_l__HojJnnR_9WbTGcLNCwhnIysqgZrj9zN9SI4a3vyXPrej6bYghybOc-PuqwMMfdqHPDuZYNSemDuL8hTyo2cuSIO_ss83-x6Nsa_x3XyhV7W3nryuadwss/s200/cfl.jpg" width="150" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Is this bulb backfiring?</td></tr>
</tbody></table><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But a growing number of economists say that the environmental benefits of energy efficiency have been oversold. Paradoxically, there could even be more emissions as a result of some improvements in energy efficiency, these economists say. </span></blockquote><blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The problem is known as the energy rebound effect. While there’s no doubt that <a class="meta-classifier" href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/f/fuel_efficiency/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier" title="Recent and archival news about fuel efficiency.">fuel-efficient</a> cars burn less gasoline per mile, the lower cost at the pump tends to encourage extra driving. There’s also an indirect rebound effect as drivers use the money they save on gasoline to buy other things that produce greenhouse emissions, like new electronic gadgets or vacation trips on fuel-burning planes. </span></blockquote><blockquote><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Some of the biggest rebound effects occur when new economic activity results from energy-efficient technologies that reduce the cost of making products like steel or generating electricity. In some cases, the overall result can be what’s called “backfire”: more energy use than would have occurred without the improved efficiency.</span></blockquote><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQ2dy63fi2AdNTkRsHAXXn0LUPOZy-7S-9Fg_gv4lkLMEcyOp6-xBTdKYf7CaU6XO6-ZqSQ6etQU03XNN98gLhVXNJe4mhPQaLXQ7QKLq7PlTJcQm4kGbYhZ4bRHTugB_Pj3v-y0XttY8/s1600/cap+and+dividend.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="133" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQ2dy63fi2AdNTkRsHAXXn0LUPOZy-7S-9Fg_gv4lkLMEcyOp6-xBTdKYf7CaU6XO6-ZqSQ6etQU03XNN98gLhVXNJe4mhPQaLXQ7QKLq7PlTJcQm4kGbYhZ4bRHTugB_Pj3v-y0XttY8/s200/cap+and+dividend.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cap and dividend: read all about it!</td></tr>
</tbody></table><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It's an interesting article, and you should read it. The lesson seems to be that if you want people to use less energy and energy-intensive products, you've got to make energy consumption more expensive. Some people argue for a carbon tax; others argue for a complicated system called 'cap and trade'. I think both are flawed. The best proposal <i>I've </i>seen is called 'cap and dividend'. You can read what we had to say about it last year in '<a href="http://www.greenlightdhaba.org/2009/12/cap-and-dividend-romantic-solution.html">Cap and Dividend, the romantic solution?</a>'</span></div>Hari Battihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14789125444941418973noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6081375376975563520.post-11369408751253607932011-04-12T08:32:00.000+05:302011-04-12T08:32:01.299+05:30Anna Hazare, Delhi Calm and the importance of democracy<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><i>There are many wonderful things about Anna Hazare's anti-corruption campaign, but the current draft of the Lokpal Bill may not be one of them</i></b></span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I'm a fairly disciplined fellow--'inflexible' if you are in a less charitable mood. Along with that, I confess I have somewhat of an addictive personality. However, thanks to the disciplinarian in me, I'm not an alcoholic and I no longer smoke. But I do wrestle with my share of demons. Like the computer--and media in general.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Periodically, I try to cleanse my system by going on a week-long media fast. NoTV, no facebook, no blogger, no email--no computer at all. Because I'm disciplined/inflexible, I set the Dhaba on autopilot and schedule a couple of posts ahead of time. I allow myself a daily paper once or twice to avoid total withdrawal. Then I spend the time I save with the family and friends, take walks, read books--that kind of thing. </span><br />
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<a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/75/IndiaGate.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/75/IndiaGate.jpg" width="200" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Coincidentally, that's what I was doing for seven straight days last week while <a href="http://www.annahazare.org/">Anna Hazare</a> was engaging in another, much more important and serious fast. I confess I heard rumours of it, and I was sorely tempted to hop on-line to see what it was all about. Regular readers of the Dhaba know that <a href="http://www.greenlightdhaba.org/search/label/corruption">I HATE corruption</a>, and I'd love to see us come up with some kind of way to fight it effectively. But what good is a fast if you don't stick to it? By Saturday afternoon, when I broke my fast, Hazare had already broken his. The family and I did head down to India Gate to 'be part of history' that evening. It was a strange scene, but I'll save that for another time. At that point, I confess, both Mrs. Batti and I were still having a difficulty explaining the whole issue to the kids. They understand corruption just fine. But the details of the Lokpal Bill? </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When we got back home, I fired up Facebook, and read '<a href="http://kafila.org/2011/04/09/at-the-risk-of-heresy-why-i-am-not-celebrating-with-anna-hazare/">At the Risk of Heresy: Why I am not Celebrating with Anna Hazare</a>.' The piece is by Shuddhabrata Sengupta from <a href="http://www.sarai.net/">SARAI</a>. I don't always agree with Shuddha (I don't always agree with anybody, actually), but he nearly always has an interesting perspective. The central thrust of his argument is worth considering. Here's a taste:</span><br />
<blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; line-height: 22px;">The appointment of the Lokpal will be done by a collegium consisting of several different kinds of people – Bharat Ratna awardees, Nobel prize winners of Indian origin, Magasaysay award winners, Senior Judges of Supreme and High Courts, the Chairperson of the National Human Rights Commission, the Comptroller and Auditor General of India, the Chief Election Commissioner, and members of the outgoing Lokpal board and the Chairpersons of both houses of Parliament. It may be noticed that in this entire body, only one person, the chairperson of the Lok Sabha, is a democratically elected person. No other person on this panel is accountable to the public in any way. As for ‘Nobel Prize Winners of Indian Origin’ they need not even be Indian citizens. The removal of the Lokpal from office is also not something amenable to a democratic process. Complaints will be investigated by a panel of supreme court judges...</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; line-height: 22px;">This is middle class India’s dream of subverting the ‘messiness’ of democracy come delightfully true. </span></span></blockquote><a href="http://www.harpercollins.co.in/Book_CoverImage/2537_Resize_Delhi_Calm.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://www.harpercollins.co.in/Book_CoverImage/2537_Resize_Delhi_Calm.jpg" width="142" /></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It felt so good to see so many people all over the country standing up against corruption. But I found Sengupta's argument compelling and disturbing. Maybe that's because because in addition to two and a half collections of poetry and several children's books, last week I finally read Vishwajyoti Ghosh's graphic novel, <i><a href="http://www.harpercollins.co.in/BookDetail.asp?Book_Code=2537">Delhi Calm</a></i>. It's a good book--well worth reading. Set during the Emergency, <i>Delhi Calm</i> reminds us of what can happen when we allow the subversion of democracy for a 'good cause.' The crackdown during Emergency, after all, was justified in part as a fight against corruption, and a lot of good people supported it because of that. But in the end, however, it was about other, less noble things. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There is little question that Anna Hazare and other anti-corruption leaders are committed, thoughtful people. I'm glad they are out there shaking things up. But let's not forget that the strength of this movement is not the righteousness of one man or the demand for a Lokpal Bill which seeks to reign in corruption by creating an institution which lets us avoid the inevitable messiness of democracy. The strength of this movement is that it has mobilised people across the country to hold our elected leaders accountable for their corrupt and profoundly un-democratic use of public resources and power. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As this Bill--and the loose movement that is pushing it--moves forward, let's hope there is continued debate about the best way to handle what we all agree is one of the worst problems facing the country today.</span></div>Hari Battihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14789125444941418973noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6081375376975563520.post-40304982046017248622011-04-07T14:48:00.001+05:302011-04-07T14:48:00.117+05:30Best Dhabas in Delhi: Just down the road from Jantar Mantar<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIyg_WdXqSrzxQNejrCdpgKp36pYJ2rl5jv-rMrx0QyCZZcL6iUP3jrYgJ0kysHacIKvn1RiZ_64orXarDr1tHE252soV_0nkstejk7124DwHxEP_kIBf7eYYNlHMS8PI0wEkei4Te62I/s1600/jantar+mantar+dhaba.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIyg_WdXqSrzxQNejrCdpgKp36pYJ2rl5jv-rMrx0QyCZZcL6iUP3jrYgJ0kysHacIKvn1RiZ_64orXarDr1tHE252soV_0nkstejk7124DwHxEP_kIBf7eYYNlHMS8PI0wEkei4Te62I/s200/jantar+mantar+dhaba.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I'm a big believer in freedom of expression, which is why every so often, I find myself heading down to Jantar Mantar to...express myself. After a few hours a peaceful protest, a justice loving person can really work up a good appetite. So I often find myself in search of a good dhaba. My favourite so far is the one pictured on the right, about two blocks from protest central. Just across the street is a sign for the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Smarak Trust Library.</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">There are actual several small establishments in this cluster of stand up eateries. Mostly you will be eating on eco-friendly, reusable steel plates, though you may get your tea in a plastic cup. Overall, the environmental impact of the meal you get here is bound to be lower than much more expensive sit down establishments that rely on energy intensive construction materials, AC cooling, and the like. </div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsMQJHWLZQCVU_9QnE5JdNhulQOHTGlWsLVqs_9oZlA89RnPAfc4e04cB5reu2PRzgnydlQ3-sivkeLUjjDaNweqF4AwnOLBuEGg5H_0-aA9p5dVJLIkEyiSSOWrgJu2_aZyW_FC6iEn0/s1600/Image0032.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsMQJHWLZQCVU_9QnE5JdNhulQOHTGlWsLVqs_9oZlA89RnPAfc4e04cB5reu2PRzgnydlQ3-sivkeLUjjDaNweqF4AwnOLBuEGg5H_0-aA9p5dVJLIkEyiSSOWrgJu2_aZyW_FC6iEn0/s200/Image0032.jpg" width="150" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Onion uttapam and sambar.</td></tr>
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</div></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Be warned: especially if you go in for the South Indian joint on the right side of the row, you are going to have to contend with quite a crowd at peak eating times. Still, I've never seen the guy taking the orders make a mistake. Be patient--all those people are there because the food is good and the price is right: this place truly is <i>cheap and best</i>. </div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">A months back after a <a href="http://www.greenlightdhaba.org/2011/01/last-weeks-delhi-rally-for-dr-binayak.html">Free Binayak Sen Rally</a>,<i><em></em></i> we enjoyed an onion uttapam (Rs. 35); an order of idli (Rs. 20) and something else that I can't remember. But it was all tasty and good. So next time you are at a rally, why not stop by for some of Delhi's best and greenest food. You may be protesting, but your stomach and your pocketbook will have nothing to complain about.</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">For more green eats, go check out the Best Dhabas in Delhi on our <a href="http://www.greenlightdhaba.org/p/cheap-and-best.html">Low Tech Green page</a>.</div></div>Hari Battihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14789125444941418973noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6081375376975563520.post-9538582602181930302011-04-05T15:11:00.002+05:302011-04-05T15:11:00.733+05:30Musical interlude from Mumbai<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I was needing a few days away from the dhaba, so it was perfect timing when Kabir Arora sent me this from Mumbai: a musical number by him and two of his fellow Gandhi Fellows. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">For more about Kabir, read <a href="http://www.greenlightdhaba.org/2011/03/confession-of-concerned-citizen-by.html">this post</a> (including the links at the bottom of it). For more about the Gandhi Fellowship, go <a href="http://www.facebook.com/gandhifellowship?ref=ts&sk=app_4949752878">here</a>.</span></div>Hari Battihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14789125444941418973noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6081375376975563520.post-89683558673190713662011-03-31T09:31:00.002+05:302011-04-01T07:48:04.060+05:30Why this green supports today's Delhi Autorickshaw strike<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjudfrDX-J0Jruhmt_21ekMu2eYWU1_TGBHi3OPSGK_AmRLccipuC_Wx73CbtnCIq8dJRErH687OrTNNCZyt_lDWZWeiMaLD4aTh7ZMTGKMdYeEix9rrI4oneDj-r1V75TuWw0T8oqGokI/s1600/delhi+auto.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjudfrDX-J0Jruhmt_21ekMu2eYWU1_TGBHi3OPSGK_AmRLccipuC_Wx73CbtnCIq8dJRErH687OrTNNCZyt_lDWZWeiMaLD4aTh7ZMTGKMdYeEix9rrI4oneDj-r1V75TuWw0T8oqGokI/s320/delhi+auto.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Strike day: don't travel by auto today!</td></tr>
</tbody></table><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b><i>Autos are not perfectly green, but they are better than many other forms of transportation--efforts to unduly burden them are wrong-headed and unfair</i></b></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Because of the Delhi autorickshaw strike today, I had to take two buses to get to work. Sure I saved some money--and my green quotient was higher, but instead of 30 minutes, my commute took an hour and twenty. You might think I'd be annoyed, but I'm not. I support the strike, and wouldn't travel by auto at any price today. Autorickshaws may not be the greenest vehicle on the road, but they are far less damaging than private cars, in part because they are smaller and more efficient, and in part because they are a necessary part of many peoples' bus and metro journeys. Efforts to unnecessarily burden autos and their drivers are wrongheaded and unfair.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Just so we're clear: of course I know Delhi auto walas can be annoying and often refuse to go by the meter--or even to go at all, depending on where you want to go. But this strike is about something else: the government's attempt to make autowala's pay to have GPS devices installed in their vehicles. The cost? Rs.15,000 per auto, per year. In addition, the government wants to raise other annual fees about Rs. 7,000. All in all, autowalas are looking at having to come up with another Rs. 22,000 a year. And if the GPS is stolen? One autowala said to me, "I'd die." </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Now the government wants you to believe that autowalas agreed to this when they got the rate hike last year, and that they "have had ample time to save for the installation of the GPS. It should not be difficult monetarily for them to deposit the fee and install the instrument." At least that's what <a href="http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2011-03-19/delhi/29145558_1_gps-taxi-owners-autorickshaws-and-taxis">one official told reporters last month</a>.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">But the idea that a fellow making the income earned by most autowalas can easily come up with Rs. 22,000 is ridiculous. And the idea that last year's rate hike was too high is also silly. Inflation in all sectors is rampant, and people need more to live on. Who complained earlier this month when it was announced that <a href="http://www.rnw.nl/english/bulletin/indians-set-world-beating-double-digit-wage-hikes">corporate salaries were rising at record levels in India</a>? The increased earnings of autowalas went to all kinds of things. In the last year, the guy I travel with regularly had to pay for an operation for his mother, tuition for his daughter, an engine overhaul on his vehicle, registration and insurance, and food, of course, which we all know is getting more expensive all the time. His wife told him that in order to come up with the extra money demanded by the government, they'd have to set aside another Rs. 100 per day. They'd either have to make drastic cuts in their household budget, or or he'd have to drive longer each day.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">It's interesting isn't it, that a neo-liberal government that regularly subsidises corporations in a variety of ways wants working class autowalas to pay for their own GPS installation--essentially, to pay to regulate themselves! Also interesting is the rumour that is going around among autowalas: if the unions can come up with enough money--say a crore or ten, then an important minister might be willing to reconsider this scheme. I'm not saying that this is true--but the fact that it's out there says something about the lack of faith so many of us have in our leaders.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The autorickshaw union leaders are saying that Shelia Dikshit would like to make Delhi into London or Paris. I've been saying that for more than a year. <a href="http://www.greenlightdhaba.org/2010/04/flyovers-reduce-emissions-and-other.html">In fact a year ago, I argued that Dikshit's attempt to phase out autos in Delhi </a>was motivated in part by her desire to make this into a World Class City. Smt. Dikshit doesn't like autos. Autos are are not as green as buses or the metro, but they are not as bad as private vehicles for a variety of reasons. We need to stop attacking these guys. Support the strike--go by bus or metro--or better still, walk!</span></div>Hari Battihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14789125444941418973noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6081375376975563520.post-67148730218406465632011-03-29T16:45:00.000+05:302011-03-29T16:45:18.558+05:30Green Weekend Out:Roots Cafe and the Rajiv Gandhi Renewable Energy Park<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The daytime weather is nice in Delhi these days, but it won't be for long. So before things really heat up, why not take a green outing with the family? A few weeks back, we headed out to Roots cafe in the Rajiv Gandhi Renewable Energy Park, Gurgaon--and we had a great time.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I confess, I normally avoid Gurgaon. For one thing, I don't like giant malls, and for another, I don't like traffic. But the metro makes the traffic a non-issue, and the Cafe Roots is not a giant mall. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Just hop on the Yellow line and head to the IFFCO Chowk stop. It's something like 30 minutes from Hauz Khaz station, and it's an interesting ride: once the metro comes above ground, you get all kinds of interesting views out there. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">To get to the Rajiv Gandhi Renewable Energy Park (RGREP) from IFFCO Chowk, head out the door, past the auto stand and turn right (west). It's a 5-10 minute walk. You can see where you are going from this <a href="http://wikimapia.org/#lat=28.4695967&lon=77.0684212&z=19&l=0&m=s&v=9">aerial map</a>, or ask they guy in this food stand:</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikfJJm-N8l-7YgSUdOZ-4KooCIt1_iLLgLHM4jg65t3wrXt_9jgxWtd9CSjKVYWBwrWdwlggt8btDuVZcB_wS2JQILNa0FKhpxUTwb0-kaedMwqB_PxgA3A6rgBu9Aa1CRX6uSIhxBsOo/s1600/Image0219.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="592" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikfJJm-N8l-7YgSUdOZ-4KooCIt1_iLLgLHM4jg65t3wrXt_9jgxWtd9CSjKVYWBwrWdwlggt8btDuVZcB_wS2JQILNa0FKhpxUTwb0-kaedMwqB_PxgA3A6rgBu9Aa1CRX6uSIhxBsOo/s640/Image0219.jpg" width="640" /></span></a></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">He'll tell you to keep walking and pretty soon you'll come to the RGREP. It's run by <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #131414; line-height: 23px;">Haryana Renewable Energy Development Authority (HAREDA), and it's goal is to spread awareness about sustainable development. Does it work as a government agency? I have no idea whatsoever, but you can do some research by reading their <a href="http://energycentre.in/RGREP%20-%20Quarterly%20Report%20-%20April%20to%20June,%202010.pdf">annual report</a>, or checking out their <a href="http://energycentre.in/about.html">website</a>. It may be a complete waste of money, or it may be wonderful.</span></span><br />
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</span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>My </i>goal was to find out if the kids would have fun in the park, and if Roots Cafe was any good. And the answer to both of those questions was a resounding yes.</span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYGk1ytbATmgEdGQ6qurmI9ZetlpnLZyxxvL2TT0ETMjvqoppSDvuH5NjymEr_M5h9ayTjoGJXOG5Pt1g51sYbl3TpYbJx1vqaZa4lf2fghE1hgUmcov0qowJ0pu_G5lRVg89pq65SDXk/s1600/Image0205.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYGk1ytbATmgEdGQ6qurmI9ZetlpnLZyxxvL2TT0ETMjvqoppSDvuH5NjymEr_M5h9ayTjoGJXOG5Pt1g51sYbl3TpYbJx1vqaZa4lf2fghE1hgUmcov0qowJ0pu_G5lRVg89pq65SDXk/s640/Image0205.jpg" style="cursor: move;" width="480" /></span></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I once wrote a post about <a href="http://www.greenlightdhaba.org/2010/01/kids-brainstorm-greentech.html">how my kids like to imagine crazy ways to get electricity from playground equipment.</a> This park actually takes those kind of ideas off the drawing board and makes them real...sort of. The slide above was supposed to generate enough electricity to make a light light up, but it wasn't working the day we went.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghx5ERAjGK6SV-rFeBVaqWlSfoi8JDPXY8hGXTJCZucAlV1oIQ-b9YqqKwV0qUKXn7ggH1ur9e31hFQ5mYmOctCBaZhs5UTw8rQWbfPR6xFhyphenhyphenfCcQxSrTrXec6Y-FNhWXZNAw7_VpbS9w/s1600/Image0209.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghx5ERAjGK6SV-rFeBVaqWlSfoi8JDPXY8hGXTJCZucAlV1oIQ-b9YqqKwV0qUKXn7ggH1ur9e31hFQ5mYmOctCBaZhs5UTw8rQWbfPR6xFhyphenhyphenfCcQxSrTrXec6Y-FNhWXZNAw7_VpbS9w/s640/Image0209.jpg" width="480" /></span></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">However, this crazy spinning machine did light up lights and make cool noises when kids ran in it. A little bit like something you might find in an enormous green hamster cage. The kids and I concluded that it probably won't be revolutionizing the power grid anytime soon, but it was pretty cool, nonetheless.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There were plenty of other things to talk with kids about...</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhORCBUk-BP-VXBcDCxqtsdLkxtTD7mbZr3xnH99BTJVY8cUJtlKMhyphenhyphenWfLXYAYPPQNz0Kp8aQkEb-pEE56AMJ8hUgRYOFKEX_XmkMtEqXoqxkRHbVENbwYksgVeeUe8-kHN7qj41wd1ndw/s1600/Image0212.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhORCBUk-BP-VXBcDCxqtsdLkxtTD7mbZr3xnH99BTJVY8cUJtlKMhyphenhyphenWfLXYAYPPQNz0Kp8aQkEb-pEE56AMJ8hUgRYOFKEX_XmkMtEqXoqxkRHbVENbwYksgVeeUe8-kHN7qj41wd1ndw/s320/Image0212.jpg" width="240" /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"></span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnzyQdLFM2P8Ov8C8WFaPtvkaET-BPmQDE6u2-2q-_2kn5yujd-FMUS8X9SKKf0QOB8_cgB1DAiKAyqI0c-ScqS-boWOGJiGtCbJI4f7pfjvQgJ5k6Shd2hm5lUceXP_8nhXQ0IC9_WXQ/s1600/Image0213.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnzyQdLFM2P8Ov8C8WFaPtvkaET-BPmQDE6u2-2q-_2kn5yujd-FMUS8X9SKKf0QOB8_cgB1DAiKAyqI0c-ScqS-boWOGJiGtCbJI4f7pfjvQgJ5k6Shd2hm5lUceXP_8nhXQ0IC9_WXQ/s320/Image0213.jpg" width="240" /></a></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Like solar arrays and solar water heaters. There was even a solar powered battery car you could rent, but the Batti kids are skeptical about any form of private motor vehicle and they didn't feel the car was worth the Rs. 20 or whatever was being charged.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">While the kids played, Mrs. Batti and I sipped some tea at Roots.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoxNMmIgD9WT8UVtzCJA90IAVHFGqhyha9EhIELKaO-mVW8YzXXmoNW_T4VObkWC4VQ1g6PmKaLZNICNzmtN4ybO_DJZZv-PCy7XWKDTaFu2h_so3gQG_sZWjyCj_ocLHx1zD0qlpxJe0/s1600/Image0211.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoxNMmIgD9WT8UVtzCJA90IAVHFGqhyha9EhIELKaO-mVW8YzXXmoNW_T4VObkWC4VQ1g6PmKaLZNICNzmtN4ybO_DJZZv-PCy7XWKDTaFu2h_so3gQG_sZWjyCj_ocLHx1zD0qlpxJe0/s640/Image0211.jpg" width="480" /></span></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Roots--'a cafe in the park' has a lot going for it. No AC, for one thing, which is necessary in a green cafe. Of course it will get warm in the summer months, when most of us stay inside during the hot hours. But those of us who have learned to live 'AC Free' in Delhi know that shade, moving air, and a little good old fashioned sweat are really all you need to be comfortable on most days--and this cafe has all of those things. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The food we ordered was good. Roots does not qualify as one of our <a href="http://www.greenlightdhaba.org/p/cheap-and-best.html">Best Dhabas in Delhi</a>, but I liked the fact that it's menu included reasonably priced items. For example, the masala chai was excellent and a generous sized cup sold for Rs. 20, just a few rupees more than the metro fare it took to get there. Roots is a private cafe, with a contract to run in a quasi-governmental space; it is not a revolutionary green organisation. Still, one gets the feeling that it is run by good people. Someone told me that the owner travels only by metro now, and that didn't surprise me.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So if you need something to do on a weekend and are sick of Cafe Coffee Day and all that noise, why not jump on the Yellow line and go check out Roots? I don't think you'll be disappointed. For more information, you can check out their <a href="http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=133901433311233">Facebook group</a>. And if you go on Sunday, you might be able to find some good organic produce at the farmer's market.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2d_YeVnGuQmBIYnpi9KiA9uL5hY-Q9db0Tuc_ppJxzolpkcEu4tKE5EVsbw7i6BkCeqK0FVHhKpuoR4oA2d9mD03SS878XCyGdzBebNJmjrFs3YVw8J7wYLtDcrW296R-rcMs7vmtrYc/s1600/Image0207.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2d_YeVnGuQmBIYnpi9KiA9uL5hY-Q9db0Tuc_ppJxzolpkcEu4tKE5EVsbw7i6BkCeqK0FVHhKpuoR4oA2d9mD03SS878XCyGdzBebNJmjrFs3YVw8J7wYLtDcrW296R-rcMs7vmtrYc/s640/Image0207.jpg" width="480" /></span></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">For more interesting places to eat, check out out <a href="http://www.greenlightdhaba.org/p/cheap-and-best.html">Best Dhaba in Delhi</a> series. </span></div></div>Hari Battihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14789125444941418973noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6081375376975563520.post-77722088552079323702011-03-26T08:53:00.000+05:302011-03-26T08:53:50.684+05:30Earth Hour 2011: good intentions or greenwash?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqHFxuR2-YUPCEkC-j2d_l__HojJnnR_9WbTGcLNCwhnIysqgZrj9zN9SI4a3vyXPrej6bYghybOc-PuqwMMfdqHPDuZYNSemDuL8hTyo2cuSIO_ss83-x6Nsa_x3XyhV7W3nryuadwss/s1600/cfl.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqHFxuR2-YUPCEkC-j2d_l__HojJnnR_9WbTGcLNCwhnIysqgZrj9zN9SI4a3vyXPrej6bYghybOc-PuqwMMfdqHPDuZYNSemDuL8hTyo2cuSIO_ss83-x6Nsa_x3XyhV7W3nryuadwss/s320/cfl.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Earth Hour: Lights on or lights off?</td></tr>
</tbody></table><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Today is the last Saturday in March, so this evening at 8:30 pm, people all over the world will turn off their lights for an hour to raise awareness about a variety of green issues. Of course many good-hearted greens will use the time to think sincerely about what else they might do to be earth friendly, or they will use <a href="http://www.earthhour.org/Homepage.aspx">Earth Hour</a> as a chance to educate their friends, family and neighbors about the massive environmental problems we all face. On the other hand, many <a href="http://deadlinenews.photoshelter.com/gallery-image/WWF-Earth-Hour/G0000vOQFbXL_Dcg/I00002DheiW03UTE/P0000rPvSV0D5cqw">political</a>, <a href="http://www.indyarocks.com/movieplex/Vidya-Balan-signed-as-brand-ambassador-of-World-Earth-Hour-2011-News-Gossip-5789">entertainment </a>and <a href="http://www.earthhour.org/Heroes.aspx">business leaders</a> will use Earth Hour as a low-cost opportunity to prove they are 'green,' when in fact they actively pursue earth-unfriendly policies and/or lifestyles during the rest of the year. For those people, Earth Hour really is just a way to cloak themselves or their companies with a thick coat of greenwash.</span><br />
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<div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">That's one reason why Delhi environmental activist Nagraj Adve leaves his lights</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> on in silent protest during Earth Hour. <a href="http://www.greenlightdhaba.org/2010/03/earth-hour-guest-post-delhi-activist.html">Adve's Earth Hour guest post here last year</a> resulted in a few angry emails, but it clearly touched a nerve: it was re-run in all kinds of places and ended up in the Green Light Dhaba's all-time top-ten most-read list.</span></div><div style="text-align: right;"></div><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Whatever you feel about Earth Hour, do read Adve's post--it will make you think, whether you agree with him or not. And while you are thinking about light consumption, take a look at "<a href="http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/0011/earthlights2_dmsp_big.jpg">Earth at Night</a>" to find out which countries send the most light into space. (There's a lot of light coming from India, but not when you consider the population here; <a href="http://www.eia.doe.gov/cabs/india/Full.html">roughly 400 million Indians</a> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">don't have access to electricity; for them, </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">every hour is Earth Hour.) </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I've put together a list of our best posts on greenwash. We're not against symbols here at the dhaba; hey, we just ran a <a href="http://www.greenlightdhaba.org/2011/03/world-water-day-special-green-poetry-by.html">World Water Day Special</a> last week. But symbolic actions are intended to make us think. And Earth Hour is a great time to think about the dangers of greenwash. So read a few of these...you won't be disappointed, and it probably won't even take you a full hour.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>The Best of the Dhaba: Greenwash</b></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> False advertising: <a href="http://www.greenlightdhaba.org/2011/03/priyanka-chopra-do-we-really-need-role.html">Priyanka Chopra: do we really need role models like this?</a></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> Tell it like it is... <a href="http://www.greenlightdhaba.org/2010/06/phrase-i-hate-brand-ambassador.html">A phrase I hate: brand ambassador </a></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> Annoying little things: <a href="http://www.greenlightdhaba.org/2010/09/top-5-commonwealth-games-pet-peeves.html">Top 5 Commonwealth Games Pet Peeves</a></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> Antidote: <a href="http://www.greenlightdhaba.org/2010/11/story-of-electronics-best-known-cure.html">The Story of Electronics: best known cure for the 'green paper fetish'</a></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> Hard to believe: <a href="http://www.greenlightdhaba.org/2010/04/flyovers-reduce-emissions-and-other.html">Flyovers reduce emissions and other examples of Delhi greenwash</a><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"> Should've been: </span><a href="http://www.greenlightdhaba.org/2010/04/breaking-news-leak-reveals-chief.html"><span style="font-size: small;">Breaking News: Leak Reveals Chief Minister Dikshit is Planning Major Green Policy Shifts</span></a></span></div>Hari Battihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14789125444941418973noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6081375376975563520.post-57343476075673471002011-03-24T07:52:00.000+05:302011-03-24T07:52:19.929+05:30Nuclear crisis in Japan: more lessons<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWSdLQt-4Io9JnzodXOuRm9izESB0HyLcksj_Wb3EP4M9qhuilAlsZrryJhGe0DnzLDuvp46Ut2H3eq6x7YSykM-fnttgt5s3qeTA372BNf8RB0aT_cGPUHshWIbgKc0asZ9047HZsY2w/s1600/japan.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWSdLQt-4Io9JnzodXOuRm9izESB0HyLcksj_Wb3EP4M9qhuilAlsZrryJhGe0DnzLDuvp46Ut2H3eq6x7YSykM-fnttgt5s3qeTA372BNf8RB0aT_cGPUHshWIbgKc0asZ9047HZsY2w/s320/japan.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Japan's problems continued with another quake hitting this week.</td></tr>
</tbody></table><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I know I wrote about the nuclear disaster in Japan last week, and I know many of you are ready to move on to the next 'big story', whether that be Wikileaks-comes-to-India or the war in Libya. Still I think it's important for us to revisit what's going on in Japan because it is so easy to learn the wrong lessons from it. And I promise to be quick and not too technical.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">First, most of us have learned or been reminded of the fact that nuclear power is not safe. The guy cutting my hair said so this weekend, as did at least two auto walas. Most people see that if things could go this wrong in a Japanese nuclear plant, there is a good chance they could go wrong here also. I remind people that anyone<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; line-height: 20px;"> who followed the incident last year when <a href="http://www.greenlightdhaba.org/2010/04/what-radioactive-trash-found-in-west.html" style="color: #5588aa; text-decoration: none;">radioactive trash ended up in a west Delhi scrap market</a> knows that Indian authorities are simply <a href="http://www.greenlightdhaba.org/2010/05/nuclear-liability-bill-worse-than.html" style="color: #5588aa; text-decoration: none;">not capable of monitoring the nuclear industry</a> effectively (yes, I said that last week, but it bears saying again)</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; line-height: 20px;">. </span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; line-height: 20px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">But the problem with the automated--and correct--'<i>nuclear is dangerous</i>' response is that the other major sources of energy--coal and oil--are also dangerous. VERY dangerous. Does anyone remember that spill in the Gulf of Mexico last year? Deadly <i>and </i>environmentally destructive. Oil is getting more dangerous to extract because it is getting harder to find. If we keep using oil like we are, we are bound to have more big spills in environmentally sensitive places, because much of the world's remaining oil is in environmentally sensitive places. </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; line-height: 20px;">Simple, really. And <i>coal</i>, well coal is also very, very dangerous. In fact, <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/georgemonbiot/2011/mar/16/japan-nuclear-crisis-atomic-energy?intcmp=239">George Monbiot</a> over at the <i>Guardian </i>argues convincingly that for a variety of reasons coal kills far more people every year than nuclear energy. (Of course there are the climate-change related deaths, but coal plants also release more radiation than nuclear plants--assuming the nuclear plants don't melt down.)</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 20px;">The only way out of this mess is for us to drastically reduce consumption of both energy and things. That's going to be painful, but it's got to happen. Except it won't--not with the political leadership we have. The western world seems happy to <a href="http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2011-03-12/news/28683863_1_global-oil-gas-prices-oil-markets">blame India and China for oil scarcity</a>, even though they've historically consumed most of it. And Indian politicians are quick to use the fact that we have a lot of poor people to excuse the over-consumption of our super-elite. Not a pretty picture.</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 20px;">Oh yes, one more thing. When we talk about green building, the events in Japan remind us that responsible construction--whether it be low-income housing or high-end malls--must be earthquake-safe. <a href="http://www.greenlightdhaba.org/2011/03/what-india-can-learn-from-japans.html">As I said last week</a>, far, far more people die from badly built buildings than from nuclear meltdowns. And the solution to that problem is not as expensive as we think--especially considering what we have to lose through inaction. </span></span></div>Hari Battihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14789125444941418973noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6081375376975563520.post-78093527608333656502011-03-22T07:50:00.002+05:302011-03-22T12:14:06.763+05:30World Water Day Special: Green Poetry by Sumana Roy<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Mahananda</b></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">You hear its hinges now, </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">peeling the silence </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">on purple-grey evenings.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Creaks are earned, </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">like grey hair, </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">an old adage laid bare.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Even rivers lose girth. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Knuckles and veins </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">rise like Lazarus</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">to a snot-green birth. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Every river has its tales.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Here there’s a dearth</span><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: small;">– </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">for this is now a city's river, </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">the river of eyeglasses</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">and a thousand calling bells.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Where are the stories of baits, </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">of tamed knots and fishermen's nets?</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Stories come</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">from crevices of curses, </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">from foliage of fear,</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">from rotting juices </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">of abandoned babies, </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">leaking into a sap of slums </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">that line the river's skin </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">like hair on a woman's chin.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">In this city where shops shut </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">their eyelids early,</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">the river wears laziness. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">It flows like mourning.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The crematorium washes </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">its hands off the dead. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">'Stock-keeping is a river's </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">responsibility,' it said.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Two legs of bridges on its chest, </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">like Kali’s on her husband's, at rest. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Season is the river's pre-partum depression, </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Evening is a vapour opening like her yawn.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">On evenings when the sky's a white lie,</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I see ambulances, </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">red lights gasping, shrieking</span><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: small;">– </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">the river's in hospital, waiting to die. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Fish moved inside its body once, </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">like kites in a windy sky.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Now a black crow alights </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">on its neon-flaked skin. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">It pecks </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">and claws </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">and caws,</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">flies to a new surname,</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">wearing a dead fin. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">It’s the time of disease, </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">of waiting for belatedness, </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">of giant wheels of smoke.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The river</span><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: small;">– </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">its spools </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">of uncoiled weed tapes</span><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: small;">– </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">becomes a recording studio.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">It records the firewood's</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">crackle, the priest's chants.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Life becomes a sign</span><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: small;">– </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">the river a map’s thin line.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">And school children</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">on their way home</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">change its name and sing:</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">“<i>Maha-ganda, Maha-ganda</i>, </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Hope you are fine!"</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">*This is as much Saikat Chakraborty’s poem as it is mine, or the river Mahananda’s. </span><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjW9BSoKBRh1jQ3EyCJ_HCs0QUEhx2sVxBo3shuNsH2na6JQJTJzk_ObnN7n_3ZKf4swsOPcZlmhdrTCxpD2HUOD2x2kK-jihHwPY7Tb2yyZO6tiobHPltRzS_iavJmtWcSmngqJKJ0iig/s1600/sue+iii.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjW9BSoKBRh1jQ3EyCJ_HCs0QUEhx2sVxBo3shuNsH2na6JQJTJzk_ObnN7n_3ZKf4swsOPcZlmhdrTCxpD2HUOD2x2kK-jihHwPY7Tb2yyZO6tiobHPltRzS_iavJmtWcSmngqJKJ0iig/s200/sue+iii.JPG" width="115" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">****</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><i>Sumana Roy lives in Siliguri, a small town in Bengal. The river Mahananda, that gave a rhythm to childhoods like hers once, now runs feebly through her town. She hopes to travel upstream to the river’s home some day.</i> </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><i>You can read more green poetry, including <a href="http://www.greenlightdhaba.org/2010/08/kosi-by-sumana-roy.html">another river poem</a> by Sumana Roy, on our <a href="http://www.greenlightdhaba.org/p/voices.html">Voices page</a>. And why not check out last year's World Water Day Special on <a href="http://www.greenlightdhaba.org/2010/03/world-water-day-special-delhis-nallahs.html">Delhi's Nallahs</a>.</i></span><br />
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</div></div>Hari Battihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14789125444941418973noreply@blogger.com8