The curious case of hunger strikes…

Posted on April 11, 2011 by Ajay Jaiman

What inference can you draw form the following two facts:

  1. When Irom Sharmila sits on a hunger strike in Manipur she gets arrested for ‘attempt to commit suicide’ and is force fed (nasogastric intubation) through a tube in her nose, it gets little media attention. She has been on hunger strike for years now but most people don’t know who she is or what she is protesting about.
  2. A token ‘economic hunger strike’ conducted mainly through Facebook, where people pledge to not ‘eat/drink outside’ (can’t go to KFC, but it may be ok to deep-fry your chicken at home), makes it to the cover page of at least one major national newspaper.
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Cricket: The Collateral damage?

Posted on April 6, 2011 by Ajay Jaiman

While ‘India’ was busy cheering its cricketers to win the world cup for the nation, some couple of hundred people, who had probably laboured through the day, hauling stuff in a under-construction swank high-rise, were sleeping in their shanties in sector 61 in Gurgaon. It was close to mid-night, when India won the epic battle. Urban Gurgaon broke into a rapturous celebration with full-fledged fireworks and these people slept through it

Local fire and police officials believe that a stray rocket celebrating India’s historic win landed in the shanties and caused a fire. Three people were burnt alive, nine were grievously injured, of which five were battling for their life in the hospital, and at least forty homes were gutted. Continue reading →

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Is this the future of digital magazines?

Posted on March 17, 2011 by Ajay Jaiman

Is this the future of digital magazines? If the real experience turns out to be even close to how it shows up on the video, I’d want one. That is, I’d want to use this technology to produce one.

More info at Digital Magazines: Bonnier Mag+ Prototype | Bonnier AB.

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Are the Olympics a waste of money?

Posted on March 16, 2011 by Ajay Jaiman

The Economist deserves credit for a very interesting poster campaign ‘Hosting the Olympics is a waste of money’. A careful reader of news might tell you that the governments can spend their time and money on better things. That these sports extravaganzas are not at all about sports, and do not really benefit the sportspersons.

The Economist poster - Hosting the Olympics is a waste of money

The Economist poster - Hosting the Olympics is a waste of money

Even more so in the Third World. Not so long ago there was some debate about the usefulness of the Commonwealth Games held in New Delhi, but it died a natural death. Much ink was spilled about corruption, but once again nothing came of it. Well, not yet, at least. Things are back to normal, and I am convinced that India will soon start bidding for another one of those mega events. While public memory is short, personal interests stand tall.

Are the Olympics a waste of money, asks Economist ad campaign | Guardian.co.uk.

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‘God will not allow man to destroy the earth?’ Really?

Posted on January 5, 2011 by Ajay Jaiman

If you thought Lalu Prasad Yadav was funny, you should meet John Shimkus (new chair of the Subcommittee on Environment and Economy) of the US. Lalu pales…

Shimkus is on record for dismissing the existence of global warming by citing biblical scripture that says God would not allow the earth to be destroyed. Specifically: “And He will send His angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather His elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other.” The earth will end only when God declares its time to be over. Man will not destroy this earth. This earth will not be destroyed by a flood.

There is overwhelming scientific consensus that in pursuit of relentless growth man is indeed destroying earth. Trouble is that it will become painfully obvious only when it way beyond repair. David Suzuki, an award-winning science broadcaster and environmental activist presents a simple but hard-hitting analogy to drive home the point.

“I give you a test tube full of food for bacteria- that’s an analogy with the planet- and I put one bacterial cell in and it is us. It’s going to go into exponential growth and divide every minute. So, at time zero, at the beginning, there is one bacterium. One minute, there are two. Two minutes, four. Three minutes, eight. Four minutes, 16. That’s exponential growth. Continue reading →

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First attempt at ceramics

Posted on January 3, 2011 by Ajay Jaiman

These are my first pieces of ceramic that came out of the kiln. Of course they are far from perfect but the first pieces are special…

 

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Gurgaon critical mass cycling – a new begining

Posted on January 2, 2011 by Ajay Jaiman

After the excesses of the new-year partying, you’d expect that on a cold and windy Sunday morning people might want to stay tucked in a little bit longer. Perhaps spend a lazy Sunday morning at home. The last thing you’d expect is a large turn out for a ‘critical mass’ cycling event, on a biting early January morning.

‘Critical Mass’ is a cycling event organised in many cities across the world to draw attention to the fact that cycling is a good way to travel and that cyclist have an equal right to the road. In most cities, the event is organised to coincide with the peak office traffic on a Friday evening – typically the last Friday of the month. We in Gurgaon have had a couple of successful Friday events but have not managed to sustain the momentum. The conjecture is that most working people can not get away from work in time to participate in the event.

Exceptional police 'bandobast', notice the police escort

Taking stock. Exceptional police 'bandobast', notice the police escort

Perhaps that is why a Sunday morning works better. Or so it may appear, going buy the turn out today. I don’t have an exact head-count but there were at least 50 riders, if not more. Clearly the largest ‘critical mass’ of this city.
Continue reading →

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Doodling in Math Class?

Posted on December 24, 2010 by Ajay Jaiman

I wish I had taken advance math in school/college. Can’t say what would have happened to my math skills, but I am sure my doodling would have improved. See what Vi Hart, a self-claimed recreational mathemusician is up to — doodling in the math class.

Visit her site

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Who cares about bicycles or about climate change?

Posted on December 8, 2010 by Ajay Jaiman

Since Delhi climate bicycle ride was going to be only 11 kilometers and on the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) corridor, I thought it might be fun for my 10 year old child to participate in, and also get a taste of an environmental movement.

When we reached the venue the first thing that crossed my mind was, where are the people? I knew we were just a little bit behind schedule, but the place looked totally deserted. I later figured that there were only about 50 or 55 people who had turned up for the event.

Happy to pose for a photo, when caught riding the motorcycle in the cycle lane.

Happy to pose for a photo, when caught riding the motorcycle in the cycle lane.

In hindsight, given how much attention Cancun is getting, is it any surprise that so few people turned up for this event. Or that the Gurgaon critical mass is defunct. It seems to me that the wealthier nations (and the wealthier people of a nation) don’t care and the poorer nations (and the poorer people of a nation) can’t. I suspect tens of millions of people in this country ride a cycle, only because they can not afford a motorcycle or car. And are anxiously waiting to make the switch.

At the ride itself I had mixed feelings — it was important fro me, and I could sense that it was important for my daughter, but I also knew that it made absolutely no difference to anybody else, even to those on the road beside us. For most people it was just another day and they continued to break every law in the book with impunity, as they’d do on any other day.

We made a little game of counting blatant disregard for law. Here is what we found: Continue reading →

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Will my cycling to work help save our environment?

Posted on December 1, 2010 by Ajay Jaiman

For about a month now I have been using a cycle as my primary mode of transport (as opposed to a car). Thinking to myself that it is good for me, good for the environment and a political statement too… And then I come across this article by Derrick Jensen. You should read the whole thing, but among other things he is arguing that personal actions, such as living simply, composting, biking and not consuming, are ineffective.

And he uses numbers to show that too. Take water for instance: ‘More than 90 percent of the water used by humans is used by agriculture and industry. The remaining 10 percent is split between municipalities and actual living breathing individual humans. Collectively, municipal golf courses use as much water as municipal human beings.’ He shows that the same is true for energy consumption and waste creation… Continue reading →

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