This year she was a Ladybug. She almost wasn’t one, though – on Halloween Day the weather turned suddenly chillier – it had been in the 50s all week, but on Halloween evening, it was in the low 30s. We seriously considered switching to a warmer, fleecy animal costume (like a tiger) where she’d be more covered. Wearing a jacket was not a great option because the ladybug’s wings would get in the way.  But S herself wasn’t bothered by the weather – she was dressed in layers anyway, and tends to have more tolerance to cold than we do (being born here makes a difference, maybe ?) I did wrap a red-and-black striped scarf around her head for protection, which got compliments from the neighbors (“did your Mommy make this for you?”)  Nope, it’s actually Grandma’s handmade scarf.

She went trick-or-treating with R to a handful of neighbors’ homes, while I held down the fort.  We had more than 100 kids come treat-or-treating, and this is probably a reduction from past numbers. Handing out candy is something I am not uncomfortable with, and I’ve blogged in the past about the strange and crazy experience that trick-or-treaters bring.  But the neighborhood kids have grown older and better behaved.  They still sometimes remark about their candy preferences, but it’s polite and appreciative. (“I love Reese, it’s my favorite !” sounds much better than the previous “I hate Snickers, it’s disgusting !”).

After the trick-or-treating, S settled down to help with handing out candy. She doesn’t like candy herself, is not the least bit interested in eating any.  As much as I’d like to pat myself on the back for my excellent parenting skills, I suspect I have nothing to do with this preference. Well, as long as she doesn’t tell the neighbors their candy is disgusting

Finally, here she is, handing out candy to the trick-or-treaters :

Handing out candy

At first glance, mandatory rural postings seem like a good way to solve the shortage of medical care in rural areas.  But I have several doubts and questions on this.

1. Care cannot be forced – If a doctor is forced to provide care unwillingly – because it is a mandatory posting and seen as some sort of punishment, what is the level of care that the doctor would provide?  Would he/ she have a half-hearted approach to treating patients?  Would the quality of patient care (and the enthusiasm of the doctor) be better if the doctor had volunteered for the rural posting ?

2.  What is the plan to beef up rural medical infrastructure ?  Sure, you can force medical students to work in rural areas, but how effective are they going to be without nurses and trained support staff ?  Will there be a mandatory nursing service too ?  What about medical supplies ?  Who ensures that rural clinics have sterilized needles and cotton, vaccines, anti-venom, antibiotics and all that stuff ?

3. What is the plan to ensure doctors’ safety ?  We have seen how relatives of patients besiege doctors when their loved ones don’t respond to treatment, or even die.  This happens in the best hospitals in the cities – like say AIIMS.  Of course it will happen in rural areas.  Who protects the doctors then ?

3.  What is the plan to protect women doctors ? Who protects the women doctors  from harassment and molestation ?  They may have to treat patients at all hours of the day, travel alone to patients’ homes etc.  How do we ensure their safety?

Years ago, I studied in a college town where the female students (who were few to begin with) were all considered to be of loose morals because we dressed in jeans and spent time with the other male students in the class after sun down (on group projects and classwork, but still..)  Now, once a person is considered to be of loose morals, anyone can decide to molest her and no bystander would come to her rescue.  We had to always travel in groups.  That particular college town has very likely changed its attitudes since then but I am sure many villages in India still would share this attitude.

4.  Caste politics and other issues – Most urban Indians don’t have much idea of the intricacies of caste hierarchies and customs that govern rural India.  This is all the more so if the rural doctor does not hail from that region.  How do our khap panchayats deal with unintended transgressions by the doctors?

5. The rule will still not apply to every one – The Central government’s proposal, as I understand it, only applies to post graduate medical students.  So anyone who can afford it, will try to complete postgraduate studies abroad. It is only the students who cannot afford to go abroad who will end up working in rural areas, and this will add to the resentment.

I am sure there are many more such issues and people who have worked in rural areas would have a lot more to say.  I am also sure that governments at the State and Central level would have thought through these issues.  But if they are already imposing such a mandatory rule on medical students (as in Andhra Pradesh and Telengana), surely the public needs to know more details on what the thinking behind this measure is?

I’m all for the beauty of the game of soccer (or football or futbol or whatever you choose to call it) but frankly, sitting through 90 odd goalless minutes gets tiring.

Given that nearly every game sees goals scored only during extra time, I am proposing a few rules/ changes to make the game more interesting :

1.  There should be no regulation time.  The game should only be played in extra time.

If that is not possible,

2.  Each half of regulation time should start with extra time.

3. Even better, each half of regulation time should start with penalty shootouts.

4. If despite all these changes, the game still ends in a tie, then there should be a modified penalty shootout at the end of the game – one in which there is no goalkeeper guarding the goal post.

Maybe at least then, the ball will strike the net?

I was a little shocked to read that Penguin India is withdrawing all copies of Wendy Doniger’s book “The Hindus : An Alternative History” from the Indian market. What an utterly bad precedent, and how unnecessary.

It’s not  that Wendy Doniger’s book is a great scholarly work that I think everyone should read.  I reviewed Doniger’s book back in 2009, when I talked about how she calls the Aryans as cattle thieves and how she confuses symbolism for fact.  As someone with a doctorate in Sanskrit, surely she knows that Sanskrit is full of symbolism and most words have multiple meanings ? Surely she also knows that the legend she is quoting has widely published alternative explanations based on the twin meanings of the word “go” in Sanskrit – “cow” and “light”.  Yet she sticks to her literal meaning, without even mentioning the alternate interpretation. 

I wrote again about the book in 2010, when her book was nominated a finalist for the Book Critics Award. I wrote about how she portrays Dasaratha as a sex-addict  and claims that Lakshmana lusted after Sita.  Clearly, she manages to see things in the Ramayana that no one else has seen so far, and one can argue that perhaps she is the one seeing with a dirty lens.

Her pseudo-Freudian analyses are certainly not backed up by any qualifications or training in psychoanalysis, as far as I can see from her CV.  Perhaps she was aiming for controversy, even if it lost her some credibility.  Whatever her reasons, the impression I received after reading her book was that it was not a great scholarly work, whatever the author’s credentials.  It is not worth the attention it has been getting, and the attention it will get in the coming weeks and months.

But Penguin India’s decision is not only a blow for free speech, it also risks making a martyr out of Wendy Doniger and makes much of her book. Now Ms. Doniger can make statements like this –

Ms. Doniger said she was “deeply troubled by what it foretells for free speech in India in the present, and steadily worsening, political climate.”

If Ms. Doniger was aiming for controversy, she has certainly succeeded now.

Presenting the same My city versus Barrow, Alaska comparison (as before, note the RealFeel temperatures which take into account wind chill) :

First, my city :

Then, the weather in Barrow, Alaska:

Next time maybe I should compare with Antarctica. That should make me feel better.

But I still need to say this somewhere (to someone who is not a fellow sufferer) – it was cold.  Still is cold today, but not the frostbite-and-amputation-in-5-minutes-of-exposed-skin cold, so that’s a definite improvement.

How cold was it?  Well, pictures are supposed to say thousands of words, so here goes – here are the temperatures on the night of Sunday, Jan. 5th (focus on the “Real Feel” ones, which account for wind chill) :

The temperature in Fairbanks, Alaska (as far North as most people will go) :

The temperature in Prudhoe Bay (on the banks of the Arctic Ocean) :

The temperature in my Midwestern city:

When you are much colder than even Prudhoe Bay, well, how much worse can it get?

But it can, it can.. The next morning, still under the grip of the Arctic air, I looked at the temperatures in Barrow, AK. Barrow is the northernmost point of Alaska and is also on the banks of the Arctic Circle. Here is a Google maps screenshot of Barrow (A) and Prudhoe Bay (B) :

Well, this was the temperature in Barrow :

And the temperature in my city:

You know how one feels when you are colder than Barrow, AK ?  That’s right, I am disgusted.

If you are like most of my visitors and read a single post through a google search, you probably won’t notice anything wrong with the theme. But obviously, theme changes are meant to help regular blog readers find it more readable.

I dreaded the whole idea of changing themes, but it was much easier than I expected.  Probably because, for one, I didn’t spend too much time searching for a theme.  The themes these days are much better than the ones available a few years ago, and this time round I didn’t have too many requirements either.  The primary requirement was mobile-friendliness, and if it looked a little like my previous theme, that was a bonus.

Having said that, I’m not completely happy with it.  The header text seems to have a somewhat misty, fuzzy look, especially on the front page (single pages look fine). But am I going to spend a few hours trying my hand at CSS editing? Nope.  I’d like to, but with a demanding toddler, I cannot afford to.

Minor issues aside, Emphaino is a really nice theme.  It is developed by Chennai based Srinivasan G. and I think he has done a great job.

Emphaino by Srinivasan G.

I also find that page loading is now significantly faster.

So how do you like the new theme?  Do you find it more easy on the eye?

If you are reading this on your cellphone, of course, you are going to get the mobile layout and will not see any of these tiles.  That’s the whole idea.

Frustrating at so many levels.  This is not unprecedented cold, mind you, just too cold for early December.  We do get this kind of weather in mid-January and February.  But to start winter with this much cold is not fun.

No, I do not live in Canada (in case you are wondering) or Alaska.  It was actually quite a shock to visit Alaska and find that parts of the state are much, much warmer in the winter than our upper Midwest.  Take Juneau, the capital – the temperatures there rarely go below zero celsius. Look at how Juneau looks like this month – although, okay, it does snow a lot.  They probably need snow throwers more than refrigerators over there.

I don’t mind snow as much – it is easy enough to clear, and at worst, it results in slushy sidewalks.  Here, it is so cold that the roads are icy  (far more treacherous for vehicles), the winds are blustery, and the only good thing, as you’ll notice – it is sunny.  Until she experienced it firsthand, my mother could never bring herself to believe that  it could be so cold and yet simultaneously bright and sunny.

Not only does the sun deign to only dispense light and not heat, it also does not believe in working for too many hours a day in winter.  The days will get shorter and shorter until December 21st, until dusk falls around 3:30 pm and does that get depressing. In summer, it is light until 9:30 pm.  Quite a contrast.  I never believed all those geography (?) lessons about how the days are long in summer and short in winter – at best, dusk would fall an hour earlier in the winter.

It’s hard enough for us adults to get used to the short days.  But here is what happens – some time around 5:30 pm, S will look up from whatever she is playing with, and look out of the window.  Outside, it would be pitch dark and the moon would be shining.

“Sun Off !  Night !” she will declare and then “Up the Stairs” (to sleep).  Now try explaining that it not exactly night yet, to a toddler. All the while, part of me too wishes I could sleep away this winter.

The more important question is not why someone commits these crimes, but (i) why is there nothing to deter them from doing so ? and (ii) does learning about the crime and aftermath deter others from committing similar crimes ?

It is also very clear that most crimes committed against women are not committed in the heat of the moment in anger, but have some degree of premeditation involved.  Take a look at the latest Mumbai gang-rape.  The perpetrators had time to call all their friends on their cellphones and ask them to join in?  They decided to take pictures of the victim to blackmail her into silence?  Obviously, this is a classic instance of a case where the men found a woman in a vulnerable position (in a near-deserted place, with only one male for support) and decided to take advantage of her vulnerability.  They decided to do this because they believed that there would be no consequences to their action.

That is key here, and in all crimes against women – the perception that there would be no consequences.  Perception is what is important here.  Why do people kill newborn female babies?  Obviously, those babies cannot defend themselves, and the killers think they can get away with it because they believe no one else is going to defend those babies – not society, and not the law.  What would happen if baby killers believed their families would be ostracized by society?  That no one would give them jobs, or they would never be able to get their sons married? What would happen if they were convinced they would definitely go to jail for life?

Mumbai protests against the gang-rape. Pic courtesy: The New Indian Express

Now, I am not going to get into why people believe they can get away with such horrific crimes.   There could be multiple reasons, but again, the more important question – especially from the authorities’ point of view, is how they are going to change this perception.

If people start believing that there is (i) zero chance of getting away with a crime,

(ii) that they will definitely be caught and punished very quickly , and that

(iii) the punishment will be severe,

they will surely hesitate the next time they want to take advantage of a vulnerable female.  But all three of these things need to happen.

Educating people is not the answer.  Unless someone is mentally ill, he/ she knows it is wrong to kill a baby, or rape a woman. It does not matter what excuse they give for their actions, or how they try to justify it.  They know they have committed a crime; they just believe they can escape punishment.  There is also no question of forgiveness for such crimes.  That would again only reinforce the perception that they can get away unpunished.

So how do the authorities change this perception?  Bringing the rapists in high-profile cases to a quick justice is the first step, sure.  It is also the easier part.  The harder part is consistently going after every person accused of rape or infanticide and bringing them to justice quickly.  Having a zero tolerance policy for crimes against women and consistently enforcing it.  Another thing that would help is publishing statistics – number of cases registered, number of cases solved, time taken to bring the accused to court, time taken in court etc.  If the reality is better than the perception, then people will surely, if slowly, change their perception.

But what should be the punishment? I still believe that Capital punishment for rape is not the answer, mostly because I am afraid that rapists would then proceed to murder the victim in an attempt to hide their traces. After all, if one can be hanged for the rape as well as the murder, then there is a strong incentive to make sure the victim cannot file an FIR or testify against the rapist.  (In the Mumbai case too, the accused tried to  silence the victim, only they used blackmail).

But one cannot deny that a strong punishment acts as a deterrent, especially in premeditated crimes.  Would the rapists in this latest Mumbai gang-rape case have so readily called their friends (as if to a party) if they believed they would all surely go to jail for life?  Or ten or twenty years?  Under the new Criminal Law (Amendment) Act, 2013, a rapist can get at least 7 years in prison.  It is not that the punishment is not enough of a deterrent.  It is that the rapists believe, for whatever reason, that they will not be caught and/ or they will not get punished. Perhaps it has to do with the really, really low rate of  conviction of rape accused – the Supreme Court says 90% of rape accused go free.  One can have certain death as the punishment for rape, but if people think that it won’t apply to them, they have no reason to change their behavior.

It is heartening to note that all five accused in the Mumbai case have been arrested.  That is definitely a good beginning.  But what happens from here on is very important – the speed at which they are tried, and if found guilty, punished.

But at the end of the day, you don’t want people to think that marching in the streets is the only way to stop rapes and for rape victims to get justice.  It definitely helps if newspapers publicize every crime against women, so public attention is drawn to how frequently this happens.  But the authorities should treat every case equally well, whether in the news or not.

Only then will people change their perception and behavior, and only then will rapes and crimes against women reduce.  Until then, we can actually expect to see an increase in news of rapes (as newspapers publicize them more) before we start to see a decline.

Muffins are the most forgiving of baked goods. They are easygoing and demand nothing from the baker – no skill/ experience, and no specialized bakeware. Unlike their popular cousins, cupcakes, the humble muffins  don’t even require a hand mixer.  Neither do you need special bundt pans or loaf pans – while having a muffin pan is great, you can just as easily use a few cups or ramekins (in fact, that’s the route to go if you only want to make 3-4 muffins). All you really need (if your recipe uses eggs) is a fork or a spoon.  Plus, muffins look really good and make great snacks for breakfast, or after work, or as a travel snack if you are planning a weekend trip to the zoo. Ideal if you are a novice baker, or if you have a toddler grabbing your arm insistently  because she doesn’t want you in the kitchen.

Now, baking is a little less forgiving than cooking. Forgot to add the tamarind paste in rasam (even though that is step 2 after Boil the water) and the rasam is already done? No problem, just stir in the tamarind paste and boil some more (or boil the tamarind paste separately in a little water and mix).  The thing with cooking is, no single ingredient is usually so integral to the dish that it cannot be added later.  But with baking, if you forget something, say, that half teaspoon of baking soda, the dish is likely ruined. So it’s best to mentally run through a checklist of ingredients just after you finish mixing or at least before you put the dish in the oven, in case you’ve forgotten something (quite likely if that toddler has now graduated to gnawing on your arm).

One of my current favorites  is the humble banana nut muffin (which can just easily be just a plain banana muffin).  In my house, these usually get devoured while still warm from the oven, and are a great way to use up over-ripe bananas. (Insert joke here about going bananas, going nuts etc). They use whole wheat flour (partly) and brown sugar, which helps me feel less guilty at my toddler eating them.

BANANA NUT MUFFINS

Ingredients

• 3 to 4 ripe bananas, mashed
• 1 cup chopped walnuts (toasted or raw) (optional)
• 1/3 cup melted butter
• 1 cup brown sugar  (you can use 3/4 cup if you like less sugar, or 3/4 cup sugar and a tablespoon of honey)
• 1 egg, beaten, or 1/4 cup egg whites
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 teaspoon baking soda  (or 1 teaspoon baking powder and 1/2 teaspoon baking soda)
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup of all purpose flour
• 1/2 cup of whole wheat flour or atta
• Milk/ Buttermilk/ water for mixing – maybe 1/4 cup.

Makes 12 muffins.

Method

I keep reading reports about how the Government is not doing its job, evacuating people too slowly etc etc.  While I’m sure there are lots of things the Government can do/ could have done better, the evacuation itself is being done by the Indian Army/ Air Force/ ITBP and they seem to be doing a fabulous job at high risk to their own lives.  I understand the anxiety of relatives, but I am not surprised they are being evacuated at the rate of 10-15 people per helicopter.  It is not exactly the sort of terrain one can land transport aircraft in.  Not only is the hillside steep, but the roads too are about 3 inches wide at the best of times, and now even that has been washed away.  We are talking about rappelling and rock climbing here.

Army personnel rescuing pilgrims by a washed off road. Pic courtesy: PTI/ The Hindu

We know the rain was torrential, but we don’t know whether it was unusually torrential.  Do we have records for the last 100-200 years?  What constitutes average rainfall during the monsoons?  Time was when Kedarnath and Badrinath used to see very few pilgrims precisely because they were so inaccessible.  Now devotees pour in by the thousands, so any disaster gets magnified in terms of loss of life.

The rains were not the problem, in my opinion, the landslides were.  That region seems to be getting a lot more landslides in recent times.  As far as I know, landslides are caused by loss of tree cover, and unless all the trees in Uttarakhand are dying mysteriously of disease, the cause of the landslides (and this whole tragedy) is indiscriminate logging.   I am surprised that no one is focusing on this issue.

It is not going to stop raining in Uttarakhand.  People are only going to go in greater numbers to Badrinath and Kedarnath.  And unless we do something about the landslides, this sort of tragedy is only going to keep occurring.

So can we please have more of a national debate on how to stop those landslides ?  If logging is the cause, can we talk about the logging ?

A woman cycles through the streets with her children, looking for drinking water. (Pic : M. Vedhan/ The Hindu)

At least in Chennai, rain water harvesting by residences has been made mandatory and going by anecdote at least, it has made a lot of difference to the water table. If nothing else, it has cut down the amount of water flowing into the streets after every rain and waterlogging them.

Unlike Chennai, where rain water harvesting is mandatory for all residences and commercial buildings, new and old, public and private, in many other states where there is legislation on rain water harvesting, I understand it is only mandatory for new buildings.  That makes a big difference.  If people in Chennai can modify their homes to harvest rainwater, why cannot those in the rest of the country do so?  Obviously, very few will voluntarily do so unless there is legislation mandating it.

Rainwater harvesting is just one part of the story, though.  What I cannot understand is why, with such a long coastline, India has never been serious about reverse osmosis plants for providing drinking water.  I’ve heard every possible excuse now – the membranes are expensive, they need to be imported, no one will buy RO water because it is too costly etc etc.  Yet, in many cities now, people routinely buy water and some of it is RO based, set up by private companies.  But there has been no concerted effort on the part of either the Central or State governments to set up  large-scale RO plants to meet the drinking water needs of the population.  If cost is the only issue, why not subsidize?  If the government can subsidize petroleum, it can subsidize drinking water, which is far more essential, and for which there are no alternatives.

Water usage in the cities is only going to increase as cities expand, so it baffles me that there is not more focus or urgency on this issue.  A few good monsoons and everyone thinks that the problem has been resolved.  Short-term measures are used, like using water tankers to supply water at an additional cost, and these tankers then cause accidents and damage the roads.

As a child, I remember a water crisis in Chennai in the 80s, waking up to the sounds of my mother rushing to fill up on water at 3 a.m. before the taps ran dry for the day. I think it was only that one summer and we moved away from Chennai shortly after, but it is not an experience that I am ever likely to forget.  All these years later, I still  cringe at the amount of water my lawn sprinklers seem to spray around, even though I am in a different country and water is much more plentiful here.  But it is really sad and at the same time, horrifying to see that  nothing has changed for the residents in Chennai. A few bad monsoons and water becomes scarce again.

I only hope by the time the children in the picture grow up, the water scarcity issue is resolved – in Chennai and everywhere else in India.  Is that too much of a hope?

Not that there haven’t been topics I’ve wanted to blog about.  But typing on your phone (as I am doing now) or on a tablet can be really frustrating. Maybe it works for those who write short posts. Or maybe I’ll get better with more practice. I’d love to hear from those who habitually blog from their phones as to how they do it.  Tweeting and Facebook updates are one thing, long blog posts are quite another.

Not that I get the chance to sit and compose blog posts – my daughter S seems to take up every available second of my time. The only reason I finally got the free time to start this post was that S fell sick – a nasty viral infection, which meant that she wanted to lie on my lap all day long.  So I had some downtime when I could peer into a tablet (or phone) – at least until  I caught the infection from her.  But it was startling to see that so few of the blogs I follow had seen many posts either.  Clearly, blogging is dying, and soon my trusty Google Reader will be dead too.

I am emerging from a hibernation of many kinds.  Here in the upper mid-west, we are still digging out from all the snowstorms.  There is snow on the deck and ice in the shaded parts of the driveway.  It’s the vernal equinox today, the first day of astronomical spring, apparently. The key word here is “astronomical”.  It has nothing to do with the weather. Temperatures are 25 degrees below normal (and yes, well below zero celsius).  Not to mention the biting wind, and 25 mph of it.  This winter, I have sometimes wondered whether I am living in Alaska.  Mind you, parts of Alaska (the southeast, especially) are much warmer.  Juneau, the capital, has probably never seen temperatures below zero celsius.

But back to us – meteorological spring seems months away – maybe, just maybe, I can enjoy a 50 degree day in July, do you think ? If I cross my fingers and don’t jinx it? Temperatures can only increase from here on! Someday soon, we will even get to step out without dressing up like an eskimo! Lots of things to cheer about.

As additional proof that Spring is approaching, I even saw birds for the first time in months ! And no, they were not penguins.  I think they were grouse.  I even heard birdsong ! That was definitely not from penguins.  Granted, all this was before the last snowstorm, and I have neither seen nor heard any birds since, but no doubt they are hiding somewhere. Soon, there will be birds and something like the start of spring. And after the ice in the backyard recedes and the glaciers melt – no wait, that’s just the pond, we can even see a spot of green in the landscape ! (And no, I don’t mean the algae in the pond.)

It’s time to come out of hibernation, and I suppose my blog should too.

I’m not so sure, though, that allowing FDI in retail is such a bad thing.  I can think of several ways it will actually help the Indian consumer :

1.  Small shops, street vendors and malls can all co-exist (as they are doing now) :  They all serve different needs, and sometimes different income segments.  Not everyone is going to be able to drive to a Walmart, or shop at malls.   The neighborhood shop selling everything from toothpaste to SIM cards is not going to go away anytime soon, whatever giant retailer comes in.  To say that Walmart will harm small vendors is like saying McDonalds will harm the roadside chaat / tea shop.

2.  Premium pricing has not meant better quality :  I have found this to be true of almost every product and service in India. Just because you go to a big store and pay a premium for a product, you cannot expect either that the product will be better quality, or that the service will be better.  Prices for a whole lot of products are the same as in the US, though the quality is just not the same.

When I visit India, I buy kurtis and bags from street vendors for Rs 100 or so.  I also buy kurtis from big-name stores in malls, and from Fabindia for anywhere from Rs 400 to Rs 1000.  At the end of the day, I don’t find much difference between the Rs 100 kurti and the Rs 500 one.  Both are cotton, both run during the initial few washes, and both last equally long.

3.  Customer service is non-existent :  Most stores in India will not allow a customer to return a product even if he/she has the purchase receipt and the product is unused.  Salesmen are more inclined to hardsell a product than understand the customer’s needs and steer her to what will fit her needs. And if you get a lemon, getting the store or the manufacturer to fix anything is extremely time-consuming.   I have been surprised that the same big name brands who provide excellent customer service in the US do not do so in India, not even in their company-owned stores.  If  the advent of FDI means stores with US standards of customer service, it would be a big improvement.

A Bharti Walmart store in Amritsar. (Pic courtesy : PTI/ The Hindu)

4.  Local industry doesn’t have to suffer :  A lot of stuff will still be made in India.  If people want to use Hamam soap and Bambino vermicelli, that is what Walmart will have to stock.  Even where there is no brand preference, it makes complete sense to source items locally instead of importing them from say, Mexico.  It’s not as if products made in China are not already sold in  Indian stores, small and large.  That is the greater threat to Indian industry, not Walmart.  Granted, Walmart has a long history of squeezing its suppliers (and will do the same to any Indian suppliers), but the suppliers who stick with Walmart do so because what they lose in margins per unit, they make up with the huge volumes.

Finally, the FDI approval does state that “ 30 per cent of the products must be procured from small scale industries which have a total investment in plant and machinery not exceeding $1 million. ”

5. Hypermarkets aren’t new to India, right ?  We already have the Big Bazaars and Spencer’s and so on.  So what are these international chains going to do that’s so dangerous for local industry? If anything, the consumer will have greater choice.

6. Some categories currently have no big players :  There are some categories of stores that are just not present in India.  For instance, we have the friendly neighborhood hardware stores, but something like Home Depot could really change people’s attitudes towards DIY.  (At first, though, people will just buy tools so their handyman/carpenter has what is needed.  A bit like how washing machines mainly make the maid’s work easier.)

Similarly, craft shops like Joann could potentially do well in India given how many people still sew/ embroider/ knit etc.  Knowing India, it could well also be a go-to store for tailors and owners of clothing boutiques.

7.  The Prime Minister’s perishables argument is very true : We do have enormous wastage in foods and vegetables because small stores and vegetable vendors cannot afford refrigerated trucks, or actually any refrigeration.  The stores lose money, and so does the consumer (because a lot of the fruits/ vegetables spoil too quickly after purchase).

Having said all this, a Walmart , Target or  Home Depot will only do well in India if it adapts quickly to the Indian market, otherwise it could very well fail spectacularly.  So it should be very interesting to see how this all plays out over the next few months.

I may be an extreme case, but apparently, I am not alone.  It is easy to see where all the bloggers are these days.  Not on their blogs, surely, for on the rare occasion that I open up my feed reader (do people even still use them?) I see hardly any new posts.  Perhaps they are on Facebook and Twitter, but they are definitely visible on Flipkart.  Every Indian blogger seems to have a book or three out.

Frankly, I am envious of them.  Leave alone writing books, I’d love to be able to get a chance to write a mere blog post.  Gone are the days when my only excuse for not blogging was laziness. These days I compose multiple blog posts in my head, where they are doomed to remain, for I am destined to not touch a laptop while S is around. The little despot has long decreed that all laptops/ tablet PCs/ phones, cameras and other electronic devices are hers alone. Even when she was barely crawling, she would rush across and close any laptop that anyone dared use around her.

Then there is the question of sleep.  It has been a while since I have had more than 3 hours of uninterrupted sleep, and more than 6 hours of a night’s sleep.  It has, in fact, been more than a year.  There are bad days that I muddle through, zombie-like, and good days when I am merely tired. Multiple night wakings have always been the norm with S, on bad days it could be as frequent as every hour.

S (at 6 months) “reading” an ebook

Almost every pediatrician I have talked to during the last year has had the same solution – let her cry it out. The Ferber method is the standard mantra for sleep training in the West. “Cry It Out” (CIO) and its variations like Attended CIO are used to teach babies to soothe themselves.

CIO works for many babies. I have heard many parents tell me how their child started sleeping through the night after a few days of CIO. What is less clear is why it works. Does the baby really learn to soothe himself/ herself, or does he/ she decide that crying is a waste because no one is going to listen to them? Then there are studies that show that CIO can cause really high levels of the stress hormone cortisol and kill neurons.

Having decided that I am not going to attempt CIO or any kind of sleep training, I have no choice but to muddle my way through. But I was tired of the constant admonitions to CIO, so I changed pediatricians till I found one who said that sleep training was unnecessary, that she would eventually outgrow the nightwakings. Unfortunately, he followed this very reassuring statement with “She is not going to do this till she goes to college, right?” which was a little less reassuring.

The good thing, though is that S has started taking longer afternoon naps, so maybe, just maybe, I might be able to blog more frequently.

That, at any rate, is my hope. Some day (maybe by the time S goes to college) I shall have enough time to write a book. But for now, baby steps.