E-DIARY

On Mother Teresa - Her Face - the Face of Love and Smile

2016-09-01T14:59:00.001+05:30

Let us sow love - Mother Teresa 1

2016-08-25T15:45:00.000+05:30

#CHENNAIRAINS - Delay in Decision TOI on 9 December

2015-12-09T18:04:00.000+05:30

READ - ORIGINAL TO BE FOUND HERE

Dec 09 2015 : The Times of India (Chennai)

Delay in decision to open sluice gates caused flood of trouble

Chennai:

TEAM TOI

The flood that ravaged Chennai last week was not a natural disaster, but one caused by the state bureaucracy's failure to regulate release of water from Chembarambakkam reservoir (lake) in the outskirts of the city.Those privy to developments in the state secretariat during the last week of November say that in the wake of international weather forecast agencies predicting 500mm of rain for Chennai on December 1 and 2, public works department (PWD) officials had advised the PWD secretary and other senior bureaucrats on November 26 to bring down the water level in the reservoir from 22ft to below 18ft so the lake could absorb heavy inflow four days later. There was not much rain between November 26 and 29 and Adyar river, too, which originates from this lake, had very little water.
The proposal to release lake water was caught in bureaucratic red tape. Sources said the PWD secretary waited for chief secretary's nod to open the sluice gates -and whose nod the chief secretary was waiting for still remains a mystery.In effect, the disaster caused in Punjab by heavy release of water from the Bhakra Nangal dam two years ago was repeated in Chennai.
Orders to open the Chembarambakkam sluice gates -rather flood gates -were not received till the city received was pounded with rain and the reservoir started overflowing. “The state administration maintained that the release from the reservoir into Adyar river was only 33,500 cusecs (cubic feet per second; 1 cubic ft is 28.3 litres of water), which is the maximum capacity of the gates, from December 1 night onwards. But the actual release was more than double that, and nobody has any idea how much it was because water was overflowing from Chembarambakkam after the reservoir reached its full capacity of 24 feet. The problem was compounded as Athannur lake breached, releasing about 5,000 cusecs into the Adyar,“ said a highly placed source in PWD.
In effect, Adyar was carrying more than one lakh cusecs of water on December 2 and 3, said a senior IAS official, who was coordinating rescue operations. “The city has paid the price for having a bunch of bureaucrats who don't have the guts to act on their own.We were lucky that the reservoir, despite overflowing, did not breach,“ he said.
“Flooding of Chennai and suburbs could have been averted by better management of water release,“ said Madras Institute of Development Studies professor S Janakarajan. The administration should not have viewed Chembarambakkam in isolation. The lake and Adyar river are connected to about 200 tanks, he said. Even if 33,500 cusecs had been released from Chembarambakkam, by the time the water reached Saidapet, it would have swelled to 60,000 cusecs because of additional flow from other water bodies enroute. The administration failed to gauge this and hapless people paid the price for it, he explained.
Janakarajan said the government should view all water bodies, roughly 3,600 of them, in Chennai, Kancheepuram and Thiruvallur districts as one watershed as they are hydrologically connected to one another. “If the government cleans up all those water bodies, they can hold about 30 tmcft (thousand million cubic feet) of water.Moreover, it will also prevent flooding in future,“ he said.
The magnitude of the disaster was more because there was no advisory issued to people living in low-lying areas, warning them that their homes could get flooded.To add to the misery, Chennai city police officers were instructed to keep their cell phones switched off (much before mobile phone towers went down) and carry out all communications only through wireless sets. Hence, people in distress could not seek help by reaching out to officials in their locality.
TOI's repeated efforts to get responses from the chief secretary and PWD secretary went in vain.Some pertinent questions that remain unanswered are: Whose orders were the bureaucrats waiting for to open the reservoir sluices?
Will anybody be held responsible for the lapses? And, at least now, will the government put a standard operating procedure in place to keep reservoirs at safe levels? Will a better system be evolved to warn people living on river banks before gates are opened?
WASHING MACHINES ON THE STREET
The lack of a warning about the huge discharge from Chembarambakkam reservoir not only devastated the banks of Adyar but also submerged T Nagar and its bylanes, leaving middle and low-income colonies in distress.Tonnes of food grains from grocery shops and household items, including washing machines, are on road-side dumps in every corner of the neighbourhood. Having lost items worth thousands of rupees, the residents were picking up pieces. TNN

ROSARIO KRISHNARAJ -RIP

2015-11-15T11:53:00.002+05:30

Born 10 August 1931 Baptised 7 October 1949 Ordained 1 May 1963 Died 14 November 2015

Insider's View on Protestantism

2015-02-07T09:37:00.000+05:30

Sagayaraj, one of my seniors defended a thesis in the University of Madras on 4 February. His research was the perception of the Catholics on Protestants. It was interesting to listen to him presenting his findings.

His study was based on the responses from almost 1800 people from the 17 dioceses of Tamil Nadu. As it was indicated in the defense, the statistics will initiate further studies and researches.

Congratulations!

I hope that this study is taken further by other scholars.

Church Vandalised

2015-02-03T12:12:00.004+05:30

After the BJP won the election with a vast majority, the RSS and other Hindutva groups have been attempting to engage in activities will only aggravate hatred among its citizens.

vandalizing the religious places can never be accepted. Engaging in activities like this can endanger the unity of the country.

In the last two months five churches have been vandalized in Delhi alone.

NEWS FROM THE HINDU

"A church in South Delhi’s Vasant Kunj area was vandalised in the early hours of Monday. This is the fifth incident of its kind in the past two months leading up to the Assembly elections later this week.

The attack on St. Alphonsa’s Church took place between 1 a.m. and 3 a.m., but was discovered only when the watchman found the main gate ajar, a little after dawn.

Delhi Archbishop Anil J.T. Couto expressed concern at the frequent attacks. “It is a reflection of the hate campaign and false propaganda by groups whose sole aim is to break the religious harmony and social peace of this great nation,” the Archbishop said of the attack, in a written statement.

He said the attack “reflected on the government and its failure to give protection to minorities and their religious structures.” The police, however, said initial investigation showed that the break-in was motivated by petty theft. The police have, according to a spokesperson, registered a case of theft and are in the process of questioning the area’s residents with recorded criminal antecedents for clues.

Expressing grave concern, the Union Home Ministry wrote to the Delhi Police Commissioner asking for a detailed report on the police action so far in other such attacks and seeking details of security provided to other religious places."

http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Delhi/south-delhi-church-vandalised/article6847721.ece

Amazing Grace

2014-12-09T20:01:00.004+05:30

Big Fight overLanguage

2014-09-11T22:41:00.000+05:30

Language of India?

2014-09-11T22:02:00.002+05:30

2014-09-11T22:00:00.002+05:30

Hindustan / Hindu - ?

Threat to Secularism?

2014-08-17T13:18:00.002+05:30

Communal Clash - A threat to secularism

365 DAYS - Congratulations

2014-03-14T01:31:00.002+05:30

Last year this day:

http://easediary.blogspot.it/2013/03/pope-francis-i.html

The Story of bottled Water

2014-02-01T15:06:00.001+05:30

We are Confused - Are we really?

2013-10-10T06:51:00.000+05:30

Mr. Narendira Modi is the most searched politician in (GOOGLE) India. People in the last six months have started searching news related to election.

While Mr. Modi is said to be a politician who follows the dictates of the RSS which advocates fanaticism, still he is seen to be a charismatic leader. The citizens of the country know that his silence in the killing of many innocents in the riots. However even the secular citizens wish this time to be on the side of Mr. Modi because he is seen to be a wonderful, powerful, and a productive chief minister in Gujarat - in Gujarat they talk about job opportunities, lot of foreign investments, etc. What is hidden in this illuminated Gujarat is the fact that many things are veiled from the eyes of the public. For example, they say that every third child in Gujarat is underweight. One can add many more things like this. One may look to clear one's prejudice or to know the fact. People search the internet for all sorts of things - unfortunately this may be credited to the favour of Modi - as the most searched politician.

Jokes apart, any state, any country which runs on debts, will be a country that seems richer, brighter and modern. one can think of America - the most sought country in the world - the most advanced country in the world, the measure of the world; It had to shut down all of its public offices, parks because it does not have money to pay to its workers. Every month it borrows and pays - well this is how the economy works. Experts will advise me to shut my mouth - they will say everything will be alright soon... This is how I think Gujarat works. This is how Mr. Singh wants it to work for India!

Well Gujarat is like this... what has this to do with the confusion?

We confuse advancement, modernity, with technology and capitalism and foreign investments. We forget that every country has to develop its own modernity. We think that development has to be in the same way as it happened in America or it happened in Britain. For us economy means, multinational companies, markets, ultimately capitalism. America and other multinational companies come to India not as 'Good willed people' who want to help the Indian economy but to improve their wealth. The fact is that these multinational companies take money from the developing countries to their homeland. Without realizing the fact (at least masking it in the name of development) the government welcomes them with a red carpet, gives them hundreds and thousands of acres of land, gives them water, etc... but for what? - well that is another area that has to be explored.

Imitating the western modernity, we want to see our country develop. All of us want to see our country to develop. But the politicians are in the hands of the West, in the hands of the media, in the hands of the corporate companies. They fund the party and in return the politicians welcome them without ever creating job opportunities for its citizens.

When Mr. Prime minister opened the gates to the corporation companies, the media, the america and everybody saw that he was the man who is ready to help the multinational companies to enter India, now that he has completed his two terms and not much (in spite of all that he has done to the USA and its corporate companies), everybody starts projecting Gujarat's Modi as the efficient leader who can still open the borders for free marketing.
We are blinded by one type of development - we do not see any other.

Mr. Singh was seen to be one of the 100 most influential figure in the world by TIME. Later when he has not reduced (?) subsidies, not done the reforms as they expected it to happen to India, sing becomes an unwanted figure.

The same people who cast doubt about Modi and his innocence in the riot, think that Modi means business.. (One has to ask whose business? and What business?).

The western mind is fed up with the present prime minister for not letting them as they expected to be. The Indian citizens are not in favour of the present prime minister not because he has not developed the country but because he was not able to provide work, not able to reduce the price hike for food, gas, and light. Therefore the citizens see Mr. Modi and Gujarat as models for the country.

The Westerners and capitalists look for Mr. Modi.

If we as citizens of the country look for Mr. Modi because of price hike, we will have it still higher, because Modi will follow more intense globalized economy than that of Mr. Singh.
Mr. Modi does not have any economic policy that is different from Congress.

Even when secular Hindus, Christians and Muslims look up to Modi to avoid congress, they do not understand that the country will be darker still, not mainly because of religious fanaticism but because of capitalistic fanaticism.

NO WAR - IT IS A BUSINESS

2013-09-13T15:16:00.000+05:30

War has always been devastating. only those who have been affected by it (leave alone the millions who have been buried by the bombs). Those in the white house can never understand the brutality that it can cause. comparatively Europe normally opts for dialogue and peace where as America's first attempt is war and never negotiation. When it comes to Middle East America's first choice is to threaten...

(Middle East is something special to America - When thousands of women and children brutally murdered by the Sri Lankan Government, and it was shown to the world by BBC - the whole world kept silence but when it comes to the Middle East; America says that there is no proof... and yet it wants to threaten...)

America has been selling, offering ammunition to the rebels... they sell to the governments... they want to keep their industry alive...
Let the world close its ammunition industry...
If there is no war, then then there is no need for guns and tanks...
If there are no need for them, then the government cannot profit ...

The best way to keep american economy alive is to create opportunities for war... Because the first country which profits more than anybody else in the world is America - it occupies the first place in the selling of ammunition.

It is time for the citizens of America to raise voice against their own government - If they believe in Democracy!

Yes, We can - Yes, It is Possible - A new Direction

2013-09-08T05:28:00.001+05:30

Obama became very famous and became the president of the USA with the slogan Yes We can. The slogan was used differently in different countries. Modi used the same slogan on August 12, in Hyderabad. Obama was seen as a new president who will give a new direction to the policies of the united states. Recently his initiative to take military action against Syria has shown that the US presidents are not different at all - Obama is no different from Bush. The US Presidents' cry have been to establish peace only through war. They claim to be peace makers of the world by initiating more violence and more conflict.

[taken on 07/09/2013 at 6.45pm]

The contemporary world needs another direction with regard to the issues of conflicts both within countries and between countries. Pope Francis raised his voice very strongly to change the direction. On the 1^st Sunday of this month, the Pope expressed his concern for peace in the world, particularly in Syria. The pope said that ‘war begets war and violence begets violence.’ The pope spoke from his heart. I can only admire the sincerity and the openness with which he spoke and invited everyone to fast and pray for peace in the world on the feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary – Queen of Peace.

Today millions of people, united with Pope Francis, prayed for peace in the World. The pope said that we are as human beings have to care for others. Our indifference towards others and the acts of violence only indicate that we bring back to life Cain who murdered his own brother. He also said that war is the language of death and not of peace.one can only break the language of death only through forgiveness, dialogue and reconciliation.

The Pope said: "I ask myself: Is it possible to change direction? Can we get out of this spiral of sorrow and death? Can we learn once again to walk and live in the ways of peace? Invoking the help of God, under the maternal gaze of the Salus Populi Romani, Queen of Peace, I say: Yes, it is possible for everyone! From every corner of the world tonight, I would like to hear us cry out: Yes, it is possible for everyone! Or even better, I would like for each one of us, from the least to the greatest, including those called to govern nations, to respond: Yes, we want it!"

The politicians need to change their attitude – military action can only worsen the situation. One cannot bring about unity through guns and tanks.

PAPA - POPE

2013-08-08T13:59:00.000+05:30

Church on Fire

2013-07-30T12:58:00.001+05:30

A church, near our living quarters, was burnt leaving only the external walls and Ashes...
I have been coming to this city for three years residing here more than three months.
I had the desire to visit that church, but never made an attempt to enter it.

This morning hearing that the Church was burnt, I went at last but I saw nothing but ashes...
the smoke is still on

Don't postpone anything... Visit something or somebody when you want to do so...

Amartya Sen on Secular India

2013-07-22T19:10:00.001+05:30

Nobel laureate Amartya Sen confirmed his hope in secular India that he wishes that a secular person who can make all the citizens of the country feel more secure in the country. He complained that Modi, who is said to the be next prime minister candidate for the BJP in the forthcoming national election in India.

Sen said: "“No, I don’t approve of it... I don’t think the record is very good. I think I don’t have to be a member of the minority in order to feel insecure... We Indians don’t want a situation where the minority feel insecure and could legitimately think that there was an organised violence against them in 2002. I think that is a terrible record and I don’t think Indian Prime Minister as an Indian citizen... Of who has that kind of record. No, I do not.” [the Hindu]

While there are lot of political scientists were critical of secular India, Sen has been on the other end that India should be a secular country. He has confirmed his hope in secularism once again.

What is the good that a ‘good’ business does?

2013-07-18T10:30:00.000+05:30

What is the good that a ‘good’ business does?[1]

Although the title of the book is the good that business does, Robert G. Kennedy in the sixth chapter develops an idea of ‘a good business’. He is also developing the idea that how business is aiming at the collective or the common good to the people at large. Although the book is aimed at seeking further intercourse between the catholic teaching and business, it also leaves an open space to raise some questions with regard to the theme developed.

It is true that when a business is called good and bad, the same distinction can be applied to other spheres of human endeavor too: in the field of aesthetics one could speak of a good art and a bad one; in the field of ethics one could speak of a good act and a bad act; in the field of medicine one could speak of a good treatment and a bad treatment or a good medicine or a bad one, at a more larger and wider context one could speak of a good religion and a bad religion as well. I think that it is a good idea [!] to make distinction between good and bad.

I think that there is a difference between asking what is business and a good business. One of the fundamental features of a business is profit-making. Hence one can speak of good that comes out of the profit-making; even within profit making how certain good is contributed to the society.

I am sure that the substantial difference lies in the answer that one gets to these questions.

[1] This article is just a reflection on reading the following book. Cf. Robert G. Kennedy, The Good that Business Does (Acton Institute, 2006). This is not a response to the book. The questions raised here are some spontaneous questions that came to me. It is never intended to review the book, nor to refute what is suggested there.

Floods... France, India, Germany, Canada - JUNE 2013

2013-07-10T21:55:00.001+05:30

Almost a month is over after the floods in Lourdes...

In India the destruction is devastating..

In Germany in the first week of June...

Canada in June last week

Floods in other countries and India are different...
In European and North American countries, water came into the cities and villages
But it did not take many lives as Indian Floods...

JUNE 2013.... Flood Month?

Pantheon, Pentecost and Petals

2013-05-20T02:15:00.000+05:30

On the Pentecost day one witnesses showers of rose petals passing through the eye of Pantheon. Pantheon itself a wonderful pieces of architecture and petals come down it seems wonderful. I have heard of them but did not see them. Today I happen to be close by although without a good camera...

My cellphone captured at least the three firemen on the top of Pantheon who were thrwing petals....

Publications: Knowledge - Business 2

2013-05-05T10:00:00.000+05:30

Publications - Knowledge - Business 1 continued...

This attitude of the publishing companies tells us that it has become a very good business like the pharmaceutical industry. One of the flourishing and money making businesses is the pharmaceutical industry which claims to the safeguard the health of the people and makes money. Publication has become an unavoidable business in capitalistic societies. When societies were warring societies the business was, let us assume that it was certainly – iron tools. When the societies were civilized, the costliest business still is something connected with ammunitions, but they have become all the more become business behind the scenes. Every country spends millions of dollars on the buying, ammunition, maintaining its mechanisms for the military. But it has become business among the states – the governments. They either sell them or create opportunities that the buyer may continue to buy ammunition from them etc. This leaves the citizens of the country to deal with other business that does not involve the bullets, missiles, bombs. Because physical power is not considered to be worthy in civilized societies, we think of another power, a worthy power that one can attain – ‘Knowledge is Power.’

Once one cannot use any more nuclear bombs, no markets can have profit over it. If it creates other ways of using it then it can have life. Hence apart from the military then one could think of the atomic power energy etc. The same idea is found among the publications. One makes it a business. Once physical power is replaced by the intellectual power what do we do? We want to establish that we are more talented in writing. Some use argumentative skills like the soldiers using the sword. Some use the guns to destroy the whole arguments and some use the bombs in order to destroy the whole school of thought. We have different schools of thought, different philosophers, some followers of philosophers, followers of followers, and everyone thinks that we have the final word on the issues and probles of the human world. the universities, the grades, researches augment the writing and publishing… it has become impossible to have a comprehensive view not on a very big issue but a very narrow and particular issue as well.

We have millions and millions of books – thousands and thousands of publications. Whether we have elevated ourselves from the warring societies to peace loving societies or not, but what we can say is that the publications established themselves as unavoidable profit making firms. One example to show that this is a business and only a ‘business’ one can think of the e-books. The cost of the e-books should be less compared to printing books. If the cost of printing is included in selling the printed books, the e-books should cost less compared to the printed books. But one can check the price list and see the difference between the e-book and the printed book is almost nothing. The printed book and the e-book are the same. I am not ready to believe that the publishers do not include the cost of the printing in selling the printed books and therefore the price of the e-books are the original price of a book.

Think of another example: If one wishes to buy a single article published in a journal – to download an article from the publishers, one pays minimum twenty dollars, sometimes thirty, while the price of the whole printed journal may be less than that. Let the publishers flourish, the book sellers grow, because knowledge is power and the publishers help to grow in knowledge. By only seeing the number of books available on a particular subject I am only reminded of my ignorance… everybody is ignorant – some learned ignorant – some specialist ignorant –.

What are books if not profit making?

Publications: Knowledge - Business! - 1

2013-04-28T12:00:00.000+05:30

The photos of Benedict XVI, Bishop Emeritus of Rome, are removed and the photos of Pope Francesco are now decorating the Church offices, Bishop’s houses, Presbyteries, colleges and schools. The same endeavor of ‘removal and replacement’ is seen in the bookshops around the Globe. Every bookshop in catholic countries will have by now at least 10 different books on Pope Francesco. Ii is a good sign because the Church, apart from the Diocese of Rome, will be in touch with the thought of the Bishop of Rome - Pope Francesco. I only wish that people around the world not simply buy the books but they read them and follow them in their Christian life. Will they be able to buy all the books that will be published in the name of Pope Francesco, because the books will be published one after another claiming to offer a unique view on the pope or his thought?

I have more questions. Why did not Cardinal Bergolio attract the publishers’ world as Pope Franceso? Did not cardinal Bergolio say these things already in Argentina? Why were the publishers uninterested in the words of Cardinal Bergolio and are very interested in the thought of Pope Franceso? Does this mean that Pope Fransceso has radically altered his views from that of Cardinal Bergolio? [If he had not changed his position and thought, does it mean that whatever the Pope says become a radical thought?] However, when these words come from the bishop of Rome they are definitely radical. However, even if somebody else had been elected the Pope, by this time there would have been at least seven books if not ten.

Well - The thought of Pope becomes crucial and radical for the publishers because the books on pope will make money and Pope Francesco is only a name of reference for citation! I do not claim that the different popes’ views are the same, I am only pointing out what the publishers do. Utilizing the opportunity they create ideas, different perspectives, and interpretations of the same speech of the same person.

To be continued...

Religiosity and Richness

2013-04-22T09:00:00.000+05:30

Why do people go to the Temple or praise God? May be, because they have everything in life. We praise God because we have all the wealth and enjoy all the benefits of the human world and therefore we are concerned about the higher life. This would mean that the rich praise God or that praising God becomes possible when we become rich. In other words, only when our lower needs are fulfilled we will be concerned about our higher needs. Abraham Maslow had talked about the hierarchy of needs. If religious belief is concerned with the higher or fuller life this means that one’s belief is to be concerned with the higher life. It should mean that only the rich are very particular to praise God. We hear and read that people throw gold and money in some famous temples and Churches. The offering can be seen as the sign that they do not value money so much compared to God and his magnanimity. They are able to tell God – Money or gold is nothing in front of God –.

On the contrary we also know that the poor people are more religious than the rich. Jesus valued the small coin thrown in the offertory box. He also said that there will be always poor with you. Although he had said this in a different context, it seems to me that the passage can be interpreted to mean that these poor will always be there visiting the temple and they will be always faithful. It is obvious that the poor outnumber the rich in marching towards the temples and Churches. When one compares a country like India with the Western countries which are quite well off one can very well understand that they do have less believers and church attendance.[1]

It seems then that the claim that the rich will seek God seems to be false. God is not sought only when one is rich but there is something more to belief and not simply the material welfare. It can be argued that the poor rush to the Churches in order to seek the material welfare, seeking the help of God to attain human welfare. If the poor praise God only to receive material goods, then basic need is not God but my hunger, my clothing and house, in this sense Maslow may seem to be right. I doubt whether this can simply be associated with human needs of hunger. There seems to be more to this. The regular attendance, the affinity to religion can be awakened and one’s explicit identification with a particular religion can also have sociological or political reasons.[2] This affinity to religion can be also seen to be inherent in the human person. That is what some like Paul Tillich called faith as the ultimate concern of the human person.[3] In this sense it seems that the economic relations have nothing to do with the religious beliefs. Poor may be more religious (concerned about the higher life that is inclusive of the ordinary life) not because they lack wealth but in spite of lacking wealth. The rich can also be religious in spite of the wealth they have if they are poor in spirit otherwise the immersion in the world can block the awareness of the ultimacy. Therefore the awareness of one’s need of higher life has an easy access in the poor whereas it seems difficult for the rich.

Does it mean that the poor are really and spontaneously concerned about the ultimacy and the rich are not? Was Job religious because he was rich – or because he was poor in spirit? Or he was rich because he was religious? Did he praise God even when he was poor because he was already poor in spirit – or he became poor because he prayed?

[1] I restrict myself here to Europe. I do not want to talk about the United States now. It is true that the United States has more believers and regular attendance of the liturgical celebrations. There are reasons for the differences.

[2] In India the celebration of vinayaga sathurthi has become very popular that can be seen to be associated with the political reasons rather than religious reasons. The question here is about believers therefore the question is raised in the religious context and not others.

[3] Paul Tillich calls the faith as the ultimate concern of the person.