a message to heed

True that humans or Homo sapiens are the supreme of all the beings that exist today. Their ability to think and transform even the most impossible into possible makes them invincible but, does it mean that they can defeat everything so created-naturally, without repercussions? 

The answer perhaps, may be debatable by many intellectuals. But for a minute if we can stop to think, the answer is almost negative. To challenge that which is natural or formed naturally is an invitation in itself to disaster and destruction. And to what extent, the effects can be felt and gauged almost other year that passes by with some heavy destruction or damage that nature inflicts on us.

What Phailin did this year or what the disastrous landslide did to the heavenly abode of Lord Shiva some months ago is not unknown. What we are doing on a day to day basis is not under cover either. In the name of development we can see a greater erosion of green cover that is an inevitable necessity. However, losing our conscience to the comforts of a few square feet of concrete beauty, we decide to forget something very important – conservation of natural resources, forest cover and trees plantation in urbanized areas.

To illustrate how the depletion of green cover is impacting our day to day living, we need not travel far. Take the case of Bhubaneshwar, Odisha. The patch from Raj Mahal square to Vani Vihar square which once, wore a green cover enviable to others is now gone- fading in fact! The summers are unbearably hot as the impact of the heat is more than direct. There are no tree shades to protect during those hot afternoon hours or there be any in the near future. The reason for such depletion is nothing but our own need and desires to stretch as much as possible our carpet of comfort giving it different names and terminologies- beautification, infrastructure development etc. 

While on one hand we have dedicatedly put our development and ease as a top priority, on the other hand, we forget that if that this is all we want to achieve at the cost of some trees and greenery, then, we are heading to a future where there will be an Ozone layer only in history books and none above us.

If we cannot ponder over the issue now, which is already late, and then there will be a time, when we will be left to live, to the mercy of time and its assaults. Himalayan glaciers are fast melting thanks to the global warming, there are manmade islands coming up as a result of some magnificent engineering by some stalwarts who have been successful in diverting the regular flow of water to enable the structures stay strong even in the currents and now, plans to live on Mars… when are we going to stop assaulting the nature in name of development either by force or by choice? 

While there is much that one can speak in length about the atrocities that we commit on the silent beauty called earth and its green cover, I would like to end the article with a small question – what would you want to gift your future and generation next with – clean and green environment or polluted and depleted environment ridden with all sorts of ailments/ nature’s assaults ready for your future generations?  

It’s your call. Think before you cement your home sans trees.

 

SALES PERSONS AND SALES TRICKS

I seriously am in a fix…

Where do I start this idea from is a million dollar question today. There is not one issue that has taken the market off its hibernation mode but, several in number which means that it’s now a chronic disease which needs a panacea!

I am stunned by the fact that while these fraudsters are easily able to net in the savings of the people without an iota of doubt arising from the side of the investors, there are thousand rejections coming from the same bunch of so called wise investors when it comes to instruments and schemes from reputed and well established houses!

More than a why the question that pops up is how??

How is it that such firm as AT group, Seashore and Sharada have been successful in fooling people with more than financially seductive offers which are perhaps beyond the radar of the authorities framing regulations for this industry as such or is it that these type of companies and groups are autonomous in nature and have no rules governing their sources of investments and revenue generation?

How is it that such companies have been able to amass wealth and their promises have not even caught the eye of the authorities policing over such dubious schemes and companies per se?

Stranger than all is the question as to how, people who bargain left and right while buying a Kilogram of vegetables, cross examine a durable or for that matter, an android, take their time to decide about a son in law or daughter in law, fall into the trap of juicy returns, without even a second thought and park in their hard earned money with such firms?? How?

How urgent is it to invest in a scheme which offers and promises 12pc returns every year (the person talked to claimed that the bankers were unknown to such schemes available where in the govt bond funds gave a return of 1pc every month) vis a vis a scheme assured by the government or for that matter certified by the authorities like RBI, AMFI or IRDA where the returns are around 10pc, promised by the foxes in disguise?

Why do we keep on making mistakes and then crib that the investments market is as such a crap when it is we who desire to be made fools by those who design and implement their strategies to be a conqueror of wealth of the fools!

While we know how to save money by working hard, they know how to make money by flushing such funds of yours and mine, in a day.

Day in and day out, my meetings with different classes of people here in Bhubaneshwar has made me understand that none of them understand as to why they want to invest nor are they aware of the schemes they are investing into except for the fact that they park in the money more on the basis of brand name than the benefits it accrues to them in the near future. The returns that would come to them in future are also dismal.

While such classes of investors as mentioned above are common, it’s now not so uncommon to find the so called wise and greedy investors who had guts to park in money in lacs with companies like AT group and Seashore but had little money to protect their own future and life! 

Strange as it may seem, there are people as well who have taken protection for life beyond a required limit so much so that even the IT department was tempted to issue a notice to them wherein it has asked the person in question to clarify the sources from which he was paying the premiums which per annum were twice the salary he earned per annum!

I can cite n number of such cases where these so called businessmen and entrepreneurs have been effortlessly able to fool us, amassed crores of rupees, dumped the amount somewhere which is untraceable  and perhaps in the lifetime will never be seen again but it won’t serve any purpose because we don’t want to wake up against Ponzi schemes however, have our feet ready to kick the butt of the financial consultant or the manager from a reputed financial firm who genuinely wants to give us an advice.

The point of punching in the keys and wasting the time scribbling this all is that I desire to spread the information far and wide about the awareness levels we have with regards to investments in financial markets and about how much more we need to get ourselves educated so that no companies with false claims and glittering returns can fool us. As we ask a thousand questions and cross check with n number of sarees before we pick one from the lot, there has to be a same thought and process in understanding as to why I need to invest here or why not?

Being a common man does not mean we can shelve our responsibility of being aware about the market regulations and load the same onto the financial intermediaries who only are there to earn a rupee extra from every sale done! We cannot blame for the erosion in the value of our investments on the sales manager or the financial consultant only because, if it is my money, I need to grill the person before me, cross check with the market information available and then invest instead of blindly following the person representing the company…

Remember… an investment is like your own child. Ask questions and be satisfied the same way as a father would be about the groom before marriage is fixed for his lovely daughter. A small clarification to those many who feel insurance to be investment – it’s an assurance to the life of your own as well as to the lives of those who love and live with you. Hence, instead of planning it later, plan it immediately and weave a net of financial safety so that the loved ones do not fall into the abysmal situations when you are not around!

Not any more do they look so dull,
born and green, they look so full
vibrant and resplendent
the signal, the birth of hope n joy.

A stone's throw distance,lives yet another-
a creation supreme to all on Earth
blessed but lost in the maze of his own,
tangled in the knots of unfound complexes!

The Oblivious

Staring into the oblivion,I stare at none,
 I try finding many but see not one. 
Who hath the key to world unknown,give!
 For I shall tour away from the known-onto the islands and the shores,
free from the din and the chores.
 I seek thou,I find none-I see into many but I find not one...

for the puppets that we are

oh! for the life so unfair,
nah! for the inequalities thou share
Ah! for the pain that thou pair
with desires like oasis and despair!

What is it for a being to live
a life sans returns but more to give-
a saint am not to renounce
neither fiery to grab by pounce!

Try they say and thou shall receive
For, at the Altar lies hope
that never shall deceive...
ha! its a tale so fairy and old

That sees no day for the life so cold.
With a smile so fake and put
there lies a soul that lies in the rut,
all lost and lost, and lost!

oh! for the life so unfair,
nah! for the inequalities thou share
Ah! for the pain that thou pair
with desires like oasis and despair!

Celebrations Sufferings and Evergreen Shortcomings

Capital Hospital- state government hospital, Odisha has many reasons not to be liked than be liked. If people come here, the only reason is that the treatment here is economical as compared to the private hospitals and clinics which charge hefty amounts for even an injection. What they offer in return is a clean and hygienic environment and a dedicated infrastructure in place. What Capital hospital offers is very different from what should be offered and my point of writing is to actually discuss the same.

The point of my discussion is not to point out only but also to try and understand as to why the authorities are so callous and lethargic when it comes to maintain an institution of health and healing?

I happened to be regular here when I was a kid and today, after 15 years when I walked in with my father, I saw some changes, but many were still the same. Walk around the corridors and one can still find the walls stained with tobacco spits which seems never to leave those rusted grills manning the corridors,windows and entrance. The rooms still showcase the same furniture as one would see in the old movies- the almirah which would sound like the ghosts from a RGV movie, the medicine stands which are age old with lost color and layers. The windows would have the old X Ray photos to make for the lost glass panes with the adhesive stickers to support and bandage cloth dangling from almost every corner to support the saline stands ages old ( there are some new ones though!)

If we talk of technological up-gradation, there have been several developments with some developments hindered by technical break downs which perhaps will be looked into at a later stage, till then it can be taken care by a Jugaad with other private hospitals. For instance, there was a Dialysis machine at some time installed with great fanfare, but now its defunct according to some sources heard and talked. The patients are referred to private hospitals for further treatment. Ultrasound system functions for some near and dear ones.

While the hospital has expanded the infrastructure including the bed facility, one can walk across many patients in serious conditions precariously exposed to everything that they should be shielded from,lying on the floor designed to walk to different departments. Well, its an overflow of patients I think which has not been accounted for when expanding.It just pains to see that patients have to bear with the chill at a time when we try to ward off  the same by protecting ourselves with double quilts!

 Medicine shops are next to empty with important medicines not finding a place in the shelves- am talking of the medicine shops within the campus, the environment stinks around with open urinals making way for the clean Sulabh Souchalays which is somewhere hidden. When we compare ourselves in this sphere to other state hospitals like Chennai or Mumbai, we are way below standards.

Today morning, there were celebrations in the party office of the most successful political party here, for having completed 16 years in power in the state. The party office, close to the states most important hospital, was celebrating something which should not have been.I dont know what achievements they have come across if the arterial health care center is still in a veggie state staring at improvements and advancements. How improved are we if we cannot afford to treat our rural people with the same care as the urbans get in private hospitals?  How improved are we if the infrastructure cries for employment and deployment of more number of staff members and an increase in their salaries? How improved are we and what achievements are we talking of if we have to refer patients to other hospitals in the adjoining cities for patients who come from miles to Capital hospital to be treated?

Are we that bad to be celebrating some false window dressed images of a developed state when a greater part of it still requires a lot of attention including the most important institution just in the backyard of the party office???

life after death...ever thought of?

Some days ago, it struck me that we all desire to know what  people think about us when we are with them- we try and amend ourselves or at times turn a deaf ear to the thoughts of others and stay who we are. Life comes to all of us on Earth, once. In this one time chance that the life offers to us, we spend it in variety of ways - the shades are different,depending on the time and occasion it comes across.

We have fun, we run, we cry, we jeer, we fear...we do every thing and are identified either as good or bad, talented or worthless and more, but are these the same classifications which one puts us into once we are no more? Is it the same the people think of us,once we become history or is there anything different they would want to talk about us? Was the love of the people  genuine or was it fake? Was the affection real or was it for the wealth that I possessed?
Thousand questions and probabilities can crop up and perhaps that is the reason why one desires to leave the question of what others think about us after we are no more, isolated!

Have we ever given it a thought as to how exciting it would be or how painful it would be to know what people would want to think about us once we are no more?

A similar type of message once sent by me to some best of my friends yielded no answer at all except for one gave a reply true from the heart. While the message may be absurd and a nonsensical one, a thought about it will be a bit tempting as we would get replies which would show what the world around us would be thinking of us when we are in the heavens, watching all the Earthly creatures below!