Quotes worth pondering!

• What good is running when you're on the wrong road. - German Proverb/Saying (on planning)
• We fear what we don't understand. - Aesop (c.620-560 BC)
• Opportunities come but do not linger.- Nepalese (on opportunity)
• One who waits for chance, may wait a year.- Yoruba (West African (on opportunity)
• Only a fool hates that which he knows nothing about. - unknown
• Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. - Thomas Edison
• Poverty breeds discontent. - unknown
• Procrastination is the thief of time. - unknown
• Proverbs are the daughters of experience. - Sierra Leone

Hope Things will Change Tomorrow!

The fall in the level of all India poverty ratio is something to cheer about! But, to know that one-quarter of our population presently are still counted as poor is certainly not a thing to cheer about.

Business Standard on 6th April 2005 wrote:

Only one in four Indians poor

Poverty falls to 24.9% in 2003 from 26.1% in 1999-2000.

The all-India poverty ratio went down from 26.1 per cent in 1999-2000 to 24.9 per cent in 2003.

Rural and urban areas, however, continued to perform differently. While rural poverty went down from 27.1 per cent to 25.2 per cent, urban poverty went up marginally from 23.6 per cent to 23.95 per cent. Share of poor Percentage of people below the poverty line (%) Rural Urban Total 1999-00* 27.1 23.6 26.1 2000-01 24.4 24.5 24.4 2001-02 28.6 24.4 27.6 2003# 25.2 23.95 24.9 * Large sample round # January-December 2003

The two sets of figures, however, are not comparable. This is because the figures for 1999-2000 are based on a quinquennial large sample round, which is used officially to estimate poverty, while the others are thin sample rounds, not always used to calculate poverty figures.

The rough poverty figure calculations are based on scaled-up poverty lines. While the rural poverty line has been scaled up using the consumer price index for agriculture labourers, the consumer price index for industrial workers has been used to scale up the urban poverty line.

The all-India figures are based on the estimate that the rural population constitutes 74.8 per cent of the total population.

The average monthly per capita expenditure in 2003 in rural areas was Rs 554 compared with Rs 1,022 in urban areas.

The survey covered 150,000 people in rural areas and 62,000 in urban areas all over the country. The average household includes 5 and 4.5 persons in rural and urban areas, respectively.

Driving License

My brother called up in the morning. It was about my driving license.

I first learned that I had lost my driving license two weeks back when my car was towed away. It was an embarassing event. It was towed away from the parking area near our office. Reason: angular parking! A friend was with me to retrieve my car from the tarffic office, near VSNL crossing, Fort. When the traffic policeman asked me to produce my driving license. I gladly took out my wallet where I usually kept. I was about to show it to him when I realised that it was not at all the driving licence, but a telephone booklet!!I ended up paying some fines..that also with a little help from my friends.

Result: I travelled more by public transport. Saved money too. But, with a car around and being without a driving licence is something difficult to bear. So, I called up my brother who is at Aizawl, (since my driving license was issued at Aizawl) gave him my license number and requested him to make a duplicate copy. He said he'll try his best. But, things were not easy as it seems to be. He took longer than I expected. In between, I had to take out my car twice without driving license because of urgent matters. It was quite risky and it was difficult to feel easy while driving.But, I was more careful than ever. With no zooming past the orange light, etc. mine was a well-behaved driving.

So, this morning my brother called me up to tell me that he finally manage to get a duplicate copy. He told me that since they came out with new format, to make a duplicate copy in the old format would be difficult. He tried to persuade them, but in vain. So he asked them if he pay some amount...then, he got it done. Well, its something like...its all about money, honey. Whatever be the case, it looks like I'm going to drive peacefully once again!

The Beginning!

Well, here I am. And this is my first post. I'll try to update this as regularly as I can. Hello to all the faithful bloggers there!

My sister is with me while posting this. She's having her MA final Exam in Mumbai University these days. The next paper is tomorrow. I wish her all the best.

Its 2:30 in the morning and it's getting late. Maybe, I'll continue tomorrow.