Noise pollution

I am a morning walker. Every morning at 5.00 AM I go to a nearby district park for my morning walk. For last few days, I find the above DG set running with its enclosure open from three sides. As per the board seen in the photo, deep sewer work is going on a contract given by the government. It creates loud noise and disturbs the peaceful harmony of the morning.

As per Noise Pollution law, DG sets are to be housed in an acoustic enclosure.But here the enclosure is kept open by three sides to create noise pollution.

Can you identify this place?

Can you identify the dirty patch shown in the above picture?
It is in a posh locality of west Delhi.
It is near an apartment block.

Soothing lap of mother nature!!!

DDA’s claim about its District parks is posted on its website - “The lush gardens, picnic huts, musical fountains, playfields and children's parks in these District Parks add joy to the lives of Delhites, since they are just next-door, offering the soothing lap of mother nature.”

But once we visit District Park in Paschim Puri, we find that at least in this case the DDA claim is wrong. The park is in a very pathetic condition. In fact, it does not deserve to be called a park.

It is said that pictures tell you more than words. Here are some pictures then:

Will you call this park, "soothing lap of mother nature"?

Residents of Paschim Puri have submitted a presentation to thei elected representatives, for taking appropriate action:
Shri Sajjan Kumar, Member of Parliament;
Shri Mala Ram Gangwal,Member of Delhi Assembly
Smt. Savita Devi ,Municipal Councilor

Copy is being sent to Lt. Governor.Delhi who is Chairman, DDA.

Let us see what comes out of it.

Happy 2008 - bring love back in our lives

In 2007 we have seen love loosing to hate, peace loosing to violence. We should stop and ponder. Are we going to allow this to continue or we should do something to reverse the trend?

If we want that in year 2008, love should emerge victorious over hate and peace over violence then we need to bring love back in to our lives. My friends wonder where the love has gone. I wonder too. Has love really gone out of our lives or it is still there within our hearts but has been covered by greed which brought hate and violence to the front? Whatever is the situaion we should re-discover love. Without love we cease to be human beings.

Every year people make new resolutions. I also do. Last year I made a resolution to develop positive attitude towards life and people. I succeeded to some extent. I continue with this resolution for year 2008 also.

This year I make a new resolution to bring love back in our lives. Let love be victorious on hate. Let peace be victorious on violence.

I have many wishes too (list is very long. Here are some):

No deaths under blue line buses.

No killings of senior citizens.

No child abuse.

No violence against women.

No road rage.

No police brutality on innocent citizens.

No expolitation of and discrimination against any citizen.

No terror killings.

No photos of ministers on public ads.

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL.

Certifying quality of hospital services

Last week I visited a hospital to see one of our relatives who had undergone heart by-pass surgery. The hospital introduces itself on its website as - " With over 7000 beds in 44 hospitals, a string of nursing and hospital management colleges and dual lifelines of pharmacies and diagnostic clinics providing a safety net across Asia, ......... is a healthcare powerhouse you can trust with your life. At ........ we unite exceptional clinical success rates and superior technology with centuries-old traditions of Eastern care and warmth, as we truly believe the world is our extended family - something our 14 million patients from 55 countries can warmly affirm".

A very nice statement indeed. The hospital also claims to be the first accredited hospital by Joint Commission International for quality of its services.

Impressed by all this I took a round of the hospital (no doubt only those areas where a visiter was allowed). The real situation was not impressive. The housekeeping was very poor. Preventive maintenance of fire hydrant system was not done as per maintenance plan. Pigeons were freely raoaming inside the visiter lounge. Pigeons droppings were everywhere, on walls, on floor, also on visiters' heads.

I wonder, what quality has been certified by JCI.

If empowered he can become Prime Minister of India

I was returning from work. With me was my client. Our car stopped at a busy traffic signal. It was little chilly in the air, so we have closed the windows. A boy approached us and tapped at the window glass. He extended his right hand and signalled us to give him him some money. My client is against begging. I also do not support it. We signalled him to move away. He looked at us for sometime and kept waving his hand. Then he moved away to another car. Traffic light turned green and we also moved.

This is routine on traffic signals in Delhi. Sometime it will be a girl child. Sometime a woman with a child in her arms. Every one of us is a witness to begging at traffic signals. Some of us give some money to them. Some say we should not encourage them.It is a problem no doubt. What should be done and how it should be done and who should do it? It is question which remains unanswered.

National Secretary, Bachpan Bachao Andolan, says, “The child beggars are part of a forced beggary racket. They are trained how to carry crutches to appear disabled on road and later paid Rs 10 or 20 as commission out of their daily earnings... There are gang leaders that include females also, who keep a check on the beggars so that they could not steal the money. Or if children are found doing so they are beaten black and blue for that... In Delhi, many individuals in Rohini’s Lal Quarters area, have been allegedly running training centres for child beggars. Areas like Delhi ’s Mahipalpur, Mehrauli and Vasant Kunj traffic signals are the main begging points.

We reached my place. I thanked my client. He said that he had been thinking. If properly empowered that kid could become India's Prime Minister. Yes, why not? I said it casually and smiling but it made me thinking. YES, WHY NOT?

Empowerment is what they need, but it is not a priority for those who can do it.

Let us pray for peace

There is so much violence in this world. Daily newspapers are full of news about killings of one human being by another human being. People burning with hate killed fellow human beings in Nandigram. Some people even justified these killings. Then Kolkata was rocked by violence. Yesterday hate mongers killed fellow humans in Lucknow, Varanasi and Faizabad. A distraught lover shot dead his ex-girlfriend's mother and uncle before turning the gun on himself.Such waste of precious human life.

Let us pray for peace. Let us do Shanti Paath.

Like Gayatri Mantra, Shantih Paath is also a very important mantra. It may be recited as a part of Shantiprakanam, however, a Yajna typically concludes with Shantih Paath mantra. This mantra is also not chanted for the purpose of material gains, physical or otherwise.

The poignant prayer in the mantra is for peace everywhere in the universe. The prayer is for every thing in the universe, space, earth, water, vegetation, all learned people, all gods and even peace be free from harm and be conducive for peace. As a final part of the mantra, the person chanting the mantra, requests the Lord to grant him or her that peace also.

Om Shantih, Shantih, Shantih.