Freakonomics - barbed wire, bricks and ....

Some portions of coastal Karnataka region have seen a sudden increase in the demand for barbed wires, bricks, cement etc. Why is this?

Let's know a little bit about this region---

The region is also communally sensitive. Communal violence is not uncommon, because of the substantial population of all major religions - Hindus, Christians and muslims. The region also borders the state of Kerala which is also a major trading destination of this region. BJP has captured majority of the seats in this region, thanks to the powerful trading community. Apart from trade, agriculture is a major occupation. Vast expanses of paddy and coconut fields are a pleasant sight to watch. People of the coastal portions of the state are traditional. Lot of Gods and temples are scattered around the region. The temple that stands out is of Lord Krishna in Udupi. Because of Krishna's love for cows, the region has lot of cows. Among the Hindus, its considered as a God like many other animals. This is the socio-econo-politico background of the region.

Back to the question - why an increase in demand for barbed wires, bricks and cement suddenly?

People have started constructing fences and compound walls around their paddy and coconut fields.

Why?

Not because of any danger of land sharks encroachments. But because of the fear of bulls. Bull attacks on the farm workers and owners are on the rise in the region. 2 of my relatives were injured in such attacks recently.

Why are bull attacks increasing?

The bulls are of no use, unlike their female counterparts - cows. Cows yield milk and via artificial insemination, can give birth to more cows. The bulls were traditionally either left free or sold to butchers who would send them across to Kerala where the demand for beef is high. Even the ones that were left free would have been taken by the butchers.

The ruling BJP has now become strict on cow slaughter ban. Trucks carrying cows to Kerala were seized. So the bulls are not killed. Many bulls are adopted by temples, but many more are free and on the run. These aggressive bulls are attacking humans and vehicles now. To protect themselves from these bulls on rampage, people are constructing fences and compounds around their lands.

Conclusion - the increase in demand for barbed wires can be attributed to the cow slaughter ban introduced by the BJP and enforced by local Hindu organizations.

World of Bakras

Image source - Google Image Search

The shining Volkswagen Jetta stopped in front of the Jaggu's Dhaba. The new car with a Ganeshji's sticker caught the eyes of the Dhaba owner, Jaggu. He immediately dusted the tables and took away menu cards from the tables. Jaggu took special interest in serving the Jetta family. 40 minutes later as the family left the Dhaba, Jaggu smiled and thought - "what a fool, he paid Rs 30 for a roti which is actually Rs 15. Long live these rich Bakras."

Jaggu entered the village's cloth shop. Ramu kaka greeted him and showed Jaggu a host of new fashion dresses. Jaggu selected a garment for each of his 3 kids. As Ramu kaka packed the garments and Jaggu moved out of the small shop, a smile escaped Ramu kaka's lips - "what a fool, he paid Rs 200 for a dress worth Rs 150. Long live these rich Bakras."

Babu's day was coming to an end. His vegetable cart was almost empty when Ramu kaka approached him. Ramu kaka bought few of the vegetables and fruits. Babu was a happy man at the end of the day - "what a fool! He paid Rs 30 for a kilo of potato which is Rs 20. Long live these rich Bakras."

As a happy Babu moved his cart in the night, Karim came to him. The footpath vendor of plastic items said "This is the last piece of aeroplane I have. Take it to your son. He will like it." Babu was tempted and after a few more marketing statements, Karim had sold the plane to Babu. Karim was proud of his marketing skills. He thought "what a fool, he paid Rs 20 for a toy worth Rs 15. Long live the rich bakras."

Karim was in city to buy the new set of items for his footpath stall in the village. He went to big market stall. The shabby dress of Karim instantly indicated that he was a small village vendor. The market stall owner sold a lot of new plastic items and toys to Karim. After the billing, the market stall owner was a happy man. As Karim walked past his shining Volkswagen Jetta with Ganeshji's sticker, the owner smiled and thought - "what a fool these villagers are! He paid Rs 15 for a toy worth Rs 5..Long live these poor Bakras."

Change

This post has been published by me as a part of the Blog-a-Ton Season 2 edition 18; the eighteenth edition of the online marathon of Bloggers; where we decide and we write. To be part of the next edition, visit and start following Blog-a-Ton.

Charges on fuel increased regularly.

Hike in personal income slowed down.

Assessment of account statement mandated change.

Not using the car was an option.

Go green & save money went hand-in-hand.

Enthusiatically walked to the bus stand.

The fellow Blog-a-Tonics who took part in this Blog-a-Ton and links to their respective posts can be checked here. To be part of the next edition, visit and start following Blog-a-Ton.

Where are you?

Just remembered an incident.. Happened with a friend of mine..

Mr A was planning to visit the house of Mr B.

A was new to the city. B had given sufficient instructions on the route to be taken.

A was on the way and got confused about the route told by B. He calls B and asks for clarification.

B: where are you man?
A: I don't know..lost my way.
B: is there a coffee day around or a Ganesh bakery or Tripthi bar?
A: No man..can't find any of them. I am standing in front of some stray cows..now tell me the route.
B: what...Hmm..and laughs..

A finally reached B's home, both laugh over a cup of coffee.

I Love You

This is what is spoken today...The special day called Valentine's day. 

Mother nature always tells us - "I love you"...

Photo shot at Kumbri (my birth village)

Photo shot at Kumbri (my birth village)

Paint

Image source - Google image search

Growing children

Dedicate time to paints

Creativity enhanced

Posted in Theme Thursday

Prompt - Paint 

Survival

Image source - Google Image Search

Abrasive ocean

Handful of whales

Lost survival hopes

 

Posted in 3 word wednesday

Prompt - Loss, Abrasive, handful 

Cupboard

Covering
Used for
Protection of
Big
Objects
Accessible for
Ready
Disposal.

Posted in ABC Wednesday

Child's request

Image source - Google image search

This happened in the Spencer’s store near my home. I was standing in the queue of the billing counter. A mom and her 3 yr old(approximately) daughter were ahead of me.

Kid – (Holding a lollipop in hand and seeing the mother) Amma, what are you thinking?

ಅಮ್ಮ, ಏನ್ ಯೋಚನೆ ಮಾಡ್ತಾ ಇದ್ದೀಯ? 

Mom does not reply.

Kid – Are you thinking that I will ask for the lollipop?

ನಾನು ಲೋಲಿಪೋಪ್ ಕೇಳ್ತಿನಿ ಅಂಥಾನ? 

Mom does not reply.

Kid – No, I was actually just seeing the cover and shape.

ಇಲ್ಲ, ನಾನು ಸುಮ್ನೆ ಕವರ್ ನೋಡ್ತಾ ಇದ್ದೆ.

Mom still does not reply.

Kid – I know...Even if I ask you, you won’t get one for me.

ನನಗೆ ಗೊತ್ತು, ನಾನು ಕೇಳಿದರೂ ನೀನು ಕೊಡ್ಸಲ್ಲ. 

The kid turns to me and sees me smiling at her. She is shy and keeps back the lollipop in the box and covers her face with mother's dress.

I do not know why am I blogging this. This happened a few days ago and that kid's face is still in my mind...Do you call this implicit request or was it too explicit?

Freedom

Image source  - Google Image search

Splendor of a victory

Show might of nation

Joy of freedom

Posted in Haiku Heights

Overtime - short story

Madhavi bid goodbye to her client. 6th client of the night. It was 7.30 in the morning and the market was starting to buzz. She had counted her earnings when her clients were busy. Just the thought of having that money to save her daughter gave pleasure. Much more than what her clients got from her.

Madhavi's little daughter was in hospital. With a broken leg and multiple head injuries, the little one had little chances of growing big. Only the shots of injection to save her life. And each shot costed 5000. How could a prostitute of the market earn that? She worked overtime.

Madhavi counted the earnings of the day as she boarded the first bus of the day to the hospital.

Saritha decided to try her luck in the morning. She did not have any other option either. She was now the only bread earner for her family. Her husband, who was earning got burnt in factory fire. With 70% burns, his survival chance was slim. But the slim chance could turn fat with the shots of injections, that came at big price. How could the wife of a poor factory worker get that money? Saritha got back to her old work and worked overtime.

Saritha boarded the first bus of the day to hospital.

Saritha was a happy woman as she entered the hospital. She patted herself for the skill she had displayed. As she entered the ward, she saw the doctors frantically working on her husband. Within a few minutes, he was dead.

It took sometime for Saritha to compose herself. She went to the mortuary to get the dead body of her husband after postmortem.

Among lot of crying people, Saritha heard a faint voice..."I am sorry dear, I could not save you. I lost everything that I earned for your injection. Now I lost you. Let that bitch suffer the same fate. Let her see her loved ones dying and feel the pain."

Saritha turned towards the voice. She instantly recognized the tears filled face of the mother crying over a small kid's body. It was her pick-pocket victim in the morning bus, Madhavi.

Suspense killed

It started at 8pm..it was 3am now. The thriller had kept him awake. He realized that this is what a page-turner is! There were only 3 pages to go in the novel and the killer was not revealed. Suspense and narration had made him time agnostic. Police had reached the house of all the suspects to make the arrest. He flipped the page to know the killer. A blank page welcomed him. Disappointed with the print error, he threw the book and called the publisher.

Posted in Theme Thursday
Prompt - Flip

Storm...

Image source - Google Image search

Descent was

Escorted by a

Sensible guide,

Coordinating the

Ever

Notorious and

Tenacious group.

Surreal and

Unpredictable were the

Rowdy and

Rich

Ensemble of the

August mountaineering

League.

Killer storms

Intercepted and

Lynched the

Lazy laggards. 

Posted in Three word Wednesday 

Prompt -  descent, kill, surreal

The Jump

Jaggu was at the end of the cliff, ready to jump off. He looked around at the beautiful world, God had created. He thanked God for giving him this life. He looked down. 500 feet below..it was all water. A fall meant certain death. The thought of death rewound his life like a movie. Classmates, girlfriends, parents, wife, kid flashed in the water below. He closed his eyes. He decided not to go back.

Jaggu heard a loud whistle. It was time to jump. And he did. Jaggu saw the water becoming clearer. Underneath the water, he clearly saw the rocks that would crush his skull and ribs. He shouted loudly. Suddenly there was a jerk and he saw he was approaching the cliff and not the water. The bunjee thread tied to his legs had done its job. It had pulled him back.

After some oscillation, jaggu slowly landed into the boat below. As he reached the river bank, he thanked God for this amazing experience of Bunjee jumping and hugged his wife and kid.

Posted in Theme Thursday
Prompt - Jump

Separation

Age had drained the moisture out of her. Though harmless, with weakened arms and a few new born in the house, she knew that she has to make space for them. She was bone dry from outside, when she decided to part ways from her siblings and parents. She snapped herself from the tree and fell down. A boy below the tree yelped in pain as the dry coconut crashed on his toe.

Posted in 3 word wednesday
Prompt - harmless, moist, yelp

Shattered

Image source - Google Image Search

Rajat sat at the window and gazed at the street below. His age children were playing cricket, bathing in the summer sun. He had not joined them during this summer holidays. Just a few days ago, he had boasted of going to Shimla during the holidays. Rajat believed that joining his friends for cricket now would be an insult to his pride. The cancellation had come as a shock. Rajat did not understand a word when his dad told him about the trip being canceled. "Stocks fall, Lehmann brothers", nothing made sense. He cursed his father for planting a dream in mind and brutally murdering it.

Raksha stood in the crowded bus stop. All the buses came full. As she squeezed in awkwardly into one such bus, her college bag handle snapped. She managed to cling onto it, with a couple of fingers. This was not new. Raksha commuted 25 kms everyday in such crowded buses to her college from home. Her dad's promise of buying her a scooty had been broken. "All money is lost in stocks", he had said. Raksha just cursed her father for the false promises.

Geetha did not get sleep. She got up from bed to the loud sound of TV. She shouted at Raksha and Rajat to reduce the volume. Rajat reduced the volume, to let mom sleep. Still sleep eluded her. Even a whisper in the living room would appear loud in her bed room. This house sucks. Especially after checking out a new apartment. She would have moved to the new home by now. But then Sudhir lost everything in stocks and other investments. She cursed her husband wholeheartedly for the dingy house.

Sudhir sat in the bar with a vodka in hand. "Why did I invest all my money in it?", he pondered. Lot of thoughts flooded his mind. Is it wrong to think of buying a scooty to his dear daughter? Should she travel in the dingy buses hearing lewd remarks from passengers? What is wrong in planning to take the family for a vacation? Should his son always hear about other kids tours and never speak about his? Is it a mistake to think a own roof on the head? Don't his wife and grown up daughter deserve some privacy and personal rooms? For all this, the quick money was stocks. He did all the investments for the sake of his dear son, daughter and wife. Instead of building hearts, he had broken them.
Tears rolled down his cheeks as he started his walk towards his home.

Taint

Accused of stealing, confident of proving innocence, he willfully surrendered to the police. After he gave a plausible explanation to prove his innocence, the judge freed him 'not-guilty'. The judgmental society around him saw him as a thief, as the taint of the accusation stayed for his life.

Posted in Three word Wednesday
Prompt- plausible, taint, willingly

Best test cricketer of 2010

It is time to reward the best Indian test cricketer of the year 2010. 

We started the year as the Number 1 test team in the world.

The challenge was to retain this position by the end of the year. India did not have enough test matches to play during the year as the calendar was loaded with ODIs and T20s. BCCI took some quick action and added tests to the itineraries of the traveling nations. Thus we played around 14 tests during the eventful year of 2010.

All the hopes of retaining the number 1 position was on the shoulders of Sachin, Sehwag, Dravid, Laxman, Dhoni and Harbhajan. Zak added the sting to the bowling lineup. There were some media + ex-player criticism that India cannot hold on to the position because they lacked the quality bowling line-up and also their batsman cannot play on foreign soil. But we eventually did manage to hold on.  Thanks to some great batting.

Out of the 14 tests played during the year, we won 8 and lost 3. The remaining 3 ended in draw.

I quickly looked at the stats for these 14 tests. The top 3 run scorers is not a surprise. Sachin, Sehwag and Laxman. 

Going by this, the gold medal goes to Sachin, silver to Sehwag and bronze to Laxman.

Let me dig down a bit. Check out the averages of these guys against the different nations they played.

Laxman stands out with a consistent 50+ average. Sehwag’s average against Aussies is pathetic. Sachin’s average against Aussies and Bangladesh is incredible but average against New Zealand is bad.

Going by this, gold goes to Laxman, silver to Sachin and bronze to Sehwag.

Lets dig further - Sit back and recollect some of the key moments of 2010….2010 was about close encounters and daring chases. India won these close encounters. And hence we are number one. 5 tests could have ended in a unhappy fashion for India. But one man saved us in all these.

Ahmedabad – India Vs NZ – India were virtually 90 for 6 in the 2^nd innings…Laxman & Bhajji were in.

When Laxman departed, India had taken the match out of NZ control with India leading by around 250 runs…His patient 91 runs of 253 balls resulted in a draw avoiding humiliation. Bhajji scored 115.

Mohali – India vs Aus – India were 76/5 chasing 216…Laxman joined Tendulkar. Soon India were 124 for 8, loosing Sachin, Dhoni and Bhajji. Ishant joined Laxman. Laxman had a special knock and took India to victory by 1 wicket. In the first innings, Laxman had batted at number 10 because of a back injury. It’s now in history that we won the series 2-0.

Bangalore – India vs Aus – Tendulkar scored 214 and 53* & helped India cruise to an easy win…Pujara made a sensational 78* in the 4^th innings.

Nagpur – India vs SA – India ended up losing by innings and 6 runs despite a Sachin’s 100 – Laxman was not playing

Kolkata – India vs SA - Laxman came back into the side in the 2^nd match of the series. He scored 143 (Sachin scored 106 and Sehwag – 165)…India won by innings and 57 runs – drawing the series level at 1-1

Centurion – India vs SA – India lost to SA by innings and 25 runs…despite Tendulkar’s 50^th test century…Lax scored a pathetic 15 runs in the test

Durban – India vs SA – India won by 80+ runs…both innings Lax topped the scoring lists…38 and 96…the 96 came with tail enders again. A loss here would be the worst humiliation for India after the bashing we suffered in Durban.

Colombo – India vs SL – Chasing 257 to level the series, India were 62 for 4 on a crumbling wicket. Sachin and Laxman managed the show scoring 54 and 103* to secure a win for India. Sehwag had scored a century in the first innings.

If the above close encounters were lost, India would have not been the number 1 side by year end. And one man held forte in most of these encounters….Laxman.

So it’s an easy conclusion that the gold medal goes to Laxman. 

VVS Laxman is the test cricketer of 2010.

PS - Sachin fans will jump over me and argue that Sachin is the best...But guys deep down your heart, you also agree with me. In the bowling area, it was a team effort with no single bowler standing out.