Boom in the bloggers' world..

International markets are experiencing fatal financial crisis. Red glows all over the world markets starting from NASDAQ to NIKKEI. A part of the impacts of dropping share markets is felt on the food and oil prices, which have reached the levels that have never even been imagined of in the past. Name any industry and you would find it in the list of industries that possess broken statures in the economy today. Investors are not prepared to lend ears to what the Union Finance Ministry has got to say because the latter had always tried to soothe the former even when there were hard times approaching their pockets. The economic depreciation has been given a chance to engulf the nation by sparking what are known price hikes. When the cost of petrol per barrel has dipped below $80, which is the lowest value in the last 6 months, the petroleum ministry is unable to bring down the cost of a liter of petrol in India. The effect of inflation swung back to increase the magic figure of agony which reached a double figure very recently. You might be wondering what a blogger has got to do with all these misfortunes. Though these are unfortunate causes of inflation and price rise, bloggers from India are having a pleasant time under the hot sun while others are beaten by the heat. With the approaching economic crisis which started with U.S, the value of Indian currency has dropped to the record lowest value. This may indicate the signs of doomsday at India's doorstep. But, for the bloggers in India, this has brought the positive effect of inflation and weakened value of Indian Rupees against U.S.D. Now, I've earned around $700 through my blogs. A part of this amount reached my online account when the INR's value versus U.S.D was Rs.43. When I received the amount in INR, the value was Rs.47. Thus, for every American dollar, I managed to put up an excess Rs.4, which is flatly a bonus! Now, I don't know what I should do. I don't know whether I should feel bad for enjoying the happy turnover when the whole nation is suffering from critical economic crisis or feel good that I am capable of surviving the disaster called economic downfall.

Rules gone wrong..

Of late, we find so many changes in the traffic rules that are applicable within the city limits of Chennai. Helmets are made mandatory for bike riders. I always talk about this helmet issue whenever I talk about traffic policemen and anything related to them for I've dropped some bucks in their pockets, sometimes for not sticking on to the rules and sometimes for sticking to the rules but failing to convince these jerks in uniforms. At the end of the day, I hate them to the deepest core! Anyway, let me take you through the anomalies in the traffic rules we follow in Chennai. There are hard proofs available to stand firm on the fact that there is no coordination between the traffic police department, the oil ministry, health ministry and in fact, the whole Government. Today, the trend that is invading the minds of traffic policemen is "One-way or no way". Almost 30% of the main roads in the city, which were once used for two-way traffic, have been made one-way which, according to the police department, is an attempt to regulate and diversify the growing traffic in the city. Recently, I had been to Egmore and found that almost all the Roads at the junction had next to Pudupet had been turned into one-way roads. Something told me it's not going to be an easy task to reach the Commissioner's Office. I drove straight and when I was about to take a right, I found that the road is being used for one-way traffic and I had to go straight further. This isn't area with which I am quite familiar. So, I had no idea about the small roads in between the main roads which might probably take me to the destination in my mind. I reached the junction and now the rule is different. I am not allowed to take a right turn, though the road on my right is available for two-way traffic. The journey, straight down the road, continued with my bike running low on fuel. I reached another junction, where the signal timer continued flicking through the numbers for more than 2 minutes. At last I took a right turn, which was exactly the same I should have done 5 minutes back. Now, my destination lied to my right and I needed to take a right turn somewhere. I found a right and also a board that said 'No Right Turn'. But, the funniest part of the rule is that U-turn was allowed at that place. My journey on Kilpauk high road continued. The next right turn was a one-way. So, it kept me moving straight. Finally, the end of a long stretch came to an end and I found that I had reached the place from where my journey from Mount Road to Commissioner Office at Egmore. Thus, what I was left with in the end was a 'Pradhakshanam' around the Commissioner Office. I sought after the help of an auto-rickshaw driver, who, I was sure, would know even the smallest of streets in the city. He made me reach the place through a small street. Thus, I had a 5KM ride on my bike which should actually have been a 300 meter journey. Isn't this an idiotic act that puts down all the purposes of the oil ministry to bring down the oil prices? I was in great demand for petrol for my bike. Demand is the reason for the price hike. I could imagine the number of people who would have faced the same misery on bike as I did. That magnifies the demand which in turn gives Government no room to reduce the fuel cost. Since the entire traffic towards Egmore is diverted to Kilpauk High road, the congestion at the junction at the mouth of the main road has increased to several folds. Thus, the amount of exhaust gases let out in the atmosphere obviously goes up, which makes the conditions highly unhealthy. Thus, all the efforts of the Union Health ministry is made to go up in flames. I doubt whether Mr.Anbumani Ramadoss has the knowledge that smoking in public doesn't add as much smoke as the vehicle exhausts does to the atmosphere when the vehicle engines are put on idling at junctions and when the runtime of the vehicles on the roads increase due to congestion, which in turn leads to same effects on one's health as smoking. This reflects the complete lack of coordination between the different parts of the machinery called Government. Thus, the state has become a vehicle with the wheels at the rear end trying to go back while the wheels at the front pushing the system forward. And the system, which is the society here, stays right at the place where it was before the processes started, leading to stagnation!

Festive mood sets in..

The festival of lights is around the corner and the sky above the whole nation will be glowing for the next few days if one takes the bird's view. It's Diwali that we are inching closer to everyday! This is the most colorful and flamboyant festival one could think of. We should thank Lord Ram for giving all of us a reason to make the sky brighter than usual at nights for few days. Some, who are against Hinduism, may point to the fact that on the day of Diwali, pollution across the whole nation increases to a fatal level. Such ignorant facts should be eradicated from the Devil's workshop and such people should understand that Diwali isn't the only cause for pollution. Everyday, millions of factory outlets and billions of vehicles all over the world contribute in a major scale to pollution. Futile arguments shouldn't be pushed to the surface just because some have severe hatred for Hinduism. Diwali is not only a festival that spreads joy and happiness in the form of light. It is also an occasion that can remove the darkness dominating one's mind. Naragasuran, the devil in the form of human, inflicted pain to several people and there was no room for happiness in his kingdom. The purpose of Lord Ram's birth was to bring the miseries of people to an end by vanquishing Ravana, who is depicted as a human with 10 heads. After defeating Ravana and saving Seetha from his demonic clutches, Lord Ram proved his benevolence by offering a wish for Ravana. Unlike the villains the movies depict today, Ravana realized his mistakes before his life came to an end and wished for something nobody would have even thought of quoting as a wish. He wanted the people all over the world to celebrate the day he died and he wanted the day to be called Deepavali, which, over the time, turned into Diwali. Now, after experiencing 22 years on this earth with some really bad people, I don't find Ravan really bad. I doubt whether Lord Ram would be able to repeat the history now for weeding some of the unwanted elements in the nation who are personifications of evil. Let us hope this Deepavali spreads light on the minds of such blackened minds. Let’s spread the joy in the form of light! Happy Deepavali fellas!!