Two cups and a freezer

When I started this blog, I had grand plans of churning out pieces which would really make people sit up and take notice. Turns out that I only posted four in October, the last one was on the 10th and that too was a [Google] translated version of my original in English. So, I only did three in October. Hopefully, November will be better, then again.

So, what's with the title of this post ? Well, it has to do with the Mpemba Effect. No, that's not a misspelling. It's an African name. Mpemba, the exact pronunciation is tricky even for me with a year in South Africa, but the way I pronounce it, and Africans approve is Ma-pemba. Don't draw out the a after the M.

Semantics out of the way, the reason it's named after an African is because it was discovered by an African, in Africa. A Tanzanian schoolboy to be exact, way back in the 60s. And he did it only with two cups and a freezer. Simply put, the effect says that hot water freezes faster than cold water. Don't believe it ? Mpemba's teachers didn't believe it too and said he was making things up. His friends probably made fun of him, the only guy who took him seriously and was good enough to apportion credit where it was due was a British Physicist, Dr. Denis G. Osborne. The good doctor promised to verify Mpemba's observations, did so and published a joint paper with Mpemba documenting a fact which was noted by Aristotles.

So if it was known since the Ancient Greeks, why name it after Mpemba ?

That's the way Science and Maths work. You come up with something, write a book or a paper to let the world know, the world ( scientific world ) takes note and your name is chronicled and added to encyclopedias, wikipedias, textbooks, you get the idea.

There are a lot of things which can be said here but a few stand out. The fact that even though this phenomenon was known since the days of Ancient Greece but was recognized as a paradox of Thermodynamics, if you will, only in the 1960s. And if the team in Singapore is correct then the explanation has finally been found, as recently as October 2013. So, we have a fundamental natural pheomenon which people were aware of, at least anecdotally for more than 2000 years but which challenged conventional wisdom only in the 1960s, it took 50 years to satisfactorily explain the effect and even then the prinicipal charge has been laid on the ubiquitous Hydrogen bonds, forces of attraction, which themselves are not well understood.

This effect, it's name, it's challenge to the conventional understanding of Thermodynamics and it's eventual 'solution'; speaks a lot about our attitude towards a true, scientific investigation and each other.

The fact that it was known for such a long time and yet the great minds who were so concerned about the study of nature were not bothered about it should make us do a rethink on all the anecdotes and old wives tales which we say are not scientific. Who decides what's scientific and what's not ? A journal ? A publication ? Acceptance by the scientific community ? Approval by the powers that be, in other words, the academic powerhouse dominated by the West ?

The fact that it was a Tanzanian schoolboy who stumbled upon this in his own country and that too with so simple things should be a real eye-opener for people who sneer at Africa and Africans for being wild, ignorant and uncivilized. I am not an African, but I have lived for a year in South Africa and made an attempt to know their culture. Guess where the first heart transplant happened and who did it ?

It was in Cape Town and was performed by Dr. Christian Barnard, the city, the doctor, the recipient and the donor, all of them South Africans.

I know, it's not easy to digest for people with the conventional view on all things African.

Yes, Science, Arts, Architecture, Engineering, Culture, all of these things and more are possible in Africa. The 'Dark' Continent is not only our ancestral home, it's also a melting pot of cultures and ideas from which new ideas continue to emerge and will lead the world in the days to come.

Now let's get to the simplicity of it.

Two cups and a freezer. Erasto was taking cookery classes. Think about that, a boy, that too an African boy taking cookery classes. Would you, an American, European, Indian, Chinese or advanced or emerging nationality male, would you ever take a cookery class ? Would you have even thought of taking a cookery class at school ? Would your parents, friends, teachers etc. have allowed you to even think of such a lowly girly thing ?

Yes, that's how the average male thinks about cooking and cookery classes. Good thing that an 'uncivilized, wild, tribal' African boy didn't think so. So now guess whose name will be remembered by history ?

Back again to the simplicity.

Two cups and a freezer.

You may have heard of the Big Bang Machine. The Large Hadron Collider ( LHC ) is the world's largest machine. It has a radius of around 3 kms, think about that. Using this machine, scientists can recreate high energy conditions such as would have existed during the Big Bang. This will allow many fundamental theories of the structure of the universe to be tested and any observations which either do not agree or are not expected by existing theories would spark new work all over the world.

Fascinating stuff, and although I am not a scientist, I hope to visit the LHC someday, take a picture with it. I wanted to be a scientist doing all sorts of cool stuff when I was growing up. I still fool around but it's not even close to what grad students get to do in their labs. But does everything need such huge and expensive stuff ?

I am not grudging the facilities research groups have, nor am I saying that spending billions of dollars on Big Bang machines is wasteful. On the contrary, any form of research, as long as it is proper and scientifically executed should be supported and well funded. Not only does it add to our knowledge and have unexpected practical applications, such research is often an inspiration to many children and young people to dream and to achieve more.

India may still be a Third World, developing nation, but it's space programme, which was putting satellites in orbit even before the country became synonymous with IT was a big inspiration for millions of young Indians.

And yet, there is nothing as simple, as elegant, as beautiful, as profound as the simple itself.

All it took was the fall of an apple for Newton.

All it took was a dream about snakes catching hold of their tails for Kekule.

All it took was taking the wrong way to India for Columbus.

Yes, whether Newton really did see an apple fall or not and even if he did whether it really sparked the idea that led to gravity, may be we will never know. In any case, Newton spent close to two decades in developing calculus which gave a solid grounding to his theory of gravity. Even though Newton's Law of Gravity was shown to be an approximation of Einstien's General Theory of Relativity, the Law still stands and Calculus has applications in all fields of human activity, not just scientific.

The point is that such stories, more so if they are true, inspire every Tom, Dick and Harry that they too can do great things. If nothing else, it at least leads them to regard everyday phenomena in a new light, to not brush off what they see in their dreams lightly. Newton, Einstien, Darwin, Curie, Kekule, they all were common once. Newton would have been a farmer if his uncle had not spoken up for him, Einstien worked out his theories when he was a clerk in a patent office, Kekule trained to be an architect.

I have a theory on why so many Indians are good at IT. It's because it's very easy to get hold of computer hardware and software than it is to get hold of chemicals and apparatus needed to conduct experiments. It's why Mathematics is not considered notoriously difficult in Indian schools. Instead of being demonised, as in American media, Maths is actually considered cool in many parts of India and proficiency in Maths is something to be proud of. The reason is simple, to study Maths, to do Maths, you only need your brain, you only need to think.

It will take some time before the technological and scientific gap closes between the haves and have nots. Unlike wealth, this gap is not made that much of an issue and superiority in this field does not mean that the country or person/s is rich. Again, think of Mpemba.

There's an experiment I often used to do as a child. It involved a battery eliminator. It was essentially a small step down transformer which brought down the mains voltage to a level which could be used to light a torch bulb. I got two cathodes, the graphite rod in the center of a cell, called battery in India. Two wires, with the insulation on them, between where they are stuck into the eliminator and where they are wrapped around, either the cathodes or a cathode and a nail, or a metallic spoon or even the container which would contain the electrolytic solution, if you want to spike the container, make sure that it's on an insulating top and the connection is done outside the solution.

The solution can be water into which any eletrolyte has been added. I invariably used NaCl, Sodium Chloride or common salt. We also had Na2S, Sodium Sulphide, often called Saindhav Namak in India. The salt is needed to speed things up. The anions, if they act on a metallic object will produce spectacular changes. Chloride ions acting on a steel spoon or iron nail will produce a green FeCl2, Ferrous Chloride solution. Sulphide ions will produce a black FeS, Ferrous Sulphide precipitate. If you use the zinc casing of the cells whose cathodes you extracted you will get a white ZnS, Zinc Sulphide precipitate. To get these precipitates, the object being consumed has to be connected to the positive terminal or anode of the eliminator.

While the solution or precipitate is generated, you should see a stream of gas bubbling out from the other electrode. The rate at which this happens depends on the strength of the current, nature of the electrolyte, surface of the electrode among other things. That gas is Hydrogen, the H of H2O. 

I last did such an experiment in my room nearly eight years ago and yet, it seems just like yesterday. The materials are easy to get by and improvisations can always be made. I also played with magnets. I still remember making one magnet bend before another. Tip it's head downwards and it's head bobbed up and down, just like a child nodding with bowed head before it's elder.

I didn't talk a lot about the Mpemba effect, nor about Mpemba himself, nor on what the effect or it's possible explanation implies. All of that are just a Google search away. I wanted to explore an angle which this effect really made me think. The fact that fundamental discoveries, great innovation can come from anywhere, that all it takes is to make honest observations and to keep asking why, just like Mpemba did, he never gave up, no matter how much or how long he was ridiculed.

All of us, irrespective of all the meaningless barriers that we have made among us, should dream, should strive never to discount the achievements and potentials of anyone, to disregard stereotypes.

It is important to dream, both with eyes closed and open but it is even more important to act in your full senses. August Kekule ended it best when he explained the dream which led him to the structure of Benzene.

"Let us learn to dream, gentlemen, then perhaps we shall find the truth... But let us beware of publishing our dreams till they have been tested by waking understanding."

WC Economics

[Dit is een Nederlandse vertaling van mijn post in het Engels, WC Economics. Ik gebruikte Google Translate voor de vertaling. Ik ben al zeven maanden in Nederland wonen en mijn kennis van het Nederlands is zeer elementair. Excuses voor grammaticale en syntactische fouten. Ik hoop dat dit wordt gelezen en wordt het een discussiepunt voor veel Nederlandse sprekers.]

In het begin , nee dit is niet een post over wc- humor , noch ga ik botte grappen of trash economie te maken , ondanks de puinhoop de wereld is in zelfs vandaag . Ik heb een elementaire kennis van het onderwerp en alle cijfers en feiten in dit artikel zijn ofwel uit Google of mijn eigen ervaring .

 Ik had nagedacht over dit bericht voor een lange tijd en het onderwerp kan dus gedistilleerd worden : Is het juist om een vergoeding , hoe klein ook , voor bijna elk openbaar toilet ? Vooral als het een goed te doen , koude klimaat , westers land .

 Zoals het geval is in Nederland . Nogmaals, niets tegen de Nederlanders , maar ik zal een Nederlandse kopie plaatsen , dankzij Google Translate , zodat Nederlandse sprekers mijn standpunten beter te kunnen begrijpen .

 Ik denk dat de behoefte aan openbare toiletten is iets wat over het algemeen wordt overeengekomen . Hun behoefte wordt gevoeld nog scherper als het klimaat is vochtig en koud , zeker als de persoon in kwestie is een vrouwtje . Ik ben een Indische man en zoals het geval is , jammer genoeg , met bijna alle Indiase mannen overal in India , ik meestal smullen van sommige steegje of achter een boom om mezelf te ontlasten . Het is niet het juiste ding om te doen en schaadt het openbaar domein , maar gezien het gebrek aan voldoende en nog belangrijker schoon opties in een land van meer dan 1,2 miljard mensen , er is gewoon geen andere optie . Nogmaals , ik geloof het ongemak gevoeld door vrouwen zouden veel meer , maar het zijn een man te zijn , zal ik hier spreek voor mijn soort . Veel mensen weten niet eens de moeite zich te verbergen van het publieke oog wanneer zij betrokken zijn bij een dergelijke handeling . Zoals ik later zal betrekking hebben , blijkt het gebeurt ook in Nederland ook.

 Ja , er is Sulabh Shauchalaya , maar hoeveel toiletten ? Onderstaande cijfers zijn afkomstig uit de homepage van Sulabh vanaf 10 oktober 2013 .

 1,2 miljoen - Sulabh huishouden toiletten gebouwd

54 miljoen - Overheid toiletten gebouwd op basis van Sulabh ontwerp

8000 + - Sulabh gemeenschap toiletten

640 - Towns gemaakt bestrijden van vrije

10500000 - Mensen met toiletten gebaseerd op Sulabh ontwerp dagelijkse

 Indrukwekkende cijfers , in ieder geval bereikt ze iets , maar India heeft meer dan 1,2 miljard zielen . Bijna de helft van hen wonen in drukke stedelijke gebieden . Dus een bedrag van 600 miljoen versus de 10,5 miljoen die met behulp van toiletten ?

 Heel lange weg te gaan .

 Opnieuw is er de factor geld . Hoeveel mensen kunnen veroorloven om te betalen voor een pissen of poepen ? Nog belangrijker , hoeveel zijn bereid te betalen? Ik laat de cijfers en analyses voor mensen die zich meer bewust zijn van deze cijfers , maar ik weet zeker dat je mensen intensivering van high-end auto's hebben gezien om zich te ontlasten door de berm .

 De reden dat ik opgevoed India toen dit gehele artikel is ingegeven door de praktijken in Nederland is , want ik wil een vergelijking te trekken met alle landen die ik heb in gewoond voor een eerlijke duur en laat het aan de lezer om te peilen of opladen voor bijna elk openbaar toilet faciliteit is gerechtvaardigd .

 De Verenigde Staten . Groot land, rijk land , ja ze zijn nog steeds in shutdown mode als dit artikel wordt geschreven en als ze niet de schuld plafond bit lossen de hele wereld kan worden mee te gaan op een roller coaster ride , recht naar beneden . De VS brengt niets in rekening voor openbare toiletten , althans niet in een van de plaatsen waar ik ben geweest .Singapore . Klein land , een stad eigenlijk , maar echt rijk , veel mensen . Draconische wetten op de rommel . Openbare toiletten in winkelcentra en MRT stations , gratis te gebruiken .

 Canada . Geweldig land , letterlijk en figuurlijk . Sluit culturele en economische banden met de VS . Ze hebben zelfs dezelfde RBD code . Het weer koud blijft voor het grootste deel van het jaar . Ik denk dat je weet wat dat betekent . Ze hebben ook geen kosten voor openbare toiletten . Er is in feite een groot , goed onderhouden wc complex in het hart van de historische stad Quebec . En ik gebruikte het gratis.

 Zuid -Afrika . Niet eens zo groot als India , maar de diversiteit aan klimaten , aardrijkskunde , natuur en cultuur zet het in een competitie van zijn eigen. Het is de grootste economie in Afrika , een lid van de G20 . Niet zo rijk als de VS , Canada of Nederland . Het is in feite de kleinste economie van de BRICS-landen , maar er zijn hier geen kosten voor het gebruik van openbare toiletten .

 En nu komen we naar Nederland .

 Het normale tarief voor het gebruik van een openbaar toilet in Nederland is 50 eurocent . Dit is de heffing die door toiletten , handmatige en geautomatiseerde , op elk station. Sommige toiletten zullen meer of minder in rekening worden gebracht dan dit bedrag .

 Wat kunnen 50 cent kopen?

 Een pakje chips .

 Een reep chocola .

 Een 500 ml drinken.

 Mits je weet waar te winkelen .

 Koopkracht terzijde , laten we zeggen dat je echt moet gaan , hoeft u geen verandering hebt of niet genoeg te veranderen op je , als het een handbediend toilet kunt u altijd proberen te duwen een 5,10 , misschien zelfs een biljet van 50 euro als je wanhopig bent . Wat doe je als het een geautomatiseerd toilet dat alleen accepteert munten ?

 Een geautomatiseerde toilet en zag ze voor de eerste keer en tot nu toe alleen in Nederland , een toilet waarvan bijna elke armatuur bestaat uit roestvrij staal . Zelfs de deur is een stalen deur , als je eenmaal in , waterstralen schieten op het WK , de wc-bril naar beneden beweegt automatisch en in 10-15 seconden , klaar om los te laten je bent . De deur automatisch opent na 15 minuten of zo , maar je kunt die tijd verlengen van binnenuit . En natuurlijk , terwijl je in , de mensen buiten moeten wachten , of zoek een andere optie .

 Geautomatiseerde toiletten , netjes toch? Recht uit Star Trek .

 Niet helemaal .

 Helaas menselijk afval is niet uniform in zijn textuur en make - up . Ik zal niet ingaan op de details hier maar het volstaat te zeggen dat vaker wel dan niet zoals wc's kijken en ruiken verschrikkelijk. De handleiding toiletten , in andere woorden toiletten waar een mens controleerde de toestand van de eenheden van tijd tot tijd zijn allemaal in een veel betere staat dan elke geautomatiseerde wc waar ik geweest ben .

 Waarschijnlijk de eerste pay toilet, handmatig onderhouden , bezocht ik was de wc complex nabij de entreehal van Rotterdam Centraal ( Nederlandse spelling ) station . Ik moest 50 cent betalen, maar ik kan je vertellen dat het heel goed was onderhouden .

 Hoe slecht kan geautomatiseerde toiletten krijgen ?

 Ik stapte op Roosendal station naar de intercity nemen naar Antwerpen , op een bewolkte dag van Mei . Terwijl ik wachtte op de trein , Natuur genaamd en vinden dat ik had genoeg verandering op mij Ik gleed ze in de sleuven van een geautomatiseerd toilet en gingen naar binnen

 En vandaag kan ik u vertellen dat ik niet heb gezien een toilet in zo'n vreselijke aandoening , zelfs in India .

 De kom was vol pis , uitwerpselen en toiletpapier . Het was zo veel dat de wc-bril niet goed had zitten vastgelopen . Er was troep op de rand van de schaal en zelfs op de vloer .

 Ik voel mijn huid kruipen erover na te denken .

 Het was zo afschuwelijk , ik boos op de grond . Ja de vloer , ik zou hebben vomitted of had een fit als ik moest pissen in die rotzooi . Ik kreeg out double quick , was er een man in de hoop om het te gebruiken na mij . Ik vertelde hem in het Engels " Niet gaan . Het is verschrikkelijk . "

 Hij nam een ​​kijkje in de stalen deur dicht en liep weg .

 Wat echt boos me bij die gelegenheid was , als je moet rekenen mensen om toiletten te gebruiken , waarom ze niet handhaven ? Zelfs als het geautomatiseerd , zou het echt pijn om iemand te controleren ten minste eenmaal per dag , elke dag in de week , om ervoor te zorgen de eenheden goed draaien ? Toen ik dat wc , het was niet eens 12:00 , ik denk dat het moet zijn opstapelen voor meer dan een dag op zijn minst te worden in die toestand .

 Dus wat doet het opladen voor een toilet te bereiken ? Men kan zeggen dat het bijdraagt ​​aan de totale kosten van het onderhoud van het toilet , het is ook mogelijk dat de lading houdt onverlaten uit wie anders zou beschadigen en / of schade deze faciliteiten . Ik kan het tweede punt te begrijpen omdat bijna geen enkele van de in rekening gebrachte toiletten waar ik geweest ben , handmatig of geautomatiseerd , werden beklad . Ja , zelfs die vreselijke puinhoop in Roosendal .

 Maar de kosten van onderhoud ? Echt waar ? Is het zo duur? Zelfs wanneer de natie heeft een uitgebreid drainagesysteem ? De storm en het drainagesysteem van Nederland is een van de beste , zo niet de beste in de wereld . De Rijkswaterstaat die bouwt en onderhoudt deze faciliteiten heeft technische wonderen bereikt , het systeem is gericht op een keer in 10.000 jaar storm verwerken .

 Stel je voor 2012 , de film , zoiets.

 Ja , is de bescherming niet goedkoop en dat is een van de redenen waarom de belastingen zo hoog zijn. De Rijkswaterstaat is autonoom en krijgt ook een aandeel op elke belasting geheven , kan niet wrok hen dat , zij zijn degenen die tussen Nederland en de Noordzee staan ​​.

 Voordat ik verder ga , zijn niet alle openbare toiletten in dit land gebracht . Toiletten in het kantoor zou je werken in of bezoek gratis te gebruiken zou zijn . Toiletten in treinen , als ze niet worden vergrendeld, zijn gratis te gebruiken . Toiletten in Schiphol Plaza en op het Panoramaterras zijn zeer goed onderhouden en vrij te gebruiken .

 Zodat men kan zeggen , als u werkt of een bezoek aan een kantoor , ben je economisch productief . U betaalt voor de trein en mensen van over de hele wereld doorvoer rijden door Schiphol dus een heffing niet goed voor het imago van het land zal zijn .

 Ja , wachten tot ze uit te stappen van Schiphol .

 Dan zal ik een aantal andere voorbeelden te geven ook. Er waren mobiele toiletten beschikbaar tijdens de Wereld Haven Dagen  gehouden van 6 tot 8 september 2013 in Rotterdam . Ze waren goed onderhouden en vrij te gebruiken . Ja, geen inschrijfgelden voor een bezoek aan de beurs , dus je kon in de loop gewoon voor het gebruik van de toiletten en dan vertrekken . Geen economische waarde daar.

 Er was ook een gratis toiletgebouw tijdens het Drakenboot race gehouden in de Kralingse Plas , Rotterdam . Veel bezoekers , geen berekening.

Dus , wat geeft ?

Er is een plek in Nederland waar u in rekening gebracht 1 euro als u alleen naar het toilet te gebruiken , en niet iets in het restaurant waar het toilet eerste is gelegen te kopen .

De Afsluitdijk is een dam gebouwd op de open zee . Het werd voltooid in 1933 , 80 jaar geleden , en eenmaal voltooid is afgesneden van de Zuiderzee van de Waddenzee . 32 km lang , dit wonder van techniek is ontworpen door een team onder leiding van Hendrik Lorentz , de Nobelprijswinnaar in de natuurkunde wiens wiskundige werk ging een lange weg in de basis voor Einstien 's speciale relativiteitstheorie .

Als je kijkt naar een kaart van Nederland , zal je een rechte lijn tussen twee delen van het land te zien . Er is een andere lijn , een gebogen ene , de toetreding tot de steden Enkhuizen en Lelystad zuiden van die lijn , maar het is vaker wel dan niet in de kaarten getoond . De Afsluitdijk staat tegen de open zee , zonder dat de tweede regel , de Houtribdijk en zelfs de provincie Flevoland , opgericht na de Tweede Wereldoorlog , niet mogelijk zou zijn geweest .

Er is een uitkijkpunt , Het Monument , halverwege op de Afsluitdijk , toen ik het bezocht , de auto's kwamen uit de hele EU . Ik had een Uitsmitjer in het restaurant en moest naar het toilet te gebruiken . In het toilet waren mededelingen in het Engels , Nederlands, Frans , Duits en Chinees en uit te leggen waarom 1 euro zou moeten betalen voor gebruikers die niet iets in het restaurant eerst kopen . Het zei dat, gezien de positie van het Monument , werd alle afvalwater gericht in een septische put die periodiek wordt gereinigd . De 1 Euro vergoeding gaat naar het onderhoud en de operationele kosten van de riolering .

Dus als je een toilet , 16 km van de dichtstbijzijnde menselijke vestigingen , aan de ene kant heb je de zee , aan de andere kant een meer, 1000 km ² groot en met genoeg vis om in hun levensonderhoud te verstrekken aan vele kustplaatsen en dorpen , 1 euro is geen big deal , toch?

Er is een cafe op de top van de Tafelberg (Table Mountain) en op Cape Point in Zuid-Afrika . Deze plaatsen met hun toiletten bevinden zich in even , zo niet meer , ontoegankelijk en ecologisch kwetsbare gebieden . Zuid -Afrika is ook lang niet zo goed van als Nederland , de criminaliteit en werkloosheid situaties zijn ook heel ernstig . Maar de toiletten zijn niet in rekening gebracht .Waarom niet ?

Op dit punt ben ik geneigd te denken van de Nederlandse mercantiele karakter met een neiging om een ​​geld te verdienen aan iets , soms vraag ik me af waarom Napoleon genaamd Engeland : een natie van winkeliers , kan het lijken onbeleefd, maar ik zal een voorbeeld geven .

Wat zou je zeggen als je betaalt 30 cent naar het toilet te gebruiken in een McDonalds outlet , in het grootste winkelcentrum in Rotterdam , zelfs als je een klant ?

Raar ? Daylight Robbery ?

Om eerlijk te zijn , dingen zijn ook niet zo Hunky Dory zelfs hier . Er was een verslag op de BBC over een maand terug waarin werd aangetoond dat Nederland voelt hetzelfde knijpt en knijpt momenteel synoniem voor Zuid-Europa .

Maar dan is er ook veel werkloosheid . Rotterdam , ondanks het feit dat het economische zenuwcentrum , heeft de hoogste werkloosheidscijfers in Nederland . Ik ben gekomen om te weten dat zelfs voor de "werkloosheidsuitkering" van 400 euro per maand , mensen worden verwacht om te werken . Veel migranten giet het in de Nederland dagelijks . De meeste van hen uit arme landen met weinig of geen vaardigheden .

Wat krijg ik bij , in de geest van de South Park aflevering , The Last van de Meheecans , is het zo moeilijk om mensen inhuren om sanitaire voorzieningen te behouden , vooral als ze moeten worden opgeladen ? Er is een man met een log lokken die de gitaar buiten Rotterdam Centraal speelt . Gisteren zag ik een man die zag eruit alsof hij kon nergens heen , zitten doelloos in de foyer van de Rotterdamse Centrale Bibliotheek in de buurt van het station Blaak .

Ik heb geen probleem te betalen voor iets het is goed onderhouden, maar het is niet mogelijk om te komen met het geld op het kritieke moment dat je het nodig hebt . Mocht toiletten accepteren kaarten dan ? En wat als je geen kaarten uitvoeren ook?

Eerder in deze post heb ik gezegd dat de mensen los te laten in de open lucht is niet iets bijzonders naar India , ik heb het gezien in Rotterdam , maar de brutaliteit van de daad , heb ik niet eens gezien in India .

Een paar weken geleden zag ik een man pist in het midden van de Voorschoterlaan , Rotterdam . Dit is een chique wijk met een eigen metrostation en vele boetiekjes . De man doet de daad was wit en hij liep naar zijn auto nadat hij klaar was .

Ik vraag me af hoeveel mensen zagen hem in de handeling van de huizen aan beide kanten van de straat . Ik vraag me af hoe vaak het is . Ik vraag me af zou hij hetzelfde hebben gedaan als er een toilet , zelfs als het niet is opgeladen , in de nabijheid .

Ik schreef dit bericht naar voren gebracht mijn mening over de noodzaak van adequate openbare toiletten die niet mag worden gebracht . Vooral als de belastingen zijn in de range van 50 % of meer . Ik hoop dat de Nederlandse burgers en mensen die zich meer bewust zijn dan ik ben over dit onderwerp gaan door deze delen hun visie en denk erover na .

We moeten niet met onze omgeving als een toilet . Meer dan het enige huis dat we hebben , het is ook onze Moeder Aarde .

Toilet Economics

At the outset, no this is not a post about toilet humour, nor am I going to make crass jokes or trash economics, despite the mess the world is in even today. I have an elementary knowledge of the subject and all figures and facts in this article are either from Google or my own experience.

I had been thinking about this post for a long time and the subject matter can be distilled thus : Is it proper to charge a fee, however small, for almost every public toilet ? Especially if it's a well to do, cold climate, Western country.

Such as is the case in the Netherlands. Again, nothing against the Dutch, but I will post a Dutch copy, thanks to Google Translate, so that Dutch speakers can understand my views better.

I believe the need for public toilet facilities is something which is generally agreed upon. Their need is felt even more keenly if the climate is wet and cold, more so if the person in question is a female. I am an Indian male and as is the case, unfortunately, with almost all Indian males anywhere in India, I usually tuck into some alley way or behind a tree to relieve myself. It's not the right thing to do and harms public property but given the paucity of sufficient and more importantly clean options in a country of more than 1.2 billion people, there is simply no other option. Again, I believe the discomfort felt by women would be much more but being a man, I will speak for my kind here. Many people don't even bother hiding themselves from the public eye when they are engaged in such an act. As I will relate later, turns out it also happens in the Netherlands too.

Yes, there is Sulabh Shauchalaya, but how many toilets ? The figures below are from the home page of Sulabh as of 10th Oct. 2013.

1.2 million - Sulabh household toilets constructed

54 million - Government toilets constructed based on Sulabh design

8,000+ - Sulabh community toilet blocks

640 - Towns made scavenging free

10.5 million - People using toilets based on Sulabh design daily

 

Impressive figures, at least they achieved something, but India has more than 1.2 billion souls. Almost half of them living in crowded urban areas. So a figure of 600 million vs the 10.5 million who are using toilets ?

 

Really long way to go.

 

Again there is the money factor. How many people can afford to pay for a piss or a poo ? More importantly, how many are willing to pay ? I will leave the numbers and analysis for people who are more aware of these figures, but I am sure you have seen people stepping out of high end cars to relieve themselves by the roadside.

 

The reason I brought up India when this entire article was prompted by the practices in the Netherlands is because I want to draw a comparision with all the countries I have lived in for a fair duration and leave it to the readers to gauge whether charging for almost every public toilet facility is justified.

 

The United States. Big country, rich country, yes they are still in shutdown mode as this article is being written and if they don't resolve the debt ceiling bit the whole world may be going along on a roller coaster ride, straight down. The US doesn't charge for public toilet facilities, at least not in any of the places I have been.

 

Singapore. Small country, a city actually, but really rich, lots of people. Draconian laws on littering. Public toilets in malls and MRT stations, free to use.

 

Canada. Great country, literally and metaphorically. Close cultural and economic ties with the US. They even have the same ISD code. The weather remains cold for the large part of the year. I guess you know what that means. They also don't charge for public toilets. There's in fact a sizeable, well maintained toilet complex in the heart of historic Quebec City. And I used it for free.

 

South Africa. Not even as big as India but the diversity of climates, geography, wildlife and culture puts it in a league of it's own. It's the largest economy in Africa, a member of the G20. Not as rich as the US, Canada or the Netherlands. It's in fact the smallest economy of the BRICS, but there are again no charges for using public toilets.

 

And now we come to the Netherlands.

 

The standard rate for using a public toilet in the Netherlands is 50 Euro cents. This is the charge levied by toilets, manual and automated, at every train station. Some toilets will be charged more or less than this amount.

 

What can 50 cents buy ?

 

A pack of chips.

 

A bar of chocolate.

 

A 500 ml drink.

 

Provided you know where to shop.

 

Buying power aside, let's say you really have to go, you don't have change or not enough change on you, if it's a manual toilet you can always try pushing a 5,10, maybe even a 50 euro note if you are desperate. What do you do if it's an automated toilet which only accepts coins ?

 

An automated toilet, and I saw them for the first time and so far only in the Netherlands, is a toilet whose almost every fixture is made up of stainless steel. Even the door is a steel door, once you get in, jets of water shoot at the WC, the toilet seat moves down automatically, and in 10-15 seconds, you are ready to let go. The door auto opens after 15 minutes or so but you can extend that time from the inside. And of course, while you are in, the people outside have to wait, or find some other option.

 

Automated toilets, neat right ? Right out of Star Trek.

 

Not quite.

 

Unfortunately human waste is not uniform in it's texture and make-up. I won't go into the details here but suffice to say that more often than not such toilets look and smell horrible. The manual toilets, in other words toilets where a human being checked the condition of the units from time to time have been all in a much better state then any automated toilet I have been to.

 

Probably the first pay toilet, manually maintained, I visited was the toilet complex near the entrance foyer of Rotterdam Centraal ( Dutch spelling ) station. I had to pay 50 cents but I can tell you that it was very well maintained.

 

How bad can automated toilets get ?

 

I alighted at Roosendal train station to catch the intercity to Antwerp, on a cloudy May day. While I was waiting for the train, Nature called and finding that I had sufficient change on me I slipped them into the slots of an automated toilet and went in.

 

And today I can tell you that I haven't seen a toilet in such an awful condition even in India.

 

The bowl was full of piss, excreta and toilet paper. It was jammed so much that the toilet seat didn't sit down properly. There was shit on the edge of the bowl and even some on the floor.

 

I feel my skin creep even thinking about it.

 

It was so ghastly, I pissed on the floor. Yes the floor, I would have vomitted or had a fit if I had to piss into that mess. I got out double quick, there was a guy hoping to use it after me. I told him in English "Don't go. It's horrible."

 

He took one look inside as the steel door closed and walked away.

 

What really pissed me on that occasion was, if you have to charge people to use toilets, why not maintain them ? Even if it's automated, would it really hurt to have someone check at least once a day, every day in the week, to ensure the units are running properly ? When I used that toilet, it wasn't even 12 pm, I think it must have been piling up for more than a day at least to be in that condition.

 

So what does charging for a toilet achieve ? One may say that it contributes towards the overall cost of maintaining the toilet, it's also possible that the charge keeps miscreants out who would otherwise deface and/or damage these facilities. I can understand the second point since almost none of the charged toilets I have been to, manual or automated, were defaced. Yes, even that horrible mess in Roosendal.

 

But the cost of maintenance ? Really ? Is it that expensive ? Even when the nation has an extensive drainage system ? The storm and drainage system of the Netherlands is one of the best, if not the best in the world. The Rijkswaterstaat which builds and maintains these facilities has achieved engineering marvels, the system is geared to handle a once in 10000 years storm.

 

Imagine 2012, the movie, something like that.

 

Yes, the protection doesn't come cheap and that's one of the reasons why taxes are so high. The Rijkswaterstaat is autonomous and also gets a share on every tax levied, can't grudge them that, they are the ones who stand between the Netherlands and the North Sea.

 

Before I go on, not all public toilets in this country are charged. Toilets in the office you would be working in or visit would be free to use. Toilets in trains, if they are not locked, are free to use. Toilets in Schiphol Plaza and on the Panorama terrace are very well maintained and free to use.

 

So one can say, if you are working or visiting an office, you are being economically productive. You are paying to ride the train and people from all over the world transit through Schiphol so levying a charge won't be good for the country's image.

 

Yes, wait till they step out of Schiphol.

 

Then I will give some other examples as well. There were mobile toilet blocks available during the Wereld Haven Dagen ( World Port Days ) held from the 6th to 8th September 2013 in Rotterdam. They were well maintained and free to use. Yes, no entry fees for visiting the fair, so you could walk in just for using the toilets and then leave. No economic value there.

 

There was also a free toilet block during the Drakenboot ( Dragon Boat ) race held in the Kralingse Plas, Rotterdam. Lots of visitors, no charge.

 

So, what gives ?

 

There's one place in the Netherlands where you will be charged 1 Euro if you only want to use the toilet, and not buy something in the restaurant in which the toilet is situated first.

 

The Afsluitdijk is a dam built on the open sea. It was completed in 1933, 80 years ago, and once completed it cut off the Zuyder Zee from the Wadden Sea. 32 kms long, this marvel of engineering was designed by a team led by Hendrik Lorentz, the Nobel Laureate in Physics whose mathematical work went a long way in providing the basis for Einstien's Special Theory of Relativity.

 

If you look at a map of the Netherlands, you will see a straight line joining two parts of the country. There is another line, a curved one, joining the cities of Enkhuizen and Lelystad south of that line but it's more often than not shown in maps. The Afsluitdijk stands against the open sea, without it that second line, the Houtribdijk and even the province of Flevoland, created after the Second World War, wouldn't have been possible.

 

There's a look out point, Het Monument, mid way on the Afsluitdijk, when I visited it, the cars came from all over the EU. I had an Uitsmitjer in the restuarant and had to use the toilet. In the toilet were notices in English, Dutch, French, German and Chinese as well explaining why 1 Euro would be charged for users who did not buy something in the restaurant first. It said that given the position of the Monument, all sewage was directed into a septic pit which is cleaned periodically. The 1 Euro fee goes towards the maintenance and operational costs of the sewage system.

 

So if you have a toilet, 16 kms from the nearest human establishments, on one side you have the Sea, on the other side a lake, 1000 sq. kms in size and with enough fish to provide a livelihood to many coastal towns and villages, 1 Euro is not a big deal, right ?

 

There's a cafe on the top of Table Mountain and at Cape Point in South Africa. These places with their toilets are situated in equally, if not more, inaccessible and ecologically fragile areas. South Africa is also not nearly as well of as the Netherlands, the crime and unemployment situations are also quite severe. Yet the toilets are not charged.

 

Why not ?

 

At this point I am tempted to think of the Dutch mercantile nature with a tendency to make a buck off anything, sometimes I wonder why Napoleon called England : a nation of shopkeepers, it may seem rude but I will give an example.

 

What would you say if you were charged 30 cents to use the toilet in a McDonalds outlet, in the biggest mall in Rotterdam, even if you were a customer ?

 

Weird ? Daylight Robbery ?

 

To be fair, things are also not so hunky dory even here. There was a report on BBC about a month back where it was shown that the Netherlands is feeling the same pinches and squeezes currently synonymous with Southern Europe.

 

But then, there is also a lot of unemployment. Rotterdam, despite being the economic nerve center, has the highest unemployment rates in the Netherlands. I have come to know that even for the 'unemployment benefit' of 400 Euros per month, people are expected to work. A lot of migrants pour into the Netherlands daily. Most of them from poor nations with little or no skills.

 

What I am getting at, in the spirit of the South Park episode, The Last of the Meheecans, is it so hard to hire people to maintain toilet facilities, especially if they have to be charged ? There's a guy with log tresses who plays the guitar outside Rotterdam Centraal. Yesterday I saw a guy who looked like he had nowhere to go, sitting aimlessly in the foyer of Rotterdam's Central Library near the Blaak station.

 

I don't have an issue paying for something it is well maintained but it's not possible to come up with the cash at the critical time when you need it. Should toilets accept cards then ? And what if you are not carrying cards as well ?

 

Earlier in this post I mentioned that people letting go in the open is not something peculiar to India, I have seen it in Rotterdam but the brazenness of the act, I haven't seen even in India.

 

A few weeks ago I saw a man pissing in the middle of Voorschoterlaan, Rotterdam. This is an upmarket area with it's own metro station and many boutique shops. The guy doing the act was white and he walked to his car after he was done.

 

I wonder how many people saw him in the act from the houses on both sides of the street. I wonder how frequent it is. I wonder would he have done the same if there was a toilet, even if it was not charged, in the vicinity.

 

I wrote this post to put forth my views on the need for adequate public toilet facilities which should not be charged. Especially if the taxes are in the range of 50% or more. I hope that Dutch citizens and people who are more aware than I am on this issue go through this share their views and think about it.

 

We should not be using our environment as a toilet. More than the only home we have got, it's also our Mother Earth.

 

 

Logging off, deliberately

What's the longest you can stay without your mails ? Facebook ? Even Google ?

I stayed away for a week, yes a week. And it was not because I was bogged down by work which didn't leave me so much time as to even take a peep at the internet, it also wasn't because I was in a nook of the world where there wasn't any net connectivity, and definitely not because there were any restrictions in place.

It was a deliberate decision. Despite a high speed wi-fi available at my residence with no cap or restrictions on the usage, I didn't log on. Reason : I wanted to see how far was it possible to stretch it, how far was it possible to remain isolated, online.

A brief background. I have been using the net since 1999. My GMail address dates from the second half of 2004. I am an avid C programmer and Google-fanboy. I have worked on Linux distros, wrote apps for Android, hacked into systems and am an IT professional.

( To English experts, should it be an IT or a IT ? )

Yet, I believe we have gone too far.

Yes, computers are here to stay, the internet is here to stay. The day is not far when every system, including living beings, would be parts, components with their own IP addresses in a global, if not planetary, internet. A network which is always on, ever active.

Unfortunately, the road won't be happy.

Agreed, I too have been sucked in. It's really difficult to break off once the online cell starts crystallising around you. We put more faith in what we read online, what we see online than the real world. Posts on Facebook, comments, counter-comments, in no time at all we start judging people and issues depending on the few lines or words or characters they used.

So, is the keyboard, real or virtual, more powerful than the pen ?

Yes, and on one hand it's a good thing. Maybe one day our world will really work like the very first democracies, the opinions of everyone who cares to voice his or her opinion on any issue will be factored into a system before any decision is taken.

One day, not today, yet. The road is not happy.

How many deaths and accidents occur worldwide just because the guy at the controls was too busy talking, tweeting, texting or what have you ?

And it doesn't just happen on the road. Turns out that the biggest train crash in Spanish history which happened in July this year was due to high speed and the driver who should have put on the brakes didn't do so on time because he was on the phone with a colleague discussing on which platform the train should call.

A call which was never made. 79 people died.

Yes, the ERTMS system wasn't in place at that section of the track. If it had been in place, the system, powered by it's own network, would have taken over and put on the brakes while the driver could have put up his feet and kept yakking away.

If so, why keep the driver ? Automate all trains, all mass transport, no drivers, no accidents. Right ?

Now think of all the 'brainless' jobs you can think of which can also be automated. I will wager that your own job may be one of them.

I will leave that thread for another day, let's take up something more human and more poignant. Ever seen children trying to get the attention of their elders who are too busy exercising their thumbs on a touch screen ? I don't have children, I have a Galaxy tab but when I see such scenes it makes me sick. Is listening and amusing your own child less important than what's online ? I am not a peeping tom but I believe the majority of such people aree just playing some stupid game, not even Angry Birds, it's the game where you have to line somethings up which when it happens results in a flash and you get points.

So you blew all that dough to do that ? And you fathered/mothered that child so that he/she would cry to get your attention while you did something more important like move virtual things around in order to earn virtual points ?

I am what people call a techie, a geek, a nerd but it sickens me when technology is used so senselessly by people who consider themselves cool. Is this what it takes to be cool nowadays ? To be more connected online than it is to make the effort to connect with real things ?

Again, I admit that in the eyes of the world I am not cool, I will even call myself shabby and ugly but even though I believe in technology and make a living out of it, I believe that we are becoming slaves to the machines we created to serve us. We are becoming more integrated in the Internet and disconnecting ourselves from the very first network we created, our own society.

I learnt a lot of things while I was logged off. I learnt that the light which reaches us from the Sun may have taken thousands of years just to reach the Sun's surface before it finally reached us. I marvelled at the works of Dali and Van Gogh, among many other artists, first hand. I learnt a lot about Greek culture and of the Greece today from a Greek to whom I also gave an honest view of India and Indian culture. I learnt that although the rest of the world may think that Alexander never lost, the Greeks themselves studied in school that the Great Warrior actually lost many battles before local kings agreed to help him against each other.

I learnt that the weed which is legally sold and consumed in the Netherlands is actually grown illegally, that the Govt. looks the other way because it's more interested in collecting tax. I visited the ancient cities of Nijmegen and Dordrecht and found that not all of this country is flat and that very unexpected things can often be found right in one's own backyard.

Yes, these are things I could have also known online, thanks to Google, thanks to Wikipedia, Facebook etc. etc. and I am sure I would have forgotten them just as fast.

This debate is never ending, it is hard to strike a balance, for me, I am glad I stayed away, it was a great experience, I learnt a lot about this world, this universe, and myself.

Once in a while, log off, you will be amazed.

The Tales Begin

Birthdays.

I have a quaint way of marking my birthdays, I write. I write about the the year past and how it affected me and what I did, things of that sort in ways that only I understand, in other words, people rarely ever get named in those pieces, not for the fear that someone may come across them and start snooping around, many of those pieces are probably lost forever. It's just that putting names often starts messing things up. I like puzzles, sometimes my writings puzzle me too.

So this year, I am writing a blog. One because it's quite convenient and I can track it out from almost anywhere in the world but Two and probably the most important part, I think I will be writing quite a bit now. I have seen quite some crazy things, weird things, things which have led me onto many different strands of thought. A blog not only provides a convenient, more or less, long lasting way of putting those things down, but it's also a way of interacting with you, the reader, who may or may not agree with me. If you do, if you don't, keep telling me why or why not, I may get back sometimes, we may argue, but I believe we will be the better for it.

Now to get back to birthdays.

Today is my first birthday in Europe, the Netherlands to be particular.

Last year I was in a land far, far away.

I was in Africa.

Africa is a magical place, yes it's a tricky place, yes there's a lot of crime, lots of violence, suffering, disease, even man eating wild animals.

But Africa is Africa.

Do you know that it snows in Africa ? That it gets bloody cold in Johannesburg and a large part of the country is blanketed by snow ? Have you heard of the Mountains of the Dragon ?

I went to some magical places in South Africa, but two places which really stand out are the Drakensberg Mountains and the St. Lucia coast.

The Drakensberg is a huge range of mountains, when I saw it, awe inspiring was too mild a word. The journey to our cottage, the nearest place to eat was 12 kms away. There was only electricity for a light bulb in the cottage. It was green, damn it was green, and it rained, and the clouds.

And we went walking in the Drakensberg, the path I walked on, the twists and turns, such things are seen only in documentaries. I saw San rock art, 800 years old, and the guide told us that this is nothing compared to the thousands of other sites which are classified from the public in the Ukhalamba. Zulu for Drakensberg.

There were once great animals in those mountains, there were black lions on Table Mountain too, not anymore.

A village where hippos graze in the night, instead of beware of dogs, a beware of hippos sign. Hippos kill more people than any other animal, apart from man, in Africa, even today. An adult hippo can run at a speed of 40 km/hr on land, two tonnes, at 40 km/hr, you can figure out the rest.

An adult hippo tooth can be more than a foot in length, their bite is so powerful that they can cut off the head of an adult crocodile. This was in St. Lucia. There was more, sand dunes more than a 100 ft high on the seashore. Rhinos drinking sea water, leopards trying to catch fish from the sea. No house or shop in the village needed security, crime was unheard of.

The road to St. Lucia is no less magical, but I set out to describe a year.

Coming back to Johannesburg, it's a wonderful city, a lot of things can be said for it. Joburg is Joburg. A walk in the inner city can be a great teaching experience, provided you return alive. A ride in the metro, especially at night, walking through the streets of Hillbrow, navigating the crowd on Bree street, to an outsider it would seem that the city center of Johannesburg and Pretoria like it are lost, hopelessly lost.

And yet there's Braamfontein, there's Melville East. To think that the student center of Braamfontein retains it's vitality despite being surrounded by crime and despair on all sides, with no security is a tribute to the human spirit. It's what makes Africa, Africa.

I miss Africa.

The Netherlands is wonderful, yes there are natural and aritificial wonders here such as nowhere else on Earth, but 6 months on, I feel more African than Dutch, in fact, I feel more African than Indian.

Maybe it is because Africa isn't pretentious.

Yes, Africa has a lot of problems, but there's no denial, apart from the political kind. There's no cosmetics or PR going on to sell an image which is not. That is what jars me the most about my European sojourn so far, it was not what I expected.

I expected a squeaky clean country where people live by the clock and where everything is done to a T.

I find litter even on the streets of Amsterdam, in the city center, people will keep you waiting sometimes more than a hour, and no, things are far from perfect.

Agreed, Africa, India would be a lot better if we could incorporate punctuality and work ethics but despite all the fests and safety, that certain human element is missing, it was there, in Africa.

I won't keep complaining here, there is a lot of good too. Imagine moving gates which can shut off a river wide and deep enough for huge ships to sail, a dam across the sea, a bridge for ships, yes a bridge, not for cars, for ships.

These things have to be seen to be believed. Outside the Netherlands, people think that it's all Amsterdam, there's a lot outside it. In fact, all the marvellous, really wonderful things I have seen about this country so far were not in Amsterdam.

A bookshop in Alkmaar which is so chock full of books that you have to squeeze in between piles of books, most of them over 40 years old. There are books on the steps, on the landings, above you, below you, everywhere.

A castle, surrounded by fields. I picked out Croy Castle for a visit because it intrigued me, there was no description anywhere on the net, but it seemes, so fairy-talish. It was just what you would expect in those stories.

Funny thin is few of the big tourist draws impressed me. I found people from all over the globe in Volendam but the one thing that struck me about that place was the PR.

The Netherlands is on constant vigil against water, Volendam's touristy haven is on the lakeshore. On a strip of rocks there is a solitary looking shed, just right for sheltering a guard probably. It does shelter a guard, of the mechanical kind, a pump.

I learnt a lot about myself in this country.

I learnt that if one has faith on oneself, anything can be achieved, I cam back, almost from the brink of death, I was assisted by many good people but the will to go on was mine alone. I had too and so I did, it was not an easy trial and I don't wish to live through it again but the lesson was invaluable.

Which brings me to Rotterdam.

It is Netherlands' bread winner, the largest port outside China and Singapore, home to marvels of architecture and engineering, and yet it is little known outside the country.

The Nazis conquered the Netherlands for Rotterdam, they wanted complete control over the port. They bombed the city centre. Today Rotterdam is the most modern city in the Netherlands and it's motto is : Sterker door Strijd. Stronger thorugh Battle.

It's only when troubles are taken, when adversities are faced that anything, leave alone great things, are achieved.

And that's the same thing which I saw all around me in South Africa. Black and White alike shouldered the hardships, many of them inhuman, and worked to keep their lives, to keep the show going. The training regimen of the South African Special Forces is called Vasbyt, Bite Hard, born out of the tale of the Voortrekkers, it embodies all the struggles the residents of the veld had to face, and still have to face.

Which reminds me of Jerry Beauchamp, and here I have taken a name.

He drove me all over Mahe Island during my stopover from Joburg to Mumbai. Within a span of 6 hours, he not only showed me many beautiful and wonderful sights on Mahe, but also gave me a running commentary on the history, society, culture and society of the Seychelles.

For example Russians are crazy about the islands and Seychellois men think Russian women are hot. The Chinese are pouring money into the islands building schools, colleges and hospitals. Sheikhs and Emirs own palatial villas. The BBC has a huge transmitting facility on Mahe. The island nation has to import virtually everything, it's only exports being coconuts. Mr. Beauchamp was in the Army and visited Lucknow for training some 30 years ago, he remembered eating roti.

And there was also a coup by the military some 20 years ago, which failed. Mr. Beauchamp said he was not in the army then.

 So what have I learnt ? Did the past year make me a better person ? Did it enrich me materially, physically, mentally, spiritually etc etc etc ?

I learnt that the greatest mistake is to have preconceptions.

I learnt that there is great beauty and joy in what seems all gloom and doom. I learnt that what looks like paradise is often a mask for great troubles underneath. I learnt we more often than not, we expect too much and that disappoints.

Yes, I miss home, I miss my parents, I miss the company of my friends from school, KGP and work.

And yet, it's a big, big world.

I have been to places, seen things, done things which are only seen and done on TV and movies. I have seen stuff  up close whose pics were mass mailed once and are now posted, liked, commented and shared on Facebook.

And I don't want the journeys to stop.

At my age, my friends have either settled down or are planning to do so, many are already parents. Sometimes I think, things could have been different, it would be nice to have children of one's own, to have a famiy.

And then I think of the child inside me. Of all the things he still has to see, to do, to experience.

I want to visit Antarctica, I want to visit the Sahara, I want to visit Tibet, I want to visit the Amazon, the Congo, Mongolia, Kalahari, Andes, Altiplano.

It's a tall list, I don't know whether I will be able to do it all. When I was a child I would watch documentaries on Discovery and National Geographic with wide eyes.

Now I am living a documentary, no turn in the road, no journey is insignificant, instead, the surprises keep coming.

May the journeys continue until I have no more birthdays to mark.

Happy Birthday to me :)