Indian Railways: discouraging conditions through Common Man’s Eye:

 © Harish Jharia


In 1960s, Indian railways had three classes. The 3rd class was for common people 2nd class for middle classes and 1st class for the higher classes.


I remember my childhood railway journeys when our family used to travel in 3rd class couches, that had wooden benches to sit or sleep and windows wide open without iron grills. There was no system of berths and reservations. Travelers used to buy tickets and board the train and travel long journeys, just like that.


My dad used to lift me up in his arms and push me through windows right on the wooden benches in the couches with instructions to capture as much place as required for our family. Similarly, we used to load our luggage through the windows and later my dad used to stack all the pieces on the upper berth.


We children felt quite excited all through our journeys. We enjoyed the puffing sound of steam engine, the loud shrill sound of whistle and the mixed smell of steam and smoke that gushed in the couch through windows.


I traveled in 2nd class for the first time when I went to Bangalore for my SSB interview in 1964. The class of my travel successively elevated with the passage of time and so were the technology, quality and facilities in trains.


In 1970s, the journey between Jabalpur and Dehradun was so hectic to accomplish. We had to travel in the first train from Dehradun to Delhi, secondly from Delhi to Bina in another train and finally from Bina to Jabalpur in the third. There were long waiting hours on each railway junction with minimal facilities for food and water.


Today the Indian railways are one of the best setups in the world. We have fast and super-fast long distance trains, with facilities of air-conditioning, catering and online reservations. We have the best possible infrastructure in the world, on which the railways have invested billions of rupees from the people’s treasury. In spite of all this the users are dissatisfied, frustrated and most of the times feel cheated and exploited.


The main reasons for the denial of expected facilities to the users, for which they pay, are rampant mismanagement, negligence in maintenance, corruption and inefficiency of employees.


The Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Ahmedabad, had invited the Railway Minister for delivering lectures on management to their students. It is a testimony of expertise of the minister in the field of management. Nevertheless, you would hardly believe on IIM’s perspective if you look at the way the Ministry Of Railways manages Indian Railways. The following are the areas where Indian Railway’s mismanagement, negligence in maintenance, corruption and inefficiency of employees is apparently perceptible:

1. Overall condition of trains are bad… broken, dilapidated, vulnerable
2. Condition of tracks are bad… lose, uneven
3. Cleanliness in trains and stations is not satisfactory
4. Quality of fittings in the compartment and in toilets are poor
5. Quality of repairs and servicing on interiors is poor
6. Cleanliness on tracks and yards is drastically poor
7. Most of the trains do not have catering facility
8. attendants and housekeeping staff do not wear uniform and name tags
9. A / Cs are miss-operated by untrained staff
10. Users have to pay bribe for ‘tatkal’ reservations
11. Users have to pay bribe for ‘wait list’ and ‘RAC’ conformations
12. Unauthorized private vendors sell tea and snacks in A / C couches
13. Trains do not run on time
14. There is no control on unauthorized boarding by politicians and their accomplices
15. Quality of food served in running trains is poor
16. Complaint book is not readily available

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Disclaimer:
This article is written based on my personal observations. My intention for publishing the same is to provide healthy reading and intellectual entertainment and not for educating the visitors. No literature or authentic books have been referred for writing the contents of this article. The visitors are advised not to refer the contents of this article for any research or testimony on scientific, geographical, political, civic or legal purposes. The visitors are further advised to consult relevant experts before adapting any information from this article. The author or the web site are not responsible for any errors, mistakes, or omissions there in.
 - Harish Jharia 
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Rampant Poverty in Indian Villages and Slums

© Harish Jharia

We live in cities, move on two-wheelers or four-wheelers, beat summers and winters by electric appliances and live a life of a modern human being. We might not lead luxurious lives; yet, we get food to eat, clothes to wear and a shelters for covering our heads. We are busy in earning our bread and struggle to survive.

Nevertheless, there are more unfortunate people, in rural India, who do not get even one time food to fill their bellies. They are undernourished because of prolonged starvation. They struggle around for getting a handful of food with eyes sunk in the eye-sockets and rib-cage bones projecting out of their sun-burnt dark skins. We on the other hand discuss for hours reaching out for the best possible sunscreen lotion on internet and find solutions for sun tanning.

It is not only in rural India; the people living in the slums in metros also live lives that are even more pathetic. I remember a couple of poor children picking grains of boiled rice from an open drain in Pune. Such scenes are common where there are open drains near restaurants and the housekeeping staff dump leftover food along with the garbage. 

That is the reason that I felt offended when I read reviews about the British film ‘Slum-dog Millionaire’. I observed with pain and helplessness the inhuman neglect of the slum kids after the release of the film, its box-office success and the award giving ceremony in Oscars.  I felt it so intensely because I have seen poverty so very closely whenever I made trips to villages close to my hometown Narsinghpur in MP and dedicated visits to slums and downtowns in different metros.

I had the same feeling when I saw poor people in the US also, I happened to visit Washington DC and New York while being on a long stay in Ashburn, Virginia County. When I went to visit a nearby area for spending an evening, I saw a poor man on a road crossing, holding a placard in his hands written with a request asking for alms. On another day, I happened to see a poor man squatting on the floor of a staircase in a metro-station when I was on a trip to New York.

When I went to Maryland for shopping of some Indian stuff, I felt as-if I was in an Indian town a place dominated by middle class crowd, mainly from asia. The American glamor and luxurious style of life was just missing in Maryland. There were very few cars around; most of the people were moving around on foot.

After seeing the people living in super-luxury and on the other hand, the most unfortunate poor people living in utter-poverty and struggling to survive in a starving hell, I have concluded that the various religions and casts and creeds followed across the world, are only eyewash... There are only two religions and they are ‘The Rich’ and ‘The Poor’.

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Disclaimer:
This article / Story / fiction is written based on my personal observations. My intention for publishing the same is to provide healthy reading and intellectual entertainment and not for educating the visitors. Names of people, societies, communities and description of faiths, beliefs, incidents are imaginary and fictitious. They have neither any relevance to the prevailing entities and traditions nor have any similarities with ongoing lifestyles, political ideologies and legal doctrines. The contents of this creative work has not been written with any intention to criticize, condemn or oppose anything what-so-ever present in reality in any country in the world. No literature or authentic books have been referred for writing the contents of this article. The visitors are advised not to refer the contents of this article for any research or testimony on scientific, geographical, political, civic, social or legal purposes. The visitors are further advised to consult relevant experts before adapting any information from this article. The author or the website are not responsible for any errors, mistakes, or omissions there in.
- Harish Jharia
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Children Fall In Bore Well Cavities

Why Children Fall In Bore Well Cavities:

© Harish Jharia

There have been many incidents of children falling in the deep cavities of bore wells under construction. Kids of the laborers, working on the sites, usually end up as the victims in most of the cases. In other cases children roaming along hoards of animals for grassing fall in these unattended bores. Such cases happen one after another, yet, neither the law enforcing authorities nor the people connected with the bore well projects take any remedial or precautionary measures in order to avoid recurrence of such deadly incidents. 

It appears as if everyone among authorities, common people like us from public and other social service NGOs wait for such incidents to happen for them to showoff their concern, sincerity, dedication and hard work by planning and implementing rescue operations. The media also do not waste time in reaching to the site and start telecasting live coverage of the rescue operations. We at our homes glue our eyes at the TV screens and follow the successive progress of the operations.

Such operations sometimes have happy conclusions whereas in some cases they end up in losses of lives of the victims. The entire activities by authorities, rescuers, media and the TV viewers meet an abrupt end when the activities at the site pack-up.  These incidents also happen and subsequently are forgotten by everyone including us.  The forget-it attitudes of all of us cap the assortment of problems closed to come out later when the lid is blown open.  

This is not the right way for dealing with the problems where the innocent lives are exposed to avoidable dangers just because of the negligence of the party who gets the bore-well drilled as well as the contractor who implements the drilling operations. Both of these two parties should be punished and the media should also cover the process of punishment for the public to learn lessons out of the legal proceedings. 

In addition, the local authorities should also be held responsible for such incidents and should be instructed to keep vigil on proper safety measures taken by the drilling contractor and the client in whose land the drilling is conducted. 

Before starting any bore-well drilling operations, some preparations should be made. The area around the spot for drilling a bore-well should be cordoned off before starting the operation and should be kept intact until the end of the operation and covering the cavity or fitting the motor-pumps and constructing the water outlet. There should be a clear display of warning for people to keep away from the site. 

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Disclaimer:
This article / Story / fiction is written based on my personal observations. My intention for publishing the same is to provide healthy reading and intellectual entertainment and not for educating the visitors. Names of people, societies, communities and description of faiths, beliefs, incidents are imaginary and fictitious. They have neither any relevance to the prevailing entities and traditions nor have any similarities with ongoing lifestyles, political ideologies and legal doctrines. The contents of this creative work has not been written with any intention to criticize, condemn or oppose anything what-so-ever present in reality in any country in the world. No literature or authentic books have been referred for writing the contents of this article. The visitors are advised not to refer the contents of this article for any research or testimony on scientific, geographical, political, civic, social or legal purposes. The visitors are further advised to consult relevant experts before adapting any information from this article. The author or the website are not responsible for any errors, mistakes, or omissions there in.

- Harish Jharia

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Ailments of Corporate Age: Stress and Anxiety are Not Depression

© Harish Jharia

Whenever we have stresses, we think that we are suffering from depression. The situation becomes yet more harmful when we keep thinking about it and find justifications to convince ourselves that we really have depression.

People, who believe them to be patients of depression, usually suffer from stresses out of their work environments, their family problems, and the common stresses of their married life or else the negativities in their personal affairs with friends and colleagues.

Our habits of imagining ourselves becoming something big, successful or a celebrity are just common thinking that is found in all of us. I would assure you that 100% of all of us do that. That does not mean that we have habits of day-dreaming.

Sometimes we feel scared of consequences of adventures that we sometimes venture for. That is not something like losing a battle and we should not think that we are suffering from negative thinking. These all are quite normal human characteristics and natural instincts that we all possess.

We sometimes suffer from sadness, difficulty in addressing problems, feeling ashamed about something done by us. In addition to all this, if we have problems of negative thinking, suspecting others for making fun of us or onlookers appearing discussing about us, then it might be a case anxiety and not depression.

Anxiety is a byproduct of the modern way of life, as we turn to be so very insensitive, lack emotions, feelings, being excessively practical and the hardcore robotic environment of the modern corporate world.

We are human beings and we need to be treated as humans and unfortunately we do not get treated in a way we expect. That eventually hurt us and such type of emotional abuses result in anxiety in most of us who are basically more sensitive and touchy type of people.

Anxiety is a problem that has emerged form inside of our thought process and right from our individual persona; therefore, the solutions should also be found from within our individual self.


Let me list out suggestions and other points for fighting this common problem of modern way of life:

1. Do remember that every 4 out of 10 people among us have the problem of anxiety
2. You should take sound sleep of 8hrs daily
3. Go to bed latest by 10pm and
4. Leave your bed in the morning at 6am
5. Reduce the period of time you spend on internet
6. Do not open your computer after dinner
7. Mix-up with your family members and spend time with them
8. Do not suspect people around you that they always talk about you
9. mix up with people around you
10. Speak frankly and fearlessly
11. smile and laugh as much as you can
12. watching religious TV channels is harmful for stresses
13. delete all religious channels form your TV
14. habit of viewing adult content on net or on CD player aggravates stresses
15. Do regular exercise in the morning for 45min
16. Cardiovascular exercise is a must for you
17. Just try to be more careless and
18. Do not try to reform the world
19. let the world go on its own way
20. Transcendental Meditation (TM) is good for controlling anxiety
21. Learn and practice TM regularly

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Disclaimer:This article / Story / fiction is written based on my personal observations. My intention for publishing the same is to provide healthy reading and intellectual entertainment and not for educating the visitors. Names of people, societies, communities and description of faiths, beliefs, incidents are imaginary and fictitious. They have neither any relevance to the prevailing entities and traditions nor have any similarities with ongoing lifestyles, political ideologies and legal doctrines. The contents of this creative work has not been written with any intention to criticize, condemn or oppose anything what-so-ever present in reality in any country in the world. No literature or authentic books have been referred for writing the contents of this article. The visitors are advised not to refer the contents of this article for any research or testimony on scientific, geographical, political, civic, social or legal purposes. The visitors are further advised to consult relevant experts before adapting any information from this article. The author or the website are not responsible for any errors, mistakes, or omissions there in.
- Harish Jharia
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Is It Possible To Stop Graying Of Hair

© Harish Jharia

The people having excessively thick / dense hair growth are usually more susceptible to early graying of their hair. Similarly, it is found that, the hairs of balding people with thin and scanty hair have ‘late and slow graying’ of their hair.

In some cases if you appear to have healthy, thick dense hair then chances of your balding are very rare; you don’t appear to lose hair if the above observations are any indications. Nevertheless early graying was expected in these cases.

It is a matter of disbelief that there is no medicine, hair-oil, other applications or therapies available in the world that can stop early-graying of our hair. It is better we should not waste our time, money and energy on any of such treatments that are not going to cure our ailment and initiate fresh growth of colored or black hair.

We should better resort to cosmetic coloring that has currently become fashion allover the world. We should not get tensed for this problem because this is genetic and cannot be termed anything like an ailment, deficiency or anything for which we need to feel depressed.

Let us get them colored and forget about it. In addition for controlling hair fall and proper maintenance of our hair we may follow the following guidelines:

1. Don’t shampoo your hair frequently
2. Don’t expose your hair to direct sunshine for prolonged periods
3. Don’t expose your hair to dust storms for prolonged periods
4. Wear cap in summers while venturing out in sun shine
5. Don’t comb your hair carelessly and break them or uproot them
6. Start combing with coarse comb first then go for fine comb
7. Start combing at ends and then go towards the roots
8. don’t experiment with different hair oils based on TV Ads
9. Reduce the frequency of shampooing to maximum twice a week
10. Apply conditioner after each shampoo and keep it for more than a minute before rinsing
11. If you color your hair, then definitely use conditioner
12. You must apply hair-oil on the previous night of the morning you plan to shampoo your hair
13. Recommended hair oils are: Coconut oil, Almond oil, Amla oil, Olive oil.
14. Apply lukewarm hair-oil on the hair roots and massage them with your fingertips in circular motion.
15. Then apply oil to the entire length of your hair including the hair-ends

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Disclaimer:
This article / Story / fiction is written based on my personal observations. My intention for publishing the same is to provide healthy reading and intellectual entertainment and not for educating the visitors. Names of people, societies, communities and description of faiths, beliefs, incidents are imaginary and fictitious. They have neither any relevance to the prevailing entities and traditions nor have any similarities with ongoing lifestyles, political ideologies and legal doctrines. The contents of this creative work has not been written with any intention to criticize, condemn or oppose anything what-so-ever present in reality in any country in the world. No literature or authentic books have been referred for writing the contents of this article. The visitors are advised not to refer the contents of this article for any research or testimony on scientific, geographical, political, civic, social or legal purposes. The visitors are further advised to consult relevant experts before adapting any information from this article. The author or the website are not responsible for any errors, mistakes, or omissions there in.
Harish Jharia
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Winter Care for your skin:

Winter Care for your brilliant glowing skin: 


© Harish Jharia

We usually scare from winter for its chill that makes us shiver and ask for many additional commodities like heat convectors, central heating in cars, homes and in offices and the warm clothing that are too very costly and go out of fashion in the next season. Winters comes in our life with inflated bills from credit card banks, power supply agencies and last but not the least from doctors and their friendly associates like diagnostic centers and medical stores.

In addition to the above there are many other problems that can be solved and addressed without spending money or to the most with a negligible expense.  Yes, I am initiating talks on our skin care that does not need excessive money for maintaining brilliantly glowing skin and avoiding dry and scaly patched outer covering of our body.

   
Brilliant Glowing skin

Dry air:

The worst change that takes place in our environment is that the humidity in the atmosphere around us just vanishes with the onslaught of chilly winters. As the temperature dips down in the winters the relative humidity (RH) also diminishes drastically rendering the air completely dry.

We were taught in our school days that weather of any place depends on temperature and humidity in the atmosphere of that place. That means if we use our own commonsense we may live comfortably as long as the temperature of our place continues to remain at 30 deg C approx and the humidity (RH) at 60% to 70% approx.

During winters the temperature goes down from the ideal 30 deg C to 10 deg C and even less; whereas, the RH also goes down to 10% and 5% approx. this drastic change results in dry skins of humans in addition to dry throats  and dry bleeding nostrils. In addition to all that the sweat pores of our skin also close-down resulting into stoppage of the release of natural oil from our skin that keep our skin nourished, soft and smooth in normal weather conditions.

 
Cover Yourself
What to do for dry skin:

It is as simple as 2+2 = 4… that means id the skin has gone dry… just add moisture to it. Yes friends that are the remedies for dry skin. If you moisturize your skin your problem is solved by 50% and for the remaining 50% you need to provide nutrients for the skin. These two are the ways to address the skin care problems in winters.

Let us enlist the remedies for addressing the problems that are faced by our skin in the harsh, chilling dry winters. They are as follows:

For moisturizing the skin:

1.       Take warm water bath daily and let the skin absorb as much moisture as possible on regular basis

2.       Use humidifiers in your home or at your work place or alternatively keep water in wide shallow pans at various places in your house

3.       Spread we t towels in rooms on hangers for increasing the RH in air

4.       Use moisturizers immediately after bath and washing your face and hands

5.       Use full sleeved tops and cover your legs for protecting your skin from dry air

6.       Using hand gloves is a good idea for protecting your skins of your hands / palm backs

7.       keep most of the doors and windows of your home closed for conserving  the default indoor humidity initially present in your home

8.       drink as much water as you can for providing moisture from within your body

9.       Do not use excessive soap for bathing and washing your face

For nourishing the skin:

1.       By taking warm water bath your sweat pores will also open for the period your skin remains warm and release vital natural oils for nourishing your skin

2.       use proper skin nourishing lotions having vital nutrients like almond oil, cold cream, aloe Vera etc

3.       grandmother’s beauty tips applying milk or fresh cream is also effective

4.       massage your face skin with a good massage cream that will activate the sweat pores and rejuvenate the skin

5.       skin of rest of the body cab be massages with vegetable oils like, coconut oil, olive oil, groundnut oil etc

6.       body skin can be massaged and applied with body lotions available over the counters

7.       oils should be applied on the body immediately after bath when the skin still well before the moisture of the skin dries up and the sweat pores close down

8.       you get the maximum benefit from ‘facials’ in the winter season as you get the most needed nourishment for the skin

9.       It is better to use glycerin or cold cream soaps in winters

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Disclaimer:

This article / Story / fiction is written based on my personal observations. My intention for publishing the same is to provide healthy reading and intellectual entertainment and not for educating the visitors. Names of people, societies, communities and description of faiths, beliefs, incidents are imaginary and fictitious. They have neither any relevance to the prevailing entities and traditions nor have any similarities with ongoing lifestyles, political ideologies and legal doctrines. The contents of this creative work has not been written with any intention to criticize, condemn or oppose anything what-so-ever present in reality in any country in the world. No literature or authentic books have been referred for writing the contents of this article. The visitors are advised not to refer the contents of this article for any research or testimony on scientific, geographical, political, civic, social or legal purposes. The visitors are further advised to consult relevant experts before adapting any information from this article. The author or the website are not responsible for any errors, mistakes, or omissions there in.

 - Harish Jharia

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