Jokes apart!

We, friends were in Planet M, looking for movie CD's and cracking jokes and so ......looking ....looking ...., Sushil found one of the Mozart symphonies which he wanted and which was a part of a pricey CD which made him feel kleptomanic, but gasping along we thought we'd asked Robin, who was fond of the maestro's work, so could have had the particular CD.

Sushil said he had a couple of others but not this one! Robin didn't even have those so, in excitement asked Sushil, "where did you get it from?".

"Oh, Just copied from somewhere" Sushil said. I was besides them, interested myself!

"Oh terrible!" Robin exclaimed. "Because of you guys, students don’t get scholarships to learn music. You Economist don't understand this!" Robin responded.

"So what, did Mozart also get a scholarship?" came out of me!

Well I don’t have a clue about it (Mozart getting a scholarship or not) but he had a point but we still had a good laugh at the expense of his thought.

A great cup of coffee and not a great coffee cup

A group of alumni, highly established in their careers, got together to visit their old university Professor. Conversation soon turned into complaints about stress in work and life.

Offering his guests coffee, the Prof. went to the kitchen and returned with a large pot of coffee and an assortment of cups: porcelain, plastic, glass, some plain-looking and some expensive and exquisite, telling them to help themselves to hot coffee.

When all the students had a cup of coffee in hand, the Prof. said -

"If you noticed, all the nice-looking, expensive cups were taken up, leaving behind the plain and cheap ones. While it is but normal for you to want only the best for yourselves, that is the source of your problems and stress. That all of you really wanted was coffee, not the cup, but you consciously went for the better cups and are eyeing each other's cups."

"Now, if Life is coffee, then the jobs, money and position in society are the cups. They are just tools to hold and contain Life, but the quality of Life doesn't change. Sometimes, by concentrating only on the cup, we fail to enjoy the coffee in it."

(An email forward)

Life In the chaos of the markets......

Markets as a system of allocating resources (efficiently) has fast expanded its reach and power such that it is now looked upon as a savior to eradicate the most viscious of all problems, poverty!

But it has also come on to be dreaded for being a system of capital accumulation more commonly known as Capitalism.

It flourished through out the history, but the industrial revolution transformed it into a force, adding technology that could make things that served people's utility.

However in the process diminished human beings to mere inputs in the production process.

Technolgy and markets both are neutral but are quiet different when it is in the hands of the few (humans).

It gives powers to few, just like any other system, for example a monarchy. And then the few go on to decide how people should live, eat, be educated, etc, etc.

Inequality is pervasive and is acceptable. All men our born equal, but their luck differ.(Equity is normative, not positive)

It De-links human beings from the world, the biosphere in general. Why should the few sitting in their air conditioned rooms worry about global warming which definitely won’t affect them in their short lives?

It routes imperialism, where the few rule the mass. In earlier centuries one could do it politically – England ruled three quarters of the world by conquering and waging wars and now you can do it through markets and yes, waging a war still is an option for the powerful that have the money.

The aggression to own and the development of instincts for luxury and convenience well, can all not be blamed on the markets!

Markets that push you into the herd, and the only wisdom is the the rule of money which becomes the rule of the law and on and on goes its reach.

And life is reduced to a paper-note and paradoxically having a picture of Mahatma Gandhi on it.

How many miles together

I would like to share, one of our light moments, with everyone. This is is among many, when I caught her innocently dumbstruck.

One evening we were strolling outside our university library, and asked a simple question to rocky. "Rocky, how long can you walk with me." I said.

Those days we always stayed together, walking the time. She knew that I wanted to walk the Earth and she too was quite a traveller.

She was clueless and replied with her typical "means," And I said, "One country, two country."

I got no answer, but we laughed aloud..

I wished, she said,"As far as you would."

Whose plan is considered ?

Once in my Urban Economics lecture, we were studying the subject of urban planning.

After discussing some approaches to urban planning like - an environmentalist's plan, a geographer's plan, an economist's plan, etc, I found it curious and asked our professor, "Mam, finaly, whose plan is considered." and she instantly replied, "A politicians plans !"

We all had a good laugh without any arguments !