Insightful newsletter of Drishtikone - Issue #86: 4 rotis and 2 sabzis; Pak and loan musical chairs
Today I want to share a lesson that a dear friend taught me. I call it “Happy Singh’s Truism”. Happy Singh (his nickname) is one of my most dearest friend. He came to meet me after my mother’s death and said in his own way:
If you put 50 rotis (pieces of bread) and 20 sabzis (curry dishes) in front of Happy Singh. How much do you think Happy Singh can eat? He will eat only 4 rotis and 2 sabzis, the rest will have to go back. Right? So, why slog for the 46 other rotis and 18 extra sabzis? Just earn enough so you are above the basic threshold. After that, whether you are 1 meter above that line or 1000 meters, it really doesn’t matter.
He left me stunned.
We fight hard our entire life but what is left of us in the end is just a few bones which get grounded in the dust as well. All the ambitions, the plans, the achievements are all brought down in one instant.
I am not saying that one shouldn’t strive for anything, for otherwise why live?.
But all the things should be put in perspective.
No matter what one “loses” or what one “wins”, it is just a temporary state of mind and living. It does not last and when you are out and cold - dead - all that has no meaning.
So fight. Fight hard. But remember to enjoy every moment as it comes to you without regard to the result.
We get so entangled in the result of our efforts that we forget the moment that we are alive!
Its only about 4 rotis and 2 sabzis, while you can have them.
“Although the world is full of suffering, it is also full of overcoming it.” - Helen Keller
normalizing of Hindu hatred
If you need any proof of global tech giants - who are in cahoots with the woke powers being anti-Hindu bigots, here it is.
Twitter has censored a video showing a display of Lord Ram and the temple being built in Ayodhya as “potentially sensitive content”, while allowing without any caution a photo from a protest against Hindu shrine by an Islamic group with offensive slogans. (Source)
Just a picture of Hindu Gods now seems to be “sensitive content” for Twitter. While abusing the Hindus and their Gods isn’t. This shows the urgency to create alternative platforms and to take on such twisted, bigoted and regressive mindsets and narratives.
for them equality is communal!
When privileged entitlement equates secularism, even the talk of a uniform civil code (UCC) - same civil laws for all is considered a religious assault. Assault on privileged life where you don’t even considered worthy of being on the same platform in a civil society - yet accuse them of what you are a master of.
Shahid Siddiqui has been all these things - Former Member of Parliament,Managing Director & Chief Editor Weekly Nai Duniya, former Professor of Political Science DU, Published Novel “The Golden Pigeon”.
When the professor of political science thinks uniform civil laws are an assault on democracy, you know exactly why there is anti-Hindu bigotry in academia.
When unabashed and open bigotry is the antonym of Hindu Rashtra, then most certainly Hindu Rashtra is a social necessity.
Pakistan's loan musical chairs
Pakistan is playing musical chairs with its loans. In October 2018, Saudi Arabia had provided $6.2 bn of assistance to Pakistan. Out of which $3 bn was in cash assistance and $3.2 in annual oil and gas supply. The cash assistance was money to be parked with the Pakistani Central Bank - as BOP (balance of payments) support. Now, the time to return that parked money had come. So what did Pakistan do?
According to the Pakistani Ministry of Finance and the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), Pakistan has taken the loan of $1 billion from China to pay back the Saudi Arabia loan. (Source: Daily Times)
It took $1 billion from China and paid it to the Saudis.
So, the question is - if that $1 bn from the Saudis was for simply parking - as was discussed in the terms, where did it go away?
And an even tougher question - who will lend the next loan to pay the Chinese? Or will it sell its entire nation?
entire country has been mortgaged!
Just for information, Pakistan has already mortgaged the following national assets:
Motorways
Peshawar-Faisalabad motorway
Faisalabad-Pindi Bhattian motorway
Islamabad-Peshawar motorway
Islamabad-Lahore motorway
Pakistan government had already raised $1 billion from foreign investors by mortgaging the Islamabad-Chakwal section of the Islamabad-Lahore (M2) motorway.
Airport
Jinnah International Airport Karachi: security for the Sukuk bonds to raise Rs. 182 billion in 2013. In fact, this airport has been given as security for multiple loans:
2013 was the first year where the airport was put as collateral to borrow Rs. 182 billion.
In December 2015, Rs. 117 billion were borrowed against the Karachi airport.
In February 2016, Rs. 116.2 billion were raised by putting the airport on mortgage.
A month later, in March 2016, the government used the airport as the underlying asset to borrow another Rs. 80.4 billion.
Media
Pakistan TV (PTV): All the assets of PTV across the nation have been mortgaged
Radio Pakistan: 61 Radio Pakistan buildings across the country have been valued at just Rs. 72 crore, which is very low - but all of these have been mortgaged.
(Source: Propakistani, also read Express Tribune)
But the Pakistanis want to finance Kashmiri terrorism, even when their own future has been mortgaged to the world. Reminds one of the verse:
दिल जला है तो ज़ालिम अपना घर भी जला कर देख
दुनिया को आखिर पता तो चले के कहीं आग लगी है !
nota bene
Labourer finds diamonds, becomes millionaire: A labourer became a millionaire overnight when he unearthed three diamonds worth Rs 30 lakh to 35 lakh at a diamond mine in Panna district of Madhya Pradesh, a senior official said on Thursday. While digging a shallow mine, the labourer, identified only as Subal, found three diamonds with net weight of 7.5 carat, Panna district’s diamond officer R K Pandey said. Experts have valued the precious stones at anywhere between Rs 30 lakh to 35 lakh. The labourer has deposited the stones at the district diamond office and they will be auctioned as per government rules, Pandey said. (Source)
Forced Retirement of Corrupt and Lazy Officers: The central government is all set to hit the whip on corrupt and sluggish officers as a step to weed out corrupt elements. Secondly, those who have crossed the age of fifty are likely to be given forced retirement under FR 56 (J) / Rules-48 of CCS (Pension) Rules-1972. This include A, B and C category officers. Currently due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic there has been a slight delay in the entire process. (Source)
Turning carbon dioxide into liquid fuel: A research team, led by the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory in collaboration with Northern Illinois University, has discovered a new electrocatalyst that converts carbon dioxide (CO2) and water into ethanol with very high energy efficiency, high selectivity for the desired final product and low cost. Ethanol is a particularly desirable commodity because it is an ingredient in nearly all U.S. gasoline and is widely used as an intermediate product in the chemical, pharmaceutical and cosmetics industries. (Source)
Ban on Junk Food and Sodas: The Mexican state of Oaxaca has banned the sale of junk food and sugary drinks to children in an attempt to reduce high obesity and diabetes levels. Oaxaca is the first state to take the measure in Mexico, which has one of the world’s highest rates of childhood obesity. (Source)
French purism architect who designed an Indian city
Le Corbusier defined the “modern architecture”. A French citizen born in Switzerland, Corbusier was probably one of the most influential architect of the 20th century. He was responsible for promoting modern design on a grand scale. In India, he is known to have designed the master plan of one of the best cities in India - Chandigarh.
Le Corbusier met the Cubist painter Amédée Ozenfant in 1918 and at first was drawn to this art form. Later, both rejected it and established a new art movement called Purism. Purism promoted art and architecture where objects are represented as elementary forms, devoid of all detail. This was quite an antithesis to the Victorian European art.
This is a film which looks at the life and work of Le Corbusier.
ART ARCHITECTURE Le Corbusier