Month: July 2014

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Kharcha paani Uncategorized

Vegetables prices up by 80% in two months

The retail and wholesale gap has reduced in two months in Mumbai, but is on an upswing in other places.
by The Editors | editor@themetrognome.in

Just how expensive have vegetables become in the last two months? A recent study by ASSOCHAM (Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India) maps out the exact numbers.

The ASSOCHAM study of 33 ‘mandies’ in India has revealed that during April to June 2014, the gap between the wholesale and retail prices of vegetables has increased by 80 per cent whereas retail prices in 10 centres has been to the extent of 30 per cent.

Releasing the study, ASSOCHAM says, it was also observed that on an average, retailers are selling vegetables at more than 48.8 per cent of wholesale prices and even in some centres, selling prices are at more than 51 per cent.

Vegetables in MumbaiThe study found that while cabbage retail and wholesale price gap has increased from 69.4% to 78.1%, brinjal 62.4% to 66.7%, cauliflower 59.0% higher than the wholesale price, chilly 56.2% to 62.6%, tomato 55.1% to 62% percent, garlic 52.4% to 54.2%, tomato hybrid 50% 58.2%, okra 49.5% to 58.7%, bitter gourd 48.6% to 50.7%, brinjal 45.9% to 56.7% peas and ginger 43.6% and 41.3% and onion increased from 35.3% percent to 48.1%.

The ASSOCHAM study further reveals that while Surat retail and wholesale price gap has increased from 49.7% to 50.8%, Lucknow 48.5% to 54.8%, Shimla 37.9% to 47.3%, Jammu 37.5% to 42.4%, Chennai 34.6% to 37.3%, Guwahati 33.7% to 37.3%, Amritsar 120.5% to 121.8%, Abohar 107.4% to 110.3%, Agra 90.2% to 93.6%, Nagpur 82.8% to 88.2%, Ahmedabad 69.4% to 96.1%, Delhi 68.9% to 83.4%, Chandigarh 68.5% to 73.9%, Dehradun 67.4%  to 63.3%, Jaipur 64.6%  to 62.7%, Mumbai 63.5% to 46.8%, Kolkata 60.8% to 69.5% Raipur 58.0% to 62.7%, Patna 57.2% to 65.4%, Ranchi 56.1% to 57.1%, Hyderabad 53.0% to 51.2%, Bangalore 51.8% to 59.2%,Kanpur 50.9% to 57.1%. 

ASSOCHAM Secretary General DS Rawat said, “The analyses are based on the wholesale price of vegetables and retail price of vegetables in the different markets in India. Wholesale price indicates the price at which retailers are buying from different markets and retail price is the price at which consumers are buying from retailers. The essential vegetables incorporated in the study are Bitter gourd, Brinjal long, Brinjal round, Cabbage, Cauliflower, Garlic, Ginger, Chilly, Okra, Onion, Peas, Potato, Tomato hybrid and Tomato local.”

On the other hand, the ASSOCHAM study has considered 33 market centers in India. The centers are Mumbai, Abohar, Agra, Ahmadabad, Amritsar, Bangalore, Baraut, Bhopal, Bhubaneshwar, Chandigarh, Chennai, Dehradun, Delhi, Gangatok, Guwahati, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Jammu, Kanpur, Kolkata, Lucknow, Nagpur, Nasik, Patna, Pimpalgaon, Pune, Raipur, Ranchi, Shimla, Surat and Trivendrum.

The study has observed that most of the vegetables arrival have recorded declining trend except local tomato, potato fresh and onion (noticeably onion price during 2013-14 has recorded a  life time high). 

Onion arrival grew at a rate of 13.0 per cent during 2013-14 followed by tomato local grew at a rate of 7.9 per cent and potato fresh arrival grew at a rate of 6.2 per cent. Okra and Cauliflower arrival have recoded marginal growth rate of 0.4 percent and 1.9 per cent during the same period, mentioned the study.

(Pictures courtesy www.daijiworld.com, www.chinadaily.com.cn)

Categories
Deal with it

In the line of fire

There is no glory in death caused by negligence. A young firefighter’s death raises many questions about the profession and its hazards.
by Mamta D | @silverlightgal on Twitter

In the line of fireOn July 18, 2014, Nitin Ivalekar (inset, on left), a brave Mumbai firefighter, died after being trapped in the burning building of Lotus Business Park. The top floors of the building, a 22-storey commercial establishment in suburban Andheri, caught fire at around 11 am.

More than a dozen firefighters were sent in for the rescue operation, Nitin Ivalekar among them. Unfortunately, for him, the rescue operation turned fatal as he became one of the casualties instead of one of the survivors.

Nitin belonged to the Borivali Unit of the Mumbai Fire Brigade and was among the first group which responded to the fire call. Five others who were part of the group of firefighters participating in the rescue operations on Friday are said to be badly injured. This incident brings to light the precariousness of firefighter’s lives and the inadequateness of fire safety measures in India.

A few good men (or women)

In India, where society has always urged youngsters to pick ‘safe’ jobs like engineers, doctors, architects, and so on, there are hardly any takers for firefighter jobs. Someone once said, “All men are created equal, then a few become firemen”. The brave young men (and women) who opt for this hazardous and risk-filled profession belong to that ‘indispensable yet invisible’ category of people whom we take for granted. A fire in some building? Call the firemen. Fire doused? Call them heroes and pay them rich tributes – and then forget all about them. The firemen go back into the shadows, waiting there 24×7, until the next firefighting operation starts.

Firefighting as a profession

Signing up to be a fireman is not merely a matter of building up a steely resolve or determination. You must possess the requisite qualifications and fitness too. Typically, there are two entry levels — Fireman and Assistant Station Officer and from there on, you can become a Fire Officer-In Charge, Fire Officer, Sub Fire Officer, and so on. The minimum qualification you need in order to be a fireman is, passing Class VII. To apply for an Assistant Station Officer, however, you must be a science graduate, with chemistry as your principal subject. This is because your task may involve handling chemicals or may need good subject knowledge of chemicals.

You also have to go through rigorous physical tests and procedures if applying for the position of firemen or ASO.

Tracing history

It was around 1477 that the earliest incidents of fire protection in erstwhile Bombay began to be noticed. Back then, there were no motorised engines. Men would operate makeshift carts and horse drawn carriages to put out fires. Only centuries later, the Bombay Fire brigade officially began as a part-time police function. In 1865, the Bombay Fire Brigade came under the joint control of the Government and the Municipality. A formal Bombay Municipal Corporation Act was put into place in 1888 and since then, fire safety and fire control measures became the responsibility of the Corporation. It was only around in 1907 that the first motorised fire engine was commissioned in Bombay.

Current scenario

The firefighting services in India are still not well-organised or well-equipped. Many State-level fire departments lack specialised firefighting appliances. The communication systems used by the fire departments are often archaic. Also, lack of adhering to fire safety norms by builders and proprietors of high rises leads to incidents of fire which could have been easily avoided. Besides these, it is the citizens’ onus too. Do we as citizens keep ourselves informed about fire safety measures? Do we take simple yet necessary precautions to prevent fires on a daily basis?

A number of corporate establishments are nowadays conducting fire drills and mock firefighting exercises to educate their employees. Such initiatives are needed in housing societies too. Any person using cooking gas cylinders on a regular basis must be aware of the dos and don’ts of using them and must be aware of precautions and disaster control measures. Likewise, people using inflammable items should be alert and cautious.

If every citizen were more alert, prevented fires, or took appropriate controlling measures in case of fires, the loss to life and property would be minimal.

As it happens, today, we take the department of fire services for granted. Lest we forget, these men who risk their life and limb for us are family men, too. Some, like Nitin Ivalekar, leave behind a very young wife and little kids. Others leave behind aging parents, who were probably dependent on his income.

A little caution on our part can go a long way in preventing fires and avoiding casualties.

(Pictures courtesy www.mumbaimirror.com, outlookindia.com) 

Categories
Enough said

Dastangoi with Zohra Sehgal

Zohra Sehgal, the country’s longest living actress had seen a turbulent, traumatic life, but always emerged smiling, energetic and vivacious.
Humra Quraishiby Humra Quraishi

I have very fond memories of Zohra Sehgal.

Zohra Sehgal, probably the country’s longest living actress, was defined by her feisty personality, her talent, her grit and her sheer outspokenness. The legendary lady died last week, a couple of months after celebrating her 102nd birthday on April 27, 2014.

On the occasions I interacted with her, I was impressed by her spontaneity, and her disarming habit of talking about even in her personal life. What impressed me even more was that she always told these details in the dastangoi (story telling) format, chatting informally as we’d known each other for years.

She never shied away from revealing the details of the financial lows she experienced after her husband, Kamleshwar Sehgal, killed himself. His death left her and her children traumatised, and brought a highly turbulent phase to her life. At that juncture, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru helped her and her career move on.

Thereafter, she left Bombay to reestablish herself in the UK, only to return to New Delhi a few years later. Back in India, she embarked on another long phase of work, struggle and more twists and turns in the tapestry of her life.

I’ve always wondered – in the age of biopics and the fact that the film industry is always looking for good subjects, why hasn’t anyone made a film on the life and times of ZohraZohra Sehgal yet?

A few years ago, in the summer of 2012, the book Zohra Sehgal: ‘Fatty’ was released. It is written by her daughter Kiran (former spouse of artist Jatin Das) who is an accomplished dancer, and offers a deep look at the life of Zohra Sehgal.

I quote from the forward of this book: “When someone asked me to write a book on my mother, I wondered, ‘What can I write about her? She is my mother and that’s it.’ Most important, I am not a writer – far from it. I can only dance and nothing else! Then the seed was sown and I kept thinking about it as days went by.

“That was in 2006 – almost six years ago. My mind travelled in reverse gear to my childhood; with her, my father Kamleshwar Sehgal, and my brother Pawan, in 41 Pali Hill, Mumbai (then Bombay). What a happy family we were. Her strictness, my father’s laughter, the get-togethers with the neighbours, my friends and I running all over the place, going to school and of course to Prithvi Theatre with her. My first dance lessons and training were with my mother and I learnt a lot from watching her ‘dance’…

“I have written this book not as a historian or as an experienced writer but as a daughter who has been with her mother throughout her mother’s ups and downs, her struggle, her tragedies and her several moods! My mother has also been a great friend to me. We’ve had our fights, disagreements and criticism of each other – more her than me – our jokes on ourselves and on others. It has been wonderful. On 27 April, 2012, my mother Zohra Sehgal completes a hundred years of excitement in dance, theatre, films, television and this journey we call life. She exclaims, ‘I have hundred years of history in me!’ Congratulations, Ammi!”

Humra Quraishi is a senior political journalist based in Gurgaon. She is the author of Kashmir: The Untold Story and co-author of Simply Khushwant.

(Pictures courtesy workdoneinphotoshop.blogspot.com, www.rediff.com)

Categories
Tech

Xiaomi enters the Indian market

After much hype, the Chinese handset manufacturing company recently launched the Mi 3, Redmi Note, and Redmi 1S in India.
by Manik Kakra | @Manik_K on Twitter

After a lot of hype and rumours, the popular Chinese handset manufacturer, Xiaomi, entered India with the launch of three of its smartphones in the market – Mi 3, Redmi Note, and Redmi 1S.

The Mi 3 is an Android 4.4 smartphone with MiUI on top. Under the hood, there is a Snapdragon 800 chipset (2.3 GHz quad-core processor, Adreno 330 GPU), coupled with 2 GB of RAM. Boasting a 5-inch full HD display, the phone sports a 13 MP (CMOS) camera (with dual LED flash) on the back; and a 2 MP front-facing camera. The Mi 3 is powered by a 3,050 mAh battery cell, and comes with 16 GB of on-board storage. It will be available on Flipkart (http://www.flipkart.com/mi) exclusively for a week, and will go on sale from July 22, 2014. It is priced at Rs 13,999.

Redmi NoteThe Redmi Note, running on Android 4.2 with MiUi 5 on top, features a 5.5-inch (1280×720) IPS display, and is powered by MediaTek’s MT 6592 SoC (1.7 GHz octa-core processor, Mali 450 GPU), along with 2 GB of RAM. It carries a 3,100 mAh battery unit, and comes with 8 GB of on-board storage, which is expandable up to 32 GB via a microSD card. On the back, there is a 13 MP camera; while the front has a 5 MP camera. Available in white, the phone will be available in a few days for Rs 9,999.

Coming to the Redmi 1S, this is a dual-SIM Android 4.3 smartphone with MiUi 5 on top. The phone has Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 400 chipset (1.6 GHz quad-core processor, Adreno 305 GPU and 1 GB of RAM. Featuring a 4.7-inch (1280 x 720) screen, the phone has an 8 MP rear camera; and a 1.6 MP front-facing camera. Powered by 2,000 mAh battery, there is 8 GB of internal storage, expandable up to 64 GB. It comes in red, white and black colour options, and will soon be available for Rs 6,999.

All these phones are well capable connectivity-wise with Bluetooth 4.0, WiFi, NFC, microUSB 2.0, 3G, and GPS. With their aggressive pricing, it will be interesting to see how Xiaomi does in the Indian market, especially after seeing how well Motorola has been doing this year.

 

Categories
Places

Snorkelling in the middle of nowhere

You wouldn’t normally associate underwater sports with Egypt, but Sharm-el-Sheikh city is full of surprises – and it’s a work-in-progress.
by Sujata Garimella

A visit to Egypt is on the wish list of almost every person who likes travelling. Who is not fascinated by the Pyramids and the Sphinx which have firmly stayed in the Seven Wonders of the World for decades now? Then of course there are the famed temples, especially the ones at Abu Simbal (the ones with those HUGE statues) and the one at Luxor dedicated to the Sun God, Ra.

In fact the Luxor temple marks the first foray by a Pharaoh into monotheism. Like most ancient civilisations, Egypt, in the olden days was polytheist with a large number of Gods and Goddesses that they venerated. (Now, of course, it is a monotheistic Islamic country.) Along with all this history and culture, the Nile also found a place of honour for being the longest river in the world. Amidst the history, culture and geographical excitement (besides the Nile, there is also the Sahar desert) that Egypt offered there seemed little place for anything more. But the Egyptians surprised me with Sharm-el-Sheikh.

How it changed complexion

Picture 899Sharm-el-Sheikh until recently was not a part of any Egyptian travellers’ odyssey through the country. Nestled by the Sinai range, it was a in a tension-filled area bordering Israel. Sinai has towering religious significance – one of the hills in this range is where Moses received the 10 Commandments. In fact, a church close to the foothills of the mountain houses a fire which is supposed to be the fire from the Burning Bush from which God spoke to Moses. The Old Testament is common to Judaism (Jews), Islam and Christianity, so the Sinai and the Burning Bush are important to three major religions of the world. For a while, Israel even captured Sinai and Sharm-el-Sheikh. Sinai was restored to Egypt in 1982 and that is when Sharm-el-Sheikh started getting developed.

Initially it became a popular venue for Peace Conferences. With Sinai on one side and the gorgeous Red Sea on the other, it soon began attracting a lot of visitors. Today, it has an endless collection of huge resorts of different levels of plushness. As far as I could see, the entire strip on which our resort was, had only massive resorts lined one beside another.

Snorkelling is a huge attraction

Snorkelling in the Red Sea is the biggest attraction of Sharm-el-Sheikh. I went for the whole day trip to the Red Sea. Each group was first picked up from their hotels and taken to a place where we could either rent or buy snorkelling equipment. Then onward to the Red Sea. Embarking on a boat, our travelling quarters for the day, we set sail into the bluest waters I have ever seen. The Red Sea is supposed to appear reddish because of certain algae that grow in it, but the waters were mesmerisingly blue.

There must have been about 20 people onboard, almost all of them European. Three engaging Egyptian boys were our hosts-cum-guides-cum-leaders-cum-life guards. First there was a quick lesson on the types of fish that we would see, followed by underwater signals for appreciation, distress, and help, and we were set. Only one person in the group could speak a European language as well as English – so she had to volunteer as the translator.

Stopping at various spot,s those of the group who wanted to get into the water did and those who didn’t want to or didn’t know swimming (there were those, too) stayed put on the boat enjoying a relaxing day. Even from the top of the boat you could see fish swimming in the sea – the water is that clear. Snacks and lunch are a part of the trip package.

There are no locals here!

Back on mainland, on our way to our resort, I asked the driver whether we could go to a local market. He seemed a little flummoxed. “Where the local people go for shopping,” I Resort in Sharm-el-Sheikhtried. “No local people,” came the surprising reply. Huh? “People only coming from different cities. No one staying here,” he explained. “Then what was there here before the resorts were made?” “Nothing. Desert. Small village. Some tents.” Wow!

I have read about cities being built or developed in the past but being born into a world with established cities I couldn’t quite fathom the concept. So when I hear about Las Vegas being built or Utah being established by the Mormons, there is an intellectual acknowledgement but no real understanding of the concept. Now here I was, travelling in a city that was a work in progress.

I continued the exploratory conversation with a young man in the customer relations department of our resort. He said that there we no locals in Sharm-el-Sheikh (yet). The Egyptians who were working in the resorts and the Red Sea tour operators all belonged to other towns and cities of Egypt. They were provided quarters by their employers (mostly in the premises of the resort itself). Food was also taken care of by the employers. Even doctors were appointed by the employers and they too stayed in the same premises.

So this is how a city gets built. Soon the folks will start getting their families along and resettle in what is still the middle of nowhere. Once there are people, traders will follow to set up markets of groceries, clothes, home essentials etc. Skills and services will then be required – plumbing, electricians, doctors et al, and they too will be drawn in. With families staying there, schools and other educational facilities will become essential services and find place. And within a decade or two, no one will ever know that this is a planned city that was only built to attract tourists.

Flying out of Sharm-el-Sheikh, I looked long at the twinkling city that consisted entirely of hugely lit-up resorts and marvelled at this ‘work in progress’.

(Pictures courtesy Sujata Garimella)

 

Categories
Tech

Review: Lenovo S860

The latest smartphone from Lenovo has a good battery life but leaves much to be desired on software performance and UI.
by Manik Kakra | @Manik_K on Twitter

Lenovo is a name well known and trusted when it comes to the PC industry. In the last one year or so, the brand wants to expand into the Indian smartphone market. There are quite a few phones from Lenovo that have been launched recently, and the S860 seems to be an interesting one. Let’s take a look at how worthy is the phone of its price tag of Rs 20,000.

On the face of it

100_5100The Lenovo S860 is a solid rectangular piece with nice hairline metallic finish on the back. Once you hold it, you soon realise that it’s quite heavier than most phones and feels nice to hold, but not very slim and compact for most users. The weight is 190 grams, and it is on the heavier side mainly due to an unusually large 4,000 mAh battery unit stacked inside the phone (more on that in a bit). The front is dominated by the 5.3-inch (1280 x 720) IPS display and navigation touch keys below – Options, Home, and Back keys, and Front-facing camera, sensors and LED notification light above.

On the back, with the Lenovo logo a little higher than the middle, camera and LED flash, there is not much different from most other smartphones out there. On the right, there are volume rockers and Power/Lock key below it, while the left side panel has the microSIM slot. On the top are the 3.5mm headset jack, and mic; while the microUSB, loudspeaker and primary mic port are placed right at the bottom.

Screen

The 5.3-inch display is a decent one at this price. Videos and images look good, but brightness and viewing angles aren’t very impressive. Having said that, most people will be satisfied with the screen quality, especially when it comes Web browsing and watching videos.

Coming to the 8 MP rear camera, let’s just say that images are decent, but you miss out details sometimes. Photos under low-light conditions are average, but using the camera in decent conditions gives nice, sharp images with rich colours. You could say it’s just an above average snapper. Lenovo has done a good job with the camera app; it is quick to focus and doesn’t have any shutter lag (settings option); it is simple to tweak your settings, choose different modes without having to go through any cluttered UI.

Audio

The S860 is a good performer on audio. The sound from the bottom loudspeaker is quite loud and decent for playing games. In-ear sound quality with the bundled earphones is actually good and there’s not much to complain about the in-call audio. The phone’s network reception is okay (using single SIM).

Battery

The phone’s USP is its bigger-than-usual 4,000 mAh battery unit. You have to sacrifice a bit because of the size, like the weight, size, but is it worth it? Yep, the battery life on the phone is above par, probably any other smartphone out there. I got about 32 hours of usage out of it (single SIM, Emails, Twitter, a bit of Web browsing, a game in between, and an hour of music).

You can also choose to select the power-saving mode if you need to extract more juice by disabling some of the functionalities on the phone. Inside the box, you get Lenovo’s larger capacity charger (QuickCharge), which allows you to charge your phone quicker, and is compatible with many other phones like the Galaxy S5, One (M8), etc. Thanks to this, you can charge the S860 from zero to full in about four hours, which is not long considering the battery capacity. Thumbs up to Lenovo for coming up with such a useful trick, this might just seal the deal for quite a few buyers today. Also, the phone supports USB On-The-Go, and you get a USB OTG cable in the box.

Software and performance

The Lenovo S860 runs on Android 4.4.2 (upgraded a few days back) with Lenovo’s own custom UI on top. The whole look and feel is very different from stock Android. The main concept is similar to a few other Android OEM skin, where you get all the app icons and shortcuts right on the Home screens with no separate Menu or App launcher. You can customise it as you need and also add widgets if you like.

In fact, you can even choose a different boot animation, something that we don’t often see on phones. Most icons – colour and shape – need some work as they are not very pleasing to look at. Plus, it seems Lenovo is adamant about changing the whole UI inside, like Settings, but if it would be okay if they’re giving much time to performance enhancement, which they are not. Just check the notification center once to see how different, but not-so-well-designed, the whole skin is.

The phone has a MediaTek 6582 (1.3 GHz quad-core processor, Mali 400 MP2 GPU) chipset coupled with 2 GB of RAM. The overall performance of the device leaves a lot to be desired. There is a pre-loaded anti-virus scanner, which also gives a few handy utilities like limiting your data (already available in Android) or setting data limit per each SIM, giving an estimated time about battery life, time to recharge the battery pack. All in all, if Lenovo is serious about putting a separate skin on top if Android, they need to put in a lot of work on it. There is a ton of performance improvements required to make the experience anywhere near to being called satisfactory and smooth for a phone today that is priced around Rs 20,000.

All in all…

The S860 might be a good smartphone for somebody looking for a large screen phone with a great battery life, decent screen and a good camera. But when it comes to performance and UI, especially with the likes of the phones available today in this price range, the phone is hard to pick. Lenovo has thought well with respect to the whole battery scenario, and now it needs to work a lot on the software side. If the company can bring smoother and better looking skin (if it really wants one on top of stock Android, that is), then we can think about Lenovo doing some great work in the Indian market.

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