28th September 2011
Can you really boycott blood money?
My colleague Nicholson commented on my post yesterday that he has not used Eveready batteries since the gas leak (good job Nick, I appreciate you for your sensibilities and compassion, which are becoming rare these days) which brings me to the question I asked earlier. Can you really boycott products of a specific company? I didn't buy these batteries, these came in the remote control of my TV. You may choose to not consume the products of a company directly but to avoid consumption indirectly is difficult and requires a lot of rigor. Do you think you can check the batteries for all electrical appliances you buy? May be you can, but can you ensure that your phone or iPad doesn't have blood metals from a war torn African country? I guess not.
27th September 2011
Blood battery
Someone wants me to boycott one brand because of genetic modified food; someone wants me to boycott another brand because they have sweatshops in China employing underage workers. Someone wants me to boycott products from a country altogether because of human rights violation there.
There are two questions I want to ask. First is how effective is urging people to boycott a product/company/country? And is it really possible for you to do it? While you think about the first two questions, there is yet another question and that is how far the accountability goes?
Eveready was owned by Union Carbide when the gas leaked in Bhopal which killed thousands of people. After the tragedy, the stake of Union Carbide was sold. Now if you want to boycott Union Carbide to show your solidarity with the gas victims, should you boycott Eveready?
- It's is not owned by Union Carbide any more so you shouldn't.
- The current owner seized an opportunity and bought a successful business from a company in trouble, probably at a price lower than it's worth, shouldn't the bad karma also be shared by the new owners?
What is your pick?
26th September 2011
Wooden star
There is one, then there is another and before you realise, the number of days I have not been able to make an update have just piled up. This updates comes after 5 days but it definitely doesn't seem that long ago when I posted last time.
21st September 2011
Feeling of being crushed
Heard the beer can saying "Do you ever have that feeling of being empty and crushed? Well I am having that feeling right now."
20th September 2011
Strong - the beer, not the can
For a very long time, I was thinking about buying some lights so I can have a small set up at home. I never bought the lights because I could never get enough information about what I should go for... or in other words I was not motivated enough. So in the absence of anything else, I decided to use a regular CFL I have at home and was happy with the results. Now I am using the same CFL quite regularly. The advantage I have with this light is the flexibility it offers. I can control the direction and the intensity of the light quite accurately as I am holding the light in one hand and the camera in the other. I am thinking of buying a couple of lamps so I can use more than one source of light... unless I mutate and grow another hand for holding a second light.
17th September 2011
Are you virgin... enough?
And I thought that virginity is binary thing, either you are a virgin or you are not. Now I realize that you can be "extra virgin" as well.
16th September 2011
Marking my bottles
What is a brand? Is that the name/image/logo you put on your product or is it something with which people identify you with. Without the first second is meaningless.
14th September 2011
It's a deal!
India is a country of entrepreneurs. Over here, it doesn't take very long for people to set up a business where ever they see a demand. Outside every bottle shop you will find people selling empty glasses, soda, water bottles, eatables and what not. How is it possible that there won't be entrepreneurs cashing in on an event when people are feeling religious and charitable? At Yamuna river where people were coming for visarjan, you could see a lot of beggars, drummers who would play drums and ask you for some money when you are leaving after the visarjan. The people most in demand were the swimmers who would take your Ganpati idol in the river for visarjan. Here is one of those making a deal with a devotee.
13th September 2011
Waiting for his turn
Not everyone who goes for visarjan can swim and not everyone who can swim can safely enter a river/lake/pond for visarjan. This is why there are experts who help you with visarjan. Here we have a Ganpati waiting for his turn.
12th September 2011
See you next year
I didn't play host to Ganpati this year which has been a very disappointing experience for Manu. He has been asking about next year and our plans of bringing Ganpati home. Since he is so keen, we thought it was only fair to take him to see the visarjan for the final day. Among all the shots I took, I liked this one the best, to me it symbolizes the relation of god and man.
11th September 2011
Byproduct
This is the byproduct of beer cans shoot. I had an empty can of Carlsberg Strong beer. I twisted the can to take some pictures. Then I twisted it again to get it in desired shape but the can tore and the last few drops of beer came out.
The beer by the way tasted awful. I think companies like Carlsberg who make really fine beer should stick to their regular beer. Don't venture into strong beer.
6th September 2011
Magic eraser
Manu kept pestering me for a magic eraser for a few days. I thought it was a name given to an eraser by kids and couldn't understand what he actually wanted. One day we went to the market and at the stationery shop he asked for it once again "Papa, can we get the magic eraser"? I asked the shopkeeper if he had the "magic eraser" and to my surprise, he did. So what is the magic? You strike it on a smooth surface like a table top and it leaves a thin trail of rubber which you can later pick up. This image is a collection of those thin trails that Manu made. No wonder this eraser is not allowed in his school.
