Mercury in Compact Fluoroscent Lamps(CFL)

CFLs contain mercury which makes them hazardous to dispose. Once a CFL reaches end-of-life, dumping it in general dustbin is a dangerous thing to do. Mercury getting into food chain is bad.
In India, it will take a while before mechanisms to recycle CFLs materialize. Till that time, users can store the used CFLs at home. A small box should do, as CFLs last long and it is unlikely that an average household accummulates a truckload of used-CFL.
My consciousness about this issue has been raised by following links:
http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/article2910689.ece
http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/editorial/article2574395.ece
http://www.mnn.com/your-home/at-home/stories/5-ways-to-dispose-of-old-cfls

Buying an apartment: My experience

The first question is whether to buy or rent. There is a mature rent vs buy debate out there and I respect all the points for and against. I still went for a 'buy' decision because of an emotional reason. It is not easy to change a house like one changes a fridge/washing machine. I tend to develop emotional 'roots' in a house, in the shops/vendors/restaurants/libraries around the house, in the sunrise I get to see from my bedroom balcony, etcetra etcetra. Changing a house due to landlord's diktat (even when I have no need to shift) is painful.

Once I decided to buy, I bought my apartment when it was nothing more than hole in the ground. From that point till I got possession has been a tale of pain, humiliation, despair, depression. I finally got my apartment but I never look forward to buying a property ever again in future(if I can help it).
Since then, I have suggested everybody to buy only ready-to-move-in properties, be it from builder or from earlier buyer. There are some learnings which I want to share.

Pros of buying ready-to-move-in property:

1. In Bangalore, there is a saying: "Whole of bangalore is disputed territory". This adage can safely be extended to any Indian city. One never knows when a piece of land is declared illegal or disputed. One never knows when an ad comes up in newspapers cautioning hapless customers about the disputed nature of the property and hence stalling the construction. The name/reputation/size of the builder is immaterial here. However, when you are buying a ready-to-move-in property, you are sure that most of legal disputes are already sorted out.



2. There is an argument that in a ready-to-move-in property you miss out on the opportunity of doing civil alteration. This argument is a weak one.
   All the civil alterations (like extra-loft/cement-shelves) I did turned out to be unnecessary. The builder and architects generally do a good job in designing the floor-plan and structures. An amateurish intervention (like I did) in a well thought out plan brings forth unforeseen chaos.
   For example, I asked for a loft. It gave me storage but made a critical bulb-point useless. I could have used lot of innovative furnitures to make extra storage. There is no dearth of furniture shops with innovative designs.
   Another alteration I requested was for cement shelves. I thought I will save on cupboard costs. After I got possession, I found out so many affordable and beautiful readymade almirahs. However, I had to give them a pass as my cement-made-shelves came in the way. I had to buy a suboptimal furniture which fits my cement shelves. I am now seriously thinking of bringing down those cement structures which were put up on my request (and money) in the first place.
   Long story short, civil-alterations/electrical-point-alterations in an under construction property sounds exciting but is actually not for amateurs like me.



3. In a ready-to-move-in-property, what you see is what you get (WYSIWYG). Never underestimate the power of WYSIWYG. In my apartment complex, there are flats whose main balcony is ruined because of a super-structure which possibly strengthens and beautifies the overall building look. The building does look good but I feel for the poor souls whose main balcony projects into the super-structure. There is no way, the affected flats could have figured this out when they were buying holes in ground. Nor is builder at fault because he never explicitly promised about anything which lies outside a flat. The problem is again our amateurishness. We look at the hole in ground, we look at the colourful brochure, we look at one model flat and we think we know how our flat will look. That is not true. An experienced construction professional may surmise the final appearance from drawings but not amateur buyers. This problem does not arise in case of ready to move in property.
   
   Cons:

1. One pain of buying ready-to-move-in-property is the legal/paperwork. There is an established infrastructure for buying under-construction property. However, for buying ready-to-move-in property, there are additional apprehensions of getting duped. There is fear of buying a property which has already been sold to N-customers earlier. If reliable broker/lawyer-services can be found who help in buying ready-to-move-in properties, that will be great.

Exchange-listing, Free-markets and Ajit-Dayal

This post is in response to a blog (called Honest Truth) by one of my favourite bloggers - Ajit Dayal. He has commented about dangers of stock-exchange listing. I am unable to give the link to Ajit's blog because of some copyright issues. Google it and you shall find. Here goes my response:

Is the Ashok Desai in your blog the same Ashok Desai of 'Price of Onions' fame? I am a layman without any economics background. I remember reading 'Price of Onions' and nodding my head in agreement with most of the conclusions and illustrations. So if that same Ashok Desai is expressing a view, I will rather read it in his own words before agreeing with the opposing opinion (i.e. yours).

I agree and disagree with your post.

First the agreement part. I believe that stock-exchange is like police. Free competition and profit maximization should not be applicable for police. Monopoly of violence should reside with one agency and it needs to be regulated. Otherwise, only rich will be able to afford police and police will become mercenary. Same for stock-exchange. It needs to have regulation. I fully agree with you on that.

Now to disagreements. I do not know what happened behind the scenes, but I do know that private telecom companies come to my doorstep, pester me, plead with me to take a connection. I really get to choose. When there are complaints, I can call up customer care, yell at them and get the problem fixed (albeit in 15 days, rather than the 48 hours they promise). Contrast this with what used to happen earlier with government phones. Or for that mattter what happens today with BSNL connection. No Mr. Dayal, I still believe privatization and profit-making and multiple-players were good for telecom-customer.
On the airlines reference, I disagree again. You get those exorbitant prices only for the bookings made on the day or day before. People like me who plan air-travel 2-3 months beforehand, still get the cheap prices. Regarding service and on-board facility, I am ready to pay 10-15% premium for travelling a route through private airlines rather than air-india.
Your reference to SBI and ICICI was again irrelevant. Yes, I keep my money with SBI for security concerns. However, this sense of security does not come because of any belief in SBI being better regulated. SBI is not better regulated. I do not believe that SBI has better mechanisms and better people than ICICI. I kept money with SBI because I know that government will bail out SBI in case of crisis. This bailing out of SBI/LIC is not healthy but it is precisely this unhealthy assurance which makes me keep money in SBI. I am not very proud of this, but such is life.

Bottomline, I agree with your main assertion that exchanges should not be listed. I do NOT agree with many other points you mentioned in your blog. I would rather read a blog/article by Ashok Desai on the same topic before making my mind. I will not send the email to SEBI right now. I also hope that SEBI looks at the logic rather than #-of-emails they receive. Even if Mr. Ajit Dayal's is the only mail against listing of exchanges, it should win over crores of opposing emails on the strength of logic and not numbers.

Manmohan-Singh, Corruption and Atanu-Dey

Atanu Dey is my favourite blogger. His skill, brilliance and anger makes a heady concoction which I drink heartily from. His logic is irrefutable. On some issues, I disagree with him. This blog is about one such issue:- "Manmohan Singh (MMS) and corruption"
MMS presides over an alliance which has bunch of corruption charges against it. MMS government handles issues of national importance like cut-motion-against-price-rise and nuclear-deal by negotiating with MPs/MLAs of questionable morality. Follow Atanu Dey for more on this issue, where he has explained it more logically, more factually and with much more flair.
I respect MMS for his guarded-talk. I believe that MMS with the help of Narasimha Rao ushered in liberalization (I give more credit to Rao though). In this post, however, I am explaining why I do not hold MMS in contempt in spite of everything said above. I do believe that all the corruption charges are true but still MMS stands redeemed in my eyes. Here's why:
Manmohan Singh(MMS) is not the source of corruption that plagues India.
Corruption happens when we pay half the ticket-price to bus conductor and ask him not to issue the ticket. Corruption happens when we happily enjoy a discount from the furniture-stores by foregoing the receipt. Corruption happens due to our unethical greed and lax system.
Unethical greed is universal to our species. MMS cannot control that. However, MMS, being the prime minister, is in a position to change the system. Atanu believes MMS is not doing anything to change the system. I am not so sure. Right To Information was introduced under MMS. That was a significant move.
Why is MMS not doing more? I believe nobody, not me, not you, not even the prime minister, can move very fast against corruption as corruption is deeply entrenched within India. Dictatorship would have helped but it has its own risks. We all have to live in this filth of corruption, engage with it where unavoidable and desist from it wherever it lies within our power. Should MMS have resigned instead of compromising with people in power? Or should MMS continue IN the system in order to change it? I am not sure which is the right option. I am not sure what I would have done if I was in MMS’ position.

Enough said.

Sania Mirza, M.F.Husain and Ajmal Kasab

This post is a response to this blog-post. My repeated attempts to post the following in comments section failed. Hence I am posting it here at oshantomon. Here goes:

I could not agree with your viewpoint on any of the three things you mentioned.
I also rub my hands with glee since this post of yours gives me an opportunity to pen my cliched thougths and do blog-whoring too.

Sania Mirza: I would have liked a world where Arabian Sea on our west extended further north till Afghanistan. In other words, a world without Pakistan. Since that is not to be, the only other good option is peace. If events like Sania can create even an iota of one-voice, I welcome it.

M.F.Husain: Husain did not show his paintings to me. So he was in no position to offend me. He let me down though. I believe in freedom-of-expression. Husain let me down by running away. He should have fought the court-cases in India. His money and fame would have ensured a constant media coveage and that would have served the cause of freedom-of-expression greatly. He would have been slightly inconvenienced but his money could take it. I do not believe Husain was under any serious-tangible threats from fundamentalists.
More of my thoughts on this topic and freedom of expression here, here, here, here and here.

Kasab: We could have killed him the very next day. We CHOSE not to do so.
Will it create incentive for the next mercenary? May be yes.
Will it show India as a softie? I don't believe so. Anyway, in reality, world opinion does not count much. So no harm there.
Will it create a possibility that in future some terrorist forces us to negotiate Kasab by taking some hostage? Yes. However the point of failure will be the hostage situation, not the act of leaving Kasab alive.
Does the one year trial raise India's position in international opinion? I do not give it a damn. The international opinion, as I said earlier, does not count much. In international relations, might is right.
The fact remains that we CHOSE not to kill him in a hurry when we COULD do so. As a nation, this makes me feel very proud. And powerful too. It is not a logical feeling, meaning I can not explain why exactly I feel proud. But I do feel proud, immensely so.
Slightly unrelated, but more of my thoughts on this topic here.

The title of this post is making me a bit queasy as it clubs names of two Indian achievers (who make many Indians feel proud) with a terrorist. My request to the readers is to treat the title as just a title and surmise no deeper meaning underneath. I would not have to write this title if I could post it in the comment section of the original post.

Tagore, Satyajit Ray and Agantuk

A very interesting debate has been initiated at http://mycounterpoints.blogspot.com/2010/06/my-first-blogging-experience.html

I find myself agreeing and disagreeing with the author. Following are my points with respect to part1 of the bloglink given above.

1. I agree with the statement that we guard our icons too much (though I cannot think of any other race which does not). This tendency, though natural, is a weakness which should be overcome.
2. You yourself said that the fact of "tagore mollycoddling with British" was hidden from public. So I have no ways to verify your statement. I can neither agree nor disagree with you. Same goes about your assertion regarding lobbying for prize.
3. Regarding Tagore's sycophancy, I have heard the argument before. Methinks, returning knighthood clinches the argument in Tagore's favour. A true sycophant will not be deterred by the fear of social boycott. I also believe Tagore was sufficiently strong-minded to fear a social-boycott. Consider Gharey-Bairey. I found the storyline of 'Gharey Bairey' very daring and relevant. Casting a freedom-fighter and his hot-headed-but-hugely-popular-methods as villainious shows independence of thinking. I appreciate Tagore for that.
4. Regarding quality of Tagore's work, we might be in agreement. However I am not passing my judgement on the basis of number-of-universities where Tagore is in curriculum. I am passing my judgement based on my first-hand reading experience. I have read quite a few stories/novellas of golpoguchchho and about 10 essays of Tagore. I never felt compelled to read more. I did not find Tagore unputdownable. As far as probondho goes, I will pick Amlan Dutta anyday before Tagore. Regarding fiction, a Sharadindu/Shirshendu anyday before Tagore for me.
5. Regarding Satyajit Ray, I have serious disagreement with you. Unlike Tagore, I truly adore Ray's works (exceptions notwithstanding) and that has got nothing to do with the Oscar-lifetime-achievement-award. Against your quip regarding medical-practitioner-in-Agantuk, I cannot express myself better than what Soumya did in Greatbong's Goopy-gyne post. I quote partially:
   If after seeing Agantuk, one of the messages you came away with, was that the film was implying that we ought to go to a quack instead of a modern medical practitioner, then you need to watch Agantuk again with an open mind.

Conduct of Ujjwal Nikam (public prosecutor in case against Ajmal Kasab)

Advocating against Ajmal Kasab may not have been an easy job in spite of mountains of evidence against him. The case took more than a year to complete. This implies that there has been a lot of hard work on part of public prosecutor (Ujjwal Nikam and his team).
However, I am getting uncomfortable watching the conduct of Ujjwal Nikam in front of media. I can not express myself better than what Times-Of-India did in last paragraph of its editorial. I quote:

However, a few niggles regarding Kasab's trial remain. One of the main ones is the conduct of the prosecutor, Ujjwal Nikam. By all accounts, his statements, both in court and to the media, have been rife with hyperbole and strident almost shrill denunciations of Kasab. It is a pity that he felt the need to grandstand in a case where sober understatement would have served far better. The enormity of the 26/11 attack speaks for itself; to dramatise it is to trivialise it.

You can read the Times Of India editorial here: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Home-Opinion-Edit-Page/Special-court-hands-down-death-sentence-for-Kasab/articleshow/5899235.cms