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INBOXThank you for sending the February14 issue of Lineage. I wish to congratulate the Lineage tea

for adding the facility to identify persons in the group photos. All articles uploaded are good anvery interesting. I immensely enjoyed reading the contributions by Suhair, Am I with the rigperson?and It is never too late to start fixing.Extract from Manoramaspotted by TC Govindan also very interesting. This time I read every word in the whole Lineage in one sitting since all itemwere interesting. E.C.Josep

A Chinese traveler bought a first class plane ticket and arrived at Xian International Airport. He flashethe ticket to the duty staff at the entrance like any other traveler. From the lounge, he proceeded to threstaurant, and was served a meal offered free to first class passengers. Instead of boarding the flighhe changed the flight booking to another date. On the next travel date he showed up with a fresh tickeate again and postponed the journey to another day. He was caught after he re-booked his ticket 30times, when the Airline officials were alerted by the computer, about a passenger exercising free rebooking option frequently. They stopped issuing meal coupons. The irate free-loader encashed hticket and got a full refund.

I asked a man on a country road for directions to a friends house. Drive straight up the road till yoreach the place where the barn burned down, he said, Make a right turn onto the mud road till you sea shed with a dog out front, and then make another right, and continue up one kilometer. What if thdog isnt out front? Perplexed, he said, Make a Right any way.

My girl friend is a vegetarian. She said that I am not a real animal lover because I eat meat and if I rea

loved animals, I would only eat lettuce, vegetables and grains. I said, If you really loved animals, youstop eating all their food.

For my fathers fiftieth birthday, his congregation decided to give their pastor a new suit. He was stouched by the gift, the following Sunday he stood before everyone and with tears in his eyes anannounced: Today, I am preaching to you in my birthday suit.

My cousin asks me for advice on how to motivate her five-year-old son to wear his first spectacles. Tehim that wearing spectacles is only a natural thing, I advised, adding that she remind the little fellow ohis elder brother whod been wearing spectacles for years. Thats the problem, replies my cousin, athe while, I have been telling him to eat his food well and not watch too much TV, or hell have to wea

spectacles like his brother.

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mailto:Damodaran%20Nayanar%20.K.E%20%3Cdamodaran_nayanar@yahoo.co.in%3Emailto:Damodaran%20Nayanar%20.K.E%20%3Cdamodaran_nayanar@yahoo.co.in%3E

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EARTH HOUR 2014

Earth Hour is the worlds largest celebration for our planet. During Ear

Hour, hundreds of millions of people around the world turn off their ligh

for one hour to show their commitment to helping something we all have

commonthe planet.

Earth Hour is a visual reminder that the worlds environmental issues don

have to overwhelm us. Small things we do every day will make a bett

future and together we can make change happen. So whether you reflect under the stars or celebrate b

candlelight, turn off your lights and show youll do your part to protect our planet.

We need your help to make our collective promise seen around the world the strongest it has ever bee

Turn out your lights for one hour on Saturday, March 29 at 8:30 pmand show your commitment to

better future. -WW

SCORPIONA Suhair

An old man saw a scorpion drowning and decided to pull it out from the water. He calmly extende

his hand to reach the creature. When he did, the scorpion stung him. With the effect of the pain, thold man let go the creature and it fell back into the water. The man realizing that the scorpion wadrowning again, got back and tried to rescue it but then again it stung him. He let go of it again.

A young boy standing by, approached the old man and said, "Excuse me Sir, you are going to huyourself trying to save the evil-vicious creature, why do you insist? Don't you realize that each timyou try to help the scorpion, it stings you?"The man replied, "The nature of the scorpion is to sting and mine is to help. My nature will nchange in helping the scorpion."So the man thought for a while and used a leaf from a nearby tree and pulled the scorpion out frothe water and saved it's life.Moral: Do not change your nature. If someone hurts you, just take precautions. Some pursuhappiness while others create it. Let your conscience be your guide in whatever you do.

Websters Dictionary defines charity as: (1) Benevolent Goodwill and Lovtowards humanity, and (2) generosity and helpfulness, especially towardneedy and suffering. In fact charity is that quality of compassion which goebeyond humanity and encompasses all creatures in nature. Our forefatheand the great rishis recognized that charity is equal to if not superior to faitin and prayers and service to God. Their dictum was Manava seva, madhavseva. The service is not for personal glory. The left hand should not kno

what is given by the right hand. It is also necessary to exercise cautioagainst giving help to the undeserving.Charitable trusts are operating globally and even at village level. There aseveral arms of the United Nations, and NGOs like Red Cross who providyeomen service at times of war, natural disaster and the like. Many religiouand social bodies have an excellent record in organizing charitable programs

By being compassionate to the suffering of others, one can get rid of vices like arrogance, jealousenmity, guilt, and vanity and strengthen virtues like respect, philanthropy, sympathy, mercy, love ankindness.

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NEVER BE LATEA Suha

A Priest was being honored at his retirement dinner after 25 years in the parish. A leading locpolitician and member of the congregation were chosen to make the presentation and to give a littspeech at the dinner. However, he was delayed, so the Priest decided to say his own few word

while they waiteI got my first impression of the parish from the first confession I heard here. I thought I had beeassigned to a terrible place. The very first person who entered my confessional told me he hastolen a television set and, when questioned by the police, was able to lie his way out of it. He hastolen money from his parents, embezzled from his employer, had an affair with his boss's wiftaken illegal drugs and gave VD to his sister. I was appalled. But as the days went on I learned thmy people were not all like that and I had, indeed, come to a fine parish full of good and lovinpeople.Just as the Priest finished his talk, the politician arrived full of apologies at being late. Himmediately began to make the presentation and gave his talk:"I'll never forget the first day our parish Priest arrived", said the politician. "In fact, I had the honor obeing the first person to go to him for confession."Moral: Never, Never, Never Be Late

Spelling Bee is a competition in which contestants are asked to spell a broad selection of words. The U

National has been conducted every yesince 1925. Similar competitions wisome variants are held in most nationseven in our own Kerala state. Last yeaeleven million school students participatein the preliminary rounds in the US281contestants were qualified for thNational held near Washington during 230 May2013.13-year-old Arvin

Mahankali from New York walked awawith the shiny engraved Scripps Troph$30000 cash, $2500 bonds from Websteand $2000 worth books froEncyclopedia Brittanica.

Students are encouraged to learn affixes and etymologies in English and foreign languages whipreparing to spell challenging words correctly. The event was telecast live by ESPN. The numbeliminated on the first two days was 239 leaving 42 qualified to the next level. The semi-finals saw 3more depart. There were 11 finalists. Some of the words that floored the unlucky includeINTRAVASTATION, PERISTALITH, GLASSOFAGINE, ISOPIESTIC, LANSQUENET, PTYALAGOGU

MALACOPHILOUS. Pranav Sivakumar, who finished second was got beaten by the worcyanophycean.

Arms behind his back in his signature stance, Arvind correctly spell tokonoma.Judge Mary brooks tehim: You are the only speller left in this round. If you spell correctly the next word youll be declareNational spelling Bee Champion 2013. Arvind trace letters on his hand with his finger, looks up anspells the word meaning a small mass of leavened dough - K.N.A.I.D.E.L. Confetti shot over his heacovering the stage as Brooks announce: ARVIND, YOU ARE THE CHAMPION! (USA Today, CNNTailpiece: As expected, Spelling Bee has not been devoid of controversies. At the venue protestedistributed buttons inscribed: ENUF IS ENUF; ENOUGH IS TOO MUCH. One recalls that BernaShaw pronounced the word fish and spelled it GH.O.TI - (the guide read: pronounce Gh like in the woenough, O as in women and Ti as in nation !)

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Suzanne Collins,Author of the Hunger GamesTrilogy Her dark, bloodthirsty books upended our notions of what young adult fiction should be - and convertewaves of skeptical adults in the process. -Nina Rastogi

Even after the Harry Potternovels shattered sales records anturned a generation of children into avid readers, it was always a littembarrassing to admit that you were an adult who loved young adufiction. You could explain to your friends that many of the books beinwritten for children and teens today had dark, mature themes (and njust of the sexy vampire variety), but they'd still suspect you of being little soft in the head. It wasn't until Suzanne Collins published her bleaseductively sadistic Hunger Gamestrilogy that grown-ups stoppeworrying and learned to love the teen novelto the tune of some million copies soldin 2010 alone.

The three books in the series - The Hunger Games, Catching Fireand Mocking jay - are set

a future version of North America, which has degenerated into a totalitarian state split into 12 districts. Every yeaeach district must send two of its children to compete in a lavish ritual known as the Hunger Games, where theare expected to fight one another to the death in a live, televised spectacular. Collins' heroine is KatnisEverdeen, a grim, hardscrabble girl from one of the poorest districts who begins as an unpromising player and, bthe end of the series, becomes an ambivalent political celebrity.

Collins is not only in possession of the most gruesomely inventive imagination since Hieronymus Bosch. She alshas a precision engineer's sense of how to make her complex narrative structures work: Action-movie directocould learn a thing or 10 from her about how to construct elaborate yet perfectly suspenseful plots. But morimpressive is Collins' fierceness. No one is safe from the story she wants to tell, and if that means offing sombeloved, underage characters in alarming fashion or ending the series on a note she must have known was gointo be divisive among her fans, so be it. Collins doesn't talk down to her young readers or sugarcoat her plot fothem; she knows they're as bloodthirsty as her adult fans. By combining a bracing ruthlessness with old-fashionestorytelling skills, Collins cracked the code for making truly compelling - and profitable - fiction for all ages.

(Slate.com

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MK Sudhakara

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DONT MESS WITH OLD PEOPLE A.SuhairPhillip Hewitson, an elderly man, from Norwich UK, was going up to bed, when his wife told him that heleft the light on in the garden shed, which she could see from the bedroom window.

George opened the back door to go turn off the light, but saw that there were people in the shed stealinthings.

He phoned the police, who asked "Is someone in your house?"

He said "No," but some people are breaking into my garden shed and stealing from me.

Then the police dispatcher said "All patrols are busy. You should lock your doors and an officer will balong when one is available."

George said, "Okay."

He hung up the phone and counted to 30. Then he phoned the police again.

"Hello, I just called you a few seconds ago because there were people stealing things from my sheWell you don't have to worry about them now because I just shot them." and he hung up.

Within five minutes, six Police Cars, a SWAT Team, a Helicopter, two Fire Trucks, a Paramedic, and aAmbulance showed up at the Hewitson's residence, and caught the burglars red-handed.

One of the Policemen said to Phillip, "I thought you said that you'd shot them!"

Phillip said, "I thought you said there was nobody available!"

Moral: Don't mess with old people!!

Germany is a highly industrialised country. It produces top brands like Benz, BMW

Siemens etc. The nuclear reactor pump is made in a small town in this country. In suc

a country, many will think its people lead a luxurious life. At least that was m

impression before my study trip.

When I arrived at Hamburg, my colleagues who worked in Hamburg arranged

welcome party for me in a restaurant. As we walked into the restaurant, we noticed tha

a lot of tables were empty. There was a table where a young couple was having the

meal. There were only two dishes and two cans of beer on the table. I wondered if suc

simple meal could be romantic, and whether the girl will leave this stingy guy.

There were a few old ladies on another table. When a dish is served, the waiter woul

distribute the food for them, and they would finish every bit of the food on their platesWe did not pay much attention to them, as we were looking forward to the dishes w

ordered. As we were hungry, our local colleague ordered more food for us.

As the restaurant was quiet, the food came quite fast. Since there were other activitie

arranged for us, we did not spend much time dining. When we left, there was still abou

one third of unconsumed food on the table.

When we were leaving the restaurant, we heard someone calling us. We noticed the ol

ladies in the restaurant were talking about us to the restaurant owner. When they spok

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to us in English, we understood that they were unhappy about us wasting so muc

food. We immediately felt that they were really being too busybodies.

"We paid for our food, it is none of your business how much food we left behind," m

colleague Gui told the old ladies. The old ladies were furious. One of them immediate

took her hand phone out and made a call to someone. After a while, a man in uniform

claimed to be an officer from the Social Security organisation arrived. Upon knowin

what the dispute was, he issued us a 50 Mark fine.

We all kept quiet. The local colleague took out a 50 Mark note and repeatedlapologized to the officer. The officer told us in a stern voice,

Order what you can consume, money is yours but resources belong to the society

There are many others in the world who are facing shortage of resources. You have n

reason to waste resources.

Our face turned red. We all agreed with him in our hearts. The mindset of people o

this rich country put all of us to shame.

We really need to reflect on this. We are from a country which is not very rich i

resources. However, we indulge in many wasteful practices such as ordering larg

quantities of food for parties and wasting a good deal of it with least bit of remorse.

Author unknown (recommended by A Suha

TRAVEL AND LEISURE

Our beloved poet P.Raghavan needed no plodding to share his impressions about the grandeu

of the majestic Western ghats we were witnessing with amazement from the foot hills a

Kacherikadav in Kannur district. His soul-stirring thoughts were expressed in three stanzas:

oj~q Wg SWO j]OUWj|Lvj Ca fPV j]OUmLqLOu f Rft]j}RqLuOOUW]O jLU kOtW]f YLNfqLp}.

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kRLOU, v]qOOoOOUo}jPOU, mLqSL kf]pOUWSsL? kLOU \]q]pOoLp]v}OU vqLU f]qOy]i]p]!

56 persons listened in rapt attention and when he finished, they cheered and applauded wit

gusto. Their feelings and thoughts were in unison with those of the poet!

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The occasion was the first leisure trip organized by the Senior Engineers Forum in the yea

2014 on February 11th. The initial response to the call for the excursion exceeded th

expectations of the conveners. The mild panic when the number swelled to 65 was abate

when, to the relief of Mohanan Nambiar, the number of participants who actually turned up

the appointed hour exactly matched the number of seats in the coach. The destination was th

Barapole Small Hydro-Electric Project under construction. The location adjoins the border wit

Kodagu District of Karnataka, at a distance of 50 kilometers from Kannur, co-ordinate

defined by Latitude: 12:05North and Longitude: 75:47East. S/shri. ValsaDas, Manoj and Ven

KSEB officials in charge of the construction- were happy to brief the Senior Engineers an

their family members on the salient aspects of the Project.

Valapattanam River is the longest one in the District; in fact the 110 km long river rank

seventh in the state while enjoying fourth position in the quantity of water it receive from th

1900 sq.km catchment that get an annual rainfall of 3500-4000 mm and discharge to the sea

The Barapole Small hydro-electric Scheme envisages harnessing 36MU of energy per annum b

a run-of-the river facility. There will be three generators of 5MW capacity each with associate

turbines and switchgear. An average head of 45 meters will be available for generation.

The trip itself was eminently enjoyable. The participants have already established a stronrapport among themselves and there was never a dull moment with the exuberant Sasi takin

over as the anchor. Smt Mallika Soman set the ball rolling with a fervent prayer as soon as th

bus started. Ers Govindan, Padmanabhan, Gopalakrishnan and Mrs Hema Gopalakrishnan ar

talented singers and the numbers dedicated to K Raghavan and KP Udayabhanu we

particularly sweet and nostalgic. Mrs Hema even rendered a song and delivered a brief speec

in her mother tongue Kannada to the accompaniment of wild cheer. Together, the singe

built a crescendo till TC Govindan rendered the all-time classic of Mohamed Rafi, O, Duniy

ke rakhwaale , from the 1952movie, Baiju Bawara. The apparent ease with which a practicesinger could deliver the fine nuances of blissful Hindustani music and make the listene

rapturous was astounding!

The work site was buzzing with activity. The clouds of dust from the earth-movers, the dron

of stone crushers, the cacophony of air compressors, the hot sun and the long walk soon too

the toll of most enthusiasts. Some started dreaming of the rich mouth-watering lunch that wa

lying in wait at the residence, Kureeckal of Er Thomas, just about six kilometers away. Th

food proved to be a gourmets delight. The service in the large courtyard and the brie

meeting under the shade of the nutmeg trees were marked by camaraderie, boister, banalitie

and pure mirth. Indeed, Er and Mrs Mary Thomas set very high standards for all aspirant host

in future. The unanimous praise during the feed-back proved the point.

On the way back we made a detour to Irikkur, where a famous Devi temple is situated. At

nearby kavu, on the banks of the very same river we were visiting, we joined devotees feedin

the fishes puffed rice and beaten rice. Believed to entitle a person to receive divine blessing

the tradition nonetheless teaches a valuable lesson to love and nurture all creatures wit

whom we share the earth.

NAYANA

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https://maps.google.com/maps?z=15&t=h&q=loc:12.0810564+75.7734639https://maps.google.com/maps?z=15&t=h&q=loc:12.0818539+75.7897906https://maps.google.com/maps?z=15&t=h&q=loc:12.0822727+75.7896467

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Movie Review

GravityAlfonso Cuarn's glorious creation, less sci-fi and more a thriller set in space, makes youbreathless with excitement.Alfonso Cuarn's incredibly exciting, visually amazing film is about two astronauts floatinin space. The title refers to the one big thing almost entirely absent from the film: it's likThe Seventh Seal being called Levity or Last Tango in Paris Chastity. With gorgeous, tiltinplanet Earth far below in its shimmering blue aura, a bulkily suited spaceman an

spacewoman veer, swoop and swerve in woozy slo-mo as they go about their businestethered to the station, like foetuses still attached to their umbilical cords. The movie's fin

sequence hints at some massive cosmic rebirth; a sense that these people are the first or last human beingin the universe, like something by Kubrick.Sandra Bullockplays a scientific engineer, Dr Ryan Stone, who after six months' specialist NASA traininhas been allowed into space to attach a high-tech new scanning device to the Hubble telescope. She under the watchful supervision of Matt Kowalski, a genial and grizzled space veteran played by GeorgClooney. The voice of Houston mission control is played by Ed Harris, in playful homage to Ron Howard1995 space-disaster classic Apollo 13. Only this time it is him telling them about the problem. Soon, terrifying situation unfolds.Director and co-writer Cuarn brilliantly manages to create both awe at his glorious space vistas, anknuckle-gobbling tension at what's happening in the foreground. It's like a bank heist in Reims cathedral space. You could find yourself asthmatically gasping with rapture and excitement at the same time. After

was over, I was 10 minutes into my tube ride home before I remembered to exhale.Since its release, various specialist observers have unsportingly emerged to say that the science involved Gravity is fanciful and wrong. No matter. What makes Gravityso gripping, and so novel, is that it behaves aif what everyone is doing is happening in a world of commonplace fact: like a movie about two drivers on runaway train or hot-air balloon. A movie set in space tends to trigger an assumption: that it is set in thfuture (although not the case with Star Wars). If it is not like Apollo 13, about the bygone era of spacexploration carried out by guys in quaint crewcuts, then it is going to be set in some madeup futurist worabout space exploration in aluminium-foil costumes and spacecraft doors opening and closing with zhhzhhh sounds a world that may or may not involve extraterrestrial creatures, but which importantly anpatently doesn't exist; a movie whose effects depend, at least partly, on the assumption that what is beinshown is not true.Gravity isn't like that. It's not sci-fi, more a contemporary space thriller. It's happening in the here and nowThat is why it is so absorbing, although you may have to abolish your own scepticism-gravity suspendindisbelief at the idea that Stone's training would have allowed her to be reasonably familiar with the contrpanels of Russian and Chinese spacecraft with their Cyrillic and Chinese letterings. Of course, these aspecmay have been cunningly devised by Cuarn so that his movie can blast off in Russian and Chinesterritories.The movie draws, broadly, on the style, if not the substance, of that dystopian tradition stretching froKubrick's 2001(1968): it is comparable to Alien (1979) or Dark Star (1974) or Silent Running (1972), in thatadopts something of their downbeat, quasi-realist behaviour, applied to something notionally real; it hasome of their flashes of humour and horror and tension, but it is without cynicism or satire, without monsteor talking computers. Incidentally, the deeply scary question of what happens if you accidentally becomdetached from your spacecraft and float irreversibly off into space brought back memories of Brian d

Palma's little-liked Mission to Mars (2000). But importantly, it's supposed to be real.Clooney effectively concedes star status to Bullock and Stone's face, as she finally reveals the personanguish she's brought up to space inside her, becomes gaunt and waxy and agonised: a very real 3Dimagof pure human pain. When she cries in zero-gravity, with real tears floating away from the face, it is heartstopping spectacle. Kowalski's gallantry and Stone's yearning are compelling and unexpectedromantic.Is Gravity very deep or very shallow? Neither. It is a brilliant and inspired movie-cyclorama, requiring neithegravity nor gravitas. This is a glorious imaginary creation that engulfs you utterly, helped by superlative visueffects design from Tim Webber, cinematography by Emmanuel Lubezki and production design by AndNicholson. As you sit in the cinema auditorium, you too will feel the entertainment G-forces puckerinand rippling your face.

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ECONOMIC INEQUALITY-Robert J Samuelson, Washington Post

It is hard not to be disturbed by todays huge economic inequality the enormous gap between thrich and the poor is much wider than what we wish. This incontestable reality has made the subjea misleading intellectual fad and blamed for many of our problems. Actually, the reverse is trueEconomic inequality is usually a consequence of our problems and not the cause.Poor are not poorer because the rich are rich. The two conditions are generally unrelated. Mostlythe rich got rich by running profitable businesses(car dealerships and builders), creating benterprises(Google, Microsoft), being at the top of lucrative occupations(lawyers, doctors, actorathletes), managing major companies, or inheriting fortunes. By contrast, the very poor often faccircumstances that make their lives desperate. Some pathologies of the poor are single pare

households, drug abuse, dropping out of labour force and an underground economy.Solutions elude us. Though some low income workers would benefit from higher minimum wagmost of the very poor would not. They are not in the labour force; they either cant work too younold, disabled or unskilled or wont work. Among men with high school diploma or less only 70%have jobs as of 2010; a fall from 90% in 1970. For African American men the share is less thahalf.It is not true that the wealthiest the notorious top one percent have captured all the gains productivity and living standards of the recent decades. All income groups have made sizeabgains.True, the top one percent outdid everyone. From 1980 to 2010, their pre-tax incomes grew spectacular 190%. Pre-tax income of the poorest one-fifth rose by 44% only. The tax schem

redistributes the income from top to bottom. Post-tax gains for the poorest one fifth was 53% and fthe richest, 90%.Widening economic disparity is mistakenly blamed for causing the great recession and the wearecovery. Two economists at Washington University outline their findings like this. In the 1980income growth of Americans slowed. People compensated by borrowing more. All the extra debt leto a consumption boom that was unsustainable. The housing bubble and crash followed. The weaincome growth helps explain the slow recovery.This theory is only half right. An unsustainable debt boom did fuel an unsustainable consumptioboom. Household debt rose from 72 to 137% of the disposable income. Consumption spendin

jumped from 61 to 67% of Gross Domestic Product. The increases could not continue indefinitel

The twin booms were not caused by growing inequality. The households wanted to borrow, and thlenders relaxed credit standards because they thought the risks had dropped.Optimism seemed justified. Beginning 1980s, inflation fell, reducing interest rates. Lower intererates raised stock prices and home values. People felt wealthier, and on paper, were. Buoyaconsumer spending kept the economy advancing and unemployment low. Recessions were miand infrequent. Its complacency led directly to Great recession. The boom and bust had little to d

with economic inequality.The rich do not naturally command much sympathy; and their rewards sometimes seem outsizeand outlandish. When most people are getting ahead, they dont worry much about econominequality. When progress stalls, they do. The rich are convenient scapegoats. We create simplistnarratives and imagine that punishing the rich will miraculously uplift the poor.

GOOD TIDINGS!

Sri Mijaz Mukundan, student of Government College of Engineering, Kannur, and the winner otheinnovative idea seminar contest conducted by the Kannur unit of KSEB Engineers Associatiosecuredfirst prize in the state level finals at Trivandrum in February2014. LINEAGE congratulates th

winner andhis alma-mater.

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Making Cities LivableMobility in developing world cities is a very peculiar challenge, because different from healt

or education or housing, it tends to get worse as societies become richer. Clearly, a

unsustainable model. An advanced city is not one where even the poor use cars, but rather on

where even the rich use public transport. Or bicycles: For example, in Amsterdam, more tha

30 percent of the population uses bicycles, despite the fact that the Netherlands has a highe

per capita income than the United States. There is a conflict in developing world cities.

more money is invested in highways, there is less money for housing, for schools, fo

hospitals, and also there is a conflict for space. There is a conflict for space between thos

with cars and those without them. Most of us accept today that private property and a marke

economy is the best way to manage most of society's resources. However, there is a proble

with that; market economy needs inequality of income in order to work. Some people mu

make more money, some others less. Some companies succeed. Others fail. Then what kind o

equality can we hope for today with a market economy?

I would propose two kinds which have much to do with cities. The first one is equality o

quality of life, especially for children; that all children should have, beyond the obvious healt

and education, access to green spaces, to sports facilities, to swimming pools, to mus

lessons. And the second kind of equality is one which we could call "democratic equality." Th

first article in every constitution states that all citizens are equal before the law. That is no

just poetry. It's a very powerful principle. For example, if that is true, a bus with 80 passenge

has a right to 80 times more road space than a car with one.

We have been so used to inequality, sometimes, that it's before our noses and we do not se

it. Less than 100 years ago, women could not vote, and it seemed normal, in the same wa

that it seems normal today to see a bus in traffic. In fact, when I became mayor, applying th

democratic principle that public good prevails over private interest, that a bus with 100 peop

has a right to 100 times more road space than a car, we implemented a mass transit syste

based on buses in exclusive lanes. We called it Trans Milenio, in order to make buses sexie

And one thing is that it is also a very beautiful democratic symbol, because as buses zoom by

expensive cars stuck in traffic, it clearly is almost a picture of democracy at work. In fact, it

not just a matter of equity. It doesn't take Ph.D.'s but a committee of 12-year-old childre

would find out in 20 minutes that the most efficient way to use scarce road space is wit

exclusive lanes for buses. In fact, buses are not sexy, but they are the only possible means t

bring mass transit to all areas of fast growing developing cities. They also have great capacity

For example, this system in Guangzhou is moving more passengers our direction than a

subway lines in China, except for one line in Beijing, at a fraction of the cost.

We fought not just for space for buses, but we fought for space for people, and that was eve

more difficult. Cities are human habitats, and we humans are pedestrians. Just as fish need t

swim or birds need to fly or deer need to run, we need to walk. There is a really enormou

conflict, when we are talking about developing country cities, between pedestrians and cars.

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Here, what you see is a picture that shows insufficient democracy. What this shows is th

people who walk are third-class citizens while those who go in cars are first-class citizens.

terms of transport infrastructure, what really makes a difference between advanced an

backward cities is not highways or subways but quality sidewalks. Here they made a flyove

probably very useless, and they forgot to make a sidewalk. This is prevailing all over the world

Not even schoolchildren are more important than cars.

In my city of Bogot, we fought a very difficult battle in order to take space from cars, whic

had been parking on sidewalks for decades, in order to make space for people that shoulreflect dignity of human beings, and to make space for protected bikeways. And I was almos

impeached in the process. It is a very difficult battle. However, it was possible, finally, afte

very difficult battles, to make a city that would reflect some respect for human dignity tha

would show that those who walk are equally important to those who have cars. Indeed, a ve

important ideological and political issue anywhere is how to distribute that most valuab

resource of a city, which is road space. A city could find oil or diamonds underground and

would not be so valuable as road space. How to distribute it between pedestrians, bicycle

public transport and cars? This is not a technological issue, and we should remember that

no constitution parking is a constitutional right when we make that distribution.

We also built more than 350 kilometers of protected bicycle ways 15 years ago which was

very difficult battle as well; I don't think protected bicycle ways are a cute architectural featur

They are a right, just as sidewalks are, unless we believe that only those with access to

motor vehicle have a right to safe mobility, without the risk of getting killed. And just a

busways are, protected bikeways also are a powerful symbol of democracy, because they sho

that a citizen on a $30 bicycle is equally important to one in a $30,000 car. And we are livin

in a unique moment in history. In the next 50 years, more than half of those cities which wi

exist in the year 2060 will be built. In many developing country cities, more than 80 and 9

percent of the city which will exist in 2060 will be built over the next four or five decades. Bu

this is not just a matter for developing country cities. In the United States, for example, mor

than 70 million new homes must be built over the next 40 or 50 years. That's more than a

the homes that today exist in Britain, France and Canada put together. And I believe that ou

cities today have severe flaws, and that different, better ones could be built.

What is wrong with our cities today? Well, for example, if we tell any three-year-old child wh

is barely learning to speak in any city in the world today, "Watch out, a car," the child will jum

in fright, and with a very good reason, because there are more than 10,000 children who ar

killed by cars every year in the world. We have had cities for 8,000 years, and children cou

walk out of home and play. In fact, only very recently, towards 1900, there were no cars. Car

have been here for really less than 100 years. They completely changed cities. In 1900, fo

example, nobody was killed by cars in the United States. Only 20 years later, between 192

and 1930, almost 200,000 people were killed by cars in the United States. Only in 1925

almost 7,000 children were killed by cars in the United States. So we could make differen

cities, cities that will give more priority to human beings than to cars that will give more publ

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space to human beings than to cars, cities which show great respect for those most vulnerab

citizens, such as children or the elderly.

I will propose to you a couple of ingredients which I think would make cities much better, an

it would be very simple to implement them in the new cities which are only being created

Hundreds of kilometers of greenways criss-crossing cities in all directions. Children will wa

out of homes into safe spaces. They could go for dozens of kilometers safely without any ris

in wonderful greenways, sort of bicycle highways, and I would invite you to imagine th

following: a city in which every other street would be a street only for pedestrians and bicycleIn new cities which are going to be built, this would not be particularly difficult. When I wa

mayor of Bogot, in only three years, we were able to create 70 kilometers, in one of th

densest cities in the world, of these bicycle highways. And this changes the way people live

move, enjoy the city. In this picture, you see in one of the very poor neighbourhoods, we hav

a luxury pedestrian bicycle street and the cars still in the mud. Of course, I would love to pav

this street for cars. But what do we do first? Ninety-nine percent of the people in thos

neighbourhoods don't have cars. But you see, when a city is only being created, it's very eas

to incorporate this kind of infrastructure. Then the city grows around it. And of course this

just a glimpse of something which could be much better if we just create it, and it changes th

way of life. And the second ingredient, which would solve mobility, that very difficult challeng

in developing countries, in a very low-cost and simple way, would be to have hundreds o

kilometers of streets only for buses, buses and bicycles and pedestrians. This would be, again

a very low-cost solution if implemented from the start, low cost, pleasant transit with natur

sunlight. But unfortunately, reality is not as good as my dreams. Because of private property o

land and high land prices, all developing country cities have a large problem of slums. In m

country of Colombia, almost half the homes in cities initially were illegal developments. And o

course it's very difficult to have mass transit or to use bicycles in such environments. But eve

legal developments have also been located in the wrong places, very far from the city centre

where it's impossible to provide low-cost, high-frequency public transport. As a Lat

American, and Latin America was the most recently organized region in the world, I wou

recommend, respectfully, passionately, to those countries which are yet to urbanize -- Lat

America went from 40 percent urban in 1950 to 80 percent urban in 2010 -- I woul

recommend Asian and African countries which are yet to urbanize, such as India which is on

33 percent urban now, that governments should acquire all land around cities. In this way

their cities could grow in the right places with the right spaces, with the parks, with thgreenways, with the busways.

The cities we are going to build over the next 50 years will determine quality of life and eve

happiness for billions of people towards the future. What a fantastic opportunity for leader

and many young leaders to come, especially in the developing countries. They can create

much happier life for billions towards the future. I am sure, I am optimistic, that they will mak

cities better than our most ambitious dreams

Extracted from a TED talk by Enrique Pealosa, Colombian politician and urban activist. Pealosa w

the mayor of Bogot, Colombia, between 1998 and 2000. He advocates for sustainability and mobiliin the cities of the future.

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.

TIPS ON INVESTMENT IN SHARES- CXXIXThe markets behaved most of the time in a range bound manner in February 2014, though thmarkets closed at a two month high of 20987 in sensex and 6239 in the Nifty on 26

th. Th

sensex started from a low of 20212 on 4thFeb and the nifty from 6001 on the same day. Exceon three days both indices closed in an uptrend. The rate of inflation in Jan came down fromprevious month. Other than that there was nothing to cheer the markets. The only cue expecte

was the vote on account presented by the finance minister. Though there were nothinfavourable to the markets, they behaved in a very positive manner and the market began t

climb. The global markets were also looking sprightly again. Economics news was mixed. Whithe industrial production for December contracted by 0.6% , the easing of consumer and whosale price inflation gave some relief.The sensex was able to get past the resistance at 20516 during the last week of Feb. At thcurrent behavior markets can go beyond 21000 points. The supports are at 20516, and then a20000. A close below this level will affect sentiments negatively. The current medium term rangis between 20000 and 21500. The outlook will remain positive as long as the lower end of thrange holds. But break of the 20000 level will mean that the index is heading down o 19000 olower.The Nifty followed sensex in a similar manner. The nifty has reached a two month high value o

6239 on 26th

.Hence it is a positive trend in the case of nifty. The next target is 6355.Key mediuterm support is at 5700. Investors should be cautious to watch the trends and take correctivmeasures as and when required.The markets may continue in a range bound manner as there is no activity that will cheer it apresent. The next election result is the only cue that may have wide ranging effects on marketsIf a stable govt. (which is seen quite unlikely) comes at centre it will help markets to reach highelevels. If not, the markets will suffer greatly. So from now on the investors should track theholdings very keenly and take corrective actions to avoid losses or to book profits.

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