CULTURAL QA06-2021-08

Being  a compilation there may  be errors 

Q1         Whydo Indian buildings use so much concrete whereas taller buildings 
in the US aremade of steel with almost no cement?

A1          Sashank Reddy UpdatedSeptember 7, 2018 Worked at Mistral Solutions 
Pvt Ltd, Bangalore

In US, buildings havepractically 0 value on their own. You lose money over time 
in the construction. 

 

Only the land appreciates whilethe building depreciates. Most buildings are 
designed and redesigned as per changing ownersrequirements. 

Composite materials with steel framing allows quick and easyre-modelling. 
Mostpeople cannot sell their property if there are concrete structures on it.

No one wants to go through a concrete demolition. Its more expensive toremodel 
or demolishing concrete structure. It is also expensive to maintainolder 
concrete structures. Concreteis still used to make pillars of larger buildings 
but only the outer pillarsand they leave maximum space on the inside. The 
interiors use sameold composite materials. This allows re-modelling and retains 
value.

In India, we want the building tostand forever. As suchstrength is the most 
important criteria because of expected life. We build with concrete because 
wecan’t sell a steel and composite building. We are talking about resale 
valueand most people do not remodel their houses ever. The lack offlexibility 
creates higher cost.

Most importantly, its the attitude. Everything is commercial here in US.If I am 
living there, I invest in slightly better materials and construction.If its an 
investment, I build as cheap as possible. The rise of corporatecompanies owning 
rental apartment complexes means that they are counting everydime and penny to 
maximize the return on investment. No sentiments; pure business. 

Cheap materials, fast construction. If I had the property, I run anapartment 
complex for 5 years: Then the city grows and the area is prime: Ikick out all 
tenants, demolish the building and build a mall.

Equally important is the fact that real estate is actually a market in the US 
meaning thatit wont just go up, but can always come crashing down in value. So 
no one wantsto put in too much money on it.

One last things is also seismic compliance. In US, you may have to becompliant 
to a high seismic number which is not required in India. Concrete is rigid and 
heavy.As such it takes kore damage during a quake from shearing forces. But 
steel buildings withcomposite and glass materials can absorb the energy and 
oscillate with theground. This makes them more survivable in high seismic 
areas. Thishowever depends on the actual design and construction.

 

Q2         Howwas Mahadeo, in spite of being the almighty, defeated by Arjuna? 
How can ithappen? 

A2          Bharathi V Student ofKMG/ BORI10m ago

All the Rudras were trembling at the sight of Arjuna and Yama was hiding.

Mahadev was defeated only byArjuna’s devotion and humility never by him in 
battle. Be it Shiva or Vishnu, they are enslaved bydevotion and that is all 
that happened. Mahadev was never ‘defeated’ by Arjuna in any other way.

As soon as Arjuna realized he had been fighting Mahadev, he fell at hisfeet and 
begged forgiveness. Mahadev not only forgave him but embraced him with joy.

 

Q3         IfBalarama was older than Krishna, then why did Krishna become the 
king ofDwarika? Where was Balaram when Sudama went to meet Krishna?

A3          Saigopal Chilakapati Interestedin Indian Philosophy 
(1984–present)Thu

Neither Balaram nor Krishnawere interested to rule Dwaraka. Krishna asked 
Ugrasen, father of Kamsa to ruleDwaraka.

To the second part of the question, it is to say that several incidentsin 
Bhagavatam were narrated as independent episodes. Sudama’s episode was alsoone 
such incident. Balaram’s role or his appearance was not at all mentioned inthis 
episode. This can be left to one’s discretion.

 

Q4         Whatare some common mistakes that many newlywed people do which they 
later regretin their married life?

A4          Sangeeta Married since 5years May 29

When a couple is newly married,they feel obsessed to make their house look 
beautiful. Due to this, they end up spending all theirsavings. But the 
obsession doesn't stop here, many continue with their shopping and use their 
creditcards.

After a period of 6 months, they realize that their house is indeedbeautiful 
but the pockets are just empty. 

They struggle hard to reach back to zero (no credit card bills to pay andsome 
bank balance).

A newly married couple should plan their expenses. When an individual isnewly 
married, they willhave to buy simple things like pan, bucket, groceries and 
many other smallthings. These small things becomes a huge amount so they should 
plan to buythings in bits and pieces, based on the urgency so that they don't 
have to bepenniless.

Similarly, if a couple likes traveling then try to explore the world innext 6 
months. This iswrong as they end up exhausting their expenses.

Newly married couples shouldn't ignore the importance of financialplanning.

 

Q5         Whatwas the hatred of Manthara towards Rama that by filling 
Kaikeyi's ear, she sentRama to exile?

A5          Ram Tarak Lord RamaDevotee June 2

There are so many aspects to it.

One major aspect but yet subtle: Mantara was some yakshini in previous life and 
she mediated for so manyyears on lord brahma and he appeared to her then she 
requested lordBrahma to give a chance in participating some task which is for 
“Loka kalyan”(Welfare of the world).

Lord Brahma said “okay lordVishnu will take birth as son of Dasharata in Ayodya 
then you can help him inhis duty”.

In the present life, being the friend of kaikeyi she was thinking aboutthe good 
of her friend soshe gave the advice of making Baratha as king and sent lord ram 
to exile.

Actually the main hatred could be the attitude of the kausalya andsaumitri. 
Mantara wasn’t actually dasi of kaikeyi in she is the sister (cousinsister) of 
kaikeyi. Being a person from royal family she was expecting therespect from 
kausalya and saumitri like a queen but wasn’t getting such.

Because she was queen but dueto her over beauty consciousness she had lost her 
bodily beauty by consumingsome beauty herbs, which backfired later and made her 
ugly and looklike a old age person like today’s diseases which are very rear.

 

Q6         Whydid Arjuna not attain salvation even after hearing the Gita from 
Lord Krishna?

A6          Tarun Yadav Interestedin Sanatan Literature May 30

Each and every character of the epic attained salvation. As far as Arjuna is 
considered,he was seen in the heaven alongside Krishna in primordial form.

Narration -

King Yudhishthira, thus praised by the gods, the Maruts and the 
Rishis,proceeded to that place where those foremost ones of Kuru’s race were. 
Hebeheld Govinda endued with his Brahma-form. It resembled that form of his 
whichhad been seen before and which, therefore, helped the recognition. 
Blazingforth in that form of his, he was adorned with celestial weapons, such 
as theterrible discus and others in their respective embodied forms. He was 
beingadored by the heroic Phalguna, who also was endued with a blazing 
effulgence.The son of Kunti beheld the slayer of Madhu also in his own form. 
Those twoforemost of Beings, adored by all the gods, beholding Yudhishthira, 
receivedhim with proper honours.

 

Q7         Whoforced Shri Krishna to take up arms in the Mahabharata War?

A7          Bhanu Kiran Exploringancient texts of Sanatana Dharma May 27

Arjuna was the reason for Krishna to take up arms and break his promise. 
Bhishma was killing Pandava forces in large numbers and Arjuna washesitating to 
fight Bhishma with his full power. Seeing Arjunafighting mildly against 
Bhishma, Krishna decided to break his promise and killBhismha himself.

Beholding that those foremost of kings were flying together from thefield of 
battle, and marking the mildness with which Partha fought, andbeholding also 
that Bhishma was exerting himself very powerfully in battle, andthat the Kurus 
were rushing from all sides, the younger brother of Vasava, thehigh-souled 
protector of all the Dasarhas, unable to bear it all, addressed therenowned 
grandson of Sini, and applauding him, said,--'O hero of Sini's race,they that 
are retreating, are, indeed, retreating. They that are yet staying, Othou of 
the Satwata race, let them also go away. Behold, I will soon throwBhishma down 
from his car, and Drona also in battle, with all their followers.There is none 
in the Kuru host, O thou of the Satwata race, who is able toescape my angry 
self. Therefore, taking up my fierce discus, I will slayBhishma of high vows. 
And slaying in battle those two foremost of car-warriors,viz., Bhishma along 
with his followers and Drona also, O grandson of Sini, Iwill gladden 
Dhananjaya, and the king, and Bhima, and the twin Aswins. Andslaying all the 
sons of Dhritarashtra and all those foremost of kings who haveembraced their 
side, I will joyfully furnish king Ajatasatru with a kingdomtoday.'[1]

As soon as Krishna stepped outof the chariot and invoked his discus, Arjuna 
convinced Krishna that he willfight with his full power andannihilate the 
Kurus. Hearing the words of Arjuna, Krishna became gratified.

Footnotes [1] Bhishma Parva: Bhagavat-Gita Parva: Section LIX

 

Q8         Whyare Indian gods so much associated with the Himalayas when the 
Himalaya wasunder the sea that far back in the past?

A8          Devala Rees·Hindupractitioner and scholar of Pagan religions May 23

The Himalayas emerged from thesea about fifty million years ago, according to 
geologists. Fifty million years is a long time for Gods tobecome associated 
with them. Before that the Gods would have been associatedwith other places, 
and theundersea Gods would’ve ruled those rising mountains.

Also, Indian scriptures do not only reference the Himalayas of thisworld. They 
also referenceregions of the Himalayas that extend into other Lokas or Divine 
realms.These otherworldly mountains may well have not been under the sea at the 
sametime as those of our world.

And finally, many Indian Gods are not associated with the Himalayas; onlysome 
of them are, probably a minority in fact.

 

Q9         Canyou tell about plastic roads?

A9          This is a plasticbottle. It is made of plastic (duh -_- ) This is 
the road that goes from GomtiNagar Police station(in Lucknow, India) to Indian 
Institute of Management(IIM),Lucknow.

And this fella is …..also made of plastic ….? 😐 (yep)

PLASTIC WASTE IN INDIA :

Plastic waste, as we know, is turning out to be a serious concern for 
theenvironment now. Especially here in India, where you often hear about 
streetanimals choking on polythene bags etc. Wrappers, packaging of products, 
it’sjust too common a sight.

India generates around 9.5million metric tonnes [1] of waste plastic per year. 
This is approximately26000 tonnes per day (Tosound less nerdy, that’s the 
weight of more than 20,000 Ferrari put together,in a single freaking day!)

And that much plastic, is bad ! Since we have a relatively poor wastemanagement 
system, only avery small part of this waste actually goes into recycling. Rest 
iseither dumped, buried or burned(again harmful). Great….. So what’s so 
specialthat happened in 2006 ?

2006, Madurai: A professor namedDr Rajagopalan Vasudevan, of ThiagarajarCollege 
of Engineering(in Madurai) patented a process that would involve use of waste 
plastic in constructionof roads.

The roads that you and I mostly walk on, are asphalt (or bitumen) roads.These 
are what give them their characteristic black color.

(Asphalt pavement)

The construction of the top surface of this road, needs two things:

Aggregates

Binder (It sticks the aggregates together ; here it’s bitumen)

As per Dr Vasudevan’s process,the plastic waste is first dried, then shredded, 
and finally sprayed over thegravel or bitumen heated to 170 degrees. The 
plastic melts and makes a thin coating over aggregates. Since bothplastic and 
bitumen are petroleum products, they easily bind together also, giving the 
mixture an oilylook.

“To lay one kilometre of road,you need one tonne of plastic,” explained 
Vasudevan. 

“This translates to 10 lakh plastic carry bags. Today, India has 41 lakhkm of 
road, and we do not have enough plastic to convert all of them intoplastic 
roads. So weshould not have any problem in disposing of plastics in the future 
using thistechnology.”

 

“A plastic road needs only 9 tonnes of bitumen and one tonne of plastic,unlike 
normal roads that need 10 tonnes of bitumen per kilometre,” he said.

This process was well received. Professor Gopalan chose to share this 
technology withthe Indian government for free. He was awarded the Padma Shri 
in2018, the government’s fourth highest civilian honour.

In a bid to recycle plastic in an environmentally sound manner, the government 
made it mandatory[2] in November 2015 for road developers to mix plastic with 
bitumen whileconstructing roads.

Footnotes

[1] India generates 9.46 mn tonnes of plastic waste annually

[2] ‘Plastic is poor man’s friend’: Padma Shri winner RajagopalanVasudevan uses 
waste to build roads

 

Q9         Iwant to change my name due to some personal reasons and I am doing 
my postgraduation. What is the right time to change the name, before a 
government jobor after getting a job?

A9          D D Rishi Former IRS |Ph.D. (Law) | Advocate | Story Writer Sun

It makes more sense to changeyour name before joining the Government job. Once 
you join a government job, your name would appear in numerouslists and 
registers, and revising all these is a big hassle. Do it at theearliest 
possible to avoid problems.

 

Q10       Whenwas Umberella first created?

A10        Pavanazhi, Thinkingbeyond conditioning. Answered 30m ago

The oldest umbrella discovered was in western Asia somewhere in theMesopotamia 
regions dating 4000 years old.

So obviously or was then or earlier. I don't think the. Umbrella had aspecific 
point of origin or time. People. Used various means to Cover themselves from 
rain or the sun.

The origin of the foldable umbrella is said to go back to the 16thcentury to 
Europe. But Idon't think that is true as there are texts older than that that 
mention anumbrella. Kings whereusually sitting Under umbrellas. And a folding 
umbrella is just amechanical device, not a great leap in engineering technology.

 

Q11       Whatare some foods with strange or unusual names?

A11        Tiny Nair Cardiologist atPRS Hospital, TrivandrumThu

 ‘Mummy, buy me Sandwich today’

‘No, no. Mummy has made fluffy chappathy at home’

‘Please, please’

‘No, no; Sandwich is full of cheese and meat; not good for health; alljunk 
food’.

The royals of Britain had different feathers to their caps, but this wasJohn 
Montagu; the Earl was exceptional.

John Montagu ruled over an area in Southern Britain, in Kent.Many BritishRoyals 
are known for their habit of occasional splurging of wining, dining,horse 
racing and gambling; but Montagu was class apart.

His main interest centeredaround ‘gambling’; involving himself in other immoral 
activities only when time permitted; but time was sparse.

Not for nothing that he was known as the ‘most disliked man in England’and 
given the title of the ‘most immoral royal of all times’.

Being extremely busy with hisbusiness, he didn’t want to waste time for lunch 
breaks. He instead ordered his Chef to deliver his ‘meat wrapped inbread’ 
directly to the poker table.

His territory at Kent in at Southern Britain was called ‘Sandwich’

The ‘meat stuffed bread’ eaten by the ‘Earl of Sandwich’ became famous.

Even after years of thrashingby the tide of time, ‘Sandwich’ could not shake 
off its bitter legacy of being associated with bad company.

Even its vegetarian sibling.

All the above QA are based onQuora digest on 07-06- 2021. Quora answers need 
not be 100% correct answers 

Compiled and posted by R. Gopala krishnan on 08-6-2021

 

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