CULTURAL QA 10-2022-11 BEING A COMPILATIONTHERE MAY BE ERRORS
Q1 What are the risks of building on topof an old well or water tank? A1 Gopala Krishnan, Former AssistantGeneral Manager 1996-2004 at Department of Telecom (1966–2004)Just now It is notadvisable to build a home, over a filled old old well or water tank. If unavoidable consult an experienced civil engineer who have builtbridges across rivers. He may see the area and give instructions andthey are to be strictly followed. Q2 How can South Indian people survivein the North? A2 Balaji Viswanathan, Indian by Birth.Indian by Thought. Sat 3 very importantthings a south Indian needs to survive in the north: Find something toeat. Hydrate yourself, and mostimportantly. Breathe sufficiently Seriously, there is no big issue for a south Indian tolive in the north. I did a couple of years of myschooling in Delhi and found it quite fascinating. I moved from a small villagein Tamil Nadu. Q3 What is an interesting story about afirst visit to Delhi? A3 Balaji Viswanathan, lived in Delhiand a number of places in India. Updated 7y My parents moved toDelhi in the summer of 1993. Until then, we were living in a village 300kmsouth of Madras (Chennai). My dad was then promoted as a manager in a national bank and we gottransferred to New Delhi. It was a huge cultural shock for me andthere was a massive information overload. First, we got atearful farewell from the village as we took a train to Madras. My dad worked afew years as a manager in that rural bank and being the only government bankfor dozens of villages, it was quite an influential post. Almost everyone inthe region knew him and the bank touched many people's lives. I can remember,night and day many villagers used to come home to complain of various thingsand get issues resolved among them. Now, we were moving to the biggest city inthe country, where we would be invisible and where there are millions ofgovernment workers just like my dad. >From Madras, my dad's bank booked a flight ticket for ourtrip. It was the >first time on an aeroplane and was somewhat an unusual thingback then with >just one government-run airline. My elder cousins told me whatto do in an >airplane and how to behave [and how to get the most chocolates thatthe >airhostess served]. We were picked up at the airport by a relative who camein his Toyota sports car. I have never seen anythingother than India's 3 traditional cars - Ambassador, Maruti and Premier Padmini& the sight of a new foreign sports car was mesmerising. No one ownedforeign cars back then and he had to use some high level influence to importthis from the US. Village boy entering city As we entered hisnew home in a south Delhi gated community, it was like entering a completelynew world. I had heard of Manmohan Singh's liberalization on Doordarshan andAll-India Radio. It was first time I saw in action in real life. In 3 years, herose up to the top in GE's new entry post-Sam Pitroda's magic and got to richesthat I could seldom dream. I was from a village that looked more like this.You are a big shot if you owned a Bullet or Rajdoot bike. My dad just owned a TVS Champand also used the bank provided Rajdoot. Living in a concrete housemeans you are rich. Other than TV, VCR, radio, refrigeratorand fan there was no electrical item even the richest owned. But, here we wereexiting a shiny Toyota Camry coupe, and entering his home whose laundry roomlooked like this: As a 10 year old, Iwas even afraid to go near the machines that was almost as big as me and whoseshine stunned me. And Ihad no idea of why a dryer was kept separate from the Washing machine.[Years later when I moved to the US, I figured out that the dryer enabled oneto wear the clothes right out of it]. My second cousinsthere were talking about strange shows on MTV. I had heard of MTV and HBO back then, but never watchedit. As we were playing they were talking about buying a new computer. This wasback in 1993 in the pre-Windows 95 and Internet days. I had no ideathat one could even own such things at home. We were not richand thus we lived in a more low income apartment. Looking back and forthbetween the rich class and the middle class like ours was jarring. I like the centralized A/C oftheir home, but all we could get was a low-end air cooler. Those days in Delhiexposed me to things that I have never been seen before. High-end restaurantsin Connaught place; wearing sports jackets to school in winter. I had no ideahow people were so prosperous. At the heights of the newly opened up bullishmarket, everyone seemed to be rich. However, we just got promoted from beingthe richest in thevillage we came from to being the among the poorest in the circles we moved inthe new city. My dad and hisfriends were busy buying stocks. Whenever I go and meet them, I will get anEconomic Times newspaper to look up prices of specific stocks [no Internet tocheck prices]. These would be in such small prints on 4 pages with full ofvarious companies. Some of my dad's friends would casually mention that theymade 25x returns on the new stock they bought. Housewife aunties were talkingof Reliance stocks and Sensex numbers when they were giving us evening snacksbefore play time. Government budget presentation was the prime time masala. Power flowing like honey Just like moneyflowed freely, power did too. Most of my dad's friends were also governmentservants. People casually name dropped big union ministers. I don't know howtrue and legitimate their claims were, but suddenly everyone seemed wellconnected. Just weeks before, I was in a village where the most important localpolitical news would be a meeting that some random party worker would organize. One day my parentsand I went home to a couple's home for dinner. As they were chatting, the ladymentioned that she was working for the RAW. I had no clue of what they do, butmy dad just explained theiractivity as detecting counterfeit currencies. My mouth was shut and theycontinued their conversations. It seemed there was a wave of powerand money in that newly hot city. A nation on the boil I also came acrossissues, I never thought about. It was a time, India was on the boil. Kids inflat came from 20 different states. We talked in a range of languages andexchanged a range of ideas. There was a crazy boy who would often scare us with a real, butunloaded revolver. In his home. I saw no male members. I just heardthat his whole family was burnt alive a few years ago in the anti-Sikh riots. Babri masjid was demolished only a few months before thenand the tension was all over north India. Bombs wereshattering Mumbai as Dawood Ibrahim announced his national level entry. Riotswere everywhere. This seemed quite in contrast to rural Tamil Nadu, wherereligious riots was almost unheard of. There was a plague scare from Surat thatforced me to wear a mask to school for many weeks. In rural India you were notreally touched by national panics. We lived behind the Pusa institute in Karol Bagh and mydad explained how the magical seeds from there created theGreen Revolution - something that fed people all over the nation. I guess migrating to Delhi at the height of a new wave ofeconomic optimism was both exhilarating and shocking.Early 90s was an extremely happening period and moving to the national capitalgot us front row seats to watch some of the events unfurl. Although I havevisited the city many times since we moved back south in 1995, my images ofDelhi is primarily impacted by the images above - of a nation suddenly on themove. I also periodically travel all across north India. I findthe experience exhilarating. From the amazing chatstreets of Chappan in Indore to drinking Lassi from Pehelwan in the narrowstreets of Varanasi to meditating in the mystic hills of Rishikesh to bikingthe tea estates of Silchar in Assam to the devotional hills of Vaishno Devi inJ&K, north has hundreds of amazing stuff to enjoy for a south Indian. In my 100s of travel trips across nearly all states ofIndia, I have always found the north Indians quite tolerant and easy to workwith. Even with a little bit of Hindi, they trytheir best to understand you. Cast away yourprejudice and travel around India. You don’t need anything additional surviveapart from your common sense. My note- Quite interesting. My only point is hisusage of dad insteadof APPA, an orthodox person performing thrikala sandhaya and poojaseven while in overseas. Q4 Is it healthy to eat an apple atnight? A4 Jonty v Mhatre, Thu It is healthy to eat an apple at night. Apples are agood source of fiber and vitamin C and can help you feel fuller for longer. Vitamin C, alsoknown as ascorbic acid, is a water-soluble vitamin that is necessary for normalgrowth and development. Vitamin C is found in citrus fruits, tomatoes,potatoes, and green vegetables. Fiber is importantfor a healthy digestive system, and can also help to regulate blood sugarlevels. Apples are a good source of soluble fiber, which can help to lowercholesterol levels. Q5 Is there a possibility that Hindiwill lose its importance in India? A5 Gopalkrishna Vishwanath, True Indian,who feels at home anywhere in India. Oct 1 Yes and No! In Science,Technology, Medicine, Law, Courts, Commerce, Industry, Computer science andInternet, English isimportant. Hindi has lost to English. In the field ofarts, cinema, electoral politics, journalism, culture, religion, music, English is nowhere near Hindiin India. The largest circulated newspapers in India are DainikBhaskar and Dainik Jagran, both Hindi newspapers.The combined circulation of all the Hindi newspapers leaves the circulation of English newspapers farbehind. The totalviewership of films in Hindi is awesome and the number of viewers in English isnegligible and is limited to an elitist audience in the metropolitan cities. English music has hardly any audience in India.Hindusthani and Carnatic Classical music, Hindi and regional language filmsongs, folk songs, bhajans, ghazals and other forms are far ahead. There isabsolutely no competition from English. Come election time, the politician speaks in Hindi or inthe regional language to the mammoth crowds that gatherduring election rallies. If he speaks in English he may not get any votes! Lets talk aboutfestival time. During Dassehra/ Diwali/Holi/Durga Puja/Pongal and all ourvarious festivals doyou ever hear of English being used? It’s either Hindi or theregional language. Let’s talk about religion.Have you heard ofEnglish being used in any temple? Even in churches in many placesservices are held in the regional language. On TV, too the viewership in Hindi far outstrips theviewership in English. Consider culture,art, dance, and so many other fields. English is nowhere. It is Hindi or theregional language that predominates. Conclusion :Hindi and our regional languages and English all have their respectiveimportance. It all depends on the environment or occasion. Q6 How often should the refrigerant inour air conditioner be changed? A6 Gopala Krishnan,Former AssistantGeneral Manager 1996-2004 at Department of Telecom (1966–2004)Just now The question isabout changing refrigerant. There can be slight lossesduring cycles. Also slightlydifferent combination which can be felt while functioning. Whensufficient cooling is not felt when temperature is set low or comfort is not felt, refrigerantcan be changed. Q7 Why doesn’t the Indian Railways havea 'Rail Traffic Controller' radio communication similar to an ATC to beconnected to the on-board crew 24x7? A7 Kuldip Bhattacharya, Site Manager atLinde India Limited (2022–present)19h Railway maintains their own communication system. No locopilot can run the train on their wish. Each and everycommand comes from nearest stations. Mostly the trains are controlled by thestations and signal rooms. ATC is totally different from railwaysystem. Q8 Why should one become a dentistinstead of an MD or other medical professions? A8 Khengchat Ng,Self Employed(1986–present)Oct 5 I am a medical doctor. My son entered dentistry because adental college offered him a place ahead of the medical schools which were notdue for two weeks. He took it and has absolutely noregrets since. He is a hands on person and now doing post graduate in oralsurgery. He hasinfluenced a lot of people to take up dentistry instead of medicine and allhave no regrets. In Malaysia, they earn more. Their skills isAmazon-proof, unlike medicines and lab tests. The profession has been venturing into lucrative fieldslike cosmetic and veneer treatment. Titanium dental implants are all therage. There are 32 teeth to supply a conveyor belt of work. They can choosesimple work like extractions and drill and fill. For mothers, it is by fareasier to find part time work compared to medicine. Medicine still is the more glamourous twin, and thepreferred choice for Asian families. But for sheer stability ofincome, nothing beats dentistry. The Chinese call it an iron rice bowl -unbreakably stable. It ismore a golden rice bowl. My note- For extracting tooth, now charges are above Rs500-00 depending on the dental doctor’s qualification. Root canal ,filling and cap has changed from 5000 per teeth to8000-00 or more now. Q9 How many variations are there forHalwa? A9 Vijaya Lakshmi, Knows about most ofthe Indian foods.3y Halwa is a sweetdish with a consistency of pudding. It is eaten all over India.It is mainlyprepared during festivals and religious rituals. I will broadly divide them into 5 categories: 1. Halwa made with any semolina/flour: Though most commonhalwa in this category is halwa made with wheat semolina, people make halwa with othersemolina like millets, pulses etc and also flours like wheat flour, Bengal gramflour etc. In this casesemolina/flour is roasted with clarified butter(ghee), boiled in milk and then sugaris added finally garnished with dry fruits and nuts. It is also called ‘sheera’, prasadam, rava kesari etc This is made withwheat semolina: IP With wheatsemolina but saffron is added for color and flavor. It is called rava kesari. This moong dal halwais made with semolina of yellow gram.This is atta(wheat flour) halwa. This is halwa madewith besan( Bengal gram flour) 2. Halwa made with wheat malt: This involves somecomplicated process. It is generally not made at home. They are made in largescale by big food producing firms. Wheat is soaked for 24 hours and wet ground. It isstrained and husk/fiber is discarded. Then it is boiledon a slow flame continuously stirring. When it forms a lump, sugar, clarified butter and dryfruits are added. In some places instead of sugar, jaggery is added.Madugula a town near Visakhapatnam is famous for this. It is also made in manyother places in India. 3. Halwa made with nuts: In this recipe nuts aresoaked, wet ground, fried in clarified butter and finally sugar is added.Stirred until it becomes a lump. This type of halwa is made with cashew nuts, almonds andother nuts Kaju(cashew nut) halwa:Thisis badam (almond) halwa: 4. Halwas made with vegetables: In this category,the vegetable scrapings are roasted in clarified butter, milk, sugar, khoya,clarified butter are added. Though mostly prepared with carrots, it can also be madewith ash gourd, bottle gourd, red pumpkin, beet root etc. This is carrothalwa:This is pitha (ash gourd) halwa: 5. Combination halwas: Semolina is combined withanyfruit to make a combination halwa. This is bananasheera. In this one bananas and semolina are combined. P.S. The recipes I have given are just broad ones.There are tens of recipes available for each halwa on internet. Please gothrough the detailed recipes.And also recipes change from region to region. Q10 Is it possible to get promotedfrom an AC coach attendant to a TTE (ticket checking) in Indian Railways? A10 D S P CHANDRA SEKHAR,Knows Telugu Sat In present scenario it's not possible.Almost all attendants at present are from out sourcing agencies. They are not railwayemployees though some basic training would be given to them to help ACmechanics. Their main workis discharging public amenities of passengers travelling in the AC coaches. Previously group Dstaff from railway electrical department (helpers etc) deputed as ACattendants. Some of them become AC mechanics (having ITI qualification etc). When outsourcing initiatedthere is no deputation from railway group D electrical staff to AC coaches. 25 years back whenmany First class coaches (non AC) the attendants were also taken as AC coach attendantsand since they arefrom commercial cadre some of them become TTE s from group B to group C.Now also there is a chance for group D employees in commercial cadreworking in goods sheds, parcel office, booking and reservation offices to berecruited as TCs and commercial clerks. They must possess required educationalqualification and pass the departmental examination and interview in theselection of limited departmental promotional quota All the above QA are from Quora website on 10 -10-2022 Quora answers need not be 100% correct answers . Compiled and posted by R. Gopala krishnan on 11-10-2022 -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Thatha_Patty" group. 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