CULTURAL QA 01-2023-26 BEING A COMPILATION THERE MAY BE ERRORS
Q1 Why do majority of Indian softwareengineers stay middle class even after earning lakhs per month? A1 A Jaggi, a minimalistic but verycomfortable life Dec 30 How manylakhs are we talking about? Lets say three lakhper month. So even if such a person saves 2 lakh per month ie 24 lakh in ayear, he will still need to save at least for 10 years to buy a house worth 2.4crores. So another personalready owning a house worth 2.4 crores and earning just 1 lakh per month is ina better position than the one earning 3 lakh per month. Most of the Indian Software engineers come from lowermiddle or middle class. They can’t become richimmediately. They will need to save as much as possible and invest it wisely tobe able to come to upper middle class.Rich will still be a long way away. In a consumeristicsociety where marketing will try to tempt such people to consider themselves asrich and therefore prompt them to spend more and more on luxury items, many maynot even reach upper middle class in terms of wealth. My note- There isno certainty in job. So savings are necessary, in addition to othercommitments. The costof living is so high, even the working class earn 40000-00 per month. Q2 Many top companies started layoffs.Does it mean recession has started in 2023? A2 Shaunak Bhattacharjeee, SeniorSalesforce DevOps Engineer at Copado (2020–present)21h The recessionhad already started two months back and it is getting worse day by day. In the last week of November, with Twitter laying off 50% of itsemployees, other companies started the layoffs as well. All of a sudden, there werelakhs of IT employees without a job, who are apparently, the bestones in business! All companies havethe same reason — costcutting, which they have renamed as restructuring to make it sound moreprofessional and ethical, but the ground reality is, they are doingit to make sure the company survives in this period of recession. Salesforce, Meta, Google, Twitter, Microsoft, Amazon — you name it andyou will hear layoff news from them. So yes, we are in arecession period right now and this will remain for the next few months for sure.But bad times do not last long in the IT industry. In 2020, with the first waveof the Covid-19 pandemic, some IT companies started mass layoffs owing tocost-cutting reasons, but if you recall, soon there was an IT boom and therewas hiring all around. Hopefully, inthe next 6–8 months, the condition will stabilize. Till then,we can try helping our connections, ex-colleagues by referring to jobs if youhave open positions in your company. We gotta take care of each other's backsat the end of the day! Q3 What's the most disturbing truthabout marriage? A3 Tiny Nair, Cardiologist at PRSHospital, Trivandrum Sun Bad News 45% of allmarriages in the US end up in divorce, the average length of the couple stayingtogether is 8.2 years. Good News In 1980, 53%of allmarriages ended disastrously in US. From 53% to 45%, looks like things areimproving. DisturbingTruth The reason for thisreduction of divorce rates in the US, is not because of improvement of maritalharmony nor improved adjustment between the spouses but a sharpincrease in attorney fees, to a high of 12,800 USD (minimum fees) makingit unaffordable to many to proceed for legal separation. Lucky Star Even though overthe last 30 years the numbers of divorce have tripled, India still has one of the lowest divorce rates, ofaround 1%. There are many theories as to why Indian marriages don’t break upthat easily, ranging from lack of women right, to social pressure butperhaps the most plausible reason is that Indian philosophy of‘adjustment’ that’s inculcated in us right from childhood. Since a largemajority of marriages are arranged by the family, we are taught to adjust as wetie the knot. Finalthought Arranged marriage or love-at-first-sight, the first fewmonths are always ice-cream and honey. But as real lifetakes over, frictionstarts between the rice cooker and the office files. The excelspreadsheet finds fault with a shapeless chapathi. No two humans aresimilar; and even if they are, they will never make good couple. If youlove your friends, admitting that each is different, why do your spouse feel sodull? After years of living together dependence takes over. Between love and dependence reside the fragile hangingbridge of adjustment. Cross it and you are on concrete. I was talking to awestern colleague, who had recently separated after a fairly long married life. ‘Why should I adjust? After all Ihave just one life to live’ she said. I think she isabsolutely right in her own way. It is between living life your way oradjustment, whichever makes you happy, choose it.After all, theIndian legal fees are not that steep. My Tip &Trick My tip on keeping ahappy married life? Recently I found my night coffee changed to Horlicks. ‘Horlicks is good for health’announced my wife.I silently went back to my laptop with the steaming cup ofHorlicks. I refuse to adjust. My note- An excellent realistic post . We makeadjustments whether wife is home maker, earing or husband is salaried or dailyworker. The daily worker mason coming for miscellaneous workstold me- Sir, morning I have to wash mine and children clothes and night iron them, wifewill wash only her clothes. She is home maker, just studied a few standards above him. After returning from work he carryout all miscellaneous works, wife will watch TV and children will be studying.To make both ends meet, he comes do miscellaneous works in my home. Hearingthis I pay at least 200-00 more than the normal wage, in addition to meals,coffee and tea to him. Q4 What is the most replicated artifactknown to mankind? A4 George Graham, Lived in lots ofdifferent countries. Updated 5y This item is foundjust about everywhere. Every single country I’ve been to from the forests ofIndonesia to the mountains of Nepal. From the suburbs of Paris to the wildestparts of the Australian outback. Every ditch everywhere seems to have at leastone broken one in it, every alleyway has a couple.What am I talking about? This: Themonobloc chair. I bet you I couldwalk out of my door and find at least two of them within five minutes. I betyou could too - no matter where you live!White Plastic Chairs Are TakingOver the World My note-I sit in plastic chair, sit-out has plasticchairs, first floor additional plasticchairs to relax in terrace. Q5 Why did ancient Roman toilets havelarge openings in the front? A5 Cameron D. Akins, Studied History& History of the United States of America (Graduated 2021)Updated 2y Behold the Roman Toilet! The Romans werewell advanced in the art of war, but they were also great at sanitation andbuilding lavatories. The holeat the top is made for obvious reasons, such as for your waste to be able tohit the flowing water below, but the opening in the front, almostlike a chamber, was made for nothing more important than the hole at the top. Urination. A man would waltz right up to the toilet, glance at thegentleman to his left and right, then proceed to relieve himself. As it usuallyis, the stream would stop and slow towards the end, and his urine would startto dribble, but! the opening in the front comes in, anddoes its part. It allows for a person who is urinating to hit the hole withoutmaking a mess of the stone around it. Not only does it serve that purposethough, sitting on it is more comfortable this way, it forms to your legs, andhaving the opening helps with a person to have their genitals hang, instead oftouch a stone which has had more than enough of its share of privates. In good sense, the toilets they crafted were the bestthing they could do, if you take away that gap in thefront, the process becomes slightly more strenuous, and less enjoyable to theuser! Females in thissense would also have easier access to wipe from the front. The addition of armroom works both ways for both genders in nearly every situation. If the spacewas removed, it would be, again, more difficult to finish a process whichshould be extremely easy and well versed. EDIT* - After therecommendation of fellow Quorans, I decided I should mention that the opening would also serve agreat deal of importance in cleaning their “sponge on a stick.” Accordingly,they would have enough room to fit their arm into the opening. I would more thanlikely be the person to wash my stick as the second the person to my left dropsa barrel of waste causing it to get on my sponge…regardless, I hope you enjoyedthe answer, and even I learned something new by everyone’s kindness andconsideration to share. Q6 What is cheap when you're poor andexpensive when you're rich? A6 Srinath Nalluri, M.Sc, B. Eng inMechanical Engineering & Minor (Technopreneurship), National University ofSingapore (Graduated 2020)Sep 25 Many might be awareof this building? Do you know how many stay here?(Alitalia- Mukesh Ambani’s big residential tower) Eight members. Do you know howmany work here? Over 600 people like cooks, watchmen, cleaners, bodyguards,gardeners, housemaids, and personal assistants. So what is cheapwhen you are poor and luxury when you are rich is privacy. It becomesincreasingly difficult to have a close conversation with your children or wifeor usual family moments in hall, lawn or kitchen. It is hard to be yourself. The driver knows everything you talk over phone or everyissue you discuss with the person next to you in the car,the cook knows if you and your wife are not talking or having a bad day, the maid knows all your familyissues or the cleaner knows if your son is drinking or smoking or having anaffair. If you are super rich, youeven have to worry about bugs or hidden cameras in your rooms every single night. The White Tiger byAravind Adiga cleverly exploits this issue by narrating the story from thepoint of view of a driver who ends up collecting lots and lots of details aboutthe professional and personal life of his boss merely by observing and listeningto his conversations. Recently, in anattempt to stay competitive and get more subscribers and views, local youtube channels inTelugu started interviewing old cooks, drivers, make-up men orpersonal assistants of famous actors who have retired or passed away. Thevolume of information they shared about their employee or his family and healthissues looks very scary. Filmmaker Ram GopalVarma, when he wanted to do a film on NTR’s second marriage and the surroundingcontroversial family issues, too began his groundwork by interviewing thethen-workers in his house[1] Footnotes[1]RGV tointerrogate NTR's drivers, servants - News - IndiaGlitz.com Q7 How can wild animals walk barefootedin the jungle and not get hurt by spiky plants, roots and thorns and gettetanus? A7 Omi, Knows Nepali Jan 3 Wild animals have evolved a variety of adaptations thatallow them to walk barefooted in the jungle without getting hurt by spikyplants, roots, and thorns. For example, many animals have tough, thickskin on the soles of their feet that helps to protect them fromsharp objects. They may also have tough pads on their feet that provideadditional cushioning. In addition, wild animals are typically very agile andare able to carefully navigate through their environment,avoiding sharp objects and dangerous plants. They are also able to quicklyrespond to any injuries they do sustain, using their own natural healingprocesses to repair any damage. As for tetanus, this is an infection caused by thebacterium Clostridium tetani. It can be found in soil, dust, and feces and canenter the body through cuts or wounds. While wild animals canpotentially contract tetanus, their immune systems are often able to fight offthe infection. In addition, some wild animals may be naturally resistantto tetanus due to their genetics. Overall, while wild animals can certainly sustain injurieswhile walking barefooted in the jungle, they have avariety of adaptations and natural defenses that help to protect them fromharm. Q8 If a conductor is broken, can anelectrical current flow from one end to another end without any resistance(open circuit)? A8 Gopala Krishnan, Former AssistantGeneral Manager 1996-2004 at Department of Telecom (1966–2004)Just now It depends onthe air gap between broken wires and voltage and ampere of the current.If the air gap is even a centimeter, if the voltage and current are high, thereis 100% possibility of current flowing. Even under the high power tower lines, power inductionhappens even at a gap of 2–3 feet. On those daysthe telegraph man if wire was broken, made wet his turban and connected the twowires to establish continuity, if he had no wire. Now there is no telegraphservice in India. Q9 Do British people eat cold foodeveryday? In China, cold food means poverty. You don’t give it to a guest. Theysay British salad is vegetables which are only washed before serving, and theyeat cold soup, cold bread, even cold fish for lunch. A9 Claire Jordan, Degree in biology andfolklore; programmer, shop owner, secretary on newspaper8h Generally speaking lunch tends to be cold, dinner tendsto be hot and breakfast is either hot or cold dependingon how much time you have. But a lot depends on the weather. In hot weather all meals maywell be cold, and in cold weather, all will be hot. Formal picnics(meals eaten outside in a country setting, or at a concert) and afternoon teaare both cold meals which have very high status and are associated with upperclass people. Picnics, and cold lunches generally, are often associated withlarge slabs of high quality meat, and afternoon tea with fancy sandwiches andluxury cakes. Because Britain and Ireland have incredibly fertile land whichproduces an abundance of high-quality meat, fruit and vegetables our cuisinetends to be simple and just to depend on the unmodified flavour of the basicingrediants. Q10 Are there any benefits of using a worklaptop for personal use in India? A10 Gopala Krishnan, Former AssistantGeneral Manager 1996-2004 at Department of Telecom (1966–2004)Just now When computers were very costly it was common for workingstaff to get mails, send mails etc in many offices in India.Only thing on emergency and not a regular practice and with out disturbingoffice jobs. On those days (2000’s) ordinary HP computer cost 80000–00 rupees. In-fact when Ipurchased own computer, many officer works were done at home and carried infloppies. Now computers areonly in LAN in offices. At one time Laptops were used in homes after computer. Nowadays most use note book orsmart phone at home. In 2005’s laptops were given to officers inTelecom department. Onthose days personal requirements were rare, if requires many would have usedoffice computer. Now eldergeneration like me ( 79 years) prefer laptop. Youngergeneration use smart phones or note book. All the above QA are from Quora website on 25-01- 2023. Quora answers need not be 100% correct answers . Compiled and posted by R. Gopala krishnan on 26-01-2023 -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Thatha_Patty" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/thatha_patty/1729954486.1322982.1674700913665%40mail.yahoo.com.
