BBC NEWS | South Asia | The amazing DIY village FM radio station
I love this story. The guy shows skill, pluck and is delivering something of real value to the people who are at the best on the fringes of the government radar screen. I can bet the government will shut him down for "illegal" activities.
Kerala, they say is a great state with high literacy and health statistics that match that of developed nations.
But, the folks there suffer from perpetual delution. This is especially true with the government. Recently, the government of Kerala decided to launch a low cost airline to help its citizens who provide for the only infrastructure development in the state - creating palatial homes and new places of worship. Apparently, these poor souls were finding the fares from "gelf" were on the high side. This when there are a number of low cost carriers starting to come in the Indian and Gulf markets and the Indian domestic carriers beginning to fly international routes.
Now, this is the same state where successive governments have n't been able to run the state road transportation system properly. And, of late have had difficulties paying salaries to its employees and indulged in redirection of funds marked for tsunami relief for other activities. So, in all sense the government is bankrupt. But, hey don't let financial bankruptcy bankrupt you of ideas.
Of course, the airline idea never took off the ground because of a number of things including objections of the union minister of aviation.
But, if you do have any stupid ideas please feel free to share it with the government of kerala.
On a recent trip to India I was bombarded with questions on stuff about the US -
"What the hell is America doing in Iraq?" "Why on earth would anyone in their right mind elect GWBush - he is an idiot, see we have Dr. Manmohan Singh?" "I hear that they are doing away with Christmas altogether and calling it 'Holidays'?
Each time these questions are the first things these people ask. It made me wonder why they would be so concerned about the US when there are lot of items of interest right there in India.
My response to the questions - I skip the Iraq question. Partly because I have no clue what is happening there, partly because the Americans have no clue either but mostly because I think invading a country in the name of "exporting freedom and democarsy" smacks of arrogance and hypocrisy. As for the GWBush vs. Manhoman Singh I tell them right or wrong Americans elected Bush directly. It was not the wonderful process that our elected folks indulge in - the churning of the mythical ocean which turns up poison and the elixir. This time we got lucky. As for Bush vs. Kerry at least I know what Bush stands for.
Why can't desis discuss and more importantly **act** on things that affect them like corruption, bad governance etc...
Saw the dawn break from the window of a hospital. Sometimes "jet lag" has its blessings. It has been a while since I got up before the sun did.
Venus shone brightly against the pitch dark sky. And, slowly the outline of the ranges emerged. And, as the light of the morning star waned the dark mass of the hill close by became visible. Soon the trees on the hill picked the golden glow of the morning sun.
BTW, "Daybreak" by Beth Orton is good, too...
The desis are good at changing names of lackluster products in an effort to revitalize it. So, it comes as no surprise that the state run domestic airlines Indian Airlines will hence forth be called Indian. I can hear the cheers from the paint manufacturers and printers. They are expecting orders from the new Indian. But, to be fair Indian is not the first to do this and somehow I doubt if it would be the last.
Bombay became Mumbai, Madras became Chennai, Calicut became Kozhikode - All in the name of righting a wrong. Then, there were even more bizarre name changes – Victoria Terminus in Bombay became CST.
Indian just need to have looked at Air India and would have realized that the name change will not change the ground realities. Air India under Rajiv Gandhi changed its logo, upholstery etc… with much fanfare but they could not change the attitude of the service personnel and nothing much came off the effort. A few years later Air India went back to the old logo.
Now, how unique is the name Indian for an airline? On a recent trip via Mumbai I had my answer – not that unique. South Africa has South African and Ethiopia has Ethiopian. These are the two that I found on the tarmac in Mumbai.
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