Cynical Ruminations

Food price inflation is raging across the world. Prices of most food products - especially staple food grains are at a record high. And it is not clear when they would soften as the causes are multiple and multifarious.

The proximate 'cause' is the clear mismatch between supply and demand. Higher demand for food faced with limited supply. On the face of it this looks rather strange - world population has been growing steadily for several decades now, so a steady rise in food prices commensurate with the increase in number of mouths to feed should be expected, but not the sudden jump in prices witnessed over last year – prices of staples such as rice and wheat have almost doubled over fiscal year March 2007 to April 2008. Does this mean that people have suddenly started eating more?

Recent remarks by Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice followed suit by President George W Bush seem to nail the blame on China and India – we have started eating more & better leading to rise in food prices. Of course, this has resulted in predictably angry statements from a section of the Indian press and political establishment. Food consumption – both in absolute as well as per capita terms – in India and China is far lower than in the United States and Europe. Per capita food consumption in the US is over 5 times that of India AND food consumption in the US has grown over the last 5 years while it has remained static in India. Moreover, India is broadly self-sufficient in food mostly consuming what we grow – so it is unlikely that India is contributing very significantly to food inflation.

Another reason proffered is increased meat consumption in developing countries – since meat requires a lot of grain to produce by way of feed, it fuels food inflation. This is probably a factor yes, but I am not sure how significant it is. Moreover, India remains a predominantly vegetarian country for religious reasons, so an increase in wealth will probably not lead to a commensurate increase in meat consumption – present meat consumption statistics bear this out ; meat consumption in India is very low compared to the US and EU and even compared tom China.

My contention would be that significant diversion of food grains to bio-fuel production – distorted by means of government subsidies is a bigger contributing factor. For one, the marginal increase in food consumption on account of economic growth in India and China – that is, the increased consumption over and above the consumption that would have been evident in the absence of high growth – is much smaller than the quantity of food grains diverted for bio fuel production. This diversion is far greater in the US than in the EU (which produces a very high portion of electricity through nuclear power and which has aggressive fuel efficiency norms as well as disincentives to private vehicle usage coupled with well developed railway network). It is high time the world invests in research to develop bio-fuels from non-food crops.

On a related note – this, in my view is probably the strongest argument for vegetarianism. Meat consumption is wasteful. The feed to meat conversion rate – weight for weight is 2.6 times for chicken, 6.5 times for pork and 7.0 times for beef (per USDA statistics). A kilogram of beef that is NOT produced would ‘free up’ 7 kilograms of food grain for human consumption, (as well as save on the other economic costs of animal husbandry).

. . . opened. It was red and wrathful. It seemed to pulse and smoulder and emanate intense heat. And Cupid, from whose bow the dart of desire had been shot, was scorched. A tiny smouldering pile of ashes was all that remained. The attempt to seduce the austere Auspicious One failed miserably.

. . . on Dhuleti morning is awful. But ever since I left college (way back in 1998) I haven't played Holi. How dull . . .

In keeping with the hallowed blogging tradition of logging trivial incidents that afflict our daily lives . . .

It ate up two hours of what should have been a relaxed Saturday post-lunch siesta, this most mundane of tasks. It was about 2:00 PM-ish; we had just finished a rather nice lunch, and I was digging out floor-spreads for our guests to take their afternoon naps when I heard calls of distress from Ms. K, domestic-help (kām-wāli-bāi) with the household for the last 20 odd years. "Kapil, come quick, look what's happened!"

Stepping into the kitchen, I saw her staring aghast at the sink where she was washing utensils. The tap was pouring water and the stopper-knob was clean out of the tap and in her hand like a laddoo. Taking it from her I tried to stopper the tap shut; but it wouldn't work. SO I went over and closed off the water-mains for the apartment and took the stopper to investigate. Dad and my cousin, who's visiting this weekend (no not Ashu, another cousin, a far less volatile one), came over to peer at the stopper. It was a cast-iron cup stopper with a decorative steel capping, that housed the brass screw mechanism that controls the flow of water when fit into the neck of the tap. The mechanism essentially has two concentric screws. The inner longer shaft for affixing the stopper into the tap, and two shorter annular screws that slid onto the unthreaded portion of the inner shaft and held the thermosetting moulded plastic gasket washer in between them. It was this assembly of annular ring-screws and washer that regulates the water flow when the stopper is turned.

As it turned out, the washer was badly worn. As a result when the stopper was turned, the annular screw shafts would exert compressive load on the washer causing it to twist and snap the annular rings into eccentric positions making the stopper ineffective. The misalignment of the mechanism had made the stopper come loose and fall off the neck of the tap.

Now, the trick that these tap manufacturers play on us consumers is that they use non-standard components. So hapless consumers like us have to cough up money and buy a new tap-assembly for minor problems like a worn-out washer gasket! I was unable to buy a suitable washer-gasket at any of the nearby hardware stores!!! It was a galling prospect to pay a few hundred rupees for a new tap-assembly just because a regular washer-gasket (which costs just a few rupees) could not be used!! Robbery in broad daylight! This situation also helps plumbers charge more for their services as they have to cut and file regular washer-gaskets to make them fit - which often is a temporary solution only.

Anyway, for now, I have managed to put off having to purchase a new tap-assembly, by means of the simple expedient of replacing the work out washer-gasket with the plastic stopper of a medicine bottle that happened to be of similar size. The tap now works decently and I no longer have to keep the water-mains for the apartment turned off. And now some pre-historic part of my brain is giving me a 'sense-of-achievement' for having fixed the tap.

. . . is the time to 'assuage tiredness'. That phrase is the family lingo meaning 'consuming moderate amounts of alcoholic beverages to unwind after week-long hard work'. Actually, the euphemism was 'invented' by yours truly, a few months ago, in conversation with pop-in-law. It was then rapidly adopted by the trio of pop-in-law, pop et moi. But the rest of the family soon caught on.

When the beverage in question is not Scotch, sis sometimes joins in. It is good to sit with the family in the 'hall', sipping cool drinks and chit-chatting while the idiot box blares benignly in the back-ground.

So, I do most of my 'drinking' at home with my family, instead of at pubs, bars and hotels with friends and colleagues - which most of my friends and colleagues find a bit surprising. Perhaps it is tad surprising. In pre-dominantly Hindu India, 'drinking' and 'eating meat' have associations of being 'sinful' or unclean habits. When I was at college, most kids drank alcoholic beverages on the sly with friends outside without knowledge of their parents - as if it was something that needed to be concealed. I suppose this fits a world-wide pattern; consumption of alcohol by quantity (not by volume) is very high (highest if I remember correctly) amongst young males in the 18 to 25 year age group. However since the legal age for alcohol consumption in many countries is 21 years, a whole lot of people in the age-group mentioned would need to conceal either their age, or the fact that they consume alcohol, or both. I would however suppose that many countries would also allow some consumption of alcohol at younger ages under 'parental supervision' - though I am not sure if this is codified in the law; at least have never come across instances of legal action being initiated against parents for allowing their wards to consume alcohol; unless it was accompanied by other more drastic forms of substance abuse or other illegal activities.

I suppose at some levels, the very 'thrill' of consuming alcohol when one is 'not supposed to' makes it very appealing. Also the fact that it tends to be some sort of a rite of passage initiating the 'young-adult' into adulthood. And the competitive mindset around bragging about ones daring in consuming alcohol at an early age, coupled with the pride many seem to take in being able to consume large quantities of alcohol without getting inebriated
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I just realised that I never wrote a proper entry on the day I spent 'touristing' around London with Chris the 'topher. Pics of the day are on facebook.

In any case, it was a fun day. Chris is a nice guy in real life too, a pity he's fled off-line for personal reasons.

So, I started the day by walking down to Blackfrairs underground station - which is the nearest to the hotel I was staying in - and bought a 'one day travel card for zones one and two', which basically lets you make unlimited trips on the underground and London's Big Red buses. That taken care of, I set out to 'Victoria', our rendezvous spot was next to the 'indicators'. But as luck would have it , I went and stood beneath the wrong indicator and poor 'topher had to call me to locate where I was. Uncannily, both the sets of indicators had near identical shops around them, so it took us a while to figure out that we were at opposite ends of the station!! But finally, we found each other.

Now, Chris is rather small for a Breton, I must say; but then I suppose he is young enough to grow some more in the next few years. Anyway, since neither of us had had any breakfast, we grabbed a 'Cornish pasty' each from a nearby stall. Hunger assuaged we set out to take a good look at London. First we walked up to the Big Ben and the Westminster. It was a nice and sunny, albeit COLD February morning - so I got some good pics of Big Ben, Westminster, Boadicea and 'topher. We walked along the Thames for a bit, talking about things, life, London, culture etc, etc. Neither of us had too much trouble understanding each other's accents actually, which was good.

After wandering and getting lost a bit, we hopped onto a big red bus and went over to see the Tower of London. We considered buying tickets to see the Tower monuments and museum, but the queue was just too long. So we just circumambulated the Tower and walked across the Tower Bridge, taking pics as we walked along.

Next, we took the 'tube' to a very interesting place called 'Camden Market'. I think I will leave it to 'topher to describe the place. Suffice it to say that it was full of tattooed, pierced, purple Mohawk haired, shrieking freaks. But I got to see one of the old London 'canals' and the 'locks' that were the staple mode of transport prior to the railroad.

Thence to the new improved St. Pancras International for a late lunch. Lunch consisted of some Tuna salad; a nice mixture of leaves and slices of tuna. (Thankfully, I am adventurous about food, so . . .). Our bellies full, we set out to say hello to dear old lizzie. She wasn't at home though; as we surmised from seeing the staid old London bobby at the gate instead of the hedge-hog headed red-coats, so we couldn't go in for some tea and scones as we intended to. ;-)

Anyway, took lots of pics of her house and the monuments around it. Most disappointingly, it was sun-down by 5.00 PM, so we couldn't go hunting for the Hyde Park corner wherefrom I would have loved to harangue a crowd in absentia. So we hopped on to the tube again.

Just before Victoria, 'topher and I very cordially shook hands, as proper Englishmen should, and went our own ways. 'topher back to the 'burbs where he lives, and me back to the hotel to collect my luggage and cab off to Heathrow.

Funny, that doesn't seem like a lot of 'sight seeing' actually - but it took up the whole day! Of course, we were wandering about rather unhurriedly, talking incessantly, so it was not as if we were in a haste to cover as many tourist spots as possible. All in all, it was a most enjoyable day for me. I hope 'topher didn't find it too dull, spending the day listening to a weird old Indian dude. Even if he did, he is too polite to ever admit it.

I have come to the conclusion that I am not a voracious reader any more. The adage 'everything printed is of interest' does NOT apply to me as I had once started believing. I have strong opinions on a lot that is printed - I believe it is trash. My reading is limited to a few areas of interest - popular science - especially evolutionary biology, finance & economics - naturally, it is my profession, history - my childhood favourite, and a miscellaneous bunch of topics which can be loosely called 'liberal studies' - such as philosophy, religion and concomitant dabblings in such areas as philosophy, anthropology, 'women's studies', et al. I avoid fiction as if it were the plague - though I have in my school days devoured the classics. I detest Shakespeare. English poetry is an untouchable. Though, I can listen to and enjoy ghazals and bhavgeets, if they are competently composed and sung; but that is a digression. All in all, I tend to be a very discriminating reader.

I was not always so discriminating, in my student days, and early career, I used to buy and read books on a much wider range of topics. I used to return from book-sales with bags-full of books on a whole lot of topics. But for the last 3-4 years, I have realised something which was mentioned to me by a certain Economics professor a few years earlier - our time and mind-space are very precious commodities. Hence, we need to be very carefully selective in deciding to invest them. Now I know some people who are extremely upset at the idea of thinking about time and mind-space in terms of investibles. But I couldn't disagree with them more. Our choices of allocation of time and mind-space are crucial determinants of the temporal evolution (perhaps I should say temporal progression) of our human capital.

I do regret having wasted a lot of these commodities on worthless objects and activities in the past; which makes me want to be all the more careful about expending them from now on. This line of reasoning has made me very selective about my reading choices, and also rather brusquely exclusive of the reading material which I determine against investing in. There was at least one occasion in the not so distant past when this refusal to invest has angered someone who till them thought of me as a fellow 'voracious reader'.

However, my choice of reading material has had another impact on my reading habits - it has effectively rendered me incapable of reading fast. Most of the material I now choose to read or acquire for the purpose of reference, cannot and should not be read end to end like a story. It is very demanding in terms of mind-force, in addition to of time and mind-space, to cogitate about it. It would be a waste to rush through reading it - I need to read a paragraph, then pause and think about it, muse over how it relates to what I have read, experienced or known before - in effect ruminate it critically, before moving on to the next paragraph. This makes me a very slow reader. But it is an efficacious and very appropriate method for reading carefully chosen reading material.

In this context, I think it is an appropriate maturing of reading habits. In my student days and early career, the goal of reading was to absorb new information in large quantities. Now the emphasis, has changed with age. Reading now is a prelude and part of thinking, analysing, adapting and adopting ideas. Like an ungulate, in my youth I gorged on the green grass of words and stuffed my belly, now I need to sit and ruminate.

I am lazy. SO instead of buying and eating fruits for my nutritional supply of vitamins and minerals, I buy and drink packaged fruit juices. And to further feel good and 'eat green', I buy pure juices without sugar and preservatives and 'health' juices such as carrot, beet-root and spinach juices mixed with apple and orange juices for taste.

Anyway, so yesterday I bought a bunch of these tetra-packs. As I tried to stove them neatly in my refrigerator, I noticed there was no room! Upon investigation, I discovered that we were refrigerating many articles of food! I was surprised to see a glass bottle containing what looked like a greenish mouldy pulp. Peering at the label revealed that it was 'Figaro's Extra-Virgin Olive Oil'. What on earth do we need to refrigerate olive oil for!! From the looks of it the Extra-Virgin oil had taken on the appearance, when frozen, of an extra-slutty olive oil! Ughhhh. I dunno if I will ever be able to toss that into my pasta and eat it again.

And not just olive oil, powdered peanuts, corn flour, chilli powder, numerous packets of spice mixes, some weird dry herbs, cocoa, and a myriad other food-stuffs, which have perfectly long shelf-lives if stored properly in dry, air-tight, jars, were indiscriminately dumped into the refrigerator!! I doubt if there is any other household on this planet that refrigerates chilli-powder!!! No wonder our refrigerator never has 'enough room'! At this rate they will some day start refrigerating wheat and popadams!!!

And when I ranted about it, all I got was indifferent stares from wifey and sister and a curt advice to "just put that juice pack which you want to drink now in there, put the rest on this shelf over here".

Damn. If this was at work, I'd have drafted a 'refrigeration policy', gotten it approved by the committee and prevented the refrigeration of food-stuffs that do not need to be frozen to keep good!!! *Sigh*, in the circumstances it might be easier to buy a mini-fridge or an ice-box to store my health-fruit juices.