Tuesday, November 06, 2018
Avoid ankle rankle- Some easy practices to prevent ankle woes
Here's a crossword clue as a bait: Ravichandran Ashwin, in his profession, comes across injury (6) (Answer at the end)
The unfortunate news is that I am suffering from the longest lasting sprain I've had in my life, one which has seen a good number of mostly non-major sports knocks and one major (ACL tear leading to surgery). It's been 3 weeks, and there's 2 more weeks to go, of crepe bandage wrapping and gingerly treading. My annual December sojourn with the Himalayas is 1.5 months away, and this ankle better get its act together by then.
Based on this Here are some things which should be done to avoid these injuries:
1. Warm up: Everyone knows but many miss it, either occasionally, or often. Especially focus on joints which will get heavily worked in the forthcoming activity- be it shoulder while bowling, or ankle while running/playing football/bowling. This is especially true when playing in the mornings, or when it's cold. I did not sufficiently warm up.
2. Play within yourself if you are playing after a long time: I was playing Baddy after 6 months, and I took on against NR who plays well at a friendly neighborhood rented badminton court. I tried to pick up every single shuttle sent my way. The critical juncture was an occasion when he sent one all the way back, and the return to my non-exemplary mid-court return was the inevitable drop. As I scampered somewhat clumsily towards the net to retrieve, the ankle gave. Well- how about giving up when I saw the drop shot from NR when I was all the way back, with the realization that I was not in a state, on that day, to get there?
3. Be a Federer not a Nadal. If your game is relying more on reach- "I will get to wherever you put it mate- I will move like Flash within the rectangle- bring it on!"- then you are better off easing off this approach if you are playing after a long hiatus. Be more like Federer- try to win by placing it right, and staying in the middle of the court, rather than adopting a Nadal-esque strategy.
4. Watch for the numb foot: My ankle weakness originated last year. I was sitting at work, having tapped away at the 'board and taken a few calls- unmoved for a couple of hours. Suddenly, summons came in to go the next door room, and I got up in a tremendous rush. However, the left foot by now was completely numb, and it completely gave way and there was an almighty fall and an ankle sprain which lasted a week or so.
Answer to crossword clue: Sprain (RA is Ravichandran Ashwin, spin is his profession)
The unfortunate news is that I am suffering from the longest lasting sprain I've had in my life, one which has seen a good number of mostly non-major sports knocks and one major (ACL tear leading to surgery). It's been 3 weeks, and there's 2 more weeks to go, of crepe bandage wrapping and gingerly treading. My annual December sojourn with the Himalayas is 1.5 months away, and this ankle better get its act together by then.
Based on this Here are some things which should be done to avoid these injuries:
1. Warm up: Everyone knows but many miss it, either occasionally, or often. Especially focus on joints which will get heavily worked in the forthcoming activity- be it shoulder while bowling, or ankle while running/playing football/bowling. This is especially true when playing in the mornings, or when it's cold. I did not sufficiently warm up.
2. Play within yourself if you are playing after a long time: I was playing Baddy after 6 months, and I took on against NR who plays well at a friendly neighborhood rented badminton court. I tried to pick up every single shuttle sent my way. The critical juncture was an occasion when he sent one all the way back, and the return to my non-exemplary mid-court return was the inevitable drop. As I scampered somewhat clumsily towards the net to retrieve, the ankle gave. Well- how about giving up when I saw the drop shot from NR when I was all the way back, with the realization that I was not in a state, on that day, to get there?
3. Be a Federer not a Nadal. If your game is relying more on reach- "I will get to wherever you put it mate- I will move like Flash within the rectangle- bring it on!"- then you are better off easing off this approach if you are playing after a long hiatus. Be more like Federer- try to win by placing it right, and staying in the middle of the court, rather than adopting a Nadal-esque strategy.
4. Watch for the numb foot: My ankle weakness originated last year. I was sitting at work, having tapped away at the 'board and taken a few calls- unmoved for a couple of hours. Suddenly, summons came in to go the next door room, and I got up in a tremendous rush. However, the left foot by now was completely numb, and it completely gave way and there was an almighty fall and an ankle sprain which lasted a week or so.
3 weeks ago.... .....Today this is still on!
Answer to crossword clue: Sprain (RA is Ravichandran Ashwin, spin is his profession)
Labels: Esprit de sports
Sunday, November 04, 2018
Everybody Loves a Good Drought- an eye-opening investigative journey through Other India
Was in the hunt for the book after one of the Senior most Pardners at work recommended this as his 'one book I'd recommend' at an event. At the same event, another equally senior Pardner recommended 'Under the Tuscan sun'- can't think of 'country side' travelogue books which are more different from each other, than these two! However, I am going to read Under the Tuscan sun soon, perhaps during this same Diwali break.
A visit to FS's place led to sighting of this book in a crowded bookshelf, and thus ensued the most useful book lending transaction I've been the beneficiary of in recent times. I hope FS does not behave in the manner of one of the usurious, venal lenders described in the book, which might involve her demanding say 3 books in return from me, although it has been just a month since I borrowed.
Highly educative read about the Other India- a text book that should be dipped into repeatedly for every Indian. The book is organized into 4-5 large uber themes, such as the Harm caused by development projects, Water issues, Credit crunch and venal money lenders, and so on, and there are separate on-ground accounts under each uber theme by the erudite, intrepid and grounded Sainath. Admirable is the scale of his travels across the length and breadth of the Other India. He lets you into his Campervan (Swades style) as he takes you on a whirlwind tour through bastions of poor, rural India such as Palamau, Surguja, and Pudukkottai, introducing you to a kaleidoscope of characters, vocations, processes and events. The book is entirely set in ~5 of the poorest districts of India. Some themes from the book that persist with me strongly are laid out below in numbered paras.
Before getting to them, an aside- the phrase 'demographic disaster' which I bumped into in the papers last week, pops up in my head as I read through the book. Further, given AI soon completely replacing humans in 'physical' tasks, and the fact that humans are relevant only in a 'knowledge' economy, is concerning, given that many of the jobs described in the book involve purely physical contributions from humans - as an example, there's the story about how there are NO bullock carts in an entire district (Surguja) because humans are doing the lugging work and bullock carts would be competition with them. As automation grows by leaps and bounds, how long will humans in rural continue to do tasks which have been eclipsed by the 'domestic animal' wave and also the 'automation' wave? Will the hardened 'middle men' structure in rural India cause this yawning gap to prevail forever, between 'humans' of rural India and 'humans' of the automated 21st century world? I don't know. There is urgent need for 'reskilling' towards 'knowledge' worker domains, for the rural generation to break free.
Further, it is concerning that India's GINI coeffecient grows unabated- a reflection of some of the practices in the book. The poorest 60% of India owns 4.7% of India's wealth.
Now, back to the book and the numbered paras:
1. Salaries of ~10 Rs per day are the norm, across a range of exacting physical occupations which are covered in depth by Sainath. Examples: Palm jaggery, coal thieving and selling, bonded labor, what not.
2. Because people in rural live so close to the margin, they have very low risk appetite, and anyone with access to credit can exploit the situation. One bad monsoon, farmer needs to borrow, and with the 100+ % interest rate, boom- the family of the money lender is tied forever, and land grab/labor grab happens. Or, the owner of the water pump charges an exhorbitant fee for the hiring, tying the farmer into perpetual debt.
3. Middlemen have an iron grip over the institutions- credit, access to commodity markets, construction contracts, medicines (absent in Public centers/steal from public and seel for high cost in private practice), access to education (absentee teachers). Any noble intention from the top (say central govt. or an honest Collector) is completely distorted by the middlemen layer to their own benefit. Make roads where its not required, foist cows on to to adivasis who never even consume milk, impose "Jersey cow" into an area (that too, bought on loan!) where Jersey cows were unable to even survive. Middlemen have a vice like grip on the life of the end-recipient. So much that there is a term called 'theesri fasl' (third harvest)- after kharif and rabi, the third harvest is 'drought relief'- a huge and probably most important harvest for all the middle men.
4. Significant political considerations at play in allocation of funds. For example, for DPAP (Drought Prone areas Programme) - which blocks do be put under DPAP? Well, chew on this- LONAVALA is a DPAP block- average 407 CM of rainfall!
5. Plight of adivasis is sad- they are foragers, probably doing what Humans are inherently happiest doing (read: Sapiens) - but the modern institution completely exploits them due to their inability to organize themselves politically. By chipping away at forest land, their plight worsens.
6. Unequal costs of development borne by Adivasis and the poor- land is coldly usurped and only some ~20% of the people displaced by development projects in India have been compensated- shocking. Imagine someone comes and mows down your house into which you've invested lifetime savings- and you are not compensated. There is a village which has to be evacuated every other day because the army is practicing firing- Sainath makes a striking point when he says - will the navy do that to denizens of Malabar hill? Is one life more important than other- Malabar hill denizen vs. Adivasi.
7. Media has poor coverage of rural news. Front page coverage in newspapers to topics from rural was an abysmal 0.26%. The problem is that the urbania and corporates are the one with the money- rural India is not interesting enough and anyway, no point in exploring a corporate fraud in rural India- the media houses know who buys the ad columns. And forget about who buys, most of the media today is anyway corporate owned.
8. Sainath observes that Media explores 'events' in rural india, and not processes. A 'drought', a 'child labour run factory exposed' etc. However, what are the deep seated processses that enable this to happen? The reporting on that is hard, and not interesting, so it seldom happens. However, it is reporting and reading on such processes that is the need of the hour, for it can go to solve problems.
9. There are some fantastic back-of-envelope rural economy guesstimates in there- befitting a consulting firm case interview. Example- on planting of the Bamur tree. if Bamur tree is planted along the ridges of the farms, farmers can get 250 trees per hectare. If 70% of farmers in Kalahandi district were to adopt this practise, 2.1 lakh Ha would be utilized; that would be 5.2 Cr Bamur trees. These would be cut in rotation once in 6 years. each tree produces 5 quintals of wood and the market rate is 500 per quintal for trees that are 6 years ago. That promises earning of 375 Cr a year to the growers. If grown in entire Orissa, that would make around 4,000 Cr.
There are some developments since the writing of the book which give hope- Ayushman Bharat will ensure that there is money in the hands of the citizen, which enables PHCs to pull up their socks because even the rural citizen does have spending power. Pervasive, cheap internet may enable easier access to information and governance.
Some things which can be done despite being the usual urbanite busy bee; please add stuff in comments:
1. Follow news from rural India, even if it's an effort at the start. P Sainath recommends https://ruralindiaonline.org/ . He's set up with help from his buddies, and the body that runs it is completely independent of govt. and corporates- quite a welcome change from other large media houses of today, in India. Thanks to DG and AR for asking me to note this.
2. Make some friends from rural India- not sure how, and swap stories. Atleast when I go on my trek in December, I'm going to try and do this because we will be passing through villages.
3. Go on an 'agriculture' holiday which is 'non luxury'- like VP did all the way back in ~2010 (pls comment with exact details)
A visit to FS's place led to sighting of this book in a crowded bookshelf, and thus ensued the most useful book lending transaction I've been the beneficiary of in recent times. I hope FS does not behave in the manner of one of the usurious, venal lenders described in the book, which might involve her demanding say 3 books in return from me, although it has been just a month since I borrowed.
Highly educative read about the Other India- a text book that should be dipped into repeatedly for every Indian. The book is organized into 4-5 large uber themes, such as the Harm caused by development projects, Water issues, Credit crunch and venal money lenders, and so on, and there are separate on-ground accounts under each uber theme by the erudite, intrepid and grounded Sainath. Admirable is the scale of his travels across the length and breadth of the Other India. He lets you into his Campervan (Swades style) as he takes you on a whirlwind tour through bastions of poor, rural India such as Palamau, Surguja, and Pudukkottai, introducing you to a kaleidoscope of characters, vocations, processes and events. The book is entirely set in ~5 of the poorest districts of India. Some themes from the book that persist with me strongly are laid out below in numbered paras.
Before getting to them, an aside- the phrase 'demographic disaster' which I bumped into in the papers last week, pops up in my head as I read through the book. Further, given AI soon completely replacing humans in 'physical' tasks, and the fact that humans are relevant only in a 'knowledge' economy, is concerning, given that many of the jobs described in the book involve purely physical contributions from humans - as an example, there's the story about how there are NO bullock carts in an entire district (Surguja) because humans are doing the lugging work and bullock carts would be competition with them. As automation grows by leaps and bounds, how long will humans in rural continue to do tasks which have been eclipsed by the 'domestic animal' wave and also the 'automation' wave? Will the hardened 'middle men' structure in rural India cause this yawning gap to prevail forever, between 'humans' of rural India and 'humans' of the automated 21st century world? I don't know. There is urgent need for 'reskilling' towards 'knowledge' worker domains, for the rural generation to break free.
Further, it is concerning that India's GINI coeffecient grows unabated- a reflection of some of the practices in the book. The poorest 60% of India owns 4.7% of India's wealth.
Now, back to the book and the numbered paras:
1. Salaries of ~10 Rs per day are the norm, across a range of exacting physical occupations which are covered in depth by Sainath. Examples: Palm jaggery, coal thieving and selling, bonded labor, what not.
2. Because people in rural live so close to the margin, they have very low risk appetite, and anyone with access to credit can exploit the situation. One bad monsoon, farmer needs to borrow, and with the 100+ % interest rate, boom- the family of the money lender is tied forever, and land grab/labor grab happens. Or, the owner of the water pump charges an exhorbitant fee for the hiring, tying the farmer into perpetual debt.
3. Middlemen have an iron grip over the institutions- credit, access to commodity markets, construction contracts, medicines (absent in Public centers/steal from public and seel for high cost in private practice), access to education (absentee teachers). Any noble intention from the top (say central govt. or an honest Collector) is completely distorted by the middlemen layer to their own benefit. Make roads where its not required, foist cows on to to adivasis who never even consume milk, impose "Jersey cow" into an area (that too, bought on loan!) where Jersey cows were unable to even survive. Middlemen have a vice like grip on the life of the end-recipient. So much that there is a term called 'theesri fasl' (third harvest)- after kharif and rabi, the third harvest is 'drought relief'- a huge and probably most important harvest for all the middle men.
4. Significant political considerations at play in allocation of funds. For example, for DPAP (Drought Prone areas Programme) - which blocks do be put under DPAP? Well, chew on this- LONAVALA is a DPAP block- average 407 CM of rainfall!
5. Plight of adivasis is sad- they are foragers, probably doing what Humans are inherently happiest doing (read: Sapiens) - but the modern institution completely exploits them due to their inability to organize themselves politically. By chipping away at forest land, their plight worsens.
6. Unequal costs of development borne by Adivasis and the poor- land is coldly usurped and only some ~20% of the people displaced by development projects in India have been compensated- shocking. Imagine someone comes and mows down your house into which you've invested lifetime savings- and you are not compensated. There is a village which has to be evacuated every other day because the army is practicing firing- Sainath makes a striking point when he says - will the navy do that to denizens of Malabar hill? Is one life more important than other- Malabar hill denizen vs. Adivasi.
7. Media has poor coverage of rural news. Front page coverage in newspapers to topics from rural was an abysmal 0.26%. The problem is that the urbania and corporates are the one with the money- rural India is not interesting enough and anyway, no point in exploring a corporate fraud in rural India- the media houses know who buys the ad columns. And forget about who buys, most of the media today is anyway corporate owned.
8. Sainath observes that Media explores 'events' in rural india, and not processes. A 'drought', a 'child labour run factory exposed' etc. However, what are the deep seated processses that enable this to happen? The reporting on that is hard, and not interesting, so it seldom happens. However, it is reporting and reading on such processes that is the need of the hour, for it can go to solve problems.
9. There are some fantastic back-of-envelope rural economy guesstimates in there- befitting a consulting firm case interview. Example- on planting of the Bamur tree. if Bamur tree is planted along the ridges of the farms, farmers can get 250 trees per hectare. If 70% of farmers in Kalahandi district were to adopt this practise, 2.1 lakh Ha would be utilized; that would be 5.2 Cr Bamur trees. These would be cut in rotation once in 6 years. each tree produces 5 quintals of wood and the market rate is 500 per quintal for trees that are 6 years ago. That promises earning of 375 Cr a year to the growers. If grown in entire Orissa, that would make around 4,000 Cr.
There are some developments since the writing of the book which give hope- Ayushman Bharat will ensure that there is money in the hands of the citizen, which enables PHCs to pull up their socks because even the rural citizen does have spending power. Pervasive, cheap internet may enable easier access to information and governance.
Some things which can be done despite being the usual urbanite busy bee; please add stuff in comments:
1. Follow news from rural India, even if it's an effort at the start. P Sainath recommends https://ruralindiaonline.org/ . He's set up with help from his buddies, and the body that runs it is completely independent of govt. and corporates- quite a welcome change from other large media houses of today, in India. Thanks to DG and AR for asking me to note this.
2. Make some friends from rural India- not sure how, and swap stories. Atleast when I go on my trek in December, I'm going to try and do this because we will be passing through villages.
3. Go on an 'agriculture' holiday which is 'non luxury'- like VP did all the way back in ~2010 (pls comment with exact details)
Labels: Books
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