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The Girl on the Car Window

Rahul Sengupta November 18, 2006

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listing 1-16   1 2

#17 Posted by bjkumar on November 26, 2006 6:05:28 am

#16
[wot solution are u suggesting?...its ok man.]

It’s not okay
Not on this day
He must have a solution
And his solution
Is all evolution
Perhaps another revolution
Sing red, red, red
All the way to bed!
Then all the way
To an M.B.A.
And shovel in that money
So he and his honey
Can stay on the inside
Of that glass window wide
He needs to go far, far
In his air-conditioned car
So, from HER he can hide
And SHE can watch HIS ride
It may be such a cliché
But for him, it shall forever stay touché



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#16 Posted by rogues on November 24, 2006 4:01:16 pm
such a cliche
both the topic as well as the writing, wot solution are u suggesting?
that the rich give away their money to the poor ?
u thing that will bridge the divide?
no, that will just create a new divide?
its ok man, there is poverty and misery and it cannot be removed, not in its entirety.
its sad but its true.
move on.
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#15 Posted by rzinni on November 21, 2006 7:36:22 pm
While there are genuine beggars, there is also a thriving beggar business. There are people who drop off these professionals at intersections in tempos and pick them up in the evening. Even worse, they deliberately maim the beggars, especially children since the horrifying scars make it easier for you to dip into your pocket for that spare change. Caveat Emptor.
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#14 Posted by rzinni on November 21, 2006 7:29:10 pm
RE: #10 Kedarnathji

I think you would agree that India has squandered a couple of decades trying to test out whether pithy slogans like ``garibi hatao`` or ``twenty point program`` etc. would work, especially when I see what 15 years of liberalization has wrought in India. And you have too rosy a view of govt. schools. Most of them have been taken over by the local goonda turned politician who siphons off resources meant for the school, which is why attendance is poor. As an example, when my nephew volunteered to refurbish the local dilapidated govt. school where children from a local orphanage he is sponsoring study, he was politely told not to do so or suffer the consequences.

It is indeed true that the Indian govt. is collecting record amount of taxes. The tax coffers are indeed overflowing, thanks to Chidambaram`s and his predecessors` progressive tax policies. Evasion is no doubt there but it is becoming more and more difficult. One of the main reasons for evasion is having to deal with the local corrupt Income Tax official. If you are a businessman and pay taxes, it is the same refrain in the IT office: you must have done it through dishonest means and they harass the hell out of you. If govt. transparency increases, I will bet that more people will pay their fair share to avoid all the hassles.
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#13 Posted by shobig_sifar on November 21, 2006 7:59:34 am
``He turned that way, with squinted eyes focusing hard he saw, against the glass window was the face of a little girl, with her nose pressed hard against the glass pane and saying something``

since a picture is worth a thousand words:

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#12 Posted by bjkumar on November 21, 2006 5:37:56 am

#11 Fahadist

Ama yaar, nobody is denying there is poverty and misery all around us and perhaps inside us. India is a thirld world country, after all. But it is truly sickening to see politicians, lawyers and other low-grade life forms and their wanna-be`s of the red variety take advantage of others` misery to try to pretend that they give a hoot. The morons only give lectures while enriching their own coffers and advancing their own agendas!

The ``story`` was perfectly fine with me until this moronic asinine idiot of an ``author`` added that wisecrack of a footnote. Then I turn to his author`s page and I find this character is on his way to an MBA.

Just the right prescription for helping the poor and the beggars of his dear little India, I am sure! Just like the reds have been doing ever since the Bolshevik revolution.

Communists chaley gaye - apnee aulaad chhoad gaye! And the aulaad keeps crapping all over the place.

The sonofabeach deserves all the ass-whipping he is getting here.

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#11 Posted by fahadist on November 21, 2006 2:52:44 am
The lack of empathy in the responses are pretty amazing. I am not an indian and I have feeling that given the Oh-we-Indians-are-so-great attitude most will just make it an anti paki response thread but the point is... if there are beggers and specially child beggers who did not chose this life style then irrespective of the financial progress of the country there is a problem which needs to be solved. and what I am reading in response is that the people have done enough and don`t bother us with the sorrow of those who didnt made it we are happy in our city and civics and whatever. I hope all of us have a heart which can feel.
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#10 Posted by kedarnathji on November 20, 2006 10:56:02 pm
I agree with the overall gist of the responses. It is ridiculous to blame the liberalization of the economic policies for the poverty in India. The Indian subcontinent inherited a large poor population went it became independent in 1947 and if somebody truly went thru all the data and calculated what percentage of population got uplifted during the socialist era they would be in for a rude shock that despite all the claims by the leftists the social development was not as much as it claimed.

As the saying goes:

The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal distribution of wealth. The inherent vice of socialism is the equitable distribution of poverty.

Ahmed Madani made an excellent post with the gist of his post that ``you give a man fish to eat and you have fed him for a day. You teach him how to fish and you will taught him to feed himself for a long time``.

Going ahead with Ahmed`s post, I can bet you my life savings had Mr. Mukherjee took the beggar girl to her home and met her parents he would have found a typical subcontinental beggar family. Nothing to eat themselves but have produced a litter of kids. Sorry folks but am not going to mince words with this irresponsibility.

As to RZinni`s post where he/she blames the government for the plight of beggars I have to disagree. Yes, the Indian government is indeed incompetent, idiot and corrupt but you can`t blame it always and it has tried to do a few good things. Ultimately, people have to learn to help themselves. India is a nation with few resources and more people depending on hand-outs. Ultimately, the system will crack. The government of India has put up free schools for kids and in some places has even mid-day meal schemes. If parents instead prefer to send their kids to beg then it is the parents` fault and not the government`s.

Also RZinni you talk as if the Indian government coffers overflowing with tax revenues. A typical Indian mindset which asks why doesn`t the government do this, this and that, it is collecting so much in taxes. How many Indians do you think pay income taxes? I bet you not more than 10 million. Maximum 20 million out of a population of 1 billion. Tax Evasion is very high in India. Compare that to the likes of US, Canada, Japan, Europe and you will be surprised on the percentage of tax compliance and how much of their income people pay in taxes. Yes, Indian politiican might be populist with stupid schemes like Rozgar yojna but it is the people who have voted them in. Andher Nagari chaupat raja. If that`s what people that`s what they will get. Chandrababu Naidu was trying to make Andhra Pradesh becoming economic developed and no doubt it was a tough path but if Congress comes and promises free electricity for farmers and they vote Congress then why blame the politicians. If Andhraites had voted against each and every Congress candidate then the next politician would have been hesitatnt to play such a populist card.
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#9 Posted by ahmedmadani on November 20, 2006 10:24:17 pm
I am of opinion people should not help beggar specially children. I always give coins to handicapped people never to young people. But better system to to help yourself somebody who has financial problems but is hard working as he deserve. My daughter asked me to suggest how she can give money to good causes as she has dollars. I aked to send money to me and will deliver. I went to my old school and asked teacher show me hardworking student who will get benefit of money.
I feel it is not responsibility of me to help beggar but govt responsibility to avoid poverty. I pay taxes and I did my job.
Best thing is to catch parents og beggar and make them unproductive as they have already proved they can produce baby physically but can not be parent. The parents are necessarily not good who give birth to misery. Now if man and woman can support dozen children we can not object. But if my brother or uncle is irresponsible its not my duty to support his children . I object to govt programs as if I am not responsible for my stupid uncles or brothers govt has no right to pick pocket and distribute money to poor ``Ghareebs`` of land.
I do not like attitude of article to make feel successful he is responsible for others miseries.
I am opposed to helping and subsidise for poor as then you are subsidizing povery. You subsidise iresponsibility you get more, subsidise poverty you get more.
After all this govt takes money and decides then I will like money to be given directly to people as even beggar knows what will be most good to him.
We have antiamerican DNA its natural as American govt is stupid gives money to GOP and nothing gets in return but animosity. People even do not feel USA helped. While in last 10 years USA helpede by over 3 billion dollars. If american govt send directly money by check to every body Pakistan people will be proamerican and praise Bush. That is 20 dollars per person, poor has normally 8 members so 160 doolarsx60=9600 rs/ family.
I am opposed to subsidise poverty and irresponsible behavior, but govt decides to spend money then send directly let poor decide how to send. This type of stories are nothing but intelluctual foolishness of educated and also cruel hoax.
Good day.
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#8 Posted by rzinni on November 19, 2006 7:08:36 pm
#7 Simon Templar writes

The most often applied is the mantra of exchanging
places with the real victim: ``We are paying taxes through
our nose, to support the lifestyle of these lazy beggers``

I agree with this on this but the fundamental problem with India (can`t speak for the other countries of the sub-continent) is a totally unresponsive goverment which places the entire blame on the business class for all the problems of society. Even today, the mindset is that if someone has earned money in business, then he or she must have done it by dishonest means. The fountainhead of this theory, not surprisingly, is the commie dominated West Bengal and Kerala.

Indian tax collections are indeed rising by leaps and bounds but a significant amount of this money is frittered away on inefficient subsidies and entitlement programs. I need not point any further than at the rural employment guarantee program (a black hole with zero accountability) for which a whopping 40000 crores (about $8 billion) has been earmarked.

One other note. Unlike banana republics where there are only two classes: those that own the banana plantations and those who pick the bananas, the jobs that are created in India in the IT, BPO space are good and decent opportunities for a wide variety of job-skills, from unskilled to entrepreneurial. So the IT/BPO business have done their fair share of job creation.

Coming back to this article, I think it is an apt reflection of the state of discourse in India: intelligent but devoid of intellect.
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#7 Posted by Simon_Templar on November 19, 2006 4:53:29 pm
The blessed well-off have to adopt the Republican mindset
to get through the guilt of their wasteful spending while
people are dying on the streets from cold, hunger and
disease. The most often applied is the mantra of exchanging
places with the real victim: ``We are paying taxes through
our nose, to support the lifestyle of these lazy beggers``.


This snapshot can be applied, though in varying degrees of
division, to any metropolitan city in the world today. The
Sub-Continent however, presents the most stark contrast.

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#6 Posted by rzinni on November 19, 2006 7:58:11 am
``˜Indeed’, thought Mr. Mukherjee how India has progressed in the last 10 years. Everything seems to have changed and that to for the better. The road he was traveling on, is an extension of the National highway and could easily fit into any of the Hollywood flicks, so beautiful and well maintained it was. The office he worked in, the Indian headquarters of an IT multinational, was all glass and steel and the residential complex he lived in, complete with swimming pool and tennis courts; things almost unimaginable in India even a few years back.``

Have you ever thought of the amount of employment that Mr. Mukherjee has provided. How many people were employed in the construction of the National Highway? How many people were employed by the companies that provided the steel, cement, tar, engineering services for the Highway. How many were employed in the construction of the headquarters as well as Mr. Mukherjee`s residential complex. How many are employed in providing services like gardening, catering, supplies etc. to his office? The employment would have been over the full spectrum of talent, ranging from managerial to technical to vocational as well as unskilled.

If anyone should have been touched by the plight of the beggar and done something about it, it is the wretched govt. which collects taxes from Mr. Mukherjee at rates on par with the first world but, when it comes to services for which those taxes are collected, it goes awol.

If you have any journalistic morality, you would have trained your gun on the political class which has become a parasite on the body politic for the dismal state of affairs at the governmental level.
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#5 Posted by Ranjit on November 19, 2006 3:06:21 am
Re:sanatani#4

[..BUT THROW BENGAL AND BENGALIS OUT OF THE UNION. ...]

Amen!! Just the other day, I was reading that the idiots in Calcutta are starting a union for BPO employees. A frikking union of all things!! Can you imagine? Here is an industry that is providing employment to huge numbers of otherwise unemployed people and giving India an advantage in the global economy. And what do Bongs come up with? An union so that this industry would die and go to some other country.

The miserable bongs should be reunited with Bangaldesh. What a drag on India.
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#4 Posted by Sanatani on November 18, 2006 11:19:02 pm
BJ Bhai and Hari Bhaiyya,

Tum sab M***ch&&&d ho. Aise achhe insaan ka KRITICISM

BTW India was a paradise under the Nehru Gandhi`s Sada Jeevan ucch vichar yeh BJP ke baniyon ne kya kar deya.

You ought to be ashamed of yourself of calling names to Rahul ji (Everyone whose name is Rahul should be called Rahulji since the new Avatar/Messiah/Prophet is of the same name except Rahul Bajaj who is a capitalist pig. Incidentally Rahul Bajaj`s son is Rajivji Bajaj he is Rajivji because he is named after a previous Avatar/Messiah/Prophet and the fact that Rahul publicly opposed his son taking benefits from Uttaranchal govt to establish plant and call SEZ a land scam which Rajivji did not agree with).

Also that girl is begging because of India`s capitalist policies and Amrican Imperialism and Zionism as practiced by Israel. Also India`s vote against Iran in UNO, lack of wholehearted appreciation of Illegal Bangladeshi immigrants coming to India, trying to label Pakistan a terrorist state, discriminating against Chinese companies, Hanging Afzal terrorist (oops I meant Mujahid) killing of Graham Staines, exploding of Nuclear bomb, Hanging of Saddam Hussein, rejection of Marxism by other states are the other reasons.

Long live Marx, Rahul jis` of All names except with surname Bajaj, long live Sitaram Yechury and Parkash Karat. Long live Mujahids and Ghazis.

Harkishan Singh Surjit for President.

Sanatani

P.S. I hate to say this since Dr Shyama Prasad Mukherjee was one BUT THROW BENGAL AND BENGALIS OUT OF THE UNION.

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#3 Posted by bjkumar on November 18, 2006 8:49:35 pm

#2 Harimau

Dad mau, go easy on the young man here! He is genuinely concerned about beggars. After he completes his MBA he will start taking care of this problem right away.

He will work tirelessly until there are no more beggars left in the world. He will give up all his material possessions, and his material luxuries, and everything material about himself till there is no more beggary left in the world - or at least in India - or at least West Bengal - or at least in his neighborhood - or at least in his home. In fact, you can be absolutely sure he will take care of at least the latter!!

You think he expects to grow his paycheck economically............Really?!!!

He assures you he will simply not stop working to improve the lot of the beggars!

And so he promises to write not just this one write-up - but a whole book on the topic!!

Yeah!

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#2 Posted by harimau on November 18, 2006 8:24:46 pm
Another piece of crap. I took a second look at the author`s name and of course it`s one of those all-talk-and-no-action Bengali. What do you think it was like when India produced 35,000 Ambassadors and 15,000 Premier Padminis a year? Do you think everyone was well-fed, clothed and had a roof over his head?

But now that a million cars are made and sold in India a year (no thanks to pseudo-secular Congresswallahs), here is an idiot asking if India was growing economically.

Why doesn`t the author move to Cuba and be happy?

PS. Rahul Sengupta? Rahul? Where the fcuk did your parents get that non-Bengali name? Or did you change your first name to that of that mongrel greatgrandson of Nehru?
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listing 1-16   1 2

Interact Index

    #17 bjkumar
    #16 rogues
    #15 rzinni
    #14 rzinni
    #13 shobig_sifar
    #12 bjkumar
    #11 fahadist
    #10 kedarnathji
    #9 ahmedmadani
    #8 rzinni
    #7 Simon_Templar
    #6 rzinni
    #5 Ranjit
    #4 Sanatani
    #3 bjkumar
    #2 harimau
    #1 IamNadia

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