Low cost construction & housing ideas (first draft, needs refinements)

There are lot of talk on housing (check the background list)

Please watch this talk Life is easy. Why do we make it so hard? Jon Jand…: http://youtu.be/21j_OCNLuYg

Please read the holistic issues around housing
http://ctb.ku.edu/en/table-of-contents/implement/phsyical-social-environment/housing-quality/main


 The objective I would like to achieve are

Vision:

a) Aim '0' material cost, if not aim for minimal amount on material.
b) Aim design assistance so, labor cost can be reduced.
c) Build Rurual Infrastructure like schools, Roads and Pavements with 'Do It Your Self" Ideas and designs, so that villagers can develop their places on their own.
d) Build volunteer brigade to engage in rural infrastructure/training and as hobby and thereby contribute to nation building.

Objective:

To achieve the vision, I feel a series of steps are required. Most important I can think of them are..

a) Make cost vs benefit analysis for 20% of the material that is contributing to 80% of cost. Do this analysis with alternate options possible. Every owner should understand this data and make conscious choices, So he is justified in the value & benefit he derives. This will enhance the satisfaction of the owners.
b) Come up with open source collection of design choices for low cost housing. Also launch community based, assistance service. This assistance is social & voluntary man power contributed. The help ranges from Design, documentation, process & legal consultations. Volunteers can assist in house building labor as a hobby (like in west!).

Important candidates

1) Design

2) Gabion walls 

3) Plastic wrapped mud blocks

Practical Ideas

1) Good is good enough. While mud buildings, lime building have withstood for centuries, concrete buildings are collapsing in ones life time itself. Burdening owner with wrong choices is inflating construction prices. First step is to do right fitment. In rural areas construction can be horizontal, rather than vertical. For ex, a school, which is one floor can manage without pillars or concrete ceilings.
2) Mud block housing. Explore effective anti-insect and worm (especially geddalu) mixes to weed off the fear in choosing  mud blocks in construction. Popularize  interlocking mud blocks. Use design concepts of locking bricks to avoid cement as brick binders and to reduce construction time and enhance precision quality.
3) Come up with waste plastic recycling ideas. For ex. can we make shrink wrapping of mud blocks with waste plastic covers? The plastic disintegration takes 100s of years. As it is concealed and avoids sun, life is really long.  Wrapped mud block will be more resistant to water. Wrapping also helps in wastage reduction during handling.
4) Similar to plastic, can waste tyres can be encapsulated in cement-glass mixture to prepare roof tiles? The tyres are excellent water proofing material. It can reduces the weight of roofing, there by reducing load bearing capacity needed on wall.
5) Look at alternate options for plastering and painting.
6) Look at ideas that cut down labor hours, by better design and planning. I feel this can reduce cost of construction by 20%.
7) Popularize construction from container blocks for temporary housing. Rental models can be derived. This can address capacity issues for travel & leisure industry(seasonal necessity), Office for start up companies.. Farm houses ....etc...
8) Explore use of plastic bottles to create green houses. Really helps farmers.

9) Explore options to use vegitable binders (like rain tree pods) for stabilisation. Use plastic to wrap and avoid detoriation!
10) Explore fortified (Mixture of sand and sea shells) mud blocks for rural road construction
11) Come up with associated engineering designs for air conditioning, water circulation, water purification, electricity generation, rain water harvesting etc..
  a) Wind power can be employed for circulating water. This enables rain water circulation for purification an cooling the house
  b) Water can be used in hollow pillars. This increases water storage space and strength of pillar
 c) Slanting Solar paneling can help to reduce effect of water and sun on roofing and also provide electricity
 d) small scale bio-digester can provide waste disposal and additional fuel for cooking
 e) Automated green houses on roofs can provide vegetables and reduce heat and water effect on roofing

12) Gabion walls can be a good idea for fencing, house compound construction etc. This can be used in rural road construction also (it avoids concrete). Gabion walls can be used to reuse - demolished concrete structures). River side boulders can be used. If boulders are constly or not available, mud blocks rolled in cement can be used as filling material. See video link in background material.

13) Explore usage of nylon netting or jute netting. These netting can act as fibrous material to hold mud blocks and increase strength. Enclosed nylon brings long life.
14) Evaluate fiberglass and cement boards to reduce weight, where real concrete constructions are not required. How to surface them, so that the exterior get long life against sun and water
15) Terracota items. How to train villagers, so they can make their own piping for water and seweage

Rural Infrastructure

1) Develop technology such that, roads, check dams, farm fencing can be done using local materials. The Do It yourself, technology should help villagers to develop rural infrastructure on their own. If they do it on their own, they can repair it on their own. Many villages doesnot need tar/concrete roads. The infrastructure required could be like European cobbler stone roads (see picture)

Background material

1) Nice write up on low cost housing -> http://www.deccanherald.com/content/248463/low-cost-high-quality.html
2) Container construction -> http://expand-isbu.com.au/residential-single.html
3) Alternative to cement ->  http://www.sheltercentre.org/sites/default/files/PA_AlternativesPortlandCement.pdf
4)  Effect of using fly ash with cement -> http://www.ijert.org/download/7669/effect-of-partial-replacement-of-cement-by-fly-ash-with-using-nylon-fiber-in-concrete-paver-block
5)  3 day house construction using pre-cast material -> http://rajan-c-mathew.blogspot.in/2013/05/low-cost-pre-fabricated-houses.html
6) Interlocking bricks ->
 a)  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XY_5wkQRqEo
 b) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ipozUYLy-BE
 c) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nYErEl-PfTs ->

( I have an idea to combine these three with plastic )

7) Is Interlocking bricks stronger -> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nqgxTjGl-AU
8) strong structure from interlocking bricks -> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qAO01YfHADg
9) Interlocking brick making machine (manual) -> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3pk1MsZTDiU
10) How to build block wall without mortar -> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TAswNJyZjvM
11) Waste bottle construction, for compound walls -> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SqGSbnpsmio
12) 5L budget house plans -> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kCglA50tjOs
13) How self interlocking bricks increases productivity -> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zUGU_nCHvVI
14) $ 2000 (approx. 1Lakh) costing shipping containers are converted in to nice luxurious houses. Some adopted designs can make it possible to construct sub 5L houses in India -> http://awareness-time.com/a-shipping-container-costs-about-2000-what-these-15-people-did-with-that-is-beyond-epic/
15) In-situ pavement construction -> https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=639768112845114
16) Pavement laying with automation -> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PLDP6s5FPCk
17) School using reusable plastic bottles -> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LPxXH7rCSHQ
18) Gabion walls (meshed walls with boulders). avoids cement -> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QFjEWnA3Mtc
19) How to make pavement -> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HhpjkIf2GXQ
20) One old lady building patio & fire place with little help -> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IuOUKo5wS54
21) Cobblerstone pavement -> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wr6W2wycktM
22) Designer Cobbler stone laying -> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2mYAahqczOA
23) Epoxy resin for filling cobbler stones (2 people doing a circle) -> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E6hges7Ru-A
24) Artificial brick work look, no painting, exposed surface (material for plastering to avoid paint work) -> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_iiMFEkMoYU
25) plastic and coir fibers to reinforce mud blocks study papers -> http://www.researchgate.net/publication/267924726_STABILIZED_LATERITIC_BLOCKS_REINFORCED_WITH_FIBROUS_COIR_WASTES
26) IISC brochure on mud blocks (CST) ->  http://www.cst.iisc.ernet.in/Pages/Recent/cst_brochure.pdf
27) Plant based stabilizer commercially available (brand name stabilizer solutions Inc - http://www.stabilizersolutions.com) -> http://www.slideshare.net/sportechnic/stabilizer-101227102055phpapp01
28) About Mud Blocks and Chitra Vishveshwaran  -> https://biomearchitects.wordpress.com/page/3/

Understanding soil is only half the stor(e)y! Soil, a composition of sand,silt and clay(along with impurities and organic matter) is available in abundance in shades ranging from white to the seldom preffered black(cotton soil)…but experts say “it deosn’t matter if its black or white”for colour is not a reliable indicator of its strength.Clay is the active material, exhibiting a variety of moods-swelling,shrinking,cracking,depending on her relationship with water. Sand and silt are rather inert with no cohesive property.Because of this neutral behaviour,a high(atleast 70%)sand content is preferred.
To understand the percentage of sand in a particular sample,we take a known quantity
of soil and seive it in a 75micron mesh. The passing through mischief makers are clay and silt.Weighing the sand retained on top will give us the percentage. Once sand content is adjusted to 70%(by addition of quarry dust or sand),cement or lime is used as stabiliser.

Stabilised mud by definition is”mud which does not soften due to action of H2O,by use of a small quantity of binding agent.” Now the homogenous mixture(of soil+quarry dust+stabiliser)has to be compacted to increase density by applying pressure to soil in a mould which produces SMB(stabilised mud block).Alternately soil can be rammed
on site in a mould.These mud blocks undergo a crucial test(the wet compressive strength test).Its soaked in H2O for 48hrs and then tested by placing it in a machine and applying load.
Once crushing strength is determined, and blocks are certified satisfactory,they are ready for laying with composite mortar(cement+soil+quarry dust-1:2:3 ratio). These walls have to be well protected from rain.A good plinth level and overhangs will do the job in most cases. for the paranoid, a protective(silicone compound)coating should suffice.

29)  Enzyme stabilized Earth, no cement used example (Indian Company) : http://www.slideshare.net/BoronInno/boro-zyme-b-dbv1-concept-presentation-bricks-house
30) How to test suitability of mud for construction ->  http://www.archinomy.com/case-studies/712/mud-architecture-construction-details-and-techniques

Chanakya Neeti - 11 - Proof for todays wrong interpretation of 'Cast system'

~*ಚಾಣಕ್ಯ ನೀತಿ-11*~

||ವಿಷಾದಪ್ಯಮೃತಂ ಗ್ರಾಹ್ಯಂ ಅಮೇಧ್ಯಾದಪಿ ಕಾಂಚನಮ್|
ನೀಚಾದಪ್ಯುತ್ತಮಾಂ ವಿದ್ಯಾಂ ಸ್ತ್ರೀರತ್ನಂ ದುಷ್ಕುಲಾದಪಿ||

ವಿಷದಲ್ಲಿ ಬೆರೆತಿರುವ ಅಮೃತವನ್ನೂ, ಮಲ ಮೂತ್ರದಲ್ಲಿ ಬಿದ್ದಿದ್ದರೂ ಸಹ ಬಂಗಾರವನ್ನೂ ತೆಗೆದುಕೊಳ್ಳಬಹುದು. ಶ್ರೇಷ್ಠವಾದ ವಿದ್ಯೆಯು ನೀಚರಲ್ಲಿದ್ದರೂ ಸಹ ಅವರಿಗೆ ಶಿಷ್ಯನಾಗಿ ಅದನ್ನು ಪಡೆದುಕೊಳ್ಳಬಹುದು ಹಾಗೂ ಯಾವ ಕುಲದಲ್ಲಿ ಹುಟ್ಟಿದ್ದರೂ ಸಹ ಸ್ತ್ರೀಯು ಸದ್ಗುಣಸಂಪನ್ನಳಾಗಿದ್ದರೆ ಅವಳನ್ನು ಸ್ವೀಕರಿಸಬಹುದು. ಇದಾವುದೂ ತಪ್ಪಾಗಲಾರದು.

2 great observation on education and respect for good women. I am happy to see it documented. Note Chanakya was the founding member and PM of mauryan court. His words means, policy of the state. The statement is significant because, women enjoyed a special status in that time and caste system was not applicable for women. It also means, caste was more considered as a profession ( as men were the main earners) than the way it is treated today. The marking of strict cast boundary was to protect the skill and trade, rather than to divide people. This is not different from world cultures. We have 'smith' in England, whose family was in the trade of black smithy (metal forming). The western society had protected trade at family level, while Indian system protected it at higher cooperative level. System to protect trade and skills is a necessity. We have it today as, patents, copyrights, trade marks & NDA. Some NDA of MNCs prohibits employees to join opponents for say 5 years. Bonds are taken to protect skill trainings by companies like Wipro, TCS. IAS officers are prohibited to join businesses for 2-3 years after retirement. So cross trade restrictions exist today as well. Muslim and to a greater part British, turned it as the kind of "caste definition" we see today. During subjugation, they caused economic imbalance among these traders. The caste groups started orienting with economic class (upper, middle & lower). So some castes got the names associating as Upper/Lower castes. The economical backwardness make them feel inferior. Instead of economic policy of rulers, the 'bad' tag got associated with religion. This was a propaganda to divide the nation by British. Due to schooling, many youngsters believe 'Hindu' is bad because of caste system. Isn't it time to re -educate us on truth?

Janivara .... The sacred thread

'Janivara", the sacred thread is a composition of 3 threads, signifying Goddesses Gayatri (thought), Saraswati (word) and Savitri (deed) respectively. Wearing the sacread thread, is to indicate a practitioner of this principle (like black coat of a lawyer).  'Thought', 'Words' and 'Deed' has to be in synchronized form, that is the core idea. Western saying is 'Do what you say, and say what you do'. Idea of sacred thread, goes one step further "Think before what you say & do, Do what you think and say, Say what you think and do, Then think it all over again for improvement".  Is it not convincing to practice this 'idea' with personal commitment and honesty by wearing the sacred thread, than with a blind 'Gayathri & Sandhyavandane'? It has become a mocking subject because, no body teaches on real objective, but insist on blind process. Can anyone wearing a black coat becomes a Lawyer? It is definitely a joke, if common people run around in courts wearing black coats and thinking themselves as lawyers. They are even quarrelling, which author & version of the book they are holding, without ever reading it or understanding original constitution & Laws for which those books are written as commentaries.  It takes serious proportions, when a mad man wears a white coat and insists to do a heart transplant on you. Today's reality is close to this situation.

By the way, it is 3 threads and applicable to all adults (not just brahmins). When started women also practiced it. 

And very important Rigveda reference for women threading...

Due to children, women could not cope up with the objective. They consulted the best of the best and decided to transfer the responsibility to husbands, as they are the elders of family. So, men wear 6 threads with double responsibility ( one set for self and another set for better half). Today, time has come to return back the 3 threads to women, as they want equality. It will be less burden for men :-).

Humans need symbols, customs etc for perception, for reminding oneself and to be focused. Corporate companies write their aims and objectives every where (be it internet, share report or the last slide of every presentation ...to show their identity). If god is everywhere, why one needs a temple and that too an idol in a temple? You may be great....but other people need them. My argument is 'know the objective' first. As long as you understand...you can have your own mantra or a way to keep focused on the objective. Gayatri says...Dhio yona prachodayat..meaning let the divine inspire our thoughts. As I said in the beginning, If thoughts are pure and focussed, your deeds and saying will follow. If you think, gayathri is enough for you..so be it.. Sringeri jagadguru doesnot wear 'sacread thread'. It is not applicable to sadhus. It is not applicable as they have understood the original meaning, so that they do not need these symbols and practices. There is no rule that, sringeri jagatguru needs to be a brahmin.
Janivara length is 96 times the width of 4 fingers. 96 itself the 24 x 4 and is 24 bijakshara of Gayatri mantra and 4 represents the 4 vedas. (reference from Bannanje Govidanchar in one of the upanishad and Gayatri Mantra Rahasya). Does janivara give any identity to be a brahmin? Is uniform necessary for a soldier to wage a war? Is black coat necessary for a lawyer? If white coat is not put on, can't the sick get relief from a doctor? Janivara is like white coat of doctor. Significance is limited to that.  It was not a birth right. So, Janivara does not give unique identity to a brahmin.

Historically, we had an easy conversion of a scholar to Brahmin. Vyasa and valmiki etc were the examples. There were many Greeks during Alexander invasion and latter rule, opted to stay back in India and converted to be brahmins and priests. Rama is a kshatriya. Krishna was OBC. They were wearing Janivara. Read wiki page for "Haritasa gotra". An ansistor of rama called Haritasa, converted to brahmin. Madhwacharya, Buddha were born in this clan. So, From the linage, madhwa charya was a warrior. Mayura, the first kadamba king was a brahmin. He converted to Kshatriya. Banaras king is a brahmin even today. Drona was a brahmin, but fought as warrior in Mahabharata. Ravana was a rakshasa (not even human). He was wearing janivara and doing sandhyavandane (gokarna story). Agastya was not a brahmin. But he started a brahmin gotra and converted many people to become brahmans. He is the worshipped saint for many non-brahmin sects even today.  Switching of cast and sub-casts in olden days was as simple as switching ones profession (Same  as an Arvind kejriwal switching from IIT engineer to IRS officer to social activist to CM of Delhi!). This is the reason, I said brahmin was a stream like lawyer today. 

Brahmans were in the trade of providing 'religious services'. 'Veda' wass their base for providing religious services. So, 'Dharma' or the 'professional ethics' of brahman is to 'Think'/'say' and 'Do' as stated in Vedas. It is as simple as that. If today, a brahman engages in another profession, say 'Medical Doctor', by wearing sacread thread, he has to 'Think', 'Say' and 'Do' ethics of medical profession. Do your duty whole heartedly without regards for results, says gita. It is just another form of stating same thing. Does the modern thinking say anything different? Same was true for 'Kshatriya', who was in the trade of providing 'security' of the nation. If you understand this, you have deciphered the 'cast' system.

One of the problem faced by todays generation is to argue using the commentaries on original idea than the original idea itself. Hindu culture is like democracy. Any one can come with a definition to suite his understanding or make it simpler for others to learn. From this aspect, different people have given different perspective. The commentaries are meant only for understanding the original idea. Some commentators..to show of have their skill, have elaborated so much so that, original idea is lost in the process. 3 debt is one such explanation. If it better suites you to understand the concept..you can accept that. Issue is simple....2+2+2 = 6...so is 4+2. = 6. Is there any meaning arguing. 4+2 is only 6?

Addendum

Referrenced from "http://aavaahana.blogspot.in/2011_07_01_archive.html"

Brahmin: is not a caste, in those days who were educated and could scholar the Vedas were called Brahmins irrespective of the caste they belonged, to certify them that they were Brahmins, they were asked to wear a holy thread called Janivara, and from then on whatever caste they earlier belonged to, was not theirs anymore but were called Brahmins forever, a person was never considered Brahmin just because his parents were, this thread (Janivara)slided from their left shoulder moving across their chest and stomach and ended at the right side of their hip, this had another reason too, during their Gurukul period i.e. schoolings , a task of getting food from the nearest villages and sharing the alms was one activity they did have to accomplish everyday, they had to stay cautious of not getting mislead due to their puberty at times and stay focused to their studies. So the thread was worn by these young men so that, young girls and women who supposedly get attracted to these young boys could possibly ruin their lives, hence when a young boy head shaven with a thread across would come around begging in the village was an indication of a Brahmin boy, under schooling. When such boys are around or at the front door begging for alms women and girls will have their faces covered or head bowed or partially invisible and the boys too had to bow their heads down and not look at them, this was to avoid them fall in love, to avoid discontinuation in studies.
Thus, Brahman meant the one who possessed "Bramha Gnana" by mastering all the four vedas, "Bramhana" was the certification of his completion, understanding and implementing the sanskaras mentioned in the vedic texts, it is hence not a caste. As one who completes his course of engineering is called an "Engineer", anatomy a "doctor", similarly the one who masters vedas was called a "Bramhan". not necessarily an Engineer's son should also be certified an Engineer or a Doctor's son a Doctor though they possess no knowledge about the same, similarly a Brahmin's son not necessarily will have to be certified a Brahmin without the "Bramha Gnana".

Ref and Additional material at : 

1) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Upanayana#Three_debts

2)  http://manasataramgini.wordpress.com/.../notes-on-early.../

Most interestingly the sanatkumAra saMhitA gives two forms of upanayanaM, the vedic form for dvijas and tantric agnimukhaM version for women and shUdras. On recieving that they may perform several rites, but the pA~ncharatric brahmin is still supposed to perform vaidika rites to various deities in addition to the internal pA~ncharatric sacrifices to vedic deities given in the rudra rAtra.

Reposting the article. from (https://enjoyingyourkids.wordpress.com/2015/02/01/why-did-you-have-your-child/)

February 2, 2015

Why did you have your child ?

If anyone asked me this question in 2010 , I would have taken a while to answer…. If I ask you this question now I wonder what your answer would be … Take five minutes to think about your answer and then read on…
My guess is that you will probably say either or all of the following :

1. I have been married for x no of years and this was the next step to it
2. I was nearing 30 and the doctor / family advised to have now than later for several biological reasons….
3. To pass on the lineage of our family…
4. My relationship with my husband was stagnating…A child would improve things between us…
5. There is a lot of pressure on us from family to have kids
6. I have one already…I had another child for my first born
7. By accident !
8. any other (you could put it in my comments)

In 2010 my answer would have been 2,4 and 5…. It took me 5 years and a little help from my cousin to understand that ALL these reasons are not really the right reasons to have kids….
Now, let me ask you another question … Why are you a homemaker (if you are one ) ? Again your answers could be

1. My kid/kids is/are small and they need me
2. I live with my in laws and they don’t appreciate me working while the kids are young
3. My husband wants me to take care of the kids at home
4. We don’t have good daycares in India so its better I take care of them myself
5. I don’t have a work visa
6. Any other (again, you can mention in the comments below)

In 2010, I would have chosen 1. But you know what , both my questions have the same following answer for me now :
We should have kids because we want to ENJOY our life with them….We want to enjoy our own childhood which we have left behind…We have become serious , mature adults who cannot laugh without a solid reason to laugh, who cannot play in a garden for the sake of playing, who do not have that innocence on our faces anymore… As a side note, isn’t it wonderful how a person’s eyes beautifully reflect their innocence or the lack of it….
So….. God gave us a passport to go back to our childhood… To have kids and revel in their innocent smile, their playful demeanor, their contagious laughter, the twinkle of their eyes when they are doing something naughty,their soft small fingers holding your fingers, their oh so soft cheeks where you can plant endless kisses and they won’t complain, their unbridled energy, their judgement free eyes, their unconditional hugs and kisses…..aah …the list is endless….
So my next question is
If you are enjoying your life and don’t feel the need for a child then why have one ? Is it fair to a child if he is brought into this world only to make the society happy ? It’s not a sacrosanct rule that everyone in this world should have children….and if it is then who made these rules…? Who made the rule that we have to marry and then only have children?? So if you don’t find the love of your life, you have no right to have a child and enjoy him/her…. If you do, you are at risk of countless questions and judging eyes ….
Do send me your comments… I will love to know what you think …
Till then, Enjoy your child :)
Anumeha

Women Insecurity & Empowered women

"Beauty brands are voraciously feeding on the insecurity of women..". Logical Indian is logically pointing, who is funding media houses to fan women "in-security". After all, Multi billion dollar business of cosmetics and advertisements sits on one foundation - "women in-security and associated complexes". After all these scary media campaign on rape comes down, A series of market Ads with a theme on  "Confident Women", heralding premium brands will be released in to the market. Result, a soaring jewellery, cosmetics and women inner ware sales. No prize to the guess that, prices will be inflated before Ad campaign. Real empowered women do not subscribe to fashion brands (spend all resources, get stressed out and become more un-happy), but work to empower vulnerable sections of society like children and senior citizens. She derives happiness within and not from the pseudo appreciation of discontented colleagues and neighbours (who will switch to the next passer by and talk on back)!.

Women empowerment and celebrating motherhood.....!

After world war 2, west underwent a huge reconstruction work. A million+ working age men had died in battle and there was a great shortage of labour to meet the demand of reconstruction. The reconstruction was riding on top of an industrial revolution, so demand was really high. If the demand was not met, cost of labour would multiply many fold. Many business were used to cheap labour (some time free labour from prison inmates) and were not ready to take up the reconstruction work, till labour costs were controlled. Govts had 2 options. Encourage immigration from 3rd world or engage more citizen (like bringing in non working people, raising the retirement age etc). Encouraging immigration had its own set of problems. Immigrants are expected to send back their earnings to their host countries and remain poor in the immigrated country. That means, wealth is shared with 3rd world and at home, more lower classes will emerge fragmenting the society. Lower classes will bring poverty and racism, which will reflect on politicians. On the other hand, majority of the non-working population were women, who were loaded with day to day house hold activities. Women were happy and cozy at home. Bringing them on to the labour market, will result in nuclearisation of families, increase discontent in family life. Looking at the options, business houses saw an opportunity. Nuclear family means, more consumption and that is good for business. They also knew, double income in the hands of husband & wife will temporarily mask the discontent in family life. Since politicians were fearful of loosing support due to racism, businesses lobbied for the other option. Political class agreed with one condition. Bringing women to labour market needs to be a smooth process with less negative effects on to their political profile. Govt needed a story to begin with and to start pulling out women from the comforts of their houses. So, a media campaign was launched on the "women empowerment". Women who were suffering due to war, collapsed economy and other ills of society were targeted and their anger was consolidated. The anger was redirected against men and in-laws as oppressors. A picture is painted that, men are the reason for their suffering (while war and economy were the culprits). The idea worked. Labour market stabilized, businesses got cheap labour and consumption soared, . Economy flourished. Wealth remained in the rich countries. However there was a price. Families got nuclearised. Work load on women increased, children suffered due to lack of support. Debt, Alcoholism, drugs & divorce increased. Sociatal values lowered.

As far as the business houses were considered, the formula worked well. They were very happy. After capitalizing in the developed world, They wanted to apply the formula in 3rd world also to expand their business. Although 3rd world is rich in man power, "women empowerment" campaign was launched. In India, unemployment is a basic problem. Instead of rationalizing work among families, women employment was encouraged. This has created double income families on one side and more un-employed families on the other side. Employed woman does not marry an un-employed man. So, a skewed social structure emerged.

The double income families helped to fuel consumption, but started injecting the same problems of west in India as well. Impact of suffering is many fold in 3rd world countries as more people will be dependent on one person. Unlike in west, there is no support systems to relocate affected people (be it drugs, old age homes, child care centers etc). So, impact is large. The working women is causing more discontent among women in un-emplyed families.

India has respected women since early ages. Each god is given a consort to show this equality (this is not the case in west). Many practices like 'sati' are adopted by women themselves to protect against aggressors and not imposed by men. Women find their role and hand in all aspects of societal activity, be it art, architecture, war or medicine. If society is skewed towards men, we would not be hearing a story like jhansi rani. In fact the epics talk of 'swaymwara' to enable a girl to choose a groom of her liking, while the epics from west celebrates a picture of women in slavery market. Freedom and equality is visible on the scripted walls of all temples (which are the real history books in India). This is the reality.

However, no body in media gives this picture. Paid media like TOI and paid authors continue to take single events, generalize the problems and are thrusting it on society (For example read http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/…/articleshow/9237496.cms?). An incident of rape is generalized to paint a picture that, all men have intention to rape. This creates more insecurity in society and break up families. Women should understand the reality. Women are not the only sufferers. Children, elders and even men are suffering. The situation is complex due to diversity (multi ethnic, multi cultured, fragmented society with multi layered class system). There sufferings are due to in-equal distribution of resources and lack of development. Men and in-laws are not the reason for all the ills faced by women. Definitely Indian women are stressed more than say women in Norway/Sweden. But this is true for children, men and elders too. The stress is due to large population, limited resources and in-equitable distribution. Increased burden of education, difficult travel conditions, inflated prices are retarding the progress. Men are as helpless as women. A man works hard to accumulate wealth for the family, especially for children. But these children are left to be molded by women. Man is working for children future, but their future (meaning the entire families future) is given in to the hands of women. Isn't this empowering? Without understanding the reality, subscribing to the business funded ideas of empowerment and blaming men will not solve anything. Most of the burden (as depicted in cartoon in beginning) faced by women are originated by children and not by men (who are working out of home more than 10 hours a day now). Serving and supporting children should not be considered as burden. It is a debt we need to repay (debt is given by our parents, but we need to reimburse it to our children with interest). Supporting children is not unique to Indian women alone. Although many working option exists, many European women prefer to stay at home and take care of their children. Motherhood practiced and celebrated more than womanhood worldwide!

1) A  nice video celebrating Mother hood across world.

<div id="fb-root"></div><script>(function(d, s, id) {  var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];  if (d.getElementById(id)) return;  js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id;  js.src = "//connect.facebook.net/en_US/all.js#xfbml=1";  fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs);}(document, 'script', 'facebook-jssdk'));</script><div class="fb-post" data-href="https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=10151241730702242" data-width="466"><div class="fb-xfbml-parse-ignore"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=10151241730702242">Post</a> by <a href="https://www.facebook.com/shankar.naidu">Shankar Naidu</a>.</div></div>

2) A blog write up by a mother converted from 'working mother' status to a 'stay at home mom (SAHM)

https://enjoyingyourkids.wordpress.com/2015/02/26/i-am-lucky-to-be-a-stay-at-home-mom-sahm/

3) 

A fascinating tale of Somnath...Beginning of Indian Temple series, but intended as Astronomy Lab.

Somnath Temple is illustrious for various reason and has an important place historically, religiously and culturally for Hindus,especially Brahmins. I am presenting my arguments in support of its significance.

It all started, when we visited Tirupathi & kalahasti last year. My son (aged 5 then) saw richness of 'Venkateshwara' and magnanimous, but old 'Kalahasti' temple. When we had time to relax in kalahasti, he asked me to explain various stories depicted as photos there. A question suddenly sprang up in his mind. Question was, Is Ishwara the supreme or Vishnu supreme? Ishwara has 3rd Eye, but Vishnu has the ultimate weapon 'sudharshana chakra'? If there is a fight between them, who will win? He wants to know, as his mind wants to settle with one supreme, and didn't want confusions. His logic was, if he takes the side of the powerful, why worry about other gods? As I have to answer this difficult question, I figured out, it is indeed confusing. To settle the matter, I decided to know the facts myself first, before explaining this to my son. My exploration has opened a plethora of information, which I am sharing with you.

We Hindu, take 'Veda' as the base. It is established that, Rigveda is older than 5000 years. When we peek in to it, we find that, each and every sloka of rigveda is in-fact dedicated to a god. So, multiple gods are inherent from the beginning. Question is why did they have multiple god? If we analyze carefully, Rig veda has god names like, Indra, Varuna, Vayu, Mitra, Rudra etc. It states that, the supreme is 'Brahma'. As it was difficult to see the identity, 'Brahma', it drew attention to  various manifestation of 'Brahma', like Vayu (air), Varuna 'water', Indra (rain) etc. It is basically saying, see Brahma, in identities that exhibits qualities of 'God'. That is providing value without any returns! That is why Sun became a god, Agni became a god etc. The first idea is to be 'Thankful' for all the forces that has helped us to be 'born' and sustain here. Second idea is to pray to extend these benevolent well being to everybody in sustainable manner. It was an idealistic 'socialism'. There was no idea of 'seeking' extra than the neighbor! The prayers were not intended to seek extra energy or extra resources. They were simple and contented people. They must be have been contempt & happy, as they could settle in planes than hunt daily. They prescribed 'Yagnas' to each and everybody to be thankful and promote social harmony. Note Yagnas were individualistic and not a group affair. There was no concept of one manifestation superior to other, hence there was no conflict. So, there was no necessity to build any temples or to wage wars in 'Gods' name. So simple.

They were intelligent and started to evolve sciences. They realized, there must be some connection between earth and celestial objects. The even thought, it i possible that, life on earth came to existence from celestial place (probably they believed something similar to exodus of life from other planet in to earth, as described in matsya purana and story of manu). They started to observe the celestial objects and the study is transformed in to 'Jyotishya'. They must have struggled to explain the ill effects on humanity like diseases, natural calamities and death. As they couldn't attribute these effects to one cause, they looked for answers from celestial objects. Probably it was an idea they got that they should to make efforts to increase good effects and reduce bad effects. This idea driven them to attribute good and bad effects to the movement of celestial objects. As they have to increase the good effects, they constructed temples. Probably they must have seen the falling of 'celestial objects' on earth (￢ﾀﾜUlka patha￢ﾀﾝ). A fire ball that can cause great damage must be bad. But then they say, life springing up on the damaged site in remarkable fashion. So, they realized, the magical effects of these celestial rocks. Probably they must have got some good/effective medicinal plants only on these rocks (The reason for such an effect is the rich minerals present in the rocks). They must have brought these rocks for study. Note that, these rocks are 'Agnishile' as they burn in their fall and then solidify. These people must have thought these rocks could attract energy from deep space (like Sun energy) and its radiance may help  nullify the bad energy and or increase the good energy. probably this is influenced by practices of 'sun worship' also. This is the origin of 'Linga'. Seeing the celestial seed in 'agnishile'. note that 'agnishile' can be obtained wether from a volcanic eruption or from a meteorite fall.

River is another aspect. It means everything for the vedic people. River was the reason for the nomadic people to help settle in planes. So, rivers were worshiped and held with great respect. It is suspected that, the vedic people settled around the river 'Saraswati', which is extinct now. If one draws a straight line from Himalayas to a sea, the shortest distance is west flowing river meeting 'Arabian sea' at Gujarat. This was 'Saraswati'. The river was feeded from the Himalayan melting ice with lot of tributaries. A clean and holy water. However, as the Himalayas grew (due to tectonic effect), the flow of water got divided and the course of flow altered, leading to Sindhu ( a tributary of sarswati moving further west) and emergence of Ganges. Note the story of Bagiratha bringing Ganges from heaven (Himalayas) and making it to flow towards east to cleanse the ashes of his forefathers (So Ganges was not there before, it emerged in later time. A story to explain the Un-explainable to masses). The slow death of Saraswati, caused the vedic people to migrate in all directions.

Coming to Somnath...There are recorded facts (by Persian scholars) stating the lingam was levitating in Air (you can google for levitating lingam of somanath!). The historians also records that, the 'Lingam' was levitating because, it was a magnet by itself and it is forced to levitate due to load stones embedded in structures around it. Load stones are natural magnets with very weak magnetic force. It is almost impossible to recreate this levitating linga even with todays advanced science. As super magnets of huge proportions are required to levitate an object of the size of a lingam (note the records says a spear was inserted around the lingam to test it levitation. so lingam must be bigger than a spear!). In-fact the same principle is used in maglev trains that glide at super fast speeds. This levitation is few cms in air. If the description is true, the lingam must have been an unknown object from space. Somnath was the place where river sarswati was meeting the sea. It is also a place closer to 'tropic of cancer', the arc in India, where Sun comes closet to earth. The idea of Somnath temple was to colelct highest power from sun. As the place lies in west part of India, people can see 'Sun set' there. As 'Sun set' is not a good sign, they celebrated the place in the name of 'Moon', so is the name 'Somnath'. Lingam was placed here, so that people can connect with celestial powers. The intention was to visit 'Kashi' due to movement of people in to Gangetic planes and repeated attacks on Somnath.

Somnath took the form of manifestation people wanted towards 'Brahma' the supreme. But note that, the lingam is stated as 'nath', meaning swami or supreme. 'Eeshwara' means the same. That is the reason 'Eeshwara' is attached in 'Venkateshwara' also. The lingam was worshiped rather than a beautifully sculptured god idol for this reason . Note Gujarath has Amrutha shile, from which magnificent gods can be made, like you see in birla temple/Iskon temples, you can ask why this was not the practice? It is even stated that, agnishile is traded far and wide in to olden India. So people constructing temples were looking for proper stone with right size, rather than the stones abundantly available in their back yard!. The lingam at vedic time, doesn't mean the 'shiva' as we interpret today. This was teh reason for wide adoption of 'lingam'. However, as rulers realized the attraction of religion, they started to mix, politics with religion. To understand this, take the situation of a pious kind. He could be defeated in a war and his kingdom be taken by another king. But the tory doesn't end there. The new king has to make the subjects of the defeated land to accept him with respect. This can be done in 2 ways, one by force (Muslims used this) and other was religion. Force is a costly option and may involve revolts. So, religion took prime importance. To keep the distinction, kings started to evoke other gods from veda. This is the reason for emergence of 'Shiva' and 'Vishnu' (and brahma was added later to integrate the divided population under the nae of 'trinity', but it created even more confusions). Lot of stories were built to convinve people. Budhism was promoted by 'Ashoka' for the same reason. The Maurayan land was with 'Shiva', while Kalinga was historically strong seat of 'Vishnu'. To unify the land, Ashoka needed a new religion. So he promoted 'Budhism'. As we see history (like hoysalas) many kings converted from shivism to jainism to budhism to vaishnavism. Just imagine the life of a commoner, If the powerful king switches his religion. The common man or even the courtiers will be embroiled in confusion and a series and serious issues will follow politically. The old courtiers will loose rajashraya and will be driven out. It was really difficult. This is one of the prime reason for Brahmins to migrate to different land to retain their 'Dharma'. It must have been really great, the scriptures and ideas survive in-spite of great persecutions. As worshiping linga was a old practice, many Brahmin's are categorized as shivites (smarthas). Some Brahmins were forced to adopt 'Vishnu' to sustain a living (there by having a vishnu form as their kula devatha), some converted fully as Vaishnavas. But everybody show their roots to Vedas.

With this understanding, if we try to answer the originaly tough question of 'supremacy' of vishnu vs shiva, it becomes a simple issue. Vishnu or Shiva is manifestation of supreme 'Brahman'. As Brahmins, we should stick to 'Vedas' and be mature enough to understand these issues. When we are mature, we move back to the original objectives of veda, that is to be thankful to nature and seek ways to unite with cosmos. If this is the objective, todays programs like 'clean environment (Swatch bharath/save water/save animals/save ganga)', 'Astrophysics/Astronoy', science becomes more meaningful and in-line with what the Dharma was preaching all along. They become as religious and obligatory as doing a 'Gayatri mantra'. The true understanding can make the educated youngsters not to drift away from religion or its true goals. They might find a meaning suitable for their life styles and will be more interested to learn vedas and seek answers.  This was the reason for me talk this subject in this forum.

Note that,

1. Somnath was destroyed many times and reconstructed. It is the only Hindu temple constructed by Indian Government after independence.
2. Somnath temple was constructed, after moving a mosque. This was done without any religious disturbance, unlike in Ayodya.
3. If you trace a line from somnath, it closely meets Konark on the other side of India. Note, Konark had magnanimous temple dedicated to 'Sun'. It is presumed like that, because the temple architecture resembles that of sun's chariot. Not much is known about Konark. It could be possible that, the idol there was also a 'Shivalinga'. The temple could be constructed to celebrate the 'Rising sun' gleeing rays on the Shivalinga. This is again to capture the highest energy possible. Unfortunately history is buried and study in them is not encouraged in todays time!
4. Even today, people believe Saraswati reaches somnath as 'Gupta gamini'. ISRO studies has revealed a possibility of river flowing between Himalayas and Somnath via Rajasthan desert.
5. Meeting of river and sea is considered as metamorphic ally as the 'Atma' re-joining with 'Paramatman'. This way, the place is more philosophical than 'Kaashi'.
6. The story is applicable to all karnataka brahmins. Many converted to vaishnava culture over a period of time. Lord venkateshwara doesn't have a divine story in puranas. It is developed during 'Vijaynagar' empire to amolgamate vaishnava brahmins. Vijayanagar emperors worshipped virupaksha, again shiva. The family deity of SVBM is Venkateshwara.
7. The description is significant, as it provides the history of 'Brahmins', Karnataka and India in general.
8. Todays Somnath temple is constructed in 'Chalukya' style. Again a great respect to karnataka and its architecture.


1) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W6S3shKO6gM
 Many temples were constructed without idols. There is no reason historians have given for such hard work and incurring such expenses in olden times. The only reason, probably is that, they are meant for doing meditation and accumulate energy. As in the video, it is rocket or not, alien or not could be debatable, but temples were small with rich 'Vimanas'  and  no idol.

2) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NjuSVHwNJMk
Video busts teh myth of Aryan Invasion theory and how mythology of manu was probably an event in history. It shows important Saraswati river connections.

3) https://themuslimissue.wordpress.com/2014/12/27/islamic-india-the-biggest-holocaust-in-world-history-whitewashed-from-history/

( I intend to update this article, as and when I get new material on this subject!).

Commentary on 1st Budget of Mr. Arun Jaitley

How is blanket reduction of corporate tax by 5% justified?

India needs better distribution of wealth. In the name of development, is it justified to create few big private corporate houses and benefit its owners?. Consider the fact that, corporate tax is paid on profit making companies. An SME/ a new plant or a start up which add employment will not be making any profits / negligible profits in this financial year. So this cut in corporate tax does not benefit or create employment. It benefits corporate houses who are making lot of profit with 30% tax slab itself. They are making profit, that means they are already globally competitive with 30%. 22% of revenue is coming from corporate tax from few corporations (total size is in 1000s), while 9% is from m income tax (total size is in billion). This indicates how wealth is getting concentrated with few, who own these corporations. 70 billion is approx corporate tax. 5% discount means (70 x 0.05/0.30) 11 billion dollars, which is approximately 66,000 crores. Govt is handing back this money to corporates every year from now on. As per 80:20 rule, 80 percent of corporate tax must be payed by 20% of tax paying corporations, so the number if beneficiary is few hundreds. Note many foreign companies are not paying tax in the name of export oriented tags. Of the 20% tax paying may be a third are public sector companies. Govt is the owner, tax benefit gets nullified. So about 40,000 crores is dolled out to about 10% of the super rich and big companies. You will find HLL selling soaps, paste / ITC selling cigarates or soft drink companies in them. These companies are milking mature technology with optimised human resources (least man power). So how is this tax reduction justified? If intention of govt is correct, they must have been making more slabs. Govt must make it dis-encouraging to build super rich and big corporate houses, but distribute work among lot of small/medium enterprises. With more SME, wealth get distributed among more owners. They can always make groups to address size issues (like standardisation bodies or chamber of commerce). Big corporations are not really required. The total tax paying private corporates may just be < 1000. Is it that difficult to track trail of money for these 1000 entities? I do not see a reason in govt argument of difficulty in tracking corporates, but imposing complex tax structure on millions of its citizens. 1000 big corporates have all the resources to manage complexity and be compliant. So complex slab structure is required for corporates, while simplification is required for individuals. Govts do it reverse, so is the pyramid structure of wealth distribution.