DK Kapila The Oracle

 Woh Kaun Thi (Who Was She) A Simple Short Story.  Dinesh K Kapila The title of this short story could well be Yeh Kya Tha (What was this) but then that is nature or rather life, throwing up a conundrum which really defies definition or a suitable classification. This sort of thought was running  through the mind of Surya the past few days. Gossip, where would we be in life without it, he was thinking. Even the oldies sit up when it’s something juicy and seemingly salacious, it’s as old as civilisation itself. It is the essential lubricant, the vey reason at times for people to meet and chat up. And smile. Or feel superior. Or maybe envious.  Surya and his wife Annie, were on holiday at a bit of a lonely location.  They were a couple just at the right Inflection point in age. This location they decided on a whim. An Exotic but lonely place, a bit out of the way., Guests drove up around mid week and started departing by the weekend. Surya and Annie were among the...

  Our Water Tank Initiative with Ms Ritu Singal and The Naman Foundation Is Proving Useful this Summer Dr SS Grewal, Founder Director SPACE and leading soil scientist has worked extensively in the Morni Hills of Haryana and of course the Aravallis. Water is his focus - Storage, Recharge, Watershed Management, Springshed Development, I have associated with him off and on post retirement. We are both thankful to Mrs Ritu Singal and the Namah Foundation for investing CSR Funds in two water storage projects at Village Daman in the Morni Hills. Our concern was the acute shortage of water in the area in summer and the damage caused by deforestation. The objective was to store water coming from springs in large water tanks - with the supply being regulated by a committee. The planning, construction and accounting for construction  would stay vested with the Committee at the local level. Two large water tanks were constructed in inhospitable rocky strata over a year and in this summer...

  Wastage and Retail Pricing and Vendors Dinesh K Kapila This is another factor in high prices at the retail end of the supply chain, as regards fruits and vegetables. I got talking to our fruit vendor today evening. I was asking about the prices of peaches and trying to figure out the reasoning, if any, by the vendor for the vast difference from the farm gate. The fruit vendor had his own reasons. He was frank enough to let me know the actual farm gate price was not his core concern, he was more anxious about getting by on his margins and controlling costs due to wastage, the weather, poor grading or poor packing at the main market or at the farm gate. The cost ultimately was borne by the retailer. And of course the consumer. As we discussed cold chains, he said he only knew grapes supplied fresh from the field supplied through the intermediaries - contractor- grader - packer - wholesaler - transporter - sub wholesaler; stayed fresh and ready for sale for a longer time even at his...

  We need more Indianised Writing in English Dinesh K Kapila English is now internalised in our vocabulary, for some, it is at a very basic use of words and for some to a more than reasonable proficiency. There are certain aspects which stand out though. Though we have internalised the language in many ways, the context, cultural or even geographical seems to be primarily still borrowed from abroad. We need to build familiarity with the region and country we live in. Be rooted so to say. I was a Judge at an event organised by a leading newspaper along with a well known literary group. There were varied contests and my remit was to judge the Flash Story Contest. This was at a well known school in sector 27, and the school organised it very well. The teacher in charge, Mrs Charanpreet, if I remember correctly, had taken a lot of pains over the cue cards and the accompanying snaps. I complimented her for the diligent way she had gone about it. The cue cards had themes such as The Silv...