POEM: I'M 60

Copyright@shravancharitymission

By Kamlesh Tripathi

I’m 60

When I turned 60,

Mind said, it’s now going to be risky,

But heart interjected—no way, it’ll only be frisky,

Where midway said—one way or the other,

Life is going to be slippery.

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For career was over,

Cul-de-sac was closer,

Growth engines had succumbed,

Moolah was at its end.

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Though posts and positions were over,

Fascinations, were still tall and not at all over,

From countless no ends,

I was heading towards a dead end.

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I never thought of sixty,

Nor did I think of fifty,

Thirty is what I always thought of,

Till I was told I’ve turned sixty,

And for me,

It was tricky and as if bereft of whisky.

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But age had nothing to do with my being thrifty,

As I always felt blessed,

And de-stressed,

Till someone announced I’ve clocked sixty.

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Soon I realized,

Things were not the same,

For I was no more in fame,

But was it any shame?

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Is, when my heart argued my mind,

And in the intertwine,

Heart convinced the mind,

All is not lost,

And at 60, life begins with a new chime.

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For sixty is only a perception,

So a big deception,

Let some doors close,

For some to open.

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But it’ll only open,

If you dare to do so,

Else you would only drift,

To the hell of oblivion.

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I woke up inspired,

I woke up rejuvenated,

For years don’t matter,

In this bubbling atmosphere,

And all that matters

Is your emboldened gear.

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So get up to do something worthwhile,

For you still can do it,

Even if the era has changed,

There is still so much to change,

From humanity to disdain.

*

And there is enough left,

Even for the seventy and eighty,

What to talk of sixty,

To grandly maintain.

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I have memories galore

Some pleasant

Some unpleasant

But all to the core.

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Having crossed several milestones,

I don’t look for stones,

For the page has turned,

More towards the urn.

*

So keep the lilt of life alive,

By discounting all your frights,

By upholding all the rights,

And by being upright.

This poem is for all those who have turned 60. It is essentially important not to stop doing things under the excuse of being old. There is so much to do and so much to improve in this planet. So don’t just pull the curtain on yourself. Rather, rise up to start your second innings. Good day.

By Kamlesh Tripathi

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HAPPENING WORLD--FACTS AND PROJECTIONS

Copyright@shravancharitymission

By Kamlesh Tripathi

By some accounts the Pakistani army chief bears a personal grudge against India—his uncle was killed in the 1965 war and his brother in the 1971

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India is known for producing CEOs of Google, Microsoft, Pepsico, Mastercard, Deutsche Bank, etc. And Pakistan? For hoisting heads of Al-qaida, Taliban, Lashkar-e-Taiba, Jaish-e-Muhammed, Haqqani group etc.

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Gandhi arrived in South Africa in 1893 at the age of 23. Within a week he collided head on with racism. His immediate response was to flee the country that so degraded people of colour, but then his inner resilience overpowered him with a sense of mission, and he stayed to redeem the dignity of the racially exploited, to pave the way for the liberation of the colonised the world over and to develop a blueprint for a new social order. He left 21 years later, a near Mahatma (great soul).

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Valmiki gave up life as a robber and meditated for years in penance before he went up to compose the epic Ramayana. He is now revered as the ‘Adi Kavi,’ or the first poet, as he is said to have invented the ‘Shloka,’ the first verse, which defined the form of Sanskrit poetry.

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The trade unions represent 15% of the workforce in the organised sector. 85% represents the unorganised sector.

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Cities are our engines of growth and contribute around 63% of India’s GDP.

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Chikungunya was discovered in 1952, in Tanganyika. Indian dengue was first recorded in Madras in 1780, but the first proven epidemic was in west Bengal, 1963-64, also proving its first chief minister, BC Roy’s claim: ‘What Calcutta does today, the rest of India does tomorrow.’

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Total incidents of violent crime in UP fell dramatically from 1999 to 2003 at the rate of 16% per annum. This period coincided with the time when BJP was in power in the state. However, since 2003 when either BSP or SP have been in power, violent crimes in UP have increased significantly at the rate of over 7%. In comparison Bihar which is the closest to UP in its record of crimes, registered increase in violent crimes at 3% per annum.

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In 2014, violent crime in UP was 25% more than in Bihar.

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India’s direct tax payers form part of a narrow base which contributes more than 50% of the Centre’s total tax revenue.

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In 2012-13, tax department’s data showed that 28.9 million individuals filed tax returns, of whom only about 1.6 million people claimed income above Rs 1 million. When this number is juxtaposed with the 2.6 million cars sold the same year.

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India’s income tax base is unnaturally narrow. It spends less than a rupee to collect Rs 100 of direct tax.

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Indian railways continues to be the lifeline of the nation with over 800 crore trips annually

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Air travel in India is likely to continue to grow quickly for the next 10-12 years. To support this growth, investment in airports is expected to be upwards of Rs 2.5 lakh crore. Around 700 planes could be added to our current fleet of around 450 planes totalling an investment of Rs 3 lakh crores.

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Currently the aviation sector is estimated to directly employ 2 lakh people and 12 lakh people across various parts of the value chain, a multiple of 5.8x. in the next decade the sector could employ more than 5 lakh people directly and 30 lakh overall.

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From more than 90% of aspirants failing the central Teacher’s eligibility test year after year, to teacher absenteeism touching as high as 40% in the poorest states, to the prevalence of English Teachers who just can’t speak English. All around there are signs that teacher recruitment in India is in a bad shape.

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Environment: while the Montreal Protocal is now ratified by 197 countries, the Paris agreement has been ratified by 63 countries representing 52.11% of global greenhouse emissions

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The world bank/IMF estimates the size of Indian economy in 2016 at 2.28 trillion $ making it the world’s 7^th largest. At $270 billion in 2015, Pakistan is the world’s 38^th largest. India’s export of merchandise has powered past 300$ billion and is closing on $500 billion, if you count services, despite a slowdown in 2016. Pakistan’s exports are straining to get past #30 billion. India’s foreign exchange reserves stand at $367 billion; Pakistan is at $20 billion.

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Pakistan is one fourth of India’s size. Has a sixth of its population and poses an equal. Yet India cannot rid itself of Pakistani pestilence.

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Pakistan’s ministry of Overseas told the country’s legislature this week that Saudi Arabia and UAE together hosted nearly 90% of the total Pakistani workforce of 9,48,000 sent overseas last year. Jobs provided to Pakistani by some other counties: Germany 44, Turkey 57, Singapore 68, Japan 84, UK 261 and USA 350.

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HIDDEN FACTS

Copyright@shravancharitymission


By Kamlesh Tripathi

HIDDEN FACTS

A survey shows around 70% of Indians are non-vegetarian these days.

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There is a huge amount of debate about GM crops these days. It has tremendous potential to impact on yields if used with appropriate safeguards. Without GM we need another 175-222 million hectares of farmland to feed our population.

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China on demand side, is trying to nudge its population towards a more vegetarian diet.

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One estimate pegs the economic loss because of Bengaluru traffic congestion at Rs 3,700 crore a year; including a whopping 50 crore litres of annual fuel losses. Extrapolate these figures to Delhi, Mumbai and other Indian cities and we have a full-blown economic crisis on hand.

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Traffic jams: I can easily do 5 or more meetings in a day even if they are spread across Singapore or any European city. In Delhi or Bengaluru, I can never plan more than 2 or maximum 3.”—Rishi Seth—A PR and marketing start-up person.

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Gadkari’s ministry measures its performance in kilometres of new roads built per year. What good are these new roads, or the existing roads for that matter, when they are rank incapable of moving people and goods quickly—Rishi Seth, PR and marketing startup professional.

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India has the worst record of road accident deaths in the world; every four minutes a person dies on our roads.

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India is held at ranson by some of the most corrupt and incompetent civic bodies.

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WHO’s report on Road Safety 2015 gave India a rating of 3 or 4 out of 10 for enforcement of laws on speed limits, drunk driving or wearing helmets on two wheelers.

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Tata sons is into over 100 lines of business.

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In 2016 air passengers in India grew by an impressive 23.17%

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Nearly 4% of New Zealand’s population is of Indian origin and Hindi is the third most widely spoken language in Auckland.

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India is New Zealand’s largest source of skilled migrants and 29,000 Indian students are currently enrolled at our academic institutions making them the 2^nd largest overseas student population studying in New Zealand.

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India’s GDP is valued today at $2 trillion. Amitabh Kant, chief executive of Niti Aayog says if all goes well it could touch $10 trillion by 2032. A shorter term assessment would have it reaching $ 5 trillion in the next decade, by 2025-26.

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India is now the fastest growing major aviation market—the number of air passengers has been growing more than 20% year-on-year. In the past 12 months, more than 9 crore passengers flew and another 5 crores  or so flew internationally. In the next few years India will become the 3^rd largest aviation market in the world after the US and China.

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