Being Saptitude

Jug Suraiya has written an angst filled piece on his taxes due to the "Gormint" (of India presumably). Reading it does fill one with a sense of deja vu, having had such similar thoughts on many a previous occassion... What I fail to understand is why can't there be just one tax (if at all there needs to be any tax at all). The government of any country should only be levying land revenue, based on the use that a particular piece of land is being put to. All its administrative and judicial functions should be at a fees (some thing that already happens in a number of cases - electricity is not free; roads come with a toll; education, health even RTI applications all come for a fee). This way, the government would transform itself more to a services company from a tax earning dragon, individual citizens would only pay for those aspects of the government services for which they are in need of and not for the entire government machinery... Also the government of India, especia

I was at a Hindustani Classical music concert last evening. Organised by a society called the Iyer Foundation and heartily sponsored by a number of well known corporate houses in India, it featured two exponents of the Hindustani Classical music tradition - Smt Ashwini Bhide Deshpande and Pt Sanjeev Abhayankar. Apart from their solo performances, the highlight was a  Jugalbandi   by the two. It was grandly called  Jasrangi Jugalbandi - a concept created by Pt Jasraj where a male and a female singer sing the same song in two different  Ragas,  all the while maintaining their natural scales.  The harmony that was produced was great, and though I am not a connoisseur, and hence could not really appreciate whether they really kept to their scales and  Ragas  (something that was endorsed by Pt Jasraj at the end of the performance), I really enjoyed myself. Pt Jasraj is no doubt one of the greatest musicians in India today. This was the second time that I saw him live on stage, the earl

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- Ram Ram babuji! - Kaise ho Munna? - Aapki kripa babuji. Sabh kushal mangal hain. - Shaadi kiye ho kya? - Haan babuji. Pichle saal Pitaji lugai le aaye mere liye. - Bohut acche. Ab kaha kaam karte ho? - Ab to hum Bambai mein rahte hain. Parivaar ko bhi saath le gaye hain. Ab to wohi pe basera hain. - Kya kaam hain? Tankha accha mil jata hai? Mumbai mein to bohut mehengai hain! - Yahi airport mein hain kaam... Kalkatta mein jis kampany mein thay wohi kampany ne bheja hain bambai ka kaam sambhalne... unh... ab aap se kya chupana malik... jab gaye thay to laga tha bohut tankha mil raha hain.. lekin ab to thora mushkil lagat rahi - Toh company walon ko bolna chahiye tumhe... - Ab kya kahe babuji... company ka jo halat hain... woh log to kah rahe hain ki tankha kum karenge...  - Haan.. aaj kal toh charo taraf yehi sunne ko mil raha hain...  - Humaari baatein bohut hui.. Bohut dino ke baad aapse mulakaat hui..  Aap batao.. aap kaise ho? Bhabhi ji... Rinti baby kaisi hain? Ab to iskool shuru