If I tell you a lie would you believe it?
No?...Yes?... May be?... It depends???
Think about it... It depends.. Right?
If you know that its a lie on the face of it, you would not believe it. If I camouflage it enough and present it in a way that you don't realize that its a lie, you would believe what I say in all probability. Isn't it?
How something is presented, makes all the difference. As I always say... Perception matters. Would you not agree?
Lets take the Global Hunger Index(GHI) for 2009 for example. Do you know that India is ranked at 65th position for the year 2009? 65th in what you might ask. Its 65th position for percentage drop in the GHI numbers. India's hunger index has dropped from 31.7 in 1990 to 23.1 in 2009.
What is this GHI? This GHI is issued by some Institute. By looking at the name, I thought it might be a lobbyist group for GM food industry. I did some Googling and guess what!!! Based on some documents I found, it has something to do with pushing GM crops on to unsuspecting developing countries. And whats more...its based out of Washington D.C.
Now, hiding under such a fancy name, they are issuing reports that India has a GHI of 23.1. This is considered as "Alarming" based on their own classifications. How do they arrive at this nice-looking number of 23.1? They have used this fancy formula:
GHI = (PUN+CUW+CM)/3
I can visualize you guys scratching your head and thinking that you don't remember this formula, just like how you don't remember Ohm's law or the L'Hopital's Rule. Don't be scared. Its rather easy and their website explains it. Thank God for websites.
PUN = Proportion of population that is "undernourished" (in %)
CUW = Prevalence of underweight children under five (in %)
CM = proportion of children dying before the age of five (in %).
As per data released by them, for India, the numbers are as follows:
GHI = (21+43.5+7.2)/3 = 23.9
I don't know what is the logical basis for this formula. How can they give equal weights for these and do a simple average?
How can One "Under-nourished" adult = One "Under-weight" child below five = One "Infant dying before five (God forbid)". Are you able to understand this formula? I certainly can't.
They are saying 21% of Indian population are 'Undernourished". I think they must have included all the young anorexic women, who are trying to attain the magical Size Zero as under-nourished. They must have also included our metrosexuals feeding on McDiets and Pizzaiets as under-nourished in terms of the nutrients they receive. Can't quite disagree with them, I would say.
As for the underweight children below five, I am sure the number must be wrong, considering the amount of Lays and Cokes, the various health drinks they show on TV with 23+ vital nutrients and the instant noodles that our children couldn't keep their hands off. Or is this underweight because of consuming all these items? I wish someone could answer me.
How sure are you, that the Brinjal fry you had yesterday was not made of Bt Brinjal?
Do you know that Mark Twain once said " Lies, damned lies and statistics"?
I know a good statistics when I see one. Do you?
(c) Vijayaganesh Sampathkumar -2009. All Rights Reserved.
Friday, November 27, 2009
Saturday, November 21, 2009
Being Boring
I was feeling very bored today. The sheer boredom made me go out for something.
I had some money, but thought it would be a good idea to keep some more. I went to the nearby ATM. There was a huge queue in front of the ATM, waiting to withdraw money. Since I had no patience to wait, I went to another ATM. There was a cash out in that ATM. I went to couple of more ATMs and all had cash out. I was wondering why people were withdrawing all the money and the ATMs were dry, which was kind of unusual. I went to my bank's (which is the SBB or the State Bailed out Bank) branch for the cash and found that there must be at least 100 people waiting to withdraw money. I was perplexed and decided to make do with the money I had.
On my way out of the Bank, I saw a Liquor store being mobbed by a group of people. You can see them in the Al Anon meetings. The Al Anon regulars were breaking their wows with new-found enthusiasm. The store's staff had a very tough time in dealing with the mob, waiting to be served.
Next to the Liquor store, there was a small office with an even smaller Reception. I saw crowd of 10-12 senior citizens waiting in front of the office, which stuck me as odd. I have seen this office quite deserted on most occasions in the past. There was a name plate outside the office that said Mr.Leech was "IN". The people outside seemed to wait with a determined will. It seemed that they were willing to wait for a considerable while, to meet the occupier of the office. I vaguely recollected that the office was occupied by a person, whom I have seen in courts.
I went on my way and saw the neighborhood Blessed Souls Church being besieged by faithfuls. I knew today was not Sunday and checked my watch. It confirmed that today was Saturday. There was a huge queue (not as large as the one in front of the ATM) in the side entrance of the church that lead to the Confessional Booth.
In the next street, there was a Temple. Again, I saw a sea of humanity inside the temple offering prayers. Every inch of the temple was occupied by people. I could not help wondering how people have become very religious over-night.
I bought a newspaper in the corner shop to help me pass the time in my bus journey. The headlines screamed - Rice and Dal out of reach of common man". The article explained how the prices of basic food items are increasing in double digits on a weekly basis and how the Government is clueless to tackle this spurt in prices. I moved on to the entertainment pages. There was a small graphic that explained how one of the very recent releases is running to packed houses all over India, a phenomenon not seen on a scale like this before. On reaching my destination, I folded up the Newspaper. Having folded it, I did not notice that the Business pages explained how the real estate prices and share prices are falling like an airplane hit by AQ's missile and the Gold prices are going up as if there is no tomorrow.
I spent the next few hours doing what I set out to do. There was a large number of people, who also did what I did.
Halfway through my task, I developed a very bad headache. I could not stomach how lousy some things can be and how people are able to put up with such crappy stuff.
I took the bus back home, but did not read the paper this time, as the headache was troubling me. I got down from the bus and took a small detour to get me some Aspirin tablets for
my headache. My head was splitting by this time.
On the street corner, I saw a big Vinyl banner that had a picture of a guy. I remember seeing that guy on Sunday night television, selling Salvation for a few bucks. Next to that guy's picture, it was written in big bold words - "HIS JUDGEMENT COMETH AND THAT TOO RIGHT SOON". Something else was written below it, but I could not read on, as there was big group of people reading what's written in that banner.
I reached home and took a double dose of the Aspirin and went to sleep. I cursed myself for going out to watch the movie 2012 out of my boredom and getting the nasty headache in that process.
Now, may be you should read this all over again from the beginning.
(c) Vijayaganesh Sampathkumar -2009. All Rights Reserved.
I had some money, but thought it would be a good idea to keep some more. I went to the nearby ATM. There was a huge queue in front of the ATM, waiting to withdraw money. Since I had no patience to wait, I went to another ATM. There was a cash out in that ATM. I went to couple of more ATMs and all had cash out. I was wondering why people were withdrawing all the money and the ATMs were dry, which was kind of unusual. I went to my bank's (which is the SBB or the State Bailed out Bank) branch for the cash and found that there must be at least 100 people waiting to withdraw money. I was perplexed and decided to make do with the money I had.
On my way out of the Bank, I saw a Liquor store being mobbed by a group of people. You can see them in the Al Anon meetings. The Al Anon regulars were breaking their wows with new-found enthusiasm. The store's staff had a very tough time in dealing with the mob, waiting to be served.
Next to the Liquor store, there was a small office with an even smaller Reception. I saw crowd of 10-12 senior citizens waiting in front of the office, which stuck me as odd. I have seen this office quite deserted on most occasions in the past. There was a name plate outside the office that said Mr.Leech was "IN". The people outside seemed to wait with a determined will. It seemed that they were willing to wait for a considerable while, to meet the occupier of the office. I vaguely recollected that the office was occupied by a person, whom I have seen in courts.
I went on my way and saw the neighborhood Blessed Souls Church being besieged by faithfuls. I knew today was not Sunday and checked my watch. It confirmed that today was Saturday. There was a huge queue (not as large as the one in front of the ATM) in the side entrance of the church that lead to the Confessional Booth.
In the next street, there was a Temple. Again, I saw a sea of humanity inside the temple offering prayers. Every inch of the temple was occupied by people. I could not help wondering how people have become very religious over-night.
I bought a newspaper in the corner shop to help me pass the time in my bus journey. The headlines screamed - Rice and Dal out of reach of common man". The article explained how the prices of basic food items are increasing in double digits on a weekly basis and how the Government is clueless to tackle this spurt in prices. I moved on to the entertainment pages. There was a small graphic that explained how one of the very recent releases is running to packed houses all over India, a phenomenon not seen on a scale like this before. On reaching my destination, I folded up the Newspaper. Having folded it, I did not notice that the Business pages explained how the real estate prices and share prices are falling like an airplane hit by AQ's missile and the Gold prices are going up as if there is no tomorrow.
I spent the next few hours doing what I set out to do. There was a large number of people, who also did what I did.
Halfway through my task, I developed a very bad headache. I could not stomach how lousy some things can be and how people are able to put up with such crappy stuff.
I took the bus back home, but did not read the paper this time, as the headache was troubling me. I got down from the bus and took a small detour to get me some Aspirin tablets for
my headache. My head was splitting by this time.
On the street corner, I saw a big Vinyl banner that had a picture of a guy. I remember seeing that guy on Sunday night television, selling Salvation for a few bucks. Next to that guy's picture, it was written in big bold words - "HIS JUDGEMENT COMETH AND THAT TOO RIGHT SOON". Something else was written below it, but I could not read on, as there was big group of people reading what's written in that banner.
I reached home and took a double dose of the Aspirin and went to sleep. I cursed myself for going out to watch the movie 2012 out of my boredom and getting the nasty headache in that process.
Now, may be you should read this all over again from the beginning.
(c) Vijayaganesh Sampathkumar -2009. All Rights Reserved.
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