Another Durga Puja finished on the 2nd of October. Every year, I cannot help, but marvel at the time, money and energy that is expended in making the function a success. Most of the times I think that the whole thing is a complete waste. Consider for example. In the city of Calcutta itself around 2800 Durga Pujas (CESC Estimate) are held. Each Puja Comittee spends a tidy sum every year. For the sake of ease of calculation, if we assume that every comittee has a budget of Rs. 10000/- only, then the total expense on Durga Puja - just on conducting the Puja - comes to a staggering Rs. 28,000,000 or simply put Rs. 28 million. This is an extremely conservative estimate as because most pujas have budgets that run into a few hundred thousand of rupees. This also does not include the expenses incurred by a family on Puja shopping. Just imagine, if Rs. 28 million was spent on some project or some socially beneficial work. Calcutta could in my opinion become the best city of the world. Perhaps i
Sorry for the delay folks... I joined Xavier Institute of Social Service (XISS), Ranchi as Reader in their Department of Marketing and Finance from 1st of August 2006. First Impressions about Ranchi - Difficult to say, it feels like a small town thrust into the spotlight since Jahrkhand became a state. But yes the weather is good and distances are small - compared to Kolkata. So my next blogs would be from Ranchi.
This weekend i went to Calcutta and on the train, as i had nothing better to do, i stated doing some mental gymnastics. The fact was that i was going to Calcutta in the 2020 Ranchi-Howrah Shatabdi Express. Now Shatabdi's are supposed to be the fastest trains in India travelling at 100 km per hour and above. But somehow my mental arithmetic did not gel. Consider this: 2020 Ranchi Howrah Shatabdi Express leaves Ranchi railway station at 13:45 hours and reaches Howrah station at 21:10 hours. The total distance between Ranchi and Howrah is (as per the printed ticket) is 427 km. That means that in 7 hours 25 minutes (or in 7x60 + 25 = 445 minutes) the Shatabdi Express covers a distance of 427 km. That simply gives the speed of Shatabdi Express as 57.57 Km per hour. Now i returned by the 8615 Howrah Hatia Express. This train leaves Howrah at 22:05 hours and reaches Ranchi at 06:25 hours. The distance covered by the 8615 Howrah Hatia Express is 420 km. That means that in 8 hours 20 minute
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