The Nommo & the Sirius

Yes, thats is all the clarity we have for now atleast. But I'll keep my word and give you something about the Nommo, in case you may want.

So I am currently living in with a guy. No, nothing like that - even if my facebook relationship status reads Its complicated. But its not....I mean, nothing in life is at present...Anyway, he is my colleague and from Brazil, and married at that, and we have this HUUGE house with roses in the garden, sugarcane plants in the backyard, a private terrace to ourselves, we even have comforters...I could cry I tell you.... we work, we cook, we cycle, we trek, we take holidays, we're even thinking of tap-dancing - Its the perfect non-ideal situation, and as oxymoronic as it can get.

And in my other work-world, I went on a holiday to Dehradun with colleagues..we went rafting in the Ganga river (so we're pure now, dont miss that), and visited Haradwar which is a freaky place with an alarming number of "spiritual gurus"..and I discovered hills are depressing ...they're ok to visit but not to live...still, it was a fun holiday...we took spas, collected handmade soaps, saw the Tehri Dam, lit campfires, talked, danced, laughed, boozed ...and since I am feeling generous, here are some pics. Yes I am deluded, you neednt tell me that :)

And I am beginning not to see the point of this post or this blog either for that matter, but I guess I am coming through pretty clearly which saves me a lot of writing...and heres the bit on the Nommo I promised - well, not about Nommo obviously...come on, I cant do all the work...

Scientists report that no creature on Earth dreams as much as the human fetus. Now what can the tabula rasa dream about? Do we, for a moment imagine that the tiny swimmer's dreams are dry? That no Nommo splash therein? That the mood is other than oceanic?

There! I am done. Now are you any wiser?

What is the source of water for your house?

PIPED INTO DWELLING . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
PIPED TO YARD/PLOT . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 37
PUBLIC TAP/STANDPIPE . . . . . . . . . . 13
TUBE WELL OR BOREHOLE . . . . . . . . . . 21
DUG WELL
PROTECTED WELL . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 34
UNPROTECTED WELL . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
WATER FROM SPRING
PROTECTED SPRING . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
UNPROTECTED SPRING . . . . . . . . . . 42
RAINWATER 51 37
TANKER TRUCK . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
CART WITH SMALL TANK . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
SURFACE WATER (RIVER/DAM/ 34
LAKE/POND/STREAM/CANAL/
IRRIGATION CHANNEL) . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
BOTTLED WATER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91

There has got to be a reason....there simply has to be....

Anger

I cant believe I have anger management issues. Worse, I am having difficulty expressing my anger. Worst, its anger about things that happened in the past. I dont know what brought it on suddenly but I remembered  certain incidents and the people who expected me to take pain they themselves wouldn't want to even begin to experience...that they tried to make me believe I am a bad person for reacting to something they caused because they were scared to do the right thing....that they conveniently overlooked what brought it on and chose to judge only my  reaction.....That they brushed it off saying  that it is something I should face anyway  and blamed me for being so sensitive.... Sensitive, my ass! Its good for them that they are in my past, since I am getting over the difficulty in expressing anger bit real fast...

Its just a phase....(breathe)...its just a phase.... and I really should stop taking it out on friends who have always been there for me....if you are reading this, I really apologize for yesterday!

The Matchstick Economy

Have you ever wondered what margins stockists would make on a matchbox costing 50p. 5p? 10p? It is a volume game but is it worth the opportunity cost of their investment? So it seemed worthwhile to study the fascinating matchstick economy and here are my notes:

Now I dont have to remind you that like the table salt, matches are not a marketeer's friend. 

1. Do you care which brand the shopkeeper gives you when you ask for them?

2. Do you even know of any differences between the brands?

3. Would it affect you if their price went up from 50p to say 60p?

4. Do you ever count to see how many matches are there in your box? Would you notice if were 10 less?

5. How can matches be marketed? Ads on TV? Even if so, do you really care enough  to make a conscious purchasing decision?

..and so forth.Given all this, what is the incentive for a manufacturer to make good matches? 

I could not find any numbers for the matchstick economy in India. So I visited a few matchstick manufacturing hubs last week to understand their pricing. Here are the costs per box

Manufacturing - < 5p

Packaging - 3p + 2p

Transportation - 5p

Total < 15p

Commission for Middleman 1 = 2p

Commission for Middleman 2 = 3p

Wholesale commission = 3p

Retail commission = 5p

So the box of matches for which you pay 50p costs around 28p. Its good business. 

Woman1 has spent her around 30 years of her life stuffing matchsticks into boxes. She has to count 70 sticks and fill a box. For every 200 boxes she fills, she is paid six rupees. In a day she  and her co-workers fill as many as 2000 boxes, thereby earning 60 rupees. Woman2 packs the boxes into cartons. 200 boxes make a mini carton. She is paid 1 rupee a carton and packs around 50 cartons with 10000 boxes a day, thereby  earning  50 rupees. Woman1 and Woman2 work as a team from 7 in the morning to 6 in the evening. 

Middleman 1 is very astute. He inherently assumes that 10% of the boxes are faulty so he asks for 10% more stock. In a day he transports 1,00,000 boxes on an average earning 1300 rupees a day after costs   Middleman 2 charges more because transporting to a city is expensive you see, so he earns around 2000 a day on the same stock. The wholesale shop makes 2500 a day and the retail shop makes 4000 rupees if it has to sell the same 100,000 boxes.

As always, each one earns in proportion to the work they do. Thats how good a business this is!