pune from pensioner's paradise to pollution hell

This year Pune city did not have any winter at all!! We did not have to use any sweaters or blankets!! My mind goes back to the year 1993 when we first moved here! The climate was so good we did not have to use a ceiling fan except for a month or so in the month of may. I did not see any air coolers or air conditioners anywhere! now the situation is such that my apartment complex which has 200 residents can now boast of at least 100 a/c's vying with each other in using up power. Electricity aha now we moved to pune from visakhapatnam where we had to suffer power cuts of 4 to 5 hours every day in 1991-92So moving to pune where there was an abundance of water and power was a wonderful experience to us.But the last 15 years I'm very sorry that the infrastructure has deteriorated so badly that we have power cuts, poor water supply and woeful traffic conditions.Comparatively Visakhaptnam now boasts of excellent roads better power situation and more greenery now thanks to better and visionary governance.So Pune And Puneris wake up before it is too late and your city starts looking like a concrete jungle.the need here would be better public transport(please no experiments such as BRTS) and awareness among people to use fewer vehicles.Also the city needs better planning in the sense that residential and commercial areas need to be located separately to avoid chaos in front of every apartment complex due to the presence of shops.

recession and your credit card

Here we are talking of recession in the USA and its fallout in other countries. I was in the United States the last two months and witnessed a lack lustre thanksgiving and christmas shopping season.It made me wonder about the american way of life(swiping your credit card for even the smallest of purchases) Now get me wrong, b'cause that's exactly what I too was doing.i.e using my credit card for making purchases as low as $2. The way of life in the era of recession made me really think!! are we doing the right thing. For the small convenience of not needing to carry cash, do we not spend more than that we intended to whenever we use the colourful piece of plastic to pay with. If you look keenly at your photo on the card before you swipe it you cant miss the smirk!! which says dude do you need all this stuff!
Most of us miss reading the fine print and pages of text which comes to you along with the credit card under the opinion that "why do i need to know things like interest rate. Im going to be paying of my dues every month promptly. Maybe it works if you have a regular pay cheque.But what happens when the pay cheque is no longer coming in and the bills come pouring in and you end up using the card and start paying only the minimum amount.Let me warn you those of you who are doing this stop it now!! before you start drowning in interest debt. Try not to use your credit card when you go shopping for necessities.
I am still trying to figure out how the American Health Insurance Industry works. As of now I am unable to comprehend why medicines and hospitalisation is so expensive and also why there is copay even when you pay your insurance.I am from the insurance industry so this does interest me.So I shall write about it in my next post.