The Firm

Saturdays and Sundays are when the real work gets done.

Beautiful prose

Loved this prose from an acquaintance's blog:

"Gradually the threads dissolve, the strings come undone. We become footnotes in someone else's life, remembered fondly in the middle of drying dishes on a warm Wednesday night. In the end, this is all we're reduced to, this is what we're left with."

(Source:Sine-Qua-Non)

PC and his Quotes

PC in his budget speech of 2005-06

Mr. Speaker, Sir,

182. One of India's proudest sons, Dr Amartya Sen, argues in his book "Development as Freedom" that development is a process of expanding the real freedoms that people enjoy. He says, "Growth of GNP or of individual incomes can, of course, be very important as means to expanding the freedoms enjoyed by the members of the society. But freedoms depend also on other determinants, such as social and economic arrangements (for example, facilities for education and health care) as well as political and civil rights." The UPA Government accepts this ethical dimension to the discussion of economic issues, and in this Budget I have attempted to reflect that dimension. More or less the same idea was articulated two thousand years ago by Saint Tiruvalluvar who said:

"Pini Inmai Selvam Vilaivu Inbam Emam

Ani Enba Nattirkku Iv Iyndhu"

(Health, wealth, produce, the happiness that is the result, and security

These five, the learned say, are the ornaments of a polity)

PC in his budget speech of 2006-07

I am aware of the severe difficulties faced by farmers in the last two years. Ours is a compassionate Government. I also have severe fiscal constraints. When faced with a dilemma, I usually turn to my favourite poet-philosopher, Saint Tiruvalluvar. Writing over 2,000 years ago, he said:

"Karumam Sidhaiyamal Kannoda Vallarku

Urimai Udaithu Iv Ulagu"

(The world is his who does his job

With compassion)

PC in his budget speech of 2007-08

Mr. Speaker, Sir, I have devoted the last 15 minutes or so to agriculture. There is no dearth of schemes; there is no dearth of funds. What needs to be done is to deliver the intended outcomes. Saint Tiruvalluvar watches over us and warns:-

"Uzhavinar Kai Madangin Illai Vizhaivathoom

Vittame Enbarkum Nilai"

[ If ploughmen keep their hands folded

Even sages claiming renunciation cannot find salvation]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tirukkural