ABRACADABRA
Man keeps hands off money for 22 years
Beed (Maharashtra): Money is what drives the world so say people, but Babanrao Mhaske doesn’t believe in the dictum. The simple villager hasn’t touched currency for over 20 years as he thinks it is root of all evils. A farm labourer from Aadas village of Kaij Tehsil in Beed district, Mhaske took the oath 22 years back, something that he continues to follow till date. “After an incident that took place 22 years back, I realised that money is the only cause behind disputes. It was then that I decided not to touch money till I am alive,” said Mhaske, aged around 58. He said: “I avoid having tea and meals outside my house, as it would compel me to breach my commitment.” Interestingly, Mhaske’s landlord hands over his monthly salary straight to his family. Despite odds, he is committed to keeping his promise, which he has made to himself. “Come what may, but I would keep my promise till the last breath”.
Woman in France marries dead fiancé!
London: A woman in France is so in love with her fiancée that two years after he was killed in a car crash she has married him. Karen Jumeaux, 22, was permitted by an obscure law to wed Anthony Maillot, after she proved that they had already planned the ceremony. They had got engaged after meeting in 2007 and had a baby boy in 2009 – shortly before Maillot died aged 20. Jumeaux, who wore a white dress for the ceremony witnessed by family and friends, held the wedding in Dizy-le-Gros, eastern France, after President Nicolas Sarkozy granted her request. “Anthony was my first and only love and we were together for four years,” the ‘Sun’ quoted her as saying. But a French legal expert said if she ever wanted to remarry, she would have to get a divorce.
Colonial mind set! Rahul to Rob at work in UK!
London: Many call centre employees in India take on western names while interacting with callers, but now a Leicester-based telesales company has been found guilty of race discrimination for forcing Indian-origin employees to adopt English names, PTI reports. Employee Rahul Jain, 28, was made to change his name to Rob Mathews, by the Teachers 2 Parents Company, which offers ‘effortless communication’ between teachers and parents. His white colleagues could retain their original names at work.
The company founded in 2007 is incidentally owned by Indian-origin entrepreneurs, Suresh Patel and Uresh Naik. Rahul Jain complained against the forced change of name, and now an employment tribunal has found the employer guilty of racial discrimination, the ‘Daily Mail’ reported.
The tribunal was told that the company “had a number of staff of Indian ethnic origin who adopted anglicised names at work”.
The employers reportedly claimed that English names were easier for customers to spell in emails, and that customers had struggled with Indian names.
The tribunal ruled that the school software company’s policy was not a ‘proportionate’ way to stop emails going astray and that it was enforced on Indian employees while white colleagues were allowed to keep their names.
On his first day, Rohit Jain picked the name Rob but the tribunal was told that he would “have preferred to maintain his birth name at work because he was proud of it, and was unhappy at having to change names”.
After the tribunal hearing, Jain said, “I was the only person in the company to challenge what was happening. They had a policy for all Asian to change their names.”
The tribunal said: “If the firm was serious that the name change was optional it was incumbent to communicate that real choice. The tribunal considers that the respondent’s instruction to the claimant to adopt an anglicised name subjected him to a detriment to which it would not have subjected white colleagues and that occurred because of the claimant’s race.”
Drunk pees into water reservoir & city drains 8 million gallons
Portland (Oregon): Call it the big flush. Because a 21-year-old man was caught on a security camera urinating into a city reservoir, Oregon’s biggest city is sending a million gallons of treated drinking water down the drain.
Portland officials defended the decision, saying they didn’t want to send city residents water laced, however infinitesimally with urine.
Public health officials say, however, that urine is sterile in healthy people and that the urine in the reservoir was so diluted perhaps a half pint in millions of gallons that it posed little risk. Some people in the city, in the suburbs and around the world called the flush an overreaction, especially since animals such as ducks contribute waste routinely and, sometimes, die in the water.
Even so, Shaff said, the yuck factor was the primary reason for the decision to drain the 8 million gallons, at a cost of less than USD 8,000 to treat it as sewage. “Nobody wants to drink pee, and I don’t want to deal with the 100 people who would be unhappy that I’m serving them pee in their water,” he said. Shaff said the security cameras also showed something that’s still unidentified was thrown in the water, heightening concern about potential risks.
City Commissioner Randy Leonard, who is in charge of the water bureau, defended the decision, citing a potential public health risk. He said he worried about the possibility of Chlamydia or AIDS from blood in urine.
“I’m for taking the most conservative approach,” he said.
The young man, Josh Seater, told KATU-TV he’d been drinking, was with friends and thought that the reservoir was a sewage treatment plant. He said he felt guilty instantly, and then security guards arrived.
Besides the sewage charge, Shaff said, the flushed water is worth USD 28,000.
Beed (Maharashtra): Money is what drives the world so say people, but Babanrao Mhaske doesn’t believe in the dictum. The simple villager hasn’t touched currency for over 20 years as he thinks it is root of all evils. A farm labourer from Aadas village of Kaij Tehsil in Beed district, Mhaske took the oath 22 years back, something that he continues to follow till date. “After an incident that took place 22 years back, I realised that money is the only cause behind disputes. It was then that I decided not to touch money till I am alive,” said Mhaske, aged around 58. He said: “I avoid having tea and meals outside my house, as it would compel me to breach my commitment.” Interestingly, Mhaske’s landlord hands over his monthly salary straight to his family. Despite odds, he is committed to keeping his promise, which he has made to himself. “Come what may, but I would keep my promise till the last breath”.
Woman in France marries dead fiancé!
London: A woman in France is so in love with her fiancée that two years after he was killed in a car crash she has married him. Karen Jumeaux, 22, was permitted by an obscure law to wed Anthony Maillot, after she proved that they had already planned the ceremony. They had got engaged after meeting in 2007 and had a baby boy in 2009 – shortly before Maillot died aged 20. Jumeaux, who wore a white dress for the ceremony witnessed by family and friends, held the wedding in Dizy-le-Gros, eastern France, after President Nicolas Sarkozy granted her request. “Anthony was my first and only love and we were together for four years,” the ‘Sun’ quoted her as saying. But a French legal expert said if she ever wanted to remarry, she would have to get a divorce.
Colonial mind set! Rahul to Rob at work in UK!
London: Many call centre employees in India take on western names while interacting with callers, but now a Leicester-based telesales company has been found guilty of race discrimination for forcing Indian-origin employees to adopt English names, PTI reports. Employee Rahul Jain, 28, was made to change his name to Rob Mathews, by the Teachers 2 Parents Company, which offers ‘effortless communication’ between teachers and parents. His white colleagues could retain their original names at work.
The company founded in 2007 is incidentally owned by Indian-origin entrepreneurs, Suresh Patel and Uresh Naik. Rahul Jain complained against the forced change of name, and now an employment tribunal has found the employer guilty of racial discrimination, the ‘Daily Mail’ reported.
The tribunal was told that the company “had a number of staff of Indian ethnic origin who adopted anglicised names at work”.
The employers reportedly claimed that English names were easier for customers to spell in emails, and that customers had struggled with Indian names.
The tribunal ruled that the school software company’s policy was not a ‘proportionate’ way to stop emails going astray and that it was enforced on Indian employees while white colleagues were allowed to keep their names.
On his first day, Rohit Jain picked the name Rob but the tribunal was told that he would “have preferred to maintain his birth name at work because he was proud of it, and was unhappy at having to change names”.
After the tribunal hearing, Jain said, “I was the only person in the company to challenge what was happening. They had a policy for all Asian to change their names.”
The tribunal said: “If the firm was serious that the name change was optional it was incumbent to communicate that real choice. The tribunal considers that the respondent’s instruction to the claimant to adopt an anglicised name subjected him to a detriment to which it would not have subjected white colleagues and that occurred because of the claimant’s race.”
Drunk pees into water reservoir & city drains 8 million gallons
Portland (Oregon): Call it the big flush. Because a 21-year-old man was caught on a security camera urinating into a city reservoir, Oregon’s biggest city is sending a million gallons of treated drinking water down the drain.
Portland officials defended the decision, saying they didn’t want to send city residents water laced, however infinitesimally with urine.
Public health officials say, however, that urine is sterile in healthy people and that the urine in the reservoir was so diluted perhaps a half pint in millions of gallons that it posed little risk. Some people in the city, in the suburbs and around the world called the flush an overreaction, especially since animals such as ducks contribute waste routinely and, sometimes, die in the water.
Even so, Shaff said, the yuck factor was the primary reason for the decision to drain the 8 million gallons, at a cost of less than USD 8,000 to treat it as sewage. “Nobody wants to drink pee, and I don’t want to deal with the 100 people who would be unhappy that I’m serving them pee in their water,” he said. Shaff said the security cameras also showed something that’s still unidentified was thrown in the water, heightening concern about potential risks.
City Commissioner Randy Leonard, who is in charge of the water bureau, defended the decision, citing a potential public health risk. He said he worried about the possibility of Chlamydia or AIDS from blood in urine.
“I’m for taking the most conservative approach,” he said.
The young man, Josh Seater, told KATU-TV he’d been drinking, was with friends and thought that the reservoir was a sewage treatment plant. He said he felt guilty instantly, and then security guards arrived.
Besides the sewage charge, Shaff said, the flushed water is worth USD 28,000.
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