"kolkata, whatever happened to your heart?"

kolkata is famous for its kindness,hospitality and caring for the poor. hence it is known as a city with a heart. and 'the city of joy'. that image got a big dent last week. when a senior citizen was allowed to die on the streets. shivering in the cold,the poor person had no one coming forward to rescue him. lying for a few days on the crossing of rafi ahmed kidwai road and ripon street near a garbage vat,he was just allowed to die.and a police patrol van was parked only a few metres away.

till a young ambn-amro bank official noticed the old man's plight and lifted him out and carried him to a nearby park.he draped him with a blanket and washed his hands and feet with warm water and tried to revive him. the boy's father, a unani practitioner,suggested he rub hot oil on his chest. before the youth could do that and also find out the identitiy of the old man,he breathed his last. known for its empathy with the poor and underdogs,the sudden callousness of kolkattans is unbelievable. the young bank officer's efforts were touching.

in an ocean of debt

in 1989,seymour durst,a real estate developer installed in manhattan the US national debt clock to highlight the national debt which was then 2.7 trillion dollars. on september 30,the total crossed the 10 trillion dollar mark. this display in times square is owned by the durst organisation.they plan to update the clock in 2009 by adding two extra digits.already with the 700 million dollar bail-out of financial institutions,the US national debt is expected to cross the 11 trillion dollar level.the clock shows the family share of $86017!

payments are overdue on the debt that americans have piled up on their credit cards.debt counselling services are working round the clock taking distress calls.easy money and low interest rates fuelled the debt binge.now that prices of houses have fallen,the good times seems to have come to an end.with the consumers deciding to cut back on spending,the country is truly in the grip of a recession.66% of the US economy is driven by consumer spending.and now that the consumer in no position to spend recklessly where will the economy head?

it may be a long time before the consumer starts spending again. maybe it will do him some good to learn what thrift is all about. and to cut his coat according to his cloth.

here is a message on the debt clock.

U.S. NATIONAL DEBT CLOCK
The Outstanding Public Debt as of 06 Nov 2008 at 04:58:58 PM GMT is:
The estimated population of the United States is 305,045,345
so each citizen's share of this debt is $34,660.66.

The National Debt has continued to increase an average of
$3.87 billion per day since September 28, 2007!
Concerned? Then tell Congress and the White House!

let us hope that the president-elect obama and the new congress do something drastic to save the US economy.