RESILIENCE IN NATURE

TO the good observer  it is stimulant to see, how nature responds to abuse and destruction by men and women in me concrete, asphalt neck of the woods.  It always comes back.

After the third raid of destruction of all vegetation in the San Carlos, --the custom here when 'cleaning' public or private spaces--, most gardeners would feel a little depressed, frustrated and resigned.

Not I.  In the beginning, I used to fall into it. As time goes by, I know better.  To be effective, this mass destruction has to be careful, not the customary sweeping under the carpet, half assed,  permeating this culture in every ---cliche time--way, form and fashion.  If you leave piles of organic matter  as the one in the photo,  weeds will return with all kinds of self seeding plants and cut stems.

The  unexpected in this example is the Pereskia bleo, in the corner with black smoke on the wall. It was mutilated to the ground level, plus burned by junkies in search of copper from electrical wires.

Both, the one hatched/ burned and the other, in the pile of organic matter are sure signs of hope. Nature needs very little from us to remain, to return.  At least in this little place I call my own alternative garden in the abandoned, former San Carlos hospital. 

That is that. 


if interested check the 
four available video clips about
this space during the last 2 years
i have been at it.
http://youtu.be/govA08GdmWw
http://youtu.be/mrV1KMA1CIo
http://youtu.be/Wkoi6hSu2DQ
http://youtu.be/ZUrUhOYEe_A

CHEF CAJAN IS IN THE QUINOA POST

NOT long ago the people  or you  reader, may remember that  post about a grain, not a cereal, couscous  like, from Bolivia  your humble servant discovered through the airwaves of  Radio Nederlands.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quinoa
antigonumcajaneveningpost.blogspot.com/2012/03/notes-at-random.html

Well, the good news is that me wife bought some. One for is  microwave, other for the sauce pan. I have tasted both,
and I recommend it.   No, it is not an advertisement. I am not into 
that bag yet. But could/should send me some  euros, cash or check to help maintain this blog, as it is suggested in depuertorricopalmundo, a blog about puertorican 'happiness'.


If you like Pinot noir, Syrah/Shiraz, Australian or not,  Tempranillo/paella from the mother country, Belgian beer, Guinness/Jameson, single malts/blended,  Mexican gastronomy, their hot chiles or our Capsicum, tequila neat/lemon/salt,  Modelo/Dos XX,  Palo Viejo/Ron Llave, rubbing alcohol tasting moonshine,  even if they are not truly rums of Puerto  Rico,  wild rice, sushi and such you may/will like quinoa.

I say more, if you agree with the above, you are/have potential to become a first division gardener as stated recently, but only so, if accepted by initiated peers. Do you  have solid notions of plant propagation, or in the path to become one, with pertinent evidence? Otherwise, you,  will not be accepted in this exclusive vip group.

I believe having mentioned it before.  But if not, what the hell. I did some time in a  couple of restaurants as a cook assistant in dull Springfield, MA.   My favorite chef is Karlos Arguinhano from Spain, and former chef Antony Bourdain, now into  eating, traveling and talking about food/cooking, gastronomical contexts. 



Emeril Lagasse was a clown with his 15 minutes of notoriety with a beach towel in shoulder. In Puerto Rico, imitated by a couple of jerks: Chef Pinhero and some fat dude (Chef Puya) fired from his tv show, for DUI. 

Too many people is not aware of it, but there are other ways to go about agriculture without trans-genetics.  Quinoa is one example. Yet, let the record show, fornicating with pregnancies Haiti like will destroy the globe.  No matter how naturally or artificially food production increases. It will never be accordingly. It never was.
Just like automobiles and assorted vehicles will never slow down to have enough roads/highways/parking lots to transit and rest. That will never happen. 

Now if you want to taste something new,  helping by the way those farmers cultivating quinoa in Bolivia and Peru, go ahead.

editors note

Congratulations! It is been a long while 

since we, in the third person saw, 

such of display of humble humor.

that is that

ON PROPAGATION II

Titania shared recently some of her succulents down under. One cactus, propagated from seeds is 30 years old, looking marvelous.  I never thought of it.  When considering that I propagate almost everything I have planted in my life, it would have never cross my mind any creature like that would reach such seniority. Most of the time, one would expect it to be a tree or a bush.  I share the satisfaction any gardener feels when whatever planted survives for such long time.

Here is the second part of God knows how many  will follow.

The Romans  

The innovative Romans used natural mineral to progress the sowing of seeds.  they used mica (transparent crystals from granite) as we use glass today,  to retain  within a small area  the warmth from  the elements whilst still allowing them to take advantage of full daylight.

Gradually we were able to associate the cultivation of plants with the medium  in which they were  so struggling for survival. Hormone rooting powders, of course, were not available in these ancient times, so we improvised.  Again, it is a Roman gardener who is credited for realizing first that if we dipped the bases of cuttings into ox manure

it was possible to encourage rooting and the development of a good rooting system.  It is believed , too, that his contemporaries were the first to grow cuttings from pieces of plant root (believed to be from a thistle), although sound documentation on the subject, pre-dating the 17th century, is hard to find. 

Plant Propagation 

Graham Clarke

AllanToogood

page 7

Who is the Roman mentioned above?  I do not know, and do not care. What is relevant, is the propagation issue. It is always fascinating reading about edible gardens.

It is a seasonal fad, coming and going, but they never mention the propagation of plants as if they will raise out of the blue, without any problems and difficulties.

The other strange related subject are those people claiming to have a grey thumb. I wonder how many times they tried, probably incorrect plants for their context, with excess irrigation.  It seems that people kill their plants indoors more often for this reason than the contrary.

that is that.

 

PUERTO RICO A THIRD WORLD ON ITS OWN

FOR the last five years I have been practicing my keyboard skills on this or that subject, with acceptance in some segments among local and foreign visitors; I have noticed some individuals from the good for nothing governor down, to professionals and characters Larry the Cable Guy like without the wit/humor,  dominating the scene, any one you can think of, talking about banana republics and the third world to describe the collapse of Puerto Rico.
We are becoming like a banana republic in  the third world. They say/write, as if we are not, or ever were.

One demonstration of the collapse of these minds is the operation of the USA Immigration Office in Puerto Rico, responsible in the passport department, and looking the other way regarding the occupation of Puerto Rico, by mostly illegal islanders from Dominican Republic. 

I arrived at 6:30 AM to PLAZA, to sign a list, making the 29th, the doors opened at 7:OO.  One has to wait in a tight, claustrophobic hall among disgusting parents with their children unable to shut up, the anxiety building up, until 8AM, when the lonely  federal employee arrives to do her little speech.

The pasty, chubby female starts calling each name on  the list with a big surprise for those in line.  Each name equals 3/4 people. By the time she gets to  the 12th, she has  reached 30, the maximum, plus  miscelaneous lost souls with appointments. It was now 8:30!

That means everyjuan else including the most humble, gets an appointment. Mine is on 28 June 2012.  The rest of the people, frustrated as hell, leave with one idea on their mind. Beating the system.,

Or to get to the doors by 3/4/5 AM, if you get me drift. By the time I signed for June, I heard the pasty lady communicating the captive islander audience to expect spending the day in their office,  with only 2 officers be checking the passport applications.
  


In  the past, the Federal Government or USA, ran a system more or less efficient. At any rate, it was more sophisticated than most local government agencies.


Now if you wonder about banana republics...The degrading term coined in USA, the media, to refer to those countries in the past with predominantly agricultural economies is rather ironic, sarcastic and mistaken in the case of Puerto Rico.


The concrete/asphalt isle, has only two things in common with any other republic with bananas. One flag, copy of the Cuban and the national anthem.  No bananas, ever, not to export. Plus no currency, customs or immigration controls as they do.


The institutional collapse of the judiciary, moral, social, cultural, political, economy, schools, banking and any other you may think 
is similar to what those in such group are or were known for.

Recently, the resulting electoral fraud in  some local political parties, the  RED and BLUE  primaries is of such magnitude that everyjuan is in  the verge of defecating in their pants. Why?  They inflated the total amount of votes by the hundreds to give the impression  among their followers in this vale of tears  they have more possibilities than their rivals to win our democratic games next November.


A consequence is that to perform like any other banana republic of the third world, the only thing Puerto Rico had left to do/show has been  done. Electoral fraud, increasing the sensation of walking in a maze with no string to keep one's direction. Puertoricans are trapped without that popular cliche: light at the end of the tunnel.


Now I will go back to me garden. Always getting better, no, I do not like Musa plants in the urban/concrete/asphalt context. The same way I detest Strelitzia reginae, Heliconias, Gingers, Ravenala madascariensis with their raggedy leaves blowing in the wind like a lost at sea sailing boat.

One of our legendary poets once wrote.

Pobre de mi Pueto Rico

donde su pobre gente

se morira de nada.

Well, it was never, ever so true!

MOST DOCUMENTED GARDEN IN THE CARIBBEAN I

PROPAGATION OF PLANTS IN FIRST DIVISION GARDENING

WHAT the hell could that tittle mean? 

We will get there soon. First, let me share the fun of watching/listening to Katy Griffith, a comedian.  If there was such kindness in my heart--to stand up to make people laugh--that is the way to go. Blunt, abrasive, no pity.  Good with gestures, body language, delivery, accents of the native or imported, migrants of  the ' Eastern block', for example.

I do not know of any men or woman in that field so obnoxious, with an irritating voice, which may be the way some perceive yours truly.  Gay people, one of her themes have never been better portrayed.  Take marriage, that previous monopoly of heteros.  Wait until those  gay lengthy litigation procedures for divorce,  division of wealth, goods and child visitation/custody, start.

It is time for the tittle.  

Last Thursday, I received a message from an obscure character, originally from some neck of the woods in USA,  who now lives in Puerto Rico.  The virtual relation started when I shared some of my photos/blogs, mistakenly thinking there was some point of interest between what he does for money, and what I do to 'set trends/kick butt' or both, at least mentally.

As it is often the case, in similar situations,  I perceived indifference, disconnection and lack of interest in gardening/horticulture or the photos.  The least I would expect from a photographer, is a comment in either direction, I could care less, if negative/positive or none of the above. 

In his out of the blue message it was mentioned the embracing of gardening, but not the intention, making money as his other activity, selling photos.  I wondered why the hell is this guy telling me this, now, after a year or two of my initial naive message?

Right now, at this moment while I write, I do not know.  It does not matter, really.  What is relevant, is to share my observations of one photo.  It is worthy of an essay about ignorance. 

It depicts him with a prominent beer belly, Larry the Cable gay sleeve less shirt and  construction gloves.  He contemplates in awe his stupid looking work, sweaty, worn out, admiring his Cocos nucifera*, can not remember if four or six of them.  All planted wrong!  To close to each other and even worse, below a canopy of vegetation, totally inadequate for them coconuts, in my humble opinion, my way or the highway fashion.  

He has decided to begin propagating different species of  the most useful, tall, strong of all grasses from seed. I suppose with the intention to sell to the public.

The first division of gardening, in terms of language, is no different from that in  futbol, soccer they call it in USA. Preferably, Barsa my favorite or Real Madrid. You should have gotten my drift by now.

I will not write my traditional opinions, for the hell of it.  Instead I will share what every gardener, particularly in the beginning stages

of their career, vocation, mercenary job, or pass time should have bothered to learn, research, find out, before digging the first hole, at least if you have a computer, read here and there, this or that.

THE COMPLETE BOOK OF 

Plant Propagation

by 

Graham Clarke

Alan Thoogood 

pages

6-7

The Greeks 

Some 2000 years ago the Greek philosopher Theophrastus, who is best remembered for his botanical works and the book, Enquiry into Plants, wrote of the widely cultivated plants of the day.  Olive trees, and date palms were grown from seeds, and so were rather more familiar garden vegetables, such as beet, cabbage, celery, cress, cucumber, leeks, lettuce, onion, radish and turnip. Parsley, thyme and hollyhocks also feature heavily in the ancient writings. 

Cuttings from plants were also described by Theophrastus.  The earliest types of cutting were, in fact, rooted suckers which had been unceresmoniously pulled off the parent plant and set in the ground.  Today we call these pieces of shoot with roots attached: 'Irishman's cuttings'.  However, it had been observed that some plants could be propagated successfully by taking cuttings without roots already attached, and these included almond, apple, basil, bay fig, marjoram, pear and pomegranate.

Propagation  is probably the most important aspect of gardening. Disease diagnose the second.  I can understand and tolerate ignorance about any other aspect of planting, to be more specific.

When I think about it, illiterate farmers and gardeners of other latitudes know from experience or watching others these issues, or not.  What I do not understand is when this type of event take place.

In Isabela City, Puerto Rico, some bored inner city youth decided to restore some prominent sand dunes by the beach in the mentioned town with their photos displayed in Feisbuk, but no sand dunes, that is trend of every jerk embracing the environment.  When I required and demanded a botanical list of saline tolerant erosion control vegetation, the moder sukers responded that I had no identity, since I use a nome de plume. Believe it or not. 

to be continued..

Romans and Chinese are next

*
Cocos nucifera are originally from Asia. When 
Columbus arrived down here there were none. I believe that any palm in many contexts ruins any
installation.  In the south of the island,  the infestation is of a lesser magnitude. Their abuse in Puerto Rico, is abominable.

ON FAT LADIES AND THE LONELY ARCHITECT

Yesterday was a sad day. The evening joy gone. Radio Nederlands was not on the air, instead some architect full of theoretical frames was on with that silly pattern of question and answers in a row without any originality.

But his ways with the language were out of the ordinary forcing me to listen for ten minutes. His views about our subway or elevated train, the individualism, selfishness promoted by typical housing projects with controlled access, made me think about my  own views.

Later that day, I found a fat lady's blog dealing with bariatrics, a subject I consider myself an expert, humbly that is. She complains about skinny/slim staff working in medical offices for the morbid obese.  I infer it will be more appropriate, politically correct to hire fat,,  low stamina and difficulty to move around staff, so she and others can feel some solidarity, and as the saying goes: Misery loves companion. 

She complains,(I know you know the difference between what I do and complaining) about that perception most people have aesthetically about the morbid obese.  She is right, they are ugly. Uncomfortable to watch while window shopping at Plaza. That walk penguin like swagger trying to balance the heavy fat. 


Next she follows with breakfast,  her transparent turkey slice, light orange juice and whatever, as if she is suffering tremendously with her condition and WE, the readers, should feel some pity, just like to a shotgun beggar. Disgusting.


I left some useful recommendations in the comments department.  The morbid obese, alcoholics, smokers, junkies, bulimics, anorexics, ALL, find ways to justify their habits. I her case, exercise, eating smaller portions are not mentioned. I bet dollar to dounughts, have not even crossed her mind.  Walking cost nothing, you do not have to join a gym like LIVfitness to go deaf in the process. Go walk some miles beach!


I know from my sources that people who have been operated in Puerto Rico, do not exercise.  Only one out of 30 in a recent get together of former morbid obese bothers to exercise every other day, keeping the measured food intake Swiss watch like. Five four ounces portions a day, plus vitamins to complement.


All the above mentioned, talked about  plastic and reconstruction surgery as the panacea after the bariatric operation to get rid of the extra skin hanging here and there, as if muscle tone is something irrelevant.


This is evidence of a lack of compromise with the self, all solutions should arrive with little effort, a pill, surgery for this or that, exercise?
Discipline?  Never.


And the lonely architect?  Well if you weight both stories this one is feather like, since there are more and more morbids daily walking around.


Many people, like this architect and others, talk, preach about changing society's ways and customs through education.  Your humble servant trained to be a teacher with the license and all declares is a bunch of crap to pretend.  


Just one example. Teaching children sustainable agriculture  in the field with imaginative ways, protecting flora and fauna  is useless since only adults destroy our surroundings as individuals. Or anyjuan thinks we should wait that generation to do something in the next two decades to see a change?


The greatest damage through logging, mining, highway/road, housing construction is done by private/public sectors motivated by profits. Therefore, the education,  should not focus only on teaching how to make the little hole for the seed or the give away trees that feeble minded institutions here, Fideicomiso de Conservacion, is accustomed to do.

Remember: Only you can prevent forest fires, one.
It is not over until the morbid obese lady sings, two.
The new politically correct language manner  to share
the idea.
Baseballs are round coming in square boxes, 3.

that is that

L

ROOM FOR THE COMMON PLACE IN THE GARDEN

SOME time ago in  I mentioned me traditional views  about common place plants in the garden, any garden, here or there, in the original blog, endemismotrasnochado.  

It was not my intention to offend anyjuan then. When I write, I express my thoughts without much restraint, but the truth is that if the reader can not put a distance between my opinions and context, then you/he/she will find plenty to be offended in me neck of the woods or concrete/asphalt to be honest, in  the Caribbean.

A common place is a common place in literature, film or a garden.  It is something everyone knows, has, or believe. If you believe these plants are great, so be it. I do not see anything that particular, except in rare situations. Beside this defect, these common place plants in  Puerto Rico, are some of the original inhabitants in the garden.

Keep in mind the property was built or finished on  January 18, 1940, by one Mr. Cartwright. I doubt very much most of those mentioned were here from the beginning. I assume they were planted in the last twenty years. 


I am not really fond of them, but have some appreciation  and a little affection, for a couple of reasons. They  tolerated indifference and lack of care from the previous owners, in addition have performed well in sandy soil with little nutrients, heat, drought, insects, disease and saline breeze predominant in this eco-region.


One thing I have learned is that any common place/abused plant could become a piece of conversation if planted or relocated to the best spot. Take this Asparagus, if planted on a flat surface at ground level without any height to hang/drop, it will look  silly..

The ones I have kept and propagated are in this pot in the photos with  others in the front of the house where they hang happily after ever.


The ferns are one example. The whole space in this 18" wide 20' long garden was covered by it in the corner. Its looking his best with the increased shade from the vines.


From the original group of plants left around when we moved in, one is not common at all. Gloriosa Rothshildiana, the most important, is an excellent, pretty vertical, small bush. The one found in the south garden had a root canker, discovered after some time under  observation.  All are easy to propagate. There are six now, in the  west and south side.  The leaves are attractive coming out with a bright yellow and slowly turning green.

During my strolls I noticed two other relatives growing near by. One is a dark purple, the other a light green, both variegated with similar flowers.  I was lucky and those propagated from cut stems are growing in the same locations as the original one. Gloriosa is only one of them triplets in  the installation. Sorry,  no photos...at this time.


Common places could improve any garden if you do something to enhance their shape, form, growth habit, with the adequate context. In two of those presented, height does the trick.


Finally, I continue checking other gardening blogs. Fortunately, the ones I care about with critical respect are continually evolving, searching, investigating, the others....in the doldrums of complacency.

that is that

THE HOLY WEEK IN REVIEW

Intense sensations of good will have invaded my spirit. Not like a sumami, but like those tube waves surfers love to go under while keeping their balance from one end to the other.. It is the power of quiet and silence only broken by the white young lesbian guachiman in her four track vehicle doing her rounds in Universidad Sagrado Corazon, riding it like she is in Daytona at the most unusual times.


This week has been one of my best in recent times, I feel less misanthropic than normal, a strange,  something is fine every once in  a while.  Perhaps the 50 milligrams of the high blood medication also helps.


Puerto Rico is still mostly Catholic and it shows. It feels like I am in  another world. Most people have kept themselves inside their homes or the crowded, dirty, noisy beaches so many compatriots enjoy blindly, robot, sheep like.


What with the world be like if in every city, cars, vehicles, people stopped chatting for 48 hours?  The pollution and waste eliminated,  the globe just a drop in the ocean, but what a feeling!
.
NOT all has been peaches and cream.  The weather jerks announced rain for the week, which would have made this hell more of a paradise.  Not one drop.


 I have always kept my doubts about this celebration with a religious tilt.  It is just, in my eyes, another way to sell Easter bunnies, like Mothers/Fathers Day, Thanksgiving, Saint Valentine, Halloween, Christmas and any other you may suggest, are to buy and sell something.  Who cares?  The quiet is worthy of whatever reason.

Perhaps the most difficult to digest, is that story of a poor guy betrayed by the treasurer of his conclave, to be tortured and nailed 
to a cross for 'our' sins.  Resurrected after some time.


It is  a nice story but I prefer Jason and the Argonauts.  The terrible,   truth, about all this myth is that in principle all is honky dory. However, with the advent of the Church, the original one,
Catholic, that is,  millions of people have been killed/burned/jailed because, like I, there were doubts about the scheme and rules written in the book of books.


If there is only one God, why 3/4/5/6 religions call it their own, each with a different holy  book or roll of paper, with different or similar laws, rules and interpretations of it.  It is much wider than a comparative literature course.


Each religion with their accepted gastronomy and rules to kill or sacrifice the victims, ways to bake bread, no meat with cheese and so on. A real kaleidoscope of rituals.  Every member of each religion thinking and believing he/she has the truth grabbed by the tail, heaven coming next.


This week would have been perfect. The unusual Monday quietness and lack of luminary contamination in Sagrado Corazon University, (since they are closed),  has been ruined by the Dominicans handy men, yellow belly bastards if you ask me. These undesirables,  have been ruining the week with their power tools in a couple of houses. 


One is next door, Blondie's, who is president of the residents board converting her house into a four apartment bed and breakfast, with  problems like the Gaudi Cathedral, still unfinished after a century. I wonder what is wrong with the two jerks doing the restoration. How can these jerks take two years to do what could be done in six months?
Why would the younger one buy a pick truck like a war tank providing ten miles a gallon?


The other house, was recently bought by a sad looking , jaw less attorney. Some time ago is  was converted to nine apartments.  Imagine for a moment my quality of life in the near future. Thirteen apartments in two houses. The noise from the certain riff raff renting around here is going to be a pain in  the ass, not to get into the street parking, with 4 junked cars at the moment.

The Holy Week is the best of times in  Puerto  Rico.  If you have the required virtues. Enjoying Gregorian chants, meditation, humility, ability to fast, to keep a vow of silence, an urge for quiet, solitude, peace and nature, even if just a simple plant in a clay pot to keep you aware.  We are nothing without air, water and food.

But everything has to end. Only 36 hours left of this recharging joy.
I will stay away in my little, most documented paradise, happy as a clam, listening to my Gregorian chants. All is nice, except when I hear the voices, power tools of the undesirable, mentioned creatures and the pasty lesbian in the four track.

That is that. 

HEDGES OF THE CARIBBEAN PUERTO RICO, USA

NEVER  mind if the tittle appears a little pompous.  I bet dollars to doughnuts that maintenance, plant selection for hedges in the Anglo/Galic/Spanish  Caribbean, is chaotic and rare, very rare. Swiss watch precision cuts do not exist, nor does correct plant selection. Anything goes, creating amazing, creative headaches.


If you have never given a thought to hedges, what they are for, which plants/bushes are the best, tools, maintenance requirements, you may skip it.


On the other hand if you are a pragmatic gardener, always looking for ways to work less and enjoy more your installation/collection, take a look at this photos between Rio Piedras and Santurce.


The order is as follows: University of Puerto Rico, Auxilio Mutuo Hospital, Polytechnic University, some office buildings and lastly BK.

I am not going deep into what a hedge should be, since here, the photos show everything hedges should not be from my view and or treatises on  the subject. Check this out, in terms of plant selection or placement, the most stupid, hazardous hedges anyone could plant, are those in highway/road medians since they both require closing lanes to vehicle traffic, placing workers at risk unnecessarily, plus resulting traffic jams.

That is one, another is planting anything with thorns, sharp edges, blocking the view/path as stupid Gingers, Heliconias and else, custom
use down here. 

Finally,  hotels, funeral homes, private residences and public/private facilities have been left out...But take my word for it...There is no difference, it is always the same. 

I thank David, landscape architect/meteorologist 

for the inspiration, up there in Albuquerque. Below his take on the  subject.

http://desertedge.blogspot.com/2012/03/hedging.html

and one from
 India
 http://www.hindu.com/pp/2008/05/17/stories/2008051750540400.htm

BLOGS NETWORKS PERCEPTION AND CULTURAL HANDICAPS

I JUST saw this Google photo in some blog in the south of some continent.  This is the second time in many years I copy or quote something directly from a colleague for a critique.

I wrote a comment from my acid, blunt focus/perspective--there is no better way to express my ways--in terms of what he/she saw pertinent for the tittle of  the post and all the crap written in the comment section by almost thirty complacent readers/followers. 

I have written about more subjects that I could remember or bother to index.  But I have never tried to impose my 'personal' views since I live in a Caribbean noisy/asphalt/concrete/context at this time affecting my perception once in a while. However as a bilingual with ,  half of me existence  spent in the  north east of USA that gives me two ways to perceive objective/subjective matters.

I prefer to keep the blog quiet, since  there is no animosity from your humble servant. Yet my reaction, then and now, is of certain subtle anger at the blindness, consequence of the culture, circles, poetry, human rights, probable vegetarianism and anything else you may add on your own. 


The photo?  Well, I see a train with two many people, what seems to be a river bank with too many people, there is people even on the rail road tracks huge pillars.  

The point is not the image, any jerk could see/write the sentence above. What is pertinent?  What I, me, myself perceive beyond the surface as a writer/blogger sharing with the reader and the consequences of such act.

If there is  any introspection, besides all you could pin point in  the image, I see  evidence of over crowding/population.  A poorly designed train schedule, poor or no maintenance in the engine, railroad tracks.  It is not raining, therefore is not a problem of weather conditions, and yours truly bets that is a daily occurrence. A cultural problem in many countries with too many people.

Assuming this is India,  where does the argument about China and India becoming new economic powers fit? Can any country be nothing else but what they are now, offering its population such public transportation facilities?

Trains, subways, streetcars, are probably the most efficient transportation systems in  theory, anywhere, but would you dear reader have the guts to climb and hang as these people in the photo?

I think you are getting me drift. In the mentioned blog no drift was caught. 'And then we complaint'.  My translation, is the tittle.  As if any social/cultural/political problem in his/her country is comparable.

In case my position is not clear, this is it.  How can any one living in a city, with more or less crowded situations during rush hours, toilet, air conditioning, central heat, water, cable tv, television/radio, hospitals, schools, universities, a job/retirement/house/mortgage compare his/her life situation with that of people like these poor souls traveling with their lives hanging literally on their grip?

Silly, is not it?   Well, he/she not only missed it in my comment on overpopulation, honestly and truly. When I mentioned sarcastically about the pampas in his/her country. The response: If there were pampas in my country, there would be no frontiers.

My thoughts on the whole?  I declare that some bloggers demonstrate square, one track minds wearing tight blinders, with the imagination, perception, creativity, sense of aesthetics and analysis expected of a cinder block.