Know Your Onions

Even salt is bad for your blood pressure. With a couple of more Sahib Singhs around, nobody in India would be found living below the poverty line! At the higher income levels, one of the greatest worries of the Delhiites is the steep rise in the crime rate. Every day you read about murders, shootouts, mugging, abductions, housebreaks and what not. Not to worry too much, assured the police chief sometime back. In such a crowded metropolis, a daily dose of a few incidents of this nature is quite normal. In fact, in cities like New York and Chicago the crime rate is much higher. And we were supplied with official statistics to drive home the point.

As to statistics, I am reminded of an incident from my younger days. Towards the end of his distinguished career, Shri Kailash Nath Katju was made CM of Madhya Pradesh. A new railway line was laid in the district where I was the collector, and he was invited to inaugurate it. In his speech, he stressed the need for greater safety in rail travel. He said that statistically, only one passenger among several million died in an accident, and this worked out to a minuscule percentage of casualties in rail accidents. But for the family of the deceased the casualty rate was 100 per cent.