Volume 2 Issue 28 | March 1, 2008 |



  
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Editor's Note

The Blind Men and the Elephant

We all know the story of the four blind men and the elephant. When asked to describe what the elephant 'looks' like, they all have their own different ideas. Why wouldn't they? After all, the elephant is a combination of a number of things. So is, for example, a garden. A garden can be a beautiful sight, but it can also be the way to pull someone out of poverty, or maybe even a way to get super rich. Or maybe just a breath of fresh air in an otherwise suffocating city landscape.

Demand for flowers though, is kind of a fickle thing. It's not like rice or jute, necessities which will always have some sort of a market. The appreciation for flowers is an aesthetic judgment and is something that has its ups and downs. In a country where there are starving millions, where our first priority is the production of rice, to what extent should the government encourage and subsidize the production of these beautiful and nice smelling things? How reliable is the price that it will fetch? Who cares? You can't put a price on beauty.

 

Abak Hussain
From the Insight Desk

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