The Gift of GaB

My rants, writings, outpourings, musings and whatever else can be penned/typed down!

Tuesday, August 21, 2007

Interesting news bits that I found today...

5th Pillar, a non profit org., proposes a "Zero Rupee" note that people can give when being made to give bribe. I say, what an idea! Imagine the shock and disbelief that the officials might get when they see what they have been "gifted" with. The economic viability of printing such notes not withstanding, it would surely be an interesting idea to implement. Some excerpts...
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The 'zero rupee' note, which resembles the thousand rupee note, is a sign of unwillingness to bribe. It has the picture of Mahatma Gandhi on it with a pledge,"I promise to neither accept nor give bribe" printed both in English and Tamil. The rupee note has also been printed in Hindi and other languages to take up the campaign at the national level.
Founded recently by noted environmentalist M B Nirmal, the NGO seeks to reduce the scale of corruption by fostering an attitudinal change among citizens and advocating the use of the Right To Information Act to ensure transparency in governmental organisations.
Volunteers have so far distributed 75,000 'zero rupee' notes among students in seven districts in Tamil Nadu as part of a month-long campaign,'Freedom From Corruption" to coincide with the country's 60th year of independence.

//

Then I read a news piece about a research that claimed those with blue eyes were more successful in life. Imagine, you are interviewing a candidate for a position. You ask him - "Why should I give you this job?" and his answer could be "Sir, I have blue eyes!" lol

Yesterday, Maverick, Ferrari and myself were debating about the recent SC argument between a SC judge and a TN St. Govt. Lawyer, Parasaran. The honorable judge quashed the argument by the St. Govt. Lawyer that brahmins have oppressed the backward castes for ages and now it is their turn. Decency and sense prevailed. And today I read a piece about how a Dalit boy was beaten black and blue by his school principal and teacher ... just because he asked for more dal during his midday meal. Why? What wrong did he do? SAD! How will he not bear remorse towards these so-called upper caste?

Hmmm... there are all kinds of people in this world!

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Friday, August 17, 2007

Pilgrimage to Thrissur and Guruvayur

I am planning a 2 day pilgrimage trip to Thrissur and Guruvayur. Primary agenda is visiting the Guruvayurappan Temple. However, I do want to see how best I can utilise my time. So, here is a tentative agenda.

September 8th
6:30AM to 3:50PM - Train from Bangalore to Thrissur
5:30PM - Reach Guruvayur, check in to accomodation
Planning to have one darshan of Lord Guruvayurappan the same evening
Retire for the day by 9PM or so.

September 9th
Get up by 1:30AM
2:15AM - Stand in queue, Nirmalya Darshanam
5AM - Back in room. Sleep for 2-3 hours.
9AM -Check out. Rent a car that can take me around.
10AM - Punnathoorkotta - Elephant Hostel (2 hours)
12PM - Head out to Thriprayar to visit the Rama Temple (25 kms). En Route, visit Arattupuzha Sastha Temple (9 kms before Thriprayar).
4PM - Back in Thrissur, visit the Vadakkumnathar Temple (1.5 hours)
5:45 PM - Reach Thrissur Rly Station
6:30 PM - Board train to return back to Bangalore

Where can you help?
1) Check the schedule and let me know if something can be done better
2) Recommend nice places to visit
3) Share your experience or knowledge about places listed above

Please put in your suggestions in the comments. Thanks in advance.

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Wednesday, August 15, 2007

Innate Beauty


Original Picture by Shashank Jain. All copyrights belong to Shashank.

Pure, what is it?
I marvel, how pristine!
Delicate, how is it?
I feel, like breath!
Beauty, how much?
I look, divine!
Happy, really?
I smile, realisation!
Not everything is questioned,
Some are just enjoyed.
You could find a taint,
Or you can enjoy the whole.
Stop questioning, see!
Stop hearing, listen!
That's true innate beauty.


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Happy Independence Day!

Happy Independence Day to all Indians! With today, India has now become a Senior Citizen of the world. :-)

A R Rahman is associated with Bharat Bala and Kanika for sometime now and they have produced some of the most brilliant videos of Vande Mataram anthem song. This year, they have brought out a new one. Some of the fabulous aspects of this new video are:
1. It focusses only on NE states of India which are much less focussed on otherwise.
2. It showcases the tribes that most of us do not even know of. Kasi, Garo and other tribes who are indigenous to North East India alone.
3. A deaf girl is potrayed singing the anthem song. The focus is also on the disabled people of India.

I salute to Bharat Bala productions for having made such a wonderful and different video.



Our patriotism should not only be a one-day mataram, but an ever ebbing and over powering virtue.

Vande Mataram! Jai Hind!!

Video via Prabhu, arrahmanfans

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Tuesday, August 14, 2007

Smell of Silk



If ever you come across this again, I mean silk cocoons in general, go near them to take a whiff of the smell. You will realise what I am talking about then. YUCK!!!

That said, did you ever think of silk being a non-veg product? Those are live worms in there, creating a safe haven for themselves. And we destroy them, take their homes, create a fabric that we pride in paying unbelievable amounts and then wearing it with elan. Poor things! Just imagine if you were killed and your home taken away by some person only to get demolished, thus making way for a garden in front of his home.

Ok... don't feel so morose now. But do think about it.
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Chunchi Falls trip-o-log

Ferrari has done better than I could have wished. So here it is.

Some more to aid the piece, if I may...
1. The roads are in pathetic shape compared to the hype that surrounds Mekedatu and other surrounding locations. Not worth it!
2. No food anywhere. We luckily packed food for our journey, including water. That saved the day for us.
3. When we reached the place and parked our car, we started walking towards the falls. Some distance later, we saw a long rocky bed that once could have been covered with frothy water. You could call this the rapids then... very dangerous nevertheless. But where was the water?
4. The place is littered like a dump yard. I hope people have better civic sense. You can see beer cans, broken glass pieces lying all over the rocks. Kingfisher Beer surely would not want such publicity.
5. We stopped at a small village en route and noticed the villagers were breeding silkworms. You cannot imagine the stench that these cocoons let out. Very pungent! Little does one know about this because all we see is only the silk cloth. I will post a pic of those cocoons in a while.

That said, we set out for the drive just because we wanted to go out and be back by 2PM or so. The drive was more pacifying than the location we visited. And yes, Ferrari is a great driver with just 2 months behind the wheel. Ladies, are you listening??

Did you know?! :- Research has proved that we Men do not think of our cars as a separate entity as the Women do, rather we believe it is just an extention of ourselves. That's why you see we enjoy our driving, and we take care of our cars like our babies. ;-) Last Word? Women are safer drivers than Men.

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Killing me softly...

Work related health issues are on the rise. What used to be faced by our parents in their 40's and their parents in their late 50's and thereof, is now being faced by us in our late 20's and 30's. Everything from obesity to diabetes, back pain to heart attacks - age is no longer a parameter for us to gauge that someone could be suffering from these. Latest claimant? Me.

After consistent pain on my left nape, I finally decided to visit a doctor yesterday. I thank my stars for having done that, because I usually am prone to postpone such things. The doctor diagnozed this as early stage of Cervical Spondylitis. Needless to add, I was kinda zapped. Zapped because I did not expect to have something like this so early. But then, who expects to have an illness, right? :-)

Some medications and exercises are in order. It is also an opportunity for me to review what I really want from my life, how important is my work for me, how much should I really work etc. Unless I decide and act now, I don't think medications or exercise can help. It is a 2 pronged approach - exercise + life style.

Ayurveda seems to help this particular ailment a lot. Maverick forwarded me a link today morning that helped a lot. Thanks Mav!

The title of this post is the title of a song. Why did I choose this? Just to emphasise that work related stress disorders (WSD) do not provide signs of their onset very clearly. And when they do, you know you are beginning to lose control over your life, unless you choose to act and counter the negative effect.

Take Care of yourselves, Folks! Jaan hai tho jahaan hai!!

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Monday, August 13, 2007

Jostling for Space



Clicked amongst the several water puddles that formed in the rocks that formed the bed of Cauvery River at Chunchi Falls. The lone white flower amongst everything green kind of attracted my attention. The puddle by itself was not more than 4' by 3'. But it was a world within itself. Ecology is so important, whether big or small, or even minuscule.

The terrain at Chunchi Falls was a stark exhibition of the gorge that Cauvery river has created in this area and a reminder of the force of water as a geologic agent. Hell, it created the mighty Grand Canyons (Arizona, USA) as well as a Mekedatu! :-) From huge sharp boulders to medium sized rocks that could not have been polished smoother by human hands, from small puddles to caves - one could see everything over there. More pics would follow that exhibit what I have just described herein.

Camera: Canon EOS 350D dSLR (Thanks to Prabhu)
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Sunday, August 12, 2007

Leave Me Alone!



Just thought that this pic deserves a post by itself. Thanks to Ferrari, I was able to experiment with his Canon 350D dSLR and here's is one of my favourites from today's lot. Taken at a small village before Doddalahalli en route to Chunchi Falls. The calf was probably sad because it was hungry and it's mother was nowhere to be seen. It was just standing there quiet, totally disinterested. I tried attracting it's attention by making different sounds. Just once, it gave me look that said "Leave me alone!". I kind of felt sad for this little one.

I really hope it had a nice time when it's mother returned to her.
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A quick drive on NH209 and back...

6:45Am to 1:45Pm. Sounds good for a quick long drive? You bet. I am going to attend a birthday party now... and when I return, I am going to give you the trip-o-log! :-) Some nice pics as well...

C'ya...

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Saturday, August 11, 2007

Sunday Drive

Ferrari, Maverick and your's truly met today evening at Little Italy on 100 Ft Road, Indiranagar. Besides gulping down some great starters and pasta, we discussed among other things, some place to drive down to and be back in Bangalore by 4PM or so. After much discussion, it does appear that we would be headed in the direction of Kanakapura and visit Chunchi Falls and couple of other places in that general direction. Come back here tomorrow to read about it.

gute nacht !

PS: Amuzing to watch English Tail (Monty and Tremlett) lifting up and not relenting in the face of Indian attack. There is speculation that India might not enforce follow on and provide rest to the bowlers by opting to bat. Should be a nice strategy to pile on some more runs before giving English a chance at the target again. Congrats to Jumbo (Kumble) again!

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8 months later...

... I hope to begin again. I have began after prolonged lapses earlier. This has been the longest. However, this time, I hope to keep it going. Let us see...

There are a few things that I do want to write about. Like, the Padma Award nominations for 2007, Kumble's maiden test 100, my eagerness to upgrade to a dSLR, about Gauri growing up (she's already 2!) and the like.

Ho hum... *yawn* :-) Too late right now... maybe later.

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