Powered by the big guy!

The world’s first solar powered Air Craft landed safely. Good news indeed!

The aircraft, flown by Andre Borschberg, touched down today at Payerne near Lake Neuchatel in Switzerland at 9 a.m. local time, the project known as Solar Impulse said on its website.


From their website:

The adventurers of the last century were constantly pushing back the limits of the impossible. Today, human and technological enquiry must go on, aimed at improving the quality of life on our planet. In building the first solar aircraft able to fly day and night, and piloting it right round the world without fuel or pollution, Solar Impulse's ambition is for the world of exploration and innovation to contribute to the cause of renewable energies, to demonstrate the importance of the new technologies for sustainable development, and to place dream and emotion back at the heart of scientific adventure.

I am not sure how feasible the idea would be commercially. The project cost is mentioned as $95 million which comes close to the price of an Air Bus –A320( This stretched fuselage aircraft has an overall length of 44.51 metres (146 ft.) and an operating range of up to 3,000 nm./5,600 km with the maximum passenger payload)

But then this is just the beginning of a splendid revolution.


Hats off to those who dared to dream!


Source: Businessweek
             Wikipedia
             Airbus

Is there a cure?

Tell me, is there a cure for this obsession? If it is not obsession what could it be?

Yea.. it is me and religion again! But this one was a shocker and I am yet to come to terms with it. In Kerala one is used to chopped off hands, feet, head and hence one may ask .. so what is new? Well, the Keralites take politics very seriously and would be the only species that is ready to die and to kill another ever so ardently in the name of a political party. And since this lawlessness was so ridiculously  let off in many instances, we dulled our conscience and now it is showing it's ugly head in the name of religion. Sadly communism couldn’t cure us from our religious idiocy and whatever good it ever did for Kerala is now being slowly wiped off by the same party.

Now, why should I be blaming the Communists alone when the Congress itself is no better? But the difference is that the Communists used stay away from religion in the yesteryears while now we see them woo every religious leader ardently for votes. We now see all the parties lift and then lower these leaders as and when it suits them. And in turn these religious leaders think themselves to be greater than what they really are. We see them dictate to the faithful from their thrones; asking them to chose the party of their choice.

Kerala is still in shock after the news that the hands of a teacher was chopped off since he offended a certain section of the society. The incident happened some time back and caused much protests and furor. The said teacher was then arrested and continues to be under suspension from the college. But this punishment seemed not enough for a few and hence the unthinkable happened. And the family was threatened earlier too. Now, I am not supporting this teacher if he thought that his religion is above any criticism so as to throw mud on another. But from the facts that I gathered over the net, I read that the play from which he copied the offending part was written by a Muslim himself. It seems the original author himself witnessed a mad man speak thus to God and this was turned into a play. Somehow the name got changed to Mohamed which as you know is the most common name for a Muslim. Honestly speaking, I am not sure if this teacher intentionally changed it but our Education Minister called him a stupid teacher. Well, he could be stupid, but when did one start measuring levels of stupidity only for religious matters? One can point out much sillier, stupider species in his own ministry and not to mention in other political parties too. Can we say “off with their heads/hands/legs/tongue”?

And when did we start behaving like the ancient world or the ones not so far from our country's border?

And if there are sinister elements behind this to disrupt the communal harmony in Kerala then it is time to act.  But I do see a lull among the political parties. Are they scheming to turn this around for their own political gains?

Let me hope that the law of the land rises to the occasion and punishes the culprits.

My little-bit life - the story of a migrant Indian worker

This is the story of many who toil under the scorching sun...

My little-bit life - the story of a migrant Indian worker


Rajendra K Aneja, Dubai



15 April 2010,





Myself Radhakrishnan Nambiar, from village Pailam, in India. Me, construction worker in Middle East, making very big, tall buildings, in Bahrain, Doha and Riyadh. Some building too much big, 30 floors.

Me getting 600 dirhams per month salary every month, plus six ‘parattas’, every day, for breakfast, lunch and dinner. I also love very much, one girl, Philipa. Philipa, my heart, my soul.

There was famine in my village. No rain-water for my field. I grow rice. But, no rain-water, no rice. So, agent come from big city, and tell, “Go to Riyadh. Become rich. Buy Mercedes. Come back to village”.

Life in Middle East

So, I pay agent, 10,000 dollars. I borrow money. In Riyadh, I learn fast, become wireman. Make big buildings. Go up crane 20 to 30 floors. Very dangerous. But I work hard, to pay loan. In the nights, sometimes I feel too much alone.

Then I run away. Everywhere, Doha, Bahrain, same story. 14 hours work. Salary 600 dirhams. 6 ‘parattas’ every day. And save only 200 dirhams every month, to pay back loan.

My room, too much people - 12 people. We have bunker beds, like army. No bedsheets. No towels. In my room, we have big poster of Aamir Khan and Sridevi. I see them on wall and feel nice. Lavatory - big problem. Every morning big line. I wait 15 minutes. Sometime 1 hour. But, I wait quietly. I have big loan in my life.

Nostalgia

Sometimes I dream, India big country, very rich country, have many jobs, too much money. And, lots of rain for my rice field. Then, all Indians stay in India. No need to earn dollar, in other countries. This I dream, many times.

I go up crane every day. I, frightened too much. I, frightened also, for electric current. I wireman.

I miss my village, my mango tree. And, I miss my old mother and father, my small brother, sister. I need money for marriage of my sister. But, I cannot go back. I have big loan in my life.

On Friday, company people take all workers, in bus to big mall. I, very impressed. Many items, many nice clothes, very beautiful people. People in mall always very happy, laughing, smiling, buying, eating fast-food, playing games. But, I only see everything. Me, little money. No buy anything. I have big loan in my life.

Then, I see Philipa. She has white skin, golden eyes. She smile for me. She work in Starbucks coffee. She give me little-bit orange juice. Philipa very good, bootiful. I like.

Philipa

After I meet Philipa, I no sleep. Every night is big mountain, for me, without Philipa. Every Friday, I see Philipa in Starbucks. Every Friday, she give me little-bit smile.

Then one day we go for movie. Philipa touch me little bit, by mistake. I also touch her. She smile. She smell very good. Like big garden of rose flowers.

We, solid happy! Then, I fight too much hard, not to fall in love with Philipa. I do my best to avoid falling in love with Philipa. But, I make mistake; I fall in love, with Philipa. It just happened, you know. Am, so very sorry.

Now, every night, my heart full of Philipa. Every night, me cut my heart and throw out. But, every morning, my heart is full of Philipa again.

Every Friday, I see Philipa in Starbucks. Every Friday, she give me little-bit smile.

Recession and Philipa goes

Then Philipa lose job. Recession, you know. Few customers. Philipa go home to Manila. She cry too much, at airport. I have ten fingers. So I hold her 10 tears. But Philipa has too many tears in her. Some tears fall on the ground, at airport. I feel 
very sad.

You see, I man, I no cry. But, when Philipa go inside, and her aeroplane become small twinkling star in the black skies, I cry, alone in toilet. Little-bit.

Now, every day, I die little-bit. I don’t go to mall anymore.

The only thing, I want, besides wanting Philipa back, is to be left alone. I stay at labour-camp, every Friday.

Manila and village

Maybe, I run away from here. Go to Manila, and take Phillipa to my village. My family will laugh: “You no bring dollar? No Mercedes? Only Philipa?”

Then, I will stand like the actor Amitabh Bachchan, who defied the whole world, in the movie called the ‘Deewar’. With my hands on my hips, I tell my family, “So what? Philipa will give me baby. I will make small shop in village, selling cigarettes, matches and old clothes”.

Then, Philipa and I, just live. But, I work 3 more years. I have big loan in my life.

My life not very good. Little-bit hard also. But I work. For, to pay back loan. And then, meet Philipa.

This, my little-bit, life.

What next?

Can an outlawed party call for a bandh?

And that too not in a small area but five entire states : Jharkhand, Bihar, West Bengal, Orissa and Chhattisgarh.

And this after having killed innocents.

While one newpaper says the following:

Security forces in the state have been put on high alert following the 48-hour bandh called by the CPI(Maoist) in protest against Operation Green Hunt.

 another one says the following:

Security forces stayed fearful in their base camps and life was hit in several parts of Chhattisgarh as a 48-hour strike called by Maoists began Tuesday, a day after at least 35 people were killed when the guerrillas blasted a bus in the state's Dantewada district..

Do we really have the largest army (after China) in the world and with a ranking not so bad?

Our Home Minister says he is angry.. well we are angry too but unlike you, we can do nothing about it.

Yet, please continue to fight it out with our PM who seems to be star gazing too.. after all, it is your job.

Does one really think that the Maoists have any heart?

And amidst all this I cannot find Mrs. Roy. Maybe it is time she takes one more trip to enjoy the star filled skies.

Who is scrapping what?

Does anyone have any idea?

Rajender Prasad, who was exposed to Cobalt 60 at a scrap dealer shop in Mayapuri in west Delhi and admitted to AIIMS on April 8, died around 9.30 pm on Monday after multiple organ failure.

According to doctors, another radiation victim Ram Kalap is critical and his blood counts have reduced significantly. He has been put on prophylactic antibiotic and anti-fungal agents

It is shocking to read such news and even more shocking to note that we may never know what has been scrapped so far. The exposed person can also contract cancer and I wonder if this one reason why the incidence of cancer is increasing over the years.

Main uses for Cobalt 60:
• As a tracer for cobalt in chemical reactions,
• Sterilization of medical equipment,
• Radiation source for medical radiotherapy,
• Radiation source for industrial radiography,
• Radioactive source for leveling devices and thickness gauges,
• As a radioactive source for food irradiation and blood irradiation, and
• As a radioactive source for laboratory use.

While US has Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) and Environmental Protection Agency(EPA) which regulates the use of Cobalt-60 and other such hazardous elements, I searched for similar such agencies in India and couldn’t find any.

Or is one happy regulating only nuclear plants?

What can I do to protect myself and my family from cobalt-60?


You are unlikely to encounter cobalt-60 unless you undergo certain medical treatments. Thorough discussions with your doctor about the amount of exposure and potential alternatives allow you to make informed decisions about the relative risks.


Although it is very unlikely, you may accidentally encounter a sealed radiation source containing cobalt-60 that has escaped proper control ("orphaned sources").

Is the “very unlikely” situation common in India?

If so, do we have anyone to at least (!) blame?

Source:

Economic Times
Wikipedia
EPA
Atomic Energy Commission

For heaven's sake...

Prince Harry has apologised for using offensive language to describe a Pakistani member of his army platoon.


The News of the World has published a video diary in which the prince calls one of his then Sandhurst colleagues a "Paki" in his commentary.

We have for conversation sake shortened many countries; ‘Paki’, ‘Brit’, “US” etc. Even otherwise, what is wrong in someone acknowledging your nationality? If someone calls me an Indian why should I take offense? I guess it all depends how comfortable one is with one’s nationality.

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Mistakes, I’ve Made a Few, Bush Says at Final News Conference

The one regret Bush has is that he couldn’t find the WMD’s in Iraq! I wish him all luck in finding them since he has now all the time in his hands. He can start digging Texas first.

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Man accused of selling daughter for cash, beer

GREENFIELD, Calif. - Police have arrested a Greenfield man they say arranging to sell his 14-year-old daughter into marriage in exchange for $16,000, 100 cases of beer and several cases of meat.

Putting this in the Indian context, don’t’ we have a word for this act? And many still think it is perfectly normal and right for our culture. The only difference being, you are selling your son.

Sister Abhaya

Been too busy at work and more than I miss writing, I miss reading all my favourite blogs but then I have to pen something today....



Can Sister Abahya’s parents have some peace of mind now?

Of course they are the first ones who matters but I think this case matters to many of us too.

If one asks why, there are no specific answers. It is not as though this is the only murder case which has been languishing in the court rooms, but it is a case which tugged the conscience of many. A nun who had taken solemn vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience was murdered and denied justice while the institution that was supposed to have come to her rescue remained passive. But not passive to thwart justice at every juncture of this 16 years long case. And now a nun who took the same solemn vows has been arrested along with her fellow priests. All of them, I understand were heading educational institutions. As for the claims from some quarters that they are innocent surprises many. Those arrested did undergo narco analysis and polygraph tests and the ex-CBI officer did have his doubts on Sister Sephy during his short role in this case. As for CBI arresting only on the grounds of Sanju P. Mathew’s disclosure seems silly, or maybe I am being too hopeful.

Anyway, let us wait for some more dramas since as usual the case has been politicized.

Then as told, it is not the CBI who needs to be applauded but the High Court since the CBI succumbed to pressures all along. And this is way the judiciary needs to act. I pray we see this commitment in every case.

Water Powered Car

At this hour of ever increasing oil price and every major problem of this world blamed on this particular commodity one cannot but watch in wonder, eagerness and even a little misgiving this very important news...

Yes.. it is another Japanese delight. And if they go into mass production as they say, I cannot imagine its implications. Can you?

Water-fuel car unveiled in Japan
(01:21) Reuter Report
Jun. 13 - Japanese company Genepax presents its eco-friendly car that runs on nothing but water.
The car has an energy generator that extracts hydrogen from water that is poured into the car's tank. The generator then releases electrons that produce electric power to run the car. Genepax, the company that invented the technology, aims to collaborate with Japanese manufacturers to mass produce it.

A few links to think positively and negatively.... do find time to check the comments too..

http://nohardtimes.bloggerunleashed.com/business/genepax-water-power-car-from-japan-exxon-mobile-beware/

http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/13/genepax-shows-off-water-powered-fuel-cell-vehicle/

http://www.ewatercar.com/2008/06/water-powered-cars.html#more-3

Does it matter?

Spitzer fall renews prostitution debate says MSNBC

I guess now they want to legalize prostitution so that one can hang on to their political careers. Sex Scandals brought even a President down on his knees. A President who was getting to be liked by one and all. They feel legalizing it may reduce these acts? Isn’t that absurd? Let them legalize but for not this reason.

I do believe it is a personal thing after all. If your wife doesn’t have a problem then who should care? But I still don’t understand why they want their wives to whom they have been lying all those years to be at their side just for the sake of the public. Does she really have to go through the shame for her husband’s sake? Is there a law demanding her presence?

But then looking at the moral and ethical side, if he couldn’t be faithful to his wife of so many years, can one really accept him to be faithful to the public in his dealings?

Let there be blood....

Let there be blood..

No I am not talking about the Oscar winning movie which I did not watch yet. I am talking about Kannur and the dirty politics that seems to have adopted this place like a curse.

Kannur is the fourth largest urban agglomeration in Kerala after Kochi, Thiruvananthapuram and Kozhikode with a population of 498,175. According to data compiled by economics research firm Indicus Analytics on residences, earnings and investments, Kannur is one of the best ten cities in India to reside. Indicus considered six parameters — health, education, environment, safety, public facilities and entertainment — for preparing the 'reside-in' index.[1] It is popularly known as the city of Looms and Lores.

The ships of Solomon, they say anchored along its coasts to collect timber for building the ‘Temple of the Lord’. Kannur finds mention as NAURA in the ‘Periplus of the Erithrean Sea’ a Greek work of great antiquity.

Kannur has always been a favourite destination of the intrepid foreign traveller. Europeans, Chinese and Arabs have visited our coasts. In his book of travels Marco Polo recounts his visit to the area circa 1250 A.D. Other visitors included Fahian, the Buddhist pilgrim and Ibn Batuta, writer and historian of Tangiers.
The term Kannur is the compound of two words Kannan (Lord Krishna) Ur (Place). This will make it the place of Lord Krishna.

Well, now Kannur is synonymous with violence. The recent one has claimed 7 lives and there is still tension.

I still don’t understand why we Indians take politics so seriously. If you look at a country like US, even they have political parties and elections but I have never heard of people killing each other in the name of a party. (or do they?)

I guess we have no stringent rule where the political leader is made responsible for the party that he leads. For now, he sits on his throne and directs the whole movie but takes no responsibility for the consequences. If we could only gather all those leaders, barring a very few, send them to a remote island and let them fend for themselves, we shall have peace everywhere. Let them play politics or even kill each other, we don’t care. Just leave those poor folks alone.

Going.. Going.. GONE

Auctioning can be traced as far back as 500 B.C.[1] According to ancient Greek scribes, the more generally accepted auction occurred first in Babylon in 500 B.C. During this period, auctions were held annually, and women were sold on the condition of marriage. It was considered illegal to allow a daughter to be sold outside the auction method. Women with “beauty” engendered higher bidding, women without “beauty” had to pay a dowry to be accepted into the auction, and thus the price would be negative.

That was long way back and now instead of women we have the Cricketers!

MUMBAI: India's charismatic one-day captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni on Wednesday emerged as the hottest property in world cricket after being sold out for a staggering USD 1.5 million dollars (Rs 6 crore) in a landmark auction which marked the beginning of a lucrative new era in cricket.

Who is in whose kitty

MUMBAI: The Indian Premier League auction that was held in Mumbai on Wednesday had its list of surprises with the Chennai Superkings looking the most formidable team. The following is the list of players that have been selected by the different franchisees

Jaipur: Shane Warne (US$ 450,000), Graeme Smith (US$ 475,000), Younis Khan (US$ 225,000), Kamran Akmal (US$ 150,000), Yusuf Pathan (US$ 475,000), Mohammad Kaif (US$ 675,000), Munaf Patel (US$ 275,000)

Chennai: MS Dhoni (US$ 1.5 million), Muttiah Muralitharan (US$ 600,00), Matthew Hayden (US$ 375,000), Jacob Oram (US$ 675,000), Stephen Fleming (US$ 350,000), Parthiv Patel (US$ 325,000), Joginder Sharma (US$ 225,000), Albie Morkel (US$ 675,000), Suresh Raina (US$ 650,000), Makhaya Ntini (US$ 200,000)

Talk about being global! Now who do the viewers support? Well.. we have only taken away the countries, but we still have the States don’t we? If our own State is not there, maybe we shall settle for a particular player. So now my friend Raj cannot be happy as yet. He is against citizenships and dreams of a borderless world.


Maybe we have roped in players from all around the world but we shall still shackle them. After all, is there any fun if we don’t?

Our health....

“But it also makes sense. If you live longer, then you cost the health system more.”

Read this news a few days ago and ever since I have been thinking....

This reporter seems to be disturbed / frustrated that people are living longer. So now what? Will they let them smoke and do all those things as per research one was not supposed to do? One day it is drink coffee, the next day the research says don’t. And then back to tea and tomatoes while now it is all organic and Soya. But it seems to be costing someone dearly so I guess now a long life is only for the rich who can afford it.

This reminded me that our Grandparents did live a long and healthy life though I did not find them popping pills to keep that way. The only demand (occasionally) for both my grand mothers were the Kottakkal Aryavaidyashala products “Lehyam”, “Kashayam” and their favourite hair oil which makes them smell so heavenly. Wonder why I never used it though my mother does. I guess people may not come near me!

Arya Vaidya Sala uses more than 4000 tons of raw material (about 600 items) in a year to produce 530 formulations for the market. A rough estimate of annual consumption by Arya Vaidya Sala:

1. Milk - 13 lakh litre
2. Oil - 5 lakh litre
3. Ghee - 180 ton
4. Honey - 290 ton
5. Jaggery - 750 ton
6. Saffron - 856 kg
7. Cardamom - 14 ton
8. Tippali - 30 ton
9. Ativitayam - 12 ton
10. Kurumtotti - 480 ton

As for my Grand father (maternal) he ate whatever he liked until his death at 89. His favourite desert was curd with plantain and sugar! It tastes great but the minute I try to enjoy it, I keep thinking of the calories in the sugar and curd! I have already cut down on my sugar intake.. just for precaution sake. Sigh...

My grand mother (paternal) lived to 90 and lived all alone with just a lady to cook and keep her company at night. She refused to move in with any of her children. I think the secret of her health was her bath. She used to sit on a stool and rub “Taila / Kuzhampu (Oil based)” all over her and then stay thus while separating the “Incha”. Then a long warm bath followed.

Hubby’s grandma lived 100 years! She never took any medicines either and loved sweets until her death. She could do all her bodily needs all alone until her death. So what are we up to?

Whatever they did, none of them depended on medicines. But my father was diagnosed with BP and cholesterol in his early 40’s. He loved good food and he was big built so I guess he settled for the medicines instead of diet. But still mother banished poor coconut oil for gingelly oil and sometimes instead of meat she used to cook soya chunks. Ugh! As for my mother, she still refuses to take medicines. I think once you start taking medicines for BP, you are doomed to continue it, while one can still control it with diet and exercise.

As for our children, if any of them falls sick we are too quick to start antibiotics while many doctors advice us not to do so, but manage the fever for at least 3 days and then start antibiotics if still needed. But we don’t have the patience to do so. We need to send them to school and can’t take a day off too. One of our cousin’s son developed grey hair when he was in 2nd standard. The doctor said it was due t over usage of antibiotics. I have tried my best too, to keep myself away from this, whenever I can and my kids too.

Do we really need all these medicines?

Do we really need to listen all those research findings?

Our grandparents never did and they lived a long and healthy life.

And today I read this..

Israeli Arab says she's world's oldest person
Mariam Amash, who applied for a new identity card, says she's 120

Wow.. nd did the Israel government keep her that way or did she do it all alone. Beats me. and we have the Bible which tells us that people did live long... with no medicinces or modern hospitals.

I am not saying we dont need them but we should not depend upon them completely.

Anyway I hope now the researchers won’t find means to let us poor folks die early so that we are not a burden to the state. Or have they already?

I wish..

Let me believe in re-birth. Only this will comfort me at the moment. What else can I say after reading the headlines of today's newspapers..

Saudi woman strip-searched for having coffee with a man.. and she was stripped by men!

My only wish is that all those men are soon reborn as women. Let them enjoy the delights of being a woman.

A never ending story...

Kidney scams are nothing new in India. In January 1995 a kidney scandal came up and there was tremendous public and media outcry causing the Indian Congress to pass a legislation banning kidney trade. On January 15, 1995 Customs officers in Delhi uncovered a “Kidney tour” racket in which donors were enticed to go abroad for removal and subsequent transplant of their kidneys. Hundreds of donors were believed to have gone on such tours. Then a series of other such scams were discovered, one of which was in a rehabilitation colony (Villivakkam) for leprosy patients near Madras and then one in Bangalore which the kidneys of nearly 1,000 unsuspecting people had been removed in a leading city hospital by prominent doctors.

I believe one cannot run such a smooth operation without the knowledge of the higher ups. Right now the king pin of the current operation has vanished from India. A person who is operating 5 different accounts with 2 major hospitals in his name can provide a way out of India very easily. And yes he will return once the media and the public have something more juicier to chew upon. The laws we have established is not for the unsuspecting poor, who will be cheated again and most of them even without their knowledge. After all, living with one kidney is much easier than living on an empty stomach.

I am not sure how this can ever be stopped with rising kidney demands from all over the world. Even in Kuwait one constantly sees requests for kidneys in the daily’s. For the kidney patient, if he is rich enough, getting a kidney will be the best he can do with his money. He may not think twice about the poor donor.

As for India, our cultural and religious beliefs still prevent us from letting us donate our kidneys upon death. This itself can take care of a part of the demand for those kidney patients from India.

Nano

The whole world is talking about Tata and the cheapest car.

Below is an excerpt from an interview with the man behind all this rufus..

What do you think this will signal within the country and what is the confidence that it will give others, like what happened with acquisitions. Once you acquired Corus, everybody thought they could go out and do the same. Do you think in terms of innovation this will mark a watershed in India?

I don't want to in any way sound professorial, but what I think this does indicate is that when you set a bunch of young Indian engineers a goal that most people around the world think is not possible, it is significant that they are able to achieve it. One of the things I would like to say on record is that people may well criticise Tata Motors, or me, for adding congestion, but how about giving recognition to the bunch of young engineers who did something everyone thought was not possible?

Why not accept that India did something and young Indian engineers have done something that even people elsewhere in the world thought could not be done? So if there is a lesson from this it is that we can do other things also that the world thinks can't be done. And why don't we stand up and applaud those young guys who did it? I did not do it, Ravi did not do it, these young guys did it!


He does deserve the applause from one and all. It all started with his desire to provide an affordable car to the Indian masses, although he doesnt deny his business objective too. But his concern is genuine. It is no wonder that millions trust this business house and will continue doing so.

50 people who could save the planet

Stranded polar bears, melting glaciers, dried-out rivers and flooding on a horrific scale - these were the iconic images of 2007. So who is most able to stop this destruction to our world? A Guardian panel, taking nominations from key environmental figures, met to compile a list of our ultimate green heroes
You can see the full list of people and their activities in ...

I picked up the 5 Indians who are in the list and they are;

Madhav Subrmanian
Schoolboy
Madhav Subrmanian is the next generation's face of conservation, a 12-year-old Indian boy who goes round Mumbai collecting money for tiger conservation. With his friends Kirat Singh, Sahir Doshi and Suraj Bishnoi, he set up Kids For Tigers which works in hundreds of schools. He writes poems, sings on the streets, sells merchandise and has collected Rs500,000 (£6,500) in two years. Conservation awareness is growing in middle-class India, largely through young activists like him.

Rajendra Singh
Water conservationist
In 1984 Dr Rajendra Singh, now 49, was working in the semi-desert Indian state of Rajastan. He planned to set up health clinics in the rural villages, but was shocked when he went to a place called Gopalpura. "This area was devastated and people were fleeing, leaving their children, women and older people behind," Singh says. "It was then an old man told me that they needed neither medicines nor food. He said all they needed was water.
"It moved me so much and I started finding out ways to help. But the region was arid, all the rivers were dry and the land was parched. The only source of water was rainwater, but that was scarce and there was not nearly enough for all the needs of the region."
A mix of modern technology and villagers simply neglecting traditional ways of conserving water had led to an ecological disaster. Singh found that the villages no longer used small earth dams - or johads - to collect surface water but instead now relied on "modern" tube wells. As they bored their wells deeper and deeper into the ground and sucked out ever more underground water, so the water table had dropped alarmingly and ever deeper wells were required.
Lower water levels meant that the wells were not full, the forests and trees were dying off, and erosion was worsening. It was a vicious circle. With less irrigation water, farming declined and men migrated to cities for work. Women and children then had to spend up to 10 hours a day fetching firewood and water, and the shrinking labour force sapped people's will to maintain the old johads. The whole region faced disaster.
Singh and his colleagues began digging out an old johad pond in Gopalpura. Seven months later, it was, almost miraculously, nearly five feet full of water. And once the rains eventually came, not only did it fill to the brim, but a nearby long-dry well began flowing again. The following year, the village joined in to rebuild a second dam, and by 1996 Gopalpurans had recreated nine johads that between them held millions of litres of water. Meanwhile, the groundwater level had risen to 6.7m, up from an average of 14m below the ground. The village wells were full again.
"It was only due to political reasons that the [johad] system fell apart," Singh says. "We worked for four years in Gopalpura and slowly a huge area turned green. People came back, they started farming again and the visual impact was so impressive that people from adjoining areas started calling us for help."
Singh is now known as the Rain Man of Rajastan, having brought water back to more than 1,000 villages and got water to flow again in all five major rivers in Rajastan. He has so far helped to build more than 8,600 johads and other structures to collect water for the dry seasons. The forest cover has increased by a third because the water table has risen, and antelope and leopard have returned to the region. It has also been one of the cheapest regenerations of a region ever known - in Rajastan, villages have been brought back to life sometimes for just a few hundred pounds, far less than the cost of the single borehole that almost destroyed them.
"See the earth like a bank," Singh says. "If you make regular deposits of water, you'll always have some to withdraw. If you are just taking, you will have nothing in your account."
Erratic rains and longer droughts are becoming more frequent around the world with changing weather patterns and climate change, and the lessons taught by Singh in Rajastan are now being applied all over India and Africa. In the next 30 years, water "harvesting" is expected to become an essential way to save water everywhere from England to Uganda and Arizona. In south-east England, there is barely enough rainfall now, let alone for the expected population within 20 years. Procedures likely to be introduced will include gadgets that ensure you can't leave a running tap, baths that hold less water, gutters that collect water, systems for using waste water for gardens. "It's the same principle everywhere, but we all have to learn it," Singh says.

Jockin Arputham
Urban activist
Jockin Arputham, 60, has lived in a slum outside Mumbai since 1963. As president of the National Slum Dwellers Association and Slum Dwellers International, he is rallying the world's poorest city dwellers to improve their environment. Urban squalor is one of the biggest problems of the age, and by 2030 the number of slum dwellers is projected to reach two billion - a recipe for poverty, disease and political instability. Arputham has pioneered a way to help the poor negotiate with city authorities to secure land ownership - the greatest barrier to improving slums. Dozens of other new urban groups are working in 70 countries and hundreds of thousands of people have benefited. Global urbanisation is inevitable, and these new federations will have more and more ecological influence.

Bija Devi
Farm manager
Bija Devi saves seeds for future generations. She already has in her "bank" 1,342 types of cereals, pulses, fruits and vegetables, though she has no idea of their scientific names. She has worked as a farmer since the age of seven, never went to school and has never heard the words "wheat" or "turnip". Yet she now heads a worldwide movement of women trying to rescue and conserve crops and plants that are being pushed to extinction in the rush to modernise farming. And in so doing she is helping rejuvenate Indian culture.
Apart from collecting and storing seeds from all over the country, Devi is teaching farmers, distributing seeds and experimenting with them. It's called the Navdanya (Nine Seeds) movement because it was inspired by a southern Indian custom of planting nine seeds in a pot on the first day of the year. Women would take the pots to the river nine days later to compare and exchange seeds so that each family could plant the best seeds, thus optimising food supplies.
Today, Devi has farmers queueing up for seeds at her project's base, a 40-acre farm in the foothills of the Himalayas in Dehradun. When she started 14 years ago, with ecologist Vandana Shiva, she had to plead with the farmers to accept that ecological security was of fundamental importance, and that there were advantages to sowing older, indigenous seeds rather than the newer, high-yielding "hybrid" or GM seeds. These give larger crops but require considerable input of pesticides and fertilisers, and more water.
Women are responsible for sowing, harvesting and storing food, while it is up to the men to prepare the soil. "There was no tangible benefit for them in using our seeds," Devi says. "But over time they realised how the soil was retaining its fertility, how the crop was free from diseases and pests. Now they come to us on their own."
She now has 380 varieties of rice seeds alone. There are something like 200,000 people benefiting from 34 similar community seed banks set up in 13 states across the country. The banks are seen as an insurance against changing conditions, such as climate, new pests or consumer demand. People who receive the seeds pay nothing for them, and in return pledge to continue to save and share them. "Indiscriminate use of chemicals has harmed the soil to an enormous extent," Devi says, "but we can still restore fertility and conserve water if we act now."
The work is backed by Dr Debal Deb, an ecologist who has established the only gene bank of indigenous rice in India. The Green Revolution was environmentally disastrous in India, he says: "In the 80s, the drastic erosion of the genetic diversity of rice and other crops was irreversible. Thousands of rice varieties no longer exist in the farms where they evolved over centuries. They are extinct for good and not even accessed in the national and international gene banks." This, he says, translates into a threat to the country's food security.
Collecting seeds from a large and diverse country such as India is no easy task. "I depend on the traditional knowledge of the farmers and go to different corners in the region in search of new varieties," Devi says. "The farmers explain the qualities of a particular strain and how to cultivate them. We then collect the seed, cultivate it on an experimental basis and note down the results. If it is satisfactory, we distribute it among the other farmers. We also need to sow the seeds regularly to continue with the strain. Today, traditional knowledge is almost lost in the euphoria over new varieties."

Bunker Roy
Educationalist
Bunker Roy, 62, set up the Barefoot College in India, the only school in the world known to be open only to people without any formal education. Roy's idea is that India and Africa are full of people with skills, traditional knowledge and practical resourcefulness who are not recognised as engineers, architects or water experts but who can bring more to communities than governments or big businesses. The college trains the poor to combine local knowledge with new green technologies : 15,000 people have learned to become "barefoot" water and solar engineers, architects and teachers. It has helped hundreds of communities across India - and now in seven other countries - install water supplies and solar voltaic lighting systems, develop bicycles that can cross rivers and design buildings that collect every drop of water.

Rise up Pakistan

Suddenly we see it everywhere. In the various editorials, in blogs, during discussions. The care and concern for our neighbouring country. 50 and more years have widened the gap between the two countries specially in the economic front. But the culture and the mentality of its people have not changed. They still treat each other as the long lost brother separated by a fence which they would love to tear down if it was possible. Though their ego sometimes does not let them admit freely, they still care for each other.

But for some Indians is this show of concern out of their selfishness? After all, a stable Pakistan will do only good to India. Trouble with them will spell only trouble in many ways to India too.

It is not as though democracy is the best weapon, but it is the only good one for the moment. The Pakistani’s need to strive towards achieving a democratic government which can keep the army and the extremists bridled. It should also show the world that it can manage its affairs without outside interference. But for this to happen they better start finding a good leader to start with.

"Love your Christian neighbor as yourself."

The latest from the distressed community really shows that there are some in urgent need of counselling.

But if this remains as just a wish it is fine but if they are planning for an “edayalekanam” and instructions to strictly abide then it is time they had a thorough check up.

Now let me examine myself as a parent. Will I choose a school of my own community or does it matter at all. I think personally for me and hubby the first priority would be quality education at affordable price no matter who runs the school. Now if I studied in a school run by the minority community, it was because it was the only one around the place I grew up. But then I cannot speak for my parents but I don’t think it ever mattered to them. After all, a school is a place where you acquire knowledge and learn to live with the rest of the world, irrespective of their caste, creed, colour and above all RELIGION. The devil sent manna for our politicians and some religious leaders. If one needs to teach them religion, one has special schools and your own home too. This responsibility should not rest with the schools.
I can very well relate with the SFI activist who changed the well known verse thus...
"Love your Christian neighbor as yourself."
Anyway I can never understand some religious leaders who seem to have lost it all. But I would be happy if the faithful doesn’t follow suit but show some sense.

Wombs..... outsourced.....

It was my friend Maddy who first mentioned it while he wrote on outsourcing.. and yes we are seeing one more outsourcing industry in action.. the wombs...

I am not sure about the moral implications on this one. But it is bringing happiness to the surrogate mothers and the future parents of the surrogate baby. To be childless is not easy in our society. It is every woman’s dream to hold her child in her hands if God deems. So now we have a whole queue of willing women signing up to keep the baby in her womb for 9 months and then give it up to a happy couple.

As the article states, it will have its ups and downs. When this industry catches up with all and sundry, then it has a chance to become dirty. And there is also this chance of couples who cannot be bothered with pregnancy to opt for surrogate mothers. It may be similar to some mothers opting for the caesarean although a normal delivery is possible so that she can escape from the great pain, the tales of which has been passed on from generation to generation.

But even before all this happened, the Malayalam movie industry had a film on this same topic. Dasharatham (1989) directed by the great Sibi Malayil himself. Mohanlal plays the role of a wealthy but lonely guy who feels the need to love someone, yet is not ready to marry. He chances upon Rekha who agrees to be the surrogate mother so that she can pay for her husband Murali’s treatment. Rekha is looked after well but when the time comes to give up the child she goes back on her word. It was a very touching movie.

Where else but in India..

The monkeys will decide the man! In Himachal Pradesh nothing else will work if you need to win. Shoo the monkeys off or lose your money and stay at home.