My Photography

A few trips and many photographs later, I happened to sit down and classify myself based on the type of pictures that I take.

Most of my pictures are that of plants / animals / sculptures / abstract cloud shots / very less of people and very less of  me in my pics :)

And yes, the customary electricity transmission tower :)

What does that make me???

A foolish sell-out

WTF was Gareth Barry thinking when he did this? 

And to top it all, he pens an apology letter!!! :-o

Seriously dude, Liverpool were waiting for you to say YES, and you joined oil-money awash ManCity?

Shame!!!

My take on 'Earth Hour'

For those of you who are not familiar with the concept of Earth Hour, check this out. To sumamrize, it is an awareness campaign which attempts to educate people (the common folks and the policy dons) about the catastrophic results associated with global warming.

It is a noble concept and a demonstratable one too as was evident from last year. The newspapers reported a significant reduction in the demand profile for that one hour period. So, yes, it is a workable concept. 

However, I was not part of the event last time around. Nor am I going to be part of it this time or anytime in the future.

I feel problems like global warming should be attacked by long term sustained continuous methods - such as judicious use of electricity, using public transport to the maximum etc. One time radical actions do not achieve much. Did the people use electricity judiciously after the previous campaign? I don't think so. 

As a part of the set of people working in the electricity sector, I find on the other hand that demand has shot up, costly power needs to be purchased with ever increasing regularity and the amount of renewable energy expected on the grid is not reaching the required levels.

I believe instead of an annual Earth Hour, we should have a "life-long earth lifetime". It will be so much more effective.

On the flip side, I am aware of the "spirit of activism" and the legendary inertia of the human race to inculcate good habits such as consistent electricity saving. In this regard, this is a good move, and I wish it all the very best.

Janko Tipsarevic

Ladies, the complete package comprising of looks, brains, literature, COOL quotient and sports is here, and his name is Janko Tipsarevic.

Read about him here and here.

Loneliness

Much has been written about solitude, loneliness, being in company of people - stuff like how you can feel alone even if you are surrounded by many; or how you can feel connected even if you are alone physically. 

My take on this is that this matter is not one to be analysed. Instead, one should read this write up with a few poems.

I just love Kristen Hoggatt when she says the following:

But aren’t we all lonely, really, in our little worlds, with each click of the keyboard, with each thought that goes unexpressed? No matter how big our mental space, no matter how peopled our social sphere, no matter what kind of a romantic partner we have — real or imagined, we are all lonely for a majority of the day. We are in that space between the ears, dreaming, waking, drinking coffee, passively reading the latest news, and not engaged in a verbal, physical, or spiritual exchange with someone else.

 

AND

Your brand of loneliness, whether it’s the kind that wakes you up at 3 a.m. or the kind that propels you to open another tasteless novel, presents a formidable challenge to overcome, but everyone must do it sometimes.

AND

But no matter what we call it, it will find us, owed to that distinctly human combination of an over-developed brain and an unenlightened mind. I suppose there are those who would advise yoga or meditation, and maybe you should try that, but I can only vouch for acceptance. You’ve got to accept life and all its faults, as life accepts you and all of yours. Of course it’s going to be lonely and cold sometimes, but the good thing is that it’s always in flux.

Enjoy loneliness folks, its not a gift everyone can have. You truly get to know yourself better. For those who accuse me of the sour-grapes syndrome, I accept, I do miss my home and my parents :-D. Wokay?? Satisfied??

Masakali against drunken flying

How does the song "masakali" from Delhi 6 help in a slogan against drunken flying? Yes, you read it right, FLYING.

Modify a line in the song to 'Kudiyo na Udiyo'

Using a bit of Kannada+hindi, this translates to Do not drink and fly!!

It takes all sorts to make a world

They say that ‘Variety is the spice of life’. For a bus commuter, the sheer variety of people that he/she encounters during the bus journey is a statistical delight. One can classify, reclassify, declassify, “classifield”ify ;-) and what not!! From my experience there are the following classes, but mind you, these will only grow GRow and GROW as I travel more MOre and MORE!!!

The Morning Commuters:

The suit-wallahs/tie-wallahs – These are the biggies in some firm who might have given up commuting by their car in the interest of the environment/to avoid congesting the city etc

The like-me officewallahs – These guys like me would be at the starting stage of their careers and are commuting by BRTS since it is a cool concept and more so since daily commute by cabs is costly and much more uncomfortable.

The picture-perfect babes – Is it just me or has the professional world really changed so much? Why is it that women in their professional attire look so perfect? They certainly are a sight for sleepy eyes J {contrast with guys who at best look decent/ordinary)

The old uncles

The aunties

College kids

 The Evening Commuters:

All of the above who are tired!!! But still, the women look nearly picture perfect :-)

Today the concept of variety took an entirely different hue. The 19:10 BRTS 1 from Backbay Depot had a malfunctioning AC and hence its destination was curtailed upto its depot – Anik, which is roughly midway between Backbay and Thane. At every stop, the conductor stood at the door and announced the revised route and informed about the malfunctioning AC. This led to different reactions:

The people who wanted to get home soon and did not want to wait – ‘Haan theek hai!!! Darwaza khol ke rakhenge na? To baraabar”

The people who were willing to brave the heat but were taken aback when told about the new destination – “Thane tak nahin jaayegi? Whats this??”: these guys instantly got off

People who were pissed off with both the destination and the AC – “Tum logon ne hamaari gadi cheen lee hai!! Gaadi kyun nahin rok te AC kharaab huwa to?”. yeah right, the AC has deliberately been rigged so that you guys can't go home on time. Grow up man!!! AC is a machine and machines fail once a while.

And then, on the nearly empty bus, as I read P Sainath’s ‘Everybody Loves a Good Drought’ I came across this gem: “Ah well, their philosophical looks seemed to say as we part, it takes all sorts to make a world”. As Kurt Angle would say, ‘Its true, its true”.