Engineers, Tree huggers, Eco friends

lend me your ears....

One of my favorite things to do is watch the rain. I love it when the sky gets all dark and cloudy.You can almost smell the approaching rain. It brings back memories from my childhood in Kerala. I used to get almost two months of vacation every summer. As the initial joy of no school wanes away, you begin to realize the summer heat and humidity. It makes you almost pray for a rain. The monsoon rains finally arrive. It brings with it, sheer joy and relief. It pours for days together. I sit in my balcony and watch the rain drip from the coconut and the mango trees. The birds would hide among the trees initially. They would eventually give in and take a quick shower.

Fast forward a decade (or two) and thousands of miles... A similar situation. I am in my balcony (blogging). It is hot and humid, but the clouds are near. There are no coconut or mango trees here, but the smell of approaching rain is still the same. I hope it rains today.

Now back to the point. Lend me your ears again...

Three great stories. Three very different individuals. Three different context. One common vision.

I) A 63 year old ardent nature lover fighting hard to conserve the forests. I am proud of the fact that he is from my home state. For the past 16 years he has been living in a forest tree house. Impressed by his efforts, the forest preservation officials have requested his help to keep the Teak Mafia at bay. He is now popularly known as Teak Pillai

II) The Church of South India (CSI) adopting the concept of Green Church. All the parishes are encouraged to spread awareness and also adopt atleast one eco friendly project. India attaches a huge importance to religion. This is a significant step in the right direction

III) A scientist from University of Toronto (Ted Sargent) is revolutionizing the way we harness solar energy. Using nanotechnology, he is researching ways to tap into the infrared spectrum of solar energy. Nanotechnology would make it possible to have solar cells the size of dots and also dispersible. You could paint it on your house , you sweater ... Infinite possibilities

A green future...


Quote of the day
"All the ants on the planet, taken together, have a biomass greater than that of humans. Ants have been incredibly industrious for millions of years. Yet their productiveness nourishes plants, animals, and soil. Human industry has been in full swing for little over a century, yet it has brought about a decline in almost every ecosystem on the planet. Nature doesn't have a design problem. People do" - William McDonough, architect and designer

Guinea-Bissau

Learned something new today. Learned about a country in western Africa called Guinea-Bissau. One of the smallest countries in Africa. It is bordered by Senegal to the north and Guinea to the south.

The name was new to me, but the story behind it was a familiar sad one. One of brutal colonization (by the Portuguese), slavery, prolonged independence struggle, independence, corruption, military coup, civil war, ethnic tensions, poverty and huge international debt.

Presidential elections were held recently.

Guinea-Bissau is one of the 38 countries eligible for G8 debt relief. I sincerely hope they get a fresh start.

Some other African countries I didn't know about and need to find more about ...Lesotho, Eritrea, Comoros, São Tomé and Príncipe


Funky moment of the day (Disclaimer: don't try this at home)
On a hot day like today, ate extremely spicy food and then rinsed my mouth with Listerene. What the hell was I thinking !

Corporate Responsibility Part II

This is the second part in my series on Corporate Responsibility. Ooooh! How clever of me!. Bob Rosner replied to the first part. Here is his reply
"Amen. The good thing about this article was realizing how many people
out there agree with us. That was inspiring to me. Thanks for sharing
your thoughts. Now that you've written, don't be a stranger. Cheers.
Bob"

All this sounds fine and dandy. The real shocker however came when I read this post by Carl Pope. He brings to light some alarming facts about Exxon Mobil. Every company has the right to worry about its bottom line. But, when one company tries to systematically discredit scientists, science and the obvious effects of Global Warming, it is stepping out of bounds.

One thing is for sure, I am never stepping into an Exxon Mobil gas pump. Like Thomas points out, it is difficult not to buy Exxon Mobil products. Apparently, oil companies share pipelines and depots. But we have to start somewhere. We have to take that first step.

I evaluated my retirement portfolios. Thankfully, I didn't have Exxon Mobil in them. But I did have some other oil companies. I chucked them. It is my firm belief...If we as share holders, refuse to invest in socially irresponsible corporations, we are sure to see better corporate citizenship

Switching to eco investing...

Weird moment of the day
I don't smoke. For some weird reason, I stood around with a bunch of smokers today all the while drinking chocolate milk!

A daily dance a day, keeps the blues away

In my last post, I confessed to enjoy watching people struggle at aerobics. I don't have to go all the way to a gym anymore. Here is a guy who has transformed freelance dancing into an art form and a delight. An IT guy, who dances to a different tune every day. He probably has made thousands of people happy all over the world. God bless him. A must visit dailydancer.com

Undo Buttons & Guilty Pleasures

The last couple of days have been very stressful. I so wish Life had an undo button. A click and you could erase an unfortunate moment. My mind keeps taking me back to one such moment. The flashbacks happen over and over again. It is an unending effort by the mind to click the so called undo button.

To keep my sanity, I go to the gym. Work hard. Try and let some steam out. I go to college, pay double the attention. Work hard. It helps. But what helps even more are some interesting things you get to see there.

Watching an aerobics class (while at the gym) is a great stress reliever. Especially, if the class has a few rhythm less ones. It is a riot watching them. They usual do everything in awkward jerks and are atleast three steps behind. When most move to the right , they move to the left. When most raise their arms, they raise their legs. When most graciously move their hips, they do violent thrusts :) You can't help but smile (laugh inwardly). I know it is cruel of me. Guilty pleasure!

Watching fellow students in a class is a great stress reliever too. Especially the really tired ones, trying hard to keep their eyes open. One such student sitting right under the nose of the professor, was a riot to watch today. His eyes would close, then his head would slowly start going back and his mouth would start opening. A few seconds later his head would come back in a hurry. Then it starts its slow journey backwards again. The process would repeat over and over again. The professor oblivious to all this head oscillations, rambles on and on. The best part is when the student suddenly wakes up, asks a question (out of the blue) and then goes back to sleep. You can't help but smile (laugh inwardly). I know it is cruel of me. Guilty pleasure!

In a classroom

The last time I sat in a classroom was probably way back in college. That was a long time ago. Although I have to been to corporate trainings before, somehow they don't really count. You have to be in a college campus for the true effect.

I am in two classes now. One for Microsoft IIS and one for Linux. One I was told to go to. One I was always interested in going to. For one I head north and for the other I head east.

The two technologies are so vastly different. One is proprietary and insecure. The other, open and vastly secure. An oxymoron of sorts!

I am enjoying the whole class thing. The only part not very enjoyable is the commute. All these days I have been complaining about my every day off-highway office commute. Now I end up doing highway commute, bumper to bumper(B2B) for about 4 hours a day. Yikes !!!! One appreciates things only when one gets it worse (or something like that )

When you are in B2B traffic, you have plenty of time to observe fellow commuters. It is true. Most Ladies are either on their cell phones or smoking. Most guys are either digging their noses or pretending that they didn't do it :)

Quote of the day
"Free software is a matter of liberty, not price. To understand the concept, you should think of free as in free speech, not as in free beer" ...... GNU Free Software Definition

ONE.org

Let me begin on a tangent. I promise I will get to the point.

I am sitting here watching TV. How exciting :( Ads flash by. More Ads flash by. And then some more.

The Ads all seem to have a common thread. Almost all them are pharmaceutical. Medications for acid reflux, gas, bloating, indigestion, constipation, pain relief, migraine, arthritis, adult ADD, depression, ED treatment, colon health, diabetes, cholesterol, Alzheimer's, osteoporosis, birth control patches, tampons and menopause.

Millions of dollars are spent each year on market research. Advertisement and product placements are high precision affairs these days. That makes me a little uneasy. I wonder.... Do I need to start thinking about all these conditions ?. I know I am getting old. But ....

Enough of gibberish. Getting back to the point.

There was this one Ad that made a whole lot of sense. A very very white background, celebrity faces phase in and out. It is very difficult to miss the Ad. It is for ONE.org

A long list of celebrities (Bono & Brad Pitt to name a two) urging the G8 nations to help Africa. Fair trade, debt relief, fighting corruption and directing additional resources for basic needs...– education, health, clean water, food, and care for orphans at a cost equal to just ONE percent more of the US budget

The campaign is not about individual donations. It is about what G8 countries can do. Worth checking out. Most def !

PS. All I was watching was the world news!!

Hotel Rwanda

I just finished watching the movie Hotel Rwanda. I am numb.

Back in 94 when the genocide happened, I was in college. Like many people in the world, I chose to casually browse through the news and move on to other news. Never paid any serious attention. Hutu millitia slaughtered close to one million Tutsis. I chose to be ignorant.

The movie brings to attention some bizarre facts

Belgians actually created the Hutus and Tutsis based on the size of their noses. French supplied arms to the Hutu militia. President Clinton's administration voted to withdraw UN forces and stalled further UN deployment.

Bone chilling !!!!!

The least I can do is not be ignorant any more. I need to know. I need to find out. If you get a chance, please do so too

The Big Apple

I was in New York city (NYC) this Memorial Day weekend. It was a nice little getaway after a very long time.

For me, the trip was a second. I first visited the city way back in 2000, before the terrible tragedy of 9/11. I still remember that day and its aftermath. I have been wanting to visit ground zero ever since.

The trip started off on a sleepy note. Ended up missing the flight and had to catch the next one. I was cursing myself for being late and was cursing the screaming kid sitting next to me. The ipod helped ease the pain a little. Once in NY, things were much better. I got to travel in a train after a long long time and I loved it. It brought back memories of train travel back in India, especially Tata Allepey Express.

I have been to big cities before, but NYC is unlike any other. Stepping out of Penn station and into the open, was something else. The sheer size of the buildings , the crowd and the streets just awes you. For a moment, you just stand there and gape at everyone and everything. It takes a few seconds to recover. After that you, are on a clicking spree!

The city is called the Big Apple. There are quite a few theories about how the name came about. The most common among them.... "The term 'Big Apple' was originally used in the 1920s and '30s by jazz musicians as a way of saying, 'There are many apples on the success tree, but when you pick New York City, you pick the Big Apple.'"

I think the name Big Apple is quite apt. The city has many things to offer. From dog walking to investment banking, there is money to be made. It is no wonder the city attracts so many. But on weekends (especially long weekends), I feel New Yorkers try and get out and the rest of the world get in. The many different languages you get to hear is a proof of that. A few you know. Some you are familiar with. Many you wonder ...Hmm wonder what language that is !

The city is best explored on foot. That is probably the most intimate way of seeing the city. For lazy cases like me, the open Double Decker tour made more sense. You do have the freedom of hoping on and off. I liked it. The weekend was spent absorbing many sights and sounds. Here are a few.

The Brooklyn Bridge. The bridge like many NYC landmarks, has a larger than life aura to it. One of the largest suspension bridges in the world, it is supported largely by four huge steel wires. Each wire is 15 3/4 inches in diameter.

The bridge has a walkway that runs right through its middle and above the traffic. I walked all the way. You will find people walking, power walking, jogging, jogging with their infants, cyclists and of course out of shape tourists like me!

With the twin towers no more, The Empire State Building(ESB) has a new found stature. All around the city you get to see glimpses of this stately building. This picture is taken from Greenwich Village. I was pleasantly surprised to see no visitor queue outside the building. The surprise was however short lived as the line curved four floors inside. Approximately 4 hours to get to the top. I couldn't gather enough patience. Maybe some other time.

It has about 102 floors. The construction was completed in 1 year and 45 days. It must have been one hell of a project management feat!

I wasn't sure what to expect at ground zero. Sadly though, it has become a tourist attraction. Young and old were getting their pictures taken. Some curious. Some sad. Some polite and quiet. Some obnoxious and loud. A man was playing his flute. A very somber note. A mother and her two daughters were hugging and crying. A group of kids were making a documentary of sorts. A lady was hawking memorabilia. Different people, different meanings, different reactions.

Time flies by when you walk around downtown, engrossed in taking pictures. After a while your feet start to ache. That is the perfect time to visit Central Park.

The park is almost the size of Monaco (principality). The park is designed to effectively drown out the city. You can sail, jog, run, roller blade, sun bathe or read. Me, I found a comfy and shady little spot and slept for about 2 hours. You could just lie there and spend hours together. The simpler things in life are often the most fun. While you are in Central Park, check out the Sheep Meadow Cafe. They have a calorie dripping grilled cheese sandwich.


Statue of Liberty. It took 2 hours of standing in line to get to Liberty island. It was well worth it. 2 hours might sound like a lot, but with all the entertainment included, it is not all that bad. As the line moved , a man would play his violin to the tune of the national anthem of the tourist. Jana Gana Mana was a very frequent one. There were a few statue of liberty dress-a- likes. I thought one winked at me. Another man was singing praises of Jesus. Another would sing jokes. Then there was this couple in front of us who were groping each other vehemently. Needless to say, things were very interesting !

Lady Liberty symbolizes every thing NY. She is a must visit. Did you know that her green complexion is because of copper oxidation? Did you know that the sculptor Batholdi had several models for the Lady. First was his mother. Then his mistress and then his future wife. Hmmm ....

While on the ferry, I heard this unfortunate comment by a teenage girl, "Way to go France. Give us Lady Liberty and then ditch us".

Times Square. Ever felt like you were in a movie or in TV? Times Square will surely make you feel so. The shoulder to shoulder pedestrian traffic, the huge billboards and the lights all make the square the most vibrant spot in the city.

The thing I liked most about the square was this Spider Man. Thanks to fast food, this super hero had a pot belly. The kids were busy poking his belly. It was such a funny sight. I should have focused my lens a little lower. I should have !

I could just go and on. The roadside cafes in Greenwich Village, the art galleries in SOHO, the bustling China Town, St John's Cathedral, Wall Street, Museum Mile, Harlem, the fish market in South Street Seaport, United Nations, Grand Central Terminal....."Never a dull moment" . That pretty much sums it up. Will need several more weekends to fully see the entire city. If it were not for the exorbitant rent, I would consider living here.