something interesting!

busy busy..
so u r spared of my thoughts and scribbles..
but meanwhile, till i catch up some time to update, here are a couple of things that can keep u interested too..
a list of the performance of all our MPs..seek out the info of ur particular MP and do justice..
you can get to view all details, questions raised, etc of the MPs here.
Thanks to prime Point Srinivasan here is a xl list too!

If politrix is too much, go here and see an amazing video of future technology!

Siddamma

Its mixed- the feeling; its multiple- the incidents that led to meeting her;
its amazing- the feeling after meeting her; its tons of hopes- what she infuses in to one after a good long interaction.

Siddamma is an great woman who has so many (in)credible achievements in her kitty. When she was very young (<10?) she was attacked by a bear which has resulted in loss of an eye and aesthetic looks. To grow with such an incident and loss from so early stage of life to what she is today is Himalayan!
She is well known for her works with Irula tribes. That she has done so much to that tribe is renowned but that she has taken to organic farmer since the last 3 years is a news to many. I might have missed out meeting her when she visited Zurich in 2004 (inspite of my friends Chidu & Sathya informing n inviting me then) but am thankful to W and others who were instrumental in my meeting her now and visiting her organic farm near Thiruthani!
What a farm it was! A great piece of land picturesquely sandwiched by hills on all sides. Very scotish locale..The enthusiasm with which she partakes in all farm activities, the way she plays host and flummox u with hospitality, the ease with which she makes you feel very homely..words fail me..so one has to visit the farm (while she is there) to derive the 200% value.
Theres plenty of place to stay. Plenty to do. Our group happily participated in planting vegetable saplings in a new veg garden she had designed with the help of Ramesh (one of Dr.Nammalwar’s disciples). He was a big lotto for us all- for he was so informative, incisive and had a natural sense of humor.
In all it was an extraordinary experience. Organic farm and more!

Kaziranga

That’s a beauty of a place as mentioned here an year back after a trip to North east! what with Rhinos and so many species of birds, it is a great place to tour..
When we visited that last year we were told about the forest dept acting very responsibly and winning the locals by educating as well as distributing sops for not tampering the nature/forest.
But then we have politicos right? Its just not good people, ordinary citizens and some baddies, but this nasty villains called politicos ain’t? and so here we had 2 such guys (grt.. grt.. MLAs at that) who ganged up and trespassed in to the forest. The dutiful officer (rare variety that!) when tried to prevent these 2 goons & party from carrying out prohibited activities in the forest was beaten up.
A small solace is our visual media (prolly bcos this forest officer was awarded CNN IBN real hero of the year in the recent past) did cover this stupid act. Atleast bringing to light of such incidents esp at election times can infuse some sanity, hopefully.

Ragging

Is it still such a menace? What a pity!
Cant that be any sensible? I was there and did that, in our college days. But those were some silly pranks and jokes and not even the juniors’ egos were hurt. We did hear of severe ragging, even physical assaults from my friends in some RECs in north, BITS, some medical colleges etc. We also heard then, thru newspaper, of some severe injuries caused or in some cases inducing suicides. I thought humanity wud have evolved or law wud have had tougher sections to tackle this nonsense.
What a shame, a kid had to compensate this ridiculous act with his life in a Delhi medical college last week. Suicide or not those seniors in that college and its management are a party to it and need to be punished severely.
What ever the punishment is, how will that family ever be comforted? And how long will this sheer devilry continue? Are students so bad and never think of the consequences of such culpable murders?

Thalaivasal market

I remember reading an interview about 2 decades back, an entrepreneur about his product. He said, after so much thought he came out with this product of his bcos he felt as long as there was a wall his product wud be needed. He went on to brag as long as humanity wud be there he will have a market! All this for wall paper! And he was hailed the business man of that year and blab la bla..
But, come to think of it, it was big thing then and to think of every wall being a prospect was well appreciated then.
In the same lines - Can u think of any other product more valuable, in demand and holding maximum prospect than VEGETABLE? we know govts overturned due to prices of onions and others! So what do you think shud be the demand and market for this?
Sigh.sigh..
But have u ever thought of what the manufacturer of this unique and always-in-demand product undergoes?
I happened to visit Thalaivasal veg market last week to see or rather ‘study’. This is the 2nd largest (1st being ottanchathiram) vegetable market in Tamilnadu.
What a sight it is to see farmers – small, medium and big (resp in TVS50, 100cc bikes and autos) come with their produce/harvest. Poor guys will come with their produce that is the outcome of so much perspiration, planning and labour from minimum of a month to 9 months, without a clue about what they shall be paid. Unlike all the products in the open market that we see, for the farm products alone the manufacturer, the farmer, doesn’t fix the price.
Some middle man out there or some broker fixes the price. So it could be a ridiculous Rs 3per kg as I witnessed for Yam at thalaivasal on that day. Any guess how many days it takes for the farmer to harvest yam? 270 days!!! what do you think this three rupees shall serve?
So was the case for many vegetables. ( tomato-3, okra-7, pumpkin-4, radish-12, snakegourd- 4). If we do not value the farmer, his product and price them right whats the future of agriculture gonna be? The usual gyan of middle men stocking and scouting market, immediate payment to farmer etc doesn’t hold any logical or pragmatic answer.
Now, do u see the newspaper and give that lizard like sound on reading about farmer suicide? Hmm, what a shame. And in Europe I used to see farmers ply stylish BMV and its ilk and come to market in a plush pick up van and & go happily.
And here these people struggle so hard to make ends meet.
Ok, we saw a problem glorified and put forth. What can the solution be? Go seek for organic shops/ market like restore. Its bcos these are new and organic in all sense. So will not have middlemen and that vicious circle. Farmers shall be paid fair price unlike these well set stupid inorganic markets.

pak cricket

or bombs?
remember we discussed this here last time when India visited pak and I (told u so??) said this imminent bomb shall always be hanging..Their grounds and our players shall be laddu targets all thru the tour and its just that one trigger and one mad paki away..
Whats the need to play so badly there? oh! i forgot, its decided by jokers/politrickans like Pawar & gang..
Just clock back to our good old gulli cricket days..have we ever played when we were unwell or someone at home was serious or some old granny kicked the bucket? or during exams??
so even for our street cricket we needed congenial atmosphere and here in Pak they intend playing! What money can let you pledge some players' life? shameless & senseless bleepers!
Atleast for some more time they will not talk of cricket there at pak..This doesnt mean India is any safe haven but slightly less dangerous. But if there shall be an attack the perpetrator shall be from that same mad house called pak!
Now they have cut a piece of that country and given to talibs..ha haa..may they get a better rule!
as for cricket its best to leave them and zimbabwe behind.

Iam loving this recession!

Update: Ravi from US came on chat and had loads of good news (hey u really made my day)..how recycling is catching up, how they don't get to see Hummer these days on road, how lotsa shops give u cloth bags, how the recycle yahoo group of Ann Arbor is a big hit, how wasting has come down for the whole community, etc. That was so heartening that i didn't want you folks to miss that:-)

Yes! Iam loving it…
Its so easy these days- just shoot an easy question ‘so how is the recession affecting you’ ‘any of your friends or family affected’ – just this much is enough to keep the recipient busy for the next 15 mins. It could be the call taxi fella or your old friend or the waiter..
No, its not for this conversational saving grace that Iam happy with the recession. Hey there is such a big relief! The roads, bar, restaurant, temple, just about any where is noticeably low ! Iam serious! The last 2 days am in blore, I see far less traffic than normal and I relate it to the recession.
Finally we cant close a topic here without the environmental angle isn’t? If u ignore the economical impact there is the ecological benefit- people really travel less (fossil fuel saved), buy too less (so less produced and hence energy saved is really high) and discard too less (so less wastes pumped out)..
Hmmm, isn’t that one good outcome of the recession? Am I not being optimistic, after all, as many want us to be in these days?

tibits

This slumdog mania is too much..one thing is the oscar hype the other is our media jumping up so much..we shud note that this is a Brit movie and the ha hoo created is also by the brit media (like they always do for any brit movie- rarely produced and even rarely makes it to the nominations).
While we can be happy for the recognition given to Pookutty or Rahman is fine but nothing to go overboard. But did you folks watch pookuttys acceptance speech? It was very good. Natural and pointed. he even spoke of 'aum', music of silence and indianness in music etc. He also appreciated his team in a very modest way and spoke so well.

But for all those who feel let down by Rahman and feel he has had better outings in our movies shud note that this is a Hollywood and so will and shud be to their tastes. If we find a lagaan or Roja music better its bcos of our tastes. the oscar is by an for the western world. So it can only be considered if it suits their taste. Pl note that they adjudge best music only from the nominated pictures. There could be movies that had better or fantastic music but never made to the nominations. So comparisons and resentments are wrong.

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Pl note that smile pinky has been pushed behind in all this slumdog noise. Thats a better news and an achievement compared to this SM. Its a documentary and can have an impact on many lives (of poor people affected by )cleft lips. Hope Govts and other NGOs in this sector reacts and clean up cleft lips like in most western countries.

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The Madras high court never ceases to keep us all occupied..so they pulled another stunt and now there is so much of noise on the police assault. In this din their political maneuvers, unwanted srilankan issues, hitting & injuring Subramania swamy in the court room, beating up a police officer, their regular bandhs and riot-like-moves, hardly differentiating them from political parties is being hidden. I was too happy to watch the police retaliation - not that its right but just that such an unruly crowd requires and understands only such retaliation. If they think they are above law and keep playing like this, where shall the already close-to-defunct law machinery feature?
Now they are talking like saints and posing to be goodie guys.
anyways, lets wait for some other issue to cover this up.
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