cotton trail - another story!

As told before, KK had written an article in deccan herald..on the same Jayadhar cotton trail that we saw a few days back (here)..very nice and crisp one..
see here!

Bus day!

Regulars here know how much I like namma bengalooru climate which brings me here often and how much the traffic puts me off and makes me pack..
One of the best ways to beat that traffic tension is to take the bus..which is what I normally do here..it saves you from the driving tension and taking the blore traffic in to consideration one doesn’t lose much time either:-0
Sometimes I feel the pollution ‘up’ there in the bus is lesser than that on the bike or car!
One additional (big) factor is that these days one need not wait for long..almost all parts are well connected and the frequency is appreciable. Maximum one has to do is take 2 buses to save time. Just do some spade work and find out what buses go closer or to your area. Believe me, its an organised Chaos!
Today for example as soon as I came out of the train and walked across, I got a bus to Banshankari and just as I got down I got in to a bus that goes to kanakapura road..cake walk!

BTW today being 4th Feb is the Bus Day! infact 4th of every month is!
If you cant make it a habit, extend solidarity 4th of every month! Travel by Bus!!

Rajiv Dixit in Chennai 6th June, sunday

Rajiv Dixit is a phenomenal guy..he is an authority on our traditional medication and healthy life styles..
he has done lots research on Vag Bhatta ( a saint who wrote some 7210 theorems on our kitchen being the health centre). Vag Bhatta has performed many tests on all these theorems and Saint Charaka's ayurveda findings and rendered phenomenal corollaries. His Ashtanga Sangraha and theAshtanga Hridaya Samhita are great works on health and medication.
RD has simplified them..he has written books in hindi on this..
he offers discourses on traditional medicines (esp ayurveda), helath, natrual medicines, Bharath swabiman(roughly self esteem of India's older ways..)
on the last topic alone i beg to differ bcos of what little i know, apart from many other things like brining back our ill stored money in swiss, they say we shud support Indian companies and their products than MNCs..
IMHO Indian corporates are as venomous as their MNC counterparts..(see where even Tatas are today- coolly disturbing livelihoods of tribals and tying up with Dow chemicals- owner of Bhopal gas tragedy)..

But still this man is a great orator and authority on many olden wisdom.

He is in chennai this sunday 6th June talking on the above topis. Its not-to-miss opportunity..
He wud talk mostly in Hindi (even i can understand)..but there is a translation synopsis (at the end of each topic rather than verbatim)..
This is between 9am and 11am on sunday at C.U.Shah Bhavan, 78/79 Ritherton Road, Purasai walkkam
(the road opp to Dasprakash hotel from poonamalee road; on the left after YMCA)

i insist u all should attend this if u r in town.
u wudnt regret coming there.

also inform any of your friends who wud want to know more on health and traditional medication systems.

Bottled water er waste!!

pl see this.
The story of stuff is generally a great site..gives phenomenal insight in to how our stuff are being mishandled and wastes really wasted..
In this case it’s a fantastic story of the bottled water- another of the corporate tricks to fool us in to being their customer. Who doesn’t want free money, eh?

see this you tube video too..this fantastic..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JdvJOF-2mm0&feature=related

Now to some serious thoughts:
Did you know?
1/ that the plastic bottles can leach harmful chemicals like bisphenol in to the water esp due to heat in cars etc?

2/ Behind each bottle is oil (fossil fuel) which otherwise could have been used up for cars?

3/ that 90% of the bottles end up as garbage? Inspite of all those tall claims of recycle?

4/ that the ones that end up in landfills will be there as a mark of our irresponsibility for millions of years!

5/ that tonnes of PET bottles from California travelled all the way to Madras as waste (in the guise of recycle) and got illicitly dumped!

6/ that 1500 bottles get trashed every second!

7/ that in a test conducted by an NGO in the US, almost all leading brands of bottled water failed the basic health standards?

What can we do??
W & myself have not bought a bottle since 3+ years! We carry our own stainless steel container. Regulars here know that we lived a month tour of North east India without buying a bottle! (ok, ignore that error in the delayed train) We lived just by refilling hot water in to our stainless steel containers!
Its so easy.. Its just a mind set tricked by the advertisements that the bottled ones are safer.

These days there are better options than the Klean Kanteen mentioned here ..infact there are the thermos ones that can hold your water cold or hot for hours to come.. so go buy them and do note that it is a good gift too!

Lets ROB said they and ROB we did!

Yeah lots of us joined hands with the youth for social change and ROBed..
Yeah, see here:
One of the cutest names I saw in recent times..
ROB- Reclaim our Beaches:-)

I didn’t join them earlier and even on this 30th Jan I just squeezed time to see whats happening than join their efforts full time..
It is quite tuff with time these days what with travel, restore activities and this big event on 30th jan..

I was very happy to have been there that morning as early as 6am..I was happy to see so many people (mostly youth) but wud hav been happier if it was a larger swell..
I wud have thought a good number from all those who pride and use the Beaches wud have come..
But iam dreaming, aint I?

To the better side: of the people who assembled, there was a good amount of enthusiasm and we all set out in to groups to various parts of the beach..
I accompanied some ‘not so youths’ to the far off broken bridge where the adyar river culminates..so obviously bringing along with it all our sins..the plastic, not so plastic, Styrofoams, chappals and what not!! All that disposed off recklessly comes and piles up here on the back waters and along the estuary..hmm..
What a shame??
Even for a conscious man like me (i.e for last 3 years) this was too much..
I was glad that some of the people who were there esp old ones who said it was a big realization and eye opener. One of them said “ hmm.. I know where all my discarded and carelessly thrown sandals end up..” another was commenting on the packing materials like thermocol..another on the innumerable small shampoo sachets..the best though was “ phew..if all this hadn’t piled up here as garage, I can imagine what wud be the plight of Madras..’ guessed that? he was picking bunches of condoms..

I seriously think all these people wud now go back and think twice before they splurge and throw..

While I congratulate this ROB team (& YSC too) I wish they organize more such trips for more people, colonies & school so that people have a first hand idea of our litters and sins.
Way to go ROB..
BT All you who read this- on the very next opportunity, pl go & ROB!!

Right to Food!

Heard of it? If not, you sure are a very wary citizen of India either occupied with cricket, job, movie, news channels or all of it. I could have been like you but was fortunate to receive a call from Dr. Suresh of PUCL (public Union of civil Liberties).
I didn’t see much representation, in the regular media, about this right to Food (National food security act) that is brewing up and to be introduced.It’s a new act to be promulgated by the parliament in next session as a step to eradicate hunger. As responsible citizens we have to voice our concerns and views.

There has been a good amount of debate, discussion evoked in many northern states (ofcourse by NGOs) but south has been lagging behind.
One such meet to discuss the various issues behind this act was organised on 24th Oct at Chennai. Dr. Suresh, Advisor for Tamil Nadu to the Supreme Court Commissioner on Food Security, was the brain behind this program to consult on what the draft says and whats left out, more importantly what needs to be included etc.
There were many stalwarts like Dr. G.Nammalvar, Mr.Pamaiyan of thalanmai uzhavar iyakkam, Prof.Poyyamozhi from Pondy university, Mr. Gopinath of MSSRF and many others who discussed this thread bare.
It was very educative and more importantly lotsa of insightful opinions were voiced. Its important to consult and give as much input as possible now, else it is tough to bring any changes (how ever valid and serious it could be) later once the law is promulgated.
Some salient points from various speakers:
-Right to food should offer security, livelihood & nutritional security.
-Of the 200 crore spent for food subsidy last year not even 40% reached the deserving. (infact 60% was absorbed, ofcourse illegally, by middlemen & businessmen-politico collaborators)
-Some said it should be called Food and Nutrition security act so that enough importance is given to nutritive value of the food dispersed
-Grievance/readdressal to be included and made fool proof
-Food commission to be installed at every district
-Millets to be included in the PDS(Public Distribution System) as well as in Noon meal schemes.
-The nutritional value and advantages for farmers (to grow these in drought and less rain/water conditions) of millets were highlighted; The balance it can bring to the p(a)late was impressed up on.
-Storage, storage capacity, access and distribution should be the focus area
-Importance of ecological balance and economical viability to be looked in detail
-Local production and local consumption to be kept in mind for sustainability
-Food sovereignty (rather than security) was highlighted too
-Water (resource, source and availability) to be treated along as an important and relevant issue.
-Uncultivated (wild) were more nutritional- someone highlighted. To the surprise of all of us gave lots of examples too!
-Issues pertaining to BPL (below poverty line) as well as APL to be addressed.
Talking of nutrition, there were many interesting stories & facts from various speakers. This anecdote from Nammalvar stood out. One (medical) doctor in one of the south TN towns called an organic shop guy and asked for 5 Kg husk (thavidu in tamizh) of organic rice but didn’t divulge why he needed it. Then when the same doc asked for more this org shop fella insisted on the use. The doc, it seems, said ‘ how much ever I ask the patients to consume fibre they don’t. So I made 200gms packet of the husk and gave to each patient and asked them to consume 2 spoons with their food/ each meal.’ Needless to state here it worked wonders..
More on RTF here!

Pumpkins

Very topical isn’t? U see this white pulpy stuff, not really white, but blood red sprayed as pieces all over. Oh yes! We need all those evil driven off, so we don’t care about simple drivers like u & me..so we throw these pumpkin pieces all over -fully made up with red kumkum and what not.
But this post is not riling about that stupid act but something else connected to the same veg. We all know, its but normal for its price to soar beyond all logic this time of the year.
I got a call from a friend who said his friend from TVmalai called and that they had plan(t)ed pumpkin to make some killing (business, I mean) but things were different. They were offered only Rs 2 to 2.50 per pumpkin (not kilo!) and asked if I could help him. Hey, I can explain the whole dynamics and give you a reason why this phenomenon happens every year.. he immly said ‘I thought u were retired and u were not a consultant any more..’ joke, eh? Poda..and he continued “..so u cant help..” Not that I can and I did not, but this is far too gross for any one to intervene and pitch in.
These guys denied accepting that. They even asked some shops here at madras and they were offered Rs5/-!! They thought there should be some way out of this rut. They wudnt sell their pumpkins for 2 or 5! So they arranged to bring a full lorry load of it with a person from there. Then they just piled them up on a road side in Madras outskirts and sold each pumpkin for Rs20/- u math wizards calculate what % the middle men who offered to buy at 2 wud have made! The only expense these guys had was in ferrying the whole load to Madras. That costed them 3750/-
Oh! Don’t forget the Rs350/- they had to give to the cops each day of sale. How cool, eh?
So, whats the way out? Buying locally, buying from the source or atleast knowing the source, buy from small organic shops who procure directly from the farmers offering fair prices (eg. from restore), buying from farmers market (uzhavar sandhai) are some ways. Sadly, unless the Govt intervenes these ills shall remain.

Borlaug, green revolution and some facts.

You all would have seen the News report about Norman Borlaug's death. So obviously you know that he was the father of green revolution.
I was so fed up of the coverage and the paeans being sung about him with not a single article about the facts or atleast some shades of truth somewhere about the fall-side of the green revolution. Inadvertent or otherwise many proponents of GR did not realise they fell a prey and lost the art of sustainable agriculture and did push the modern agri beyond repair with the many ill fall outs. The main impact being on environment, next the livelihood of farmers (why else so many suicides here?), sustainability and water. I mention water separately from environment bcos one has to see (read) it to believe the impact of green revolution (chemical farming) on water.

Then I visited Devinders blog and came to know he had indeed written an article in DNA which I missed out. Am sure most of you would have missed that too. so here it is for you to read and masticate.

Kudos! great News that!

I had mentioned about a draconian agri law introduced by the TN govt and a massive meeting organised by various NGOs to fight it. I am told that, the same meet was held with great vigour and enthusiasm. Apart from very many farmers from all over TN, there were some politicos like Dr.Ramadoss, Mahendran of CPI, etc and the special activists like Devindar Sharmaji.

pl see here for a narration by Devindar himself.

and to great relief of all concerned this Law has been withdrawn!

some rare quick succes in our democracy!!
3 cheers to all concerned! Thats a great deed and a great news too.

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?

Some progress that!

Update 1: oops, i forgot to mention the most important in the list of to-dos. We should first stop dumping in the water bodies, esp by the govt bodies themselves.
Update 2: some one reminded me of another important feat wasnt mentioned here. I would do that only after that activity is completed. as this involves a govt body, i cant count the chick now.

Regulars here know my passion for water bodies and the attempt to restore one big lake near my house on the south Madras suburbs. I have been involved in trying to wrest this lake from human and official apathy..it has been one hell of a running around..I did write about it here and here. So from the collector to the PWD officials to local authorities to locals (affected citizens) it was pure apathy..
But don’t u think something should rub on after meeting with so many good souls..
The PWD which is the official stake holder in this was my target. They are, infact, for all huge lakes (> 100 acres ones). The top bureaucrat an IAS officer and one of the top executives were very receptive (that is after some 50 fones and 10 tries to meet in person). Still for someone to move in a positive and enviro sympathetic direction is such a rarity these days. Now we slowly tried and moved the dept to take cognizance of the problem and to move towards a solution.
For someone who wants to wrest a water body, here is a to do list:
- involve locals heavily. Sensitise, then take some signature campaign and circulate to collector, localbodies, local bigwigs, dept’s biggies to locals, all and sundry. (on seeing lotsa signatures people assume theres a big junta behind, where as most people will only sign and think that’s the best they can do)
- Keep moving the copies of the petition everywhere
- Meet the media and there are some eco friendly guys out there(though rare) who may write about the present state. (some column lines for them!)
- A set of core volunteers who can incessantly push for this ca(u)se
- Identify a couple of officers who can really take some steps. Then bombard them with info and ideas and shower praises till they catch cold and make them move.
- Once they show some inclination, take initiative and rush lots more steps in all directions possible and without antagonizing any of the govt bodies (but making them all feel they are doing it actually) and continue at a pace they will all just watch or before they react there should be a fair amount of movement.
- Now when we have done the initial repairs and some progress in a the 1st few of our “must do” list, now go back and slowly push the rest to each of the govt arm and goad them to proceed.
Here in our lake we are in this last step..so more on that later.
Normally iam very conservative esp in evaluation of my own achievement. I tend to underplay my role and accomplishments. But this is one rare occasion I felt, hey u did something buddy! Pat pat..seriously am tired.
Lemme go and celebrate
or rest?

Busy busy..

Oops..days fly past so fast that am losing track of the people I met, projects visited, things that interested me etc.. Some of them that wud have, in normal times, been single long posts! but shall only have a quick mention here.. The outstanding and one who would be linked here many more times to come am sure, will be Murali Eswar! Check here for his blogs and here for their firm! thats an eco firm of interest and not only have green projects but also is an ‘Edison labs’ like venture capitalist although only for green ideas! A very different and ecofriendly person with lotsa interesting green projects, he is one of the very interesting persons I met in the recent past. Then ofcourse, neelam manjunath- of centre for green building! See here! Even saw their upcoming green space called the Aditi green space in the far off byatrayanpura after hebbal. Though this is more a hep version of green structures, the extensive use of bamboo and many natural products incl mud blocks (so less of concrete used) all were impressive. This may not be the enviro friendly thirst quencher, but some small steps, sure. If I sound a bit nippy here its bcos of the abundant usage of chemicals in the bamboo curing/ processing and the amount of chemicals & paints involved around these green structures:-( But some positive steps towards sustainability and popularizing the ecofriendly green architecture. Finally, many of u know that I have been chasing the official world of babus reg the rejuvenation of a huge lake in our neighbourhood.. that wild goose hunt is still on! The top bureaucrat who sort of condescendingly pushed our paper a bit favourably down the ladder is gonna retire. The ones below, who know that, are deflecting it with such nuance one wud be tempted to compare their strokes to the little master! But the 'vetal' that iam, am really running helter skelter and pursuing it. Meaning I haven’t yet lost hopes..hmm hopes, else, where wud I be?

‘appy pongal!

Pongal nalvazhthukkal!!
This is a great festival folks! Unique too.
If u notice, few thousand years back, all civilizations would regard sun as a prime god and so obviously had some festival of reverence and thanks giving to the prime giver!
Pongal is not only a harvest festival and thanksgiving to Sun but also has another day for the Cows(& Ox). That’s unique – maattu pongal. Very unique to this civilization.
What a way to identify one another giver like the sun and praying 2 of the greatest enablers of mankind!
In rural TN, even today they decorate the cows, paint their horns, and pray!
So guys even if you don’t do all these ‘pagan’ thingys, do stand by and observe them. Respect these prayers to the sun, cow, harvest and nature!
They really did value and venerate nature for they took cognizance of it. The very essence of understaning and respecting nature was there thousands of years back, hmmm.

Happy pongal folks!

Note: This is NOT Tamil new years day but! Just bcos some politico joker thought so. Some amasser of wealth and shallow thinker, foists this new theory of tamil new year from now! Its better ignoring and dispelling. Such jokers would just throw some cheap tricks and announce such laughable statements but would practise the English calendar for all his convenience. That Calendar is from time immemorial and so worth the culture preserved till now. So do not wish me our new year yet:-)