The reason why I choose to be a vegetarian

This is the reason why I want to remain a vegetarian - and avoid animal products.

Not for religion. Not for crap caste

Martin Luther King Jr quotes

Nature doesn't need people. People need nature.

A very good campaign on nature and how humans are abusing it - I hope we wake up now and realize the responsibility each of us are having towards mother nature. 

Links:

http://natureisspeaking.org/
https://www.facebook.com/conservation.intl


It starts with our food, travel options and living standards - we are over exploiting all of these.

Allergies and diseases - Thanks to GMO food

What are GMO [Genetically modified organisms] or GE [Genetically engineered food] ?  

In an earlier blog, Organic and Organic only, I attempted to explain the fundamental ways in which genetic modification or engineering of seeds are done by the so called food companies, who are in reality, chemical companies, and their actual motive. Contrary to the perception they create about the need for GM or GE food, it is not about feeding the world but driving the profits for few misguided bio-technology companies.

Please watch the below Ted video by Robyn o Brien - a mother and a food activist, whose plea about the state of food economics in US, along with the persuasion in the form of facts and evidence from around the world makes this one of the best videos on this important subject. We must address this malaise at this stage and prevent the same from happening in other parts of the world too. 




While I agree correlation between increasing allergies and health issues with the increased use of GE technology in farming doesn't mean causation, it will be foolish to turn a blind eye to the converging nature of evidence and observations.

Recent example: 

http://news.yahoo.com/study-links-pesticide-exposure-pregnancy-autism-123742370.html

Edward Snowden

Edward Snowden - a man, who is same age as me, has assumed far greater risks for the sake of openness and privacy of world citizens.

Edward Snowden gives a TED talk in Canada, TED2014 - via telepresence robot - Here's how we take back the internet

"We don't have to give up our privacy to have good governance. We don't have to give up our liberty to have security. We can have both open government and private citizens " - Edward Snowden

http://www.ted.com/talks/edward_snowden_here_s_how_we_take_back_the_internet#

Six minutes - Speechless | Please understand our impact

Please spend six minutes watching this video - speechless.

Source:
http://myscienceacademy.org/2013/08/19/without-saying-a-word-this-6-minute-short-film-will-make-you-speechless/


Movie: http://barakasamsara.com/

Person of the Year - 2013 | Edward Snowden - A Real Hero

Edward Snowden has two profiles :

- a rogue NSA contractor who stole US National data and revealed them to the wider world public.

- a NSA contractor who stood for the freedom of expression and privacy rights.

Depending on which side you come from, you would believe in one of the two perceptions or both of them. Irrespective of how anybody may perceive Snowden, he has changed the world by blowing the whistle on the biggest data snooping methodology by US government. I owe my life to computer science engineering education and love the openness of the Internet. I had always been a staunch supporter of retaining the freedom of internet away from government hands. However, US has killed the openness of the internet by exploiting the openness and technological advantage of US companies in the internet space for it's own benefits. In light of these development, I foresee a world where every country may rightfully demand the data of it's user stay within it's physical borders, there be restricting the openness of the Internet. 

Edward Snowden is only 14 months elder to me and was in a well paid Govt job. He however chose to give up all the comfort of the material world and undergo extreme isolation in this world when he decided to release information on data snooping which he believed is unconstitutional. His stand was vindicated when a US district court gave a judgement questioning the constitutional validity of the snooping process carried out by the US government. I consider him a hero for his guts to take on the most powerful government in the world and it's spy agency, and for the conviction of his belief on what is right and wrong. 

He is a beacon to the entire world on privacy rights and is my person of the year.

Advertising and women

A disturbing but disgusting reality of the advertising world.

How is advertising shaping the image of women - Phewwww

Advertisements, as a medium and message, have transformed from being "what is" to "what we think is". The repercussions of these advertising messages on the sub-conscious mind is very hard to get rid off and creates a pseudo-reality than what is actually the reality. For example, If a women's face is altered/touched on an average 20 times before it becomes the cover of a magazine, where is the reality ? This pseudo realistic image is then used as measure by society at large to compare with innocuous regular women and girls. It is pathetic and I agree we all are part of the society which is in this bandwagon of comparison and feel ashamed.

While I agree that advertisements need to exaggerate and dramatize to capture the attention of the viewer in a limited span of time, it is not acceptable to push down messages which are nothing but LIES. 

Please watch the below video to fully understand the harmful impact of "WRONG ADVERTISEMENTS". 

The speaker in the video below is the creator of the video series - "killing us softly"

Demeaning ads

Satyendra Dubey - lest we forget this HERO

Satyendra Dubey was murdered in Gaya, Bihar on 27th Nov 2003 for fighting corruption in the Golden Quadrilateral highway construction project - he was a project director at the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI). He found malpractices in awarding of contracts, quality of construction, payments to contractors and many other avenues in NHAI. He took it to the higher people in NHAI and got no response. He even wrote to Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee highlighting the impropriety and pleaded to not reveal his identity. Alas, his identity was revealed to NHAI which reprimanded him for writing to Prime Minister directly.

I'm not entirely sure of the sequence of events, but he was killed on Nov 26th, 2003. A very said end to a bright [ Civil Engineering IIT Kanpur, 90-94 and MTech Civil, IIT BHU Varanasi 94-96] and brave soul, that stood up against corruption. India didn't have whistleblower policy back then and it does now thanks to people like you. Although the implementation of the bill in it's true spirit by the government is an entirely different matter, it's very existence can offer glimmer of hope and courage to others who may want to fight against the malice in the community. 

Inspiration to write this blog post: The Hindu

"You would have been scared that first day at the IIT, wondering how you, a village boy from Bihar, would cope with all the fancy boys and girls from the metros. You would have been scared when the road mafia issued you death threats, or when the fact that you wrote to the Prime Minister was revealed despite your plea to keep your identity under wraps…The point is not that you were scared. Courage is not about being fearless. Courage is about doing the right thing despite being scared. And that is something you did with aplomb right through your short life.

You showed us the way by doing the right thing. In an age where someone can become a hero merely by knowing how to swing a cricket bat or emote on screen, you were the real deal; a bona fide hero. You remain our inspiration. The generations to come will feel your influence."

Boycott Express Avenue | Express Avenue Suicide and Negligence

I had never been to Express Avenue or EA (as it is called) but after seeing this incident, I don't have any inclination to go that place anymore. Im boycotting EA coz their staff, security and others in-charge of the mall have little or no training in emergency management, first-aid medical care and behaving with the public. This is highly disgusting on two counts:

1. The EA Mall: From the mall point of view, people are their source of income. More the footfalls, more the income for them. It is in their best interest to take care of customers in the mall by providing them basic facilities and proper management of the facility. What is seen in the below video is pure apathy displaying lack of preparedness to handle emergency and failure to provide basic first aid. A mall is a place where thousands of people gather on a regular basis and it is imperative of them to foresee emergency needs and plan for them. The behavior of mall authorities is just disgusting, unworthy of my patronage.
2. Police: Police often forget for whom they work for. Police have various responsibilities: Crime prevention, law and order maintenance, traffic management, providing security etc. However, all of this is done to serve the public and a developing public situation has to be handled with care and respect. What we see in this video is authority and direct threat issued to responsible citizens of the city. Of course, people were spilling over to the road and creating a ruckus by blocking traffic, but they are doing that as last resort as their earlier demands were not met by police or the evasive mall authorities. If their genuine questions are met, they would have dispersed on their own. Instead, police resorted to threaten then and fudge their responsibilities.

I'm really disappointed and sad. I'm boycotting EA

https://www.change.org/petitions/boycott-express-avenue-mall-in-chennai-india

http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/chennai/techie-jumps-to-death-at-city-mall/article4870489.ece

Salute to the brave lady who fought for the departed soul and for thousand of soul-less living people.

Vinod Rai - the man who made the government accountable !!

Vinod Rai, quiet, well spoken and hard working accountant, is India's change man. Nobody really knew who a Comptroller and Auditor General of India is and what are the responsibilities of such a constitutional position in Indian Democracy. A Position so sacred that it doesn't have to report to any executive and enjoys the same privileges as a supreme court judge. However, nobody really knew of such an authority or office in Indian democracy till Vinod Rai took over office in 2008.

He will be remembered as the man who brought awareness amongst millions of Indians by performing audit of government expenditures fearlessly, with clear objective and without subjecting to any outside influence. 2G Spectrum allocation scam, Coal mine allocation scam , Common wealth games scam were all uncovered by CAG after carefully and clearly auditing the records and bills submitted by government of India vs the stated objective of the same projects. Such was the impact of the findings that it shook the entire central government, lead to the fall of several ministers in the cabinet and lead to the rise of awareness in the minds of the people.

He is one of the people indirectly responsible for the rise of India's movement against corruption for he never urged them directly to confront the government against it's malpractice but just let his work do the talking.

The man who held the Government of the Union of India accountable, is serving his last day as CAG. Salute Sir - you are one of my heroes of modern India. 

பணத்தால் எல்லாவற்றையும் வாங்க முடியுமா ? Can money buy everything ?

Simple video with a profound message - Credit and kudos to the creator(s)

Organic and Organic Only !!

In an earlier post, I shared a video about the importance of seeds in human history. This post, Organic and Organic only, is an extension to that.

It is sad that a certain few chemical companies are creating products (?) that hopes to overturn all of the development of farming over thousands of years.

Btw, are they really creating products ?  Vandana Shiva, well know environmentalist and scientist, who has dedicated her life for this cause, calls most of GMO activity as "steal our seeds or put a toxic gene in it". She is absolutely right. We are all familiar with seeds coz every fruit, every vegetable, every grain on this planet - every plant has one. In fact, humans (male and female) have a seed that lead to birth of our offspring. Now, lets see an example of what a "certain" chemical company has done. This chemical company's product is, chemicals (obviously :-D). However, what they have cleverly done is, take a seed, genetically modify it (put a gene that made it resistant to their chemicals), and clone/reproduce it and sell it in market claiming it can withstand their chemical herbicides and pesticides. So, when a farmer buys the GMO seeds and uses in his farm, he can happily use the chemicals without a worry of it affecting the crop while it destroys the herbs and pests that infects. Voila - chemical company have a winner of a product in their hand. Produce the seed and then sell the chemicals as well.

Btw, how did these so called chemical corporates get the approval to go ahead and do modification on seeds ? How did they get approval for such an initiative from government (s) and regulatory bodies ? They (chemical corporates) made a simple claim of improving the seeds by Genetic modification so that farming can yield more and feed more people. How did they substantiate their claim - by modifying seeds to withstand their own chemicals. Most or 90 % of the GMO being done on seeds is to make it resistant to chemicals or adding a gene that kills insects that prey on them. Nothing substantiative is done on the seeds except to making it withstand chemicals or add a gene that is harmful to pests that infects it. However, recent findings have shown that pests have adopted to this change in plants and have become even more virulent and potent and are harmful to kill. So, GMO ver2.0, 3.0, 4.0 and so on is being done by these companies, pushing new seeds which are more harmful to animals or can withstand even harmful chemicals if sprayed on them. 

Here, the issues are manifold:

1. The Genetic modification of the seeds and its impact on humans are not fully tested. This whole activity, genetic modification of seeds and their adoption in farming, started in the 1990's and the long term health and generational impact of such a change have neither been fully understood nor could be completely studied.
2. The genetic modification introduced in these seeds led to various other genetic mutation within plants that made them harmful for animals and humans after consumption. Various diseases and health concerns are attributed to GMO seeds in our food system.
3. The impact on earth - soil, water and air were not fully tested or understood, hence, GMO seeds were introduced without their impact fully assessed.
4. The key business aspect of these seeds are - once fully grown, they produce little or no new seeds for farmers to use for next sowing. Basically, most of these GMO seeds are intentionally made to yield less seeds upon full growth or be impotent. This is what drives the sale of the seeds, year after year, season after season.
5. Ignorant of all the details about the GMO seeds, a farmer buys and plants it in hope of better yields and In the process, he loses his natural, NON-GMO seeds. In short time, he realizes there are no NON-GMO seeds available (anymore/anywhere) for him to go back to the old ways of farming: GMO seeds dont give seeds back to you upon harvest, all the farmers in and around your region are also converted to GMO seeds. This leaves you no option to borrow old/natural type/NON-GMO seeds for the next season once you had lost all your seeds. This is how the farmer debt trap got created and lead to suicides in the Vidharbha region of India where BT Cotton was planted predominantly.

Of course, not all of the GMO research and activities being carried out in the world are harmful and some may be proving beneficial. However, most of the GMO done in farming/food crops are  done not with the "Claimed" intention - helping farmers, increasing yield and making seeds resistant to "what not" but with the aim of collecting royalties on each seed, as ground realities have shown since the last two decades. 

Market check

Kindly recall one thing - every fruit we eat, gives us a seed. If we plant that seed and nurture it, a tree grows out of it. If nature is so benevolent, who are these corporates to take away that right from us ?

Please remember the following:

• Buy Organic, always, and as much as possible.
• Encourage your friends to do the same.
• Chances are, most of the restaurants now don't use organic in their food, as it is costly. However, if consumers demand it, I see them changing to organic in future.
• For kids and babies, please always provide good organic food.
• Grow your food, if possible, there is nothing better than it. One need not have acres of farm lands, even the house backyard is good enough to grow few things.

Edited: A quick handy guide to decide which items to buy as organic: as a thumb rule, prefer Organic for fruits/vegetables that have thin skin.

Btw, Vandana Shiva is an inspirational figure; I consider her as motherly figure for most of us coz her work, though largely unknown, if successful, will be one of the guiding stars of our world. She created Navdanya, which conserves India's diverse and versatile seeds so that they are not lost in this onslaught from GMO seeds. Take a look at her speaking in Brazil last year.

Please take time to watch the below movie - Genetic Roulette. It released last year and it details the impact of GMO and farmer suicides in India, Health issues in Africa and also talks about the now defeated California GMO labeling bill.

However, one can always vote for Organic whenever one buys at the grocery store. Do this much to yourselves and for all our collective future.

Edited: The Genetic Roulette movie got removed but please watch the below movies; I have shared trailers here. The movie bitter seeds talk about farmer suicides in India, especially in Vidharbha region and how BT cotton is the little known, but main reason for it.

Seeds of Freedom

Genetic Roulette:



Bitter seeds:



Food inc

Consequences of our consumption and subsequent disposal.

We should reduce our consumption and subsequent trashing.

Our greed, which has far outstripped our need, is causing a dangerous environment for our fellow living organisms.


We should have reasonable (reduced) consumption and effective plan for trash disposal; if not, we will continue to endanger the only place we call as home - Earth.

Seed of life

A seed of thought can grow in to anything - a revolution that changes the course of history or something that can bring compassion to people.

Seeds are so important as they are the source of origin - we better be caring for such an important source in our food system.

Save the seeds !!

Two Options from The Perennial Plate on Vimeo.

பசி தான் மிக பெரிய மிருகம்

பசி தான் மிக பெரிய மிருகம்
அதை கட்டுப்படுத்த வழி இல்லையா?

One of the best song of this movie and a very good song in terms of its lyrics and its meaning. This song captures the life and spirit at its best.

A very good movie of 2010 and have always been wanting to watch this song over and over, captures the bitter reality of commercialization and exploitation of people. 

Mullai Periyar - my thoughts

In a blog post earlier in 2008, I had lamented about Hogenakkal water issue that came to trouble the farmers of Tamil Nadu. Like most of the water issues that has befallen on TN, it also, unfortunately, had to deal with excesses from the neighboring sister states.


In that post, I had explained in simpler terms 3 things:


1) Geography of TN is such that it is the lowest state in the Indian subcontinent and it depends on water from top to flow down to its borders.


2) How, sister states have started building more dams and reservoirs within their borders to hold more water and use TN as a conduit ONLY when they have all they need and more. Their demands have increased due to increased urban population, which needs water to drink. No denial in that but what will the poor farmer in the downstream do if he doesn't get the water?


3) How, TN also has faulted in not taking care of the small ponds and ground water resources within its soil.


I titled that post as "Now it is Hogenakkal - what next and what more?" expressing my exhaustion at all these water issues the state of TN has to go through every time, time and again. But, never have I ever expected that another issue would come to trouble this water starved land even more.


The facts about TN, which is not very well know to people outside of this state are given below.


1) The most Urban state in the India (more than 50% of this state lives in Urban-semiUrban areas). They live in all these areas for the lack of water to do vegetation in rural areas.


2) The state with less than the national average of mandatory Tree cover. Please see the link for the same.


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/sadhguru/planting-trees-is-not-som_b_613811.html


3) If rains fail, even for one season, the whole of TN faces drinking water shortage. That is the hard fact. If rains fail one season, there will be water shortage in all cities and towns across TN. Last few years 7-8 years had been beneficial for TN, in terms of rain fall - it has had expected rain fall, not excess, just expected. And, we are happy for that. But it has never been that way before that - famine and drought have occurred in regular interval for every 2 years all through last 2-3 decades.




4) It is well captured by the this movie (1981) - just the introduction of this move captures the essence of the situation. Just see first 3 -4 minutes, you will know the enormity of the issue back then that director Balachander took a movie on this.

Coming to Mullai Periyar, it is a river that originates within TN-kerala border, and flowing westwards and flowing in to the ocean. In order to prevent the Famine and drought, dating even back to 18 the century (and also continuing as shown in the above scene), The Mullai periyar dam is envisioned and constructed to hold the water and push it back to TN via Gravity mechanism as the dam is perched at a height to do that. That is how it works and British designed it that way.


I don't want to elaborate on the how the Dam is built or how the deals were made back in those days. As enough has already been said about it.


But, I do want to talk about the safety issue. Lime may not be the strongest building substance known to mankind, but it has withstood the time for 100 years before Kerala govt brought any concerns. Agreed. Concerns have to be addressed. And, it was addressed with strengthening of that dam in three stages and completed by TN. And, in 2006, Supreme court, highest court in Indian constitution gave a verdict asking TN to raise the water level to 142. The dam is safe. And, restricted Kerala govt and police to prevent any obstacle for TN for further maintenance of dam. 


Immediately after this - Kerala made amendments to its existing Rule/law of 2003 saying no govt- state or Central or no court can control this law. And, by their law, they determine the height of dam as 136 ft. And, kerala has full control over that Dam. That is outrageous to an honorable contract that is in place, reviewed again in 1971.


I understand that there have been tremors (count of which has to be verified) in this year and people are really worried about the dam safety. Again, a valid concern. It has to be addressed appropriately. Appropriate is checking if dam is strong again by today's standards and by neutral folks. Technical and otherwise. Then, let us see the next course of action. 


Questions to Kerala:


1) Why did you refuse to agree to highest court in India in 2006 and agree to that order? 


2) Coming to present day, Tremors happened, but let us wait for a proper study. Before that, why to arouse the fear of people more even before the strength of dam is tested again?


I have Keralite friends all over my life. I like the Kerala girls too for their long hair and munda kannu (big big eyes :D ). And, Keralites and Tamilian are one of the closely associated people of India, with barely no or very less difference between them. So, I value their life, in the down stream. Their fear after the recent tremores is valid and living with fear is worst than living at all. I can empathize with the situation. But, to add more fear stating dam will collapse, is not the right step forward for a govt. It can be the agenda of rumor mongers but not of responsible elected people of a state. They should be pacified and we should wait for a neutral, valid, technical study and have to see what to do next.


Also, no structure in the world, is designed to withstand mother nature fury. We can only hope it is and prepare for the worst and leave it at that. And, in case of Mullai Periyar dam, that preparation was also done by strengthening and we have to leave it at that. God forbid any worst eventuality, the downstream river bunds are high enough to hold the water flowing at full level (per what I read about the river bunds down stream) and Idukki dam can withhold the overflown water. The loss of lives as feared by people may not happen at all.


The intentions of Kerala govt, as expressed by it as safety may not be the real issue here. If one looks back at this issue from last 30 years, one can see a pattern. They revoked rights established by that contract one by one including right of TN on the entire stream and the fishing right, right of TN to determine the water height in the dam and various other rights that were part of the original deal. Now, the only thing that is left standing is the Dam and they want to remove that also. Why? So that TN's right on anything will not be left there. 


Why don't they say that Dam is weak, we will build a new dam and give you back the same contract and deal as before? Your only concern was safety, right? Why don't you say that way? Coz, it is not entirely about safety. Underneath the safety bandwagon, lies the human ego and the need to establish rights over something on the kerala border. This is infact not even human trait, this is animal trait - territorial rights and demarcation. Humans are all animals and I didn't quote animal traits to demean Kerala govt nor the people of Kerala. Coz, all humans including TN folks, Andhara and America and everybody have this territorial behavior. If not, how can we define the wars we have fought over ever since we came in to being in to this land. I quoted that human character to just establish that it may not be safety at issue here but something more which is control and rights of property in Kerala land. And, even that character comes to Humans from Animals as we are all one. :)


If we get this reason behind all these clear, even a TN folk will not feel so much hatred or animosity towards Keralite due to this issue. And, vice versa. One fighting for territory, another fighting for resource. We have to accept this is human, to avoid falling victims to hating and hitting each other.


Now, how do I see this issue pan out?


1) Supreme court will again come out with a valid technical detail and the Dam wil be saved.


2) Else, if they find issue, technical or anything, considerable steps need to be determined to establish the safety of Dam again.


3) If it is found to be so grave as portrayed by Kerala - let Supreme court say so. Lets see the next steps after that. TN, would still like to follow Supreme court order; Unlike Karnataka which is not following the order on Cauvery. Kerala which didn't follow on Mullai Periyar.


If some mishap of Kerala govt or otherwise would happen to the DAM or some miscommunication lead to a bad decisions or policies of Central or Kerala govt that would result in TN being snatched of its right to water - I foresee the following.


- TN will block any goods to Kerala from within its border
- TN will stake a claim for bringing the Idukki district to be with in TN. Change the border so that TN shall claim full responsibility for the down stream people. Request and voices in this direction are already being heard in TN. If UP can redraw its state to 4 different states, why can't we revisit the border issue with Central govt so that Kerala govt can feel the pressure of them on the safety issue.




At a humanitarian level, a land, that is once the rice bed of India, the land that gave three yields of rice (unlike any other land in the world) would be left to dry by people who claim to be sister states but refuse to give water for TN. Tamilnadu is already one of the dry beds of India.


Govt of India, better watch out - this will be a wake up call for integrity of the nation itself. If two states (Karnataka and Kerala) can disobey the supreme court order and another (AP) building dams across Palar river to let less and less water to TN, where is the Unity in diversity or Integrity of the nation?


Where are your policies? Isn't water a universal requirement of all people? Shouldn't that be under control of central govt? Instead of state govt which has obligation with only that state?


These issues need to be discussed; water rich states will never understand the seriousness of this issue being faced in down south.


Let me end this by saying this much. I'm not a farmer. Neither my dad is. Or, my grandparents. I have never lived outside of Chennai while in TN. But, if I can feel the gross cumulative atrocities and injustice handed out to state of TN in water issues this much, imagine the rage of a farmer who is ploughing the field for his life? Imagine the bleak future that is dawning on them? Imagine the rage and plight of his son.


Below is the video of Vaiko - I'm posting his video coz I find his speech to be based on facts and listed without any bias. He is even requesting Kerala people to see the new dam approach will not lead to the water through Gravity mechanisms. A very neutral speech with facts from TNPWD engineers on stage. (please see all three parts of the video)

What we ask is Water (and the honoring of existing contract; contract leads to obligation and we will only oblige when we have a contract as this is a multi centuries trust) and what will be ensured is safety and precautionary steps of dam and emergency mitigation steps. 


Fear psychosis will lead to more fear. More "if else" question will come and it is a never ending cycle. What it needs is better awareness and a assured plan for any contingency. Slowly, life will move on without fear.


But life cannot, without water - the elixir of life.

Disappointed

Ufffffffff - Im, well kinda disappointed.

It wouldn't be surprising for us to know that politicians are involved in corruption and so forth. But selling one's vote to elect Rajya Sabha polls? Yuck - I don't know if there is anything meaner a man can do in life than this one. Some MLAs are offering to sell their vote for 50L or 1 crore or ever 2 crores to elect somebody. And, who are all coming in to RS nowadays? All big industrialists - who knows how many in the past have come to RS through this means?

I hardly see any tall figure as Industrialists - Ratan Tata , surely yes, one of a kind. May be Narayana Murthy. May be Azim Premgi. I couldn't think of others.

If this wasn't enough - Common Wealth Games is heading to a slow disaster and a bigger embarrassment for the nation :(. An event envisioned for 754 crores has shot up budget by 100 times to cost 75 000 crores and above. THIS IS RIDICULOUS. To put things in comparison, the farm loans waived off by Chidambaram was around 60,000 crores to poor farmers. Here we are just organizing a 50 day event or something. Agreed, it is prestige and other things - but at what cost? Has it improve India and her sports talent at grass roots level? NO. Only stadiums are constructed at Delhi and that too new stadiums are leaking. PHEW. And, now there is this great fact of corruption by Kalmadi - in funds. 25000 Pounds have beeen deposited to a one man company in UK for the last 4 years from CWG funds - gosh. IT IS OUR MONEY. And, some selfish beasts are eating on this money.

What worth are receiving medals from these hands?


And - there are these two "Modi"s. One is Lalit. Another is Narendra. Both are good at doing what they like doing. Management and administration. Alas, if you have done a mistake and dont have the courtesy or the guts to accept it and go through some correction, time will catch up with you sooner than later. That is what is happening in both Modi's camp.

Uffff - Im kinda disappointed.

[Still with a smile and enthusiasm coz life is just the summation of these two]

Men of Quality are not threatened by women's equality

A man who treats woman as his property is stuck in the era of inequality. And a woman shall never let this happen - Nathan SP  
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Cautious, careful people always casting about to preserve their reputation or social standards never can bring about reform. Those who are really in earnest are willing to be anything or nothing in the world's estimation, and publicly and privately, in season and out, avow their sympathies with despised ideas and their advocates, and bear the consequences - Susan B. Anthony  

Women themselves have the right to live in dignity, in freedom from want and freedom from fear - Kofi Annan  

Sexual, racial, gender violence and other forms of discrimination and violence in a culture cannot be eliminated without changing culture. -- Charlotte Bunch  

Women are the only oppressed group in our society that lives in intimate association with their opressors. ~Evelyn Cunningham  

The thing women have yet to learn is nobody gives you power. You just take it. ~Roseanne Barr
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Advanced Women's day wishes to all the wonderful women in life :)

Now it is Hogenakkal - what next and what more?

For all the people who don’t know about Hogenakkal, please Google it and you will be greeted with results that take you to a beautiful, pristine waterfalls present inside Tamilnadu, close to the Karnataka border. Now, if you can see the image (map of south India) then it wouldn’t take much effort from you to understand a simple geographical thing I’m going to put across. Tamilnadu has ocean surrounding it on one side of its entire border and on the other three sides are the states – Andhra Pradesh on top, Karnataka on top left and Kerala on the left.

A simple observation would reveal that Tamilnadu lies at the bottom (geographically) of the Indian states. And, TN doesn’t have any perennial rivers originating inside its border – very tough luck huhL. Well, not really or until till recently. We had the sister states on the border of TN sharing the water they received in an altruistic manner (per agreements though) – kudos to them. Ok, what has changed? I will blame it on the easiest of reason in the world today – population explosion. The number of people depending on the water increased across all the states and sister states are now finding it difficult to share their water per agreement/or nation forbid “supreme court ruling”.

Why the difficulty? Take for instance, Karnataka’s agricultural land cover. I don’t have the exact statistics but the cultivatable land inside Karnataka’s border has increased manifold in the last couple of decades and all these fertile lands need water. The same statistics exist inside TN also, but the percentile increase is much lower thanks to the lack of availability of copious water, which is required to make any land cultivatable.

Ok – how did KN get abundant water? Simple – they build more dams on the down Stream of Cauvery inside their borders to hold more water inside their borders. Hey, it is the duty of the KN Govt. to protect and provide for its people. And, they are doing that splendidly. However, they may be doing that at the cost of people of TN.

How? Let’s see that.

The more the dam they build, the more their capacity to hold water inside their borders and less the flow to TN.

The Cauvery water is also being used to supply water to the Bangalore city. This was not the traditional usage of Cauvery water inside KN and it put extra pressure to hold more water to quench the thirst of an ever expanding Bangalore city

Lack of skillful utilization of water inside KN, crop rotation is not much prevalent and all the crops cultivated are water consuming.

In addition to that, if all the states to the north of TN block water flow how will this state ever get water?

Ok – here is where leaders of TN have failed. They have not paid sufficient attention to small and large water bodies inside TN and that resulted in them draining away. Also, effective and efficient practice of farming was not encouraged and not much time and effort went in to research of farming.

However, having said, they have started to focus on this regard recently and ‘rain water harvesting’ implemented compulsorily in Chennai city is an example. And, the proposed sea water to drinking water plants in TN also stands testimony to that.

Solution on national level:-

1) Make a governing body or society for farmers across the nation; if govt. doesn’t do it, its high time farmers took the initiative themselves.

2) Nationalize all the rivers and give the control to an independent body of eminent and appropriate people.

3) Linking of all the rivers in the country should start and start right now. Implementation of this activity should be in such a manner that it takes in to account all the nature’s flood and drought pattern.

Some of the aforesaid activity needs lot of political will and commitment from parties dedicated to the welfare and progress of the nation. Also, farmers all over the nation should empathize and understand each other’s problem and should co-operate with each other to effectively use the scantiest of resource – water, the elixir of life. All of us have the same source and instead of competing for the same, cooperation should be the way forward.

It pains me to read about the regular flooding in Orissa and other northern states in our country while Tamilnadu, Andhra Pradesh and some parts of Maharashtra are constantly gripped by drought. We have enough intellect and money power to fix this disparity existing in our country.

Let there be enough resolve to fix this crisis in our country, which I believe would solve much of the agrarian crisis in our country.

Jai hind!