Cruising with Life

Here are some pictures I took with a cellphone camera when I went to Chennai beach in October. Hopefully you would like these pictures.

Hi friends, I wrote this for Mypage5, a site where I am quite active these days. I talk about my preference for being (and remaining ) a vegetarian and why I feel that people should remain so, and in fact, if possible adopt it. Till a long time, even upto early 20th century, our forefathers did not had many of the conveniences that science and technology has provided us. To be more specific, I would talk about Cold Storage, Bulk Transportation,extensive Roads and Rails and numerous Flights for cargo movement. These as well as refrigerator and Air conditioning has made it possible to store foods as well as fruits as well as vegetables all year around,and not just for a particular season. Our forefathers and ancestors lacked these facilities. Hence, they had to contend with whatever grew / or was available in their natural habitat, and as per different seasons. So, an Eskimo living near North Pole had to hunt for animals and so did a person living in higher Himalayas, say in Ladakh, Ti...

I read this in Hindu-Business Line: Mr. Gudmundur Eriksson, Ambassador of Iceland in India was at a meeting of Assocham-Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India regional office in Ahmedabad, and offered technological tie-up in the field of producing geo-Thermal energy. Iceland is among one of the world's (and probably the highest) leading producers and users of Geo-Thermal energy. This is a form of renewable energy, like water, solar and wind, and is produced by using the heat trapped inside the earth. As per Mr. Eriksson, producing Geo-Thermal energy incurs 1/3 rd of the cost of equivalent Solar energy and Iceland already has technological tie-ups with Abu Dhabi, Kenya and Sudan. I believe that if this tie up happens, it will be a great news not only for Gujrat but for India as a whole. There would be a boost for Energy generation as well as potential money spinner in the future, when India could as well export the acquired knowledge of generating Geo-Thermal e...

In an exciting finish in the first test match at Mohali, India beat Australia by 1 wicket. India had to make 216 to win, and at 1 stage India were 124 for 8. Then V.V.S.Laxman and Ishant Sharma had a superb partnership of 81 runs and took India to victory. Laxman remained unbeated on 73, and Ishant made 31. The place where I am currently staying does not subscribes to the sports channel showing this match, but I would surely love to watchthe highlights of this match.

This is another of my Chennai experiences. I had this experience on the street where I stayed at a guest house location till 30th September morning. The street on which I lived is called as "Neelkanda Mehta" street. However, on many homes as well as some other places, it is written as "Neelkanda Metha" street. I have asked other people too. However, I have not found a satisfactory answer.

I have been in Chennai since 10th September. It had been very hectic for first 2 weeks. I did not get time even on weekends to explore anything.Finally here was a saturday in Chennai, when I did not had to go to the Office. I had a local tour here. Or may be a local journey. I took bus no. 500M from Chrompet to T.Nagar since I had to go to meet someone. It was an A.C bus and I got a seat within 10 minutes. It was a comfortable journey after that. An exciting thing was to be able to watch Chennai airport runway from a flyover near the Chennai airport. This airport is undergoing a major expansion. I also had a good walk in the afternoon, when I walked nearly 2 kilometres (or may be it was 3) from G.N.Chetty road to the Pondy Bazaar in T.Nagar. It was a bit humid during the return journey and the sun was also shining bright. Yet, overall it was a good experience. More in my next blog.

I read this article in Hindustan Times of 31 March today and I find it disgusting. It talks about Thousands of Tonnes of Wheat going waste and becoming food source for rodents and insects. In the picture, it is shown that 233,000 bags of wheat, 50 kg each, enough to feed lakhs of families is going waste in Fatehgarh Sahib, 40 Km west of Punjab and Haryana Capital Chandigarh alone. Total for all such sites and the total grain wastage is mind blowing. I simply do not understand why cannot government on its own, or by inviting private players get the required food storage facilities? What is preventing them? Another alternative could be to send people directly to the farmers to buy these food grains directly from them-although it could be impractical to implement. Still, something needs to be done urgently. What do you suggest ?

It recently occured to me that in recent times, the gap between the dates when a movie is first released on Movie Theatres - multiplex or others, single screen halls and the date on which they are shown on television channels- like Zee Cinema, Star Plus, Sony, Set Max for Hindi movies, and HBO, Star Movies etc for English language movies has reduced. Earlier, we used to see that a movie being released in a year was shown on television- the next year, or may be 2 years after that. For e.g- I recall movies like DDLJ or Border being shown a good 2 years after their theatre release. However, now movies are sometimes shown just 4 months, or even 1.5 months after their theatre release. E.g - "Ajab Prem Ki Ghazab Kahani" was released in Late October(or early November) and was shown on TV around New Year eve. Akshay Kumar-Sanjay Dutt starrer "Blue" was released in October and was shown on TV in December. It has been almost similar case with "Rann" and "Qurb...

Another blog I wrote for Mypage5 recently: While riding along Delhi Metro, a thought came to my mind. Delhi Metro Corporation is making many new sections to places like Badarpur, Airport, Gurgaon etc. It has taken loans from Japan, as well as other sources. These routes are very very beneficial to the public, as they get faster alternatives to the current buses, autos options. Moreover, Metro trains cause less pollution, thus helping not only with pollution control, yet also helping in improving our health in a way. This makes it imperative for Delhi Metro Corporation (DMRC) to make more money out of its operations. This is where, we the public, can help. Whenever, we can take a ride on the Metro, we should do it. This does not mean that someone takes a flight or a taxi from somewhere to ride a Metro Train. Yet, when possible, we can take the Metro Train. This would help DMRC to fund its projects and in turn help us, the public. While it might sound bizzare, yet do give a thought to t...

One of my Helium articles: In recent years, online writing, whether by freelancers, professional writers and authors, reporters, newspaper editors or just casual people has grown manifold. Every person has his or her own reason to go online, blog, write articles, or as called on Twitter.com; "tweet". Let us delve into the reasons as to why people write online: 1) Popularising one's published fiction or non-fiction work: Many authors write online to make their works- whether novels, short stories, poems more popular, reach out to a wider audience and hence earn more money. People also try to popularise their non fictional work. 2) To be able to connect with their fans' expectations and responses : This is what Hollywood or Bollywood actors like Amitabh Bacchan, Aamir Khan etc do. They do write casually, yet they also like the comments that people post on their blogs. 3) To make extra money : Many people, including those who write on sites like Helium write...

Hi All, Wish you a very good evening. I wrote this as a blog on Mypage5 site. Here it is : On 21 Jan 2010, I took my first ride on the Delhi to Noida route on Delhi Metro. The route to Noida had become active in Mid November 2009. However, after reading a few reports about trains getting stopped in between, too much rush and some cases of chaos, I was wary of taking a ride on the train. However, due to certain need, I decided to take a ride. It was not as bad as I expected. First, I went from Kashmere Gate Metro Station to Connaught Place (Rajiv Chowk) station via underground link. It was a new train coach from Bombardier company and the good thing is, there is a digital display at each train stop. Then, I changed at Rajiv Chowk station and took the train to Noida. It was a hassle free ride, nearly 25 minutes from Rajiv Chowk to Sector 18 Noida.

I also posted this on Mypage5 blog: I hope that this New Year has bought tons of happiness for you and your near and dear ones. While one might criticize me for being too much worrying kind of a person when it comes to traffic problems in and around Delhi, I cannot help it. One such issue is the inter-connectivity between NCR region cities- Delhi, Noida, Faridabad, Gurgaon and Ghaziabad. This refers to the timely availability of public transport like Metro Trains(in progress), buses, Autos as well as Taxis between these cities. These cities do have public buses as well as private buses running between them. However, the service varies from being reasonably good between Delhi and Noida, to fewer and less frequent buses between Delhi and Faridabad, or from Delhi to Ghaziabad(mostly private operators). This service is also not too good between Gurgaon and Delhi. Autos are also there but they charge too much for inter-city travels, say Rs.200/- when they should be asking Rs.100/- !! ...