I think every Indian will agree with me when I say that the events occured from 26th to 28th November were a complete nightmare. Sitting at my home and watching the coverage on TV I was going through a series of emotions which even I didn't know I had. The anger over such inhumane act of violence (dont these terrorists have a family of their own?), the grief over such loss of life and the feeling of proud over our brave soldiers who gave away their lives for our safety. How will we be able to thank them enough.

Come to think of it. Last week at this time, we couldn't have even imagine that there is going to be such grose act on our soil. This was not an attack on Mumbai, it was an attack on India. This was no less than raging a war on a country. Just imagine, what happens in a war? People who are citizens of another country come inside your terriotory and attack you. This exactly what happened here.

 

Almost a week after the first gun shot heard in Mumbai, the people of this country are in a state of anger and shock. They are angry over those terrorist who massacred women, children and senior citizens indiscrimanetly. They are angry at Pakistan for orchestrating such acts of violence on our innocent citizens for God knows what reason. But most importantly they are angry at the inactiveness of our government whose lack of responsibility resulted in this attack.

My forum post about environment have been very encouraging. People have not only been replying but are also expressing their concerns about Global Warming. This is a living proof of the fact that if encouraged, normal people can do a lot to help the environment. Most of the pollution causing MNCs try to convince us that they have no other choice but to cause pollution for the convenience of people. Well, from what I have noticed, people don't want to live in polluted environment and they certainly don't want to destroy something as precious as our planet. So, why do these companies lie to us? Well the answer is obvious! For their own profit.

 

We must discourage companies which cause pollution and use unethical means of production. And if you think that only alone cannot make any difference, then you are wrong.We all shouldtry to make a difference on an individual level and only then, we will be able to change things.

Well guys, carbon footprinting is not as complicated as it sounds. It is rather very simple!The resources we use in terms of gas, oil or coal harms the earth in many ways. They only take something precious away from the planet but also destroy various ecosystem. Each person who uses such resources does some irreparable damage to the environment.

 

This damage is known as our Carbon Footprint. This footprint will be as big as the amount of natural resources we use. Our goal should be to shorten this footprint by using lesser resources in order to save our planet. 

These days, everybody is talking about carbon footprinting. Now being totally new to this "save our planetr" thing, I really had no idea what did it mean. A quick google search told me that whatever natural resources we consume becomes our carbon footprint. For example when ever we drive a car, we use Gas which is a non-renewable resource and thus, we cannot compensate the world for it. This is our carbon foot print. The more resources we use, the bigger will  be our carbon footprint. Come to think of it, everyone of us is leaving a carbon footprint on this planet which will be very hard to remove.

 

So what can we do to shorten this footprint? Well, there are hundreds of things we can do. Caring about the environment is same as caring about our children. Do we want to leave a destroyed planet for our child? I don't think so.

 

Tell me what do you think.

I am not a smoker! Never has been and most probably never will be. Even though, I was tempted to smoke several times by friends but I have never liked the smell of cigarettes. Hence, I was the first one to cheer when the Government of India proposed to ban smoking in public places. This ban prohibited smoking on roads, restaruants, offices, public buildings etc. etc. etc. In short, you cannot smoke except in your home. On papers, this ban looked like a blessing for non-smokers who had to endure the smoke from cigarettes of other people, just because they don't have the courtesy to stop smoking in a bus, train or even in elevators. 

 

The ban was implimented on the 2nd october 2008 which is the birth date of the father of the nation Mahatma Gandhi. Once the ban was on, the roads were supposed to free of cigarette butts, restaurants were supposed to serve only food and not cancer, and people in offices were supposed to get up and smoke outside. Did this happen? Hell No! Why you may ask, then I should tell you that we in India have a habit of rebeling against authorities. Whenever, the Government tell us something to do, we have to do the exact opposite of it. 

 

So if the government asks us to not to smoke on streets, then that will be the place where we will smoke. 

 

This makes me wonder!! Why do we have such fear of authority in this country? Is it because of our histor, where we were oppressed by one invader after another or is it the lack of respect we have for our leaders?

 

P.S. - I stopped seeing all those friends who tried to convince me to smoke as soon as I could. And so should you. 

The day started on dreadful note, today. I had a bad fall on my treadmill and bruised both my knees and have also managed a painful cut on my lips. Right now I am confined to bed. I had thought I had seen the last of tetanus with my pre-teens. It is quite embarassing sporting the terrible looking swollen lips ( It looks worse than it actually is) and limping around the house. I am thankful that my mom is by my side - Heavens be blessed for creating the most beautiful creature in this world called MOTHER. It is kind of selfish that we remember our parents on in times of need... just like we pray to God only to get out of a sticky situation. Well we all know that the human race is SELFISH! Because I know, I day I get better, I will still roll my eyes at my mom's every suggestion!

The pre-Internet Era was a Capitalist Era, where money ruled as far as information dissemination was concerned. I was a student in the pre-Internet tortous era and remember we had to practically crawl on our knees to extract every tiny bit of information. Right from scouring the library for extinct editions, to relying on bales of poorly photocopied study material and ofcourse wait for a old worn out hand down by some generous senior - though we knew every trick of the game, we could manage only a trickle of information. While our high brow deep pocketed counterparts had generous helpings of info served on their platter, be it subscribing to umpteen number of magazines, to buying expensive reference material to expensive tuitions. Hence the belief, high brow begets high brow! They dipped into their expensive high brow thesaurus to throw casually throw in unpronounceable words even for a simple school essay, impressing the wits out of the already impressionable teachers. That reminds me, once I spelled SA for essay!  Well coming back to the topic... obviously they ended up with better grades with little intelligence and lots of money. But all that has changed in the era of information revolution. Now everybody is more or less on a level playing field as far as information is concerned. Now everybody has access to information with just a click! Cheap and easy! I wish I was born a little late or Internet was born a little early. But as they say, better late than never! What say?

Today on World Environment Day, I was feeling extremely sad and let down by my own specie. I was watching a docu on Discovery about tigers disappearing fast from Indian terrain due to shameless poaching and Governmnet apathy. Government's "Project Tiger" seems a charade to funnel funds to fill coffers of certain dishonest and shameless " personnel - killing when they are supposed to protect.

 

Despite glaring evidence (by some activist working towards the cause of saving the golden cat), suggesting that there are no tigers in certain so called "Protected Tiger Reserves", the Park and Government officials kept blatantly denying it. It is so scary that humans can be so selfish and so greedy. I strongly believe if you can't create something you have no right to destroy it! Shame, Shame, Shame..... 

Yesterday I came across a funny yet bizarre article in a tabloid titled "20 Most Hurtful Ways to Dump your Cheating Lover". I am sure the article was thought of/written by someone who has been dumped cruelly by her lover and has vent her pent up anger and frustation in the newspaper or maybe a pervert is written it. Just sample this:

 

If you\'ve been cheated on and can\'t get over it, maybe a nice creative break up is just what the doctor ordered. Dump that person in the most hurtful way possible to make sure they don\'t come crawling back. Here\'s how

 

1. Over dinner in a crowded restaurant, loudly state that you just can\'t take it anymore, then storm out without any further explanation.

 

2. Make a crossword puzzle where all of the answers are words like "single," "dumped," "bachelor," "unloved," and so forth. Present it to them inside the morning paper.

 

3. Bring a date to his/her birthday party.

 

4. Arrange to be in the middle of a rather passionate moment with someone else when your cheating lover gets home.

 

5. If you live together, change the locks. Leave their things on the lawn in a box labeled "FREE."

 

6. Go to their workplace. Tell the receptionist that you want to propose over the office-wide intercom system. When you have the floor, announce something like "I\'m leaving you for your best friend and you\'re terrible in bed." Then wave cheerfully and walk out without another word.

7. The ever-popular billboard breakup...

 

The list goes on and on and keeps getting outrageous. You must be wondering why do I keep referring to the author as a woman... Well the only conclusion is "Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned". So all men beware before you falter!

I don't particularly like speed. I don't like fast food, fast cars, speed dating... I don't like living life in the fast lane. I belong to the old school of "slow and steady wins the race" though I am not that old. There are certain things I like speed in - my broadband connection, speedy job promotion and ofcourse speedy recovery. Now coming back to driving, I hate driving because when I was very young and was just learning to drive, I banged my car against an electric pole that the entire bonnet was damaged. That was enough to discourage me from holding the steering wheel. But now I am once again giving driving a second chance, with encouragement from family and friends. Will let you know as soon as I get my license.

Growing up in India can't keep you insulated from Bollywood. I am a great sucker for Hindi movies. The world may call it melodramatic, pelvic thrusting song and dance sequence and formula but I grew up on this wierd diet. I love the fact that Hindi movies are always larger than life... well not always. The new crop of directors are experimenting in a big way. They are capturing the essence of India in its true colour and spirirt and reaching foreign shores. Shah Rukh Khan is by far the biggest brand ambassador of Bollywood abroad. It is funny to watch French women swoon on Shah Rukh, leaving the "most sought after" French men in the cold. More about Shah Rukh and Bollywood later... Got to catch a flight... to where else? Mumbai (the Bollywood Land)... for business :-)

I fing blogging therapeutic. At times I also get amazed by the sheer reach of the medium. I feel blogging is truly liberating. You don\'t need to qualify under any parameter to be able to start blog. You have it in your mind, you write it... and you make an instant connection. I feel I live in a global village. Anyway Goa is indeed a global village, with the colourful and spicy amalgamation of various world cultures. Besides I too have a multiracial background... My mother is an Indian, while my father Portugese. I had more or less a multicultural upbringing with the scales tipping towards my mother (as she is quite assertive). I have seen a fine understanding and respect between my parents regarding each other\'s ethnicity and cultural background. Can you believe it, inspite of my mother being a staunch vegetarain and my father a staunch non-vegetarian, they never had any quarrel regarding each other\'s food habit!!! Like I said I grew up respecting finer nuances of every culture and human emotions.