Wednesday, July 16, 2008

Cycles in Manipal(MIT)

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This has been a great move by MIT.. Wish I was there during those days.
Please read this acrticle in "The Hindu"

http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/mp/2007/10/20/stories/2007102051880200.htm
Please see this article to see the picture :)
The article is as follows

"Don’t be surprised to find students riding bicycles at the Manipal Institute of Technology (MIT) campus. It is a stark contrast to the scene a year ago, when the entire campus was dominated by motorcycles.

The move to introduce bicycles is an initiative by Manipal University to reduce accidents and make the campus eco-friendly. According to the Pro-Chancellor H.S. Ballal: “We also want Manipal to have an eco-friendly campus. Cycling is also a good exercise for the students.” Also it is hoped the move will improve safety in the campus and reduce accidents.

MIT has introduced the bicycles for first year students and plans to extend the facility to all students in the coming years. The upkeep of the bicycles is the responsibility of the students. All the 2,000 bicycles procured have been given a number. If the reaction of students is anything to go by, the introduction of bicycles has gone down well. Says Shorya Sharma, a first year student of Electrical Engineering: “I used to ride a bicycle at home. It saves time as we can ride it from our hostel blocks to the institute.”

The senior students are also thrilled. In fact they are borrowing cycles from the first year students and riding around the campus. Says Vidya Venkitesh, a fourth year student of civil engineering: “I borrowed the bicycle from my junior. It is fun riding it after so many years.” Kumari Gargi, a fourth year student of printing technology says: “It does not cause any pollution. It saves fuel for the country. ”

Richa Prakash, a student of fourth year instrumentation and control, goes a step ahead. She says: “The authorities of the institute should allow the students to take the cycles outside the campus. We can then go riding to End Point. It would also save on autorickshaw expenses.” The university in a further step has stopped issuing authorisation letters to students to register their motorcycles."


Wish we can do this in Bangalore too ....

Monday, May 05, 2008

Mr Bush's comments

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On the Sunday morning , [ which is the only day I get up early ] the headlines had wonderful comments by our erstwhile President of USA , Mr George Bush, regarding the rising prices of food grains. And what did his small brain tell him ... That since India and China are having the highest consumption of food grains, hence the shortage and the consequent increase in the prices.

On the lighter note on the same newspaper , there was an article which was on exercising our voting rights, said that, and I quote " The good people who dont vote are the ones who make sure that that bad people reach Washington" Well I think that Bush should get his answers there itself.

Anyways, I guess some details need to be told to Mr Bush.
Figures from US dept of Agriculture(USDA) show that every 16 pounds of grain fed to cattle produces only one pound of meat. Information compiled by USDA also show that over 90 percent of all the grain produced in America goes to feed livestock- cows,pigs, sheep,and chicken- that winds up on the dinner tables.

Rich nations not only use their own grain to feed livestock, they also use protein rich plant foods from poor nations to feed these livestock. According to Dr Georg, Borgstrom , an expert on food, one-third of Africa's groundnut crop goes to feed cattle and poultry in Western Europe.

In Poor countries, a person consumes an average of four hundred pounds of grain a year, most of it eaten directly. In contrast , the average Europeon and American consumes 2000 pounds a year, by first feeding almost 90 percent of it to animals.

According to estimates , bringing down meat production by just 10 % would release enough grain to feed 60 million people.

Mr Bush, does that ring a bell ??

Wednesday, April 23, 2008

South India trip

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Last weekend ie on 10th April I went for an unusual back pack trip.. I started off my journey from Bangalore to kerala ie Calicut. After spending 3 days in the hot scorching heat in kerala, I left from there to mangalore to meet my dear friend KPK on my way to Goa. Luckily for him , it was Vissu that day and an off for his people. So we decided to chill out in Mangalore.... It started off with a nice lunch at Gold Finch and then we headed to the bharat Mall to watch a movie. I must add that it a must avoid movie.. I am talking about Krazzy4 here.. We had quite some time to kill before the movie started. So we went all over the mall, including Big bazaar and checked out few unusual things .. let me explain.. One was a basket ball. another was the rod for the weights [ no weights though :)] and then some plastic snorkling equipment. For buying all these we ended up getting One kg of Sugar FREE ... Not that any of us wanted to go into the Food Bazaar.. but then we were getting something for free and we had lots of time to kill.. it wasnt a bad bargain... then we headed for the movie. which was a torture for 3 hours apart from the time when Diya Mirza came on screen . After the movie ended we left for a small shop which gave us excellent tea.. and then followed up with some nice dinner. I must say, I enjoyed every bit..
The next morning I headed for Goa and reached home by noon.. In just a minute after I reached, the post man came with my passport.. it was perfect timing, i must say.

In Goa the only important thing that I did was attending Anups wedding and then left for Pune.
There was a training camp in pune , and hence I was there. I must say that it was one of the best trainings I ever attended. Everyone including Micheal Ferreira was impressed and everyone had tears in eyes by the end of the program. If there is one thing that has changed, I can blame it on this :)
After the training ended I met up with my school friend Ajit. I had a nice time with him and went over to his apartment.. Its a lovely place that he stays in called Magarpetta. Lovely township with lots of apartments and surrounded by companies and our pal just walks down to office.. its a dream come true scenario for me.. not now any more though:)

This was my short 10 day trip .. which was both ,, business as well as pleasure. But I must say, I will be doing more of these and enjoy every bit of these time and again..
Some people have money but no time to spend, and some have all the time but no money.. I think I am one of the few lucky ones who have both.. Its all about choices in life and u get to chose what you want..
and you get what you want if u want it badly ...

Tuesday, March 04, 2008

KEEP CONFIDENCE,TRUST OTHERS & NEVER LOOSE HOPE

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CONFIDENCE
Once, all village people decided to pray for rain. On the day of prayer all
people gathered and only one boy came with an Umbrella,
that's Confidence

TRUST
Trust should be like the feeling of a one year old baby when you throw him
in the air, he laughs......because he knows you will catch him;
that's Trust

HOPE
Every night we go to bed, we have no assurance to get up alive in the next
morning but still you have plans for the coming day;
that's Hope


KEEP CONFIDENCE,TRUST OTHERS & NEVER LOOSE HOPE

Monday, January 21, 2008

New things in life

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I remember the quote on Sudhir's email signature. "When was the last time you did something for the first time" Well now I need to admit that I am doing many things for the first time..
Like for instance, I did get a chance to do a voice over for a marathi Ad .. It was simply an awesome experience. I cant say that it was the best, but being a first timer, I think I have done a relatively good job. Yes I will get paid for it too. but thats not the important part. Whats important is that it was some thing which I had never thought in my life that I would do it.. and I did it...

Its these small things in life which gives you the big kicks :)

Keep doing new things .. Change is only constant..

Eagles or Ducks!

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Inspirational....

Years ago, my friend, Harvey Mackay, told me a wonderful story about a cab driver that proved this point. He was waiting in line for a ride at the airport. When a cab pulled up, the first thing Harvey noticed was that the taxi was polished to a bright shine. Smartly dressed in a white shirt, black tie, and freshly pressed black slacks, the cab driver jumped out and rounded the car to open the back passenger door for Harvey . He handed my friend a laminated card and said: "I'm Wally, your driver. While I'm loading your bags in the trunk I'd like you to read my mission statement." Taken aback, Harvey read the card. It said: Wally's Mission Statement: To get my customers to their destination in the quickest, safest and cheapest way possible in a friendly environment.

This blew Harvey away. Especially when he noticed that the inside of the cab matched the outside. Spotlessly clean! As he slid behind the wheel, Wally said, "Would you like a cup of coffee? I have a thermos of regular and one of decaf." My friend said jokingly, "No, I'd prefer a soft drink." Wally smiled and said, "No problem. I have a cooler up front with regular and Diet Coke, water and orange juice." Almost stuttering, Harvey said, "I'll take a Diet Coke." Handing him his drink, Wally said, "If you'd like something to read, I have The Wall Street Journal, Time, Sports Illustrated and USA Today."

As they were pulling away, Wally handed my friend another laminated card. "These are the stations I get and the music they play, if you'd like to listen to the radio." And as if that weren't enough, Wally told Harvey that he had the air conditioning on and asked if the temperature was comfortable for him. Then he advised Harvey of the best route to his destination for that time of day. He also let him know that he'd be happy to chat and tell him about some of the sights or, if Harvey preferred, to leave him with his own thoughts.

"Tell me, Wally," my amazed friend asked the driver, "have you always served customers like this?" Wally smiled into the rearview mirror. "No, not always. In fact, it's only been in the last two years. My first five years driving, I spent most of my time complaining like all the rest of the cabbies do. Then I heard the personal growth guru, Wayne Dyer, on the radio one day. He had just written a book called You'll See It When You Believe It. Dyer said that if you get up in the morning expecting to have a bad day, you'll rarely disappoint yourself. He said, `Stop complaining! Differentiate yourself from your competition. Don't be a duck. Be an eagle. Ducks quack and complain. Eagles soar above the crowd.'"

"That hit me right between the eyes," said Wally. "Dyer was really talking about me. I was always quacking and complaining, so I decided to change my attitude and become an eagle. I looked around at the other cabs and their drivers. The cabs were dirty, the drivers were unfriendly, and the customers were unhappy. So I decided to make some changes. I put in a few at a time. When my customers responded well, I did more."

"I take it that has paid off for you," Harvey said. "It sure has," Wally replied. "My first year as an eagle, I doubled my income from the previous year. This year I'll probably quadruple it. You were lucky to get me today. I don't sit at cabstands anymore. My customers call me for appointments on my cell phone or leave a message on my answering machine. If I can't pick them up myself, I get a reliable cabbie friend to do it and I take a piece of the action." Wally was phenomenal. He was running a limo service out of a Yellow Cab.

I've probably told that story to more than fifty cab drivers over the years, and only two took the idea and ran with it. Whenever I go to their cities, I give them a call. The rest of the drivers quacked like ducks and told me all the reasons they couldn't do any of what I was suggesting.

Johnny the Bagger and Wally the Cab Driver made a different choice. They decided to stop quacking like ducks and start soaring like eagles. How about you?

Tuesday, September 04, 2007

Monday, August 27, 2007

Friday, August 24, 2007

Saturday, August 04, 2007

Page 3 !

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On this friday night ,as I was surfing the channels I came across this movie ,Page 3. Had seen this movie long time ago. I must agree that this is one of the best movies and real connectivity to reel and real life. This is story of a journalist who writes Page 3 articles. And looking at the whole life of everyone it just seems so artificial. Every article written in newspaper is all planned. Its not really news.. Its more of what you want and whats the price you are ready to pay. And every thing is like a pre planned drama..

Relations are not really relations. They are just stepping stones to your temporary happiness or success. The song which is played through out the movie is simply awesome..
"Kitne ajeeb rishte hain yahan pe.. do pal milte hain, saath saath chalte hain.. jab mod aaye to bach ke nikal te hain" and this is so true in everyone's life.

Only when someone needs others they remember.. else make use of them and move on. In the movie even the ACP is not bothered of the bomb blast thats happened in the city that day and he is busy enjoying in the party...

The news, the stories in the media today, is controlled by a set of few people. They are the people who control everything. Its a simple gamble. They are the movers and shakers of the world. They have the money. If they do illegaal things, they get hold of the political and the big officers. The news papers will not publish such articles as that will impact their ad money flow..

In short, its the rich and the famous who rule everything.. Its the 0.1 % of the people who control the remaining 99.9% of the remaining ..Isnt that news for you now..

They make the rules, they are the ones who have the big lobbies due to which the govt decides its policies and the financials of the country or a region..
If USA invades Iraq, its not that Bush wants it.. its the companies that back him want it and he has no other choice.. its as simple as that..

Media in all respects has always been the strength ... but not anymore.. its right now sold out in the hands of a few rich people. IIPM issue was the same again.. No paper went against it .. why ???
They would lose the full page ads they would eventually get..

I have seen and met people in this media industry. You take them to a 5 star restaurant , give a wonderful dinner/lunch and hand over the article you want to be printed.. well thats how it works..
If you are a politician, you call for a press meeting, pay the reporters to ask the whatever questions you want them to ask and answer them accordingly..

Looking at these people , the people in the media, get so used to this that they do the same in their personal life also. Using people rather than builing relationships. Short term benefits out number the long term bondings.. Using others as doormats to their path of so called success.. How long will that work .. all these only have an expiry date...

At the end of this , where are we leading to ??