The rain and strong winds are throwing the traffic into tangles. I wait at home for people to return home. waiting is never easy, at least for me it isn't, I believe it is difficult for anyone... so I inevitably go and log on either to facebook or gmail or worst comes to worst to the counter to see whether anyone has visited my blog.
What is this strange urge to write and to want someone to come and read your writing and comment on and appreciate it? It would serve no great purpose nor is anyone under any illusion that a facebook status message or a blog article is going to change the world. To change the world was never on the agenda anyway.
We keep working and not always the way the world wants. But the closer we are to what the world requires the greater is the chance of success. For instance if you write about dogs or birds no one is gonna read your article except for some special friends who may happen to like whatever you write. But if you write about birds on environment day or about how science endangers birds lives, then you may get one or two listeners more. If you write about how some member of the royal family had a penchant for birdsong and hence kept a cageful of birds then there is the added glamour to the whole thing. Better still if you write about a clan of people who eat birds after a secret ritual you have the audience eating out of your hand.
06 June 2011
04 June 2011
Lecture on Wetlands in Chennai
Yesterday I attended a talk on the wetlands around chennai. It was an illuminating talk and I learnt about many places I did not know used to be major ecosystems in chennai - like the Padi Villivakkam lake, there is no lake there now apparently only a small ditch with plastic and rubbish being thrown in.
It was interesting to note that the way this landgrabbing usually takes place is by filling up the place with rubbish. Though it was surprising that the speaker was referring only to the small vendors who do this,or the narikuravas, whom he came down on quite too sharply -- was it that he did not want to be explicit?
It would be an ideal world if various people would sit around a table have a chaay and discuss which would be best for all concerned. Of course realtors and business folk should also agree to let go of this for the good of humanity at large! Sigh! How sweet a dream that is!!!
The speaker filled his talk with slides of various birds and beasts and insects that he had photographed out of his own love of the art and it made the slideshow very engaging and lively.
He was speaking in two languages and that made it a bit distracting, he could have only spoken in Tamil, but there may have been a good reason for using english that I do not know of...
It was interesting to note that the way this landgrabbing usually takes place is by filling up the place with rubbish. Though it was surprising that the speaker was referring only to the small vendors who do this,or the narikuravas, whom he came down on quite too sharply -- was it that he did not want to be explicit?
It would be an ideal world if various people would sit around a table have a chaay and discuss which would be best for all concerned. Of course realtors and business folk should also agree to let go of this for the good of humanity at large! Sigh! How sweet a dream that is!!!
The speaker filled his talk with slides of various birds and beasts and insects that he had photographed out of his own love of the art and it made the slideshow very engaging and lively.
He was speaking in two languages and that made it a bit distracting, he could have only spoken in Tamil, but there may have been a good reason for using english that I do not know of...
02 June 2011
Burnt fingers
It's not everyday you talk to a publisher and tell them there's a mistake in the book. No! and it's not often you do it in flair, the very first meeting you have with them, and also do them the favour of sending in a written review!!!
This is putting your foot in your mouth in style!! Well, that's what I did today! There's no pardon for me! Friends out there in the ether - reach out and let me know that I'm not half as bad as I feel!!!!
This is putting your foot in your mouth in style!! Well, that's what I did today! There's no pardon for me! Friends out there in the ether - reach out and let me know that I'm not half as bad as I feel!!!!
Small is beautiful
One is struck time and again about the pointlessness of doing things... for example laying a road or buying a car. Just take a look at the road outside your window. Do you see a pit in it? I am sure you will unless you live in a dingy room overlooking mount road or live on a tree on the highway.
Where did that pit come from, It was nothing but that noise last night - Boys digging it to plant a pole there for some game they wished to play, or someone who decided they wished to dig a pathway for the excess water in their house, or someone making a stealthy connection to the drainage pit, or the workers from the corporation or EB coming to check on your lines.
So when all these factors go to destroying your road, the point is why make a road at all in the first place.
So with the petrol prices going up - my question is why do you need to buy a car? At least if you must, stick to a small one that consumes less and lets you enjoy life more, and us too.
Where did that pit come from, It was nothing but that noise last night - Boys digging it to plant a pole there for some game they wished to play, or someone who decided they wished to dig a pathway for the excess water in their house, or someone making a stealthy connection to the drainage pit, or the workers from the corporation or EB coming to check on your lines.
So when all these factors go to destroying your road, the point is why make a road at all in the first place.
So with the petrol prices going up - my question is why do you need to buy a car? At least if you must, stick to a small one that consumes less and lets you enjoy life more, and us too.
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