The Green Earth

I read about Maldives President considering moving the whole country out of Maldives, to escape the rising sea level. My first thought - " Man I need to visit this beautiful place before it vanishes off the face off the earth". Wait, this whole country is going to loose all its beautiful land, relocating to a different place and they will have to almost start like a new civilization may be they will have to change their food habit and traditions and rituals( most of the rituals are based on your habitat).How selfish can I get ??? I was a little ashamed of myself.


As soon as there is a mention of Global warming or rising sea level or climatic changes as a result of human activity you will find three category of people -
One - People like me who want to slow down the process and try to plant more trees , reduce my carbon foot print , conserve water, use less resources and in what ever you do think of what it is going to do to the earth.
Two - People who argue that all this is crap and don't believe in all this and go ahead and use stuff as long as they /their credit cards can pay for it.
Three - People who are not bothered either ways.

I just want to say the number two and three types is why do you take a vehicle insurance when you know you are an amazing driver and know will not crash up??????
I guess the answer to that question form most of the people will be just to be on the safer side :).
Well, you have your answer to the global warming situation too. You are not sure if it is the the effect of human activities just to be on the safer side reduce the utilization and play it safe.

Things each one of us can do in our daily life to help the earth.
1. Take the stairs instead of the elevator .It is good exercise .
2. Walk/cycle as much as you can instead of taking a vehicle.
3. Use your washer ,dryer , dishwasher on cold cycle ( NOTE : you get detergents for cold wash).
4. RECYCLE every small thing you can and as much as you can.I WOULD SAY THIS IS RULE NUMBER ONE as we cannot completely stop the consumption of things.
5. Buy local stuff that do not come in multiple packing with cartons and plastic casing etc.
6. Turn off your the power in a room if no one is in the room.
7. Buy a bottle and keep refilling it and using it instead of buying bottled water.
8. Take your own personal coffee mug to work instead of using the paper cups.
9. Cook with the lid closed that way things get heated/ cooked faster.
10. Use a sweater preferably than turning on the heater
11. Open the blinds for sunlight instead of turning on the light.
12. Carry your own shopping bags made of cloth instead of getting the double or triple plastic bagged grocery.
13. Can be done mostly in India separate all the compost and non compost stuff and dig a pit and put all the compostible stuff. If you are a plant lover you can use this as a fertilizer for your garden/kitchen garden.
14.Plant more trees :-)

As of now I can only remember these as and when I remember will keep adding stuff to this list.If any has any ideas please let me know will be more than happy to add them with credits given.

NOTE : I do not mean that you completely stop all the stuff you do.But just spare a moment to see what it does to the earth.

Some of the interesting links to read on more
How to compost stuff - http://www.howtocompost.org/
How things are made and stuff - http://www.storyofstuff.com impressive site.
Stop global warming - http://www.stopglobalwarming.org/default.asp
Save the earth - http://www.savetheearth.org/

Photography & DSLR

Do you believe in signs???

Well, I do.

Lately I am seeing "signs" of photography everywhere. I see good photos taken by my friends with their "DSLR". I have been looking at DSLR cameras, reading up reviews on them for a long time now, I guess the times has come that I own one.

I have always loved photography.Its like magic!!! Its like you stop the moment right there forever.You capture the feeling of the moment with the camera to make it last long or even capturing the moment for some one special who could not be there.

My spirit walk with cameras and photography ( as they put it in HEROES)

My Pappa has a conventional Yashica camera got about 20 years ago and I must say it has helped me preserve a lot of wonderful memories of my childhood for me. I have pictures of me doing all sorts of stupid things ( trust me when I say stupid, I mean stupid - things like making fish faces and my mouth stuffed with banana). Then, some one gifted an automatic Cannon point and shoot camera to Pappa. The Yashica was replaced by the easy to use no hassle Cannon and then I had to come to New York to do my masters so, I got a brand new Sony digital camera ( MAN I MISS THAT THING AND PROBABLY WILL ALWAYS MISS IT ). It has taken some of the best pictures I had ever taken till then (day and night). Unfortunately some one misplaced it and lost it (If I could possibly turn back time that would possible be the one thing I would want to change ) and then I was camera less for almost a good 2 months. I had to get another one soon else I could die with out a camera ( Seriously!!!! I use to carry it every where possible, it was always in my bag and would come out at the drop of a hat). Some of the pics from that camera.
ITS A SONY

Then I started looking for a camera and my only criteria this time was it should be small sooo small that I can slip it into my pocket and walk around and not bother giving it to any one and hence I ended up buying a Casio exilm. Well it is nice and handy but does not match up to my Sony DSC-W5. The casio takes decent pictures at day time and sundown but lousy ones at night( Its all blotchy, grainy, not soo great as I want it to be ). Soo here I am in search of a DSLR finally fully inspired from the sighs I have been seeing soo much lately.
Some pictures from the Casio
May be the Casio does take decent pictures,its just that I was more attached to my Sony.i knew all sorts of setting in it.

NEW YORKER for you

Yes got it from face book but may most if it does make sense.
NOTE: I take no credit for it some one had it.Made use of the famous copy paste technology and got it here

You know you're from NEW YORK CITY when...

1.You say "the city" and expect everyone to know that this means Manhattan.

2.You have never been to the Statue of Liberty or the Empire State Building.

3.You can get into a four-hour argument about how to get from Columbus Circle to Battery Park at 3:30 on the Friday before a long weekend, but can't find Wisconsin on a map.

4.Hookers and the homeless are invisible.

5.The subway makes sense.

6.You believe that being able to swear at people in their own language makes you multi-lingual.

7.You've considered stabbing someone just for saying "The Big Apple".

8.The most frequently used part of your car is the horn.

9.You call an 8' x 10' plot of patchy grass a yard.

10.You consider Westchester "upstate".

11.You think Central Park is "nature."

12.You see nothing odd about the speed of an auctioneer's speaking.

13.You're paying $1,200 for a studio the size of a walk-in closet and you think it’s a "steal."

14.You've been to New Jersey twice and got hopelessly lost both times.

15.You pay more each month to park your car than most people in the U.S. pay in rent.

16.You haven't seen more than twelve stars in the night sky since you went away to camp as a kid.

17.You go to dinner at 9 and head out to the clubs when most Americans are heading to bed.

18.Your closet is filled with black clothes.

19.You haven't heard the sound of true absolute silence since the 80s, and when you did, it terrified you.

20.You pay $5 without blinking for a beer that cost the bar 28 cents.

21.You take fashion seriously.

22.Being truly alone makes you nervous.

23.You have 27 different menus next to your telephone.

24.Going to Brooklyn is considered a "road trip."

25.America west of the Hudson is still theoretical to you.

26.You've gotten jaywalking down to an art form.

27.You take a taxi to get to your health club to exercise.

28.Your idea of personal space is no one actually standing on your toes.

29.$50 worth of groceries fit in one paper bag.

30.You have a minimum of five "worst cab ride ever" stories.

31.You don't notice sirens anymore.

32.You live in a building with a larger population than most American towns.

33.Your doorman is Russian, your grocer is Korean your deli man is Israeli, your building super is Italian, your laundry guy is Chinese, your favorite bartender is Irish, your favorite diner owner is Greek, the watchseller on your corner is Senegalese, your last cabbie was Pakistani, your newsstand guy is Indian and your favorite falafel guy is Egyptian.

34.You're suspicious of strangers who are actually nice to you.

35.You secretly envy cabbies for their driving skills.

36.You think $7.00 to cross a bridge is a fair price.

37.Your door has more than three locks.

38.Your favorite movie has DeNiro in it.

39.You consider eye contact an act of overt aggression.

40.You run when you see a flashing "Do Not Walk" sign at the intersection.

41.You're 35 years old and don't have a driver's license.

42.You ride in a subway car with no air conditioning just because there are seats available.

43.You're willing to take in strange people as roommates simply to help pay the rent.

44.There is no North and South...

45.It's uptown or downtown.

46.When you're away from home, you miss "real" pizza and "real" bagels.

47.You know the differences between all the different Ray's Pizzas.

48.You're not in the least bit interested in going to Times Square on New Year's Eve.

49.Your internal clock is permanently set to know when Alternate Side of the Street parking regulations are in effect.

50.You know what a bodega is.

51.You know how to fold the New York Times in half, vertically, so that you can read it on the subway or bus without knocking off other passenger's hats.

52.Someone bumps into you, and you check for your wallet.....

53.You cringe at hearing people pronounce Houston St. like the city in Texas

54.Film crews on your block annoy you, not excite you.

55. People from other states cant tell a polar bear from a peanut, but they know you're from NY the second you open your mouth.

56. When you are able to make a right turn at a red light.. you think it's the best thing ever.

57. Rather than waiting safely on the sidewalk to cross the street, you wait inches away from speeding traffic waiting to cut through it.

58. Your local news is national news.

59. You walk a mile in 13 minutes and think that everything should be open 24/7.

60. You know who Dr. Z is...

61. You think you know better than everyone else in the world.. when in reality.. well.. you do.

62. Yellow light means speed up.

63. Red light means speed up because you know have that 1 second pause until the other light turns green.

64. Communicating with people on the road only takes one finger.

65. You order your dinner and have it delivered.. from the place across the street.

66. You cross the street on a greenlight, and if you get hit by a car you blame the driver for "not watching where they're going.

67. You can tell a gunshot from a firecracker and not get scared, but when you go to the burbs you get scared of hearing a cricket.

68. You know the lights above the skyscrapers is the closest thing we have to stars.

Outsourcing

Today while getting to work a friend of mine mentioned about a certain team in which all except one person was handed THE PINK SLIP (NOTE: because of recession and not Bangalored ) http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/bangalored

Main Entry:	bangalored
Part of Speech:	adj
Definition:	laid off due to outsourcing, esp. outsourcing to India or other parts of Asia
Example:	Most of the department was bangalored--their jobs have moved to India.
Etymology:	fr Bangalore's reputation as a high-tech city
Usage:	slang

And the team in Bangalore is intact ( as of now) .So, lets call him Mr.X who is the lone survive of the team here has been relocated to Bangalore ( Yes, you read it right he has been relocated to Bangalore ,India).Poor Mr.X is getting ready to get to Bangalore and resume his work there and is making inquiries around to find out things about Bangalore. There are people who tell him "The moment you set your foot on the land you will get robbed and hustled " .May be he is even googling up stuff like the Pilot from the movie Wall-e "Define Bangalore Define Kannada Define Sambar, idli etc ".

I wonder what is going on in his head about India and moving to India.
Mr.X must have heard about India to be some forest filled with elephants and snake charmers doing the rope trick or may be he is more well read and knows things better. Or may be he feels it is Sazay -e-Kalapani ( It was a punishment when Britishers use to send people from India to Andaman Islands it was more like banishing them off) hmm or may be worst still he may even be considering switching jobs :-) ,applying like crazy to other places.

Hope he moves to Bangalore and has fun.

May be he will have fun or may be he wont but he surely will be mesmerized by the traffic in Bangalore - people making 4 lanes, cyclists maneuvering in between stopped cars, autoriksha walas getting on the foot path to get to the front of the signal( well I feel it is a knack its more like a neural network B-)

All this reminds me of a Simpson's episode about outsourcing have fun watching it.Note : not every things is a fact here for instance TajMahal is in Agra and not in Bangalore , no elephants on roads and noo rope tricks for sure.

Missing THE New York City

Well this is my first attempt at this so, please bear with me if this sucks.

I have had a pretty dull day today only highlight of it being watching friends from morning till night and now this blog. Was suppose to step out and do a little of sight seeing which never materialized sighhhhh.



Well seeing friends has made me thing of New York City(NYC).New York City the port of my entry into the US of A.New York City the city of Times Square,Broadway shows, Brooklyn Bridge, Central Park,the city of Fashion,the city of Empire State building ,the Status of Liberty,Wall street,Winter gardens, South sea port,the city of Bryant park and the ice skating rink and the city I called home not too long ago.

New York city the most happening place on the face of earth.No other city can ever compare to New York for one all my beloved friends are there and two the city has the most amazing public transport system that any other place can only dream of. You just have to step out side your, house walk a few steps, take the subway get to Times Square, or go to West 4 or Central park or even the Staten island ferry to get away from all your worries. The city is soo full of life even at 3 at night you will see the subways filled with people , people getting home from work or people getting to work ( yes getting to work that late), you will see all kinds of people. You are never alone in New York City.Even amidst all those strange people you feel at home and comfortable.

As long as I was there I always wanted to get away from the filthy subway stations and dirty streets but then by the time I left the place I was a New Yorker in a lot of ways , the city has grown on me.Its like you leave the city but the city inside you never leaves .The first weekend I moved out of New York I went to watch a movie in the theater, what do I see 8 out of 1o movies were shot and the story based in New York. It was like an eye opener I heard my self say " Man I miss that city".And ever time I miss New York I remember this friend of mine Swathi Ambika ( yeah I know she will kill me for it) who use to call me a traitor for wanting to run away from there.Well, Swa I would love to get back to NYC and call it home again.

I bet a lot of you would have heard the song by Frank Sinatra -New York New York it has been stuck in my head for quiet some time now.I keep dreaming of getting back to New York city for a vacation .

Till then from some one who will always be a New Yorker by heart.