Reduce Your Carbon Footprint: My Green Commutation

Making the commute green is the best way of going green. At times I have to go to the nearby places. Sometimes I have to go to the places just a few blocks away. So for going I have the option of our family car, a motor bike, a bicycle and my legs. Legs and bicycle are the greenest modes of commutation. So I use them the most and go green. In other words using the active modes of commutation is to go green.

I live close to the place I work and use the telecommunication to interact with people rather than visiting them in person. That saves a lot of unnecessary energy.

And the best option to go to the far away places is to use the public communication system. It is always easy to venture out in the car or in a motorbike or even catch a cab. And it is uncomfortable as well as difficult to get into the public transport. But I bear this much of difficulty so that I could go green and at the same time do a lot of benefits for myself. This helps me a lot to improve my fitness level as well as my psychological status. It helps me to integrate physical activity in my day to day life and save a lot of money by being less car-focused. It is a fact that using the public methods of mass transport uses less energy than individual commutation.

Also it is good to understand the concept of "single occupant vehicles" as reducing the number of such vehicles helps us all. It improves health, reduces the need to build additional roads, lesser costs for maintaining the existing roads, creates greener communities and at the same time makes the environment better for all.

I think that people never understand another benefit of using the public transportation. When I am not driving then I have some more free time. At that time I can make some phone calls, type some text messages and also get time read a newspaper. Sometimes I even get time to prepare for the meetings. I can even get time for socializing. I can chat with the fellow commuters and that certainly makes my mind fresh. And at the same time it is good for the community. It reduces traffic congestion, air pollution, noise. Lesser health care costs are another benefit for the community as well as for the individual. And more importantly there will be an increased sense of security as there will be more people on the road. Also the personal communication between the people will increase.

I believe in ride sharing when I commute with my car. I have some of my neighbors who work nearby my office and some on the route. So that way I drop them out at their work places whenever possible. That way I share prices of the gas and parking. And at the same time I get some moments to socialize with them.

Reduce Your Carbon Footprint: My Ways Of Keeping My Bathroom Green

My bathroom is green. The floor of my bathroom is made up of recycled tiles. These tiles are made up of waste glass from windows, mirrors, bottles, jars etc. They also contain some non-toxic and non-hazardous industrial wastes such as special clays, feldspar, granite dust, sand, and silica. During the laying of these tiles I ensured the use of non-toxic sealers.

The toilet is well lighted as I have two large skylights. And for the light at night I have installed compact fluorescent bulbs. A lot of power is saved that way.

I have taken a lot of care in saving water in my bathroom. There is a dual flush toilet installed and also some low flow water faucets in the basins. And my habits are also green. I do not keep the tap open while I shave and brush the teeth. The shower head is also low flow one. But the best thing that I do is that i take shorter showers. The water drain from the bathroom has been diverted to use the waste water in the garden. And the best advice from me is to put a sealed bottle inside the flush so that less water is wasted.

To talk of the shower curtains: I have done away with the plastic curtains and instead use linen curtains. Also I make the least use of toilet paper. And the paper that I use is recycled.

My bathroom is clean and I use some green methods to clean them. I do not use the toxic detergents and the disinfectants. I use vinegar and baking soda for cleaning my bathroom and at the same time I use the soaps instead of the detergents.

After bathing I use the lemon water to rinse the body after taking the shower. It acts as a good deodorizer. And at times for heavy deodorizing effect I use orange peel powder. I use soaps instead of using bath gels and shampoos as they are economical in the sense that less of soap will have the same effect as more amount of gels and shampoos. I avoid using the anti-bacterial soaps as they contain triclosan which is an endocrine disruptor. Also it reacts with sunlight to produce dioxin, a highly carcinogenic and toxic family of compounds, and can react with the chlorine in our drinking water to form chloroform gas, a probably human carcinogen. I avoid heavily packaged products and I prefer to buy the local made products wherever possible because they consume less energy during transportation.

For the water heating purposes I have tank less water heaters in my bathroom. They are very green indeed. They consume less electricity. Also in addition to that they take less space and they have very less waiting time - doesn't it sounds beneficial for those cold winter mornings!

And my interiors of the bathroom are colored white and there are many reflecting surfaces, four mirrors in it. Well this is for the fact that my low power light source does the same work that a higher powered bulb would do in a conventional bathroom.

The pipes that I use for the drains are not of PVC but instead I use the cast iron pipes. They are greener and at the same time do not give out harmful toxins into the water. Also they have recycle value.

Also more importantly I regularly check the water pipes and the drainage pipes so that there are no leaky end and joints - as small things count!

Reduce Your Carbon Footprint

We should act now and we should act fast. There are many ways in which we could make a difference. There are perhaps a zillion ways in which we can reduce our carbon footprint. Starting today i will provide a way every few days that would help us reduce the carbon burden on our earth and help it keep green. 
Pledge for a Green Earth.
Before reading further please switch off all the unnecessary lights and fans and other electricity consuming devices that are kept on. Take a deep breath.

Earth Day : April 22

Today is Earth day. Each of our effort matters. Can't we take an oath to celebrate each day of the year as Earth day? It is earth which gives us everything everyday. Now it is our turn.

Love Earth

Let us join our hands to pledge to work in every way possible and redouble our efforts to reduce our carbon foot print on this planet. We should remember that it is not just us who stay on Earth but there are billions of species who call Earth their home.

For The Lovers of Sunday.

Sometimes it is just another Sunday. You get up in the morning and you are busy thinking of ways to be lazy for the rest of the day. And in the evening when you call it a day, you are busy and really busy. You are one among that tried and frustrated lot who is clever enough to know that in a few hours you get Monday, that would steal all the pleasantries of your “busy- being- lazy” self enjoying Sunday. 

Monday is just another day. It is a green grinning jealous evil, panting to bite your bum red. With all my Monday bashing I keep my adamant desires burning – do not even try to read in between the lines- desires to curse the Monday for the whole day. But you never know why you accept Monday with this sort of sick prejudice. It’s all work and no play.

Tuesday is just another day that comes with its own set of maladies. It takes the tumescence out of the freshness that somehow crept into Monday from the engorged Sunday. You long for another Sunday. Also you get amazed at the hard work that you do all through the long Monday just to get rid of one pretty day Monday. Somebody should have made you get rid of all six days. But that is the silly paradox of Tuesday. You remain pale.

Wednesday is just another day. I would rather call this day the day of acceptance. You accept the reality that you are heading into the middle of the week and there is nothing that you could do to help yourself. I mean you could hardly punch your way through the days into Sunday.  Love thy own self. Love thy work.

Thursday is just another day. Where you are somehow tired physically, but your mind gets raunchy. Your fingers are overactive and you never mind tiring through the day. Now you are somewhere where you know that you are through the better part of the week. This day makes you see crimson in everything. You blush a lot and sometimes make others blush. You have people calling you naughty.

Friday is just another day. Where you are busy, but the clock seems slow. You look tired but you somehow keep the springs under your feet. You admire yourself but still you don’t know why you choose one of your flauntier shirts. You caress your hairs but you never go any near to the self inflicted orgasm. Instead some way you fake them for yourself to at least remain in the notion of happiness.

Saturday is just another dayhh! Your muscles are sore but the springs under your legs are stout. Your shirt is tout, you feel sleek. In some mysterious ways you remember all the good things, life seems more lovable and living seems more likable. You welcome everyone with a pout. You find that your shoulders and your waist is more into singing. You wear your smile whole through the day.  You nod your head to everything and anything that you come across.

And then you enjoy the evening to get into sleep. When you wake up- you get Sunday which is just another day..

Bromances and brokeback !

Bromances and brokeback !

This wonderful fun-read is from a blogger across the border. Just enjoy reading this fun filled comments that she has collected and compiled. Thumbs up for Tazeen!

So Cricinfo tweeted this photo with a “So much love in the Pakistan team” caption earlier today.

and the Pakistani twitteratti responded with this photo saying what about this one?

Pakistani tweeples thought that the picture with Ajmal and Akhtar was more bromance whereas the one with Sachin and Sehwag was more ... errr. Brokeback.

I asked people to come up with captions and here are some of the more interesting ones.

@shiringul “if I lose my head, it's your ass on the line!”

@a_bong "I got your back ..."

@ammaryasir Sehwag: "Pedicure?" Tendulkar: "Ahaa, usual preparation for the big match against Pak"

@absarshah 'Sucking the marrow out of life"

@kamranbukhari “Ass, gas or grass, nobody rides for free”

@alexpressed “baout yaraana lagta ay!”

@fayyazahmed Tendulkar: "Cover my behind, will ya?"

@Ahmad_Malik “After an intense batting session, Sehwag helped Sachin take care of his guard problems.”

Click here to read the rest of this beautiful post.

Agent Provocateur: Dirty tricks by Congress

Agent Provocateur: Dirty tricks by Congress: "Spiteful act, deplorable deed The Congress is just not reconciled to the idea of Gujarat, more specifically Narendra Modi, showing the way..."

Fight Against Corruption

It is hugely ludicrous to let the allegedly doctored CD about the Bhushan duo to catapult into the limelight. It is preposterous to see the politicians to comment on the integrity of these people. Do they want to make fool of us? They are the ones who are fools to believe in the idea that people will buy their attempts to malign the members o f the civil society who are to draft the bill. They are doing nothing but eroding the support base that they enjoyed and on who’s voting they are in a position to comment.

This present government seems like being in some sort of a state sponsored corruption arrangement with all like minded people- other politicians, corporate and beauracratic sycophants. Everyone is into the cover up spree.

I have no anguish regarding the fact that the Bhushans may be into some sort of corruption which seems highly unlikely. But the main fact that makes me more apprehensive about the government is the fact that it is try all the shots that it has to sabotage the efforts that are on to fight corruption.  It is a democratic country. No doubt in that theoretical aspect. There is also no doubt in the fact that money holds influences. It is indeed a strange paradox to live with, at being born in a democratic country.  

Some have brought up PILs in court against the appointment of the members of the civil society into the committee drafting the anti corruption bill. They argue that there are enough laws in our country and the country needs no more laws. But if they were laws then would the country have been in this state?  He argues that the problem is with implementation. But if these things are not implemented then there must be laws to implement them- laws that are transparent.

It seems that the entire hullabaloo that the government is doing is to keep the rest of the unexposed scams under wraps and to protect its people from getting punished for practising its policy of state sponsored corruption.

“She” says that she is neutral and she is not mentoring Digvijay’s and Kapil’s comments. It is strange and hard to believe. They ask to have faith in the constitution of India but how can we have any faith in the people who safeguard the constitution. They say they are the elected representatives of the people. I ask my conscience: Are they really? But it does not agree. I can with no rationality call these corrupt people my representatives. No matter what but just because I support the cause for which they (Bhushans) are fighting, I support them.

Keep Your Mouth Shut

My Teacher said: while working keep no stone unturned.
I replied: While turning the stones they shouldn't roll. Because a rolling stone gathers no moss.
Then I got to listen to his rantings, rumblings, nagging, panting and finally his borborygmi.
Moral: If you are not Anna Hazare then keep your mouth shut.

My 2 Cents!: An Inception about Inception!

My 2 Cents!: An Inception about Inception!: "It's quite obvious that few have mastered the craft of film making like Christopher Nolan has. But what is really gratifying with his latest..."
Well read this interesting post from ADITYA MAHESWARAN about the movie inception in his blog.
The movie is an open battlefield for all those people who want to make there assumptions regarding the storyline of the movie, "heard" to be correct. And here comes a rather dignified assumption- but there is not anything that deludes your thought process.

Ramblings: Countering allegations,conspiracies and attacks

Ramblings: Countering allegations,conspiracies and attacks: A post from Mayank Gandhi.

"Participatory democracy = a process emphasizing the broad participation of constituents in the direction and operation of political systems.

Citizens are not just voters. Democracy does not just come once every five years. The participation of citizens in the daily activities of democratic functioning is the hallmark of a vibrant democracy. And any democracy without a fifth pillar - a powerful and responsible civil society, would be lame duck.

A demonstration of a powerful civil society was visible when Anna Hazare and the citizenry of the country used peaceful coercion to kickstart a process of reforms. After 42 years, 6 rounds of rejections in the Parliament and complete ignoring of the entreaties of some of the eminent people of India - all avenues of normal democratic engagement were exhausted. There was no way except for Anna Hazare to stake his life for the nation, as Gandhiji had done before independence. If columnists and political leaders call this act as premature and blackmail, so be it.

Anna Hazare's demand is for participation of the civil society in the formation of a committee to draft a strong anti-corruption bill. After the Bill is drafted, it will necessarily have to pass through all the democratic institutions including Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha. It will not bypass any of the democratic structures.

You may go to Azad Maidan in Mumbai any day of the year and you'll find scores who are sitting in hunger strike, unheard and unseen. The only reason, the government took cognizance is because of the moral stature of Anna Hazare, the right cause and tremendous public support. No government is going to listen to people who fast, without these criteria. Therefore, to assume that Anna Hazare's fast has set up some precedent is incorrect.

Annaji somewhat irrelevant remark on the grass root development in Gujarat and Bihar has been twisted to mean support to Narendra Modi's communal action and being pro-RSS and anti minority. Suppose I praised someone's shoes- does it purport to supporting everything that he does, including wife-beating? :)

..."

My Infamous Rant

I shun this country!! Each time I do it, there are some people who call me up to say.... why do you do that? Look all the beautiful things, look at its culture, history, tradition. They ask; are you not patriotic?
Are we supposed to see all the beautiful things? It’s all roses till they are exposed to the thorns. I will shun everything- till my anger is over. I will pledge for action but I know that I won’t act. No one acts. Let it be so. Well in some moments I too will start to ask the patriotic credentials of someone who shuns India! Everyone forgets.  So do I. Everyone fears. And I fear too.  Everyone is busy.  Can’t I be busy?
We run away from reality, it is because we shy away from our own life. Our life has been just a conundrum since we know it. We try our hand solving it and we fail. So we find recluse in running away from it. We never act; when someone acts we shun him... for the fear that we may have to act if we support him. We are very busy; we are preoccupied with our duty, family, society and our laziness. We blame others never ever thinking- was I responsible? We never try to venture out of our confines of comfort till that day when we bear the fire of being on the receiving end. We talk, shout and blabber nonsense in the confines of our friends who will listen us no matter what we say. We shout and think that we have done out part, or rather type and think the same- in a way I am doing it right now. We call ourselves “people of reason” being the “mere” people in our democracy who feel who can lead their peaceful life till someday....they fail to see the light of the day. I am just into some minor agony that made me type this... some childish shenanigans that will get lost into the wilderness in just a few moments. It won’t take long before I forget what I have written.
 It is such a democracy where we have to die to be heard. Can’t I shun this country’s people? – the people who run it, the people who are close to who run it, people with money who feel like they can do everything that they want. These people died but we should FORGET THEM, for we fear to meet their fate if we act. There are people who are corrupt, we should fear them as they can murder anyone to hide that they are corrupt.

Dr. Amarnath Pandey,a doctor and RTI activist killed because he tried to expose corruption. http://news.worldsnap.com/states/uttar-pradesh/uttar-pradesh-rti-dr-amar-nath-pandey-activist-shot-at-99584.html
Satyendra Kumar Dubey: IIT pass out, also alumni BHU, died for he complained of the corruption in NHAI. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satyendra_Dubey
Shanmughan Manjunath: IIM pass out, died because he complained of corruption in a petrol pump. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shanmughan_Manjunath
Yashwant  Sonawane, district collector, died at the hands of kerosene mafia.. again for he complained against corruption. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yashwant_Sonawane
Amit Jethava, RTI activist murdered, because he wanted to expose corruption. http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_activists-across-india-stunned-by-amit-jethava-s-murder_1412954

Lieutenant colonel Akash Sachan, 41, had been victimised for blowing the whistle on an alleged
deal of substandard equipment supplied to the Indian Army. http://fightcorruption.wikidot.com/sachan
Lakhyajit Deka : CBI whistle blower, is in trouble for exposing corruption. http://fightcorruption.wikidot.com/lakhyajit
Others: source- http://www.infamouslists.org/

• Lalit Mehta, founder of Vikas Sahyog Kendra, an NGO. Status: Killed on May 14-15, 2008 after exposing corruption in National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) in Jharkhand's Palamau district.
• Narayan Hareka, Naib Sarpanch. Status: Died under mysterious circumstances while investigating irregularities in the NREGS in Koraput, Orissa.
• Jalil Andrabi, lawyer and human rights activist in Jammu & Kashmir. Status: Disappeared and body found with hands tied on 27th March, 1996, days before he was due to attend the United Nations Commission on Human Rights.
• Dr. Binayak Sen, human rights and health activist. National Vice President and Chhattisgarh General Secretary of the People's Union of Civil Liberties (PUCL). Status: Imprisoned for more than two years under the Special Public Security Act, 2005, (PSA) of the state of Chattisgarh, India. Update: Granted bail by the Supreme Court of India on May 25, 2009
• Sapamcha Kangleipal Meetei, President of the Manipur Forward Youth Front. Status: Arrested in Imphal,Manipur for having organised a public discussion on “Arming the Civilians and Its Possible Consequences (in Manipur)†and reportedly demanding the resignation of the Chief Minister of Manipur in response to his failure in terms of governance.
• T. G. Ajay,  a film-maker and human rights defender who has been documenting problems faced by adivasi (indigenous) communities in protecting their rights, in the central Indian state of Chhattisgarh. Member of the state executive committee of the People’s Union of Civil Liberties (PUCL). Status: Arrested under the Chhattisgarh State Public Security Act, 2005 (CSPSA).
• Sarita & Mahesh, social activists and members of the Institute for Research and Action (IRA) doing development work. Status: Murdered on 24 January, 2004 in Gaya, Bihar, India.
• Shankar Guha Neogi, labor leader and founder of the Chattisgarh Mines Shramik Sangh (CMSS) which fought for the rights of over 8,000 iron-ore miners of Dalli Rajhara in Durg district of Madhya Pradesh, India. Status: Killed on September 28, 1991 in the Durg-Bhilai area in Chattisgarh, India. 
• Kameshwar Yadav, NREGA activist, questioned the nexus flourishing among officers, leaders, contractors and middlemen regarding minor irrigation work in Deori, Jharkhand, India. Status: Killed on June 7, 2008 in Gaadi, Jharkhand, India.
• Tapas (Vimal) Soren, NREGA activist working in Hazaribagh District, Jharkhand. Status: Self immolated himself and died on July 2, 2008 at Charhi Chowk in Hazaribagh, Jharkhand after being local officials refused to release funds for work done by him and others in a NREGA project. Here are his last words.
• A.T.Babu, an anti-liquor campaigner and State Convenor of the National Association of People's Movements (NAPM) in Karnataka, India. Status: Killed on 21st July, 2008 in front of two of his coworkers at Mayanagaram, Karnataka, India. Here are a couple moving  tributes to the man.
• Navleen Kumar, social activist who fought for the property rights of tribals in Thane, Maharashtra. Status: Killed on June 19, 2002 by two men who stabbed her to death on the roof of her appartment building at Nallasopara, Maharashtra.
• Manoj Kumar Gupta, Executive Engineer in the Public Works Department, Auraiya, Uttar Pradesh. Status: Beaten and tortured to death on December 24, 2008 after he refused to pay up a sum of Rupees 50 lakh for the birthday celebrations of Mayawati, the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh.
• Abhay Sahu, President of the POSCO Pratirodh Sangram Samiti (PPSS), the organisation leading the agitation against POSCO, the South Korean steel major in Jagatsinghpur district, Orissa, was arrested on 12 October, 2008. More information on him here. 
• Shamin Modi, a senior activist of the Shramik Adivasi Sangathan, exposed the corrupt nexus of mining Mafia and politicians operating in the reserved forests of Harda and Betul District in Madhya Pradesh. Status: Brutally attacked on 24 July, 2009 at her residence in Mumbai. Previously, she had been arrested on charges of kidnapping on 10 February, 2009 at Harda, Madhya Pradesh. A video on people demanding her release is here.
• Venkatesh, a RTI activist in Bangalore, had been instrumental in saving BDA property worth Rs 35 crore. He earned the ire of loan sharks by using the RTI act to expose encroachments and filing cases against encroachers. Status: Killed on April 8, 2009 under mysterious circumstances in Bangalore, Karnataka.
• Prashant Rahi, a social activist and a former journalist for the Statesman newspaper, who spent years trying to organize landless landless laborers in Uttarakhand state. Status: Arrested in December 2007 and in jail since.
• Satish Shetty, a RTI activist who exposed corrupt land deals and illegal constructions near Pune, Maharashtra. Status: Killed by three or four men who stabbed him as he was returning from a walk near his house on January 13, 2010

And many more.....
So friends, never expose corruption, never talk of it, if you see anything wrong, please forget as soon as you see it. Forget what I have written over here,  thinking this to be some sort of chit-chat that happens every day, in the family, among friends, at the neighbourhood gossip stall (pardon me if I don’t call it the “pan stall”- you cannot shun anything that is Indian and anything that breeds politics). .In India we believe in the great tradition of FORGET AND FORGIVE (to people who are corrupt). Ha !
 Lol!
But still then I salute ANNA HAZARE.

Vote me to get a Nano!

It is really outrageous, to offer the voters nano cars on the pretext of voting the candidates to power. Silly enough to think that the people will buy into this proposition. Well how could one think of playing santa with the public tax payers money at a time when the social parameters are rock bottom. Road or no roads, you get a nano to ride down the alley.
Full news.

The Tale of Lost Psyche: Multitasking.

Multitasking is the buzzword of the current era. We call ourselves more efficient because, unlike our ancestors, we are more efficient in multitasking. There is this old fashioned word called "perfection" in fight with ultramodern "approximation". Multitasking can be said to be derived from this new found phenomena of approximation. It is here where we do something of a lot of things in the same time and make all the different works look complete. Well, how much heart we give into each of these things is a different question all together. Some may argue that there are unimportant daily chores that we have to perform which could safely be completed by multitasking. 

Take for example of this extreme case that I noticed recently. Well, making a bit of a confession that I do not normally/usually peek into the rooms of beautiful girls, but that day I could not take my eyes off what I saw. She was beautiful but that is not the part of the discussion that I am into. She lives in a flat opposite to my room in a floor below, to make my "stares" safe. She was on a comfortable couch, perhaps trying to find some time to relax. What could be better, than to listen to one's favorite music while relaxing. She had her ipod ear plug lost into her pinna playing on full bass (may be it is an overstatement but at the least she was listening to music). But it was just in one of her beautifully pierced ears. On the other side she had a cellphone clung to her ear supported by her shoulders (hope I could rest my head on them...let it go!!). Her TV set was on (of course it was on low volume). She had her prying eyes on her favorite soap (and mine on her). Oh, how could she miss out on her favorite soap? Her right hand was busy copying some notes (may be on multitasking discourses) from another note book. If this was not enough, I saw her left hand descend into the tub of water that dipped her legs for some rinsing action. A half-fledged pedicure sauna in her room! I would rather call this multi-multi-tasking. It is tough to imagine how much she could have of everything. I wonder, how much of her heart would be there in everything she did. Resisting the temptation, all I could do was to resign the idea of thinking too much about that. I concluded that it was a simple yet strange case of lost psyche and the birth of the legend of multitasking. lol.

Forgive But Don't Be wronged.

Sometimes things that we suppose to be simple are too ironic. With a religious overtone, we are sermonized to forget and forgive. This iconic statement that we are made to believe from our childhood sometimes make us prey to our own conscience. It is so because we are also taught that it is a sin to wrong, and it is a bigger sin to let yourself be wronged. So each time we forget and forgive, we ourselves be wronged. It feels a bit rather complicated, when viewed from such contrasting possibilities in a certain singular situation. Treating both the above contradictory suppositions to be discrete in different situations is easy, comprehensible and practicable. But if you are made to practice both of them in a same situation then you feel like being cursed. On one side you get tormented by the happenings where you are preyed upon, on the other hand your soft side tries to peek its head out and say "forgive"; where your heart and your conscience remain in a state of constant fight. It is when you really want to back up and shout out loud f*** you. And that too doesn't do any help to you.