Raghu's jottings....

Patnitop Workshop

2011-08-18T14:21:00.004+05:30

This is the board which welcomes while going up to our Hotel.

Recently (August 9-11, 2011) I had the opportunity to take part in a national workshop which was held in Patnitop which is situated in the State of Jammu & Kashmir. This was a memorable occasion, and the beauty of the place, still lingers in my mind. The place where we were staying was always engulfed in fog, sometimes drizzling rain drops, and as we sat in the top floor of the hotel where the meeting was going on, we could see clouds passing by us. The Wikipedia gives the following information about Patnitop.

Patnitop or Patni Top, is a hill top tourist location in Udhampur district, in Jammu and Kashmir, India, on the National Highway 1A, on the way from Udhampur to Srinagar, 112 km from Jammu. Situated on a plateau in the Shiwalik belt of the Himalayas, Patnitop sits at an altitude of 2024 metres. The river Chenab flows in close proximity to this location.

Origin of the name 'Patnitop' is a distortion of the original name of Patan Da Talab meaning "Pond of the Princess". In olden times a pond existed in the meadows and the kings princess often used to have her bath there. Part of the pond still exists near the youth hostel. It may be that the British had difficulties recording an English spelling of an Indian name correctly in their revenue records. Over the years the name changed from "Patan Da Talab" to Patnitop.

The place where we stayed for the workshop.

The tall Cedar (Devadaru) trees add a mystic look to the area and the beauty of the place is beyond words. May be I will write about the place again with more images.

Smoky lives and dangerous lives!

2011-06-10T15:23:00.004+05:30

The average rural household kitchen are something like this. Smoky stoves, blackened kitchen, blood-shot eyes of the woman of the house!. Every year, thousands of women are affected due to indoor air pollution and suffer from respiratory diseases like pneumonia, chronic respiratory disease and lung cancer with out being aware of the fact that their kitchen are killing them inch by inch.

The World Health Organization mentions that "More than half of the world’s population rely on dung, wood, crop waste or coal to meet their most basic energy needs. Cooking and heating with such solid fuels on open fires or stoves without chimneys leads to indoor air pollution. This indoor smoke contains a range of health-damaging pollutants including small soot or dust particles that are able to penetrate deep into the lungs. In poorly ventilated dwellings, indoor smoke can exceed acceptable levels for small particles in outdoor air 100-fold. Exposure is particularly high among women and children, who spend the most time near the domestic hearth. Every year, indoor air pollution is responsible for the death of 1.6 million people - that's one death every 20 seconds".

The Centre for Ecology & Rural Development (CERD) has been installing highly fuel efficient, smokeless stoves and this was one place in Sivaganga district where we installed a stove.

A little investment on a fuel efficient, smokeless chulah can save the precious lives of our women and children.

Thirupparamkundram

2011-01-18T17:36:00.004+05:30

This was taken during my recent visit to Madurai at the Thirupparamkundram temple premises. They sell chains and other hand made jewellery and have definitely migrated to this place in search of some livelihood. Considered to be the original inhabitants of our country, today they live a pathetic life with no ownership to a piece of land, alienated from their livelihoods by rigid, stupid rules and regulations.

Schooling in tribal villages.

2011-01-04T18:43:00.005+05:30

Along with Sivakumar and Seduraman from Tamilnadu Science Forum (Hosur), I visited this village on the 20th of December 2010 as part of a feasibility study for taking up some interventions in the tribal villages of Denkanikotta taluk in Krishnagiri district. There Seduraman took out some Tamil notice and handed over to a few children to see how much they are able to read it. One or two children with great difficulty started reading. But this girl was confident and went on reading it loudly.

This village (Siddhalingakottai) has a primary school and after 5th class, they have to walk a few kilometers to go to the nearby middle school through forest areas and through a private coffee estate. Many girl students dropout of school just for this reason. Mr.Mottappa who is from this village and who is also a leader of the Malai Vaazhum Makkal Sangam had donated the land for this tribal colony but says, he can no longer donate more land for the remaining people who dont have a house of their own.

In the village called Kalliyoor near Bettamugilalam, there is a government high school with a Head Master and another teacher. Most of the teachers who come to this school do not stay longer there. There is one bus which comes at 11.15 am by which the Head Master and the other teacher come to school. The same bus leaves the village at 2.30pm and the teachers also leave the school. So in effect the teaching is limited to 11.30 am to 2.15pm in which there is also a lunch break. Recently the college where Seduraman works have appointed one Thangaraj for Rs.4000 per month to take care of the education of these children. Thangaraj says, some days, the teachers do not turn up at all and the children wait for the bus and finding that the teachers have not come, go back to their houses.

After Thangaraj has joined, there has been considerable improvement in the results. It was Thangaraj who donated the land to build the school, but the government does not seem to be serious on the education of these children, while the government appointed teachers take their heavy salaries every month.

In a tribal village in Krishnagiri district

2011-01-04T18:25:00.003+05:30

This Irula man belonging to Siddhalingakottai village in Denkanikottah taluk is making a mat from green bamboo which he has collected from the forests. This thatch is used for making walls. This bamboo mat gives good insulation from the extreme cold climate of the hilly areas. I could see that most of the houses had walls made of such bamboo mats.

Most of these Irulars do not have proper basic infrastructure like a PHC, a school after the primary level, roads, transport or even proper drinking water sources. They have to fetch water going down for about 100 meters from where they live.

A betel vine and some memories...

2010-06-28T10:32:00.007+05:30

We have a small betel vine in our house, which my wife got from her school ignored by the school watchman, it was going to die off. She brought it and planted in our house and now it is fresh and with lot of beautiful tender leaves.

Some scientific facts: Betel leaf consist of moisture 85.4 percent, protein 3.1 percent, fat 0.8 percent, minerals 2.3 percent, fiber 2.3 percent and carbohydrates 6.1 percent per 100 grams. Its minerals and vitamin contents are calcium, carotene, riboflavin, niacin, thiamine and vitamin C. Recent studies have shown that betel leaves contain tannins, sugar and diastases and an essential oil. The essential oil is a light yellow liquid of aromatic odor and sharp burning in taste. It contains a phenol called chavicol which has powerful antiseptic properties. The alkaloid arakene in it has properties resembling cocaine in some respects.

Betel leaves are also a household remedy for cough and cold for small children. The juice of betel leaves can be given to infants if they have cough and used to be prescribed by even doctors from JIPMER. Chewing betel leaves with lime used to be a good cosmetic practice by women in olden days, though the practice is now limited to marriage functions etc. Chewing betel leaves also is supposed to be good for the teeth provided you dont add tobacco leaves along with betel leaves.

I still remember my grandmother's sister who used to regularly chew betel leaves with her specially prepared areca nut preparation. As children, we used to compare our red tongues as to whose tongue was more red.

Betel leaves also have a spiritual place in Indian tradition and we offer the same to elders as a mark of respect. May be it was known to our ancestors that this herb had such wonderful medicinal values, it was made part of the traditions ! But sadly, the herb is becoming less cultivated these days, as very few people use it now a days.

2009-12-23T11:50:00.000+05:30

Home...Sweet Home..!!

Some snaps that I managed to get...

2009-12-23T11:47:00.001+05:30

A snap of a white Shankhupushpam..

From the International Garden Festival, Blois, France.

2009-07-15T10:31:00.006+05:30

Recently I had the opportunity to visit the International Garden Festival which was held in Blois, France.

The festival was partitioned into various theme parks, whose colour changes for every season according to the choice of flowers. There were also beautiful theme colour parks based on natural materials, glass, bamboo, sand etc. which jell well with the flowers in the parks.

I have tons of photos, but I present may be one flower per day...And yes, I should thank my friends Sandrine Gicquel and Sebastien Rousseau for having taken me there driving all the way from Paris...

Have a nice day...!!

Vinca Rosea or Periwinkle

2009-07-14T08:36:00.004+05:30

This is a medicinal plant. Its alkaloids are hypotensive, sedative and have tranquilising properties and are anti cancerous. It helps in relieving muscle pain, depression of central nervous system and wasps stings.

It is called as Nithyakalyani in Malayalam. The active ingredients of this plant are used for a variety of allopathic drugs and ayurvedic drugs especially for the treatment of hypertension and for neuro medicine. It comes with different colours and also sometimes as mix of two or three colours.

The innovative Rikshaw

2009-07-06T09:53:00.005+05:30

This was another thing of interest that I noticed in Paris.

This is a manual/semi automatic (it also has a small motor attached for taking uphills) cycle rickshaw, but with a roof so that you are protected from the sun and the rain. The roof is aero-dyanamic and was easy to ride than a typical Indian Cycle Rickshaw. The pedaling was comfortable too.

We asked the person who was operating this service whether he was a paid employee. He said that the vehicle was given to him by the company, but he is all by himself as the company is not paying any salary to him.

Isn't it time we also have some of theseeco-friendly vehicles?

Coquelicot Flowers

2009-07-06T09:49:00.003+05:30

This is the Coquelicot Flower which I happen to fall in love while in Paris in the last week of June 2009. The French pronounce it as Ko-kli-ko. It looks like a poppy flower with red and a tinge of orange and is seen growing wild all over the railway tracks and country side. The lighting was not good and I could manage only this photo.

Rangoon Creeper

2009-04-30T14:43:00.006+05:30

This is Rangoon Creeper or Quisqualis indica. We used to have this in our ancestral house and one portion of our Mangalore tiled portico was completely covered with this plant like a curtain! I dont know what is the local name of this plant, but we used to call it Madras Mulla then.

The flowers change their colours from white to pink and then red and has a nice fragrance too.

Apparently this plant has some medicinal properties too which I learnt only now. The plant is used for traditional medicine like Decoctions of the root, seed or fruit can be used as anti-helmintic or for alleviating diarrhea. Fruit decoction can also be used for gargling. The fruits are also used to combat nephritis. Leaves can be used to relieve pain caused by fever. The roots are used to treat rheumatism. But be careful before you try anything of these, as dosages, concentrations are very important for ayurvedic or plant based medicines.

Ivy Gourd - A creeper so useful...

2009-04-27T17:02:00.002+05:30

What you see here are flowers and fruit of a very common creeper called as Kovakkai in Tamil and Malayalam, Telakucha in Bengali, Tondikay in Kannada, Bimbika in Sansrit, Kundru in Hindi etc. Its common English name is Ivy Gourd or little gourd and scientific name is Coccinia grandis.

The fruits are used as a vegetable and it can be eaten raw also which has a nice taste when it is tender. You can also make pickles, Indian curries like Sambar, as an ingredient in Aviyal – a curry having a mixture of many vegetables prepared in a gravy of curd. And if you want to have it as crispy snacks, just cut them into small rings and fry it in oil with salt if you want.

The fruit is commonly eaten in Indian cuisine. Natives of Thailand, Indonesia, and other Southeast Asian countries also consume the fruit and leaves. Cultivation of ivy gourd in home gardens has been encouraged in Thailand due to its being a good source of several micro-nutrients, including vitamins A and C.

In India, ivy gourd is often recommended to diabetics due to its low glycemic index and its possible ability to help regulate blood glucose. Ivy gourd is rich in beta-carotene and it also is a good laxative.

In Hawaii and the southern United States, among other regions, ivy gourd is considered an invasive plant. There is a variety of this plant which is utterly bitter and which is invasive in India too.

So still need more info? Go and get your Vitamins at home itself. Grab a cutting of the plant from somewhere and plant it today itself. Or you can also raise seedlings from a ripe fruit of the plant. But before that make sure you are planting the non-bitter variety of the plant.

Hibiscus - a common flower and some interesting facts!

2009-04-24T14:19:00.005+05:30

Today I thought I will write about the common Hibiscus flower which are so common to most of us. There are varieties and varieties of hibiscus with different colours, different petal arrangements and so on. Here is the photo of a flower from our own mini-garden!

Now some interesting facts about the flower. This is used as flower, a vegetable, a herb, a cosmetic and what not! The vegetable roselle is a hibiscus variety and is used in South India for making chutneys, pickles and even curries. Hibiscus juice is another attraction where hibiscus flowers are immersed in lemon juice and processed to get a very tasty juice concentrate!. Women use hibiscus leaves and flowers for hair-care by making a shampoo of it and this is a natural treatment for hair fall and dandruff. Just pick a handful of leaves and a few flowers and scrub on a rocky surface (usually ponds are lined with rocky plates in Kerala) with a bit of water and you get a rick, bubbling shampoo. It is no-cost and healthy too. Again petals of hibiscus are used in treatment of fever and its roots have properties which cure cough. Dieters or persons with kidney problems often take it without adding sugar for its beneficial properties and as a natural diuretic. It is made by boiling the dehydrated flowers in water; once it is boiled, it is allowed to cool and drunk with ice. So go home and make some hibiscus juice right away!

Hibiscus flowers have also other values. The red flowers are offered the Goddess of Kali and Ganesh. As kids, we used to remove the petals from the flower and then blow through the tiny openings at the base of the petal and the petal will blow up a bit like a balloon. It seems children in Philippines make bubbles with hibiscus flower and leave extraction by blowing into the solution by using hollow papaya stalks.

Now some humour also. Wearing a single hibiscus flower on only one of your ears is symbol of being a lunatic person in Kerala (India). (Normally depicted in films though I have not seen any lunatics doing this in real life). But if the wearer of the flower on a single ear is Hawaiian woman it has a different meaning. A single flower tucked behind the ear indicates that the woman is available for marriage. Interesting ...isn't it?

Some history behind the tilting Piza of India.

2009-04-19T12:28:00.012+05:30

This blog is result of some enquiry into the history behind the Qutub Minar on which I had posted some information and photographs earlier. One of the visitors to my blog - Maddy (whose blogs I follow regularly and I like them for his scholarly and beautiful writings e.g. Historic Alleys) has raised some points as to the reason why such a structure would have been built and whether there were any surrounding structures around this Minaret, and this is response to it. Actually like other Minarets, Qutub Minar also is surrounded by structures, but most of them are damaged and ruined. To find the reason behind why this huge structure was created, I did some enquiry and got this information from the Wikipedia.

Inspired by the Minaret of Jam in Afghanistan and wishing to surpass it, Qutb-ud-din Aibak, the first Muslim ruler of Delhi, commenced construction of the Qutb Minar in 1193, but could only complete its base. His successor, Iltutmish, added three more storeys and, in 1386, Firuz Shah Tughluq constructed the fifth and the last storey. The development of architectural styles from Aibak to Tughluq are quite evident in the minaret. Like earlier towers erected by the Ghaznavids and Ghurids in Afghanistan, the Qutb Minar comprises several superposed flanged and cylindrical shafts, separated by balconies carried on Muqarnas corbels. The minaret is made of fluted red sandstone covered with intricate carvings and verses from the Qur'an. The Qutb Minar is itself built on the ruins of Lal Kot, the Red Citadel in the city of Dhillika (may be Dhillika became Dhilli as Delhi is pronounced in Hindi), the capital of the Tomars and the Chauhans, the last Hindu rulers of Delhi.

The purpose for building this monument has been variously speculated upon. It could take the usual role of a minaret, calling people for prayer in the Quwwat-ul-Islam mosque, the earliest extant mosque built by the Delhi Sultans. Other possibilities are a tower of victory, a monument signifying the might of Islam, or a watch tower for defense. Controversy also surrounds the origins for the name of the tower. Many historians believe that the Qutb Minar was named after the first Turkish sultan, Qutb-ud-din Aibak but others contend that it was named in honour of Qutbuddin Bakhtiar Kaki, a saint from Baghdad who came to live in India and was greatly venerated by Iltutmish.

The Minaret is tilting??

Like the Piza tower, the Qutub Minar is also tilting. The Survey of India has conducted geodetic survey of Qutb Minar at the behest of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) and submitted its report to ASI in 2008. The report indicates that the Minar has tilted between 9 to 11 seconds from 1983 to 2005 and annual rate of tilt is 0.5 to 3 seconds.

Emperor Qutbuddin Aibak laid the foundation of Minar in AD 1199 for the use of the muazzin to give calls for prayer and raised the first storey. Quwwat-ul-Islam Mosque, to the north-east of the Minar, was built by him in AD 1198. Three storeys were added to the Minar by his successor and son-in-law, Shamsudsin Iltutmish (AD 1211-36).

Another flower - Ixora

2009-04-17T12:47:00.010+05:30

--Click on image to enlarge--

This is the Ixora coccinea flower. Used extensively in Hindu temples for making garlands, this is a must for all worships especially for the Goddess of Durga. May be the redness of the flowers is what would have made the choice on this flower. In Malayalam this is known as the Thechi and there are many colour variations, though the red one is what is used in Ayurvedic medicine preparations and for household medications.

Various parts of this plant - roots, stem, flowers etc.- are used for treating skin diseases, colic, flatulence, diarrhea, indigestion, ulcers, wounds, and also used as antiseptic. This plant is also believed to have anti-cancer properties probably because of its effectiveness against ulcers. Though there is a long list of other diseases for which this plant is used, I am not going into the details as one can do a google search for Ixora and find out them.

--Click on image to enlarge--

What is particularly interesting is that again its relationship to our childhood. This plant has a red berry which is edible and as children we used to collect the berries from hillocks. Also the honey which you can suck from the flowers is another attraction for children.

A Flower and some thoughts.

2009-04-16T11:34:00.004+05:30

This is known scientifically as Tabernaemontana divaricata or by the common name of crepe jasmine. To us Malayalees, this is known as the Nandiarvattam. There are at least two varieties of this flower. One with only five petals which is shown here, and another with layers of many petals.

This is a common plant seen and has a very mild fragrance. The juice from the petals of this flower is supposed to be very good for the eyes and I remember during our childhood, if some dust goes in our eyes, my grandmother used to pour the juice of these flowers mixed with breast milk and the redness in the eyes will vanish quickly. But she used to warn us. The cloth used for getting the petal juice, the small pointed vessel which is used for pouring the drops in the eyes, all should be sterilized. And of course, the hands and the breast milk also should be clean. This used to be very cool for the eyes, and with the nice fragrance, it gives a magical feeling to the eyes.

When I selected this photo for posting in the blog, my childhood memories ran quite vividly and for some time, I went back to my childhood, the good old days at our vast and beautiful ancestral house, the large open central courtyard - and the Nandiarvattam plant with full of silky white flowers.

Come April and it is New Year..!!

2009-04-13T18:29:00.006+05:30

It is a bit awkward to write about the Month when it is already April 13 today. But April 14 is considered to be the New Year in many of the Indian states and hence I thought of this post. When I searched Wikipedia, I got some interesting information about April.

April is the fourth month of the year in the Gregorian Calendar, and one of four months with a length of 30 days. April was originally the second month of the Roman calendar, before January and February were added by King Numa Pompilius about 700 BC. It became the fourth month of the calendar year (the year when twelve months are displayed in order) during the time of the decemvirs about 450 BC, when it also was given 29 days. The derivation of the name (Latin Aprilis) is uncertain. The traditional etymology is from the Latin aperire, "to open," in allusion to its being the season when trees and flowers begin to "open," is supported by comparison with the modern Greek use of ἁνοιξις (opening) for spring.

This reminds me of the flowering of the tree Cassia fistula commonly known in Malayalam as "Kanikonna" , the hallmark of the Vishukkani on the Malayalam New Year Day.

As children, we used to get Vishukkaineettam from our elders in the form of money. Vishu is also the occasion in Kerala when crackers are burst to welcome the New Year similar to the Diwali celebrations in Tamilnadu. My only request that please remember that when you burst so much of money in one or two nights, our atmosphere gets a bit more polluted, and the fireworks industry which employs childlabour extensively make a lot more profit. Cant we think of much more eco-friendly, child-friendly modes of celebrations?

Anyhow, I wish you all a happy Malayalam/Tamil/Bengali(The Baisakhi) New Year.

May be it is also new year to many others too.

A Slideshow on Qutb Minar

2009-04-11T16:28:00.004+05:30

As I had written earlier, I can keep posting hundreds of images of the Qutb Minar and it may be a bit tiring for me to do so also. So I thought of putting some of my favourite images in the form of a slide-show. Here it is below.

and some more images...

2009-04-10T13:07:00.003+05:30

This is the dome structure of the adjacent structure near the Minar and look at the structures. After all these years, the roof is still in tact and I wonder how the workers executed this with no modern equipment or support. This is really an awesome structure and I spent lot of time just admiring this dome. Engineering at its best!!

This was another beautiful view that I got sitting under the dome.

And this lonely parrot was a contrasting object to the red walled structure.

More Images from Qutb Minar.

2009-04-09T11:18:00.006+05:30

I am just putting some of the other images of the Qutb Minar. This is a damaged arch of a structure at the site.

The Qutb Minar

2009-04-06T18:11:00.010+05:30

The famous Qutb Minar in Delhi.

Though I have visited this place many many times, each time I visit, I am struck by the beauty of this majestic structure.

I have at least hundreds of photos of this structures from various angles, but I chose to put only a few here and it would be boring for the viewers. So great and historic a structure, there are better and better photographs by experts and veterans of photography on this.

There were so many children, elders who were roaming around the site and this little girl hanging on her parents' hands caught my attention who was curiously looking at me. I liked the expression on her face very much and I thought I would share it with you also.

First known use of Telescope in Indian Soil.

2009-01-24T16:30:00.005+05:30

First known use of Telescope in India

We now know that Galileo used the Telescope in the year 1609 and this year we are celebrating the 400th year of the telescope. We also saw in the earlier post that Thomas Harriot used the telescope earlier to Galileo and his sketches of moon are available in the public domain too.

Now it will be interesting to see, when the telescope was used in India. It was generally believed that the French Jesuit Father Jean Richaud was the first person to use a telescope in India in 1689 with a telescope of about 12 feet focus. Richaud observed a comet during 1699 December and discoverd that the Alpha Centauri is a double star. He also estimated the latitude and longitude of Pondicherry. But a paper by RK Kochhar of the Indian Institute of Astrophysics which appeared in the Indian Journal of History of Science 24(3): 186-192 (1989) points that it was not Father Richaud who used the telescope first in India.

IT was Jeremiah Shakerley who was born in 1626 at Yorkshire, England who used the telescope first in Indian soil. He emigrated to Surat in India. East India Company had already set up its first trading post at Surat in 1612. It was from Surat that Shakerley observed the transit of Mercury in the year 1651. It is believed that Shakerley died in 1655 in Surat.

,

2009-01-24T15:55:00.004+05:30

Was Galileo second fiddle--er, telescope--to Harriot?

This is Year 2009. The International Year of Astronomy (IYA), now under way, marks the 400th anniversary of the year that famed Italian astronomer Galileo began observing and documenting the heavens with increasingly powerful telescopes.

But in a paper in the current Astronomy & Geophysics, University of Oxford historian Allan Chapman argues that a less renowned astronomical pioneer deserves recognition as well. Thomas Harriot, an English mathematician, apparently turned a telescope to the sky even before Galileo did, producing a moon sketch that Chapman says is "the oldest known drawing of a telescopic body, made nearly four months before Galileo's first drawing."

Harriot's sketch, pictured here and dated July 26, 1609, is fairly rudimentary, but his moon maps became increasingly detailed as the years passed, as shown by the undated sketch at right. He remains relatively unknown for his contributions to astronomy, compared to Galileo at least, because he did not publish his work and, according to Chapman, never made a public claim for his milestone achievement.

Chapman notes that Harriot seems to have kept pace with his more famous contemporary, independently discovering sunspots in 1610 before Galileo had published or publicly presented his discovery of the phenomenon.

Even if Harriot remains overshadowed by Galileo and other famous names of astronomy, he will at least get his day this summer, when the IYA honors the anniversary of Harriot's first moon drawing at a July 26 event, Telescope400. See http://www.telescope400.org.uk for more details.

photo credits: www

Flowers, Nature

2007-12-23T11:05:00.001+05:30

Vehicles, Vehicles Everywhere....

2007-12-23T10:42:00.001+05:30

Karthiga Deepam

2007-11-27T07:58:00.001+05:30

The Karthiga Deepam: This is a festival which is celebrated in South India which comes in the month of Karthigai with the star of Karthiga which also happens to be a fullmoon day. While most people burn splinters and crackers, (all the left over crackers of the Deepavali is used up on this day) the older generation had the practice of creating beautiful fireworks using local materials and methods.

A small container is tied to the end of a string and the container is filled with charcoal (burning) and dried and powdered pollen of palm trees which when comes into contact with the burning charcoal gets ignited and when the string is rotated, it gives out beautiful fireworks. Children, women and elders take turn and rotate this to create beautiful circular patterns which is a treat for the eyes.

Up in the air....

2007-11-21T14:25:00.001+05:30

Up in the air, goes the plane
As kids we used to rush out
Whenever the roaring sound was heard
And shout, "there goes the plane"

In the remote village
Where roads are still a dream
Where many still cant get
To see a hospital
Which lies miles and miles away
Where children cross brooks and wooden bridges
To reach a distant school
Which at most times
Have only one teacher
Where the towers of mobiles
Have still not pervaded the skies
Where the only TV channels
Are those of the Doordarshan

The half naked children
Ran out and shout
"There goes the plane"

A callotropis plant and a beautiful insect!

2007-11-12T14:59:00.002+05:30

I am not a zoologist or an entomologist and hence I dont know what this insect is. Looks like it is a leaf eating grasshoper like insect. What attracted me very much is its beautiful body colours and how cleverly it hides itself with its matching colours (This is a tiny insect and what you see here is a macro closeup shot).

Somehow, this fellow resembles a painted African dancer with vivid and beautiful paintings all over his body. How beautiful is nature? Another interesting point occured to me was that the insect was sitting on a callotropis (Erukku in Tamil & Malayalam) plant which itself is a toxic one and is often refered to as organic pest control properties. So this insect should be a special chap which can even withstand the toxicity of the callotropis leaves.

Like Callotropis, there are many such plants which has insect repellant properties like the Ipomoea (the weed which grows abundantly in water bodies) and interestingly this plant is called "Besharam" (shyless plant) in Hindi which shows its ability to withstand both floods and extreme drought. The leaves of Sitha Phal (Custard Apple), Adathoda, Nochi etc.

In these Nochi especially is a very interesting plant. One of its properties was to reduce sexual desire, and it is recorded that Roman wives whose husbands were abroad with the legions spread the aromatic leaves on their couches for this purpose. It became known as the chasteberry tree. These were also used in Monasteries and came to be called as Monk's pepper. See www.holisticonline.com/Herbal-Med/_Herbs/h174.htm for more details about this plant.

Coming back to our beautiful insect, we sometimes forget the diversity of nature and we knowingly or unknowingly destroy it also. And this beautiful insect is just reminder as to how they have adapted to the nature. We also should remember that the man is a very recent phenomenon in the Earth's history and these little insects and cockroaches etc. have been inhabiting this planet for much longer. May be they are saying, "Look at these creatures called man. They think they know everything and they kill themselves. How long will they survive in this planet if they continue to harm the mother nature?".

Child labour and Diwali Extravaganza!

2007-11-12T14:34:00.001+05:30

A leading Tamil newspaper carried a news item with jumbo font size saying that in Tamilnadu alone, Rs.60 crore worth of crackers were burst just in a couple of days! This was a startling item and the newspaper actually boasted saying that this was much higher than last year's figures.

Just imagine how much pollutants we would have pumped into the atmosphere in these days? How much of money just vanished in to thin air making just light and sound? Of course it is true that the the cracker industry in Tamilnadu is one of the biggest in the world as the ad line of "Standard" crackers say it is the world's largest industry. We also note that thousands of children work in these industries with extremely dangerous threat to their lives, devoid of any rights (forget about child rights, not even basic human rights). It is also true that these industries feed these children without which they may not have an alternate income. What is so pathetic is that, the government do not have any controls on these industries as for minimum wages, life insurance cover, better healthy working conditions etc. Whenever a few people die in accidents, the government announces relief and everybody forgets them the next day. Every year, the number of victims in such fireworks accidents increase, but still we, who burst crores of rupees, do not even think of the little hands which make these same crackers.

Though there are regulations which control child labour, the fact remains that children are still used as cheap labour. We see them in hotels, workshops, as paper walahs, as petty vendors, in industries, even those who are "employed" as beggars on the streets while their masters travel in cars to collect the day's revenue. And most of these happen with the knowledge of the police is another matter of concern. A leading national TV News Channel even conducted an SMS survey (this is the SMS Yuga : for deciding winners in reality shows, to interim polls etc.- what ever the issue, the telecom operators gain!) as to whether it is okay to allow child labour since at least they "earn" something.

A time should come, when the nation realizes and takes strong action that the children are the national property and anything which is against their interests is the against the interests of the nation. Those who exploit the children are the real terrorists of this nation. Those who kill the childhood are the real murderers ! Identify them and boycot them. That would be the best thing we can do.

The red roof and a beautiful Sunset in Wardha

2007-11-09T16:08:00.001+05:30

As part of my work, I travel a lot. And I had the opportunity to go to Wardha for a meeting where we stayed in a remote village. The centre is known as the Kumarappapuram Campus being run by the Centre of Science for Villages (CSV) a reputed organisation which is based on Gandhian principles of self reliance in Science & Technology. One thing which attracted me very much was that even though it was extreme hot outside, the rooms where really cool. The roof were made into an arch-like structure consisting of cylindrical clay tiles one fitting into the other. This has some resemblance to the Laury Baker style of roofing, but the material used were quite an innovation by the CSV. So though there were fans in the room, we never had to use them at all!

While in Wardha, we also went to some watershed villages and the sunset was so beautiful which tempted the photographer in me. While returning from Wardha, boarding the train at the Sevagram Railway Station, I remembered that this was the same place, where Gandhiji had set up an Ashram and the British had established the Sevagram Post Office just to deliver letters to him. The Ashram still retains its routine activities by dedicated followers who still lead a simple life.

From Seedlings to Seed Again!!!

2007-09-04T11:44:00.001+05:30

A shot from my field trip to Magdi, Bangalore.

Nursery of paddy variety called "Rathnagiri", a vary tasty rice as claimed by the local farmrers. Once the nursery of seedlings is about 25 to 30 days old, they are transplanted into the main field where they will take another 4 months or so for maturing. Then the rice is harvested, dried, processed (boiled and dried) and pound to get rice. And before the paddy is processed, the farmer selects the best grains and dry them well and keep them in special seed storage bins with pest repelling plants so that he/she has quality seeds for the next crop. So from seeds to seedlings and back to seeds or rice, how much work is there ?!!!

Imagine, if the poor farmers did not toil, what will we do for our delicious food grains?

Agriculture is one area where indigenous knowledge and expertise is so much that even the experts dont fully understand the systems in its wholeness. A thousand salutes to the poor Indian Farmer !!!

A meeting and a "touch me not" flower...

2007-09-03T17:52:00.001+05:30

Recently I had been to Pune for a meeting and the meeting venue was a bit far away from the town. The organisers had taken great pains to select the venue in such a place that no mobile phones will work there, and hence the programme will go on smooth with no mobiles beeping and singing and crying (these days they are capable of everything in polyphonic tunes!!).

In the evenings we used to go out and walk through the narrow pathways and I could see innumerable plants and flowers and we used to see in our childhood... and one such flower was this (http://www.fotolog.com/tprmenon/24455550).

The rains that had just lashed the forests had already shrunk the leaves of the plant but the flower was still bloom...What a refreshing sight...

My first Blog...?

2007-07-25T00:38:00.001+05:30

So this is my first blog...

May be in the coming days...
I will try to build it up...
To bring out the reflections of my mind...
Which sometimes is stranger to myself...

In one way.. I have a feeling that
We all are strangers to ourselves..
At least at some point of time...

This is to search that stranger inside me..
To help me understand me better...
Like a mirror, a good friend, who always follow you..
Like...
Your own...
...
...
Shadow!!