Crazy about Corwin!!

Jeff Corwin shows have been an integral part of my relaxation time! He has produced two shows on Animal Planet- of The Jeff Corwin Experience and Corwin's Quest. I absolutely admire this guy! My favourite is Corwin's Quest, which sadly is over now :( If you have not watched any of his shows or have read about him, following are some of the links that you MUST visit to get the glimpse of this unique species called Jeff Corwin! :D
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeff_Corwin
(wikipedia page on him)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jt1JSnUj_r8
(funny him!)

Jeff, U ROCK!

Two interesting stories..

Two interesting real life stories, read on,

STORY NUMBER ONE

Many years ago, Al Capone virtually owned Chicago . Capone wasn't famous for anything heroic. He was notorious for enmeshing the windy city in everything from bootlegged booze and prostitution to murder.

Capone had a lawyer nicknamed "Easy Eddie." He was his lawyer for a good reason. Eddie was very good! In fact, Eddie's skill at legal maneuvering kept Big Al out of jail for a long time.
To show his appreciation, Capone paid him very well. Not only was the money big, but also, Eddie got special dividends. For instance, he and his family occupied a fenced-in mansion with live-in help and all of the conveniences of the day. The estate was so large that it filled an entire Chicago City block.

Eddie lived the high life of the Chicago mob and gave little consideration to the atrocity that went on around him. Eddie did have one soft spot, however. He had a son that he loved dearly. Eddie saw to it that his young son had clothes, cars, and a good education. Nothing was withheld. Price was no object. And, despite his involvement with organized crime, Eddie even tried to teach him right from wrong. Eddie wanted his son to be a better man than he was. Yet, with all his wealth and influence, there were two things he couldn't give his son; he couldn't pass on a good name or a good example.

One day, Easy Eddie reached a difficult decision. Easy Eddie wanted to rectify wrongs he had done. He decided he would go to the authorities and tell the truth about Al "Scarface" Capone, clean up his tarnished name, and offer his son some semblance of integrity. To do this, he would have to testify against The Mob, and he knew that the cost would be great.

So, he testified; Within the year, Easy Eddie's life ended in a blaze of gunfire on a lonely Chicago Street . But in his eyes, he had given his son the greatest gift he had to offer, at the greatest price he could ever pay. Police removed from his pockets a rosary, a crucifix, a religious medallion, and a poem clipped from a magazine. The poem read:

The clock of life is wound but once,
And no man has the power
To tell just when the hands will stop
At late or early hour.
Now is the only time you own.
Live, love, toil with a will.
Place no faith in time.
For the clock may soon be still.

STORY NUMBER TWO

World War II produced many heroes. One such man was Lieutenant Commander Butch O'Hare. He was a fighter pilot assigned to the aircraft carrier USS
Lexington in the South Pacific. One day his entire squadron was sent on a mission. After he was airborne, he looked at his fuel gauge and realized
that someone had forgotten to top off his fuel tank. He would not have enough fuel to complete his mission and get back to his ship. His flight
leader told him to return to the carrier. Reluctantly, he dropped out of formation and headed back to the fleet.

As he was returning to the mother ship he saw something that turned his blood cold: a squadron of Japanese aircraft were speeding their way toward
the American fleet. The American fighters were gone on a sortie, and the fleet was all but defenseless. He couldn't reach his squadron and bring them
back in time to save the fleet. Nor could he warn the fleet of the approaching danger.

There was only one thing to do. He must somehow divert them from the fleet. Laying aside all thoughts of personal safety, he dove into the formation of Japanese planes. Wing-mounted 50 caliber's blazed as he charged in, attacking one surprised enemy plane and then another. Butch wove in and
out of the now broken formation and fired at as many planes as possible until all his ammunition was finally spent. Undaunted, he continued the
assault. He dove at the planes, trying to clip a wing or tail in hopes of damaging as many enemy planes as possible and rendering them unfit to fly.

Finally, the exasperated Japanese squadron took off in another direction. Deeply relieved, Butch O'Hare and his tattered fighter limped back to the
carrier. Upon arrival, he reported in and related the event surrounding his return. The film from the gun-camera mounted on his plane told the tale. It showed the extent of Butch's daring attempt to protect his fleet. He had, in fact, destroyed five enemy aircraft.

This took place on February 20, 1942, and for that action Butch became the Navy's first Ace of W.W.II , and the first Naval Aviator to win the Congressional Medal of Honor.

A year later Butch was killed in aerial combat at the age of 29.

His home town would not allow the memory of this WW II hero to fade, and today O'Hare Airport in Chicago is named in tribute to the courage of this
great man.

So, the next time you find yourself at O'Hare International, give some thought to visiting Butch's memorial displaying his statue and his Medal of
Honor. It's located between Terminals 1 and 2.

SO WHAT DO THESE TWO STORIES HAVE TO DO WITH EACH OTHER?
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Butch O'Hare was "Easy Eddie's" son.

The Real World Journeys

When i was in Pune, TRAVELING in the city did not occupy any position in my thought process.. It was mechanical. It was short and quick with almost definite required time. It was only after I landed here in B'lore that I think about traveling.
On this occasion, let me do a little burai of ITPL* buses :p Trust me, when i used to take ITPL buses, they would make me sick from inside. It's filled with people who's life is computerized. They are always thinking about how they can look more cool etc etc.. no one talks to the person sitting next and they are perpetually listening to the songs on their funky iPods!! How pathetic!
Slowly I grew sick of these uneventful long journeys and decided to get my bike to B'lore. Now, it so happened that, ITPL refused to give me 15 days bus pass so, i had to go for the local buses. I was lil tensed.. yeah... though it sounds funny, that is the truth. I have hardly ever traveled by local buses in Pune. And this was B'lore..
To my surprise, I found those local bus journeys pretty amusing, of course in a different way. It is tiring when u don't get place and have to stand for an hour... that part apart, I got to c a lot of different things. What I felt something like a fresh air current was that I was among the real people!! The people who talked to the people who sat next, who had natural expressions on their faces.. who were eager to help u when u got onto a wrong bus.... really, it felt so good when I saw all that.
I see so many different people on the bus.. small kids, girls n guys from colleges, old people.. I remember there was this old couple who were fruit stall owners in a near by village i suppose n they had sacks full of fruits.. we all helped them load the sacks onto the bus.. they were happy then n gave us a banana each! how sweet! :) I would surely not get to experience this on a ITPL bus!
The other event that has left a deep impression on my mind is when I met this little kid. He and his sister got onto the bus to go to the school. he must be 8 or so and his sister around 10. He sat next to me and smiled at me .. He was wearing a white shirt.. which was looking more on the brown side with a collar torn, a tie almost torn.. the same was the condition of his sister's uniform. What was very striking was that these kids were very happy!! I did not understand their language, but I could make out that they were joking and laughing over something that was innocently funny.. some minutes passed and an old lady got onto the bus. She had to go a long way n did not get a place to sit. Seeing that I offered my seat to her. This kid who was just 8, saw all that n was almost on the verge of crying because it did not strike him first that he should have asked that old lady to sit on his seat.. he got up and offered his seat to me and said something in Kannada. I must have had a blank expression on my face so, his sister looked at me and said, please sit down. Of course I said no. I was really surprised.. such little kids and they were so well behaved..
Ten min. must have passed after that when their school friends also got onto the bus. And I heard the same innocent laughter again... These kids dint have money to buy new clothes.. but they had something precious that made them happy, cheerful and nice human beings! Even now as I think of those kids, I smile :)


* ITPL is a place in B'lore where there are lots of computer companies, and my institute, where I work.

An Amateur's attempt

Sketching.. is a way of relaxing for me.. Usually, when I draw, it goes on for 1.5- 2 hours... and I completely forget the things around me. It feels great. :)

One Man's Dream

I close my eyes and drift into a new world... with the Piano composition.. One Man's Dream. Like a feather we dance, take circles at the most gentle breeze... i feel as if the music is emerging like a fountain from within..so beautiful.. so soothing.. it fills me.. and shows up on my face in the form of a smile..smile for no reason.. or just for the reason so important, so obvious that I have almost lost the touch with the world around... tune is neither happy nor sad... is it compassionate? yeah... I think it is... we drift along..touching the grass so green that I pick up a little green.. we move ahead to the vast meadows and then to mountains which appear as if they are in deep meditation... we reach the top of the mountains... I look around..what fills the air is peace which you c on the face of a sleeping child.. something that I have not even begun to understand... with this tune as I drift, it appears as if with everything around and the reason within, we are timeless.. like One Man's Dream!

Tears in heaven (Eric Clapton)

Would you know my name
If I saw you in heaven?
Would you feel the same
If I saw you in heaven?
I must be strong and carry on
cause I know I dont belong here in heaven...

Would you hold my hand
If I saw you in heaven?
Would you help me stand
If I saw you in heaven?
Ill find my way through night and day
cause I know I just cant stay here in heaven...

Time can bring you down, time can bend your knees
Time can break your heart, have you begging please...begging please

Beyond the door theres peace Im sure
And I know therell be no more tears in heaven...

Would you know my name
If I saw you in heaven?
Would you feel the same
If I saw you in heaven?
I must be strong and carry on
cause I know I dont belong here in heaven...

Living a PG life..

Living a PG (paying guest's) life... is an experience indeed! Considering the fact that this is the first time I am staying away from home for a long time, my mom was worried (a lot!! :P) and me curious...
My PG accommodation hunt dint have a very encouraging start. My friend and I visited some places but they were all sad considering that I am pretty finicky bout things like clean surroundings and all..Friend who accompanied me belongs to the same species in this matter so we quickly rejected all of them. At the end of the day we returned.. tired, lil shocked ( by the kind of places tht we saw) and frustrated as we could manage to c only 3 places.. (c, how output oriented we have become.. thanks to the corporate world!! hee hee.. :P ) The next day, my mom and I set out to look for a PG accommodation after a heavy lunch (stupid thing to do!) Thankfully, the first place we visited, satisfied all our conditions. So.. this is the place where I stay now.. a lil bungalow, with big evergreen trees around :) I share my room with another girl who works in IT. Best part being that she is on the phone 90% of the times ( for the reason we all know ;) ) giving me loads of space.. :)I can do things in my own style ( I have purposely used this word :p ) without getting any comments :)
Another thing which I would like to mention which is trying to become an integral part of my PG life is Cooking... Considering my great enthusiasm... its still trying :P Believe it or not, but I actually plan as to which vegetables I am to buy on my looooooooong (approx 1.5hrs) journey back home (whenever I decide to cook :P ). To put it on records, I HAVE COOKED 4 times!! ( I feel triumphant as I say this) and ppl liked it :D
I have to mention my NEW FRIENDS.. everyone talks about the Human friends... I will try n be lil adventurous here.. no fun in doing what everyone does, right? So.. we have a million ants, house lizards and a humongous rat ( who visits us every night.. I really admire the consistency!!!). The time I got to know my this new friend, I was zapped as he banged against my foot and ran off ( consider the fact that I have not even seen big cockroaches in my Pune ka ghar!) ! I still don't know the exact number of lizards.. no one knows for that matter as every time, there is a new one! I am trying to accept their presence still...
Overall its fun.. trying my hand at cooking, watching any crap on TV, chatting with other PG mates late night and yess... getting to know my NEW FRIENDS :P hee hee..
Cheers!!

City called Banglore... frm d view point of a Punekar

As many of you know, I am in B'lore now.. doing Ph.D in...4get it. Wont tell you the tech. details :) (Ppl who r interested, can contact me :) )
The main point is tht.. am in B'lore. City, not so new to me as my aunt stays here n have visited her lot of times b4. Talking about the weather, lot like tht of Pune ( just love Pune - People who hv listened to 'Asa mi asa Mi by PuLa, will get wht i EXACTLY mean when i say tht.. hee hee..) That is damn imp 4 me... I hated Delhi cuz of the weather.. it s BAD.
I got here 2 wks back. From airport we traveled for around 45 min to go to jyamahal (my Aunt's place) and traveled back in the airport direction (!!!!!) to visit Inst. Of Bioinformatics ( another 1 hr !!!!). IOB is the place where i am doing my Ph.D. Then off course search for the PG accom. We went to the places near by n got back traveling 1.5hrs back again. plz do the math as to 4 how much time we were traveling. Pune standards about distance n the required time to travel are LOTTTTT different. Think mainly cuz Pune is comparatively a small city with less traffic. I better not start talking about B'lore traffic.. its HORRIBLE. its sad that I start my blog with b'lore traffic.. but that is the thing tht u face 1st whn u land here.
Otherwise, b'lore has changed a lot over the years... now its more cosmopolitan.. bigger.. People are good. they DON'T stare at you while u r walking on the road.. :) there are these slight differences between Pune and banglore. In banglore, you will find ppl who come from all corners of india.. 4 tht matter even world
You get all sorts of things in the malls... right from kerala parotha to chitalenchi bakarvadi...most of the ppl in ITPL wld be wearing branded clothes .... IT IT everywhere...huge money flow... Still there is some kind of 'sticking to culture'.. Ppl will offer prayers every morning.. there will be rangoli outside the bungalows.. early morning kids will practice Karnatic music... :) Pune... you wont find that.
The garden city is going to be the place to stay for coming 3-4 yrs :) and am pretty happy about it (nothing can be compared PUNE tho :P )

http://www.travelbangalore.com/html/banglore_city.html

Lil dots that made the Paint Stroke

Its about my evening walks. I swear I tell u, these walks were concentrated feeling of my world. the world that I carry along everywhere. Then I remember what had happened long back. I remember having this distinct feeling when I was looking into the mirror 13 yrs back. The realisation of my world being independent of those around me. Realising that, i think so much about my people, my work, my existence, my world being of supreme imp to me and everyone must be doing that... and if I get the top view, where does my world of supreme imp to me stand? then I go higher n higher... n my world seems smaller n smaller... till the point that its just a point. A point among a million others..a million other points.. do they look different from the top? NO...... they really seem to carry lot of similar elements.. a feeling of uneasiness.. of course! its like an identity crisis! i laugh.. god!! now I c those imaginary walls that I created. Its like, u fence a field n think that its different than the earth around, missing the 3D!

Observations and discoveries!

Last wk was hectic. on Thursday n fri got an opportunity to attend some really interesting lecs in a symposium 'recent trends n modern biology.'
i assure u tht am not going to give tech details :D so u can relax n go ahead n read ths post. :)
One lec was really gr8 by a scientist from NCL. Actually he is a physicist bt is working on some interdisciplinary problems.
This man is working on the IN field: nanotech. has published over 300 papers etc etc..
What i liked the best 'bout this man is that he OBSERVED!! he observed everything.. men around him, animals, non living things.. everything! We only See things. I mean at least i do so. there is difference between seeing n observing. this man n many like him watched what was happening around them n tried to immitate that. They came up with astonishing discoveries!
There is a reptile called geko. he runs at the speed of 1m/sec. I know this fact. even u know it. then what do WE do? we r AMAZED at the nature!
These men go beyond that. these nano tech people have studied the molecular details behind this process and one day we might have gloves with the properties that geko's web like feet have!
this NCL scientist did something which amazed us. He was making a nano film n due to oxidation at points, there were spiral patterns. This man once was going thr something tht related to the chit ah. N guess what?! he fund a solution for his oxidation problem. With some computational work he proved that spiral pattern was adapted cuz its like a spring which can take up certain flexibility.
There are so many examples like that..
Lets try to OBSERVE things. :)

Cricket mania!

With this post, I know I am going to be criticized by the hard core cricket fans. Even i like the sport.. it is fun to watch n play too.. I used to play cricket in school (arthatach gully Cricket!) It was real Fun! :D
Still.. There are some issues to be considered..It all began in yr 2000 or so i suppose. The business out of this sport i mean. Here I am using the word SPORT and not GAME! According to me, there is nothing wrong in doing that. Problem is realising the extent to which its to be done. Sahara has given them homes worth crores, they are in advertisements fetching lacks/crores of rupees, we spend hours sitting in front of the TV and RELIGIOUSLY watch the matches, we have all the records by heart! What must be the total amount of money that's invested in this GAME?? I don't know the figure but for sure i know its MUCH more than required.. Seriously, If all those houses are sold and whatever money generated are given to the underprivileged.. can u imagine HOW MANY villages will be benefited?!
On top of all this we have match fixing which over the time we coolly forget and start worshipping the players all over again!
Thing to consider is that, when we have ENORMOUS amount of energy and money to be spent on cricket, why don't we channelise it where it is really required??
Another thing is that why don't we focus on other SPORTS too?? Probably we have forgotten that our national sport is HOCKEY.. (!!??!!)
Any way, this is what I think.. rest is for you to figure out.
Enjoy the ICC cricket world cup! Its an exciting game!
:D

outline, define..

This may be the fault of my weak vocab or just my nature..I often come across situations when i have to define what i feel or i have to outline my thaughts!! And i really tell you.. i go blank! one of my fears.. how do you define what is good or how do you define what is an achievement? these are scary quastions.. what's good to me is what's good to me.. why do you want a definition?? thn i go, 'ummmnnn... according to me.. 'and then your opinion 'bout it.. then how my good slightly is different than yours (some even go to the extent of giving me a feel of free fall!!). words are good. i have no objection over ths means of letting ppl know what u hv to say.. the situations, like ones mentions above, FOR ME, are like a web.. u have to balance, be carefull. Boy n am bad at it

The take-over

Everyone knows 'bout THE take -over. Actually i should not be using THE for the Tata- Corus deal as bigger one was the Mittal. Still the steel progress is beyond my comprehension! This might sound foolish as all know that rank 1st, 2nd and now new 5th are Indians in the Steel industry. What i don't understand yet is how is all this going to improve the Indian scenario? As far as i know, we still are to go miles and miles in improving the steel involvement in Indian 'everything' meaning the rail-roads etc etc.. I know this is my sheer ignorance but this troubles me. It's something like going way ahead in theory n not knowing the practical applications of it. If any one really knows how all this is going to improve the Indian scenario, please post that in comments.

A Puzzle

In my trip to the enigmatic city of Mumbai I had decided to utilize my time, every minute of it. Usually whenever I go there, I visit a million of my relatives who stay there and whole time goes in traveling from one relative’s home to the another’s ( as one would stay in Dadar n other in Belapur). And I hated all that. Really hated it as I don’t like crowded places and Mumbai is CROWDED. I believe that for India, the word Cosmopolitan originated from the city of Mumbai. What do you think? Am I right or am I right? Hee hee hee…
I went to my mama’s place in west Santa Cruz by bus. I don’t know why that area is so hyped about. It’s OK. Not great or something. My Mami obviously had prepared awesome food. Hogged n then took a nap. In the evening we went to Juhu beach. They have cleaned it!!!!!!!!!!! That’s good news for beach lovers like me. We had gola and such other ‘unhygienic’ stuff which is not much appreciated back home. Sound of waves… I can listen to that heavenly sound for hours and hours. Sadly it was being contaminated with at least 2000 people talking at the same time and in various pitches! Then we went to a micro mini movie theatre called Gem. Watched a real good movie called ‘Flags of our fathers’ directed by Clint Eastwood.
The second day is what I want to talk about. I am SCARED of local trains. My mama insisted on us going by train to VT. I ‘bravely’ agreed! We went to Santa Cruz station. All Mumbai stations look alike. They typically have this bridge over which a million people RUN every day, some people try to sell some cheap stuff like pirated C.Ds , trousers for 30 rupees (!!! Yes. You get to hear such things only in Mumbai!) Etc. And to tell you, they earn very well. You buy ticket here and catch the train at the other end of the world. They have those many platforms. Uncountable locals running following time table sec by sec. I prayed hard. God is sweet. There wasn’t much rush for our train.
We then went to Jahangeer Art gallery. It was my dream to see it, to tell you the truth. I have a belief that probably best of best paintings from India are displayed there. Before that we saw this incredible thing on the foot path. That place is allotted to some artists. They display their work there, on the foot path. Some of the paintings were really good. Every artist has a soft corner for some element e.g. water, villages, scenes from club houses or for that matter a color! And you would see that reflecting in each of his paintings. Then at Jahangeer we saw this exhibition of modern art. It was good and I understood most of the paintings! You have to agree with me that it’s a tough job. There was another exhibition of modern art which I did NOT understand so, it wasn’t all that good! Hee hee hee…
There was one with the theme of Buddha by an artist called Satish Pandey which was really fantastic!! He had made a huge statue of Lord Buddha in bronze. I could really feel some vibrations out there… felt so calm looking at that tranquil face of Buddha. And in a sec all the things that I saw that morning flashed in front of my eyes. All that rush, thousands of middle class people running, carrying there small worlds around, my Mama’s Big flat in a posh locality, story of one of my far off relative who’s daughter is completely spoilt and spends at least 3000 rupees when she goes for shopping every wk, those faceless artists, and that tranquil Buddha! I could feel my heart burn. Was this the reason why I did not like to come to Mumbai? The severity of that ever growing paradox is too much for me to take. Even today as I think of Mumbai, after a while my brain goes numb. No doubt I had a fantastic trip n visited lots of places after my visit to the Jahangeer but the puzzle of Buddha’s tranquility in the middle of that paradoxical world will always trouble me.

The name mosaic seems to be right.. unrelated pieces making a sensible picture!
I am not very comfortable writing such things.. open for public. Thinking of giving it a try.
Currently I'm injured. met with a small lil accident yest.. thnks to tht drizzle, 'bout which i was very happy till the time i realised that was sliding on the Balgandharva bridge (ltrs of oil on the road n drizzle is a BAD combo!).
had gone to Mumbai 4 the weekend. Decided to do something different this time. I don't like to shop as means of passing time. According to me it's an awful wastage of time. Visited Jahangeer Art gallery and many more things. will write 'bout all that when i get a little better..
c ya soon.