ode to the death of a "Just another person"

What can you say bout a lady tht just died?That she wasnt all that gorgoeus,almost always shied away from a conversation, and would've been my teacher?

Dhanya,passed away at the age of 27,still a sapling to the Earth,desires unheard, and battling it to the end. She wasnt really anyone to me. I've never seen her. She was just another character out of my mom's work stories. Her dad and my mom used to work at the same SBT branch.

Remarkably it so happened that after all these years, I happened to pick the same branch of engineering at the very same college. So then why would I spent my time on a seemingly meaningless note? The very answer lies in the truth that I dont want to be writing this. I would've loved it if she would have been in her home studying as she always did for her Mtech classes.

An year ago she had been taken to the lakeshore hospital, as a cancer patient. It started as a mole on her body. Just another skin disease we all seem to get. Or so everyone thought.
The doctor got suspicious and sent her for check-up and soon it was confirmed.

There were stages in the treatment when she had it real tough.

After her graduation from CU she had tried the 'gate' exams and then started working at the college as a guest lecturer.In 2008 she had joined the Mtech dept in the same college.

Life went on, until a month ago when mom called me up to tell that Kunjukunju uncle's daughter had been discharged and she had shown a remarkable resistance to the cancer. She had been declared 100% free of cancer. A miracle.

Joy.Merry.And then the collapse at the Dept of Electronics. She was rushed to hospital but the doctors soon informed that her cancer had spread to different organs and there was no chance to save her. she had to wait for what was the eventuality.

She dint allow any visitors in the last few days. She dint want their sympathy. It was said she suffered pain,especially in the nights but wouldn't allow her dad to shift her to hospital. She lost her voice and had to write down her final few words.

And she died. With little fuss and all the love. Things had gotten worse and she had been taken to the hospital.

I have nothing to more to add to this note.it so happens that many a million die every second. I know not what will happen to me tomorrow. But I do know why my eyes are moist and it aint just the lack of sleep.

I wonder if the doctors were right in giving her false hopes? Did she have the best two days in her life? Or did the person, who had showed incredible willpower to endure the pain, finally give in ,after she realized that the doctors had been lying? I don't know. Not that I ever will! But one thing is for sure! She wanted to live..

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Being the Single guy!

ok!lemme get this straight! it isnt wht tht IIT Chetan guy says! gosh he had it so easy. girls inviting a fatso/student of her father to make out at home?or quallis?and then guys falling over mysterious phone calls in the middle of the nyt and ladies disappearing in trains? ya ryt!

k so heres the truth!being a single guy is not wht it seems on the fancy books,or the American pie movies.its worse and so much more fun.we are the totally unpredictable type!living life to the fullest.Free to design our paths forward.And do u know wht these fancy ladies tag us?' MEN'. [ARRRGGHHHHHH] { Yes u freaking other kind of homo sapiens thats why we wear trousers and not skirts.}

Beer,slut and everything nice:
its been nearly two yrs at college now and i really don know a gal tht has never been called a slut privately. it so happens.not tht we are exceptionally proud of calling everyone that but i guess its the trend these days. initially i found it very disturbing, cause school had been so different and sudden jump into coll was tough. but then i gradually got used to the concept and nowadays i really dont differentiate. i guess its the Single's way of telling how desperate they are!AND i am not gonna go protesting!:)
bout beer , i've personally found it an attitude thing but i can assure u there are lodsa guys who feed on it as if its so addictive..

ok then there are guys like me.for instance my fish kept jumping out of his new home that i named him kurt![hehe yes for the suicidal aspect solely]

did u know there are guys who shave their legs just because some girl in Mel Gibson's "wht women want" found it seductive? and then there are the fair and lovely creeps!then the " i haven bathed for a fortnyt cos i was busy reading Amartya Sen" prototype. to tell u the truth these guys are the 'desperate' singles. one wink and u'd probably have them following u carrying ur stuff and begging for order. these guys wear trousers all the tym,almost always specs laiden, and either reading the stars or deciphering the imaginary tea leaves on the floor.

and then comes the chicken soup.some guys read tht as if it were bible,to hell with tht! the point is we are a bunch of unique ppl having nothing common except the "single" tag.all these books proclaiming to have unlocked the keys behind singlehood is nothin but a waste of money.
cheers to life and merry be everyday!

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Death and all his friends!

i could make out little jessica clinging on the her daddy's shoulder.i hadn't seen seen benji jr since morning and i started wondering if that would be the last time ever.i smiled at the thought of my son,his two kids and his wife. they made the cutest of families.
slowly my vision started becoming blurred and i wondered "is this it?".i wanted to open my eyes but i couldn't and i clenched my fists fearing the 'inevitability'.after all death was just that right?something that had to happen.
"dont be scared,dont be scared..."
why would anyone fear death?it not as if its painful ryt?or is it?but pain is a finite quantity.there's got to be a limit.why still fear death? especially with the state of the art medicines making it impossible to feel any sort of pain.there are so many ways of looking at death but ultimately we all fear it.
" we all wanna go to heaven but we are too scared to die!" the bitter irony.

A question that is linked with the fear of death is the concept of 'afterlife'. every religion i know speaks about it,and the concept does exist even among gothic and similar sub cults.But 'after life' is a subject for another day.
i've been wondering about 'death' and why it is that we fear it.i myself cant really make out why but the truth still remains, 'i am too scared to die'.
Death is certainly an inevitability.forget the alchemists,the templar knights and sorcerer's stone, death brings about 'equilibrium' and with the ever rising population death is a certainly a blessing.those who are fimiliar with the butterfly effect or the chaos theory[as explained beautifully in crichtons 'jurassic park'] deals with the concept of equilibrium.["Chaos theory is a branch of mathematics which studies the behavior of certain dynamical systems that may be highly sensitive to initial conditions. This sensitivity is popularly referred to as the butterfly effect.As a result of this sensitivity, which manifests itself as an exponential growth of error, the behavior of chaotic systems appears to be random. That is, tiny differences in the starting state of the system can lead to enormous differences in the final state of the system even over fairly small timescales. This gives the impression that the system is behaving randomly. This happens even though these systems are deterministic, meaning that their future dynamics are fully determined by their initial conditions with no random elements involved. This behavior is known as deterministic chaos, or simply chaos." courtesy wikipedia.org]
kamal hassan's dasavataram certainly speaks about it but the movie was so horrible people hardly noticed.while chaos theory refers to the randomness,butterfly effect deals with the result.so death might actually be a part of a 'greater sequence' we men can't understand.
while science sees death as a biological process, it is hard for a common man to accept it as "just tht".
to some, 'death' is a reflection of how we live our lives.i have found it very tough to understand because i have seen really good people suffering at hospitals while the villains get shot on their head and gets an easy 'death'.but maybe 'death' aint just 'end of life'. by having it easy myt mean "being free of guilt" and or the feeling of "having lived life to the fullest".
but are these possible? u myt have been the richest but u still could've loved ur wife a little more and so on. man's desire and greed is never ending.u always have something left undone.

"guys,he is going into an arrest.hit him at the count of three. one,two,...."

Is death a sign of weakness?the 'ultimate destruction'.to some it myt well be. life is never easy, and havin struggled and fought ur way thru it, death is just another obstacle on our path.a wall. only we cant cross it!it is discouraging and certainly demoralizing.and what more the anxiety of wht lies beyond is 'disturbing'.
to some people death is nothing but a conclusion to a great purpose that has been served and the beginning of a new journey.life is short and to have lived it for others is a feeling one can be proud of.but ultimately when u are in ur deathbed , can u be satisfied with what u have done with ur life? those who can are a different kind!Deific!Pious!And righteous!they c it as a transformation from their physical self to the spiritual.
But Death to man is a goodbye. a goodbye to all he was.to all he had!to all he had wanted.and to all he had loved. it isnt easy.infact it is scary.
our lives have been spent, sharing love with the loved ones, fighting it out to be the best with the competitors, and sudden loss of what he was and what he could is terribly firghtening.and hence arises the greatest fear of death.Being forgotten.regardless of how we try to cover it, the fact still remains that we are frightened by the thought of losing our identity.we are afraid of what might happen to void left by us, and we are scared of wht would happen to our dear ones whn we no are no longer present.

"Life lives,life dies,
Life laughs,life cries,
Life gives up and life tries.
But life looks different through everyones' eyes." and so it goes for death".

"gosh wher have they put me now? its so dark in here!is this the morgue?but i am not dead!have they made a mistake?heh i am alive and its so damn cold.."
and he walked out of his bed to the bright door he could see at the end of the hallway.he walked and walked, and never got tired until he finally managed the knob. he opened and "Sheila..!"

The nurse brought the baby to his dad.he had the brownest of eyes and black hair like his mom. He took jr to his mummy,kissed her on the cheeks and said" lets name him after benjamin's dad!"

"For death begins with life's first breath And life begins at touch of death”

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cherry flavoured antacids[special thanks to aristotle for helping me out]

"'tis a common proof
That lowliness is young ambition's ladder,
Whereto the climber-upward turns his face;
But when he once attains the upmost round,
He then unto the ladder turns his back,
Looks in the clouds, scorning the base degrees
By which he did ascend. So Caesar may;
Then, lest he may, prevent."- Cassius

I had wanted to call Nithin, an old classmate, and since i couldn't find his number in the ALL PURPOSE sleek and sexy gadget,accused of reducing testosterone quantity[/quality, i really don't know which] i immediately dashed to my TV shelf and took out my secondary database for phone numbers, THE SLAM BOOK.
I made the call but dint throw the book away. instead i went through all the stupid questions and naive answers and smiled! "kids!". i never knew i had grown all boring but then maybe its because every single thing we talk at college directly or indirectly ends up with sex or long legs!how ignorant had i been back at school[well at least i wasn't all that BAd]!
i scrolled through the pages until i read this " dated until the sun becomes a black hole or until u get some facial hair, whichever comes first!] [OUCH!!!]
well i looked at the page she had written with multicoloured sketch pens and slowly uttered her name. GOSH its been so long since i've heard from her! and to think we were best friends till tenth.sports champion.awesome wit. and then she had to switch schools due to personal problems.still we met occasionally and then someone dear to her passed away. had to re shift.din't do all tht well in the kerala entrance exams and now i hardly have any info.
Is life always like this?how can two ppl, especially with the modern day technology, not be in contact?but the truth is we always resort to putting the blame on our work,teachers,boss,and even the service providers[fU*ck em all for charging too much for our phone calls] instead of accepting our own mistakes. i really dont know if it has happened to anyone reading this but it happens to me all the time.
gone are the times when friendship was a feeling of a heart.these things are now value based. if the old one ain't up to the expected mark, dump em or replace them.
and the saddest part is WE DON'T realize what we r doing. it has been so neatly engraved in our minds that we hardly feel odd doing it.
i guess its high time we sat down and analysed what friendship really is."Not everything in life is loved.only the lovable things are".[quote of the day]
lets break down "friendhsip" into three groups.
*Things that are good
*things that are pleasant
*and things that are useful.

Take things that are good. Do friends love what is good for other friends, or what is good for themselves? Clearly, there could be differences of opinion here - like the individual who loves their friend’s intellect whilst themself being somewhat challenged, or the individual who loves their friend’s wit whilst being themselves rather dull. And this could cause problems.it must
be the case that in friendship, people love what seems good or pleasant or useful to them- and perhaps they unconsciously keep their fingers-crossed that they are lovable for some good, pleasant or useful thing that they offer to their friend.

Friendship is goodwill between reciprocating parties. It sounds a little dry for a definition, but surely captures a truth.

The first group are friends primarily because they are useful to each other – like
an employee and a boss, or a doctor and a patient, or a politician and an ally; they share goodwill because they get something out of the relationship. Those who love each other because they are useful do not love each other for themselves but insofar as some good that they get from each other.but this relation cant last. you change your company or u loose your hand in an accident and then there's no mutual "usefulness".
The second group are friends primarily because some pleasure is enjoyed by being with them; it may be the football, the shopping, the gossip or physical intimacy, but the friendship thrives as long as the thing that gives the pleasure continues to exist between them.
the third group are people who love each other for what they are in themselves. It may be their depth of character, their innate goodness, their intensity of passion or their simple 'joie de vivre', but once established on such a basis these friendships are ones that will last. Undoubtedly much will be given and much taken too but the friendship itself is independent of external factors and immensely more valuable than the friendships that fall into the first two groups. The better these friends are as people, the better the quality of the friendship. This friendship is therefore also the rarest.
But does the third kind exist today? hhmmmmm i wonder.But then where do we have time right?we have our assignments,the teachers, the boss err.. yup its the same case everywhere.
lets pray for mankind then casue i have no answers to share. just apprehensions.lets hope!Man survived without the dodos.He seems not to mind the ever shortening number of animals and trees.well, then i guess men can survive without genuine pals as well.
i've often pondered over the meaning of kurt's pennyroyal tea.abortion,drugs,guilt. they called it all. but then maybe he was just playing Mr Nostradamus. sip the pennyroyal tea and cleanse ur wretched souls or a day shall come when even the cherry flavoured antacids aren gonna work its magic.some critic did call it "suicidal" but then he myt have been referring to the humankind as such.
I'm so tired I can't sleep
I'm anemic royalty
I'm a liar and a theif
I'm anemic royalty

I'm on warm milk and laxatives
Cherry-flavored antacids

Sit and drink Pennyroyal Tea
Distill the life that's inside of me
Sit and drink Pennyroyal Tea
I'm anemic royalty

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India stinkin and lovin it.

well i've never been a great a fan of kerlala's capital thiruvananthapuram. its very lengthy by virtue of its name and still has nothing other than two wrecked big bazaars for assembling the chics.
but then i love my country and thats y i write bout it all the time.
while i was walking through the east fort region,skipping the rotting vegetables,wet condoms and God knows who's saliva on the road i noticed two foreigners, all tanned and cursing the place.
i wondered " why would anyone wanna spend an entire fortune visiting a country like India? especially if this is their attitude."
but then i dint let that thought disturb me as i strolled through streets trying different sweets.[gosh that even rhymes]
But since i had nothing else to be doing[dint bring my gf along]in this history laden hotel[you should c the rust on the so called AC compressor],i took Lauren Weisberger's 'Devil wears prada' out. and TADA..Andy gets an amoebic dysentery on her trip to India.
and so my thoughts wondered.
Y DO THEY VISIT INDIA ANYWAY??
i tried to think of instances in movies,books,tv shows of foreigners in which India or Indians have been portrayed. and i couldnt think of any instance where they've admired the cultural heritge,,the history or the diversity we bring along.Instead its almost always been the mosquitoes,the kinky english,the study worms with pathetic slang in USA, or the train with the funniest closet they've ever seen. its all the same.and then there is the slum.something they believe the whole India to be.
and then came the filthy booker winner called WHITE TIGER.
it seems very obvious.they want India to be the dirty country.they want the indians to smell funny,they want the mosquitoes.
to tell you the truth i personally think they wouldn't visit India if it were a developed nation.
an Indian trip for them is a soul quenching 'nirvana',wherein you suffer yet u learn that India is an underdeveloped hopeless nation. they wanna know and see and feel the poverty.they wanna breathe the stinking odour. they wanna feel the polluted river.
its what the foreigners basically want. and they want to speak to the fellow WHITE humans bout the hardship they faced.about dysentery they managed.
to tell you the truth they don't really care bout the culture.the diversity. or its remarkable and enviable land patterns.
and what are we as Indians gonna do bout it? Nothing. we are nothing but blind-folded egoistic creeps who uses his 'tool' of a mind to put his neighbour in trouble.its not just Pakistan one should worry bout. its the world. the world sees us as nothing but black ugly Indians and we don't really mind it do we? a bunch of Indians were held to racist attacks by air France and what did our gov. do? NOTHING.
it is high time we realize what is happening to us. we have to respect English as a language. F the Marathi warriors and the sena. its not what India should be doing globally. what we ought to do is to develop.no point in insisting everyone that visit our country ought to know Hindi.we just need to realize Hindi is too tough a language for them to swallow.
Development doesn't mean filling factories in every corner. it means improvement of the society and the standard of living. it means ppl 'realizing' and doing what is best for his society.And how can we reach that? Through education and exposure.
There is no point brimming a child with calculus if he is gonna live his whole life in the beach with the 'local' habitants. its not that he should leave his home.But he needs to know what the world is and we need to make him a part of the developing youth of the nation.we should stand up and face every nation in the eye.To let people know that success is not just for the rich.in fact its lesser for the rich who has it very easy.
jai hind

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ACES INSPIRE NO MORE

well finally school of engineerings biggest tech fest, inspire[conducted by the comp science dept] is over but theres absolutely nothin to fret bout.
ITS GETTING BIGGER AND BETTER. yes the whole of soe[cusat] has decided to conduct one big tech fest. it has been decided that the branch wise tech fests wud be curbed and all the energy wud be focussed in conducting one big tech fest.
every single fest at cusat , may it be inspire,techmantra,the impulse have all seen a great success with numerous colleges around kochi taking part.
soe is tech fest is BIG, and we are certainly expecting teams from the whole of south india. initial preparations have started.
keep tuned to this space for more info

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THE NEED FOR SPEED

well here is one article for u hard core need for speed fans! here is according to my view the top 5 need for speeds to hit the PCs. i am racing enthusiast and hence my rating would be different from ur fav five! pls post comment on what u think are the best!

5)need for speed 3:hot pursuit
this was the ground breaking game of our childhood! to be able to drive the mercs and the lambis is one thing! but to have police in el ninos behind u was totally cool and i still remember using the cheat code to drive the elusive cars!

4)need for speed 6:hot pursuit 2
again a pure racing game with superb graphics,great rounds and ideas and for the first time introducing the choppers! the hot puruit two was yet again a breath of fresh air from the other games!

3)need for speed 8:Underground 2
the streets,the dark,the vinyls! it made one think" heh did the fast and the furious movie come first,or the underground?" whatever happened to the chicken and egg!

2)need for speed: undercover
ground breaking graphics,awesome pusuits its gottem all!it would have been the first hadnt it been for the love i share towards number 1

1)need for speed:most wanted
pleasing graphics,smooth rides,superb concept and a great story line! undoubtedly the best

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CUSAT counselling!

the admissions for the lateral entry at cusat colleges, has started!
the lateral entry is for various tudents who have passed diploma or similar courses!
the counselling started on 24 th of june! pls chk official website for more details!
the cusat online counselling for btech seems to have started off in a wrong track after numerous people started complaining about the inefficiency of the server!
i came across a student who dint know that engg@cusat main campus in known under the name SOE,thrikkakara!
watch out when u do online counselling!

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cusat! oH CUSAT!

well well its tht time of the year again! newbies are coming to cusat! and v r gonna be seniors ! woohoo!
seriously now what can be better? hmm maybe there is something that can better!
its the attitude of the mallus towards cusat!i've had enough trying to instill the richness of cusat in those numb brains, which according to me[coll], is stirkingly similar to the good ole fashioned movies bout coll! but ppl in kerala esp kochi seem to have an attitude towards cusat thts totally unreasonable!
y wud u hate a college, that has set the record tym in publishing results and has conducted all the xams as per scheduled??
y wud u hate a college were your faculty is so gud?? to all the blogies, our teachers at cusat are the ones who design the syllb, who decides the question etc. for the cusat syllb xams!
why shud u opt fifty cent of cement crap of a model engg coll when u can have 180 acres of pure freedom at cusat? so tht u can study the same syllb? so tht u have to walk a lille lesser?
leave MEC! atleast there is a good bunch of students and faculty ovr der!
y choose scms,fisat,kusamagiri, rajagiri or pushpagiri when u can study in a better college by reputation,by placement,by facilities,by past record,by faculty,by freedomm, and spend millions in a college where u have to march to class after morning assembly and where u arent allowed to talk to ur seniors in da first year!
well many say its the politics! i wud on any day choose good politics over class monitors as u have in these self financing colls! to all those who study der, do u ask permission to drink water?
GOSH! GET a life dude!
seriously what is the point in writing the kerala entrance exams? CET and TKM are depleting in standard at the rate of knotts!u can ask anyone who are studying der!
NITC is gud but tht dosnt come with kerala entrance! trissur seems to be takin in ranks in excess of the 10k mark,! so whts the gud coll? MEC? [sigh] ya well its better than the rest!
seriously tho, its ur life,y not make it large @ cusat? by the way ,myt as well not join here rather than join here and comment bad bout coll!

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sprits revoked! oh mighty periyar!

hi guys!
i'm sending a mail after a long while!
last day i went to udl school to have a basketball game with my
classmates and during my return journey caught a glimpse of the
periyar!the colour of the river was a mixture of yellow and brown!
and thts when i realized that this river is in far more danger than
anyone wud've guessed!and to think that the whole of ernakulam is
drinking water from this very source!
i tell u a plague awaits us!something grave!something that wud go down
in history lyk the minamata!its tym we saved our own lives and get our
act together!this is water we are talking bout!pls consider this as
request ! A plea! i'm begging u to save my life and the lakhs that
depend on this mighty river!
i'm not saying by joining the community anything is gonna change!its
tym we act!and fast!
pls forward this message if u care for ur own lyf!those who depend on
well, pls do remember the underground water system!
we are hoping to gather sometym in may to discuss the grave problems
and find possible remedies!
regards nevin.

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greenpeace- inspiring the world

Happy Earth Day!

We are celebrating Earth Day with the release of a new video - 'Inspiring Action' - which we would like to share with you as part of our thanks for your continuing support of Greenpeace.

When you've finished watching the video we are also hoping that you'll be inspired and help us to share its message of action on behalf of our environment by taking some online action yourself ... and helping us recruit 3 million people to become climate activists. Yes, you read it correctly. 3 million. It's a big number because the Earth needs big action this year.

Here's what you can do:

First: Enjoy the video. Click on the YouTube logo at the end to rate it and leave a comment!

Second: Share it with your friends and family

Third: Take action for the climate this Earth Day by signing our online petition: ask our world leaders to take personal responsibility for the future of the climate and attend the UN Climate summit at the end of the year. But not just attend, they need to ensure a good deal for the climate.

Here's to a future that's green and peaceful. Together we can make it happen.

All of us,

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Every Day is an Earth Day.............

Every day is an Earth Day...........

I conceive that the land belongs to a vast family of which many are dead, few are living, and countless numbers are still unborn. ~A Chieftan from Nigeria

We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children. ~Native American Proverb

There are no passengers on Spaceship Earth. We are all crew. ~Marshall McLuhan, 1964

Thank God men cannot fly, and lay waste the sky as well as the earth. ~Henry David Thoreau

There's so much pollution in the air now that if it weren't for our lungs there'd be no place to put it all. ~Robert Orben

I'm not an environmentalist. I'm an Earth warrior. ~Darryl Cherney, quoted in Smithsonian, April 1990

Suburbia is where the developer bulldozes out the trees, then names the streets after them. ~Bill Vaughn, quoted in Jon Winokur, The Portable Curmudgeon, 1987

For 200 years we've been conquering Nature. Now we're beating it to death. ~Tom McMillan, quoted in Francesca Lyman, The Greenhouse Trap, 1990

I only went out for a walk and finally concluded to stay out till sundown, for going out, I found, was really going in. ~John Muir, 1913, in L.M. Wolfe, ed., John Muir, John of the Mountains: The Unpublished Journals of John Muir, 1938

I would feel more optimistic about a bright future for man if he spent less time proving that he can outwit Nature and more time tasting her sweetness and respecting her seniority. ~Elwyn Brooks White, Essays of E.B. White, 1977

A living planet is a much more complex metaphor for deity than just a bigger father with a bigger fist. If an omniscient, all-powerful Dad ignores your prayers, it's taken personally. Hear only silence long enough, and you start wondering about his power. His fairness. His very existence. But if a world mother doesn't reply, Her excuse is simple. She never claimed conceited omnipotence. She has countless others clinging to her apron strings, including myriad species unable to speak for themselves. To Her elder offspring She says - go raid the fridge. Go play outside. Go get a job. Or, better yet, lend me a hand. I have no time for idle whining. ~David Brin

Till now man has been up against Nature; from now on he will be up against his own nature. ~Dennis Gabor, Inventing the Future, 1963

Take nothing but pictures.Leave nothing but footprints.Kill nothing but time.~Motto of the Baltimore Grotto, a caving society

Humankind has not woven the web of life. We are but one thread within it. Whatever we do to the web, we do to ourselves. All things are bound together. All things connect. ~Chief Seattle, 1855

Man must feel the earth to know himself and recognize his values.... God made life simple. It is man who complicates it. ~Charles A. Lindbergh, Reader's Digest, July 1972

After a visit to the beach, it's hard to believe that we live in a material world. ~Pam Shaw

Climb the mountains and get their good tidings. Nature's peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees. The winds will blow their own freshness into you, and the storms their energy, while cares will drop off like autumn leaves. ~John Muir

Oh Beautiful for smoggy skies, insecticided grain,For strip-mined mountain's majesty above the asphalt plain.America, America, man sheds his waste on thee,And hides the pines with billboard signs, from sea to oily sea.~George Carlin

Environmentalists have long been fond of saying that the sun is the only safe nuclear reactor, situated as it is some ninety-three million miles away. ~Stephanie Mills, ed., In Praise of Nature, 1990

Humanity is on the march, earth itself is left behind. ~David Ehrenfeld, The Arrogance of Humanism, 1978

It is the safest of times, it is the riskiest of times.... What the Dickens is going on here? ~Denton Morrison, on chemicals, technology, and risk, quoted in National Academy of Sciences, Improving Risk Communication, 1989

Never does nature say one thing and wisdom another. ~Juvenal, Satires

There is a pleasure in the pathless woods,There is a rapture on the lonely shore,There is society, where none intrudes,By the deep sea, and music in its roar:I love not man the less, but Nature more.~George Gordon, Lord Byron, Childe Harold's Pilgrimage

There is hope if people will begin to awaken that spiritual part of themselves, that heartfelt knowledge that we are caretakers of this planet. ~Brooke Medicine

EagleYou can't be suspicious of a tree, or accuse a bird or a squirrel of subversion or challenge the ideology of a violet. ~Hal Borland, Sundial of the Seasons, 1964

And this, our life, exempt from public haunt, finds tongues in trees, books in the running brooks, sermons in stones, and good in everything. ~William Shakespeare

Only when the last tree has died and the last river been poisoned and the last fish been caught will we realise we cannot eat money. ~Cree Indian Proverb

"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtfully committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it's the only thing that ever has." Margaret Mead

"There is enough for all. The earth is a generous mother; she will provide in plentiful abundance food for all her children if they will but cultivate her soil in justice and in peace." Bourke Coekran

"I really wonder what gives us the right to wreck this poor planet of ours." Kurt Vonnegut Jr.

"What is the use of a houseif you haven't got a tolerable planet to put it on?" Henry David Thoreau

"The materials of wealth are in the earth, in the seas, and in their natural and unaided productions." Daniel Webster

"... do something. Pay your rent for the privilege of livingon this beautiful, blue-green, living Earth." Dave Foreman

"We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children." Native American Proverb

"Man must feel the earth to know himself and recognize his values.... God made life simple. It is man who complicates it." Charles A. Lindbergh

LIVE AND LET LIVE

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MAD recruitment drive 09-10

1. Do you have friends who want to join MAD??
2. Is there someone you know who could really contribute to MAD??
3. Do you know someone who is passionate about social work and interested in giving back to the community??

Here is your chance to provide them with a platform to do so. Go out there and spread the word and get your friends and family to join MAD to experience first hand all the excitement, happiness and satisfaction that comes with working with Make A Difference.

M.A.D, Cochin's annual recruitment drive for the year 2009-2010, will be held on April 25th and 26th at Rotary Bal Bhavan. Invite your friends and give them a chance to be a part of the fastest growing youth network in the country!!!

MAD Cochin is growing this year to include 3 new childrens' homes under our operations: St Joachim's, Crescent and Pallu Big Boys. Apart from our expanding English and Computer teaching volunteer base, this year we are also planning to have non teaching volunteers. Volunteer requirements are huge so bring as many friends as you like.

Volunteers can contribute in one or more or the following areas:

Teaching: English & Computers: Will be in charge of teaching English/Computer skills, based on the MAD syllabus, to a group of a children for the coming academic year

Time Requirement: Minimum 2 hours a week

Bunch volunteers: Those interested in providing non-teaching support can do so by joining one of our bunches

Placements bunch: Organizing Career awareness programs and camps

Time Requirement: Minimum 2 hours a week

PR bunch: Helping us maintain awareness within and outside MAD

Time Requirement: Minimum 2 hours a week

Fund raising bunch: Ensuring that funds are available to conduct all MAD programs planned for the year.

Time Requirement: Minimum 2 hours a week

Details of Event
The event will kick off at 10:00 am on the 25th of April, and will conclude by 2:30 in the afternoon. Short-listed candidates will be invited to attend subsequent sessions on the second day.

Below are the details of the event. Please feel free to contact me if you have any doubts or questions.

Event: MAD Recruitment Drive 2009-2010

Date: April 25th

Venue: Rotary Bal Bhavan, Panampally Nagar

Timing: 10:00 am to 2:30 pm (Selected candidates will attend an orientation and process training session on the 26th at 10am)


A MAD volunteer will soon contact you to get the details of your E1B1 contacts.

contributor:- shehnaz @ MAD

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futursim:- my first contribution to 'N'guy's blog

Futurism

futurism is an art movement of the early 20th century.i kno theer are many who would say " wat nonsense"...
trust me, i was one among them...but lemme tell u it isnt as boring as u think...
u'll really enjoy if u observe things properly....like there are few things which the designers had made in the past which depicted the future.for those who want to design something differnt from others this is an alternate yet a great way to start off..
lemme ask u all wat comes to ur mind wen u hear the word
computer,robots ,,in short the technologies ryt...
this is exactly wat the futurists did during this movemnt it was all about speed ,technology,youth and many more.
there are many designers and design houses who worked on futurism like
christian dior
Balenciaga
Pacco Rabanne
andre courreges
and my favourite Hussien chalayan
hussein chalayan's work is simply awesome.
the materials that he used to depict futurism are superb...he used lights in his garments...his garments were usedas tables and chairs...
one of his best work depicting futurism is "Inertia"...
these designers had made products for the future taking inspiration from the past designes...
lets take an example of the mughal empire..
u can see many garments depicting their culture....but this has become a common thing these days ..
wat i have observed is that people try to project the same thing but in a futuristic way where the future finds it intresting nd attractive...


muah
shus :)

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a letter from greenpeace

In three days, General Motors spends the equivalent of Greenpeace's global annual budget. In two days, British Petroleum makes more in profit than Greenpeace receives in donations in a year. And in just one day, the Tatas earn 100 times more than what Greenpeace's 55,000 Indian supporters give in an entire year.
In other words, we live in a world where environmental activists and profit-hungry corporations have never been more unevenly matched.
And yet, Greenpeace can print the kind of advertisement that we did recently in Financial Times and International Herald Tribune, the two newspapers Mr. Ratan Tata reads.

This ad wasn't just seen by Mr. Tata, it has embarrassed the Tatas at a global level. It's been blogged about, talked about on major TV stations, and written about in newspapers and magazines, in India and abroad.

Now, to ensure that millions of other Indians also get to see this ad, and ask the Tatas to stop the port just like you have, we need to run this ad in a major Indian newspaper next week. Sadly, this seems to be the only way to get corporate-controlled media to talk about this urgent issue.

Running an ad in the national press is going to cost us a fair amount. But if every single one of our 110,000 cyberactivists donated generously, we could raise that amount.
to donate pls click here!

this is the copy of a letter from ashish fernandes:-Oceans Campaigner, Greenpeace India

ps:Greenpeace has never taken money from corporations, governments or political parties, and we never will. And that's just what gives us the guts to pressure all of them. We are answerable 100% to people just like you. Please become a supporter and help us protect this planet not just for your generation, but future ones as well.

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INvention!

ok so lemme publish this small post! this is the first official survey of the unplugged blogger society[thts wht i call myself :)]
so what is the greatest invention of mankind? a very thought provoking Q indeed ryt?
well i started with three uncles, all of em who are my mom's colleagues.
they all dittoed " computer"! boo!what a tragical start! so ok! computers have made lyf easier lyk hell!its the core of everything thts happening around the world , but computers? somehow the answer isnt that cool ryt! just dont ask me y!it just isnt!
so i moved to aunties! they always think of good answers!
one aunty called me the greatest INVENTION! LOrd lets not get into tht issue here!
one said "wheel"! hmm thot prvoking!at least here is some thing that influence me a lot!
life has always been circles for me and certainly "wheel" or rather the circle is quite a fascinating invention! maybe its the sun or the rolling stones[not the band, the rolling stones from mountain tops etc.]that influenced this invention!
anyway its such a fascnitaing figure! ok so trivia here. y are manholes round in shape?
well???????
cause someone built it that way and ppl followed it :) ever heard of herd psychology?
well circle is the only shape that has the same dimensions form any side! i.e if manholes were square there wud have been at least one way to put the lid thru the hole but since circle has the beautiful property it cant be put inside!
anyway no: one in our greatest invention list is "circle/wheel".
language!thts what the next aunty suggested! ok yet another gr8 invention!if it werent for language i wudnt be making myself a fool writing in a blog with the expectation tht someone wud read it!
thts number 2!
i went on asking lods of ppl but they all had answers thts somehow related to these two!many said books!but the language ryt? ipod,camera,cell phones blah blah! wht not!but somehow i dont consider them the ultimate!
well back then i used to have these driving classes!i had a very enthusiastic sir as my tutor!one day he decided to show me the interior of a car.
he pointed towards ablack object next to the wheel and asked what it was ! i answered "thts a differential!'
he was so stunned and happy ! he was also all praises for the youth of the nation.
poor old man dint know tht the only part i knew in a car was a differential!but trust me he certainly thinks that the greatest invention on man is the differential!he says he wudnt have thot of it himself :)
anyway i was really disappointed with the outcome of my survey and complained to my pal.
so he suggested "condom"!
wow!so condom isnt computer! it isnt language!it certainly is not circle! so thts somethong new.
it has ehanced the sexual relations, and has helped in controlling the population growth and even safeguard us from sexually transmitted diseases!
so here goes the poll
which among these is the greatest invention of man?
1)condom
2)language
3)circle!

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lyf 2

i'm fed moaning bout how my lyf wasn't all the fun!trust me i've had share of fun in lyf!
lemme introduce to u my neighbour thomas!the guy is wierd,but trust me is a bag full of fun and moreover we had just ourselves to play with!
i vaguely remember those good old days!we had the coolest stamp and matchbox cover[theepatti padam] collection!
we used to take it seriously!once i remember jumpin into a waste dump to get one "ship" theepatti padam:)
those were the days!stamp collection was not our 1st preference but thomas's sister elizabeth aka baby had a gr8 collection!
we never knew what the numbers on the stamp used to mean and stamps havin 100 used to be called hundred rupees stamp:)
i still remember complaining to thomas that his sister owed me a lakh rupees[for me lakh was the ultimate currency].my maruti 800 deluxe car had cost 2 lakhs plus,which was the infinity in my eyes!
then there were the mango days,cashew days,chasing the fish in drainage days etc!what fun those days were!
back then ramar had invented a bio petrol and we were on a quest ourselves to make the secret ingredient!once we collected different varities of leaves we cud get our hands into and made a paste of it,put it in a glass bottle and buried under road!
gosh!i still get dizzy when i think of the smell that greeted us after a month!yuck like hell! i still don know whether it had any "special powers" cos we never tested it on the thomas's father's police jeep[which was our initial plan]!
well the gud ole days!
more to come :)

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pals 3

its been nearly 5 months since i made this blog. and i have hardly had 10 comments on my articles, which shows how badly my blog is doing! but i refuse to give up! i keep sending the links to the udl goup hopin outta hope somebody wud read! anyway the beauty of silence lies in the fact tht one can interpret it, the way he wants to.so i'm just hopin more and more wud show up.
but from my past encounters in lyf i have learned that silence isnt always good!it is bloodier than any sinful intentions blurted out in the open! to the ppl i dedicate this article:-it would have been very different and possibly better had u said something to me rather than form a group and take law in ur hands!the very deeds u did make me less wrong than i originally was. if have had any disliking to any person[apart from nandakumar sir,] i have managed to say ryt on the face.most of the tym it has had awfully bad effect on me. but my nights have been saved from thinking of how to get back!
i had really wanted to write a good chunk of my school life in the blog, but from what i have learned, i was in a fantasy world!smiles werent what it seemed! i am awfully broken, and i have decided to stop the articles regarding my pals@ school!here infront of the world wide web i ask apologies to everyone i've hurt!i dont intend to do it again!not that i had had an intention to hurt u back thn!
and 2 all my blog supporters[the 3 or 4 of u who've been so kind :)] i'm wrapping up the "pals at school" series!my sincere apologies if u had been enjoyin it!
i will start with my college experiences soon! ba bye!

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making a difference! infromation courtesy:-http://www.makeadiff.in/

everyone wants to help the needy in some way or the other.
but how can u? u dont evn have a time for a drink,money hardly enough to keep ur wife grumpy luk away!
well the young kochi is showin how!
MAD - make a difference is an Organization of young people working amongst orphans and other underprivileged kids to provide them with quality education so that one day it shall empower them to stand on their own feet and when the times comes fly away. We try not to grill into their heads the tedious school syllabus but instead prepare them face life better by improving their communication skills, computer skills and their overall personality.
The Vision:

“To Bridge the inequality in society through education”
The Need:

* Children studying in orphanages are intelligent, but why do they never make it big academically? The YMCA poor boys home, Kakkanad has seen only one graduate in the last five years. Most of the others end up in menial jobs.
* We want to bring about a situation where all children decide their careers based on their aspirations and potential rather than on their financial backgrounds.
* The education provided to them does not prepare them in vital areas like communication skills, English, basic computer awareness, personality development etc.
* These children are unaware of what their future academic options are, do not get adequate support, lack the educational background and hence lose out in the race for their dreams.
* So those who aspire to become doctors and engineers end up as carpenters or plumbers.

How the Youth can help

* Youth are the future. Being a part of it, we realized how “we always wanted to help but never knew how.”
* The youth of today are articulate, knowledgeable about their academic environment and are a great source of unbounded idealism to Make A Difference.
* They can share their knowledge, help develop their communication skills, raise their morale and increase awareness of future options and opportunities.
* The children need somebody to talk to them, counsel them and guide them into the future. Youth have the time and can relate to them.

So what’s stopping them?

* Two out of three teen respondents in a survey indicated that they want to help, but nobody asked.
* They do not have a network that provides access to those who need them most.
* Lack of training to prepare them to undertake such a task.
* Need for an organizational backing to provide infrastructural and other support.

How can we “Make A Difference”
Children and Orphanages

* Imparting quality education, which is practically oriented and enormously helpful for their future without any cost to them.
* Guidance on future career opportunities, scholarship availability, and other academically oriented information through our volunteers and website.
* Reminding the children that they are not alone in their struggle and that people do care.
* Providing them with examples of achievers within them through the “Achievers of the Month” section in our website.
* Getting them in touch with people of their age group from privileged sections of society, to whom they can relate to and learn from.
* Helping meritorious students to get funding for future education.
* Improving their infrastructural facilities in their organizations by starting libraries and generating awareness about their needs with specialized agencies like “Round Table of India.”

Volunteers

* Make you more conscious of their social responsibility and sensitize you to the needs of the underprivileged in their surroundings.
* Our panel of experts, who are top of the line and will coach you in the art of teaching and help them with syllabus.
* Provide a conduit you otherwise would not have had, to channelize your efforts.
* A chance to change things for the better and “Make A Difference.”
* Teaching someone is actually teaching yourselves. There is no better way to enhance your knowledge.
* We hope to get you recognition for your work by affiliating to institutions of repute like Young Indians (Youth wing of CII), Round Table of India etc., provide you with certificates and publicize your efforts.
* We will enrich you with the interactions you have with sections of society you would never have met otherwise.
* Provide you an opportunity to manage schools and take up posts in the organization, developing your managerial talents and leadership skills.

Group meetings to interact with your volunteers to share your experiences



with sincere wishes
ur bloggy
nevin!

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earn money! at least i hope so!

its quite easy to make money in the net with all these JOIN US and get paid nets flowing thru the worls wide web ryt??
ok! so how many of u have earned more than 10 dollars? cause thts what i made after joining 16 web sites and filling around 30 forms!!!
is tht money???thts bits of wht u can eran in the web. so i have done a big research and come up with some links tht cud possibly save u a lot of time and earn u some big bucks!

http://www.online-paid-surveys.net/teen-surveys.htm

Rummaging the Web

Online research is emerging as a good opportunity. If you've used search engines to look for specific information, you'd know how tiresome it is to sift through the junk before you arrive at what you want.

Services like Google Answers[http://answers.google.com/answers/ ] save surfers the hassle of searching themselves. Surfers post queries on computing, shopping, entertainment or food, and Google's team of online researchers get cracking on the information requested. You can set the price for your answer on the basis of the work involved. Three-fourths of the price goes to the researchers. Responses are rated by the people who request the information, while registered users offer comments.

Companies like ClicknWork[ http://www.clicknwork.com/ ] and AskDownUnder[ http://www.askdownunder.com/ ] hire online researchers to offer Web search and information services to their clients.

"There's a growing awareness that the Web is not that easy to navigate and most business executives have other things to do with their time," says Roger Sharpe of ClicknWork, whose team of Web researchers, editors and information specialists located worldwide provide research and writing services to such businesses.

He adds: "We have requirements for different skills like specialist knowledge, business writing etc. But most of our work is based on sourcing quality answers to business questions."

AskDownUnder offers cheaper Web search services for companies in developed countries as they have online researchers from developing counties like India where the cost of living is lower.

Dr Steven Tsitas, managing director, who posted ads for researchers at Naukri.com, says that over 1,600 people in India have signed up.

"There's no fee to join. Anyone can sign up - irrespective of age, sex, nationality or country of residence," says Tsitas. "You have to be intelligent, excellent at researching information online and have an ability to think laterally and find results from imperfect information. Since many things people want are not on the Internet, you have to think of what else would be relevant and draw from life experience and general knowledge to close in on the answer."

Unlike AskDownUnder, ClicknWork requires researchers to take an online test to qualify as part of the team. There's a pre-test and a full test depending on your profile - whether you're an expert Web guide, searcher or business writer. Google also runs researchers though an application process testing their research skills and the quality of their answers.

ClicknWork has tutorials to help you research effectively, and there are sites with tips on where to find online databases and tools to help you locate hard-to-find information.

ClicknWork pays about $10 an hour for searchers and $15-50 for expert Web guides, while business writers or editors make about $15-30 for a 90-minute online session. AskDownUnder allows researchers to quote a price per query. Once a client accepts the quote, the researcher is alerted and sets to work.

Says Tsitas: "It's difficult to say exactly how much a person could make, since everyone competes against each other. Researchers are free to quote whatever price they want and the clients decide if they want to accept that quote instead of others from researchers with perhaps higher or lower overall ratings."

He adds that a person in India working full time as a researcher could expect to make a good Indian (not a US) wage: "If a researcher in India tried to quote US prices they would presumably be undercut by others from India. However, good researchers receive high ratings by clients and should be able to command more money for their services."

Expert advice

Most of us have an interest or area of specialisation. If you know a lot on a certain subject, you could make money by giving advice on that topic. Fee-based sites provide advice in particular areas and have teams of paid online experts around the world who are proficient in their fields.

Kasamba.com[ http://www.liveperson.com/ ] has a directory of online experts in categories like religion, relationships and travel. You can register and give advice by email, chat or phone. Rates can be set by the minute or the hour.

If you're a computer or Internet expert, supportfreaks.com,[ http://www.supportfreaks.com/joinourteam.html ] a 24X7 help site allows you to answer such queries via chat. Commissions can also be earned by bringing business or clients to the site.

Other services that invite people with some professional expertise are surfbrains.com and bumperbrain.com. All these sites screen their experts and you're required to send in a CV or summary of the experience you have in any area.

Though LiveAdvice[ http://www.liveadvice.com/ ] and Keen [http://www.keen.com/ ] have an online directory of advisors, the phone is their main medium of dispensing advice.

Not all affiliate marketing, referral programmes, pay-to-read-email and pay-to-surf programmes are scams. Some will actually send cheques to different countries. Check out reviews of such sites at European Telework Online[http://www.eto.org.uk/faq/gpts.htm ] and FreeMoneyGuide[http://www.eto.org.uk/faq/gpts.htm] . But while you may make some money, you'll generally end up spending much more on bandwidth and telephone calls.

Also, setting up a site and hosting banners on it isn't going to make you rich overnight. It only helps if your site has a decent amount of traffic. You can then sign up for referral programmes that you'll find on sites like Commission Junction.[http://www.cj.com/ ]

If you're looking for other opportunities, Sharpe recommends trying established e-marketplaces like guru.com and elance.com.

Scam guard!

There are 'work online' scams, and then there are scams that warn you of other scams while claiming to be your one-way ticket to riches. You need to be on your guard to identify the real work opportunities.

Watch out for big promises of easy money. There's no such thing as a free lunch, offline or online. "Look for a track record," says Sharpe, "Never pay for anything and make it clear that the site will not expect payment from you later." Legitimate employers will not ask you for money.

Also check NetScams and ScamFreeZone[http://www.scamfreezone.com/ ] for listings of genuine work opportunities.

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