Earth - Our only home

As a child I remember sleeping under a dense canopy of leaves that weaved an ever changing pattern overhead as the wind danced around the leaves of many hues and colours. Curious hanuman langurs peered at me time to time in between their endless chattering. The place I grew up was a heaven. Children played on streets, where the only things that hurt our bare feet were thorns ,that could be pulled out without a grimace, we made tree houses and did pretend-lunches. We hit the streets right after school with our mothers running behind, stuffing morsels between rests. The only vehicles on the road were bicycles and we never stopped our games for them. The plentiful trees shaded us from the sun and rain and gave us many tit-bits we munched on when they fruited.

Traffic and pollution

Fast forward to the present, which is no "present". Today living in the fastest growing city, the Silicon city, the (former?) garden city of India I battle the dust (Bangalore is the only city where all 3 kinds of dust mites abound) and the pollution (we add more cars everyday than babies being born every day in this city). Children are forced to play within the confines of their home devoid even of a garden space, we have cemented even the little space where we could not build an extra room (gotta keep out the nasties and mud!! - frankly the critters and mud does more good to your kid than the cemented space) We complain kids these days watch more TV and play video games, but have we given them any other option? What kind of a world are we passing as a legacy to our kids?

Unsegregated waste dumped by the roadside

We are happy to live in clean houses, shutting all windows in Air-conditioned offices, by dumping all our garbage just around the corner. Why bother about it? Its outside our home, someone will pick it up. The truth is much much bitter than we have thought. The unsegregated garbage we dump today overfilling the garbage bins, into any uninhabited enclosure, lakes etc., end up mostly as land fill into prime agricultural lands! They leech into the water bed contaminating our water. Why are we ignorant or rather so unwilling to deal with the reality even as it stares in our face?

Today we are rapidly accelerating towards an unsustainable lifestyle.  The greenhouse gases have accumulated by 390ppm (350ppm is the safe limit), the oceanic temperatures are increasing- paving way for imbalance in the delicate cycles causing mass extinctions in the near future, we are facing unpredictable weathers, our underground fresh water level s are rapidly depleting, Our food contain more toxins than our body can digest.

 All our acts sum together. We all are responsible. And what are we doing? Is there a way out? WHAT can be done??

 I have compiled a few things that I have been following to reduce my carbon foot-print. After all change starts from home and within!

Segregate and compost:

  

Waste segregated and collected   

Waste from our home is basically of 2 types: bio-degradable (the kitchen waste) and non-bio-degradable( plastic and e-waste). We all can easily take care of the waste generated from home and all it takes is hardly 5 minutes of our time every day. The dry waste (paper and plastic items must be segregated and kept in different bins - after washing if necessary) and given for recycling. The wet waste can be composted which in turn gives high-quality manure for our gardens. I have been using the daily dump kumbha since last year to compost the kitchen waste. Its economical and no fuss at all.

  

Avoid plastics:

Get a cloth bag and always carry it around. Use a cloth bag while shopping and say no to plastics. Avoid using bottled water.  Encourage your family and friends to do so too!

Mass transport / Car pool:

Use company mass transport / buses to travel or car pool

Water:

Shower baths means we end up using more water than is actually required during a bath. Bucket baths ensure we always know the quantity of water used. Install rain water harvester.

Organic food:

If you have a garden space – grow your own food organically. Most of the vegetables can easily be grown in pots! Buy local organic food.

Man from the Earth

What would be your question to a man who is 14,000 year old? Would you jeer at him and ask to do a cave man jig or would you ask him what he felt about where we are heading?

And what if he told you that he is in fact that mythical, mystical figure thousands of your people worship and pray to and that we got his teachings all wrong..

To believe the most atrocious lie is easy but to believe a plain simple truth is only that much harder. You would easily blame US and China for polluting the skies but you won't admit that your 2/4 wheeler is adding to the same. Nah, its just easier to deny the whole thing..

The man from earth is a very bold movie, bold in the way it was able to bring the idea of a man living as long as the oldest human race in its barest essential (He does not race the bullets for starters!) What is interesting here are the conversations, how each one of his learned audience react and try to refute to the good-bye announcement John Oldman makes after his 10 year tenure.

A bombshell is thrown to his unwilling answer when someone asks if he was anybody famous.. He starts by telling how the bible is misinterpreted and how there never were any miracles or apostles but a fabricated story strung out by many a thousand tongues over many more years. He doesn say it but they realise that he was Christ. What is further interesting is that he claims to have been influenced by the teachings of the Buddha and tried to bring a version of it to the west with disastrous results-- :-o

The movie ends with a predictable human reasoning, denial . When John realises that his audience is unable to digest what they have heard so far he laughs it off saying it was joke. I wish the movie ended here instead of proving that he really is 14k old. Watch this movie to get you thinking!

METALLICA!!! We love you!!!

My first rock concert..

I must have changed my mind a dozen times deciding to go and then thinking its not worth that much money (2.75 k)  and in the last minute after selling my tickets, I not only re-purchased mine I got one for my bro too!

We lodged yourselves within the crowd and listening to a cover band play I was wondering, looking at the open skies noticing a flock of eggrets flying home if this was worth the dough.. That was until Metallica hit the stage..

I am not really a hard rock fan.. Death metal doesn't really figure in my list.. The only song of Metallica I really loved is the one I croon to sometimes , "Nothing else matters.."

The first song they opened blew my mind off., It was the title score from 'Good , Bad and the Ugly"  'Ecstasy of gold'. And there was simply no denying.. I loved them alright.. And they played song after song.. some of whose few lines I was maniacally screaming out ..  head banging and wilding gesticulating with the crowd.. They played 'nothing else..' too at least this one I could sing along. And still I think the best was 'Master of puppets..' everyone demanded this song and as the band sang this one there was just so much demoniacal energy in the audience that it pulled me along too.. Even the brief spell of heavy rain that only wet our heads (we were so thickly crowded) did nothing to diminish the mood. In fact I wished it would continue :)

People all over south Indian and as far as Delhi (probably the ones who had tickets from the cancelled Gurgoan show) had flocked in.  Cigarette and all-high smoke wafted in time and again. Firangis and local with long streaming hair and dreadlocks head banged and jostled everyone around. And when everyone head banged too vigourously jumping in the air.. we all did too.. It must have seemed odd to the birds in heaven to seen a crowd of such big numbers in black shirts jumping up and down together!

They played ... Creeping Death, For Whom the Bell Tolls, Fuel, Ride the Lightning, Fade to Black, Cyanide, The Memory Remains, Welcome Home (Sanitarium), Sad But True, All Nightmare Long, One, Master of Puppets, Blackened, Nothing Else Matters, Enter Sandman, Am I Evil?, Battery and Seek & Destroy

 As they finished the concert with their tribute song I coudn't help but shout out with the rest of the Bangaloreans for more and ask the band to come again.. And when James said he loves us.. We all joined in and said "We love you!"

Once upon a time in a land still remotely untouched by man and his foolish activities; where wolves, bears, hedgehogs, mongoose, otter and the beautiful fox roamed free, a little girl with blazing red hair lived.

On her chance encounter with a fox she becomes possessed of becoming its friend.

 She dreams of the fox , draws them, reads about them and waits patiently in the woods to catch a glimpse of the fox.

 

And then one day a vixen makes contact and eventually she becomes used to the child's presence and the food the child gave.

One day the fox follows the child to her home and girl invites the fox into her room and closes the door. With no way to escape the agitated fox jumps off the window.

The fox survives the fall with deep injury and begins to avoid the child.

 

 

The child learns a very important lesson - All things wild cannot be tamed, possession is not love!

 

An extremely beautiful, gorgeous movie - The Fox And the Child. originally made in French dubbed in English by Kate Winslet. The setting of those beautiful ravishing old pine forests and all the inhabitanats  just makes my day. I sit and imagine myself wandering all the places the little girl goes during her exciting adventure with the fox- Lily.

I rate this move only next to Into the wild. And in its message and innocence far better that it. All you people who love all things wild like me, go pamper yourself with this movie!

An Inconvenient Truth

 

From director Davis Guggenheim, An Inconvenient Truth is a passionate and inspirational look at former Vice President Al Gore's fervent crusade to halt global warming's deadly progress by exposing the myths and misconceptions that surround it. In this intimate portrait of Gore and his "traveling global warming show," Gore comes across as never before in the media - funny, engaging, open and intent on alerting citizens to this "planetary emergency" before it's too late.

Interspersed with the bracing facts and future predictions is the story of Gore's personal journey: from an idealistic college student who first saw a massive environmental crisis looming; to a young Senator facing a harrowing family tragedy that altered his perspective; to the man who almost became President but instead returned to the most important cause of his life.

With an emphasis on hope, this 90 minute movie ultimately shows us that global warming is no longer a political issue but rather, the biggest moral challenge facing our civilization today.

All you people out there whether you believe about global warming (To reassure you are right) or downright don believe it (Get your head straight!) or are just non-committals (Please don be in this club) watch this movie. Even if it bores you with too much of Gore's personal life which might be uninteresting, its filled with hard facts and proof why Global warming or Climate Change is real.

The world rushes past with angry honks
leaving me in a daze of comprehension crashing

I see the flashes I feel the bruises
And yet thousand miles from sensing

My heart constricts choking my breath
My vision clouds

I don't want to know
Don't want to let go

Everyday I try harder only to step back twice over
Is today the day?
Do you think we are drifting away..

Kings of hearts err.. Leon!

Kings of leon are an American band from Tennessee. They are a family band, Followill kids, with 3 blood brothers and a cuz thrown together.. why Kings of leon.. you see their Pa is Leon (also Granpa) and hence
the sons and cuz are the kings of Leon!

Caleb (Anthony Caleb Followill) is the lead singer and rhythm guitarist. His voice like the cotton candy, solid but melting right when it touches your tongue, disappearing when you thought you could bite it, leaving behind a sweet trail that leaves you smacking your lips and wanting more.

Nathan (Ivan Nathan Followill) on drums and percussion, Jared (Michael Jared Followill) on bass guitar and finally cousin Matthew (CameronMatthew Followill) lead guitarist.  The music hmm.. so many medleys raising and falling like many waves leaving you breathless and a tingling in the nerves and heart racing gasping for breath.

 

Without dispute I think The KOL fans agree that 'Only in the night' has been there best album .. Some of my fav are from this album and here it goes..

Knocked up - The audacity of the youth and the confidence with which Caleb sings the line is gorgeous. Reminds of my 11th class days when I felt nothing was beyond me.

And the pace and rhythm of 'sex is on fire' is simply awesemo!

Fans, now theres a song that dedicated to the London crowd that gives you the creeps as if you are part of that huge concert and feeling what the band felt as they sang for the Britons..

Closer, I think the comment by some fan sums it 'It creeps under your skin and lays eggs in your brain that hatch to give birth to awesome!'

'Be somebody' is everyone's top fav.. great drumming here..

Radioactive is another hot fav in my list.. guitaring is really good here and I love the chorus..