Thursday 31 May 2007

Hate the heat?? Do your part to fight global warming

Hi All,
Good one..

Blackle is nothing but a black version of google J

"A few months ago, TreeHugger Mark Ontkush wrote a post on his blog EcoIron titled Black Google Would Save 750 Megawatt-hours a Year. The post lays out the following train of thought. "An all white web page uses about 74 watts to display, while an all black page uses only 59 watts." Google, which has a white background and gets about "200 million queries a day" could reduce global energy use by 750 Megawatt-hours a year by simply changing the color of its homepage to black.
In response to this post a black version of Google emerged called Blackle.com. According to Blackle's homepage at publication time, 4, 408.917 Watt hours have been saved by. The site encourages users to "make a difference today [by] ... Blackling "energy saving tips" or visit[ing] treehugger.com a great blog dedicated to environmental awareness." Nice ideas. But how does the search measure up? Very well indeed. Give it a whirl yourself and start saving energy one search at a time. :: Blackle.com

I recommend you all to use this as your home page or default search engine. Kindly pass this on to people you know and spread the word.
So here's your site: www.blackle.com

Wednesday 30 May 2007

My visit to Haji Ali Darga

On Sunday I visited the famous Haji Ali Darga in Bombay. It was quite an experience. It was not my first time to a darga as I have been brought up visiting the Ajmer darga. It was in fact the travel to the darga that made it such an experience.

I went there with Param, Kanu, Crystal and Boon. As might be evident, Crystal and Boon are Chinese and were visiting the darga purely for tourist purposes. We 3 Indians consisted of 1 Sikh and 2 Hindus. We made a very religiously diverse group. Shows just how secular India is.

The walk on the causeway leading to the darga was an exhausting one. The sun was shining in all its glory and the crowds swelled as each minute passed. Pushing ahead and sweating buckets, we made the walk to the main entrance of the darga. On the way we were greeted with various sights; beggers- handicapped, desolate, hungry.. yet praying; vendors- selling knickknacks, snacks, balloons, religious items and various others. What got my attention was a vendor selling cassettes of Arabic chants at one point playing Hindu devotional songs. It really touched my heart.

The sun was shining so bad that my sweat was getting into my eyes..even as i was wearing my shades. We girls all had scarves on our heads for the purpose of respecting the doctrine of the darga. But I was more thankful for it shielding our heads from the harsh rays of the sun. Once we removed our footwear, we realized just how hot the floor was. The guys were lucky as they had their socks. Poor us girls, our feet were literally getting baked on the hot stone flooring. Hopping in and out of the little shade we made (squeezed) our way in the main area to offer our offerings and to pay our respects. There was a separate area of females and males. Seemed like a good idea; in terms of the crowd, security and stuff. However I wasn't too pleased as when we went in as far as we could, I found out that females couldn't even touch the tomb. Big disappointment for me as I am used to the full access everyone gets in the darga in Ajmer. Also the chaotic manner in which the offerings were being offered resulted in only Param getting back her offering. Mine was lost in the melee. Another disappoint as compared to darga in Ajmer where no matter the size of the crowd, each person always got back their offerings.

All in all it was a good visit to a revered place. I felt good being in a spiritual place after a long time.

To find out more about the Haji Ali Darga you can visit these sites,
http://www.haji-ali.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haji_Ali_Dargah


The view of the causeway leading to the darga on the islet

View of the darga

The main hall where the tomb is. You can also see the colourful chaddars offered

The crowd on the causeway. This photo shows the way back to the city

Crystal, Kanu, Me and Param against the darga

Crystal, Boon, Me and Param on the causeway against the darga

Monday 28 May 2007

Friday 25 May 2007

some thought..muddled in my mind....

Human are in the simplest and crudest form animals that have been over the time fit into a mould of expectations; as that of a superior being.

At the beginning of ‘mankind’ there was no society, there was no expectation and neither was there the need to be superior. I obviously cannot be sure but, a lucky guess and I’ll say men were happier than. The cavemen roamed around naked or barely clothed, as did the cave women. They slept in the open, ate what they got their hands on, experimented freely, explored everything and did what they wanted for all to see.

Would we have come along the way we have had there been the usual societal expectations, norms and standards imposed on these people? It is logical to see how if these had been in place we would still have been in Stone Age, we would have never progressed the way we have. Then why do we bring in these “issues”, impede our progress, crew our future, nip the unknown possibilities in the bud? All we get is a lot of problems. Its true not many would protest or voice out their frustration. However in this case silence certainly does not translate into consent. The very society that makes the rules at many times is at war with them…

So what do we have? A vicious cycle of frustration? A vicious cycle of desperation? We become hamsters in a cage built by us running in the wheel; getting no where, achieving nothing. We are very much aware of this yet we surge ahead with the boundaries set by society. We make it the Iron Wall in our lives, dividing everything into good and evil. The evil, of course, then becoming untouchable, unthinkable and unattainable. But who determines whether society itself is doing the right things, making the right norms and expectation and most importantly setting the right boundaries? Who watches the society who watches everyone?

It all boils down to something entirely basic, how do we determine who amongst us has the final say on whatever is happening around us and in our lives? If you ask me, I don’t think anyone of us has the right or the qualifications. So then what is the solution? I propose using self regulation and a high emphasis on listening to the conscious. This way each person would be regulating themselves with their own level of conscious. However there would then be the problem of a murderer not finding murder wrong or a rapist not finding rape wrong.

So then again we are back where we started.. Does this mean that what is happening is the best possible? Are we stuck in the hamster’s wheel?

Personally I feel the problem is just with me and my habit of thinking too deep into everything. Maybe I am the only one who is running after the fabled pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. I epitomise the traits of idealism that the Aquarius is infamous or famous for.

Ek Chalis Ki Last Local

Date Watched: 19th May 2007
Venue Watched: Gatey Galaxy
Rating: 4/6
Note Worthy: Neha's sexy dress

Wednesday 9 May 2007

Biwi No. 1

Date Watched: 8th May 2007
Venue Watched: My flat in Bombay
Watched with: Alone [:(]
Rating: i had loved it when i had 1st watched it.. but when i watched it againi was kinda amazed at the lameness [:P]

50 first dates

Date Watched: 8th May 2007
Venue Watched: My flat in Bombay
Watched with: Alone [:(]
Rating: 5/6

the checklist

26 Things That aPerfect Guy Would Do

1. Know how to make you smile when you are down ...
2. Try to secretly smell your hair, but you always notice.
3. Stick up for you, but still respects your independence.
4. Give you the remote control during the game.
5. Come up behind you and put his arms around you.
6. Play with your hair.
7. His hands always find yours.
8. Be cute when he really wants something.
9. Offer you plenty of massages.
10. Dance with you, even if he feels like a dork.
11. Never run out of love.
12. Be funny, but know how to be serious.
13. Realize he's being funny when he needs to be serious.
14. Be patient when you take forever to get ready.
15. React so cutely when you hit him and it actually hurts.
16. Smile a lot.
17. Plans a romantic date full of cheesy things he wouldn't normally like to do, just because he knows it means a lot to you.
18. Appreciate you.
19. Help others out.
20. Drive 5 hours just to see you for 1 ...
21. Always gives you a peck on the cheek when you depart from each others company, even when his friends are watching.
22. Sing, even if he can't.
23. Have a creative sense of humour ...
24. Stare at you.
25. Call for no reason.
26. Quit smoking, chewing, drinking, or drugs - just because he loves u that much to quit it.