On the Same Page

1) From today's Hindu. Very subtle but well put across, nai?

 

2) In a freak accident last night, yours' truly blacked out and started convulsing for a few seconds after jumping onto the bed and hitting the ball of the palm sharply against Professor VKR's prized '83 copy of The Ballad of John and Yoko. Never underestimate the power of Lennon. All Hail.

Come Rain, Come Shine

Heavy rain again last night. Though the Sun is out shining brightly now, eyes once again stray to the gigantic pit between the hostel and the college building which has water levels slowly building up in. Turns out, that the said pit was dug for a large scale recycling and rain-water harvesting plan for the college. The Asst. Registrar told T___ the other day, "I don't know what has happened, but seems as if the experiment has gone wrong."  What happened was this: the process was supposed to operational by now. But the different layers of soil they put in for percolation of rainwater somehow turned into brilliant muck and clayey soil that retained all the water instead of discharging it underground. The end result was that the last bout of heavy rains filled up the entire pit and created a thriving ecosystem out here. The frogs came out in numbers equivalent to what happened in Egypt when Moses wanted to lead the Jews against Ramses to the biblical land. The frogs mated, laid eggs out of which hatched tadpoles, after which came two water snakes called Jumbo and Jimbo. A good three weeks later when the waters simply refused to subside the administration brought in a water pump and sucked it all out. 


Speaking of animals we also have two fantastic dogs called Golu aka Bewafa and Hot Dog. Golu was last seen wearing a frock donated by generous benefactor A___ with whom I had ridden back home in the front of an Animal Van. That is another story of course.


H___ adopted a frog called Croaky after the rains. It lives in a Pearl Pet bottle and eats bugs that H___ catches and pokes through the holes in the plastic.


S____ also caught a crab near the hostel and put it in a fish bowl and kept it for a day. Till we persuaded her to leave the poor thing in the name of environment etc. 


Except for the boring classes, we seemingly have a very, very interesting life out here in Madras.

Of Leaks and Flying Presidents

As headlines in newspapers get cornier by the day, the New Indian Express demonstrates incontinence interesting takes:

Encircled in Red:

I did not leak: Home Minister P Chidamabaram reiterated that he did not leak the report to the media. He said this to his cabinet colleagues and was heard saying it any and every ear.

 ***
We shall have world peace when presidents shall fly:

From an article in The Hindu today:

President Pratibha Patil became the first woman head of state to fly aboard a Su-30MKI fighter on Wednesday (November 25). She has done this to demonstrate the importance of cooperation with Russia for India’s defences.

 ***

Vladimir Radyuhin, I empathise with you. From Medvedev Congratulates Prathiba on Sukhoi Feat, The Hindu, 26 November

MOSCOW: Russia’s President Dmitry Medvedev “cordially” congratulated President Pratibha Patil on her successful flight in the Su-30 supersonic fighter jet, the Kremlin press service said on Wednesday.

Observe cordially as in double quotes. The next paragraph reads:

Mr. Medvedev emphasised that Ms. Patil’s flight in a plane manufactured in India under Russian license was another vivid symbol of the evolving friendly relations between Russia and India that convincingly demonstrated a wide-ranging potential for long-term defence cooperation between the two countries.

When shown these articles, V___ presumed that Rahul Gandhi arriving in an American-manufactured SUV at a meeting demonstrates our diplomatic ties with USA now.

That's all folks!

Of sand-fly bites and others

Promptly woke up on Sunday morning with little red bumps all over my hand which were itching furiously. Of course an itch deserves to be scratched and scratch I did, with the result that they flamed into little red volcanoes. A quick google search on a sand-fly hunch led me to the answer. These tiny little horseflies, 'bout the size of a sand-grain, which inhabit the beaches around the Andamans have a wicked bite and a bad itch as chickenpox. Inflammation has reduced over the past few days but the red bumps stay pretty in place.

Among other diseases caught is the Facebook Status-updatitis. The only source of joy and communication beyond the bounds of grad-school is fast assuming de-addiction centre enrollment possibilities. A return to good, old fashioned blogging is a must. The stat updating is fine, thought must fall down. For which, being surrounded with interesting things to keep you busy is required.

Talking of interesting things to keep one busy, I really, really value my time. We all do. Given the time, I'd like to waste it the way I want by sleeping, or reading a book or watching a movie. All in all, which I strongly believe raises IQ levels far more than one class does at college.

I have been depressed for more than a month now and slowly have been having thoughts of dropping this course too. Or running down the road tearing my hair out. But compulsions and compromises follow because said course is the only ticket to a future and the progenitors have invested several obscene amounts of finance in the non-refundable course.. Much of the classes seem futile especially as lecturers insist on wasting their and our time by elaborating and churning out "gyaan" for hours on things that can be compressed into a 40 minute lecture if prepared effectively. There are worthwhile classes, but too few to keep a sustained interest.

Sometimes methinks, the entire hype about the college is a farce, an insult to our intelligence and lacking challenge and enthusiasm in several aspects.

Among other things, here's the latest heard on campus edition. How ethical are journalists really? And here we have a lecturer, who gave a talk in the first term on ethics in journalism making a morbid request the other day. Courtesy my roomie:

Lecturer: It would be really nice if you could get a picture of a person having an epileptic fit for your assignment.


At this point in time, I really have no intention of being a journalist. Such tumorous creatures tend to usually become editors of papers by a strange twist of fate.  

On her having arrived at the age of twenty-three,

Save money.

Find career.

Find reason to live and a passion to work towards.

Work Out.

Find time to watch Hugh Jackman films.

And other conversations:

On flight back home from Port Blair:
 X: Your course finishes in April right?
Me: Roughly around that time, yes.
X: Then you are returning to Hyderabad right?
Me: No. I want to work here in Chennai. Hopefully, if I get a job that is.
X: You don't like Hyderabad do you?
Me: No I don't. I like chennai much better.
X: (grinning wickedly) Is there somebody in chennai?

Is there somebody in chennai?  There was. There is. There could have been. But I never EVER want to see or hear of him again in my life. He did break my heart after all. And it still bears cracks.

Heard on Campus- Part MCLLXCwhateva

On one of the more dreaded profs at college known for spouting sermons on the art of note-taking and how her note-taking is supreme; P__ who usually sits in the row right behind said Prof revealed,

"She doodles in her notebook at times. I have seen that. And she has caught me twice looking at her doodling."

Heh!

350! No More!

This event-report was written as part of a class assignment as part of the course at the Asian College of Journalism. Sorry for the stale dateline mate. :p 

‘350 no more’ say students

SSTCN highlights plight of Olive Ridleys on International Day of Climate Action

24 October, Chennai: The sea at Elliot’s beach was a brilliant aquamarine blue on Saturday; not its usual steel-grey self. Against this blue backdrop, on occasion of the International Day of Climate Action, a group of volunteers from the Students’ Sea Turtle Conservation (SSTCN) assembled under the late afternoon sun to voice their concern against Climate Change, and draw attention to the effect it was having on the Olive Ridley Turtle population. Volunteers rolled up their sleeves and plunged into action, mixing sand and water to build a huge ovular mound. As the sun dipped towards the west, a merry bunch of students from the Government Arts College arrived and got to work expertly sculpting a sea-turtle out of the sand-mixture. As the pace of the work picked up, a crowd milled around, watching the volunteers and forming a human-chain to ferry buckets of water in from the sea.

Volunteers of SSTCN at work on Elliot’s beach.  Pics:Sharada Annamaraju

The Olive Ridley Turtle nests en masse on the beaches along Bay of Bengal. With rising temperatures, the sand has gotten hotter and results in the nests of the turtles collapsing due to lack of moisture. “There is a real fear among the scientists of the world about this,” said Akila, a coordinator at SSTCN.

Rising temperatures also affect the sex of the hatchlings. Higher temperatures result in more female hatchlings, while eggs at the top of the heap and closer to the surface yield males. More heat can also mean the eggs don’t hatch and “simply get baked.”

Contacted by the Sanctuary Asia Magazine, the SSTCN worked in co-ordination with 350.org; a global initiative to make public opinion heard in the run up to the December Climate Summit at Copenhagen. “This was to send out the message that global carbon emissions should not cross 350 parts per million (ppm),” said Akila.

On the recent stance adopted by the Indian Minister of Environment and Forests on climate change policies, Akila felt, “The polluter pays principle…with so many people in India below the poverty line, holds true. But it is like shooting oneself in the foot. Saying that we are not responsible (for climate change) doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t do anything. We need to become more responsible and contribute more.”

Asked about the impact of feel-good awareness programmes that have been mushrooming all over the world in the name of climate change, Akila said, “It is important to show that we are part of it (the movement). ‘350 no more’ influences the policies of the government. These pictures will be taken and put up on the Times Square (in New York).”  Pictures and videos sent in by participants across the world expressing the message of a limit on carbon emissions are available on 350.org.

Sangeeta, a first year student of sociology at Stella Mari’s college thought that feel-good events don’t make much impact, “but if we have people talking to each other about this, people standing around and watching, some media publicity, then it is good.”