Saturday, July 14, 2007
credit for bad behaviour !!
"There is a new service from Expedia, Travelocity and other travel websites: environmental expiation. If you wish, when you buy a plane ticket, they will figure out how much carbon your trip will be adding to the atmosphere and charge you for it. (For Boston to Los Angeles, about 3,000 miles, it comes to around $9.) The money goes to nonprofit groups that either plant trees to absorb the carbon or produce an equal amount of energy in an eco-friendly way (using windmills and such). You are still increasing the carbon in the air, but someone else, thanks to you, is reducing it by an equal amount.
The genius of carbon credits is that it opens up a whole new inventory of things that people can buy and sell. And there is no reason that the principle should be limited to environmentalism.
For example, how about a "bad-parenting surcharge."
Somewhere in the world there is a parent who is slugging his kid every night. For a price, he would refrain for a night, or even two. By paying that parent not to slug his kid twice, you gain the right to slug your kid just once.
It's a win-win-win. You get to slug your kid. This other father gets the money. The other guy's kid is happy--he gets a night off from being slugged."
Read more at http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1635840,00.html
The genius of carbon credits is that it opens up a whole new inventory of things that people can buy and sell. And there is no reason that the principle should be limited to environmentalism.
For example, how about a "bad-parenting surcharge."
Somewhere in the world there is a parent who is slugging his kid every night. For a price, he would refrain for a night, or even two. By paying that parent not to slug his kid twice, you gain the right to slug your kid just once.
It's a win-win-win. You get to slug your kid. This other father gets the money. The other guy's kid is happy--he gets a night off from being slugged."
Read more at http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1635840,00.html
Friday, June 22, 2007
An optimistic map of America :)
An optimistic map of US, showing towns that actually exist!!
Click below for a full size map
http://www.holdthemustard.com/
Click below for a full size map
http://www.holdthemustard.com/
Sunday, June 17, 2007
An excerpt...
An excerpt from Mr. N R Narayana Murthy's pre-commencement lecture at the New York University (Stern School of Business) on May 9
".....The next event that left an indelible mark on me occurred in 1974. The location: Nis, a border town between former Yugoslavia, now Serbia, and Bulgaria. I was hitchhiking from Paris back to Mysore, India, my home town.
By the time a kind driver dropped me at Nis railway station at 9 p.m. on a Saturday night, the restaurant was closed. So was the bank the next morning, and I could not eat because I had no local money. I slept on the railway platform until 8.30 pm in the night when the Sofia Express pulled in.
The only passengers in my compartment were a girl and a boy. I struck a conversation in French with the young girl. She talked about the travails of living in an iron curtain country, until we were roughly interrupted by some policemen who, I later gathered, were summoned by the young man who thought we were criticising the communist government of Bulgaria.
The girl was led away; my backpack and sleeping bag were confiscated. I was dragged along the platform into a small 8x8 foot room with a cold stone floor and a hole in one corner by way of toilet facilities. I was held in that bitterly cold room without food or water for over 72 hours.
I had lost all hope of ever seeing the outside world again, when the door opened. I was again dragged out unceremoniously, locked up in the guard's compartment on a departing freight train and told that I would be released 20 hours later upon reaching Istanbul. The guard's final words still ring in my ears -- "You are from a friendly country called India and that is why we are letting you go!".
Deep in my heart, I always thank the Bulgarian guards for transforming me from a confused Leftist into a determined, compassionate capitalist!....."
".....The next event that left an indelible mark on me occurred in 1974. The location: Nis, a border town between former Yugoslavia, now Serbia, and Bulgaria. I was hitchhiking from Paris back to Mysore, India, my home town.
By the time a kind driver dropped me at Nis railway station at 9 p.m. on a Saturday night, the restaurant was closed. So was the bank the next morning, and I could not eat because I had no local money. I slept on the railway platform until 8.30 pm in the night when the Sofia Express pulled in.
The only passengers in my compartment were a girl and a boy. I struck a conversation in French with the young girl. She talked about the travails of living in an iron curtain country, until we were roughly interrupted by some policemen who, I later gathered, were summoned by the young man who thought we were criticising the communist government of Bulgaria.
The girl was led away; my backpack and sleeping bag were confiscated. I was dragged along the platform into a small 8x8 foot room with a cold stone floor and a hole in one corner by way of toilet facilities. I was held in that bitterly cold room without food or water for over 72 hours.
I had lost all hope of ever seeing the outside world again, when the door opened. I was again dragged out unceremoniously, locked up in the guard's compartment on a departing freight train and told that I would be released 20 hours later upon reaching Istanbul. The guard's final words still ring in my ears -- "You are from a friendly country called India and that is why we are letting you go!".
Deep in my heart, I always thank the Bulgarian guards for transforming me from a confused Leftist into a determined, compassionate capitalist!....."
Saturday, May 26, 2007
Taste of india !
Yesterday, i had lunch with a client at an indian restaurant.
naturally, one topic of discussion was the cultural differences between US and India.
In between Darrell spoke about 50 yrs of his life, how it was to grow up back in the 70s, how he struggled to make ends meet, how he met his wife, how he narrowly escaped from being drafted out to Vietnam and about his son who came back from Iraq a few weeks ago...
On our way back he said.."i think u and me have the same set of goals in life, we all want to have a family, we all want to provide a decent living to our family, we all want to enjoy our lives. i dont care about your nationality, where you come from and shit like that, but i think we all want the same things. If all of us get it, we are all happy campers"
and i said "Darrell, thats a very broadminded thought, but many people dont get it".
he chuckled "yeah, many people dont get it"
good to know someone who doesnt think "the world is US and US is the world"
naturally, one topic of discussion was the cultural differences between US and India.
In between Darrell spoke about 50 yrs of his life, how it was to grow up back in the 70s, how he struggled to make ends meet, how he met his wife, how he narrowly escaped from being drafted out to Vietnam and about his son who came back from Iraq a few weeks ago...
On our way back he said.."i think u and me have the same set of goals in life, we all want to have a family, we all want to provide a decent living to our family, we all want to enjoy our lives. i dont care about your nationality, where you come from and shit like that, but i think we all want the same things. If all of us get it, we are all happy campers"
and i said "Darrell, thats a very broadminded thought, but many people dont get it".
he chuckled "yeah, many people dont get it"
good to know someone who doesnt think "the world is US and US is the world"
Monday, April 16, 2007
Sunday, April 15, 2007
Friday, April 06, 2007
missing something..
today, i realized what i have been missing in my life for so long..
that, my friends, is nothing but breakfast..
after many many days i had a proper breakfast, as sumptous as it could get in my office cafeteria.."the morning edition special" as they call it...toasted bread with scrambled egg and steak with lots of grated ...ok.i know no one'sinterested in the details, but i cant help adding that i had it all washed down with some good strong coffee(part of the "special" package)...
another important point - im blogging all this not because i dont have anything better to do at work, i have lots of work, but its friday and i am going out for a trip this afternoon...all good enough reasons not to do any work...ok, its time to head home and start packing..
hasta leugo..
that, my friends, is nothing but breakfast..
after many many days i had a proper breakfast, as sumptous as it could get in my office cafeteria.."the morning edition special" as they call it...toasted bread with scrambled egg and steak with lots of grated ...ok.i know no one'sinterested in the details, but i cant help adding that i had it all washed down with some good strong coffee(part of the "special" package)...
another important point - im blogging all this not because i dont have anything better to do at work, i have lots of work, but its friday and i am going out for a trip this afternoon...all good enough reasons not to do any work...ok, its time to head home and start packing..
hasta leugo..
Friday, March 16, 2007
Wednesday, March 14, 2007
Tuesday, January 30, 2007
after a very very long time, i happend to talk to pitts, vani n madhu ...not to forget renewed ties with roy chettan and sanju unc and sudheer garu..
so no prizes for guessing the topic of this post....
thinking of kol, the first things that rush into my mind are the heat, the white dazzling sun , the torrential rains and hailstorms...in that order...
then i think about tat hotel(cant remembr the name or the place), bl 224 and fool's garden... the mausi's shop at koronomoyee market, egg chowmien and slice (ah !), the rum flavoured ice cream....the idli delivery guy and his kids, the bl 224 unc and family....park street, esplanade, mango lassi, countless movies and egg rolls....the metro..and its lambe haath when it finally caught up with us at dum dum !!! the share autos, the wooden buses , the antique trams , boat rides in ganges, the many visits to serene countrysides outside kol and trips to orissa, sikkim, jharkhand....
of course, its in kol, that blu n me realised the importance of having breakfast in life and its effects on decision making skills , sadly the hard way....
wen durga puja was over and rabi kishore left kol, the hustle and bustle of phool bagan(also known as fools garden due to our weird translation) came into our lives...the centrestage was definitely held firmly by poornima di, who used to make sure that we got used to her way of doing things...esp cooking food,....sparking duels in culinary skills with OD....and yes, she brought a radical shift in OD's *sense of dressing* too ...the shrimps she used to get from chingri ghata...hmm.aaha..
occasionally ashok debnath and characters like kingshuk bhattacharya hogged the lime light along with kalu-da ,balu-da n lambu-da..
the next-door neighbour - "bomb shell" mun mun and her hippopotamus dad..tats attributed to his liking for (splashing) water...
many visits to 'grain of salt , 'some place else' , 'malgudi days', college street, oxford, bd100, swabhumi,sanju unc's place, guitar classes...oh i think i ll never forget santa and defnitely not sushmita rani pal(im sure cp would share the same feelings abt sush )......
strangely, i had to put in some effort to recall names of many places and people...strange because i m not sure if i should be happy or sad about it
so no prizes for guessing the topic of this post....
thinking of kol, the first things that rush into my mind are the heat, the white dazzling sun , the torrential rains and hailstorms...in that order...
then i think about tat hotel(cant remembr the name or the place), bl 224 and fool's garden... the mausi's shop at koronomoyee market, egg chowmien and slice (ah !), the rum flavoured ice cream....the idli delivery guy and his kids, the bl 224 unc and family....park street, esplanade, mango lassi, countless movies and egg rolls....the metro..and its lambe haath when it finally caught up with us at dum dum !!! the share autos, the wooden buses , the antique trams , boat rides in ganges, the many visits to serene countrysides outside kol and trips to orissa, sikkim, jharkhand....
of course, its in kol, that blu n me realised the importance of having breakfast in life and its effects on decision making skills , sadly the hard way....
wen durga puja was over and rabi kishore left kol, the hustle and bustle of phool bagan(also known as fools garden due to our weird translation) came into our lives...the centrestage was definitely held firmly by poornima di, who used to make sure that we got used to her way of doing things...esp cooking food,....sparking duels in culinary skills with OD....and yes, she brought a radical shift in OD's *sense of dressing* too ...the shrimps she used to get from chingri ghata...hmm.aaha..
occasionally ashok debnath and characters like kingshuk bhattacharya hogged the lime light along with kalu-da ,balu-da n lambu-da..
the next-door neighbour - "bomb shell" mun mun and her hippopotamus dad..tats attributed to his liking for (splashing) water...
many visits to 'grain of salt , 'some place else' , 'malgudi days', college street, oxford, bd100, swabhumi,sanju unc's place, guitar classes...oh i think i ll never forget santa and defnitely not sushmita rani pal(im sure cp would share the same feelings abt sush )......
strangely, i had to put in some effort to recall names of many places and people...strange because i m not sure if i should be happy or sad about it
Tuesday, January 02, 2007
new year is a time when a lot of people introspect...so did i
and heres a few memorable moments from the year that sped by...
2006 new year celebrations in painavu, the trekk and the camp fire in the middle of a jungle.... jumping out of a plane from 13,500 feet and falling through the clouds....
trip to Mexico ....
"on the fly" drive to Vegas....
staying in a houseboat .....
xmas in Los Angeles ....
tempe new years eve block party
i could think of a few more...however the most beautiful of them all, still seems to be the time i spent in pondy !
just finished watching "papillon"....i guess , in a way, it helped me with the long due introspection..... in putting a few things in the right perspective...and in questioning myself about my priorities(sad, guess i never got it right!)....
i have half a mind to jot down "Top 10 shocking moments of 2006"(title courtesy: VH1).....but then, i resist the temptation...
whoever had the patience to read through these ramblings, wishing you a great time ahead...
As Dega says : My thoughts are with you !
and heres a few memorable moments from the year that sped by...
2006 new year celebrations in painavu, the trekk and the camp fire in the middle of a jungle.... jumping out of a plane from 13,500 feet and falling through the clouds....
trip to Mexico ....
"on the fly" drive to Vegas....
staying in a houseboat .....
xmas in Los Angeles ....
tempe new years eve block party
i could think of a few more...however the most beautiful of them all, still seems to be the time i spent in pondy !
just finished watching "papillon"....i guess , in a way, it helped me with the long due introspection..... in putting a few things in the right perspective...and in questioning myself about my priorities(sad, guess i never got it right!)....
i have half a mind to jot down "Top 10 shocking moments of 2006"(title courtesy: VH1).....but then, i resist the temptation...
whoever had the patience to read through these ramblings, wishing you a great time ahead...
As Dega says : My thoughts are with you !
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)