Dear Santa

Adopt, don't buy

I just had to share this..

Happy Earth day

Now I know you guys want nothing to do with Earth day any more unless there is a perverted joke to go with it, but I'll try to wish you without a perverted joke anyway ;)

Happy Earth day!

See that wasn't so tough? Now go plant a tree...or should I say, at least for today, don't cut a tree?

Image from last blog. What would this place be without a tree?

(Earth day is not just about trees. But it is a lot about it too.)

Anyway, here are three stories to share which is related to the topic. And the third one is very very recent.


1) I don't like what the world has come to when it comes to ecology. I once lived in a house which had the landlords in the same building. Their daughter had scored good marks in science writing about how trees maintain the ecosystem, how they prevent global warming, about how they reduce the carbon foot print...and at the end of the day, she wanted all the trees inside our building cut down because it was too "shady" and "foresty" and ultimately had her way cause her folks agreed. I could understand her mum and dad being dim-witted morons, but at least she was educated with science. Guess we have to change the definition of education.

2) The last house I lived was a bigger nightmare. I had to get into loud mouthed fight with aunties who wanted the trees in my house cut. All because dry leaves would fall into their compound. And somehow it was ok for their plastic waste to fly into ours. Not withstanding the god-forbidden uncultured women, we did have the trees cut, but not until I had cursed their entire bloodline to rot in hell without a drop of water.

3) I was sitting at lunch, the day before yesterday afternoon when I saw these two people sitting at the table opposite me with a board that said 'Celebrate Earth day - Plant a tree.' and the rest of the print was kinda finer so I kept squinting to check what it was. They were a boy and a girl who seemed completely uninterested in attracting a crowd at all. If there was anything they were interested in, it was each other. They looked more like the kind who get into all this social causes and charity shit so that they can add something on their resume or tell their uncles and aunties about how good a job they are doing in their free time, or brag about it on Facebook or some nonsense like that.. They had a few pamphlets to give away and be on their way perhaps. As I kept squinting and reading the board, I could make out that they were asking for 99 bucks to plant a tree somewhere and promised to take care of it for 10 years. Suddenly they both got up and the girl went away towards the lunch counter and the boy came straight towards me. He was about 5 feet high with spikes that were crying out loud "I'm a kool dude...I swear!". I figured that he was coming to ask me if I was interested. And I was, all I had to do was go to the ATM. In fact I was wondering if I should pay for at least 3 trees, when he stopped, bent towards me and whispered in my ear

"If you stare at my girlfriend again, I will beat you up!"

I couldn't help laughing at the comedy of it all. I just giggled at him and said "Ok sir". I wonder if they would have got some sort of credit for getting some trees sponsored. Damn!


~ ~ ~ ~ ~
I'm just glad I have planted a few trees when I could. Not necessarily on Earth day. Because its legal to plant one on any day of the year you know, you just got to get your ass out and plant one. However, the last few saplings I planted seems to have withered away and the area I am in now has enough trees wherever they can be planted. But for places where they aren't, need to find a system to make it stick. Anybody got ideas?

Why I must keep this blog alive

While I am not aiming at any sort of ego massaging, I would still like to establish the fact that bloggers are a dwindling species. You(bloggers) and I are priceless.

Read this little article that says:
Youngsters prefer Facebook to blogging

So blogging will be classic in around 5 years. There will be no bloggers but just blog readers. While I am ok with twitter, 140 really cramps my style. I make a lot of noise on FB too..but I think I am much more than just 'likes' and 'comments'.

If you are a blogger, you now know, that you must keep YOUR blog alive.

Save our Tigers

Just 1411 of these cute creatures left in India..don't you want to see them 10 years from now?

One for the turtles

Mr.Tata, I'm your fan, but...
If you have read the news, the turtles did come back to nest. But that doesn't mean the greens are crying wolf. The turtles will gradually begin to avoid the beach. Why will Greenpeace launch its most expensive campaign ever if it doesn't even hold water?

Bell bajao (Ring the doorbell) - Stop Domestic violence

There is this new campaign on TV , which airs public interest messages to urge people to do their bit in stopping domestic violence , by simply ringing the doorbell on any excuse just to make sure the offender gets the message.

The particular ad that caught my attention was of Boman Irani walking up to the door and ring the bell to say
" kya main ek phone kar sakta hoon? (Can I make a phone call?) "
and immediately his cell phone rings in his pocket and he answers to say
"Haan? maine hi phone kiya tha (yeah I had called) "

I was damn impressed by that one.

Most of the people don't make an effort to stop domestic violence when its happening somewhere near them. I know people of both the following examples-
50% of the women out their go on and on and on....about how men are bad, men are that , men are this...blah blah blah. Finally, when there is a wife-beater around, she wants her own man to sit at home and mind his own business than to go over and and put an end to it.
Men either don't want to cross their wives/mums, or they simply don't want to do anything about it themselves.
"It's their personal issues - we can't do anything "

Yes you can...ring the bell.

So simple. You don't have to say anything...just Ring.The.Bell.
Or knock the door. You don't need to get involved in their personal issues.

You just need an excuse and I thought of some (first two are from the ads) to add the insane touch to this post.

The top 10 Ring-The-Bell excuses are...

1)Can I make a phone call?

2)Can I borrow milk?

3)Can you turn down the volume of your TV? I don't like movies with brutality.

4)My son needs help with his homework - what is the spelling for 'police' ?

5)Do you have a hot girl in there by any chance? (Joey Tribbiani from F.R.I.E.N.D.S )

6)I am here to repair your toaster...what?...oh sorry, it says #420, I just assumed its your place, my mistake.

7)Can I use your bathroom?

8)Hey wanna come for a jog? Oh, you don't jog at midnight eh? ok - suit yourself.

9)I was just wondering and I wanted to know, who is our 3rd Prime Minister?

10)Can I play with your dog?

And if he is a really big guy, remember to scram immediately!


--
Ring the bell - and be a guardian angel!

Stop Global Warming

I created this guy, over a year back, as a DP for my gtalk. The words, however, were not visible on it, so I had confined him to the deepest trenches of my file system.
No, no, wait I am not running out of topics to publish, be patient.

Today , thnx to Benne Batta, I searched around for a DP for orkut and found this guy, still smiling :)

I created him to look like me(Shabby hair, goatie and no, I don't wear an eyepatch ) , but unfortunately for my poor image-creation skills, he turned out to be a cute little fella.

Hello? You are missing the big picture... Stop Global Warming. (Don't just write about it ;) )

-
1) Burn less electricity - switch off that fan/AC/tubelight whenever you can do without them.
In other words, make sure all your fans get pissed off on you!
2) Walk to nearby places, or cycle, rather than a vehicle
Use efficient means of transportation. Govt. buses, would be great, but you wouldn't go that far would you?
3) Dont waste paper. (boycott exams)
4) Plant more trees, wherever , whenever possible. (water them all, in all possible ways- ask the trees on Chamundi hills "Who helped you grow?"
5) Don't cut trees either! No deforestation! You can chop off your own head instead.

I know what your question for me is, the answer is- Yes. To quite an extent!

Wanna work as a webmaster for Greenpeace?

Job Title: Web Projects Officer
Department: New Media
Reports to: New Media Manager
Location: Bangalore, India
Type: Full-Time
Salary: Rs. 26,989 per month
Grade: 5

Check out this link for more:
http://www.greenpeace.org/india/about/jobs/web-projects-officer

Stroke Victims

Dear All

Please have a look....This 5 min may save a life and lots of tears.....
You could save a life



STROKE: Remember The 1st Three Letters... S.T.R .
My friend sent this to me and encouraged me to post it and spread the word. I agree. If everyone can remember something this simple, we could save some folks.

STROKE IDENTIFICATION:
During a party, a friend stumbled and took a little fall - she assured everyone that she was fine and just tripped over a brick because of her new shoes. (they offered to call ambulance)

They got her cleaned up and got her a new plate of food - while she appeared a bit shaken up, Ingrid went about enjoying herself the rest of the evening. Ingrid's husband called later telling everyone that his wife had been taken to the hospital - (at 6:00pm , Ingrid passed away.)
She had suffered a stroke at the party . Had they known how to identify the signs of a stroke, perhaps Ingrid would be with us today.
Some don't die. They end up in a helpless, hopeless condition instead. It only takes a minute to read this...

STROKE IDENTIFICATION:



A neurologist says that if he can get to a stroke victim within 3 hours he can totally reverse the effects of a stroke...totally. He said the trick was getting a stroke recognized, diagnosed, and then getting the patient medically cared for within 3 hours, which is tough.

RECOGNIZING A STROKE

Remember the '3' steps, STR . Read and Learn!
Sometimes symptoms of a stroke are difficult to identify. Unfortunately, the lack of awareness spells disaster.
The stroke victim may suffer severe brain damage when people nearby fail to recognize the symptoms of a stroke.
Now doctors say a bystander can recognize a stroke by asking three simple questions :

S * Ask the individual to SMILE ..
T * = TALK. Ask the person to SPEAK A SIMPLE SENTENCE (Coherently) (eg 'It is sunny out today').
R * Ask him or her to RAISE BOTH ARMS .

If he or she has trouble with ANY ONE of these tasks, call the ambulance and describe the symptoms to the dispatcher.

NOTE : Another 'sign' of a stroke is
1. Ask the person to 'stick' out their tongue.
2. If the tongue is 'crooked', if it goes to one side or the other that is also an indication of a stroke.

Save the turtles!

I've just written to Ratan Tata asking him to not to go ahead with building a port in Dhamra, Orissa, dangerously close to one of the world's largest sea turtle nesting grounds for the Olive Ridley Sea Turtle. I think its a good idea for Mr. Tata to move the port to another location rather than endanger the turtles.

By living up to the Tatas' environmental legacy, Ratan won't just save the highly-endangered Olive Ridley Turtles, he will also end up making Tata a better company.

The only problem is that I can't bring about that change alone. I need help from lots of people, especially you.

Please do what I've done. Write directly to Ratan by clicking here

Thanks a million.


***
-->Write to Tata

Plant a tree

SAVE TREES...and then TREES WILL SAVE YOU!

How to help from where you are...

This is a good cause, so please help! Take 30 seconds to
click on the link below and then somewhere in the world,
you'll save up to 15 square feet of rain forest, prairie,
or marine wetlands --- you choose. The site's sponsors pay
for your donation, so it's free for you! Forward this email
to all your friends so they can help too!

Just click: http://rainforest.care2.com/i?p=601696308

All donations go to The Nature Conservancy's Land Conservation programs.


Some Oceana campaigns that your daily clicks help include:

- saving endangered sea turtles from shrimping nets
- promoting the BEACH Act, which informs the public about
beach pollution and water conditions across the U.S.
- reducing longline fishing bycatch, where non-target fish and animals
are caught on fishing lines, killed, and then discarded

Did you know that 80% of all life on earth is found under the ocean surface?
Please click every day to help preserve our oceans before it's too late.
Just click: http://oceans.care2.com/i?p=711590167

You can only click once per day so be sure to tell all your friends!



The big cats depend on YOU! It's simple. It's easy. Click daily on the link
below to save up to 5.2 acres of endangered big cat habitat. The site's
sponsors pay for your donation, so it's free for you! Forward this email to
all your friends so they can help too. Without you and your friends
clicking, we lose hundreds of opportunities to help protect endangered
felines and their habitat!

Just click: http://bigcats.care2.com/i?p=859795711

All donations go to the Wildlife Conservation Society's big cat protection
programs. If you sign up, you can double the amount of land you save with
your first click and can begin tracking how much habitat you personally
have helped protect.


Children International is a non-profit that is dedicated to improving the lives
of children living in dire poverty.
Please click every day to help sponsor these children all year long!
Just click: http://children.care2.com/i?p=736103357



The Jane Goodall Institute is a non-profit that helps protect the environment and
chimpanzees with 8 different programs, from Roots and Shoots aimed at
childhood environmental education, to chimp sanctuaries in Uganda, Congo,
Tanzania, and Kenya. Please click every day to help save our primates before
it's too late.
Just click: http://primates.care2.com/i?p=885000858




Every time you click, you generate letters protesting violent practices against women and girls,
or letters of support helping women on the frontlines cope in the face of injustice and threats to their lives.

Amnesty International's End Violence Against Women program is to protect millions of women
worldwide from crimes like these:
- In the US, a woman is raped every 6 minutes; a woman is battered every 15 seconds.
- In North Africa, 6,000 women are genitally mutilated each day.
- This year, more than 15,000 women will be sold into sexual slavery in China.
- 200 women in Bangladesh will be horribly disfigured when their spurned husbands or suitors burn them with acid.
- More than 7,000 women in India will be murdered by their families and in-laws in disputes over dowries.

Your clicks make a difference! Thank you for helping today.
** Violence against women is rooted in a global culture of discrimination which denies
women equal rights with men and which legitimizes the appropriation of women's bodies for
individual gratification or political ends. Every year, violence in the home and the
community devastates the lives of millions of women. Your daily clicks can help us turn the tide. **
Just click: http://stopviolence.care2.com/i?p=800217512

Please do this

This is a good cause, so please help! Take 30 seconds to
click on the link below and then somewhere in the world,
you'll save up to 15 square feet of rain forest, prairie,
or marine wetlands --- you choose. The site's sponsors pay
for your donation, so it's free for you! Forward this email
to all your friends so they can help too!

Just click:
http://rainforest.care2.com/i?p=601696308

All donations go to The Nature Conservancy's Land Conservation programs.

Clicking on this link saves our Marine ecosystem:
http://oceans.care2.com/i?p=711590167
Clicking on this link saves big cats from extiction:
http://bigcats.care2.com/i?p=859795711
Clicking on this link helps a child in need:
http://children.care2.com/i?p=736103357
Clicking on this link saves our primates:
http://primates.care2.com/i?p=885000858
Clicking on this link helps prevent violence against women:
http://stopviolence.care2.com/i?p=800217512

please do this guys, it wont take more than 5 minutes of your life each day.I assure you, you will feel good inside after you have done this.you wont have to spend a single paisa, since the site sponsors pay for each click, because it makes sure u see their Ad,great ain't it??You are donating without having to move a meter!

with regards,
Ice :)


[Watchout for another post similar to this but much more elaborate...in case you are kind enough to forward these words as a mail]

Adopt a puppy :)

I recently talked about the orphaned puppies that we tried to find a home for.Well, I always had an idea of having a community on orkut for such incidents where we can go by the concept of "SOMEBODY WANTS A PUPPY SOMEBODY HAS A PUPPY"
Check it out, if you are a member on orkut.Click Here.

Puppy power

Yesterday,unfortunately, the M.C.C [Mysore City Corporation] killed yet another dog which had a litter of 5 puppies which were only 20 days old. I got a call from a friend at around 9 about this news.We had find the puppies a home until Friday after which someone was ready to take them all in.God bless them.:). I in a hurry didn't note down the door no of the place I was supposed to be searching for and immediately went in search of it. I searched from 9 to around 10:30 for house #1707 somewhere near Adichunchungiri Matt. After all that searching , all I got was an empty site. There was no house at 1707.
I think I confused #1070 with #1707.So first thing today morning I went in search of #1070...It started raining.I searched for about half an hour, guess what I found?...a bad cold!
Another 10 minutes later I found a #1070.It was a huge house 2 nos away from the Jyothi Departmental stores ( formerly the famous Kamala Departmental stores ).It had a huge "Beware of dog" Sign on its gate.The place didnt look like the aftermath of an MCC 'pooh raid' ;) cause there were 7 street dogs - well fed, healthy looking sleeping casually just a few feet away.I however just gave a knock on the gates,Nobody answered for a while. I have no ID or any such sort of thing to produce and prove that I am from the A.W.A. To top it all the odds of this being the place was very low cause I was told it was 2 doors away from Adichunchungiri matt and here I was 2 Kilometers away from the place.I just decide not to knock again.
I should call up my friend again, but I dont remember which diary I wrote her number in,I was kinda in a hurry yesterday :O
I was gifted about 7 diaries this year, I maintain only one of them while I note down stuff in the others.So I first gotta search for her number and then figure out the rest.Achchooo!!
Until then...achchoo!...I mean achchoo!...excuse me!...achchoo!

Pass this on plz...

I GOT THIS MAIL TODAY SO DECIDED TO POST IT ON MY BLOG SO THAT IT WOULD HELP IF POSSIBLE:

Hi,

A 2 years old girl was found abandoned at Kapaleswara temple, Chennai on 1st Aug. Police could not find any missing complaint in Chennai, related to her. Right now, she is kept in an orphan home - Anbu Illam. She is very much depressed and looks very dull. She is not able to speak much as she is very young. Some times, she says her name as Ashwini and some times as Aiswarya. Her news came in some newspapers(Hindu, Dinamalar and Eenadu) on 11th Aug. But, till now there is no response from any one. We are hoping that someone known to her parents/relatives will read this mail and try to reach her. If any of you know this kid's details, pls. send a mail to siru_thuli@yahoogroups.com. Otherwise, pls. forward this mail to some more people. There may be a chance that someone can recognize her. Her snaps are attached with this mail.

Rgds
Siruthuli Group

Animal welfare ASSociation: STOP TALKING!!!

After waiting at a shopping mall,seeking shelter from the drizzle for 15 minutes I decided to bail out my friend whom I thought was waiting for me at another place- B.M.H Hospital.We were supposed to meet and leave to the A.W.A. As I set out with Deepak , in the nick of time the group who were supposed to meet me there arrived and we carried on.It turned out my friends were not really waiting for me at B.M.H. I was relieved cause one of them was suffering from high fever and I didn't want to be the one who kept her waiting in the rain.
Finally we arrived at the man- Subramanya's house.The first time we met he had gone on & on for 1 hour and 45 minutes. He had promised he wouldn't speak at our next meeting.It was on that promise that I had decided to go there again. We were once more greeted by loud, silly,helpless sounding barks of leashed doggies from here there everywhere! Then we sat down to what I had thought and hoped would be a quick thing.It turned out to be a slow,painful,bloody death.
The man has no control over himself.I thought I was the limit at speaking.NO! He is...He went on and on and on and onnnnnn..........zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.When I woke up after a good nap he was almost through talking with the first person.Sweet!He knows how to go from "Sick and injured animals" to "Mohd. Haneef is a hero today...see?" and then say "coming back to your point" after like 18 minutes!!!
I wanted to speak about a particular topic, but realised there were like a big bunch of angry students who would have definitely killed me if I had brought it up. I would have also been killed if Shilpa and Anagha would have decided to come along today- they are the ones who were supposed to be waiting for me at B.M.H. Thank god they didn't.
I was patient,but surprisingly my bro' Deepak wasn't. He let his feelings be clear when asked for something he had brought up earlier he just spat "NO! I brought it up and finished...I FINISHED". Subbu never took the cue.
Anyhow the man seems very jovial and his zeal for the topics are understandable...maybe I would be like that if I was 50+,ran an org and had a young lot showing interest.
After a hour and half of what seemed like an eternity, we were out and Deepak couldnt believe he was free.He had really gone wacko within those few minutes.He was saying things like "We are free? are we really free? wow smell that fresh air of freedom...I had almost forgotten how it smells like. First I will go meet my mom and dad, take their blessings. Hey help me buy some gifts for my family, I cant go empty-handed.......etc,." I knew he had lost it.Poor guy.
I really don't blame anyone here, everything was still fine for me, just the funny parts brought to light under a magnifying glass. If I honestly have to sum it up, everything went cool.

Animal Organisation

My friend Anusha who is an animal lover herself(as am I) told me about this guy who has started an animal welfare organisation called "Animal Welfare Association" (AWA).She wanted to know if I was interested in joining it. I wanna help in such stuff , but these days I am not feeling myself...so I decided that I must take along some friends who would be interested, so that with some company Ill be comfortable.However, many agreed and zero actually made it.

I was feeling so let down that day when we were supposed to meet before going to the guys house(I still dunno his name). She told me to just come n have a look, so I agreed.I was so not myself at that time that by I got onto someone else's vehicle absent mindedly instead of my own bike.I was feeling stupid now.GREAT!!!

Finally after a lot of cinfusion in the by-lanes of the Kalidasa road we arrived at the place.The guy seemed jovial.Though I still dont like the idea that he finds killing scorpians as "Okay".I like scorpians kinda.Helpless things.Even some of my uncles love killing them. Anyways, at the end of the day I found it quite interesting. Though I'm still unsure of whether Ill join or not...cause I'm not sure if I will be okay with out company :D.He had some pretty nice ideas similar to mine of opening an animal shelter...that really sparked me up.I dream about such a place all the time...I wanna make an animal shelter too.Let us see what happens.