Topic for this Post is not yet decided.

You can choose from either of the three topics...

Know swimming to drive bike OR
Mumbai Beaten by Bangalore yesterday night OR
Banunami = Bannerghatta road's Tsunami

It was a normal day in Bangalore and I was returning from office after gruelling work :). I promised one of my colleagues to drop him at his house. I had dinner at his house. It was around 10:16 in the night i decided to come back to my room as I had a meeting early next day(9 am is definetly early for me). It was drizzling and I had no clue what I was going to see when I came out to the most famous road of Bangalore, The Bannerghatta Road.

I entered the road and I did not see any traffic coming in the opposite direction. This was a warning sign but I knew that situation would not be that bad as I have been travelling on this road for past one year. Interesting part of the story starts now. I drove few meters from Mandovi circle towards IIM Bangalore I saw a big traffic jam. Then the worst nightmares came true. There was lake where there used to be a road.

The right side of the road was flooded with water approximately till waist level. There were a number people pushing their bikes in a never ending stream of dirty and filthy drainage water. Few scenes that I could see were Cars jammed in the middle of water, helpless auto drivers trying to start the engine and pedestrians trying to walk on the dividers.

On our side of the road I mean the BETTER side, I could see vehicles coming from the opposite direction. Some pushing their machines against the mighty flow of garbage water. Then there was a one guy with a rumor that some electric pole had fallen some where near the next signal. Common sense would have said it cannot happen as there was water all over the place and one should get the shock where ever he is but still I was a bit scared. Then I had only few options either to kick start the engine, go with common sense and brush aside all rumors or to swim with the flow till the nearest lake. I was worried about my engine going down as I wont be able to push my Hunk (150 kgs) :D. In midst of this I met one of my college mates, we had a long chat :D. He was in a similar dilemma. He adviced me to switch off the engine and push it. As I knew it wont be possible so I went ahead and pushed the start button, on single tyre I mean on two tyres I started my journey again. I told him if we are alive we will meet again :O. Some stats about the incident. All these things happened within 50 meters of the journey. It took 30 mins to cross that 50 meters distance. About 20 vehicles trapped in that lake. Maximum water level was till the handle of Tata Indica. All exhaust pipes and silencers were in water so they were bubbling water instead of throwing carbon dioxide out. Instead of drinking the water, gutters were vommiting gallons of black water.

Few minutes later I came swimming(driving) out of the pond. I was as happy as a fish that just came into water after being kept out on land (this was the best similie i could think of). After this high adernaline drama the best I could do from my side was to advice few others not to go in that direction and stay back if possible. I had to take bath in order to avoid infections. I am normally scared of water, After seeing so much of water the worst thing I could imagine was to loose my bike in the middle of the road and swim with the flow. But always there was some hope that I could make it to the safe area.

To conclude I would ask god for either of these wishes:
"Make the bangalore roads better" or
"Give the humans with the intellect to make a transformable bike, which can swim, roll and fly at the click of a button." or
"Not to give such bad rain falls."

To tell such a story is easy but to experience it, is amazingly bad :(.

Sikkim the land of Hills

A picture is worth a thousand words, but thousand pictures would be less to explain the beauty of Sikkim

Things to Carry
1. Shoes
2. Umbrellas
3. Sweaters, Shawls, Gloves and socks (even in summer season as temperatures could go till 0 or even less).

Places of Interest
1. Shiv temple
2. Gurudumba
3. Chung Tang Lake
4. Gangtok Ropeway
5. Baba Temple
6. Ganesh Tok
7. Many Monasteries.

Apart from the above list there are number of water falls, snow peaks, valleys and plants on the way to these places. Oxygen levels at some places are below normal levels, so heart patients, kids should not be taken to such places.

Timings
Starting as early as possible in the morning hours is a good thing to do. Most of the places are closed after 12oclock in the afternoon. Driving time is high because of heavy rains and poor roads.

Weather
Rains are common across the hilly regions. Clouds surround the hills and temperatures are usually below normal.

Best time to visit
Best time to visit Sikkim is in summers. Winter season roads are closed due to heavy snow fall.

Cuisines
'Momo' a local snack is a good item. Number of food items available is limited. Rotis , rice and dal are the most common things. Maggi and noodles are also available.

There are many other places and natural beauty all the way within Gangtok and at easily accessible distances from Gangtok. They are Peling, Kurseong, Yangthung, Valley of Flowers, Nathu La ( near China border)very high altitude Lakes from where rivers originate. Transport system is efficient and disciplined. Cows, horses, yaks, goats loverly birds are every where. Cow milk has excellent taste may be because they feed on jungle herbs. Plastic is totally banned in this state. Toy train and tea gardens in Siliguri (a base station) are attractions too. Trekking and white water rafting are other attractions. Extreme cold, heat and lack of oxygen, hot water springs, India China border are all part of the show. With limited choice in food variety people may have to adjust.

Humanity has made little real progress over the past century or so.

Humanity has made little real progress over the past century or so. Technological innovations have taken place but the overall condition of humanity is no better. War, violence, and poverty are still with us. Technology cannot change the condition of humanity.

Technological advancements have drastically affected each and every organism on the planet. The topic suggests that these innovations in technology have been detrimental and the author makes a premonition that they cannot solve the ever existing problems which we are facing. Effects of technology depends how we use it. If the technology is used to make nuclear and other weapons of mass destruction then it is bane for mankind, but if its used to find out the treatement for a deadly disease like AIDS then its definetly boon for all of us.

Developments in various feilds of science and technology have made our lives much more comfortable. The amount of energy which our predecessors used to spend was very high compared to what we do now. A vaccum cleaner to clean furniture, washing machine to wash clothes, Mixer and grinders reduce the culinary tasks, coolers, Air conditioners and the list goes on. On the other side technology has lead to the creation many jobs.

In biotechnology feild there have been many breakthroughs which increased the chances of our survival. In India in the early 1950s the child mortality rates were very high one out of three used to die due to the lack of proper medication. Now the conditions have changed a lot, even the deadliest diseases like cancer and AIDS have a cure.

Communication is another feild which was impacted due to the scientific discoveries. Few decades back if some incident happens then it used to take some days for the information to reach all the stake holders.Now at a touch of a button we can connect to any one on the globe. Internet has changed the way information is exchanged between any two entities around the world. Now the whole world has become a global village.

Technology is leading the humanity to its destruction. Now there are many countries with reserves of nuclear weapons. Hiroshima and Nagasaki cities of Japan were victims of nuclear disasters in the World War II, even till date the effects of nuclear war can be seen. In case there is another world war then none would be left on the planet .

Pollution is blanketting the whole earth. Water pollution rates are reaching their limits. Plethora of vehicles polluting the earth every second. Plastic pollution is the new buzz word these days, with ubiquitous thing being cheap and handy finds its way in the hands of every one. The quality of not being degradable makes it more dangerous.

Technology has not helped in solving the needs of the poor and destitute population. With the cost of living growing each day, the quality of life these people live in is miserable. Technology has made life easy for the rich population, and worse for the rest. Developing countries need scientific innovations which can curb poverty. Moreover Technology has not helped in avoiding natural disasters like Hurricanes, and floods. Tsunami in the year 2005 took a death toll of thousands around the globe. If we could have developed systems to foresee such disasters then lives of thousands and the loss of crores could have been saved.

Technology is like a sword. It can be used to harm others and also to protect ourselves from others. Its upto the owners discretion to use if effectively in order to lead a happy life. Similarly, technological advancements in all the feilds have made our lives easier but they have also added problems. I would like to conclude by saying that while developing a technology we should ensure that it will be helpful to all and detrimental to none.

Too much emphasis is placed on role models. Instead of copying others, people should learn to think and act independently and thus make the choices.

Too much emphasis is placed on role models. Instead of copying others, people should learn to think and act independently and thus make the choices that are best for them

A role model is a person whom we like and want to be like him. Each one of us have a role model from our childhood. We learn a lot from them and we try to imitate them in several ways. Having a role model is very common but learning from them changes from person to person. They range from school teachers to rock stars to football players.

Role models come in all shapes and size and try to impact our thought process in many ways. They not only tell you what to do but also suggest what not to do. Walking on the footprints of a role model is good but sometimes detrimental too. Children at their tender age cannot distinguish between truth and fiction about their heroes. Children try to resemble their Super heroes, inturn hurt themselves. There was such an incident in India, after watching Spiderman movie one child tried to jump from the branch of a tree. The child wanted to be like the Spiderman but didnt know that the movie was a fiction and that his hero wouldn't be able to do the stunt in reality.

When we want to become like our role model, we tend to limit our capability. We should set higher standards for ourself rather than bounding ourselves to the limits of our role model. When i see another student in my class coming first in the class i want to be like him. I want to be as good as him. But here unknowingly i am setting a lower range. I could score better than him but setting my limits low doesnt motivate me to go out of my zone of comfort.

Many a times people select a wrong role model and thereby tend to gain the negative things from that person. On the other side of coin role model teach us many things. First of all they motivate us to do better than what we are. A painter who sees Monalisa, sees himself in the same position as the great Leonardo Da Vinci. Whenever he looks at his creations his energy levels grow higher and he performs better, day by day. Role models inspires us to reach their levels.

Secondly we have a role model we have a focused goal. When we see him we tend to see our amibitions in him. Many a times role models are not plaigarized. Instead they are just taken as a reference. When we have a reference to judge ourselves we grow concious and take our steps accordingly towards goal. When we have focussed goals, we dont wander around many goals and achieving none of them. Moreover learning about the role model we know how he or she had solved that problem, this will help in solving our problems too.

In our day to day life a role model acts as a person in whom we see ourselves in the next couple of years. Though following them is bad at sometimes, but they definetly show us the path like a stranger who helps the blind person to cross the street. I conclude by saying that its upto the human being to choose the right role model and gain the beneficial things from him.

We can usually learn much more from people whose views we share than from people whose views contradict our own; disagreement can cause stress and in

Learning means gaining knowledge or skill. We learn from childhood till we are interred. Learning happens in many forms from watching a aerialist performing on the road to lectures in the class. In any form learning gives us the power to survive in this ever changing world. Discussion is also a form of learning which involves many people and myriad number of views on the same subjects. We human beings tend to discuss many things but hardly learning anything out of it due to our nature of defending our stance.

Agreements don't cause mental tensions, here people agree upon what ever is being discussed. On the other hand, disagreement tends to create an atmosphere of anger, with each part backing its stance and not trying to understand the opinion of others.
Moreover if someone believes your own views then you start firmly believing your view. This is good when you want to reassure what ever you have learnt over the ages.

Though many think that agreements leads to learning but it not quite true. If everyone agrees on one point then there would be no development and no improvement in the thought process and thus no learning. When people agree upon something then it is more likely that they are not analyzing all facets of the discussion. One example which would support this argument could be designing a system. If all the stock holders agree without any questions on the design then it doesn't mean that designer has done a great job, but it means that others haven't thought enough about the problem. This leads to a poor system design.

All the discoveries and inventions, which make our life more comfortable, are there because of difference in opinion. When there is a disagreement we come to know a different aspect of the same thing. Knowing all the facets helps in understanding and improving our knowledge about the topic. Learning process will definitely flourish in such an environment.Disagreement in a discussion leads to learning only if the discussion happens with great composure and coolness. Heated discussions only lead to waste of time and energy. All the interlocutors involved in the discussion should come with an attitude to learn and not to altercate. One famous example I could site for this can be the Galileo's theory about the earth's revolution around the sun. Administration at that time didn't agree upon such a revolutionary theory. Galileo proved his theory due to this difference of opinion, which helped the civilzation in knowing the truth about the universe. Had Galileo agreed upon the contemporary theorists of that time we wouldn't have learnt about it till date.

In disagreement people come to know where they are mistaken. If a child was taught from childhood that sun rises from west. He or she would know that he was wrong only when some one opposes his view point.

I would like to sum up by saying that it is important for us to interact with different kinds of people. And that learning would happen when there is disagreement in the group, and it depends upon the individual attitude.

Essay: 156
Topic: We can usually learn much more from people whose views we share than from people whose views contradict our own; disagreement can cause stress and in
Words: 518

Drop by Drop life goes out!

Two years back in the October month I finished my Amritsar-Delhi-Chandigarh trip. After returning to campus i enjoyed each and every day of my life at campus as it was my last cultural festival(OASIS). In this ecstasy i forgot everything including myself. Few days later my phone was not working. I got a mail from my a least know junior informing me to call up my cousin as soon as possible. In that mood only thing i thought was positive so I thought that my cousin got a job and was leaving soon. Then another call to my friends cell phone asking me to call up immediately. I still couldn't sense the urgency of the matter. At last i called up my uncle, to hear something which i would never would have thought in my worst nightmares.

He informed me that my mother was sick. Sick is a generic word sometimes makes me sick too, you never know the how convoluted the situation is after hearing this word. After hearing to his words i called up my dad immediately. He seemed to be hiding something from me. I enquired if she was alright and if i could talk to her now. He informed me that everything was alright and she would be fine with in days. He asked me to come as soon as i could to a place called Vellore in Tamil Nadu. I was then studying in a place near Rajasthan. I didn't know what to do next. I informed my Warden regarding this and packed my bag. Somethings which i can never forget in this journey is that few friends are just for name sake and few will cross any boundaries to help you. One of my friends understood the complexity of the situation and offered to come with me. I was moved by his reaction. No one else even bothered to ask. Some showed sympathy but no help at last. But i was least worried about them. Then we headed to the Delhi station. In the early morning at around 4 am we arrived at Delhi station and took the ticket for Vellore. My train was at 10:30 am and my friend left few hours earlier.

Train journey lasted for two days. My mind was filled with all kinds of thoughts. Baffled about the situation, i couldn't think of anything else. Finally the train halted at the station where i had to get down to go to vellore by bus. My cousin came to pick me up. First question i asked him was how my mother was. He told me that situation was not good. He told me that she would look a bit distorted due to the medicines, so dint be afraid after seeing her. I then went to the room where we all stayed together. I never saw my dad in such a dejected form. He told me about what he knew about the situation but two my astonishment he knew nothing. My aunt and my cousin didn't tell him much as he may not handle stress at his old age. I was informed before hand not to tell dad anything. Next day morning i went to meet mom. She lied down in her bed with all syringes on her hand. She was in coma, we tried to wake her up but no response. I was late by one day, till the previous day she was normal but today she went in coma. What a luck i thought? Then a marathon started. The doctors came and went. I talked to them. They told me that her liver was malfunctioning, and could cease at any moment.

What would be the reaction of a teenager to such a statement? My dad was dumbfounded by the doctors statement. It was around lunch time and we had our lunch. I dropped dad at the hotel and was waiting in the hospital ward with my cousin and aunt. My aunt and my cousin went for lunch and i was left alone. In the mean time i was trying to distract myself by playing around with my cellphone. Soon a nurse came out running and called up the nearest doctor. Doctors informed me that condition was critical and she needed to be shifted to a higher ward. I agreed to their statement and helped the compounders push the trolley to the next cabin. I was running with the trolley when my aunt and cousin showed up. Their faces were surprised to see me with the trolley. Then after half an hour they shifted her to the Intensive care unit in the hospital.

ICU(Intensive Care Unit) allows visitors to see their patients only 2 times a day. So we stayed there for sometime and left for the room. In the evening my cousin and my aunt told me in person that if your mother dies then where would you like to do the rituals. I felt like slamming their head in the wall, how come they can think of such things when someone is alive. They were assured of her death as the doctors at Visakhapatnam and Vellore gave their word. And then the final fall of her health at the end of third day, the doctors told that her kidneys were not working. I saw tears coming out of my dad eyes. It was a rare incident as i never saw my dad crying. Till then i didn't cry as i didn't want to weaken my dad by crying, i had to support him at that time. Doctors finally gave their word that she could die any where between 12 to 24 hours. My cousin stayed outside the ICU whole night to notify us of any eventualities. That night was worst night for me. I couldnt sleep. I cried like a baby who lost its beloved toy. Moreover i couldn't share my emotions with any one. It was a hell for me. Morning i woke up after my cousin called up and told that everything was fine. And he wanted me to come there to see mom. I was freshing up and then came the second call. My aunt looked at me and she could understand my facial expression and told me not to tell dad about this. Dad asked me if everything was alright. I lied, i had no other option. I took dad for breakfast, he took his blood pressure tablets. Then we headed towards the ICU.

My dad had no clue about what he might have to face inside the closed room. I couldn't control my emotions. We entered the room and doctors at last told us that she no longer belonged to this world. I can still hear those words echoing in my ears. My dad almost lost his self. He kept on crying for a hours and hours together. Blaming himself about the current situation. Then i got a call from my brother who was in USA, who wanted to know about the situation. I couldn't tell him the truth. He was in much more ignorance then what my dad was. I told him that everything was fine and that mother was still in ICU. My brother didn't know anything until he came to India. I can understand how he felt after the words fell in his ears. Lying sometimes hurts lesser than truth.

We were still in vellore and had to decide where we need perform the last rituals. Atlast we decided that we would take the dead body to vizag. We took her body on train from Madras to Vizag. Meanwhile we got calls from a whole bunch of relatives, friends and well wishers weeping over mother's death. Bringing the body from vellore to vizag was not easy. My cousin and my aunt had done a great job in doing all the necessary arrangements for the same. Having a good rapport with the family and friends helps a lot. I can never forget the assistance they gave when we were in such a situation. I must thank them for all they have done.

Finally we arrived at vizag. After getting down the dead body was carried over an ambulance to the nearby ceremonial ground. By this time my brother and other relatives had already arrived at the burial place. All these arrangements were done by my uncles at Vizag. The rituals got over in an hour. We went back to my uncles place to stay there for 14 days.

At that time when all this happened it was nothing but a nightmare for me. With relatives going and coming for the next two weeks we were busy with them and trying to forget about the whole thing. But things were not easy for my father who just had spent his whole life with her. We stayed with parents only for till tenth standard but after that we used to visit our house twice or thrice in a year. My father was totally broken after this incident. He couldn't control his emotions at the slightest thing reminding this incident. One day all our relatives were assembled at one place and were chit chatting there, my mind was still searching where mom was, i could feel something was missing from my life.

After this whole incident i went back to my college, completed all my remaining exams and in the semester holidays i came back to my house at Dhanbad. When i stepped inside the house my eyes were still searching for the familiar figure in the house. Alas no one was there, i had to consolidate my mind. Emotions were flowing in and out of my body.

It is said that “An optimist laughs to forget, a pessimist forgets to laugh.” I could learn so many new things in my life. First one is that if you have good friends who will help you any time are rare to find. And if you find one then they you should rarely miss them. Second one is that whenever you give something to any one it comes back from some one else in some other form. My parents did charity to many people, they had good rapport with a number of friends and relatives, and which inturn helped us when we were in such bad situation. Thirdly, when you think life is going to be as you wish , life takes a U turn. Lastly never rely on doctors. My mom was treated with wrong treatement for a period of 3 months which eventually led to her death.

This is just the part 1 of my story. The later posts will have the story half year after the whole incident.

Plastic Surgery of Nature

Long time ago I went to a Animal Park. Park was full of animals and birds. I was astonished to find one sign board talking about a deer's death. It was not a mere death of some rare species of deer, but a trigger which opened the eyes of the Park authorities. The incident which occured was none of a surprise. The deer died due to the intake of a plastic bag.

One visitor threw some food item along with the plastic in the deer's cage. That innocent mammal didn't have any clue of what is going into its belly. It wouldn't have imagined that the enthralling beauty of plastic could be the venom for its death.

Many such incidents provoked the writer in me to write about Plastic, ofcourse the evil side of it. Its presence is ubiquitous. Railway stations, Bus stands, offices, footpaths, temples, parks are full of multi colored plastic items. It is multifaceted too, in the form of plastic covers, plastic glasses, plastic switches and what not.

Every day when i wake up i hold my plastic tooth brush, comb my hair with plastic comb, apply oil from a plastic bottle, drink water from plastic drum, bath in a plastic bucket, put on my plastic headphones etc etc. Every second of my life has an instance of plastic in it. I wonder how we lived without this. Plastic is so handy and cheap that you can't live without using it.

There is no one on earth who doesnt know the property of plastic, that it doesnt get destroyed and that it can't be converted into other forms, which makes it more deadly for the mankind. There is a famous line from Matrix which is like "Everything which has a begining has an end Neo". But Agent Smith didnt think of plastic then. Its not hard to imagine the future of earth in next few years if the plastic consumption goes like this for next couple of decades. Heaps of Plastic surrounding the whole earth.
If we dont proactively take actions against this then we there would be hardly any place to live in this planet. In some of its forms plastic carries many chemicals which when mixed with food items causes slow but long lasting side effects.

Though there are many solutions to remove plastic and replace it with bio plastic which is degradable and recyclable. But the problem with new schemes are that they are costly and takes some amount of time to dethrone the existing entities. Meanwhile we can just take some steps to avoid using plastics. Whenever possible use cloth bags, avoid taking too many covers if you can manage with one, reuse the existing plastic as far as possible, avoid carrying food items directly in plastic bags.