Guess who's in Town!

Guess what I caught on my rear-view mirror this week- A Tata Nano!

Yes people, the most awaited car of the year; Tata's answer to the common man's four wheeler dreams is here. I spotted this one at Thampanoor and couldn't help staring at it. Cheapest car in its class, the Nano looks cute, similar to the old Volkswagen Beetle cars.

Binu Narayan

A Tweeting Tharoor

I'm not on twitter but i think it is utterly ridiculous that they should make an issue out of Shashi Tharoor's comment... what's more is they're constantly keeping a track of his "tweets" (i can't stop laughing at that word).. I'm glad he's decided not to stop it..

Click here to read an article on the CNN-IBN website

Heart for Life

World Heart Day, organized by the World Heart Federation and its members and co-sponsored by the World Health Organization (WHO), UNESCO and United Nations Sport for Development and Peace initiative, is the World Heart Federation's most important advocacy event and aims to increase public awareness and promote preventative measures to reduce cardiovascular disease and stroke. Begun in 1999 with the vision that all World Heart Federation members could collectively help to curb the global pandemic of cardiovascular disease, which claims some 17.5 million lives world-wide annually, World Heart Day is now celebrated by members and non-members alike in more than 100 countries around the world.

World Heart Day is celebrated on the last Sunday in September every year (September 27 in 2009). This system was chosen so that it always falls on a day when many individuals and families are free to attend the organized activities. Many events take place on the day itself, or in the weeks leading up to or just following World Heart Day.

World Heart Federation members, comprising 196 cardiology societies and heart foundations in more than 100 countries, organize activities for World Heart Day. A large number of non-members, whether hospitals, cardiac clinics, universities, schools, individuals and a number of other organizations, also join in by organizing events.

'Women and Cardiovascular Disease'- The World Heart Federation is committed to saving the lives of both men and women, and acknowledges that women's cardiovascular health is an under-recognized aspect of cardiovascular care worldwide. Cardiovascular diseases (CVD) are among the foremost health challenges for women, just as they are for men.

Women are known to have a different risk profile compared with men, and this has implications for gender differences in risk definition, possible differences in intervention targets and risk modification. Women also have difficulties with access to care.

The World Heart Federation develops international activities to raise public awareness about the CVD and stroke issue among women.

'Children and Youth' A healthy heart is vital for living life to the full, regardless of age and gender. Unhealthy diets, physical inactivity and smoking are the leading causes of heart disease and stroke. These unhealthy lifestyles are increasingly common among children and teenagers and are being adopted at an alarmingly early age. WHF creates awareness all over the world, to show how important it is for children and youths to have a healthy heart for life.

Anupriya Raj

Mystery

I was sitting alone on the seashore,

It was an evening, a beautiful evening.

The sun was going to set into the sea

The sea seemed mystic with its waves.

I saw a girl playing on the shore,

She was the daughter of the sea.

She wrote on the sand, her name

The cunning wave erased it.

She clapped her hands and laughed,

And again she wrote on the sand, her name.

Then she began to pick up some shells,

Decorated her sand house with the shells.

A big wave rushed above her sand house

The girl started crying, for a while;

The mystery of life, the mystery of the sea

Through the world the mystery goes on.

Every mind is a mystery, every creature:

The sea, the girl and myself.

Listening to the silent music of the sea; I heard

The boom of the sky, and the clouds were dark,

It was too late and the dull light on the world

I stood, walked away from the sea,

A small part of the sun, still remained to set.

Where’s the girl?.... I wondered,

She was not there, I looked around.

There was no longer the blue, beautiful sea

Dark, deep mystery of billowed sea…

The truth is the well known mystery

Mystery is the immortality of life,

It’s in our mind.

Arya V. G

ക്ലാസ്‌ റൂം തമാശകള്‍!

ലൊക്കേഷന്‍ : ഇലക്ട്രോണിക് ജേര്‍ണലിസം ക്ലാസ്സ്, പ്രസ് ക്ലബ്ബ് ,തിരുവനന്തപുരം.

രാജശേഖരന്‍ സര്‍ :വിഷ്വല്‍ ലാംഗ്വേജ് എന്നാല്‍ അത്രയ്ക് വിശാലമായ ഒരു വിഷയം ആണ്.
കുട്ടി : സര്‍ ,ഒരു സംശയം.
സര്‍ : ചോദിക്കൂ...
കുട്ടി : ഈ വിഷ്വല്‍ ലാംഗ്വേജ് എന്നത് ഒരു വിശാലമായ വിഷയമാണ് എന്ന് സര്‍ പറഞ്ഞല്ലോ...
സര്‍ : അതെ...
കുട്ടി : അതിന് ഏകദേശം എത്ര ചുറ്റളവ്‌ കാണും...? അല്ലെങ്കില്‍ അതിന്റെ വിസ്തീര്‍ണം എത്ര കാണും????
സര്‍ : ഇതെങ്ങനെ സാധിക്കുന്നു ????
[തുടരും]

അശ്വതി K.S 'പിള്ള'

Restrooms...?

From calling the toilet "loo" back in school, to a "Rest room" more recently.. i was taught by my parents, and at school to keep it clean. But leaving home and school restrooms and 'expriencing' public toilets came as... *phew* i have no words to explain... even the thought of the toilets at the railway stations makes me sick in my stomach.

It has to come from each person, a sense of responsibility and understanding... that a public toilet has to be kept hygenic. A lot of people use it...

First of all.. please understand that the FLUSH is there for a purpose, and when they made it and fitted it there, they wanted people to make use of it. You can't just pee and leave that place smelly you know.. When the next person opens the door.. its a blast of..erm.. disgustingly-ammonia-smelling-making-you-want-to-puke kind of air(if you can call it that)...

Secondly, toilet walls weren't exactly made for your purpose of writing your unsuccessful love stories or your rebellious feelings aganist a political party or your fantastical erotic realizations while imagining your next door neighbour or your deep craze for a filmstar... they were just meant to be... walls.. try go buying paper for such purposes.. if you're so broke that you can't afford a sheet of paper and pencil ask me.. i'll lend them to you.. even gift them to you.. better yet go write on the sea shore.. that way you can play with the sea.. you can write all you want and the water can wash it away..

Thirdly, women.. kindly understand.. others do not want to see traces of your monthly cycles displayed at the window or near the toilet seats... kindly keep it private and know where to throw.

Fourthly, this one's for men.. kindly aim into the toilet seat and not around it.. i dunno if you do it for fun or you love watching it flow down like harpic flows down from the sides of the toilet seats in the Harpic ads.. but.. while you do it standing.. We are compelled to sit.. i might not have complained if we were capable of standing and getting our business done like you.

Fifthly, keep the place clean, that is not dustbin, it's disgusting to see bits of paper on the wet toilet floor, strands of hair, empty plastic bottles.. and such things... i know each one of us goes around discussing unclean public loos but if each one of us is careful it can be avoided you know.

Sixthly, this is for people who think mugs and such things kept in public toilets can be thrown around, stamped on, or taken home... That isn't the case... you've got it absolutely wrong.. you just use those mugs or buckets or whatever and leave them in position..

Lastly, Kindly close the door behind you.. do you leave the bathroom door in your house open???

I should list out here just for the attention of those who don't know which toilets are categorized under public toilets... toilets at railway stations, bust-stops, petrol-pumps, colleges, libraries, restraunts, offices.. and any such place where people other than you can 'drop-in'.

There are more things i might have missed out.. but these are the major ones.. before each one teach one.. each one teach oneself..i am confident that i'm a careful user of public restrooms.. are you..?

-Evangeline

An old page out of my diary...

Musings

It was a silent evening, the sun almost out of view.. she sat on her bed looking out of the window... thinking... there was so much to think about, she loved thinking... she loved talking to herself.. and it had been ages since she'd done that...
The door of her room was closed, her mother downstairs thought she was asleep... nobody would disturb her... she closed the copy of Victor Hugo's Les Miserables that lay open on her bed... reading could be done later... the end of the pencil in her hand touched her cheek and the other hand supported her head.. she was staring out of the window as far as her sight could manage to see... the horizon... the red-orange sky with a tint of pink... against a silhouette of the top of trees....

hmmm... this wasn't it... nothing near what she had wanted things to be like... she knew she was failing her own expectations, let alone do what her parents thought she could... she remembered her sister had said a few days back "God won't be THAT unfair" when she was looking for something that she had lost... and yes she'd found it...
but "unfair" was still the only word she could think of... life was being unfair!!
so much she had been given to do... without much time....she couldn't... she wanted to give up... she felt like it.. she wanted to sit down and breath... they were deciding things for her always.. they asked her to do something.. she had to do it.. they asked her to handle it alone... she did... she tried her best to.. all for the one desire of keeping others happy... and they... they don't even come to know when she gets hurt... when she begins to breakdown .. inside her heart... it still hurts... a lump somewhere... it won't go... she's scared... of what she doesn't know... maybe of being left alone... of not knowing what to do if she loses those people who mean a lot to her.. of hurting someone with absolutely no intention at all... or maybe just not having anyone to love... and maybe of losing someone who loves her...

but the failure that she saw coming her way... she prayed everyday... she remembered him saying "God is your friend..." she wished he were right... she wished she could meet god, sit with him and explain to him how she was tired of not knowing waht to do!... everytime she was asked a question.. her only answer would be "I don't know..."
...she didn't!
and she couldn't help it... it all seemed so absurd, so sudden, so unpredictable... she'd rather not be sure than have a dissappointed heart... she didn't want to cry.. she was tired of crying... but she did...
when she felt alone..
but he was there....
but there were times they couldn't talk...
and nobody else would...
they wouldn't listen..
even if they did, they'd percieve it not in the way she meant it...
sometimes she felt she was losing herself... to time and place and people.... she was forgetting that she had so much more to her than what she was being... was she making her life what it was or was life making her what she was... she still didn't know...


-Evangeline

Tear drop...

 

Teardrop...

A smile that faded...
A heart that cried...
A little wish was made..
it died...

The sun that set...
Silence that spoke...
A heart that only loved..
it broke...

And yet she'd wait...
And smile through tears..
the star of hope that would..
appear...  

-Evangeline

എന്നാല്‍ ഞാന്‍ പോകട്ടെ...

നിങ്ങള്‍ ആരൊക്കെയാണെന്ന് പറയട്ടെ?

എന്‍റെ നാട്ടുകാരും, വീട്ടുകാരും, കൂട്ടുകാരും, സഹപ്രവര്‍ത്തകരും പിന്നെ എല്ലാവരും.

നിങ്ങള്‍ എന്നോട് എന്താണ് ചെയ്തതെന്നു അറിയാമോ?

എന്നെ എന്നോ എഴുതിത്തള്ളി, എന്‍റെ സ്വപ്നങ്ങളും.

പിന്നെ പടി അടച്ചു പിണ്ഡവും വെച്ചു.

എന്തിനെന്നോ?

ഞാന്‍ ധിക്കാരി, താന്തോന്നി.

അപ്രിയസത്യങ്ങള്‍ മുഖം നോക്കാതെ എഴുന്നള്ളിക്കുന്നവള്‍.

ഓഹോ, അപ്പോള്‍ നിങ്ങളാണോ ഉത്തരാധുനികര്‍?

നിങ്ങളുടെ നിയമപുസ്തകം ഞാന്‍ കണ്ടു.

എണ്ണിയാലൊടുങ്ങാത്ത നിയമങ്ങളും ചട്ടങ്ങളും പിന്നെ പ്രത്യയശാസ്ത്രങ്ങളും.

എല്ലാം അപൂര്‍ണ്ണം. അവ്യക്തം.

ശരി, എന്നാല്‍ ഞാന്‍ പോകട്ടെ.

അനുപ്രിയ രാജ്

Absolute Wonder

Imagine a 15 year old girl from Kozhikode talking on Astrophysics and challenging Albert Einstein! Here is Hanaan Binth Hashim, a resident of Kozhikode and a class X student. Hanaan is an aspiring astrophysicist and mathematical researcher. Her ‘Absolute Theory of Zero’ states that the speed of light is not a constant while theories like ‘Big Bang theory’, ‘Theory of Relativity’ are developed based on the concept of constant light speed. That makes a challenge to the existing theories developed by Einstein. “Discovering the hidden concepts of universe does not lie only in new scientific theories but also in the unexplained corners of old theories” Hanaan strongly believes.

“My question is, why theories are not replacing theories. Einstein was right during his time. Today I might prove him wrong and tomorrow someone else will prove me wrong.” Hanaan participated in the NASA space camp which was held last month and said that she was thrilled when a model rocket designed by her was launched. Hanaan has been in touch with India’s former scientist – president Dr APJ Abdul Kalam whose first response to her mail detailing about her theory was that he doesn’t know what this girl is talking about! It was Kalam who introduced her to NASA. Recognizing the genius in Hanaan, the prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) has invited her for pursuing her research studies in theoretical astronomy. She is gearing up to join MIT next year.

"ISRO chairman Madhavan Nair is also a huge support and inspiration.” she said and added that Indian students have huge potential and wants the scientific community in India to set up more institutions to hone the skills of the young talent pool.

Binu Narayan

Brown is Back!

The much awaited final installment in the Da Vinci Code Trilogy by Dan Brown has arrived. With over one million copies sold on the first day, September 15, 2009, the novel broke records for the most sales of adult fiction in English. Unlike the previous adventures of Robert Langdon, the Harvardian Symbology professor, The Lost Symbol deals with the Freemasonry, yet another powerful cult with members estimated at around 5 million around the world.

I caught a glimpse of the hardcover fresh first edition of The Lost Symbol from our P. K Rajashekaran sir who had managed to get one the first day itself. 509 pages of hardcore action, mystery and adventure the Dan Brown way, no wonder it felt heavy! I can't wait to get one for myself.

So all of you who adore the 'Browniverse', go get a copy of the book from the DC Books at a 'reasonable' price of Rs. 699. Or of course you can wait for the cheap street edition from the Palayam used books place. :)

Binu Narayan

If Cricket is a Religion, Sachin is God

His name alone brings joy in the hearts of millions around the world, and strikes fear in the hearts of bowlers all around the world through his fabulous batting performance. Hailed as the complete batsman of his time and arguably the biggest cricket icon as well.

It’s been 20 years since Sachin Tendulkar started his journey as an international cricketer. His batting is based on purest principles: perfect balance, economy of movement, precision in stroke-making, and that intangible quality of anticipation with which only few are gifted. He holds almost every batting record in tests and in ODI’s. The greatness of Tendulkar can be measured not only through these records, but also through the way he handled the pressure for the last 18 years or so. Every time he goes onto bat, the whole India if not, the whole world that watching cricket cheers as if a gladiator has walked into an arena full of hungry tigers.

Every time Sachin fails to perform to his standards, a debate surfaces on if he is the best or not. In the last 15 years, most discussed topic in India is not the nuclear deal, not Ayodhya, not Sonia or Vajpayee, but Sachin’s heroics on the field.

Though he has adopted a noticeably conservative approach in the last quarter of his career, there is no apparent weakness in Tendulkar’s game. He can score all around the wicket, off both front foot and back foot, and has made runs in all parts of the world in all conditions.

When Sachin Tendulkar plays, India forgets its differences, divisions & tensions and breaths, laughs and cries as one, as its heart fills with pride, joy and patriotism. He is an icon, an inspiration, a perfect team player, a genius, mentor, and face of the nation. No matter what the opposition does, as long as Sachin is out there, there is hope that India can still win, even if it is mathematically impossible!

The only thing that Tendulkar couldn’t gain till now is winning world cup for India. In 2003, he almost reached, but couldn’t fulfill the dream. Every Indian truly believes that he will do it for us in the 2011 world cup. They are sure about it, because if cricket is a religion, then Sachin is its living god…!

Anoop. A

Team I

Anoop. A

Anupriya

Arun Lal

Arya

Aswathy

Binu Narayan

Deeptheesh