India is a developing country, and one clear sign of that is the energy demand that its people have created since independence. India is the second most populated country in the world, and has the fifth largest installed capacity of electricity generation. To level those two numbers, the yard-stick to use is the per capita energy consumption, in which India is ranked beyond 140. In today’s scenario, India has a peak load demand of more than 12000 MW. India’s peak-hours shortfall rose by 0.4% in 2011. Clearly, the demand is exceeding the supply – 16000 MW of generation capacity was added from April to December in the same year.
Indian government plans to add 107000 MW to the installed capacity in the next five-years (2012-2017), having added only 70% of the set target of 52000 MW addition between the years 2007 and 2012. And, most of the power plants in place, and those about to be lined up, are thermal, especially, coal-based. As it is, coal based account for more than 55% of Indian power generation, and including other thermal sources, the number is 65%.
Let’s face it – coal is not going to last forever. Different people have different guesses for its extinction. Some say it will be gone by 2020, some say 2050. But, it will be gone very soon at the rate it is being consumed. We can only look at alternate sources of energy. Hydro is an easy option. Just that, you can tap the North-Eastern belly full of hydro energy potential, but have no-where to send it to in the difficult terrain. There is solar energy to tap, but at the cost that it made available for, Indians cannot afford it, even at the 40% subsidiary the government is willing to offer. Solar energy’s other deficiencies add up to its dismissal as the answer to overcoming the power shortfall. Wind energy, likewise, is very costly to install, wind farms are scarcely located and they are very inconsistent in generation for us, as a nation, to bank on for the demand.
The one answer, that may check all the boxes, however, is nuclear energy. Nuclear energy is nothing new to anyone. It has been used around the world, benefiting millions of people. It caters to 15% of world’s electricity requirements. India has, as of 2011, 4800 MW of installed capacity off nuclear power plants, and ranks 15th in the world by generation.
Just to compare the numbers, India’s total installed capacity of power generation is around 185 GW, and USA’s installed nuclear power capacity alone comes to 101 GW. 75% of France’s electricity supply is fulfilled by nuclear power, and even sell it to neighbouring countries.
The most common nuclear fuel is Uranium.
Nuclear power is green. It is non-polluting – it does not cause air pollution, it does not pollute the water, nuclear waste disposal is well watched and is done under watchful eyes of IAEA and other international eyes with the sole interest to not do the environment any harm. Fear not.
To further eliminate any concern about nuclear waste disposal, the nuclear sector is planning to move towards breeder reactors, which will reprocess the spent fuel and recover upto an expected 95% of usable fuel for subsequent reactions nuclear reactions and thereby, generate more power with minimal wastes. As of today, reprocessing done is less, but it will rise as the number of breeder reactors rise.
Nuclear power has to find its support in India too. There are 18 reactors in India, supplying 4.8 GW. It is about time to add more to it. The amount of fuel required to generate electricity for any number of units, is much less than that of coal burnt to generate the same.
The Kudankulam Nuclear power Plant has an installed capacity of 2000 MW burning the pockets. And, more units weighing in at 4000 MW combined will be added to it soon. Tamil Nadu’s power deficiency alone exceeds 1600 MW. Time and again, nuclear watch-dogs from around the world have tested and left satisfied with the safety deployed at the plants at the Kudankulam. It is us people who need to dispel the unnecessary fears locked in our minds.
Let it be known that the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant was installed in the year 1971 – two years after Tarapur Atomic Power Station was in place – and the power plant at Fukushima needed an earthquake that measured 9 on the Richter Scale coupled with the gigantic forces of tsunami to cause damage that caught the attention of international eyes. Nothing survives disasters like that, nothing. It was catastrophic, yes. But, accidents cannot be seen as the reason to stop looking forward. Safety mechanisms are put in to avert as many disasters foreseeable as possible.
Technology is a wonderful asset. The Wright brothers crashed their flights in many of their trials, and then made their first successful glide of 120 feet. Today, we fly in planes that measure longer than that. we have seen accidents, and we have overcome those defects. We shouldn’t give up on something good.
India has been blessed with abundant deposits of Thorium, which is quite special. It is only justified if we can make use of this gift of nature and satisfy the hunger of energy demand that has landed upon us.
Hopefully, nuclear is now clear.
Wednesday, March 14, 2012
Saturday, March 3, 2012
Television News MEDI(ocre)A
Dear television news media,
How are you?
Don't bother answering, I know you are as crap as crap can be.
No, I'm not well either. Thanks to you.
Because of you and the cronies in your flank, I've had stages of depression, anger, head-aches and mental fatigue. I'm pretty sure many others have had the same too. Let me explain. of course, you never know about these things. you are one of the flock-less bird in the cage of flock-less birds.
I ask you, what joy does it give you to incessantly report about a murder, its trials and its follow-up? Are you solving the case yourself? Are you getting paid to get it covered? Isn't it the court's responsibility to carry out trials and investigations and send in their verdict? Why, are you the police right now?
Someone died, someone's been murdered. Somebody lost his wife, someone lost her mother, someone lost his daughter, and you ask them "How it feels like? Who do you think is the victim?". My dear lunatic fool, will you leave them alone? They are in enough pain without your presence there. Go watch Peepli Live and then retire. Or retire first, as that will save a couple of hours of your service to the world of stupidity.
Also, the other nincompoop branch of your family is out there banging at the doors of an ICU unit of a hospital which hosts a child barely longer than the length of my forearm. Can you please leave the poor kid alone? Can you please keep your endlessly pointless nose out of the hospital? What ARE you trying to do there? A baby met with domestic violence. It's sad, I know. We all know. And we don't want you showing us uncomfortable pictures all day long. Do you know on how many days I have not been able to eat my lunch with pleasure because I accidentally look up at the TV and you show such depressing images?
Winnings sympathy, sympathy viewers? Do you want us to cry and weep in front of your office and watch all your utterly depressing video clips of murders, rapes, violence and bloodshed? Is that what your reporters cover all day? If you are jobless, go, grow crops. Go, help farmers. And go there without your camera, paper, pen and mobile phones. One thing is, that you can't do anything. The other thing, if at all you deny the first, is, that you can't do anything right. All you do is, pick a totally irrelevant piece that doesn't need the publicity - either because it is cheap, or because in that situation privacy is the need of the hour. And it is stupid either way.
And please punch that nephew of yours who interviews a poor chap shivering on the a platform besides a road somewhere in Kashmir and asks him "How cold is it? How are you coping up with this?". Inhumane, to say the least!
And why are you making headlines out of passengers stranded at airport? Has your flight never ever been delayed? And oh, what joy you receive by constantly telecasting replays of someone falling on the dais, or someone getting slapped, or someone getting hit by a thrown shoes; while anything that happened before or after that incidence in a meeting or lecture or discourse carried infinitely more reason to be shown instead?
But, of course, you are just a mongrel who likes to eat money, and will kill whatever to do so.
Why, take for example the brain-damaged fools who call themselves "News Channel", but all they show is replays of music shows, dance competitions, reality shows and award functions? Why would I be bothered about which guy hates which woman on some already height-of-disastrous-waste-of-time-and-money-and-common-sense reality show of unrealistic things which feels its publicity is directly in proportion to the number of times of swears during the length of the show? Why would I even want to turn on the news channel to learn about what happened when one man tried to cause a nervous breakdown in a dozen people? And that's not wrestling, that is supposed to be some singing competition. But that is a whole other dark ocean of utter stupidity.
Sports... You didn't leave that section alone either, did you? A man has a disease. He is already not at ease. And you lovely idiots want to poke him, his parents, his coach, his mentor, his buddies, his doctor, non-stop for weeks after weeks after weeks? If you fall ill, do you even like one person talking to you? Frankly, I go berserk when someone talks to me when I'm ill and on bed. You sold your heart, mind and soul to the devil, didn't you? The devil named money. In any which form, it comes down to money.
Do you even have decency in asking questions? Since when have you assumed yourself as the chief inspector of everything that's right in the world? One, you can't ask the right question. Two, you ask too many questions. Three, you say that it is your job to ask whatever and whichever question you want to, because you wear the cap of a journalist and demand an answer from the person at the other end of the noose. I'm serious when I say this - you are manner-less. Gone are the days I thought of interviews as strolling in a garden, sitting by the sides of a tea-table, sipping garam-a-garam chaai, happily answering the questions people have for a person. Today, it is in-front of a TV panel consisting of people who makes you think that the person being interviewed had raped one of them, stole the properties of the other, ate the limb of the third and put the blame of all three on the fourth. Come on, if you are not brain dead, I don't know what you are. Medical marvel? I advice the doctors to do something about these marvels, like, not let them loose, for example.
And another point which I saw more than an year ago, why would you send your daughter to a war torn country to cover a civil war? Especially when there are several people already covering it? You wish to say that some videos of tanks moving in the town, and bricks falling down and audio of gun-shots in the back-ground, all taken in a iPhone camera (because your cameraman got injured and had to escape death and couldn't save the camera), were all worth more than the lives of some people who were covering the event?
And remember, you are the media-men, not the ones who are supposed to be giving the suggestions and opinions. no one cares what you think about the polling, or who will win the case in court, or who should be selected to the indian cricket team. Mind your own business.
Sorry, I forgot that you can't.
I try my bet to not face televisions while at lunch, because all they play there is some news channel. And you definition of "news" is "whatever gives us money". At breakfast table, I run away from the room if a news channel is being played.
I don't need your torture to ruin a pleasant life that I'm having. I don't need to watch your news. It doesn't give me any knowledge, anyway.
May your soul rot in hell.
With loads of hatred,
Bagrat
How are you?
Don't bother answering, I know you are as crap as crap can be.
No, I'm not well either. Thanks to you.
Because of you and the cronies in your flank, I've had stages of depression, anger, head-aches and mental fatigue. I'm pretty sure many others have had the same too. Let me explain. of course, you never know about these things. you are one of the flock-less bird in the cage of flock-less birds.
I ask you, what joy does it give you to incessantly report about a murder, its trials and its follow-up? Are you solving the case yourself? Are you getting paid to get it covered? Isn't it the court's responsibility to carry out trials and investigations and send in their verdict? Why, are you the police right now?
Someone died, someone's been murdered. Somebody lost his wife, someone lost her mother, someone lost his daughter, and you ask them "How it feels like? Who do you think is the victim?". My dear lunatic fool, will you leave them alone? They are in enough pain without your presence there. Go watch Peepli Live and then retire. Or retire first, as that will save a couple of hours of your service to the world of stupidity.
Also, the other nincompoop branch of your family is out there banging at the doors of an ICU unit of a hospital which hosts a child barely longer than the length of my forearm. Can you please leave the poor kid alone? Can you please keep your endlessly pointless nose out of the hospital? What ARE you trying to do there? A baby met with domestic violence. It's sad, I know. We all know. And we don't want you showing us uncomfortable pictures all day long. Do you know on how many days I have not been able to eat my lunch with pleasure because I accidentally look up at the TV and you show such depressing images?
Winnings sympathy, sympathy viewers? Do you want us to cry and weep in front of your office and watch all your utterly depressing video clips of murders, rapes, violence and bloodshed? Is that what your reporters cover all day? If you are jobless, go, grow crops. Go, help farmers. And go there without your camera, paper, pen and mobile phones. One thing is, that you can't do anything. The other thing, if at all you deny the first, is, that you can't do anything right. All you do is, pick a totally irrelevant piece that doesn't need the publicity - either because it is cheap, or because in that situation privacy is the need of the hour. And it is stupid either way.
And please punch that nephew of yours who interviews a poor chap shivering on the a platform besides a road somewhere in Kashmir and asks him "How cold is it? How are you coping up with this?". Inhumane, to say the least!
And why are you making headlines out of passengers stranded at airport? Has your flight never ever been delayed? And oh, what joy you receive by constantly telecasting replays of someone falling on the dais, or someone getting slapped, or someone getting hit by a thrown shoes; while anything that happened before or after that incidence in a meeting or lecture or discourse carried infinitely more reason to be shown instead?
But, of course, you are just a mongrel who likes to eat money, and will kill whatever to do so.
Why, take for example the brain-damaged fools who call themselves "News Channel", but all they show is replays of music shows, dance competitions, reality shows and award functions? Why would I be bothered about which guy hates which woman on some already height-of-disastrous-waste-of-time-and-money-and-common-sense reality show of unrealistic things which feels its publicity is directly in proportion to the number of times of swears during the length of the show? Why would I even want to turn on the news channel to learn about what happened when one man tried to cause a nervous breakdown in a dozen people? And that's not wrestling, that is supposed to be some singing competition. But that is a whole other dark ocean of utter stupidity.
Sports... You didn't leave that section alone either, did you? A man has a disease. He is already not at ease. And you lovely idiots want to poke him, his parents, his coach, his mentor, his buddies, his doctor, non-stop for weeks after weeks after weeks? If you fall ill, do you even like one person talking to you? Frankly, I go berserk when someone talks to me when I'm ill and on bed. You sold your heart, mind and soul to the devil, didn't you? The devil named money. In any which form, it comes down to money.
Do you even have decency in asking questions? Since when have you assumed yourself as the chief inspector of everything that's right in the world? One, you can't ask the right question. Two, you ask too many questions. Three, you say that it is your job to ask whatever and whichever question you want to, because you wear the cap of a journalist and demand an answer from the person at the other end of the noose. I'm serious when I say this - you are manner-less. Gone are the days I thought of interviews as strolling in a garden, sitting by the sides of a tea-table, sipping garam-a-garam chaai, happily answering the questions people have for a person. Today, it is in-front of a TV panel consisting of people who makes you think that the person being interviewed had raped one of them, stole the properties of the other, ate the limb of the third and put the blame of all three on the fourth. Come on, if you are not brain dead, I don't know what you are. Medical marvel? I advice the doctors to do something about these marvels, like, not let them loose, for example.
And another point which I saw more than an year ago, why would you send your daughter to a war torn country to cover a civil war? Especially when there are several people already covering it? You wish to say that some videos of tanks moving in the town, and bricks falling down and audio of gun-shots in the back-ground, all taken in a iPhone camera (because your cameraman got injured and had to escape death and couldn't save the camera), were all worth more than the lives of some people who were covering the event?
And remember, you are the media-men, not the ones who are supposed to be giving the suggestions and opinions. no one cares what you think about the polling, or who will win the case in court, or who should be selected to the indian cricket team. Mind your own business.
Sorry, I forgot that you can't.
I try my bet to not face televisions while at lunch, because all they play there is some news channel. And you definition of "news" is "whatever gives us money". At breakfast table, I run away from the room if a news channel is being played.
I don't need your torture to ruin a pleasant life that I'm having. I don't need to watch your news. It doesn't give me any knowledge, anyway.
May your soul rot in hell.
With loads of hatred,
Bagrat
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Outbound Program @ Parvati hills
Ever since winter set in, "Out-bound" would only remind me of the 'out of bounds' phrase from the basketball diction where the ball would go out of official play area and a team would have to bring it back in. Both teams would use the time to refresh strategies, study new plays and try execute them when the play resumed on the "in-bound" sequence.
When I received a mail from my employers that I've been invited for an out-bound program, all this flashed across my mind. And then I saw what it actually meant. Just the same. Only, much much more exciting and filled to the brim with fun, with a bagful of learning experiences to carry back.
A bunch of 42 new-joinees, along with our HR personnel, headed to Parvati Hills (approximately an hour from Himmatnagar in Gujarat. Also, please don't trust the calculations I made while throughout the journey). We had to start at 5.15 am, and hence the alarm sounded off at 4 am. Cold wintry morning was braved by most of us and we set off. We had no idea about what to anticipate, and that added the excitement.
5 wonderful hours of sleep, during which my outstretched legs looked like a snake in the aisle of the bus, only disturbed by the call for breakfast (please don't plan to have chips and wafers and cup-cake for breakfast), we reached the middle of nowhere. The problem was, we really didn't know where to head. After half an hour of the bus going front and back in all possible like-looking roads, we finally reached the site.
I was angry at first. The place had nothing but a large house, a couple of trucks and three tractors. Surely, we had only stopped to ask directions?
Whilst my brain took a stroll, We were led elsewhere by a guide. We went downhill and entered into a wonderful little world nobody could've spotted from outside. Trees and rocks protected the beautiful tiny patch of plain and a gorgeous golf-course shaped lake. We were still in awe. More so because it had absolutely no relation to the place we disembarked off the bus (only 200 yards away).
We put our bags into the tents that were pitched up for us and comforted ourselves on the chairs laid out. Out came our training instructor for the day, Mr Sheetal, along with his three colleagues (pardon me, I'm that bad at recollecting names :-( ). As if on cue, they said "Breakfast is ready, go feast." It was 11.30 am, but who cares? To our tummy, breakfast was what we wanted. Over aloo parathas, bread, butter, jam and eggs, we all feasted for 20 minutes and soaked it up with tea.
Day-1
Our day began with an ice-breaker. We colleagues came from 3 different locations, and from atleast 4 different branches of our company. We didn't know all. And the first half hour went into introducing ourselves and having some fun mingling, and then form groups that would perform activities together.
Our first activity was to build a raft. Any one who was eager to head to the lake had his/her wish fulfilled. We were at the shores, where we were provided with two plastic drums, a bunch of bamboo sticks and lots and lots of ropes at our disposal. Designer heads ran into over-time and all physics came into picture. Rafts were built, people were put on them. Some capsized, only one went to the designated mark. But it was all fun. Especially when you see the "raft-men" laughing at their fall!
Our next activity (once our trousers were dry) was to lift a ball that's resting on a ring held by strings, and moving it to another spot. Both the start and end points were.....an open end of a pipe. The ball rested on the pipe. Simple enough? Just that we had to do it blindfolded. One of our team-mate would guide us, with eyes open, of course.
Next activity - to deposit little ping-pong ball-sized rubber balls from one end of a line to the other, into a bucket. We were ten people, each holding a foot-long pipe cut into half along the axis so we could run the ball from one end to the other of pipe and drop the ball into the neighbour's, to transport the ball across the distance. Well, the distance was 35-40 m per my estimate, and we were, yes, 10. It took us multiple shuffling and juggling to do it successfully time and again over the given time of 20 minutes. It was super fun!
It was lunch. At 3.45 pm no less!! Bas toot pade... Wish we could just eat that all day!
We then had to enact a role play that we had barely prepared for. What we did was the acting equivalent of an extempore. Just that we did it so well for our team to believe :-) . Other teams had done wonderful acts, yes!
It was nearly dusk, and I thought we might get some time off for ourselves before a bonfire. Well, surprise!
Members in each group were tied together and walked into a bus. We were like cows moving in a line on cue! The bus drove us here and there and deposited us into the forest that blanketed the place. Our task - find the way back to the base camp. Not quite easy, as we found out. Our clues like - that star, the red sky of the dusk and "that tube-light there" became sitting ducks, when many more strs showed up, the red light fell into the darkness of the night and many other tube-lights showed up. We trusted our compass, and trekked through the thorny, forest lands, up and down the rocks, everyone striking the pose like traffic policemen when the leader asks "which way should we go". In the end, the guide (who wouldn't give us a clue) said that we had grazed everywhere that was theirs but the camp, and directed us back to the camp. Well, thorns apart, no fun like trekking in the dark with just flash-lights for help.
We brushed though all that we did that day, and then sat around the bonfire, singing songs, warming our hands, making new friends, and waiting for the dinner call, which finally came at 10 pm. The dinner was wonderful, and wonderfully capped with Gulab Jamuns. So tasty, that the ones who wanted to skip dinner were lured into it. Please don't lick the computer screen.
I was tired, and couldn't stand the third karaoke of "Why this kolaveri..." in the last half hour. So, I headed to my tent, only to find my bed missing. I was then told that it was shifted to another tent, where I slept in peace. Some good songs acted as lullabies.
Day-2
Rise and grind, up before dawn, was up and ready to watch the day break its glory upon the canopy. It was a beautiful picture as one part shone in the sunshine, while the other lay in the shadows. We had tea to get wake our brains up.
First up, we had to pitch a tent. We had just come out of one, and here we were, building one. In 12-minutes (??), the tent was up! I was brilliantly foolish in putting up my side of the tent, which looked like as if someone closed the tent's "ears" on one side. Lucky for me, I could stop cursing myself when I heard the race was to finish it first, and the beauty part of the tent could be excused. #saved
Breakfast. Idly and the bread-butter-jam-egg set-up. Am desi. Idly for me. Hands only. Nom Nom. :-)
Next up : Rappelling. If I had no measure of my fear of height, which included staring 400 feet into the Shimla Railway station from an open cliff above it, I had it here - over a tiny 30 foot high rock-cut. Tiny my foot. I was scared till I set my foot back on earth, you know, the flat horizontal part of earth. Yeah, it is ironical that I of all people have to fear height, but that's how mother nature likes to laugh!
We returned to take bath (not mandatory). And then got ready for the next task. A square was drawn on the floor. And that was divided into 4 quadrants. Each quadrant had 5 pieces of brick-shaped pieces of wood. Each team had to travel from their quadrant, traverse through the next clockwise quadrant and exit from the third. All the time, foot on the bricks (allow me to call them bricks), which can have not more than two feet on it at one point of time. Also, if you put your foot on one and then leave it alone, that will be removed. That was one superb activity! Brought in at the right time to tease our brains. Some lost their cool, some lost their voice. In the end, it was done.
The last "activity" was to recite a slogan/song that each team had composed, to justify the team name each had chosen. 10 minutes of salute to innovative ideas followed. And then the winners were crowned!
Needless to say, lunch followed to cap the day!
Over the two days, we learnt many values from simple activities that are valid to our personal life as well as corporate career. It was an excellent idea for our employers to invest into such a program for us "new-bies", that helped us find a bit more about ourselves, something that we only find about when put to test. It was wonderful when we complemented and supplemented each other as a part of the team, or helping other teams with their work, or working together to complete one common goal.
After all, we're all one.
If you want to your team to take up this wonderful adventure-packed program for your team, or bunch of friends, visit Parvati Hills' website - www.parvatihills.com, and Anala Outdoors will sweep you off the floor with excellent facilities and activities that you won't forget for the rest of your lives!
I enjoyed this trip a lot. *insert more sweet clichés*. Made some really good friends over the 2 days, don't know how many of them I would meet again! It was all fun, all the time!
:-)
When I received a mail from my employers that I've been invited for an out-bound program, all this flashed across my mind. And then I saw what it actually meant. Just the same. Only, much much more exciting and filled to the brim with fun, with a bagful of learning experiences to carry back.
A bunch of 42 new-joinees, along with our HR personnel, headed to Parvati Hills (approximately an hour from Himmatnagar in Gujarat. Also, please don't trust the calculations I made while throughout the journey). We had to start at 5.15 am, and hence the alarm sounded off at 4 am. Cold wintry morning was braved by most of us and we set off. We had no idea about what to anticipate, and that added the excitement.
5 wonderful hours of sleep, during which my outstretched legs looked like a snake in the aisle of the bus, only disturbed by the call for breakfast (please don't plan to have chips and wafers and cup-cake for breakfast), we reached the middle of nowhere. The problem was, we really didn't know where to head. After half an hour of the bus going front and back in all possible like-looking roads, we finally reached the site.
I was angry at first. The place had nothing but a large house, a couple of trucks and three tractors. Surely, we had only stopped to ask directions?
Whilst my brain took a stroll, We were led elsewhere by a guide. We went downhill and entered into a wonderful little world nobody could've spotted from outside. Trees and rocks protected the beautiful tiny patch of plain and a gorgeous golf-course shaped lake. We were still in awe. More so because it had absolutely no relation to the place we disembarked off the bus (only 200 yards away).
We put our bags into the tents that were pitched up for us and comforted ourselves on the chairs laid out. Out came our training instructor for the day, Mr Sheetal, along with his three colleagues (pardon me, I'm that bad at recollecting names :-( ). As if on cue, they said "Breakfast is ready, go feast." It was 11.30 am, but who cares? To our tummy, breakfast was what we wanted. Over aloo parathas, bread, butter, jam and eggs, we all feasted for 20 minutes and soaked it up with tea.
Day-1
Our day began with an ice-breaker. We colleagues came from 3 different locations, and from atleast 4 different branches of our company. We didn't know all. And the first half hour went into introducing ourselves and having some fun mingling, and then form groups that would perform activities together.
Our first activity was to build a raft. Any one who was eager to head to the lake had his/her wish fulfilled. We were at the shores, where we were provided with two plastic drums, a bunch of bamboo sticks and lots and lots of ropes at our disposal. Designer heads ran into over-time and all physics came into picture. Rafts were built, people were put on them. Some capsized, only one went to the designated mark. But it was all fun. Especially when you see the "raft-men" laughing at their fall!
Our next activity (once our trousers were dry) was to lift a ball that's resting on a ring held by strings, and moving it to another spot. Both the start and end points were.....an open end of a pipe. The ball rested on the pipe. Simple enough? Just that we had to do it blindfolded. One of our team-mate would guide us, with eyes open, of course.
Next activity - to deposit little ping-pong ball-sized rubber balls from one end of a line to the other, into a bucket. We were ten people, each holding a foot-long pipe cut into half along the axis so we could run the ball from one end to the other of pipe and drop the ball into the neighbour's, to transport the ball across the distance. Well, the distance was 35-40 m per my estimate, and we were, yes, 10. It took us multiple shuffling and juggling to do it successfully time and again over the given time of 20 minutes. It was super fun!
It was lunch. At 3.45 pm no less!! Bas toot pade... Wish we could just eat that all day!
We then had to enact a role play that we had barely prepared for. What we did was the acting equivalent of an extempore. Just that we did it so well for our team to believe :-) . Other teams had done wonderful acts, yes!
It was nearly dusk, and I thought we might get some time off for ourselves before a bonfire. Well, surprise!
Members in each group were tied together and walked into a bus. We were like cows moving in a line on cue! The bus drove us here and there and deposited us into the forest that blanketed the place. Our task - find the way back to the base camp. Not quite easy, as we found out. Our clues like - that star, the red sky of the dusk and "that tube-light there" became sitting ducks, when many more strs showed up, the red light fell into the darkness of the night and many other tube-lights showed up. We trusted our compass, and trekked through the thorny, forest lands, up and down the rocks, everyone striking the pose like traffic policemen when the leader asks "which way should we go". In the end, the guide (who wouldn't give us a clue) said that we had grazed everywhere that was theirs but the camp, and directed us back to the camp. Well, thorns apart, no fun like trekking in the dark with just flash-lights for help.
We brushed though all that we did that day, and then sat around the bonfire, singing songs, warming our hands, making new friends, and waiting for the dinner call, which finally came at 10 pm. The dinner was wonderful, and wonderfully capped with Gulab Jamuns. So tasty, that the ones who wanted to skip dinner were lured into it. Please don't lick the computer screen.
I was tired, and couldn't stand the third karaoke of "Why this kolaveri..." in the last half hour. So, I headed to my tent, only to find my bed missing. I was then told that it was shifted to another tent, where I slept in peace. Some good songs acted as lullabies.
Day-2
Rise and grind, up before dawn, was up and ready to watch the day break its glory upon the canopy. It was a beautiful picture as one part shone in the sunshine, while the other lay in the shadows. We had tea to get wake our brains up.
First up, we had to pitch a tent. We had just come out of one, and here we were, building one. In 12-minutes (??), the tent was up! I was brilliantly foolish in putting up my side of the tent, which looked like as if someone closed the tent's "ears" on one side. Lucky for me, I could stop cursing myself when I heard the race was to finish it first, and the beauty part of the tent could be excused. #saved
Breakfast. Idly and the bread-butter-jam-egg set-up. Am desi. Idly for me. Hands only. Nom Nom. :-)
Next up : Rappelling. If I had no measure of my fear of height, which included staring 400 feet into the Shimla Railway station from an open cliff above it, I had it here - over a tiny 30 foot high rock-cut. Tiny my foot. I was scared till I set my foot back on earth, you know, the flat horizontal part of earth. Yeah, it is ironical that I of all people have to fear height, but that's how mother nature likes to laugh!
We returned to take bath (not mandatory). And then got ready for the next task. A square was drawn on the floor. And that was divided into 4 quadrants. Each quadrant had 5 pieces of brick-shaped pieces of wood. Each team had to travel from their quadrant, traverse through the next clockwise quadrant and exit from the third. All the time, foot on the bricks (allow me to call them bricks), which can have not more than two feet on it at one point of time. Also, if you put your foot on one and then leave it alone, that will be removed. That was one superb activity! Brought in at the right time to tease our brains. Some lost their cool, some lost their voice. In the end, it was done.
The last "activity" was to recite a slogan/song that each team had composed, to justify the team name each had chosen. 10 minutes of salute to innovative ideas followed. And then the winners were crowned!
Needless to say, lunch followed to cap the day!
Over the two days, we learnt many values from simple activities that are valid to our personal life as well as corporate career. It was an excellent idea for our employers to invest into such a program for us "new-bies", that helped us find a bit more about ourselves, something that we only find about when put to test. It was wonderful when we complemented and supplemented each other as a part of the team, or helping other teams with their work, or working together to complete one common goal.
After all, we're all one.
If you want to your team to take up this wonderful adventure-packed program for your team, or bunch of friends, visit Parvati Hills' website - www.parvatihills.com, and Anala Outdoors will sweep you off the floor with excellent facilities and activities that you won't forget for the rest of your lives!
I enjoyed this trip a lot. *insert more sweet clichés*. Made some really good friends over the 2 days, don't know how many of them I would meet again! It was all fun, all the time!
:-)
Wednesday, December 7, 2011
Life is like a _____
We've all made up metaphors to compare life with something or the other. I've seen a lot of them on twitter, and thought I would share some of them with you. Credits to every author who came up with them.
Life is like a ______!
Life is like driving at night with headlights u can only see 200 ft ahead of u,the further u go the more life will unfold 200ft at a time.
Life is like an elevator, it has its ups and downs but you are the one who controls the direction it can go.
Life is like riding a bicycle - in order to keep your balance, you must keep moving.
Life is like a multiple choice question. it's not the question that troubles you.. but the choices given to you..
Life is like a train station, people come and go, but the ones that wait for the train with you are the ones that are worth keeping in it.
Life is like a coin. You can spend it any way you wish, but you only spend it once.
Life is like music; it must be composed by ear, feeling, and instinct, not by rule. - Samuel Butler
Life is like a mirror. If you smile at it, it smiles right back at you.
Life is like a book. You can not change the pages that are already written - but you can start a new chapter.
Life is like a box full of legos, it take a long time to build but just a second to destroy.
Life is like sailing. You can use any wind to go in any direction. ~Robert Brault
Life is like an ice cream. Enjoy it before it melts.
(oh dear) Life is like twitter. You cant control what people say or do. You can only choose to follow or unfollow them.
Life is like a pen. You can cross out your mistakes, but you cant completely erase them.
Life is like using Google. You just need to know what you are searching for.
Life is like Facebook. People will like your problems and comment, but no one will solve them because everyone is busy updating theirs.
Life is like music. If everybody are the same one note, there will be no beautiful harmonies.
Life is like a video game, the harder the level; the more you enjoy the game.
Life is like a taxi. The meter just keeps a-ticking whether you are getting somewhere or just standing still. - Lou Erickson
Life is like an hourglass. Sooner or later everything hits the bottom. You just gotta be patient and wait for someone to turn it around.
Life is like a confused teacher... First she gives the test and then teaches the lesson.
Life is like sailing in the open sea, you never know what is coming in your way. While some seems to have a clear direction, others are lost.
Life is like a million pictures in a photo album, you can remember it; but you can never recapture it.
Life is like a bank account. You can only expect to take out less or as much as you put in... But your deposits do collect interest.
Life is like musical chairs, its not about what song is being played. it's where you are at when the music stops.
Life is like an ocean. it can be calm and still, or rough and rigid, but in the end, it is always beautiful.
Creative, aren't they?
Click here to see how people are describing life as, right now...
Life is like a ______!
Life is like driving at night with headlights u can only see 200 ft ahead of u,the further u go the more life will unfold 200ft at a time.
Life is like an elevator, it has its ups and downs but you are the one who controls the direction it can go.
Life is like riding a bicycle - in order to keep your balance, you must keep moving.
Life is like a multiple choice question. it's not the question that troubles you.. but the choices given to you..
Life is like a train station, people come and go, but the ones that wait for the train with you are the ones that are worth keeping in it.
Life is like a coin. You can spend it any way you wish, but you only spend it once.
Life is like music; it must be composed by ear, feeling, and instinct, not by rule. - Samuel Butler
Life is like a mirror. If you smile at it, it smiles right back at you.
Life is like a book. You can not change the pages that are already written - but you can start a new chapter.
Life is like a box full of legos, it take a long time to build but just a second to destroy.
Life is like sailing. You can use any wind to go in any direction. ~Robert Brault
Life is like an ice cream. Enjoy it before it melts.
(oh dear) Life is like twitter. You cant control what people say or do. You can only choose to follow or unfollow them.
Life is like a pen. You can cross out your mistakes, but you cant completely erase them.
Life is like using Google. You just need to know what you are searching for.
Life is like Facebook. People will like your problems and comment, but no one will solve them because everyone is busy updating theirs.
Life is like music. If everybody are the same one note, there will be no beautiful harmonies.
Life is like a video game, the harder the level; the more you enjoy the game.
Life is like a taxi. The meter just keeps a-ticking whether you are getting somewhere or just standing still. - Lou Erickson
Life is like an hourglass. Sooner or later everything hits the bottom. You just gotta be patient and wait for someone to turn it around.
Life is like a confused teacher... First she gives the test and then teaches the lesson.
Life is like sailing in the open sea, you never know what is coming in your way. While some seems to have a clear direction, others are lost.
Life is like a million pictures in a photo album, you can remember it; but you can never recapture it.
Life is like a bank account. You can only expect to take out less or as much as you put in... But your deposits do collect interest.
Life is like musical chairs, its not about what song is being played. it's where you are at when the music stops.
Life is like an ocean. it can be calm and still, or rough and rigid, but in the end, it is always beautiful.
Creative, aren't they?
Click here to see how people are describing life as, right now...
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
Oh, you beauty!
What IS beauty?
Beauty is what you see, with your eyes closed.
Beauty is the face of your love, who strolls into your dreams without a request. Beauty is on the face of your parents, who care for you more than you do. It is in the colourful flowers that glorify your garden. It is in the building you admire to be in. It is in the way your favourite sportsperson plays his masterstroke. It drips off the face of the handsome men and the beautiful damsels. It is in the act of a little kitten chasing a ladybird. Beauty is, in the ladybird.
What IS beauty?
Beauty is what you hear, in silence.
Beauty lies in the melodious songs that play in your head even after it is complete. It is that hard metal music that leaves you tapping your feet and shaking your head hours after the end of the concert. It is the Martin Luther King Jr's "dream", that keeps your thoughts awake. It is your mother's voice that you love to hear from the very day you are born. It is in the "songbirds that sing". Beauty is, in the song.
What IS beauty?
Beauty is what you feel, in the creator's absence.
It is the soft touch of your loved ones, that you can never forget. It is the sense of success that you can feel, but not see. It is the gush of emotions that flush your insides every time you are happy. It is in love, which you share with things and people, still and moving. It is in the wet sands of the beach where you bask under the evening sun and the cool breeze. Beauty is, in the breeze.
Beauty is in You, who can sense them all.
Oh, you beauty!
(photo credit: www.keralaheritages.com )
Beauty is what you see, with your eyes closed.
Beauty is the face of your love, who strolls into your dreams without a request. Beauty is on the face of your parents, who care for you more than you do. It is in the colourful flowers that glorify your garden. It is in the building you admire to be in. It is in the way your favourite sportsperson plays his masterstroke. It drips off the face of the handsome men and the beautiful damsels. It is in the act of a little kitten chasing a ladybird. Beauty is, in the ladybird.
What IS beauty?
Beauty is what you hear, in silence.
Beauty lies in the melodious songs that play in your head even after it is complete. It is that hard metal music that leaves you tapping your feet and shaking your head hours after the end of the concert. It is the Martin Luther King Jr's "dream", that keeps your thoughts awake. It is your mother's voice that you love to hear from the very day you are born. It is in the "songbirds that sing". Beauty is, in the song.
What IS beauty?
Beauty is what you feel, in the creator's absence.
It is the soft touch of your loved ones, that you can never forget. It is the sense of success that you can feel, but not see. It is the gush of emotions that flush your insides every time you are happy. It is in love, which you share with things and people, still and moving. It is in the wet sands of the beach where you bask under the evening sun and the cool breeze. Beauty is, in the breeze.
Beauty is in You, who can sense them all.
Oh, you beauty!
Some things are ugly, so you can look beautiful.
In that, lies their beauty.
(photo credit: www.keralaheritages.com )
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