2010 - No Title worth giving

2010 is nearly over. If we needed to be reminded about how fragile we are in the fabric of life, this year showed that with great clarity.

I finally got a long term goal in mind. Something that I can continue to do for a long time to come or at least till my time's up on this planet. None of that involves making tons of money, power or position for myself. Read more here.

A wish list for greening Mysore

I wish the govt. does not renew the licence (that expired in 2006) to the Mysore Race Club ; and, that the huge chunk of land in their possession is developed into a green lung space...More...

My “Time-Efficient” Way To Read Newspaper

But at the same time I did not want to give up my passion for keeping myself updated of all the latest news across the world, ranging from global politics to Indian corporate scenario.

So I have started following a simple formula, which I think many of you people also follow. And what’s that? More

Uttarakhand Government’s Blatant Violation Of Indian Forests Protection Act

And this massacre of trees is being done at the behest of the state government itself. Reason? Well, it is being done for the development of a herbal garden that will be spread over 5 acres of the forest area. In fact, this herbal garden initiative is reportedly a dream project of the Uttarakhand Chief Minister, Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank. More

Gujjars’ Quota Agitation: Isn’t It A Contempt Of Court?

I would have understood if there were no democratic way to challenge the Court’s decision. But that is not the case. The Gujjar agitators had the opportunity to appeal in a higher court challenging the Rajasthan High Court’s decision. But instead of doing that they went for certain disruptive activities in the name of protests and agitation. More

Freedom fighter dies at 106

Ganga Ba Patel, a freedomfighter and staunch Gandhian till the last day of her 106 years, died at 6.30 am on Sunday.

Ganga Ba was close to my mother's family. "I have never seen her in anything but white khadi clothes. Nor do I remember seeing her wearing any ornaments, not even a bindi. And she was always a skinny woman, never have I ever seen her put on weight. She walked a lot, always walked to our house, even till recently. She ate extremely simple food, without any spices. At her house, we were always served buttermilk, milk, rotlo and such stuff. Whenever we went to her house, she was always busy doing physical work, be it milking cows, cleaning up the yard. Afterwards, when age made this difficult, she was always alert and supervising the household chores", says Miki Desai, my maternal uncle.

To read the complete article, you are welcome here

Nehru and the media

At press meets reporters took turns with questions ; and heard out their subject. Nehru , usually media friendly, was however given to occasional burst of temper. I know of an instance when he gave a chase to a news photographer, brandishing the baton he usually carried with him...More...

A Tale of Two Letters!

Looking at the seemingly insurmountable problems India faced after independence I had heard that our first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru wanted Lord Mountbatten to take India back to its fold.. I don’t know how far it is true.. but I can very well imagine as I am going through a similar phase myself.

India’s Parsi Community Is Facing Extinction, Thanks To Their Own Fault

So why is the community on verge of extinction? Well, I suppose we all know the reason. The reason is an alarmingly low fertility rate that has been plaguing the community for quite some time now.

But why does the community suffer from such a disturbing fertility rate? I suppose that is also known to more-or-less all of us.

There are mainly two reasons. More

Year-end post 2

After more than a decade, I go to Sundervan. Friend's out shopping and I have to while away some time. Pani puri would just take five minutes. On a whim, I decide to go inside the park where my parents took me on innumerable evenings. There's something special about reliving childhood. How, you may ask?

Read the complete post here

AI Domestic Loses Spot To IndiGo – Another Indication Of Indian Domestic Passengers’ Preference For LCC?

But it is certainly at least a bit interesting to note that AI Domestic has lost its 3rd position to IndiGo, an LCC (low-cost carrier), and India’s youngest LCC for that matter. More

Countdown begins

Beginning today, I am going to try and post here, as many pieces as I can. Photos, drawings, twitter-like messages enforcing strict economy of words on myself, and so on. I thank you for journeying with me in 2010, you made a difference, you know, even if you, my anonymous reader, have no idea how...

This is the first such post:



Read more here

Possible Extension Of Deadline For Phasing Out Expat Pilots In India

The Indian carriers and cargo airlines have said that they will collectively require 2,665 expat pilots till 2015. And they have also made it very clear that in case their demand is not met, then they will be forced to ground a huge number of their collective aircrafts. Needless to say that if that happens, then it will have a very adverse impact on the Indian aviation scenario. More

Kerala Food: Recipes from ‘The Suriani Kitchen’

In a casual conversation I heard that ‘The Suriani Kitchen’ by Lathika George has won the Indian nomination for the Best Asian Cuisine Book section in the Gourmand World Cookbooks Awards. I had this confirmed on the Internet. The winners for the different sectors will be announced at the Paris Cookbook Fair next March....

VP Menon – The architect of modern India

While perusing the stories of Nehru, Krishna Menon and many others I had covered in these blogs, I came across VP’s name now and then. And like the man he was, he and his character were such that they remained largely hidden in those niches and corners. It took me much effort to prise open some of that persona behind them. It could be so that VP wanted to remain hidden, for it is certainly curious that a person of such greatness has not a single biography or major biographical article written about him.  In fact even in encyclopedias, his private life is given a couple of paragraphs of space, though much is written about the actions he took and his work. So this article tries to keep the long narrative connected to the person while only gleaning over his majestic work.....................................

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Menon resigned from the service in 1951 to settle in Bangalore. And thus he came back to his beloved Bangalore, moved to his house in Cooks town and the old timers of Banagalore still mention the big car and the presence of Menon in august functions and as the fighter for civic rights in Bangalore & Mysore. Here he sat and wrote the two great and oft quoted books, The transfer of Power and The formation of states. In addition he contributed frequently to newspapers and magazines, also writing great euologies about people he had difficulties with such as CP Ramaswamy Iyer who had once fought long with him on the accession of the kingdom of Travancore.

Menon was a serious Bangalore resident, mentioning many a time of his having owned a house there for thirty years and having lived there for 10 years. Well, it was in his house that he sat to write the two great memoirs on the request of Patel. But once Patel was gone, Menon had hardly the great drive he possessed once before.

Do We Have A Tunneled Vision Of Development?

Friends, the humane qualities that comprise the cornerstone of human society are steadily on the wane. And it is high time we addressed that bleak scenario. Otherwise soon our civilization will turn into a civilization like the ones of the aliens of Hollywood sci-fi movies, i.e. a highly (technologically) developed civilization with no room for emotion and other soft feelings. More

Petrol Price Increase

What are the ways by which we can reduce oil consumption? The oft-repeated suggestions of avoiding unnecessary travel and organizing car pools are definitely effective. But there is more that can be done: ...

Trading with China

Indian IT companies are pretty cut up with the Obama regime that seeks to curb US companies outsourcing IT services that take away jobs from America. But we willingly submit ourselves to trade practices that create jobs in China at India’s expense...More...

Do You Want To Change Train At Rajiv Chowk Delhi Metro Station?

Now, almost everyday at Rajiv Chowk metro station I come across people who want to catch trains headed towards either Noida or Anand Vihar or Dwarka, but are clueless about it. They keep asking people, and run from here to there.

Please permit me to offer some directions to them. I hope it will be helpful for at least few commuters. More

Sri Lanka Scraps The Tamil Version Of The National Anthem

All I can say is that the way the ethnic Tamils of Sri Lanka are being discriminated against, the birth of another Prabhakaran is just a matter of time. More

Is Gmail Eating Into Yahoo Mail’s E-mail Market Share?

However, while it failed to achieve the desired success in the search engine business, Yahoo had established itself as arguably the most preferred e-mail service provider. Every second person that I would meet used Yahoo! Mail (some of them also had accounts in Rediff, Hotmail, etc. But Yahoo! Mail was their main tool for e-mail communication). Rarely I would come across people who would use other e-mail services, like Hotmail. More

Gemini USB Optical Mouse – Do You Find It Convenient Enough?

Well, I do not mean to launch any campaign against Gemini USB Optical Mouse. Nor I am trying to malign it.

However, there is one thing that I will like to highlight. Every time I use a computer that has a Gemini USB Optical Mouse attached to it, I find it very inconvenient for use. More

Let’s Ban Diesel Vehicles In And Around The Himalayan Region

However, if there are reports of soot posing a threat to Himalayan glaciers, then the same cannot be completely ignored. And I feel that the government of India can take at least one step in that regard, which is banning of one soot producing practice in and around the Himalayan region. And the soot producing practice that I am referring to is the use of diesel vehicles. More

A Warning to Those Buying Land in Kerala

The incident narrated here happened late last month but I came to know about it only yesterday. I am blogging this so that those who stay outside Kerala would be aware of some of the problems involved in land transactions in God’s Own Country....

Honey, it is just money

It was not very long ago that Amazon.com upheld the right of their customers or their right to choose within the world's largest democracy by the following statement:

Let me assure you that Amazon.com does not support or promote hatred or criminal acts; we do support the right of every individual to make their own purchasing decisions,"

The Cook: Part 1

Shankari Mani had been married for 31 years. Most of those years had been lived in an independent house on a tree-lined street that overlooked a park in Sivaganga Colony. At the time of her marriage, she was a qualified chartered accountant, an accomplished Bharatanatyam dancer, a decent club-level tennis player, a barely tolerable singer and a terrible cook.

This is part one of the story. Parts 2 and 3 are also up.
Read more....

Congrats To India For Showing The Guts To Attend Nobel Peace Prize Ceremony

However, the government of India has remained committed to the age old ethics and values that India stands for, and has decided to attend the award ceremony in full defiance of China’s veiled threats. More

Lobbyist Radia and her obliging media

My take is Rajdeep erred, not so much in saying what he did, but in saying it at New Delhi’s Press Club meet called to discuss the media fallout of publication of the Niira Radia tapes. And Rajdeep, if I may say so, hasn’t said anything new or untrue...More...

Handmade products for sale

Shalika Lakshmi is a platform to provide unique handmade products.

Available in more than 50 different designs are bookmarks, greeting cards and gift tags. Each design is made freehand, and so no single piece will be exactly the same. Use of handmade paper and colourful tassels adds to the beauty of Shalika Lakshmi products.

I have made Christmas cards, and cards with floral designs etched freehand, cut and paste on a paper of an appealing colour.





Gift tags have floral / freehand / geometric designs cut and pasted on papers of complementary colours. Single sided with enough space for name and message. Ideal for those people who want their gifts perfect in every way..



For price and more info, please visit Life Rules or mail gauri(dot)gharpure(at)gmail(dot)com

Assange – The Information Warrior With A Cause

Words fail me to hail you. All I can say is that you are simply great

You will always remain a darling for the global civil society, I assure you mate. More

Giving Due Space To Each Other – A Key Constituent Of A Successful Married Life

Must a person force his/her spouse to take interest in something simply because he/she takes interest in it? No. Never.

A husband must not force his wife to take interest in software, simply because he himself is interested about it. Yes, he may try to generate relevant interest in her, but should appreciate it if she keeps showing her lack of interest. More

Dear Facebook, I Am So Indebted To You

You help me to find out all my long lost good friends

The people who many years back used to occupy in my life such a prominent place. More

Supper Theatre

Chennai had a successful supper theatre on November 21 at Le Royal Meridien. Perhaps the Chennai socialites are asking around, ‘Where you there?’ You know, a place to be seen at....

On 'Phone-o-grams'

I continue to prefer 'phone-o-grams' (telegrams booked and conveyed over the telephone from the sender's end) for conveying sentiments on special / unusual occasions, and find the public-sector Indian telephones' related services great for the purpose. You can probably see it as a connection to older, better worlds, apart from being a convenience at effort-saving... More