Utthar Khand

Up in the North and Uttharkhand, a cloud burst did the pilgrimage tourism in. No matter how hard they try its going to be a while before they get the infrastructure back on track. The goverment declared the Chaar Dham travel to be closed for three and half years.

While the Metereology department and other related experts debate over the reality whether it was the monsoon or an atmospheric depression that caused the landslide and the flood, the fact remains, India's spiritual capital is grossly neglected. 

 Every Indian, wants to visit Kedar Nath and Bhadri Nath, its in his spirit and soul. Then, why dont we make it a national campaign to preserve and develop these locations in the most suitable way to let these faithfuls visit the place safely without damaging the environment. If not all those who wish to visit atleast in reasonable batches every year.  Why dont we make this a India public mission, citizen from all over India contributing financially, say like an IPO, and entrusting the work to the best agency in the world. Certainly there would be capable organization in the world who can develop a plan for us, if we cannot do it on our own. 

INDIA,  Please consider this suggestion. I am sure there would be millions who would be thinking the same way.

Champions trophy 2013

India won hands down. 

Won all the matches, fought well. 

But then, more than the team, BCCI needed the championship badly than anybody else. Could this be scripted, this victory, this win? Considering their money power, BCCI are like Gods, they can pull off just about anything.

Well, this is what IPL and the match fixing over the years has done to me. Could not even enjoy a great win, without considering being fooled. 

Thank you, for killing my game.

Power Cut

 Most of my picture taking is limited to home space ever since the monsoon.

 These are some pictures from the powercut session in the evening. Inspite of the monsoon, our powercuts are still on, as the rain is yet to catch up. Statewise there has been a decrease of 700,000 lakh units all put together, perhaps from the less use of Fan and Air conditioners as the temperature has really come down with the rain.

Same angle same location, low shutter speed doing the trick at night.

Monsoon

We are enjoying the monsoon after the tough and steamy summer. Usually the over powering evening rain comes with strong wind blowing up all the dustwhich has been turned dry by the crystal clear sun in the day.

A beautiful bloom the first week of rain has helped stands torn by the heavy rain drops.

Ana Hine

 The Indian news these days are often about making money the wrong way and how folks are falling from grace when they are caught. As we all know, there are so many others too in the same money pool who are not getting caught but are continuing what they are doing and still maintaining their honour and reputation.

 For honest artists of our Kerala and India, the Kochi-Muziris Biennale really opened up new vistas for getting noticed and earning their bread from their craft. But there too, its not easy for all the artists to make an entry or get noticed which is making the creatively inclined to think out of the box to do something which will make them jump straight into the main stream, just like Ana Hine who made news with her art degree project

 The Duncan school of Jordan Stone college of Art and design is the top rated art school in Scotland and the institution comes in the first four of UK. Recently few art students were awarded a first class art degree for a work which was in more ways challenging traditional perception of what make ART.

 Ana Hine's wordpress blog where she accounts her journey through the college project which earned her the first class degree. Ofcourse it may not suit our Indian Art sensibilities but for sure for an art student in our times of match fixing and scams would be an interesting lead indeed for some honest leverage.

 http://anahine.wordpress.com

Power Cut

Inspite of the Monsoon, the power cut in our province will be lifted only by June 15th. But the government had been kind enough to lift the cuts during the High School exam, well over a month.

Amway

At one point of time or the other we all have come across Amway, in Kerala and as they say all over India now. Any one with a marketing degree or doing a marketing job, while in the middle of a job switch might have checked out the Amway option.  The guy whom I spoke with in one of those switch time a few years ago, was very articulate and told me Amway do not have to be a full time option, I can do it part time, like most of the housewives and others who were eventually hooked to it.  It seems Amway took our country by storm opening up an extra means of income and an opportunity to mingle with very well trained "elegant" folks and become elegant oneself. True too. The elegance adds well to our third world fancy. 

They arrested the Amway CEO & MD Mr. W S Pnickney and few other high ranking officials of the company under the Prize Chits and Money Circulation Schemes (Banning) Act of 1978. It is said the multi level marketing took the form of pyramid schemes and required the members to bring in new members with a fee. The problem would arise when the base of the pyramid stops growing the the new members in the base of the pyramid gets nothing and the pyramid go bust. 

Nothing of such was happening, as the company had a product line to sell, good or bad. But one would have rather wished, rather than the entrance fee which the pyramid shared how wonderful it would have been had they shared the profit from real sale and that they could sell some real product which  an ordinary Indian would have had a real need say like a cheap electric fan (Cheaper than our "Cinni" fan before the advent of Chinese) or even solar lamps. 

As  more of our cities is going the super market way, the direct marketing was a sure way of personal interaction and the little profit earned a means of additional income to many but the idea it seems was not that broad and has been come down to be treated as a glorified Ponzi scheme.