Green Living Tips -2

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6) Use water coolers instead of air conditioners. Air conditioners not only consume lot of electric power but also release Chlorofluorocarbons (Cf Cs) which are harmful for the ozone layer.

7) Avoid vehicles for traveling short distance. This will save fuel and prevent air pollution.

8) Turn off  your vehicles while waiting on the signals.

9) Avoid perfumes and deodorants. They release Chlorofluorocarbons (Cf Cs) which is again harmful for the ozone layer. Use talcum powder instead.

10) Avoid use of plastic bags. Use paper bags instead. Plastics are hazardous to ecology.

Diwali- the festival of lights

         Diwali or Deepavali is celebration of victory of good over evil. It is the biggest and brightest of all the Hindu festivals and is celebrated all over the world.


         Diwali is celebrated to commemorate the return of Lord Ram from his fourteen years of exile and vanquishing the demon king-Ravana. In joyous celebration of the return of their king, the people of Ayodhya, the capital of Ram, illuminated the kingdom with earthen diyas(oil lamps) and busted crackers. Thus Diwali is festival of lights (deep=light and avali=row of light). it is also symbolic of return of good times;as the saying goes, 'Let this Diwali burn all your bad times and enter you in good times.' The worship of Devi Laxmi- Godess of wealth also takes place during Diwali.

         Diwali is a platform which brings people together. People share greetings, gifts,sweets and well wishes during this occasion.

          Diwali is an occasion to pledge to illuminate our souls with good deeds, bring peace and harmony in the society and celebrate victory of good over evil.


        

Green Living Tips- 1

Following are the things which I have been doing since past few years. I would recommend the following tips to all those who are concerned about environment and about conserving energy.


1) Have a beautiful garden in your house. Beautiful flowering plants are not only candy to your eyes but they also provide oxygen. If your house doesn't have a place for the gardens(for people living in residential flats) use flower pots to plant flowering plants
.
2) This advice is for those who have personal computers in their homes and love to download stuffs like movies, games, softwares, etc. While you are downloading data from the internet switch off the monitors. Monitors consume about 80% of the total power consumed by the entire computer( including CPU, keyboard, mouse, ups,etc). I have been doing this and believe me it works.


3) Replace old CRT monitors with LCD screens. CRT monitors consume a lot of power as compared to LCD's. Also radiations from the CRT screen are harmful for the eyes.


4) Use power saver lamps. I have replaced all the traditional; bulbs in my house with with energy saving lamps. Again these power saver lamps save a lot of electricity as compared to the traditional lamps.


5) Don't use shower while bathing; instead use buckets and mugs. This advice may seem unsophisticated, uncivilized and unorthodox but it is true that using buckets and mugs saves a lot of water.

My Hobby - Philately

          Stamps are something which has always amazed me. I have been collecting stamps since the age of 7 and my passion for the stamps is still going strong. It was my Mother who introduced me to the wonderful world of stamps. She gave me a number of India belonging to the pre-independence period and post independence period. And now over the years I have added hundreds of stamps to the collection.


           I believe that stamps are a great source of information. They get us acquainted with flora and fauna, great leader of the nation, places of historic and cultural importance, culture and traditions, sports and games,etc. of the nation.


           Stamps are the heritage of the nation which needs to be conserved. Moreover usage of stamps provides livelihood to thousand of postal employees.


The above picture is that of the latest stamps added to my collection.
 For more information about Indian stamps visit my new blog: 
http://philately-kingofhobbies.blogspot.com

Commonwealth Games, Delhi-2010

India for the first time hosted the Commonwealth games. According to the Business Today magazine India spent about US$ 6.8 billion on hosting the Commonwealth Games. With this it was the costliest Commonwealth Games ever. When such a huge amount of money is spent, it is natural to expect spectacular display of games and the athletes getting world class amenities. And India stood up to the expectations. All the events were conducted very smoothly. The opening and closing ceremony were spectacular. Overall the games were stupendous success.At the closing ceremony, the president of the Commonwealth Games Federation Mike Fennel declared that Delhi had hosted a "truly exceptional Games"


More than 7000 athletes and supporting staff from 71 participated in the various events. Close to 70 Commonwealth games records were broken and 2 new world records were created during this event. The games Village provided the athletes with world class facilities.


The Organizing Committee.Government of India and the Government of Delhi took a lot of pain for the success of the event. India also takes pride for conducting the first ever 'Green Games'. The organisers signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the United Nations Environment Programme to show the intention to host a "sustainable games" and to take the environment into consideration when constructing and renovating venues. 


The official song of the Delhi Commonwealth games was composed by the famous A.R.Rahman. The official mascot for the games was 'Shera'.

The most standout performance in the games was from the India athletes. India for the first time finished second in the medal tally with 101 medals. India won 38 gold medals during the event. This is truly a remarkable achievement by the Indian athletes. The Indian stars from the games were Gagan Narang, Saina Nehwal, Abhinav Bindra, Krishna Poonia, Omkar Singh, Alka Tomar,Sushil Kumar, Somdev Burman, Annu Raj Singh, Heena Sidhu,A.C. Ashwini, Manjeet Kaur, Mandeep Kaur Sini Jose,Paramjeet Samota, Suranjoy Mayengbam Singh, Jwala Gutta , Ashwini Ponappa, Rahul Banerjee,Harpreet Singh and many more.

I salute the Great Country called India !!

One and only Sachin Tendulkar ..

Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar-the Mount Everest of Cricket. His Test and One Day International records are unmatched and unparalleled. His image in the Cricket World is like that of Mount Everest- tallest in the world.


He has got highest runs under his belt in both Test and One Day Cricket. He also has the highest number of centuries in both the versions of the game.


He was born on 24th April 1973. He was named after the music genius Sachin Dev Burman. He learnt Cricket from Ramakant Achrekar. He made his debut in International Cricket  arena  against Pakistan in 1989. Since then he has never looked back.


It won't be wrong to call him the savior of Indian Cricket. He has won victory from the jaws of defeat on many occasions for India. The most remarkable of them that I remember is his innings against Pakistan in 2003 World Cup in South Africa where he opened the innings and played a gem of an inning of 98 runs. This inning won the match for India. In the same match he thrashed the Pakistani speed battery consisting of Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis, Shoaib Akhtar and Abdur Razzaq.


Hope he continues to play for India and bring glory to the motherland. My best wishes to the Little Master !! :)

Remarkable day for Indian Test Cricket

5th October 2010 will be written in Golden letters in the history of Indian Test Cricket. This day India snatched away victory from the jaws of defeat by defeating Australia in the Mohali Test.With this victory India has shrugged off the chokers tag thrust on them.


 When India entered the field on fifth and final day of the Test matchnobody expected India to win the match. Even a draw seemed a distant dream. But due the heroics of VVS Laxman, India pulled up a miraculous victory. Chasing 216 to win, India reached the score with one wicket in hand.


Following is the summary of the match:
Australia 1st innings - 428(All out)
India 1st innings- 405(All out)
Australia 2nd innings-192 (All out)
India 2nd innings- 216-9
Result: India win by 1 wicket.
Man of the Match: Zaheer Khan

Grand Common Wealth Games-2010 opening ceremony

Brushing aside all the negative publicity that India got even before the start of Commonwealth games, India pulled up a spectacular display at the opening ceremony. This also proved why India deserved to host the CWG. The opening ceremony showcased India's culture and history and it was spiced up by some Bollywood masala. Overall it was one of the most spectacular, colourful and eye catching ceremony ever witnessed.

Some 7000 artists performed at the opening ceremony.A child prodigy Keshav played Tabla and matched the beats of some 1000 drummers. Some 1200 moving lights and 25 stacks of speakers producing 500,000 Watts of sound were used. 2700 shots of fireworks spread over 88 locations on the roof of the stadium created a spectacular display of fireworks.


Prince Charles received the Queen's Baton from Indian wrestler Sushil Kumar and said,"I have much pleasure in declaring the games open." Later President of India Pratibha Patil said,:Let the games begin."


International media highly praised the manner in which the opening ceremony was conducted. Following were the comments that appeared in International Media:
"India has arrived: Spectacular ceremony opens Commonwealth Games."-The Guardian


"Commonwealth Games make spectacular start."-Herald Sun


"An ancient land opens its hearts to the World."-The Sydney Morning Herald.

Lessons learnt from the epic Mahabharat

A brief summary of Mahabharat:

It is a Sanskrit epic of ancient India which narrates the Kurukshetra war between the Kaurvas and Pandavas. It describes the life op people in ancient India and preaches the four 'goals of life' or purusharthas. The latter are enumerated as dharma(right action), artha (purpose), karma(duty) and moksha (liberation). This epic was written by the sage Vyasa. The central theme of the epic is that 'good triumphs over evil'.

 Lessons learnt:
       1. Bhagvad Gita was preached to Arjuna on the battlefields of Kurukshetra. This preaching is of excellent value even today. It preaches man to perform his duties without worrying about the results.
        2. Lord Krishna and Arjuna were very good friends. Lord Krishna stood by Arjuna on many difficult occassions and also saved his life many times. This teaches us to value our friends.
        3. Devavratha got his nickname Bhishma (terrible vow) because of his vow to never get married in his lifetime. This vow ultimately leads to his downfall. This teaches us to 'look before leap'. Before promising anything we must consider consequences.
       4. Karna also known as 'Danveer' because of his quality to donate anything and everything that was asked to him is also an important character of this epic. Because of his habit of donating he lost all of his precious things including his golden armor which ultimately lead to his downfall. This teaches us that while giving we must consider the necessity of the receiver.
       5. Arjuna was a great archer of his time and he was very proud of his skills which made him arrogant. Lord Krishna played various tricks on him to expose his hollowness and break his overconfidence. This teaches us not to be proud of what we have never be over confident. Same thing can be learnt from the story of Bhima.
        6. Duryodhana and Dussassana insulted Draupadi- wife of Pandavas which ultimately lead to their annihilation. This teaches us never to insult a woman.
        7. Dhrutrashtra was taught good advices by Lord Krishna, Vidura, etc. but he ignored them because of his mad love for his sons. This teaches us that ignoring good advices can cause harm and destruction. This also shows how mad love of parents can spoil their children.

     

Truth behind artificially ripened fruits

       Ripening agent like calcium carbide is being used to speed up the ripening process. They allow many fruits like mangoes and bananas to be picked prior to full ripening. This method is generally useful for the traders since ripened fruits cannot be transported properly over long distances. However, this method is harmful for the consumers, because artificially ripened fruits are tasteless and toxic.

        Calcium carbide which is generally used as an artificial ripening agent, once dissolved with water produces acetylene. Acetylene is believed to affect the nervous system by reducing the oxygen supply to the brain. Ethylene which is a byproduct is also known to damage the neurological system.

         Artificially ripened fruits differ from  the natural ones since they are uniformly well colored and black patches may appear on them in 2 or 3 days.

     
         In India the practice of artificially ripening is banned under the Prevention of Food Adulteration Act and violators are liable to undergo six month imprisonment and pay a fine of Rs. 1,000. But there are hardly any cases where traders or retailers are booked under this act.

         It is necessary that we look before eating. While eating mangoes and apples, cut them into pieces rather than consuming directly. Fruits which have uniform color, for example a bunch of bananas having a uniform color is more likely to be ripened artificially. And lastly wash them before consuming.