Ecological Intelligence

Last week in the TV I happenend to see an interview with Daniel Goleman speaking about the Science of Relationships.
Goleman is considered to be the father of Emotional Intelligence and his book "Emotional Intelligence" topped the New York Times Bestseller list for almost year-and-a-half.
After this success he spoke about Social Intelligence and now very recently he has come with another idea called "Ecological Intelligence".
Ecological Intelligence is nothing but the intelligence that we use to make this planet a more greener place to live in.
Explaining the same in his website, he gives an example: 'Three teen-aged girls are at a shopping mall looking for sunscreen. It’s an impulse purchase, and it has to be an all-natural choice. They think they’ve found what they’re looking for at one store, but on the way to the register one of the girls takes out her phone and swipes it by the barcode of the product they’ve selected. Moments later, as she’s pulling out a credit card at the register, her iPhone announces an incoming email. It’s a short message informing her that the item she is about to purchase contains compounds that are linked to the decimation of coral reefs. Moreover, the plastic container is difficult to recycle. Because her phone has pinpointed her location via GPS, she also learns that another store in the mall carries a “greener” sunscreen that has neither of those two problems. The girls leave the register and make a beeline for the other store.'
His interview on the TV lead me to discover all these details about him and his new terminologies and finally led me to this article by which I think many can contribute to save our planet.

The false 'depths' of Araku valley

Call it the exaggeration of the locals or the extreme advertisement of the AP tourism or the bad taste for travel of the people of A.P, Araku is indeed not a tourist destination from any angle.
We had heard a loooot about the place and the unavailability of any pacakges from APTDC and the train tickets gave us the impression that it's not the place to be 'missed'.
As per our (me n S's) internet search and the local folks it was the train journey from Vizag to Araku that's supposed to give the best view of the scenic beauty.
May be it was a sign when we didn't get the train reservation that we were headed in the wrong direction which we didn't notice.
Actually we found it was through road that we could enjoy more rather than the crowded and ever screaming people in the train (screaming as the train passes through several tunnels).
The only hotels that are situated in the Araku are managed by APTDC whose service is utterly chaotic.
The sooo called local sight seeing places are nothing but a tribal museum and a botanical garden which give the impression of nothing more than our lifestyle in the village and a park respectively.
The whole tour was so depressive and the only ocassion when I laughed that day was when a lady in the so called botanical garden was showing her husband 'the pineapple TREE':0 in actual a decorative plant with light green leaves which stood tall and haggard.
Nothing could be more dissapointing than this!
Of course, our trip to the next destination the after that was more appealing and it compensated for the previous day.

I think my unfinished tasks tend to get sorted out more easily when i am angry.
When i am angry, i don't think twice whether to finish the job or not but just start doing it.
May be that's the reason it's get done more faster too.
But getting angry only for the reason of getting my undone jobs finished isn't a good idea either.

Footprints of Vizag trip

I and S did enjoy our holiday at Vizag.
But, there too we were destined to experience a disappointment.
Though we had a great time at Vizag, our satiety levels were brought down by our Araku visit (about which i will write separately).
Beautiful and clean beaches, serene light house and hotels and restaurants serving to tingle our taste buds made it a good destination.
Our little one too had a great time getting into the blue water of Bay of Bengal.

Panna

Panna is a book,a fairy- tale meant for children. But, the moment I saw the book I was taken by the beautiful drawings inside it which I later learnt is Madhubani folk art.
It's written by Kamala Das who is a poet and this book is her first attempt in writing children's book.

"Panna lives on the seaside with her brother Moti, a fisherman. One day, while waiting for Moti to return from the high seas with his catch of fish, Panna falls asleep. When she wakes up, she finds she has magically reached the land under the sea. And what a wonderful land it is, with its pearl-lined streets, coral houses and green moving sky. Here she meets the Fish King and Fish Queen. But becomes of poor Moti when he returns from the sea and finds his beloved sister gone?"

This being the story, children would certainly enjoy reading it as did I.

To kill a mocking bird

I must admit that I started reading this book because of Mouna's suggestion and I am glad I read it.
I read it twice- the first time I was forced to give away the book to the library when I had almost finished it. So had to borrow it the second time. So as not miss the link I started it from the beginning and it was good as things gave much more meaning to me when I read it the second time.
There were several instances where I would laugh loudly at all the adventures of Jem, Scout and Dill (especially the Boo Radley incident) and would look up to see if someone is watching me laughing like that.

One can relive their childhood days while reading this book.

I think it's not just the humor that bound me with the characters but the intricacies with which they teach the simple lessons of life, of adulthood and growing up.

The little episodes of Boo Radley; fire at Ms. Maudie's; Jem and Scout's encounter with Mrs. Dubose; Atticus shooting at the mad dog; Dill's running away; the case of Tom Robinson and at the end Boo Radley saving the children from Mr. Ewell; all carry such good messages with a touch of humor.

I really enjoyed reading the book.

The Act of Smiling

A few years ago I happened to read this book called 'Phantoms in the Brain' by Dr. V. S. Ramachandran. He said there are two different circuits for the act of smiling. 'When you see a friend you grin. But, when the same Friend aims a camera at your face and asks you to smile you fail to do so. Instead of a natural expression, you produce a hideous grimace.

The reason these two kinds of smiles differ is that different brain regions handle them and only one of them contains a specialised "smile circuit". A spontaneous smile is produced by the basal ganglia. When you encounter a friendly face, the visual message from that face eventually reaches the brains emotional center or limbic system and is subsequently relayed to the basal ganglia, which orchestrate the sequences of facial muscle activity needed for producing a natural smile. These entire cascade of events happen in a fraction of a second without the thinking parts of your cortex ever being involved.

But when someone asks you to smile, the verbal instruction from the photographer is received and understood by the higher thinking centers in the brain, including the auditory cortex and language centers. From there it is relayed to the motor cortex in the front of the brain, which specialises in producing voluntary skilled movements'.

So when you smile next time at your friend and at the camera remember the work that our brain carries out.

Shadow on the wall

The shadow of my favourite Tara devi idol.

It annoys me when I have to introduce myself to someone twice.
I can understand the situation when it's a big crowd and people can hardly remember one's name and basic information.
But I meet someone personally, do the initial introduction and the other person fails to register it.
I meet the same person again in the next few days and the person asks- 'Am sorry I didn't get your name?' and 'What do you do, working?'

For someone who is fond of travelling and going places the list of "Places to see" never ends. A new destination, a new land awaits to be explored and savoured. Yet, there are so many other places which have already been treaded upon once and have even faded from memory's corner. And those places too need to be revisited. For all these, both time and money fall short.

The Namesake

Already having watched the movie, there was little room left for my imagination of characters of the book 'The Namesake' by Jhumpa Lahiri. The two characters- Ashima and Ashoke were represented (for me) by Tabu and Irfan Khan. Nevertheless I wanted to read the book. As with the movie, I liked the book too. Lahiri's narration is impressive and it maintains reader's atttention throughout.
The story which revolves around the name of a Russian writer 'Gogol' carried me to the many books by Russian writers- Dostoesky's Crime and Punishment, Tolstoy's Anna Karenina', Chekov's The Cherry Orchard and of course The Overcoat by Gogol himself.
Almost all the protagonists of these Russian authors wear a gloomy appearance, their stories are tragic, they speak of hardships of Russian citizens which is either forced upon them by the governmental policies or by themselves.
Talking of Nikolai Gogol, I studied The overcoat as a literature student but then I seldom ejoyed either the story or the person who taught the story. Or may be beacuse of the way the story was told made it all uninteresting.
Though I disliked reading The Overcoat, there are few scenes which still linger in my memory. The story of Akaky Akakyevich who earns a meager salary as a clerk loses his only overcoat which protects him against all the hard climatic conditions. His struggle to save few pennys to buy a new overcoat is touching. His walking on tip- toes to save his shoes from wearing out, his struggle through the dark hours to save his candle- all speak of his sacrifices in order to save money for the new coat.
Keeping this name- Gogol in the background, the story of The Namesake progresses well to expalin the yearning and nostalgia which both Ashima and Ashoke have for their motherland. But in the end, how Ashima finds it disheartening to leave a foreign nation also a truth. That was the land whre she formed new memories, where she saw her children grow. But most importantly, that's where she lived with her Ashoke for so many years.
Some of the excerpts from the book goes somewhat like these:
"...pack a pillow and a blanket and see as much of the world as you can. You will never regret it. One day it will be too late.
My grandfather always says that's what books are for,... to travel without moving an inch."
"Finally, they stood by the lighthouse, exhausted...He heard his father cry out- they had left the camera with his mother. 'All this way and no picture', he'd said. we will have to remember it then."
"The man who gave you his name, from the man who gave you your name."

People seldom use camera's with film rolls these days. They get a fairly good digital camera with the same price as a film camera. Likewise, people no laonger take the pains of getting the pictures printed and arranging them in an album. They take refuge in less laborious task of copying them in a CD and watching them on their computer screen.
But there's a different kind of joy involved when the photos are flipped through an album. It gives more personal touch, makes you a part of the memory itself. The connection gets lost somewhere between the keys while watching the same pictures on a computer screen.

Staying at my parent's means living without any mobile network or an Internet connection. The other modern facilities- as a phone, TV or electricity seldom work due to heavy downpour. The slow paced days end here at late evenings. For the one who's been sheltered here since their childhood wouldn't have much problem with this set up. But for people like us it could be quite depressing, especially gazing at the incessant rainfall day in and day out.

Relief for my healthy future (still crossing the fingers), monotony of the hospital, gloomy weather of Bengaluru, days of idleness, yearning to start my routine at Hyderabad, craving for the delicious food, urge to go out and loads 'n loads of books to read....that's what my life has been since past three weeks!

Have been reading a lot of useless books to entertain myself: '2 states' by Chetan Bhagat; 'P.S. I love' you by Cecelia Ahern and 'Mansfield Park' by Jane Austen.

The first and the second books felt as though I were watching a Bollywood and a Hollywood movie respectively, while I liked the classic by Austen.