From GOC

Enjoying our holidays.. without rain……yes.. after waiting eagerly the rain has not paid a visit yet..

So we r just finising a bit of shopping without rain…..

Rain water harvesting.

Today we had a discussion on water. The most precious natural resource that we have on earth and whose value is increasing day by day due to its ever increasing scarcity. That is when I recalled a conversation that I had with my Colleague who hails from Chennai. Chennai has always faced water problems since no major river flows through it. It depends mostly on the monsoon for water. But with the rain water harvesting technique, implemented by the former Chief Minister – Jayalalitha, he was saying that the ground water level has increased and they do not face water scarcity like before. Each house has implemented the system whereby the rain water during the monsoon season is collected and stored. Rainwater harvesting is the collection and storage of rain from roofs or from a surface catchment for future use. The water is generally stored in rainwater tanks or directed into mechanisms which recharge groundwater. This is appropriate in many parts of the world, such as western Britain, China, Brazil, Thailand, Sri Lanka, Germany, Australia and India.

I also read that this technique was made use even 4,000 years ago! It was in Lothal, the ancient town of Harappa in Gujarat. Lothal is called the “mount of dead” since it is a very dry region. But it was a thriving port in yesteryears. It is proved that they had fascinating terraquaculture system — integrated land and water use practices. Click for further read.

I believe it is time each country pursued water conservation more seriously before we end up fighting major wars for water. State like mine which is blessed by abundant rain should invest in rain water harvesting systems and maybe this should be either made compulsory or the state should offer subsidy.

http://www.rwh.in/

Count Down

Only 2 more days left to go.. and the rain is lashing heavily, disrupting, Air, Train and road traffic. The river next to our house is almost spilling over. If the rains continue in the same manner, I doubt a comfortable trip home since we have to travel almost 2 and half hours from the Airport. But come what may we have to go!

And there is no current since 3 days.. so if I am not online that means there is no electricity, hence no internet connection and no blogging!

Guess we should take our Bangalore trip earlier than planned. Wonder how the rains are treating Bangalore.

Pornography and Child Predators

These numbers are startling:

•1 out of 3 children* are exposed to sexually explicit images online they did not want to view
(Previously 1 in 4 )
• 79%* of exposures occur at home
• 9%* occur at school
• *Not advising adults of exposures has also gotten worse
(*Youth Internet Safety Study-2)
• Average age of 1st exposure is 11 years old(Family Safe Media)
• Pornography is a tool frequently used by predators to lure and coax children–
• Pornography is now going “mobile”(cell phones, etc)
To continue reading, please check this site.. http://internetsafetyadvisor.info/pornography/

What disturbed me most was..

Pornography-after first exposure:

• The desire and need to keep coming back for pornographic images.
• * Escalation – The need for more explicit, rougher, and more deviant images for the same sexual effect.
• * Desensitization – Materiel once viewed as shocking or taboo is seen as acceptable or commonplace.
• * Acting out – The tendency to perform the behaviors viewed, including exhibitionism, sadistic/masochistic sex, group sex, rape, or sex with minor children
(Dr. Victor Cline, clinical psychologist at the University

Human Trafficking

Recently many of the Gulf Countries were black listed for Human Trafficking. Wikepedia, gives the following explanation for the same.

Trafficking of human beings is the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of people for the purpose of exploitation. Trafficking involves a process of using illicit means such as threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability.

Exploitation includes forcing people into prostitution or other forms of sexual exploitation, forced labour or services, slavery or practices similar to slavery, servitude or the removal of organs. For children exploitation may include also, illicit international adoption, trafficking for early marriage, recruitment as child soldiers, for begging or for sports (such as child camel jockeys or football players).[1]

UN has recommended certain principles and guidelines on Human Rights and Human Trafficking.

Well, this is a fact and we see them around daily. Most of them are from Bangladesh and their monthly wage can start from a mere KD 10/- (35 USD). There isn’t anything much one can do with this money. And most of them would have paid 1-2 Lakh(1500USD) Bangladeshi Taka to secure a Visa! Which means they are bonded for life if they wish to repay this amount. One can see them as scavengers, looking for pepsi cans, bottles etc. to be sold to the recycling companies. If they are not doing this they could be seen selling CD’s, Vegetables and fish. In this process, they are often rounded up by the Municipal authoriites or even by the locals. I myself witnessed a Bangladeshi being manhandled while selling CD’s. After the manhandling all his Cd’s were taken away by the local youth! But during the process, this over zealous guy was shouting that it is “aram” for he is selling porn and ruining the youth!

And yes, some run brothels and even act as spies for the local police.

As they say, sometimes we let ourselves be abused, and this has happened in these Gulf countries too.

One cannot blame just the local government alone. Neither the Indian government nor the Bangladesh government are serious in controlling this menace. In this case the Philippine Embassy is the strongest and they have taken all the measures to help their citizens. As for Indians, they are well aware of the situation in the Gulf, but are still willing to take the risk. Either they are too frustrated back home or they are highly optimistic! Most of the recruitment offices are run by expatriates and hence they are the masters and the teachers of this game. For construction jobs the if the Ministry is paying 150 KD for the labourers, the sub contractor will pocket a good percentage and pay the workers a miniscule amount. Even if they are provided accommodation, the same will be cramped and horrible.

Strangers

People may call me silly, but I have this habit to pray for total strangers. It mostly happens on my morning ride to the office. I might see a stranger on the wheels and silently pray for whatever troubles he may be facing. That is when I came to know that I am not alone in this exercise while reading the inspirational speaker Bob Perks. I wrote to him on this and he replied that he does this himself and felt very happy doing it. Yea for me too, it gives a special happiness when you know that you have prayed for an unknown person.

Sadhu Sundar Singh writes about prayer thus:

Just as the salt water of the sea is drawn upwards by the hot rays of the sun, and gradually takes on the form of clouds, and, turned thus into sweet and refreshing water, falls in showers on the earth (for the sea water as it rises upwards leaves behind it its salt and bitterness), so when the thoughts and desires of the man of prayer rise aloft like misty emanations of the soul, the rays of the Sun of Righteousness purify them of all sinful taint, and his prayers become a great cloud which descends from heaven in a shower of blessing, bringing refreshment to many on the earth.

chronic myeloid leukaemia (CML)

Our Office boy’s wife is diagnosed with CML. she is only 25 years and they have a 1 and half year old little girl too.

On reading about CML I am informed that it is a rare type of cancer and around 500 cases are noted in US alone. She is undergoing treatment but yesterday he was informed that she is running a very high fever and she is having heart pains too. the doctor changed her medication but still no respite.(They are from Bangladesh)

We are collecting money for him and our GM was kind enough to donate 1000KD (USD 3500) from his side. Since we have many employees, we hope to collect a good sum. He is planning to travel immediately and we shall send some money with him now. The balance shall be kept for her treatment or if she doesnt survive will be deposited in his daughter’s name.

I hear that Bangladesh being a third world country is a dumping ground for chemical waste of rich countries. The government is paid a handsome some for this but the citizens are suffering from cancer and various other diseases. Most areas are swampy and this land is used to dump these chemicals.

I have always believed that cancer is man made. It is the result of various activities which ignores the perils that are attached to it. The people involved very well know the result but in the name of reasearch and progress it continues.

Now with out sourcing and factories being build in third world countries, the pollution and various health hazzards are now being shifted to those citizens who cannot afford to foot their medical bills. And sadly, they are not aware of what is happening around.

UN Declares Mahatma Gandhi’s Birth Anniversary As “International Non-Violence Day”

UN Declares Mahatma Gandhi’s Birth Anniversary As “International Non-Violence Day”

The resolution to respect the apostle of humanity and peace, has been moved in the UN General Assembly by India and co-sponsored by 120 of total 191 members. The resolution expected to be passed on Friday, reaffirms the universal relevance of non-violence, the gospel taught by Gandhi through out his life and followed by many leaders world over to win the heart of the enemy.

The resolution stresses the need for non-violence, tolerance, full respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms for all, democracy, development, mutual understanding and respect for diversity as reinforcements for peace and growth of mankind.

Yes.. I am very happy to know that Mahatma Gandhi’s birth will now be celebrated worldwide. In school we used to have a week long of Social Productive Activities and every individual used to take part in the cleaning of the premises and the local areas. It was great to note that Mahatma could make a person do this task even it was only once in a year.

These days Mahatma has become a very controversial figure specially for Indians. Maybe they feel they have the right to talk about him since he is an Indian. There has been many discussions every where and one finds varying opinions. Here is one such write up from an American in Mumbai and please take time to read the comments too. I will never understand the person who abused him and I hereby offer my condolences to that lost soul.

In the present troubled world Ahimsa or non-violence is very relevant. The world has tried everything else. If you see the war in Iraq or Afganisthan, nothing has been achieved so far by violence. We have just killed more and more and those whom we have not killed physically, we have succeeded in killing their spirits. In Emirates “Gandhi” is shown often in the local TV and there are many here who respect him immensely.

I think the time has come to take this great person more seriously and understand him better. Else Indians will lose him forever, in the same way we are going to lose “Taj Mahal” from the list of “Wonders of the World”.

Power cuts

Heard in the news that like last year there will be power cuts even this year. It is not that I am new to power cuts. I have practically grown up with it. Back in my state, it could be for 1 or more hours and sometimes indefinitely! But then the temperatures over there don’t go above 35 degrees unlike here where it can even go to 60 degrees. I fail to understand why they don’t use the revenue from the oil for alternate energy like, Solar or wind. They have the money for the same and can easily employ experts in this field for these projects. In fact many governments have come forward but there are no takers. Oil is not going to last forever and whatever oil they are getting now can be sold outside. The solar energy will take care of the future generations.

Anyway we should board the plane before the power cuts!

Get Paid for Blogging

I have been figuring out various ways to make money while blogging. Me greedy eh? not at all.. I think it is fun.. so now I have one more way to go! By signing up with Smorty. You get paid for blogging!

Smorty is a service connecting advertisers with bloggers. Advertisers can pay bloggers to write opinion posts with links back to the advertisers site. You get paid for blogging, blog advertising, etc.

Please make sure you write 150 – 300 words. I missed that rule the first time.

Their assignments are simple and easy to do and their site is very user friendly.. but above all you will know how much money you are going to make the minute you take up their assignments. I have only started with them and I am eager to take up more assignments as soon as my first post is approved. They will ask you to review other sites of interests and you can even take advantage of those sites by visiting them yourself. They have travel sites, grocery sites etc.

So here I am… just beginning to enjoy the fun…and hopefully make some money too!

why dont u join me by signing up with them?