Category: ViewPoint

Connected, Yet Disconnected

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A life was gone. I didn’t know. A condolence message to that friend, which appeared as the recent update on my social networking site took me by shock. I sat to remember the last interaction; it was a birthday post on my friend’s profile.

Social networking sites are the new means of staying connected with friends. School, college, office colleagues, neighbourhood and like-minded people from our profession. The friend list goes on increasing and decreasing, oft and on, as and when, people move in and move out due to their own personal reasons.

However, the question that continued to haunt me was “do we really stay in touch with each and every individual from our friend’s list?” I would not have thought about it had it not been for a friend whom I lost recently.

Today that friend is a living profile on the social networking site. Many may be still waiting for the site to update on the individual’s birthday; a day we chose to wish our friends. Here, I search for an appropriate word, “friend”, “acquaintance” or “contact”. Whoever it is, we hardly know most of the people in our endless list.

On the hindsight, social networking site is an excellent platform to build network. This does not necessarily mean emotional connects. A practical approach to life and the concept of “live, and let live” is the rule to live.

I wished for once to reconnect with my dear and near ones. I was happy that I still could get to speak to them over the phone. I knew they were all safe and sound. And that my cyber indulgence is a far cry from reality. A farce of true value of friendship.

Petrol Price Rise Vs Sentimental Values

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Wish we had foreseen what’s coming our way when planning a future to owe a vehicle. The recent rise in the petrol price has affected the set budget for fuel allowances at every home. Reminding very much of mid- life crisis in a human life, mid-May was no different.

The State-owned oil companies had raised the price of petrol by Rs 5 inviting the displeasure of people in India. This morning, a leading newspaper carried another hint at a possible hike in petrol price by Re 1, “if the cost of crude bought by them (State-run oil companies) remains at the current levels.”

Turn of events for good or worse, the petrol vehicle owners, at least a few known to me, were in two minds. “Should we go for a diesel vehicle?” or “Should we change our vehicle into CNG or LPG?” Also, since the situation has triggered from petrol price hike, there was a very thin chance of getting a good price if they were planning to sell off their existing petrol vehicles.

Many of us have learned to live with the situation by shelling out the recommended prices. “What to do, we have to keep moving” is the utmost we say and do. That’s not all; we continue to indulge in discussions, and purge our repressed energies with little actual solutions.

I could not imagine our priced possession – our car – is suddenly an expensive affair. An artefact representing merely a status symbol in society? In the past few trips that we had taken, our thoughts were vaguely playing with the idea of giving away our small petrol luxury for something more economical.

After one such journey, don’t know what had happened, but instead of walking towards our home I stood there looking at our car. A purple beauty with power steering, high end functionalities, sufficient luggage space and super comfort. It was simply irresistible. Of course, craze for branded cars never fade.

Probably, I have not done anything like this before. But I realised petrol and diesel hardly mattered to me. The four-wheeler evoked old tales of associations only. From being a part of our friend’s wedding to providing comfortable journey to family, our car has shared every single moment.
There are many such fond memories…

Cows In Global Warming

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Pic, Cow

“Cows are responsible for nearly three-quarters of total methane emissions, according to Environment Canada.” Said a news report.

In fact there is a need to reduce sources of greenhouse gases responsible for global warming. And in case of bovine, if the reports are to be believed, most of the gas comes from its burps, which are 20 times more potent than carbon dioxide as a greenhouse gas.

The evolving science and technology has always had solutions to the unresolved problems. Little wonder then that scientists in Canada are working towards breeding a special type of cow “designed to burp less.” Indeed it is a breakthrough and holds the key to one of the main source of greenhouse gas.

But who is to be blamed? The poor bovines who are helplessly adjusting to the paths laid by us, or we humans who are interfering with the Nature?

“Climate change is life or death. It is the new global battlefield. It is being presented as if it is the problem of the developed world. But it’s the developed world that has precipitated global warming,” said Nobel peace prizewinner Wangari Maathai. Isn’t it so true? There is a need to think and act and not tamper with Nature further.