Being a Panda

Whats World Wildlife Fund's logo? 

Well yeah you are right - its a panda ! why was it chosen as the logo for WWF?

Ok all right, no one likes too many questions. Panda is the most endangered creature on this planet earth and is the most threatened too. According the WWF survey there are only about 1600 pandas in the whole world. So the WWF guys thought it would be apt to have Panda's symbol as the logo for the WWF. 
There is also another reason why panda was preferred - it can be sketched out with a pencil - black and white and there by is just simple to be reproduced on handouts etc.


There is yet another reason - why Panda was used as the logo (my version) : See the Pandas in captivity does not mate - the zoo authorities tried so many techniques to aid its mating like showing them the videos of giant panda mating. They also went to the extent of giving viagra (if you dont beleieve it "Read on! " )to the male panda. All this techniques doesn't seem to work with panda. The only way they are bred is through artificial insemination. one panda in two years. Thats not too many . Isn't it rare for a species to mate and keep the population spiraling up? That is what as mankind are specialist at.

So panda has to be bred in the artificial way to keep the species from extinction. Pandas don't care about their extinction - they refuse to mate, remember it. So (i think) that is another reason why WWF thought Panda would be the apt logo for its project to save the wild life.  They must have thought there is no way that pandas will be alive when left to themselves - so the organization must go all guns to keep the species allive.

So here comes my theory and the new term I've coined.

world is falling, help me.

"Being a Panda" - represents a person who is sulking over all his grief to the world, and chest beats all the grief to everyone he meets.  He fails to take corrective action for all his misery. In short it represents a person - who is plunged into an ocean called the "self pity" and waits for the world to solve his problems.

Illustrative Usage : Ram to Laxman
Ex no 1: Ram : hey how's shyam doing?
Laxman : Dude you know what, he's just being a panda man, he keeps brooding over his failed university exams. god save him.


Disclaimer : the facts used above have been culled out from http://wwf.panda.org/ . Pics used are from WWF website and http://www.clipartof.com/details/clipart/21318.html. Panda logo shown above is the registered logo of WWF.

Car Festival In mylapore - then and now!

It was way back in mid-90's when I was a kid I used to love the mini- sized giant wheelscalled the "raatanam" (ராடனம்). I will pester my amma for doing rounds in that. During the month of March every year - there used to be this festival called - "Panguni Uttiram" (பங்குனி உத்திரம் ) where a lot of festivities are planned across the temples in India. Of all the places the one that happens in Mylapore Kapaleeshwara temple is one thing that stands close to my heart. One for the reason, I'm a resident of mylapore since 1989 and two the same reason. Schools in mylapore used to remain closed during the festivities and the kids take active participation in the proceedings. 

Lot of things used to get distributed free during the festival time especially during the two days - தேறு festival  (car) and அறுவத்திமூவர் (63 nayamars). During these two days at least 20,000 people assemble in mylapore around the all famous mylapore tank. Residents of mylapore distribute food, water and cool drinks to all the devotees who throng the place.

There was energy in the air all through the festivities. I would take part in every single day of the function. I used to be so happy those days.

Now its that time of the year when the festivities have started - but i look sober and pale. Reasons are too a many or only one? I'm not sure. 

But Happiness is just a state of mind and no body can steal my happiness. So i decide to put up a smiling face and enjoy the festivities that has just begun.

Japan - Thy will rise again

over 750 dead and 1000 missing, cities inundated, dams broken, train missing and Nuclear plant in a critical state of emergency- all the debacle within hours from the deadly earthquake measuring 8.9 on Richter scale. Japan is one of the most highly prepared country to deal with natural disasters of high magnitude but this quake was a lot more than what they were prepared for.


What always amazes me is the discipline with which the Japanese operate, the orderliness. I read a news report, that even after this catastrophe, people stand in queue (in Tokyo) to get into a bus and wait for the signal to turn green. A salute to such meticulous orderliness. This is rare, and one of a kind.

japan with the world's largest forex reserves of over a trillion dollars will quickly rebound. The people of Sendai will get back into business fast and will give the mother nature a pleasant surprise by rehabilitating so many displaced people and structures. Thats Japan!

Japan will get out of this fast and get back quickly into business and the Nikkei will soar once again! My prayers are with the people of Japan.

Celebrating silence

Have you heard of the word speech is sliver, silence is golden. I've always believed in it but have never practiced it. But off late I've started practicing it. See I'm generally this sort of guy who wants things sorted out by words and by justifications. But over time world has changed me into a guy who is more measured in his talks and who believes that silence is stronger than 10 tonnes of steel.


But coming a long with this approach, now I've realized that there is another set of people to whom even the silence doesn't mean anything. These are the indifferent people - people who think that they don't give a #$@# about anything. These are the people who are tough to handle. The best way to handle these people is to do nothing just be your usual self and be natural and go by their same "don't give #$@# attitude".

But on any given day people "silence is golden". There is an eternal peace amidst the sweet silence - enjoy it and live the moment and discover oneself.

You might be a really outgoing person but still some moments of silence makes you to get a new perspective of life.

new year

2011 born.2010 dead.
you still have to win the daily bread

world goes gun-ho in taking resolution
most of the life's problem have a solution

The urge to succeed

"How did you become this successful ? " a young boy asks Socrates - the Greek philosopher. Socrates takes this boy to a near by river and the drowns the boy's head into the flowing water. The boy tries to set himself free to gasp some air but Socrates tightens his grip over the boy's neck. After two minutes the boy through his effort gets himself released from the clutches of the philosopher and the pale turned boy looks up to Socrates in disdain. Socrates grins at the boy and says " what did you want when you were underwater "? "Air" - the boy replies. Socrates with a stern voice says "if you want success as badly as you wanted air, you will succeed".

The above four lines means a whole lot in one's life - if one can draw parallels to the story - If success is treated as the only thing for survival, then success is guaranteed. Success should never be an option, it should be the prerogative. There should always be a craving in you to succeed in whatever you do.

Success means different things to different people - If you are an archer try to become William Tell, if you are an aspiring football player - Messi should be your pick, or when it comes to tech stuff - Never settle for anything less than Steve Jobs or if you are the business of stock markets - Soros should be your benchmark.

Always pick a person whom you can associate with and slowly march towards them and one day you will definitely get past them.

Success is not attained sitting on a La-Z-Boy recliner - it is achieved by greased shirts. Success is not easy - the windows auto-correct for success is "hard-work" and unstinted devotion to the goal. There was once an art Connoisseur who is immensely moved by the master's depiction of the guernica bombing by the Germans - and exclaims " I would give my life for creating such a master-piece". Master in his mellowed voice replies " I did give".

That is the degree of hard-work we are talking about. There are about half a billion babies added to the planet every year. Only a handful of them grow up to be achievers. what makes them different from the rest? the answer is simple - hard work and more hard work.

We are living in a world where free-thought is highly revered. A person's intellects fetches more ROI than a block of cash. Google was born in a garage in Menlo Park in 1996 as a project in the Stanford University. The initial funding for Google was a $ 100,000 check from Andy Bechtolsheim, Co-founder of Sun Microsystems. Today Google is worshiped and is currently a $ 166 billion company. Google is a classic example of where your intellect can take you.

Mere survival in this world without leaving a mark is an insult to the creator. Japan after the nuclear debacle has come a long way to be the country with second largest foreign exchange reserve in the world of $ 1 trillion. All this was built from shambles. If Japan can do it - why not anyone?

An urge to succeed supported by a strong will will lead us to glory!

Where do you belong?

Roshan gets up in the morning later than his usual time and grudges at his alarm clock and nudges past chaotic city traffic to his programming job. This is his daily routine and all through his work hours his mind is somewhere else - Books ! Yeah, he always wanted to be an author but his financial condition did not give him that freedom. So here he is, crunching some monotonous codes, debugging some bugs, and answering some on-site calls at ungodly hours. All for what - Money! Does he get to follow his dream of being an author? Only he got to tell.

How many of us have the guts and kill in us to do what our heart thrives upon, where the your passion lies? Very few people take up things which are close to their heart, most of the people follow their mind. Mind follows money.

I'm no different. I've been chasing money and doing something which dosent give me the satisfaction. Do I atleast take time off to do things which are closer to my heart? Not till date. But now the time has come.

I've always had this urge for doing a trip to himalayas for a long long time. Its still unsatiated due to nature of work I do. I feel i should take a sabbatical sometime and make a visit to the god of the mountains the Himalayas.

Waking up to the nerve breaking chill, putting on you hiking shoes and scaling the himalayas is like a dream for me. A bath in the one of the natural geyser will be just amazing. I will also make a trip to Mt. Kailash (meaning Crystal in Sanskrit - so is the place) - the abode of Lord Shiva and take a dip in Manasarovar - the purest lake in the world.

My next wish in my bucket list is to make a trip to the Khadrung-La - The highest motorable pass. Sipping a tea out there would be my life's most fulfilling moment.

I would also like to spend atleast a month in Leh, Meditate at the shanthi stupa and live life on bare minimum necessities. I want to be snapped of communication with the outside world, have just a back pack with stuff which will make just make me survive.. I would want to be like Christopher McCandless - enjoying my solitude in the land of purity/sernity/divinty call it anything

Himalayas is like Shangri-La to me- the land of no worry, outside the human interference and a place where serenity still prevails....

So when is this desire of mine be fulfilled, I wont say the usual dialogue "The time will tell" may be it will... but I will make it happen...

My time has come. My footprints in Himalayas are not far away... My Salute to the great Himalayan mountain! That is where I belong!

Signing off....
Ramki