Weekend Pleasures

The weekend started disastrously with the trip to Skagen being cancelled because of rain n overcast sky. Now why would anyone want to visit a beach on a day it is raining??? (Though one remembers a rainy evening spent at Sankhumugham Beach, Trivandrum very fondly). Anyway, so the plan for Skagen was shelved and with long faces the day kept passing until it was evening and the sun decided to give a little peek. We jumped to the occasion and headed towards Fjordparken near Egholm with beer in our bags.

The next few hours were spent sitting on the bench watching the boats sail by, people kanoeing, jogging, cycling, talking about n number of things and drinking beer. Sitting there I felt a strange kind of calmness and the feeling of being at ease with myself, my surroundings, my pals and the world at large.

Live Earth

I am sure you would have caught your fav artist at/on the Live Earth concerts on 07/07/07. If u have 3 minutes, go and take this survey which will tell you what’s your live impact. With a carbon output of 9.9 tons per year I must def be amongst the above average of us who continue to harm the earth in more ways than one. And I am not alone.. each one of us is responsible. Here are a whole lot of things we can do to help our environments and ourselves.

OK the serious part done, let's get down to Shek's Tag:-

What am I doing to make the earth a greener place?

1) Transport
I use public transport. Car in Europe??? Hahahahah... Dude, am still employed in an Indian company. I also own a bike, which I ride on non rainy, non snowing days. Well not all the 35 days.

2) Paper
I don’t use printouts until it is absolutely necessary to carry some in a meeting. And also I have this habit of having all the data in one sheet of paper. So I print with Font Size = 2 or something. And just so I utilize each n every part of it and nothing is wasted, I draw doodles on the remaining blank surface of the paper in the meeting.

3) Washing
I wash my clothes together at the end of the week. No whites-and-non-whites-separate for me you racial bastards. Also I make sure I stuff all my clothes to be washed in one go. I use cold water to wash as hot water makes more creases in the clothes which take more time to iron out. My towel was last washed on ....errr March?, which is about the time when I also washed my bed sheet n pillow cover.

4) Electricity
Last time I had to buy bulbs I got the long lasting compact fluorescent light bulbs. 2 of them. It will take time before I switch to them completely. My PC/laptop goes on standby/sleep with 10 minutes of inactivity. I have consciously tuned the settings this way.

5) Shopping bags
I carry shopping bags for my weekend grocery shopping and use them repeatedly until they threaten to burst and spill all the stuff on the road.

6) Recycle
I don’t use recycled paper but I do recycle plastic/glass bottles and cans. In fact we get 1/1.5/3 Kroners back for every bottle/can submitted. Nothing like buying beer from the money u just made from empty beer cans.

Some other tips that will help u save the environment:-
* Wear jackets with deep pockets. This way whenever u buy something, u can carry it in those deep pockets. You will not need to buy the shopping bags.
* Eat pizza at the pizza shop, no matter how shady it is. Agreed that u like to have your pizza sprawled on your living room floor in a lungi scratching you hair, but if u eat it there u wont need the pizza box and help in generating less trash. You will also conserve water as you will have no dishes to clean.
* Wear jeans to work. Apart from the fact that they are better any day than formals, you can actually save a lot of water in washing before anyone notices that u r wearing the same pair for the last 2 weeks.
* If u happen to stay in colder regions where the sun is rather reluctant then do wear cardigans all the time at work. They allow you to wear a shirt with just the collars ironed. Save electricity in ironing.
* Shower sensibly. No, I am not asking you to do French showers, but who needs hour long showers and bath tubs filled with gallons of water. If you shower daily then you should be practiced enough to bathe in less than 10 minutes. You may indulge in such extravagances from time to time, but plz keep them to the minimum.

On a more serious note let me end this post with an old native American saying - "We do not inherit the Earth from our parents, we borrow it from our children".

Let's return it to them as a better place.

New 7 Wonders

Thank God all the hoopla around the "New 7 Wonders" thing is about to get over and we can all put down the swadeshi topi and get back to normal life. If u r in US, start making plan to visit the Statue of Liberty on the next long weekend if u haven’t been there yet or start planning a vacation to Europe or to South America. By all standards, The monuments in the New 7 Wonders list are some of the most amazing places on the face of the earth and fabulous tourist destinations. Though there may be nothing official about it, the amount of patriotism people are associating with it is simply astounding. Chain mails are being forwarded, people back home in India admit to receiving SMS from long lost contacts urging them to vote for Taj. Anyway, let’s not get into this more.

Peepal, I am introducing a tag. Heres what u need to do?

Pick the Top 3 destinations from the list of New Seven Wonders that you would want to visit and write down a few lines about why u want to visit. Don't forget to tag more people and inform them about it.

Simple in'it? (Sorry, Jhoom Barabar Jhoom movie has left some lasting scars in my mind).

So here is my list of top 3 destinations:-

1) Machu Picchu, Peru (Img: http://www.new7wonders.com/)
Machu Picchu is a symbol of Community & Dedication!

I am sure everyone has heard about this place, or read about it . The 'Lost City' of the Incans was discovered and brought to light by Americam archaeologist Hiram Bingham. I remember, when I was small, reading a novel - Hardy Boys & the Inca Treasure or something similar and then I became curious and read up a little about it. It was the pre-google-and-internet-not-quite-there time when people actually went to library to find out more about things. I found only a couple of pages in some encyclopedia but the name registered somewhere in my mind. With so much available at the touch of a button you can practically know and see all thats to it in the comfort of your couch. But to see a monument in person is an alltogether different feeling.

2) Christ Redeemer, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (Img http://www.new7wonders.com/)
Christ Redeemer stands for Welcoming & Openness!

Now who doesn't want to go to Brazil. :) It's the first place that comes in mind when u talk about South America or football or beaches or supermodels (Gisele Bündchen, Adriana Lima, Alessandra Ambrosio). I think the first time I saw the statue in the video of the song Brazil by VengaBoys. This country is a sure shot fav among people from all over the world and no wonder Rio de Janeiro is the most visited city in the world.

3) The Kremlin and St. Basil’s Cathedral, Moscow, Russia (Img: http://www.answers.com)The Kremlin/St. Basil’s Cathedral represents Fortitude & Symbolism!

God bless Russia for inventing Vodka! Russia has always been the friendly country from where we bought arms. The cathedral is def one of the cutest, if I may say so, ones in the world. It was commissioned by Ivan the Terrible and built on the edge of Red Square between 1555 and 1561. Legend has it that on completion of the church the Tsar ordered the architect, Postnik Yakovlev, to be blinded to prevent him from ever creating anything to rival its beauty again, much like our own lore about Taj's architect. Anyway, Russia and the other eastern european countries have caught my fascination for some time now. And it would be great to be there and have a quick peek at what lies behind the Iron Curtain.

What the heck... I would absolutely love to be able to visit ANY one of the sites. And as a traveller I realise that you don't need a reason to travel. You travel coz u want to.

I tag:-

Arpz, Confused, Deepti, Delphic, If-she-tells-ya, Kusum, Marlee, Prashant, Priyanka, Sakshi, Sayesha, Shek, Silverine.

Here are my pics, of the 3 sites from the list of New 7 Wonders, where I have been to:-

Eiffel Tower, Paris, France.

Neuscwanstein, Bavaria, Germany.

Colosseum, Rome, Italy.

Tagged

Tagged by Sakshi

1. Pick out a scar you have, and explain how you got it?
Right hand palm, just below the index finger. In school we were playing 'pakdam-pakdai' (No, its not some fetish game u perv!!!) and I was running around this bus parked inside the school campus. The flap of the compartment where the stepney is kept was raised and hidden by some leaves from a nearby tree. While running towards it I saw the raised flap just in time and used my hand to save my belly from having a deep gash n my intestines being spilled out. As a result, 5 stiches.

2. What does your phone look like?
6230i

3. What is on the walls of your bedroom?
This poster

4. What is your current desktop picture?
Office: The company defined wallpaper. Can't change it. Its been the same for 2 years.
Home: Standard SONY VAIO wallpaper.

5. Do you believe in gay marriage?
Yes. Gay or Straight, doesn't matter.

6. What do you want more than anything right now?
Its 12:23 pm. M hungry, I want food.

7. What time were you born?
12:40 am

8. Are your parents still together?
Very much.

9. Last person who made you cry?
Dont rem... must've been ages ago.

10. What is you favorite perfume/cologne?
Ive used Brut cologne a lot and it happens to be one of the fav.

11. What kind of hair/eye color do you like in the opposite sex?
Any color would do. As long as the hair is lustrous and the eyes are expressive. (copied it from someone's blog.. cdnt find words that would express it in better terms)

12. What are you listening to?
Keyboard sounds.

13. Do you get scared of the dark?
Nope... never.

14. Do you like pain killers?
Now, who likes painkillers? I dont like to consume any medicines and will go out of my way to avoid it.

15. Are you too shy to ask someone out?
No, but choosy and a bit reluctant at times.

16. If you could eat anything right now, what would it be?
A I would like paneer naan, butter chicken, daal makhani, some biryani and raita, lassi to go with it and ras malai or something for dessert.

17. Who was the last person you made mad?
Dunno, but I am sure it was someone in the office.

18. Is anyone in love with you?
Not that I can think of. I dont really think I am secret crush material.

Consider urself tagged, if u havent done this by now.