Posts Tagged ‘People’
Weekend Escapade Part III
The Dam
On our way back to the busy life in Bangalore we stopped at Rajeev Gandhi wild Life sanctuary. Although we were late to take a ride in the Park safari, we talked with the guards there to know that there is little chance to spot any animals except for deers. I didn’t believe him at first, then I saw this
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Weekend Escapade Part II
The coffee plantations in Coorg mesmerize you with its aroma and splendid beauty. Being from Kerala and have stayed in the middle of a coffee plantation (in Peermade Idukku Distric, near Thekkady) for years, this experience was not new. But this brought back memories of the beautiful past.
We opted for a home stay to get closer to nature. But what was in store for us was surprising.
The endless insects that crawled all over, the leeches (surprisingly none of us got bitten by them) and the storm of insects all over made me closer to nature.
Tip #1
To get rid of a leech biting its ‘heart out’ on your body, (1) Apply a pinch of salt or (2) Use a lighter or a match stick and bring the flame close to the leech, it will let go !
Never forcefully remove the leech from your body as it injects a chemical to your body and the blood wont clot.
Due to an anticoagulant (hirudin) that leeches secrete, bites may bleed more than a normal wound after the leech is removed
Try stamping on the leech you could see blood spurting all over. (I sound sadist huh?, well its my blood !)
Tip #2
How to get rid of insects?
Turn off the lights. Yes, as simple as that. The lights attract all the flies all around the plantations as there wouldn’t be any light anywhere near. I remember the times when I used to stay at the place in Peermade without any lights for 3 days in a row. The moment I turn on any of the lights it would attract thousand of insects and they invade the house!
However, during daytime you are at their mercy. 
Talking about the stay in Coorg, its no big difference from Peermade. There were hundreds of insects trying to find a place to hide in my room, bags and all over. Finally we turned off the lights to chase it away. That didn’t however stop the visits from a dozen millipedes.J
But it was all worth it in the morning when I got up early to go trekking and fishing. The sight outside our room was splendid! The thick fog engulfed the morning rays and the visibility was very low.
Here are few pics.
(The beautiful morning)
(A view outside our room)
(The catch)
( To be contd)
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Weekend Escapade Part I
The trip to Coorg was rewarding, the climate, the people, the endless plantations and insects that crawled all over my body made me much closer to nature than never before.
It gave some sort of a revelation that we are just aliens invading their space.
One of our stops was at the Tibetian Colony in Coorg. With all the issues surrounding, Tibet now, I wondered how they reached the Southern State of Karnataka from their cold hills of Tibet which they call home.
History
(Nyingmapa Monastery)
The monastery was established by Penor Rinpoche in 1963, following his 1959 exit from Tibet. The initial structure was a temple constructed from bamboo, covering an area of approximately eighty square feet. As of 2007, the lodging facilities alone for the school include three buildings with over 150 rooms. (Source Wikipedia)
(Golden Temple)
(Woman praying outside the temple)
Bylekuppe
ByleKuppe is one of the largest Tibetan settlements in India, around 16000 refugees and nearly 6000 monks and nuns. Set up in 1960, Bylakuppe is a small town situated 6 kms from Kushalnagar or 42 Kms from Mercara, the place has several monastries and the famous among them are the Great Gompa of Sera Je, Sera Mey and the Namdroling monastery.
(Source)
(Inside the temple)
The temple and the monks all around gave me a feeling that I was in Thailand again. (I have been to Thailand once). This was indeed a mind-blowing experience.
To be contd.
(All pictures taken with Sony DSC W55, thanks to new wordpress I couldnt insert the images properly)
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80 Shut Downs in 18 Months
80 shutdowns in 18 months, on an average 4 every month. This figure is haunting as this is after the courts have banned bandh and ‘forceful hartals’. While the political parties have given assurances that the hartals will be peaceful and there wouldn’t be any ‘forceful’ closure of shops or disruptions in traffic, it’s seldom followed.
Kerala witnessed yet another hartal yesterday with all major institutions, offices closed down. There were stray incidents caught on camera where the activists forced shopkeepers to close down and abused people who took their vehicles on the road. In one incident a cab with foreign tourists were stopped and the driver was manhandled. The terror in the tourists’ eyes was clearly visible. No wonder these warnings are part of standard country specific documents in foreign government sites.As the two parties try their hand at blaming each other, the people are left tormented. While students enjoy their holiday, there are thousands of travelers left with no other choice but to ruin their day at bus stations.I see no end to this unless the politicians themselves come with a new form of protest and give people the ‘choice’ to take part if they want to.
‘Beg’ To Differ?
We shower empathy, mutter our sympathy, drop in a coin or two and go on with our lives. Sometimes we turn our heads and look away as if they don’t exist. They call out to you and yet we don’t care to look that way.
Beggars. They are treated as different beings and are looked at with different emotions.To many of us beggars are poor beings who beg to fill their stomach. Not any more.
The recent India Today article talks about beggars who make more than 200Rs a day. That’s more than what a clerk at a government office make. Way too more than what a daily laborer who work at construction sites make.The story explains about a beggar who has 250000 bank balance and has no plans to quit this profession.
Many of the beggars who live on streets have a background of abuse, poverty, drug addiction or lawlessness. Many have a choice of approaching NGO’s and taking shelter. But they don’t.Many don’t want to quit because the offers they get from NGO’s is less exciting as what they have in hand now. Some feel like shelters are like Jail and they can’t enjoy the freedom they get on streets at shelters. To many the streets are their home.
Read the article on India Today here : India Today Article
