Environmental awareness and role of technocrats

“In the end, we conserve only what we love, we will love only what we will understand and we will understand only what we are taught” -- Baba Dioum

Recently, I have read a news item anticipating the establishment of four Hi-Tech cities in the outskirts of the Aligarh city. These establishments will be done with the aims of reducing the size of the crowd in the city and of providing employment to people living in the nearby villages. Though for a noble cause but such projects tend to exploit huge amount of resources. And, the exploitation of resources at such a large scale results in the environmental instability. Definitely a detailed plan needs to be formulated such that the resources can be used optimally, now and again.

There have been instances in the past where mankind has not thought about future impacts of its actions. We face with problems such as the lowering of water table, reduction in the rainfall, increase in the size of ozone-hole, global warming etc. Though these problems are being faced today but their causative actions have been performed in the past viz. deforestation, fast paced technological advancements. Still, we are not learning from our mistakes.

Today, as we move forward with the aim of making world a better and comfortable place to live in, there is a need to put a check at our every action. We need to observe and attend to every factor closely e.g. climate of the place, water table, rainfall, wind etc. There is a need to make people aware of these factors and to develop a general idea, the idea that how to use each resource optimally. Also, there is a need of reducing the amount of usage currently. There is a need of self-realisation. There is a need to think about the impact of an action on the society and environment before committing it.

There are various groups – government and private – which work to make people aware of various minute details that can help in the environmental protection. Also, various research institutes spend a huge sum of money to develop technologies which will help in the cause. E.g. Evolution of hybrid cells and hydrogen cells which help in minimizing pollution through automobiles. The corporate sector has accepted it as its social responsibility to work towards preservation of the environment. In lieu of which, they are awarded quality certificates and rebates on various deals.

Today, most of the people think about the environment before they act. A few change the way they plan to do. Finally, very few do it. It is about time, we all do.

The Earth Hour !

The Earth Day, as I understand, is to utilize the resources that the mother earth provides us with optimization so that each n everyone gets to utilize it in need, for that day. Though, we should do that more often but that is the tragedy we need to live with.

The concept of the Earth Hour, as promoted, was to switch off all the electrical appliances for 1 hour in order to save electricity and to save the climate from getting ruined. The request was made to the complete world. Many people paid heed but many did not.

I am grateful to those who did and also to those who did not. Why??

The power stations are our providers of electricity. They burn coal, heat water, circulate it through pipelines, rotate turbines and generate power on a dynamo which has its own speed limit which varies inversely with the load the dynamo is supposed to bear. This means, higher the load, less speed of the dynamo but if lesser the load then higher the speed of dynamo.

But, we cannot allow the dynamo to reach the speed of light, else it would convert into energy (E=mc^2) and would disappear.

Hence, we limit its speed to a certain value, beyond which the dynamo gets cutoff. When the speed comes down, below the threshold, it again starts rotating.

Can you tell me what is that process that is continuously going on irrespective of the speed of dynamo?? The coal is being burnt unstoppingly.

So what had happened when lot of people switched off their electrical appliances simultaneously, for 1 hour?? The load on the dynamo has decresed resulting in the increase of its speed. This means that the dynamo could have reached the threshold and the power would not have been produced during that time while the amount of coal was being burnt continuously for that period.

Had everyone swithced off their appliances, the dynamo would have definitely reached the threshold and would have stopped running while the coal is still burning and it is going to waste. Now you would suggest, shut the power plants for that hour !! For those of you who say so, pay a visit to any power plant and learn why a power plant cannot be shut down suddenly and restarted in no time.

Hence, I am grateful to those people who have not switched off the appliances.

But why am I grateful to those who did??

When many people shut down the appliances, the power generated was directed to those distribution channels where regular power cuts happen. Hence, for one hour they 'might' have received good voltage of electricity.

This means that by the combined effort of those who switched off the appliances and who did not, the power was delivered to the needy people for that duration and may be afterwords as well and also the coal burning did not go to waste.

Anyhow, we all celebrated the Earth Hour !!

Point to ponder upon

I recently went to mumbai for some recruitment exam. Well, exam was supposed to be taken easy for haven't prepared for it properly. Main motive was to visit mumbai again. This was my second trip. Last time when I had gone, I had visited places like bandra, dadar, kandivali. This time I visited vidyavihar, malad and dadar. On my return from dadar, my uncle and his son (arnd 7 yrs old) escorted me to the station. Throughout, the little kid was talking about bomb blasts, terrorists attack, the number of people died, until my uncle scolded him and asked him to shut up. I was amazed to see that a 7 yrs old kid had so much knowledge about these attacks. Of course, anyone breathing in this world must have knowledge about the happening around him/her but for God's sake, he is only 7yrs old !! Atleast he should have been spared of the trouble of the thought process that goes into recovering from these things.

In the talk, he mentioned that once his father just escaped one of the blasts. Imagine my condition. I am being informed about the lucky escape from the death of the guy who is standing right next to me. !!!!

That kid is in his 4th grade and he is talking about bomb blasts so freely as if it is similar telling about a scolding by teacher on a mistake. Does he deserve to be informed about such acts of barbarism?? Should'nt he have more knowledge about various cartoons, games, pranks ??

We all talk about fighting terrorism. As civilians, we respond to the attacks by our act of attending the office the next working day showing that, we have accustomed to such attacks and whatever comes out way, we will not deviate from our routine. But, as fathers, mothers, guardians and relatives what are we telling to the kids ?? As far as I believe, we are not telling them anything. We are allowing them to be aware of such barbarism on their own. We are not guiding them properly as to how, someone of their age, should respond to these acts.

Even I do not know of even one way in which this could be done. I just know that, shutting their mouths is not the best way. Also, they cannot be kept in dark about their surroundings. Their focus needs to be shifted to more friendly things.

We need to hold their hands and tell them that we are here, hence you simply enjoy :)

She !!

She is sweet n adorable. She is sensitive. She looks good in pink. She has worn orange when I had first met her. She has a cute smile which forces current through me. I smile when I remember of her. When I am with her, I am the happiest person I could ever be. I enjoy being with her. I like listening to her. I think of lot of things to talk to her about but when I am in front of her, I forget everything I have thought about. What I remember is that she is in front of me and I am with her for next few moments.

She says, I don't smile. How strange is this comment, only I can understand. I have no reason to deny her claim. I do not smile in front of her. I am happy when I am with her but I never get a chance to express that happiness.

She is matured. She has seen more than I have. She is rational in her approach but she thinks too much.

She is progressing in her life. She is moving ahead leaving the past behind. She is choosing her own path. Who knows if she will succeed?? All she has is faith and support from friends n well wishers.

What I have written is only a bit of she. "I wish I could write more."

Now someone would be wondering - What will I have after writing about 'she'? The answer is "Not always you do things because you want something to happen, sometimes you just do the thing you want to do and wait for something to happen".

Another Expectation !

The following seems to be the half reality of life: (excerpt taken from the 21 OST-Time 2 Pretend)

"I'm feeling rough, I'm feeling raw, I'm in the prime of my life.
Let's make some music, make some money, find some models for wives.
....

This is our decision, to live fast and die young.
We've got the vision, now let's have some fun.
Yeah, it's overwhelming, but what else can we do.
Get jobs in offices, and wake up for the morning commute.

Forget about our mothers and our friends
We're fated to pretend
To pretend
We're fated to pretend
To pretend

I'll miss the playgrounds and the animals and digging up worms
I'll miss the comfort of my mother and the weight of the world
I'll miss my sister, miss my father, miss my dog and my home
Yeah, I'll miss the boredom and the freedom and the time spent alone.

There's really nothing, nothing we can do
Love must be forgotten, life can always start up anew.
..."

The seond half is the following:

Die doing anything n everything for the people u care n love, be it parents, friends, love of life, partner of life, relations etc.
Any amount you do for them, lot more gets unnoticed and you are left with a disgusted self image
In the end, you did not do enough to be worthy of being with them
Your every step is judged in their frame of reference and hence you are awarded n punished both at the same time
Ultimately people will ask for ur soul to rest in peace for they do not want to be haunted by it
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

I believe that it holds some part of each one of our lives.
I am not the one to suggest what to do.
I do what I think is right. That need not always be the right thing to do. To err is human but to hold grudges against that error of someone is inhumane
I just hope people who know me, care for me or whom I care about, realise this.

Mood Swings !

A very common thing among humans but very contributive in defining the success and failure for them. Sometimes, it so happens that we are in a mood swing and we are not able to recognise it.

As of now, if I analyse my life of last 7 months, I will recognise a swinging pattern in my activities. Though my every activity was directed towards my ultimate goal of "sketching out a better future for myself" but my each activity had deviations from this mean line.

Now that is very normal. So what is the new thing that I am trying to put forth??

Recently, during a placement option in JP Morgan, one of my friends said - yaar engineer banke bhi ek bank mein kaam karenge to chaar saal ki padhai waste hi hai na...engineering degree is a waste.

I tried to convince him that it is just a graduation, we are not yet engineers so it hardly matters which job u adopt.

The next thing he said really shooked me.
He said - tu kya bolega jab log tujhse poochenge:
-beta engineering kaha se ki? 'ji BITS Pilani'
-are waah!! kis branch mein? 'Electronics'/'mechanical'/'computer science' etc.
-kaha job kar rahe ho? 'JP Morgan'
-are waah!! kya kaam karte ho? 'transactions processing'

Meaning that I will be simply pushing buttons on a system on someone's orders when he/she wants me to perform a transaction.
Best part: I will be transacting in billions daily
Worst part: It is a clerikal job

This conversation has been haunting me day n night. And after this, I am pondering over what I had been doing since July 08; I had been moulding myself to fit for the market needs.

Agreed, that all of us need to do that at some point or the other but why do we lose our identities? Why do we stop pursuing what really interests us? Why are we least bothered about what we have studied or rather what has been taught to us till now?

Why an X with qualification of an engineer tries to get involved into something where he cannot utilize his knowledge gathered over a period of 4 years?

Agreed that after 12th, 90% of youth is directed by their guardians/parents regarding their career. But, isn't that a wrong methodology?

We are forced to aim for the hot seats in IIT, BITS, NIT IIIT etc.
How much do we know of market scenario or of our interests? What is the guarantee that once an engineer will always be an engineer? And yes we do see people diverting from the field; even completely quitting it.

After graduation, scenario does not get better at all.
We are a herd of sheep following what OTHERS do. Our business is not what we should do but what the majority is doing.
We are again made clear that there are only limited prospects: CAT, GATE, GRE, GMAT etc.

Even I could not escape from this herd and am still a part of this herd.
I went for hell of MBA entrance examinations; nothing happened.
For placements, left my mechanical text books to study C programming for companies in IT sector: nothing happened.
Again diverted myself from IT to finance and studied hell of it: nothing happened.

What next?
How many transfers do I need to go through before I find success?

My dad says - That is the way it is. You look for every option available.

If that is the case, then I must say that we are losing the power to focus.

We, who are always addressed as the drivers of the future of India, are being driven as per the moment.

Lethargic day, dwelling and dweller

My day started on a PJ note...it seemed the day was going to be charming, beautiful, energetic and happy. But what seems to be, does not actually turn out to be. The clock has not even ticked 12 of noon and I had realised that it is going to be a sad, lethargic, useless, non-profitable day. I tried to lift up the spirit of the day but my every effort was failed. It failed for I was not ready to accept that MY day is going to be so bad. Caps because I like being with friends, joking, chatting, pulling leg, enjoying movies, laughter challenges...but today was completely changed.

My placements are going to begin from 22nd January. 155 people have registered for the company and needless to say, hardly [5% of the total] are going to be selected. The current situation is the strongest evidence for that claim. I know I must study but as I picked the book, it started feeling boring and dejected. I would have tried group study, I know, but I also know that I was not interested in studying and so it was no point in wasting time of those who are really working hard.

At a point of time in the day, I was sparkled by something. A current ran through me when it happened. I am sorry, I cannot tell you what happened but it was the most coveted thing of the day to happen for me. But it did not last long. I did not have enough time to connect to it. As time vanished, so did the sparkle!

How amazing it is to see that some'thing' can actually revert your mood! Moreover, when it happened I was actually expecting it would not happen. But it did and changed that moment for me...but just the moment, not the day. Had it lasted longer than it did, it would have definitely changed the day for me :)

The day is still on. It is evening and I still have atleast 6 hours to get rid of...oops...spend.
I intend no pun through this. I wrote what came through my heart.