Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Food for thought

I was at this lecture last week, at the Institute of Engineers, Mysore, it was called "our food", a talk which dealt with the concept of the Indian diet and just a curious-boy's look at why we, Indians eat what we eat, and how such a diet could've come to become out staple.


The talk dealt in quite some detail at how some less-than-apparent stuff, nutrients, if you can call that, have a major effect on how the body function at a genetic level. And how vegetables, fruits and plants containing these chemicals came to being used regularly, intentionally or purely coincidentally, as staple food apart from the regular body building, energy giving and protective food. And also to note, that, our forefathers, the ones who came up with the concept of such a diet, did it just cause eating such food was "good for health", and not specifically because food X is "anti cancer" or Y is "anti depressant" or Z is "anti oxidant" and so on. so, such an intricately marvellous diet, designed ages ago, is being destroyed now. And that's quite apparent! I myself am responsible for it too. but then that's where i wanna make an important point.


The point being, the talk i had been to, had an audience of pure oldies! none less than 60! except the speaker, some guys from the arranging committee, My friend and myself. That got me thinking. My observation showed that almost all of the oldies present there, every single retired person out of the 50 odd people present there, were almost beaming with good health! nobody looked to be suffering from anything more than just creeky joints and grey hair! hmmm..... had the talk, inevitably reached out to the wrong audience? i mean, they're not the people who should have been listening to that talk, they're already too healthy, and besides, even if they're not, pardon the expression, but all of them have no more than 20 more years to live, in which all that they'll probably do is buy every magazine and book they can afford out of their retirement money and read the hell outta them, and when they're done, they go and pray to God, meditate, sleep, Bliss! So, little use, having listened the lectures.


The ones who should've been listening, are people who're the present, who're the future of the world! they're the ones who're already suffering from problems, un-heard-of, as my granny's say , during their times. Look at most of the people in their mid 20's and you'll notice something similar in all, hair loss, premature aging signs, skin problems, obesity, restlessness, mood swings, tendency to turn various addictions, hair discoloration, harmone problems, tooth decays, eyesight problems. Well, you can say the oldies had it too, and that the people who did probably didn't make it this far! but then, I've heard the entire "grand father generation" exclaim in shock when they heard the news that someone died of a heart attack "at a young age of 55". I've heard people dying at 26! more than just one person, mind you! "they just drop dead" it was said in the newspaper. But then, the entire generation who probably needed the points said out in that talk, to be put to use in their everyday lives to ensure good health, were absent. It was a sad state of affairs, and i too didn't realise it till i saw the entire audience! heh! the wise oldies just extended their lives by ten more years listening to the talk! And we..... hmmm...... half of you will probably go grab a snack outside this evening, and that half might include me too! but this has surely made me think twice from now on! Cheers & live long!


Gecko

Saturday, July 11, 2009

Extremes

Came across two bad incidents this evening, around early evening, two girls in a santro, knocked down a bike ( definitely due to reckless driving, but surely unintentional). Those two girls, still being very young, panicked and sped away, but those bikers, a father and son, son being quite young himself (but surely getting his shouting genes from his father), chased down the car, stopped them and is showing his full rage, scolding in a really uncivilized manner, along with a gang of fully grown men, which probably reflected which part of the state he is from! some stuff i overheard:
1. Magalu vayassu aagide, swalpa maryaade bedva (he's the one scolding her like a animal, being clearly over 30 years older than those two, maryade bere keltane)
2. nange baayalli heli abhyasa illa, bayalli ondu hallu ildiro hange hod'dre gottagutte (what gottagutte? that he's a brute who's just had is BP unexpectedly shot up)
3. Hennu anta sumne bittidini (hmmm... those two are crying their hearts out saying sorry, accepting the blame and agreeing to bear any charges that may arise, they've faces the words of a whole gang of men, in yen sumne bidodu?)
I couldn't see them cry that much, frankly they were probably creating too big a scene, yes it was a big accident, but then, i felt it was an unnecessary to make them cry so much, just take their mobile number, car number, house address, and poof. Friend of mine dealt with such a thing recently, for no fault of his own, it went really smooth! no mess! heh! wonder if the guy felt better scolding them for an hour! without first aid!

Second, At chat street, another minor collision perhaps and people gathered, some braveheart was shouting at the top of her voice, gang gathers, someone says something (as usual, gangs are very interested in other people quarrels, i have a first hand experience too) and this woman (clearly not for karnataka) says, "get out" to somebody, and then to her friend, taking out her cellphone, "wait i know how to f**k his happiness!" in a menacing tone while dialing someone's number!

Heh! wonder what the world's coming to!

Gecko.

G8 thoughts.

Despite the title, I happen to be the ignorant one when it comes to world or indian politics, with quite a few reason which i choose not to elaborate on. But i do happen to know that the G8 summit is happening somewhere in Italy. Don't ask me about the agenda or the proceedings. But it was strange to see a few photos of the summit in the newspapers an some captions given to it. Makes you wonder whether the photo was published just to catch the viewers attention or is it really a photos representative of the summit. The first photo i saw, is this:


A photo of a fine lady dressed in a black business suit, squatting in front of Mr. Obama and the other people standing looking of with a grin. The caption at the top said "Men will be Boys" and the caption at the bottom says "attraction or distraction?" Well, all said and done, if this photo was published in cosmopolitan or penthouse or vogue or any one of those glamour magazines, i would've been fine with it, infact enjoyed the humor, but this was in a freaking newspaper, makes you wonder to what lenghts they can go just to get the viewers attention or was is it something again the people standing there? I am sure the photographers were gifted with enough talent to get a photo more appropriately suited to the main focus of the G8.

The second photo which really made me decide to write this post.
The photo of a red-head's bottom poured elegantly into a wine reddish dress... oops, yeah, with leaders of two countries of the world looking at it! (sorry got distraced there myself, yeah yeah, i know, men! blah, blah). Captions: at the top - "Hunger's on G8 plate" and the bottom............. of the page sir, yes, eyes back on the text please...... "Watch out!"
But then, were such photos necessary? you may ask "well, they had to publish something, hadn't they?". Hmmmm... not very fancy if you ask me, two days in a row, well, either somebody at the news paper office is taking their job a little lightly these days or the world leaders are at the wrong summit! ;) You decide!

Gecko!


Friday, July 10, 2009

some poetry!

Some stuff which i made up while roaming around at a girl's store (with one) recently

Why are there narrow passages at a womens' store?
Women don't come narrow anymore!

Hello and goodbye to all the feminists out there! Shalom! :P

-Gecko.

Tuesday, July 7, 2009

Friday, July 3, 2009

time management

recently, i bought this book called "teach yourself time management" and frankly, since my purchase, i haven't made the time to read past page three or to remember what i read in the first two pages! the question that i ask myself every time is, why? why can other people make so much time to do innumerable stuff, watch movies, read books, go out with friends, work, sleep, explore new stuff, be creative, learn something new... the whole nine yards of what I'm trying to do. Well, is that a problem? am i trying too hard to be 'them'? or have i got sloppy? i find it impossible to find the patience to gather up a good playlist for the music player on my computer! i blame this usually on my vast music collection of supposedly unwanted stuff, but then haven't had time to clean that up too! same for my room, closet, bookshelf and bike!


I don't want this to sound like a letter to an agony aunt of some magazine, but then, i can't help if this is inevitably sounding this way. It's been months since I've read a book for a decent amount of time in a day. or listened to one whole song, or wrote about one of the hundreds of topics that come to my mind when, occasionally, my mind does start to warm up a little, on my blog. I had plans of buying a camera, a fancy SLR, i even retired my old film SLR for that purpose, saying it's too much recurring investment for the film, the development and printing charges and what not. When i had the interest, i didn't have the money, the status quo has been maintained, but my interest is fading, so is my money which was never enough anyway. Friends, all have some camera or the other, quite impressive stuff, now they have the equipment and are using the time and interest very well, learning new stuff with the cameras, taking good pictures. Bikes, i still have plans of that, big plans for my bikes, but probably I'll end up selling both my bikes, again to raise money for my studies. I had plans of a new bore kit for the old RX and stockpiling spare parts for my bikes before i leave so that i can get started once i come back, but then, thinking sensible, as attached i am to my bike, i think it's sensible not to keep them, cause i don't know where I'm gonna end up! and thinking lightly, as long as i have these, my folks are not gonna let me buy a new one! so, that one's gone too.


Hmmmmm..... now i think time is not my only problem, it's money too, money has always been though, heh! show me a person for whom it is not! if it's not trouble in one way (read scarcity) then it's a problem in another (read abundance). but mostly it's a problem which lies upstairs where all the cooking takes place. I find things interesting, i get started on it, but for most, i don't stick to it. I either give up half way cause of my laziness or my inability to balance my work, studies, personal life, hobbies and social life. so i end up compromising on something way too far than i ideally should and in the long run, that's gonna cause me problems, the problem may be that i might have to end up giving up on a hobby, but then that's also a problem cause I'm sure that it will not end with just one hobby, and something is gonna begin creeping into something else when it probably shouldn't, or rather, i probably shouldn't have let it creep into.


So, Time management? well, i don't know. I don't wanna put the blame to age, no matter how old i am, if I'm old enough as long as i am standing on my own feet and thinking with my own mind. i guess the blame's on me. I just wrote this out as i felt it would help me in some way if i speak things out to the world about what's on my head. It a pretty crowded place up there! i can't keep things in it forever! Something's got to give, and if i empty the part of my mind which tells me why a Yamaha RX which is ported at the roof of the ports is better than a RX which is ported at the bottom of the ports, then chances are that, most of you will not understand, and those who do understand, will probably won't have nothing more to say that "oh, ok". At least with this, i get some suggestions and possibly a solution to my problems, a part of the solution to my problems or a solution to a part of my problems.


Anyway, That's it for now, i have to manage my time to sleep! till next time! cheers!