Bangalore Chief Minister Wants To Ban Pub Culture In Karnataka!

Close on the heels of the heinous attack on women by the Ram Sena morons; our very own Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa has decried the ‘pub culture’ saying, “We will not allow pub culture in Karnataka.” He has also refused to ban the morons, blaming dirty politics.

Dear Mr. Chief Minister, how about banning the following as they too are not part of our culture:

• Ban cell phones and revert to the good old Post Office system.
• Ban transportation (including buses, cars, two wheelers, metros, aero planes and trains) and use bullock carts.
• Ban shopping centers and malls and depend on Government’s ration shops for our needs.
• Ban all clothing brands and make ‘khadi’ the official dress code for Karnataka.
• Ban all kinds of sports except kho-ko, hockey, wrestling and kabbadi.
• Ban pucca houses and start living in huts.
• Ban hospitals and depend on ayurveda and witch medicine.
• Ban television, computers, play stations, music players, film theaters’ and every conceivable form of entertainment and immerse ourselves in folk songs, Yakshagana and Byalatta.
• How about making farming compulsory for everyone in Karnataka, so that there will be no more working in the call centers, BPO’s and other industries.

Ohh…did I forget? How about banning the political system and revert back to the good old system of Kings and Kingdoms. Are you willing to give up your seat Mr. Chief Minister? Or will you play coy and pass the buck to the next government, cause there is no way you will be re-elected.

I am pretty certain that you will think about banning a lot more things other than those listed above.

Bangalore has been renowned as: The Garden City, The Ham Radio Capital of India, Pub Capital of India and the feather in the cap “IT and BT Capital of India.”

We do not want dirty politics/politicians, moral brigades, corrupt government officials, pollution, encroachment of lakes and cutting down of trees. Can you ban any one of these Mr. CM? If you do, you will be in contention for the Nobel Prize!

Save Bangalore.

India Shines On Its 60th Republic Day Celebrations!

The Constitution of India came into effect on January 26, 1950. Henceforth, this day has been celebrated as The Republic Day in India. It is a national holiday.

Today India celebrated its 60th anniversary of becoming a Republic under the watchful eyes of our President, Pratibha Patil.

While back in Mangalore, pub revelers at “Amnesia” were beaten up by the activists of a self appointed, moral watchdog – The Ram Sena.

What a beautiful contrast!

We have a woman president presiding over the Republic Day celebrations in the capital while women were molested and beaten up by the Ram Sena activists in Mangalore.

The news channels, throughout the day replayed this ghastly incident. The fact that most of the perpetrators were young was disturbing. The incident that was played on the news channels showed women being shoved around, slapped, molested and beaten up.

I can not imagine how some soul-less people appoint themselves as moral watchdogs. I can not imagine why the government allowed such groups to mushroom in the first place.

But what I can not understand is how the media news channels came to know of the incident as they were there on the scene, to capture it. If the media was there capturing the incident, why wasn’t the police there too! Did the media, desperately looking for content, did not inform the police? What has happened to the moral obligations of Mass Media?

When rogue groups like Ram Sena indulge in such activities to garner fame followed by political clout, why is the government taking its own sweet time to react? Such groups should be banned and action needs to be taken in order to prevent similar incidents from happening elsewhere. A precedent has to be set.

India should not allow itself to be Talibanised. We do not want groups like RSS, Bajrang Dal, MNS, Ram Sena and the likes dictate to us on our lifestyle. It is about time the government quits dilly-dallying and takes stern measures. These organizations should be declared as terrorist organizations as they terrorize people.

Image Source: Mangalorean.com

Shelby Building An Electric Supercar?

What do you get when one puts an “electric powertrain” into the “World’s fastest production car?” The “World’s fastest production electric car.”

The Guinness World Records has already certified that Shelby’s Ultimate Aero TT supercar is the fastest production car in the world with a speed in excess of 412 km/h (256.14 mph).

With that record in that bag, Shelby is aiming for another. This time it’s the “World’s fastest production electric car.” Shelby is planning to incorporate its “All Electric Scalable Powertrain” into the Ultimate Aero super car pictured above. Shelby feels that this model will act as a high visibility outlet to demonstrate the capabilities of its new Green powertrain. The new electric car has been dubbed as the Ultimate Aero EV.

Basically Shelby is out there trying to prove that electric powered vehicles will not only match but also provide more linear power (electric motors have 100% torque at 0 RPM) and overall performance than internal combustion cars.

According to Shelby, the Ultimate Aero EV can cough up an astounding 1000 hp and 800 lbft of torque enabling it to rocket to 60 mph in a mere 2.5 seconds and reach a top speed of 208 mph. The Ultimate Aero EV will have a range of 150-200 miles on a single charge, with its patented onboard charging system that will recharge the battery completely in 10 minutes on a 220V line. The car will sport a 3 speed automatic transmission rendering shift times of .24 seconds. The entire AESP is liquid cooled allowing it to run for extended periods of time at peak performance with no overheating issues.

Shelby expects to roll out its first full scale, pre production Ultimate Aero EV in the second quarter of 2009. Ultimate Aero EV deliveries will start as early as fourth quarter 2009.

For further reading, please click here.

Source: Shelby Supercars

How Much Land Does Ramalinga Raju Need ?

According to some media sources, Ramalinga Raju of Satyam has confided to siphoning off huge funds from the software company to the ones owned by his sons. Maytas Properties has a land bank of around 6,800-acres with around 670 acres of land in Hyderabad. Raju wanted to acquire as much of land as possible with money he could get his hands on.

This kinda kept me thinking as to what personal greed can lead a man to. During my schooling, I had read this kind of thirsty greed in a story by the famous Russian storyteller, none other than Leo Tolstoy. In 1886 he wrote a short story about a man who, in his lust for land, forfeits everything, including his own life.

Well to cut the short story shorter –

There was peasant named Pakhom, a humble man with good values. He was poor and did not have much land to sustain. By fate of luck a landlady in the village sells her estate and many of the peasants bought as much as they could. Pakhom purchased some land and earned more.

However, Pakhom becomes very possessive of his land and starts to quarrel with his neighbors frequently. This was the first sign that greed was disrupting his moral values. Later, he moves to a larger area of land at another Commune. He cultivated more crops and amassed a small fortune, but he had to grow the crops on rented land, which annoyed him very much.

Finally, he meets the Bashkirs, simple-minded people owning huge amount of land. He goes to them to take as much of their land for as low a price as he could bargain. Their offer was very unusual – for a sum of one thousand rubles, Pakhom could walk around as large an area as he wants to, starting at daybreak, marking his route with a spade along the way. If he reached his starting point by sunset that day, the entire area of land his route encloses would be his. He was delighted as he believed that he could cover a great distance and had chanced upon the bargain of a lifetime.

In his greed to acquire land he tries to cover as much land as possible, not content with what he already had. As the sun set neared he realized his mistake and ran back as fast as he could to the waiting Bashkirs. He finally arrived at the starting point just as the sunset. The Bashkirs cheered his good fortune, but exhausted from the run, he drops dead. They bury him in an ordinary grave just six feet long and six feet deep.

If only Mr. Raju’s fate had him read that story, it would have changed his life for good.

The great storyteller sleeps in this beautiful place

4th Conservation Activity In Bandipur

4th Conservation Activity In Bandipur

Kenneth Anderson Nature Soceity (KANS) is organising its 4th campaign on Wildlife Roadkil Awareness in Bandipur Tiger Reserve, Karnataka on 25th and 26th of Jan 2009. Activity includes distributing pamphlets among the vehicles passing through the Bandipur Tiger Reserve and educating the drivers about the importance of wildlife and also the DOs and DON’Ts while driving through the forest. Apart from that we intend to take up the activity of Highway Patrolling also as suggested by the Karnataka Forest Dept. The team will be stationed at Kekanahalla checkpost bordering Kanrnataka and Tamilnadu. As it is an activity spread over 2 days we are looking out for a healthy no. of volunteers. Interested participants can mail me at nandy.soumyajit@gmail.com or call me at +919886187014. You can also reach to Arunava Das, India Nature Watch at 9742576093 or mail at arunavadas1983@yahoo.co.in

I am also giving a link of the pamphlet designed by us for the cause : http://www.orkut.co.in/Main#AlbumZoom.aspx?uid=16441314116928751961&pid=1222757798564&aid=1222731530&p=0$pid=1222757798564

We have started this activity during the 54th Wildlife week and intend to carry it on till the time we feel that the commuters are well educated about the issue.

FROM,

Cheers!!! Soumyajit
http://www.flickr.com/photos/snandy_81/
300 rivers originate from the 27 tiger reserves of the country which is what ensures the water security of the entire subcontinent.

AND

Arunava Das 09742576093
Please stop demolishing greenery!!! Save Bangalore!!!

http://saviourofforests.blogspot.com & http://80feetroad.blogspot.com

They do not build them anymore

The date is still fresh in my mind, February 25, 2005. The key to my very first and the only bike was handed over to me on that day. It had a gold wing on its tank, very much like the star on the forehead of a Unicorn, after which it was named. It was black and muscular, instantly evoking comparisons to a thorough bred stallion.

I remember my first instructions, run in the engine at speeds below 40 for the first 500 kilometers. Then for the very first time I rode her to a temple of all the places. My parents had insisted that I offer my obeisance to the gods and in return they would protect me from any mishaps. I did it, grudgingly. Next thing I did was to go to a petrol pump and fill up the tank to the brim. And it has been ever since, the same. I always fill the tank to the brim. No half measures.

I had nurtured it through her run in period, took care of it and kept the bike spotless by cleaning it everyday for two years. I fell of my bike when I took it to college for the first time. Apart from a few scratches on the visor, there was no damage done, thanks to the crash guard.

Anthony Hopkins quote comes to mind and sort of been an anthem to me: “You live more in five minutes on a bike like this going flat out than some people live in a lifetime”

I had foolishly tried to find my limits and that of the bike resulting in a couple of near death incidents. After that I had sobered down, partly due to Bangalore’s ever increasing traffic. Now did my obeisance to the gods pay off?

It has been almost four years, and I have already a couple of lifetimes worth of memories.

Yesterday, I guess fate had caught up. I had given the bike for servicing and the mechanic calls me to say that there is a problem with the bike’s thumper. “There is some sort of noise coming from the engine and it has to be dismantled in order to find out why” he said.

It seemed to me that the grim reaper had finally paid a visit. But why? Bike’s pretty new, has run 14,995 kilometers. I could not fathom.

I guess I had made a mistake or was it pure chance. It simply can’t be! It was a Honda. Honda is known for reliability. Shut it and forget it mantra still rings in my ears. My bike was unique as I had wanted the electric start version, waited for it to be introduced in India and it was in the first shipment (the dealer had proudly told me).

It has not sunk in yet that the engine has to be completely dismantled. It is the heart and soul of the bike. One thing I know, it will not be the same again. The mechanic assured me that he will dismantle the engine in my presence on Monday.

They do not build them anymore. Bikes that last. They do not build them anymore.

My father had bought a LML Vespa in 1988. It is still running in good condition. I had hoped for something similar.

It was a Honda. The day my bike was introduced in India, I remember reading an article that said that many people had invested their life savings in booking the bike the moment it was launched, simply because it was a Honda. Honda had that legendary reputation.

Unfortunately, I had witnessed the reality at the service center. I couldn’t control my rage when I saw my bike stashed away in a corner, haphazardly with other bikes. When the mechanic was explaining to me about the engine, another dropped a bike. He then nonchantly picks it up, adjusts the twisted mirror, ignores the scrapes and drives it out to deliver it to the customer. This was the impeccable Honda?

I wonder how many times my bike has met similar treatment. It did completely shatter the myth and aura that I had for Honda.

The estimate for the engine work is around 8 grand.

The thought keeps pinging in my head. They do not build them anymore. Bikes that last.

3G Touch Watch Phone From LG

It has been a whirlwind of a show, at least from a crazy media analyst’s perspective. The general consensus however, tells a different story that the CES has lost its sheen and there have been very few products and less excitement. Blame it on the recession.

Apart from Palm Pre and its new webOS platform, only LG comes to my mind. Its 3g touch watch phone did make some news before Palm took the center stage and hogged all the limelight. But LG was no pushover. Fourteen LG products were awarded the CES Innovations Awards. My favorite? The 3G touch watch phone a.k.a. LG-GD910.

LG says that this is a follow up to the prototype that was introduced at CES 2008. How did I miss that? Well like they say, better late than never. Here’s the low down on this watch phone or should I mention it as a phone watch? Never mind.

With the watch one can make phone calls, send text messages, video phone calls with the help of a built in camera, look up contacts using voice, have the watch read out messages and other information loud (being lazy, wouldn’t I love that? Except that people around you can also listen to it.), listen to music with the help of a built in speaker and stereo Bluetooth.  The watch also boasts of a touch screen interface with flash support, 7.2 Mbps 3G HSDPA compatibility, 3.63cm (1.43-inch) screen and it is only 13.9mm thick.

LG says that this phone watch or watch phone will be available sometime this year in Europe. I am guessing Japan. Any bets?

While writing this post, I did come across another statistic telling me how dismal the ongoing recession is. Channel Insider has, after thorough research of all available reports on layoffs, concluded that there have been more than 100,000 layoffs since October in technical, sales and marketing positions.

If I were LG, I wouldn’t bet on many of these watch phones or phone watches selling.

Tiger Mystery In Devarayanadurga

Tiger Mystery In Devarayanadurga

I. Introduction To Devarayanadurga State Forest (DDSF):

Devarayanadurga state forest was the first state forest to be declared in Karnataka (in 1907). It has been enjoying some sort of legal protection by the Government since as early as 1853.

II. Vegetation /Flora Of Devarayanadurga:

It is about 42.27 Sq km large and is a patch of mainly Dry Deciduous forest interspread with large patches of scrub and a few degraded moist deciduous forests in its valleys. The forest is degraded towards periphery.

For a forest which is jsut about 6 km from Tumkur city, it is remarkably well preserved and wild. Both the Forest Department and the locals of Tumkur have special attachment towards this forest.

It is important to note that there are no villages inside the forest here and there are many chunks of hilly forests adjoining Devarayana Durga state forest (DDSF) roughly about 20 sq. km, which although unprotected have a fairly good tree cover like the one at Ranthambore National Park. The animals,we know, know no boundaries.

Mr.Harish Bhat (harish@ces.iisc.ernet.in), botanist from Centre for Ecological Sciences, IISc,is among the people having a good knowledge on DD’s vegetation. Mr.Bhat has visited here on numerous occasions particularly in connection with a book he wrote on the medicinal plants found here, published by the Karnataka Forest Department in 2001.

III. Devarayana Durga State Forest As A Habitat For Tiger’s Prey:

Based on the sightings of WANCers, there has been a definite increase in the prey base here. It has a good population of wild boars and also some wild chital and Sambar. In mid-1990s only one troop of Common langurs could be seen with some luck, near the peak of Devarayanadurga hill. Evidence of Langurs can now be come across more easily. Their booming calls echo these forests at more than one place during a single visit to the forest. Also the Chitals have proliferated more. Their hoof prints can be seen very clearly through out the Namada chelume area, supporting the claims of the forest guards. The wild boars have become more bolder and their sightings have increased. School children of nature camps regularly conducted by WANC, at the Forest Information Centre here, can surely see them when they camp here.

IV. About Tigers In Devarayanadurga:

1950s-1960s

Mr.Kenneth Anderson in his book `Nine rouges and one man eater’ mentions about the man-eater he killed in Devarayanadurga forests, which he named “The Hermit of Devarayana Durga”. This was somewhere around 1950s.

1990s

Dr.Uday Veer Singh IFS, the then DCF of Tumkur division, during one of his night patrols here, reported the sighting of a well-grown tiger. This was on 23rd August 1996. Many people did not support his sighting, as there was no documentary evidence. Villagers around DDSF had also reported the presence of tigers here for a long time.

2000:

In early 2000, Guru Prasad and Sri.Harish Bhat came across the scat of a ‘big’ cat. The size of the scat suggested it to be that of a tiger, as it was too large for a leopard. Wildlife biologists from IISc verified this. In Aug. 2000, Mr.Bore Gowda, a forest guard, discovered pugmarks that were abnormally huge for any leopard, in Namada chelume. Castings of POP were taken and examined. Many experts felt it to be that of a Tiger.

2001:

Mr.Bore Gowda, Mr.Chikanna and other forest guards at Namada chelume in DDSF called up WANC founder Mr.T.V.N.Murthy early on Saturday, 18th August 2001 morning on hearing the continuous roars of `Tigers’ at Kumbarahalli Kere. Mr Murthy left for DDSF along with his four-year old son Kesar and another WANCer Mr.D.R.Prasanna Kumar, a post-graduate in Environmental Science. Being just about 13 km from Tumkur city, both reached the area soon. They visited the spot along with one of the forest watchers. They heard the growls of two big cats at a short distance from each other. Murthy recorded the calls on his digital Video Camera. When the party split, Murthy claims to have seen a well grown tiger for a brief period of about 5 seconds. The tiger was gone before its visual evidence could be recorded. The lower forest staff residing at Namada chelume claimed to be seeing tigers regularly after that.

In Sep 2001, the local forest staff claimed that a tiger killed a fully grown cow and sat over it for about half a night, partially consuming it. Some of the neighbouring villagers who ‘saw’ this scene, did not use that road through out that evening, out of fear.

2006:

Mr.Ganganna, RFO of Sira Taluk, sighted a full grown tiger crossing the Oordigere – Belagumba road (near 8th km stone) while returning back to Tumkur after attending a forest officers’ meeting in July 2006 at Namadachelume.

2007:

Fresh pug marks were found inside Panditanahalli Plantation of this forest in July 2007. The pugmarks were seen by the local forest officials and WANC has taken their castings.

WANC believeS the forest has sufficient prey to support a couple of tigers. We concede though that, no scientific study has been done here to date.

V. Where did the tigers come into Devarayanadurga?

Our guess is as good as any one else’s.

The nearest population of wild tigers is towards south-east at Bannerghatta National Park (70 km bird flight). Then comes Cauvery wildlife sanctuary (apx. 100 km of bird flight). Next comes the eastern slopes of Baba budain Giri hills, a part of Western Ghats near Bhadra tiger reserve. The approximate distance here is about 120 km of bird flight. The forest corridor of Cauvery Sanctuary until recently extended up to the Ramadevara betta state forest near Kunigal town, about 30 km as a crow flies from the southern part of here. Also patches of forest are present in between. According to local nature lovers, Tigers (and `Seelu naayi` or `Kenn naayi` for wild dogs in Kannada) have been sighted as recently as late 1980s in Huliyurdurga forests (about 50 km as a bird flies from DDSF), which got its name from ‘Huli’ meaning tiger in Kannada.

Some conservationists believe they might have been part of touring circuses or zoos that abandoned them here as the Environment Ministry and forest officials tightened their noose around them in mid 1990s. But if this is the case then how can captivated tigers survive in the wild for over a decade now, without them having a direct conflict with humans considering the movement of villagers inside DD forests? How can they learn to hunt chital, sambar or wild boar overnight?

Now coming to the question “When there is no forested corridor that presently connect Devarayanadurga to a tiger habitat having a viable tiger population, then how did they appear here after a gap of almost 50 years?”

The answer is tricky, but we have many recent instances of wild elephants crossing highways and villages and suddenly appear tens of kilometers away from their habitat without being detected for days. If elephants can sneak into their former habitat, can’t the tigers do it as well? There needs to be research undertaken to find the answer, which might turn out to be very interesting.

VI. WANC And DDSF:

DDSF is the second home of many of the members of our Wildlife Aware Nature Club. Being so close, hardly any week passes without us visiting this forest. These visits of ours have resulted in some good studies of the flora and fauna found there.

WANCer Ameen Ahmed presented a poster on the rich avifauna (about 248 Species of birds) of this forest at the Pan-Asian Ornithological Congress in Nov. 1996 at Coimbatore. Another WANCer Guru Prasad presented a paper on the raptors of this forest at the Asian Raptor Conference in Indonesia in Aug 2000. Guru along with Harish Bhat(researcher from Centre for Ecological Sciences,IISc, Bangalore) and the Karnataka Forest Department have come out with an excellent glossy Field guide (with colour plates) on the Medicinal plants of this forest- probably the first of its kind in Karnataka.

VII. Future Of DDSF:

Elders visiting this forest claim that it is definitely better than what it was, when wood used to be extracted on a large scale during the pre-independence days. We as a club and the nature lovers of Tumkur city are happy that the tiger is thriving in this forest. This at a time when some of the best wildlife habitats across most of India have been destroyed for ever. Although DDSF as its own threats like the building of roads and increased tourism, it does not have threats like mining or mega projects affecting it on a large scale like Western Ghats. This fact is going to keep us happy for quite some time to come.

Further information:

There is a video of the kill remains with WANC founder TVN Murthy and also interviews of the local villagers who have seen their cows being mauled in front of them. If you are interested, you may visit him at Tumkur.

A discussion of tigers in DD was at:

http://www.indianaturewatch.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=303

By Arunava Das

INW Team

Honda NSX Mugen Concept RR

Came across this beautiful concept car from Mugen. The site was in Japanese and the google translator was not much of a help. So feast your eyes on the pictures. For more information please visit Mugen.

Source: Mugen

Palm Pre at CES

This was a first time experience for me, when I got overwhelmed by the amount of media coverage that was devoted to Palm Pre and its new platform. I have covered other phone companies before when they had launched a slew of models. But Palm was different. Palm has a huge loyal following over the internet. I have heard that Apple has a similar if not bigger fan following on the internet. But when the iphone loyalists started posting sarcastic posts to the effect that Apple deserters have come up with an iphone killer, I knew that Palm had rattled their cage.

On the first day of the CES, Palm unveiled a new mobile platform called webOS and a phone that is based on the new platform called Pre.

Palm claims that webOS has been built from the scratch and keeps the user constantly connected to the internet.

Palm Pre, oval shaped with a slide out QWERTY keyboard, 3.1 inch touch screen with 24 bit 320×480 color display. Now the icing on the cake: it has a 3 mp camera with LED flash and a 3.5 mm headset jack!

It has also got 8 GB of internal memory, a proximity sensor that automatically disables the touch screen and turns off the display whenever you put the phone up to your ear, a light sensor which dims the display if the ambient light is dark (to reduce power usage) and a ringer switch that silences the device with one touch.

Weighing at 135 g, the Pre’s connectivity includes support for Wi-Fi (802.11 b/g), integrated GPS, Bluetooth 2.1; along with EVDO Rev. A or UMTS HSDPA high speed internet connectivity. It also has an accelerometer and Outlook. It also supports POP3 and IMAP.

Palm Pre is scheduled to be available first in the United States exclusively from Sprint in the first half of 2009, and will be followed by a world-ready UMTS version for other regions.

Source: Palm Press Release