A friend wrote on a mailing list:

In the recent find of the God's particle, India can claim a big part.

No I am not referring to the controversy (in India) about late scientist Bose.
AlJazira is the only foreign news channel to mention anything about him:

here I am referring to the main part of this word - it is not the particle, but God ( Read more... )

Today is World Sparrow Day, and I too will be taking part in a panel discussion on the topic of these lovely, perky birds, that suddenly seemed to vanish from the Bangalore urban scene.

click here to see the schedule for today ( Read more... )

Today, I was asked to judge a debate on the theme, "Are Women Truly LIberated?" for the Inner Wheel of one of the Rotary Clubs of Bangalore.


( Read more... )

On a birding/wildlife egroup that I belong to, someone had asked where the Mottled Wood Owl could be seen in Bangalore, and several people had replied, saying that they can be seen in Lalbagh. To this, there have been several responses of protests, saying that if locations are shared, harm may result to the birds/wildlife. The latest email, ( Read more... )

I was watching this video, where an honest and committed IAS officer talks about the Service, and "babu"dom, and several people who realized their dreams:

Click to view

My reaction, which I sent to an email list that I belong to, was this ( Read more... )

One of the great things about good friends is that you can disagree with their views and not have it affect the friendship at all....in fact, in some ways, it seems to strengthen it!

prashanthchengi and I had a long and very interesting conversation yesterday, and he made

this post about it. He asks why we seem to remember pain when we forget the good parts ( Read more... )

prashanthchengi and I were having a long chat veered to psychic and occult experiments. He expressed the following reservations about seances and such experiments, saying that he'd read a book, which said that "just like precautions ought to be taken before any other kind of experiment, precautions ought to be taken in case of occult experiments too. He ( Read more... )

Why are we so obseesed with "ests"?

Recently, on a birding egroup I belong to, there's been a discussion on what the smallest bird in India is. I don't know if the

Fire-Breasted Flowerpecker

and the

Tickell's (Pale-Billed) Flowerpecker are ever likely to meet each other, and if they do, whether they will start a fight over who's the ( Read more... )

I felt really bad when debbieann and charleshaynes rather suddenly pulled up their stuff and left Bangalore; I was, of course, able to keep in touch with them through their LJ's, but when I realized they were going to be back in Bangalore for a few days, I was very keen to go and meet them. So there was also udhay, themadman and Aadisht , whose LJ username I just cannot remember, ( Read more... )

I know people who are "larks" and "owls"...in a similar fashion, I know people who are "warm weather" and "cool weather" persons ( Read more... )