Growing Concrete Jungles – Development or Destruction?

Talk about development at any given moment, be it of a Nation, City, Town or Village, the very first image that appears before our eyes is that of larger than life infrastructure - tall skyscrapers, wide multi-lane roads with expensive BMWs running them over, huge flyovers; in short, an appearance somewhat or very much resembling a New York City or London. This very vision, has become a synonym for Development. I would not say that this kind of development is essentially bad, but the thing is, that all this is happening on the cost of our environment, climate and wildlife. Now this, is BAD!!

I don’t know why, but a thought keeps on hitting me time and again, and that I would like to share it here as well.

“Since what is born is destined to die and so does the Earth.

Humans were born to accomplish the same very purpose.”

It is overwhelming to see the amount of efforts being put to save the earth. But the irony is that most of these efforts are either made only on paper or in some high profile seminars and conferences, or worst, both. And once it’s over, it’s over, literally.

It’s nice to see though that we observe several days in a year for various environmental-concerns, like switching-off the lights for 1-2 hours throughout the Globe for a day and planting of trees for another. Although these gestures are nice to show some respect to the Mother Earth, the question is, are they enough? NO. Certainly not!! And we all are very well aware of that.

With the development of Medical Science the average life-span of humans have increased with a very positive percentage. And it is a great thing for sure. It’s a power that human-beings should cherish. But remember, as they say – “With great Power, comes great Responsibility”. Today, humans are the most powerful living-beings on the face of earth. And humans only can either save earth or destroy it.

Now, there is one way that is Shorter, Easier, but leads to destruction. That is the way we are following right now. Putting our interests first, than that of our planet. The other way is somewhat Longer, Harder, but leads to the well being of both human-civilization and our environment, wildlife; our Mother Earth!!

[Cont.]

Is this what we give them in return, for all the love & loyalty they give us?

5 Reasons to be a Vegetarian

Some years ago, after visiting a zoo and realizing the relationship between food and fauna, the then eight year old Lisa Simpson, sister of Bart Simpson, turned vegetarian. Paul McCartney, himself a confirmed veggie, appeared on that episode, and even wrote original music for the immensely popular cartoon programme. Lisa’s conversion reflects a trend among young people in the West. A survey done by Teenage Research Unlimited found that a whopping 35% of girls and 18% of boys felt that being a vegetarian was the in thing. The 18 year old founder of Earth 2000, a teenage forum, told Newsweek that the "defining focus" of his generation will be "no animal cruelty, no meat”. In the past fifty years millions of meat-eaters have made the personal decision to stop eating the flesh of other creatures. There are five major motivations for such a decision.

1) The RELIGIOUS reason

Every religion from Hinduism and Buddhism to Islam and Christianity teaches compassion to all living beings. Animals were created for the same reason as humans, to live. Not to be killed and eaten. It ill becomes us to invoke in our daily prayers the blessings of a compassionate God if we in turn will not practise elementary compassion towards our fellow creatures.

2) The KARMIC reason

All of our actions including our choice of food have karmic consequences. According to the law of karma, if we cause pain and suffering to other living beings, we must endure pain and suffering in return, both individually and collectively. We reap what we sow, in this life and the next, for nature has her own justice. By involving oneself in the cycle of inflicting injury, pain and death by eating other creatures, one will in the future, experience their suffering in equal measure.

3) The SPIRITUAL reason

Food is the source of the body's chemistry, and what we ingest affects our consciousness, emotions and experiential patterns. If one wants to live in higher consciousness, in peace and happiness and love, then one cannot eat meat, fish, fowl or eggs. The methods used in large modern farms to raise and kill animals causes them immense pain and terror. They are given hormones and antibiotics which biochemists have confirmed end up in and influence the body of those who consume meat. In a very real way, we are ingesting the powerful chemical components of fear, and rage. Absorbing these contributes to a violent mentality perpetuating the cycle of cruelty and confusion. If children are raised as vegetarians, every day they are exposed to noninjury as a principle of peace and compassion. Every day they are growing up, they are remembering and being reminded to not kill. When you won't kill another creature to feed yourself, you will be much less likely to injure anybody at all.

4) The HEALTH reason

Medical studies prove that a vegetarian diet is easier to digest, provides a wider range of nutrients and imposes fewer burdens and impurities on the body. Meat eating women have a 3.6 times higher risk of breast cancer while meat eating men have a 3.8 times higher risk of prostrate cancer. Vegetarians are less susceptible to all the major diseases that afflict contemporary humanity, and live longer, healthier, more productive lives. They have fewer physical complaints, less frequent visits to the doctor, fewer dental problems and smaller medical bills. Their immune system is stronger, their bodies are purer, more refined and their skin more beautiful.

5) The ECOLOGICAL reason

Planet earth is suffering. In large measure, the escalating loss of species, destruction of rain forests , loss of topsoil and the increase in water and air pollution have all been traced to the single fact of meat in the human diet. Meat is the single greatest reason for deforestation worldwide with 55sq ft of tropical rain forest consumed to produce every quarter-pounder hamburger. A major contributor to global warming is methane produced by animals multiplied for meat. With over 6 billion people grazing the earth today, the future of life on earth rests on our choice of food. No single decision that we can make as individuals or as a race can have such a dramatic effect on the improvement of our planetary ecology as the decision to cut out meat. Many seeking to save the planet for future generations have made this decision for this reason and this reason alone. The earth does not belong to man, man belongs to the earth. Whatever happens to the earth will happen to the sons of the earth. This we know. All things are connected like the blood that unites one family.

http://www.peopleforanimalsindia.org/turn-veggie.htm

An utterly confusing concept called "Career"

Atleast for me those set of words are true. It really is a very complex issue to resolve. People say that a "Dream Career" is that in which a person Loves what he/she does. Really?? Guys, to be true it really sounds "Weird", atleast in today's environment in which we tend to work. Everyone is after "Dream Pay" rather than "Dream Job". No matter if it takes away the real dreams out of their eyes and real hairs out of their scalp, making them bald.

As far as my story goes, I find myself both confused as well as full of options. The reason for this may be that I like too many things at the same time. I like Traveling, Reading, Fitness, Martial Arts, Aviation, Blogging, Biking, Driving, and the list goes on and on, on a daily increasing basis. Therefore being directly proportional to the above list I would like to join Travel industry, end up being an Author, become a Fitness-Trainer, throw some Kung Fu punches & kicks and vice versa. Although it's not possible to play all of those roles at the same time, but those are my definitions of a Dream Job.

So my dear friend, how would you define your Dreamz??

The Divine Wind. Bruce Lee (1940-1973)

A Day at Jim Corbett National Park.

Last month I got an opportunity to visit Jim Corbett National Park with my friends. Situated in the state of Uttaranchal, near Nainital, the Park has been developed much like a Tiger-Reservoire sort of thing. We reached there after traveling almost 450-500 kms from Delhi, in a Toyota Qualis.

The reception centre of the Park comes first on the way, and the exact Forest is about 50 kms from there. All of us took refreshment, etc., before leaving for our Jungle-Safari !! They told us not to enter the forest with the Qualis, as our vehicle was a Two-Wheel Drive. They insisted that we use the Gypsy available for the safari purpose, and which was a Four-Wheel Drive (4x4) vehicle. But we prefered to use our own vehicle, as the Gypsy charges were way too high. Although we had to hire a stupid looking, so called "Guide", as there was no permission to enter the forest without one.

Finally the moment came, when we were infront of the Jim Corbett National Park's entrance gate. All were excited to catch a glimpse of Tigers, or atleast Deers, etc., as it was noon and possibilities of viewing a Tiger were less.

The environment was hot and humid, due to less frequent rains. It was almost half an hour now and we had no clues of a single Bird, in the so called National Forest. I was amazed at the lack of Natural Ambience there. After more than an hour has passed now, and not a single creature seemed to appear. The only sigh of relief I had were the Trees and the little beautiful River that was flowing amidst the forest. But remember, no animals or birds, Still !! And that Dumb "Guide" kept on reciting: "Just be patient, for sure within next 15 mins, we'll come across a Tiger !!"

After wandering for about 1.5 hours, to my astonishment, we saw some Deers atlast. But in less than 30 seconds they all disappeared deep in the forest. Humans are Dangerous you know !!

Earlier we had plans to stay there overnight, but as there were no facilities of Light and Water, we had to skip the thought, and head towards Nainital atlast. Leaving behind a National Park, where we saw more Human beings and less Birds or Animals. SAD !!

The thought to stick with, is not what was our experience at the Jim Corbett. But the point to be worried about is that a Tiger-Reservoire, where the Govt. is said to be spending Crores of money per year, is not having a single Claw-Impression of Tigers !! Other than the Tigers ofcourse.

Tigers and there other counterparts are getting extinct from the face of Earth, and even much faster from India. The days are near when we'll talk about them, just as we talk about Dinosaurs today. And the coming generations would be amazed that we saw "TIGERS". Wow !!

I can see our Earth dying a slow and painful Death. Do you ??

Most of our problems end with the letter "N" !!

Have you ever noticed that most of our problems, no matter with which letter they start with, end with the letter "N". To name a few of them:

01. PollutioN.
02. CorruptioN.
03. FrustratioN.
04. Cut-throat CompetitioN.
05. Marksheet EvaluatioN.
06. De-forestatioN.
07. ElectioN.
08. PopulatioN.
09. ExtortioN.
10. TaxatioN.

And above all, IndigestioN & DehydratioN !! : )