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Showing posts from February, 2009

The Green Tradition

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Reduce, Reuse, Recycle This is the campaign line of most green societies today wanting to emphasize on how we can save the environment by following these three R's. This made me think about how we have done this in the past and for ages in India. Reduce This is about the time when you would leave that one last mound of rice and dal on your plate complaining that you could eat no more, and your tummy would burst!! And mommy, would always say, "Don't waste food. There are people in the world who don't get enough and here you are wasting it. If you don't want so much, you should have taken less." Bingo! The concept of Reduce, right from scratch. Then, there were always times when we would be admonished for leaving the fan or the light on in the room, when we were not in the room ourselves!! This was a lesson well learned and till date, i feel guilty if i forget to switch off lights or other electricity-eating equipment. We learned this early and maybe it had to d

Should i call this identity?

This is something that i've been thinking about for a long time and when i say that i dont mean a few hours or a few days but it is something which has always 'bothered' me, let's say, for the lack of a better word. Through this post, i will try and sort it out as much as i can or as less as i must. Our names are a mark of our identity. At times, they are the only thing that identify us. In any case, they are the first things that act as identification. What do you learn from a name? And i will stick to Indian names only. Many people can tell you your religion and also your caste from your name. I've never been good at doing that and that i think has somewhere worked to my disadvantage, where family expectations are concerned. Religion, regions, communities, castes - i like to believe that these are nothing but systems of classification, of organizing. And that is how they began at least. Religion - i like the flower and believe in it. X draws power from the water a