The voice within

India has the highest number of road accidents in recent years. According to Global Status Report on Road Safety 2013, more than 231000 people are killed in road accidents in India. This causes a huge concern towards road safety in our country. People in India must begin to implement the traffic rules instead we often see people jumping signals, overtaking from the wrong side, overtaking on bridges and curved roads, driving in the opposite direction in one ways and not following the speed limits. Many people drive their two wheeler motor vehicles with atleast 4 children sitting in them i.e, an entire family. Two adults and a child or two are the maximum number of people that can be allowed in two wheeler motor vehicles in India. A distance between two vehicles will not be maintained. Wheeling all of a sudden in main roads by youngsters. Talking over the mobile phone using ear phones or listening to loud music in the car may lead to distraction. All these are the dominant causes of...

In today's world, with the changing lifestyle and the changing mindset of the younger generation a big/wide topic such as Karma will not be taken deeply or considered as knowledge but instead, what is shown on TV will be believed. A little bit of reading, discussion with scholars will help in developing  knowledge and some weightage can be given to their thoughts. Pic source: Google images for Bhagavadgeetha According to Bhagavadgeetha, Karma is explained well in the third chapter.  The fifth verse says : न हि कश्चित्क्षणमपि जातु तिष्ठत्यकर्मकृत् | कार्यते ह्यवश : कर्म सर्व : प्रकृतिजैर्गुणै : || 5|| Translation: A person can never achieve freedom from reactions to activities without first performing prescribed vedic duties; neither can perfection be attained by renouncing them as well.   Nineteenth verse says : तस्मादसक्त : सततं कार्यं कर्म समाचर | असक्तो ह्याचरन्कर्म परमाप्नोति पूरुष : || 19|| Translation: Therefore, without a...

After painting 24 of my paintings I finally realized how to clean the brushes after oil painting. It is important to use clean brushes in every painting because cleaner the palette and brushes, better are the colors. Never use muddy brush, palette and cloth. Firstly, dip the brush in turpentine or any thinner, roll the brush with newspaper or a towel and squeeze the bristles from bottom to top so that excess paint in the brush is removed. Then, take a soap bar, hold it in your hand and start brushing on the soap bar with the brush. Wash it with water. Repeat this 3 to 4 times till the colour is completely gone. Lastly, apply a bit of hair conditioner to the bristles of the brush and leave it for 5 minutes and wash it lightly with water and leave it to dry. By doing this the bristles of the brush won't become too dry and revives the brush. - Jahnavi

It is very common for everybody to have experienced an instance where a faint fragrance fetches a lot of memories.  In our daily lives we tend to forget about these moments completely but it emerges in our minds as it is present somewhere in our brain. Every morning when I water the hibiscus plant in our garden I remember travelling to Coorg. I like to visit  locales that have blissful atmosphere and a magical spiritual element. On our(myself and my husband) way to Tamara resort in coorg there were a lot of hibiscus flowers on the sides of the road. A few moments later a mysterious yet attractive smell came through the car windows which I realized was from the pepper vines spiraling around the Arecanut trees.  As soon as we reached the resort, we were greeted with a Polianthes Tuberose (Sugandharaja flower) garland and put a dot on my forehead with sandalwood paste. The refreshing Polianthes tuberose and sandalwood aroma made me forget the long and tiring journey. ...

Life is so unpredictable. So is Hazel's in "The Fault of Our Stars" by John Green. I'm not writing a book review here. You've got to read this book :) This fabulous book just doesn't allow anything to dislike in it and is a gripping story which is smart, funny and heartbreaking. Hazel is a 16 year old cancer patient who recently starts attending a support group. Her story changes when she meets Augustus Waters in the supporting group. As you go on reading you find some amazing lines, I found my amazing favorite line in the book: " The existence of broccoli does not, in any way, affect the taste of chocolate". Image source: Google Images, animated by me I appreciate John Green's work and efforts for this book. I mean these days there are hardly any writers and some so called writers watch TV soaps and publish a book. Well this is happening in my country atleast.  There are people who write about cancer as if it's going to come a...

Richness is an entity taking different forms for different people. The dream of many people is to become "Rich". Rich according to the dictionary means a) wealthy, b) abundance and c) valuable. A common man generally thinks of the word "Rich" in terms of money. So, it is evident that every man's dream is to become Rich. I too want to be rich but not desperate to become one. I want to be rich by good means. Richness is in the heart of a person but not in metals and neatly printed currency notes. I consider the word "Rich" in terms of abundance. I feel rich when I'm standing in the line where no one breaks the line. I feel rich when I roam around the beautiful bounty of nature. Pic source: Google images I feel rich when I remember my great grandmother's grin. I feel rich when my uncle showers blessings on me. I feel rich when I'm not bullied by others. I feel rich when I watch crystal clear water flowing down the hillocks I fee...

picture source: Google images ಮುಷ್ಟಿ ಮುಚ್ಚಿ ಕೂತೆ ಹಕ್ಕಿ ಹಾರಿ ಹೋಗದಿರಲೆಂದು, ಮರೆತೆ,  ಕಾಣದದು ಏನನ್ನು. ಗೆರೆಯನೆಳೆದೆ ಸೀತೆಯಂತೆ ಮೋಸ ಹೋಗದಿರಲೆಂದು, ಮರೆತೆ,  ದಿಕ್ಕುಗೆಟ್ಟಿತ್ತದು ಬೆಳಕು ಕಣ್ ಕೋರೈಸಿರಲು. ತುತ್ತನಿತ್ತೆನರಿಯದೆ ತಾಯಂತೆ ಮಮತೆ ದೋ ರಿ, ಮರೆತೆ,  ಬೆಳೆವುದಲ್ತೆ ಜೀವನದ ಪರಿ. ಮುಂದೇನು, ಭವಿಷ್ಯವೇನು ನುಡಿದೆ ಬಟ್ಟೆ ದೋರಿ,  ಮರೆತೆನಲ್ತೆ ಕಾಪಿಡಲಾನು ಪ್ರೀತಿಯ ನವಿರು ಝರಿ. ಆರಾರು ಹಿತವರೋ ನೀನು ನಾನರಿಯದೆ ಝರಿ ಬತ್ತಿ ದಡ ಹೊರಳಿ ಮುಂದೆಲ್ಲ ಮರಳುಗಾಡು  ಮರೆತೆ, ನಾನಿಲ್ಲೆ ತಂಗಾಳಿಯೂ ಆಗಬಹುದು ಕುಳಿರ್ಗಾಳಿ. ಓ ನನ್ನೊಲವೆ ಮುಷ್ಟಿ ಬಿಚ್ಚಿ, ಗೆರೆಯನಳಿಸಿ,  ಮೌನವಾಂತು ಕುಳಿತೆ ನಿಂತಲ್ಲೇ. ಬೀಸಬಹುದೆ ತಂಗಾಳಿ. ಮಾತನಳಿಸಿ, ಕ್ರಿಯೆಯನಳಿಸಿ, ತಂಪೆರೆಯಬಹುದೇ ಪ್ರೀತಿಯ ಝರಿ, ಮರೆತೆ, ಕೇಳಿಲ್ಲ  ನಾನೆಲ್ಲೂ ಮರಳುಗಾಡಿನಲ್ಲರಳಿದ ಮಲ್ಲಿಗೆಯ ಕಂಪಿನ ಕಥೆ,ಮರೆತೆ,  ನಿರೀಕ್ಷೆಯ ತುದಿಯ ಸುಟ್ಟ ಮೊಗ್ಗಿನ ಮಸಿ ಗಾಢವಿಲ್ಲಂತೆ, ಹಾರಿ, ತೂರಿ ಮಸುಕಾಗುವುದಂತೆ. ಹಾಂ ಕೊನೆಯಲ್ಲಿ ಮರೆತೆ,  ಶಕ್ತಿಯಿ ಹು ದೋ ಅರಿಯಲ್ಕೆ, ಮನವಿಹುದೋ ಕ್ಷಮಿಸ ಲ್ಕೆ ನಿನಗೆ ನೀನರಿಸಿ, ನನಗೆ ನಾನರಸ, ನವಿಲ್ಗರಿಯ ಬೀಸಣಿಕೆಯ ತಂಪು ಗಾಳಿ ಲಾವಂಚದ ಗರಿಯ ತಂಪು ನೀರು ಮರೆತೇ ಹೋಯಿತಲ್ಲ ತಂಗಾಳಿ, ಝರಿಯ ತಿಳಿನೀರು. ...

Today I completed reading excerpts of autobiographies of a few great women reformers of our country from the book The Female Footprints by Ranjana Harish. It's an excellent book. I observed and realised one common point in all their life stories of success...a "support" and definitely "endurance". Without a support from their respective family or friend none of these people could have achieved their dreams to bring a change in our society. Not only is this applicable to the women whom I read about but in general, to all human kind. Yes, any genius can achieve anything if and only if he/she has a strong support, may it be from an entire group of family and friends or just one single person. Ramabai Ranade achieved her goal of being educated by her husband's extensive support amidst a strong disapproval of each and every member of their family. She became a women's right activist , a social worker by transgressing the feminine subculture with tremendou...

The bright colors in the pattachitra paintings are exquisite. Once you view these paintings you feel spellbound and go on viewing the paintings again and again.Worldwide appreciation will always exist for these kind of exquisite paintings. Such traditional and creative art is preserved in Raghurajpur, Orissa. Pattachitra art Picture Source: http://blog.arteecraftee.com/tag/stone-art/ The pattachitra art is generally made on canvas, the usage of startling bright colors signifies this art. In this art, along with the mythological characters, importance is also given to the nature and abstract designs. Every villager of Raghurajpur is an artist, dedicated to their art work. To get justice and good value for their art, to get good education for their kids and get medical benefits, the artists can firstly provide easy accessibility for commoners to travel to Raghurajpur for direct purchases. Purchasing should not become a monopoly and a standard amount should be made for every ...

It was a little surprising for me to know that F1 is going green this season. I was introduced to this sport in high school and now I keep getting updates from my husband time and again. What was a rumor in 2008 about F1 going green has turned out to be a reality this year in 2014. The governing body FIA(International Automobile Federation) have made a lot of changes to the sport by  stopping engine development and encouraging Kinetic Energy Recovery Systems(KERS) .New rules and new goals for the sport! Has F1 gone hybrid? Picture source: Google images What interested me in this news is the picture of Ferrari with a different shape of its nose and the changed design is because of the new regulations. The major attribution in the green evolution of the sport is that they have shifted from 2.4 litre V8s to  the more fuel efficient 1.6 litre turbo charged V6s. However, the change in the engine does not affect the drag and downforce directly. The height of the noses have be...

I recently bought a book by looking at the cover page of the book, it was Mary Curzon wearing the peacock gown. I finished reading the book today. Invisible Empresses of The Raj by Penny and Roger Beaumont.Here is a picture of it: Many of us know about just a few vicereines of India. The book tells in detail the lives of all the vicereines from Charlotte Canning to Edwina Mountbatten. With little recognition, the role of the vicereines was powerful and the book illustrates it. The book consists of eight interesting chapters. The first chapter talks about selection of the Viceroy and Governor General of India which was highly political.It's interesting to read that not all vicereines were so keen about being one. The motives of the 20 viceroys and their attitude are varied and this is told in detail.It's intriguing to know that the post of viceroyalty not only made them think twice but also get attracted to India's reputation for sensuality and opulence. The decisions ...

Having worked on projects based on Green computing, Green networking and profiling power usage to reduce carbon footprint, my area of interest for specialisation will be "Energy and Sustainability". Since there is a constant growth and coverage in world-wide network communications, a constant growth in energy consumption of the networks can be observed. Green networking/Green computing is an innovative new approach to make environmental changes in our daily lives. The green initiatives adapted in companies are power saving policies, using cloud based services and applications, using new teleconferencing tools, server virtualisation and many more. The Green movement which has begun since the early 1990s is implemented in companies such as IBM, Intel, Google, NetApp, Siemens, Infosys and so on. Green networking is a trending subject amongst researchers and I'm looking forward to attain knowledge in this subject at University of Southampton.The full time post-graduate ...

It's funny when you go to a movie unplanned, without reading reviews and it turns out to be the movie you have been longing to watch. I have to say, it was the best movie for me to watch and start this beautiful year 2014. Picture Source: Google Images Living in the information age, big data and various software tools and techniques for digital image processing in my head since the past six-seven years, it was hard for me to believe that there could be a US magazine "Life" having a department for negative assets and a day dreamer man like Walter Mitty working there as a Negative assets manager. Honestly, it has been more than a decade that I have seen a negative film in our world, how about you?  "Life" magazine's photo journalism plays a pivotal role in this cinema. Photo journalist Sean O'Connell (Sean Penn) works with Mitty but both have never met in person.Life magazine decides to go online and many of its employees are in jeopardy. The new ...