Ten minutes of greenery

Sikkim has been doing its bit for Mother Earth. Numerous efforts and policies have been undertaken as a part of its ongoing "Green Mission". Plastic bags have been effectively banned for many years now. It practices organic farming and the use of chemical fertilizers, pesticides, etc is banned.

Such efforts by the Government of Sikkim has earned the CM the title of the Greenest Chief Minister and the state is now often referred to as the Green State, having successfully managed to increase the forest cover in state from 38% to 46% in few years and making "living green" as a way of life for the Sikkimese people.

Sikkim Government recently organized a unique program called "Ten minutes of greenery". This initiative called upon the entire 6 lakh population of Sikkim to plant trees for 10 minutes on July 15th starting at 10.30am anywhere within the state boundaries. A fellow blogger writes that the event was a huge success with over 6 lakh saplings being planted.

You can read more about the event here.

My First Vishu - again!

Well, I can consider this year's Vishu as my first (again) because this was officially the first Vishu of our wedded life. I had written about this festival a couple of years ago, when I had set up the Vishu kani as a surprise for V.

Below is a picture of our kani for this year. This time it is a little bit more authentic due to the more bounteous presence of yellow color and of course the Vilakku lamp. Hopefully the next time will will have an idol of Guruvayoor Krishna to make it more complete.

On the new year day, I woke up early in the morning when I felt V's hand over my eyes. I remembered  it was Vishu, and he guided me downstairs towards the kani. I opened my eyes and V prompted me to look at each and every thing that symbolizes prosperity. It felt lovely! He then gave me some token money known as Vishu Kaineettam which is given by elders to youngsters during this day.

Though a little bit late, I wish you all a very Happy Vishu, Naya Barsha, Vaishakhi, Puthandu, Nabo Borsho and Bihu.

One hour can change the world

Its that time of the year again. March 28th from 8:30PM till 9:30PM is the Earth Hour. Be sure to turn off the lights!

A one-of-a-kind event

This piece of information is so interesting, that I had to share with you all. Two books are to be launched in Sikkim soon. What's so special about it? Well, read on and you will know!...

Here's an excerpt from the launch announcement:

It gives us great pride to announce that our two Friends at Rachna are soon to do a worldwide release of their books here at our showroom. While this certainly is the first of its kind event in Sikkim, what will make it doubly extraordinarily special is the fact that two are a father-daughter team.

Dechen P Tenzing is a 9th grader and has been working on her comic book "Wolf's Fang" for a long time. This comic, stylised in the popular manga fashion, is undoubtedly going to be the first manga comic to come out of India. The layout and design for this comic is underway in the able hands of Sokpa Productions, a design studio in Gangtok. The venture is being published by Dechen's father P.G.Tenzing.

Mr Tenzing took voluntary retirement after serving in the Indian Administrative Services for 20 years and went on a 23,000 kilometer motorbike expedition all over India. His experiences and encounters are chronicled in the book "Don't Ask Any Old Bloke For Directions". This book, published by Penguin India, is going to have a worldwide release along with Dechen's "Wolf's Fang" at Rachna Books sometime in mid March.

The launch has been scheduled for 23rd March 2009. So if you happen to be in Gangtok around that time, be sure to be a part of it. You can read more about this event @ rachnabooks.com

Link: Coverage of the event in The Telegraph, India.

Mr. Weatherhog forecasts long winter

2nd of February which is the Christian holiday of Candlemas, is also popularly known as the Groundhog Day. It is believed that today when a groundhog emerges from its burrow, if it sees its shadow, then winter is going to be long and will continue for 6 more weeks. On the other hand, if it does not see its shadow, the winter will be short and spring is around the corner.

This year's star groundhog is a furry big little thing called Punxsutawney Phil hailing from a small town of Punxsutawney in Pennsylvania. Today when Phil emerged from his burrow after a long and cozy hibernation, he cast a shadow (since the day is bright today) and forecasted a long dreary winter.

So, as per our tiny little weatherman, I still have chance to wear some of the jackets that have remained untouched this entire winter!

Only in America

During our Christmas gift shopping spree, we went to this one store and got a couple of items, one for $10 and another for $25. We used a $10 off $25 coupon and with taxes, we got both the items for a total for $26.48.

Turns out, we ended up not gifting the $25 item to anyone. And since we ourselves didn't have any particular use of it, we decided to return it.

So, a few days ago I went back to the store to return it....and guess what, with taxes I got a refund of $26.49. That's 1c more than what we paid for! The $10 item we had got was completely free! The girl at the counter did realize something was wrong, but she couldn't do anything about it.

This can happen only in America!

New girl on the block

After watching the well deserved sweeping win of Slumdog Millionaire at the Golden Globe, I have been extremely impressed with - not Dev Patel, not Danny Boyle, not even A R Rahman - but with Freida Pinto, the girl who plays the character of adult Latika, the love interest in the movie.

While watching the movie, I was more engrossed in the amazing direction and awesome acting by the child artists - and so failed to notice her as anything more than a "regular" actor. But when I saw her on the stage with Shah Rukh Khan at the Golden Globe awards, I was struck by her confidence and her ability to hold herself alongside SRK.

Since then we have been scouring YouTube to catch what we can about her and the movie. And while at it, we came to know that these two young debutantes, Dev Patel and Freida Pinto - have appeared in a number of television interviews in the US. And as we watched her interviews in various award ceremonies and TV shows, my admiration for her grew. Just see how well she handles herself with Jay Leno on The Tonight Show. Compared to much experienced Aishwarya's appearances on network television in the US and the difference is obvious. Freida is poised and confident, knows how to talk well and her command of the English language shows.

At this point, I would have linked to the You Tube video of Freida's appearance on The Tonight Show. But unfortunately, the video's been removed from YouTube by NBC due to copyright reasons.

No wonder that one of the top agencies in Hollywood, Creative Artists Agency (CAA) that represents the likes of Brad Pitt, Tom Cruise, Kate Winslet, to name a few, has signed her up. The girl's gonna go places! Watch this space.

Aamir likes ShamWOW!

I was reading the recent entries of Aamir Khan's blog....and one post Homeward Bound (Nov,06,2008) interested me. In that post he mentions about US tele-shop products and how they sell unusual stuff and how tempted he is to buy some of them.

One such product that he mentions is this piece of cloth with amazing absorbing power. I am pretty sure Aamir is talking about ShamWOW.

It has one of TV's most irritating salesperson ever featured in its advertisement. But every time the ad comes on TV, I end up watching the entire ad, no matter how many times I have already seen it or how annoying that guy is! I just dont know why! He is even worse than Billy Mays who normally markets a lot of similar products on TV, from Kaboom to Mighty Putty. Do check out the ShamWOW ad, if you haven't already seen it. Maybe you can explain to me why I get transfixed everytime I see it on TV?

Welcome 2009!

2008 has been a pretty good year for me. I got married to V, need I say more?

However, I do know overall 2008 has been a rocky year for many, and here's a wish (or rather a prayer) from my side that may 2009 be a better year for all, bringing happiness, cheer and prosperity in our lives and may it fulfill one's deepest desires.

Wish you all a Very Happy 2009!