us elections

I am gripped. Procrastination has another epicentre. I hope Obama wins, he seems to bring out a positive energy in people.

fanatics all over again

I don't understand religious wars. They want to uphold the name of god, and are ready to kill for it. Killing for god is nothing but playing god. How come the don't see the irony in that? In India there are a few organisations which do the same. India is the country which won freedom through the non violence movement and the people in power do not seem to grasp that idea at all.

I came across two articles today:
Bajran Dal are openly declaring terrorism.
Raj Thakarey has no grasp about how the economy of a region works.

Pity these guys are the ones running the country. This reminds me of the unfortunate happenings during the Gujrath Riots in 2002. Even there the person in-charge didn't help protect the people who needed protection. Why can't the look beyond such petty fights and focus on development in a country where 60% of the population lives in poverty?

Ginger fest

Ginger hair - It is characterized by high levels of the reddish pigment pheomelanin and relatively low levels of the dark pigment eumelanin.

History: Those whose hair is red, of a certain peculiar shade, are unmistakably vampires. It is significant that in ancient Egypt, as Manetho tells us, human sacrifices were offered at the grave of Osiris, and the victims were red-haired men who were burned, their ashes being scattered far and wide by winnowing-fans. It is held by some authorities that this was done to fertilize the fields and produce a bounteous harvest, red-hair symbolizing the golden wealth of the corn.

Apparently some still believe that people with red hair are 'weird', which I do not understand. But what is even more astonishing is a Ginger Fest organised in Wolverhampton. Apparently we are supposed to celebrate and not ostracise them.

elephants on drugs

Now this isn't a clever little pun that I concocted but it is in fact the latest news to grip the UK. Well, maybe not grip, but still important enough for it to be published by the BBC.

Elephant on drugs cured in rehab.

What I do not understand is why the traders had to spike him with heroin. Surely, they could have sold the heroin to some fool in the west who wants to 'enjoy life' and used the money to buy a 4x4 or something. But then having an elephant is so much more fun.

poetry and violence

The UK government has banned a poetry from the GCSE English course because it talks about a loner with knives. This, they argue to to help reduce knife crime in the UK. I agree that knife crime is on the rise here and it is encouraging that people are starting to think about it as a serious issue. It is also very true that the latest stories about knife stabbing and deaths have revolved around adolescents and young adults. This trend is of course very alarming.

What I do not understand of agree with is that poetry leads to people stabbing each other. I wonder if they have got any scientific reason to ban a poem talking about knives, any statistical data to prove that the kids stabbing each other are the ones attending their English class regularly. Some times you just want to slap the people making these rules across the face and ask them to get their act together. Maybe that is a little extreme, but surely they should focus on getting the kids off the streets and into classrooms where they can get a proper education. Why do they focus on small things like these, which as I assume is NOT going to cause a sharp decline in stabbing rates in the UK.

It gives the bureaucrats something to do I guess.

wars and such

I am still not convinced that countries need to have armies. I understand the need for security, but invading other countries when there are enough problems at home is something I will never understand. It not only sucks out lots of money which could be used to solve social, economic or scientific issues, but it also causes loss of life, which cannot be accounted in numbers. But number do help. After a long time today I checked the update on the number of people that have been killed in Iraq ever since the war started. It was 2003.. a long time ago. There were mixed feelings. Channels such as the BBC, CNBC, CNN heralded the smashing of a Saddam statue by the NATO forces. There were people dancing in the streets. There was a general feeling in the west that the age of oppression was over. The west had saved the world yet again, just like they always do in Hollywood.

The present does not reflect that optimism does it? Almost a 100,000 people have been killed in the last 5 years. Some by the NATO forces, some by the makeshift Iraqi forces and some by the violence that always follows the war. Check Body count in Iraq for more information on the deaths in Iraq.

After all this the west wonders why there is terrorism. Why do the 'lesser developed' countries hate them. Are politicians really that daft to see that war is never the answer. How can you hold a gun in your hand and preach peace? This logic does not make sense to me. Try explaining this logic to the families of the people whom you have killed.

And this is not the situation only in Iraq. Afghanistan, where the ISAF forces have been since 2001 is no better. People are dying there every day and the west still thinks that they have the answer to everlasting peace in the region. This of course is also preached with guns. The ISAF website says that at most only 15,000 people have been killed ever since the start of the war. Most of them were militants. 'Most of them'... well done! What about the ones who were not? The terrorists attacked the US.. less than 2000 people died. How many have died in Afghanistan?

They say it is not about the numbers but why is it not about the numbers when you make a comparison. This war seems very hollow. The west has several things to be proud of, the freedom of speech, the freedom of movement, equality. But then the foreign policy still needs a lot of work. Or am I just in a nagging mood?

One article I found hilarious on the ISAF webpage was How the insurgents make claims of false deaths. Are all the deaths false?

opera in the park

Yesterday at about 6 in the evening we caught a bus to Temple Newsam in Leeds. It is beautiful estate house about 20 minutes away from Leeds and has a magnificent garden around it. I have been there once before with Juan-Carlos and Hike for a nice little bike ride and it was good to get away from the madness of the city itself.

But yesterday was not about that. In the gardens there were more than 50,000 people with picnic baskets, tons of food, wine, beer in the lovely sunshine waiting for an Opera. Yes, it was an Opera in the park. It was my very first one, and I absolutely loved it. Just the ambience itself was also fantastic, but even better was the music. We had a good bunch of people chilling there having a good time and enjoying what is called the British summer. It was nice to see people from all walks of life getting together.. there was an entire range right from aristocrats to chavs.. a complete mix.

Needless to say that we got back pretty late at night and continued the good times back in Leeds.

Janis Joplin

I woke up this morning after a good night's sleep and was feeling very hyper as I always do. I decided to have some decent breakfast, which consisted of some sweet yogurt, apple bran flakes, melon and milk. The sun was shining bright outside and I put on some Janis Joplin to make the morning even better.
It has been a good day so far, when you listen to Janis in the morning you just know that it is going to be a good day. Her voice is just fantastic, it is even intoxicating. It is the kind of singing which makes you become aware of everything around you, it makes you feel alive. I wish I could have seen her perform live, unfortunately I was born too late. Her music definitely lives on.

hello world

Hi everyone,

I know it has been a long time again and I do apologise for keeping in the shadows lately. I have been really busy with work over here and sharing my life wouldn't have been very exciting for you lot. But just to let you know that I am alive, I decided to write a short blog.

The past few months have been absolutely crazy. Travelling to Canada where the temperature was -30 and then off to Borneo, where it reached +30. Surprising my body did not revolt, even though I abused it a lot with some frost bites and such. It has been a crazy journey over the last few months and when I have time I will write about this in detail.

After Borneo I was in Leeds for some time before taking a short trip back to Canada to see the girlfriend. That as you can imagine was very exciting and I came back all rejuvenated. Since then I have been sitting around and writing the papers from ourprevious campaigns and of course the great Thesis. I decided to write the thesis in Latex, which is a fantastic program once you get to know it. I remember having arguments with Roisin about how bad latex was, and I was completely wrong about it. I love the software. But it is not very easy and to learn it I had to go through the 'hello world' programming yet again in my life. But things are starting to move along well and I will keep you updated on how things are coming along with it from now on.

The other things I came across, was from madu's shared items on google... check this link.. 'India Uncut.. WTF'. I think this is a very well compiled list and gives a very good idea of how things are going on in India. Since I am at the end of my education (finally!) I am starting to read about the political situation in India a little more. All I can say for now is that I don't think I will ever get a chance to be bored there.

Take care you lot.. speak soon!

writing and procrastinating

I have been trying to write a paper for some time now. It is alarming how you have to do everything all over again once you start writing a paper. Although everything looks much better at the moment, it is really funny how one can't see things that clearly before starting to write. I guess that is one big advantage of writing your work, you tend to be more critical about it and hence the final product is of a much better quality.
Also after months of laziness, I decided to get my lazy ass off the couch and try to get some exercise. I went to the gym with Mik yesterday and well, it was rather painful. Here's a cartoon to explain my state.

black puddings and beer

I have never been a big fan of black puddings. They are made from meat and blood... I like my meat not to remind me of the bloody past that they have been through. Juan Carlos Gomez Martin, a friend of mine in Leeds got back some really good black pudding from Spain the last time he went and I quite liked it. The taste was very strong and I could eat only a bit at a time, but I really did enjoy the little bits.
Today, Micke, my flatmate taught me how to really enjoy it. He shallow fried a lot of the pudding for a long time, and then served it with some Jam and bacon. He topped it all with some beer. The combination works.. it not only works but the taste was completely out of this world...! Dinner tonight was spent engulfing the bloody meat in a matter of seconds and then smacking my mouth for the next 30 minutes reminiscing about the taste which had eluded me through my entire life.
I strongly suggest that you try this!

papering

I have been papering, which means that I have been writing a paper. This is going to be the first complete paper that I am writing on my own. I am not enjoying it. It is not going fast. It feels like I have writer's block. I am learning a lot. The last point overshadows everything before that.

26

I am 26 today... but does that mean anything at all? Growing up has defintely not been on the agenda thus far and I just checked, it is not on the agenda for the next year either.

party time

I had a brilliant time last night. Thanks to everyone who was there to help make it so special. We had a good bunch of people , some nice food, plenty of alcohol and some fabulous music. All in all, it was the perfect recipe for a good night!

Pictures from the party will be up shortly, but this is just to say that coming back to Leeds does feel pretty good. I have to admit that although the travelling around the world has been enjoyable, coming back home does have its own charm.

Also, listen to 'The White Stripes', they are pretty good.

will ferrell

Will Ferrell is quite funny. A link which some friends sent to me a few months ago got me laughing for a long time. Check it out.

back in Leeds

I am back in Leeds. It took my a long time to get here, but here I am. Unfortunately I did not have much time to talk about the project when I was in Borneo, but hopefully soon I should be able to update you on what has been happening.

But for now, lets hear the story about me getting back:

My visa for Malaysia was valid for 30 days and during our stay there, I was supposed to get a research permit which would have entitled me to stay there for 5 months all together. Unfortunately, as it always goes, the bureaucracy was slower than expected and my research pass did not come through. So after a final night out in Kota Kinabalu, I made my way to the airport unaware that this could cause such a big problem.

At Kota Kinabalu, after begging and pleading and with only 5 minutes until take off, they did let me through.. which was rather nice of them. On getting to Kuala Lumpur, I checked with the immigration, who asked to me to pay only while checking in. So I went into the city and had a fantastic time out there... did the normal touristy thing. Some shopping under my belt I headed back to the airport where they refused to let me board. They said that I had to go to the headquarters in Putrajaya to pay for the extension. So I had to change my flights and next day in the morning I headed to Putrajaya.

Putrajaya is a city built only for administration purposes. So, as you can imagine, there are not too many tourists there. In fact, there is hardly anyone there who doesn't have business in the courts or the immigration department. I had business in the immigration department. On giving them my passport and asking for a visa extension, this is how the conversation went:

Me: Hello, I have overstayed my visa and would like to get a visa extension.
Lady at the counter: Sure that is no problem, can I have your passport please. (Takes a look at the passport). Oh, you are from India, Indians are not allowed visa extensions.
Me: Oh right... so how do I get out of the country
Lady: Yeah, you need a visa extension.
Me: Ok.. so can I have one?
Lady: No, you are from India.
Me: Ok.. so how do I get out of the country.
Lady: Oh, you need a visa extension.
Me: Right, we went through that.. I am from India and I cannot get a visa extension, but I need one to get out of the country. I would like to get out of the country in spite of being Indian.. is there any way to do this?
Lady: Hmm.. good question, let me see. (Calls some superior, speaks for 20 minutes in Malay, I think it was mostly about some sitcom on TV last night) So, we will have to deport you.
Me: Aah.. but I have my flight tonight, can I not deport myself and save the trouble?
Lady: No, we want to do it.
Me: Okay... so how long do you think this will take?
Lady: It takes about a week to process all the papers
Me: A week?! Then should I go and book a hotel until then?
Lady: No, we will have to put you into jail.
Me: What?!!??!?!

At this point, the panic button was pretty close to being hit pretty hard. But I asked her to talk to her supervisor, with whom I had a repeat of that conversation. The there was another superior, and then another. Finally after spending 8 hours in the office, they realised that this would be a pretty good system for Indians who want to stay there, to come overstay their visa and never worry about getting out.

I had to pay the extension charges, and I got the extension. I was finally on my way to the airport again, where I checked in 24 hours before the flight just to be sure... I was pretty shocked as you can see.

So, as it goes, I am back home, enjoying being back in civilisation, and with a few more stories to talk about in the pub.

Borneo

I am in the rain forest and am loving every moment of it. This place is absolutely nuts with so many things going on at the same time...! But let me explain why we are here and what are we doing.

We are a part of the consortium consisting of several UK universities and some research organisations. It is called the OP3 project which stands for Oxidant and Particle Photochemical Processes and we are trying to understand how emissions of reactive trace gases from a tropical rain forest mediate the production and processing of oxidants and particles in the troposphere, and to better understand the impact of these processes on local, regional and global scale atmospheric composition, chemistry and climate.

To put in simple terms we are measuring the gases emitted by the trees and seeing the effect it has on the region.

We have several types of instruments here which study different aspects of the rainforest chemistry. Some of them focus on the gases coming out of the trees, some on the gases from the soil, some on gases from nearby oceans. Then there are instruments which can study the breakdown products of the primary emissions. Over the next few days I will try and explain what role each university plays and how they contribute the the holistic understanding.

What I can confirm at the moment is that we have seen some really exciting wildlife. We have seen Elephants, wild bearded pigs, several birlds, some species of monkeys, a leopard cat and of course the well known Orang-utans. I am loving the rain forest experience and there are many stories to share!

Until the next post.. hope you are all doing well and taking care!

Alive

I am alive. i am in malaysia after spending a month and a half in Canada. Several interesting stories to talk about, but more when I have the time.

Thanks for asking!

the mouse is back in the cage

Kevin Keegan took over as the Newcastle manager on Thursday. This is the best news that has come out from NU for a long long time. Finally I am excited about going to St. James' for a game.

changes

New years top ten list (I got this idea from Rasmus, whom I met in Sweden through Mickie.. the idea is to list down the top ten things you like and keep updating the list when you come across something even better)

1) Ipod: I just got it, and am high on it.
2) Sleeping in late
3) Watching cartoons
4) Good meat
5) Nice port
6) Jogging
7) Talking to an old friend
8) Cigarettes
9) Totoro and his umbrella
10) Field trips

Lets see where this goes.

a new year

Hello everyone.

I know it has been a long time since I wrote here, but there were good reasons for it. I was away in India for my sister's wedding which was a complete success (check facebook for pictures) and then went off to short trips to Madrid, Cumbria and Sweden. Christmas was spent in Cumbria with Kate's family in a small little village in the middle of the Lake District. It was the most relaxing experience I have had in a long long time. The I made my way off to Sweden for new years with Mikie and his family and friends. We spend new years eve in Stockholm in Rasmus's apartment which was overlooking the entire city of Stockholm.. a very nice view. We also visited Soderfosh which is also a small little village in Sweden and managed to convince his dad to take us hunting for a bit. With our luck though we did not catch anything at all... but was a good walk in the forest anyways.

But over the last one week I have come back to Leeds and am starting to focus on work again. Our instrument is off to Canada and soon we will be leaving too. We are going to this tiny little village in Hudson Bay called Kujjurrapik... should be interesting to get frozen for 6 weeks. But before that we are going to Toronto, Quebec city and Montreal... very exciting... so much for our carbon footprint.