Coconut Cruncher

Tonight after a weeks of slogging, I made some time off to watch a documentary I’d been meaning to watch since I first saw the trailer. The film ‘An Insignificant Man’ has been released on ‘Vice’ – a film directed by two young independent film makers – Khushboo Ranka and Vinay Shukla. The film was largely crowdfunded, and was shot during the period of 2012 - 2015. The film covers the establishment of the AAP right until its massive victory in the 2014 Delhi Elections. 
 
 
 The thing I liked the most about the film is how neutral it is in its political stand, how it focuses on Kejriwal’s journey, and provokes discussion on idealism VS politics. In India we are always surrounded by politics, but one doesn’t get to see it first hand in its entirety and truth. It is always seen through the lens of the media – which comes from mostly unreliable and biased sources. It was amazing to be able to see it presented as what it was. During the course of the film I learnt the many iss...

      I had a really disappointing day today. Shraddha had come over to discuss Totem taxes and accounts. In the middle of our meeting, I got a call from the ambulance guy from yesterday. The day before around late evening, Arvind and I saw a puppy get run over by a biker. The biker and his pillion stopped for a second, turned back and saw the puppy on the road, yelping in pain whilst hurriedly trying to cross the road to safety, and rode away. I had a surge of anger, and we ran to the pup to see him.       Under the weight and speed of the bike, his hind leg was absolutely crushed. Arvind felt his femur – limp and loose. It was broken. We called Taronish from World For All, who forwarded us to another NGO owner – Sonal. Sonal said an ambulance would be sent the next day.       Yesterday after constant pressure and following up, the ambulance was sent with 4 men. A handler somehow got the puppy out of hi...

21 Nov 2016 I loved Before the Flood​. It definitely focused most Coal Consumption, but I thought it could still be much more holistic covering all major sources of global warming. It seemed a bit biased, and gave little or no emphasis on other major causes of climate change like cattle consumption. I just came across Nat Geo's first episode of Years of Living Dangerously​. It covers the US energy situation where the powerful and corrupt utility monopolies are making it impossible for their solar to succeed. On the other hand, David Letterman covers India's energy consumption as an emerging economic power, and the decisions India has taken to switch to cleaner energy. The US situation got me so depressed, just like I felt with Before the Flood, but India's situation only felt positive. I was so relieved to see that we're actually taking steps and have energy goals to accomplish by only 2019! I always thought we were backward, and hated India's government for b...

12 July 2007 A Swach worker segregating pads, diapers and condoms from plastic I always knew that the sanitary napkins we women use cause HUGE amounts of plastic and chemical waste. Personally during a normal cycle, I use around 8 pads (and I don't bleed a lot). That's 8*12 months = 96 pads a year! And I'm just one girl! The last time I thought of this was in 2010, but there was really nothing I could do about it. There was no better alternative that would make me feel equally secure. During Chitrakatha 2013, a NID couple did a large crowd-funded project called 'Mentrupedia' - an educational comic book for young boys and girls on the subject of menstruation. In one of their chapters they mentioned the menstrual cup as an alternative. When I googled it, it wasn't available in India. Silky Cup Medium A year back, I saw it on Flipkart or something - and I kept thinking if I should buy it. Of course it's the best solution ever! Pluses: - Ze...

Woke up to read this absolutely aweful news about Tiracol. Leading Hotels Ltd. has proposed to set up a massive resort on the northern most tip of Goa, in Tiracol village. They have already acquired 90% of the land by bribing the goan government. The proposal includes a resort with 198 villas and a US PGA Standard championship Golf Course set across the lush, rolling hills of Tiracol. The golf course will destroy (more like CRUSH) the livelihoods of all the local communities which thrive on small-scale businesses like cashew plantations and fishing. Not only this, but it will completely destroy the eco-system of the hills in Tiracol. Several ads in local newspapers featuring the project come with the tagline ‘From Barren to Beautiful’. LOL. However, Leading Hotel’s own Impact Assessment show that there are 19,000 trees and plant species on the property and at least 1966 trees will be felled for the project! It's so so disheartening to read things like these in the papers....

13th May 2016 It’s been just month since I’d kept my first batch of waste for decomposing, and it’s already ready!! I spent about 15 minutes sifting the compost through the sieve – this was super fun! I was so so happy to see that rich brown colour and wonderful earthy smell! I’ve now got some fine powdery compost to use for my pudina, dhania , chillies and kadipatta plants (biggest success being pudina which has multiplied three folds and been used for many glasses of mojito ;)). This process has taken much less time than I expected and it’s been so rewarding! <3 My remix powder is almost over though, it’s serves 2.5 batches of wet waste. I’m wondering if I should use the compost as remix powder or buy some. It’s also difficult to make sure my roommates and my maid chop their waste to smaller bits to help it decompose faster. About my plastic waste, it’s cut down to maybe 20% of what I used to consume; but all of us together generated a dustbin full of bottles in 2 months...

24th April 2016 Finally the khamba  (composter) arrived! I was really anticipating this guy! It's only been 3 days and I feel like a girl feeding her pet dragon. I even instructed by super co-operative roommates and my maid what we can feed it and how smaller bits should be made of all wet waste. I really hope I'm doing it right and I get good quality fertilizer by the end of this. Khamba inside out May I also say that thanks to the  Remix powder  I bought with this, it's not smelling at all as of now. I'm also mixing it up with some dry leaves or newspaper to absorb excess moisture and avoid fruit flies. I've successfully managed to live a week without buying some things I consume almost daily for snacks - chips, biscuits etc. Although, this is not a happy solution. I need to carry a container to buy my week's supply of junk food. :P Right now I'm eating freshly cooked food in newspapers - samosas, chaat etc. and visit shops which have their own plat...

19th April 2016 Today was my first day after the personal oath I took to cut down my plastic consumption. We normally order chai in the office which comes in small plastic cups. I refused and so everyone refused, and we went to the tapri and had chai there in their glass cups. We always take our own bags for grocery shopping, but today we had to emergency shop in the evening, and we was out of bags! I collected a few left over bags from the office and managed; even with the dal guy, who refuses to use anyone else's bags other than his own as it's more convenient for him. Unfortunately though, even in the local market, we had to buy mushrooms which are packaged in two plastics! One like a tray and one cover. I asked if they ever come loose, or if it's possible to purchase them in bulk. He mentioned there's a 1 kg plastic bag and the small package he gave us; and that all the brands supply with this packaging to keep the produce undamaged and fresh. I was so disappoi...

18th April 2016 Arvind and I recently read about the 19 year old who is solving the world’s ocean pollution crisis. Boyan Slat is a Dutch engineering student single handedly developing the gyers (floating booms and processing platforms) which would potentially clean up 20 billion tonnes of plastic from the world's oceans; the plastic which kills millions of animals and damages thousands of cargo vessels every year. Arvind stressed on the fact that he was 19 – he was exceptionally impressed by a kid who showed that much drive, determination and hard work at such a young age. For me, regardless of his age, this was so commendable. The age didn’t matter to me, infact I disagreed with Arvind, and mentioned how adults have it harder to do something for the greater good. Not only are they in a pathetic zone (they have full time jobs!), they also have responsibilities towards their families and are less imaginative and courageous than the youth since they are aware of the hindrances li...

11th March 2016 Women don't really spend time in actual self-relflection. Rather, we've been giving an awful amount of importance to how we look. This has been an age old problem - the vintage ads were really demeaning, and considering we are now more aware of this objectification of women, it's surprising that ads have gotten more and more objectifying rather than progressive and genuine.  We don't realize when we let them affect our perception of ourselves, but it happens at a very subconscious level. People are the first to tell you if you've lost or put on weight - if you have bags under your eyes. If people don't tell you, you compare yourself not to the women you know - the real women; but instead the instagram models, skinny or voluptuous women in bras (or not). The facebook posts of actresses and actors and popstars post surgeries. We compare ourselves to the Yves Saint Laurent pictures and the Sisley fashion models. Skeletons with clothes portr...

Blackfish Review - 30th Jan 2016 I watched ‘ Blackfish ’ tonight, and it’s one of the best documentary films I've seen. Blackfish is directed by Gabriela Cowperthwaite, and it follows the controversial captivity of Orca whales (killer whales), and it’s dangers towards both humans and whales. The documentary is incredibly shocking, disturbing, education, heart wrenching, and painful to watch. It just shows how low we can stoop as humans. I have always felt very strongly about wild animals held in captivity for human entertainment. I remember when I was about 13 and we went to Mahableshwar, my parents wanted to take me horse riding. Most horses aren’t wild anymore, they’re considered domestic animals. But I just didn’t feel right to sit on it for ‘fun’. I just didn’t want to be a part of it, and everyone else had a good time, and I was pretty relieved that I didn’t join them. They would call me oversensitive; But seriously thinking, how many times have you guys gone for sho...

This isn't related to art, but it's so important that I had to share it on as many platforms possible. What an absolutely insightful, thought-provoking and inspiring story. I hope this spreads like wildfire and touches people the way it touched me. Humanity has gone at all lengths to destroy itself. I really hope for once, we reconstruct to restore balance. Please send this to as many people as you can to create awareness, and hopefully it would reach governments and important officials who can help us plant more trees and kill fewer animals. Economics PhD Sebastião Salgado only took up photography in his 30s, but the discipline became an obsession. His years-long projects beautifully capture the human side of a global story that all too often involves death, destruction or decay. Here, he tells a deeply personal story of the craft that nearly killed him, and shows breathtaking images from his latest work, Genesis, which documents the world's forgotten people and pl...

7th May 2015 I had to share this. It's been a long time since I saw some genuinely moving and effective film. This one's close to me because it's got to do with animal welfare. For the past few months I have been considering doing social work fulltime when there are no animation projects going on. I'm still in the process of figuring out how to contribute. Hopefully Ill be making films like these. In creative fields we never know whether our work affects people or changes the way we look at things. I hope someday I can do that through my work, even if it's over the course of a year or a lifetime. Please watch and share to spread the message.

19th Dec 2012 A girl is brutally raped and her guy friend is beaten up badly for just being with her at night time. The girl defends her friend and fights back, so the bloody rapists want to 'teach her a lesson' and beat her with a iron rod for 90 minutes and rape her till she's unconscious, and they throw both the students out of the bus naked on the highway until the police arrive a few HOURS later. I am always having frequent debates with male and female friends on whether Indian women are independent and free. Once again we are reminded how safe Indian women are and how men look at them in society. And the govt. is still deciding whether the rapists need a death sentence when their victim is on a ventilator in hospital. So, ladies, the govt. or the police don't want you to fight back. They want you to get raped and die. It's disgusting and no matter how much we talk about this, NOTHING is gonna be done, even if you, as a woman are paying taxes out of your har...

20th October 2012 I was stumbling for information on dog intelligence for my colloquium paper, and I found this goldmine of knowledge! This is one of the best most interesting and well explained documentaries I have seen on dogs. From where they came from, to what they are now. Enjoy!

30th August 2012 There is something that runs in my blood as fast as RBCs - stingyness? I wouldn't exactly call it that, because I love gifting people stuff. I guess I'm very money-conscious. I try to save every rupee that I can. I find joy in saving even a paise. So I just can't get over the fact that things have become to expensive in India - and one of the most scary things that have become expensive besides the petrol is - FOOD! The most basic necessity of our lives. Somehow everyone seems to be used to this. They're used to paying 40-50 bucks for a sandwich and 100+ rupees for every meal of the day. Tomatoes have gone from 5 to 10 for quarter kilo. A pack of 10 Good day biscuits have gone from 15 to 22 bucks. The packet is much bigger than its contents and Lays! Don't even ask about lays potato chips. They're such frauds. The contents have around 20 slices of chips, that's visually 1/4th of the packet, and it costs Rs. 10 for that! I feel I can ju...

14th July 2012 I have always wanted to learn french, but I never got the time or the opportunity! Luckily I was going through the TED videos and I found this AMAZING site called Duolingo that helps you learn different languages for free!! The only way you pay is with your time and you help translate sites like wikipedia, and you learn by translating! :) Isn't that cool? Here's a video explaining how it works: Here's the video through which I got to know of its existence - a TED talk of Lui von Ahn who invented CAPCHA!

Reality shows Here's a show that takes reality shows to a whole new level. 'Breakthrough with Tony Robbins' is a show where Tony Robbins guides people in real life traumas or problems through an extraordinary journey to rediscover themselves and their worth. When I watched the first episode I was mved to tears. I was so happy to see that there are people in this world who selflessly go out of their way to use their talents and skills to fix other people's lives - people they have never even known! Apparently this show got only a 4.8 rating on IMDB, and after its 6th episode the TRP went so low that NBC decided to discontinue it. Here in India, the most nonsensical and pointless reality shows like 'Spitsvilla', 'Roadies', 'Big Boss' and 'Rakhi ka swayamvar' get high TRPs! So why does such a meaningful show like Breakthrough go so low on audience? Amir Khan's done his own breakthroughs in India with 'Satyamev Jayate', b...

day 14 15th june 2012 Abbazia Hotel, Készthely After I go home I have to get a dental checkup ASAP! I'm really getting freaked out about almost all my teeth getting really sensitive so early in life! And I love to eat!! :( Also my foot is injured badly and I have no idea how it happened. For the past two days I haven't been able to walk at all; I've been limping around like a disabled person. There's a baddass twist right below my left foot's ankle on the left of the foot and there's a slight reddish swelling. Something has gone very wrong inside - I just don't know what to do about it. I tried putting it in hot salt water and applied balm on it. Let's see if it's fine by tomorrow. I hope I don't have to go to the doc when I'm back - I wanna keep my healthy record of about 18 years. I have another goal I want to achieve - I want to go trekking. A proper trek; like the Enduro. I want to climb 12 mountains overnight and feel the exhaustio...

In one day a human being breathes oxygen equivalent to three cylinders. Each oxygen cylinder on an average costs Rs 700, so in a day one uses Oxygen worth Rs 2100 and for a full year it is Rs 7,66,500. If we consider an average life span of 65 years; the costs of oxygen we use become a staggering sum of Rs 500,00,000. All this oxygen is derived free of cost from the surrounding trees. Very few people look at trees as a resource and there is rampant tree cutting going on everywhere which should stop. PLEASE PLANT A TREE!