~ James Kingston | Don't look down ~

The risks urban climbers take to scale new heights. This documentary by Channel 4 captures the life of, James Kingston, an urban climber from the UK.

If you didn't know, James Kingston did hang atop a crane at Ulsoor Lake, Bangalore last August.

You can watch the Bangalore video here 

~ News traders ~

Gone are the days where journalists used to report news AS IS. These days they trade news based on who pays them ( the media owners to be precise). I know it is broad acquisition against all, but that's how I view them these days. The numbers of journalists who actually report news is quite few compared to the number of media companies that have grown in the past decade across India.

Thanks to Social Media & other alternate news site which provide a different perspective to abused, TRP seeking, continual *BREAKING NEWS* on every mainstream news channel, be it regional or national.

Public Service Broadcasting trust and Prasar Bharti Corporation have come together to produce a documentary on #PaidNews in Indian media. 
Note: This documentary is nearly 3 years old, but very relevant even today.

After watching it, you realise that many cases have not been taken to it's logical end by the Media. Watch what the Sports Journalists has to say about the media's role on IPL

40:53

it's happening life feel clock in the morning and still going on

41:00

the media which had been going gaga over the IP 0 for three years

41:05

sadly did a somersault a day after the times likes to serve the Baltimore these

41:09

for scams on the news all yesterday the Enforcement Directorate is doing

41:12

everything

41:13

to drag him back to India and face the charges said

41:19

it's like upto order readers or your viewers

41:23

I like a herd you you them in one direction could one day

41:26

and southerly when they actually you're getting exposed

41:29

who were exposed also in this the people who had not call their viewers

41:34

I'm sure they've really don't hesitate to ask was reading newspapers are those

41:38

really P weekend as

41:40

the foot three years you told us a different story know all of a sudden you

41:44

are

41:45

picking a somersault and saying everything is on the border

41:49

this man are about to %uh this poor River you for these two years

Following are some of them which I regularly follow:
News Laundry
Media Crooks
Media Nama
The News Minute

Which alternative sites do you visit on a daily basis for your news? Do share them. 

Source: News Laundry

~ Oil, Nations & Corporations ~

Image courtesy: FIFP

Spent my Sunday evening watching the 4 part series - Secret of Seven Sisters, by Al Jazeera. The documentary showcases how the so called Seven Sisters came into existence to explore and control Black Gold across various continents under different political regimes. 

The pact by Seven Sisters which influences the foreign policies of various nations is not an eye-opener. When many of the recent wars are fought in the pretext of human rights, terrorism, WMDs, etc; but the main reason could be attributed for controlling the stake of oil reserves among - US, UK, France, Russia, China, the UN permanent members to the Security Council. 

The documentary highlights the following about the Oil Corporations:

• How the tribes in the Middle East were fooled by them for many years by paying meagre sum for oil extraction
• How Dictators, Kings, Political Leaders are influenced and used to keep their commercial interests going
• Many of the oppressing regimes have had blessing of the UNSC permanent members which favoured the Oil Corps
• French Oil Corps have a lot of stake in oil exploration in Africa
• They looted many of the African nations until each country began nationalizing their natural resources
• The money never really benefited the people of the land. Rather it helped the Oil Corps get rich & in turn compensated the Kings, Dictators, Political & Militant Leaders for their support
• The ecological habitats have been destroyed in some places by these Oil Corps
• Sanctions over Libya was removed once Gaddafi paid compensation for the Lockerbie bombing of about $2.7 billion. Seriously? Money cannot compensate the loss of people lives here. By paying money made out of oil sales, Gaddafi couldn't alter his karma. He eventually was lynched by his own people during the uprising.
• Saddam was as - friend, enemy, oppressor - over the years of his rule of Iraq by UNSC permanent members
• Even the most recent catastrophe in the Gulf-of-Mexico where BP has a lot to answer

As the now dead Libyan Minister said,"There are no friends or enemies. Everyone has their interests when it comes to dealing with Oil producing nations. It's a win-win situation for everyone".

People might be skeptical of the documentary made by Al Jazeera channel, which is based out of Qatar. I feel majority of the media is controlled these days. On the contrary the programme offers a lot of different views on how the new world order is rising up to take on the Seven Sisters in the 21st century.

India & China would be a major factor as they want to meet the growing needs  of energy for 2 billion people. Both the nations have been warming up to Iran for oil despite the US sanctions in place.

One of the reasons why I like Elon Musk's vision of alternative energy resources & expansion of human settlement beyond Earth.

H/T: Naveen, thanks for the sharing the documentary.

~ Fools gold ~

Kudos to BBC for producing the Panorama on "The Spies Who Fooled the World". Journalism at its best. BBC doesn't hesitate to take on politicians irrespective if there were British or American and the Intelligence agencies of Britain, America, Germany, France, Italy & Iraq.

They expose the whole shady Intelligence which was built up to go for the war against Iraq in the name of WMD. The lies which cemented the British & American troops to attack the Iraqis for 10 years which has left 4000 allied soliders & between 100000 to a million Iraq ˆ. Not sure if either Blair or Bush would be ever tried for believing in the murky Intelligence which their own Intelligence Officers had warned. They shall carry the guilt to their graves for so many lives that was lost in the war, which was built of lies.

One could summarise the war with John Lyly's proverb, "All Is Fair in Love and War".

Image:Luke Macgregor/Reuters | What Britons say on the 10-anniversary of the war.

Foods I have been missin

...... in the past 2 months, because there isn't one decent Indian restaurant or they simply don't seem to exist in Kirkcaldy. Let me classify the food I have been missin for breakfast, lunch/dinner & snacks.

Breakfast
1) Idli & Vada along with sambhar & coconut chutney @ home / Adiga's / any dharshini.
2) Masala Dosa @ home / Adiga's / any dharshini
3) Avalakki / Poha @ home
4) Kharabath / Upma /Uppittu @ home / restaurant
5) Poori @ home
6) Onion Uttappa @ any dharshini

Lunch / Dinner
1) Raagi Roti which mom prepares or @ Hallimane Restaurant, Malleshwaram
2) Bisi-bele-bath @ home
3) South Indian lunch @ home
4) Andhra styled lunch @ Nandhini or any other andhra style restaurant in Bangalore.
5) Curd rice with onions, cashews & pomegranate with pickle.
6) Wide variety of Indian curries along with Roti
7) Stuffed paranthas - onions/radish/cauliflower - with yogurt @ Paratha Plaza.

Snacks
1) Indian Chats - bhel puri, dhai puri, masala puri - @ Adiga's; pani puri - any corner guy; congress masala, tomato spread @ 13th Cross Malleshwaram.
2) Mysore bondaa, Masala vada with hot coffee @ Hallimane.
3) Paneer Sandwich with fresh fruit juice @ Vijaya Bakery, Bhashyam Circle, Sadhashiv Nagar.
4) Sandwiches with fresh fruit juice @ Casapicola, Cunningham Rd.
5) Different chais with bruschettas @ Infintea, Cunningham Rd.
6) Bread toasts, pastries & veg puffs @ Pooja / Vijaya / Iyengar Bakery.
7) Cafe Mocha @ St. Marks Rd Barista / 100 Ft Rd Indira Nagar Cafe Coffee Day

These are some of the dishes which I could think of & post it....may be more names would follow. This post is in response to the post 'Foods I Cannot Have' by Firang Squirrel. I can correlate to Squirrel's gastronomical state very easily.

Even though the food here is very appealing, but, they are very bland for your taste-buds. I like my food to be hot'n'spicy, which is missing in most of the dishes you get here. Even the Indian dishes aren't spicy :(

Another change in the eco-system: India to UK

As of today, it has been a month over in UK. I feel I have enough to blog about my observations, views & experiences about the change in ecosystem. I hope to rejuvinate my blog & keep entertaining all the invisible souls who visit my blog regularly ;).

Hope all of you are doing good, it has been quite a while since I have kept in touch with my friends. Firstly, I am very sorry to all those whom I couldn't meet or call them personally before I left Bangalore. Secondly, after moving to UK, I haven't been able to keep in touch with many you. Its not like I didn't want to, just that I needed sometime to settle down & feel comfortable with the new ecosystem. At the same time, needed to get over the initial hurldles - finding a new house, getting the landline & the broadband, above everything else opening a bank account.

Now that we - myself & my housemates - have crossed few of those inital hurldles partially, I get to spend sometime re-collecting my thoughts & blogging about my experiences which has transpired over the inital month.

Here I go with my experiences...

The inital week was quite tough on myself, emotionally, missing my parents, cousins, friends, bangalore, food, etc. If you are wondering why, let me share a fact - well, I have never lived away from my home in Bangalore for anything more than 15 days at a stretch; quite paradoxical ain't it? for a guy who loves travelling.

Now, here I am staying in a different nation & sharing the house with my colleagues. However, the silverlining is that I happened to be working & living with one of my colleague from the previous job. I believe that there are six-degrees of separation between people, thats b'coz one of my colleague currently happens to be a good friend of my ex-colleague.

The place did have an effect on me, the weather was windy and cold. The air is fresh and clean, hardly find the air polluted here. Smoking in publicly enclosed places is prohibited, which has been here in place for over a year now. Had heard from few folks back home that public places in western nations are litter free. Am not contending their facts/figures, but I have come across littering at quite a number of places. Coming to people, they are generally kind & helpful, there are few exceptions with few of them. One thing I observed in the inital days were the stares I used to get from the passers by in Glenrothes. It's not like they haven't seen Asians or Indians before, there is a significant number of Indians living in Kirkcaldy & Glenrothes region. Don't really understand those stares.

Regarding work, I am part of software engineering group of MGt plc, involved in product development. It took two weeks to get accustomed to the nature of the job, people, place & work culture. Another observation @ work place, is that few co-workers go the extra mile in helping you understand the technical nitty gritties of the job. Approaching the tasks with an open mind and enjoying it. IT isn't that big here in Scotland, when compared to US or India, but definitely growing.

Apart from work, most of my time is spent on shopping for groceries & cooking. I haven't done so much of cooking nor have done shopping for groceries while I was back in Bangalore. Quite a number of retail stores - ASDA, Tesco, Morrison, Sainsbury's - around. Get most of the stuff here, for some Indian spices though we need to head towards Edinburgh every fortnightly.

Haven't travelled much in the past month, just visited Deep Sea World & Edinburgh Castle [album coming soon] over two weekends. I wish to cover as many places around Scotland & across Europe during my stay here.

Leaving on jet plane

Leaving Bangalore today evening @ 18:15 hrs.

Note: I will not be reachable on my existing mobile number after 15:00hrs.

Moving to UK

I would like to share this news with you, that I have quit SourceN India and have joined Nous Infosystems India 15 days ago. I would be joining Nous Infosystems UK next week & shall be flying this Saturday.