~ Our own doing ~

This week we saw nature's fury at Kedarnath, Uttarakhand. According to the CAG report tabled in April, the state lacks an effective disaster management system to tackle such disasters.

~ Kedarnath Temple 1953 ~

~ Kedarnath Temple 19 June 2013 ~

I feel this highlights how we Indians approach life & live. Most of us, live by reactions than pro-actions. Instead of addressing problem in an holistic manner, we tend to wake &  fire-fight only when we have disasters on our hands. 

Samarth Mungali, CEO of TadpoleStore, has a very thoughtful post on the disaster.

"…People driven by greed and not need, started plundering their own land. A land which was their existence. 

All this while nature coped, but there’s a limit to tolerance. It’s natural. What was done had to be restored. And thus in a frame of minutes nature took the matter in it’s own hands and cleaned the slate that we had made dirty with our scribbling.

What has happened is a message from nature to stop, to amend. We have been wrong and it is we who are to correct. 

I sincerely hope that in the pretext of redevelopment of the devastated, the same mistakes are not done again. Where the structures have been erased, none should come again. It might sound uncommercial but then…"

Anand Sankar has an interesting post as well.

The devastation caused by Monsoon 2013 in Uttarakhand and to a lesser extent in Himachal Pradesh has been predictably covered by television studios based out of New Delhi. This flood has literally flowed into the lap of the television news media, who can feed their half-baked drivel to people across the country who are anxiously tuning in to get some titbits of information about loved ones trapped in the mountains. While there has been a lot of clamour for a speedy rescue effort, it sorely misses the point when it comes to ground reality. This is another incident which will go down in the history of disasters in India, as one that could have been prevented. 

Do read the 5 points which Anand makes.

As the Media & Desktop-activist, would now go on dissecting at length as to what went wrong; who could be held accountable for this; how it could have been avoided; Atheists asking the very presence of God; et al.  It is very much our own doing.

Instead of developing State units for handling any emergency events, we seem to be always banking on our Armed Forces. My salutations to the men & women of Armed Forces who have always ready for any contingency at any part of the country.

Photographs source: TadpoleStore blog.

~ Viral marketing comes at a price ~

I know companies spend loads of money on advertising & marketing their product. Advertisements are one of *the* mainstream ways to promote. However, these days videos are created more for Viral Factor on the Social Networks.

Today morning, I came across the video on FB wall. No doubt the video is well edited by Pro Cycle to showcase their product. 

Not sure why they had to put an off-road bike {not bicycle, I mean Motor Bike} in the video. Another aspect which I disliked, was the need/necessity to show the location info at the start. 

People in the city already lack in conserving nature - parks, lakes, trees, wildlife - in and around Bangalore. While the city is ever-expanding & many prominent builders are exploiting open spaces with new Villa / Townships offering; add to it, people are always on look out for adventure & exploring new avenues to kill their time. I wonder what impact it would have on Thurahalli forest if people took their Motor Bikes to explore the eco-space.

ProCycle is bicycle store with a “difference” that is committed to promoting bicycling in a “Correct” manner. You will experience our commitment and feel this difference the moment you walk into our store at Indiranagar

Thats the introduction about ProCycle on their website. While they state their committed to promote bicycling in a *Correct* manner. I hope they live up to every word. 

I googled & guess what I found, not to be surprised, exploitation of Turahalli   has already begun with illegal temple :(

“Turahalli is the last remaining wilderness space so close to South Bangalore. Everyone in the adventure community, be it climbers, walkers, birdwatchers or cyclists, have a responsibility to keep the forests as they are, and leave minimum impact. The same responsibility does not seem to hold good with temple constructions and the like,” adds Venkatesh, alias Venky. More here

Therefore, viral marketing comes at a price. The price could be monetary at times; And in this case ecology, which could be irreversible. 

Yes, they already got my attention & a post. I hope people of the city enjoy & conserve what is left in and around Bangalore.

~ Midway: A butterfly effect ~

As the name suggests, Midway is a an island which is equidistant between Americas & Asia. According to wikipedia,

"Midway Atoll is a critical habitat in the central Pacific Ocean. A number of native species rely on the island which is now home to 67–70% of the world's Laysan Albatross population, and 34–39% of the global Black-footed Albatross." More here.

You must be thinking as to what ticked me to write about Midway & Butterfly effect. The current state of Midway should be an eye opener for all the Humans. We are should be ashamed for the tragedy we have caused for those beautiful birds out there.

Watch the video to know what am referring to. This would be an ideal case for explaining Butterfly effect to anyone.

As citizens of the planet, I hope we have to live responsibly. More so because we RANK higher up the food chain & have come command over every other species known to us. If the above video doesn't suffice, I suggest you to watch the documentary titled Home. I bet you will be shattered to know what we HUMANS have done to our Earth.

{ Click the above image to watch }