Documenting Observations

While in UK I never saw a spider, that quite explained to me why people over there are scared of spiders. When you see something that you do not see very often you may get scared. If you were in India people would be surprised to hear that humans are scared of spiders. We live with it, often we walk through their web and rarely bother to check if the spider is on us, while just wiping off web off the face and keep walking. Today I noticed a new activity of a spider. The picture will tell you everything. I wanted the tub and tried to scare it off. The spider however did not leave the cockroach. It tried to hide in the rim. Finally I had no option but to take the tub outside and knock it off to the ground. The spider still held on to its prey. I wanted to photograph it out there but soon forgot about it and resumed with my use of the tub. 

How do you measure the mileage of your vehicle. There are different methods people use, but the one mentioned here seems to be the most accurate when you are not using instruments. Let me put it down in points: 1. Visit a gas station 2. Set your trip meter to zero. 3. Fill your tank to the brim 4. Ride for hundreds of kilometers (the more the better) 5. Return to a gas station and fill it to brim again. Make note of the kilometers run until you have come back to the gas station. Now if you have run 524 Km from step 2 to step 5. And let's say you have had to add 24.8 liters of petrol at step 5 to fill the tank again. Then by simple mathematics you can find the mileage of your vehicle as follows: 24.8 liters let you run = 524 Km 1 litre would let you run = 524/24.8 = 21.13 Km. So, I have a car that gives me 21.13 Km/L. A Mruti Susuki Alto LXI 2005 model car that has run about 62000 Km. Anybody interested in buying? :-). The vehicle has just been service and is giving br

There has been a commendable duty undertaken by the Election Commission of India. Drive your car through a jungle or in the city or travel in a public transport vehicle. They will stop you and check your baggage. This might not be pleasant to the ears of many in India. However, when you watch them doing their task you would not feel uncomfortable at all. They stop you, explain to you their purpose, check your baggage to see if you are carrying unaccountable cash, let you go if they have not found anything suspicious. They also videograph all the action from the moment they stop you and until you depart. Cash is carried to fund various promotion activities during election. Most of this is for gaining vote from poor people for whom this is the only opportunity to make some big money or gather something in kind. The also end up voting for such opportunist parties aim at getting elected for making money and do nothing for the much needed developmental activities. EC not only is stri

The body of the steam mop I own has disfigured at the point where the hose is fixed. This probably due to the heat of the steam that it generates. I just cannot use the attachments any more unless, I manage to undo the dis-figuration with force. I was happy with the way it cleaned window pane and wood but with this all scores it had from me is gone. It's been just eight months since I bought it. What a shame!

Life in India is sometimes about cheap political melodrama. In the wake of winning votes rules and laws can be twisted at will. With the intention (or so called intention) of tracking the sale of LPG cylinders and to stop sale to unauthorized persons cylinder subsides we given to the customers in their bank accounts. Thus at point of sale, the customer would pay a hefty amount and would later be reimbursed the excess over the subsidized amount into their bank accounts through electronic transfer. Thus an additional record is created for sale helping to track it better.  The government probably had many thoughts in mind.  1. The huge money coming into the banks would give them a huge interest until the money is returned. 2. Delay the payment a bit for unaccountable reasons and then make more money as interest.  3. Not reimburse at all and make way for other scams. Oh yes by its trends these cunning ideas seems to be always in it minds.  Governments cannot be far incompet

You probably need a replacement stool for a good wooden stool every 13-15 years if you are a villager and use it regularly. On second thoughts maybe every 10-12 years if you do not intend to continue using it when it is non-threateningly broken. 

The concept of alternate medicines is very interesting indeed.  While in UK I had tough time in explaining too many people about Ayurvedic medicines. I am not a medical rep; however, while travelling from India, I had carried a few medicines that were Ayurvedic. It's a common practice among Indians. They depend a lot on the local medicines and while travelling to a foreign land they assume that their curative drugs would be unavailable there. So your parents, aunts or uncle will give you a bundle to help you stay healthy.  Indians consume this in the foreign land as medicines and strangely enough many a medicines of the west are considered mild by many and hence not considered effective on us. While I personally feel that these are mild psychiatric conditions, I have yet observed people for whom this is probably very true.  As for me I have mostly stayed away from Allopathic medicines all through my life. It's confusing for an Indian when he talks about this medic

By one story this is how the nut got its name… A foreigner in Kerala asked a seller, “What are these?” He was obviously asking about cashew nuts as we know them today. The Indian Keralite seller could not understand the foreign language and he gave a response in Malayalam that he thought would help him sell and save the day for both, he said “Cashine ette” Translated this would mean ’8 nuts for 1 unit of money (whatever unit was used in those days)’ I am not sure if the seller sold his stuff. However, the foreigner’s mind heard ‘Cashew Nut’ and he took it as an answer for the name of the nut. If this story is true it’s a piece of history to be cherished. People around us always give us interesting information. What I hear, I jot them down in my blog: http://wordofwisdomandaproof.wordpress.com/

A peacock's intuition makes it approach closer to ladies and children than when approaching a man even when food is offered. Somehow, even a gentle man will be mistaken for being a rough man. I wonder if men will be at more risk than ladies if a peacock feels threatened.

We all know about different kinds of jack fruit color and tastes. However, not many know about the fruit on the tree. Being a big fruit it could be difficult to comprehend how it maintains its shape high up on a tropical tree 40 - 50 feet above the ground with all the gravity acting upon it. What's more some verities will ripen and even dry up to the core and yet remain in shape when it falls to the ground probably blown by a wind, a squirrel or just succumbing to the eternal gravitational pull. It's not just it's outer cover that helps it keep it's shape, but also the inner design details. Some, verities however, fall when it ripens. And reaches ground in shape for people to relish without having to take the pain of climbing trees for it. However, yet I guess the penultimate fruit is yet the coconut when it comes to the protection of it's capacity to nurture it's young ones.