Dedicated to Chipko Movement, March 1974

"Maatu hamru, paani hamru, hamra hi chhan yi baun bhi... Pitron na lagai baun, hamunahi ta bachon bhi"
-

Soil ours, water ours, ours are these forests. Our forefathers raised them, it’s we who must protect them.
(Old Chipko Song)

Wild Wild Web..

Was just googling though news updates.. and found an interesting one.. i would like to put it up here!!! ... shocking but true...

If you are a frequent user of eBay, then your are probably to find all sorts of products through online auction. With all that, a German couple from Memmingen decided to take online auctions on eBay to a whole new level.


So, they posted an advertisement to sell their son, claiming he had become "too loud" to keep!!!
The starting bid was 1 euro which prompted the boy's 23-year old mother, Tanja, to claim that the auction was only a joke, despite the fact that the post ended with bold letters demanding that the baby be picked up in person.

The advert, entitled "Baby-pick up in person Only" offered shoppers information about the baby's gender and size. It also stated the parents' reason for selling him.
The post, which had been removed from the online auction site in the meanwhile, got no bidders in the 2 hours and thirty minutes it was displayed. Renee Beck, a police spokesperson in Krumbach, near Munich, stated that the German police are investigating the two parents on suspicion of Child trafficking. The German police was aided in tracking down the two parents by eBay officials. The parents maintained that the posting was just a joke gone awry!!!

Now this can happen only on www... wild wild web!!

Now Mitra is on facebook!!!

I was just sittng idle infront of my desktop.... suddenly thought of mitra... and remembered that we are still not there on 'facebook'.... so i just logged in and created the group... jus for a green cause.

So friends.. MITRA Goa has been created on facebook..

NOW JOIN HANDS WITH TEAM MITRA ON FACEBOOK
just log in and copy paste this link into URL --

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=262686640413&ref=nf

Go Green people!!!!

Monsoon Trek to Surla Falls... powered by Chowgule

I'm a chowgule tiger now... and its been for the 1st time since i joined this college that i am going for a trek with these people... So it was decided by Mr. Masur and Mr. Sawant that the trek will be at Surla Falls..

As planned earlier all Ponda people who had participated in the trek were told to be waited at Hotel Amigos on Belgaum Highway at about 7.30am as the bus was scheduled to leave from SPCC campus at 7.00am sharp...
But after all we people of Goa are famous as " Susshegaad" and these Margao guys proved that!!
as expected by me the bus left from the campus at 8.15am, almost an hour late!! I had reached at the Amigos hotel at 7.25 itself..
When i called up one of my friends from margao, he told me about the delay..

My brain full of boredom couldn't think what to do... finally i took out my cam and took some macro shots of flowers in the hotel yard..

Finally!! after about half an hour a huge pink bus stopped near the entrance of the hotel were i was taking cover under a small shed because it had started raining...
I didnt have patience to wear my jacket.. I ran towards the bus facing the raindrops attacking me...
As soon as I entered the bus, i saw Masur sir and Sawant sir right on the front seats. Bus was almost full.. though my friend Ramakant had kept a place for me to seat..

The trek was known to only 2 people in the whole of 39 people... Me and Presley..
Presley had got Nikon D90 from the Tiger Studio... I got a chance of handling the tank...

It was one and half hour journey from Ponda to Surla Temple...
On the way we had some good glimpses of the nature...


After crossing Sacorda Village we had to face a problem!
A big tree had fallen which had blocked the road... the gap was not enough for our bus to pass through... After doing a lots of things finally we had some space through which the bus could pass... Conductor of the bus had to climb on the bus roof and see that the bus was not touching the branches of tree..
After battling the problem... we headed for the temple... finally we reached a kind of parking place.. a tea stall was nearby and a man was sitting selling flowers and other offerings to the God.
As all the people got down from the bus.. all were directed towards the temple were we had decided to give some general instructions to the trekkers.
After reaching near the temple some local people told us about the 'leeches' we we were going to face up the trek and how to get rid of them.. After listening to that some of the "female crowd' started passing comments on the pain the leeches cause when they bite..lol.... :p...
They were told that leeches do not cause pain when they bite..
After all the discussion the Crowd was divided into 3 groups.. 1st group headed by Presley.. 2nd by Me and 3rd by Ramakant.

We started off for the trek... just after walking for 10 minutes we had to cross a stream of water..
Walking and crossing many streams and some powerful flows of water we finally reached the falls... We had to make Human Chains to cross the streams which had fast water-flow.. It wasn't necessary but we were told to make :(

The movie that touched my heart.....

Jogwa... the awakening

The practice of forcibly dedicating men and women to the Indian goddess Yellamma is loudly condemned in helmer Rajiv Patil's overstuffed drama "The Awakening." In the southern state of Karnataka, devotees of the goddess -- known as "jogtin" (female) or "jogta" (male) -- are treated as sex slaves and viewed with a mixture of semi-respect and disdain.

Suli an innocent, happy carefree girl tethering on the brink of womanhood is unexpectedly forced into a life of servitude to the local deity when the uneducated, rural community in which she resides compels her to live a life of subjugation and serfdom on account of rampant superstitions that plagues the village. As Suli struggles to adjust to the new life unexpectedly thrust upon her, a far cry from the dreams and aspirations she once harbored, she meets Tayappa, a man forced to drape a sari and live the life of a woman and a homosexual as he too is a victim of the same circumstances that afflict her life. Brought together by the plight of their similar circumstances and wretched futures, Suli and Tayappa develop a warm and cherishing camaraderie, which eventually blossoms into love. The two gentle, wounded souls seek solace and comfort in each others company. Together they once again dream of living a happy, normal life, but are forced to face the wrath of a highly disapproving community that is hell-bent upon destroying their union.

And the story goes on..... Hope it makes some impact on the Social Evil!

The Surla Falls trek...

Long time no see boy!!.... i could hear the voices.... the nature was calling me..
after a tiring year... a was waiting for a adventurous trail... and very soon i got the chance..

it was the 1st trail organised by newly formed NGO MITRA Goa...

It was 16th may... I rushed for the lotlikar petrol pump from where i had to wait for the whole group to come.... shimmering rains and not so pleasant climate.... we were off to tambdi surla by 0845 hrs.. I and my friend along with the core members of MITRA and some people from ponda and others parts of Goa...

It took almost 1 hr 45 mins for us to reach at the tambdi surla temple.. finally the bus came to a halt. Then, general instructions and DO's and DONT's were explained to the group by Rohan.. and then the whole bunch of people was divided into groups..

then we headed towards the temple were a group photo was taken by Ajay sir.


the group!

(Saish, Utkarsh, Paresh sir and Omkar missing! :P)

After taking the photo we all headed towards the left side of the entrance pathway to the temple...
The trek had begun.... I, Saish, Utkarsh and Abdul was the 1st group to go. All 4 of us were walking too fast for the other groups to cope up with us.. therefoe we had to thke a halt
whenever we realised that the other people were not to be seen. :P....
We could hear the chirping of birdies and also the crushing sound of dry leaves under our feet..
Atfer a long time four of us rested near a.. ate some biscuits and drank water from nearby pool.. by that time other people had arrived there... then we were back to the rule the mountain.. and others were resting..

" this is how to drink water".... saish tells us

It was again time for a short break as no people except our group were not to be seen... Saish took advantage of this moment and took out a bag out of his rucksack.
He didn't tell what was inside it.. but i could hear hissing sound from the bag.. i came to know what was inside it!
As footsteps were closing in Saish took the bag and placed it safely in his rucksack.. then continued walking.

making our away up the hill

Half-way the trek, all of us sat on a kinda terraced part of the hill... Had some biscuits.. dates and lil' water..
Saish, Utkarsh ans Abdul had already left for the waterfall... i abandoned their group and joined others.. now i was with sahaj and other people..

Break Time!!

Omkar and Paresh sir where not to be seen yet.. They were far behind us, photographing butterflies and birds..

Ajay sir told us that we were almost there near the falls.. just 15 minutes to go.. then we walked up, full of excitement to

see the falls and to taste the cool water. We could hear the gustling sound of the water rushing down the dark rocks..

Finally.. after a long walk of 1hr 30 mins, we saw the waterfall which we were so eager to see...
cool white water brushing against the rocks and the greens all around ... this sight was a bliss!!

Everyone of us were desparate to take a dip in the cool water.... One by one we went near a 'mini falls' and had the soothing stream on on head... wow... the feeling was good..

Kaustubh @ peace

Prayer for The Tree

We thank thee God!

For thy trees.

Thou comest very near to us,

Through thy trees.

From them we have

Beauty, wisdom, love.

The water we drink,

The food we eat,

and the strenght.

Help us oh! God

To give our best to life,

And leave the world a little more beautiful.

And worthy for having lived in it.

Prosper thou on planting,

And established thy kingdom of love,

And understanding on earth.

-Richard St. Barbe Baker