Entropy Trap

Industrialization, Population explosion, Advanced technology, Computerization, Information boom, Life in the fast lane, popping the pills, genetic engineering, globalization, human genome project, nuclear reactors, nuclear weapons, Pesticides, Fertilizers, Deforestation, Urbanization, Global warming …………………………………The list can go on.

What’s all this got to do with second law of thermodynamics?
Did I say thermodynamics?
O! Yes, to be more precise, I said second law of thermodynamics, which naturally comes after first law of thermodynamics.
And what’s this first law?
well! The FIRST LAW says that Energy can neither be created nor can it be destroyed, however one form of energy can be converted into another form, like burning of coal into electricity or nuclear energy into electricity.
But that’s cool! One would say,
Ya! that’s cool till one stops and ponders on the second law of thermodynamics.

The SECOND LAW states that whenever one form of energy is converted into another form, some of the energy is always lost in the form of unusable heat energy during the transformation, Physicist use the term ENTROPY to describe this phenomenon. That’s still cool man! , Wait there’s more
Faster the rate of transformation higher is the loss
Complex systems transform large amount of energy at faster rate and hence loose a lot of available energy in the process
More exacting the process higher is the loss
High end technology aims at faster processing and it ‘s complexity is of highest order and hence ultimately it looses lot of energy
Blah blah blah ………………………………….
.
Do you get my point?

uummm … mmm no not exactly!

OK! Then you must really think HARDER ……………… think FASTER ………………………. think DEEPER ……………… come on think!!! use all the power of your grey matter.

Ohhhhh….h stop! I am feeling exhausted!

Ahhhhh ……. Ha Reallllly!

One Up on the Rainbow

En-route Bangalore, early afternoon we took a halt at Jog falls, Chitta was already hungry and, I wanted to proceed and continue driving - to Bangalore, Neena was confused. Finally I gave in to Chitta’s wish, Neena was still confused.
We all rushed with the Tiffin, water bottles and all, in search of a ‘shady’ place.
The minute Chitta discovered a place under the tree; he spread out the mat and served Curd-Rice in three plates. Chitta and I began eating, Neena was still confused.
In ten minutes flat we finished eating and dish washing. I strolled near to the point where the water takes a plunge hundreds of feet down; exactly opposite to where I stood I could see the main water fall. The fall was quite thick even though it was mid-may. What struck me was almost half way down the water fall, there, seven brilliant colors were spread out in the space around the water fall. This belt of colors is created due to double refraction of the light from the sun, by the spray of water droplets.
Chitta and Neena rushed to the spot, Chitta was thrilled to be 'One up on the Rainbow' and Neena was still confused.

Stork Mela

In the scorching heat of May, Chitta and me were chilling out at Ranganthittu bird sanctuary [Neena was fighting away the chill(cold) in mysore], both of us were overwhelmed by the scene - Painted storks, Asian open billed storks, White Ibis, Large egrets, Median egrets ,adults and young ones … literally in hundreds perching on trees and flying around.
This was a great feast for any nature lover and birding enthusiast.
The birds were nesting on the trees all over the place; this small reservoir in the Kaveri River provides home and food for not only the birds but crocodiles and the bats as well.
Cruising in a small boat (service provided by Karnataka Tourism) we could approach very close to the island and the edge of the river where birds were nesting.
Unfortunately the boat ride lasts only for 20mins or so, for another ride we would have to stand in the queue once more.

We were very reluctant to leave this Mela (fun-fair, large gathering) of a different kind. However we left, only to return the next day and this time with Neena minus the chill (cold that she had). Though for Chitta and Me this was second trip in two days, it was still refreshing to be back in the company of the birds that are suppose to courier the babies to expecting mothers.
In the near future I am planning to specially visit this palce and spend atleast 2 days amidst these featherd creatures.

A Nightout with the Dhangars

In the last weak of september this year, Sachin, Raju, Donald and Me , set out on an adventure in the Tilari Hills - a part of Western Ghats on Goa- Maharashtra border. Sachin was down from US of A on his annual vacation.
We reached the ‘top of the world’ Tilari plateau at 9 in the morning after driving 100Kms from Ponda.
We had a plan to stay at the PWD rest house in the village, but it was under repairs and besides we did not have the recommendation letter from concerned authority to use the facility. With the lowered spirits we decided to hike in the hills of Tilari till sundown and then head for Belgaum some 50Kms away and return the next morning to continue exploring.
But Raju had something else on his mind; he had noticed a small tent and a lonely figure, guarding herd of sheep on the open flat at the point where the ghat ends and Tilari plateau begins, Raju proposed that he would chat up the Dhangar (Marathi term for the shepherd) to allow us to spend the night in his tent, all of us quickly agreed and approached the dhangar, who unhesitatingly offered to be the host, provided we did not mind sharing the space with his brother in-law , three kids and of course his dogs and the lambs, cuddled up in the far corner of the tent.
Damu Majgaokar our host also offered to cook the food Dhangar style but he had only raw dal and rice so, We had to go back to Tilari village to purchase chicken (For Raju And Sachin) and some veggies (For Donald and Me). The setting sun had painted the sky deep red when we returned to our ‘base camp’.
The fire was already on and our host was busy preparing to cook the meal, now he was joined by his brother in-law and the kids.
The sun had set, and we were drowned in the thick mist, Raju eagerly opened his Kaju Feni bottle and prepared the drink for himself and the hosts, Sachin and Donald popped the beer bottles and me, I was happy just watching the spirits soar high.
The aroma from the pot on the fire was hanging around us in that thick mist. After the initial chat the dhangars got talking about their tribe and their life style.
They told us about their encounters with the Bison, leopards and Tigers. Their experience says that these wild beasts are quite harmless provided one leaves them alone.
On quizzing about the ghosts our hosts instantly denied the existence of such ‘free spirits’ as they had not encountered any such entity during their wanderings.
By now the food was ready and so were we, our host served us in whatever available containers. For Me and Donald it was dal and rice. Sachin and Raju pounced on the chicken. The dal to our surprise was cooked in sheep’s milk and tasted quite fantastic. Sachin could not stop his Ahh….s and uuu…mmms as he downed the chicken soup and gobbled chicken masala (dhangar style).
The dhangars were pleased when they heard Contended burps from Raju.
By the time we finished our dinner the kids were fast asleep.
After cleaning up we also stretched on a single blanket laid on the ground inside the tent.
Before long we were also out and gone. It rained early morning and we woke up to fresh air and beautiful landscape. Each one rushed to the near by rivulet of water to freshen up and to answer the natures call. Piping hot black tea was waiting for us at the camp when we came back.

In a short while we had to take leave of our warm hearted hosts, keeping with their tradition Damu offered us beetle leaves as a token of friendship, chewing on the beetle leaves we took off on our HIKE to the near by hill.

Raju was alredy thinking of spending another night at the spot, but Sachin had to return home and procced to Mumbai to keep the appointment with the visa authority.

On our way out we noticed a horse and colt tied to a tree near the tent (we had missed this last evening), the horse carries all the belongings when the dhangars are on the move.

We must return to the same spot , same time next year to honor the Invitation Of the Dhangar.

Face It

No two faces are the same, but the reflection of inner turbulence is the same on all the faces, I created a series of faces when I began clay modeling some four years ago, all the faces have different physical features but they reflect the feelings with which a lot of visitors to my studio have identified with.
I was quite surprised with the reaction of these people and how they could identify with the exact state of mind the face represented. I created some ten odd faces and then moved on to create some abstracted animal forms