வாழ்க தமிழ்!!! வளர்க தமிழ்!!!

This is the season in which the International Tamil Conference is taking place and I thought "why not talk about that?". Everybody is talking, so I would also like to talk about it. I'm not a person who talks pure Tamil (துய தமிழ் ). Not a lot of people do that. But that doesn't mean that I don't have love for the language.

நன்றி கடன் கவிதை

அடுத்த பிறவியில்
எனக்கு மகளாக
என் தாய்..........

Kavithai, which is about Gratitude in Tamil!!

Love for the language is different from using it. If a language is spoken only in certain parts of the world, it doesn't mean that the language is dying, but it means that the language is difficult for people to use. Less usage doesn't reduce shining of the real language. It is that the greatness is not exposed, but for the language it remains the same.

It becomes the greatness of the language. Speaking the language itself becomes an art. If everybody can practice the art then it is not good for the art. The greatness starts diminishing. It becomes a common affair. People won't admire. It loses its importance. Tamil is just a language like that. It is not possible for everybody to do that. (Of course it is with a little bit more of effort in learning it).

There is nothing like, one language is better than the other. Every language demands the same amount of respect that another language does. After all, we use languages just for the sake of expressing our feelings to others. It has got nothing to do with the growth. Languages always remain the same.

There is no need for any international conferences, for making a language grow and even if we have one, the focus should be on the language rather than the praising of someone or making a sarcastic note about others. Mere decoration of the city doesn't mean that there is a lot of contribution done towards the language. There is no point, when all of the speakers in a conference speak only about how the conference was organised or praise the efforts of the organiser. Where does the growth part come in here?

"அளவுக்கு மீறினால் அமிர்தமும் நஞ்சு."

Especially a language with so much of vocabulary, so much of literary work, so much of history behind, so much of poetic works, needs no marketing. The language will market itself. The language is just a medium.

More number of language a person learns, more will be the level of his confidence. Usage will not decide anything about the language. Anyway it is important for people to encourage the usage if it is used but it should not be forced to be used. It is the fundamental right of everybody to decide which language to use. No body can take control over that.
Tamil has got something unique. First thing is, it is an old language. Second, it increases the confidence of a person just like other languages. Third is, when one is able to learn Tamil and speak in it fluently, he can learn any language, because Tamil is a language which is difficult to learn. So it is an added feature that Tamilians can learn other language easily.

It may be an official language in only three countries, but it has got a greatness that will be spoken by generations to come. Tamil will not die. It will only grow.I may not know the full literature of Tamil, I know that the language is sweet and it is unique and differs a lot from other languages.

அகர முதல எழுத்தெல்லாம் ஆதி
பகவன் முதற்றே உலகு

'A' leads the letters just as the First Lord
leads and lords the entire world.

This is the first couplet of Tirukkural with meaning!!

There is nothing that can be compared to the Thirukkural of Thiruvalluvar. All the principles a man should follow are dictated by the book. Having got translated into a lot of other language versions, the book is considered to be the greatest contribution of all times. There are so many books like the Thirupugzhal, Tholkappiam, Kundalakesi, Agananooru, Puranaanooru, Kamba Ramayanam, Iniyavai Narpathu, Pazhamozhi Nanuru, Cilapathikaaram and a lot of others, all these tell about how a man should live.

உலகம் மூன்றும் ஒருங்குடன் ஏத்துமாண்
திலகம் ஆய திறல் அறி வன் அடி
வழுவில் நெஞ்சொடு வாலிதின் ஆற்றவும்
தொழுவல் தொல்வினை நீங்குக என்று யான்.

The first verse of Valayapathi !! Invocation of God!!

A blog that I found on Thirukkural
http://valluvam-in-english.blogspot.com/

There is a strong inner feeling when we say "என் தாய் மொழி என் தமிழ் மொழி". That is the feeling that makes the language "GREAT". The ultimate greatness lies in the feeling that every one has. Tamil has got life till this feeling stays in every one.

"வாழ்க தமிழ்!!! வளர்க தமிழ்!!!"

-SATZ

My inspiration and idol !!

He has been everything in life. A soldier, a motorbike racer, a herpetologist, a writer, a wildlife photographer and I don't know what else this man has got in his bag. His name is "Austin Stevens". What is big about this guy?I'll tell you who he is.

About Austin:

Austin Stevens, born in Pretoria, South Africa, is a wildlife photographer and a renowned herpetologist, known for his snake documentaries throughout the world. He is considered to be one of the world's most daring wildlife presenters, risking his life on numerous occasions for his work.

Austin Stevens, the man himself in front of you!!

He had an interest for snakes right from the age of 12, when we would have gone 50 meters back at least after seeing one. He started to handle snakes without any problem from that age itself. He had the most exotic collection of reptiles and a collection of some venomous snakes at the end of his schooling.

Austin was in the army till his thirties. His mom died when he was in his thirties because she lost a lung in a car accident as a girl. His father had a typewriter repair business. Austin got into bike racing after leaving the army. Austin got heavily into motorbikes and motorbike gangs and spent years riding around being a self described "Hell's Satan". He gave up the world of motorbikes in 1974 after a disastrous near fatal accident during a race. Austin took up the position as curator of reptiles at the Transvaal Snake Park, where he spent the six years undergoing hands-on training to become a fully qualified herpetologist.

Austin's record:

Austin set a record by spending 107 days and nights in a cage with 36 of the most venomous and dangerous snakes in Africa. On the 96th day, he was bitten by a cobra, but to many people's amazement he refused to leave the cage and was instead treated in the cage. Although he was very sick at that time, Austin completed the 107 days and beat the existing Guinness World Record (documented in the Guinness Book of Animal Records). This world record has never been duplicated or broken, though there have been a number of other attempts at similar records (records attempted with different conditions and snakes to Austin's record.)
I can tell a lot about his life. But the real thing that fascinated me is as follows.

What a man he is?

The real thing that made me admire him is the determination he's got to achieve something incredible. The passion for his profession. Whatever it may be he'll go in search for the snakes and click a photo of it and with it. The knowledge required for a herpetologist is enormous. The data needed before handling a reptile is huge. He should do a thorough analysis of the behaviour of the species before nearing it. It is because it is a question of life for him. Any feature of the snake if not known or technique of handling is not known puts his life in a state of bother. He is totally ready for handling any kind of snake at any time.

Tackling a green anaconda by falling into the water!!

So the first thing that fascinated me is the knowledge that he has got about his reptiles. There are so many species of snakes and he remembers the behaviour of every snake.

Determination:

I would say this hundred times, but at the age of 58 if that man can fall from great heights after seeing a snake in the water then, I would say, there is no doubt that this man is determination personified. It is so difficult to go to the forest and do all these by risking one's life. He would not be lazy. He would not stop. He has tremendous endurance. Stamina is amazing. His concentration is perfect, thanks to the martial arts that he practices daily especially nunchaku. He claims it keeps his reflexes heightened when working with venomous snakes.

Austin Stevens with a giant king cobra!! The concentration that he's got is amazing

Belief of herpetologists:

There is a belief for herpetologists. They will never hurt a snake even if it bites. They believe that the snake will strike only if they are provoked. Otherwise it will be friendly.

Stevens handling Rattle snake carefully!!

You can see Austin carefully handling a venomous rattle snake, with hyper-dermic needle in its fangs and its venom full of neurotoxins capable of killing a man in seconds.

Austin believes that if he can make the snake feel that he is no danger for it he can make the snake calm in seconds and get it under his control.This technique works for him with any snake.

At the age of 60 years, Austin is fit and healthy to do all kind of adventures and expose to the world, the types of snakes that it has got. His passion is what is shown through his adventures. He has been bit by three snakes but the love he shows for them is amazing.

Costa Rican Golden Eyelash Viper!! One of the best found by Austin Stevens

I, at last, want to be passionate about my profession as Austin Stevens is about his profession. He makes it so easy to look but it is not really easy for him. He has put in so much of effort to make it look easy. He has to forget about his food and other stuff. No proper food. No nice place to sleep. No nice place to live in. Not so much of luxury but still he finds it interesting at the end of the day. He feels happy after touching the head of a Giant King Cobra. He says that he wanted to do that all his life. This is called "ATTITUDE TOWARDS THE PROFESSION". This is where he becomes my inspiration and idol. A tutor who admires the creation of god without changing the natural state of any of the being around him.His job is simple for him. He has to safeguard the snakes by separating them from human turf. He takes out the venom of dangerous snakes and gives it out to the hospitals for preparing anti venom. Thereby he is saving both the people and the snakes.

-SATZ

A trip to Vellingiri!!

It was the evening of 31st of May when we suddenly, at the drop of a hat, decided to go to Vellingiri. A place belonging to the God of Destruction, Shiva. It was 7 pm when we started our journey to Poondi temple. It was a road with no lights and it was on one side very dangerous and exciting. So the right word to put is, we were 'pumped up'.We reached the temple and from there it was an awesome 18 km journey to the top of the hill and back to the temple. We started out with minimum amount of resources(most of us didn't even take our sweaters).We were a group of 6 friends and set out to the forest. Normally, it would be crowded on the day of full moon. So we decided to set out at an odd time. We reached the temple at around 8:30 in the night and started to trek after buying sticks for each of us. At the beginning, we made fun of the sticks that we bought, but it proved out to be something important for us at the end as the terrain was too steep and slippery.

At around 9:15pm we reached the second stage of the mountain and we were hungry. So stopped at a place were there was a stream of water coming right from the top of the hill, after traveling through the rocks. This water is called as sunai(சுனை)or ootru (ஊற்று) colloquially.

Sunai(சுனை)or Ootru (ஊற்று)-Indicated as Sivaneer(சிவநீர் )

We stopped there and had our dinner. The water from the sunai was as fresh as it can be. It was natural and cool.To get water of this state we need to spend a lot of power for purifying and cooling. But it was available for us through nature itself. With a torch, which we had to crank for power, in hand we started the journey to the top of the hill consisting of 7 stages. The first three stages were full of steep steps. We heard the sound of animals like that of the wild boar, in the middle of the first three stages. We were afraid a bit, but we had a guy in our group who was howling in order to drive off those animals. In fact the howling of his was more threatening than to that of wild animals. The fourth and the fifth stages had no difference, two having the same kind of terrain more or less.

The third stage of the mountain!!

As we reached the fourth stage, we started to experience a cool wind rushing through our bodies and we forgot all the tiredness. The air had enough capacity to absorb a lot of moisture from our bodies which made us comfortable. But as we progressed to the fifth stage the wind started becoming more cold. We needed more clothes than what we had. We sat, then and there, because the terrain was so steep that we had to wait for a moment. But as we sat, we took a look at the beautiful Coimbatore city with all lights of the city lit up at the night. Now as we started to ascend the mountain it was too cold and the city below was getting clear indicating that we were closing in to the top of the mountain. As we reached the fifth stage, the moon guided us, making the presence of torch absurd. We met three people, who started before us and stopped at the fifth stage. They told us that at the end of sixth stage there would be a tent made by Isha yoga group. So we decided to go till that tent and take some rest to witness the sunrise in the morning. After a chat of half an hour about their whereabouts and after showing our candid characters, we started to move towards the sixth stage. I felt like I lost 2 pounds already :). The sixth stage was plain for a moment and started to descend. It started becoming so steep that we had to use our sticks to avoid falling from such a height. The last thing that we needed was to take a person through the path we traveled a few hours ago. We could not even imagine how we came till this stage. It was really a perilous journey. Then we stopped at a place which we misconceived as the Isha yoga tent and suffered the whole night with cold winds blowing and with no bed spread or any sweaters.

The tent that we missed!!

When we woke up in the morning and started to travel we realised that it was not the Isha yoga tent in which we were sleeping but a tea shop. Just a walk of 1 min would have led us to the tent which was fully covered with no space for the wind to enter. We felt bad for having missed a comfortable lodging .
In the middle we noticed that even in that hill there was too much of littering. People coming there put their cups and other plastic items there itself. We thought of cleaning it up but it was little impractical for us we didn't have time as well as proper bags to put in. We made sure not to litter up anywhere. You can take a look at the picture below.

Full of plastic wrappers and cups!!Why do we do this?

Then we started to the top of the hill and the seventh stage was the toughest of them all. It was so steep. We thought of reaching the top before sunrise but unfortunately we were able to reach it only after the sunrise.

The sun rose before we reached the top!! This is what we could get

But anyway we reached the top. Once we reached the top, it was a view that we won't forget for a long time to come. It was amazing to see the sunrise. Though I thought that we could have seen it much clearly from the terrace of my house, it was something that is not easy to get. Mountains all around you and the city in the middle. It was truly amazing.

We went to the temple at the top, which was a cave. Then after having been for half an hour at the top, decided to start our descent. We started taking pictures only after we reached the top. We then slowly but steadily continued our descent. We reached the third mountain and as we came down we wondered how we had come through this path. It was treacherous indeed.

This is the sixth stage. It is called the Vibhoodhi malai(விபூதி மலை )

But the fun we had was unlimited. We were having this great feeling of having achieved something. We continued to come down and we at last somehow reached the second stage. Our knees were already tired and it needed a lot of rest. The stick made us look like old people but it was quite a support. At last we were able to see the temple and we were like " Ah, this is wonderful!!"

"Ah, this is wonderful!!" The temple at the bottom.

We somehow came down and reached our house. For two days our legs were unmovable. Then slowly we recovered. But the memories of the journey will remain forever. It is something quite nice to remember. At last we reached our homes safely after a thrilling journey in the afternoon of the 1st of June.

Possible solutions for the warming problem

It would not be nice of me if I don't tell the possible solutions after telling the problem. So it is time for us to look on the things that we can possibly follow so as to mitigate the effects of warming. We can only mitigate global warming and we cannot eliminate it completely. Half of the destruction has already been done. It is time to safeguard ourselves. A commonly cited goal is to stabilize greenhouse gas(GHG) concentrations around 450-550 parts per million (ppm), or about twice pre-industrial levels. This is the point at which many believe the most damaging impacts of climate change can be avoided.According to the IPCC, we'd have to reduce GHG emissions by 50% to 80% of what they're on track to be in the next century to reach this level.

Depending on our choices, scientists predict that the Earth could eventually warm by as little as 2.5 degrees or as much as 10 degrees Fahrenheit.

Individual's attention towards mitigation:

If we people are sensible enough , we can do it by reducing our own carbon footprint. We should all become aware of the real situation in this case to act.We have to think and be conscious about the amount of energy we waste in our everyday lives. Take for example the electrical appliances we use. We won't be using them but still it will be connected to the power supply. This is called as the "Vampire mode".

Unplug your laptop's AC adapters when it's not in use. If left plugged in, the transformer in the adapter draws power continuously, even when the laptop is not connected to the adapter. If we don't put them in this mode we can save so much of power each year. A small change in everybody's daily life can bring about a huge change. Replacing incandescent bulbs by compact fluorescent bulbs we can reduce the amount of energy that we use in a year and also save a lot of money.

The second method is by planting a lot of trees and doing something called as carbon sequestration. This is something that is known to a lot of people. It is planting a lot of trees so that it absorbs all the carbon in the atmosphere for its photosynthesis there by "sequestering" carbon as it grows. Each tree can absorb nearly 1 tonne of carbon in 100 years.

By using more mass transportation systems rather than own vehicles, we can save upto $7000 a year for a person in the US.

New techniques being developed:

The scientists have come up with a unique method to fight the global warming.
The method includes firing trillions of mirrors in to the space to deflect the sun's rays forming a 100,000 square mile 'sun shade'. As told by astronomer Dr Roger Angel, at the University of Arizona, the mirrors would have to be fired one million miles above the earth using a huge cannon with a barrel of 0.6 miles across.The gun is 100 times more powerful than the conventional weapons and need an exclusion zone of several miles before being fired. The coast of the entire execution will amount to 350 trillion dollars, this is one of the other major setbacks faced by the project.

A group of scientists in Bangalore came up with the idea of spraying a type of aerosol which would cool down the earth. But the practicality of such an idea is under research and is being done.

Fuel economy increase:

One of the leading pre-treatment companies is CoalTek. The firm reduces the moisture content in coal to optimize plant efficiency and make the coal "cleaner" before combustion.
Novomer, a competitor to CoalTek, is a green chemistry company using carbon dioxide as an ingredient for a chemical process that produces uniform polymers, plastics and other chemicals. Its goal is to turn these materials into green environmentally friendly materials. Dow Chemical Company is another actor in this field. And there is also Microcoal, which process cleans up coal pre-combustion by basically microwaving it.

Development of fuel efficient vehicles and use of hybrid vehicles should increase so that dependency on the fossil fuels decreases considerably. If we make our cars more efficient over the next ten years, we'll cut global warming pollution by more than 350 million metric tons and save 2 million barrels of oil a day.

Research on the development of a nuclear fusion reactor which can produce huge amount of energy is being done.
Dependency on the unconventional resources of energy such as solar, wind, geothermal hydrogen produced from renewable sources, biofuels (produced from crops), natural gas, and nuclear power should increase, though these are not the perfect solutions. These are good options when compared to the conventional fossil fuels.

An idea of mine:

A weird idea, but people in some countries are trying to do it. Energy from lightning. Yes. It may become a reality one day. You never know.
Recycling and reducing of waste would mean a lot for reducing its effect.

Already people around the world have started to make some progress in reducing the effects. The jerseys of players in world cup foot ball 2010 is made up only of recycled waste. Things like this should atleast motivate us to think and act to save this planet.

There is a lot more that you can do to reduce the GHG and hence the effects of warming. They are in the following link.
http://www.bakersfield.com/news/local/x117684952/Save-the-planet

"Let's make it a better place to live in"

-SATZ

Global warming- It is a warning!!!

This is not something new for us. We've been following this for a long time and have been experiencing its effect globally. There is no need to define this term. It is all already happening in front of us. The following picture gives us the indication of what we've done for so many years.

The first picture is how it is today and the bottom one show how it was during 1956. There is a huge difference. People ask "What's the big deal in the glaciers' melting?" sometimes. There is a huge deal in fact. Billions of lives depend on the fresh water from the glaciers in the name of rivers like the Ganges. After all the only source for fresh water is the Himalayan glaciers for 3 countries namely India, Nepal and China. Himalayan glacier is the only fresh water source other than the Polar Ice caps.

There is a term called carbon space that should be noted, when we talk about emissions. Carbon space is the amount of carbon that we can emit, so that even after the emissions there will be no difference in the global temperatures. We can, actually emit a certain level of carbon by still maintaining the temperature of our planet. Normally, the carbon range can be around 250 ppm to 450 ppm. We will have temperatures changing only when it is either below or above this level. If we have it less than 250 ppm, then we will have lower temperatures. If we have the emission levels less than 450ppm, then we will have to face a temperature rise. So it is safe to keep it to 350 ppm.

There is a percentage of carbon space given to each country according to the growth of the country. It is said that nearly 83% of the carbon space is being provided to the Annex-I countries(developed countries), in which nearly 29% of the carbon space is provided to the United States. The rest of it is divided among the other Annex-I countries. So a country with just roughly 5% of the world population is given with so much of carbon space.
Now in the rest of the 17% is shared among the developing and the third rate countries. In that nearly 12% is allotted to the developing countries. Of that 5% is allotted to India, which is a developing country with a growing economy and nearly 17% of the world's population. It is logical that more the population, more the emission in the form of carbon footprint. Developed nations are having a good time in their country and the developing and the third rate countries are the victims of global warming. We're the victims for what we've not done. It is first going to affect the poor nations. What did they do to face such a pathetic state? India is now emitting 386ppm roughly. India can certainly bring it down to 350ppm through political regulations.
What can the developed countries do?
Can they stop their growth and allow other countries to grow? A question that needs an answer quickly.

Our planet is just 0.8 degree Celsius warmer. But it is not far for our planet to reach a 2 degree Celsius raise. A 4 degree raise would make the sea levels rise. Bangaladesh would not be there in the world map. Venice will submerge in water. America's financial capital, the New York city would be in water. There will be floods. Africa would become desert without a single forest. A 6 degree Celsius raise would mean that our planet's geography will be changed. As you can see in the above figure. This is what is going to happen to us in another 100 years. We can't even imagine the weather patterns of the world. It would be extreme. Something which we are not yet ready for. Environmentalists say that we'll have extreme drought and extreme flood conditions because of temperature rise. The fact about global warming is that all the effects occurs suddenly without a warning.Just like the 2004 tsunami that hit the coastal areas of Sumatra,Andamanand India, storms like the Katrina, Rita, Laila, Phet, the floods in Orissa, the 2005 drought of Africa, the forest fires of Africa in the same year, etc. There will be mass destruction.
We live here. We use everything. So it is out duty to put everything in its place before going. It is still not too late. What we need to do is efficient planning. A plan that will comprise of a new technology implementation. A technology to replenish whatever we had, in a better way. It is a matter of being conscious about what we're doing. Cutting of individual carbon footprint would help in reducing it globally. We've got to make sure that we use fuel in an efficient manner by developing fuel efficient vehicles. People say that we need 2 million wind turbines to replace the coal powered plants of the world. But is wind the ultimate solution for energy? Is it really greener as they say? It is up to the engineers to make it happen. Develop new and good products. Plant trees. Adopt green technologies. Develop new green technologies and safe guard the planet. Saving this planet is our duty. It is like repaying for what we've had in our lives.

"Let's make it a better place to live in!!"

-SATZ

High aim- How high should it be??

I'm not being philosophical, but it is important when it comes to the society as a whole. It needs people with high aims. Makes the whole society civilized. Thoughts become matured. People will start becoming open minded.

What is a high aim? It is nothing but learning continuously. Honing the skills that we have. Replenishing the interest in a field. Having our cup, always empty. A thirst to know something always.Having the curiosity to grasp in anything that we're interested in and thereby doing good to the field and as well as doing justice to our potential that we are given with. There is no saturation point for a person having high aims. A person having high aims will be happy. He/She will be happy because there is continuous growth personally. Confidence increases simultaneously, which naturally makes them happy. It is about knowing the world. It is to have real happiness at the end. It is not about awards, not about getting famous, not about having money, not about owning a flat or a ferrari, but it is about learning and giving what has been acquired. It is about "striking a balance between our personal, professional and social lives". People need the following:

• Good salary
• Good house to live in.
• Good wife.

I won't entirely tell that these are not important. Of course this is what we need. But this should not be the aim. This is something that should come on their own. What is important is the work that we do. I would say a person having completed his/her undergrad should not stop with that by assuming a saturation point but to move forward and do his/her PG and even research. I'll tell why. The person doing undergrad stops after having shone in their undergrad. End up in a company doing a work which involves low level creativity.Settle down in life. There is no free flow of thoughts. It is about doing the same thing everyday. The potential that each one has got ends there.

In fact, anyone can do the undergrad. But to go on and contribute something to the field is something everybody can't do. But if everybody starts exploring their potential it is something that can help the society as a whole. There is a necessity for people to know the real meaning of happiness. It is about who rises the bar. It is about who takes the field a level higher. Challenge is only that. For that people should start thinking on their own. Or what I call "Having a high aim".

The field dies down just like that when people only focus on adding a degree to their name or adding a degree so that their marriage profile becomes good. It has to be taken seriously because it is time we focus on the global problems, bring about development.Time to take a step forward. Think magnanimously. If we have something that can change this world there is a need for us to act at the right moment. It is like setting a target for ourselves and achieving that for the good of others and for us. It is serious, but it depends on how we take it.

-SATZ