Are we really committing suicide…?

It is this movie named ‘The 11th Hour’; created, produced and narrated by Academy Award winning actor Leonardo DiCaprio that made me write this.

Well, this feature film documentary is all about the grave problems faced by planet earth's life systems. Global warming, deforestation, mass species extinction, and depletion of the oceans' habitats are all addressed. The film's premise is that the future of humanity is in jeopardy. 11th Hour features contributions from over 50 of the world's most prominent thinkers and activists, including former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, physicist Stephen Hawking, Nobel Prize winner Wangari Maathai, and journalist Paul Hawken.

After watching this 1½ hour documentary, I just sat back and thought for a moment. In fact I was forced to think about the current condition of planet earth, our only home..!!! My mind was crammed with numerous questions; like are we really committing suicide…? What is this entire business of global warming, climate change, melting of the polar ice sheets, extinction of species etc all about…? Do we really need to think and act up on this..??

Well the answer given by world’s most eminent scientists and activists is ‘Yes’. It is high time we act rather than think to mitigate these catastrophic threats that would wipe out human race along with millions of other species, from the face of planet earth forever.

Now, I was curious about these terms like ‘Global Warming’, ‘Climate Change’, and ‘Warming of the oceans’ etc. I wanted to understand the meaning of these terms, both technically and generally. So, as any other layman, I relied up on Google. You would find a many of the below points and explanations if you do a google search.

Global Warming: - It is the increase in the average temperature of the Earth's near-surface air and oceans since the mid-twentieth century, and its projected continuation.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) concludes "most of the observed increase in globally averaged temperatures since the mid-twentieth century is very likely due to the observed increase in anthropogenic (man-made) greenhouse gas concentrations" via an enhanced greenhouse effect.

This figure shows the difference in instrumentally determined surface temperatures between the period January 1995 through December 2004 and "normal" temperatures at the same locations, defined to be the average over the interval January 1940 to December 1980. (Image courtesy of Robert A. Rohde.)

In simple terms, the earth where in we live (actually, the only place where we can live as of now) is getting warmer. Yeah, I feel it is very much true because the number of people saying “it’s damn hot out there” has increased in recent times.













These images show Mount Hood in Oregon at the same time in late summer in 1985 and 2002 and Argentina's Upsala Glacier was once the biggest in South America, but it is now disappearing at a rate of 200 meters per year.

Climate Change: - Any long-term significant change in the “average weather” that a given region experiences is referred to as Climate Change. Average weather may include average temperature, precipitation and wind patterns. It involves changes in the variability or average state of the atmosphere over durations ranging from decades to millions of years. These changes can be caused by dynamic process on Earth, external forces including variations in sunlight intensity, and more recently by human activities.

This refers to the irregularities in the pattern of weather observed over a period of time. This is also true because I have observed in my village in Kerala that it rains cats and dogs one day and then the next day you just can’t step out of your home coz it is scorching hot outside.

Ocean Warming: - Observations show that the oceans have been heating up since 1975. Climate and ocean experts now agree on the cause of the temperature rise — human-produced global warming.
Scientific community now has reached a consensus that ocean surface temperatures worldwide have risen on average 0.9 degrees Fahrenheit, or 0.5 degrees Celsius, and ocean waters in many tropical regions have risen by almost 2 degrees F (1 degree C) over the past century. This is 30 times the amount of heat that has been added to the atmosphere, a significant amount even though the ocean has a lot more mass than the atmosphere.
One ground-breaking study about the relationship between oceans and the climate, published in the April 28, 2005 issue of the journal Science goes a long way in laying to rest the arguments that atmospheric warming is caused by anything other than manmade greenhouse gases accumulating in the atmosphere.



The Western Pacific Warm Pool, which lies northeast of Australia, contains some of the warmest ocean waters in the world. Water temperatures in the warm pool have risen less than elsewhere in the tropics, which may explain why reefs there have experienced less coral bleaching.

Melting and calving of polar ice in the Arctic, Greenland and possibly Antarctica leading to rapidly increased sea level rise (think 15 rather than 3 feet) and accelerated global warming.

So, we have got problems in the oceans too…!!!

Now, what on earth (!!!) are we going to do…? We have brutally murdered our atmosphere, ecosystem / life system and oceans!!! Where is the ‘promised land’ for us now…? Where are we gonna go…?
Well, yeah one answer to these questions is a long sigh… Not exactly, in fact there are a few angles for one’s response towards these problems. First, one can just sit back and feel that “Oh yeah, the world is gonna end... why should I care…? I aint gonna live for ever…!
Second, just being worried that why others (not you) are doing this..? Why can’t they do something to avoid this calamity…? Why the people are not bothered even now…? Literally just being worried for the sake of it.
And, then the pragmatic angle of being subjective. Thinking what can I do…? Even if it is very minute, that may look or sound immaterial. Well, I prefer to be on this side because being on either of the other sides is just senseless.

Now since we know that we have got a problem, let’s think of a solution. I believe our houses are the best places to start with.

A lot of ideas have been floated to prevent global warming, like turn the TV off, switch the lights off, walk to the shop, and buy a hybrid / greener car etc. Yeah, you may doubt if all these little things really matters? Or do we need to put pressure on the corporations / organizations, where the real emissions are coming from. Of course yes, we need to do all the little things ourselves along with putting pressure from the public and governments on large companies and corporations.

Learning how to prevent global warming in your on home is simple. The first thing for you to do is to understand which areas you should focus on the most. According to the EIA (Environmental Impact Assessment) report, about 72% of electricity is generated by burning of fossil fuel, and burning of fossil fuel emits greenhouse gases. Therefore, saving the use of electricity can lessen the contribution to global warming.

Well, below are a few things one can do to prevent global warming at home / daily life:

• Use rechargeable batteries
Four rechargeable A alkaline batteries can reduce the need to buy and dispose of roughly one hundred conventional batteries.

• Avoid printing ATM receipts
Avoid printing ATM receipts: You can conserve so much paper. Even if everyone just in the US refused their receipts, it would save a roll of paper more than two billion feet long or enough to circle the equator fifteen times!

• Opt for carpooling
Carpool (An arrangement among a group of automobile owners by which each owner in turn drives the others or their children to and from a designated place) and save fuel, time and money. If an average commuter opts for carpooling everyday, he or she would save hundreds of liters of fuel and Kgs of poisonous exhaust emissions every year.

• Pack a waste free lunch for work
Pack a waste free lunch. Eliminate plastic bags, plastic utensils, disposable containers, paper napkins…instead use cloth napkins, reusable lunch boxes and drink containers.

• Use both sides of paper
While printing or copying use both sides of the plain paper and recycle. Every ton of paper that is recycled saves approximately 17 trees.

• Say no to plastics
Use fewer plastic bags, utensils, containers etc. By reducing plastic bag consumption by just two bags per week, you will throw away at last one hundred fewer bags per year. Plastic bags create litter, choke marine life and add to landfill waste. According to Planet Ark, an international environmental group, about 100,000 whales, seals, turtles and other marine animals are killed worldwide by plastic bags each year.

• Harness solar energy
Each day, more solar energy falls to the earth than the total amount of energy that the planet’s 6.6 billion human inhabitants would consume in 27 years! Currently, we harness only about 1 percent of the sun’s energy. Look into installing solar water heaters. You will be able to save in energy costs.

• Use power saving lights
Replace conventional incandescent light bulbs with compact fluorescent light bulbs. For each 27 watt compact fluorescent light bulb you will get carbon emissions savings of approx 70 Kgs per year and also save on your electric bill.

• Unplug your TV when it’s not in use
Unplug your TV & other electrical gadgets at home when it’s not in use. You will save money and energy. Between 10 and 15 percent of a TV’s energy is still used when it’s powered off.

• Limit purchase of canned food
Try to limit purchase of canned food. The process involved with canning food is at least ten times more energy intensive than picking fresh fruits or vegetables.

Let’s join hands to save planet earth. After all, we are saving ourselves....!!!

B R Hills, The Green Haven.

Our thrilling trip to Wayanad inspired a lot of our friends (colleagues) and all were saying “call me also next time yaar”. Seeing this overwhelming request, I thought of forming a riders’ club and shared the thought with the group. All were absolutely interested and we decided to fix a name for the club. Guys came up with a lot of names and we selected the one which got maximum vote and that is ‘Road Burners’.

Club toh banaliya, ab jaana kahan hain yaar..?? This was the question in everybody’s mind. We thought of a lot of places like Masnagudi, Nandi Hills etc. We used to discuss about these places and then somehow after a few days we used to just forget that we were planning our trip.

One day I was speaking with my friend Manish in the smoking zone of our office. He had been to almost all places in and around Mysore. And during our talk he spoke about B R Hills; and there it is, seemed like this is the place we wanted to visit. Even Manish has not gone there but he enquired with his friends and told me that this is a beautiful place and the ride would also be interesting.

Okay, now that we are sure about the place, fixing a date for the ride would be a problem because most of the members are new and will have to adjust their shifts. So, in order to see the response, I send out a mail communication stating that the ride would be on 17th of May ’08. As I expected the response from most of the members was naah... can u postpone it to 24th ... Well, we needed maximum participation and considering the members’ convenience the ride was postponed to 24th May ’08.

As usual the plan was to meet at Gokulam at sharp 6:00 Am and finally started at 7:00 Am yet again. But this time we had a problem in the number of bikes we had coz there were some last minute entries. In fact Manish was planning to come along with his friends from Bangalore in their car but his friends didn’t turn up. So, we had to pull one more bike and Nekash took his Bull out. And then, Road Burners started their first one-day ride after forming the club from Mysore to B R Hills on 24th May ’08. All of us but Mridul and Shinto stopped at the fuel station in Vontikkoppal to feed the ever hungry bellies of our machines. We started riding towards the high-way but didn’t find Mridul and Shinto where they were supposed to wait. As usual many of us took out the mobiles and started calling them and finally they arrived. In the meantime we clicked some snaps as well.

Initially our plan was to follow the route Mysore – Nanjangud - Chamaraja Nagar - K.Gudi - B.R.Hills. But as we travelled, we took the other route via Yelandur. Compared to the other route, the road is not so good from Nanjuangud. We stopped at a small roadside teashop in Yelandur for breakfast and proceeded towards BR Hills situated at a distance of 24 Km from Yelandur. We reached BR Hills check point at 10:30 Am where we had to enter our motorcycle registration numbers. And yeah, the guard out there took some money as well ;-).









The Biligiriranga Hills, commonly called B R Hills, is a hill range situated in south-eastern Karnataka, at its border with Tamil Nadu in South India. The area is called Biligiriranga Swamy Temple Wildlife Sanctuary or simply BRT Wildlife Sanctuary. The hills are in the Yelandur and Kollegal Taluks of Chamarajanagar District of Karnataka contiguous with the Satyamangalam range southwards, in the Erode District of Tamil Nadu. The hills that give the range its name are situated 90 km from Mysore and 180 km from Bangalore.

The ride through the forest was really amazing. The lovely greenery and beautiful silence of the forest was incredible; and the only sound that broke this silence was the thumping of our machines. There were a few vehicles crossing the forest but the traffic was equal to nil. As we rode up, the forest was getting more thick and beautiful. We stopped at a place from where we could see the nearby hills and was photogenic. Clicked some snaps from here and Ashish was running around asking for a ‘single’ shot... ;-). We moved on further up and finally reached at the entrance of the temple.

The hills are famous for the temple of Lord Ranganatha. The local form of the deity is called Biligiriranga and is depicted in a unique standing position. The Annual Car festival of the deity is famous in the region and attracts thousands of pilgrims from far and wide. The temple is situated on the 'white cliff' which gives the hill its name.

We rested there for some time and meanwhile Ashish, Mridul, Nekash and Shinto were busy clicking ‘single’ snaps… :-). We started climbing the steps leading to the temple and after reaching there we were just meandering here and there wonderstruck by the depths of the valleys. Numerous snaps were taken from here in all possible angles. Ashwin was giving all his best poses leaving me no time to take my eyes off the camera viewfinder. Some of us went for ‘darshan’ of the deity while others waited outside.


Since there was a lot of time left we discussed if we can go some where else from there. A lot of place names were floated, like Bandipur, MM Hills etc. Finally we decided to take the other route via K.Gudi & Chamaraja Nagar. As we travelled, we felt that we took the right decision because this is route is blessed with amazingly attractive scenery. Riding through the curves and climbs breathing freash forest air, we reached K. Gudi Jungle Loadges & Resortes.

Kyathadevara Gudi (K. Gudi) Wilderness Camp is a unique blend of a wildlife sanctuary and hill station. The resort is located in the heart of the BRT Sanctuary (B R Hills), on a hilly terrain at an altitude of 3300 ft., (to 5000 ft.,) above sea level. We enquired with guards about jungle safari and got the information that we needed to book prior to the visit. Anyway, since we hadn’t planned a jungle safari in our trip, we just roamed around the place for sometime clicking some snaps and then started moving further.

We travelled throught the serene forest oblivious to the outer world. Suddenly I saw that Ankur has stopped in the middle of the road and was observing something. As I approached I could see a green leaf like creature moving on the asphalt. It was a Chameleon with incredible looks. I took out my cam wasting no time and clicked some snaps before it could run away. But it was moving so slow that it seemed like it is injured. Anyway, since there was nothing much we could do for this poor fella, we left it by the road side. Later when we stopped for a break in the forest Ashish told that he ran over the poor creature thinking it was a leaf !!!

We were approaching Chamaraja Nagar and on the way we stopped near a sugarcane farm and had some juicy sugare cane. All were hungry and were sucking sugare canes to the maximum. One thing I’ve observed with the villagers is that they are not much bothered if we are taking a few canes from their harvest. They were like ‘take as much as you need’. Which I feel is the result of not being tarnished by mingling with city cultured people.

We reached Chamaraja Nagar at around 2:30 Pm from where we had solid lunch. All were in a mood to sleep and resumed our ride from there at around 4:00 Pm. On the way we stopped at a sunflower farm and took some snaps. We were planning to have a cup of coffee at Nanjangud but didn’t find the coffee shop we were looking for. Then we decided to have coffee from Gokulam and all started racing thinking that who’s gonna reach there first. And finally we reached back at Gokulam, Amruth Café at sharp 6:00 PM. Yet another expedition ended with beautiful memories and everlasting friednship...

In To The Hills And Streams Of Wayanad

After the 350+ KM long Coorg / Kodagu ride, my Bull was a bit tired creating some kind of a groaning noise reminding me to get it serviced. After Mr. Venkatesh's (my Mech.) magical hands worked on her, she was all set for the next expedition.

When I suggested Wayanad as the next destination, all were equally interested. I got all the information about the places we can visit in a day from our friend Nekash who's from Kalpetta in Wayanad district. We decided to visit Edakkal Caves and Sentinel Rock falls (a.k.a Soochippara Waeterfalls). Now, the only problem existed was to get everyone out of the office. The day being a Saturday helped a lot but still Vikram had to swap his shift with Rohan. Anyway, we ten guys (Me, Ajit, Amit, Ankur, Madhu, Mayank, Sujit, Vikram, Vishal and Zubair) and our five machines were absolutely ready to kick start.

The plan was to start early so that we can enjoy the early morning ride and the natural beauty to the fullest. So, we decided to start from Gokulam, Mysore at 6:00 AM on 6th April '08. As usual since everyone tried to be on time ;-), we all met at Amruth Cafe, Gokulam at 6:45 Am and had a cup of tea.

At 7:00 Am we started the one-day ride from Mysore to Wayanad on our motorcycles. After crossing the city limits we stopped at a fuel station to feed our machines. Then it was a non-stop ride until Gundalpet, where the road divides one towards Ooty and the other toward Kerala. The view of the green paddy fields and streams on the way was absolutely refreshing. The morning mist was still clinging on to the surface of the lakes. Madhu and Vishal were in a kind of race with their 220cc and 200cc Pulsars. It induced a kind of passion in everyone and all started accelerating. Ankur, as he said was still calm riding in 60-70Kmph, enjoying the ride to the very essence.

After reaching Gundalpet, it was time to feed our stomachs, so we stopped at a hotel and had breakfast. After filling our bellies with Idlys, Dosas and Pooris we again hit the high-way. Now it is a long ride until we reach Kerala border. We saw elephant herds while 'trespassing' their territory, the Muthanga Wildlife Sanctuary. The ride through the Sanctuary was simply mind-blowing, since there was less traffic and lush green trees on both sides of the road. We took few snaps when we reached the border check post. There is no particular checking at the check post, atleast not for two wheelers and we passed Sulthan Bathery at around 10:00 AM.

Sulthan Bathery (formerly called Ganapativatom) is a bordering town in Wayanad District. It derives its present name from Tipu Sultan of Mysore who built his battery (a battery is a unit of artillery guns, mortars, or rockets, so grouped in order to facilitate battlefield communication and command and control, as well as to provide dispersion) here in the 18th century, hence the name Sultan's Battery. Later, became Sulthan Bathery the Malayalam version of the name.

We confirmed the route to Edakkal Caves from the local people and started riding towards it. It is a 12 Kms ride from S.Bathery to Edakkal Caves. Edakkal Caves are two natural caves located 1000 meters high on Ambukuthy Mala in Wayanad district of Kerala in the Western Ghats. The name “Edakkal” literally means “a stone in between”, and this describes how the cave is formed by a heavy boulder straddling a crack in the rock.
As far as the history of the caves is concerned, Fred- Fawcett, the then superintendent of police of the Malabar District, happened to see a Neolithic Celt (stone axe or chisel) recovered from the coffee estate of Colin Mackenzie, on a hunting trip to Wayanad in 1890. An enthusiast in prehistory, Fawcett made local enquiries and went round exploring the Wayanad high ranges. In the course of his rambles he was shown the Edakkal rock-shelter situated on the western side of Edakkalmala. He identified the site as a habitat of Neolithic (i.e. late Stone Age, 4000BC to 1700BC) people on the basis of the nature of representations on the cave walls, which appeared to him as engravings made of Neolithic Celts. It was an exciting discovery, as these were the first specimens of abraded drawings found in India.

We reached there in half an hour and parked our motorcycles. Even though there is jeep service available for another 1/2 Km, we preferred to trek the entire 1 KM up to the apex. Most of us were gasping heavily, as we reached halfway near the ticket counter. After getting the tickets we started climbing again. There were a lot visitors on that day, most of them were techies from Bangalore. Since it is a narrow path up, the tourists getting stuck here and there was creating problem. Any how we got up till the caves and took some snaps. Earlier, I remember when I visited the caves as part of our school excursion; we were not allowed to take snaps inside the cave. Even now taking snaps with mobile phones are not allowed.

Now we had the most tiring and adventurous part of the entire trek. The trek path up to the summit after the Caves is so steep; that as we climbed up we were almost breathless. The number of people blocking our way gradually reduced, though we met people getting some rest here and there. And finally I reached there. Ankur and Vikram had already made it and Sujit arrived after sometime; then came Amit. After that no one turned up. The view from the top was awesome. The feeling of being on top of such a high hill and the aerial view of the surrounding places can't be described in words. We spent some time there clicking snaps in all possible angles. Ankur, as usual was just sitting there like a philosopher enjoying the wind and beauty of that place. Climbing down was kind of easy, but some of us still found it difficult. The trek was so tiring that when we reached the foot of the hill we were desperately searching for a place to just lie down and relax.

To recharge ourselves, we had some juices and soft drinks. Then again we hit the saddle by 2:00 PM. We had some confusion in the route to Sentinel Rock Waterfalls, but cleared the same from the auto drivers. This part of the ride is what I personally and I believe almost all of us enjoyed the most. The ride through the twists and turns of lush green tea plantations of Meppady is just fantastic. Took some snaps here as well. We took a wrong route just a few kilometers before the falls. Then, the local people showed us the correct route and we realized that we actually had to take a left. Though Ankur is slow and steady he knew the route and reached there first. We were waiting for him without realizing the fact that he is already there. Tried to call him but there was no signal. Anyway, we decided to move on and when we reached there we found him and Mayank sitting out there watching the ‘birds’ in water.

Locally known as Soochippara Waeterfalls, the Sentinel Rock falls is a very popular leisure destination 43 Kms away from S. Bathery. This is a three step water fall more than 200 mts in height. Framed by enchanting scenery, Soochippara falls can be reached by a scenic 2 Kms nature walk.

We took our motorcycles as near as possible to the falls because no one was in a condition to walk after such a long ride. Had a nice natural bathe in the falls and enjoyed the chilling water flowing through our tired body. After spending almost an hour in the falls, we left the falls and the beautiful places surrounding it and started off to Mysore. Reached back in Mysore at around 10:30 PM. All what we had in mind was to fill our stomachs and go to bed ASAP, thinking of going to office the next day… :- (