Cerebral Zephyr

It feels good to be back. Good to feel the zephyr that brushes against your face. And the fact that something somewhere is different. It sounds pretty vague isn't it? Sounds pretty, obscure. Well what the hell! This thought just flashed my mind….the thought that maybe we live in a meat grinder world. That we ought to rethink before we feel ourselves on the edge, waiting to be thrown over it. Waiting to be grinded to small obscure pieces of flesh that is not distinguishable from the rest. Ever seen the Pink Floyd video, "the Wall"? There is a particular frame that shows children coming out of the school building on a conveyor belt(All this setting resembling our industrial system) and falling into the meat grinder. The closing frame shows processed meat coming out of it endlessly. Has implications doesn't it?? Industrial Revolution was a revolution indeed, more of the devolution(The process of declining from a higher to a lower level of effective power or vitality or essential quality) kind. Sad isn't it? But worth a play of the cerebral nature. Think people and let me know. Yours, CerebralPlay

Recently we had a discussion in our institute that we must promote the usage of bicycles in our campus in order to cut down on the pollution that is being caused by the local rickshaws. So our senior batch has decided to purchase 4 bicycles for us to use. Now it remains to be seen how much of that shall be implemented.

However there is another underlying motive or reason behind using the ubiquitous bicycle (its widely used in Rural India, which comprises almost 70% of the nation), and the motive is to lessen our dependence on the automation that seems to be growing around us all the time. The senseless pursuit to save some ounces of time.

Our Institution being just on the edge of the town makes it more prudent for us to implement the bicycle solution because not only will it promote health but it shall also reduce to a certain minute extent our negative impact on the local environment.

The Handy Bicycle can be used as a tool for promoting sustainable development. For Statistics on Bicycle production and usage go to the link http://www.ibike.org/library/statistics.htm
The link gives all the details about the bicycle usage and other facts and figures. Also there is another site that talks about promoting the usage of bicycles as a part of its sustainable development. http://www.360ways.org/home/concept/sustainable_development/sdbike.htm

I will see you all next time, till then ………Yours cerebralplay.

Here's something I came across about E.F. Schumacher.

Ernst Friedrich ("Fritz&quot Schumacher was born in Germany in 1911, trained in economics and came to England as a Rhodes Scholar. Like many Germans living in Britain, he was interned for a time during World War II. Later, he was released to do farm work, an experience that strongly influenced his later work. While pursuing a career as a government economist (he was chief economic advisor for the National Coal Board for 20 years), he became involved in organic farming and in 1966 founded the Intermediate Technology Development Group, an organization that promotes small-scale technology tailored to the needs of developing countries. Schumacher died in 1977. More than any other single individual, he is responsible for popularizing the notion of "Appropriate Technology".

For more information visit the following links:
http://www.schumachersociety.org/

Schumacher!!

This isn't a tirade against the World famous Michael Schumacher. Nor is it one of his illustrious predecessors. This is a schumacher that needs particular mention. This is an entry dedicated to E.F Schumacher, who took the economist's point of view and tried to give it a turn around.

His most famous book, "Small is Beautiful" talks about the normal economist's point of view and then forces us to take a cerebral path and ruminate the hard facts that have all but disappeared from our thinking domain. He talks about the various issues and one of them is providing "Aid" to the so called developing nations.

Written in '71, the book handles a lot of issues that are relevant even today and truths that are bound to horrify us if taken in their full context. The idea is not be an extremist after reading but to make small changes that shall eventually change the world. read on and discover a whole new territory, waiting for your bold footsteps.

Recommended Chapters:
2 Million Villages
Buddhist Economics

Dear all,

Here's an interesting thought….what if you were told to stand and stare at the exhaust pipe of a vehicle? And the thought that would bother your gray cells at that moment would be this…Can I make any use of the smoke that is being spewed out? Can I change the by- product of this reckless consumption back to its original form? What are the implications of this burning?

The questions are myriad and can be fired from angles that can make us squirm, uncomfortable or to be more precise plain disgusted. This applies to all and every aspect of life. These questions that i applied to just one aspect can spawn many more that sound similar but only their context is different. Everywhere we go, or atleast we plan to go lead us to the same dead end of self induced extinction.

Interesting concept ain't it? But its scary all the same. We explore other planets, in a hope that once we run out of this beauty plane,t we can go elsewhere. Don't get me wrong, that's all fine and also appears glossy, but till then what?

Do we continue to squander and plunder this place? This article must be similar to the millions around the world dealing with the same issue. But to think of it, it shall be a pity if we don't live the words we so passionately punch in as keystrokes. The point I am making here is, lets not fly so high off the ground that we can't see the place to land.

Pity isn't it? Our levels of consumerism have reached such levels that we no longer seem to give two hoots to where we are headed. It'll be taken care of by science, we got technology to restore it all, thats whats the common refrain and argument. Yes, and its true to an extent. But to what extent, when the ground itself is washed away , where can you stand?

Where's the Terra Firma that made our previous generations have that intrinsic knowledge of nature? Where are the tribes that we call "uncivilized" lived in Harmony with mother earth, rather than molesting her mercilessly to extract that last pound of flesh?

We seldom weep for the people affected by natural calamities, or man induced environmental disasters. As long as it is not on/at our doorstep, our vision seems strangely impaired. Activism is for fools. It threatens the System.

What system are we talking about? The system that can barely withstand the fury of nature or the ecosystem that supports our very living? Taking up cudgels against our man-made systems is forbidden and if you are brave enough then your freedom is stifled and curtailed. Or to put it simply you are ridiculed.

People shed a tear or two, feel sad for sometime and move on…….

Sounds bleak doesn't it? Well thats the whole point.

yours,

Cerebral Play

Dear All,

Our system: these buildings, these factories, these units of production that spew elements unknown to nature. These units that are inanimate but are run by us humans so that their final goods appease and satisfy our continuos and burgeoning demands.

Such is our insensitivity that we laugh at people that talk about the ecology and nature. Looney brains, thats all we remark and go on about our business. Ecology classes are thought by people who have as yet never practised what they preach.

our life is surrounded by examples when we take the easier way out. no struggle, no hard work. pure brains. but this has come to such extents that our thinking is rather becoming our unbecoming. our actions are shrouded by such repitition that we no longer seem to see the other side of the river bank (so to speak).

We want to go somewhere, we whip out our car keys or motorcycle keys. We run over something, but its effect is pretty minimal over us. We just regret the action and by evening we are back again living our (so called) happy lives. Our intelligence has become that mechanical. We no longer think. We no longer are possessed by taking the bull by the horns and finally turning it all around.

We are comfortable basically because we see no end in sight. We see noting anymore just ourselves, we fail to see the increasing shadow of our problems that shall finally consume our very existence.

yours

Cerebralplay