Missing the ride

Huddled in a corner of the busy station she could do nothing but wonder about her day. It started out quite well, bright and sunny. But a little under half way through everything changed. Everything was happening on schedule until the delays added up. Here she was sitting at the platform a good three days late. She wonders with a bit panic if she would be stranded on the platform forever. She distracts herself with the goings on of things and people around her. But the distraction does not last. It is getting darker by the hour and her despair grows by the minute. Every train that passes by without her makes her a little more anxious. What should she do. As time goes by her hope of reaching her intended destination gets bleaker. She has no choice but to wait it out. If she finds herself at the same place for two more days. She would leave for a totally different destination. One no one including herself had intended.

North and South - by Elizabeth Gaskell

Many a happy times of my life are those sunday afternoons spent reading victorian era fiction and losing myself in those characters and their times. One such afternoon was yesterday ofcourse I did not read but watched the series based on the novel.

After a hectic and anxious friday and saturday spent doing the upgrade the escape to 1854 England was a blessing. I have never heard of Elizabeth Gaskell until I came across this mini series on netflix. Now I am going to read the book and relive it all over again. These are the simple pleasures of life I look forward to.

Here is a little bit about North&South I found on wikipedia:
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North and South is a novel by Elizabeth Gaskell, first published in 1854. It originally appeared as a serial in the magazine Household Words. The title indicates a major theme of the book: the contrast between the way of life in the industrial north of England and the wealthier south, although it was only under pressure from her publishers that Gaskell changed the title from its original, Margaret Hale.

North and South presents, as the title suggests, a contrast between the old agricultural gentry of the south of England and the new industrialists of the north. As the wife of a Unitarian minister in Manchester, Elizabeth Gaskell herself worked among the poor and knew at first hand the misery of the industrial areas.

The book is a social novel that tries to show the industrial North and its conflicts in the mid-19th century as seen by an outsider, a socially sensitive lady from the South. The story: the heroine, Margaret Hale, is the daughter of a Nonconformist minister who moves to the fictional industrial town of Milton after leaving the Church of England. The town is modeled after Manchester, where Gaskell lived as the wife of a Unitarian minister.
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Live Earth - 07/07/07 - My take

Live Earth is a 24-hour, 7-continent concert series taking place on 7/7/07 that will bring together more than 100 music artists and 2 billion people to trigger a global movement to solve the climate crisis. - source: www.liveearth.org

I spent a good part of Saturday catching glimpses of the concert around the world and the accompanying controversy

Pro-Live Earth : Create awareness, nudge people and their governments into action. Every person attending the concert is asked to sign a pledge that they would "go green". The concert was a live example of how a public gathering need not generate huge waste, for instance water provided water in paper cups as opposed to plastic bottles.

Anti-Live Earth: The urgency is exaggerated, if one does not depend oil the economy will go berserk, the concert is in itself creating more waste than it hopes to eliminate. More people drove to the concert creating more pollution than if they would have just stayed home and the concert were not to happen. People tuning into the concert are doing so more for the music and artists than any other reason.


My take: The urgency is relative, if the negative effect of global warming are not visible for the next say 100 years still the it is going to happen after 100 years. And 100 years is a very minuscule amount of time compared to the millions of years since the formation of the earth. The natural resources like oil and natural gas took millions of years to get to where we are, and we are finishing it up in a few thousand years. It is estimated that by 2050 we might use up the oil available today.
The polar caps are already melting at an alarming rate much higher than that expected and estimated my scientists. How then can the crisis not be imminent.
What if people go to these concerts still they are receiving the message. We live in times where we idealize celebrities, maybe the message will get across after all. What if everyone who pledged may not follow thorough but even if half the people do even a small part it would make a big difference.

So what am I doing about?

Enough said now time to evaluate what I do about it.
1. I carry a reusable grocery tote when I go shopping, I don't want those plastic bags on my conscience.
2. The reuse the plastic bags I cannot avoid, as trash bags for the smaller trash cans in my house.
3. I print only if it is absolutely necessary and that too on both sides.
4. I reuse the blank side of the few papers I end up collecting.
5. I drive only if absolutely necessary.
6. Fewer shopping trips, lesser fuel used.
7. I am very prompt is switching of lights and fans whenever not needed.

Things I am yet to work on:
My car, I bought the car less than a year ago and I admit it is a crossover. I wish I could exchange it for a hybrid but cannot afford it right now. I will as soon as I can. But then hybrid cars are not without controversy after all they are not electric cars they do use fossil fuel. May be sometime in future a car running on alternate fuel of some kind maybe even solar energy would come into being and accessible.

For now I am happy with what I am doing and would strive to continue doing is.

My American Dream

For the past few weeks..actually two weeks to be precise, I have been thinking of a home for myself. I think this was triggered by Ar's family buying a home. Watching the kid get excited about his room and hearing about all things he would like to do in his yard was very cool.

As of know I can only plan and dream, but my goal, dream and wish is to own a home by the time I turn 30. Thats about three years away, enough time I think to come up with the 20% down payment.(*sigh*) Dream on baby...

Does it Matter ?

Do people matter, do things matter, does anything matter.

We change everything, some every minute, some everyday, some at regular intervals and some at not so regular intervals. Then is there a point in getting attached to something even for a short time and what is short time. In the grand scheme of things our lives are moments.

Things that were coveted by me are not the same anymore. The things I want now are big and grand. If I ever to get these big and grand things will I sill value them. I am eager to find atleast one thing, living or otherwise for which my desire just keeps growing inspite of posessing it. Is it possible. As of now I dont think so, for I get bored of things, "living and otherwise" the moment I get them. But it will be interesting to watch, if there is anything that does matter.