The world around us

Being green is not just to be trendy anymore, it has become a way of life for millions of consumers who are significantly changing the way they live in an effort to improve the quality of life for the future generations. One of the biggest wastages in a home is heating the water, which has to be constant heated up again and again, so that it is ready for you no matter when. A better alternative is to use tankless water heater which are much more efficient and save a lot of electricity and ultimately money. I’ve used these before and they are really great, since you never have to worry about the hot water running out on you and work out really well for both large and small families. If you want to make a difference, then this is one important step to take.

Here’s one of my recent photos, this one I uploaded today itself. I really like this one, since there is barely anything to it, but it has something special in it. The light of course is the star of the photo, and the more photo’s I am taking, the more I realizing it’s power and how it can change one’s perspective. It’s a great metaphor living as well. Light changes everything, how we think, how we talk, how we decide on things, how we feel and how we relate. Well, that’s a bit philosophical for just a photo, but it’s a special photo, quite different from what I usually take, but in the direction of the kind of stuff that I want to head towards. A good start I feel.

Some of my fondest memories of college is going out into the countryside to get a real look at how the locals used to live. Kansas is a very beautiful place and people who don’t go there, will never be able to understand it. There is a wonderful rustic charm to living in the open areas of the midwest, where you could go miles and miles before you see anyone. It used to be very lonely at one time, but with the Internet, you could get everything from cattle supplies to the trendiest of jeans right to your doorstep. sure does change one’s perspective, right. I love spending time in the countryside and with so many modern amenities available at the click of the mouse, being cut off is not such a bad thing.

I’m really thrilled to get a professional account on flickr. I was nearing 200 photos which is the limit for free accounts and felt that it was a pretty good investment, towards my creativity, to a new goal and to unlimited photo uploads! I have not had too much time to check out all the extra facilities available as a pro account holder, but I have added a couple of extra sets and have been having fun adding my photo to more than 10 groups which was the amount permitted for free account holders. Here’s to more photos and to becoming a better observer.

I’m all for remembering the times gone by, with photographs, stories, mementos, and even pebbles (which I have collected from a stream near the orchard where I grew up). I hadn’t taken too many pictures of our old houses, but was thrilled to remember that I had in fact taken these in 2003..ages ago it seems. This was our home in Bristol, RI a nice small community just south of Providence, close enough to the city, but quiet enough and with lots of green space. It’s been a nice journey from there to where we are now, so different in terms of climate and customs. It’s important to enjoy each place for it’s own charms and remember only the good things.

There comes a time in everyone’s lives when it becomes important to starting thinking seriously about the future and of securing ones investments, both for the long and short term. For a lot of people this is pretty simple to handle, but if you are like the majority of consumers who don’t know the difference between penny stocks and shares, then it is in your best interest to get detailed information from the experts. I recently started my investment portfolio and have given all charge to my financial manager at the bank who handles all investments, buying and selling as per the best interests for my account. This way, I don’t have to worry about how to handle it myself and their payment is based on the positive performance of my assets so it is in their best interest to ensure that my investment is secure and gaining.

I love maintaining lists of books I have read and going through them at a later time, sometimes even years later to see what I was reading. I find it to be a nice way to document one’s journey in reading, since I usually end up reading books that are related to the place I am in or what I am going through, or what I am wanting to be, in a vicarious way to live them I guess.

Here’s one of my reviews on some of my past readings. I definitely could read some of these again, I think.

I read four books in the last month: CK Prahalad’s The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid; Lavanya Sankaran’s The Red Carpet; Arun Maira’s Remaking India; and Ruskin Bond’s Strange Men, Strange Places.

The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid is about the vast number of people who live below the poverty line. It was one of these increadible books that really opens ones eyes to the reality of the situation of the millions of people who survive on a dollar or less a day, and the potential of marketing products to them. I wonder how long it will take marketing professionals and companies to realize the goldmine that awaits them at the bottom of the pyramid. While these millions of people might be living in extreme poverty, they still have basic needs and requirements of food, shelter, clothing, communication and companies need to wake up to that fact. Did you know, for example, that these consumers are extremely brand conscious? Testamount to this are the wildly popular sachets of shampoo, detergents etc that consumers at the bottom of the pyramid purchase.

My other reading was not as thought provoking. The Red Carpet was a lighthearted and sweet collection of short stories. Remaking India was incedents and views of a corporate executive who has worked with several top international companies and his thoughts on how we all need to contribute to ‘remaking India’. Strange Men, Strange Places was an offbeat sort of book, a collection of stories from the Raj days, of the East India Company, of times gone by, and quite entertaining to read.

It’s the weekend, and this time I’m not going to do any pending work at all. I usually end up spending a lot of my weekends working, simply because I keep checking my mails and see that I have pending work. Well, this time I am only going to relax and so some fun surfing, nothing serious at all. I’ve been meaning to check out the Small Cool apartment contest going on at Apartment Therapy, since the entries can be voted on only for a short period of time. So that’s is what my agenda is for the weekend….surfing, surfing and more surfing.

Now that my shelves and cupboard for the pantry is pretty much decided, I think I need to select a nice wine racks that will fit there, so that we can have a definite place to store and display our wine bottles. I find that unless you have a nice or even an organized set up, one never really ends up having too much wine, since it’s such a hassle to dig the glasses and bottles out or storage. But if one invests in a nice wine rack and display shelves for the glasses, one will end up having more of it, since it becomes so convenient. My personal taste is towards something simple and classic, but not boring of course. It should be something that will look elegant but not fussy and there seem to be lots of choices here. Hoping to find something perfect for our home here.

We had an old friend visit and stay with us a week back and it was surprising that even though we were talking and meeting after ages, it was so easy and relaxed to catch up and talk. Some people have the gift of making others feel at ease and she certainly has that, as she herself is very sure of who she is and doesn’t stand on ceremony or do things just because it is the expected thing to do. Her candor and attitude is so refreshing and so different from most people who are so tied down to doing what is expected from them instead of doing what will make them happy. I thoroughly enjoyed her visit and some of the things she said will stay with me forever, hopefully making me a bit more sure and certain of myself.