My Little Sister !

Guess who's the real princess. Huh!

                                Its been a long and dramatic wait. Such long phone calls and such a gigantic packing up. Shes been packing for a long time. When ever we call my aunt shes packing. She puts in her cute little sketches, her year book,even her teddy bear or an elephant, I cant remember which,. Oh! Then again only god knows what else she packed. Every now and then I would want her back here after all most of  the year we are half a world apart and shes the only sister i have ever known and I will ever have.

                                Ever time she calls she says always of how much wanna meet us. She is just in First Grade and she knows us all. I clearly remember the last time she came. Its was her first time . She had only heard our voices and she actually believed we lived inside her phone. When she came to visit us for the first time, She was so thrilled and was wondering how all the people in her phone came along with her and she never noticed them.

Snow Balling in dodge ridge

                                This is much more personal than anything I have ever written, From the superficial to the 'off topic' things we have discussed. From the crazy to the insane. But this, This is every bit really what i feel right now! this very moment. For a start I should tell the truth, I have for ever wished for a sister and I have finally got this one. Be us far apart but she will forever be my cuddly cute little doll. I love her for all she is. Her cute smile that stretches across her cheek or the locks or hair that runs down untidily across her little face.

                                She may just be a small girl but she sure is a big handful! Every time she sees me, She screens out loud and runs yelling " u aint gonna catch me ". She never gets tired of our little game of catching. When I finally stop chasing, She would sneak up on me, teasing me and taunting me into chasing her again. She would pop her little head over the sofa or from under a curtain. She would peep over the staircase or hide herself behind someone. Our game and its so much fun when its with her, that i just wait for her force me into chasing her. She had got her yearbook and she showed me all the infinite things she had done from the princess for Halloween to her Kindergarten Graduation ceremony.

                                Now the best part about my sister is always when we go shopping. Oh its such a nightmare with her running around the entire place, wardrobe and the stands and the people and god knows what else. There is so much to see that she wants to be at all places at once, I suppose. Her giggle is all that we can get to follow her up in the impenetrable crowd. I would certainly like to know how she manages to get around all these people. Poor girl, When she wants something she would just whisper it into our ears and makes really sure that her mommy is not watching. We sneak buy things and roam around exploring  the entire place ( only when she decided she had enough running around ). Never a shy person she gets along so well. She would climb on us with the ease of a monkey.

                                Now today when she left, I feel so empty. I had so much to do the past couple of weeks that my tomorrow is blank. I have no one to cuddle and no one to run after. Its feels so empty and silent. May be its just a couple of days after all i have two brothers and one in 3rd grade. It will be fun as usual taunting and irritating him.  Its just another years wait till my little sister drops by for her summer vacation.

Bon Voyage Dear .

                                

Google Plus : First look

Google Plus is Here !

                              Quite a surprise Google has for the world this summer and that was Google Plus. Google to have come up with something to counter Facebook was not surprising, Nobody expects Google to quietly lose their space on the web. But for sometime Google was quite and now everybody knows why!. Google was secretly working on its very own social networking platform and that platform is Google +.

                              Google + is the super cute social networking site from Google. Something too cute and cuddly to be designed by Google. A nice and cozy notification area and a super serine nav-bar, something that is certain to make people go back for Google again and again. Unlike Facebook with its awfully crowded and poorly place objects Google has managed place everything and anything its its super simple interface.

                              Google has so far announced five of its main features namely: Circles, Hangouts, Sparks, Instant Upload and Huddles. 

Circles : 

                              Circles are Google's answer to your privacy concerns you want to say " hi " to your close friends and no one else just post in your circle, something that Facebook seems unable to provide as conveniently as Google does. This feature incorporates the real life " Social Circles" on the web. Quite groovy! You can be parts of circles and each circle can hangout together do stuff together and everything else together. Something like a group of friends hanging out.

                              One thing that stands out in the Google circles is how effortlessly one can add delete switch and move people in and around their circles. Its so smooth the drag and drop is exceptional. One can literally drag and drop anything anywhere.


Hangouts : 
                              

                              Hang out are yet another social concept that Google has introduced and this features its top notch video conferencing ability. Anyone in a circle can hang out with anyone else and when new members come they automatically gets added up to your hangout area so you all can have a lovely interactive time together. It even showcases a feature where the person who is the loudest and most active gets noticed and highlighted automatically.

Sparks : 

                              Sparks is a service that eats ion your interests, your regular searches , your online trends to find out things that you may like. Like music you may like, pictures you may like, videos articles, blogs and even things you might be interested in buying. All this delivered to you.

Instant Upload : 

                              This one is for the phone lover in you , This lets you automatically share your photos and videos as soon as you take them with you close circles. This eliminates any need for you to manually do anything. Google says ... just click, click and click away...

Huddles :

                              Ever wanted to huddle together, Google things you need to and things webs a good place to do so. The final one of the many featured tricks are the huddle. Huddle is a something between a group chat and your regular chats. If you are trying to decide in something with many of your friends. Google sums it all up into  a single group chat. Now this one I need to try it out a lot to tell more.  

Closed Tests :

                              Currently Google is offering its social services to a very small set of users withe each able to get a maximum of 15 users to the service, Google has promised to open up its platform for the wider audience soon. But they have set upo a very cool intro site for Google plus here. 

The big Buzz :

                              The big buzz now is how Google is going take out Facebook. Google has made it clear that they will not be in anyway competing with the social network giant. But, the actions seems to tell a different story. The buzz and the wave didn't make it out alive but the new kid in the block is no kid at all, he is a warrior and Google is here for the fight. Who ever wins the global internet users stands to.

Go sign up for an alert here. Google will let you know as soon as you can use Google plus.

Go Green or Pay Big !

                                Europe has finally decided to go green and go green tough. For some time now European cities are trying on the green cap. People seems to have little choice but to follow. Europe has decided to make the people go for mass transport and greener alternatives by making driving a conventional car down right miserable. There is not much consensus on the methods used by carious nations abut the intent seems clear, Go Green or Pay Big!

                                Cities like Vienna and Munich has closed of numerous roads to make cities congestion free and streets cleaner. Paris has decided to put its drivers on bicycles and has changed many car lanes into bike  lanes . and cities like London and Stockholm has decided to make the people pay for causing congestion. There are several European cities that restrict city traffic to highly environmental friendly automobiles only. They even have decided to ban street side parking almost every where. Now if you have to get somewhere downtown you might as well park your car in suburbs and catch a bus. you certainly are not going to find any place to park downtown.

                                But it seems like Americans don't want to take thing too hard on themselves yet they have resorted to simpler and much less drastic steps, like synchronizing green lights and making traffic flow easier to reduce their carbon foot print. Only San Francisco has among the many American cities has decided to take drastic measures, by closing of several of its arket lanes to traffic.

                                Some cities has took it to hard on themselves to make sure that they get every single river out of their car. What causes hell for a driver is being forced to drive in sloth mode through streets were they ones drove at their hearts content. Several a cities now want their pedestrians to be as free as they can be on road.. They want them to be able to cross where they like, walk where they please and cause mayhem to drivers how they like. There are some cities that plan to get rid of pedestrian sighs and crossing completely.

                                There are some who feel that they need to have upgraded the public transport a notch before going altogether green and its pretty sure that's what these European cities are planning to do. Many cites plan to increase their mass transport facilities and has already started expanding their already good infrastructure.  Trams and metros have increased and bus routes and stepped up. Some cities have perfected their public transport frame work so much so that the parliamentarians prefer to take the commuter.

                                So, wondering what caused the big political heads to see green. They although want to curb their emissions and they cant do it with all their drivers on road. The important impulse came from the idea of cleaning up their cities and making it inviting for people to come visit. Cities like pairs that rely almost entirely on tourism has to make their cities clean to ensure  a brighter tourism future.

                                With majority of the citizens and many politicians firmly behind them these cities continue to tame traffic and keep their cities carbon free. This do sound very inviting for the green earth campaign worldwide . If all the cities in the world decide to clean themselves up , the global warming with  and can go down it books as a myth that once existed. All's well if it ensure a greener cleaner tomorrow.

Driving it Green ! Beyond Prius . . .

                          Who doesn't know Toyota Prius, we all do. Prius is the cleanest vehicle to be sold in the united States. A car that openly defied the skeptics who saw a bleak future for a " green car". The Prius opened up the market for an whole new genre of cars called the green cars. A market segment that then became crowded. Now the segment boasts an whole line of new cars.

                          But, that's fairy tale now. Now the market opens up for a whole new genre of cars , much different from the original Toyota Prius. But firstly one should know how Toyota Prius works,  Toyota Prius is a car that uses the Battery power to optimize its already efficient combustion engine. That means you are basically driving a normal combustion engine car that has an add-on pack in the form of a battery. The Prius is by no way a complete Green car but it certainly is a lot greener than many.

                          But now a new bread of cars are here. You may have guessed it, If not they are the fully electrical cars with a supporting gasoline engine. With Europe ready to dump all its conventionally powered cars by the year 2050, Its a nice green shift. To put the conventional engine in the back seat is no small thing. Many have tried and has so far failed in creating a effortless car that can do it , the transition form one to th next is the big thing. You can have both but when to switch? Looks like Chevrolet has found their answers atlas. But Nissan took it a step further. They came out with all electric car LEAF( Leading Environmentally friendly and Affordable Family car) last year and that one bagged the European Car of the year award 2011 and the world car of the year award in the same year.

                          The Nissan leaf was here a pretty long time and Nissan has got it right after all. This car is a all electric car. The US Environmental Protection Agency official range is 117 kilometer, with an energy consumption of 765 Kj / km and rated the Leaf's combined fuel economy at 99 miles per gallon gasoline equivalent. The Leaf has a range of 175 km or 109 miles on the New European Driving Cycles. The LEAF is delivered to the western markets via highly fuel efficient cargo ships specially build to restrict the overall carbon foot print of the car. When it comes to carbon foot print Nissan really takes it seriously.

                          The New Kid on the block is the Chevrolet Volt, a plug in hybrid electrical vehicle. The Volt has been on sale in the United States since mid December 2010, and its the most fuel efficient compact car as per the US Environmental Protection Agency. Again in the foot steps of the Prius, but much more advanced, its a pure delight to drive with the smoothest transition between the engines. The systems  run on the battery as long as it has juice and as soon as its empty it transforms magically into a normal car. Once the battery has life charge it goes back to the battery power. Such an addictive car that it makes you want to increase your mileage.

                          This war is not yet over, The battle for the ultimate electric road car will be fought on for many more moons. But at the end of the war there will be not just one winner, But many and of this numerous winners humanity will be the biggest one and He will have by then saved the world from chocking to death. Go green. Today's saving is Tomorrows gain.

To Rise from the Ashes

                      The angst has not subsided, the shivering has not stopped. Its been over 100 days since the wrath of the tsunami was unleashed upon the land of the Rising Sun. The Sun has not yet rose to it former glory and many do not expect a perfect sunny day anytime soon. The March 11th tsunami has left the japanesse shaking like never before. If the there were nerves that the Tsunami left unscratched, the impending doom pertained by the worst nuclear disaster after the Chernobyl has certainly send a shiver down their spines.

Relatives of the deceased offering their prayers on the 100th  day

                     

                      The 100th day is believed to be final day of the funeral ceremonies as per Buddhist traditions and has been observed with prayers and providing solace to the victims kith and kin. The hundredth day to be the time to look ahead and continue rebuilding the country. It will be a slow and painstakingly slow process, Nevertheless it has to be done and be done in a comprehensive way taking into account a much more sustainable model.

                      But as we know, The Japanese are strong they have risen from more worse socio - economical crisis than this. Their spirit may be strong but for a speedy recovery they need to have more than that. The lack of trust that the government of this island nation experiance is a serious hindrance in the restoration of the nation to its former self.

                      However the majority of the problems faced by the nation was due to the initial tension of a potential nuclear disaster which delayed other efforts to an extent. The clean up of the mess caused by the waves itself is gigantic task, but it seems to have helped the economy as it is quite possible for any man to earn around 13000 yen simply by collecting trash left by the waves. This has generated many local jobs enough to pull people from unaffected areas to the affected ones in pursuit of jobs.

Toyota Head Quarters , Japan

                      The Next big problem the country is facing is to provide the housing for the thousands that are relocated by the tsunami and the incidents that followed suit. This again will take it toll on the time available. The terrible damaged network of power supply has caused the next big problem. The billion dollar production and manufacturing industry has been struck hard by the Tsunami.  All of the automobile companies are forced to cut down their production due to lack of power.

                      Japan is bound to rise back, Every nation has its time of peril and its time of upheaval, Then there is the time of resurrection and progress. Japan will rise and rise back back strong. The uncertainty lies only in how long its going to take. for the rising of the Sun. The worlds heart prays for their brothers in Japan.