Saturday, August 07, 2010

Rules arent meant to be broken

Hey, am back to do some blogging as i have enough time now :D
I was just thinking what are rules for, why are they framed and why are they being implemented. Definitely, it must be of some good to humanity.
Recently , on one of my flights as per the usual practice, the flight stewards had announced in 3 languages(including tamil) on what to do and what not to do on the flights. It was pretty obvious that all passengers were supposed to switch off their mobile phones. But the guy next to me wasnt even bothered about the announcements. He was on the phone with his kith and kin bidding good bye. Just as the flight was about to start, he stopped talking on the phone. After a few hours, as the flight was preparing to land, this guy saw that we are nearing the destination and took out his mobile phone and was frantically trying to make a call.
I thought he was just playing a prank but to my horror he kept on trying for a few minutes. I had to be a little rude to him and asked him to keep the phone off and told him that calls arent allowed in flights. Immediately, like a small child after being scolded by the teacher, he put his phone in his pocket.
Later , i realised that it was his first flight ever!! He was supposed to catch another flight on transit and he was having no idea. I felt bad for being rude to him and helped him with instructions to board his next flight.
A thought flashed across my mind, what if it had been bad weather and what if the mobile phone signal had intervened with the communication systems of the aircraft. Grrrrrrrrr!!!

Sunday, August 01, 2010

Save TADA campaign on the 8th of August


Chennai Trekking Club (CTC) is organizing a massive clean-up activity “Save Tada - 2” at Tada waterfalls on August 8th 2010. Tada is at a 2 hour drive to the north from Chennai city and is a favorite spot for families and trekkers. However, rampant pollution due to plastics and alcohol bottles has severely dented the beauty of this once pristine jungle. Also, Tada bas become an abode for anti-social elements. Visitors have been perpetually harassed by drunkards, who find Tada to be a safe haven for alcohol consumption and gang robbery.




CTC is planning to clean-up the entire Tada stream, including an 800m intensely polluted stretch. CTC is also collaborating with Forest Department officials to find a permanent solution to the problems created by pollution and anti-social elements. As of now, more than 250 individuals have registered to volunteer for this massive clean-up activity. CTC will provide garbage busting gloves and bags for volunteers to enable safe collection and disposal of wastes.



Chennai Trekking Club (CTC) is a 7000+ member non-profit group of trekking enthusiasts. The club is run by several passionate volunteers who organize various outdoor activities such as treks, biking, cycling, and environmental awareness campaigns. It has completed more than 230 treks, both within and outside South India.



Save Tada campaign is one among the series of environmental awareness initiatives undertaken by CTC. The first Save Tada campaign was on November 1st 2009. More than 230 CTC volunteers spent the entire Sunday collecting more than 2 tons of garbage. CTC also ran an online petition to curb the pollution and unsocial activities happening at Tada and collected more than 1200 signatures which were presented to the forest officials. CTC has also organized a massive beach clean-up activity on May 16th 2010 covering a 15 km stretch from Marina to Injambakkam. More than 900 volunteers collected approximately 5 tons of garbage in a span of four hours. Small scale beach-clean up activity has also been happening every weekend at a predetermined beach involving both CTC volunteers and public.



If you interested in registering for this event, please visit CTC’s website at http://www.chennaitrekkers.org to find additional details about this campaign.