Wednesday, January 14, 2009

"S" series and Scrabble

I don't know if it happens to others. But sometimes when I encounter something, for about a week or so, that is all I happen to encounter. For example - this will raise a few eyebrows - about a couple of years ago, almost all the girls I meet newly have had their names starting with "S". Swapna, Shweta, Sangeeta, Srujana, Shruti, Shabnam, Swaroopa, Sirsha T, Sirisha G. Sometimes a few of the girls with those names I have come across for the first time. I wonder if that particular series actually has come to an end. I am engaged to Sriramya! I have heard of a Ramya, I have heard of a lot of girls with the prefix "Sri". But Sriramya is a first. :)

While that is still there, now I am beginning to come across scrabble in quick succession. While at office, about a couple of weeks ago I heard someone talk of scrabble while passing by me. Then I thought "may be its a good gift to give for kids!". A week later, my niece who twisted her ankle in my earlier post >[:-D] received a scrabble set as she was celebrating her birthday. Now I have come across an interview of a New Yorker journalist who has wrote an article about Scrabble (registration required. Those beep!), its influence in America and how it has reemerged in its online version. In the audio, I found that India is big in scrabble. Now I am thinking I will take it all in and start off with scrabbling, and am banking on Scrabble's recurring encounter with me.

Thursday, January 08, 2009

Taking the plunge

After taking a stab at various way of social intervention it seems that the way ahead seems to get slowly and clearer.

I have a school near my work that is looking for teachers.
I have my idea of doing the teaching with as much demonstration as possible.
I have the rickety infrastructure that the team at my office prepared once and gathering up dust.
I have a new set of 25 DVDs dedicated to physics demonstrations (thanks to the sincere belief in social and educational change of a few executive level managers of Synopsys!) that I have not yet started watching.

May be it is time to set aside an hour of my mornings to start teaching science. This is in a way going back to where it all started. The first of my thoughts on social change was to teach and teach at schools.

For now though, this thought has to remain as just another thought and the extent to which it fructifies over the next year hinges upon how much hit my conviction can take over the next couple of months! All the best to me!

Tuesday, January 06, 2009

First-aid: Do's and Don'ts

About a month ago, my niece twisted her ankle and it bloated up within like "pulka roti" within minutes. That night I happened to be there. Noticing her twisted ankle and grimacing face, I told her that the next time she twisted her ankle, she must keep keep her feet in a raised position and apply ice immediately to prevent the swelling as much as possible. Thanks to my earlier double-experience, I was fully equipped to provide first-aid treatment for twisted ankle. Pity I couldn't use my skilss in my niece's case. The poor 10-year old was limping for the rest of the week. But the incident quickly demonstrated the handiness of the knowledge of first-aid.

I found the following article on "Do's and Don'ts of First Aid" in LiveMint, which can come in as a handy guide. Recall your college days, brush up your memorizing skills and learn this one by heart! :). This is also a handy guide that should reside along with your first-aid kit!

Thursday, January 01, 2009

Ads of the world

Most of the works of creativity that you would have noticed nowadays come from advertisement industry. Ads of the world is one website that seems to track all (at least a lot) the ads throughout the world, categorized into different regions and industry. There are quite a few good ones. Check out a few here!

"Alone we jump, together we soar!"