I think I am beginning to develop some kind of sixth sense. These days, when my mobile starts to ring, I am able to correctly guess who the caller may be. As I have grown older, the stronger my clairvoyance seems to have got.
Or in other words, the number of people who call me has come down to the bare minimum. It appears that only the closest of my friends call (that’s about three, right now). So you can see, I am right about thirty percent of the time.
I guess I am ready to have my own 1-800-PSYCHIC number.
But there is a small problem with my idea. I suck when it comes to talking on the phone.
My conversational skills on the phone are only slightly better than my ballet dancing skills. I just cannot keep a conversation going and very soon it ends up being a question-answer session. It reminds me of my engineering lab days where the lecturer would ask me questions on the project that I had done and I would respond back with…well…weird noises hoping that at least one of us could make sense out of what I was trying to say.
But I digress, the issue is my first reaction when I take a call is to try and get out of it as quickly as possible. But I am so used to my cell and the excuses that I make that it gets me in trouble sometimes
"Hey listen, I am entering a subway, catching a lot of static. Will have to call you back"
"This is your land line, you jackass"
"Oh umm...in that case, I guess I don't really like talking to you"
I have lost a few friends that way. But on the bright side, like I said before, my psychic abilities have gone up.
The other dreaded dead-end conversation is when both of us have nothing to talk about. And I don’t know if it is just an Indian thing or the malaise is world wide, the only conversation filler is what I call the preemptive question…. “So what else ?”. This is a question people ask when they don’t have anything else to say but still want to hang on to the call (more so when it is you who is getting billed)
It happens when you are pretty much done telling everything there is worth telling about including the description of dust on your window, then you pause...the other person asks “So what else ?”. Sometimes I tell them.
I have lost a few more friends that way.
But now that my caller list is reduced to the absolute minimum who pretend to be close friends because I suspect I still owe them money, I have decided to work on my conversational skills. I cannot afford to lose any more callers. I am now getting the hang of handling the “So what else ?” question. I have learned to just make up stuff.
Hopefully, I will get better at this as I go on.
I could write a lot more but I think I am catching a lot of static, must be a http tunnel...gotta go...
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
Saturday, October 16, 2010
A trip to Spiti
A couple of months ago I got a mail from IT Nature Club (it’s India Terrain and not Info Tech) about a trip to Spiti Valley in Himachal Pradesh purportedly in the quest of snow leopard sighting. This was too good for me to pass and so I signed up immediately. What follows below is the account of that trip.
Spiti is nestled in the foothills of the Himalayan range. It lies in the rain shadow region of the Himalayas and receives very little rain, except for this year where there has been a copious amount of rainfall (ominous signals ?)
Though the trip was promoted by IT NC, it was in conjunction with an NGO called Ecosphere which is run by some very dedicated individuals who have made a difference in the lives of the residents of the Spiti valley.
I set out to Delhi on the 4th of Oct. We had to take a bus to Manali that evening. And for the first time, I met up with the rest of the folks who had signed up for the trip. There were six of us in all with ages ranging from 28 to 64.
At first I was apprehensive about my ability (or rather lack of) to gel with the others. I have always had this problem of staying isolated in a group (my friends say I space out quite easily). It is ok to be that way with friends (they are not so interesting anyway) but not so among strangers. But talking to the other five, I found that it would not be so difficult after all. Four ladies and two guys made up the six of us. While the two guys as usual had some initial aloofness, the ladies really broke the ice with their lively discussions and their energy easily rubbed off on me as well.
We spent a day at Manali. The next morning, we took a jeep to Kaza which is where Ecosphere is based. To reach Kaza, one has to pass through the Rohtang pass and the Kunzum pass. While the view is breathtaking, the road is backbreaking. The road through these passes is pretty much non-existent. It is a gravel ridden track with just a semblance of a path. It is a miracle that when vehicles ply this route, they don’t come out the other end as a bag of bolts and nuts. The 200km journey from Manali to Kaza took us about 12 hours (we stopped a few hours in between clicking birds). We finally reached Kaza at around 9.00pm. (Some of the birds sighted – Himalayan Griffon, Ruddy shellduck, yellow billed choughs which is so common that after a while it actually gets annoying. The other birds sighted during the trip – European Goldfinch, Common kestrel, Yellow billed blue magpie, coppersmith barbet)
The next day - Oct 7, we met our guide at Kaza, a sprightly chap named Tsering, who preferred to be called Anjaan instead (I guess because every second guy there is called Tsering). This was a day of acclimatization. We were at an altitude of more than 3600mts and hence most of the activity that day was by jeep. We visited a monastery at Kee (a monk there served us some wonderful tea).
Oct 8: Our actual trip starts. We drive to a village called Longzha. This is a small village with around 15 houses at an altitude of more than 4000mts. The weather is very cold. Some of the houses here have ‘homestay’ facility as well. This is again an initiative from Ecosphere so that these villagers can earn some extra money through tourists. We split up in groups of two.
The altitude effect began showing on me as I seemed to develop a cold (which got worse the next couple of days) and a slight headache. But the family with which we stayed that night were very hospitable and we had a good time interacting with them (I admit, it was more of a question-answer session than a conversation). That day, we trekked to a nearby stream which is famous for its fossils. Apparently, around 150 million years ago, the whole of this region was under water. You can see fossils of the aquatic life from that period. Unfortunately, a lot of these fossils were collected and sold by the villagers to tourists but that practice, thankfully, has now been stopped.
We also spotted blue sheep (called Bharal) which forms the prey base for the Himalayan wolf and the snow leopard. We also saw some footprints of the wolf and the Himalayan fox.
The Himalayan wolf in this region is critically endangered, apparently less than 300 of them survive. You would think for such a sparsely populated area, the wildlife would not have a problem. But that is not the case, the villagers in the valley view wolves as a threat to their livestock and hence they go about killing wolves cubs when they find them. Ecosphere is again working with the villagers to end this practice and this has had some success. My fear is that if the numbers are so low already, then it may be too little too late to help these canids.
The next morning – Oct 9 - we began a four hour trek to another village called Komic which was about 9 kms away. While the terrain itself was not too challenging, the altitude does create some issues. I had to frequently stop and gasp for air. At high altitudes, even a minor upward walk can leave one panting.
We finally reached Komic which the villagers say is the highest village in Asia but somehow I have my doubts. But at an altitude of around 4500mts, it definitely is in the top 10 for sure. Like Langzha, Komic is also a small village with around 30 homes. The name means eye of the snow leopard (‘Kom’ means snow leopard and ‘ic’ means eye in spitian). Komic has an ancient monastery which about 800 years old which we visited.
By the way, a word about the spitian houses. All the houses here have two floors and is mostly made of mud and wood. The kitchen is in the ground floor and during winters the entire family moves in to the kitchen. An interesting aspect is the toilet which is located in the first floor and it is just a hole in the floor. You squat, you go and then throw some mud on it. The...err...stuff just accumulates in a room below and gets used along with cow dung as manure every year or so.
These people do seem to have a tough life. One of the tasks for the women is to go out into the mountains every morning with a basket on their back looking for dry dung which is used as fuel (there are no trees growing here and hence firewood is expensive to buy)
All these villages get completely cut off from the outside world during winter for about four months or so due to snow blocking all the roads. So the villagers stock up what ever is required for winter and then prepare to last it out.
Oct 10 – This day, we were supposed to trek from Komic to Demul which is 18 kms away. But the previous day’s walk of 8 kms was a little too much for the most of us. So only two decided to trek while the rest of us (me included) decided to just take a jeep ride to Demul. We reached Demul by afternoon. Demul is a much larger village and has about 150 houses. The two who chose to trek joined us by evening after an 8 hour trek.
Oct 11 – We decided to climb a local mountain near Demul which has a beautiful view from the top. It took us all about one and half hours to trek to the top. And once you reach there, it is hard to not be wowed by the immensity of the Himalayas and our own trivialness before it. The descent was much quicker and took about half an hour. We drove back to Kaza
Oct 12-Oct 14. Drove from Kaza back to Manali, spent a day in Manali. Took a bus to Delhi and then back to Bangalore.
Overall, it was a great experience especially the homestays at the villages of the spiti valley. I am also happy about the fact that irrespective of the size of village, there was a school in every village and classes were being conducted regularly (even during winters).
But I am most happy with the fact that I got to know some great people on the trip and while the trip lasted for only 10 days, the memories will last forever, thanks to these wonderful people. Thanks G, S, L, R and V.
Spiti is nestled in the foothills of the Himalayan range. It lies in the rain shadow region of the Himalayas and receives very little rain, except for this year where there has been a copious amount of rainfall (ominous signals ?)
Though the trip was promoted by IT NC, it was in conjunction with an NGO called Ecosphere which is run by some very dedicated individuals who have made a difference in the lives of the residents of the Spiti valley.
I set out to Delhi on the 4th of Oct. We had to take a bus to Manali that evening. And for the first time, I met up with the rest of the folks who had signed up for the trip. There were six of us in all with ages ranging from 28 to 64.
At first I was apprehensive about my ability (or rather lack of) to gel with the others. I have always had this problem of staying isolated in a group (my friends say I space out quite easily). It is ok to be that way with friends (they are not so interesting anyway) but not so among strangers. But talking to the other five, I found that it would not be so difficult after all. Four ladies and two guys made up the six of us. While the two guys as usual had some initial aloofness, the ladies really broke the ice with their lively discussions and their energy easily rubbed off on me as well.
We spent a day at Manali. The next morning, we took a jeep to Kaza which is where Ecosphere is based. To reach Kaza, one has to pass through the Rohtang pass and the Kunzum pass. While the view is breathtaking, the road is backbreaking. The road through these passes is pretty much non-existent. It is a gravel ridden track with just a semblance of a path. It is a miracle that when vehicles ply this route, they don’t come out the other end as a bag of bolts and nuts. The 200km journey from Manali to Kaza took us about 12 hours (we stopped a few hours in between clicking birds). We finally reached Kaza at around 9.00pm. (Some of the birds sighted – Himalayan Griffon, Ruddy shellduck, yellow billed choughs which is so common that after a while it actually gets annoying. The other birds sighted during the trip – European Goldfinch, Common kestrel, Yellow billed blue magpie, coppersmith barbet)
The next day - Oct 7, we met our guide at Kaza, a sprightly chap named Tsering, who preferred to be called Anjaan instead (I guess because every second guy there is called Tsering). This was a day of acclimatization. We were at an altitude of more than 3600mts and hence most of the activity that day was by jeep. We visited a monastery at Kee (a monk there served us some wonderful tea).
Oct 8: Our actual trip starts. We drive to a village called Longzha. This is a small village with around 15 houses at an altitude of more than 4000mts. The weather is very cold. Some of the houses here have ‘homestay’ facility as well. This is again an initiative from Ecosphere so that these villagers can earn some extra money through tourists. We split up in groups of two.
The altitude effect began showing on me as I seemed to develop a cold (which got worse the next couple of days) and a slight headache. But the family with which we stayed that night were very hospitable and we had a good time interacting with them (I admit, it was more of a question-answer session than a conversation). That day, we trekked to a nearby stream which is famous for its fossils. Apparently, around 150 million years ago, the whole of this region was under water. You can see fossils of the aquatic life from that period. Unfortunately, a lot of these fossils were collected and sold by the villagers to tourists but that practice, thankfully, has now been stopped.
We also spotted blue sheep (called Bharal) which forms the prey base for the Himalayan wolf and the snow leopard. We also saw some footprints of the wolf and the Himalayan fox.
The Himalayan wolf in this region is critically endangered, apparently less than 300 of them survive. You would think for such a sparsely populated area, the wildlife would not have a problem. But that is not the case, the villagers in the valley view wolves as a threat to their livestock and hence they go about killing wolves cubs when they find them. Ecosphere is again working with the villagers to end this practice and this has had some success. My fear is that if the numbers are so low already, then it may be too little too late to help these canids.
The next morning – Oct 9 - we began a four hour trek to another village called Komic which was about 9 kms away. While the terrain itself was not too challenging, the altitude does create some issues. I had to frequently stop and gasp for air. At high altitudes, even a minor upward walk can leave one panting.
We finally reached Komic which the villagers say is the highest village in Asia but somehow I have my doubts. But at an altitude of around 4500mts, it definitely is in the top 10 for sure. Like Langzha, Komic is also a small village with around 30 homes. The name means eye of the snow leopard (‘Kom’ means snow leopard and ‘ic’ means eye in spitian). Komic has an ancient monastery which about 800 years old which we visited.
By the way, a word about the spitian houses. All the houses here have two floors and is mostly made of mud and wood. The kitchen is in the ground floor and during winters the entire family moves in to the kitchen. An interesting aspect is the toilet which is located in the first floor and it is just a hole in the floor. You squat, you go and then throw some mud on it. The...err...stuff just accumulates in a room below and gets used along with cow dung as manure every year or so.
These people do seem to have a tough life. One of the tasks for the women is to go out into the mountains every morning with a basket on their back looking for dry dung which is used as fuel (there are no trees growing here and hence firewood is expensive to buy)
All these villages get completely cut off from the outside world during winter for about four months or so due to snow blocking all the roads. So the villagers stock up what ever is required for winter and then prepare to last it out.
Oct 10 – This day, we were supposed to trek from Komic to Demul which is 18 kms away. But the previous day’s walk of 8 kms was a little too much for the most of us. So only two decided to trek while the rest of us (me included) decided to just take a jeep ride to Demul. We reached Demul by afternoon. Demul is a much larger village and has about 150 houses. The two who chose to trek joined us by evening after an 8 hour trek.
Oct 11 – We decided to climb a local mountain near Demul which has a beautiful view from the top. It took us all about one and half hours to trek to the top. And once you reach there, it is hard to not be wowed by the immensity of the Himalayas and our own trivialness before it. The descent was much quicker and took about half an hour. We drove back to Kaza
Oct 12-Oct 14. Drove from Kaza back to Manali, spent a day in Manali. Took a bus to Delhi and then back to Bangalore.
Overall, it was a great experience especially the homestays at the villages of the spiti valley. I am also happy about the fact that irrespective of the size of village, there was a school in every village and classes were being conducted regularly (even during winters).
But I am most happy with the fact that I got to know some great people on the trip and while the trip lasted for only 10 days, the memories will last forever, thanks to these wonderful people. Thanks G, S, L, R and V.
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
A week at Bhadra
I had the privilege of being part of the Tiger Estimation activity (It is not called Tiger Census anymore) at Bhadra Wildlife Sanctuary from 21st to 25th of Jan (Had to skip 26th and 27th for work related reasons).
Bhadra is around 500 sq kms of moist deciduous forest. I was assigned to the Lakkavalli range which is about 70kms by road from Muthodi where all the volunteers, around 40 of us, had reported.
The first day was about the what, why and the how of the activity. The actual estimation was spread across six days. The first three days involved tiger and other carnivore sampling and the next three involved sampling of the ungulates.
The big cats (tigers, leopards etc) being soft bellied animals prefer to move in areas with less undergrowth. Hence walkways are ideal locations to search for them.
Unlike the past, this time there was no attempt at actually counting the number of tigers. Instead, we just look for signs of the big cat. The signs include visual sighting, pug marks, scat, kills, rake marks (where the tiger has scratched a tree – a typical cat behavior) and any audible signs like growls etc.
All this data is collated across multiple sanctuaries and fed back to WII (Wildlife Institute of India) where numbers are crunched and some fancy statistical formulas are used and finally an estimate is arrived at. The whole process is supposed to take a couple of years.
Also, unlike previous times, tiger numbers are estimated on a landscape basis as opposed to individual sanctuaries/national parks. So Nagarahole, Bandipur, Madhumalai and Wynad form one landscape, Bhadra and Kudremukh form the next, Sharavathi, Dandeli, Anshi and Goa form the third. This way the meta populations are estimated which is more accurate than saying 30 tigers in Nagarahole, 50 in Bandipur etc.
This time, in addition to looking out for signs, there is an attempt at DNA fingerprinting the tiger population. For this, we had to look out for scat and collect any fresh scat that we came across.
So the first three days, I and two personal from the forest department, walked on jeep tracks on a five kilometer stretch looking for signs. The first day, we did find a bunch of pug marks and some scat, mostly old, so we did not collect any.
The next two days were better in the scat department. There was one instance where we came across almost fresh scat which seemed to be a few hours old. I cannot remember when I was as happy looking at shit. We collected a whole bunch of tiger crap stored safely in polythene bags and more importantly away from our lunch boxes.
On day four, we went out on ungulate tracking. This involved a four kilometer trek (two going in and two coming back) on a line transect into dense forest. Along with looking out for Chital, Sambars, Barking deer and other herbivores, we also took some measurements of vegetation diversity (for this, every 400 meters, we mark out a 20m circle and then write down the top 5 species of trees and shrubs.). Then, we look out for, well, deer crap on a 20m straight line. Depending on the number of pellets that we find (yes, we had to crawl on the ground looking for pellets and counting them), we rate ‘A’, ‘B’ or ‘C’ (over 250 being C).
The basic idea behind ungulate tracking is to estimate the carrying capacity of the forest. An adult tiger requires around 50-60 deer sized animals per year. This means that there needs to be at least 500-600 deer to sustain one tiger (remember, not every hunt will be successful). So by estimating the prey density, one can judge the health of the ecosystem for tiger sustainability and how many can it hold.
Enough of the estimate part, more interesting are the stories told by the forest personal who accompanied me.
Tales of elephant attacks and how some people were killed is not really comforting when you are walking through dense forest. But the story I liked most was the one on how this forest was saved from human onslaught.
Apparently, the forest range that I was in was a completely different sight around 10 yrs ago. There used to be rampant wood felling and poaching. The guard said that you could walk kilometers into the forest and not see one deer. There would be around 50 to 100 cartloads of wood being chopped everyday. The forest guards were abused and threatened by the timber mafia and most of them had simply given up on protecting the forest.
And then one day an incident happened which turned the tables. On that night, a forest watcher and a few other guards stumbled on a few people chopping wood and pursued them to a village close by. The watcher then fired a bullet in the air but that caused the villagers to come out believing that someone was shot. In the melee that ensued, the miscreants got more of their people to the location and a fight broke out. The forest guards were beaten up mercilessly and barely managed to get out alive.
The forest department decided that enough was enough. With the help of the local police department, over the next few months they tracked down every one of the accused and made sure that they realized what pain was. Following that, they began clamping down on all activities inside the forest. Cases were slapped for the most minor of offenses and people were locked up. This was when the department wrested control back from the mafia and there has been no looking back since. Now, people are afraid to even pee in the forest. And over the last ten years, the forests in this range have recovered remarkably. Goes to show that, nature can fix itself if we just let it be.
Well, that is my experience over the past five days. The only downside for me is all the tick bites that now adorn my body. These blasted creatures the size of pin head can be such a pain. There are red spots all over and they itch like crazy.
So over the next couple of months, if you call and I don’t pick up the phone, it’s probably because I am too busy scratching myself...
Bhadra is around 500 sq kms of moist deciduous forest. I was assigned to the Lakkavalli range which is about 70kms by road from Muthodi where all the volunteers, around 40 of us, had reported.
The first day was about the what, why and the how of the activity. The actual estimation was spread across six days. The first three days involved tiger and other carnivore sampling and the next three involved sampling of the ungulates.
The big cats (tigers, leopards etc) being soft bellied animals prefer to move in areas with less undergrowth. Hence walkways are ideal locations to search for them.
Unlike the past, this time there was no attempt at actually counting the number of tigers. Instead, we just look for signs of the big cat. The signs include visual sighting, pug marks, scat, kills, rake marks (where the tiger has scratched a tree – a typical cat behavior) and any audible signs like growls etc.
All this data is collated across multiple sanctuaries and fed back to WII (Wildlife Institute of India) where numbers are crunched and some fancy statistical formulas are used and finally an estimate is arrived at. The whole process is supposed to take a couple of years.
Also, unlike previous times, tiger numbers are estimated on a landscape basis as opposed to individual sanctuaries/national parks. So Nagarahole, Bandipur, Madhumalai and Wynad form one landscape, Bhadra and Kudremukh form the next, Sharavathi, Dandeli, Anshi and Goa form the third. This way the meta populations are estimated which is more accurate than saying 30 tigers in Nagarahole, 50 in Bandipur etc.
This time, in addition to looking out for signs, there is an attempt at DNA fingerprinting the tiger population. For this, we had to look out for scat and collect any fresh scat that we came across.
So the first three days, I and two personal from the forest department, walked on jeep tracks on a five kilometer stretch looking for signs. The first day, we did find a bunch of pug marks and some scat, mostly old, so we did not collect any.
The next two days were better in the scat department. There was one instance where we came across almost fresh scat which seemed to be a few hours old. I cannot remember when I was as happy looking at shit. We collected a whole bunch of tiger crap stored safely in polythene bags and more importantly away from our lunch boxes.
On day four, we went out on ungulate tracking. This involved a four kilometer trek (two going in and two coming back) on a line transect into dense forest. Along with looking out for Chital, Sambars, Barking deer and other herbivores, we also took some measurements of vegetation diversity (for this, every 400 meters, we mark out a 20m circle and then write down the top 5 species of trees and shrubs.). Then, we look out for, well, deer crap on a 20m straight line. Depending on the number of pellets that we find (yes, we had to crawl on the ground looking for pellets and counting them), we rate ‘A’, ‘B’ or ‘C’ (over 250 being C).
The basic idea behind ungulate tracking is to estimate the carrying capacity of the forest. An adult tiger requires around 50-60 deer sized animals per year. This means that there needs to be at least 500-600 deer to sustain one tiger (remember, not every hunt will be successful). So by estimating the prey density, one can judge the health of the ecosystem for tiger sustainability and how many can it hold.
Enough of the estimate part, more interesting are the stories told by the forest personal who accompanied me.
Tales of elephant attacks and how some people were killed is not really comforting when you are walking through dense forest. But the story I liked most was the one on how this forest was saved from human onslaught.
Apparently, the forest range that I was in was a completely different sight around 10 yrs ago. There used to be rampant wood felling and poaching. The guard said that you could walk kilometers into the forest and not see one deer. There would be around 50 to 100 cartloads of wood being chopped everyday. The forest guards were abused and threatened by the timber mafia and most of them had simply given up on protecting the forest.
And then one day an incident happened which turned the tables. On that night, a forest watcher and a few other guards stumbled on a few people chopping wood and pursued them to a village close by. The watcher then fired a bullet in the air but that caused the villagers to come out believing that someone was shot. In the melee that ensued, the miscreants got more of their people to the location and a fight broke out. The forest guards were beaten up mercilessly and barely managed to get out alive.
The forest department decided that enough was enough. With the help of the local police department, over the next few months they tracked down every one of the accused and made sure that they realized what pain was. Following that, they began clamping down on all activities inside the forest. Cases were slapped for the most minor of offenses and people were locked up. This was when the department wrested control back from the mafia and there has been no looking back since. Now, people are afraid to even pee in the forest. And over the last ten years, the forests in this range have recovered remarkably. Goes to show that, nature can fix itself if we just let it be.
Well, that is my experience over the past five days. The only downside for me is all the tick bites that now adorn my body. These blasted creatures the size of pin head can be such a pain. There are red spots all over and they itch like crazy.
So over the next couple of months, if you call and I don’t pick up the phone, it’s probably because I am too busy scratching myself...
Sunday, September 27, 2009
Adrenaline Rush
Picture this, you are hanging off the edge of a plane, 15000 feet lie between you and the ground below, 15000 feet to where normal people live. And you ask yourself “Why in the name of God am I doing this ?”. Well, too late because you should have thought of that before you signed up for the sky dive.
Sky diving was not really on my to-do list in this month long trip to the US. But AJB, my fellow team mate convinced me to do this. Also this blog desperately needed an update, And so my dear readers..reader..well, whoever that accidentally stopped by on this page, I decided to sign up for the sky dive for you, even though it does not come cheap (may be the one without a parachute does but I suspect it is not as popular). The jump was scheduled the last weekend but did not happen because of cloud and fog. So we went back again today. It was a tandem jump. The jumpmaster who I would be hitched to helped me with the harness and gave a quick crash course (pardon the pun) on the do’s and don’ts. And then we boarded the plane with the others.
15000 feet in the air, I was looking down into emptiness, hanging out of the edge of the plane and suddenly I find myself being thrown into space. The first few seconds are a blur, I feel this blast of air on my face and then I realize I am in a free fall, shooting down at more than 100 miles an hour. The wind continues to blow up my face without relent, so hard that I forget to breathe for a moment or two.
I look around, the scene around me is beautiful, I see the outline of Monterey bay and the clear blue ocean. The jumpmaster asks me to put my hands out, I do and it feels like I am flying. The photographer, who jumped a moment before we did, is busy shooting the video of the jump. I manage to signal a thumbs-up sign to the camera. We are still hurtling down like there is no tomorrow and suddenly I am pulled upwards abruptly. The jumpmaster just deployed the chute. We had covered 10000 feet in about 70 seconds. The descent then on was slow and steady, relatively speaking. It gave me more time to take in what had just happened and also to enjoy the view around. Four minutes later, I am back on Terra Firma.
And I figured out why I did this...because it is an adrenaline rush that blows your mind away. So to sum it up... WOW !!
Friday night, my colleague here took me to my first Ice hockey game. I enjoyed it immensely especially the part when fights would erupt between the players and they go raining blows on each other. And yes, San Jose Sharks, the home team that my colleague (and hence me too) was cheering for, won beating Anaheim ducks 6-0. Ducks Suck...Go sharks !!
But as memorable as the match may have been, skydiving was an experience so incredible that it dwarfs everything else for now.
Like the T-shirt at the skydiving centre said - “Sky is not the limit, the ground is”.
So just shut up and jump...and don’t soil your pants...
Sky diving was not really on my to-do list in this month long trip to the US. But AJB, my fellow team mate convinced me to do this. Also this blog desperately needed an update, And so my dear readers..reader..well, whoever that accidentally stopped by on this page, I decided to sign up for the sky dive for you, even though it does not come cheap (may be the one without a parachute does but I suspect it is not as popular). The jump was scheduled the last weekend but did not happen because of cloud and fog. So we went back again today. It was a tandem jump. The jumpmaster who I would be hitched to helped me with the harness and gave a quick crash course (pardon the pun) on the do’s and don’ts. And then we boarded the plane with the others.
15000 feet in the air, I was looking down into emptiness, hanging out of the edge of the plane and suddenly I find myself being thrown into space. The first few seconds are a blur, I feel this blast of air on my face and then I realize I am in a free fall, shooting down at more than 100 miles an hour. The wind continues to blow up my face without relent, so hard that I forget to breathe for a moment or two.
I look around, the scene around me is beautiful, I see the outline of Monterey bay and the clear blue ocean. The jumpmaster asks me to put my hands out, I do and it feels like I am flying. The photographer, who jumped a moment before we did, is busy shooting the video of the jump. I manage to signal a thumbs-up sign to the camera. We are still hurtling down like there is no tomorrow and suddenly I am pulled upwards abruptly. The jumpmaster just deployed the chute. We had covered 10000 feet in about 70 seconds. The descent then on was slow and steady, relatively speaking. It gave me more time to take in what had just happened and also to enjoy the view around. Four minutes later, I am back on Terra Firma.
And I figured out why I did this...because it is an adrenaline rush that blows your mind away. So to sum it up... WOW !!
Friday night, my colleague here took me to my first Ice hockey game. I enjoyed it immensely especially the part when fights would erupt between the players and they go raining blows on each other. And yes, San Jose Sharks, the home team that my colleague (and hence me too) was cheering for, won beating Anaheim ducks 6-0. Ducks Suck...Go sharks !!
But as memorable as the match may have been, skydiving was an experience so incredible that it dwarfs everything else for now.
Like the T-shirt at the skydiving centre said - “Sky is not the limit, the ground is”.
So just shut up and jump...and don’t soil your pants...
Monday, July 20, 2009
Anti Poaching Campaign (Contd)
This is a quick update post. As last time, the past weekend too (18th, 19th), we covered a bunch of villages. This time we saw a banana plantation field that was completely ravaged by elephants. The villager to whom the field belonged was understandably agitated and asked if we could do something about elephant raids. It is difficult to talk about conservation when livelihoods are at stake.
Elephant prevention trenches (EPT), electric fencing and other techniques have been used but none of them seem to deter these big creatures for long and they always seem to find a way out. The villagers have seen some pretty amazing things that these elephants do to bypass the system. They fill up the trenches and cross over. Of course, the villagers too go half way in filling up the trenches, since they want to get their cattle across into the forest for grazing (they deny it though, but we can make out a human hand when we see the filled EPTs).
Among other things that the elephants do to bypass the electric fence, they sometimes get a log of wood, place it on the wire, flatten it and then walk across. Other times, the villagers say, that the elephants take a few steps back and then simply rush into the fence and cut across. Very intelligent creatures, these !!.
A week ago, I read an interview of an elephant expert in Africa where he mentions similar techniques used by African elephants. It is simply astounding how smart these creatures are.
Elephant Whisperer
Elephants and crop raiding is a different problem which hopefully we will work on later.
But the best part of last week's trip was that the forest department had found two abandoned leopard cubs a month ago when they were a week old. The range forest officer is taking care of them now. I got to spend some time with these cute little bundles. The tragedy however is that these cubs would probably spend the rest of their life in a zoo.
To sum up, the weekend was a memorable one. Though I am still waiting to see cubs in the wild with their mom. Hopefully one day...
Elephant prevention trenches (EPT), electric fencing and other techniques have been used but none of them seem to deter these big creatures for long and they always seem to find a way out. The villagers have seen some pretty amazing things that these elephants do to bypass the system. They fill up the trenches and cross over. Of course, the villagers too go half way in filling up the trenches, since they want to get their cattle across into the forest for grazing (they deny it though, but we can make out a human hand when we see the filled EPTs).
Among other things that the elephants do to bypass the electric fence, they sometimes get a log of wood, place it on the wire, flatten it and then walk across. Other times, the villagers say, that the elephants take a few steps back and then simply rush into the fence and cut across. Very intelligent creatures, these !!.
A week ago, I read an interview of an elephant expert in Africa where he mentions similar techniques used by African elephants. It is simply astounding how smart these creatures are.
Elephant Whisperer
Elephants and crop raiding is a different problem which hopefully we will work on later.
But the best part of last week's trip was that the forest department had found two abandoned leopard cubs a month ago when they were a week old. The range forest officer is taking care of them now. I got to spend some time with these cute little bundles. The tragedy however is that these cubs would probably spend the rest of their life in a zoo.
To sum up, the weekend was a memorable one. Though I am still waiting to see cubs in the wild with their mom. Hopefully one day...
Monday, June 29, 2009
Towards Conservation
Few months ago, while surfing the net, I came across the web site of Wildlife Conservation Society of India and had sent across a mail to them inquiring about any opportunities for voluntary work.
After several weeks, I got a response asking me to participate in a meeting aimed at exploring the activities that needed volunteers. One of the activities that were identified was towards sensitizing villagers against poaching.
The last Saturday (27th June), about four of us led by two very committed volunteers headed to Nagarahole forest range with a bunch of posters. The idea was to cover the villages bordering the national park and stick these posters in places where the message would reach as many people as possible.
At Hunsur (a place about 50 kms from Nagarahole) we met up with a person who has been with WCS(I) for a long time and has worked for several years in this area. He suggested the villages that we could start our campaign from and also cautioned us about the sensitivity of the issue.
He told us that the at some places the villagers may be hostile to any kind of anti-poaching message and also asked us to stay away from getting into discussions or arguments with the villagers. He also asked us skip a few villages on this trip since apparently there was a raid on the house of a villager on charges of poaching and he felt that in that village and the surroundings, there would be an antipathy towards the forest department and any conservation campaigns. So we decided to just stay away from those.
Since this was the first time for many of us in the group, we had decided to just cover a few villages. We started off at around 10.00am but nailing posters was not as easy as we thought it would be. We had to identify the right places; typically we chose schools, public utility buildings (like the local village panchayat office, the government medical center etc).
In most of the places, the villagers were pretty receptive and were curious to know about what we were doing. There were some who would complain about how elephants destroyed their crops and how meager, a compensation they get for it. But like we were advised, we did not get into any discussions and merely kept iterating that our campaign was about anti poaching and requested their support to end this menace.
We could complete about six villages before it was time to get back to Bangalore. We hope to continue with this effort in the coming months and cover many more villages that border the park. We also hope to screen documentaries at schools and thus spread awareness among both the children and adults on the damage caused due to poaching.
All in all, it was a learning experience for me. Having been city bred all my life, it was a welcome change to be able to get away from the city and spend time in helping out where I could in the area of conservation, however minuscule it may be.
Looking forward to doing my bit...
[Update 8-Jul-09: Over the weekend (4th, 5th), we covered 20 more villages. I am happy say that the effort is bearing fruit. Here is a message from one of the volunteers who is in touch with WCS..
Our ongoing activity is already paying back,
There have been three encounters in the areas where we have conducted these camps.
The informers have given us credible tip off about poachers which then passed on to FD has resulted in these encounter where three poachers have been injured.
In two cases the injured poachers have been arrested, and in one the injured poacher has fled.
Good news to all conservationists
]
After several weeks, I got a response asking me to participate in a meeting aimed at exploring the activities that needed volunteers. One of the activities that were identified was towards sensitizing villagers against poaching.
The last Saturday (27th June), about four of us led by two very committed volunteers headed to Nagarahole forest range with a bunch of posters. The idea was to cover the villages bordering the national park and stick these posters in places where the message would reach as many people as possible.
At Hunsur (a place about 50 kms from Nagarahole) we met up with a person who has been with WCS(I) for a long time and has worked for several years in this area. He suggested the villages that we could start our campaign from and also cautioned us about the sensitivity of the issue.
He told us that the at some places the villagers may be hostile to any kind of anti-poaching message and also asked us to stay away from getting into discussions or arguments with the villagers. He also asked us skip a few villages on this trip since apparently there was a raid on the house of a villager on charges of poaching and he felt that in that village and the surroundings, there would be an antipathy towards the forest department and any conservation campaigns. So we decided to just stay away from those.
Since this was the first time for many of us in the group, we had decided to just cover a few villages. We started off at around 10.00am but nailing posters was not as easy as we thought it would be. We had to identify the right places; typically we chose schools, public utility buildings (like the local village panchayat office, the government medical center etc).
In most of the places, the villagers were pretty receptive and were curious to know about what we were doing. There were some who would complain about how elephants destroyed their crops and how meager, a compensation they get for it. But like we were advised, we did not get into any discussions and merely kept iterating that our campaign was about anti poaching and requested their support to end this menace.
We could complete about six villages before it was time to get back to Bangalore. We hope to continue with this effort in the coming months and cover many more villages that border the park. We also hope to screen documentaries at schools and thus spread awareness among both the children and adults on the damage caused due to poaching.
All in all, it was a learning experience for me. Having been city bred all my life, it was a welcome change to be able to get away from the city and spend time in helping out where I could in the area of conservation, however minuscule it may be.
Looking forward to doing my bit...
[Update 8-Jul-09: Over the weekend (4th, 5th), we covered 20 more villages. I am happy say that the effort is bearing fruit. Here is a message from one of the volunteers who is in touch with WCS..
Our ongoing activity is already paying back,
There have been three encounters in the areas where we have conducted these camps.
The informers have given us credible tip off about poachers which then passed on to FD has resulted in these encounter where three poachers have been injured.
In two cases the injured poachers have been arrested, and in one the injured poacher has fled.
Good news to all conservationists
]
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Cobwebs of the mind
It has been more than two months now since I blogged anything. So this is more of “Hey I am still alive, if you care to know” kinda post. So what have I been up to the last couple of months ?...nothing much apart from pretending to work that is.
The humor part of me has either taken a hiatus or taken leave for good. No news excites me these days. There was plenty to parody about, the Indian elections for one thing. But I simply could not get to write anything about it. Or for that matter, I haven’t been doing anything else either, it has been a monotony that begs a break.
Sometimes I wonder if the cobwebs of the mind are becoming too strong to let the thoughts through. Any new thought that dares to seek redemption through the strokes of the keyboard seem to die a suffocating death in the maze of these cobwebs that is getting dense everyday.
Cynicism, anger, sarcasm, despondency all seem to take turns in weaving their strands around any thought that germinates and they relent not till the thought meets its demise as a fleeting memory of what could have been.
What could have been and what is !!, two simple states that the mind flits across ever so often in an effort at reconciling the difference that separates them - through fantasies, through imagination, through hope. And finally assimilate the irreconcilable into the individual’s weltanschauung. Every lost thought, each futile action, each latent intent moulds the mind ever so slightly and tugs it towards acceptance - the acceptance of immutable fatalism.
Where fatalism exists, there lurks fear. The fear of inevitability that crushes emotions less strong and all that remains is cynicism, anger, sarcasm, despondency as they go about weaving ever stronger webs in the mind.
What started off as an update post is turning out to be an indecipherable philosophical rant that, frankly, I am not too sure I understand myself.
Simply put, I am just hoping this phase is going to pass
The humor part of me has either taken a hiatus or taken leave for good. No news excites me these days. There was plenty to parody about, the Indian elections for one thing. But I simply could not get to write anything about it. Or for that matter, I haven’t been doing anything else either, it has been a monotony that begs a break.
Sometimes I wonder if the cobwebs of the mind are becoming too strong to let the thoughts through. Any new thought that dares to seek redemption through the strokes of the keyboard seem to die a suffocating death in the maze of these cobwebs that is getting dense everyday.
Cynicism, anger, sarcasm, despondency all seem to take turns in weaving their strands around any thought that germinates and they relent not till the thought meets its demise as a fleeting memory of what could have been.
What could have been and what is !!, two simple states that the mind flits across ever so often in an effort at reconciling the difference that separates them - through fantasies, through imagination, through hope. And finally assimilate the irreconcilable into the individual’s weltanschauung. Every lost thought, each futile action, each latent intent moulds the mind ever so slightly and tugs it towards acceptance - the acceptance of immutable fatalism.
Where fatalism exists, there lurks fear. The fear of inevitability that crushes emotions less strong and all that remains is cynicism, anger, sarcasm, despondency as they go about weaving ever stronger webs in the mind.
What started off as an update post is turning out to be an indecipherable philosophical rant that, frankly, I am not too sure I understand myself.
Simply put, I am just hoping this phase is going to pass
Monday, March 23, 2009
'Back' in Business
The last two weeks I have been laid low by a persistent pain in the back. No, no, I am not talking about quality processes at work. It was really a physical back pain which kind of sneaked up on me.
I think it was a muscle pull or a really bad sprain that decided to hang around for a couple of weeks. Infact, on a few days it was so bad that I could not get out of bed. And, take it from me, it is just not pleasant lying on the bed the whole day not being able to move. The only position that one can be in is a straight line sleeping like Tutankhamen in his sarcophagus. It was like I had swallowed a lamp post.
I was on pain killers and gels that helped a bit but by far the best remedy for back related ailments, as I discovered, is to sleep on the floor. No mattress, no bedding, just plain old floor. A week of sleeping on the floor and looks like my back is almost as good as new and I hope it stays that way.
Anyway, the best part about the whole incident is that it gives me something to blog about this month which otherwise has turned out to be a pretty bland month so far.
I think it was a muscle pull or a really bad sprain that decided to hang around for a couple of weeks. Infact, on a few days it was so bad that I could not get out of bed. And, take it from me, it is just not pleasant lying on the bed the whole day not being able to move. The only position that one can be in is a straight line sleeping like Tutankhamen in his sarcophagus. It was like I had swallowed a lamp post.
I was on pain killers and gels that helped a bit but by far the best remedy for back related ailments, as I discovered, is to sleep on the floor. No mattress, no bedding, just plain old floor. A week of sleeping on the floor and looks like my back is almost as good as new and I hope it stays that way.
Anyway, the best part about the whole incident is that it gives me something to blog about this month which otherwise has turned out to be a pretty bland month so far.
Monday, February 23, 2009
Counting Bucks
So how many black bucks are there in Jayamangali nature reserve ?.
Ok, the question is not as profound as “Are we alone in the Universe” but it still is a pretty important question considering that black bucks are an endangered species. Once found abundantly all across India, now they are limited to only some parts, thanks to habitat destruction (and trigger-happy movie stars). The Wildlife Aware Nature Club (WANC), whose members call themselves WANCers, decided to find this out in concert with the forest department and had called for volunteers for a black buck census.
On reading about this, the first thought that crossed my mind was “Whoa !!, they should have chosen a better acronym”. I guess it is still better than other names they could have ended up with like, I don’t know, say “Fauna Upkeep and Conservation Club” and then the members would be called…never mind.
But puns aside, these folks are a really dedicated bunch of wildlife enthusiasts. They have worked for many years and it is due to their persistence and perseverance that this particular area has been designated as a conservation reserve by the government. Since I have always wanted take part in a wildlife census, I volunteered and the good people said yes.
There were quite a few volunteers from Bangalore and I hooked up with a couple of participants who had a SUV. It was just as well, since there was no way my small car could have even survived some of the road stretches. We reached there on Saturday evening. There were around eighty volunteers in all. The evening was spent learning the ropes of how a census was to be conducted.
Here is how I thought it would be, first you spot the black bucks, then you run to the deer, chase it if necessary and finally mark it with a number: one, two and so on. You remember the largest number you marked and then add it up with the rest of the group’s at the end of the day. I had been working on the running part of it in the gym anyway.
Thankfully, I was wrong. Here is how a wildlife census is done (there are other ways as well, this is the one we followed). The reserve is divided up along lines, not necessarily straight but in such a way that these lines are far from each other and cover as much area as possible. Each line is called a ‘transect’. The volunteers are then put into groups. In this case, the groups consisted of four volunteers with a forest guard. Each group begins walking from the start of the transect looking for black bucks on either side.
We were given a data sheet given having a bunch of columns which we had to fill up when bucks were sighted. The details include the time of spotting, number of bucks, how many males, females and fawns and whether they are moving to the left or the right of the transect and the approximate distance from you. The time and the movement info are used to identify possible double counting by adjacent transects thereby reducing error.
Our transect began at a village outside the conserve and ended at the base camp. Since our track consisted walking through shrubs and grasslands, we did not have a guard with us as it is pretty hard to get lost there. It was a small trek of about 4 kms. We started at around 7.30am and we were done by 9.30am. We spotted around 17 black bucks which included a herd of 8. The best part was we also spotted two Indian foxes. These are very shy creatures and pretty hard to find. Infact of the 21 groups that were in the census, we were the only ones to spot foxes.
During the census, you have to stay put to your transect so that you get as accurate a data as possible. So once we had finished the count and submitted our results, it was easier to explore since you don’t have to stick to the path. I and few others went around and spotting even more black bucks and a whole bunch of birds. This place has plenty of raptors (eagles, harriers, kestrels and so on), it is a treat to birdwatchers. After having walked around for a few more hours, we returned to the base at noon.
It was time for lunch and some customary thanksgiving speeches. We all got certificates to acknowledge our participation. It was 7 in the evening when I finally returned back to Bangalore. It would take a few days for the final results to come in before we know what the estimated number of black bucks is. When they do, I shall update this post with the result.
It was a great experience, I loved it and I plan to go back there again one of these weekends, just to get a better look at the bucks.
Because, you see, when it comes to black bucks, it is just too hard to pass the buck…
[Update: I just received the results of the census. Here are the numbers
Black Male 73
Brown Male 56
Adult Female 280
Fawn 45
Unidentified 4
Total 454
There has been a decline in numbers since the last census in 2002]
Ok, the question is not as profound as “Are we alone in the Universe” but it still is a pretty important question considering that black bucks are an endangered species. Once found abundantly all across India, now they are limited to only some parts, thanks to habitat destruction (and trigger-happy movie stars). The Wildlife Aware Nature Club (WANC), whose members call themselves WANCers, decided to find this out in concert with the forest department and had called for volunteers for a black buck census.
On reading about this, the first thought that crossed my mind was “Whoa !!, they should have chosen a better acronym”. I guess it is still better than other names they could have ended up with like, I don’t know, say “Fauna Upkeep and Conservation Club” and then the members would be called…never mind.
But puns aside, these folks are a really dedicated bunch of wildlife enthusiasts. They have worked for many years and it is due to their persistence and perseverance that this particular area has been designated as a conservation reserve by the government. Since I have always wanted take part in a wildlife census, I volunteered and the good people said yes.
There were quite a few volunteers from Bangalore and I hooked up with a couple of participants who had a SUV. It was just as well, since there was no way my small car could have even survived some of the road stretches. We reached there on Saturday evening. There were around eighty volunteers in all. The evening was spent learning the ropes of how a census was to be conducted.
Here is how I thought it would be, first you spot the black bucks, then you run to the deer, chase it if necessary and finally mark it with a number: one, two and so on. You remember the largest number you marked and then add it up with the rest of the group’s at the end of the day. I had been working on the running part of it in the gym anyway.
Thankfully, I was wrong. Here is how a wildlife census is done (there are other ways as well, this is the one we followed). The reserve is divided up along lines, not necessarily straight but in such a way that these lines are far from each other and cover as much area as possible. Each line is called a ‘transect’. The volunteers are then put into groups. In this case, the groups consisted of four volunteers with a forest guard. Each group begins walking from the start of the transect looking for black bucks on either side.
We were given a data sheet given having a bunch of columns which we had to fill up when bucks were sighted. The details include the time of spotting, number of bucks, how many males, females and fawns and whether they are moving to the left or the right of the transect and the approximate distance from you. The time and the movement info are used to identify possible double counting by adjacent transects thereby reducing error.
Our transect began at a village outside the conserve and ended at the base camp. Since our track consisted walking through shrubs and grasslands, we did not have a guard with us as it is pretty hard to get lost there. It was a small trek of about 4 kms. We started at around 7.30am and we were done by 9.30am. We spotted around 17 black bucks which included a herd of 8. The best part was we also spotted two Indian foxes. These are very shy creatures and pretty hard to find. Infact of the 21 groups that were in the census, we were the only ones to spot foxes.
During the census, you have to stay put to your transect so that you get as accurate a data as possible. So once we had finished the count and submitted our results, it was easier to explore since you don’t have to stick to the path. I and few others went around and spotting even more black bucks and a whole bunch of birds. This place has plenty of raptors (eagles, harriers, kestrels and so on), it is a treat to birdwatchers. After having walked around for a few more hours, we returned to the base at noon.
It was time for lunch and some customary thanksgiving speeches. We all got certificates to acknowledge our participation. It was 7 in the evening when I finally returned back to Bangalore. It would take a few days for the final results to come in before we know what the estimated number of black bucks is. When they do, I shall update this post with the result.
It was a great experience, I loved it and I plan to go back there again one of these weekends, just to get a better look at the bucks.
Because, you see, when it comes to black bucks, it is just too hard to pass the buck…
[Update: I just received the results of the census. Here are the numbers
Black Male 73
Brown Male 56
Adult Female 280
Fawn 45
Unidentified 4
Total 454
There has been a decline in numbers since the last census in 2002]
Thursday, February 12, 2009
A 'lovely' weekend ahead
So it is that time of the year where love is in the air because VD is just around the corner. Just to be clear, I am not referring to venereal disease but to Valentine’s Day, a day where couples reaffirm their love for each other by buying tacky gifts while others sulk, the others include the singles and the married.
But this year, we have a self styled moral police group called ‘The Army of Lord Rama’ (By the way, the legendary army of Rama actually comprised of monkeys. Apparently, the irony is lost on these douchebags) which is threatening to disrupt all celebrations. I think it is important to note that all such protests come from groups comprising only men. And more importantly, most of these men are too ugly to even have girlfriends. I think that’s the root of their frustrations.
Be that as it may, my pet theory is that Valentine’s Day is a creation of the card companies and gift shops. They have the biggest stake in the whole thing. Have you noticed how they keep telling you to gift the same bunch of presents for pretty much every occasion ?.
It’s Valentine’s ?.... Buy soft toys, chocolates and cards.
Colleague had a baby ?.... Buy soft toys, chocolates and cards.
Friend had a piles operation ?....Buy soft toys...well, I guess that should do.
I don’t mind the commerce driven celebration hype but my grouse is that it is always men who are urged to buy presents and it is never the other way around. How about having commercials which say something like this for a change...
“Women, make your man feel special this Valentine’s, gift him an Xbox 360 or the Swim Suit Edition of Sports Illustrated”
But nooo !! you never see ads like that. I agree that I am stereotyping men as Xbox freaks thinking about bikini clad women all the time. For the record, let me clarify that not all men are like that...some prefer Sony PlayStation.
Anyway, the important thing is to forget about who is going to buy what for whom but instead enjoy the spirit of the occasion.
And for all the singles out there, we can enjoy the spirit as well especially the ones that come in a six pack
But this year, we have a self styled moral police group called ‘The Army of Lord Rama’ (By the way, the legendary army of Rama actually comprised of monkeys. Apparently, the irony is lost on these douchebags) which is threatening to disrupt all celebrations. I think it is important to note that all such protests come from groups comprising only men. And more importantly, most of these men are too ugly to even have girlfriends. I think that’s the root of their frustrations.
Be that as it may, my pet theory is that Valentine’s Day is a creation of the card companies and gift shops. They have the biggest stake in the whole thing. Have you noticed how they keep telling you to gift the same bunch of presents for pretty much every occasion ?.
It’s Valentine’s ?.... Buy soft toys, chocolates and cards.
Colleague had a baby ?.... Buy soft toys, chocolates and cards.
Friend had a piles operation ?....Buy soft toys...well, I guess that should do.
I don’t mind the commerce driven celebration hype but my grouse is that it is always men who are urged to buy presents and it is never the other way around. How about having commercials which say something like this for a change...
“Women, make your man feel special this Valentine’s, gift him an Xbox 360 or the Swim Suit Edition of Sports Illustrated”
But nooo !! you never see ads like that. I agree that I am stereotyping men as Xbox freaks thinking about bikini clad women all the time. For the record, let me clarify that not all men are like that...some prefer Sony PlayStation.
Anyway, the important thing is to forget about who is going to buy what for whom but instead enjoy the spirit of the occasion.
And for all the singles out there, we can enjoy the spirit as well especially the ones that come in a six pack
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