Olive Ridleys, Rock climbing and miscellany...

It has been a while since I blogged last, almost 3 weeks I guess from looking at the date on the last post I had. I guess it has been a combination of lethargy (what-do-I-write syndrome) and getting too busy at work.

The Olive Ridleys are back!

Just recently, I read about a large number (5000) of the famed Olive Ridley turtles getting killed.

The endangered Olive Ridley turtles are battling for survival with at least 5,000 washed ashore dead in Orissa beaches over the last three months and their eggs sold at Chennai shores as a delicacy. The Gahirmatha Marine Sanctuary is the world's largest turtle nesting site where 700,000-800,000 Olive Ridley turtles swim up every winter, heeding an internal clock to mate and nest.

The turtles apparently mate in November and December. After that, they congregate and come ashore for mass nesting in February or March, depending upon weather and beach conditions. Olive ridleys get their name from the coloring of their heart-shaped carapace (shell), which starts out grey but reaches an olive green once the turtles are adults. Read more on these wonderful animals here. They are now back on the Orissa coast according to this.

Rock Climbing @ Kanakapura Road

A couple of weekends ago, I went with a bunch of friends from work to a Rock Climbing For Dummies (well, sort of) event. The place is just off Kanakapura Road, in South Bangalore. It was quite nice actually; I didnt know what to expect but as it turned out, it was enormous fun. There were a couple of experienced guys training us to find cracks/wedges on different rock fronts to aid in climbing. Rappling was a great experience too - letting gravity do the work as you slide down a vertical rock front, facing upwards, with the aid of ropes that ensure you dont slide away to nothingness. I should do this again!

Social enterprenuership

Last Sunday, I dropped in for a conference on Social Enterprenuership that was organized by Center for Social Intitiative and Management (CSIM). There were quite a few corporates from Motorola, Wipro, etc. Shristi Special Academy was also there. The conference was about how to increase involvement of citizens in social causes, and how to cultivate/attract social enterprenuership. I could not stay for the whole conference but left feeling a bit on the down side that social work is so hard to do, with such few incentives that I personally think it is hard to attract young blood unless they are themselves willing to get paid less for a career that pays you far less. CSIM was planning to start a Bangalore chapter, and I am in touch with folks from Shristi on the progress they make on this front. Let us see where this leads me to...

Books

I have been in this mode of reading some serious books. Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom was one such. It is a nice read, and is the heartwarming story of Albom's relationship with his college mentor, Morrie Schwartz, with whom Albom has lost touch for 16 years. Upon seeing him on the "Nightline" program - talking to Ted Koppel about what it was like to die from Lou Gehrig's disease - Albom was both horrified and ashamed. He called his old teacher, flew to Boston for a reunion, and began a series of weekly visits, rekindling their loving teacher-student relationship while tackling a larger subject in their final "class": the meaning of life.

Walking with a Himalayan Master is the other one I am almost done with. Justin O'Brien lived with Swami Rama for the last few decades of his life, and this book is a collection of his experiences with the great Yogi. I would not like to preach much about this book, and my beliefs on Yoga, spirituality here, but let me just say I would highly recommend this book to anyone who is interested in knowing about some of the true sages of India. Swami Rama lived till the 1980s, founded the Himalayan Institute of Yoga in Pennsylvania (Honesdale) and was a true exponent of the ancient wisdom of India. Some other books I would recommed for anyone interested:

Living with the Himalayan Masters by Swami Rama: His own experiences of living in the Himalayan Yoga masters for over 4 decades of his life.

Autobiography of a Yogi by Paramahamsa Yogananda: Another spine chilling (almost) account of another master from India...makes me amazed that such people actually existed.

'Later. Have a nice weekend!