Shallow Hal

There is an English movie by the above name. Its about a superficial man who has a fixation on physical beauty and fails to see anything beyond that. It ends differently though.


We worship beauty . In humans or in nature. The conservatory is resplendent with beauty. And shallow Hal is wallowing in it. Take a look !

Action over activism

We have been in the serious business of offending people even if we don't mean to ! The lastest victim are some well meaning environmental activists who wanted us to join in a protest campaign for a ( serious , and we agree it to be ) cause. Our refusal , we learn , has been misunderstood . And since they mentioned that they have seen our blog , thought it appropriate to put our thoughts on the same here.

There is no doubt that environment is under great threat . And that every concerned citizen has to do their bit - it is this bit that one needs to choose on their own . We can't expect everyone to start a butterfly conservatory and everyone may not want to join a protest. It does not mean that either of them does not believe in each other's cause.

Like each critter finds a role for themselves in the ecosystem , we have found ours - we want to plant as many trees , reclaim to nature as much land ( our next great goal to recreate a wetland for birds ! ) and rebuild as much as possible in our lifetime .

Protests . Signature campaigns . Seminars . Rallies . Walks . Sit in demonstrations . Educational roadshows . All good . But please count us out . Not because we don't believe it does not have an effect ( it does . Regional plan cancellation , SEZs ) , but just because we made a choice for activism over action. why ?

Action for us is easier . Activism is a huge responsibility . When we have to tell others about right and wrong , we have to be extra careful on our choices in life . Wecan't chase away a pharma company and yet buy medicines of the same company ; or protest about garbage and yet not recycle our own ; Oppose housing projects , yet have more than one dwelling.

We are not yet ready . If and when we think we are , we shall choose.

ROI going bad !

My beloved relatives in question ( actually love them !) have been seriously offended by earlier post . So apologies .

And also their side of the story : All that I have said could be done without having to spend on it myself. Government sponsored greenary abounds where I live. They also meant that without a commercial plan in place , the effort will not grow into something bigger or meaningful ( something that Ms Tallulah had also suggested). Thirdly no use accumulating debt to pursue what looks like a personal passion without a thought for saving for a rainy day ( Good thought ) or making provisions for the kid's education + allied stuff. And what about medical emergencies ....

Valid points . Accepted and will be given avery serious thought !

Return on investments.

We were the topic of discussion last week among some very close relatives of ours - the crux of the debate was on how poor we were at business . How else do you expect doles of money poured in the butterfly conservatory for no returns ?
Well ,true in a way that we do not have gate collections.

But is it a bad investment ?

We need an competent accountant to value the time our kids spend in a forest stream ( stream on demand ) of their own.

He should be able to measure the joy of two German Shepards galloping with a Mowgli like boy that our son is.

Find the IRR of the peace that flows through us each early morning when we sit on the bench waiting for the first sun rays to greet us . In our own manmade forest.

What price do we quote for the liittle friendships we develop each day ?

And we haven't yet got down calculating the normal stuff like oxygen , carbon dioxide cleaning , rainwater saved , top soil , etc.....

How do we calculate the rate of returns on this investment ?