Training Paradise!!!

Training has never been such a pleasure as much as coming to TMTC (TATA Management Training Center) at Pune. I love this place for the sheer cinic beauty that it beholds. For me to make to Pune from Chennai is a bit tedious.. Fly to Mumbai and then the connecting flight to Pune. But my pain always vanishes the moment I step into TMTC area.. The lushness of greenery around is awesome.. It freshens your eyes and mind..

The first time when I stepped in.. i was taken aback by the splendid architecture that the facility has.. the old cottage style rooms where Room Service seems to be a very spiritual activity.. not the regular mundane service.. Rooms are never locked whether you are there in the room at night or when you are in your classes for the lecture sessions...

It is a place where I feel one needs to explore rather than just read. I realized this myself. It was a WoW effect the moment I stepped in.. The gardening is done with lot of care and passion.. Plants thrive there.

One of the biggest surprise was the sapling that grew on the trees.. There is a pot which collects rain and other water and supplies water to the creeper that is growing on the trees.. It is a lovely synergy that exists..
Being in Chennai one tends to forget the chirping of the birds and the early morning and evening busy bodies that the nature beholds... TMTC seems to be the house for many such lovely beings.. They are so soothing to the ears that you do not need any thing else to hear to..

Dead Floods!!!

It has always been a constant nagging factor for me when I hear the politicians in India talk about connecting rivers. There is a real concern when there is draught or scarcity of water in any part of the country. Water a big source or survival and sustenance for all of us.. So connecting the rivers in this country is no doubt a very good proposal. I have been wondering the mammoth task that we are talking about when we say connect rivers.. is it a fantasy or a reality looking at the sheer geographic spread that our country has.. It is massive task!!!!

But then there was a much bigger surprise that struck me was when I was flying from Chennai to Mumbai and the areal view of the land scape that lie in between was one of the most fascinating features that I ever notices. I was amazed by the human structures that have come up every where and the way that we have tried to connect each of these structural blocks which we call then as Cities, Villages, Town etc. some of them are geometrically well designed while most of them do not seem to have any close resemblance to any geometrical shape. This is mostly dependant on the economical development of the cities.. What struck me most was the dry patches of long serpentine dry patches which passed through most of these so called human marvels...

After a good look I realized that these were nothing but river beds.. Some of the river beds seem to be as wide as 1/2 Km.. but what is remaining now is nothing but the sediments.. I felt the vibrancy which these rivers could have had when they were young and flourishing.. Now most of these rivers have dried and died their natural deaths or have just become some 'Nalas' . The number of these dried beds are not a few here and there but they are every where and they are large in numbers. I remember some of these nalas have ended up into a small pond or lake and some of them have moved into the dam areas.. The near by areas seem to be still fertile and they are cultivated fertile lands which have been there for quite a while.. Human presence has created what now seems to me a calamity..

Looking at these dry patches, I wonder if we would have preserved our old heritage and nature we would not have come to this situation of connecting rivers.. rather we would have been more water rich.. We need to think to really save the nature now or else we never would be able to have any more rivers in future....

Cotton Fields

Flying at 30,000 fts above sea level I woke up from my slumber at the early hours of Thursday. I could feel the early morning sun blazing on my window pane.. I looked down to see if I could locate where was I.. For couple of minutes I seemed to have been floated to another land.

I felt as if I had landed in the cotton fields, promising a rich harvest for him who had laid the plants with such good care in a very meticulous manner.. The gap between the plants seem to be measured. and then all off a sudden looking far towards the horizon I felt a small hillock peeping out of the cotton fields with its top shining with the sun rays.. I seemed to have been lost in my world when I heard the pilot say, "We are about to land at bangalore in another 5 mins time"..

I strained my neck back thinking of nature's beauty in the sky and on this lovely earth... What was I doing here in this hectic world...