People cannot understand that our world is being screwed big time. It serious. Every one thinks it's somebody else who has to take the initiative and the whole saving-the-planet-from-extinction is "not our thing". Simple things like leaving a tap running. Why would you need to keep the water gushing from that spout when you're brushing your teeth or shaving? To prove "Hell yeah we're civilized. We got running water."? Turn the damned thing off.

And leaving the lights on in the room. Afraid of the dark, are you? It consumes energy, bird brain and that's something that is precious. Just like the gas in your stove or your car. Money dont make gas. It just buys it. The day that gas is over, are we going to start stacking piles of greens to fuel the fire? I've seen people leave their motors idling and go shopping! I've seen people take their vehicle to a store 500 meters from their home because "its embarrassing to be seen on foot". Its a bloody status symbol. I have gas, so I can afford to go about with my head as big as a balloon. Bust it bugger; we wont have gas soon. Walk. It wont hurt you. In fact it'll take away some of the blubber you've put on.

I need to write

I can't write. I have writers block. But I have to write. Because journalists write and I'm learning to be one so I need to write too. So I'm writing.
Ok, this sucks. Lets try again. Goa seems to be a good topic since thats the only thing I know about. Actually, I don't know much about that either. I haven't really been out clubbing much so I know less about the night life than a nun. And when I got to IIJNM, every time I introduced myself, I'd say "Hey! I'm Dielle from Goa". Then there'd be the double takes. Obviously, I'm from GOA! The place to be. But then, there'd be a question mark replacing it - "What's your name again???" Whatever!

Shanti Bhavan

Shanti Bhavan - place of peace....Peace of mind, body, and soul. At least for the children that live there, it is home - where the heart lies...Underpriviledged kids get all they need in terms of support, mainly emotional.

Well, it started out as a bumpy journey, rent with noise of so-called 'aspiring journalists' screaming themselves insane. The bus ploughed its way from jungle to civilisation to jungle....and people started to drop off, beginning with Nikhil - with his mouth open of course!! Sohini had to forget that one needs to pee before beginning a journey, so I pretty much spent the ride listening to the mantra "I need to piss. I need to piss."

After an age, we finally got to the other side of nowhere and queued to the loo...Its quite odd that mostly girls need to use the loo. The assembly was something to be remembered; very inspirational, and well done. The George Foundation really must be applauded for doing a great job with the kids there....Its obvious the children squeeze the juice out of every opportunity and facility. I suspect that is what provides the motivation to the Foundation itself. They spend a fortune on the project of educating these children. Apparently, they've asked big corporate houses for aid and have been sidelined on almost all accounts. This speaks volumes about the priorities of these corporates considering their role in the development of the country. I'm sure they can spare a small percentage of their profits....

The Foundation itself generates income from their banana and grape plantations around, but it still is a lot of money. According to the head there, they spend about 6-7 lakhs a month!!

Seriously speaking, walking down the lanes at Shanti Bhavan reminds me of Devaaya(the ayurvedic resort in Divar, Goa). It made me a teensy bit homesick, seeing the chickoo and coconut trees and relishing mango for dessert......

Today, at IIJNM...

1st assignment at IIJNM today!! It had to be a long walk through the village....I love walking....In Goa, there's not much difference between the villages and the towns (at least the ones I've seen!!); similar facilities, stuff like that...I expected to find a big difference in the town and city life here and that's exactly what I found. But what I did not expect was to fall in love with the landscape - green fields full of vegetables and ragi and mulberry bushes, cattle grazing, little lambs protected by a fence, the village dogs trotting behind you....

We entered the first school we saw and were literally swamped by children. They sit on the floor and some have no shoes, but they all have something to say. English alphabets and the digestive system decorated the walls. Oh, and they love you all the more if you have a camera.

The roads were terrible though. My first trip down the road was when I came to IIJNM. I arrived by rickshaw and it felt like I was on a pogo stick! The darned vehicle had NO shocks. All the 'shocks' were taken by my spinal column....

Don't matter....I had a great walk today after a long time. It feels real good. Walking just takes your misery away. You check out the sights, hear the sounds, smells the aromas, jump out the way every time some idiot tries to run you over....Its great excercise!

News?wats that?

Watching the news is such a drag....As a student of journalism, I'm expected to know every bit of news that goes over the waves.But me?No, I know 2 bits of news. And thats because someone else told me about it.

Learning a language

French is such a beautiful language to learn. I love the way the 'r's are rolled and every sentence seems like it flies out of your mouth. I would love to be able to speak French fluently. This brings me to learning new languages. The method of teaching languages in India is so not professional.
Language is all about associating things directly with the words, first concrete then abstract. In school, we learned a new language through translation.eg. 'chaval' in Hindi means 'rice' in English. We are never shown grains of rice and taught that the word for what we see is 'chaval'. The best way to learn, according to me, is through picture-word association.By and by, vocabulary will increase, enough for us to learn the abstract and speak about just as a native would