Aug
19
Let’s get into a car pool
Filed Under Green Dioxide | Leave a Comment
Living in an urban space? Drive to work? Is the drive fun? If the answer to the first two questions is yes, the third is more likely to be in the negative.
Naturally. For one, traffic is on the rise in cities and towns worldwide, making driving a pain. And rising fuel costs are not really adding to make such journeys sound like fun either. Enter car or van pools.
Not a new concept, but its practice is highly limited. Company vans and buses are usually used to pick and drop staff who are way down in the pecking order. Anyone higher up in the hierarchy tends to use their own transport, if they can afford it. Does one need a tutorial on the carbon footprint left behind by the millions of cars zipping up and down to work? Read more
Aug
18
Muslims marrying Buddhists in Ladakh can only mean violence
Filed Under Travel, Social Issues | Leave a Comment
According to a senior and responsible army officer posted at the Siachen glacier, a point of conflict between India and Pakistan, the town of Leh in Ladakh sees the local residents getting violent twice a year on average. The issue: When a Muslim decides to, or already has, marry a Buddhist.
And this sentiment was echoed in many parts of Ladakh. In the town of Padum in the Zanskar Valley, a young student named Ghulam Ali Baig told me Muslim – Buddhist marriages are virtually unheard of. When couples do decide to go in for such inter-religion marriages, their only option it to quietly run away to another place like Leh or Jammu where no one knows them. The only mixed couple living in Padum are Ghulam’s own grandparents: his grandfather is Muslim. But that was many years ago when society was more moderate according to him. Read more
Aug
17
Buddhist monks fear being killed in Srinagar, don’t wear robes
Filed Under Politics, Social Issues | 1 Comment
Buddhist monks (lamas) in Ladakh (and probably everywhere else too) are supposed to be in their robes all the time, even when they are allowed breaks for some leisure. The exception is when they are in Srinagar, the capital of the disputed Indian Himalayan state of Jammu and Kashmir; if they are identified as lamas, there is the fear of being shot by Muslims. As a rule, they have to be in regular clothes when visiting Srinagar.
This was told to me by Rigzen, a 20-year old lama posted at the Chamba Statue of the Maitreya Buddha in Mulbeck, a 75 minute drive from Kargil when going to Leh during my recent trip to Ladakh. If what he said is true, it just goes on to show how violent elements do not spare even practitioners of a peace loving religion like Buddhism. Read more
Aug
17
What are Apple, Big Bazaar, Motorola, Pepsi, Kellogg and Pizza Hut in the business of? Selling, among other things, computers, groceries, cellphones, beverages and pizzas respectively.
What are they not in the business of? Selling waste.
If both of the above are true, why are brands leaving a litter trail behind in their pursuit of business growth? In the form of pizza boxes, shopping bags, aluminium cans, plastic containers, hazardous e-waste and more? Our streets, garbage dumps, landfills, water bodies, mountains and parks are full of these and other brands resting in shameful glory. Do companies have a right to internalizing profits and externalizing problems? Read more
Jul
5
India Travel Photo Contest
Filed Under Travel | 2 Comments
India is a photographer’s delight with its natural features, wildlife, flora, people, cultures and festivals providing more fodder for a shutterbug’s creativity than one can chew.
So why not take out your camera, or dig out your stock, and participate in Kunzum.com’s travel photography competition? Bring out the spirit of a place, or its people, its flora and fauna, or things you may have done in India through photographs for a chance to win a professional LCD monitor from Viewsonic, or holidays from Banjara Camps? Read more
Jun
4
Have you noticed how many paper cups get used by delegates consuming water and beverages at conferences and other events? Depending on the size and duration of the gathering, the number can run into hundreds and thousands. What a waste, would you agree?
As a part of the BlogCamp Delhi recently, I personally decided to set an example by writing my name on the paper cup I was using, and used the same one most of the day till someone trashed it. When I suggested other attendees do the same, it was heartening to see some doing so. Read more
Jun
2
Retailers, give away fewer bags; improve image and save money
Filed Under Green Dioxide | Leave a Comment
Do we really need so many shopping bags on this planet? If we as customers cannot change our habits fast enough, maybe the retail industry can take a lead to reduce consumption of these bags. Not only can they make higher profits but also improve their image with customers and other stakeholders. Without causing any inconvenience to customers. Here’s the business case for it: Read more
May
26
How retailers can cut shopping bags usage
Filed Under Green Dioxide | 3 Comments
If retailers can cut down on use of shopping bags, a cascading positive effect can take place. But it is rarely seen to be case, with retailers only too happy to give out any number of bags when they make a sale. With a bit of thought, bags usage can actually be cut down without causing any inconvenience to customers. Here are some ideas.
Start Charging
Be a brave retailer. Start charging for bags. Sounds a preposterous idea? You think customers will make a dash to your nearest competitor, not being used to paying for what they felt were perks that came with shopping? Ok, lets change the plot a bit: Start charging for re-usable bags made of friendly materials like jute. Fair enough, but why will customers pay even for that when they can get the other bags for free as always?
Try some of the following tricks (no, tricks is not about pulling a dishonest one on customers; sometimes one has to be smart to get a good thing done): Read more
May
23
No shopping bags please…
Filed Under Green Dioxide | 2 Comments
Would you believe it if you were told six billion people on this planet manage to consume 500 billion to one trillion plastic bags between them every year. That is a million a minute, according to reusablebags.com.
And each of these bags can take between 20 to 1,000 years to biodegrade. In other words, they just stay put for almost forever in landfills, water bodies, sewage systems, in cities and beyond. They are like ghosts who just hang around. Extrapolate this over years of use, and you have a problem running into trillions of bags. It will not take you to be a Newton to just imagine the impact of it all. Read more
May
21
If you are not aware already, I also publish a blog based on my travels in India called Kunzum. I am on the road most of the time, covering the length and breadth of India creating content for this blog as well as for some planned travelogues. I invite you check out my experiences on Kunzum.com, and even join me on any of my trips. The blog if full of the written word, photographs and videos.
And if you have anecdotes, pictures and videos of the kind I have on Kunzum, I would be happy to consider them for publishing on the blog.
