Television, a threat to our privacy…

Television viewing constitutes a significant chunk of a person’s leisure time activities. With many channels flocking, there is so much of awareness today and a whole world of information is ready to unravel at the mere click of a remote button.

Dance shows, reality shows, serials, films, news, sports, music videos, quiz shows and innovative advertisements, constitute the most popularly viewed programmes on the television.

Television, which has long ago invaded our drawing rooms and bedrooms, constitutes for some disturbance to our privacy. In the nuclear families of today, parents are unable to spend quality time with their children as television has become their major source of entertainment.

The television ads seem to impact young minds by introducing variety of changes into their lifestyles. Unlike working women, house wives usually get glued to the popular afternoon soaps that dwell on inter-family disputes and emotional warfare.

Children, who are often found glued to TV sets, gradually become addicted to watching cartoons. They even get exposed to other television channels that very often gloat on sex, violence, horror shows, crime, murder and mafia serials, alcoholism, extra-marital relations etc.

In a society dominated by televisions, mobile phones, laptops, new-age toys and other hi-tech gadgets, is there sufficient time to enjoy reading a nice book?

As the umpteen television channels lay siege to the privacy of our drawing rooms, can we hope to get back that privacy which our ancestors enjoyed before the influence of the television era?

The Bumper 'Crazy' Offer...

Two months ago, I went for shopping with my cousin to buy a couple of round neck t-shits at a nearby mall. As we entered, we spotted some offer at one corner with large crowd around it. I always knew that this man would fall for discounts and this time again; he was carried away by a surprising offer on a big hoarding, "Buy 1 get 3 free".

It was an after-Christmas and 2008 year-end stock clearance sale. The t-shirts covered under the offer were of unheard brands; priced very high they seemed like its double their routine price and were looking old, washed, dull and dusty. But my cousin got carried away looking at the huge offer.

He planned to take three of them and asked me to buy two for myself so that together we can get fifteen more of them for free. I said "Man, are you crazy? I agree that we can purchase five of them, but what are we going to do with the free fifteen?” He instantaneously replied "But we can wear them casually at home, while running or jogging, while playing sports, etc".

Considering the doubled price tag of each one, in fact the offer was like buy two and getting three free. But my cousin looked quite enthusiastic as he tried to support his statement "Such a bumper offer is a rare opportunity and I will never let it go, its better if we buy some more".

I looked straight into his eyes and said "Some more?? What does that mean? There are more than five hundred of them here, are you going to buy one fourth of them and take home the left over stock?"

He was numbed by my dialogue, but his crazy expressions were still intact. In fact, if he was allowed to do anything he wished, maybe he would apply for a huge loan, buy the whole mall and then demand its owner to give similar malls for free.

At last I was happy that I could manage to convince him and we both collectively purchased only two of them but got six more for free. Trust me, we could select the two we purchased within seconds, but we struggled to select from the dull colors, the other six which were given free.

Sounds a bit funny, isn’t it? As shoppers became more cautious due to the continuing credit crunch, every outlet these days is vying for the customer’s attention with exciting offers and discounts.

I always doubt on big discounts and offers. Often prices are hiked before the sale; customers think that they are getting a discount, but they end up paying the original price. Sometimes even defective and duplicate products can be found in big sale events.

Well, do share your crazy shopping experiences in the comments column.

Slip, thud... ouchh...

Whether it is in school or college, the mall or at home, we all have fallen down the stairs sometime or the other in our lives.

But two things commonly occur when someone falls down the stairs - at least one person is hurt and at least one witness laughs over it and makes it a joke the next day at college.

Yes, the other day when i visited a mall, a group of teenagers, who finished their shopping, were getting down a long polished-marble staircase with around forty steps.

On their way down, they were holding few plastic bags, cracking jokes, laughing out loud and worst of it, few of them placed their hands upon each other's shoulders and others got down with tightly clasped hands.

Suddenly, one person couldn't land his leg properly and slipped. As it is a fully polished marble stairway, the slip was enough to accelerate his fall. On his way down, he dragged down his immediate partner and within seconds, the whole group stumbled over the stairs. Thud sounds were followed by sounds like ahh, ouch.

The people who were around helped them to get up and as I was nearby, I could manage to help two of them. One among them was unable to walk, his face became red. He was saying that he landed right on his bum and was unable to bear the pain.

When all this happened, I have noticed that few couples, who were standing in the balcony, watched it from above and were having a nice laugh over it. One man's pain is another man's gain?

Never run down or up stairs, if you are in a hurry, better take an elevator. When you are in a group, better don’t hold others hands while taking stairs, because if you fall, you tend to drag another one along with you.

There is even a weird phobia of falling down stairs called “Bathmophobia” - an abnormal and persistent fear of stairs or steep slopes. Those who suffer from such a phobia better hang on to the banister and move.

Falling on stairs is not a joke, it can lead to a stiff neck, a broken wrist or leg or can even be fatal if you hurt your head; so please be careful. While you are taking stairs, do take the help of the banister.

Biofuel, the fuel of the future...

Day before yesterday, Japan Airlines (JAL) carried out the world's first successful test flight of a Boeing aeroplane, run on biofuel that was made primarily from a non-food energy crop called camelina.

As fossil fuels are depleting faster, the race is on to find more environmental friendly alternatives. Is it not time for the greener biofuel to completely takeover and replace the traditional fossil fuels?

Biofuel, with very less greenhouse gas emissions, has variety of sources - biofuel crops such as jatropha and pongamia yield oil that can be blended with diesel or can be used directly. Sugar mills produce ethanol from sugarcane, which can be blended with petrol.

Biofuel production from seeds is multi-way beneficial. The raw material (oil seeds) is crushed in oil mills to physically expel the oil and leave behind the oil cake, which can be used as manure.

Biofuel is also produced from waste or low value products like converting waste biomass into fuel, processing lower quality vegetable oil into biodiesel, etc.

However the food vs. fuel debate is still pending. Biofuel is being considered as a threat to food crops. Experts predict that biofuel could directly affect food supplies.

Crops like jatropha and pongamia could divert land, water and other resources away from food production. Also, there are various other issues related to biofuel production which need to be sorted out.

Will biofuel dominate fossil fuels in future? Can biofuel really help us achieve energy independence?