Monkeys!

Recently, I was doing a project on my laptop when Tanya came up and told me to come up to the balcony 'cause my dad was calling me. So I just went over to the balcony and whaddya know?! There were monkeys on the nearby brick (I think) factory! Right in smack in the middle of  commercial Bangalore! So we watched them for about half an hour through my dad's Bushnell binoculars and we found that 1 of the monkeys was missing an arm, 1 was pregnant (or maybe just ate too much) and 1 was... well... small (very mischievous though). Then they made their way down the fence into the lawn near the beach volleyball court and started pointlessly roaming around. So for the past week, these monkeys have been the stars of the apartments. Though it was only today that a security guard finally noticed them and then a few guys came with cameras and started snapping. The monkeys then made one of them screeching sounds, but the dumbos still didn't move away! And the monkeys didn't do anything either back, so I guess it was OK...

Well the monkeys looked scared out of their wits though. Looks like I won't be seeing them for a while...

Bird strike confirmed in US crash

It has been confirmed that a collision with a flock of birds caused a US airliner to lose power and ditch in a New York river just after take-off.

Flight data recorders show the engines of the US Airways Airbus A320 cut out simultaneously, National Transport Safety Board investigators say.

The plane had only managed to reach a top altitude of 3,200ft (975m).

All 155 passengers and crew of Flight Flight 1549 survived the landing on the Hudson, which made headlines worldwide.

They were rescued by boats from the sinking aircraft - the captain was the last to leave.

The wreckage of the plane was lifted by crane from the icy waters on to a barge moored to a lower Manhattan seawall late on Saturday and is now being moved to a marina for closer inspection.

'Sound of thumps'

Kitty Higgins of the National Transportation Safety Board confirmed on Sunday that ice floes in the river were slowing the search for an engine thought to have separated from the plane when it ditched on Thursday afternoon.

But she said the "black box" data confirmed pilot testimony that the plane had collided with a flock of birds.

"About 90 seconds after take-off, the captain remarks about birds," she said, quoting the data recorder.

"One second later the cockpit voice recorder recorded the sound of thumps and rapid decrease of engine sounds. The captain acknowledges that both engines have lost power and he takes control of the aircraft."

Earlier, the plane's pilot, Capt Chesley B "Sully" Sullenberger, and his co-pilot, Jeff Skiles, described for the Board how they had suddenly seen "big, dark-brown birds" approaching, then registered them hitting the plane.

Capt Sullenberger took the decision to ditch the plane in the river dividing Manhattan from New Jersey.

Apart from one person whose legs were both broken, none of those aboard are reported to have sustained serious injuries.

The pilot was due to give his first TV interview about the crash on Monday but that has been cancelled at the request of the US airline pilots association.

1 1526 local time (2026 GMT): Flight 1549 takes off from LaGuardia airport 2 1527 (2027 GMT): Pilot Chesley Sullenberger reports birds hitting engines 3 1528 (2028 GMT): Pilot told to land at Teterboro airfield 4 1531 (2031 GMT): Pilot ditches plane in Hudson River

First of all, Wow.


This reminds me of a Hindi movie, Rang De Basanti, where the whole conflict arises because a fighter pilot dies. I forgot exactly what happened, but something happened to the plane and it was about to explode. The plane was right on top of a city. If he had ejected there, the plane would have crashed in the city. So, he steers the plane away from the city, and when he is a safe distance away from it, the plane explodes. With him in it.


I'd like to congratulate Pilot Chesley Sulenberger for his heroic act (yes, these are my own words, no plagiarizing) by saving all those... *checking article* ...ah... 155 passengers on board.

Trusting shopkeeper leaves store unattended

My mom pointed this out to me a few days back. My first reaction was WOW! Here goes:

A North Yorkshire shopkeeper left his hardware store open on Boxing Day - with an honesty box instead of staff.
Tom Algie wanted to give himself and his three staff the day off but without letting down his customers, reports the Daily Mail.
So he left a note telling shoppers to serve themselves and then leave their payment in the box he had left behind the counter.
When Mr Algie, 47, returned at 4.15pm to close up, he was delighted to find the shop in Settle, had taken £187.66 - and two euros.
The father of two said: "I didn't think twice about leaving the shop open. Settle is a lovely quiet rural town and there's never any trouble here. I put my faith in my customers and I wasn't disappointed.
"It was a spur-of-the-moment decision. I just wanted to spend the holidays with my family but thought it would be quite nice to open up the shop."
The honesty box - which he dubbed his newest member of staff - was made out of a funnel and plastic cereal box, and put behind the counter at his shop Practically Everything.
His note read: "Yes, I have given everyone the day off, including me, so please choose the items you want and place the right money inside, Merry Christmas."
Customers also left notes saying what goods they had bought and this, combined with a quick check of his stock, confirmed that his trust was not abused.

Goes to show the honesty of the British!

Back to Bangalore...

Now that I've returned to Bangalore from vacation, allow me to share some of my pix with you guys:

First of all, where Mysore is in India:

Different views of the Mysore Palace


Look closely and you'll see ENORMOUS beehives!


The 'amazing' view includes a power generator, a solar heater, a coconut tree, and an apartment...



 


The garbage lady shouting at a person from another house for dumping garbage outside the house...

P.S. Apologies if the captions aren't very visible.

December

As you may know, my mother reads my blog regularly to see how things are going on it. After her routine check, she pointed out that I had 26 posts in November but only 5 in December. Oh, I know... I can even hear all you guys shouting "Booooo!" at me! My excuses? Well, I have a number of them! 2, to be exact.

The first one - The dreaded word. Something all most of us hate. Doomsday. It is: EXAMS!!! Da-dah-daahhh! If you guys think "So what?!", you're wrong! I had 11 exams and only a week to prepare for them (OK, the procrastination bit was my fault). So, in my fervour to do well in the exams, I totally forgot about R&B.

The second one - The holy word. Something all most of us worship. The day(s) of our lives. It is: HOLIDAYS!!! Ta-da! If you guys thought that that gave me an opportunity to blog, you're wrong! The first few days, I was in Mysore, without using a computer (despite my dad having his laptop, the hotel being a Wi-fi zone, and there being a computer room downstairs XD). I was too caught up in um... having fun and didn't blog until New Year's Day.

P.S. As I write, there are 3 dead mosquitoes on the table.
P.P.S. I'm using my grandma's laptop
P.P.P.S. I'm taller than my mom (lol)

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year everybody! Looking back on 2008, I see how things have flown by so fast. My first day at RI, my new friends, how Skatezone still kept in touch despite being in different schools, me leaving Singapore for India, my first day at EISB, topping the class (twice!), Obama's victory (and more importantly McCain's loss), me making new friends, and most importantly, growing taller than my mom.

It's usually at this point in time, after reminiscing about the past year, people make New Year's resolutions. Mine are the following:

• Grow taller
• Eat more
• Grow taller
• Gain weight
• Grow taller
• Do well in the final exams
• Grow taller
• Take life more easily
• Grow taller