OK. I know some of you may have heard of ThinkQuest, a kind of thingy which is a competition thingy which lets you make project thingies. My group decided to do one on homemade weapons. So we wanted a survey and here's the link below.
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=pRX5Th3CCm9pACAu8OqXlg_3d_3d
For those of you people out there who are related to me, fergeddaboutit.
First of all, apologies.
Recently, I had gone on a trip to this place called Chikkamagalur which is about 7 hours away from Bangalore on a school field trip. We stayed at this place called Woodway Homestay owned by someone who owned a coffee estate of about 300 acres (about 1.2 km2). We didn't do much on the first day except that I was assigned to a dormitory and not a bedroom, but it wasn't as bad as I thought it might be. We all got double-decker beds and I got to sleep on the top, so one afternoon I was bored, so I called over a few friends and jumped from bed to bed as "The Human Mario" with one of my friends singing the theme song. We went on a tour around the owner's coffee estate the next day and guess what? You have to wait for 9 years before the coffee plant actually gives you something! And it has to be between 18 to 30 years old so that its harvest is somewhat stable. That morning, I tried a whole cup of coffee for the first time. One of my friends was like UGH but frankly, I liked it. So helped myself to bit more... and had quite a lot more at night, and then I couldn't sleep
. Stupid coffee
. That was it really. On the bus trip I watched movies on Saif's iPod like Blades of Glory and such. I got some coffee back from Chikkamagalur and I get a cup a week if I keep begging.
I don't know if you guys do, but go visit if you haven't.
http://tharun.firstaspect.net/gallery.html
Recently, a few events have started me thinking. I've forgotten all but one. Today, I forgot to bring my Math project to school (yes, I had finished it
). My Math period was taken over my mistake by my History teacher. By the time she realised, it was time for the photo-shoot session for the yearbook (I think). Then during the actual History period the History teacher came in again. So I didn't have to submit my Math project today. This has happened quite a number of times. Once, when I was one of the guys with long hair, I wasn't called up. It's happened with many other stuff as well.
I have thought of 3 possibilities:
What do you think?
Maldivian President, Mohamed Nasheed, says that the gradual rise in sea levels caused by global warming means the Maldives islanders may eventually be forced to resettle elsewhere.
The Maldives is the lowest nation in the world. Its highest land is little more than two metres above sea level.
The United Nations estimates that sea levels may rise globally by nearly 60 centimetres this century.
Devastation fears
The Maldives comprise more than 1,000 islands and coral atolls surrounded by the clear waters of the Indian Ocean.
The white sandy beaches are a major tourist attraction bringing in billions of dollars every year.
Now Mohamed Nasheed, who will be sworn in as the country's first democratically elected president on Tuesday, has said that he will set up a fund to acquire land in other parts of the region.
Mr Nasheed's spokesman, Ibrahim Hussein Zaki, told the BBC's World Today programme that the new government had to take action.
"Global warming and environmental issues are issues of major concern to the Maldivian people. We are just about three feet (0.91 metre) above sea level," Mr Zaki said, speaking from the capital, Male.
"So any sea level rise could have a devastating effect on the people of the Maldives and their very survival".
Similar culture
Over the last century, sea levels around parts of the archipelago rose by nearly 20cm. Mr Nasheed fears that even a small rise could leave some islands inundated.
Mr Nasheed's plan is to create a "sovereign wealth fund" using tourism revenues to buy land so that future generations will have somewhere to rebuild their lives if they have to leave.
He wants somewhere within the region, where the culture is similar - possibly India or Sri Lanka.
His fears is that if he does not take action, the future descendents of the 300,000 islanders could become environmental refugees.
Source: Somewhere in BBC News. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7719501.stm, me thinks.
Me Talks:
I can't believe it. I just went online to check the scores for the UNSW Examination results, and guess what! I was the Indian Topper for the Computer Skills exam! And no one else had as a score as I did (which itself wasn't very high either (37/40)), so I was the only topper for Grade 8. Not only that, I got High Distinctions in every subject (English, Mathematics, Science, Computer Skills (obviously lah)). So when I told my teachers, turned out that they knew about this weeks back and they just wanted to keep it as a surprise for me. But too late. The Great *coffcoff* Tharun outwitted them! Oh I can see you all 
ing at me. Thank you very much, you may arise.
Yay got my own site! I haven't really done up much yet, seeing as I started it sometime yesterday. I haven't got any ideas on what to put up on the "Home" page, so I'm all open for suggestions from you guys. The blog tag redirects us to this page, the gallery has a few (2, to be exact) Flash™ animations. On the "About" page you will find a very biased so called "biography" about myself. On the "Contact" page, you will find links to the other pages plus the time plus some stuff about me EXCEPT my contact details. Must protect my privacy mah! As I said earlier, I'm open to suggestions!
Oops, forgot to tell you the URL. http://tharun.firstaspect.net/
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...
 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 |
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!
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:
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 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:
Sorry for not posting till Saturday, but anyway, last Monday I'd gone to school to get that award for Literary Activities and not many people came. Just a handful of parents, most of the students and the awardees. Then they call up the awardees, say a few lies about us, then give us a certificate, a trophy and a cash prize. It wasn't anything flashy, but it was good anyway. Everyone was like "omg it's glass!" If I'd told them it was acrylic, they'd have given a blank stare. So I didn't bother. So for getting that thing, my mum gave me a watch. Turns out that she'd already bought it ages ago in Singapore, and was gonna give it to me when I'd done something worthy of getting that watch. It's solar-powered and it has a database to store 30 contacts. She gave my sister a watch too, but that's another story...
Sorry guys, but I won't be posting till next Thursday, as I have exams for a week. Sorry for the inconvenience.
So I had gone to Coimbatore over the weekend, to do a medical check-up. After the check-up, I went over to mom's house to spend the night (and the next 2 days). And guess what? They'd bought a puppy! Her name is Betsy, she's an Alsatian and she's exactly 70 days old today. Betsy's named after another dog that was in one of my mom's cousin's farm. She has these mood swings, which is kinda unusual for a puppy... She will suddenly open her mouth wide and try to bite you while you're stroking her. Or she could just chase after you and bite you. She bit me twice on the calf, but it didn't hurt, so I guess she was just playing.
She has her own area on the second level of the house (the terrace). It's where she has her meals and plays with us. Talking about meals, she has this weird habit of toppling over her water bowl when she's not thirsty and then lie down in the spilt water. Whenever we bring her downstairs she goes and lies down underneath a car. So we start running away from her and she automatically gets up and starts chasing us. When we set her down in the lawn after a meal or after when she's been eating bugs, or cement (yeah, she did that once) she starts eating grass. My dad says it makes her automatically throw up and get out all those bugs and cement. Then she runs like a madog (mad + dog = madog) all over the lawn. In the sandpit, she starts digging like h-ll. I think that's all I can say about her, so here's a photo of her:
As the pic shows, her fav place is under the swing.
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So today, after a totally uneventful morning (ask Naman and he'll tell u otherwise (but don't, anyway)), I wuz called up by some 10th std (equiv of sec 4) guy and he told me and this other girl in my class to go downstairs. There wuz a teacher there and he took us up to the Director of Academics room and she gave us a briefing abt an award we were gonna get on Monday. Different students were getting it for different reasons, some got for Academics, some for Athletics, some for Music. I knew I was gonna get the award beforehand, and I thought I'd get it for Academics, having topped my class twice in the previous tests/exams.
I was saving this for something special, but here goes:
There are many things that India has to be proud of, such as our heritage, culture, and cuisine. But, I can guarantee you that the state of our traffic is not on the list. While driving, the only thought Indians have on their mind is to go from Point A to Point B and back in the quickest time possible. The safety of others is not important to them. Talking on the phone while driving and blowing the horn to break up traffic jams (sounds ridiculous, doesn’t it?) are just some items on the list of characteristics of Indian driving.
If you go to other countries such as the USA, UK, and Australia, people obey the traffic rules, which in turn results in minimal traffic jams. In India, obeying the traffic rules is dangerous! Drivers drive wherever they want, left or right, it doesn’t matter.
Another thing on Indian roads is the corruption. “Corruption?” you may ask. Yes, corruption. The traffic police will stop anyone for anything, just to make some extra money. They will ‘fine’ you for speeding, and then pocket the money for themselves. In other words, the drivers bribe the police not to book them.
When an ambulance is seen making a turn, a vehicle will definitely go on the other side of the ambulance because in that way, that vehicle can reach its destination much faster. Next is the condition of the roads. Indian roads are FULL of potholes, ranging from the size of a tyre to about 3 feet wide. The roads, apparently, are not only for vehicles, but for animals such as goats and cows as well. While driving on village roads, you may see a huge flock of goats moving at a speed of half a kilometre an hour, with a small boy carrying a stick behind them. Blow your horn once, and the boy will turn around, see you, then raise his stick and wave it in the direction of the goats. Like a magic wand, the goats miraculously move away from the road. Even on the city roads, you may see a cow taking an afternoon nap in the middle of the road, which is, many times, one of the causes for traffic jams.
Now, let us take a break from finding fault with the drivers and see how we can improve Indian traffic.
1. Why are Indian drivers in such a hurry all the time? They leave home late, and so they have to get there in the shortest time possible.
Solution: Leave home well in advance.
2. Why do Indian traffic police accept bribes? So that they can make money for themselves.
Solution: When you are caught for something, pay the fine and ask for a receipt.
3. Why are Indian roads full of potholes? Because of the poor quality of the materials used to make the roads.
Solution: The government should take more care while giving tenders.
4. Why are cows seen in the middle of the road? Because of their owners leaving them there.
Solution: A fine for the owners of the animals. They should leave the animals to graze in considerably safer areas, far, far away from the roads.
After like, 2 weeks, I finally finished my geography project. I had to write 6 sections (Location & Extent, Physical Divisions, Political Divisions, Climate, Wildlife and Vegetation, and Culture) along with a conclusion, bibliography, and acknowledgements. I had to write about 1 of these 5 South Asian countries: India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal or Sri Lanka. Oh, you may think I chose India, seeing as it is the easiest to do, being in India. Nope. I don't take the easy way out *coughcoughyesIdo*, and so I took Pakistan. You know, Pakistan isn't all that bad. It is quite a nice country. Have to go there one day...