Tiger Economy without Tigers!

India woke up today (13th Feb 2008) to a headline news report from Times of India, that the number of tigers in India is now approximately only 1400 odd.

According to the now famous BRIC Report, India is projected to be one of the Tiger Economies of this century.

What an irony

In India, so many sport clubs, company logos, political parties, emblems proudly depict The Royal Bengal Tiger (Panthera tigris tigris or Panthera tigris bengalensis) as it’s symbol. The tiger is also the national animal of India.

And what does the tiger get for all this..it becomes an endangered species itself, with only 1400 remaining, and we are a billion plus & growing

Maybe in the future, India will indeed be a tiger economy ….& what about it’s real Tigers? Gone forever??

But then the usual question that comes to our mind, is what can we city folks do?
At most, some of us may donate to some ’save tiger fund’ or some ‘wildlife fund’, & obtain some income tax benefit in the process, right?

Don’t blindly donate to some or any wildlife organization, see to it that your hard earned money reaches the right place where it is required.

For any real change to happen, it’s not just financial aid, but Genuine Collective Wish [or Thought, Will or Iccha] of several people for that change to happen.

If you have the will & a strong desire, then a way or direction will unfold in front of you.

Well, what does this caricature, have to do with Save the Tiger?

See on the top of the caricature, it says in aid of Save the Tiger.

We live in a world, in which nowadays, every action or deed should have a Win-Win situation, right? [this is because, we no longer think of anyone else winning, right? sic]

So, what we have here is a ideal win-win situation for everyone involved.

Here is how it goes.

1) Pay to get a caricature of your self. You can then show it off to all your buddies on Orkut, Facebook, your blogs, etc. yippeee.

2) A guy meticulously in his spare time creates the caricature to your satisfaction.

3) The proceeds of this caricature sale go to a
REAL Organization which does REAL WORK for conserving the wildlife especially the tiger population in Central India.

Sounds interesting?? what’s more genuine is the sincerity behind the people involved.

The caricature is created by a Vikram Nandwani, who does this in his spare time as he works full time in IT for TCS.

He then donates the proceeds of the caricature income to Satpuda Foundation which is run by Kishore Rithe who has dedicated his life to the conservation of Tiger population in Central India.

Still Interesting??

Here’s Vikram Nandwani’s site: http://save-tiger.blogspot.com on how you can order a caricature for yourself.

& here’s Satpuda Foundation’s website : http://www.satpuda.org/ Please see the work being done by Satpuda & do not miss the touching story of a 10 year old who has contributed Rs 15,000 to Satpuda by polishing shoes !

read the story here:
http://www.satpuda.org/news2007.htm#10_years_old_out_to_save_tiger_

I shall be writing another post on Tigers soon, on what else we can do.

Green Google Green

Just read on Techcrunch that Google.org announced today that Google will be spending in 2008 ‘tens of millions’ of dollars on R&D into research related to renewable energy

Google’s official Press Release is here:

http://www.google.com/intl/en/press/pressrel/20071127_green.html

I recall a cartoon from the 80s, Inspector Gadget, whose theme song went like this > Go Gadget Go

So, this initiative from Google makes me wanna say… Green Google Green

BTW, also found out that the domains GreenGoogle.com & GoogleGreen.com are registered by someone other than Google!

Indian Hydrogen Car

Well, well, Tata Motors [Telco for me], continues to surprise everyone.
Announcement by Madhavan Nair, ISRO chairman said that Tata Motors & Indian Space Research Organisation are jointly developing a hydrogen car for India which could hit the roads, by as early as 2008. WoW !! That’s some news! Really something that India really needs with every passing day.

When innovators like Tata Motors & ISRO team up, we can expect to have products made specifically made for Indian conditions. I remember when Tata Motors was written off by analysts back in the 1990s & how they bounced back with Indica. Currently they are doing the same with Ace.
I was lucky to be @ Tata Motors, as a trainee & then later see the Indica plant develop as a vendor for Telco.
After Tata Motors announced the Indian Small Car several global auto giants have also taken up that challenge. However, it remains to be seen, how the Indian small car is gonna shape up.

This is the best news from Tata Motors & ISRO so far.
Chake De India !

Read the ISRO announcement here.