Debunking Thirld World Myths

28 August, 2007

See this video Hans Rosling debunks myths .
Loved the way the data was presented. Really cool animations.

(Link via aldaily.com)

Finally... a new post

I have been meaning to post something in my "little space" but could not get around doing it. I do read a lot of things in a week but what to post and what not to post is the question!

Anyway I stumbled upon this essay on Ritwik Ghatak via Amit Verma -- http://indiauncut.com/ . I thought this was very informative. If you are interested in Ritwik Ghatak you will enjoy the essay. He has faded out of our (bengalies) memories so this is an effort to remember him.

Alaska

We ventured into our Alaska trip on the 4th of August and returned on the 10th. We never realized the wonder and awe we were about to embark upon. The whole trip was breathtaking and amazing!! For me especially, there were many "firsts" which I had never imagined I would come across or experience. Alaska is truly amazing!! We took a lot of pictures though our photography skills are zilch. Rupsha - my daughter took a lot with her camera. Our whole family was in this photo taking spree. Whatever we saw amazed us. At the end Rupsha ran out of memory and our camera ran out of battery (twice)! The long days were fun. The sun was setting at 11 o'clock.

If you want to know more about Alaska here is a link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alaska
The vastness of Alaska cannot be fathomed. Coming from India it was all the more overwhelming.

Enjoy the pictures below. You can turn on/off the captions by clicking the little text box on the lower left hand corner. If you click on the picture you can see the pics in a bigger size. Enjoy!!!!!!

Anchorage

We flew in to Anchorage from Dallas and then the last we stayed for one day before flying out. Loved that city. A city surrounded by mountains in three sides and the ocean in one side. The last day we stayed in this gorgeous Bread & Breakfast. It was just perfect.

Thanks to our friends -- the Sawla's -- they had referred us this local pizza place called Moose's Tooth. The pizza and the beer was awesome -- as Golu would put it. Of course Kushal, Rupsha and Golu gorged on the dessert. "Gorging on the dessert" was a constant wherever we dined in Alaska.

Denali and Healy

The Denali National Park is 6 million acres and has animals staying there in there natural habitat. No public transport is allowed inside the park. You have to take a bus which belongs to the park to and see the animals inside. We came across grizzlies, caribous, and sheep.

One thing which was our first was the Bed and Breakfast in Alaska. After doing some research on the web we stayed in a B&B in Anchorage and one in Healy. This was the best decision ever. The homes were tucked away in a beautiful surrounding and the host and the hostess were warm and inviting. The breakfast in the morning was grand -- kids loved it.

Seward - Kenai Fjords trip on a ship

The second day we took a trip to Seward which was 2 1/2 drive from Anchorage. In Seward we boarded a ship which took us for a 6 hour cruise on the Kenai Peninsula. The cruise ride was gorgeous. The glaciers from up close and personal swept us away. The animals we saw were orca whales, hump back whales, seals, sea lions etc. Golu and Rupsha got a little sea sick and you can see in one of the pics. The mountains were also majestic.

Talkeetna to Denali Plane ride

Browse the slides above to see our plane ride. You can click on the picture to enlarge see a bigger version of the slide show.

This plane trip will be etched in my memory for ever. This plane was a small 8 seater plane .The plane flew over the mountains, over the glaciers, and the valleys. I clenched my teeth the whole time but the view was out of this world. There are many glaciers in Alaska. The plane took us very close to the glaciers. The wonderful thing was there were glaciers in one mountain and in the next mountain it had lush green spruce trees.