Spelling out the ‘Smart’ in Smart Cities
Today, we are going to take you on a tour – a high-heeled trip that will surprise you and may change your passport stamps in future and also the way…
An Echo-friendly Death, Finally!
— Pratima H Once upon a time I stumbled upon an interesting phrase, which despite its supposedly Latin origins, sounded all Greek to me: Si Monumentum Requiris Circumspice It hints…
If Darwin was locked in a shopping mall?
— Pratima H Oh! You are so stingy! That’s one line I have often been stonked with. The place and source of artillery varies – sometimes I come in the…
15 fun activities for Earth Hour
— Pratima H EARTH: What started as a simple lights-off incident in Sydney, Australia in 2007 has sparked so much debate and attention alike all these years, that it is…
Finding the E of 3D!
— Pratima H There are two things that always fascinate me about IKEA. Irrespective of how good or bad the product is, the brand has always caught the fancy of…
Sharing Telecom Towers – a greener, more clever idea?
The telecom infrastructure space has been grappling with a lot of new environmental frequencies in the recent past. It’s a tight-wire walk of sorts to balance the need for uptime,…
Bio-Toilets & Indian Railways: The No-Fart Zone
— Pratima H We may still be some years away before we start showing off something similar to those self-closing toilet lids that airlines have started flying high with. Just a…
Obama’s menu: Oil-Free or Deep-fried or BBQ?
— Pratima H When all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail. Agreed. Here we are again with nothing better to do then hit hard on oil-policies…
Wait! Did we hear the word ‘Green’ in Detroit?
— Pratima H It could have been business and bling/dazzle/glam as usual. But then that would not have made last week’s Auto Mecca worth the talk and walk, would it?…
Forests in urban landscape? Not a faraway tree!
— Pratima H If you ever come across a study by Jenna Tilt, College of Forest Resources; Thomas Unfried, College of Forest Resources; Belen Roca, Urban Planning, University of Washington,…
Afforestation: Are we barking up the right tree?
— Pratima H If you ask Shubendu Sharma (founder Afforestt) as to who can make a big difference when it comes to our planet, our city’s green cover and other…
“Usage of solar water heaters is win-win for all the stakeholders involved”
With a market size of nearly Rs. 500 Crores and growing at a clip of approximately 10 % p.a., the solar water heater pot is boiling even as it is being watched. It…
How do you like your Apple(s); Red or Green?
— Pratima H Immortality becomes you, gasps Aro at Bella when she turns into one of his own ilk. She responds with a look that re-affirms the vital difference between…
Akshaya Patra: Feeding the future of a nation
Out of the 8 MDG goals that had been agreed upon, India has performed exceedingly well on just one, namely, achieve universal primary education. In fact, on this one parameter,…
Lessons on fund-raising from the Ice Bucket Challenge
— Pratima H Even before some celebrities were gutsy enough to dodge the bucket and drought-suffering people in Henan China or California picked up empty buckets to mock the charity-pail we…
What joins a smelly diaper, a turkey & a cube of chocolate?
— Pratima H If we told you that almost everything that you eat, or drink out of, or poop into, or garnish for Thanksgiving can be whipped, churned and burned…
The epic ‘green’ gap on supercomputing roads
– Pratima H Sometimes one wonders if it would be easier or tougher for Van Damme if he had to stretch between a bus going forward and the other one…
Let’s not be snotty about elephant potty!
— Pratima H What is that story about a singing bird, a wicked fox, a pile of shit, a cow, putting the bird in shit and taking it out of…
Museums: Ah! Finally bones and joysticks start dating
— Pratima H WHATEVER Walt Disney meant when he said “I would rather entertain and hope people were educated rather than educate and hope people were entertained,”; kind of rhymes…
Mita Goswami: Emphasis is on stoking the students’ sense of wonder and respect for Nature
Asking the right question is considered more precious than giving the correct answers, if we go by the instruction manual for life by some wise teachers. Seems like ‘catechism’ has not…