We’re not the most environment conscious developer in Bangalore. No, that distinction solely belongs to BCIL, who with the goal of Zero Emission Development are building T-Zed Homes that consume just 60% of energy demand of 100 homes elsewhere. Truly, an outstanding effort. Worthy of recognition and applause. We have a lot to learn and miles to go. We too do care and below is our contribution to minimise nature resources at our projects and offices. Within our Projects:
We strictly follow the local regulations and ensure that half of our layout is left open for roads, gardens, playgrounds and only the remaining half is used for building homes.
We try our best to minimise the use of grass, instead plant more trees and mini-forests as they consume significantly less water. To bring in variety almost all our projects have mini fruit orchards of either Cheeries, Chickoos, Papayas or Mangoes.
In all our current projects, Rain water harvesting systems have been planned for to ensure that the ground water is sufficiently recharged and dependance on Corporation Water provided by the Government is less.
We’re the very first developers to introduce a Butterfly Park at Vakil Whispering Woods, where we’ve planted special flowers that butterflies are naturally attracted to, in an effort to woo back these winged wonders.
The treated residue water from Sewerage Treatment Plan instead of being disipated away is being redirected to water the open areas of landscaped gardens and mini-forests.
Within our offices:
In our corporate office too, we do all we can to eco-friendly. We recycle paper whenever we can, making scribble pads out of usable waste paper. We try being energy efficient by making sure that no computer, if idle, is running for more that 3 minutes. Sometime back we even had a screening of Al-Gore’s Inconvenient Truth too. No effort is too small when it comes to saving the planet. After all, it’s the only one we’ve got. There’s still a lot to do:
So we keep trying to do as much as we can. We are currently in discussion with Sahaas to help us set up a recycling unit so that 90% of the waste generated by homes shall be recycled and reused. We’re also relooking at the various materials used in the construction of our projects and researching if more eco-friendly alternatives (eg Terrazyme for roads) can be used.
This post is our contribution for Blog Action Day, joining thousands of other bloggers to write about one topic for a single day. This year’s topic is the environment.
Ever since Vodafone has taken over Hutch for $19.3 Billion (only), they’ve been plastering the country with TV Commercials, Hoardings and even Bumper Stickers.
I for one am going to miss Hutch. Not too much for their service they provided (because I’ve heard it sucked), but for their brilliant advertising. Who can forget their terrific teaser launch. It was the first time I’ve seen Hoardings taken all over the country with a common face and a big bold “Hi”. This was done when Airtel where wooing Shah Rukh Khan and Sachin Tendulkar to pose for their ads. What Hutch saved from royalty fees to these stars, they splurged in volume by covering as many locations as possible. This was followed by the even more successful TV Spot of a cute dog following a boy in all unlikely locations, ending with the tagline “Where ever you go, the Hutch network follows.”
The first prize however goes to the Hutch sponsored sign up at my local mosque that says, “God may speak to you here, but He’s unlikely to use your mobile. Please switch it off before entering the mosque.” Now, that’s class.
Anyway, Hutch ain’t coming back. Till then, enjoy this Vodafone ad and make the most of Now :-)
There’s something mysterious about the effect of creative advert. It makes you smile, think over the message, ponder it’s flawless execution, you may not buy the product on offer but you nevertheless whisper, “Damn, that’s a good ad.â€
I have seen a fair share of creative adverts when growing-up in Dubai. It was love at first sight. Hence my excitement when I came across Ad Blog Arabia, a blog which posts and archives the most creative ads released in the Gulf. Now mind you, these may not be the most effective selling ads, but in their own way are little pieces of art.
Definitely an addition to my Netvibes page. By the way, do you know of any Blog/website that showcases great ads?
If we wish we could relive Ramadhan every month of the year. Afterall why has God asked us to fast in Ramadhan?
[Quran: Chapter 2, Verse 183] O you who believe! fasting is prescribed for you, as it was prescribed for those before you, so that you may be God Conscious.
God has ordained us to fast so that we experience God Consciousness. Really how God Conscious has our Ramadhan been? More than God Conscious, I have been hunger conscisous, food conscious and (for once) time conscious (Gosh, still 2 more hours left for Iftar!) Shame on me. With what joy can I celebrate Eid. Afterall Eid is for those who’ve successfully prayed, fasted and stayed away from sin during Ramadhan. All I have got from Ramadhan is fatigue, head-aches and boredom.
Sure Ramadhan is over, but we still can strive to bring a greater level of God Consciousness within us. We can continue to be wary of manners, mindful of our prayers, charitable (with time, knowledge and wealth), patient in times of adversity, grateful in times of bliss, respectful to our parents, constantly seeking to improve our knowledge and enhancing our skills. When we practice that throughout the year, so that when we do arrive at the Holy month, we will be blessed with an experience of a Ramadhan that is at a different level altogether.
An excerpt of a prayer, to be recited on the last 10 nights of Ramadhan:
O Allah, and now, the days of Ramadhan are nearing completion, and the nights are leaving us. And you know better than me what status I have reached in this month, for You alone can calculate it, from all of creation. So I ask You by what, the angels close to You, Your send Prophets, and Your virtuous servants, have asked. My God, I seek refuge with Your gracious self, and your mighty power, from (the state) that the days and nights of Ramadhan reach completion, and there still remains a sin on me, that You will account me for, or a mistake that You have not forgiven me.
Has the Internet changed how you read the news? It certainly has changed for me, and saving me lots of time. I remember the pre-internet days when I had to wait for dinner time to watch the news, or wait for next morning, to read the headlines. The internet of course changed all that. These days all the small and big news & content providers have an online presence that provide the news that is up to date. From CNN and BBC to The Hindu and Times of India.
So how can Netvibes.com save you several hours a week? Well, instead of sitting infront of the Idiot box during dinner time waiting for the news to show up, or spending hours visiting all the websites to track the news. You can use Netvibes.com to brings the latest news from the sources you select, neatly arranged in a nice package, waiting to be read.
Below are some steps I’ll show you on how to setup your page at Netvibes, and add your favorite news source to track, with some cool tips & tricks to manage them.
1. Visit Netvibes.com and setup your account
Setting up your account is as easy as clicking on the ‘Register Now’ link and then entering your email and password.
2. Add your news sources to your netvibes page
Now comes the main part! At this point you have to select the content that you want to display on your netvibes page. To start with you will find lots of useful widgets already present on your page, but other that this you’ll also have the option to add custom news feeds to your page.
For example if you would like NDTV headlines to appear on your Netvibes page, visit www.ndtv.com and lookout for the RSS link. You can find it on top of the page:
Click on that will give you the option to select the news feed you would like to insert on your Netvibes page:
Since I’m interested in ’National News’ I copied that link, and added it to my netvibes page by clicking ‘add a feed’ and pasting the NDTV feed URL:
Once you’re done click on the finish button. You’ll now have NDTV coming to you instead of you going to NDTV :-) Neat!
3. Create Tabs
Soon you’ll find that you’ve got lots of news & blogs that you’d like to track. Netvibes’ Tab feature allows you to organize your feeds Tab-wise. Here’s how I’ve done mine:
4. Add Widgets
You would have realised by now that besides displaying news, you can add some pretty cool widgets ranging from Email to Calendars, tasks & Notes.
5. Access from Mobile
Ok, last but not the least, you can access your netvibes page from your Mobile phone! This is a really time saving feature. I no longer have to be on my PC to read the news, I can read them when I’m on the go from my Blackberry. So if you own a GPRS enabled mobile phone, then visit http://m.netvibes.com and login to your account, to read the news you want!
We’re not the most environment conscious developer in Bangalore. No, that distinction solely belongs to BCIL, who with the goal of Zero Emission Development are building T-Zed Homes that consume just 60% of energy demand of 100 homes elsewhere. Truly, an outstanding effort. Worthy of recognition and applause. We have a lot to learn and miles to go. We too do care and below is our contribution to minimise nature resources at our projects and offices.
Has the Internet changed how you read the news? It certainly has changed for me, and saving me lots of time. I remember the pre-internet days when I had to wait for dinner time to watch the news, or wait for next morning, to read the headlines. The internet of course changed all that. These days all the small and big news & content providers have an online presence that provide the news that is up to date. From 
