MANISH GADIA PHOTOGRAPHY

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YOU ARE STILL MAROONED :-) THE FAB 10: BEST BIRDS

In continuation to my earlier article .......

(Do post your comments in the end of the article)

Situation 2 -

You are stuck in Island for long and you get to take only 10 species of Birds. Which ones would you like them to be?

Rule –

1. You have shelter, food etc etc. You have list down your ‘Top 10 birds’ entertainment / beauty wise only as in your Top 10 birds of all time.

My call on a list like that is as follows. I like to call it ‘The Fab 10’. ‘Fab 10’ stands for birders pinnacle, the best 10 birds across continents with beauty as the only parameter.

(Note – In this ‘Fab 10’ list, birds are not in any particular order)

1. Indian Peacock / Peafowl

Truly a National Bird.

Prominent in many cultures, the peacock has been used in numerous iconic representations, including being designated the national bird of India in 1963. The peacock, known as Mayura in Sanskrit, has enjoyed a fabled place in India since and is frequently depicted in temple art, mythology, poetry, folk-music and traditions. Many Hindu deities are associated with the bird, Krishna is often depicted with a feather in his headband, while worshippers of Shiva associate the bird as the steed of the God of war, Karthikeya (also known as Skanda or Murugan). In Buddhist philosophy, the peacock represents wisdom.Peacock feathers are used in many rituals and ornamentation. Peacock motifs are widespread in Indian temple architecture, old coinage, textiles and continue to be used in many modern items of art and utility. In Greek mythology the origin of the peacocks plumage is explained in the tale of Juno and Argus. Charles Darwin wrote to Asa Gray that the "sight of a feather in a peacock’s tail , whenever I gaze at it, makes me sick!" as he failed to see an adaptive advantage for the extravagant tail which seemed only to be an encumbrance. Darwin tried to develop a second principle of "sexual selection" to resolve the problem.

Adult peafowl can usually escape ground predators by flying into trees. Leopards are however able to ambush them and in some areas such as the Gir forest, peafowl are common prey. Foraging in groups provides some safety as there are more eyes to look out for prey. They are sometimes hunted by large birds of prey such as the Changeable Hawk-eagle and Rock Eagle-owl. Chicks are prone to predation. Adults living near human habitations are sometimes hunted by domestic dogs or by humans in some areas (southern Tamil Nadu) for folk-remedies involving the use of "peacock oil".

2. Black Necked Stork

This bird shows the beauty of BLACK as a color. The Black-necked Stork, Ephippiorhynchus asiaticus is a large wading bird in the stork family Ciconiidae. It is a widespread species, which is a resident breeder in southern Asia and Australasia, from India east to New Guinea and the northern half of Australia. In Australia, it is also given the common name Jabiru in Australia. It is spectacularly plumaged. The head, neck, wing bar and tail are jet black, with the rest of the plumage white. Sexes are identical except that the female has a yellow iris, while the male's is brown.

3. Oriental Dwarf Kingfisher

If you have to see numerous shades of blue, black, pink, orange, yellow, red all in one, theres no better bird then Oriental Dwarf Kingfisher. The Oriental Dwarf Kingfisher also known as the Black-backed Kingfisher (Ceyx erithaca) is a species of bird in the Alcedinidae family. Small red and yellow kingfisher, yellow underparts with bluish-black upperparts. This is a widespread resident of lowland forest. It is found in Bangladesh, Bhutan, Brunei, Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Republic of India, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Vietnam. The preferred habitat is small streams in densely shaded forests.[3] In southwestern India, it begins to breed with the onset of the Southwest Monsoon in June. The nest is a horizontal tunnel up to a metre in length. The clutch of 4-5 eggs hatches in 17 days with both the male and female incubating. The birds fledge after 20 days and a second brood may be raised if the first fails. The young are fed with geckos, skinks, snails, frogs, crickets and dragonflies.

4. Scarlet Macaw

The Scarlet Macaw (Ara macao) is a large, colorful macaw. It is native to humid evergreen forests in the American tropics. Range extends from extreme south-eastern Mexico to Amazonian Peru, Bolivia and Brazil in lowlands up to 500 m (1,640 ft) (at least formerly) up to 1,000 m (3,281 ft). It has been widely extirpated by habitat destruction and capture for the parrot trade, but locally it remains fairly common. Formerly it ranged north to southern Tamaulipas. It can still be found on the island of Coiba. It is the national bird of Honduras. The Scarlet Macaw can live up to 75 years in captivity, although, a more typical lifespan is 40 to 50 years

5. Red bird of Paradise

Red Bird-of-paradise (Paradisaea rubra, also Cendrawasih Merah), is a bird-of-paradise in the genus Paradisaea, family Paradisaeidae. An Indonesian endemic, the Red Bird-of-paradise is distributed to lowland rainforests of Waigeo and Batanta islands of West Papua. This species shares its home with another bird-of-paradise, the Wilson's Bird-of-paradise. Hybridisation between these two species is not recorded but is expected because it is recorded for many other birds of paradise. The Red Bird-of-paradise is depicted on the front side of 1992 edition of Indonesia 20000 Rupiah banknote.

6. Blue Bird of Paradise

The Blue Bird-of-paradise, Paradisaea rudolphi, is a medium-sized with a bluish-white bill, dark brown iris, grey legs, broken white eye-ring and bright blue wings. The male is adorned with violet blue and cinnamon flank plumes and two long ribbon-like tail feathers. The female has a chestnut brown below.

The Blue Bird-of-paradise is endemic to Papua New Guinea. It is distributed to mountain forests of southeastern New Guinea. ITIS recognizes only one subspecies, but additional subspecies margaritae and ampla have been described. The male is polygamous and performs a breathtaking courtship display. But unlike all other Paradisaea species, he performs solitary with attending female nearby. In display, the male hangs from a branch upside down. The black oval with red margin at the centre of his chest is rhythmically enlarged and contracted. His violet blue plumes spread out in a fan, swaying its body back and forth while the central tail feathers form two impressive arches down to either side. Throughout his performance he vocalizes softly in a low but harsh vibrating voice.

Regarded by some ornithologists as the loveliest of all birds, the Blue Bird-of-paradise was discovered by Carl Hunstein in 1884. The scientific name commemorates the ill-fated Crown Prince Rudolf of Austria.

Due to ongoing habitat loss, limited range, small population size and hunting in some areas for its highly prized plumes, the rare Blue Bird-of-paradise is classified as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.

7. Goldies Bird of Paradise:

The Goldie's Bird-of-paradise, Paradisaea decora is a large, approximately 33 cm long, olive-brown bird-of-paradise. The male has a yellow and dark green plumage with a lavender grey breast, yellow iris and grey colored bill, mouth and feet. It is adorned with large crimson ornamental flank plumes and two long tail wires. The male is distinguished from other Paradisaea species by its lavender grey breast plumage. Unadorned female has an olive-brown plumage with cinnamon-brown below.

Endemic to Papua New Guinea, the Goldie's Bird-of-paradise is distributed in the hill forests of Fergusson and Normanby Island of the D'Entrecasteaux Archipelago, eastern Papuan Islands. The diet consists mainly of fruits.

The name commemorates the Scottish collector Andrew Goldie, who discovered the bird in 1882.Due to ongoing habitat loss, limited range and overhunting in some areas, the Goldie's Bird-of-paradise is evaluated as Near Threatened on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.

8. Pink Flamingoes

Flamingos often stand on one leg, the other tucked beneath the body. The reason for this behavior is not fully understood. Some suggest that the flamingo, like some other animals, has the ability to have half of its body go into a state of sleep, and when one side is rested, the flamingo will swap legs and then let the other half sleep,[citation needed] but this has not been proven. Recent research has indicated that standing on one leg may allow the birds to conserve more body heat, given that they spend a significant amount of time wading in cold water. As well as standing in the water, flamingos may stamp their webbed feet in the mud to stir up food from the bottom.

Young flamingos hatch with grey plumage, but adults range from light pink to bright red due to aqueous bacteria and beta carotene obtained from their food supply. A well-fed, healthy flamingo is more vibrantly coloured and thus a more desirable mate. A white or pale flamingo, however, is usually unhealthy or malnourished. Captive flamingos are a notable exception; many turn a pale pink as they are not fed carotene at levels comparable to the wild. This is changing as more zoos begin to add prawns and other supplements to the diets of their flamingos. Alice is invited (in 'Alice in Wonderland') to play a game of croquet with the Queen and the rest of her subjects but the game quickly descends into chaos. Live flamingos are used as mallets and hedgehogs as balls

9. Osprey

A Jet White Raptor. The Osprey (Pandion haliaetus), sometimes known as the sea hawk or fish eagle, is a diurnal, fish-eating bird of prey. It is brown on the upperparts and predominantly greyish on the head and underparts, with a black eye patch and wings.

The Osprey tolerates a wide variety of habitats, nesting in any location near a body of water providing an adequate food supply. It is found on all continents except Antarctica although in South America it occurs only as a non-breeding migrant.

As its other common name suggests, the Osprey's diet consists almost exclusively of fish. It has evolved specialised physical characteristics and exhibits unique behaviour to assist in hunting and catching prey. The sexes appear fairly similar, but the adult male can be distinguished from the female by its slimmer body and narrower wings. The breast band of the male is also weaker than that of the female, or is non-existent, and the underwing coverts of the male are more uniformly pale. It is straightforward to determine the sex in a breeding pair, but harder with individual birds. Ospreys usually mate for life. Rarely, polyandry has been recorded

10. Humming Bird

King of Small birds. These birds represents the beauty which lies even in smallest of birds. They can hover in mid-air by rapidly flapping their wings 12–90 times per second (depending on the species). They can also fly backwards, and are the only group of birds able to do so. Their English name derives from the characteristic hum made by their rapid wing beats.Hummingbirds drink nectar, a sweet liquid inside flowers. Like bees, they are able to assess the amount of sugar in the nectar they eat; they reject flower types that produce nectar that is less than 10% sugar and prefer those whose sugar content is stronger. Like the similar nectar-feeding sunbirds and unlike other birds, hummingbirds drink by using protrusible grooved or trough-like tongues.Hummingbirds do not spend all day flying, as the energy cost would be prohibitive; the majority of their activity consists simply of sitting or perching. Hummingbirds feed in many small meals, consuming many small invertebrates and up to five times their own body weight in nectar each day. They spend an average of 10–15% of their time feeding and 75–80% sitting and digesting.

Hummingbird flight has been studied intensively from an aerodynamic perspective using wind tunnels and high-speed video cameras. Among the better-known North American species, the average lifespan is 3 to 5 years. By comparison, the smaller shrews, among the smallest of all mammals, seldom live more than 2 years. Hummingbirds are restricted to the Americas, from southern Alaska to Tierra del Fuego, including the Caribbean. There are between 325 and 340 species of hummingbird.

(As on today i have just seen 2 of the 'FAB 10' - Peacock and Flamingoes. Gearing for the rest 8 - black necked stork and oriental kingfisher in particular as they are residents of India)

GIVING BACK

AGGRESSIVE OPINIONS SUPPORTS - WORLD MIGRATORY BIRDS
AGGRESSIVELY IN TOUR-DE-MUMBAI : SUPPORTING "SAVE AAREY MILK COLONY MOVEMENT"


AGGRESSIVELY SUPPORTING - WOMEN'S COLLECTIVE NGO - "APNE AAP"

ME MYSELF & ONLY ME

Just don't have anything to Blog on at the moment so thought of writing about myself,
my daily routine, my extra curriculars.

Sports form a very important part of my daily routine. Sportsman spirit, consistency, persistence and hard work are some values I have learnt through playing and watching sports. I was regular with badminton earlier and have participated in various inter college level tournaments. In last couple of years I have taken up squash and have become good in it. I am a member of a sports club, where I have access to swimming pool, tennis etc. I go regularly for adventure holidays indulging in activities like trekking, rafting and rock climbing. I have completed now 10 treks of varied levels across India from western India’s highest peak to the giant 10,000 Sq Ft trek in Himalayas. I am planning to complete the International scuba diving certification in coming summer from Thailand.

Back in 2006, I had a full fledged greeting card website up and running - www.funnywebpages.net. At the peak it was ranked in top 10 visited websites on search engine hitbox.com. The same was offloaded due to the financial and time constraints. I am working on the same to bring back the site 'live' again. I use to be a freelance website designer and have developed various corporate websites. Currently I am also working on a research paper analyzing wrong moves by MNC Banks to cope up with recession at Micro level. I plan to submit the same to various management journals. Some articles posted on my blog also have been published by HSBC Journals for staff circulation.

I always keep a book handy with me for reading. In a city like Mumbai where most of the time goes in travelling, a book is a valuable company. I enjoy management biographies a lot. Biographies of imminent personalities like Konosuke Matshushita, Jack Welch, Lee Iacocca etc have inspired me a lot. Lately I have started reading fiction – mostly by young authors. Other than this I have subscribed couple of Auto, business, adventure related monthly magazines which keeps me updated on my interests and trends. In my quest to learn a music instrument, I am now on my stage two of my guitar learning classes.

Regular community work has always been close to my heart. I believe what I do can make a difference. Since 2001 I have been involved with World Wild Fund as a “Panda Passport Holder”, now reaching the Level 4 status (level 4 indicating a long term and strong supporter). I have participated in their numerous online campaigns in the form of writing to various world bodies and governments to act on environment related emergencies. “Saving Indian tigers” and “Saving Australian Reef” are some of the examples of the same

INDIA - A DIFFERENT TAKE

Ever wondered what will you tell to your foreigner friends about 'India'? They all are aware of Indian culture, elephants, spirituality, Information Technology, poverty, slums blah blah blah blah. So what will you say - different? At HSBC, I encountered such a situation, when i was popped the question by a management trainee from one of the CIS countries on secondment. This is what i think i should have told him, rather than the usual cliche / famous stuff about our country. There's so much to say than the usual basics.

I described India to my foreigner friend as a "voyage of contrast". He will experience co-existence of an avant-garde star hotel, surrounded by slums; production facility of Mercedes Benz in the same compound as the indigenous Tata Nano (world’s least expensive car). India is where human density per square foot is among the highest yet it is the only hope for Asia's wild cats, where same sex relationships are now legalized even though society opposes opposite sex relationships between people from different castes.

I would introduce India's thousands years old culture, which still influences the life and habits of her people. My friend can expect to find a cow roaming freely on Indian roads and people touching the sacred beast, seeking blessings. A brush with our rich heritage would reveal over 1500 dialects. Add to this a population of over 1 billion today, and that gives an idea of different languages in which communication takes place.

My new-found friend's Indian experience would get complete on indulging in food, travelling and Cricket. Indian cuisine is as diverse as its culture, geography and climate. While travelling includes adventure in backwaters, snow-mountains, wildlife, beaches and desert, the immediate way to connect to any Indian would be to talk about the sport, Cricket. I would advice my friend to start his voyage in India by visiting a temple. One should not be surprised if he finds idol of a cricketer or an Indian movie actor sharing space with Gods.

ORGANIZATIONS NEEDS ROCKET SINGHS

ORGANIZATIONS NEEDS ROCKET SINGHS

When I joined Landmark Group Retail (lifestyle) post my MBA, retail was at a nascent stage in India and I saw an opportunity to exponentially grow with the industry. I wanted to start my venture -a country-wide franchisee company. The idea was to start with a few small franchisee outlets and as momentum builds, I will move on to take multiple regional master franchisees.

I prepared a business plan for owning franchise of sales-cum-service workshops of a 2-wheeler company – ‘Bajaj Auto’, did my primary and secondary research for project report to be submitted to the company and banks at later stage. Bajaj accepted my plan but agreed to proceed after I had finalized a property and closed the financing deal with banks. Selecting property required numerous visits and continuous coordination with agents, but my six-day work routine (Sunday mandatory working) at Landmark made these tasks challenging. Real estate prices were on pinnacle at that time (they still are) and demand far exceeded supply in land-locked Mumbai, so, to close any property deal one had to respond very quickly. Concentrating both on my professional career and proposed personal entrepreneurial venture was becoming difficult.

Finally, I decided to concentrate on my profession and dropped the business idea. I had worked hard to secure bank finance and convince the Bajaj team but failed to see the project through at the last stage. With proper time management I would well have been on my way towards my career objective. I learnt valuable lesson in ‘multitasking / time management’ from the experience.

Having learnt lessons and plugging all the gaps, the entrepreneurial fire started burning again when I joined HSBC; An organisation can reap benefits of inculcating a quality of entrepreneurship in employees by giving them enough freedom and room to take their own decisions and to do whatever one can to the benefit of the organization with adherence to the fundamental rules. Infact now I proudly call my self an ‘Entrepreneur in HSBC’ ,as the term holds a broader meaning for me than just someone who is having something of his own. World economies and industries are reeling from the financial crisis, business leaders are struggling to survive and growing means operating on a different plane altogether; this is the time to use entrepreneurship within an organization as the only effective ammunition to combat the same. I am an entrepreneur if I get things done, I am an entrepreneur if I ward off bureaucracy, I am an entrepreneur if I think out of the box and bring something different to the table, I am an entrepreneur if I stand beside my customer and also have guts to take a difficult call. I am an entrepreneur if i have my own way which gives better results, I am an entrepreneur if i can come up with a better way of doing things then just to follow a herd.

Its time for all Rocket Singhs to fly!!!

GREEN ADVENTURE

Green Adventure

Trekking Western India’s one of highest peak – ‘Rajmachi’ was my first appointment with not just adventure but also nature. We were a group of 5 enthusiasts, all first-timers with respect to ‘trekking’, to add to that, I had fear of heights. Though the trek was only for around 8 hours to and fro, steep climb, rocky way, trekking in night, unaware of the correct path and non availability of fresh water made it very difficult. While trekking, to make things easier, I decided to not look down or back. It is human nature to do something, what one decides not to, especially if one fears it. And I did it! I looked down and bang!!! my head started spinning. I lost control and tumbled like the fabled nursery rhyme character - 'Jack'. Luckily my friend supported me. Dizzied and ready to give up, I decided to wait till my other friends returned from the peak. However, something struck me inside and I decided to continue. Adversity had brought the best in me. In the end, I not only completely ended my fear of heights (hopefully) but I also found one of my biggest passions – Adventure. I have now completed around 10 treks of varied difficulty levels. Attitude of never giving up, consistency, persistence and crossing all limits are some of the values I have learnt through these activities. More importantly I have come to respect nature’s beauty which lies hidden. It was only for ‘trekking’ I could explore all the serene unexplored places and get a quick change from the polluted, traffic ridden lives of Mumbai city.

It will be a shame if each one of us do not contribute or give our due back to the environment. Even an hour per week dedicated to save the environment will make a difference. Recently I have started my own facebook community (Save Aarey Milk Colony) to protect one of the last remaining green patches of Mumbai city – ‘Aarey milk colony’. Development has taken a heavy toll on Mumbai gardens with most of it completely wiped off. The intention behind this community is to save the last remaining green area from real estate / government related encroachments and deforestation. We have got support from another NGO working towards the same endeavor and joint efforts are now being planned.

By working for a greener tomorrow, I guarantee you a sense of satisfaction in fulfilling a moral compulsion.

(I Support SAVE OUR TIGERS http://www.saveourtigers.com/ Do you?)

BIGGER THAN THE GAME

“Why high performance shines even when the sun doesn’t?”, “It’s not a setback. It’s a test” – reads the advertisement of one of the major consultancy firms featuring Tiger Woods. The golf wizard dared to excel and showed the world anything is possible – a colored person beating the whites in their own game.

Scout boy Steven Spielberg in his early teens made an amateur movie and charged 25 cents per person to watch it while his sister sold popcorn. With his sheer ‘belief’ and a minimalistic US$ 500 budget, he made movie "Firelight". Firelight didn’t fire, but then the sparks were visible in the movies to follow – E.T. the Extra Terrestrial, Schinder’s List, and Jurassic Park. It’s the constant urge to supersede earlier work and venture into never before crossed boundaries that lead to Spielberg choosing not to do the third sequel of Jurassic Park & focus on a world war epic film ‘Saving Private Ryan’. Saving Private Ryan garnered considerable critical acclaim, winning several awards. The film grossed US$480 million worldwide, making it the highest-grossing film of the year 1998. It's not over yet, the spark still lives on. Speilberg will try to appease millions of Tintin fans with the upcoming project 'The Adventures of Tintin', slated for a release in 2011.

It is also this spark that inspires a truck driver James Cameron to raise the bar for the entire entertainment industry on a whole, through films such as Terminator, Jaws, and Titanic. The visionary is now working on ‘Avator’, a revolutionary 3D movie made using photo-realistic computer-generated characters that will change the movie going experience altogether. The adrenaline Rush in few never dies. It’s inbuilt in their DNA. Only this can explain return of Michael Schumacher to F1 circuit after formally retiring in 2007. Earlier, Lance Armstrong came back strong from testicular cancer to win the prestigious Tour-de-France. ‘Pain is temporary, quitting lasts forever’ is all that Lance Armstrong had to say after the win.

The ‘Yes we can’ Barack Obama, the “Make Mistakes & Learn” Albert Einstein, the “Failure is Opportunity” Henry Ford, the “Anything worth doing is worth 100%” Konosuke Matsushita, and the ‘Why not?’ Bernard Shaw are golden words of the few who DARED TO EXCEL. As the advertisement of that consultancy firm finally reads – “We know what it takes to be a Tiger”. The question is, do you?

(The article was published in the HSBC Corporate Journal)

AGGRESSIVE OPINION ON "THE TARANTINO WAY"

10th June 2009 - 9:00pm: All exhausted from work. A friend calls and asks me to come over to meet him for a bit, the fatigue takes over and I’m not even in a position to move a muscle, till the time he bribes me saying "I have a DVD of Quentin Tarantino movie - Hostel". The name Tarantino runs a cold chill in my body everytime I hear it. In my books, 'Tarantino' fetches the highest price. I still bow when i hear names like 'Reservoir Dogs', 'Pulp Fiction' and 'Kill Bill'.

9:15pm: I reached friend's apartment, made small talk, snatched the movie from his hand and left for home. I glance at the cover - all black and red with picture of a person tied to a chair - looks like lot of bloodshed!! I just hope it’s not a horror movie, as I have never watched one. My sheer paranoia with respect to horror movies is well known. As I begin to walk away, my friend shouted from behind "Don’t worry it’s not horror". I must say, what a sigh of relief that was!

10:15pm: Digging myself in popcorns & beer, I finally began watching the movie. It started with 3 friends Mike, Sam and Ed planning an East European vacation. They start their vacation in Slovakia, staying in a Youth Hostel for couple of days. The first night they have a good night out with their room mates staying at the hostel, happen to be two very gorgeous girls, so even better. In the morning Ed is gone. After several unanswered calls & lots of searching, help came in the way of Hostel Receptionist telling Mike & Sam about Ed checking out early morning. Party continues the second night - girls, dance and booze. This time Mike is missing. All this seems too strange to be happening for Sam "my friends just can’t abandon me", he said. On questioning one of the girls from the night-out, Sam is guided to a worn out building to find his missing friends. Reluctantly he walks inside through narrow corridors, nearly throwing up due to the filth and the pungent smell. By then, I have the pillow half covering my face already and could visualize my friend laughing on my plight of watching a horror flick alone.

11:15 pm: Sam opens one of the rooms and is shocked to see Mike lying dead in a pool of blood and a man drilling his stomach. The blood plethora was enough for me to part ways with the beer glass. Further, Sam is captured and tied to a chair and is approached by a man with chainsaw, all set to remove organs from his body. I was sick by this time, too much gore for my liking. Quentin Tarantino probably overdid this time, at least for me. After 60 minutes, my quota of watching this Tarantino flick is over. I quickly switched the movie off and tried to sleep, but the images just won't leave. After 5 episodes of the high on life show "Entourage", my mind was at peace (though, I had some dozen more sleepless nights later)

In retrospect, Quentin Tarantino actually didn’t disappoint. He just lived to his reputation. His films have large amounts of flowing blood that are graphically violent in an artistic sense. Tarantino violence is always full of tension and grit. Much as he wants to entertain audience, his primarily goal remains - 'To Leave a Mark', and mark he left with just first 60 minutes of 'Hostel'.

(The above is written jointly by me & one with comparatively non-aggressive opinions :)