General
Photo Speaks – Spider’s Web
The next time you see a spider web, please, pause and look a little closer. You’ll be seeing one of the most high-performance materials known to man. – Cheryl Hayashi.
I love photography and I believe
Every photo clicked is a history. One will never be able to re-create that precious moment.
Let these photos and quotes make your day inspiring.
You are welcome to like it and share it.
Photo Speaks – Speed
“When you form a team, why do you try to form a team? Because teamwork builds trust and trust builds speed.” – Russel Honore
I love photography and I believe
Every photo clicked is a history. One will never be able to re-create that precious moment.
Let these photos and quotes make your day inspiring.
You are welcome to like it and share it.
Photo Speaks – Talent
“Your talent is God’s gift to you. What you do with it is your gift back to God.” – Leo Buscaglia
I love photography and I believe
Every photo clicked is a history. One will never be able to re-create that precious moment.
Let these photos and quotes make your day inspiring.
You are welcome to like it and share it.
Teachers Day Wishes – a tribute to all teachers in my life
5th September – birthday of Dr S Radhakrishnan (2nd President of India) is celebrated as Teachers Day in India. Sincere pranams to all teachers. I consider myself as blessed to have many eminent teachers within my family and close friends circle. Presenting them here. If you know them, welcome to write a thank you note to them.
In this photo are:
First line from left to right:
Late Komalavalli teacher, National High School Irinjalakuda, my father’s elder brothers wife. Very affectionate to all of us.
Late Vijayalakshmi Menon, teacher Oxford School Bangalore, Our Own English High School Abu Dhabi, my mother in law, if you ask me who was one person who read me best, I will name her. And if I tell you, who took her emotions, actions an attitude the best, it was me! I consider myself to be the luckiest person in the world, when I was able to be with her during the last 7 days of her life in this world!
Late Ashtamichira P A Narayana Menon, Head Master, Ashtamichira school, an eminent educationist, who gave his land to build the school, my wife’s grand father.
Late Korambu Subramanian Nampoothiri, Priest Peruvanam Temple, and a visionary Mridangam teacher, who conceived the concept of Mridanga Meala, he was my mridangam master, who, during those days, walked 14 kms to come to our home and teach Mridangam to me and other students. The basis of my love for Music is indebted to him.
2nd line from left to right
Radha Teacher – as everyone calls her affectionately – National High School Irinjalakuda, my father’s elder sister, a task master and strict disciplinarian, with lots of love for students as well as family members.
Kallyanikutty Teacher – Thankamani teacher – CNN Boys High School Cherpu – my mother, who used to travel changing 3 buses to go to her school to teach. I remember those days during strikes, she used to walk about 14 kms to reach home!. Never ever came home empty handed during any festival, bringing gifts to all of us, including all the relatives. Affection personified.
Devi Teacher – Teacher LBSMHS Avittathur – my father’s younger sister, an adorable person with lots of love for family and students, always leave her mark with her polished interactions. Incidentally, my late mother in law and her used to be roommates in the college hostel during their days!.
Geetha Teacher – Teacher National High School Irinjalakuda, my all time favorite, from our childhood days had a very close bond with her and by gods grace it remains like that and forever.
Shyam Kumar and Soudhamini Shyamkumar – Husband and wife team, Mini works for Sandeepani Vidhyanikethan in English department and Shyam Communicative English Faculty at ST.Joseph Public School ICSE Aloor, Kodakara, who are so gentle and natural, always affectionate and willing to devote their time for students, cousins from my wife’s side.
Lakshmikutty Shivadas – Head of Department English Department Vimala College Thrissur, English is not our mother tongue, but no one can beat her and her mastery over the language, my wifes aunty.
Rema Vijayamohan – Teacher in Sharjah, a very close family friend.
Parvathy Mam, Teacher Our Own English High School Abu Dhabi, my son’s teacher, my mother in laws colleague, more than that a great, humble and simple human being.
Meena Jayaraman – Head Teacher Kendriya Vidyalaya Bangalore, again a person whom I respect a lot since the time I met her, and her loving husband Jayaraman, the connection continues strong forever.
Ammu Menon – Teacher Bangalore, my wifes aunt – she is beauty personified with brilliance, you ask how many students successfully pass through her personal coaching, no count, and by now, I think it must be more than thousand or more! She and her trademark bindi is famous.
Bhanu Teacher – Teacher – from my father’s side, a person who is simple and remembered by her students.
Fr Fancis Kurissery – Head of Department Christ College English Department and currently responsible for Amala Medical college and institutions, if you ask me who I will remember till and after my death among teachers, he is one of them. There is lot of wavelength and inspiration from his action to all his students including me. He used to be the hostel warden during our days and lucky are those batch!
God bless all of them with good health, peace and prosperity. For all those departed, they are always in my mind as those many other students whom they taught and left a life long mark.
Ramesh Menon, Abu Dhabi
Saturday, 5th September 2015
News U Wish to Read – 28th July 2015
Tuesday, 28th July 2015
Note: News U Wish to Read is a daily press review compiled and only covers articles published in the press, in the UAE, India and world around. Its purpose is to keep us informed of important news items which we all wish to not miss. Enjoy reading the below news items and links. More sections will come as it takes shape and interest. Your response to this initiative is highly appreciated.
Energy
UAE fuel prices for August announced
thenational.ae
Petrol prices across the country were today increased from Dh1.72 per litre of Special 95 to Dh2.14, an increase of 23.6 per cent. The revised price for Super 98 has been set at Dh2.25 and E Plus at Dh2.07. The price of diesel is set at Dh2.05, a 29 per cent drop from its previous price of Dh2.90. These prices come into effect on August 1 and will be fixed for the month. A new price will be announced on August 28. Dr Matar Al Nyadi, Undersecretary for the Ministry of Energy and chair of the Fuel Price Committee, said the new prices were based on average global prices for petrol and diesel during the month of July with the addition of transport, distribution and operating costs — as approved by the Cabinet for distribution companies. He said the committee would monitor the global prices of petrol and diesel daily and will announce the prices for the following month on the 28th of each month.
Also view:
Published: 28th July 2015
Read more: http://www.thenational.ae/uae/transport/uae-fuel-prices-for-august-announced
BP profits slump after huge oil spill charge
Gulfnews.com
BP takes $10.8b pretax charge after $18.7b settlement. BP’s second-quarter profit slumped by nearly two thirds from a year ago as it grappled with lower crude prices and took a huge $10.8 billion charge related to the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill. In a sign it was hunkering down for an extended period of lower oil prices, the British oil and gas company also cut its planned full-year capital spending again to “below $20 billion”, after cutting it 13 per cent to $20 billion (Dh73.4 billion) earlier this year. BP reached an $18.7 billion settlement with the US government and five states this month to resolve most claims from the oil spill five years ago, the largest corporate settlement in US history. While BP had been expected to take a $10 billion charge for this at some point, it said on Tuesday it had also agreed to pay up to $1 billion to resolve claims from local government entities, taking cumulative pretax charges for the Macondo rig explosion and spill that killed 11 workers to $55 billion. As a result, the company took a pretax charge of $10.8 billion in the second quarter, including a $9.8 billion charge related to the government settlements
Published: 28th July 2015
Read more: http://gulfnews.com/business/sectors/energy/bp-profits-slump-after-huge-oil-spill-charge-1.1557627
Other Sectors
Hikma buys Boehringer’s US generic drugs business to shore up market share
Thenational.ae
Hikma Pharmaceuticals of Jordan has acquired the US generic drugs business of Boehringer Ingelheim for $2.65 billion as it looks to bolster its falling market share in the US. The acquisition includes Boehringer Ingelheim Roxane, the production arm of the German company, and Roxane Laboratories, its research and development and sales and marketing arms. The deal adds 88 high-value products in specialisations such as oncology and respiration, and also increases Hikma’s pipeline of products under research and development to 89. “The transaction has significant strategic value for us, transforming our position and scale in the US generics market,” said Said Darwazah, Hikma’s chief executive. “The acquisition also significantly expands our manufacturing capacity and technological capabilities.” Hikma expects to increase Roxane’s revenue from the current $725 million to $775m in 2017.
Published: 28th July 2015
Qatar Airways is in talks to purchase a stake in IndiGo, India’s biggest carrier
Thenational.ae
The “only airline” it is talking to is IndiGo, the Doha-based airline confirmed in an emailed statement, without elaborating, denying local media reports it was negotiating with rival SpiceJet. InterGlobe Aviation, the owner of IndiGo last month filed a draft red herring prospectus to sell shares in an initial public offering. “It could possibly be they take a minority stake,” Kapil Kaul, the South Asia chief executive officer for the Capa Centre for Aviation, said in an interview on Bloomberg TV India. But beyond that, he said he didn’t see what “value addition” Qatar would bring to IndiGo. Low fares and economic growth that boosted incomes over the past decade helped IndiGo find first-time fliers and become the biggest airline in the world’s second-most populous nation. The profitable carrier is a rare bright spot in India’s fiercely competitive aviation sector, where carriers have lost a combined $10 billion since 2009 and IPOs have fallen below sale prices. IndiGo, which flies mostly within the country, operates a fleet of single-aisle planes from Airbus. The carrier started operations in August 2006 just as a rash of budget airlines entered the country, challenging full-service carriers like Jet Airways India Ltd. on expectations that rail passengers would trade up to flights.
Published: 28th July 2015
‘Mahindra Scorpio automatic’ launched
Times of India
t’s raining automatic SUVs. Just a week after the launch of the Hyundai Creta, Mahindra has now launched an automatic variant of its popular SUV Scorpio. The Scorpio automatic will be offered in a 2WD as well as a 4WD option, both of which will be sold in the top-of-the-line S10 variant. The Nashik-based car maker has priced the Scorpio automatic 2WD at Rs 13.13 lakh, while the 4WD version will cost Rs 14.32 lakh. All prices ex-showroom Delhi).
Published: 28th July 2015
Politics & Economy
President, VP, and Abu Dhabi Crown Prince offer condolences on death of former Indian president
thenational.ae
President His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan has sent a cable of condolences to Indian President Pranab Mukherjee on the death of former president of India APJ Abdul Kalam. His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai, and His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, also sent similar cables to the Indian President.
Published: 28th July 2015
Read more: http://www.wam.ae/en/news/emirates-international/1395283733154.html
Community, Environment & Society
Getting young people to recycle is key for the future
Thenational.ae
More schools should introduce environmental subjects and teach about the importance of recycling as early as possible to produce caretakers for tomorrow’s world, educators say. “It’s never too early to educate students on the benefits of recycling,” said D J, a science teacher at Glenelg School in Abu Dhabi. “The younger you start, the more natural it becomes and eventually it is just second nature. “This is important as they are the ones who will be able to affect the future.” D J, who has lived in Abu Dhabi for almost 20 years, teaches recycling and pollution in her social studies classes using the three Rs: reduce, re-use and recycle. “Many students understand it as a concept but I’m not sure they understand how important it is to apply,” she said. “This is especially true for water, which isn’t as easily recycled as plastic, for example, and significantly more useful.” K C, a British teacher, said that it was essential to teach recycling as part of the curriculum.
Published: 28th July 2015.
Read more: http://www.thenational.ae/uae/environment/getting-young-people-to-recycle-is-key-for-the-future
Technology
Smell guides mosquitoes to see a human host
The Hindu
Researchers report on how and when sensory information is used by mosquitoes to home in on hosts. It may be largely impossible to avoid getting bitten by a mosquito unless and otherwise one can stay in an environment free of carbon dioxide for extended periods, remain nearly invisible and have a cool body temperature. This is because mosquitoes use smell, visual and thermal cues that are both sequentially triggered and act independently to locate a human host, a study found. The smell of carbon dioxide exhaled by humans acts as a trigger and influences the attractiveness of the visual objects that are as far away as 15 metres in the case of humans. An earlier study had found that mosquitoes could detect carbon dioxide as far away as 60 metres in a riverine habitat when its concentration was above the background level. Once close to a human host, the presence or absence of carbon dioxide becomes irrelevant as they are then guided by body warmth, volatiles emitted by the skin and humidity to land at a feeding site.
Published: 25th July 2015
Read more: http://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/smell-guides-mosquitoes-to-see-a-human-host/article7464488.ece
Education+
Education without skill?
The Hindu
There is an urgent need to rethink our current education criteria, the manner of functioning and the quality offered, says Dr. M.R. Jayaram, Chairman, MS Ramaiah Group of Institutions. The biggest issue facing this country is the magnitude of uneducated unemployed, says Dr. M R Jayaram, Chairman, M.S. Ramaiah Group of Institutions. There is a huge dearth of skills and these skills are not related to medicine, engineering and such but raw skills such as carpentry, masons, blacksmiths to name a few as our education system is lopsided, without provision for imparting these, opines Dr. M.R. Jayaram. Discussing the state of education in our country at length , Dr. M.R. Jayaram averred that there is an urgent need to rethink our current education criteria, the manner of functioning, the quality offered as well as the curriculum and field based training techniques incorporated. According to him, a couple of decades earlier, the segment opting for higher education after completing basic education was barely 10 per cent. “This is not the case now. Yet, instead of focusing on imparting skill based education for these new aspirants, we continue to focus on mass education,” he says.
Published: 26th July 2015
Read more: http://www.thehindu.com/features/education/education-without-skill/article7466984.ece
Sports – Campaign PASS
Campaign PASS (Promote All Sports Simultaneously) is an initiative started through my blog to promote all sports(other than cricket – which gets lot of attention) and sports personnel associated to give them more exposure.
India to field biggest ever team at World Badminton Championships
The Times of India
India will be fielding its biggest and strongest team at the World Badminton Championships in Indonesia, providing them their best chance of winning medals at the prestigious tournament next month. It is for the first time that India will have two players within the top 5 – Saina Nehwal (World No 2) and Kidambi Srikanth (World No 3) as they lead the Indian charge at the Championship which gets underway at Gelora Bung Karno in Jakarta from August 10. Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa had ended India’s 28-year-old medal drought at the World Championship when they won the women’s doubles bronze in 2011 and then singles player P V Sindhu clinched the bronze medal twice in 2013 and 2014 editions. However, a medal at the world meet has eluded Olympic bronze medallist Saina, who has not progressed beyond reaching the quarterfinals five times.
Published: 28th July 2015
Hope you enjoyed reading the above news items and links. More sections will come as it take shape and interest. Your response to this initiative is highly appreciated.
Regards,
Ramesh Menon, Abu Dhabi
28th July 2015
Be SAFE, OR…
It’s monsoon season in Kerala and raining heavily in most of the parts. It is also coinciding with the summer holidays and Eid holidays and the state is filled with tourists and residents visiting the state for short holidays. Add to it the numerous student communities who are on transitory phase moving from one course to another. Every possible tourist destinations are full.
Due to heavy rains and the prevailing weather conditions, the sea is very rough these days. At most of the places, statutory warnings have been placed not to venture into the sea when it is rough. There are police and safety personnel in place.
However, it is often noticed that certain young individuals never follow these warnings. They do risk their life and then get themselves in dangerous situations with no possible way to come out.
An incident happened last week during my visit where a group of students from professional colleges drowned at Kovalam beach. 1 died and no information about 4 others! It is sad to know that they were warned by the safety wardens to stay away. But..
I was at another prominent beach on the same day and the situation there too was not different. The sea was rough and many were risking their life and playing in the rough sea.
This is not a one-off situation. We come across the same or different life threatening situations many times.
Why is that our youth do not respond to safety warnings with promptness and respect?
Does that show the need for including HSE as an important individual subject in our curriculum and teach children from a young age to be alert and be safe at all times.
Do you agree with me? (I value your comments).
As I update this post late night 5 days after the incident, there is absolutely no news about the 4 young professionals who were swept away by the tides of Kovalam beach. I also pray for their safe return, with little hope, and for the courage of their friends and family for any adverse news.
The same day, as I visited another beach and watched the violent sea and numerous youth ignoring safety calls, I noticed this dog relaxing on the granite boundaries, in a no emotion mood. The photo illustrated portrays the feelings, one similar to the helpless situation of the classmates of the students who went missing or dead on that day. All efforts failed as nothing could be done at this point of time except to remain silent at the probable loss of valuable human life.
If you are in a group, the tendency to explore and enjoy will be more. But remember always “SAFETY FIRST”.
“Wherever you are, Whatever you do, Be alert, Be Safe and think always about safety with an outlook – Safety for You, Safety for Me, Safety for All.”
Ramesh Menon, Abu Dhabi
23rd July 2015
Road tragedy a call for education – Letters to the Editor – The National Dt 15th July 2015
My reaction to your news story, Dubai police officer dies trying to help woman (July 12) is that this is a tragedy – and especially because it was the second recent incident in which a police officer has been killed in this way.
It once again confirms that most people just don’t realise that disobeying traffic rules not only jeopardises their own lives but also those of others. It is a lesson some people seem determined to only learn the hard way.
These type of accidents are likely to encourage the authorities to enforce stricter traffic rules for the people’s own good. That is the right choice.
All drivers in the UAE– and especially the young ones – need to be educated about being patient behind the wheel, not texting or speaking on the phone while driving and not driving while tired.
Ramesh Menon, Abu Dhabi
Lack of Safety Signs in Jabal Al Jais Mountains – Khaleej Times – Letter to the editor
Utilising the weekend off to explore unseen destination in the UAE, I visited the Jabal Al Jais mountain in the Ras Al Khaimah emirate. A beautiful place with excellent road facilities and directions.
However, I noticed one dangerous element in the top of the mountain that is accessible for visitors.
There are no protective railings or warning sign boards installed in the area.
I saw many people going closer to the edges and taking selfies in various poses, even jumping near the edge. This is alarming and an invitation for danger to happen.
Self restraint is a must to avoid dangerous situations, but a cautionary guidance from authorities will be a reminder and warning to those who venture into dangerous act.
This is one of the emerging tourist destinations and among the must visit site in the UAE and hope the relevant authorities will install necessary warning boards and protective rails to avoid danger. Safety First.
A winning moment of Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing (ADOR) team
Abu Dhabi Ocean Race team reaching Abu Dhabi at the end of 2nd leg of recently concluded Volvo Ocean Race.
#repost
#InAbu Dhabi
#ADOR
ClicksandWrites 
You must be logged in to post a comment.