Urban Trees and Urban Transportation

The need for a change in thinking.

Coimbatore-Mettupalayam Road, India.
Source of the pic from facebook which shows the actual scenario

I feel so hurt whenever they cut the trees in the name of road widening, to ease the traffic situation, in the name of development, etc,etc. I feel the need to do something, and every time they cut a tree the urge is becoming stronger. Our trees they act as silent saviours to all the attrocities we do in the name of development, but what we do we don respect any of that and cut them off. Due to pollution, health concerns like breathing problems and asthma are a major concern and have become common nowadays. Increase in green house gases and global warming etc etc are major global concerns.

As a person with common sense i know cutting trees in the name of road widening or any other reason is not a solution. And as a planner, i have been taught road widening is in itself not the permanent solution, the vehicle population will keep on growing. In reality, cutting off the trees in the roadside, is only easy solution that has been opted for.

I asked my sir who has a NGO, when they were planning to cut the trees along mettupalayam road for multiple laning. Many NGOs and groups protested against that and got a stay in the court finally after somedays they got a higher court order and finally cut the trees, which were more than 50 years old or may be more than that. Now that road which used to be so shaded is full of dust. This is the case in almost all the places all over India and across the world. Increasingly we are seeing more protests all over.

Is protesting the only solution?? What needs to be done to prevent that(cutting of more trees in the name of development) and create more awareness among the decision makers????

Need ideas and ccomments....As a planner what should i do??? 

Will doing research on the after effects be an alternative??

Women and Empowerment - My Thoughts and Views

Women's Empowerment. Everybody starts talking about this term especially when the international women's day nears and, when talking about women's rights and upliftment and according to United Nations, women's empowerment is one of the pathways to achieving Millenium development goals and  Sustainable development. What does this term actually mean? Was thinking about this term and wanted a better understanding, so thinking, and expressing my thoughts regarding it. According to the Oxford dictionary, empower(v) empowerment(n) means give (someone) the authority or power to do something, make (someone) stronger and more confident, especially in controlling their life and claiming their rights.

So according to the above definition, it means giving someone the authority or power to do something, in this context, women.So does it mean women don't have authority or power to do whatever they want especially in controlling their life and claiming their rights??? The answer is yes in most of the cases. The situation is slowly improving but the reality still hurts. 

It starts from the moment a girl child is born or rather born in the womb. A girl child is considered as a burden to the family mainly because of arranged marriage system and dowry in India. Even if the parents want a girl child and love her and educate her and give her the freedom of choice in all the other things, regarding marriage its not her choice. In many rural areas, for many girls, it is still difficult to finish their primary education or continue with their secondary eduation. In terms of education and employment, nowadays the situation is slowly changing and we are seeing more and more women entering into the domain of men. But still there are many இடர்பாடுகள்.

In majority of cases, after marriage, it is Women, who needs to sacrifice, sacrifice may be a strong word, may be give up, her education and employment and dreams for the sake of the family, in order to make everbody in the family happy, including herself, since her happiness depends on her family. Even if she wants to work and allowed to study and work, she needs to do all the household duties and take care of the child, in addition to that, work or study, where in turn she needs to compete with men. Women are multitaskers by nature, so they carry on with all that without complaining however stressful it might be. Only thing we ask for is allow us to be who we are and allow us to do what we want to do.

Nowadays men are becoming more understanding, and sharing the burden of the household. I am blessed to have a family who gave me the right to do whatever i wanted to do, in terms of education, employment as well as when to marry and the choice of my better half (which is still an issue for many women where they are forced to marry without any consent of theirs). But this is not the case in most of the households. This scenario is slowly changing all over the world and there is more awareness and hope. Let us Hope for the Best.

Nothing is difficult when the Dreams are big and the Aspirations are high. Whatever our mind can conceive and believe it can achieve. Let us make up our mind, Dream big and Work towards Empowering Ourselves.


Cheers to the Power of the Women !!! :-)

Please feel free to add your views and comments. Your views and comments are greatly appreciated.

International Women's Day

First of all A Very Happy International Women's Day to all the Women. It is Our day. Let Us all be Empowered.


A Brief History
International Women's Day is celebrated every year on the 8th of March to celebrate the power of women and their centuries old struggle towards liberty, equality and to be considered on an equal footing with men in the society. Women are continuing to cross all the boundaries but still there are many who suffer, who does not have any alternative but to suffer just because they are women. Let us all stride towards our liberation and empowerment. Listed below is the Chronology of important events.

My First Post

About my Blog
I created this blog for exploring and expressing my creative and idealistic side. Have been thinking about creating a blog for quite a long time. Finally started it. I have divided the blog into different segments according to my interests and in the process of adding them. Please feel free to browse through all the segments. Hope this blog interests you.

About me
"Be the change you want to see in this world" is my favourite quote.
I strongly feel i should do my part to make this world a better place to live in. We cannot expect others unless we do. Still thinking what to do and how to do it. I will definitely do something someday. This blog is the first step forward towards it.
My interests are quite varied. Every new thing interests me. I love to travel, and enjoy reading books. My other interests include Admiring Nature and its creations, Arts and crafts, Painting, Sketching, Origami , Anything to make with paper, Photography(not with a SLR camera),  and it keeps going on and on.....Socialism, Marxism, Universe, Astronomy, Space, Tamil, Spirituality, Ancient  History, Architecture, Planning and Everything related to Sustainability and Green design.