A test , a bailout and more

A test match has begin between India and England even though England team was reluctant to tour India after the Mumbai terror strikes. This probably is due to the clout that BCCI exercises in the world of Cricket has in spite of what the English team says.
In other news The US House of Rep has agreed for a bailout of US $15 billion for the US auto industry .There is a article by Thomas Friedman titled 'While Detroit Slept' . Friedman has been critical of Detroit auto giants. The US auto industry still relies on gas guzzling large cars whereas the the rest of the auto world is moving towards small cars and developing renewable and more environmental friendly versions of transport.
In his new book Hot, Flat and Crowded, Friedman has argued that America's dependence on petrol not only harms the environment but also strengths the hands of dictatorial governments in the petroleum rich nations. May be here there are lessons for Indian auto industry too.
There is a article in NY Times on two new books on nuclear weapons proliferation . According to them no country other then US has developed Nuclear wapons on its own. Spies have played their part in transferring the technology. as the article says "All paths stem from the United States, directly or indirectly". China and France have actually helped five other other nations to develop nuclear weapons. It is actually not easy to develop the nuclear weapons . Here is an excerpt from the article.
"The book, in a main disclosure, discusses how China in 1982 made a policy decision to flood the developing world with atomic know-how. Its identified clients include Algeria, Pakistan and North Korea.
Alarmingly, the authors say one of China’s bombs was created as an “export design” that nearly “anybody could build.” The blueprint for the simple plan has traveled from Pakistan to Libya and, the authors say, Iran. That path is widely assumed among intelligence officials, but Tehran has repeatedly denied the charge."
Interestingly there is no mention of India's nuclear weapons program in the article.

In Chorus

For me one of the most beautiful sounds one can hear is the chirping of hundreds of birds simultaneously as if they are singing in chorus. It's fun to watch them fly forming various patterns in the air . At my paternal grandfathers place there is a temple just next to house. There is a large tree in the temple. The tree used to become the abode of hundreds of house sparrows in the mornings (just about sunrise) and in the evenings(at sunset).At that time the whole atmosphere resonated with their calls.
And if somebody hurled a stone at the tree or if something made a loud noise ,there chirping would become loud for a moment and in a flash all the sparrows would leave the tree and fly away .
In my maternal grandfather the scene was no different. When my grandfather used to eat he would sit cross legged on the open porch (The old houses usually have a open verandah or a porch which served multiple purposes). He would take a roti ,break it into pieces and throw around. The sparrows would gather around him and enjoy the feast.The sparrows had free access to the house. They would sometimes enter the room in search of food. They were part of the surroundings and member of the house.

Living in Bangalore for the last few years , it is not common to find birds flying around. And it is still rare to find the small house sparrows. It's only recently that I have started the presence of birds which seemed so ubiquitous in my childhood.
The little sounds and sights of nature have their own joy and beauty and it's pleasure to observe them. It may be a strange comparison to make but nowadays I see more kinds of mobile phones in a day then the birds and listen to more ringtones then I do to birds.
The world around me has changed ...