Living in a city for humans.

Its been a about a year since I came here, down under. And have been living in the great city of Melbourne during that time. By now I am familiar with most of the city's layouts, know how to get around efficiently, and know which places to avoid. There are some nasty places, yes. But the city continues to amaze me every now and then, when I see the efficient movement of people (and their pets), and how everything goes about as clockwork. Melbourne has been called the most livable city, the best city to retire in, and many other fancy terms as well. And IMHO, the city deserves the title. After having lived in the top cities of India, and a few places abroad, mostly Europe, life here is much more easier, and comfortable. Provided you can foot the bills, of course.

I have known how the city got its name, and why it is situated in Victoria state, since my school days. This story was retold in the British TV series Victoria. Story goes, when the young queen came to power in 1876, she had few friends she could trust in the palace. Everyone was scheming to get her out of power. Everyone , except Prime Minister Lord Melbourne, who mentored her in politics and thus helped her start her long rein. Thats how the city got its name. The state was named Victoria around 20 years later. It is thus fitting that the capital of Victoria be called Melbourne, future generations are sure to read upon this story.

This is truly a properly planned city. A lot of people have put their heads together to come up with its layout, from the streets, the efficient tram system, right down to water and utilities. The central area is always crowded, but there is no gridlock. It has the most efficient public transport system I have seen (Sydney trains and buses are frequently late). They have really taken into account people who could have problems moving around, even with disabilities. So in any Indian city, disabled have a hard time getting around, here they are able to travel without anyone's help. The cities traffic lights have a sound based alerting system, and there are markers on the street to assist the blind. The PB/5 pedestrian button embodies an audio-tactile device combining a two-rhythm buzzer, a vibrating touch panel, and braille direction arrow. How cool is that ? Here is something city planners in India can learn from,if they ever learn anything.

Melbourne is also a place of cultures, sometimes I felt like I am walking in China or Korea. There are shops and restaurants  from all over the world, greek, indian, chinese.. I guess this could be due the vibrant student community here, Victoria is called the educational state. But there are also expats and tourists coming in from across the globe. For people like me, the reverse climate here was surprising. Its summer here when its winter in the northern hemisphere, so its a good place if you want an instant change of weather.

The main area of the city is just 10 streets crossed horizontally, forming a grid. You can get from anywhere to anywhere within 5 minute. And did I mention that all tram travels in the CBD are free ?  This initiative means people will always take the public transport, leaving their vehicles at home. Something else India an learn from. Morons in Delhi government increased metro fares, arguing that they are taking losses. If you truly want to give people to use public transport, you have to decrease the fares. Or , if possible, make it free ! Never mind the loss, the cities environment stands to gain. And thus, the people. Germany is now looking into making public transport free to fight air pollution.

These guys don't mind shutting down parts of the city for public occasions, something even the smallest Indian cities struggle with. For New Year last year, they shut down traffic in many areas, opening them up for the public. Theyy brought in extra security, and there were ambulances on standby. Hell, they even brought in and setup rows of functioning portable toilets ! I have never seen such an initiative in India. A and and then the next day, the place was back to normal, with no garbage on the streets, and no sign of the public event. They did this again for Australia day, and every major public holiday.

I specially love the unpredictable weather here. It can get really hot and rain and cold ,all within the same week. Something exciting to look for. But the roads don't get clogged with water and rubbish, and vehicles still move around.

Its no wonder that people don't want to go back, once they see how carefully the city is planned and administered. Its truly a city designed for people. For humans. And I call myself fortunate, to be able to stay here for some more time.

Maybe forever.

Is India growing ?

Flood

The weather is playing spoilsport down in Kerala. I never thought I would live to see my state flooding up with rainwater. I remember during my childhood, every few months there would be news about a different state in the country going through flood or drought. It was a good way to learn state names. There would be a drought in Gujarath. And then flood in Bihar. Or an earthquake in the hills. And though my state used to get a lot of rain, there was never a news report of flooding. Sometimes the sea would turn fierce, destroying coastal lines. But due to a network of westward flowing rivers and streams, all the water in the state would end up in the sea.

Going to school in the monsoon was simultaneously the most fun and problematic part of growing up. The problem was of course that the incessant rain had other side effects: frequent powercuts. Wet clothes, taking forever to dry. The whole house smelt of we socks. Ditto in school. The school would ask us to 'kindly wear sandals' to school, jus to get rid of the awful smell. Biggest problem of course we used to fall sick all the time. It would start with cold and cough, but I have been admitted in the hospital due to water-borne illnesses as well. Sick days meant missed classes. Meant exam pressure...

But the fun part was the rain itself. It was wet and green everywhere. Rare sights and sounds. Of frogs, crickets, confused birds. Oh what fun it was to eat piping hot pakodas , watching the rain from the balcony.

But the situation is now drastically changing. Now the rains are so bad, it is flooding up entire cities. Already more than thirty people have lost their lives due to monsoon-rains. Rampant infrastructure development has lead to traffic jammed roads and blocked drains. There are news of evacuation centres being setup to move people in masses.

Really cannot believe this is the same place I grew up in.

Its almost as if drought and floods are signs of development. When cities are built around cars and houses, it is the people who are left out. And now there are new kinds of illnesses doing the rounds.

The only surety is, things are only going downhill from here. Pardon the pun.

Georges Lemaître , a scientist priest.

Georges Lemaître was an astronomer and professor of physics who is thought to be the first to have theorised that the universe is expanding.

His theory was observationally confirmed soon afterwards by Edwin Hubble in what is now known as Hubble’s Law.

Lemaître is also credited with proposing what has now become known as the Big Bang theory – which says that the observable universe began with an explosion of a single particle.

Born on 17 July 1894 in Belgium, he initially began studying civil engineering. His academic pursuits were however put on hold while he served in the Belgian army for the duration of the First World War.

After the war, he studied physics and mathematics and was also ordained as a priest.

In 1923 he became a graduate student at the University of Cambridge before going on to study at Harvard and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

In 1925 he returned to Belgium, where he became a part-time lecturer at the Catholic University of Leuven. Two years later, he published his groundbreaking idea of an expanding universe.

His initial idea was not related specifically to the Big Bang, but his later research focused on the concept of the universe starting from a single atom.

In 1933 at the California Institute of Technology, some of the greatest scientists of the time from around the world gathered to hear a series of lectures.

After Lemaître delivered his lecture and theory, Albert Einstein stood up and said: “This is the most beautiful and satisfactory explanation of creation to which I ever listened."

He was elected a member of the Royal Academy of Sciences and Arts of Belgium and the Pontifical Academy of Sciences.

In 1951, Pope Pius XII claimed that Lemaître's theory provided a scientific validation for Catholicism – a claim that Lemaître resented, as he stated his theory was neutral.

He died in 1966, shortly after he discovered the existence of cosmic microwave background radiation, which added weight to his theory on the birth of the universe.

Fallen Kingdom - Just monster mayhem

Do you hear that? That ruffling sound ? Scratching and heaving ? Its not an Indoraptor. That is the sound of Michael Crichton turning in his grave.

Well that is what I heard, while watching the Fallen Kingdom in a theatre. With this one, the series has fully entered monster mayhem territory. Except for a few frightening scenes, its largely a forgetful affair. I guess that's good, because I really want to forget I actually watched it.

Fallen Kingdom can be summarized as a monster movie where the monsters conveniently eat up all the bad guys. And the good guys survive, with minor bruises. If you watch all the movies in in sequence, you can see how the focus of the movie moves from  discovery, to wonder, to fear and then flat-out ridiculousness . Although they came out during the summer blockbuster season, the first two movies still had a heart. The man vs nature conflict was continuously debated, the characters were relocatable, and the animals were too adorable that the audience would actually want any of them killed. That changes with the 'World' series, then the new genetically engineered hybrids are so nasty, killing them off would be just that much more better. And I think that is not what Crichton would have wanted.

The underwater opening scenes reminded me of how Titanic opened, for some reason. That 10 minute sequence in the beginning is spot on. The darkness, music and rain heightens the thrill of it. But you can still see the shoddy,lazy writing here. The bad guys could have come into the park any time of the day. Instead, they decided that the best time to pay a visit is during night, with a thunderstorm in the background. You can see that the whole point of that scene was just to get them all eaten.

But then, it falls back into really lazy writing zone. Politics, and economics and what not. By the time they are back on the island, you get a clear picture of who all will survive and who won't. What, all of a sudden the volcano on the island erupted ? Didn't the park builders do a feasibility study on that risk ? And this is all nature correcting man's mistake ? All the creatures run in the same direction ? Thats just beneath the volcano ? Amazing. Now they weaponise the creatures ? To russian mafia ? What the hell ? That scene where they try to take blood from the T-Rex ? Absolute bullshit. Whoever came up with it has to be eaten by that indoraptor.And all the creatures fit conveniently under that castle ? They have already built huge enclosures for each creature ? Including the T-Rex ? And the old man had no idea ? Shouldn't the constant construction have alerted him ? Even the old lady had no idea what was going on . And by the way, what happens to her ?

There were numerous scenes paying homages to the original movie. Clearly, they were expecting the nostalgia to kick in. Like the scene where the huge brontosaurus walks into the midst of the crew. That scene clearly refers the famous "Its a dinosaur" scene from the first.  But this time they were thoughtful enough to add the huge sound of walking, again a reference. The scene where the indoraptor opens locks. And then on entering the floor, taps twice using its middle toe. That is straight from the kitchen scene. Also the scene where the kid tries to open the doors from a computer, but fails. And then opens the wrong one. There is again a scene where Owen shuts down the power in the castle. And then the kid reboots everything and, well, it was a stupid thing to do.

But the first scary scene for me was not the dino-eaitng-human scenes. It was halfway into the movie, when it is revelead that Maisie is a perfect clone of her mother. Damn ! Didn't see that one coming. This fact is revelead to Maisie and the audience at the same time. This opens up a lot of frightening ,ethical questions. Does a cloned human have the same rights a normal human has ? Can they bring back Hammond ? :) Ok, that last one never crossed my mind, but clearly there are ethical boundaries being crossed now.

But again, the focus of the current series has moved away from wonder and awe, to fear and loathing. It is just another monster movie now. There is nothing new to add, and the series has run its course.