c u on top - satyabrata dam

The entire gamut of GW is based on a simple fact or rather a hypothesis as many believe; that it is really happening. It’s worth pondering though, is our planet really warming up? If it is then is it due to natural causes or manmade ones? If it is due to natural causes, should we worry and what can we do to control it? On the other hand if it is manmade, should we worry and what can we do about it? And what if it is not warming up at all, rather cooling off, should we worry then or should something be done about it? What if the planet’s temperature is steady and is not appreciably changing either way? Is this a cause to fret about and should we leave it at that or do something about it. Central theme running through all the arguments and debates as laid down above is the word ‘temperature’. To decide whether we as a planet are heating up or cooling down or no appreciable change in temperature, we first got to have a reliable temperature data over a reliable epoch to come to any kind of...

If there is hope It’s in knowing Though all doors have closed for you There are those you haven’t knocked yet If there is hope It’s in knowing Though you have strength left for the last step That you might be just that far away from the top If there is hope It’s in knowing Though it is dark at your corner You haven’t seen all the corners yet If there is hope It’s in knowing Though the world around you has collapsed There are other worlds waiting for you If there is hope It’s in knowing Though the world as you know will end one day You will not be there to see it then If there is hope It’s in knowing Though you lost your race today You gave it your best If there is hope It’s in knowing Though there’s no one who loves you in this world There are those who love you in another world If there is hope It’s in knowing Though you lost your everything There are others who lost even more If there is hope It’s in knowing Though you may never see your loved one again That the world is round and yo...

Another attempt at verse, somewhat. This too, like the earlier one, came out of the blue. When the nights fall I lie still In the darkness of my soul I grope for meanings For moments gone by When the sun awakens I lie still In the brightness of dawn I grope for meanings For moments not yet come When my eyes flutter I lie still In the stillness of day I grope for meanings For moments never going to be When the sun goes down I lie still In the shadows of the dusk I grope for meanings For the moments missed again When stars sparkle I lie still In the moon shine I grope for the meanings For the moments that could have been And when I drop off to sleep I still lie still In the darkness of my soul I grope for the meanings For the moments that brought me The scent of you

In my previous GW posts I have briefly explained the greenhouse gases and how they affect our atmosphere. In this post we will take a wider look at these gases, sources, their effects and what can we do to reduce their generation. Greenhouse Gases are primarily those gases in our atmosphere that does not allow some of the sun’s heat reflected back from earth’s surfaces to go out into the outer space. They trap the heat and in turn heat up the earth’s surface. However greenhouse effect is otherwise a natural process and we will not have life on Earth but for these gases. What makes them alarming now is the rate of increase of these gases in our atmosphere that is solely due to man-made actions. Therefore overall the earth is heating up at an accelerated rate that will outpace the natural cooling processes. There are many visible and latent effects of GW on our planet and the point to be noted is that it is more like a chain reaction where one thing leads to another so each factor of GW ...

Am I scared, I ask myself. The answer is a silent ‘no’ followed by ‘perhaps’ followed by ‘certainly’. I and fear doesn’t seem sound somehow when spoken in the same sentence, even if it is my mind that is doing all the rambling. I am unnerved for sure, without an iota of doubt. My limbs, especially the lower ones are trembling under their own accord propelled by some mysterious forces that is way out of my conscious control. So are my teeth, only figuratively though, and thank god for that. Since according to my guide our survival depends on our silence and moreover the sunbathing beauties eyeing us through slit red eyes within handshaking distance don’t mean any harm unless they are hungry (which they certainly look) or we disturb their siesta with some wild gestures. That was a day when I cussed and cussed my inborn guts and curiosity, both of which were on that day trying their best to detach from my body. Was I or am I completely irrevocably insanely insidiously masochistically figu...

What? Simply put it is the phenomenon that proves through observations (satellites, weather balloons, meteorological stations, etc) that earth as a whole is warming up. Over the last 100 or so years, the average temperature of Earth’s surface has gone up by around 1 deg C. Though this doesn’t seem much and most certainly will not cause the Himalayan glaciers to disappear over the next 25 – 30 years as it had been erroneously mentioned by certain authorities, neither will this rise in temperature cause such massive ice cap melts so as to inundate the oceans and low lying lands, yet it is an indication of our future, our near future and the catastrophes that it has in store for us. Though humanity as a species will continue to flourish; large chunks of us would perish due to calamities that arise out of direct action of GW. Very briefly (and I will cover the effects of GW in a separate post), this slight increase in earth’s surface temperature has caused increased storms and flash floods...

I get innumerable requests to feature global warming (GW) issues in my blog. While it is heartening to know that so many of my readers and friends are aware of GW it is also a difficult task to write about this complex phenomenon along with its vast and highly debatable data for normal readers. Any GW expert is more likely to use jargons and scientific formulas, historical data, pie-charts, etc to drive his point home, to the complete befuddlement of his audience at large notwithstanding. My idea here is to break it down into digestible and delectable morsels for all of you, any of you in a manner that even a child who is not a prodigy can grasp and understand and act upon in any manner possible. GW issues are vast and involve each of us, including the mute animals, insects, fishes, all our geological features, landscapes… anything and everything that resides within the geo-magnetic influence of the Earth and in the cryosphere in particular. Which could tantamount to say that even you ...

Those of you who do not climb mountains or even those who do only sparsely might wonder what is ‘Second Seven Summits’ or ‘Seven Second Summits’ or simply SSS as it is known in my world! And if there are second seven summits then there must be a first or original Seven Summits, and yes it is there. The Seven Summits are the highest peaks of all the seven continents and one who has climbed all of them is called as a Seven summiteer, which till this year numbers around 200. Compare this to the number of Everest summiteers till date at around 3000. So the Seven-Summits club is quite exclusive and only two Indians have done it so far. The SSS on the other hand signifies the second highest summits of all the seven continents. The SSS club is perhaps the most exclusive adventure club in the world today since till date (and to my knowledge) it doesn’t have a member yet. No one has completed the SSS so far. Astonishing isn’t it! Unbelievable I would say, imagine when we are achieving absolutel...

If there is even one amongst you who is not looking for ‘happiness’ then straightaway head for the Himalaya and ascend the stairway to heaven; for you deserve it. I know where the stairway starts and sooner than later I would be heading that way. We all look for happiness, we all want to be happy, we all want to be where happiness is and remains. Point is; how, where and most importantly can we reach there! Ask any Godmen or men of Gods then the obvious answer to this would be that happiness resides deep within the very heart of your soul, just dig deep enough and you will find. Once a South African miner who had worked in the Savuka Mines (at around 3700 m depth, currently the second deepest mine in the world), upon whom I had tumbled by the bays of Cape Town, had told me that despite reaching the deepest human dig in the world he could not fathom happiness and presently preferred to dive into bottles of excellent Western Cape wines. If he found happiness there I did not dare to eluci...