Stop IDLING. Its like an OVEN out there!!!

'Rain rain go away, come again some other day', surely Bobby Vinton had never visited India and especially Mumbai after the monsoons decide to end so abruptly. For one day it was raining heavily where I live in the suburbs and a couple of days later the sun is scorching on my head. Now being on the suffering end I also started thinking about things like Global Warming. (Not that I am not aware, my entire house runs on energy efficient appliances.) Getting back to the topic, the heat was unbearable at the signal and I was unfortunately (unwittingly) was right near the exhaust line of a BEST bus. I felt the way a cube of cottage cheese would in an oven. The bus driver was waiting for the signal to turn green and was merrily honking away, why I dont know. To top it all he was also revving his bus in neutral which is worse than idling. (Idling is a term used to describe when a vehicle's engine is running and not being used to move the vehicle. Revving or a more brutal form of idling is flooring the accelerator in neutral for god knows what reasons.)Now if all these guys would stop running their engines for the 2 minutes, then we would achieve the following:
Fuel savings and emission

For Large SUVs (CRV, Terracan etc): Min. 22 Liters saved per car/year and 60 KG lesser CO2 per year.

Regular Cars (Esteem, Logan etc): Min 15 Liters saved per car/year and 50-60 KG lesser CO2 per year.

2 Wheelers and Rickshaws: Min 5 Liters saved per bike/year and 10 KG lesser CO2 per year in our already molested atmosphere!!!!


Now branded petrols in India like Speed, Xtra Premium cost Rs. 58-59. For a large SUV the savings would be approximately Rs. 1298.00 and Rs. 295.00 for a bike. Where am I getting with all this? Imagine how many vehicles are stranded for 2 minutes or less at a signal in Mumbai without any congestion. And now imagine the number of vehicles in the entire city of Mumbai. A research conducted in 2007 in Pune showed that the city wastes Rs. 34 CRORE that is Rs. 340 MILLION for people living outside India just by fuel wasted in idling. These figures pertain only to vehicles caught in minor traffic waiting at a signal for 2 minutes.

See it for yourself, here's the link:
http://pune360.com/Editorial/2007/10/31/an-idle-threat/

Cars idling in Delhi burn around 1000 CRORES of fuel a year. That is One followed by TEN freaking zeros!!!!!! And that's just ONE metro in India. The amount of idling caused in traffic jams is unimaginable in a city like Mumbai. Now calculate all the three zones, Western, Central and Harbour. And how many metros are there in our entire nation? You can calculate the harm that is being done to both, our environment
and our economy.

You have the answer for yourself whether to idle away literally or be responsible person towards the society and turn off the keys. I'm literally getting 25 extra kilometers on my bike because I have chosen not to idle at signals or in traffic. You too can make a positive difference to the environment without any extra effort or without giving up on anything and save money while doing that too. So next time you are caught in a jam remember to turn off the engine.

People who think likewise:
http://www.pca.state.mn.us/oea/ee/noidle.cfm
http://www.cleanwateraction.org/njef/campaigns-noidling.html
http://www.zerostart.com/power/no_idle_technology.asp
http://www.airwatchnorthwest.org/wa/NO_IDLE/index.asp

Delhi idling research article in the Times of India

The wonderful bliss of SURRENDER

After posting about everything from recipes and elephants, I am posting about THE MAN himself. His Holiness Sri Sri Ravishankar or Guruji as we all know him is the most easy to love person on earth. And he is the sole reason that I am steady and balanced in life. Its easy to get lost and tongue tied when talking about him. Because a lot of experiences are subtler than words and have o be felt. Here he talks about Surrender with a master's ease.



That people wish to surrender their desire and it becomes another desire in itself, driving one away from his centre. Even the thirst for liberation or surrender should not be feverish. You have to let go of that too. Because letting go is not a process it is simply a state of mind that one experiences when all inhibitions and bondages drop. Then what you desire shall be brought to you in some way or the other by nature. But to surrender to the Divine you must first be in love with the Divine and know that the Divine too loves you immensely :)

PS: Comment on how did you like this post and make sure to read the article 'The four wheels of Sadhana' in this month's edition of Rishimukh.