HANDCRAFTED SOAPS

Recently, my dearmost friend presented a bunch of customized natural handcrafted soaps (sandalwood, neem, lavender, pear and anise). Made with olive, coconut and palm oils and cocoa butter. I also love the mesmerizing scents of patchouli and vetiver. I have a competitor - our little one - has been bathing using natural soaps since he was 10 months old.

PAPER TOWELS

Don't you care about trees? Don't you care about the carbon emissions generated from the manufacturing machines? Don't you care about the 2% of total landfill that consists of paper towels!

Most of the people who grew up in India would have grown up using wash cloths to clean spills and hand towels or their own clothes to dry hands. In fact, the people in the West were doing the same, say, four generations back. From my observance in the last 10+ years living in the West, is that, one of the immediate habits we adapt is the paper towel usage.

Literally, it is painful for me when someone tears up my paper towel in the kitchen for drying their hands while the hand towel is just next to them. Or to put the unwanted parts of food that can be kept aside on their plate or can be trashed directly. Also, for wiping the counter top or table! We have got a sponge to wipe the spills, a small bit of cloth to wipe the oil spills and a cloth to wipe it clean!

Then, why do we have it? Just for emergency purposes, usually lasts for several months. When I walk into an environment friendly people's house (for example some of our Spiritual American friend's), they absolutely do not buy paper towels, instead have several clothes for different purposes. For me, a kitchen with few wash cloths here and there is more beautiful than a non-environmentally friendly person's nude bare kitchen showing up their best friend - paper towel.

WILD CREATURE

This is the first time I have come across this species of turtle. I took a picture using my cellphone, will post it later. It looked so weird to me...it had sharp claws & a tail! I warned mischievous Mahesh about the potential risk. We came back home and found that it was a "Snapping turtle". It seems it has also sharp jaws that could amputate a finger. I told Mahesh to imagine him with a missing finger! Not all turtles are friendly. But all turtles are harmless until we disturb/threaten them.

Other wild animals which I have come across in Lawrence for the first time in my life includes raccoon, skunk, brown recluse spider and few unidentified bird species. Hope to see more from a distance :)

Here is the picture I promised to post:

HUMPBACK WHALES OF MAUI - HAWAII

I have seen whales in close proximity at the Sea World. But after watching the movie 'Whale Rider', I wished to see them in their natural environment. Just couple of months back, I picked this movie from the library and watched it for the second time, this time along with Mahesh. He too enjoyed the movie. We remembered this movie when we were in Hawaii and were trying to imitate some things from the movie :) It seems mid-December to April is the whale season in Hawaii. We were in January, therefore we managed to see some of them. We came across several couples - the mother whales along with their calves. By the way, we went for a whale watch with the non-profit Pacific Whale foundation in Maui; they took us in catamarans powered with biodisel. We were also able to listen to the whales' songs via the
underwater hydrophones. We came across some common whale behaviors such as a blow, peduncle arch, fluke up drive or pec slap (see pictures below) but unfortunately not a breach, spy hop, peduncle throw, head slap or tail slap.

Pacific Whale Foundation


Mother and calf


Peduncle arch


Pec slap


Here are some of the interesting facts on humpback whales that I learnt from the trip.

About 8000 humpback whales travel more than 2500 miles from Alaska to Hawaii, one of the longest migrations in the animal kingdom. Humpback whales spend winters in Hawaii where they mate, give birth and care for their young. They spend summer in Alaska where they engage in feeding on small fishes which are found dense in Alaska. Their throats are so small that they cannot swallow anything larger than a grapefruit. Moreover, they do not have teeth, instead they have 300 to 400 long rigid strips called baleen (similar to human fingernails). The gestation period of a humpback whale is 11.5 months. They are both conceived and born in Hawaii. The calves are 13 to 15 feet at birth and weigh 1.5 to 2 tons. The adults are 42 to 45 feet and weigh 35 to 40 tons. Males engage in singing; they do not have vocal cords, these sounds are produced by various valves and muscles within the respiratory tract.

It is heartbreaking when I come across the video shots on whaling. Whaling is still practiced by Norway, Japan and Iceland. Click here for more about whaling.

TSUNAMI DISASTER

Today, is a disastrous day for Southern India and other waterfront Asian countries. A day of heart full of pain for me and for many others.
"Compassion is not something one person has for another, but rather something that arises when one begins to see all others as ones own self. As real compassion develops within, the sense of 'other' begins to lessen. When we cut our own finger, the first impulse we have is to rush to heal it, because we see the finger as belonging to us, as part of ourselves. Likewise, when we see others suffering, our first impulse should be to rush to comfort and help them, seeing them as belonging to us, as part of ourselves".
— Amma

Amma pledges $23 million for the tsunami relief. To know more details, go to, BBC or The Hindu or Rediff.

To know the tsunami relief efforts by Amma, click here

To donate for the tsunami relief, click here.