In the Apple store atm. Came to get my iPod a new headphone. The old one was a little pain to my ears. Liking the new one Ive just got. And, Iam eyeing on this Mac Notebook (tht im on atm here) for a while now and I never forget to give myself sometime to have a go on it whenever I come here. Lolz. My friends know abt my craze on the newcomings, but Not that I always run to the store and grab one as soon as it hits the market or something. Though, as of now, I am waiting to get hold of the N96.

Anyways, I am gonna make my way out soon, and have a great weekend :)


update 15.35pm: the shopaholic person in me didnt let me out of here..and the result is am still around John Lewis shopping mall. But its not gonna be as long as my usual shopping cos it seems to be a little boring to be all alone around here..and getting hungryyyy!!

Organ donation -Informed to Presumed

I was leafing through this week's NewScientist magazine today and the first news of This Week section has drawn my attention. You might have already guessed what it is gonna be about from the title.

The current law on Organ Donation in UK works on the basis of informed-consent -that is registering someone's name to the Organ donor register only if they came forward to make such positive decision in their lifetime.

And the article was about the shift from this voluntary registration to a presumed consent. The government is considering to change the law so that everyone will be registered as Organ donors unless they decide to opt out. FYI, Spain is the world's leading country in donation rates and Japan being the least. And Spain has this 'presumed consent' system, which allowed them to crack the problem of having a big gap between the demand for organs transplant and the number available.
Would changing the law actually make a significant difference? cos the 'ethical problems' is always a matter of serious doubt and moreover, not all the organs are usable.
There will still be families in the population to veto this law and I wonder how the public is going to be OR have been reacting to this. And needless to say that the opinion of public is much crucial. There are people from all walks of life with different cultural attitudes. Will the majority vote for this change.. and if not, is it effective to change the law? and how many of you who are reading this would agree with this change from an Opt-In to Opt-Out system.
Sweden has a lower donation rate compared to UK despite the fact that it has the presumed-consent law but on the other hand, as I mentioned earlier Spain has the highest rate withholding the same law.
What's going to happen....remains to be seen as the debate is still going on.

Honest Blogger Award

Glad to have been honored with this award. Thanks so much Priya, appreciate it :)

A pre-booked reproach: On the way to India

This summer has been empty to me. Going pretty fast and it worries me that I haven't travelled anywhere abroad this year. All I had was a day out to Portsmouth beach :) It was still nice and I managed to click away the beauty of the city from the top floor of the Spinnaker tower.

Okay, coming back to the point... not that I travel every summer but I had been doing so, for the past 4 consecutive years. And I guess that's why I am sort of disappointed of this summer.
Spending hours and hours planning on where to travel, where to stay, who to take with et al is a usual thing for me and my friends. But it worked out only once! And that was To India. I wouldn't say it was that fun as we didn't have much sight-seeing but a great travelling cos it was the first time to travel abroad with friends and that was during sixthform. It was mainly planned to have a feel on how the health system is like in countries like India. So we landed in one of the private hospitals. But once we got there, some staff were telling us that it would have been better if we had gone to a government hospital cos that's the best place to see the reality than in private ones. I hope to do that if the future allows me.

Leaving all this behind, the highlight of the trip was the airlines!! I am sorry but that was the worse airlines I ve ever travelled and I seriously wonder why it seems like there were no complaints made about them! I don't wanna mention which airlines it was, for some good reasons. The price was no cheap or nothing, of £750.00 each. Obviously, food is one thing that should be beared during travelling but the food we were given was beyond our flexibility...and the most unfavourable thing was that the sheets we were provided with looked like as if they had never been washed cos I could see some dried rice grains on it! It was a transit ticket to Chennai via Bombay. And because they delayed the flight from London to Bombay, we missed the one from Bombay to Chennai as they didn't bother to wait for the transit passengers!

Okay, thinking that there must have been an alternative arrangements for the transit passengers as every other airline does if they couldn't wait, we went to the check-in counter to ask what was happening and the answer we got was shocking, unexpected and a total ridiculous.. "Sorry madam, I don't know. There hasn't been any arrangements made".
Whaaaaaattt...an irresponsible response!
And we questioned him what were they going to do with the passengers on transit and he replied that we just have no choice other than making our own way. To escalate my surprise, a girl we met on the flight didn't even bother to ask any of the staff about it and she said that it is stupid to stand and ask those staff as it will be of no use and she straight away made her way out. We stood there still, feeling lost.

We then decided to talk to the airlines manager and asked one of the guys for the direction to the manager's office. And he directed us to the 3rd floor. So we walked towards the lifts dragging our luggage. Guess what, the damn lifts didn't work -Out of Order! So we climbed up the stairs with our luggage....trust me it was painful. Once we got to the 3rd floor, somebody else said the airlines office is actually in the ground floor. I felt like burst out crying. We stood at the 3rd floor and decided to ask a few people, to find out if they actually say the same direction. If you don't know something that a person asks you about, you just simply say 'I don't know'! And there were a number of guys in the airport couldn't say that. They said something as if they would be punished if they said they didn't know and all of them said different floors. And to my amazement, there were no signs of directions displayed in an International Airport! Was a place of pure mayhem.

We went down to the ground floor and decided to search for the office as somebody said all the airlines offices are definitely located on the ground floor. Managed to find it after a long walk. We were really annoyed of the every single thing that we came across since we stepped out from the flight. And we talked to the manager in an almost-shouting tone while maintaining pleasant demeanor. Thankfully, he was in fact really nice to respond to us very calmly... asked us to leave the luggage in his office and arranged one of his staff to take us to their tickets office where they booked us on a local flight to Chennai. And thereafter everything went smoothly except the fact that we had to wait there for more than 3/4 hours, if I remember correctly.

And another thing was that when we got off from the bus that took us to the local airport there was a guy who seemed to be working on the bus started asking us money and he didn't even give us a chance to ask him why he wanted. The was another man who came along and he was speaking for the other guy and told us to give him some money.
The rest of the journey in the flight was uneventful compared to the time we were in the airport.The whole journey was much exciting, thrilling but with many troubles. Arguments that my friend had with one of the high hierarchy people, some weird unexpected experiences in the shopping mall etc....and it continues to be a long list.

I really learned a lot from this travelling! One is never to take that Airlines anymore. There was another unavoidable travel on the same airlines as BA was delayed due to some flooding in India. And that was not pleasant too. And this complaint is not a personal idiosyncrasy cos I ve heard from many individuals that the particular airlines has been a widespread-unpreferable. lolz. A holiday is to basically have a good time, to escape boredom etc. but it would all be only until when staying within the comfort zone.

I think some thoughts need to be given to the care and basic needs of the customers as equally as they do for their business needs and before proclaiming to be giving the ultimate experience of travelling!!
Anyway, I think I have ranted very long, and thanks for reading so far. This was one of the unforgettable travels of my life and you can well imagine how it would feel like to face such situations when you undertake a travel voluntarily without parents being beside you.

Desktop Tag

Yet another tag, courtesy Hemanth and as usual I am very late to do this tag too....and sorry about it.

So here is the screen shot of my desktop.

I initially had the default desktop picture (of the make of my PCs). I don't bother about having a fancy colourful desktop picture. Well, there was some time when I was crazy about this but now that am not much into it. Both of my homePCs had their default desktop and I have changed one of them just now. Of the one I am using at the moment . Cos I thought it would be boring to put up a picture of a desktop with the maker's logo. lolz. From now on, this is going to be my desktop picture of this PC. And that was the story of my desktop pic, the new desktop picture -which was chosen from the windows wallpapers gallery..hehehe.

Ok, moving on to the next part or qs of the tag,

what do I love about my desktop?.. there is nothing that I can think of, seriously. It looks fresh, that's all I would say :)

Tagging time...I shall now tag Kumiththa, Sarves, Vani.

Skipping down the memory lane

Yesterday I decided to take out some of the photo albums from the shelf. I used to do this once in a while when I feel like to see the faces of my long lost/distant friends. I can't remember when I went through my old albums last but surely long ago. So yesterday happened to be one of those days.

When I usually bring them out everyone in my family would give me a look as if I am on the useless mode. Well, it only lasts until when I say something funny or make a comment about a person on a photo and after that they just can't keep themselves away and join me.

And I chanced on this album in which I had all the pictures of my first high school friends, from St Mary's Convent. It was a great schooling, which had given me great many memories to cherish all my life. A teacher who I want to be remembered now was one of my science teachers. He passed away a couple of days after undergoing a surgery few years ago.. He was a very strict but great teacher ever. He always calls most students 'women'... like, "what are you doing women, why did you do this women..etc".
And I can remember, one day he said that he knew palmistry and I asked him what my palm lines say about my edu. So, he looked at my palm and said something about the education line, the single line that runs across the palm above the life and head line, according to him. And he said it should not fall off btw the index and middle finger but should run over the index finger or end on it to mean a good edu. lolz. I seriously don't know if he was just kidding as I was just a kid to make me happy or something. But the line wasn't even near the fingers at that time though. I trusted him and I always used to watch how it makes its way as the time goes. Even now. When I get a disappointing marks or something, I look at my palm to see if the line has fallen off btw the fingers. lolz.
Anyways, he is no more with us and is always missed and remembered. Unfortunately, I don't have any of his photos but his funeral notice. By the time I got the notice on my hands it was too late.

The happy moments were countless. I had an embarrassing time when we all guides (girl scouts) were camping during the holidays. It was the last day; we were sitting together in a circle with our Sister-Principal (headteacher) and celebrating the final moments. And at the end they decided to ask me a question. I wasn't too afraid of speaking in mike so I got up and went to the middle quite happily and was so proud of how special I was to be chosen for a special qs. All lasted until the question penetrated the membranes. I didn't even know I was going to react like that to them cos the question was very simple and if I was asked the same qs right now I would give a long lecture on it. Ok, they asked me 'You seem to be one who has more friends than most other in this school and whats the secret behind it'. Quite straightforward. All I did was crying. I feel really embarrassing when I think about it now and I still don't know why the hell I cried in front of my head teacher, class tutor and all others. Lolz. School moments are priceless and irreplaceable. I miss my school days, school friends and each and every second of my presence there.

And yesterday was a day for me to refresh all the memories when I had chanced upon my school photos. I wish I could go back to the age of a kid and go through the same colourful moments again. But I can't. After all I am an ordinary human.

Awards

So just came to know that Priya has given me a Brilliant Weblog award a week ago. Thanks a lot Priya, its very kind of you. I guess this is an award giving season after the tagging one. And the other one I mentioned about in my previous post -Blogger Friends Forever award from Hemanth.

After a while...

It has been a while since I sat in front of this same window to feed my blog some words. I always wanted to be a bit more regular in keeping up my blog but when other things in life overtake as the matter of importance, blogging becomes one of those to be dropped astern. I am still not out of that hectic mood and this seems to be a turbulent-ish phase to me. or Shall I say, gloomy?

Anyways, forgetting these for a moment here, hope all of you out there are well. I haven't been to many of your blogs for the past few weeks. I will do make my way soon...I guess I have missed so much and am waiting for a good relaxed time to go through all.

And not forgetting to mention and thank here is hemanth who had given me a bloggerfriends award :) which was really nice. With a picture and stuff. I think I should get that pic up here with this post.

Also, I haven't had time to catch up with my friends as well especially kumiz. and btw all these, I was glad to get in touch with a friend after 3 months or so. But still didn't have anything new from my side to share and neither that much from the other.

So basically it continues to be hectic each and everyday.... with my thoughts racing back and forth.

OK, Here is my Mosaic for the previous Tag Qs. Couldn't escape doing it as I was lately informed it is a must ;)

Another Tag

And this time from Hemanth. Thanks :)

1. What is your first name?
Saranya

2. What is your favorite food right now?
....gimme some spice :)
Veg-hot Pizza &
Dosa topped up with Coriander &Green chillies...had this once ages ago in one of the Indian Restaurants here and loved it! and have never found the same type of dosa anywhere else.

3. What high school did you go to?
Errm, I went to 3 different high schools. St Mary's, Bishopsford and Graveney!

4. What is your favorite color?
I got 3 favs. Black, Blue, Pink

5. Who is your celebrity crush?
..its a looong list! But at the moment "none". Seriously, trust me!!

6. What is your favorite drink?
Banana Milkshake, Cappuccino

7. What is your dream vacation?
Australia, Thailand, Egypt

8. What is your favorite dessert?
Chocolate fudge cake and the one&only Ice cream factory's Ice cream..mmm.. yummyyy!

9. What do you want to be when you grow up?
A responsible daughter and doctor.

10. What do you love most in life?
Everything!
Family, Travelling, Music, Career, Outings...yeah everything!

11. What is one word that describes you?
Sensitive

12. What is your user name?
of? ok, one of the many is Saranyas :)

Sorry for the long time I have taken to put this up. Haven't got much time on hands these days. And now I am done! :)

So who shall I tag now......let me go for,
Aneesh
Kumiththa
Sarves

Inherited Or...

Have you ever come across people who egotistically take all the possible advantages from you without even thinking whether it will affect you or not? People who suddenly change their behaviour just because they don't need you anymore? People who treat you as if you are their family member when you are needed and then ignore you when they go higher up?.

You don't have to love your enemy or to turn your other cheek but live so that you don't trouble others. Sometimes I get tired of some people around me who are so greedy to an extreme end. I do believe that healthy selfishness is important because if you want to live you have to love yourself but I am talking about the behaviour when people ask you to live in the way they prefer (may be cos they find a way in yours that helps them to live theirs as they want). Developing self-interest and doing what you want to do is not wrong but it isn't always benign.

Do people become selfish when they just follow whatever that strikes in their mind or after a thorough logical analysis and judgement on how something could benefit them..them only...no matter whether it has any bad impacts on the outer world? And they get the pleasure of ticking off their list of wishes by paying off with others' happiness and peace. Very obnoxious. Perhaps as a result of an inherited selfish-gene. Why do they yearn for the undeserved income.

It would be more meaningful to ask yourself; are you doing something that is a complete disregard to others rather than whether it benefits others or not. You don't have to primarily do something for the good of others but may be something that is not bad for others. Because whether your actions are egotistic or not is contingent not just depending on the action but on its impacts on others. Now how would you describe the term rational selfish? Is human nature inspired by making up reasons. Are humans evolved so that someone can drill down to any level to give their explanation as to how their action is different from selfishness and differentiate between altruism and selfishness based on their needs and views. Or if you wanna put it this way, does selfishness mean loving yourself more than you should?