Troublein

Paradise
I

n May 2008 I decided to explore the

Gangotri region in Uttaranchal. Along
with 10 other members we left Pune and
via Delhi reached Rishikesh which is the
base town.
From Rishikesh we took the early morning
bus to Yamunotri the starting point of river
Yamunotri. There is only one government
bus to this place so it was very critical for us
to get 11 seats. We stayed at a place called
Janaki Chhati and the 6km trek to
Yamunotri started at six in the morning. The
road along the river Yamunotri is beautiful
with a valley stream to your right and
mountains to your left. After reaching
Yamunotri at 8:30 we took a bath in a
natural hot water stream. The sulphur water
was almost boiling and we couldn't stand it
for more than 15 minutes. From Yamunotri
we descended to Uttarkashi and halted to
prepare for the actual trek.
Our partners Crystal Adventures had done
all the preparations for the expedition. We
reached Gangotri and guess what? The
effects of global warming came in our way!
The local authorities restricted our stay at
Tapovan and we had to cancel our trek to
Vasukital. The river Ganga which is
worshiped at the Gangotri travels 18km from
Gomukh to reach this place and we were to
walk right up to Gomukh. It was a mind
blowing experience. Gomukh is the start of
river Ganga which is also called as
Bhagirathi, named after the King Bhagirath
who worshipped lord Shiva and brought
Ganga to earth.
One of the largest glaciers in the Himalayas,
Gangotri, originates at 7,100 metres above
sea level and descends to a height of 4,000
meters, covering around 143 square
kilometers in northern and eastern India. Its
estimated volume is 27.75 cubic kilometers.
In the last 13 years, the glacial channel
feeding the Ganga river has shifted 20 meters
and has now changed track and the volume
of water too is shrinking rapidly. Similarly,
many parts of the ridge formed by rocks and

25

debris over centuries have completely

disappeared.
The natural side walls have been subjected
to heavy erosion and geologists fear that at
the rapid rate the recession is taking place
the glacier will be left without any support
and will therefore disintegrate very soon in
different directions. The reasons for this
erosion and recession are many. Scientists
say that global warming, increasing
population and mass scale deforestation are
some of the main reasons leading to the
recession in the glacial flow of the Gangotri.
In the past some of the great Himalayan
glaciers have either disappeared or have
eroded considerably. In the Saraswati valley,
north of Badrinath, the transverse glacier
Ratakona lies very near to the Mana pass
and is on the verge of drying up due to
deforestation. In the Dhauli Ganga valley
this glacier has totally disappeared. Similarly,
the Pindari and Milan glaciers are also
gradually receding.
"If there is recession and melting largely due
to global warming, there is also a reduction
in the amount of snowfall that the area
receives annually due to deforestation. Let
us hope that nature strikes a balance and
glacial activity resumes over the next few
decades," says an expert.
This is the effect of global warming and
nature lovers and trekkers like me are the
losers as the total number of trekkers to
Gomukh is restricted to only150 per day.
This is really sad as the Gomukh, Tapovan,
Nandanvan area is like a heaven. And it is
not only a matter of the majestic scenic
beauty. People actually do tapas (meditate)
in the Tapovan (Tapo bhumi). How long can
we expect those mornings to last, when one
can actually see the glittering mountain
peaks of Mt Shivling and Mt Meru?
Ganesh Inamdar
(Heating)

VOICES

This is the effect of

global warming and
nature lovers and
trekkers like me are
the losers as the
total number of
trekkers to Gomukh
is restricted to only
150 per day.

scar Wilde once said, A well tied

tie is the first serious step in life.
Years may have passed since then, but the
importance of ties still holds true even today.
Neckties have always been a passion for men
who want to look fashionable and who also
want to make a professional impact.
Knowing how to choose the right tie and
learning the right steps to tie the perfect
knot are important subjects they don't
teach you at business school.

Knowing
howto
choosethe
righttieand
learningthe
rightsteps
totiethe
perfectknot
are
important
subjects
theydon't
teachyouat
business
school.

For me, a good looking necktie still embodies

style, professionalism and maturity. A
professional look promotes credibility,
respect, and ultimately, success. Despite its
size, a tie is in fact the most expressive
accessory in a man's wardrobe. It reveals his
personality to a great extent. We have come
a long way with ties, right from
the childhood days the one with
the elastic band where in you just
put it over the head, to the clip on
ties to the professional way of
wearing a tie.

collars and for ties made from a thin fabric,

like silk. It is quick and easy to tie.
Windsor knot: which owes its name to the
Duke of Windsor, is a knot full of English
class and one of the most popular. When
finished the Windsor knot has considerable
volume and is best suited to wide-spaced
collars and to thin fabric ties.
Half Windsor: has less volume than the full
Windsor. It is ideal for straight parallel ties,
thin fabrics and open collars.
Small knot: as the name implies, is small
and suitable for ties made from a thick fabric
and for close-fitting collars.
Cross knot: used with thin fabric ties, is
smart when finished but is complicated to
achieve.
An executive from the corner
office once said to me,
Without a tie, I feel naked .
Some times I feel that the tie
helps me to cover the little
corporate paunch that is
coming into existence, though
I know I have to work on
getting rid of it and not cover it
up with a tie.

Normally people buy a shirt or

trouser and then find a tie to
match it. But I do the reverse. I
first buy a tie and then go about
finding the right shirt / trouser
that can match it. The tie is the
first thing that you get to see in
detail and not the shirt behind it
or the trouser below it. If Ahmed
is a beer hunter, I am a tie
collector. As I write this, I have a
collection of 41 ties in my
wardrobe.
I remember the Virgin mobile
commercial where the guys are
giving advice to a guy about tying the tie and
he is unable to make it or the way it is said,
"Put fatty over thinny, bring fatty around
again, bring fatty through the loop and tuck
him down the drain." Sound pretty simple to
remember, right? But not always.
Of the many ways to tie a tie, the common
knots are:
Four-in-hand: is the most well known basic
knot and easy to tie and untie. It is perfect for
most ties and almost all types of collars
Double-simple: is similar to the four-inhand; except for a "second pass" or wraparound. This knot is ideal for men who are
not particularly tall as it reduces the length
of the finished tie. It is perfect with Italian

And, here are some useful tips

about ties:
u

Your tie should be darker

than the color of your shirt

Ideally, the end of the tie

should touch the waist band
of your trouser

Always hang your tie when

not in use to allow heavy
creases to smoothen out

naturally
u

Try not to buy on looks alone. Touch and

feel the tie. If you don't like the feel, you
won't wear it!

Remember to check the inside of the tie,

which should be lined with a stiff material
so the tie will retain its shape

The point is that it is very important to know

how to wear a tie. It will help you in your
future career and profession. A well-knotted
tie can give you the look of confidence and
determination that you need for a bright
future. As the old saying goes, There are no
ugly men in the world, but there are men
who do not know how to look handsome.

26

here s a bar in New York called

Twinsburg where the owners,
bartenders and waitresses are iden-tical
twins. What a terrific fun idea for a theme
bar! It is the kind of place where you see
double even before you've had your first
drink! T his set me off thinking about other
innovative ideas that I have encountered
over the years and which have left a
definite impression on me.
Let's start with the spare button that has
become
standa
rd

The story goes that William McKnight once

broke his leg and was forced to wear a heavy
and bulky plaster cast. He wondered aloud
whether his company's scientists could
develop something less barbaric a nd
they did. They developed the lightweight
and stronger fiberglass-reinforced
synthetic casting tape S cotchcast
which hardens completely in a few
minutes, while plaster casts can take
up to a day. Today, Scotchcast
material is the standard
orthopaedic casting

s
p
l
m
e
tso
t
h
e im es
I
to break a leg.
practice
when you buy a new shirt

or a pair of trousers. Like the spare

wheel in your car, this button comes in
handy when you have a 9'olock meeting
to attend and you want to wear your
favourite blue shirt that has a button missing.
If this sounds too trivial to you just think of
the spare button as a small gesture of
customer care from the manufacturer!

27

material
in the West. And
yes, it comes in various
attractive colours and has earned
3M millions of dollars over the years.
Wheels on
luggage have made life easier for millions of
travellers. Big dialing buttons on phones are
very user-friendly, especially for the aged with
poor eyesight and arthritic fingers. Reflective
paint used in road signage is a simple idea

On a bigger scale there are two social

innovations that R D Aga was fond of citing.
Gandhiji's idea of satyagraha as an
instrument of political change and the white
revolution movement of milk cooperatives
on the Anand pattern both highly innovative and authentically Indian. A nd if I
may add two more uniquely Indian social
innovations to the list they would be the
Navdanya movement started by Vandana
Shiva to protect the nine crops t hat
represent India's collective source of food
security by starting seed banks in various
parts of the country. And second, the Sulabh
public toilets which have mushroomed all
over India because of one NGO's tireless
crusade.

with big benefits of motoring information

and safety. Sometimes the Gordian knot has
an Alexandrian solution. That is, if you can't
unravel an intractable problem just slice
though it! The Japanese gave the world the
concept of just in time manufacturing which
revolutionised the economics and efficiency
of the shopfloor. On the bizarre side, they
have also innovated t he square watermelon which stacks neatly in department
store shelves and fits more snugly in shopping bags! On the more useful side, there's
the Chinese umbrella with two buttons t o
open and close. And if you see the current
crop of ads on condoms, they are inducing
couples with many innovative features.

Innovation sometimes happens because

someone breaks a leg i n this case the
someone w as an erstwhile CEO of 3M.

Everyone has their own favourite i nnovative ideas. I asked a colleague on the
second floor what was her favourite? She