Enter India

http://blogs.moneycentral.msn.com/topstocks/archive/2008/09/30/the-best-temp-gig-in-history.aspx gives a new meaning to be a CEO in America...as long as our world is this way, it doesn't really matter whether a professional puts in an honest day's effort since there's nothing fair in it for him unless he/she's a CEO

What's with religion, crowds and incompetent crowd management - http://search.live.com/news/results.aspx?q=Chamunda+Mata+temple+tragedy&form=QBNR - tragedies like this are becoming far too common. Can't the administration learn from one tragedy and fulfil its responsibilities? And yes, can we see some accountability in terms of suspension/action against the local officials who are supposed to be incharge of managing the crowd and security in such places?

This bear takes the pot and breaks it too :) - http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26558624/

It's suprising how the nose for money, no matter from which source, guides the Indian entrepreneur - this article http://blogs.zdnet.com/security/?p=1835 shows that Indian businesses have no qualms about employing data entry staff for beating the CAPTCHA system that saves us from automated spam/marketing attacks and denial of service. Whither ethics, where Dharma?

Books about jungles and its denizens take us into another world and keep us in thrall for quite a while. Multiple reads are guaranteed as we enjoy the mental picture they create of nature at its liveliest. Among those books, there are quite a few that insert the human element to great effect - some about human-animal conflicts and some about the co-operation between the two.

 

Jim Corbett and his books are must reads for nature lovers, those who love reading about the way of the jungle and for those with an interest in man-eating tigers and the odd leopard. There's a strong human element in his true life stories which give a vivid picture of life and times in a young pre-Independence India. His books span parts of north and east India.

 

Books by Kenneth Anderson cover the jungles down south. These are more like Shikar stories and lack the broad perspective that distinguishes Jim's writing.

Books on tigers continue to expand but these two shall remain my faves for good reading.

 

Apart from India, Gerald Durell's writings teach a lot about animals and showcase some touching interaction with them.

 

Do let me know if you've come across some good books in this area.