Birding in Nilgiris – 2

~ premsagark ~ 4 Comments

In an earlier post, I blogged about days 1-3 of my Nilgiris trip. In this post, I will talk about day 4, 5 and 6 of the trip.  All snaps from this trip are uploaded to my my flickr account. If you want information regarding places and routes, please see this post.

Note: This is a lengthy post, but please do not miss the report on day 6 at Kalhatty falls early in the morning. It was the best phase of the trip.

Day 4 report: May 21: Ooty home – Doddabetta – Kotagiri – Longwood shola – Wood house area – cancelled Porthimund dam due to rain – Ooty home

By now, I was so used to the chirps of sparrows that I could hear them inside my head even if I closed my ears tight! They were my close friends. They were always there waiting for me at the window every day in the morning without fail.

House sparrow 2

Having stayed up late into the previous night trying to get more information on where and how I could spot the Nilgiri laughing thrush, I woke up at 7 am instead of the planned 6 am. I had planned to reach Doddabetta before 7 am, which was not to be. I reached there by 8 am with the sole aim of getting a very nice picture of the laughing thrush.

INWer Vijay Cavale had given me a few clear inputs. “Get the ticket –> Go straight to the tea shop and descend down the ladder –> Cross the fence. Try your luck there before crowd arrives. Or try you luck 5 km below (Kotagiri).”

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Birding in Nilgiris – 1

~ premsagark ~ 12 Comments

I had been to Nilgiris on a birding trip last week.

Nilgiri laughing thrush 2

I had a fantastic time there and it was easily one of the best trips I had done in my life. The trip had a lot of highlights, personally, like sighting the Nilgiri laughing thrush and the various flycatchers (Nilgiri, grey headed canary and the Black and orange). Also, this was my first birding trip outside Bangalore. (For new visitors to my blog, I started bird watching in April, 2009). And I was alone during this trip as all my friends were busy with work and could not join. Being alone had its own advantages and disadvantages. It was a trip that I would remember for long..

All the snaps from this trip are uploaded to my flickr account.

Grey Headed Canary Botanical garden 3

Nilgiri Flycatcher

Black & Orange flycatcher Botanical garden 2

Over a 6 day period, from May 18 to 23, I covered these places

  1. Ranganthittu, Mysore
  2. Doddabetta, Ooty
  3. Cairn hill forest, Ooty (could not enter due to permission, did a peripheral visit)
  4. Potato research center, Muthorai
  5. Kotagiri
  6. Longwood shola, Kotagiri (could not enter due to permission, did a peripheral visit)
  7. Botanical garden, Ooty
  8. Wood house area, Ooty
  9. Kalhatty falls and Kalhatty ghat
  10. Masinagudi
  11. Naduvattam (could not enter due to permission, did a peripheral visit)
  12. Mudumalai, Theppakadu & Bandipur without entering inside

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Life’s little instruction booklet

~ premsagark ~ 2 Comments

Source : Email from a friend. Author unknown.

This morning I received a fantastic mail. I loved it. I think you will too. Please read on.

Life’s little instruction booklet

1. Have a firm handshake.
2. Look people in the eye.
3. Sing in the shower.
4. Own a great stereo system.
5. Keep secrets.
6. Never give up on anybody. Miracles happen everyday.
7. Always accept an outstretched hand.
8. Be brave. Even if you’re not, pretend to be. No one can tell the difference.
9. Whistle.
10. Avoid sarcastic remarks.
11. Make it a habit to do nice things for people who will never find out.
12. Lend only those books you never care to see again.
13. Never deprive someone of hope; it might be all that they have.
14. When playing games with children, let them win.
15. Give people a second chance, but not a third.
16. Be romantic.
17. Become the most positive and enthusiastic person you know.
18. Loosen up. Relax. Except for rare life-and-death matters, nothing is as important as it first seems.
19. Don’t allow the phone to interrupt important moments. It’s there for your convenience, not the caller’s.
20. Be a good loser.
21. Be a good winner.
22. Think twice before burdening a friend with a secret.
23. When someone hugs you, let them be the first to let go.
24. Be modest. A lot was accomplished before you were born.
25. Keep it simple.
26. Beware of the person who has nothing to lose.
27. Don’t burn bridges. You’ll be surprised how many times you have to cross the same river.
28. Live your life so that your epitaph could read, No Regrets.
29. Be bold and courageous. When you look back on life, you’ll regret the things you didn’t do more than the one’s you did.
30. Never waste an opportunity to tell someone you love them.
31. Remember no one makes it alone. Have a grateful heart and be quick to acknowledge those who helped you.
32. Take charge of your attitude. Don’t let someone else choose it for you.
33. Visit friends and relatives when they are in hospital; you need only stay a few minutes.
34. Begin each day with some of your favorite music.
35. Once in a while, take the scenic route.
36. Send a lot of Valentine cards. Sign them, ‘Someone who thinks you’re terrific’.
37. Answer the phone with enthusiasm and energy in your voice.
38. Keep a note pad and pencil on your bed-side table. Million-dollar ideas sometimes strike at 3 a.m.
39. Show respect for everyone who works for a living, regardless of how trivial their job.
40. Send your loved ones flowers. Think of a reason later.
41. Make someone’s day by paying the toll for the person in the car behind you.
42. Become someone’s hero.
43. Count your blessings.
44. Compliment the meal when you’re a guest in someone’s home.
45. Wave at the children on a school bus.
46. Remember that 80 per cent of the success in any job is based on your ability to deal with people.
47. Don’t expect life to be fair.

Well, wasn’t that a wonderful list?

What to stop doing?

~ premsagark ~ 1 Comment

I am a big fan of Jim Collins. I like his book Good to great.

Today a job that I was ran took too much time to execute and I found myself in half-sleep mode. So in an attempt to shake myself up, I did some googling and landed at this site. Found it interesting. This guy had a link to a great article by Jim Collins.

It talks about what one needs to stop doing. I think this is a very vital question to ask yourself. To achieve our goal, we all focus on what has to be done. But very few care to think of what needs to be avoided. How many of us have the sincerity and guts to question our own favourite ideas (that are not working) and say “Hey, that’s not such a good idea after all; let’s unplug it and move on to something else (Jim’s quote)”.

Please read the article. (Click on the link and go to Best New Year’s resolution? A ‘stop doing’ list) Well, I have something to work on this weekend! To create a stop doing list!

The richest man in Babylon

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I am reading the 1920s classic, “The richest man in Babylon“. I liked the book. It is full of simple wisdom that is so difficult to notice these days. I liked the simplicity of the book. I would recommend this book to anyone.

In fact, I think this book could have been the inspiration for books like “The wealthy barber” and “Rich dad poor dad”.

Here are excerpts from 2 of my favorite chapters.

Seven cures for a lean purse

Step 1: Start Thy Purse to Fattening.
For each ten coins you earn, spend only nine.

Step 2: Control Thy Expenditures
Budget your expenses that you may have coins to pay for your necessities, pay foryour enjoyments and gratify your worthwhile desires without spending more thannine-tenths of your earnings.

Step 3: Make Thy Gold Multiply
Put each coin to labor so that it may reproduce its kind.

Step 4: Guard Thy Treasures from Loss
Guard your treasures from loss by investing only where the principal is safe, where itmay be reclaimed if you desire so, and where you will not fail to collect a fair rental.

Step 5: Make of Thy Dwelling a Profitable Investment
Own your own home.

Step 6: Insure a Future Income
Provide in advance for the needs of your growing age and the needs of your family.

Step 7: Increase Thy Ability to Earn
Cultivate your own powers, study and become wiser, become more skillful, andrespect yourself.

The five laws of gold

1. The First Law of Gold
“Gold cometh gladly and in increasing quantity to any man who will put by not lessthan one-tenth of his earnings to create an estate for his future and that of his family.”

2. The Second Law of Gold
“Gold laboreth diligently and contentedly for the wise owner who finds for it profitableemployment, multiplying even as the flocks of the field.”

3. The Third Law of Gold
“Gold clingeth to the protection of the cautious owner who invests it under the adviceof men in its handling.”

4. The Fourth Law of Gold
“Gold slippeth away from the man who invests it in businesses or purposes with which he is not familiar or which are not approved by those skilled in its keep.”

5. The Fifth Law of Gold
“Gold flees the man who would force it to impossible earnings or who followeth thealluring advice of tricksters and schemers or who trusts it to this own inexperienceand romantic desires in investment.”

Conservative investors sleep well !! Good book!!!

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I just finished “Conservative Investors sleep well”  by Phil Fisher. (It is also sold as part of “Common Stocks and uncommon profits”). Its really very good and I enjoyed it a lot. Here is a brief on it.

Fisher talks about Four dimensions of conservative investing.

1. First dimension

Excellence in the following activities

A. Low cost operation. (High profit margins)

B. Stong marketing organisation.

C. Strong research and technical efforts.

D. Good financial skills.

And of course the skill to integrate all of this in the right mix.

2. Second dimension.

This is the people factor. Competent management and good labour force make all the difference. Fisher also talks about 3 elements needed with regards to this dimension. They are

1. Managements need to realize that the world is changing fast.

2. Take efforts to make the employees feel that their co is a good place to work for.

3. Orientation towards sound & long range growth.

3. Third dimension

These are the characteristics that make the business favorable as a conservative investment. They are

1. Profitability.

This can be expressed in ROIC and OPM. But also the sales turnover is also an important consideration.

2. Economies of scale.

3. Market leader in sales and high OPM

4. Multidisciplinary technology development

5. Well marketed products that have become habit buying now

6. Extremely high ROIC is also a danger, says Fisher as it might attract a lot of new people to start business thereby reducing profits.

4. Fourth dimension.

This dimension talks about how the Financial community

1. values an industry

2. values a company

3. values stocks in general.

A stock price is not only what the financial community thinks of the company, but also of the industry and also of stock picking in general. During a time when the industry is viewed negatively, even a good company would be valued low. And during times when stocks as a whole are considered as bad investments, again, stocks of such companies would be cheap.

This is only a very brief gist. Please do take the time to read this fantastic book.