Hi, meet Sam

I promised to introduce some good friends so we all stay connected. Here goes Samuel Jacob, call him Sam or Sambo. Some talk more, work less (like me..I can see Vinisha clapping – (but hey, I bluff sometimes, don’t take me seriously) and some do it the other way round.
Sam belongs to the latter category. Talk to him continuously for five minutes and all he does is smile back and nod his head like a vertical clock pendulum.
This guy was an asset for The Times of India desk in the 90s in Mumbai. He was so computer savvy that he was grabbed by the Internet edition for launch. He moved to Yahoo! Bengalooru.
And the hardcore journalist decided he had better things to do in life. He is now focusing on environment and agriculture and is working on a project to protect lakes in the Kalakad-Mundanthurai Tiger Reserve buffer
zone of Tamil Nadu.
The photos show Vagai Kulam. The children are part of a Green Brigade. They help in monitoring the birds. The other pictures are of birds resting on trees in the lake. The trees are scheduled to be cut soon and Sam and his team are trying to stop that and get the place declared a sanctuary so the birds can continue to come here.
Good wishes, Sambo.

Happier the ‘we’

"We” is a much stronger word than “I.” My friends are your friends and your friends are mine. So, I thought I should introduce some great friends, with their permission. Slowly and steadily, let’s expand this list. The list is not in order so, no hard feelings. This one for Gallery section.
BB Nayak is a simple man from Orissa settled in Navi Mumbai. His achievement? Seven Guinness world records. The latest is 30 one fisted cartwheels in a minute in New Bombay. The feat is covered in You Tube. Long ago, I covered his major feat for TOI and that is when we became friends...Now hold your breath..it was called Groin Conditioning..where two concrete slabs are placed against his vital organ and another guy breaks the slabs with a hammer. We gave the headline, don’t laugh, “Balls of Steel” in the TOI supplement for this story. Another report I wrote about him was titled “Bruce Lee of Mumbai.”
Babhi (BB’s wife) is a worried lady and not without reason. When BB plays with his life, she could only pray.
Well, hats off to this achiever who’s made it to the top despite lack of support from the government.

Friends forever