Dehradun details

NTC, Dehradun, North India
Tuesday Oct 27 2009 9 pm

Dehradun:
capital of Uttarakhand State
gateway to the mountain cities and villages
altitude 640 metres
a city of research stations, residential schools,
home of Indian Military Academy (think West Point) (we feel safe here!)
home of Institute of Petroleum Exploration, Institute of Himalayan Geology and the wild Life Institute of of India
meaning: Dehra = 'camp'; Dun (Doon) = 'valley between the mountains'


... from today's newspaper:

1.There is an ice skating oval being constructed in Dehradun. Officials are worried that it will not be ready for the South Asian federation Winter Games scheduled for this State in January 2010. Canadian officials will make the inspection of the facility. There is an ad in the paper recruiting skaters between ages 5 -12!
2.There is a new trend among corporate India executives to put their leadership & management teams through a “fire walking” motivational and team building event. The idea is to increase confidence levels and therefore productivity and efficiency and morale. The seminar builds to the main event. First there is marble stick breaking followed by lively games and then enjoyable dances. Finally a 4 foot by 9 foot trench is filled with charcoal and doused in petrol. Once it is lit and red hot, the employees go for their barefoot walk - of course with motivational exhortation first: “nothing is impossible, everything is achievable” is the mantra. Men are asked to roll up their trousers before they take their walk. Women are asked not to wear silk pants or saris. ... interesting that the leaders of this event were trained in the United States.
3.341 days until the 2010 Commonwelath Games in Delhi (I don't know how athletes will breathe)
4.Number of cellphone towers in Delhi = 4,532; number of illegal cellphone towers in Delhi = 2,517
5.Tips on how to avoid 'winter depression'. Mood swings and dullness and psychological disorders are on the upsing as we enter winter. (Good grief: it's sunny and hot everyday! This elates me!)
6.the Power Regulatory Commission has given approval to a hike in power tariffs in Uttarakhand: up to 15% increase retroactive to the 1st of this month. (Question: will it also mean 15% less daily interruption of service time?)