Mysore – 5th January 2011As long as a giraffe is tall, able to rear its head to the height of a man and deadly enough to kill an elephant with a single bite, the king cobra is truly the “king of the serpents.” – You would hear these words when it starts; “The King and I” on NGC or Animal Planet – Produced by an Humble Herpetologist and Nature Conservationist, The Man whom we know as “The King Cobra Man” Romulus Earl Whitaker.
This is the story of meeting an Hero whom I have always admired, from the days I had Cable Television watching wildlife & nature from a distance of 2-3 meters or for the first time i had watched a program on Madras Snake & Croc Park at a very young age on Doordarshan in which I had seen an white man breeding crocs and raring snakes in Madras (I did not know his name then), Mr. Whitaker had something in him that i had always noticed. His humbleness towards nature or his enthusiasm event at this age as he himself had quoted once that “I’m 65 years old, and instincts (and some well-meaning friends) say I should slow down and maybe take it a little easier, but how can I? “. This man I have always wanted to meet once in my life.
A Few days back my dear friend Raghav Prasad told me that He saw Mr. Whitaker on Kalidasa Road. I then wished that I could have got and opportunity to meet him if i was there at that moment. Today was that lucky day. After lunch around 1.30 pm I was standing just across the cubicle where i sit in my office. Just then I noticed a white man with long hairs walking across the road into a store opposite to my office. I said to myself; wait a minute I know this man, he is Romulus the King Cobra Man whom i watch almost every day on Discovery (The Promo of “The King and I” keeps repeating every now and than in Telugu and Tamil, an attempt by Discovery to promote regional languages watched by a fanatic Kannada lover wishing they would do a Kannada version in days to come so that natural Kannadigas can also watch it and understand & love nature). I quickly called out my office pals Raghav, Varun, Pavan PG, Lokesh, Sachin and Sumesh that I would show them something interesting. We waited around 5 minutes on our balcony to witness Mr. Whitaker coming out of the store. As soon as he crossed the road I shouted in a low voice ‘Romulus’ to which the tall man turned back and acknowledged. He kept walking after waving to us. Then our Loki gave a loud shout “Romulus Romulus” to which he responded by signaling us that we can meet him right across the road under a tree. We ran like sprinters of an 100m dash eager to collect our Gold Medal. There he stood tall like the King himself waiting for us to meet him. It was like meeting the Cobra face to face. We introduced ourselves to Mr. Whitaker, told him that we were really happy to meet him and that I was a big fan of his. We had some brief but interesting moments with him. He told us that he keeps coming to Mysore quite often to meet friends, visit NCF (Nature Conservation Foundation). We were informed by Mr. Whitaker that he had stayed in Mysore for many a time in the 1960′s. After a brief talk we got his autograph, a few snaps and we were happy to be with a joyful nature lover & an Elvis fan for some time. A day well spent indeed
Truly it was and wonderful day of my life. Hope to meet him some day in the near future and get a chance to work with him in some ways.
This was the story of me meeting one of my childhood hero Romulus Earl Whitaker
Yes Dasara 09 was fantastic. Enjoyed it to the core. Was at the Mysore Palace in the evenings with the Resonators Team (www.resonatorspro.com) as a part of the team. We had installed the State of the Art Sound and Light Facilities at the Mysore Palace. It was a real good experience with my dear friends Srinivas, Prasad, Johnson, Raghs and the whole team of Resonators managing the Show for the cultural events. Got to See The Best of Musicians in India at Close Quarters.
Oh it was a rain filled 9 days but that’s where the fun lies……. Congregation of Good crowd at all places during the festivities.
Will try and post images and videos of the experience shortly in my next few posts.
Oh God, It was so exciting full of nail biting moments. I am talking about the Nehru cup Football Tournament Finals between India and Syria held at the Ambedkar stadium in New Delhi. Although the standard of the game lacked the quality of European football or perhaps the glory of the South American Counterparts, still for an Hard core Indian Football Fanatic like me it was all worth a watch.
The match went to extra time as the defending champions India and previous runners up Syria were locked goal less after the mandatory 90 minutes. Even the first half of extra time did not prove a point as both teams locked horns and with added fatigue more predominant on the Indian team who could barely match with the Syrians in Stamina. But nevertheless India did what was expected of them by those thousands of fans. It had to be a dead ball situation to break the shackles. A spectacular free kick dipping in on the Syrian goal keeper saw the ball kiss the inside half of the net to give India a potential winning opportunity 6 minutes before the final whistle thanks to veteran Rennedy Singh’s Golden Eye to see the gap in the wall and to float it like the way he did even Zizu, Becks and the likes would be proud of it. But as expected like a true bollywood move the climax had to be a bit different. The injury time proved costly for India as a the Syrians equalized in the nth minute of the game to bring the scores level. A momentary lack in concentration by the India defense allowed Syrian Ali Dyab to head one past Subratta Paul who had exceptionally well in saving at least a half a dozen scoring opportunities.
So the match had to be decided by the harsh method – The Penalties. Oh boy it was too exciting to watch specially when the ‘ToBe’ Rennedy missed one along with Wadoo. But for the acrobatic heroics of Subratta Paul who kept India in the hunt saving a couple. It had to be the Sudden Death that decided the result of the Match. After India scored the decider, Paul did the rest by pushing off a stinger pouncing in the middle to make the ball fly away from the goal….. Hurrah! He Jumped in Joy as The Wild Crowd pumped all its joy on the ground making it a fan frenzy situation.
Once Again India Lifted the Nehru Cup and Baichung Butia became the most successful Indian captain getting his 5th winning trophy of his career. Hope this will inspire many Indians to take up the glorious game and for the Authorities to support them in a better way.
They should remember Awards or Honour do not matter in a true sportsman’s life playing for his country but they certainly will push him to achieve greater glory.
Best of Luck the Indian Football Team for the Asia Cup 2011.
Hello, here is an interesting article which i thought i should be sharing with readers around. Hope this will help in reducing eye strains that people like us come across in our daily routine.
Caring for Your Eyes So You Can Study Longer Without Your Eyes Becoming Tired or Red or Without Increasing the Power of Your Glasses.
Here are some simple but enormously beneficial hints to help relax your eyes when studying or concentrating.
Light
Sunlight is the best for your eyes. When there is not enough sun-light, use comfortably bright light from electricity.
Breathing
When we concentrate, we tend to hold our breath or we stop breathing for a short period. This creates tensions in our eyes and our bodies. When you study or concentrate, make sure that your breathing is relaxed, deep, and rhythmic.
Blinking
We naturally close and open our eyes and it is called “blinking”. We tend to stop blinking when we concentrate. So make sure that you blink when you concentrate. Also occasionally, look away and blink a few times to relax your eyes.
Palming
This technique is to relax your eyes. Use your palms to cover your eyes without touching the eye lids. Make your palms round like when holding water so that you do not touch the eye lids. Your palms will touch your forehead and cheeks so that you will feel complete dark.
Its Friday… Another week’s over… Everybody here are already in Festive mood. So World! Happy Gowri n Ganesha Festival to you all. May Lord Ganesha bring health and prosperity to one and all.
ಹೋದೆವು ಇಂದು ಮಾಡಲು ಊಟ, ಇತ್ತು ನಮಗೆ ವರುಣನ ಮನೆಯಲಿ ಕೂಟ, ಮಾಡಿದೆವು ಸೇರಿ ಭರ್ಜರಿ ಊಟ,
ನಿದ್ದೆ ರಾಯ ಬೆನ್ನಟ್ಟಿ ಬಂದಾ.. ಕೆಲಸ ಮಾಡಲಿಕ್ಕೆ ಆಗಲೇ ಇಲ್ಲ, ಕೊಟ್ಟಿದ್ರು ಎಲ್ಲಾ ಮೇಜಿಗೆ ತಲೆಯಭಾರ, ಇದಿಕ್ಕೆಲ್ಲ ಕಾರಣ ವರುಣ್ ಮಾಡಿಸಿದ ಭರ್ಜರಿ ಭೋಜನ, ಆದರೂ ಹಾರೈಸುತ್ತ್ತೇವೆ ವರುಣ್ ಹಾಕಿಸುತ್ತೀರಲಿ ಇದೇ ತರಹದ ಭೋಜನ..
This technique is to relax your eyes. Use your palms to cover your eyes without touching the eye lids. Make your palms round like when holding water so that you do not touch the eye lids. Your palms will touch your forehead and cheeks so that you will feel complete dark.
