Getting my Driver's Licence

February 18th 2015, was another landmark day during my ‘Great Canadian Journey’. It was the day I became a licensed driver. Yes of course, I studied a bit before the test and also took some classes. These classes taught me that knowing to drive is the easy part but it takes more than this to get a license here. Knowing the rules constitutes a major part of the test. I was told the do's and the don'ts of each section. I met a few people who shared their experiences and how they failed the first time they gave the test.

Their stories made me a bit nervous as failing was not an option. Not because I don’t like to fail it was more because giving the test is not only an expensive affair but also a very time consuming. The test was booked for 9 am. I went to bed early, but was up most of the night tossing and turning worrying about the test.

It was an unusually cold February morning. The awaited time had come. My heart was pounding. The only thing going through my mind was "Garvin don’t mess this up. It's your only chance." The test started off well, yes, I did make a few mistakes but there were no major mishaps or accidents and I finally returned back to the test center without any major mishaps.

All nervous, I sat there waiting for my results. it all ended when that sweet lady looked at me and said those words my ears longed for "Garvin Rebello, congratulations! You've passed the test."
All adding up to:
Driver's License: Check.

Canadian International Autoshow

Here are a few clicks from my trip to the Canadian International Auto show held at the Toronto Metro Convention Center. This was my first visit to an auto show and it was such a great experience.

Women's Day

Next month, on the 8^th of March, the world will celebrate 'International Women’s Day.' First celebrated in the United States, 1909, this day is celebrated to honour women for their achievement in various fields.

Why celebrate women some would ask. To them I say, why not? Look at how far women have gone in today. From running corporations to countries, they have come a long way, when you look back at history and read about the struggles they faced to gain equal rights as men. They do deserve some credit.

From the Joan of Arc, to Rosa Parks not giving up her seat on the bus to Angela Merkel of today, and the women they represent; they sure deserve credit for their achievements.

In spite of all the progress, we as society, have made in terms of treating women equally, there are still so many parts of the world where women are still suffering.  Every day, we hear the news of women being attacked, raped, kidnapped, denied education, harassed at the workplace etc.

On Women’s Day, let's make it a point to not only celebrate their achievements but also create awareness about the struggles they still face in many parts of the world. They deserve respect. Let's set an example.

Here is a little article, dug out from the archives for International Women’s Day that will help put things in perspective.

https://www.marxists.org/archive/kollonta/1913/womens-day.htm

Three Parent babies.

Last week, the news read, UK to pass a law legally allowing for a three parent baby.  At first, I thought to myself is that even possible? Reading further, I realized it has something to do with mitochondrial engineering to prevent the mitochondrial diseases in children. There is a lot of debate on crossing ethical boundaries and the long term effects of this process.

According to an article I read, in "The Independent," mitochondrial disorder is said to be in 1 in 200 children, whereas only 1 in 10000 severely affected.

I am no expert, but shouldn’t scientist try and put in more of an effort to try and find cures for diseases like Aids, Cancer and solutions for eradication of hunger and poverty which affects millions of children around the world.

I personally feel that since a lot of people are getting affected by these diseases, scientists along with the help of the government should pay a little more attention towards eliminating those problems first. Don’t you?

Crossing Boundaries

Once man figured out how to sail the oceans, people left their homes, crossed the ocean and went in search of different lands; to start up a business, educate themselves or start a new life. The Europeans moved to America, Asia etc. centuries ago. Indians, being the enterprising people that they are, moved to different corners of the globe.

Being an Indian myself, I too joined the lot. Moved all the way to the west to Canada to start afresh. Not that there was anything wrong with the way things were back home, but there comes a point where one says to oneself, I need to do something different now, I need to experience new things in life. Now isn't that what life is about? After all, variety is the spice of life.

The plan was simple. Go to Canada, get a job and settle slowly into things. I'm not the first to do this. There were millions who left home and came to this country to settle down. But having worked at the same company for many years, I never had to look for a new job. Actually, I never learnt how to look for a job because I secured a campus placement straight out of university. There were so many things I didn't know about job hunting which I am learning now. Everyday I learn something new. Things I am supposed to do and things I am not.  Like, out here it's called resume and not CV, always ask some to check your resume for you. It is very difficult to catch your own mistakes.(the human brain works in a funny way).

Everybody before me said,"Oh Wow! You're coming to Canada. You will really like it.." But nobody told me about the difficult part of it. So I am here, learning the tricks. But I'm sure there will be a day when I wake up to that most awaited call, and I will see the Canada people told me about.

Hockey Night in Canada

Back home we called it 'Ice Hockey' and my only association with that sport was the movie ' The Mighty Ducks' and the hockey jerseys you would see people wearing in the movies. For us, hockey meant Dhanraj Pillay with a wooden stick and wearing a blue Sahara India jersey.It is the national sport of India. Or at least it used to be till cricket took over. Well on paper it still is thou because if you say cricket is the national sport in a general knowledge quiz, you get it wrong.

It is not called 'Ice Hockey' in Canada. It's just 'Hockey'. And it really is a big thing out here. I would say it is as popular as the IPL in India. You have passionate fans, over priced tickets, people rambling nonsense on TV, the works. Well. you will get those things with any popular sport. I am not much of a fan of the sport but I have started following a bit of hockey now a days because as they say, when in Rome do as the Romans. 

Occam's Razor

The other day, I was reading a book and came across the term Occam’s razor. It is a philosophical principle that has applications in the field of problem solving.  It states that among all the possible solutions, the one that has the least assumptions should be selected.  The book was about mineral exploration by Majoribanks. He goes on to say that every exploration geologist should follow the principle of Occam's razor

If everyone followed this principle in more aspects of their lives, life would be simpler.  We tend to complicate things sometimes by over thinking about things. It can sometimes affect relationships with the people around us or hinder us from developing new relationships. We read about so much of violence happening today, police brutality etc. I feel, if more people followed this principle then violence around us would certainly reduce. Life is meant to be simple. We don't need to complicate it.

A warm winter's day

The other day at work, in the cafeteria the guy sitting next to me said,"What a wonderful day it is, good weather outside." It was cloudy and drizzling and the temperature was 3 degrees outside. Few months ago if someone would have told me that I would have just laughed at him and thought he was crazy. But now that kind of weather is a blessing considering the fact that it was -20 degrees a few days ago.

Like they say about life. you really have to experience the bad times to appreciate the good times. Same goes with the winter in Canada. You really have to experience the cold to appreciate the weather when it is 3 degrees outside. For me now during the winter any day the temperature is in positive numbers is a good day. Guess I am getting used the winter one day at a time.

Cold Wave

Last week was one of the coldest weeks of the year in the GTA area, with temperatures going down to -30 deg C with the windchill.A extreme cold weather warning was also issued. It was a first of a kind experience for me. I wasn't outside for long but for the little while that I was my face went numb after a while and my nose became frosty.The 40 kmph winds made it a bad day to be outside. The worst part was waiting at the bus stop for the bus.

It was a really bad day for those people who didn't have adequate heating in their homes and for those without a home. There were reports of two homeless people dying in two days because of the cold weather. This week is also going to be chilly. That's the Canadian winter for you.

Any day the temperature is in positive degree Celsius, is a good day during the Canadian winter. Even zero degree is a good day for me now. People from the more tropical countries would not agree with me. But they should come here and experience the cold to appreciate the warmth of zero degree Celsius. :)

Is fracking good or bad?

The other day I read an article in the newspaper about fracking process causing problems in Oklahoma. For those of you who don't know what Fracking is, it is the process of extracting natural gas from shale rock layers from deep within the earth. This is done by sending fluid down the well with high pressure which cracks the rocks thereby releasing natural gas.

In Oklahoma, this process is said to cause an increase in the number of earthquakes recorded. So far they have been mild ones but it is only a matter of time before a big one hits. While we, as a civilization have made huge advances in technology to extract resources that were once thought impossible to reach, there is only so much mother earth can take before it does something to balance itself out.

As new gas containing shales are discovered, this technology is going to be used more and more. As if people did not have enough things to worry about like the economy, wars, global warming etc now they have to worry about man made earthquakes. Not to mention the amount of chemicals that are pumped into the ground. I have nothing against the use of technology in the extraction of natural resources from the earth but when we reach a point where can make the earth rumble, it is time we start looking for other sources of energy.