Doing something for the planet
January 10th, 2009
Susheela and Marianne
January 10th, 2009We had the great pleasure to end 2008 with two beautifull ladies. Susheela Raman came to sing for New Year Eve and Marianne Faithfull enjoyed her brithday party near the sea food bar.
They gave a beautifull energy around them. A deep Thanks to both of you.
The Dune team.
Marianne cutting the cake with Susheela
Susheela and Sam
Inventory of normality
January 8th, 2009By Paulo Coelho :
I decided to conduct a survey anmong my friends about what society
considers to be normal behavior. What follows is a list I have made of
some of the absurd situations we face in day-to-day life, just because
society sees them as normal.
What society considers ‘normal’:
1] Anything that makes us forget our true identity and our dreams and
makes us only work to produce and reproduce.
2] Making rules for a war (the Geneva Convention).
3] Spending years at university and then not being able to find a job.
4] Working from nine in the morning to five in the afternoon at
something that does not give us the least pleasure, so that we can
retire after 30 years.
5] Retiring only to discover that we have no more energy to enjoy
life, and then dying of boredom after a few years.
6] Using Botox.
7] Trying to be financially successful instead of seeking happiness.
8] Ridiculing those who seek happiness instead of money by calling
them “people with no ambition”.
9] Comparing objects like cars, houses and clothes, and defining life
according to these comparisons instead of really trying to find out
the true reason for being alive.
10] Not talking to strangers. Saying nasty things about our neighbors.
11] Thinking that parents are always right.
12] Getting married, having children and staying together even though
the love has gone, claiming that it’s for the sake of the children
(who do not seem to be listening to the constant arguments).
12ª] Criticizing everybody who tries to be different.
14] Waking up with a hysterical alarm-clock at the bedside.
15] Believing absolutely everything that is printed.
16] Wearing a piece of colored cloth wrapped around the neck for no
apparent reason and known by the pompous name “necktie”.
17] Never asking direct questions, even though the other person
understands what you want to know.
18] Keeping a smile on your face when you really want to cry. And
feeling sorry for those who show their own feelings.
19] Thinking that art is worth a fortune, or else that it is worth
absolutely nothing.
20] Always despising what was easily gained, because the “necessary
sacrifice” – and therefore also the required qualities – are missing.
21] Following fashion, even though it all looks ridiculous and uncomfortable.
22] Being convinced that all the famous people have tons of money saved up.
23] Investing a lot in exterior beauty and paying little attention to
interior beauty.
24] Using all possible means to show that even though you are a normal
person, you are infinitely superior to other human beings.
25] In any kind of public transport, never looking straight into the
eyes of the other passengers, as this may be taken for attempting to
seduce them.
26] When you enter an elevator, looking straight at the door and
pretending you are the only person inside, however crowded it may be.
27] Never laughing out loud in a restaurant, no matter how funny the story is.
28] In the Northern hemisphere, always wearing the clothes that match
the season of the year: short sleeves in springtime (however cold it
may be) and a woolen jacket in the fall (no matter how warm it is).
29] In the Southern hemisphere, decorating the Christmas tree with
cotton wool, even though winter has nothing to do with the birth of
Christ.
30] As you grow older, thinking you are the wisest man in the world,
even though not always do you have enough life experience to know what
is wrong.
31] Going to a charity event and thinking that in this way you have
collaborated enough to put an end to all the social inequalities in
the world.
32] Eating three times a day, even if you’re not hungry.
33] Believing that the others are always better at everything: they
are better-looking, more resourceful, richer and more intelligent.
Since it’s very risky to venture beyond your own limits, it’s better
to do nothing.
34] Using the car as a way to feel powerful and in control of the world.
35] Using foul language in traffic.
36] Thinking that everything your child does wrong is the fault of the
company he or she is keeping.
37] Marrying the first person who offers you a position in society.
Love can wait.
38] Always saying “I tried”, even though you haven’t tried at all.
39] Putting off doing the most interesting things in life until you no
longer have the strength to do them.
40] Avoiding depression with massive daily doses of television programs.
41] Believing that it is possible to be sure of everything you have won.
42] Thinking that women don’t like football and that men don’t like
interior decoration.
43] Blaming the government for everything bad that happens.
44] Being convinced that being a good, decent and respectful person
means that the others will find you weak, vulnerable and easy to
manipulate.
45] Being convinced that aggressiveness and discourtesy in treating
others are signs of a powerful personality.
46] Being afraid of fibroscopy (men) and childbirth (women).
47] And finally, thinking that your religion is the sole proprietor of
the absolute truth, the most important, the best, and that the other
human beings in this immense planet who believe in any other
manifestation of God are condemned to the fires of hell.
Good to know before the good resolutions for 2009
December 26th, 2008Here is some extracts of a long article in “Express Hospitality”about “unravelling the mystery of rising food prices” by Arun Nambiar. It stroke us that being vegetarian will help a lot in the next decades this could be one of the good resolution for 2009, what do you think ?
” What’s meat got to do with global warming? ”
“…The UN food & Agriculture Organisation (FAO) calculates that meat production accounts for a fifth of GHG (Greenhouse Gas Emissions) emissions. The emissions arise due to clearing of land for the feed grown for animals. The livestock emits “toxic” methane to the atmosphere, wich is 23 times stronger than crabone dioxide, when animals belch and break wind. Food prices are shooting up as there is serious shortage all over the world. Even in the US, there is a talk on “rationing”. But who exactly is consuming teh food grains ? OVER 70 PER CENT OF FOOD GRAINS PRODUCED IN AMERICA ARE CONSUMED BY COWS AND PIGS FOR PRODUCING MEAT!…”
“…A cow takes 16 kilograms of grains to produce One Kilogram of beef. If Humans were directly to consume grains rather than meat of animals, there would be enough food to feed the world without shortage.”
“…An average American eats 125 kilogrames of meat every year, all together Americans consume 350 00 000 tons of meat evrey year. An vearge Chinese consume 70 kilogrames of meat by year, all together chineses consume 10 00 00 000 tons of meat by year.”
“… The number of animals raised for meat production is 50 000 million, wich is eigth times the size of human population…. What about water? About 10 000 litres of water are needed to produce one kilogram of meat!.”
“…An animal generates 100 times more waste than human being, how would one imagine disposing waste generated by 50 000 million animals ?”
“…Raising animals, meat processing, chilled storage, transportation, retailing, and storing meat in deep freezer at home-all require huge amount of energy. That is why meat is an inefficient energy provider.”
“…As the population of animals is rising faster than humans, one doesn’t have to be a rocket scientist to know who is controlling the world…”
For the personal comment do you remember George Orwel’snovel “Animal Farm” ?
TAHR…
December 20th, 2008He arrived in the middle of the night last week. he crossed all over india Rajasthan to tamil Nadu in an old truck.
He is seven years old, loves neem trees and running on the beach, his name is Tahr and all the Dune’s staff loves him. Our new resident will be trained to give you rides all around.
Welcom beautifull Tahr.
About the Spa
December 20th, 2008As you can read in the website the Spa is a place to come either for medical treatments or Relaxation.
I have to say that since Rajesh ( the manager) and his staff settled in there is a very warm ambiance at the Spa. Whenever you pass smiles welcomes you. You feel at home. I just tried the 4 hands relaxation massage. This is amazing. It is worth to try once in your life.
enjoy the pictures.
Marie-Claire Maison
December 20th, 2008A team of Marie-Claire Maison came to make a special “reportage” on Pondichery and Dune.
We realy enjoyed their presence at Dune. They inaugurated the new house ” The courtyard”. Now we have to wait next year (!) to have the pleasure to read the article.
Thanks for coming 
Catherine Ardouin and Philippe Garcia
A guest at the spa….
November 14th, 2008This month Emmanuel klein came for a serious treatment. He was struggling since one year with arthrosis. Fed up with corticoïds and pain killers he decided to experiment an ayurvédic treatment. Sceptic at the beginning but as the days passed the pain disapeared and he left as a “New man” he said.
Soon he will give us his story. Looking forward ro read about you Manu.
With Love The Spa’s Staff.
Did you know ?
November 14th, 20081 Energy-saving lightbulbs last around ten times longer than ordinary lightbulbs- over 10,000 hours.
2 A single tree will absorb one ton of carbon dioxide over its lifetime. Shade provided by trees can also reduce your air conditioning bill by 10 to 15 per cent.
3 Lawns only need watering once a week, post rain only after two weeks. Do watering early morning for minimal evaporation and water conservation.
4 Plastic bags and other plastic garbage thrown into the ocean kill as many as 1,000,000 sea creatures every year.
5 Rainforests are being cut down at the rate of 100 acres per minute!
6 Everytime we burn oil, coal and gas to generate electricity and power, we produce the heat trapping gases that cause global warming.
7 Deforestation is one of the main causes of atmospheric carbon dioxide; burning and cutting millions of acres of trees each year, it is responsible for 20-25 per cent of all carbon emissions.
8 Water vapor is the most prevalent and most powerful greenhouse gas on the planet; it holds onto two-thirds of the heat trapped by all the greenhouse gases.
9 Every week about 20 species of plants and animals become extinct!
10 Crawling traffic contributes eight times as much air pollution as traffic moving at regular highway speed.
11 One-third of the water used in most homes is flushed down the toilet.
12 A dripping tap can waste over 20,000 litres of water every year.
13 With accelerated global warming, and the ice covering melting, the earth would be absorbing more sunlight, and is on its way to becoming hotter than before.
14 A modern glass bottle would take 4000 years or more to decompose — and even longer if it’s in the landfill.
15 Recycling one glass bottle saves enough energy to light a 100-watt bulb for four hours
16 Ice caps are white, and reflect sunlight, much of which is reflected back into space, in turn cooling Earth; but with the ice caps melting, the only reflector is the ocean. Darker colors absorb sunlight, further warming the Earth.
17 A laptop is more environment friendly than a desktop. It consumes five times less electricity.
18 Turn off the tap when brushing your teeth and soaping your hands. This can save around 16 litres a day. That’s 11,000 litre of water per person per year.
19 Scientists blame global warming for the declining penguin population, as warmer waters and smaller ice floes force the birds to travel further to find food.
20 Tissue paper is a major source of waste. It takes 60,00,000 trees to make 1 year’s worth of tissues for the world.
21 A ton of recycled paper equals or saves 17 trees in paper production.
22 A plant on your desk acts as a natural filter, absorbing airborne pollutants and computer radiation while replenishing oxygen levels.
23 Stressed by cyanide fishing, harbor dredging, coral mining, deforestation, coastal development, agricultural runoff, careless divers, and now global warming, there is a devastating loss of coral across the world.
24 Due to global warming the polar ice cap in the Arctic region is shrinking and rupturing; if this continues, summers in the Arctic would become ice-free by the end of this century.
25 Avoiding just 10 miles of driving every week would eliminate about 500 pounds of carbon dioxide emissions a year!
26 An aluminum can that is thrown away will still be a can 500 years from now!
27 A single quart of motor oil, if disposed of improperly, can contaminate up to 2,000,000 gallons of fresh water
CAST A GLANCE….
November 12th, 2008
