Human Migration

A good statistics on emigration and remittances from 2009 UNDP report

Fall is here

After weeklong rains, here is a bright and beautiful day. Clear skys, still air, bright sunshine, cool breeze, colorful trees....it was just right to go around on a drive enjoing the fall.

Montoring Logs

When you are in IT Application Production Support, you end up asking your team to do this frequently after every production releases.

Log monitoring!

What is your native?

Outside the world of computers, 'native' has definitions such as belonging to a particular place by birth, originating in a particular place or in the vicinity etc..etc..What intrigues me is the word 'native' American. And it was the quest for understanding this, that I spent this summer travelling across some of the American native's lands. The idea was planted last spring, when I finished reading the book Guns, Germs, and Steel by Dr.Jared Diamond. I was really interested to know what it was a century ago in the American lands, who were the people and what they did. Or, well, we can simply call it 'native' history!

I looked for the native americans of great plains to fill in my curiosity. These were natives living in the cradle of mighty Mississippi , Missouri and Ohio rivers. And the land to great Sioux tribe, Lakota and Bigfoot. These tribes were buffalo hunters, and inhabited the vast lands of the present day cental and mid-west US.

And so, my journey this summer was all on road through the states of Indiana, Kentucky, Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, South Dakota and Wyoming . It was a great road trip, and thanks to my friend who accompanied me. We first headed south to Kentucky en route Indiana.

Where the wild grass grew, there is always evidence of great civilization. Theplains of Indiana and Kentucky provided splendid view of natures' bounties to humans. Beauty and serene, the land throws itself to some of unimaginable colors it can produce.

And then there were ups and down, small valley and hills, till I reached the settlements that is now called land between the lakes. These were lands of bison and deers. And the lands were silenced by the cold and still mist from the lakes and rivers. And I was sure an unwelcome visitor, as these deers' posed to my camera. I wasn't distracted and went on to learn more.

The native americans who once lived here were the Cherokee tribes and this plaque explains why they were defeated by their unwelcome guests. On walking around , I learned that the native americans were gradually pushed off their land they called home for 1000 years. Between 1829 and 1830, it became illegal for some of the first residents to live in their homeland, and thus began their 'trial of tear'.

Heading north across the state of Illinois towards the Iowa and the south of Minnesota, you are welcome with more grass. In Iowa, you still see the expanse of land, stretched as far as your eye can see. While, the present day world is busy consuming, this part of the world is busier and happier producing fodder. The lands of Iowa are criss crossed with roads on which are trucks of all sizes. While, parked on the fields are still larger machies that help the farmers to keep up with the huge appetite of their owners.

Well, in between these mighty machines and humans are not much of wild! But the most common visitors in summer are the locust swarms that ignorantly fly across the fields between the road only to be crushed flat on your car's wind screen. The northen border of Iowa and towards south Minnesota welcomes you with a sea of grass! Today, There are large cattle farms and cheese factories lining your road.

Heading west, the land expands into wilderness and there is a nature crossing by the mighty Mississippi and Missouri rivers and welcoming you to South Dakota, the land of Sioux. These are great places, indescribable and to be witnessed to appreciate its beauty and creation. Travelling all across land of Sioux, and towards blackhills forest you enter the land of Lakota, and their lofty hill. It is a land of legends, much of which is mysterious. It is said that "If a poor man was starving, he was poor in spirit and in body, he went into the black hills. The next spring, he would come out, his life and body would be renewed". This place is now called the 'devils tower'.

Heading further west towards Wyoming, is Black Hills and big horn river canyon. These are the lands of Mustang, and their great riders. And these are lands of bisons. Birds such as bald eagle has its own reverence in this region. The legend of the medicinal wheel, its astronomical significance and other stories still haunt this mysterious landscape.

It is also the land of 'Dinosaur playground'. Scientific evidence indicates that these rocks are records of dramatic climatic changes and of the pre-historic era . It is said 245 million years ago, these areas were covered under ocean and slowly life forms such as amphibians, reptiles, including dinosaurs dominated the land. It is a treasure to the geologist and paleontologist. The color of the land is a mix of red, blueish grey and yellow, signifying presence of sulphur, gypsum and red rocks.

Amazed by the bounties of the land and its manifestation, I cannot stop imagining how blessed the natives were, and in turn how much they dignified their land and made it part of their life. The harmony established between man and nature for their co-existence was quite beyond my imagination. All this because, they believed they were natives to the land and that it is where they belonged to.

In this era of globalization, it looks the respect to land and its bouties has been lost. There aren't any 'natives' no more, and there are only settlers or global citizens. The road ahead for these corporate travellers and global citizens are much more complex with never before issues such as environmental sustainability(global climate changes), energy and economic stablility. And on my way back, I kept thinking that there definetly is a lot left for the next generation to inherit!!!