Liebster Blog Awards !!!!

A great feeling that a fellow blogger Devan  has nominated me to receive the Liebster Blog award. Being relatively new in the blog community was surprised that I have been nominated and I once again thank Devan  for this award, and it been my pleasure to get acquainted with you through this medium.

Liebster means beloved in German and this award is for spreading love among bloggers.

Rules for accepting the Liebster Blog award:

• Link back to the person who gave you the award.
• Pick 5 people deserving of the award and notify them on their blogs.
• Post the award on your blog and spread the love.

     Since i hardly know anyone in this field i have nominated the following 5 people whose blog i generally follow regularly.

       Shweta
       The growls of a street mongrel
       Chronicles of an Unknown Indian
       Rachna Says
       Chronic Writer

    Congratulations  to you all and hope you like the same. All the very best to you all.

                                                                         

Nature and environment ....Are we doing enough to protect it for future generations

It is said that Man would be the cause of damage to the mother earth because of his unconcerned and thoughtless actions he takes when it comes to environment or nature. You must be wondering why this topic all of a sudden…well I was visiting Coimbatore last week to catch up with my younger sister residing there and we planned to drive to Indira Gandhi wildlife sanctuary near Pollachi one day and to Kothagiri / Conoor second day to connect with the nature that is abundant in those regions and what I saw there was pretty shocking. While going towards Kothagiri I noticed quite a lot of people sitting along the road in the morning openly drinking and throwing the empty liquor bottles, plastic water bottles and covers into the forest below without any iota of conscious  and broken glass is strewn all round that could injure any wildlife there. Most Indians hardly bother about the impact to the environment that they cause by dumping rubbish and waste wherever they please and it is high time that some definite plans and actions needs to be initiated to avoid such actions and protect the forests. Nilgiris ranges and the surrounding areas are nominated by UNESCO as Biosphere reserve, which is meant to demonstrate the perfect blend and relationship between Man and Nature but then actions of few  wayward persons can have far reaching consequences at a later date.

We keep talking of deforestation, depletion of ozone layer, global warming, pollution of atmosphere and so forth but general population hardly gives any thoughts of disposing of the garbage and waste being generated by them on a daily basis. Most cities have designated areas where the garbage can be dumped for collection by the municipal authorities for final disposal and yet go into any of the city today you would find various waste materials strew all around. Suburbs are the worst for they always get step motherly treatment compared to the few affluent localities and there are no proper collection or disposal systems in place and the suburbs are overflowing with garbage and refuse. The population living in these areas resort to dumping of the garbage in any open area ,but away from their houses …Pure hypocrites for they are only bothered about cleanliness in front of their houses. Little that they know that the garbage dumped few meters away from their home can cause hygiene issues to them in days to come. Garbage being dumped attracts stray dogs, rodents and other scavengers and the menace is increasing day by day. When I first moved into the suburb we did not have a single stray dog on our road but today you would find over 14 dogs scampering around and their population is on the rise each breeding season. Walking back home late night is a major issue with all these stray dogs growling and barking at persons walking. I am sure that one of these days someone is going to get bitten by these dogs.

If each one of us do little things like proper disposal of garbage and refuse i am sure the planet earth will be benefited. 

Random Clicks -02

Photographs of few road side vendors who ply their trade to make both ends meet.

Old lady getting her open air shop ready early morning in front of a school

Competition to the lady on the picture above 

Fish vendor doing house to house sale

Kolaiveri in Schools

Ninth standard school boy stabs his Hindi teacher to death yesterday at Chennai since he was upset with her constant complaints to his father that he was under performing and further he was worried that he might not be promoted to the next class. The news was shocking for this is quite strange that aggression due to anxiety and stress among school going children has resulted in such an extreme step taken by the Chennai boy. This raises question about the educational system being followed by schools that pressurize their students to over perform so that the school achieves great results in board exams thereby enhance their brand image in this blooming educational commercial venture without giving any thoughts about the children. The school going children are being burdened both mentally and physically these days… you can see each morning teenage children who are in middle school lugging heavy school bags filled with all the books weighing over 15 kgs on their frail shoulders and it could lead to damaging the shoulders.

I do not recollect of any such issues faced by me during my school days nearly 4 decades back and going to school was so much fun and frolic. In addition to studies we had all the time in the world to play and have fun also each day. I hardly see such enthusiasm among the present day school going children.  But then there has been a sea of change in the society from those days and the intense competitions / comparisons by the peers at school and the parents have curbed the interests of the child. 

The teachers for sure would say that whatever they are doing is for the good of the child but then they also need to be a bit humane in their approach since the strict behavior and overloading could lead to extreme stress and anxiety among the children.  Critics may say that students have no tensions or stress but I beg to differ on this account as I deal with these issues with my two school going daughters who face similar issues in their school. The dampening factor in all these are the parents who needs to motivates the child without being over bearing or burdening them. Parents who are not emotionally available for their children or lack of coping mechanisms spur the child to become stressed. Such children tend to respond to the stress with indignation and aggression which would have lasting impact in their lives and sometimes lead to depressions and under performances

Following needs to be done by Parents to avoid their offspring becoming stressed

Talk with your child. Find out what`s happening in his life. Be honest and open with him. He should talk about his problems or write them down. Teach him to transfer coping strategies to other situations.
Do not burden them with your problems or your aspirations of them. But tell your children of the family goals and discuss the difficulties in a friendly manner.
Compliment children when they do well, and don`t forget hugs and kisses.
Use humour to buffer bad feelings and situations. A child who learns to use humour himself will be better able to keep things in perspective.
Don`t overload your child with too many after-school activities and responsibilities. Let children learn to pace themselves. Don`t enrol them in every class that comes along, and don`t expect them to be first in everything.
 Set a good example. Demonstrate self-control and coping skills. He/she can benefit by seeing how you cope successfully with stress.
 Get friends` or professional help when you think that the problems seem beyond your skills.

Aftermath of the incidence has given to lots of discussion about the very thing I have mentioned above and I hope that in years to come there is a definite change in the pattern of schooling which would bring joy and happiness among children once again.

Image Courtesy : Google Images

So near yet so far !!!

“Coffeeee!! Teaa!!”
“Coffeeee!! Teaa!!”
The vendor called out as he passed the coupe.
“Thuddd!”
The baby fell on its knee trying to walk across to his mother.
The mother ran to pick up the child and is busy placating him.
Ravishing young lady sat across him checking her flock of hair in the mirror of her mini clutch bag.
The chatter from the group of young boys engrossed in a card game relayed from above.
The train had halted at Varnasi for 15 mins. He hadn’t moved or uttered a word from the time he got on.
The newspaper covered Sanjay’s face; his eyes peered through his bi-focal spectacles and his hair rested neatly combed sideways.
A pencil in his hand was losing his grip.

Since Sanjay, an engineer by profession proceeding to Kolkata  to finalize a huge contract, was lost in thoughts trying to decipher the doodle he had scribbled on the newspaper unconsciously consisting of few random numbers and sketches earlier during the morning. He was suddenly jolted out of his thoughts by loud cheers of boy’s playing cards on the upper berth and then he noticed the child had come up to him and was eyeing the pencil. Sanjay gave the pencil and the news paper to the child for to scribble and the child went back and squatted between his mother and the ravishing girl on the opposite berth. It was then he noticed her beauty and sub consciously started to groom himself and was somehow desperate to initiate a conversation with this girl for she was the kind of girl he was looking to marry for last couple of years. 

A hour later the child became disinterested with the Newspaper and pencil and suddenly Sanjay hears the girl speaking to him in a cultured tone asking him if she could borrow the newspaper to which he immediately nodded his head as he was too shy to answer back. Sanjay closed his eyes and was once again lost in pleasant thoughts of this beautiful and ravishing girl sitting opposite him, when he felt tapping of news paper on his body. He opened his eyes to find the girl was returning the news paper back to him and following conversation took place

 She: You must be an engineer

He: Yes and how were you able to make out by just reading the Newspaper.

She with a sensuous smile on her lips replied: Your doodle on the newspaper tells it all

He: Really?? You mean that scribbling on the paper tells you of my profession? I am impressed. But then tell me how you came to that conclusion.

She: I have done psychology during graduation and I try to gauge various people around me. Well in your case, for a moment I thought that you are in finance because of the random numbers you have scribbled all around the sketches but then the sketches had clear boundaries with intricate patterns in them. Seeing it for some time made me realize that the sketches looked like some electrical circuits that I had seen my brother studying few days back and hence I deduced that you are an engineer. Am I not correct in my statement??

He: Yes you are correct and by the way my name is Sanjay and I am an electrical engineer staying at Varanasi and you??

She: Hello Sanjay my name is Monica and I am also from Varanasi and (pointing to her brother and his friends on upper berth) said we are going to Kolkata to attend a wedding of a friend.

He: Oh is it, well I am also going to Kolkata for a meeting with my client to finalize a contract and if it is successful then I would be doing the shopping mall project.

She: You mean the mall which is coming up near Gol Park? It is adjoining my house

He: Yes the same one. Now I know where you live Monica and if it is not a problem can we meet some time for a coffee when you are back from Kolkata.

She: Yes Sanjay we sure can. Just call me when you are free.

Continuous conversation gets interrupted by the ticket examiner and after he had gone Sanjay tries to catch the attention of Monica to continue with their conversation and get her mobile number but then she is busy chatting with the boys who have finished their card game and have come down to their seats. He overhears them talking of taking the return journey by next day morning train after the wedding as it would be easier to get seats on a day train. He decides too that he would travel back to Varanasi by the very train they are planning so that it gives him more time to admire Monica and possibly have a pleasant conversation with her on boring journey back home. 

As the train is nearing Kolkata there is a rush of daily commuters entering the coach from the previous coach crowing this coach and Sanjay has not got a chance to ask for Monica’s mobile number yet and he glimpses her through gaps in the crowd that she is still occupied in animated conversation with her brother and his friends. As the commuter throng towards the exit Monica goes ahead without any backward glance. Sanjay is shattered that he was not able to get her contact details today itself but then thinks that he would be able to get the same during the return journey the next day.

Alas the next day Sanjay searched for Monica on the entire train on the return journey and she was not aboard the train. With a heavy heart Sanjay takes out his pencil and starts doodling on the newspaper again lost once again in his thoughts.

This post has been written for Tell a tale contest posted by Divya

My  two fellow bloggerTags 
Shweta 
Ragumuthukumar 

Am too shy to show my face !!!!

                                   It seems that the bird was too shy to show its face while i was photographing it !!!

A Moment of madness

This morning called up the auto stand for an auto and I was informed that a driver unknown to me is being sent as none of the regular auto drivers were free at this point of time since most of them drivers are mourning the death of a fellow auto driver Vasu who self immolated himself. During the travel I chatted up with the new driver and I was surprised to find out that the person who committed suicide was just about 25 years of age and he is survived by his wife and a 15 month old son and the reason was constant fights with his wife each day last few days about money to run the family. In a fit of inebriated rage after a bitter fight two days back he drained the petrol from his auto and doused himself in it and lit a match in front of his wife and other neighbors. A moment later in fiery pain he was repenting the action taken by him and he urged the dazed onlookers to save him from his predicament, in spite of dousing the fire he was severely burnt and was rushed to the hospital where he later succumbed to the burns. 

 A moment of madness is all that takes for a person to commit suicide and as the madness subsides and when reality sinks in and there is an urge to live but then it may be too late. Those who have survived their attempt guilt and shame prevent them from getting any help they need to overcome the crisis. The victims’ family members and friends are greatly affected by this cowardly act and it takes a very long time for them to overcome the stigma left behind.   

A bad day for the family of Vasu, the auto driver for sure but then when one hears of such incidents it does dishearten them. I do not want to dwell on this topic for long for it is too despairing.

Random clicks -01

One day when i was watching out of my window i saw a group of labourers getting ready for their work for that day to concrete a second floor of  the house about 50 meters away and without thinking just clicked few pictures of the same.

Concrete bucket lift being assembled using scaffolding rods

Women labourers carrying concrete for pour

From morning to evening the gang completed the pouring of concrete of the second floor with just a break of 30 minutes for lunch.

Made to order baby????

Recently a Chennai couple looking to start their family has placed an online advertisement looking for sperm donors for artificial insemination but with specific conditions. Before I go into the advertisement placed by them I would like to touch upon a little background on the artificial insemination process. Every parent would aspire that their child should be intelligent and good looking but then nature and genetics take precedence in this process. If a couple is not able to conceive naturally for any reason then artificial insemination is the process is undertaken if the couple wishes to have a child. Mankind has been fascinated by the process of pregnancy and has experimented extensively to perfect the insemination process so as to bring a bundle of joy to the childless couples.

But then there have been experiments by few doctors in this field to conceive a super human being by using sperms or eggs of the intelligent, brave, handsome and beautiful people living during those eras. It is well documented that Dr Karl Clauberg and his assistant Johannas Golbel of Germany, during the Second World War were conducting many experiments of artificial insemination on the imprisoned Jewish woman so as to perfect the process so that a untainted Aryan race could be born. This reminds me of the old joke involving the chat between George Bernard Shaw and Marilyn Monroe, wherein Marilyn tells that a child between two of them would have her beauty and GBS’s brains and his response was “what if the child has my beauty and your brains”. There is no recorded evidence of the child being born by artificial insemination being progeny even though the donor had been endowed with very high IQ. It clearly proves that even if you tweak the process, the nature and genetics would take its course and decide the final characteristic of the child that is born.

Coming back to the recent online advert, the conditions imposed by the couple were that “the donor should be an IIT student, healthy, no bad habits, tall and fair if possible” and the compensation offered is Rs 20,000.00 which is a lively sum for students in college. This advertisement has given rise to lots of resentment among the students of IIT Chennai and also the general public who has come across this bit of news because of the conditions imposed.  Some of the comments were “This is insane. How can sperm from an IITian make any difference? Intelligence cannot be measured. You can only identify intelligence in a person, but one cannot measure intelligence by the institution he comes from,” said a second year student” & “This advertisement is ridiculous. I think IIT brand name is taken out of context here. May be genetics do play some role, but hard work makes a man intelligent. If they were right, Albert Einstein’s relatives should be the brightest of all in the world. Excellence is mostly hard work,” another student said.

It is quite surprising that an educated couple is bench marking only students in IIT to be intelligent, tall, and fair, for I personally know few IITians who have struggled to complete the course even though they fared well in the entrance exams. Few Childless couples wanting to have babies through artificial insemination think that they can determine the characteristics of their baby by deciding the donor….similar to ordering the toppings while order the pizza from Pizza hut or Dominos, but then they have to understand that nature and genetics has a major role in this matter otherwise I am sure each child in the society may have been a Newton, Einstein, John McEnroe or a Mohammad Ali

Your take on this bit of news please!!!!

Today's Special Menu - AuMd (Gold plated Dosa)

Gold has been a valuable and highly sought out precious metals Jewels, coinage and art long before the beginning of recorded history. Due to its malleability, electric conductivity, resistance to acids and chemical reaction Gold has other practical uses in addition to jewelry such as in dentistry, Electronics, electrical wiring, colored glass productions and finally eating.

Now you must be wondering that I must be mad…..but hey Read here about the Gold plated Dosa at Bangalore. People are queuing to eat the gold plated dosa at a cost of Rs 1011.00 each which does not have any medicinal value but just a show of opulence.  After reading the article I googled about gold plating on eatable and I was surprised to see that this is not a new fad and in fact has been used in world over in form of flakes or powder to add a perception of luxury and high value. They are used in various desserts and confectioneries in Asian countries similar to silver foils used on mithai in India. From the 16^th century Europe has used gold leaf in liquors such as Goldstrike from Amsterdam, Schwabach from Germany and Danziger Goldwasser of Poland. 

Since metallic gold is inert to all body chemistry, has no taste and no nutrition value it would leave the body unaltered and am sure that someone even more enterprising at Bangalore would start a process for separating this precious metals from the human refuse …thought of it is quite sickening .aaaaaghh

Food for your thoughts !!!!!!

Six months off ....a sad state of affairs

Newspaper today carried a story about the number of Holidays in Government offices in Tamilnadu and other states of India.Based on this news most government offices in India except for Revenue, Police, Health, Transport departments work just about six months a year. Additionally the time wasted by the employees taking long tea/lunch breaks, gossiping and procrastinating cuts down the effective working hours of the office to 5-6 hours per working day .There is absolutely no accountability for delays in governance and the cost overrun thereof .This certainly takes its toll on the efficiency and there is no mechanism or a system to measure the productivity of the Government sector. 

General public is aware of the delays and pitfalls they encounter in a government office and to avoid these they are prone to grease the palms of the government official to speed up the processing of their papers ... an indirect catalyst to bribery. Lok Pal bills if passed would only be a tool to curtail the bribery but it does not address the root cause of the problem... inefficiency and accountability. There needs to be an immediate change in the way the Government operates, should India aspire to become a fully developed nation in the near future. Why not follow the rules and regulations being used in Private sector where an employee need to work for nearly 10 hours a day 6 days a week for over 280 days a year since deadline and targets are sacrosanct and stiff penalties are levied for non performance. 

I know that this is a very difficult task to be undertaken as there would be lots of objections and  protests from the government sector employee unions and other bodies who are used to easy life and easy money. 

Hope there is a change for good in the coming years.

Figament of Imagination !!!

A link posted by my cousin on face book about a bar being tended by Buddhist monks where the bartender lends his sympathetic ear to your worries and sob stories. They would patiently listen to all you have said and finally would give their counsel and advice should you care to follow it. Here is the link to that story.Buddhist Bar at Japan

What if a similar theme catches up in India?? I let my imagination to soar to a Hindu bar and I visualized that.….we would have bars being tended by half naked poojari’s or the priests, walls of the bar adorned by photographs of all deities instead of scantily clad women or of drinks and background chants of Vedic mantras and religious songs in place of fast remix numbers. New cocktails like the ancient drinks Somras, Sura would become the rage of the drinking public. However a subtle difference in case of such bars in India would be that the bartenders would not be sympathetic compared to the Buddhist monks. Further I am sure they would give counsels involving some pooja to be conducted by them during their free time to ward of worries and pains in one’s life.

Just imagine a normal Indian telling his wife that he is not feeling good and he needs to go to a bar and have a chat with the priest about the current happenings and what the stars foretell for the future…plus couple of drinks . Hahahaha sounds funny.

This post no way demeans any persons or religions but just a figment of my  Imagination!!!

Neither here nor there...floating in between !!!

Few days back was watching a TV program on a local channel about rebirth wherein the host who is a researcher hypnotizes the person and questions about the previous life of the person. Though a great topic the way it has been conducted does not create an interest among the viewers…no wonder it is a late night show. But the theme made me think of the space in between worlds where the wayward souls roam as ghosts trying to fulfill their unfinished dreams. I am not a believer of rebirth or the trapped souls but then I have heard some accounts first hand (I mean from the horse’s mouth as it is told) which are stranger than fiction. 

The first incident took place in the year 1981 at Baghdad, Iraq where I had gone as an Engineer to a company contracted to build a township at Al Baaya district of Baghdad. The construction area had a high ground water table and to avoid infusion of water the company was trenching the periphery of the site to draw out the water and pump it beyond the site boundary. The excavator operator John was assigned to cut the trench during the night since we were operating the project on a tight schedule and as usual we expected certain output by the time day shift operator is on duty to continue it further. But then we found that hardly any progress being done by the night operator. 

On enquiry we were told a strange story by the operator that as he was bringing down the excavator bucket to dig the trench he found a beautiful woman in an Abaya( for those who are not about Abaya it is as dress worn by Muslim women to cover their body)standing below the bucket and she is beckoning him to come out of the glazed cabin. During those days Iraq was at war with Iran and many of the Iraqi women did not have any men folks at their homes, were known to take lovers from the Indian workers. Our operator John was under the impression that the woman in front of the excavator was one of those women… and he was pleased. So he shuts down the machine and prepares to come out of the cabin to meet her… it is at this point of time that he notices that this woman’s feet is not on the ground ….but is floating just above the ground. Being a devote Christian he immediately understood that it is a ghost and he locked himself within the cabin. All subsequent attempts to excavate proved futile since each time the bucket was being lowered this woman used be beneath the same and laughing out loudly preventing him to complete the operation.

We did not accept the story since we were under the impression that the operator had too much to drink prior to his duty and was hallucinating. After a warning he was asked to continue the same work the next night but then similar thing happened and the next day operator stated that he is not willing to work anymore and wants to go back to India. We were joking and discussing this incident at the site office where we had few Iraqi engineers and office staff and they said that it is not a laughing matter as they do believe that Jinn (Ghost in Arabic) exists in this universe and it is quite possible that very Jinn has been interred in the ancient burial grounds that was adjoining the project site. 

While narrating this incident in a family gathering, my father said that a woman in white dress would float down and sit on his cycle carrier behind him when he cycled to his college and the way he narrated the story presumably of a ghost made our hairs stand up!!! I still cannot be sure whether the story is true or he was just pulling our legs.

The next I heard of a Jinn was from my colleague who insisted that his flat was occupied by one. He used to tell that there would be noises from the cub board and laughter from the other room and so forth. We used to make fun of him saying that he is hallucinating and yet he used to never waver from his belief that a Jinn resides in his flat.

The above post is no way demeaning the persons who believe in life after death or ghosts or Jinn but a recount of interesting incidents in my life!!!

Childhood Nostalgia

I have so much free time these days that I let my mind wander through its labyrinth of memories and I pen down some of those experiences here. My memories are quite hazy for all these happened nearly four decades back and each day I try to go back in times of sands and relive my childhood days. Forgive me for the gaps in the post since I have just broached on few incidents of my childhood which are not connected

 

“Sunday means I have to be careful”

Between the years 1967 and 1969 I have had numerous falls and accidents while playing and most of them have taken place on a Sunday. Those days at Bangalore the doctors and the clinics would be closed on a Sunday thereby I had to withstand the pain or discomfort till the next day’s visit to the doctor. I have had dog biting me, cut opening my scalp after a fall from slide in the part and lots of bruises and cuts on a Sunday. One of the major fall I had caused a compound fracture in my left arm and I still recollect that moment even today when my mother ran here and there to so many doctors houses requesting for a first aid towing a wailing me along. We were fortunate to find one orthopedic doctor in the locality and she took me there. The doctor straightened the arm by cracking the bone in two places and used two wooden rulers (scales) as splint and put a temporary cotton bandage and asked us to come to the hospital the next day morning for taking x-ray and plaster cast. The whole night I was in intense pain and I did not allow my parents to sleep at all. Next day morning at Victoria Hospital the bones were reset properly under anesthesia and the arm was cast in plaster of Paris….for a period of 3 months. This was the final straw in the patience of my parent and every Sunday was a taboo and I was subject to lots of restrictions that particular day for nearly 2 years after the incident.

“Cemetery trips for hunting birds”

Being a Brahmin it is taboo to enter a burial ground and yet I used to go with my friends almost twice or thrice a week into huge wooded cemetery adjacent to our house to hunt birds using catapult. For those of you who are not familiar with the catapult, it’s a hand held weapon and it has a V or Y handle with rubber slings and a patch of leather for holding the pebble or stone. The stone held in the patch is drawn back thereby stretching the rubber sling and when released the stone would travel quite fast to its target. I was pretty good with the catapult and during the hunts we would surely fell down at least two pigeons which would be taken by my accompanying friends for their dinner since I never used to have non veg food. There are times that my mom used to find about these trips and I would be forced to have a bath to cleanse myself. I had never been frightened by the ghost stories told by so many of my friends when they learn of my visits to the cemetery.

“My first love …an one sided one “

It was the year 1969 and we were playing cricket in my friend’s house compound and suddenly while fielding I saw a cute looking girl of my age smiling and glancing coyly. She was quite a looker and I was pleased that I was singled out among my friends by her. By the time we finished playing I could not find any trace of this girl in and around our place and I was walking around Wilson Gardens, Bangalore trying to locate her. After couple of days I was able to find out the house where this girl resided. Then on almost every evening I used to follow this girl singing the famous song of the time from the movie Aradhana …”Mere Sapano ki Rani kab aayegi tu “ and thinking back now it seems quite funny that at the age of 12 without any knowledge of sex I have been trying to woo the girl. Maybe the thought of having a girl friend stemmed from seeing my friends elder sisters and the romantic movies of those times. Well this ended within 2 months of start when I was confronted and warned by the girl and her friend of dire consequences and all the smiles and coy remarks by her was just for fun…..there went my first Love down the drains

A Quote which is quite apt to the experience comes to my mind and it is “First love is only a little foolishness and lots of curiosity”…

The past in the present

"There are no limitations to the self except those you believe in." - Seth

A person goes through lots of experiences while growing up and certain statements made by people around you is ingrained in your subconscious mind and does play a very important part in your entire life span. Messages like “Money does not grow on trees”,” Don’t be a Jack of all trades for he is a master of none”, ‘Never steal or tell lies”, Early to bed and early rise makes one  healthy wealthy and wise” or “you need to be pious and religious” and so forth. Have we at any point of time pondered about these statement or phrases at the present times.

Frankly I have always considered these statements as unwanted lecture being given by adults while I was young and at times I have been irked by these since it used to curtail our playing time or for the matter of fact a new toy not being bought. Looking back now I understand the wisdom imparted to us at a gullible age and knowingly or sub consciously has molded our very growth to what we are today. I thank each and every adults who have contributed in instilling these beliefs in me.

Today as a parent when I impart similar belief and thoughts to my children I see a similar reaction in them to what I used to feel when I was young and yet I keep repeating the same things over and over again so that these beliefs are ingrained in their minds forever. 

As long as mankind is there in this universe this would keep on repeating with each coming generation.

Intrinsic worth more important than looks

Last Sunday evening I watched a talk show in Tamil called Neeya Nanna (meaning-You or Me) and the topic for discussions was Judgment of a person by their appearance. Quite an interesting topic to be discussed but the quality of the discussions by some of the participants was much to be desired for certain incidents narrated by them were childish and irrelevant. One of the participants stated that though she has cleared the technical interviews and group discussions in company she was overlooked by the HR in favor of a beautiful looking girl who hardly talked anything during the interview. Other person said that he was overlooked for a job because of his skin color, the other stating because he was fat and so forth. Listening to many participants about their negative experiences  on being judged by appearance was the catalyst to this blog.

We are taught not to Judge others by their appearances and there is an old adage warning “Do not judge a book by its cover “and yet many people cannot help but submit to their first impression of a person in their judgment which is done within a minute of meeting the person. Appearances drive us and it affects every judgment we make. We are taught to look as good as possible so that we are judged positively in all fields be it for an interview or a social event. Yet intrinsic value of the person is what the people have to look for and that is most important. Looks may matter in certain job portfolios but then it is the knowledge base which would reap the benefits and in the present day scenario is difficult for a company to sustain by employing persons on their looks alone.

Judgment by looks is very much prevalent in the society and person not confirming to some preconceived notions are more likely to be rejected and experience problems, like mockery or even discrimination. I have heard of parents telling their children “do not associate with XYZ since he or she looks like a person of bad character”. A stigma is being attached to a person without even knowing the person. Recently was traveling in an auto and we witnessed an accident on the way and the auto driver stated that people who break traffic rules, jumping of signals are north Indians or similarly up north it is that Madrasi do not create any problems. It is wrong on both counts for I personally know of various instances both here in Chennai and in New Delhi where it was quite the opposite.

One of the panelist on the show blind from his birth has encountered mockery discrimination throughout his life span because of his disabilities and in spite of the discouragement he has done his masters has risen to be a principal of a College. His determination to excel and prove himself to the world stands out in the crowd and he said that “discrimination is the mile stone to his success”. I hope that people who feel discriminated for having been judged based on appearance do not despair or lose confidence in themselves instead raise up to the challenge and prove their worth in their field.

Your thoughts on this topics please !!!!!

Why is it me always??

Recently I was talking with a friend who seems to be going through tough times and he was thinking out loud as to why all problems of life keeps cropping up with him and his family. This made me think about this universal question being asked by human beings across all religions whenever they are burdened with problems on a continuous basis during their life time. 

Life is not a bed of roses for every being in this universe, for some it is always patches of thorns. It churns out so many hurdles in one’s life and after each hurdle you clear there seems to be the next one looming which is much larger and complicated bringing the person experiencing it crashing down again and it is at this point of time that one questions themselves……. Why me? The bitterness of having to face never ending problems which seems to come only in your path and not in those of your friends or relatives is quite intense leading to stressful life.

 I know few persons in such situations who blame god for having bought so much misery in their lives but then god is not going to appear before you and wipe out all your misery. A quote by Jewish Rabbi Philip S Bernstein comes to my mind “We have no right to ask when sorrow comes, "Why did this happen to me?" unless we ask the same question for every joy that comes our way.”  How very true is this quote… we never ever say “why me” when good thing happens in one’s lives. 

If you analyze the challenges being meted out to a common man in present day scenario most findings would lead you to shortfall of money in the coffers. But then having money does not mean it is the end of problems in one’s life… for it could be in form of health contingencies, employment, bereavement or for the matter relationships. I do believe that one needs to have definite plans and solutions to counter the different problems being thrown up during the course of life and then surely he/she would lead a contented life in spite of continued challenges.

A couple of proverbs that I came across sometime back strike a chord………… “Not to have felt pain is not to have been human “and “He that can’t endure the bad will not live to see the good “. No wonder elders used to say that there are good times in the offing after some rough patches in life.

Having said all these I would be a hypocrite if I say that I have never questioned myself…why is it me?? I have done it in the past and the answer I got was that … it is because it is your life.  Does this make me unhappy.. no,  but it does make me think of the various ways of resolving the problem or the solution to the hurdle being faced. I have had a very eventful life and I have lived through lots of upheavals successfully till date and I have no regrets.

Life is a great reveler!!!!! Live it as it comes and enjoy each day of it !!!!

Confluence of Medicines!!!!!

Most doctors I have come across in India do not live up to the Hippocrates’s oath (Ethics of medical practice written by the Father of the modern medicine). The main aim for  quite a few of them is to make tons of money in the fastest possible time since they generally tell that they had to spend millions of rupees to complete their studies and that needs to be recovered. One of the ploys to make money is to insist on unwanted test to be conducted on the patient since the doctor get his cut from the recommended clinic or from the super specialty hospital where the doctor is the consultant. Patients have no choice but to get all the tests conducted at an exorbitant cost even if it has been done recently as the doctor does not want to view the report of the earlier tests. It is because of this attitude I have developed mistrust against the people in this profession.

Couple of week’s back I was in for a very pleasant surprise when I visited a clinic along with my wife where she had gone for a vascular check up. Though she was visiting the clinic first time we had taken all other reports of tests done on account of osteoporosis and when we met the doctor who does the initial examination to decide as to which tests had to be conducted there, he wanted to see all the reports and on going through the same stated that most of the tests has been conducted earlier and need not be done once again….Further unlike other doctors who just view the problem stated by the patient, he insisted on going through the x-rays of the problems being faced by my wife … on questioning the doctor if the ortho reports are relevant to cardio vascular he simply stated that he needs to check the entire well being of the patient. It is rare to find such a doctor in present times and further he acknowledges the fact of English medicines limitations and hence his clinic has a combination of English, Natural, Ayurvedic and Holistic medicine. The test package involves consultation with all the fields of medicine mentioned. The aim of the clinic is to treat the patients only by medicines and an operation is just a last resort if it is not possible to cure. Hats off to the clinic and the doctors there ………. This experience does help me to regain my trust for the medical professionals and I sincerely hope more doctors try to practice in similar fashion…….I mean globally.