Believe it or not...strange treatment

This is a true recount of incident as told by a friend who witnessed this treatment and he did not want me to share names or location of the place as the people involved were worrried that authorities may take action on complaints from large & famous hospitals who do lose their customers to such clinics and hence i have not mentioned the details of the place or the name of the healer here. I did not believe the story when it was told but then my friend then shared the photograph of the removed stones and the details of the clinic and only then did i believe but still unable to digest it. Somethings are stranger than fiction that we may not believe it.. this is once such incident.

My friend’s relative was having acute pains in stomach and he consulted a doctor in a well known hospital in the city. He was put through various tests and scans and he was diagonised with stones over 5 mm in gall bladder and kidney. He was then asked to get operated at the earliest and the cost of this treatment was estimated to be around Rs 1,50,000.00. Being from a middle class family the patient  and the family members was running between pillar and post arranging funds for the treatment and while doing so my friends father came across a person who said that there are cheaper ways to remove the stones from the bladder. He said that there is a clinic in Chithoor district near Puttur where people with stones are treated with immediate effect and no hospitalization required. My friend’s family have been going to Puttur to a different person who has been treating them for various ailment and they have been satisfied with the treatment as it was showing positive results. So they all hired an Innova and set out to go to the clinic suggested and the cost of hire of the car was around Rs 7500.00. They reached the clinic around 9 am and was recieved by an assistant who asked for the details of ailments and the copies of the reports etc. He then ushered the patient and the attenders to healer’s room and explained to the healer in local language of the ailment. The healer then asked the patient to sit next to him and took some potion like oil in hand and just rubbed that in the area where the stones were there as per the scan. And after sometime the healer then put his hand at the spot and plucked out few times and handed the same in an ploythene cover to the patient and said.. “here are the stones that were disturbing you” .

Gall bladder Stones taken out

 Patient and the attenders were shocked to the core as there was no wound at all on the body and were not believing that if anything worthwhile has happened by travelling so far.The healer then asked the patient to take another scan once he gets back to the city and collected his fees for this procedure which was just Rs 400.00. Immediately on reaching the city my friend took his relative for ultra sound scan the very next day and to everyones surprise the scan report was  clean and there were  no more stones in his gall bladder and the kidney.

A big sigh of relief from the patient and his family as the person was treated for a paltry sum even with the taxi fare as compared to what they would have spent if they had gone for the treatment in the hospital. 

So friends is this believeable ??? I am sure none of you would..... but the fact remains that the stone have been removed !!!!!

In Pursuit of happiness

India ranks 118^th  out of 156 countries in the global list of happiest nations in the latest UN Happiness Index that was announced recently ( Read the news here ) . After reading this report it had me thinking if the population of India are really unhappy ?? Happiness of a person depends on various factors not just the  indicators of happiness taken into consideration by the study which were  GDP per capita,life expentancy ,social support and freedom  .

 “ Happiness depends on ourselves “ – Aristotle   

Each one of us has different views of being happy and the crux of being happy is based on the actions taken by us as quoted by Aristotle  and these actions can vary each person . 

 “Action may not always bring happiness; but there is no happiness without action.”--Thomas Jefferson

Happiness is just not due to possession of money nor material wealth as most persons construe but being content in what we have and living life each day as it unfolds with emotions of joy, affection, peace, pains, sorrow etc.

People for centuries have argued that Money can buy happiness and it is quite obvious that people who have more money can afford to buy what ever they please, pay the bills and take care of the wants of their loved ones and we think that this is the path to happiness. But having money is not the only path to happiness.We do see or know of people who do not have money or material wealth to be much happier than those who have it.


How is this possible ??? This would mean that if your worry less than you are a lot happier .  A song by Bobby Ferrin Don’t worry be happy come to my mind ... I did write about it quite some time back in 2014 and link to that post is Here  . So we can conclude that being happy is a choice that one must make. You could be happy if you want to be happy.

My advice to my friends is not to worry too much of the future but to live your present to the full avoiding negative emotions and be content with what you have or can get and then i am sure they would happier persons. I know it is not so easy to follow but then worrying does not resolve any issues and it makes ones life more miserable.

CHENNAI FLOODING

Providence has a means to remind us that we are mere mortals in spite of having advanced technologies that we still have to endure the fury of the nature.  Chennai has been battered for last few days with incessant rains due to multiple depressions in the bay flooding most parts of the city causing discomfort to general public. All lakes within the city  are overflowing  due to inflow of rain water and added to this the release of water from the larger lakes caused flash floods along the Adyar river and various connected lakes  and low lying areas around theses have been flooded and the water levels reached alarming levels submerging entire ground floors there forcing the people there to evacuate to upper floors or to other parts of the city or to relief centres . 

In such troubling times Chennaites rose to the occasion to take care of needy in various parts of the city without any thoughts of caste , creed or social standing thereby setting an example to entire India that we are humans first. People from all walks of life came together to galvanize the relief efforts much before the government swung into action in many localities. During the initially it was to provide bed space for stranded people unable to reach their homes due to the flooding of the roads. The perceived evil of the present generation such as facebook and twitter played a very vital role throughout the relief operations and is going on even now by letting people know of the possible bed spaces in various localities, details of relief required or available, correct updates of the weather by TamilWeatherman thereby squashing various rumours that were flying around.

During the times of intense discussions of intolerance throughout the country, Chennai floods have shown that we are truly a tolerant society as Hindus, Muslims, Christians people of various religion  got together opening up their places of worship to house the displaced persons in various areas of the city. Even the affluent shopping malls opened their door for taking people displaced and it was very heartening to see.  One comment by the armed forces personnel who are in the city for relief operations tells it all " we have seen more volunteers than the victims " and we are proud of the people of Chennai .

Politicians as usual were missing and those who remained behind made it a point to showcase their efforts by calling the media and also make comments demeaning the opposition parties. The ugly side of the story also reared its head during this distressing times by few greedy and avaricious persons such as 

Charging huge sum of monies from already distressed people for evacuation from low lying areas.

Charging double of triple time of original cost for milk, drinking water or other essential items 

Snatching of relief material being bought by common man or NGO and labelling the same as being done by xyz party.

Relief materials not reaching those in really need of the same.

But then taking only the positives and sidelining the negatives Chennai floods in fact has clearly shown that 

Nature cannot be tampered ...land being occupied by reclaiming water bodies thereby causing flooding of those areas.

Facebook and Twitter are not social evils.... they have been a very useful and an important tool in the relief operations taken up by common man

Humanity is above all religions  and there was no lines of division among populace of various religion. People have been selflessly have been working to ensure proper relief and help reaches the needy.

Intolerance to religion social standing are being incited by few political parties  thereby creating a divide among the population . We Chennaites have shown all are indeed a tolerant society if  we are not swayed by the political parties.

Hope that this attitude displayed by people of Chennai at times of need is infectious and spreads to all parts of the country .  

Magical Kabini ...the stress reliever

Multiple Depressions in  Bay of Bengal / Indian Ocean  caused the rain gods to open up the sky on Chennai and Chennaites experienced   heavy downpour and flooding in most low lying areas to the extent the social media trolling about introduction of Ola Boat services. To escape the depressing moods  at Chennai and at home too  decided to pile on to two friends of mine who were driving down  from  Chennai to Kabini to rejuvenate myself.

 The time we started from Chennai there was no rains but then within a hour of the commencement heavy rains started lashing and this lasted for couple of hours  thereby delaying our journey time. 

For the first time in 22 years we saw flowing water in Palar river. The roads till Kancheepuram was bad but then after that a smooth ride indeed and i have to thank my friend who drove the entire route without flinching or discomfort though i offered to drive some part of the way.

 

Kabini is definitely is definitely a magical place and even my wife acknowledges it as the moment i plan a trip to Kabini my face is aglow with happiness and all the troubles in the world seems as though its nothing but manageable. This is one reason as to why i keep travelling to Kabini every now and then so that i retain my sanity. :) 

We had planned to spend quite some time at Ranganathittu bird sanctuary but then the heavy rains the previous days did play spoil sport and we left for Kabini with just about an hour at the bird sanctuary where we were able to capture images of  Tickle blue and fantailed fly catchers in addition to the pelicans.

At Kabini we were keeping our fingers crossed and were praying that it does not rain as the sky were overcast and lighting was dull. It did not rain and we are off for the first safari with high hopes of having sighting of the big cats ie tigers and leopard. On entering the forest were surprised that it was too quite except for chirping of bird and insects..... no alarm calls at all which normally happens when there are movements of predators in the forest. It was the same during the next three safaris and it was as though the big cats have migrated or gone into hibernation. With a hour left for completion of our last safari as we were moving around various trails in the forest suddenly our naturalist whispers Leopard on tree branch...it was a fantastic sighting by him for most of would have surely missed this guy even when our eyes were peeled on to the tree line as it was camouflaged in such a way that we would have thought it is a tree branch.

We did have the usual sightings of the Elephants, mongooses, Malabar pied hornbills and other birds in addition to the leopard. Pug marks and carcass smell kept on the edge of our seats hoping that we would sight the tiger but alas we did not sight any tigers this time.

So finally a elusive leopard sighted... this goes to prove the saying that Kabini never disappoints. Returned back to Chennai totally refreshed and charged to  face the coming days of challenges in life.

Let's see how more human can we be

Last few days most facebook users has seen unprecedented  social media movement with respect to the captivity of T24 aka Ustad for killing a forest guard. This movement has garnered support from all part of the nation and also internationally and there has been intense and emotional out pour in most of the threads that were there on the face book  for saving Ustad  and returning back into the wild. Most comments on these post were questioning the Tiger expert's comments and the nexus of businessmen & RTR authorities who were supposedly behind the secretive shifting of the tiger 400 kms away from Ranathambore. 

Subsequent High Court's dismissal of the petition filed by a wildlife enthusiast meant that T24 aka Ustad has to remain in captivity. It is indeed sad that the free spirit of the tiger T24 has been curtailed by the whims and fancies of the superior species..human being.

Reproducing an apt comment from one of the post "Okay, we have slapped a wild animal for being wild.... let's see how more human can we be "  (copy right PS Anand) . Humans are the second deadliest species in the world after Mosquitoes for the maximum number of kills

 Personally I have never visited any of the Tiger reserves other than those in South India and my stance for not visiting sanctuaries in north is not a recent one. I have never liked the idea of over 20 gypsies crowding a single tiger for the sake of photographing the animal. With the advent social media network and its reach to the masses there is a fierce competition among the photographers to gain social awareness for it does make business sense in the event for those who livelihood is photography. And hence there is a constant demand of posting better images or the wildlife from various parts of the country & world. Hence the crowding of the forests in places where no rules prevail. Last year i did object to one such incident at RTR on the social media network wherein a guide for additional tips from the photographers breaks all rules .... instead of taking my comment objectively i was abused by friends and supporters of the specific guide. Similar topics of RTR has been posted and discussed in lengths for several years but there seems to be no change in the attitude and functioning of RTR.

 

Now that this episode of T24 has brought forth so many like minded people together for a common cause of saving our wildlife let us all channel our collective energies in bringing out a change in the system and wild life  conservation .