A tale of two Golden Temples

The following post could hurt feelings of certain communities. Reader's discretion is advised.

Jan 2012: Golden Temple, Amritsar. Never before in my life had I experienced such calm and serenity at an extremely crowded  place. I happened to visit this historic and religious place with my friends last January. We walked around the temple admiring the historic structure. Another point to note here is that there are not seperate price based queues. I could not understand the Kirtans but I got soaked in the music and felt a calm, an inner peace. Though the number of devotees visiting the temple was huge, everyone moved in a disciplined manner without pushing and shoving other devotees which is quite common a sight in crowded places in India. Everyone was silently praying rather than shouting at top of their voices. The movement in the crowd itself was quite peaceful. Actually it was us who were blabbering about different things we observed around. But we too became quite as mark of respect to the temple and the devotees around. Rather I would say, it was the positive energy around us that made us behave. Another important observation was that the activities in the temple were carried out by volunteers with utmost devotion. People involved in crowd management and distributing prasad were all volunteers. And there is a free kitchen, where thousands of devotees are fed at a time. Here too it is the volunteers who were at the helm of affairs. In the period between entering and leaving the Gurudwara, my respect for the Sikh religion and Sikh community grew by leaps and bounds.

Jun 2012: Golden Temple, Vellore. I visited this place with my family. As we entered, there were multiple price-based queues, with free queue being the longest maze. We wanted to have a quick visit, so we took VIP tickets and entered the complex. The path to and around the temple was in shape of a star. The pathway was quite wide and could easily accommodate many people at a time. This puzzled me as lot of people were waiting in the free queue for a long time. I realized that it is one of the ways to create an artificial crowd. The lawns inside were well kept and maintained and could easily substitute for a public park but no one is allowed onto the lawns. As we entered the pathway, we were forced to walk through a commercial complex set up by the temple management.There were another set of shops we were forced to visit when we were leaving the complex. Anyway we ignored the shops and moved ahead to have darshan. After we had darshan and were coming out of the sanctum santorum, we were soon encountered by uniformed personnel who were sitting in front of computers with a big board of donation schemes beside them. But as we ignored them and moved ahead, we were pursued by them audaciously for quite a while for donations. They only backed out when they were given an earful. Another eyesore, was the blatant publicity of the self-styled godman through posters and hoardings, who had built this temple. Overall the experience was bad for us and it was unfortunate for us to witness blatant mockery of an ancient religion by godmen and their cohorts. Such kind of setup and practices in temples will either turn away devotees from the religion or breed corruption in a community where religion is a mainstay of life.
 

Why I won't support the Anti-Corrutption Movement - Part 2

Part 1 was more about introspection, self-salvation and way too idealistic. I say it is way too idealistic, because it is  relatively easier to bring a change in one man than bringing a collective awareness in the society. I also don't suggest that  people should not support the anti-corruption movement till they absolve themselves of their own flaws and fallacies. I have set my personal goals as I intend not only to merely support but drive a movement that would bring a positive change.

The field work being done by Mr. Arvind Kejriwal and his team is highly commendable. I don't question their intentions as  they bring down the Goliaths of corruption but I disagree with their methodology. With their frequent strikes and  demonstrations, they bring the country to a standstill and hamper the growth and development of the economy. The method of Satyagraha no longer works, it rather promotes anarchy which is far more detrimental to the nation. The nation seems to erupt  at a minor provocation. The recent NE exodus which happened on mere circulation of an SMS shows how fragile our society and  nation is. So any kind of anarchy in the name of strikes is definitely not acceptable.

The Satyagraha worked for Mahatma Gandhi because he was fighting against a foreign force. It won't work today because nowadays for every  Satyagraha, there is a counter Satyagraha. This simply ebbs away the effect the movement intends to have.  

To clean the system, one has to get into the system rather than obstructing the surrounding systems. And it is not enough to clean the system as system is bound to get dirty once again. You cut down few weeds but it won't stop spawning of few more. So this movement needs farsightedness which is apparently missing. While the issue of corruption needs to be addressed but at the same time nation-building needs to be taken care of. The nation needs a direction. The youth needs hope, a hope for a better future and a better present to work honestly for the nation. It is important that an environment has to be created that is conducive to build a bright future. This environment should be such that it should fuel the ambitions of the youth in  a positive direction. Corruption can be contained if hard-work and honesty is appropriately rewarded and the greater purpose of nation-building is instilled among the youth. The very feeling of being part of something bigger is itself a great driver for honest and hard work.

I would willingly support and participate in any movement that has a futuristic outlook and a big hope for the nation and for the whole world.

Why I won't support the Anti Corruption Movement - Part 1

I hope I got your attention, but before making any comments or making any judgements, please go through my post. The Anti-corruption movement has been the flavor of the media for almost two years now and I am bit late with this post.

And all this time, I could not find myself voicing the support for the movement. As I followed the movement in news channels and observed the same in my surroundings, I could not help but notice the irony and hypocrisy of the people voicing their support. It rather seemed that people wanted to vent the frustrations of their failures through this movement rather fighting for the real cause. I doubted if all these people really care about corruption. There were people ranting pro-Anna slogans but did not know why they were doing so.

This observation amplified my own hypocrisy whenever I felt an inclination to voice my support for the movement. I started looking within myself to find if I had any moral right to question anyone else. I had been mostly corruption free but I still did not feel confident about advocating for this movement.

I realized I was never in a situation which required me to be corrupt. Then I started thinking what if I were in the situation. I wondered how would I respond to such a situation. I racked my brains to visualize such a situation so that I could connect well with this anti-corruption drive. I did not have to go far as I remembered myself in the exam hall.

I avoided cheating in the exams not because I was idealistic but I must admit I feared being caught. I always had the inclination to cheat just to out-score the competition. I remember when I was in school, I was appearing for my mathematics examination and had attempted confidently for 96 marks. I was stuck on a 4 marks question as I could not remember a theorem. I asked my friend sitting in front of me if he knew the answer. He replied in affirmative  and showed me his paper. Just then the invigilator came by and slapped my friend so hard that I could still hear the slap ringing in my ears whenever I feel like cheating. When the results were out, I scored 100 and my friend had scored only 70. I felt ashamed and disgusted with myself. I vowed never to cheat but the mind is like a dog's tail. It can't be straight for too long. I myself did cheat and have helped others cheat sometimes when the environment was conducive to do so.

And so any moral authority or right to question anyone on cheating or corruption just falls flat. I realized that its not enough to not act corrupt but I should never have any intention or even a slightest inclination of being corrupt. To reach this level of awareness, its not enough to have strong resolution but I also need to put in effort to condition my mind and purify my intentions. I have given myself a year to test if I can be true to myself and remain corruption free. If I fail, this extends by another year and I would never question anyone on corruption till I pass my own test.

Online Social Media and its Impact on Business

In this age of online social media, it has become imperative to be active on social networking sites and be the first mover in online advertising and promotion. The statistics show that there are over 100 million people on twitter and 750 million active users on facebook. Anything that is posted on these sites goes viral in a matter of minutes. Everyone gets to know about any thing, trivial or sensational that is happening in any corner of the world. Most organizations have learnt the power of this medium and are leaving no stone unturned in capitalizing it. Unlike the print media or electronic media, where the companies have to invest in advertising, online media comes for free. Anyone can post anything from anywhere and moreover the online promotion gets propagated among the global populace all by itself. Customer loyalty in the age of online social media is a big issue as the customer is well informed and he also makes sure that his neighbour/ online “friend” is well informed too. If a customer perceives that a product is good, he propagates the information in positive light and he does the same in negative light if he perceives that the product is bad. Online information flow is similar to a town hall gossip, only difference is that the reach has grown to exponential proportions. 

The paradox of online media is that, while you launch a blitzkrieg of promotions, any slip or any negative image has an equal potential to be propagated as widely as possible. A couple of days back, Anand Mahindra, Vice Chairman and Managing Director, Mahindra Group tweeted a video link on twitter which showed a Mahindra Scorpio pulling out a car stuck in mud somewhere in South America. The same video link had prompted few other links which showed Scorpio either getting overturned or getting involved in some accidents. This was just a small example of the paradox online media poses. Most seasoned users of social networking sites understand this paradox and are careful in the way they project themselves on these sites. Once Shah Rukh Khan stated that he doesn’t work for himself but works for the brand SRK. Similarly, the users who are cautious work for the brand they are projecting as themselves.

So maintaining an online profile is an art which needs to be mastered. Again taking the example of Anand Mahindra who has over 350,000 followers on twitter, he not only tweets regularly about Mahindra products but also voices his concern for social causes. Also, he tweets about contributions from his employees and in a way motivates them. So he is connected to people not only outside his organization but also from within on twitter. This is a novel way of bonding with the people who work for you and can be emulated across the industries.

If you follow Barack Obama on twitter, you may realise that tweets are drafted with utmost care as in case of press releases from the President’s office. Indian politicians have lot to learn before they could capitalize on the social media to connect with the people. The minimum effort they can put is to avoid creating controversies with their tweets and that doesn’t mean closing the account and stop tweeting altogether.

Film makers like Aamir Khan and Shah Rukh Khan use the social networking sites to interact with their fans and launch promotional events for their films. The online marketing which starts well before the release of a film ensures that enough hype is generated that the movie recovers its cost in the opening week itself. In case of soon to be released movie Ra.One, the producers have been releasing teasers, videos and posters in a phased manner over last six months and subsequently have been successful in creating the hype around the movie. They have also launched online merchandise for kids and hope to capitalize on the hype generated so far.

 
The online social media is a powerful tool if one understands and masters the art of using it. But at the same time it has the potential of an invisible weapon which is capable of brewing a revolution and bringing down governments.   

My First Ever Dance Video...:)

This is my first ever dance performance on stage. It was a one and half min. dance. I was the only guy out of sync but still it was a first for me so sharing with you all. If you don't recognize me, I am in the back row right corner wearing a blue kurta and jeans. Hope you enjoy it and have fun...

Caste Census: A Ticket to Dark Ages

Now that our country looks set to get a caste based census, all the hopes of revoking the caste based reservations, atleast for next 10-15 years have died, as I feel the sole purpose of it is to press for more reservations.

These reservations might have died a slow death by next generation but now it seems casteism is going to hit our country very badly which I fear may even lead to disintegration.

As of now, the present generation hardly cares about castes. That's how we have been brought up. My parents never told me about the castes or which caste we belonged to until I had to fill it in some applications while applying for some engineering colleges. Nor was I told to condescend on someone who belongs to other caste. Even in schools, we were taught that discrimination based on castes is something evil and it hampers development of society. Even as I grew up and went to college, I did not find anyone talking about castes nor did I find any groupism based on castes. There was no one who felt that he had divine rights because he was born in a higher caste nor was anyone humiliated because he was born in a lower caste. Actually no one cared about who belongs to which caste. The very notion of caste has died among many of us in the present generation. I may have met very few people in my life but I can say that 99% of my friends and batchmates from school or college hardly care about castes and they don't make friends after ascertaining the caste of someone.

But now with caste census and subsequent reservations, there will be a tendency to cling to one's caste so as to enjoy the benefits a caste might get. People will start identifying themselves more with their castes than with their country. This may soon take an ugly shape as we have already witness some of it in Meena-Gujjar violence in Rajasthan. Trouble mongers will have one more excuse to create trouble in name of castes, this time on a wider scale, in addition to the troubles our country is facing in form of separatist agitations, maoist violence and occasional outbreak of communal violence.

If our politicians are really concerned for the poor and downtrodden, they can implement reservations based on financial conditions or on regional basis as some regions are quite underdeveloped and people don't even have basic amenities. But reservations based on caste are divisive and it amounts to racism too. It is unconstitutional too as our constitution professes social equality.

3 IdiOts

A Wonderful movie, wasn't it? Before you make your conclusions that I am writing a review of '3 idiots' after 3 long months after it was off the screens, I would like to make it clear its not a review but its about the 3 idiots I encountered while watching that movie.

Its quite tough to get tickets for a new or a hit movie in a film crazy city like Chennai. But somehow I got to see it in the hall just before it was to be replaced by My Name is Khan.

The First Idiot
As soon as the movie started someone behind me started conversing in English and he soon was translating each and ever dialogue from Hindi to English much to our irritation.A North Indian guy had brought his South Indian girlfriend to the movie but his efforts in charming her were turning out to be an unpleasant experience for the fellow audiences. I turned around and politely signaled with my hands to lower his volume. He stopped for a while but again he started. Then a tamil guy(I can tell by has accent) who was sitting in the same row as that guy yelled at him, "Please buy a DVD and watch it with subtitles but please be quite now". That finally silenced that guy and he never spoke again.

The Second and Third Idiot
Nearly half an hour had passed when a guy came in looking for his seat. He came up to me and asked, "Is this your seat?". I replied in affirmative. He went outside the hall and brought in the third idiot, the ticket checker.
The third idiot came up to me and said, "Sir, ticket". Aamir Khan had written the words "Farhanitrate" and Prerajulisation" and I was quite engrossed in the movie. This interruption obviously irritated me but I rummaged my pocket and showed him my ticket. He verified my ticket and now asked the second idiot to show his. When he checked his ticket, it turned out that it was a matinee show ticket and this was the evening show. The third idiot apologised to me and asked the second idiot to move out. The second idiot groaned and uttered curses at someone who might have given him that ticket but moved out.

Though these three idiots made my initial movie watching experience an unpleasant one but the three idiots on screen ensured that I left the hall smiling. :)

Return of the Blogger

Hi everyone, with my first post of 2010, I announce my return to blogging.

I am sorry I could not amuse you all with my stories, controversies and wisecracks for nearly five months now. I had to lock up the writer in me so that I could get used to dancing on bed of hot coals. Thats how I would like to describe my past few months. Though personally I was in a cocoon fighting my own demons but was observing many interesting things happening in the world.

Last ten months have been quite eventful for our country though mostly in a negative manner thanks to separatist agitations, maoist violence and many scandals. I would like to reserve my comments on all these issues till I do some ground work myself as I feel forming opinions on the basis of news channel and news papers is no longer wise.

Only bright thing I can recall is Sachin Tendulkar's dazzling performances on field. His consistency in scoring runs and raising the benchmark for batsmen by reaching new milestones when critics had written him off has brought back people to watch cricket. His double century revived the interest of many people in ODIs again and I think most of you would agree if I say IPL3 was a hit because of Sachin alone. I even watched Test matches(because I had that kind of time to waste) only to see him score centuries after centuries. For a cricket lover like me Sachin's batting is a great stress buster and a source of happiness. Thank you Sachin.

I will soon be back with my next post, probably with some literary review or something funny or outrageous that I may recall.

RISK

I came across this poem and I would like to share it with all of you.

To laugh, is to Risk appearing the fool.
To weep, is to Risk appearing sentimental.
To reach out for another, is to Risk exposing your true self
To place your ideas, your dreams before the crowd, is to Risk loss
To love, is to Risk not being loved in return
To live, is to Risk dying
To hope, is to Risk despair
To try at all, is to Risk failure
But RISK we MUST
Because the greatest hazard to life is to Risk nothing.
The man who Risks nothing....Has nothing.....Is nothing.
He may avoid sufferings....but he simply cannot Learn, Feel
Grow, Love or Live
Chained by his certitudes, he is a slave
He has forfeited freedom.
Only the person who Risks can be called a Free Man.

Kiss and Run

Don't get me wrong, this isn't about anything related to flirting or some nasty prank. I am still the good old decent guy. I am writing about some real incident after quite a long time, even posting on my blog after a long time.

The other day, I was enjoying my drive on my bike as the sky had cleared up(Chennai has been experiencing incessant showers for nearly a week). So were many others and hence a huge traffic.

I was waiting behind a Maruti Swift at a traffic signal for it to go green. The signal to turn right turned green and the vehicles to my right moved ahead. As I tried to move into the free space, a Honda car brushed past me. I had to stop abruptly. It was a close shave!

The Honda moved too close to the Swift before me. The distance between them was hardly a foot. Soon it was just few inches. Anymore further, the left rear view mirror of Honda would crash into the right rear view mirror of Swift.

But the Honda moved forward smoothly like a hot knife cutting into cheese and then CRASH!

The distance between the two cars had come down from inches to centimeters to millimeters and finally their front portions were touching each other side by side as if in a liplock (actually a tire lock). Had there been some CAR SENA like Shiv Sena or MNS for the cars "community", they would have attacked them for public obscenity.

Before the driver of Swift could realize what had happened, the lady driving the Honda launched into a tirade of abuses as if it was the Swift driver's mistake for the crash. I was simply shell shocked. Even the poor driver took some time to react.

Irony was that, the Honda's left rear view mirror was still intact and the Swift's right rear view mirror had been knocked off. Even before the Swift driver could react and as I moved my bike towards Honda's right to confront the lady, the signal turned green and the lady sped her Honda away with amazing alacrity. Maybe she realized her mistake and wanted to escape.

Moral of the story-
1. When a woman is at the wheel, maintain atleast a 10 feet distance or be prepared for her scorn.
2. Honda cars are sturdier than Maruti ones.

The Magic Lamp

Once an young man wandering in a jungle found an old but shining lamp in the hollow of an ancient banyan tree. He was delighted to find some gold in the middle of a jungle and his greedy eyes searched for more treasure in the hollow but found none. A bit disappointed, he now looked carefully at the only treasure he found, a golden lamp. He wondered if it was a magic lamp(his favorite Disney character Aladin played on his mind). So he rubbed the lamp and waited for something to happen. Nothing happened. He rubbed the lamp more vigorously. Again nothing happened.

Disappointed, he kept the lamp aside and started planning to sell it the next morning. Then something hissed. He jumped fearing a snake, but to his surprise he found smoke billowing from the lamp. Out of the smoke popped a sleepy genie. The genie rubbing his groggy eyes demanded, "Why are you disturbing my sleep? What do you wish....?".

As soon as the genie spoke the word "wish", the young man started without even stopping once for a breath, "I WISH THAT YOU BUILD ME A GRAND PALACE WITH TEN ROOMS FULL OF GOLD AND A BEAUTIFUL PRINCESS AWAITING ME IN IT IN THE MIDDLE OF A GREAT CITY ." And then he added, "I hope you count this as one single wish."

The genie stared at him silently for some time and then slapped him hard and quipped, "Got what you want ?".

The baffled young man complained, "Did you not just ask what my wish is ?".

The genie coolly said, "I never promised I will fulfill it", and now genie's expression was angrier, "If I had such a large palace and all that wealth, why would I be living in this stupid cramped lamp, moron ?". And then genie disappeared with his lamp.

The Literate Cannibals

Long time ago an young prince on a hunting expedition got lost in the forest. As darkness of the night loomed, he sought shelter hoping to find a settlement nearby. Soon he heard a melodious chanting of vedic hymns and felt very ecstatic as he felt sure of finding a hermitage nearby in the dead of the night. He rode on his horse in the direction of sound.

But soon misfortune struck him as he was surrounded by cannibals. They led him to the place where the sound originated. The prince got confused as he could not relate the cannibals with the chanting of hymns. The cannibals were dancing around a pile of bones and singing in joy.

The leader of the cannibals ordered in chaste Sanskrit to tie up the prince. Fearful though for his life, the prince could not suppress his curiousity and asked the cannibal chief how he could speak such good Sanskrit.

The chief replied that he had been educated in the great Nalanda University.

The prince was flabbergasted and asked(he rather pleaded for his life), "Didn't the study in Nalanda change you ?".

"Yes it did," replied the chief calmly. "Before going to Nalanda, we used to eat raw meat and go about naked, but now we cook the meat and use human skin as clothes."

This story tells us that being literate is one thing and being educated is another.

Modern youth akin to the cannibals is more literate for sure as compared to their ancestors but at the same time has lost the compassion for humanity and has forsaken the quest for wisdom. I make this statement in the light of increased crimes being committed by educated people, particularly by irresponsible, lust driven and pelf hungry youth.


Education is not just making one literate but it is to bring forth wisdom in oneself that leads to growth.

The Tiger and the piglets -Part II

Everytime the tiger crossed paths with the piglets, he ignored them and changed course. The piglets were amused by the tiger's behavior and soon lost their fear. Everyday they rolled themselves in muck and sought the tiger. They humored themselves seeing the tiger grimace and move away. They started bloating about making the tiger runaway with everyone they met in the forest. Soon all animals got tired of their bragging and wished someone silenced them.

This continued for a while and the piglets now dared to come near the tiger's den itself and started troubling the newly born cubs.

The tiger got enraged and roared at them to frighten them away. The piglets who had grown into young pigs were a bit shaken but did not back off as they were intoxicated with a false sense of boldness and arrogance. They dared the tiger to a duel. The tiger amused at their insolence reluctantly agreed to get rid of them once and for all.

He said to them, "Look I don't want to invite Mr.Vulture to my home after I am done with you, so lets match up somewhere else."

The pigs grunted derisively, " We will see about that but we do like to honour your dying wish, so lets fight at the place of your choice" and followed the tiger.

The tiger led them across a ford to the other bank of the river. The pigs haughtily followed the tiger least realising that the flowing water had cleansed them of all their filth they were covered in. When they reached the other bank of the river, they looked at each other and soon a realisation dawned on them but it was too late. They had one last fleeting look at the impending death and then it was all over. The grunts of the pigs were no longer heard in the forest and all the animals sighed a relief.

Like the tiger, one must be patient, ignore your adversaries as long as you can but when it becomes inevitable, one must be careful in planning when and where should one strike the enemy.
Once you hurt your enemy, your enemy should no longer be capable to attack you back both mentally and physically. But one should take on one's enemy only if it is inevitable and if you really mean to hurt. Half-hearted infliction will only fire back. By ignoring your enemies for a while, you let them pile their inflictions on you, so when you attack back you not only will have the support of your peers but also your moral conscience will not hurt you for hurting others. In this context, by enemy I just don't mean some person or human, the word subsumes all evils be it physical, mental or emotional.

The Tiger and the piglets

A tiger prowled in the dense forests of Sunderbans looking for a game, hungry as he was for days. He came across a stream and decided to cool himself from the summer heat. As he was about to take a plunge, the tiger heard some squeals and grunts that seemed to be coming from some distance upstream. The tiger told his grumbling stomach, "We finally have some food here, be patient" and darted off in the direction of the sound.

Some distance upstream some piglets were playing, rolling themselves in a pile of muck and when they saw the tiger coming their way, they panicked and trembled with fear and stood rooted to the place. As the tiger neared his prey, all his insatiable hunger vanished in a puff. He grimaced at the very sight of piglets as it caused nausea, for the piglets were completely covered in muck. The tiger stopped in its tracks, took few steps back and sped in the direction of an antelope he had just spotted. The trembling piglets were taken by surprise by the tiger's sudden move but were very happy to be alive. The piglets went to their mother, Mrs.Swine and bragged that they frightened a tiger away. Their mother scorned at them and warned them to stay away from the tiger and added, "You fools it was not you the tiger was frightened of, the muck you are covered in saved your neck. Every time you go out into the jungle make sure you roll in the pile of muck." The piglets nodded in agreement.

Like Mrs.Swine one must always be on guard against possible adversaries and never mistake their passiveness for their weakness.

The tiger had hunted down the antelope and was ensconced under a huge tree. Soon he was joined by a vulture. The tiger looking at the forlorn face of the vulture asked him, "Whats the matter with you my friend ?". The vulture replied sorrowfully, "My mate died of swine flu, filthy swines killed her even being dead." The tiger chided the vulture, "Your species should learn to make some discretion while feeding off the carcass that are at your disposal. Even I had few piglets at my disposal this morning, it was disgusting to even look at them, forget about eating them. Luckily for today I found this antelope otherwise I would have preferred to go hungry rather than hunting those piglets down".

Like the tiger one should always be discrete in one's choices and not splurge on anything that is at one's disposal. Likewise one should also be discrete in engaging with an adversary or a bully. One need not pick fights with every other bully. Most of the time its not even worth it and it would most probably disturb your own mental peace. Had the tiger hunted down the piglets, he might have lost his peace of mind after hearing the news from the vulture. He was better off ignoring the piglets. So one should try to ignore bullies as long as possible for one's own sake and in case someone persists and gets to your nerves, read the story about the tiger and piglets that continues in my next post.

How to Build Natural Immunity against the Swine Flu

Here are some tips to develop immunity against the Swine Flu (courtesy: www.NaturalNews.com)

There are many natural remedies that will raise your immunity to the Swine Flu and other viral and bacterial diseases. Many people do not have immunity to the current strain of Swine Flu. This is not unusual because most viruses alter as the virus season goes along. Most people will not become sick because the issue is not the virus but SUSCEPTIBILITY.

Viruses will not multiply in a healthy body. We constantly have Streptococcus in our throats, yet we rarely experience Strep Throat. The same is true of this Swine Flu and other viral strains. Exposure will lead to disease only if the immune system is suppressed and if the vitality of the person is weakened. Do NOT suppress mucus. It is important to let the body discharge toxins.

Most viruses become less aggressive over time because they want to spread and not to kill their hosts. If they kill their hosts, they die as well. The viruses that do survive --the ones in humans with strong immune systems-- become less virulent so that their hosts, us humans, go to work, shake hands and sneeze on others to continue to spread the virus.

Using herbs, homeopathy, and vitamins will increase your health and reduce your susceptibility.

DIGESTION
Some say that the flu "begins in the gut and ends in the gut". This means that if you have good digestion, you will increase your resistance to this and other flu strains. Take a probiotic daily. Live probiotics are available in natural food stores, and probiotics are now more widely available in grocery stores, in yogurt culture and even in chocolate. Now we have got some excuse to relish lots of chocolate.

HOMEOPATHY
The homeopathic remedy Anas Barbariae is made from the liver of migrating geese. Because they travel the world, they build immunity to many viruses years before humans do. Be sure to get the 2009 version by checking the expiration date. It has been found that the remedy Ferrum phos is effective in treating the early stages of the flu, when used in the first 24 hours. Also the remedy Influenzinum can be taken as a prophylaxis. This remedy is made from the same disease strain as the CDC uses to make each season's flu vaccine.

LIFESTYLE ADVICE
1. Get Plenty of Sleep
To improve your resistance to any disease, the most important thing you can do is get enough rest. Your body knows how to heal, and it does this best when sleeping. Get adequate rest on a daily basis, and if you begin to feel fatigue during a time of increased stress to your immune system, take naps, get into bed earlier, relax and let your body do what it does best: restore and rebuild.

2. Hydrate
Our bodies are 80% water. Drink plenty of water each day to stay hydrated and to allow the body to flush toxins from the blood and the liver. Drink pure water, not soda or juice, for best results.

3. Exercise
Exercise increases your resistance to disease. It stimulates the cleansing blood flow and increases your natural stress reducing hormones. Exercise doesn't have to be strenuous to be beneficial. Science has shown that walking daily is good for your health and well being.

4. Spend time outdoors
The healing benefits of nature are yours and all you need to do is step outside. The fresh air cleanses your lungs and the vitamin D from sunshine is great for general health. Even on a rainy day or at night, the fresh air is beneficial.

5. Exposure
Exposure to nature and the great outdoors helps healthy emotions.

HERBS TO BUILD PROTECTION AND NATURAL IMMUNITY

1.Echinaea--Echinacea is best taken in advance of getting sick.
2.Olive Leaf
3.Elderberries
4 Adaptogens
Adaptogens are plants that have the ability to resist chemical and biological stressors and to pass that ability on to humans. Eleutherococcus research has shown a 30% to 50% decrease in influenza in Russian workers. Shisandra has long been used in Chinese medicine to improve immune function through its healing action on the liver. In recent research, Shisandra proved curative to the viral hepatitis. Codonopsis is another adaptogen used in Chinese herbal medicine. It increases the red and white blood cell counts and strengthens the immune system.

VITAMINS
1. Vitamin A is one of the main components of the skin. To strengthen the skin's protective ability, take vitamin A daily. Vitamin A also increases the white blood cells that fight disease.
2. Vitamin C --Research has shown that vitamin C improves resistance to disease and prevents flu symptoms when 1,000 mg doses are taken every six hours.
3. NAC is an amino acid that has been shown to raise immunity to the flu in clinical trials.
4.Probiotics. Healthy flora in the gut supports immune function.

By improving your lifestyle, your diet, and supplementing with natural herbs, homeopathy, and vitamins, you can improve your immune system and your overall vitality.

Healthy habits to avoid catching an infectious disease

To prevent illness, we need to keep our immune systems healthy as well as foil the illness's sneaky methods of transmission. The strategies for preventing most illnesses are chiefly common sense, yet many of us neglect to take the simple precautions that could reduce the number of infectious diseases that we get every year.

Wash your hands. All of us carry germs from surfaces we touch to our faces or our chidren's faces, where they can find easy entry into our bodies. At work, wash your hands several times a day, particularly before you eat, even if you're just snacking while at the computer. Wash them when you get home, after grocery shopping, and before you prepare a meal. And don't forget to wash them after changing the baby's diaper or wiping a toddler's runny nose.

Teach your children to wash their hands. For even the tiniest toddler, washing hands before a meal should be automatic. And it should be a thorough wash, with scrubbing and lots of suds spread all over the hands and wrists, not just a quick spritz of water.

Act as if you have stock in Kleenex.Get everyone in your household into the tissue habit. And teach them to cover their mouths and noses when they cough and sneeze. Even little children can learn automatically to cover up with a tissue to prevent germs from flying.

Use your dishwasher as your secret weapon. Anything that goes in a child's mouth--pacifiers, toys, teething rings, nipples, bottles--should be washed often. Put plastic toys in the dishwasher and soft toys in the laundry, especially when colds and flu are making the rounds. If you don't have a dishwasher, use a dishpan of hot, soapy water, and rinse with the hottest water that the plastic (and your hands) can stand.

Give your toothbrush some breathing room. Don't store your family's toothbrushes together in a glass. Put them in the sort of holder that doesn't let them touch each other. Shake them after using so that they dry fast--germs don't thrive well on dry surfaces. Of course, don't share toothbrushes--it's a very direct way to share germs.

Know when to say goodbye. Because they tend to harbor infectious organisms, if you've had a cold or strep throat, throw out your toothbrush and use a new one. (For hygiene and tooth health change to a new toothbrush every 3 months.)

When you're on the mend, think hot water. After you or your family member has recovered from a bout of sickness, wash the bedding and nightclothes in hot water. Wash down the crib or bed and all bedroom surfaces, and then open windows--even in the winter--to help fresh air circulate into the room.

Change the towels. Facecloths and towels should be changed every day. This is doubly important when someone in the house has a cold or the flu.

Observe kitchen etiquette. Change dish towels every day. Don't dry dishes with the same towel that you use for your hands. Even better, let your dishes air dry. Clean your sponges in the dishwasher and change them often.

Keep dry. Most infectious organisms don't thrive on dry surfaces. After you use soap and water on the sink and countertops in your kitchen, dry them with paper towels. This is a good practice for the bathroom, too.

Quarantine raw meat. To prevent food poisoning from salmonella and other organisms, keep your meat and salad preparations apart. Use different areas of the kitchen if you can and different cutting boards and knives. Wash up spilled meat juices with soapy paper towels, not sponges. Store meat where its juices can't leak onto other foods. Wash your hands after handling raw meat.

Think of the these tips as a gentle reminder of some pretty basic household strategies for preventing infectious illnesses in general.

Swine Flu Safety Dos and Don'ts

Swine flu is quickly spreading its tentacles all over the world and it makes us feel a bit panicky. Here are few dos and don'ts....

DO:

Germ-proof your skin: Wash your hands well and often. Not every 10 minutes, but when it makes sense, like after using the bathroom, touching common objects at work—like the microwave or printer—or returning home from the grocery store. Use warm water and soap, and rub your hands together for about 20 seconds.

Pack Purell in your kid's backpack: The classic germ-killer can be 99% effective in 20 seconds, says Cohen. Slathering it on throughout the day can minimize the chance that your child will transmit potential germs on his hands to his mouth and nose, where the virus enters the body. Keep a bottle in your purse too.

Keep your distance. Critical closeness—less than 6 to 10 feet—is required to catch airborne viruses.That means avoiding close contact with people who are coughing or sneezing, but it doesn't mean you should hole up at home and never go out in public until the swine flu passes.

Call the doctor if you think it's flu. Some people think everything that's an infection is the flu, but there's actually a very specific cluster of symptoms to worry about. These include:

• Almost always: Fever, cough, muscle aches, and headaches
• Sometimes: Runny nose, red eyes, nausea and vomiting

Take the right meds: Antivirals like Tamiflu will only help if you actually have the flu. They're most effective in the first 2 days of illness onset, so if you have suspicious symptoms, call your doctor right away. Your doctor may also recommend a fever-reducer like Tylenol or an NSAID like ibuprofen for muscle pain relief.

Remember, never give aspirin to children or teens with the flu (or any virus); this can cause a rare but serious condition called Reye's Syndrome.

DON'T:

Skip public transportation or cancel air travel.

Keep your kid out of school. Schools with individual cases are being closed. If you live in a community or state with no instances of swine flu, there's no need to keep your child home.

Stock up on face masks. The CDC has said they're not necessary for people who don't work in healthcare jobs.

Start an emergency food and water stash.

Banish School Bus.

Once Upon A Time....

Once upon a time there was a prosperous and peaceful kingdom ruled by a just king. The king was an able administrator and was prompt in attending to grievances of his subjects. He took care of them like his own children and he too was loved and admired by his subjects. He never went for a war and instead directed all the resources in making his kingdom prosperous.

One fine summer morning, dark clouds appeared on the horizon and the king felt a bit uneasy by their untimely presence. He took it as a bad omen. Soon his fears came true as a messenger entered his court panting and informed him that barbarian hordes had attacked the countryside and soon will launch their assault on the capital itself. Its been centuries this kingdom had seen a war. The king summoned his ministers and asked them to get the army ready for the battle. Though the soldiers haven't had any first hand battle experience, they were very much eager to fight for their king. They fought bravely but were routed by much experienced and fiercer army. The barbarian army broke through the capital gates and ravaged the whole kingdom, slaughtering men, women and children whoever came in its way.

Finding themselves defeated, the ministers advised the king to leave the  kingdom and seek refuge in nearby forest. The king was reluctant and wanted to fight till the last drop of his blood. But, the ministers talked some sense into him and persuaded him to escape to the forest. As he left the kingdom, he was pained to see his kingdom ravaged and his people butchered. Tired and wounded, the king and his remaining ministers made it to the forest out of harm's way.

The king was inconsolable. He never anticipated such a thing would happen to him and his people. He cursed his fate and looked upwards towards the sky and ranted, "What sins have I committed that I and my people are being punished so mercilessly?". He cried even harder when visions of his ravaged kingdom flashed before his eyes. He could not adjust himself to the sudden change of fortunes. His ministers were no better and could not comfort him. The king felt so painful at heart for failing his people that he was on the verge of losing his sanity. He even contemplated running a sword through himself to put an end to this life and pain once and for all. But his alert ministers held him back. As the king ranted about his loss, a hermit who was passing by spoke to the king and said, "O King, cry and shout as hard as you can tonight, release all your sorrows but tomorrow morning when you wake up, you will have two choices, one you continue to be as miserable and slip into oblivion and spend rest of your life like a beggar and other take your loss in your own stride, brace yourself up and fight back to regain your glory". If you choose the latter, come to me, my hermitage is nearby and pointed in the direction of some trees.

Life isn't smooth always, some unexpected turn of events could put one in disarray. But you always have the choice of either being miserable or happy as both take similar efforts, only the end results differ.

The king stopped being miserable and chose to fight back. The hermit had poured some sanity into his senses. Next morning, he went to meet the hermit. The hermit led him to his pupils who were training martial arts and told the king pointing towards them, "This is the army you have to lead in the battle but first you must prove your efficiency as a warrior and leader. The hermit handed the king a bow and arrow and asked him to shoot at a target. The king shot the arrow but missed the target widely. The hermit asked the king to observe him and practice till he hits the bull's eye. The king started practising vigourously day and night as he wanted to lead a fightback and regain his kingdom as soon as possible. Soon the king's arrow started finding the bull's eye every time he shot. He confidently went up to the master and claimed he could shoot the bull's eye. He shot 3 consecutive arrows into the bull's eye but the master wasn't impressed. He asked the king to practise more and observe him while he shot. The king could not understand what the hermit meant as even after shooting 3 arrows into the bull's eye the hermit asked him to practise more. He got frustrated and lost all hope of getting any help from the hermit and started to leave to find his own band of soldiers.

As he packed, a voice in his head said, "hey, your master is not insane, maybe he is trying to convey a message". He stayed back to learn more. Next morning, as he saw his master pick up the bow and arrow, a sudden enlightenment dawned on him. He rushed to his master and once again claimed he could shoot perfectly now. This time as he picked up the bow and took aim, the master said, "Yes, you have perfected the art". The king released the arrow and hit the bull's eye.

What the king realised here was that hitting the target was not all that is important, but the way you hit the target, how relaxed you are, how calm you are and how focussed you are without worrying about the result was important. A good leader needs to be relaxed and should keep aside his worries as he plans his next moves as worries and anger cloud ones thinking and play with their emotions. The king learnt to relax both his body and mind and with a sound mind and a handful of soldiers he led a fightback and soon reclaimed his kingdom driving out all of the barbarians.

Like the king, many of us might have enjoyed the comforts of life but some unexpected events might have turned the world upside down for us. Such drastic changes can unsettle anyone. Like the king everyone has a choice and to pursue our goals inspite of difficulties, we need to learn to endure the pain, stop being miserable and relax and plan our next course of action. The result is always fruitful when you plan your actions with a relaxed mind.

Lingo Bingo

Its been sometime now I have been in Chennai and I have picked up few Tamil words but I still struggle to convey myself to local people here. However the English, Hindi languages I know come in handy as most people understand them but when I need to communicate to a person who knows no other language than Tamil, I find myself helpless.

The situation was far more funnier last year.

Last year during summer vacations I joined driving classes and it was agreed that the instructor would instruct me in English as I did not understand Tamil. But who cares about the agreement?? I was assigned an instructor who barely knew any English. Most of my queries were in dumb and deaf language and his answers would be in either Tamil and sometimes seeing my desperate face he would use sign language I would understand. Soon I understood that his panicky voice meant I need to stop and something that sounded like encouragement meant I need to press the accelerator. Somehow struggling to understand his language and nearly mowing down early morning walkers sometimes, I learnt to drive. Well this struggle with languages wasn't new for me and over the years I have learnt some effective sign language and the language of eyes. 

Of all languages I understand(4 in number- English, Hindi,Telugu, Tamil), I think I have spoken Hindi the most. I started speaking Hindi since I was eight though I started understanding it much before thanks to my dad's north Indian colleagues and their kids. I got familiar with hindi when we got transferred to Assam as I got in touch with more and more hindi speaking populace. Here my language was influenced by various dialects of 
Hindi as people from all over India resided in the same colony as I was. These different dialects like mumbaiyya tapori hindi, bihari hindi,pure hindi etc confused me and I developed my language mixing all these dialects and some English for overcoming the lack of hindi vocabulary. 

I remember a conversation with my dad's colleague when I was at a nascent stage of learning hindi. The ULFA(a militant separatist group in Assam) had declared a strike and forbid civilians to drive their vehicles for a day. My dad had some urgent work that day, so he walked to his office(it was a half an hour walk). So his colleagues who stayed back came calling him on what was to be done about going to office. As my dad had already gone to the office, I attended to them. They were surprised and asked how did he go to the office. I told them "chal ke gaye". I think they did not hear me as they asked me again "paidal gaye kya ?". The word "paidal" wasn't in my vocabulary then, so I mistook it for a pedal. I thought they must be referring to a bicycle or a bike. I told them "nahi nahi not pedal, walking karte hue gaye". They smiled among themselves, I did not understand then why. One of them came to my rescue and told them that I was new to the place and did not understand much hindi.

Eleven years for which I stayed at Uttarakhand refined my hindi a lot mostly with the help of my friends who never shied from criticizing me for my use of hindi. Now I can speak hindi relatively better than my mother tongue Telugu.

My knowledge of four languages gives me a little bit of edge and confidence over others. Many times I have played the role of a mediator and a translator which gives me the satisfaction of helping others. Sometimes I feel lucky that I know these languages as I can understand all kinds of diatribes being hurled at me at my back (as people think so even though they speak right before me).

Few days back I witnessed an interesting conversation. I had gone to a shop to buy some provisions. A woman and her daughter-in-law also came to the shop. The shopkeeper was attending to other customers so he could not hear that woman. She told her daughter-in-law to observe her and learn how to draw attention. She started calling him "arrey bhaiyya" and as he could not pay attention, she soon started shooting invectives in Hindi 
at him and some words were really indecent which I abstain myself from using them and at the same time she was pleading him in Tamil to give her provisions. Poor chap, as he did not understand what she was saying attended to her with a broad smile. She said to her daughter-in-law, "Dekha kaisa sun liya gaali dete hi". I was speechless and just stood there watching them.

Express Fracas!!!

Train journeys are quite interesting and always have an exciting story to tell.

After bidding adieu to Pantnagar, I took my train to Chennai from New Delhi on 10th June. It was a hot day and I was drained off my energy as I was carrying a heavy luggage(I must thank my friend, Arun Bhakuni who helped me board UKD Sampark Kranti with my heavy luggage at Lalkuan). It rained slightly in the evening and the cool wind lifted my spirits and I was back to my normal self. 

Due to heavy summer rush, railways introduced the side middle berth which led to shift in berth numbers. I checked out the reservation chart before boarding the GT Express and I found my berth number was shifted from 17 to 19. I felt that I have been shifted to upper berth and I was wondering if Railways could do this even after alloting a lower berth on ticket. But my doubts were cleared as I entered my compartment and found I had retained my lower berth. The shift in numbers was due to the extra side middle berths added to compensate the summer rush. This shift in numbers had caused quite a confusion for many and I politely explained and guided my neighbouring co-passengers to their berths. Except for the change in numbers everyone got their respective berths they were alloted in their tickets.

It had been a tiring day and I dozed off by 10pm. The train stopped around midnight at some station (I think it was Bhopal). I woke up everytime the train stopped and checked on my luggage (I was carrying a heavy luggage, a computer included!!!).

At this station, an extremely large man entered the coach shouting and ranting at someone. He was well above 6 feet and so wide(more than double the size I was and I am not at all exaggerating) that he couldn't walk straight in the coach. He turned his frame a bit and dragged himself to his berth number. His family members were normally sized though. As this man was unaware of the shift in berth numbers, he looked for the number printed on his ticket. But this number was occupied by someone else, an old couple, must be in their late 50s. This large man demanded them to get off his berth and he was extremely rude to them. The old couple tried to explain and reason with him but to no avail. He pointed at the number on his ticket and started to rough them up. The old couple insisted that the berth was theirs and the TTE had allotted that berth to them. The large man started shouting that he would kick the TTE and both of them if they did not get off his berth. The old man said that he did not want a fight but only wanted to travel peacefully. The large man did not relent and he asked them to vacate the berth. The old man and his wife after failing to convince that unreasonable man, vacated the berth and sat on the nearby berth waiting for the TTE. 

As soon as TTE came the old man took up his case with him. The large man again started shouting that the berth was his. The TTE looked at the tickets and asked the large man to move to his allotted berths as he explained about the shift in berth numbers. Even now this man failed to see reason and shouted at the TTE asking him why was he being allotted a different berth number. The TTE was patient in the beginning and explained him that he was allotted the same berths as in the ticket but he soon got frustrated with the man and threatened to call the police. Finally this large man relented and shifted to his allotted berths. As this large man was shifting his luggage, the women with him were still seated on the old couple's berth. Now as the TTE had proved his point, the old man puffed up his chest and started shouting at those women to vacate his berth. It was his turn to take revenge. The large man growled but the old man did not back off and asked them to clear his berth with a stern voice. The TTE oversaw the shift and left smiling. All the passengers around were smiling at the old man's antics and the large man's growls.

Normally trains bring people from different parts of the country together but certainly not this way.