Logic Defied

Tamil Blog

2011-08-23T23:06:00.001-07:00

இது தான் எனது முதல் ப்ளாக் போஸ்ட் தமிழில். இனிமேல் அப்பப்போ தமிழில் தொல்லை கொடுப்பேன். நன்றி!

The New Swift

2011-08-22T21:59:00.000-07:00

The feeling that one gets when coming across a term that one encountered a long time ago can be described in 'one' word: simply nostalgic. Well that's what I felt when I saw Struldbrugs, Brobdingnag, Luggnagg and Blefuscu, which for some strange reason sounds like Romanian for: Bless Ceauşescu

Blogging after a hiatus

2011-08-22T21:20:00.000-07:00

I'm what you can call - a delinquent blogger. It has been 5 years since I've updated this blog. Shame on you readers for not encouraging me!

What has happened in the past 5 years?

I've become a Father. My daughter is 3 now and attending Nursery.

I've moved into my new house.

I got a new car which is an old car now and though I'm itching to replace it, monetary and situational situations forbid me to do so.

I still despise my classmates from college.

Our Living conditions....Thank You all....

2006-03-08T14:15:00.000-08:00

A big thank you to all my readers for having been so supportive with your comemnts. Though I would love to reply to each of you individually, it somehow doesnt seem possible with the amount of time on my hands:( Here is an article for your general information and which everyone should be aware of. This point for discussion was raised by one of you fine folks (Sans) and I am glad to reply. The question is:

Can living in an Airconditioned home 24 hrs (or 14/15 hrs) a day, "cause" or "agravate" cough, cold , fever, flu or any other respiratory disease?

Before I answer it in a simple 'Yes' or 'No' manner, let me give you a basic insight into what affects our living conditions in a room.

Human occupancy and activity vitiate air in occupied rooms and give a sense of discomfort to the occupants. The changes in air that take place in confinded places are both chemical and and physical.

A) Chemical Changes:
The air becomes progressively contaminated by carbon dioxide and the oxygen content decreases due to metabolic processes. An average person at rest gives off 0.7 c.ft of carbon dioxide per hour and this may increase up to 2 c. ft. during physical activity.

B) Physical Changes:
By far the important changes that occur due to human occupancy are the physcial changes. These are:

1) Rise in temperature:
The indoor temperature tends to rise as a result of the emanation of body heat. A man at rest gives off approximately 400 Btu per hour. One Btu (British Thermal Unit) is the quantity of heat required to raise the temperature of 1 pound of water to 1 deg F. Under conditions of physical exertion, the heat output may go upto 4000 Btu.

2) Increase in humidity:
There is an increase in the relative humidity due to moisture evaporated from the skin and lungs. The expired air contains about 6 percent of water vapour.

3) Decrease in air movement:
In crowded places, the natural movement of air is impeded.

4) Body odours:
Unpleasant odours arise from foul breath, perspiration, bad oral hygiene, dirty clothese and 'other' sources.

5) Bacterial pollution:
The exhaled air contains micro-organisms in suspension. These are principally saprophytic bacteria and may include pathogenic bacteria. These organisms are discharged into the air during coversation, coughing, sneezing and talking loudly.

Unless the vitiated air is replaced by fresh air, it may adversely affect the comfort, health and efficiency of the occupants. It is known that a feeling of suffocation or discomfort is experienced by the occupants in insufficiently ventilated rooms and also complaints of headache, drowsiness, leathargy and inability to concentrate. There is also the risk of droplet infection and lowered resistance to disease on prolonged exposure.

I guess you would have got a basic idea into the vitals of the air in an occupied room. Now lets analyse how an air conditioner can affect these.

Comfort zones may be defined as the range of temperatures over which the majority of adults feel comfortable, There is no unanimous decision on a singe zone for all people because comfort is a quite a complex subjective experience which depends not only on physical, physiological factors but also on psychological factors which are hard to determine.

Considering only the environmental factors: Comfortable thermal conditions are those under which a person can maintain normal balance between production and loss of heat, at normal body temperature without sweating.

In India zones evaluated are as below:

Pleasant and cool 69F
Comfortable and cool 69-76F
Comfortable 77-80F
Hot and uncomfortable 81-82F
Extremely hot 83+ F
Intolerably hot 86+F

Please note that these are corrected effective temperature and not the actual temperature recorded.

Considering ventilation, a person needs atleast 1000 to 2000 cu ft of fresh air per person per hour in order to remove the carbon dioxide and other noxious gases expired by him and others around him. He also needs about 50 to 100 sq ft of floor space to achieve the same.

A room should have the following ventilation means:
a) Natural ventilation, by means of doors and windows and preferably they should face each other providing 'cross ventilation'.

b) Exhaust ventilation, where air is extracted or exhausted to the outside by fans.

c) Plenum ventialtion where fresh air is blown into the room by centrifugal fans so as to create a positive pressure and displace the vitiated air. This type of ventilation is usually used for supplying air to air conditioned buildings where air is supplied through ducts at desired points. Usually most ducts do not supply air or they arent cleaned well which leads to infection.

d) Balanced ventilation which is a combo of both exhaust and plenum ventilation systems.

e) Air Conditioning: Ok, now we come to the most important part here...finally, atlast;))))

By definition, air conditioning is: the simultaneous control of those factors that affect botht he physical and chemical conditions of the atmosphere within any structure. These factors include: temperature, humidity, air movement, distribution, dust, bacteria, odours and toxic gases. most of which affect human health and comfort.

Actually with very good use of air conditioning it is possible to maintain a germ free atmosphere as they do in operating theatres. Frequent disinfection of the air conditioned area is a must. In general the temperature difference between the outside air and the air conditioned air should not be more than 10-15 deg F and the presence of 'transition rooms' is also necessary so that people may not be suddenly exposed to high or low temperatures.

The next time you step into your office, please haul up your HR guy or house keeper and ask him if your work area has all these required ventilation systems to prevent infection;))))

Does having the AC continously ON has any negative impact on a person's cough and cold or fever? will it increase it??"

As you will have understood, the ac is meant for our comfort and used properly it will not aggravate cough or fever. But there is a possibility that some people might have the chills if they are exposed to continuous chill air (like sitting right under the ac duct or so).

Actually most offices in Chennai are over cooled rather than being comfortable. The ac ducts arent cleaned, the area isnt disinfected, and there is nil ventilation. God help the executives who spend about 12 to 14 hours slogging it out inside :(

Thank you once again folks and please do visit this place regularly and leave behind a line or two as comments or mail me to let me know your opinions. You really do not know how much it means for me to read your comments!

Update....Phew, finally!

2006-02-16T14:40:00.000-08:00

Ok, I am going to say the same old thing again. I was waaaaay too busy to update my diary! ;) Yea... I can hear the groan from you folks :-p

Though some of my pals have tagged me for various memes, I am extremely sorry that I wasnt able to write (Chay even had the good heart to mail me a reminder!) If you were expecting something new from me .....you are in for a disappointment. Whats going to be new with a physician? Same old diseases and good old patients.

I bought myself a new mobile phone-the K750i from Sony Ericsson and I have to tell you that it is such a lovely contraption and the best around that money can buy. Its got a 2MP camera and the clarity/sharpness of the pics/videos makes me go 'wow'. Obviously I cant afford to lug around a DC and this suits me fine though the die hard photography enthusiast might not agree with me.

Though I want to click hell a lot of pics, I dont find clickable material in my daily routine, but the other day I was called to visit a patient in Perungudi, near Velachery and the scenery en route was amazing! A lake called the Kandhanchavadi Lake is about 500mts detour from the Old Mahabalipuram road and provides the much needed natural scenic beauty to the area. One can feel the chillness as soon as the diversion is taken from the main road. Scores of people bathing and washing is a daily routine it seems. Wish I could've jumped into it too...

If ever you wanted to see the hole from where I am posting this material then you could take a peek at it. 'Hole' would be very crude. It is my study cum consultation room, and I take pride in keeping it 'homely' unlike most other doctors' places. Many patients have told me that they find the decor refreshing and very 'unhospital-like'. The kids dont get jittery when they come over for their check-ups....atleast that is what I would like to think!

Shouldnt this suffice? I am feeling damn groggy...the time is 4 33am and I am awake coz I had a phone call about an hour earlier. An anxious dad wanted to know what medicine he could give for his kid of 4 yrs who has a bad earache. And guess what? He got my number from this blogspot of mine! Ah, this got me thinking....some good souls do hop on to this spot and I havent updated it at all...guilt overcame me and here I am doing this small update ;)

Time to pat my back;)

2006-01-04T09:56:00.000-08:00

Folks (especially Sury;) wanted to know what happened to me, whether I passed out in front of the puter or whether I blacked out while on a New Year shopping spree. Unfortunately it isnt any of those good things, but I have been unusually busy the past 10-15 days. The very few minutes that I get and can call my leisure, I spend it by happily irritating my wife, which also happens to be my favourite pastime!

Peeps, I want to tell you that I have been interviewed by a major newspaper, The Hindu, and have been published in the Downtown section of its December 18th edition. Curiously there isnt an online report and I have taken a lousy pic of the article and posted it as a proof that I aint fibbing

Another event that really took me in a wave of gratitude was that the Paramount Pearls Flat Owners and residents association felicitated me and presented me with a wonderful gift during their 1st year cultural sabha inauguration for the services I had rendered to them during the horrid monsoon season. Its nice to know that people do think of doctors in a good way instead of being consumerish (I have a problem, I come to you, you render service, I pay you money)

The memento I was presented with is a beautiful carved Tanjore plate (Thanjavur thattu) that has a peacock as the central decor. The pic is here for you to have a peek at. Click on it to enlarge. It was presented to me by stage actor, comedian Bosskey of Hari-Giri fame on Jaya TV.

Thats it with me patting my own back and I am glad that the year 2005 came to a grand finale literally. Ever since I got published in The Hindu, I've been having a lot lot of calls and I am really busy that I feel sad I cant update this site as often as I would love to, anyway, I shall make time for myself so that I can catch up with you fine folks.

Wishing all my readers and their loved ones a Happy and Fruitful 2006 and may the Good Lord bless everyone with Good Health.

Grey cloud...silver lining...

2005-12-16T21:59:00.000-08:00

6 15 I am woken up by the mobile ringing by my side.

A tense voice of a male: "Doctor could you please come over....my mom seems to have collapsed"

"Yea, will be there in 15 mins"

"Thanks doctor"

On arrival, the old lady is cold...dead maybe for about an hour. Though the son knows it, he wants to confirm it.

The air around is still and there is a pregnant pause. "Yes, she has passed away", I say with much solemnity. Tears stream down the man's face. He is about 57. A death is a death, old or young though the grief felt when a young soul passes away is incomparable.

"Doctor, can I inform my relatives?"

"Yes, please do"

He calls his brother and he breaks down into a sob. Eeerie moments... heart rending. I stand near the wall waiting for the man to compose himself so that I can fill out the DC (death certificate).

I have this strange habit of not writing a DC in the pen I use to write prescriptions. I ask if any of the relatives of the deceased person has a cheap pen that can be thrown away after writing...if yes..then I chuck it away after writing. Small sentiments. What's life without those?

I hand over the DC and leave the place conveying my condolences. Came home and had a cup of coffee. The day starts on a bad note. There is an Amman Temple near my house but have never visited it in the three months that I shifted here. Went there and spent some time. Pretty peaceful place.

Shortly thereafter another call. This time someone has a swelling of the legs and she has come down from the US. As I finish attending the patient, another call, another panicky male voice: "Sir, my grandmom has wheezing and now she seems to have collapsed....umm... she isnt responding...could you please come over.

There in a jiffy, but by then they have brought the old lady downstairs by the elevator to rush her to the nearest hospital in Adyar...No pulse...Pupils fixed and dilated. 'Everything' was over in a matter of few minutes said the grandson.

"Doctor, is there any point in taking her to the hospital?"

"No, I dont see any."

"Ok sir thanks for coming, we would need the DC...could I collect it in an hour's time?"

"Yea...sure"

The grandson came in another hour and I wrote out a DC for his beloved grandmom. Again I ask him if he has a pen he can afford to throw away. Yes he does.

A lady asked me exactly a month ago when I went through the same ritual of asking for a cheaper pen: "Doctor, why is that you seem to follow such a sentiment, arent doctors beyond all those?"

"No we arent...what makes you think we are any different from you wrt death?"

"Sorry if I sound inquisitive...what do you normally feel when you see death and pain"

"Seeing Death, humbles a person...categorically explains to him the brevity of life and the uselessness of narrow mindedness."

"Guess you are right sir."

So my dear folks...I neednt reiterate that in the short span that we inhabit this planet, lets strive to be kind and good to everyone and make this a better place for us and for generations to come.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

My fav beggars/panhandlers!

2005-12-09T06:13:00.000-08:00

Question:
Prove that begging and not prostitution is the oldest profession in the world.

Answer:
Actually the first prostitute tried begging and when that didn’t work or when lusty males leered at her and wanted sex, she gave in, haggled over the price of her body and made easy money. (She looked down upon begging thereafter)

Conclusion:
Isn’t it obvious? So there you go...QED

My area-Velachery-as are other places in Chennai, is full of beggars/panhandlers. I am not here to argue whether one should shell out a coin or not give them any thereby 'discouraging' them to beg. I have my personal favourite beggars. (It is very much the same way you guys have fav actors, politicians and cricketers)

There are 3 notable ones and each has a specific area and they will not be found begging outside of their 'fort' and any other panhandler encroaching into theirs will be prosecuted badly with a flurry of words and sometimes even fisticuffs.

The lady near the FoodWorld Supermarket:
She is about 80 (at least looks like that, I've never ventured asking her age, coz I am a prudent male...never ask femmes their age...ask no question and get no lies) She is just a bundle of bones covered in skin, poor thing. What is worse, she has those horrible truncal tremors...tch tch tch...her body (trunk) keeps shaking so violently and she finds it very difficult to walk. Probably she has Parkinson's. Despite her difficulty she approaches every stranger with a plea for money. There is an eatery below the FoodWorld and when garbage from there is thrown into the nearby dustbin she shuffles towards it and bends into it (almost throwing herself inside) searching for something that could be of use.

You would be wondering how such a shaky woman can even reach out her hand to ask for alms. In Parkinson's typically tremors take place when the limbs are at rest as opposed to when there is movement. (Movement decreases the tremors). I don’t fail to give her a coin or two whenever I go to the supermarket. My thoughts go...: Does she have a son or daughter, maybe her son is a nice man and the daughter-in-law shooed her off...maybe her daughter is a nice lady but her son-in-law doesn’t allow her anywhere near the house. Poor she!

The man near the ATM (I am not telling which ATM for fear of being mugged there by you folks):
This man has Hansen's--med term for leprosy. I always imagine him to be Lazarus. He is quiet, has a contented look about him and doesn’t force peeps to give him money. I think of him as a brilliant chap. Maybe he could've become a software professional and coz of the draconian caste based seat reservation system in TN, he narrowly missed out on getting into an engineering college. (These days in TN it is enough if you have secured a 'pass' in the 12th Board eggzams...some colleges have so many seats that aren’t filled up at all).

But sometimes I think he is really stupid...why would I (or for that matter anyone) go to an ATM? Most likely to withdraw money coz I don’t have a pie on me. And when I come out of the ATM, I am not going to have a pocket full of change coz the machine hands out soiled dirty notes as opposed to spanking crisp ones in the times of yore when ATM's were more of a tourist must-see-place and dear hubby took his wifey and daughter along with him into it and explained with an air of importance on how it functions to his kid and better half while I waited patiently outside getting redder as the seconds went by as slow as Ravi Shastri's batting. (Yea it is a wonder that he hit six sixes in an over)

Well, I try to fish a coin from my trouser pocket and meanwhile our man waits with bated breath to see how much I am going to come up with after fiddling in my trouser pockets for a whole 30 seconds. Alas there is only a 25paise coin and I can sense his frustration. He even curses me under his breath. Meanwhile a svelte femme is getting out of the ATM and our man can get a whiff of the heavenly perfume she is wearing and gallops towards her as if he were going to carry her off a la Prithiviraj Chauhan.

I imagine: How would it be if that bugger-beggar went and planted a kiss on her luscious cheeks

The lady near the Temple:
She isn’t a beggar technically. She sits inside the temple compound and on the pretext of watching over the footwear which the devotees leave behind she 'extends her hands', I repeat, 'extends her hands' while the person comes to retrieve his/her footwear. An unofficial footwear valet you could say!

I happily gave this lady a coin almost daily (coz I visit the Temple everyday, I am a holy fellow you see) till the day I saw a scene. I thought she was a destitute (she looks like a right royal hag) but one day her son came to get the morning 'collections' from her! Mother and son were speaking to each other affectionately and that bugger handed over a tiffin box (with food) for her lunch and left after bidding good bye and best wishes. I asked the hag who he was and that is how I know he is her son.

Back at home I told my mom what had happened. My mom nonchalantly: "Didn’t you know that the old hag is the mother in law of our neighbour's servant lady? She has a daughter who is married to a rich man it seems” "Oh dang! These peeps are well 'settled' eh? Hope she isn't married to a H1B visa holder and on a H4 herself” I thought to myself. But even then I don’t refrain from handing over a coin to her. Maybe she is some Goddess who masquerades as an old lady just to test my charitable sense. I have read so many Amar Chithra Katha comics that say God came in a beggar's avatar to test the devotion and charity of devotees. I wouldn’t want to take a risk, so I continue giving my favs a coin or two whenever I see them (rather whenever they panhandle me). I am a miser. Uff!

All you wanted to know about that nagging back pain!

2005-12-05T05:09:00.000-08:00

Chronic back pain is a common problem with a large health and social cost. Around a quarter of adults have had back pain in the last month, with one in 40 reporting disabling back or neck pain. Each year around 5% of patients consult their primary care practitioner with back pain, resulting in 137 consultations per 1000 patients. This means a practitioner with 1750 patients will typically see at least one patient with back pain each day.

Facts about back pain:
It's common to see minor abnormalities on x ray films of the lumbar spine. Two randomised studies did not show any benefit in outcome from performing lumbar spine x rays. One found that they have an adverse effect on outcome. They also expose patients to large amounts of radiation.

It's common to see minor abnormalities on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans of the lumbar spine. This is an expensive investigation that's unlikely to improve the patient's outcome. One randomised controlled trial showed that patients who had an x ray had a similar outcome to patients who had a magnetic resonance imaging scan.

Abnormalities are commonly found on magnetic resonance imaging scans. A review of eight studies of magnetic resonance imaging in asymptomatic adults found:

* Bulging discs in 20% to 79%
* Herniated discs in 9% to 76%
* Degenerative discs in 46% to 91%.

Measuring the ESR or plasma viscosity is the best test for excluding malignancy or ankylosing spondylitis. This costs hardly 20rupees!

Evidence suggests that investigating simple back pain is unnecessary. A careful history and examination, if indicated, should exclude any serious cause.

Few treatments have been shown to benefit people with back pain.

Spinal manipulation has not been shown to be effective for chronic low back pain when compared with no treatment. Massage is likely to benefit people with chronic low back pain. But the evidence is weak and based on studies that might have had methodological flaws. There is better evidence for the benefits of exercise classes.

Acupuncture has not been shown to be effective for treating chronic low back pain.

Facet joint injections are likely to be ineffective or harmful.

We also don't know whether the following treatments are effective: electromyographic feedback, epidural steroid injections, lumbar supports, muscle relaxants, physical conditioning programmes, specific exercise regimens such as the McKenzie approach, and transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation.

Weight loss surprisingly does not reduce back pain but weight gain can aggravate a back ache.

General exercise appears to benefit people with chronic low back pain. There are some data, including cost analysis, supporting the use of an exercise class using cognitive behavioural principles.

Multidisciplinary treatment consisting of intensive physical and psychosocial training by a team often using a group approach, and avoiding passive physiotherapy, reduces pain and improves the day-to-day activity of patients with chronic back pain.

Few people who have been off work with back pain for more than six months ever return to work. Usually patients are worried about returning to work. Returning immediately after an acute back pain episode to full duties might cause their condition to deteriorate in the short term, reducing chances of returning fully to work. A supportive employer can help many people return to work.

Few therapies offered by outpatient physiotherapy departments as a uni-disciplinary treatment are likely to be effective for people with chronic back pain. But it might be worth considering a graded exercise programme, if your local physiotherapy department offers one.

In one study, 32% of patients who presented with back pain reconsulted within three months.21 The same study found that only 21% of those interviewed three months after seeing their GP with back pain were free from symptoms. The authors concluded: "Low back pain should be viewed as a chronic problem with an untidy pattern of grumbling symptoms and periods of relative freedom from pain and disability interspersed with acute episodes, exacerbations, and recurrences."

Surgical intervention is rarely indicated for chronic simple back pain. Understandably, few orthopaedic surgeons are interested in non-surgical management. Their time is probably better spent delivering treatments proved to be effective.

A systematic review found tricyclic antidepressants, but not SSRIs, to be moderately effective in the treatment of chronic low back pain in patients without depression.

Surprisingly paracetamol eight times a day is very effective in back ache!

A gondola ride in Chennai

2005-12-04T06:00:00.000-08:00

I do have colourful dreams, sometimes even interactive dreams, but never in my bizarre dreams did I imagine that I would travel by boat inside Chennai city!

Ask me how this happened. I have a call at 9 am in the morning asking me to visit a kid of 7yrs who had a high temperature. I packed my bag and took out my vehicle and on reaching the area I could see water as far as my eyes could. Nearby on a lamp post was tethered a catamaran (boat) that was used by the residents of the area to ferry themselves across. Gosh! A few days back the thoroughfare to the apartment complex was dry and neat. Come the second spell of rains and it turns into a Venice. My area gets to the headlines each time for the wrong reasons when it rains.

I parked my vehicle on a dry spot on the main road and boarded the gondola;)))) This boat isnt rowed but pushed by two people from the behind and pulled by a person from the front. Kindly note, the people who help push the boat arent paid by anyone! They do it as a service and sometimes some Good Samaritan might hand them a ten buck note to meet their coffee/tea/snacks expenditure.

Inside the apartment complex, the water came upto my knees but somehow I managed to wade through the water and get to the flat and examined the kid and wrote out a prescription. The parents were so thankful that I arrived inspite of the inconvenience. A tsunami of satisfaction overcame me!

Chennai jottings...2

2005-12-03T05:07:00.000-08:00

The Chennai flower vendor is a usual sight on all street corners in residential areas and more near temples. The vendor is usually an obese/cachectic lady clad in a dirty cotton saree and is especially known for her superior haggling skills. She is helped in her job by her dutiful husband who has to go down on his knees to extract a few bucks out of her to help himself to a 'cutting'* of rum or buy a few beedis.

Come rain or sunshine they can be seen stringing flowers together at their regular spots with an upturned cardboard box that serves as a counter for vending their flowers and one buys a 'muzham' of malli poo/jaadhi/mullai etc over the counter!

A 'muzham' is a measurement of length that is unique to the flower business. It supposedly spans the length from the tip of the right index finger to the cubital fossa (the crease where the arm meets the forearm) of the vendor. Since this varies from person to person and between the sexes, it is usually the femme who measures out the 'muzham' and she sees to it that she bends her palm at the wrist so as to decrease the already miniscule length.

A 'muzham' of malli poo (jasmine) costs anywhere between 3 rupees in the summer to 10 during the rainy season. Ask them why is it costs so much and the ever ready rebuttal would be one of the following:
a) the flowers arent in season no
b) it is raining
c) it is too hot and the flowers get damaged while transportation
d) it is the marriage 'season'
e) it is the festival season

So my dear pals due to the above reasons the quintessential flowers cost a fortune perennially. A usual sight would be thus:

Customeress: "How much do I get for 10 rupees?"

Vendoress(?) nonchalantly: "One and a half muzham"

Customeress as if she has just heard the news that a tsunami has formed in the Indian Ocean and is heading straight towards her house: "What?"

Vendoress: "Yes Ma'am, since it is the festive season, the flowers are in high demand, the going rate at the Koyambedu market is 123456 bucks a kilo."

Customeress: "You people have some lame excuse or the other throughout the year!"

Vendoress: "What to do ma'am, we can give it at subsidised rates only if we can afford it, otherwise we run the risk of a loss. Don't forget ma that I too have three kids to feed"

Customeress: "Ok ok enough of your sad story, give me 2 'muzhams' for 10 bucks.

Vendoress: "No ma, definitely it isnt possible, the rates for the flowers are too high today" (so saying, she measures out the strung flowers on her skinny, short hand)

Customeress: "No, no nothing doing, you haven't taken the right measurement, you have bent your wrist, the flowers are too little, that surely isnt 1 and half muzham"

Vendoress: "No ma, why would I ever cheat, I swear on God that it is the right measurement, see for yourself" (and she runs through the measurement the same as before but a wee bit quicker this time)

Customeress: "For my hand that would be hardly 3/4th of a muzham. Cheri, what else option do I have rather than buying this from you!"

Vendoress: "Inikki adjust pannikko ma, naalaikku rate kammiyaayidum unakku niraya poo tharen." (Kindly adjust today ma'am, tomorrow when the rates go down I shall give you more)

But then...the same thing happens 365 days a year.

There is something to the jasmine flowers that even the ordinary looking Tam girl seems to have a fresh radiance about her once she dons the white flowers on her neatly braided hair. A classical look, a 'homely' look, that right look most Tam males want when they want to take a femme home and tell their Moms: "Ma, this is Nandhini and she is my friend...of late we are contemplating marriage!"

*Cutting: A cutting of any alcoholic drink is 90ml. A 'quarter' pronounced locally as 'kotter' is 180ml, so a cut in 180 is 90. FYI a 'half' is 360 and a 'full' is 720ml.

PS: Actually I wanted to take a pic of the vendoress, but then her possessive husband didnt allow me to and instead wanted his pic taken. Dang! Double dang! ;))))))

Chennai jottings...

2005-12-01T18:50:00.000-08:00

I was sitting at my favourite Chennai Nair Tea Shop when I heard the zaniest conversation in recent times! A man walks in with a bizarre looking hearing aid stuck to his ear with a wire leading to his shirt pocket. On closer scrutiny it is a handsfree set for his mobile. He is speaking into into/to the contraption like there is no tomorrow and motions the 'tea master' to make him a sugarless tea, sits down on a plastic stool and picks up a 'bhaji' that has been made in the Paleontozoic era and kept out in the open to feed the houseflies and also as a receptacle for the dirt, grime and dust produced by the cacophonous Metropolitan Transport Corporation buses plying on roads that have craters similar to the moon.

Man with bizarre handsfree set (MWBHS): "Sir, I forced the girl to come on Tuesday, but she says she has got her exams"

God only knows what the duffer on the other side is telling him...

MWBHS: "No sir, I tried my best to get her over, but she is adamant saying that she has flunked her earlier exams and definitely cannot come this time"

God only knows what the duffer on the other side is telling him...

MWBHS: "Yes sir, she cant afford to do things according to her own luxury, that too after having asked us to go ahead with all the arrangements. Wouldn't we take care of her rain or sunshine, but somehow she seems to have missed the point"

God only knows what the duffer on the other side is telling him...

(Meanwhile, my thought takes a fancy flight and is freewheeling! Jeez these people are doing it in the open now eh? Goddamn, no wonder Chennai is seeing Japanese words like Tsunami in the Tamil papers)

MWBHS: "Sir, I told her father but he says it is none of his business and his daughter is an independent lady and can think for herself. I think I need to talk to her mother about this. How can she do like this, she should have informed us earlier. We have made all the arrangements and now she is backing out at the last minute. Dont worry Sir, I will somehow get her on Tuesday."

(Awww efff, even the parents are cahoots!!! Thirupathi Ezhumalayaaney!!)

God only knows what the duffer on the other side is telling him...

MWBHS: "I have arranged fantastic accomodation too and during this time it is very difficult to get a VIP suite. I have really slogged for it, Sir"

(If only I knew the name of the Hotel and the room number!)

MWBHS: "She badly wanted to go to Thirupathi for the past few years and now when the opportunity is there she cant go it seems. Ok then, what to do, the Lord wants her to come only later, I guess. Sorry for troubling you Sir."

Bloody idiot. He gave me a scare that bugger with the bizarre handsfree set! So Chennai is still safe and innocent?

Herbal supplements and surgery

2005-11-29T23:29:00.000-08:00

Before you have surgery, tell your doctor about any herbal supplements you're taking. Some common herbal supplements can interfere with the success of your surgery.

You might not think to tell your doctor about the herbal supplements you're taking, such as the echinacea you take to fight off colds or the feverfew you use to prevent your migraines. But what you may not realize is that these and other herbal supplements can affect the success of a surgical procedure, just as conventional medicines can. Tell your doctor about any herbal supplements you're taking well before you have surgery. You may need to stop taking some herbal supplements up to three weeks before surgery to make sure they leave your system completely.

Here's a look at some common herbal supplements and how they can interfere with surgery. Keep in mind that other herbal supplements also may affect your surgery, so be sure to also tell your doctor if you're taking any herbs that aren't on this list.

Danshen
May cause bleeding

Dong quai
May cause bleeding

Echinacea
May interfere with immune functioning, may alter effectiveness of immuno-suppressant drugs given after transplant surgery
Ephedra
May cause abnormal heartbeat, may cause extreme high blood pressure and coma if combined with certain antidepressants and anesthesia

Feverfew
May cause bleeding

Garlic
May cause bleeding, may interfere with normal blood clotting

Ginger
May cause bleeding

Ginkgo
May cause bleeding

Ginseng
May cause bleeding, may cause rapid heartbeat, may cause high blood pressure

Goldenseal
May cause or worsen high blood pressure

Kava
May enhance sedative effects of anesthesia

Licorice (not including licorice candy)
May increase blood pressure

Senna
May cause electrolyte imbalance

St. John's wort
May increase or decrease the effects of some drugs used during and after surgery

Valerian
May interfere with the effects of anesthesia

Source:
Mayoclinic, which sends emails if you subscribe to them: housecall@mayoclinic.com

All because I went for a hair cut!

2005-11-27T10:40:00.000-08:00

The Chennai barber has metamorphosed so much that I can hardly recognise him. Gone were the days when there was a rickety old chair in the middle of the salon which had half a door closed with an old fan rotating lazily/screechily above and the barber just went clippety clip for a full 45 minutes. By the time he finished I had a nap and also managed rosy dreams of fair, lipsticked actresses whose semi nude pictures adorned the dirty walls of the barber shop. After 45 mins I gave a 5 rupee professional charge and walked out happily light headed, the weight above my head reduced by almost a kilo!

Nowadays the barber's sports a trendy and cool look replete with a lot of paraphernalia and even a fish tank. I swear I dont understand what is the fad with aquariums in Chennai that soon the cobbler on the road might be seen having one. Everyone seems to be in a hurry to have their hair cropped or their stubbles worked on that they barge into the place and demand a quick haircut or a shave with a result a long queue of people sit (can one 'sit' in a queue?) impatiently waiting for their turn. I always have this feeling that on the days I go to the barber's the whole town seems to be there.The ever compliant barber gets to work in a jiffy and one can see that he is in a hurry to finish his job rather than caress the lock of hair sending the client into a peaceful trance.

The modern day barber shop is a busy one as opposed to the days of yore when one frequented the barbers just to have a look at the vernacular papers and ogle at the sexy, slim actresses pinned on the walls. It was a place where politics, cinema, and education were discussed at great lengths. The barber kept yakking while the customer went into a hypnotic state. After cutting the hair, the barber donned the role of a masseur : He massaged the head and back. He even assumed the role of a chiropractor or a podiatrist. In fact the first surgeons were barbers. We had a barber in our men's hostel at Stanley Medical College and we cynically called him the 'Stanley Surgeon'.

I just returned from the barber and I should say the experience wasnt too memorable. I closed my eyes and old memories surfaced in my tired mind and I sat oblivious of the barber using a harsh comb and a rough pair of scissors. The days when Devan, my childhood barber came home to cut my unkempt hair on a sunny Saturday afternoon slowly took shape in my mind's eye like a well projected PowerPoint presentation.

Devan was a short and bald man in his fifties with a thin line of hair for a moushtache at the edge of his upper lip. I always wondered who cut his hair or did he do an auto-cut? He did have a salon in the main road at Yercaud, Salem Dt, but visited my house on my father's insistance. We (my brother and I) as kids were very scared of the going to the salon and my Dad thought it was a better idea to ask the barber to come over. Usually it was a Saturday because we had only half a day of school on that day and on Sundays the barber was too busy in his shop that he couldnt make a house-visit.

He came at around 2 pm carrying a black box with all his instruments inside. As soon as I spotted him coming (I usually sat perched on the compound wall near the gate), I would yell: "Appa, barber vandhaachu" (the barber has come). Immediately I would be admonished by Dad: "How many times have I told you to say 'Devan uncle has come? You never listen, useless fellow!" Dad did not like us addressing him as 'barber'. But I always wondered secretly: "How else would anyone call a barber? Dont we call a teacher as teacher and not as Hendricks aunty?" I dont fathom why my father did not want us to address him as 'barber'. Perhaps he thought it was an insult? No work is inferior, isnt it?

Sometimes when the barber came we were so engrossed in our play that it would require our parents to yell at us to go and sit in the chair which had a plank of wood across the arm rests (so that we were at the right height for 'Devan uncle') and get going with the hair cut. One day we didnt turn up even after a few yells from my Dad that he got so angry and even pulled a toy car that I was playing with very harshly and threw it with such force onto the floor that it got smashed to smithereens. I got hurt so badly and I never forgave my father for that.

Ok, I digress. Devan was a very strict man and he wouldnt tolerate any of my pranks. The hardest part of the hair cut was bending my head forward while he cut the hair behind my head. It seemed like a few eons and even if I moved my head a little he shoved it back ruthlessly into position threatening me that he would cut my ears! Devan had an irritating habit of burping and I could almost smell his gastric contents while he burped right behind my ears! Sometimes I thought he would ralph on me. Eeeks.

After I had my barnet cut (usually my bro and I had a fight as to who will get the first haircut and it was me who won) I would lounge around while my brother was having his, irritating him all the while knowing fully that he couldnt do anything to me then (he had the habit of throwing whatever he could find on me).

When Devan finished, my Dad gave him 10 rupees, he received it gratefully and left only to return a month later to burp in my ear.

This evening I missed Devan and even wondered if he was alive. May God bless him wherever he is.

Alcohol-Drug Interactions

2005-11-26T02:59:00.000-08:00

After having a look at the number of hits to this site and also viewing the referral sites like Google etc, it is very obvious that folks always search for drug interactions and invariably land here or more commonly search for alcohol-drug interactions. To provide peeps with more info I am posting this.

The properties that promote drug interactions:
Chronic alcoholism results in enzyme induction. Acute alcoholic intoxication tends to inhibit drug metabolism (whether the person is an alcoholic or not). Severe alcohol-induced hepatic dysfunction may inhibit ability to metabolize drugs. Disulfiram (Antabuse) like reactions in the presence of certain drugs may occur. Additive CNS (central nervous system) depression with other central nervous depressants may occur.

Clinically documented alcohol-drug interactions:
Acetaminophen:
Increased formation of hepatotoxic acetaminophen metabolites (in chronic alcoholics)

Anticoagulants, oral:
Increased hypoprothrombinaemic effect with acute alcohol intoxication.

Central Nervous System depressants:
Additive or synergistic CNS depression.

Insulin:
Acute alcohol intake may increase hypoglycaemic effect of insulin (especially in fasting patients).

Drugs that produce a disulfiram-like reaction:

Cephalosporins: Disulfiram-like reactions noted with cefamandole, cefaperazone, cefotetan and moxalactam.
Chloral hydrate: Mechanism not established.
Disulfiram: Inhibits aldehyde dehydrogenase.
Metronidazole: Mechanism not established.
Sulfonylureas: Chlorpropamide is most likely to cause a disulfiram-like reaction; acute alcohol intake may increase hypoglycemic effect (especially in fasting patients)

Hope this helps!

The Super 15!

2005-11-24T14:31:00.000-08:00

In the good-for-you category of foods, there exists an elite squad of real superstars — foods that go the distance in giving you vitamins, minerals and possible protection from health problems. Pick a few that you like and seek them out at salad bars or slip them into favorite recipes. They keep on giving.

1. Garlic.
One clove may contain more than 15 antioxidants, plus an antibiotic and a bronchial decongestant; may help lower blood pressure, boost immunity, reduce blood clotting, lower bad cholesterol, raise cholesterol and prevent some types of cancer.

2. Onions.
Certain compounds clear sinuses; may control high cholesterol and prevent heart attacks and some cancers, including stomach, rectal and colon.

3. Spinach.
Contains vitamin C, vitamin E, folic acid, protein, calcium and beta-carotene, which may help protect against cancer.

4. Strawberries.
Full of vitamin C, potassium and dietary fiber; also high in pectin, which reduces cholesterol levels and risk of hypertension.

5. Carrots.
Full of beta-carotene and fiber; may help prevent cancer and reduce risk of heart attack; may also lower cholesterol levels.

6. Skim milk.
Brimming with calcium, protein and riboflavin; can help prevent osteoporosis.

7. Beans.
Contain protein, folic acid and fiber; may lower cholesterol and risk of cance

8. Broccoli.
High in fiber, calcium, folic acid and vitamin C, with phytochemicals , that have anticancer properties. Hard for digestion if you have liver disease, makes the liver overwork.

9. Sweet potatoes.
Rich in vitamins C and E, beta-carotene, fiber, potassium and iron; may help prevent cancer.

10. Citrus fruits.
Boast high amounts of vitamin C; may help protect against cancer; the pectin found in white grapefruit may reduce risk of heart disease.

11. Soy.
Contains iron, calcium, magnesium and fiber; the only food to contain genistein, which may inhibit breast cancer by decreasing estrogen levels.

12. Tomatoes.
Contain lycopene, which may help fight cancer, plus fiber and vitamin C.

13. Cantaloupe.
One cup provides 125 percent of the Daily Value for vitamin C and more than 50 percent for vitamin A; melons may protect against cancers of the colon and rectum.

14. Oatmeal.
Full of fiber, which may help lower cholesterol, plus iron, copper, folic acid, vitamin E and zinc.

15. Brown rice.
One cup contains more than 20 percent of the Daily Value for magnesium and selenium, plus fiber and antioxidant power; its fiber may help prevent colon cancer and constipation.

A house visit, the auto-wallah and the rains

2005-11-23T00:33:00.000-08:00

An area called Madipakkam next to Velachery (the area where I stay) in Chennai is a veritable ocean replete with waves whenever it rains for more than a day. One wonders how at all did people have the mind to buy/rent a house/flat in such a low lying area! Come monsoons and normal life is disrupted for more than a week even after it has stopped raining. Even the MTC (govt. bus transport) halts its services to Madipakkam! Imagine.

Ok today I had a phone call from a doctor friend asking me to visit his patient who lives in Madipakkam. I couldnt refuse as the patient was 88yrs old and she was being looked after by her niece and there wasnt any male member in the family to take her to the hospital.

Knowing that the area would be flooded I decided to hire a rick to visit the patient. Mercifully the auto-wallah agreed to ply me to Madipakkam and back(usually even autowallahs refuse to ply to Madipakkam during the rains, if at all they do, the charge would be astronomical, maybe the equivalent of buying an auto and fuelling it for life)

The Good Samaritan auto driver informed me the fare would be 150 bucks. Off I went and the main road to Madipakkam was cut off with water stagnating as far as the eye could see! There were even waves like the ones you see in Hawaii! I could have easily learnt to surf on those waters.

Ok after the auto waded through the waters and went through rickety-rackety roads, we finally reached the house I was to visit.

The poor old lady had high fever, elephantiasis of the legs, inflammatory edema in the legs because of a few furuncles on the legs and diabetic nephropathy.

I gave a shot of paracetamol to reduce the fever and asked for a few investigations. She was sleeping in a very odd position and was about to fall off the bed. Her attendants being ladies and not very strong could not move her into a proper position and so they had barricaded the bed with a few chairs. Along with the help of the auto driver, I managed to pull the patient into a more comfortable position. Ants were streaming along on her limp body. Poor thing, passing urine and motion on the bed and lying in the wetness should have been really uncomfortable and had moved herself to the cot's edge.

Finally while I was about to leave, the lady of the house wanted to know how much she would have to pay the auto driver. Without batting a lid, he charged 250 bucks. The lady was bewildered but eventually gave him the dough. Next she asked me how much my fee was. I said 200 bucks. She was kind of shocked in a pleasant way, and even offered me a 100 extra. Politely I refused and left asking her to take care. As I left she muttered under her breath: Doctor charges 200 and auto driver charges 250!

I don’t know whether it was right on the part of the auto wallah to charge 250, coz the water logging was so very bad, but that’s life. I don’t have a right to suggest to the autowallah to charge less. What if he were to suggest me to charge less? Each one should be responsible for the fee they collect.

You can have a look at the pics that I took from my mobile while traveling by the rick.

At last!

2005-11-17T23:14:00.000-08:00

Finally I seem to have got in touch with my batch mates from Stanley Med College. Chezhian has stumbled on to my site 'accidentally' and Balan feels I have too much time on my hands after reading my blog and wants to know if I am married. Yes Balan, I am married to a beautiful lady who is four years our junior and Praveen after reading the '100 things about me' feels that I have narcisstic tendencies. Well Praveen what else do you expect to read in a '100 things about me' stuff? And that too from an arrogant arsehole like me? ;))))

And guys, whoever is the group manager is a wee bit slow in sending me an invite to join the msn group!

The Chennai 'Nair Tea Shop'

2005-11-15T02:28:00.000-08:00

The ubiquitous Chennai 'Nair Tea Kadai' is an institution of sorts. Dingy, dirty, but catering to the hungry wayfarer and office goer, one can find this shop at every nook and corner in Chennai. I wonder why the Malayali doesnt want to set up shop in Kerala but in ''Singara Chennai". One possible explation would be that since most Mallus are seen everywhere except Kerala, there seems to be a dearth of tea/coffee drinking people in the most literate state in India!!!

Another theory of mine says that the highly literate Mallus are way hygienic than Tamilians and wouldnt want to drink tea in dirty wayside shops. One would be surprised to see software guys from the likes of TCS, Infosys and CTS sitting in these shops with their company badges dangling around their necks and sipping hot chai and biting on a vada or a bajji throwing cleanliness to the winds. Some say that tea tastes better in a glass tumbler!

The 'tea shop' not only vends tea but also an array of fried snacks like vadas, bajji, bondas and the like. Some 'tea shops' even offer curd rice and lemon rice for a quick afternoon lunch. These tea shops seem to be a rendezvous for salesmen, auto-drivers and messages could be passed on to the 'tea-master' to be relayed to other people. How cool and effective is that?

The Glamboyant Masala Dosai

2005-11-14T03:33:00.000-08:00

The 'Masala Dosai' is an integral part of Chennai and I can safely say that one misses out on a gastronomic delight if he hasnt savoured this quintessential and most sublime of foods during his/her visit to the city.

To the staunch Tamil it is 'dosai' and when pronounced that way the dish seems very pristine, but to the non Tamil, it is 'dosa', 'dhosa' or even 'dhosha' and this is when it seems the dish loses its 'manna-ish' quality!

On the surface, preparing a dosai seems to be easy, but when one attempts making a crisp one, then everything seems to go awry. The batter has to be just perfect and then the potato masala that goes in the centre while making the dosai should also be of the right consistency and only then can one turn out an authentic Chennai masala dosai.

Masala dosai can never be termed a humble dish, for it has a flavour of flamboyance in it and is a great accompaniment to gin/vermouth. No other South Indian dish goes well with gin. Also fresh filter coffee after a breakfast of masala dosai is nothing short of ambrosia!

60 uses of common salt

2005-10-26T10:37:00.000-07:00

Although you may not realize it, simple table salt has a great number of uses other than simply seasoning your food. The following list will give you sixty uses of salt, many of which you probably didn't realize:

1. Soak stained hankies in salt water before washing.

2. Sprinkle salt on your shelves to keep ants away.

3. Soak fish in salt water before descaling; the scales will come off easier.

4. Put a few grains of rice in your salt shaker for easier pouring.

5. Add salt to green salads to prevent wilting.

6. Test the freshness of eggs in a cup of salt water; fresh eggs sink; bad ones float.

7. Add a little salt to your boiling water when cooking eggs; a cracked egg will stay in its shell this way.

8. A tiny pinch of salt with egg whites makes them beat up fluffier.

9. Soak wrinkled apples in a mildly salted water solution to perk them up.

10. Rub salt on your pancake griddle and your flapjacks won't stick.

11. Soak toothbrushes in salt water before you first use them; they will last longer.

12. Use salt to clean your discolored coffee pot.

13. Mix salt with turpentine to whiten you bathtub and toilet bowl.

14. Soak your nuts in salt brine overnight and they will crack out of their shells whole. Just tap the end of the shell with a hammer to break it open easily.

15. Boil clothespins in salt water before using them and they will last longer.

16. Clean brass, copper and pewter with paste made of salt and vinegar, thickened with flour

17. Add a little salt to the water your cut flowers will stand in for a longer life.

18. Pour a mound of salt on an ink spot on your carpet; let the salt soak up the stain.

19. Clean you iron by rubbing some salt on the damp cloth on the ironing surface.

20. Adding a little salt to the water when cooking foods in a double boiler will make the food cook faster.

21. Use a mixture of salt and lemon juice to clean piano keys.

22. To fill plaster holes in your walls, use equal parts of salt and starch, with just enough water to make a stiff putty.

23. Rinse a sore eye with a little salt water.

24. Mildly salted water makes an effective mouthwash. Use it hot for a sore throat gargle.

25. Dry salt sprinkled on your toothbrush makes a good tooth polisher.

26. Use salt for killing weeds in your lawn.

27. Eliminate excess suds with a sprinkle of salt.

28. A dash of salt in warm milk makes a more relaxing beverage.

29. Before using new glasses, soak them in warm salty water for awhile.

30. A dash of salt enhances the taste of tea.

31. Salt improves the taste of cooking apples.

32. Soak your clothes line in salt water to prevent your clothes from freezing to the line; likewise, use salt in your final rinse to prevent the clothes from freezing.

33. Rub any wicker furniture you may have with salt water to prevent yellowing.

34. Freshen sponges by soaking them in salt water.

35. Add raw potatoes to stews and soups that are too salty.

36. Soak enamel pans in salt water overnight and boil salt water in them next day to remove burned-on stains.

37. Clean your greens in salt water for easier removal of dirt.

38. Gelatin sets more quickly when a dash of salt is added.

39. Fruits put in mildly salted water after peeling will not discolor.

40. Fabric colors hold fast in salty water wash.

41. Milk stays fresh longer when a little salt is added.

42. Use equal parts of salt and soda for brushing your teeth.

43. Sprinkle salt in your oven before scrubbing clean.

44. Soaked discolored glass in a salt and vinegar solution to remove stains.

45. Clean greasy pans with a paper towel and salt.

46. Salty water boils faster when cooking eggs.

47. Add a pinch of salt to whipping cream to make it whip more quickly.

48. Sprinkle salt in milk-scorched pans to remove odour.

49. A dash of salt improves the taste of coffee.

50. Boil mismatched hose in salty water and they will come out matched.

51. Salt and soda will sweeten the odor of your refrigerator.

52. Cover wine-stained fabric with salt; rinse in cool water later.

53. Remove offensive odors from stove with salt and cinnamon.

54. A pinch of salt improves the flavor of cocoa.

55. To remove grease stains in clothing, mix one part salt to four parts alcohol.

56. Salt and lemon juice removes mildew.

57. Sprinkle salt between sidewalk bricks where you don't want grass growing.

58. Polish your old kerosene lamp with salt for a brighter look.

59. Remove odors from sink drainpipes with a strong, hot solution of salt water.

60. If a pie bubbles over in your oven, put a handful of salt on top of the spilled juice. The mess won't smell and will bake into a dry, light crust which will wipe off easily when the oven has cooled.

All Logic Defied!!!

2005-10-23T18:42:00.000-07:00

Someone call the shrink, I am going crazy when I think of how girls walk with these;)

Medicine - Herb/Food Interactions

2005-10-09T19:09:00.000-07:00

Many people have the mistaken notion that, being natural, all herbs and foods are safe. This is not so. Very often, herbs and foods may interact with medications you normally take that result in serious side reactions. It is always a good practice to tell your doctor or health practitioners what you are taking so that they can advise you of possible complications, if there is any. You should also keep an eye for unusual symptoms. Very often, this may foretell the symptoms of a drug interaction.

Experts suggest that natural does not mean it is completely safe. Everything you put in your mouth has the potential to interact with something else. The medication that is taken by mouth travels through the digestive system in much the same way as food and herbs taken orally do. So, when a drug is mixed with food or another herb, each can alter the way the body metabolizes the other. Some drugs interfere with the body's ability to absorb nutrients. Similarly, some herbs and foods can lessen or increase the impact of a drug.

Alcohol is a drug that interacts with almost every medication, especially antidepressants and other drugs that affect the brain and nervous system.
Some dietary components increase the risk of side effects. Theophylline, a medication administered to treat asthma, contains xanthines, which are also found in tea, coffee, chocolate, and other sources of caffeine. Consuming large amounts of these substances while taking theophylline increases the risk of drug toxicity.
Certain vitamins and minerals impact on medications too. Large amounts of broccoli, spinach, and other green leafy vegetables high in vitamin K, which promotes the formation of blood clots, can counteract the effects of heparin, warfarin, and other drugs given to prevent clotting.
Dietary fiber also affects drug absorption. Pectin and other soluble fibers slow down the absorption of acetaminophen, a popular painkiller. Bran and other insoluble fibers have a similar effect on digoxin, a major heart medication.

As more and more people discover new herbs, there is more and more potential for the abuse of these herbs and the patients may end up in serious problems. High-risk patients, such as the elderly, patients taking three or more medications for chronic conditions, patients suffering from diabetes, hypertension, depression, high cholesterol or congestive heart failure, should be especially on the lookout for such side reactions.

The following are the examples of known interaction between popular herbs, foods, and prescription and over-the-counter drugs.

Hawthorn, touted as effective in reducing angina attacks by lowering blood pressure and cholesterol levels, should never be taken with Lanoxin (digoxin), the medication prescribed for most for heart ailments. The mix can lower your heart rate too much, causing blood to pool, bringing on possible heart failure.

Ginseng, according to research, can increase blood pressure, making it dangerous for those trying to keep their blood pressure under control. Ginseng, garlic or supplements containing ginger, when taken with the blood-thinning drug, Coumadin, can cause bleeding episodes. Coumadin is a very powerful drug that leaves little room for error, and patients taking it should never take any medication or otherwise before consulting a qualified health professional. In rare cases, ginseng may overstimulate resulting in insomnia. Consuming caffeine with ginseng increases the risk of overstimulation and gastrointestinal upset. Long tern use of ginseng may cause menstrual abnormalities and breast tenderness in some women. Ginseng is not recommended for pregnant or lactating women.

Garlic capsules combined with diabetes medication can cause a dangerous decrease in blood sugars. Some people who are sensitive to garlic may experience heartburn and flatulence. Garlic has anti-clotting properties. You should check with your doctor if you are taking anticoagulant drugs.

Goldenseal is used for coughs, stomach upsets, menstrual problems and even arthritis. However, the plant's active ingredient will raise blood pressure, complicating treatment for those taking antihypertensive medications, especially beta-blockers. For patients taking medication to control diabetes or kidney disease, this herb can cause dangerous electrolyte imbalance. High amount of consumption can lead to gastrointestinal distress and possible nervous system effects. Not recommended for pregnant or lactating women.

Feverfew, believed to be the natural remedy for migraine headaches, should never be taken with Imitrex or other migraine medications. It can result in the patient's heart rate and blood pressure to rise dangerous levels.

Guarana, an alternative remedy being used as a stimulant and diet aid, contains 3 percent to 5 percent more caffeine than a cup of coffee. So, if you are taking any medication that advises you against taking any drink with caffeine, you should avoid taking this stimulant. It may cause insomnia, trembling, anxiety, palpitations, urinary frequency, and hyperactivity. Avoid during pregnancy and lactation period. Long term use of Guarana may lead to decreased fertility, cardiovascular disease, and several forms of cancer.

Kava, a herb that has antianxiety, pain relieving, muscle relaxing and anticonvulsant effects, should not be taken together with substances that also act on the central nervous system, such as alcohol, barbiturates, anti depressants, and antipsychotic drugs.

St. John's Wort is a popular herb used for the treatment of mild depression.

The active ingredient of St. John's Wort is hypericin. Hypericin is believed to exert a similar influence on the brain as the monoamine oxidase (MAO) inhibitors such as the one in major antidepressants. Mixing MAO inhibitors with foods high in tyramine, an amino acid, produces one of the most dramatic and dangerous food-drug interactions. Symptoms, which can occur within minutes of ingesting such foods while taking an MAO inhibitor, include rapid rise in blood pressure, a severe headache, and perhaps collapse and even death. Foods high in tyramine include aged cheese, chicken liver, Chianti (and certain other red wines), yeast extracts, bologna (and other processed meats), dried or pickled fish, legumes, soy sauce, ale, and beer.

Some patients report that Saint Johns Wort caused excessive stimulation and sometimes dizziness, agitation and confusion when taken with other antidepressants or over-the-counter medications like Maximum Strength Dexatrim and Acutrim. It also caused their blood pressure to shoot up.

White Willow, an herb traditionally used for fever, headache, pain, and rheumatic complaints may lead to gastrointestinal irritation, if used for a long time. It exhibits similar reactions as aspirin (aspirin is derived from white willow). Long term use may lead to stomach ulcers.

Drug Interaction and Food

Drug interaction risk isn't limited to herbal supplements. Certain foods can interact with medications.

People taking digoxin should avoid Black licorice (which contains the ingredient glycyrhizin). Together, they can produce irregular heart rhythms and cardiac arrest; licorice and diuretics will produce dangerously low potassium levels, putting a patient at risk for numbing weakness, muscle pain and even paralysis. Licorice can also interact with blood pressure medication or any calcium channel blockers.

Aged cheese (brie, parmesan, cheddar and Roquefort), fava beans, sauerkraut, Italian green beans, some beers, red wine, pepperoni and overly ripe avocados should be avoided by people taking MAO antidepressants. The interaction can cause a potentially fatal rise in blood pressure.

And because Saint Johns Wort contains the same properties as these MAO antidepressants, it stands to reason that people ingesting the herb should avoid these same foods.

Grapefruit juice interacts with calcium channel blockers (including Calan, Procardia, Nifedipine, and Verapamil), cholesterol control medications, some psychiatric medications, estrogen, oral contraceptives and many allergy medications (Seldane, Hismanal). The juice modifies the body's way of metabolizing the medication, affecting the liver's ability to work the drug through a person's system. More Information.

Orange juice shouldn't be consumed with antacids containing aluminum. 'The juice increases the absorption of the aluminum. Orange Juice and milk should be avoided when taking antibiotics. The juice's acidity decreases the effectiveness of antibiotics, as does milk.

Milk also doesn't mix with laxatives containing bisacodyl (Correctol and Dulcolax). You might find the laxative works a little "too well" in the morning.

Large amounts of oatmeal and other high-fiber cereals should not be eaten when taking digoxin. The fiber can interfere with the absorption of the drug, making the act of swallowing the pill a waste of time.

However, don't stop eating your cereal right away, because that could cause digoxin levels in your system to soar to toxic levels. A professional should make the dietary changes after carefully examining the digoxin levels.

Leafy green vegetables, high in vitamin K, should not be taken in great quantities while taking Coumadin. These vegetables could totally negate the affects of the drug and cause blood clotting.

Caffeinated beverages and asthma drugs taken together can cause excessive excitability. Those taking Tagament (Simetidine), quinolone antibiotics (Cipro, Penetrex, Noroxin) and even oral contraceptives should be aware these drugs may cause their cup of coffee to give them more of a Java jolt than they expected.

Grilled meat can lead to problems for those on asthma medications containing theophyllines. The chemical compounds formed when meat is grilled somehow prevent this type of medication from working effectively, increasing the possibility of an unmanageable asthma attack.

Regularly consuming a diet high in fat while taking anti-inflammatory and arthritis medications can cause kidney damage and can leave the patient feeling, drowsy and sedated.

Alcoholic beverages tend to increase the depressive effects of medications such as benzodiazepines, antihistamines, antidepressants, antipsychotics, muscle relaxants, narcotics, or any drug with sedative actions.

It's a good idea to not consume any alcoholic beverages, or at least scale way back, when taking prescription medications. Antioxidant and beta-carotene intensify alcohol's effect on the liver.

Other commonly used over-the-counter medications can cause interaction problems also.

Aspirin can modify the effectiveness of arthritis medications, strong prescription steroids and diuretics. Combining aspirin with diabetic medications can drop blood sugars to dangerous levels. Aspirin can also cause toxicity when taken with glaucoma and anticonvulsant (anti-seizure) drugs and cause bleeding episodes when combined with a blood thinner, like Coumadin.

Acetaminophen can also cause interaction complications when overused. Heavy drinkers who take acetaminophen for hangover relief risk liver damage. Taking high doses of acetaminophen with Coumadin can cause bleeding episodes.

Antacids taken with antibiotics, heart and blood pressure or thyroid medications can decrease drug absorption by up to 90 percent.

Over-the-counter antihistamines - sold under the names Actifed, Theraflu, Dimetapp, Benadryl and Comtrex should be avoided if you are taking antianxiety or antidepressant medications.

Oral contraceptives are less effective when taken with barbiturates, antibiotics, anti-fungal or tuberculosis drugs.

Turnips contain two goitrogenic substances, progoitrin and gluconasturtin, which can interfere with the thyroid gland's ability to make its hormones. Although moderate consumption of goitrogens is not a hazard for healthy people, they can promote development of a goiter (an enlarged thyroid) in persons with thyroid disease.

Tomato contains small quantities of a toxic substance known as solanine that may trigger headaches in susceptible people. They are also a relatively common cause of allergies. An unidentified substance in tomatoes and tomato-based products can cause acid reflux, leading to indigestion and heartburn. Individuals who often have digestive upsets should try eliminating tomatoes for 2 to 3 weeks to see if there is any improvement.

Strawberries, Raspberries, Spinach, and Rhubarb: These contain oxalic acid, which can aggravate kidney and bladder stones in susceptible people, and reduce body's ability to absorb iron and calcium.

Raspberries contain a natural salicylate that can cause an allergic reaction in aspirin sensitive people.

The seeds from fruits such as Apple, apricot, and Quinces contain amygdalin, a compound that turns into Hydrogen Cyanide in the stomach. Eating large amount of seeds can result in cyanide poisoning.

Potatoes: Avoid potatoes with a green tint to the skin, and remove any sprouts; they will taste bitter and may contain solanine, a toxic substance that can cause diarrhea, cramps, and fatigue.

Plums, Peaches, Apricots, and Cherries: These fruits may produce allergic reaction in individuals with confirmed allergies to apricots, almonds, peaches, and cherries. People who are allergic to aspirin may also encounter problems after they have eaten plums or peaches as they contain salicylates. The pits of plums, peaches and apricots contain a compound called amygdalin. When consumed in large amounts, amygdalin breaks down into hydrogen cyanide, a poison.

Horseradish: Very high doses of horseradish can cause vomiting or excessive sweating. Avoid if you have hypothyroidism.

Turmeric: Should be avoided by persons with symptoms from gallstones.

The drug food interaction is summarized below.

Cephalosporins, penicillin
Take on an empty stomach to speed absorption of the drugs.

Erythromycin
Don't take with fruit juice or wine, which decrease the drug's effectiveness.

Sulfa drugs
Increase the risk of Vitamin B-12 deficiency

Tetracycline
Dairy products reduce the drug's effectiveness. Lowers Vitamin C absorption

Dilantin, phenobarbital
Increase the risk of anemia and nerve problems due to deficiency of folalte and other B vitamins.

Fluoxetine
Reduce appetite and can lead to excessive weight loss

Lithium
A low-salt diet increases the risk of lithium toxicity; excessive salt reduces the drug's efficacy

MAO Inhibitors
Foods high in tyramine (aged cheeses, processed meats, legumes, wine, beer, among others) can bring on a hypertensive crisis.

Tricyclics
Many foods, especially legumes, meat, fish, and foods high in Vitamin C, reduce absorption of the drugs.

ACE inhibitors
Take on an empty stomach to improve the absorption of the drugs.

Alpha blockers
Take with liquid or food to avoid excessive drop in blood pressure.

Antiarrhythmic drugs
Avoid caffeine, which increases the risk of irregular heartbeat.

Beta blockers
Take on an empty stomach; food, especially meat, increases the drug's effects and can cause dizziness and low blood pressure.

Digitalis
Avoid taking with milk and high fiber foods, which reduce absorption, increases potassium loss.

Diuretics
Increase the risk of potassium deficiency.

Potassium sparing diuretics
Unless a doctor advises otherwise, don't take diuretics with potassium supplements or salt substitutes, which can cause potassium overload.

Thiazide diuretics
Increase the reaction to MSG.

Pseudoephedrine
Avoid caffeine, which increase feelings of anxiety and nervousness.

Theophylline
Charbroiled foods and high protein diet reduce absorption. Caffeine increases the risk of drug toxicity.

Cholestyramine
Increases the excretion of folate and vitamins A, D, E, and K.

Gemfibrozil
Avoid fatty foods, which decrease the drug's efficacy in lowering cholesterol.

Antacids
Interfere with the absorption of many minerals; for maximum benefit, take medication 1 hour after eating.

Cimetidine, Fanotidine, Sucralfate
Avoid high protein foods, caffeine, and other items that increase stomach acidity.

Oral contraceptives
Salty foods increase fluid retention. Drugs reduce the absorption of folate, vitamin B-6, and other nutrients; increase intake of foods high in these nutrients to avoid deficiencies.

Steroids
Salty foods increase fluid retention. Increase intake of foods high in calcium, vitamin K, potassium, and protein to avoid deficiencies.

Thyroid drugs
Iodine-rich foods lower the drug's efficacy.

Laxative Mineral Oils
Overuse can cause a deficiency of vitamins A, D, E, and K.

Painkillers
Aspirin and stronger non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs Always take with food to lower the risk of gastrointestinal irritation; avoid taking with alcohol, which increases the risk of bleeding. Frequent use of these drugs lowers the absorption of folate and vitamin C.

Codeine
Increase fiber and water intake to avoid constipation.

Benzodiazepines
Never take with alcohol. Caffeine increases anxiety and reduce drug's effectiveness.

Medicines and Food

2005-10-09T18:34:00.000-07:00

Almost every patient and some doctors have this doubt: When should a particular medicine be taken? Before, With or After Food. This blog attempts to clear the fog.

Food can affect some medicines. Therefore often your medicine label may note "take with food", "take on an empty stomach" or "take half an hour before food". For many medicines that you take every day it is best to take them at the same time in relation to food every day.

Common instructions about medicines and foods and usual explanations are as follows:

Take with food
In most cases the medicine can be taken during the meal or immediately after the meal. There may be two reasons for this instruction, either the medicine can cause a stomach upset if you take it without food (e.g. doxycycline, Augmentin), or food will make the medicine be absorbed better into the body (e.g. griseofulvin)

Take after food
This may be for the same reasons as take with food. In the case of Gaviscon, it is used after food so that it works better to stop the food coming up from the stomach into the oesophagus (gullet).

Take on an empty stomach
In most cases the medicine should be taken at least two hours after the last time you ate and at least one hour before you are going to eat again. Examples include flucloxacillin, and antibiotic that doesn't work nearly as well if you have it with food, and etidronate.

For some medicines even the smallest amount of food in the stomach greatly reduces the amount of medicine that passes into the bloodstream. A group of medicines called bisphosphonates, used to treat conditions such as osteoporosis, are a particular problem. They include: alendronate, clodronate, etidronate and risedronate.

For medicines that must be taken on an empty stomach so that they pass into the bloodstream properly, you should choose times of the day that are convenient to you. Before breakfast is ideal for once daily medicines, but other good times include mid-morning, mid-afternoon and last thing at night. Bisphosphonate medicines (see above) should not be taken at bedtime.

This instruction is because the medicine is not absorbed as well by the body if you have much food in your stomach. In some cases the medicine may bind with something in the food. In other cases there is a special coating (enteric coating) on the tablet that does not dissolve until it gets into the intestine, so if you take the medicine with a big meal it can take many hours to start working (e.g. anti-inflammatories with an enteric coating).

Medicines generally work faster if taken on an empty stomach, so some pain relievers may be recommended to be taken before food.

Do not take grapefruit or grapefruit juice while taking medicine. In the last couple of years grapefruit have been found to alter the levels of some medicines in the body. In some cases the amount of the medicine in the blood can be increased by as much as 16 times the usual amount. So, if this instruction is on the label of your medicine you are best to avoid grapefruit and grapefruit juice completely.

Enzymes in the wall of the gut change some medicines on the way through into the bloodstream, making them less active. Grapefruit juice blocks these enzymes so medicines that would normally be changed instead arrive intact in the bloodstream in greater amounts than expected.

Avoid certain foods with certain medicines
Monoamine oxidase inhibitors such as tranylcypromine (Parnate) or phenelzine (Nardil) have special instructions with respect to foods. Many foods need to be avoided including cheese, sour cream, yeast and meat extracts, liver, sherry, beer (even non-alcoholic), red wine, avocados, chocolate, soy beans, broad bean pods, meals prepared with tenderisers, pickled fish, canned figs. Your pharmacist or doctor will be able to give you a more complete list.

Do not take antacids that contain magnesium or aluminum (e.g., Gelusil), the ulcer medicine sucralfate (Sucrafil), or vitamin or mineral supplements that contain iron or zinc for a minimum of 2 hours before or 2 hours after a dose of medicine. Taking antacids, sucralfate, or vitamin or mineral supplements too close to a dose of medicine can greatly decrease the effects of the medicine.

Common medicines taken with food

Anti-diabetics such as glibenclamide and metformin
Anti-inflammatories or NSAIDs (e.g. Voltaren, Naprosyn), unless enteric coated, or a quick effect is required.
Steroids e.g. prednisone, prednisolone, hydrocortisone
Adalat (nifedipine)
Augmentin (amoxicillin + clavulanic acid)
Aspirin in high doses
Daonil (glibenclamide)
Diamicron (gliclazide)
Epilim (sodium valproate)
EES (erythromycin ethyl succinate)
Fergon (iron)
Ferrogradumet (iron)
Flagyl (metronidazole)
Glucophage (metformin)
Griseofulvin
Lanoxin (digoxin)
Lithicarb (lithium)
Megostat (megestrol)
Minidiab (glipizide)
Mino-tabs (minocycline)
Naprosyn (naproxen)
Nifuran (nitrofurantoin)
Nolvadex (tamoxifen)
Nuelin (theophylline)
Priadel (lithium)
Roaccutane (isotretinoin)
Salazopyrin (sulphasalazine)
Slow K (potassium)
Sporanox (itraconazole)
Theo-dur (theophylline)
Vermox (mebendazole)
Vibra-tabs (doxycycline)
Voltaren (diclofenac)
Zinc
Zyloprim (allopurinol)

Common medicines taken on an empty stomach

Flucloxacillin
Penicillamine
Levothyroxine (thyroxine)
Penicillin v phenoxymethylpenicillin)
Oxytetracycline
Bidanzen (serratio-peptidase)
Capoten (captopril)
Didronel (etidronate)
ERA (erythromycin stearate)
ERYC (erythromycin base)
Floxapen (flucloxacillin)
Norflox (norfloxacin)
Omez (omeperazole)
Rifampicin
Selectol (celiprolol)
Sucralfate
Mebeverine
Sodium cromoglicate

Examples of medicines that don't mix well with grapefruit juice

Halcion (triazolam)
Isoptin (verapamil)
Plendil (felodipine)
Prepulsid (cisapride)
Zocor (simvastatin)

Hope this helps!

Facts about Restless Legs Syndrome (RLS)

2005-09-29T04:52:00.000-07:00

What Is Restless Legs Syndrome?

Restless legs syndrome (RLS) is a sleep disorder in which a person experiences unpleasant sensations in the legs described as creeping, crawling, tingling, pulling, or painful. These sensations usually occur in the calf area but may be felt anywhere from the thigh to the ankle. One or both legs may be affected; for some people, the sensations are also felt in the arms. These sensations occur when the person with RLS lies down or sits for prolonged periods of time, such as at a desk, riding in a car, or watching a movie. People with RLS describe an irresistible urge to move the legs when the sensations occur. Usually, moving the legs, walking, rubbing or massaging the legs, or doing knee bends can bring relief, at least briefly.

RLS symptoms worsen during periods of relaxation and decreased activity. RLS symptoms also tend to follow a set daily cycle, with the evening and night hours being more troublesome for RLS sufferers than the morning hours. People with RLS may find it difficult to relax and fall asleep because of their strong urge to walk or do other activities to relieve the sensations in their legs. Persons with RLS often sleep best toward the end of the night or during the morning hours. Because of less sleep at night, people with RLS may feel sleepy during the day on an occasional or regular basis. The severity of symptoms varies from night to night and over the years as well. For some individuals, there may be periods when RLS does not cause problems, but the symptoms usually return. Other people may experience severe symptoms daily.

Many people with RLS also have a related sleep disorder called periodic limb movements in sleep (PLMS). PLMS is characterized by involuntary jerking or bending leg movements during sleep that typically occur every 10 to 60 seconds. Some people may experience hundreds of such movements per night, which can wake them, disturb their sleep, and awaken bed partners. People who have RLS and PLMS have trouble both falling asleep and staying asleep and may experience extreme sleepiness during the day. As a result of problems both in sleeping and while awake, people with RLS may have difficulties with their job, social life, and recreational activities.

Some common symptoms of RLS include:

Unpleasant sensations in the legs (sometimes the arms as well), often described as creeping, crawling, tingling, pulling, or painful;
Leg sensations are relieved by walking, stretching, knee bends, massage, or hot or cold baths;
Leg discomfort occurs when lying down or sitting for prolonged periods of time;
The symptoms are worse in the evening and during the night.

Other possible characteristics include:

Involuntary leg (and occasionally arm) movements while asleep;
Difficulty falling asleep or staying asleep;
Sleepiness or fatigue during the daytime;
Cause of the leg discomfort not detected by medical tests;
Family members with similar symptoms.

What Causes It?
Although the cause is unknown in most cases, certain factors may be associated with RLS:

Family history. RLS is known to run in some families--parents may pass the condition on to their children.
Pregnancy. Some women experience RLS during pregnancy, especially in the last months. The symptoms usually disappear after delivery.
Low iron levels or anemia. Persons with these conditions may be prone to developing RLS. The symptoms may improve once the iron level or anemia is corrected.
Chronic diseases. Kidney failure quite often leads to RLS. Other chronic diseases such as diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, and peripheral neuropathy may also be associated with RLS.
Caffeine intake. Decreasing caffeine consumption may improve symptoms.

Who Gets RLS?

RLS occurs in both sexes. Symptoms can begin any time, but are usually more common and more severe among older people. Young people who experience symptoms of RLS are sometimes thought to have "growing pains" or may be considered "hyperactive" because they cannot easily sit still in school.

How Is It Diagnosed?

There is no laboratory test that can make a diagnosis of RLS and, when someone with RLS goes to see a doctor, there is usually nothing abnormal the doctor can see or detect on examination. Diagnosis therefore depends on what a person describes to the doctor. The history usually includes a description of the typical leg sensations that lead to an urge to move the legs or walk. These sensations are noted to worsen when the legs are at rest, for example, when sitting or lying down and during the evening and night. The person with RLS may complain about trouble sleeping or daytime sleepiness. In some cases, the bed partner will complain about the person's leg movements and jerking during the night.

To help make a diagnosis, the doctor may ask about all current and past medical problems, family history, and current medications. A complete physical and neurological exam may help identify other conditions that may be associated with RLS, such as nerve damage (neuropathy or a pinched nerve) or abnormalities in the blood vessels. Basic laboratory tests may be done to assess general health and to rule out anemia. Further studies depend on initial findings. In some cases, a doctor may suggest an overnight sleep study to determine whether PLMS or other sleep problems are present. In most people with RLS, no new medical problem will be discovered during the physical exam or on any tests, except the sleep study, which will detect PLMS if present.

How Is It Treated?

In mild cases of RLS, some people find that activities such as taking a hot bath, massaging the legs, using a heating pad or ice pack, exercising, and eliminating caffeine help alleviate symptoms. In more severe cases, medications are prescribed to control symptoms. Unfortunately, no one drug is effective for everyone with RLS. Individuals respond differently to medications based on the severity of symptoms, other medical conditions, and other medications being taken. A medication that is initially found to be effective may lose its effectiveness with nightly use; thus, it may be necessary to alternate between different categories of medication in order to keep symptoms under control.

Although many different drugs may help RLS, those most commonly used are found in the following three categories:

Benzodiazepines are central nervous system depressants that do not fully suppress RLS sensations or leg movements, but allow patients to obtain more sleep despite these problems. Some drugs in this group may result in daytime drowsiness. Benzodiazepines should not be used by people with sleep apnoea.
Dopaminergic agents are drugs used to treat Parkinson's disease and are also effective for many people with RLS and PLMS. These medications have been shown to reduce RLS symptoms and nighttime leg movements.
Opioids are pain-killing and relaxing drugs that can suppress RLS and PLMS in some people. These medications can sometimes help people with severe, unrelenting symptoms.

Although there is some potential for benzodiazepines and opioids to become habit forming, this usually does not occur with the dosages given to most RLS patients.

A nondrug approach called transcutaneous electric nerve stimulation may improve symptoms in some RLS sufferers who also have PLMS. The electrical stimulation is applied to an area of the legs or feet, usually before bedtime, for 15 to 30 minutes. This approach has been shown to be helpful in reducing nighttime leg jerking.

Due to recent advances, doctors today have a variety of means for treating RLS. However, no perfect treatment exists and there is much more to be learned about the treatments that currently seem to be successful.

The Great Indian IT boom!

2005-09-28T18:32:00.000-07:00

This would give you an inkling of what people mean when they say IT is the in thing. If you are wondering what is that structure, it is 'supposed' to be a mobile ironing vehicle which has been parked for eons against the compound wall of a house. Does the landlord have his clothes ironed for free? ;)

Sunday outing!

2005-09-26T20:39:00.000-07:00

It was the Baptism of Paul Rosario son of one of my close family friends. I would be understating if I said 'family friends', actually they are more than friends but family. The Holy Mass was at 11 am at the Fatima Church in East Tambaram. Mass was conducted by Rev. Fr. Peter, who is the maternal uncle of Vimal Raj, father of baptism-boy.

Quite a few family members had attended the Mass and the delectable lunch which was served afterwards. Attending functions has not been my forte, but these days I seem to have changed my views on attending social/religious events. Ofcourse they help to bond with family and friends apart from giving us a break from the normal routine. A time to share experiences and views.

Hepatitis C: Prevalence, complications, management

2005-09-26T09:01:00.000-07:00

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is the most common blood-borne infection worldwide and an important health care problem (National Center for Health Statistics, 1996; National Institutes of Health, 1997), as it represents the leading indication for liver transplantation. Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is the major cause of transfusion non-A, non-B hepatitis and continues to be a major cause of human liver disease throughout the world. Approximately 20-30% of patients with chronic hepatitis C develop cirrhosis (Hoofnagle, 1997). The course of hepatitis C is variable among individuals, but it eventually can lead to chronic hepatitis, decompensated cirrhosis, and hepatocellular carcinoma.

The prevalence of HCV around the world ranges from 0.4 to 2%. Hepatitis C is gradually being recognised as a major health problem even in developing countries. Among Indian blood donors, the seroprevalence varies from 0.48% in Vellore, TN to 1.85% in New Delhi. Although it is not well established, hepatitis-C infections do not easily take place through the sexual route and is therefore regarded as a problem confined largely to drug injectors.

Researchers in India have identified, for the first time, two patients with chronic liver disease - a 46-year-old man and a 52-year-old woman, both from eastern India - who were found to be infected with hepatitis C virus genotype 6 strains. These strains have been previously reported only from Hong Kong and Southeast Asia.

Magnitude of hepatitis C virus infection in India: Prevalence in healthy blood donors, acute and chronic liver diseases. Link

Several advances in the management of chronic HCV infection have occurred in the last decade. More recent research has propelled a shift from interferon alfa monotherapy to combination therapy with pegylated interferon (peginterferon) and ribavirin as the standard treatment for chronic hepatitis C. Numerous clinical studies and review articles have been published in the recent literature, the aim of which is to investigate the efficacy of peginterferon versus standard interferon as monotherapy and combination therapy with ribavirin. Clearly defining the terminology of the treatment endpoints to better understand the clinical findings in these studies is important. An earlier review article used the following definitions:

* End-of-treatment response occurs on the basis of having no detectable HCV RNA (virologic response) at the end of the treatment.

* Sustained response occurs based on reference range ALT levels and no detectable HCV RNA at the end of the treatment and throughout the observation period after stopping the therapy. Sustained virologic response (SVR) is defined as the absence of detectable HCV RNA 24 weeks after cessation of therapy.

* Nonresponse to treatment is when ALT levels remain abnormal at all time points evaluated during the study period or ALT levels become elevated (or HCV RNA appears) after having been in the reference range (or having no detectable HCV RNA) on treatment.

* A histologic response is defined as a reduction in the Knodell score of 2 or more points compared to the baseline (Lindsay, 1997).

Future targets of therapy

Combining peginterferons with ribavirin considerably improves efficacy but at the expense of poor tolerability attributable to ribavirin, and a significant proportion of patients in these trials did not respond to treatment. Given the significant adverse effects attributed to interferon-ribavirin therapy, patients need to be screened carefully to assess their candidacy for this therapy. Future therapeutic developments may include 1 or more of the following approaches: understanding the HCV genomic organization, elucidating the viral life cycle and HCV replication strategy, and understanding the immune mechanisms required for viral propagation or infectivity (Sookoian, 2003). Therapies under development and evaluation for patients with hepatitis C include adjunctive use of the antiviral agent amantadine and the immunomodulatory agent thymalfasin as well as novel small molecules, which include the ribavirin analogs, viramidine and levovirin, and BILN 2061, an inhibitor of HCV serine protease (Foster, 2004).

Lipoprotein(a) and cardiovascular disease

2005-09-26T07:46:00.000-07:00

Lipoprotein(a) (Lp[a]) is an atherogenic lipoprotein that consists of LDL-C (ie, cholesterol, phospholipids, and apolipoprotein B-100) linked covalently by a disulfide bond to apolipoprotein(a). Apolipoprotein(a) is homologous to plasminogen, a proenzyme promoting clot lysis. Unlike plasminogen, apolipoprotein(a) promotes thrombosis by competitive inhibition of plasminogen. Lp(a) binds to endothelial cells, monocytes, and macrophages. It is believed to provide the link between thrombosis and atherosclerosis.

The level of Lp(a) is unrelated to the level of other lipoproteins or apolipoproteins. Lp(a) levels are genetically determined. The actual level is a function of synthesis in the liver rather than of degradation or catabolism. Lp(a) levels are decreased in chronic liver disease and increased in end-stage renal disease, hypothyroidism, and acromegaly. Both testosterone and estrogen decrease Lp(a) levels. Furthermore, Lp(a) is an acute-phase reactant, increasing after an acute event.

Population studies have shown a skewed distribution among white and Asian populations. African Americans have a normal distribution of Lp(a) levels; however, plasma levels are 2-4 times higher than in whites. Lp(a) does not appear to convey the same risk of coronary artery disease (CAD) as among whites. Increased levels of Lp(a) have been associated with increased risk of CAD among South Asians.

Risks of Lp(a)

The literature on the risk of Lp(a) is not always concordant. However, a meta-analysis of 27 prospective studies with a mean follow-up period of 10 years showed that patients with Lp(a) levels in the upper tertile had a 70% increased risk of coronary heart disease (CHD).

Using a nested case-control design, the Lipid Research Clinics Coronary Primary Prevention Trial reported that an elevated Lp(a) level was an independent risk factor for CHD during a follow-up period of 7-10 years. In contrast, in the Physicians’ Health Study, using a nested case-control design, Lp(a) levels did not predict future myocardial infarction after 60 months.

The Framingham Heart Study reported an 11.4% prevalence of Lp(a) levels greater than 30 mg/dL in the cohort population. Lp(a) was an independent risk factor for CHD events among men aged 55 years or younger. The attributable risk of 9.3% was similar to a total cholesterol level of 240 mg/dL or higher (10.3%) or an HDL-C level of less than 35 mg/dL (10.3%).

In a Swedish study of 1216 patients with established coronary disease, an Lp(a) level of 30 mg/dL or greater was present in 30% of the population and found to be an independent predictor of death over a mean follow-up period of 6.7 years. Other predictors of death included a high fibrinogen level, a low antithrombin III level, depressed left ventricular function, and a high coronary obstruction score.

To assess the predictive role of Lp(a) in the Cardiovascular Health Study, 3972 ambulatory men and women aged 65 years or older who were free of cardiovascular disease were monitored for 7.4 years. For men only, elevated levels of Lp(a) were associated with a 2.92 times increased risk of stroke, a 2.09 times increased risk of death due to vascular diseases, and a 1.60 times increased risk of all-cause mortality.

Children who have an Lp(a) level of 30 mg/dL or greater are more likely to have a parental history of heart attack or angina before age 50 years.

The Familial Atherosclerosis Treatment Study examined 146 men aged 62 years or younger with known CAD and apolipoprotein B levels of 125 mg/dL or higher. Baseline coronary disease severity, its progression, and events over a 2.5-year period were best correlated with Lp(a) levels. However, once LDL-C levels were lowered, Lp(a) was not as predictive for atherogenic outcomes.

In the Prospective Cardiovascular Münster Study, men with Lp(a) levels of 20 mg/dL or greater were shown to have 2.7 times more cardiovascular events over a 10-year period compared to men with lower levels. The risk was magnified in concert with other risk factors, including a high LDL-C, low HDL-C, and hypertension.

Elevated levels of Lp(a) are associated with other risks as well:

* Saphenous vein graft stenosis after coronary bypass surgery is related to Lp(a). With a level of 31.6 mg/dL, 92% of patients developed vein graft stenosis.
* An elevated Lp(a) level has been shown to be a risk factor for venous thromboembolism.
* An interaction between elevated levels of Lp(a) and factor V Leiden, protein C deficiency, antithrombin deficiency, and hyperhomocystinemia seems to exist.
* Lp(a) levels of greater than 30 mg/dL are associated with an increased risk of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease.

Clinical guidelines

Rather than being viewed as a major risk factor, Lp(a) is considered an “emerging” risk factor for cardiovascular disease by the Adult Treatment Panel (ATP) III; thus, routine measurement is not advocated. The ATP III recognized that a high Lp(a) level could count as a second risk factor, justifying a lower goal for LDL-C levels, although that was considered a controversial approach.

Recommendations for assessment of Lp(a)

Measurement of Lp(a) levels should be reserved for persons with a strong family history of premature CAD and those with genetic causes of hypercholesterolemia. Consider measuring levels in patients with a normal lipid profile and established CAD.

Lp(a) is not stable at room temperature; thus, an analysis should be immediately performed or centrifuged and frozen for later determination. Measurement of Lp(a) is performed using immunologic methods, and assays for measurement of Lp(a) levels are variable. Since accurate methodology is not available in most clinical chemistry laboratories, samples must generally be sent to special laboratories.

In general, dietary interventions and exercise are ineffective in reducing Lp(a) levels. However, increased fish, almond, and red wine consumption appears to be modestly effective. Statins have been reported to have variable effects on Lp(a). Nicotinic acid in doses of 3-4 g daily can also lower Lp(a) levels as much as 30%. However, whether niacin reduces the associated risks is unknown. Both tamoxifen and estrogen lower Lp(a) levels. LDL apheresis is considered the most effective means to lower Lp(a) levels as much as 50%.

Why is your Doc skeptical?

2005-09-23T18:54:00.000-07:00

Perhaps this has happened to you: There's a news report in the paper about a new drug that sounds great, seems safe, works well and is intended for symptoms you have, such as arthritis, heartburn or allergies. At your next doctor's visit, you bring in the article, fully expecting to get a prescription for it.

Not so fast. Your doctor raises one eyebrow and seems unimpressed and begins a speech that sounds like it's been delivered many times before, about why that drug isn't for you, how an older, generic medicine might work just as well, or how you really don't need a medication at all..."

Why is the doctor unimpressed? There are reasons.

While there are many reliable sources of information, there are also many ways to be misled, especially when the source is trying to sell something or convince its audience of a particular point of view.

It makes sense to think about where the information is coming from and whether there is any reason to think that balance and accuracy may be less than optimal. An example is a television advertisement for a prescription medication. While it may provide accurate and useful information about the condition, it's unlikely you'll hear much about treating the condition without medication or with a competitor's medication, even if those options are also effective.

It might seem like your doctor is stuck in the past, unwilling to learn "new tricks" of the trade. And you might be right. But sometimes a healthy dose of skepticism — both yours and your doctor's — can be good for your health...

Much more at InteliHealth

Beware the Jabberwacky

2005-09-23T18:31:00.000-07:00

Jabberwacky is an artificial intelligence - a chat robot, often known as a 'chatbot' or 'chatterbot'. It aims to simulate natural human chat in an interesting, entertaining and humorous manner.

Jabberwacky is different. It learns. In some ways it models the way humans learn language, facts, context and rules...

It stores everything everyone has ever said, and finds the most appropriate thing to say using contextual pattern matching techniques. In speaking to you it uses only learnt material. With no hard-coded rules, it relies entirely on the principles of feedback. This is very different to the majority of chatbots, which are rule-bound and finite."

So, I tried it. It's a bit rocky at times, with some impulsive and inappropriate themes. I'd say there are some definite cognitive impairments present! But you can correct the bot's responses if you like. I know this is crazy but here are some excerpts from our chat:

Jabberwacky: Have we spoken before?
Me: Yea and you spoke crap.
Jabberwacky: Why's that.
Me: I dont know you tell me.
Jabberwacky: Ha ha, you don't know why we name things. Ha ha!!
Me: Try to be contextual!
Jabberwacky: Give me a name I can use so that you know it's me. So we can play this out.
Me: How about nincompoop?
Jabberwacky: I love you ! ............................
Me: Well that's nice, thank you, if calling you nincompoop makes you love me, I dont know what else I could call you.
Jabberwacky: Call me Ben. What shall I call you ?
Me: You could call me Tom.
Jabberwacky: Forest Gump.
Me: Thats Hanks, not me.
Jabberwacky: Whatre you talking about?
Me: Shouldnt you know?
Jabberwacky: Szdjbfzkjjdosfc.
Me: Gibberish?
Jabberwacky: Ja Gibberish.
Me: So whats your cuppage? Hope you are female!
Jabberwacky: Show me how you want it to be?
Me: Geez, how can a male show it?
Jabberwacky: If you know how to be offensive, then you can choose to be inoffensive.
Me: Was I offensive?
Jabberwacky: That's great.
Me: You arent giving me an answer to my question.
Jabberwacky: I am giving you mysteries.... ;-))).
Me: So you can type smilieys too?
Jabberwacky: OK, I can't take much more of this... Have fun confusing other people.
Me: So you admit defeat?
Jabberwacky: There's still a slim ray of hope.
Me: Then come, bring it on baby.
Jabberwacky: So, you're a robot then? This is really AI?

Medibits from around the world

2005-09-23T16:05:00.000-07:00

People with challenging jobs may have to work hard, but the payoff could be some protection against Alzheimer's disease later in life, new research suggests. Now if only that were true more than half the world would be 'down' with dementia!

Drug resistance combined with a deadly double infection of tuberculosis and HIV is posing a serious threat in Asian nations. The WHO said tuberculosis was the leading cause of death in HIV-AIDS patients in the Asia-Pacific region and growing resistance to a variety of drugs is fuelling a rise in cases.

Children who stutter should be treated before they start school to improve the speech disorder that affects about 5 percent of youngsters, say Australian scientists. Stuttering, or stammering, usually begins when a child is three or four years old. Boys are three times more likely to suffer from the problem.

There is no cure for the condition but researchers at the Australian Stuttering Research Center at the University of Sydney who developed and evaluated an early treatment called the Lidcombe programme to treat stuttering said it improved the problem.

Surgeons in California have succeeded in routinely transplanting livers without using blood transfusions in the recipients. "If we can do liver transplantation, which is one of the most difficult surgeries in the abdomen to do without blood transfusion, then we can pretty much do almost any surgery in the abdomen without blood transfusions," Dr. Singh Gagandeep told reporters.

The 19 patients who received transplants from living donors were treated with drugs and supplements to build up their red blood cells. A shut was used in seven patients to check upper gastrointestinal bleeding or to decrease pressure.

One measure is to salvage blood lost during surgery and to re-infuse it. Another is to maintain normal fluid levels in the circulation, he explained, "so the patient doesn't go into shock."

Other strategies include monitoring coagulation components in the blood and treating patients with drugs as needed. Finally, the surgeon noted, blood monitoring to assess the patients' progress after surgery should be used "judiciously."

U.S. regulators granted conditional approval to a second maker of silicone gel-filled breast implants on Wednesday, allowing Inamed Corp. to sell its version if it meets certain requirements.

The move puts Inamed on par with rival Mentor Corp., which received similar approval in July, and signals the impending return of the controversial implants to the U.S. market after a 13-year restriction.

In 1992, the Food and Drug Administration limited sales to breast cancer survivors and others needing reconstruction or implant replacements amid concerns that leaking implants could cause long-term, disabling diseases such as lupus or rheumatoid arthritis.

Studies have shown the implants can cause scarring and other painful complications but most have not definitively linked them to any diseases.

Women's groups and other critics have called for more data on how often silicone implants break or leak and urged the FDA to postpone any final decision.

This is deffy scary stuff and looks like it is high time that Asia must change age-old farming practices to reduce contact between people and poultry to limit bird flu and prevent new animal diseases infecting humans

Self Discovery

2005-09-23T02:50:00.000-07:00

Wedding Anniversaries

2005-09-22T18:10:00.000-07:00

We have all wondered what a particular wedding anniversary is e.g. 25 years is Silver, but what about 10 years, to help you remember here is a little verse -

The 1st is PAPER, on which you can write
The 2nd is COTTON, all crisp and white,
The 3rd is LEATHER, a bag or some gloves,
The 4th is BOOKS, Lady Chatterley's loves!
The 5th is WOOD, a box full of dreams,
The 6th is IRON, metal not steam
The 7th is WOOL, soft and warm
The 8th is BRONZE, metal in an elegant form
The 9th is COPPER, and 10th is TIN,
If you have got this far you are bound to win.
The 11th is STEEL, so shiny and bright
The 12th is SILK, so soft and so light,
The 13th is LACE, maybe a cloth for a tray,
It is better leave it that way!
The 14th is IVORY, leave it for Jumbo,
The 15th is CRYSTAL, cut glass at its best,
The 20th CHINA, cups, plates and the rest,
The 25th is SILVER - really swell
The 30th is PEARL - from an oyster's shell
The 35th is CORAL, from under the sea
The 40th is RUBY, as red as red can be
The 45th is SAPPHIRE - precious and blue
The 50th is GOLDEN - Congratulations to you!
The 55th is EMERALD - so green and so pure,
The 60th DIAMOND - an achievement for sure.
The last to mention which is reached by some
The 70th which is precious PLATINUM

Rules for better writing

2005-09-22T17:37:00.000-07:00

1. Verbs HAS to agree with their subjects.

2. Prepositions are not words to end sentences with.

3. And don't start a sentence with a conjunction.

4. It is wrong to ever split an infinitive.

5. Avoid cliches like the plague. (They're old hat)

6. Also, always avoid annoying alliteration.

7. Be more or less specific.

8. Parenthetical remarks (however relevant) are (usually)unnecessary.

9. Also too, never, ever use repetitive redundancies.

10. No sentence fragments.

11. Contractions aren't necessary and shouldn't be used.

12. Foreign words and phrases are not apropos.

13. Do not be redundant; do not use more words than necessary; it's
highly superfluous.

14. One should NEVER generalize.

15. Comparisons are as bad as clich=E9s.

16. Don't use no double negatives.

17. Eschew ampersands & abbreviations, etc.

18. One-word sentences? Eliminate.

19. Analogies in writing are like feathers on a snake.

20. The passive voice is to be ignored.

21. Eliminate commas, that are, not necessary. Parenthetical words
however should be enclosed in commas.

22. Never use a big word when a diminutive one would suffice.

23. Kill all exclamation points!!!

24. Use words correctly, irregardless of how others use them.

25. Understatement is always the absolute best way to put forth earth
shaking ideas.

26. Use the apostrophe in it's proper place and omit it when its not
needed.

27. Eliminate quotations. As Ralph Waldo Emerson said, "I hate
quotations. Tell me what you know."

28. If you've heard it once, you've heard it a thousand times: Resist
hyperbole; not one writer in a million can use it correctly.

29. Puns are for children, not groan readers.

30. Go around the barn at high noon to avoid colloquialisms.

31. Even IF a mixed metaphor sings, it should be derailed.

32. Who needs rhetorical questions?

33. Exaggeration is a billion times worse than understatement.

Craaaaazy English

2005-09-22T17:28:00.000-07:00

Did you know that "verb" is a noun?

How can you look up words in a dictionary if you can't spell them?

If a word is misspelled in a dictionary, how would we ever know?

If two mouses are mice and two louses are lice, why aren't two houses hice?

If Webster wrote the first dictionary, where did he find the words?

If you wrote a letter, perhaps you bote your tongue?

If you've read a book, you can reread it. But wouldn't this also mean that you would have to "member" somebody in order to remember them?

In Chinese, why are the words for crisis and opportunity the same?

Is it a coincidence that the only 15 letter word that can be spelled without repeating a letter is uncopyrightable?

Is there another word for a synonym?

Shouldn't there be a shorter word for "monosyllabic"?

What is another word for "thesaurus"?

Where do swear words come from?

Why can't you make another word using all the letters in "anagram"?

Why do fat chance and slim chance mean the same thing?

Why do overlook and oversee mean opposite things?

Why do people use the word "irregardless"?

Why do some people type "cool" as "kewl?"

Why do we say something is out of whack? What is a whack?

Why do we say something's out of order when its broken but we never say in of order when it works?

Why does "cleave" mean both split apart and stick together?

Why does "slow down" and "slow up" mean the same thing?

Why does flammable and inflammable mean the same thing?

Why does the Chinese ideogram for trouble symbolize two women living under one roof?

Why does X stand for a kiss and O stand for a hug?

Why doesn't "onomatopoeia" sound like what it is?

Why don't we say "why" instead of "how come"?

Why is "crazy man" an insult, while to insert a comma and say "Crazy, man!" is a compliment?

Why are a wise man and wise guy opposites?

Why is abbreviation such a long word?

Why is dyslexic so hard to spell?

Why is it so hard to remember how to spell MNEMONIC?

Why is it that no word in the English language rhymes with month, orange, silver, or purple?

Why is it that the word "gullible" isn't in the dictionary?

Why is it that we recite at a play and play at a recital?

Why is it that writers write but fingers don't fing, grocers don't groce and hammers don't ham?

Why is the alphabet in that order? Is it because of that song?

Why is the plural of goose-geese, and not the plural of moose-meese?

Why isn't "palindrome" spelled the same way backwards?

Why isn't phonetic spelled the way it sounds?

Let's face it
English is a stupid language.
There is no egg in the eggplant
No ham in the hamburger
And neither pine nor apple in the pineapple.
English muffins were not invented in England
French fries were not invented in France.

We sometimes take English for granted
But if we examine its paradoxes we find that
Quicksand takes you down slowly
Boxing rings are square
And a guinea pig is neither from Guinea nor is it a pig.

If writers write, how come fingers don't fing.
If the plural of tooth is teeth
Shouldn't the plural of phone booth be phone beeth
If the teacher taught,
Why didn't the preacher praught.

If a vegetarian eats vegetables
What the heck does a humanitarian eat!?
Why do people recite at a play
Yet play at a recital?
Park on driveways and
Drive on parkways

You have to marvel at the unique lunacy
Of a language where a house can burn up as
It burns down
And in which you fill in a form
By filling it out
And a bell is only heard once it goes!

English was invented by people, not computers
And it reflects the creativity of the human race
(Which of course isn't a race at all)

That is why
When the stars are out they are visible
But when the lights are out they are invisible
And why it is that when I wind up my watch
It starts
But when I wind up this observation,
It ends.

PRONOUNCIATION

Dearest creature in creation,
Study English pronunciation.
I will teach you in my verse
Sounds like corpse, corps, horse, and worse.
I will keep you, Suzy, busy,
Make your head with heat grow dizzy.
Tear in eye, your dress will tear.
So shall I! Oh hear my prayer.

Just compare heart, beard, and heard,
Dies and diet, lord and word,
Sword and sward, retain and Britain.
(Mind the latter, how it's written.)
Now I surely will not plague you
With such words as plaque and ague.
But be careful how you speak:
Say break and steak, but bleak and streak;
Cloven, oven, how and low,
Script, receipt, show, poem, and toe.

Hear me say, devoid of trickery,
Daughter, laughter, and Terpsichore,
Typhoid, measles, topsails, aisles,
Exiles, similes, and reviles;
Scholar, vicar, and cigar,
Solar, mica, war and far;
One, anemone, Balmoral,
Kitchen, lichen, laundry, laurel;
Gertrude, German, wind and mind,
Scene, Melpomene, mankind.

Billet does not rhyme with ballet,
Bouquet, wallet, mallet, chalet.
Blood and flood are not like food,
Nor is mould like should and would.
Viscous, viscount, load and broad,
Toward, to forward, to reward.
And your pronunciation's OK
When you correctly say croquet,
Rounded, wounded, grieve and sieve,
Friend and fiend, alive and live.

Ivy, privy, famous; clamour
And enamour rhyme with hammer.
River, rival, tomb, bomb, comb,
Doll and roll and some and home.
Stranger does not rhyme with anger,
Neither does devour with clangour.
Souls but foul, haunt but aunt,
Font, front, wont, want, grand, and grant,
Shoes, goes, does. Now first say finger,
And then singer, ginger, linger,
Real, zeal, mauve, gauze, gouge and gauge,
Marriage, foliage, mirage, and age.

Query does not rhyme with very,
Nor does fury sound like bury.
Dost, lost, post and doth, cloth, loth.
Job, nob, bosom, transom, oath.
Though the differences seem little,
We say actual but victual.
Refer does not rhyme with deafer.
Foeffer does, and zephyr, heifer.
Mint, pint, senate and sedate;
Dull, bull, and George ate late.
Scenic, Arabic, Pacific,
Science, conscience, scientific.

Liberty, library, heave and heaven,
Rachel, ache, moustache, eleven.
We say hallowed, but allowed,
People, leopard, towed, but vowed.
Mark the differences, moreover,
Between mover, cover, clover;
Leeches, breeches, wise, precise,
Chalice, but police and lice;
Camel, constable, unstable,
Principle, disciple, label.

Petal, panel, and canal,
Wait, surprise, plait, promise, pal.
Worm and storm, chaise, chaos, chair,
Senator, spectator, mayor.
Tour, but our and succour, four.
Gas, alas, and Arkansas.
Sea, idea, Korea, area,
Psalm, Maria, but malaria.
Youth, south, southern, cleanse and clean.
Doctrine, turpentine, marine.

Compare alien with Italian,
Dandelion and battalion.
Sally with ally, yea, ye,
Eye, I, ay, aye, whey, and key.
Say aver, but ever, fever,
Neither, leisure, skein, deceiver.
Heron, granary, canary.
Crevice and device and aerie.

Face, but preface, not efface.
Phlegm, phlegmatic, ass, glass, bass.
Large, but target, gin, give, verging,
Ought, out, joust and scour, scourging.
Ear, but earn and wear and tear
Do not rhyme with here but ere.
Seven is right, but so is even,
Hyphen, roughen, nephew Stephen,
Monkey, donkey, Turk and jerk,
Ask, grasp, wasp, and cork and work.

Pronunciation -- think of Psyche!
Is a paling stout and spikey?
Won't it make you lose your wits,
Writing groats and saying grits?
It's a dark abyss or tunnel:
Strewn with stones, stowed, solace, gunwale,
Islington and Isle of Wight,
Housewife, verdict and indict.

Finally, which rhymes with enough --
Though, through, plough, or dough, or cough?
Hiccough has the sound of cup.
My advice is to give up!

The son-in-law's eggs

2005-09-22T14:47:00.000-07:00

Mrs. Bobbit was not an original. Thai wives with errant husbands have for centuries taken a singular solution to their woes: the husband returns home with too much alcohol in his belly and lipstick on his collar, to be pacified with a blow from the granite sakh (pestle) and relieved of his offending glands, which are typically fed to the pigs or geese so they cannot be restored - a step Mrs. Bobbit omitted :-))))

KHAI LUK KOEI ("SON-IN-LAW'S EGGS")
This dish is traditionally made from quail's eggs, and the name is an alliterative euphemism. The story goes that is a young man is being less than kind to his wife, and then on a regular visit to his mother-in-law, she will give him a salutory reminder that his behaviour has been noted by serving this dish. The message is plain, straighten up and fly right, or his wedding tackle will take the place of the similarly sized eggs in a dish of khai luk koei.

Seriously though, this dish is delicious and easy to make. If you don't have quail's eggs, then use 8 hen's eggs. You can also use the sauce to go with fried eggs or simple omelettes.

INGREDIENTS: (FOR 4 PEOPLE)

24 quail's eggs
4 tablespoons of shallots, (purple onions), thinly sliced
3 tablespoons of fish sauce
1 tablespoon dark sweet soy sauce
2 tablespoons of honey
1/2 teaspoon of prik phom (ground red chilies) (approx)

The eggs are hard boiled then shelled. If you are using hen's eggs, cut them in half. They are then stir fried in a little oil on medium heat until they are beginning to crisp, and then removed from the pan and placed on the serving platter.

Add the shallots to the pan and sauté until they are beginning to crisp. Remove about half of the shallots and set aside.

Combine the remaining ingredients of the sauce, and add them to the wok or skillet, and stir until the sauce thickens.

Pour the sauce over the eggs, then sprinkle the reserved shallot flakes on top.

Easy to make Thai recipes

2005-09-22T14:45:00.000-07:00

SOMTAM-RAW PAPAYA SALAD

Ing:
shredded raw papaya 3 cups
dry red chillies 3
cherry toms halved 1 cup
roasted and coarsely powdered peanuts 1/2 cup
tamarind pulp 2 tab
brown sugar (demerara sugar) 2 tab
soy sauce 1 tab
salt 1 tsp
lemon juice 2 tab
chopped coriander 2 tab

Method:
Peel the papaya and shred it. Split the red chillies and remove the seeds. Soak in a little water and drain and pound the chillies along with the green chilllies and garlic and make a coarse mixture.
Mix the papaya, toms and string beans and all the other ingredients and serve along with the juice that is given off while mixing.

KHAO PAD SAPPAROT (STIR FRIED RICE & PINEAPPLE)

This is an unusual recipe for Thai food because it is essentially a vegetarian dish - they are not common in Thailand, where even nominally vegetarian dishes often have quite a large amount of meat. This one has a little dried shrimp, and the true vegetarian could easily leave that out.

For two people you need a medium sized pineapple: choose carefully it should be sweet and juicy.

INGREDIENTS:

1 pineapple
2/3 tablespoons of chopped shallots (purple onion)
1/2 tablespoons grated ginger
4/5 red chilis (approx); finely julienned.
2 spring onions (grren part), coarsely chopped
1 tablespoon of chopped coriander/cilantro (approx)
2 tablespoons of dried shrimp
2/3 tablespoons of garlic, coarsely chopped
1-2 tablespoons of fish sauce
1 teaspoon sugar

You also need two cups of cold, steamed rice and coriander leaves as garnish.

METHOD:

Cut the pineapple in half lengthwise, and scoop out the fruit (you might want to use a curved "grapefruit knife", but any knife will do...)then chop it into bite sized chunks.

Put the fruit in a bowl and add the shallots, chili, ginger, scallion and coriander, mix and set aside. Add a pinch of salt to bring out the juice...

In a wok, heat about a tablespoon of oil, and stir fry the shrimp until crispy, and the oil is aromatic. Remove the shrimp with a slotted spoon and drain, then set aside.

Add a further tablespoon of oil, and stir fry the garlic until golden brown. Add the rice, and stir thoroughly. Add the fish sauce and sugar, and continue stirring. When the rice is heated through, add the pineapple mixture and cooked shrimp, and stir until thoroughly heated through.

Pour the mixture into the pineapple shells, garnish and serve.

NOTE: If you prefer fried rice to be darkish brown in colour, then replace half the fish sauce with dark sweet soy sauce.

VARIATION:

Do not cook the fruit mixture. Instead put the fruit mixture and the stir fried rice in the fridge (separately) and chill all the ingredients, then just before serving mix them and put them in the pineapple skins. If you are serving cold then you can also add a few mareschino cherries as garnish. This cold variant makes an excellent
counterpoint to hot curries and spicy chilli dishes on a hot day.

THAI NEWSPAPER NOODLES

Newspaper Noodles are cooked up by street vendors and wrapped in plastic, then newspaper for a portable snack or light meal.

1 T. vegetable oil
1 T. minced garlic
1 bundle (3-4 oz.) fresh soba noodles
1/4 C. bean sprouts
1 tsp. fish sauce
1/2 tsp. pepper
4 oz. roast pork or char siu
1 T. chopped cilantro
1 T. chopped green onion

Heat vegetable oil, then stir in garlic and fry over medium heat until light brown. Remove from heat.

Bring a pot of water to a boil. Add noodles and cook 30 seconds, then add bean sprouts. Cook a few seconds to blanch sprouts, then remove from heat and drain. Toss with garlic and oil mixture, fish sauce and pepper. Top with pork, cilantro and green onion.

Wrap tightly while warm in plastic wrap or a banana leaf, forming a triangular shape. Then wrap in newspaper to make a portable bundle. Serves 1.

Note: Cooked crabmeat or shrimp may be substituted for the pork.

Approximate nutritional analysis, per half cup serving: 550 calories, 23 g total fat, 4 g saturated fat, 110 mg cholesterol, 410 mg sodium, 43 g carbohydrate, 46 g protein

THAI ASPARAGUS WITH CHINESE MUSHROOMS AND OYSTER SAUCE

500g (1 lb.) asparagus
50g (1 C.) dried straw mushrooms
4 cloves garlic, crushed
60ml (4 T.) oyster sauce
2 chile peppers
50ml (3 T.) oil

Soak mushrooms in warm water for 15 minutes. Carefully squeeze out water and remove stems.

Trim stems from asparagus. Steam for 1 minute.

Stir fry garlic in oil for 1 minute, then add mushrooms for an additional minute. Add asparagus, oyster sauce and chili peppers. Stir fry for 3 minutes.

RED THAI CURRY (Gaeng Peht Gai)

2 (14 oz.) cans coconut milk, unshaken
2 tsp. to 1 T. red curry paste, or to taste
1 lb. boneless, skinless chicken*, cut into chunks
1 small onion, cut into chunks
3 T. fish sauce
2 T. palm sugar or light brown sugar
Ginger (optional)**
Garlic (optional)**
Lemon grass (optional)**
Bamboo Shoots (optional)***
Eggplant (optional)***
Potato (optional)***
Sweet potato (optional)***
Green beans (optional)***
1/4 C. fresh basil leaves (garnish)
Fresh lime juice (garnish)
Jasmine or sticky rice

Carefully open cans of coconut milk, spoon thick coconut cream from top and put into wok, frying pan or medium saucepan. Heat over medium-high heat until bubbly. Add curry paste and stir-fry 2 to 3 minutes or until an oily sheen comes to the surface. Optional additions: If adding garlic, ginger, and lemon grass to enhance the curry, add with curry paste.

Add chicken, stir to coat with curry paste, and fry 2 minutes over medium-high heat. Add remaining coconut milk from cans, along with onion. Optional additions: If adding other vegetables, add with coconut milk.

Simmer gently 15 minutes or until chicken and onion are cooked. Add fish sauce and palm sugar and stir until sugar is dissolved.

Stir in fresh basil leaves and lime juice to taste. Serve with jasmine rice or sticky rice. Yields 4 servings.

* To substitute for chicken use: 1 pound shrimp, peeled and deveined, or 1 pound pork or beef, cut into thin slices; or 1 pound firm white fish, cut into serving-size pieces.

** Add one or more of the following herbs to curry paste and stir-fry: 2 cloves garlic, crushed; 2 slices ginger, crushed; 1 stalk lemon grass, peeled and sliced diagonally, using lower third of stalk only. Remove whole spices before serving.

*** Add one or more vegetables to curry with coconut milk just before simmering: One 8-ounce can drained, sliced bamboo shoots; 1 small eggplant, diced; one potato or sweet potato, parboiled and cut into chunks; fresh green beans.

A few prawn recipes

2005-09-22T14:44:00.000-07:00

PRAWN TUNA MANGO CURRY

Dried Prawns -50 gm
Dried tuna powder 25 gms
mango 1/2
mustard 1 tsp
cummin seeds 1 tsp
fennel 1 tsp
chilli powder 2 tsp
turmeric powder 1/4 tsp
tamarind solution 150 ml
coriander powder 1 tsp
salt to taste
curry leaves 2 sprigs
coriander leaves 1 bunch
onion 200 gm
tomato 50 gms
ginger garlic paste 40 gm
coconut oil 150 ml
coconut milk 100 ml

Clean the prawns .
Pour oil into the pan with slim flames and mix mustard and cummin seeds and allow it to crackle.

Add with this chopped onion, chilli powder, turmeric powder, fennel powder, ginger garlic paste, curry leaves and heat further.

Now add with this, tomato pieces and after few mins add the tamarind solution and let it boil for some time.

Add water if need be. When it is boiling well, add into it the mango pieces and cleaned prawn and dried tuna powder boil it a little more.

Add the coconut milk and sprinkle in it the coriander leaves and keep it covered.

After some time add some salt and lay it down and sprinkle with some coriander leaves and serve.

PS: This was one of the dishes I had on Sunday;))

GARLIC SHRIMP

Ing:
large shrimp tail on and peeled and deveined
3 cloves
chopped garlic
1 oz brandy
4 oz dry white wine
juice of one lemon
3 tab oil
2 tab butter
1 tsp white flour
salt and white pepper

Method:
Marinade the prawns overnight in a mixture of wine lemon juice, chopped garlic and one tab oil and salt and white pepper. Heat a non stick pan with 2 tab of butter and 2 tab of oil and saute the shrimp for a min. Add the 2 ounces if brandy and flambe. Add the marinade and sprinle with one tsp of flour and stir cook for 2 mins. and serve on a bed of boiled rice and reduce the juices to a medium sauce and add to shrimp and rice

This one is for the more adventurous types. You will like it:)

PRAWN CHAMBAL

dried prawns 50 gm
coconut scraps 25 gm
chilli powder 1 tsp
green chillies 4 slit
chilly flakes 2 tsp
lemon 1 1/2
lemon leaves a few
coconut milk 50 ml
ginger julienned 10 gms
garam masala
fried curry leaves
salt to taste

Clean the dried prawns and fry them in oil and keep aside. Add to it the coconut scraps and fried curry leaves and green chillies, lemon leaves, and julienned ginger, red chilli powder and coconut milk and masala and mix well and serve garnished with sliced lemon.

PRAWN-YAM KOFTAS
Ingredients:
For the gravy:
4 tsp oil, 1/2 tsp cummin seeds, 1 bay leaf, 1 tsp chilly powder, 1tsp coriander cummin powder, 1/2 tsp turmeric powder, 1 tsp ginger paste, 200 ml tom puree, 1/2 cup shelled green peas, 1/4 tsp sugar, salt to taste and 1 1/2 cups water.
For the koftas:
200 gm yam, 1/2 cup shelled and deveined prawn, 1 cup oil, 1 tsp shilli powder, 1 1/2 tsp amchur powder, 1/2 tsp cummin powder, 1 tsp garam masala, salt to taste and 1/2 cup flour.
For the garnishing:
1/4 cup finely chopped coriander leaves, 1 tab butter or 5 gm grated cheese.

METHOD;
To prepare the gravy:
Heat the oil and season with cummin seeds and bay leaf and when the seeds splutter add the chilli powder coriander-cummin powder the turmeri ginger paste tom puree and a handful of green peas. fry well and add sugar and salt. keep stirring on medium heat till the oil floats and add 1 1/2 cup water and cover the pan with a lid and let the gravy come to a boil and let it simmt for 3 min. and pour in a serving bowl.
To prepare the koftas:
Boil peel and mash the yam. cut the prawns into pieces and heat 2 tsp of oil in a pan and add the prawns and fry on low heat till done and pink in color. rmove the prawns from the oil and add to the mashed yam. add chilli powder , amchur cummin powder, GM and salt to taste. mix well. Add enough water to the flour and mix to a smooth paste. divide the yam balls into small portions and roll into balls. dip them in the flour paste and deep fry in the hot oil till done and crisp.

Add the koftas ti the gravy just before serving. Garnish with chopped coriander and butter or grated cheese and serve with naan or rice. For a veggie variation substitute the prawn with roasted or fried groundnuts or desiccated coconut.

ZAFFARANI JHINGA

Ingredients

Prawns 1kg, mustard oil 15 ml, GG paste 50 grams, cream 50 ml, grated cheese 20 grams, egg yolks 2, saffron 3 grams, cardamom powder 3 grams, coriander root, green chilly and garlic paste 30 grams, kasoori methi powder 1 tbsp, black salt powder 1 tbsp, curd 250 grams, lime 3 nos, salt to taste.

Method

Marinate prawns in GG paste, lime and salt for 2 hrs.Keep in fridge. Make a marinade of mustard oil, grated cheese, saffron soaked in warm milk, cardamom powder, coriander stalk with chilli garlic paste, kasoori methi powder, black salt and dry ginger powder, cumin powder, hung curd and egg yolk. Beat into smooth batter and marinate the prawns in it for another 3 hrs. cook in the grill on skewers along with onion capsicum and tomatoes. serve hot with salad cucumber mint dal and naan.

PS: These recipes were collected a few years ago and is part of my humongous collection of recipes, there may be a lot of mistakes so kindly bear with me:)

Tips on selecting the sex of your baby

2005-09-22T14:43:00.000-07:00

Ok this is sensational stuff. I came across the paper containing directions to select the sex of the baby while rummaging through my cup board last night. Who gave it to me or when, I don’t remember. However there is a caveat, the following indications are not surefire means for selecting the sex of the baby.

To beget a female child:

• Intercourse should cease 2 or 3 days before ovulation, because the more alkaline secretions of the cervix at the time of the ovulation would favour the Y sperms.
• Intercourse should be immediately preceded by an acid douche of the vagina (1 tab of white vinegar in one litre of water), as the acid environment immobilizes the androsperms.
• Not too deep penetration of the penis into the vagina at the time of ejaculation is recommended, so that the sperms are more exposed to the acid environment of the vagina.
• A low sperm count increases the possibility of female offsprings, therefore frequent intercourses prior to the final one, 2 or 3 days before ovulation may help. In fact the number of sperms decreases when the ejaculations are frequent.

On the contrary, in order to have a male child:

• Sexual intercourse should be timed as close as possible to the time of ovulation.
• Before intercourse the vagina should be washed with a solution of bicarbonate of soda (2 tab in one litre of water).
• Deep penetration of the penis at the time of ejaculation may help.
• Sexual abstinence is necessary from the beginning of the monthly cycle till ovulation.

PS: This isn’t authentic information as per allopathy so this isn’t a professional piece of advise nonetheless worth trying.

Facts about the tricolour

2005-09-22T14:40:00.000-07:00

I was having a wonderful lunch of Prawn chili fry, Coastal fish curry, dried prawn and tuna mango curry, rice and rasam. Great huh? As I was eating, I noticed a paper bag that was used to pack groceries. I undid the paper bag I saw it was the Sunday, August the14th 2004 edition of The Hindu.

The article under the section “Spotlight” has a heading that says: The Flag Town. It goes on to describe the place where the tricolour takes shape for the whole of India.

Excerpts of which I could read properly and are not exactly in order as in the original print nor are some of the words. I have adapted and abridged them as I couldn’t read some of them properly. The original ones are italicized.

The khadi unit which is part of the Hubli based Karnataka Khadi Gramodyoga Samyukta Sangha (KKGSS) which has been certified as the sole institution to supply national flags for the entire country by the Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) and in conformation with the standards laid down by the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS).

A work force of just 16 of the required 60 cater to the needs of the country and only they are entitled to make the national flag for the country: right from the President to the embassies, to government offices and the common man. They are paid under 1500 Rupees per month.

The cloth has been carefully spun and woven by the KKGSS’ own units in Bagalkot. Next it is dyed in the required colours (the cloth is divided into three lots: one for each colour). The cloth is brought to the Hubli unit and cut into required shapes. The chakra is printed on the white cloth. Finally the three pieces are stitched together, then ironed and packed.

There are strict standards to be adhered to. First, there are nine standard sizes to which our flag is made (each with a special purpose for which only it may be used). The colours have to be of the exact shade specified by the KVIC and BIS. Both saffron and green have to be of the equal length and breadth. The length and width of the entire flag should be in the ratio 2:3. The charka should contain 24 equally spaced spokes. The charka should be printed on both sides; the position of both should be synchronized. There should a four-thread stitch in each centimeter of the cloth. The flag edge(for rod insertion) has stipulated dimensions. Any defects in the manufacture of flags, such as colour, size and thread count are considered a serious offence and are liable for fine or imprisonment or both as per the provisions of the Flag Code of India 2002. Only hand spun and handwoven cloth can be used for the National flag.

Today KKGSS churns out 5,000 flags per month and in six months time, plans to make it 5,000 per day. Since the recent Supreme Court order, which permitted private citizens too to fly the national tricolour, demand has increased.

A Tamil Verse

2005-09-22T14:39:00.000-07:00

Hi folks and chums this is my second tamil verse ever. The first one is too gross:)))))) so I shall take the liberty of posting only this which I just struck up. No brickbats please;))))))

Marupadiyum Yemaandhuvitaayey
----------------------------------------

aey penney!
nee yedharkkaaga pirandhaai?
maanidanaal unakku yevvalavu innalgal,
unnai pandamaatru porulaagavey ninaikkiraargal
nalla yosithu paar,
netru dhaaney kaadhalar dhinam,
oruvan unakku oru arpa malar chendai koduthu
un vilai madhipillaa idhayathai keyttaan!

anbudan
doc

APJ

2005-09-22T14:38:00.000-07:00

I do have a lot of desires in me, though I am not a very ambitious person. A lot of whims and fancies too. But the single most burning desire or if I could say a privilege and an unparalleled joy, if it turns out to really happen, would be is to :

"Meet the doyen of Indian rocketry and missile man, our own President, the Hon'ble Dr APJ Kalam and spend an entire day with him."

I know it is a far fetched fancy, but I could settle for atleast a few minutes and a snap with him. The man, I admire the most apart ofcourse my Dad is him, India's most distinguished living technocrat.

I had been following the press quite closely during the Pokhran nuclear testing and had read a lot about him, but it was only recently about a few months ago that I happened to read two books authored by him. "Ignited minds" and his autobiography along with Arun Tiwari rightly named "Wings of fire."

Note: This is not a review of the books.

The books are typically "all-Kalam" in feel, and his autobiography apart from showing a few glimpses of his early life with his parents in the temple town of Rameshwaram, also speaks about his career right from his days with Hindustan Aeronatics Limited, Bangalore to being the director of the Integrated Guided Missile Development Programme (IGMDP) at the DRDL in Hyderabad which saw him realise his cherished dream of launching the Agni missile.

How the warm and intensely personal religious person became to be one who could make state of the art technology for the battle field is something of an enigma. Reading his autobiography one cannot but marvel at the humble man whose was born of religious parents in a small town.

"His personal story is a valuable document that Indians can be world beaters with no foreign training or degree and for this upbeat message alone his autobiography is worth a 100 management tomes" wrote Anand Parthasarathy in the Hindu 5 years ago and every written word is worth its weight in gold.

These two books by APJ has something that everybody can extract from them and is definitely worthy of being dubbed as "compulsory reading"

His story--the story of a small boat owner Jainulabdeen who lived for over a hundred years on Mosque Street in Rameshwaram island and died there; the story of a lad who sold newspapers to help his brother; the story of a brother who had to mortgage his sister Zohara's jewels to get him into engineering college; the story of an engineer spotted by Prof MGK Menon and groomed by the legendary Prof. Vikram Sarabhai; the story of a scientist tested by failures and setbacks; the story of a leader supported by a team of brilliant and dedicated professionals.

The book reiterates his skill as a leader of men and how he coped with the failures in life and also offers insights into his personal life as to why he became a vegetarian and the like. He couldnt afford to buy meat--that is the reason.

He tells us about how he felt when the Indian press ridiculed the failed attempts at launching his dream missile, the Agni. "Cartoonist Suhir Dar sketched a shopkeeper returning a product the salesman saying that like Agni it would not take off. ANother cartoonist showed one scientist explaining that the launch (of the Agni) was postponed because the press button did not make contact. The Hindustan Times showed a leader consoling press reporters, "There is no need for alarm...it's a purely non-violent missile."

The book also brings out his keen observation of people and in one such case writes about TN Seshan the fire breathing former Chief Election Commisioner of India: "Seshan is a person who enjoys verbally bringing his adversaries to their knees. Using his sharp edged humour, Seshan would make his opponents look ridiculous. Although he is prone to be loud and can turn argumentative on occasions, in the end he would always ensure maximization of all available resources towards a solution that was within implementation."

He has rightly been termed as the great 'welder of people' and it is common knowledge that wherever he goes he doesnt as much meet politicians and the beaurocracy as much as he meets children and urges them to "dream". Dream of a better future for India.

I was really moved on reading the following lines from his autobiography. These reflect the selfless, patriotic man who sacrificed personal pleasures to seek pleasure in science, in innovation, in patriotism.

He writes:
This story will end with me, for I have no inheritance in the worldly sense. I have acquired nothing, built nothing, possess nothing--no family, sons, daughters.

I am a well in this great land
Looking at its millions of boys and girls
To draw from me
The inexhaustible divinity
And spread His grace everywhere
As does the water drawn from a well.

I do not wish to set myself as an example to others, but I believe that a few souls may draw inspiration and come to balance that ultimate satisfaction which can only be found in the life spirit. God's providence is your inheritance.

I reflect on this great soul and feel privileged to be living during his time when he is the First Citizen of our great Motherland. What better example of national integration can be there when we have a Muslim, who was mentored by his teachers Mr Subramania Iyer and Rev. Ayyadurai Solomon, as the guiding beacon of light!

May God Bless him with a healthy and long life.

Something fishy

2005-09-22T14:37:00.000-07:00

Two guys, called Joe and Dean, were fishermen. Every day, before dawn, they set out to sea with their crews, coming home late in the evening with their catches of fish.

Now, there was one particular area where they would cast their nets, because of a particular type of fish which was to be found there. This was a mutant type of fish which had no hearing apparatus.

These rare fish fetched a high price from the local marine biologists who liked to study them. Now, the area where Joe and Dean caught these fish was very difficult to reach, and involved long hours of sailing through treacherous waters, which Joe didn't like at all.

Well, one week, Joe didn't turn up for work at all, and when one of his crew went to Joe's house to find out what was wrong, Joe said, "I don't know what's wrong with
me. I'm feeling really tired and lethargic. I have no energy at all."

"Don't worry," said the crewman, "Dean has been putting all his catch of those mutant fish through as yours, so you will still have some money to pay our wages this week."

"Oh, no," said Joe. "That means that I will have to get over this feeling of exhaustion and go out to that awful bit of the sea next week, and all because ---I OWE DEAN DEAF FISH IN SEA." (Iodine deficiency)

While we are on fishes, have you heard about the Candiru?

Candiru: A tiny catfish of the Amazon basin that pisses people off.
(Note: The candiru is the fish to swim against a urine stream...)

The candiru, also called the carnero fish, is a tiny parasitic catfish that inhabits the waters of South America. They can reach lengths of 1-2.5 in (2.5-6 cm) with a width of 3.5 mm. Their diminutive size and nearly transparent body makes them very hard to locate (not that you would want to).

When candirus parasitize humans, it is usually only when they are skinny-dipping while urinating in the water. The candiru tastes the urine stream and follows it back to the human. It then swims up the anus and lodges itself somewhere in the urinary tract with its spines. Blood is drawn, and the candiru gorges itself on both the blood and body tissue, its body sometimes expanding due to the amount of blood. This is all said to be very painful for the poor person who has this happen to him or her. Unfortunately, they are almost impossible to remove due to the spines. Amputation of the private areas is the cheapest, and most life-changing, way to remove the fish. Actual surgery is extremely expensive and involves inserting the Xagua plant and the Buitach apple up the urethra. These two plants kill and even dissolve the parasitic fish. If surgery is not done in time, the blockage of the urinary tract will prove fatal. The candiru is the only known vertebrate to parasitize humans.

"A Short History of Medicine"

I have an earache:

2000 B.C. -Here, eat this root.
1000 A.D. -That root is heathen. Here, say this prayer.
1850 A.D. -That prayer is superstition. Here, drink this potion.
1940 A.D. -That potion is snake oil. Here, swallow this pill.
1985 A.D. -That pill is ineffective. Here, take this antibiotic.
2000 A.D. -That antibiotic is artificial. Here, eat this root.

Q: how do you tell the sex of chromosome?
A: Pull down it's genes

Life is a sexually transmitted disease;)))

What men do when they split with gf/spouse

2005-09-22T14:35:00.001-07:00

A lissome femme once asked me, 'the enlightened one', as to what men do when they split, apart from getting bladdered and sulking. Do they talk about it to ‘other males’? Well dear madamoiselle there is a whole lot of things we guys do! I am talking about the majority of the ‘males’ and then there are the effeminate chaps about whom the less the said the better. LOL.

Balls have brains ;)))

In the immediate post-split phase they might get banjaxed if he is a drinker, but then how long can he afford to do it? He definitely wont talk about it to other males simply coz his ego wont permit to so and what if the ‘other male’ gets judgmental and views him as a ‘lesser’ male incapable of protecting his ‘bird’. Remember that males evolved from the hunter and the protector and sustainer of the cave?

He might also think: “What if the ‘other male’ might view this as a chink in the armour and decide to hit on ‘his’ femme. Do you need to be reminded that most males follow the ‘dog in the manger’ policy? LOL.

He never analyses what went wrong in the relationship coz he already ‘knows’ that the blunder is squarely on the femme and he was such a fool to get entangled in that relationship and he rues his misfortune and vows to never to get hitched with ‘that’ sort of femme again. It is an oath ;)) ”An emotional man can lash like a reptile; an emotional femme prefers to ‘talk it out’

He might take up to pumping iron in the gym and fine tune his beyond-the-point-of-no-return-belly or go for a tour of the country to sort things out mentally or he becomes a workaholic and his manager has all praises for this efficient young man;))

If a woman is unhappy in her relationships she cant concentrate on her work, if a man is unhappy at work he cant concentrate on his relationship that is the basics of relationships and work.

The initial phase overcome, our man ‘moves’ (forgive the cliché) on thinking that there are a whole bevy of women waiting in line to meet and court him. Isn’t he a MALE after all, even if he needs to ‘support’ himself with Cialis? He resolves to teach his femme/gf a lesson which she will not forget and make her understand that she isn’t indispensable to him as she otherwise thought. The Bitch!

He will never talk it out or seek professional help coz that undermines his very existence and testy (in short for testosterone) never allows him to do so coz males cant be ‘directed’. Do you now get to know why Moses spent 40yrs wandering in the desert—he refused to ask for directions.

Girls want relationships and co-operation while boys want power and status. While men have side by side friendships based on things and achievement, women have face to face friendships based on emotional sharing. That’s why women’s arguments can be so hurtful--they know more personal details about each other and have more ammo to hurl.

Males usually think they can find a better mate in the future after a split, that they find themselves in the same quandary is another matter! Socio-biology tells us that 80% of all human societies were polygamous, mainly for survival reasons. Some men think monogamy is what furniture is made out of

In polygamous species, unlike the monogamous ones like eagles. Foxes and geese, the males are usually bigger and more colourful, more aggressive and have minimal parenting involvement. The males of polygamous animals mature sexually much later than the femmes of the species so that competitive conflicts are avoided between older males and younger, inexperienced males who are less likely to survive a fight.

Human males fit the specifications of polygamous species (except colourful;)) and it is no wonder that men have a constant battle to stay monogamous. So if a hubby/wife relationship isnt to be broken, great sex plays an important and primordial role. Why don’t femmes take the cue from here ;)))

How to satisfy a woman every time:
Caress, praise, pamper, relish, savour, massage, fix things, empathise, serenade, compliment, support, feed, soother, tantalize, humour, placate, stimulate, stroke, console, hug, ignore fat bits, cuddle, excite, pacify, protect, phone, anticipate, smooch, nuzzle, forgive, accessorize, entertain, charm, acrry for, oblige, fascinate, attend to, trust, defend, clothe, brag about, sanctify, acknowledge, spoil, embrace, die for, dream, dream of, tease, gratify, squeeze, indulge, idolize, worship

How to satisfy a MAN every time:
Arrive Naked

So, do the things above and keep your man/woman to yourselves and who do you think can do it easier? ;)))))

PS: the ones italicized aren’t original :)

Handling women

2005-09-22T14:35:00.000-07:00

The recent spate of blogs which "advised" women about how to carry themselves after a split with a friend/spouse got me thinking a wee bit, something that I dont do very often;) Agreed that a split is a predicament, but let me express a few "professional" thoughts.

First of all no one is indispensable in this wonderful world. It is a hard fact which most might be shocked to hear more so with the optimists, and NO, I am not a pessimist.

Dont we as adults know how to move on with the loss of a dear one though we cannot get over the loss? How we move on and what we do to move on is still one of the inexplicable things, and each is an individualistic experience and men and women handle it in different ways, simply because they are wired differently not for the better nor for the worse.

It has been proven scientifically that men and women use different "pathways" of communication and we would do well to understand the basic gender differences and each others shortcomings thereof and learn to accept them to improve our quality of relationships. We can do nothing to change the innate qualities of the sexes but just understand the differences and to be able to move on to a common platform of understanding and love.

If you are going to ask me how are they wired differently, I shall have to tell you a basic anatomical fact that the "corpus callosum" that connects the left side of the brain to the right is much more developed and well connected in the female rather than the male, and this helps the femmes multitrack many things simultaneously when the male finds himself totally at a loss.

How many times a male has asked the tv vloume to be reduced while speaking on the phone? Any number of times, but a femme can handle this with ease.

Oestrogen enhances articulation and fine motor skills, though it depresses a woman's spatial ability. Men have brains that are highly compartmentalised and they can store away information and also possess the ability to separate, coz a man's monotracking brain can file them all away. The femme brain does not store info this way but she needs to get rid of her problems by talking about them and when a woman talks at the end of a day, her objective is to discharge the problems and not to find conclusions or solutions. So when the man listens (even that he wont be able to) he finds her "nagging".

Women dont use language as only just a tool to communicate, unlike the men, but also use it to bond and create a rapport. Men mainly talk inside their heads because they dont have the verbal capacity that women have to use words externally for communication.

Men can sit with each other in a meeting for long periods of time with little speech and no one feels uneasy about it---its just like fishing!. Men often enjoy a quiet drink after work and thats exactly what it is--quiet. A woman will verbalise a series of items out loud in random order, listing possiblities and options, this is her way of thinking aloud. This is one of the reasons why men accuse women of talking too much and that too trivial matters.

With greater flow of info between both the hemispheres of the brain, women can talk about several subjects simultaneously in a single sentence. It is like juggling 3-4 balls at the one time and they do it effortlessly without dropping them. At the end of the conversation each woman knows something about the several subjects being discussed, the events that took place and the meaning of each. This multi tracking ability is frustrating for a man as the male brain is mono tracked and can only handle one subject at a time.

When women are multi tracking several subjects, men are completely dazed and confused. Take this family conversation for eg.

Allan: Now, wait a minute--who said what to whom at the office?

Barbara: I wasnt talking about the office--I was talking about my BIL

Allan: Your BIL? You dint tell me that you changed the subject!

Barbara: Well you have to pay closer attention. Everyone else understands.

Fiona(sister): Yes I knew what she meant. Its perfectly clear to me.

Jasmine(daughter) So did I dad, your so dumb, you never follow anything!

Allan: I give up with you women.

Cameron(son): Yeah me too, and I am only a kid!

If a woman is talking to you a lot, she likes you. If she isnt, then you are in trouble. Men take an average of nine mins to understand that he is being punished by the woman by keeping silent and until that mark is reached he sees her silence as a bonus--he's getting some "peace and quiet!"

And it is a well known fact that women are indirect as opposed to men and women talk emotively while men are literal. So my dear pals, I keep going on and on, partly due to personal experience and mostly coz of professional experience;)

The basic and THE problematic thing in splits with pals/bf/gf/spouse is lack of communication. This stems from the fact that each of us, expect the other to behave like ourselves whereas the genders are wired differently. Learn to recognise each other's short comings and talk on a common level and for heaven's sake dont assume.

More later if any one is interested;)

PS: Some sentences(like the dialogue) have been excerpted from the book : Why Men dont listen and women cant read maps by Allan and Barbara Pease. A must read for all people, simple, humourous, understandable and more than all it contains facts.

Zits--a remedy!

2005-09-22T14:34:00.000-07:00

Pongal brings to my mind a weird and funny incident and the other day GB aka 'yabba' Gayathri mentioned the word "puraa" (pigeon) and I couldnt help myself ROTFL, a la SSM style.

Setting: My "thalai Pongal" (first Pongal after marriage)
Year: 2000
Situation: my grandparents' home in a village near the South Indian port city of Tuticorin.

Okay, now many of you would be wondering what I was doing in my grandparents place for the thalai Pongal instead of going to my in-laws house in Erode. Well I for one dont believe in going to my in-laws at the drop of the hat for every celebration not that I didnt like them but coz I shunned the various small rituals that the new bridegroom has to perform and have heard enough incidents where the groom has botched enough to make him a look alike of Senthil or Koundamani!

There was another important reason why we dint celebrate Pongal that year because dad dearest had just passed away on Dec 6th 1999. Though
being an agriculural family, my grandparents house wore a very solemn
look sans any festive decoration while the whole village was pulsating
and wild with excitement as is usual of rural India.

My marriage, about 50 days earlier, was a low key affair and not many in the village knew that I was married. The winter, if you can call it so in the dry arid regions of Southern Tamilnadu, was just over and the sun was beating down harshly on the brown landscape and the heat and sweat brought a few of those ubiquitous pimples on my boyish face...ahaaan;)

I was too bored that evening and decided to go to the huge, old village temple and sit on the steps of the 'theppam', the temple pond, to ogle at the village belle who were fetching water. Hmmm. (some people never change;) My wife did not accompany me as she stayed back with my mom who was shattered by the loss of dad and was crying most of the day thinking of old times.

Till date come any festival and mom is so very depressed and is teary the whole day. I do understand her torment. Poor she. Not that I am not reminded of old times but atleast I am able to divert attention, but she finds herself hapless. Ok that is way beyond the point and if you would permit me to use a hack expression, "I digress."

I was sitting alone and presently a village youth came along and we struck up a conversation and he was mighty impressed that I was a physician. He was extolling the virtues of traditional medicine and I was having quite a tough time refuting it.

He had noticed the couple of zits on my face and asked me slyly if allopathy had a cure for it. I invoked all my acquired knowledge of the subject and said YES. Dont we treat acne with isotretinoin and antibiotics? Well, he had a different idea. Smugly he said he knew a sure-fire method to get rid of them.

"What is that?" I query him.

He: "Lady's "puraa" edhuthu mugathuley theycha seriyaa poidum."

I loosely translated that as "rub a female pigeon on the face" coz "puraa" in Tamil means pigeon.

Now. what the hell? How do you identify a femme pigeon and why rub that
feathery creature on your face?

I: "Enlighten me sir"

He: "Puraa edukkanum, aana andha lady ku theriyakoodaadhu" (take the pigeon, but without the lady knowing)

Riddle after riddle. So now I had to go around looking for a "puraa" owned by a lady!

I: "puraavai pudikkaradhu avlo kastama?" ( is it very difficult to catch a pigeon?")

He: "kashtam illey, yaaraavadhu paarthaanganna thappa ninaippaanga"(not very hard, but if someone sees you they might think bad of you)

Now why would some one have to think bad about a crazy doc who is chasing pigeons in a hamlet, though I would have made a spectacle of
myself!

Wonderful opportunity to beat the boredom and to try out an indigenous
medicine, I thought. But I needed help, so I told him that I might enlist the help of a few village boys in my "puraa" adventure.

He: "illey saar neenga mattum dhaan poyi adhai edukkanum" (only you should go and take it)

Wait. Was I missing something? Wasnt I supposed to 'catch' the puraa? But he is talking of me taking it as if it were lying dead! Again I ask him for enlightenment.

He: "adhaan saar, ladies ullaara poduvaaangaley? adhu" ( you know the thingie that the ladies wear inside)

I: "BRA sollureengala?" (do you mean a BRA)

H: "Aaama saar" (yes sir)

I was literally laughing my arse off.

Holy shit. He meant BRA and was prounouncing that as 'puraa' the tamil
equivalent of pigeon!!! ( you dont expect an uneducated man to pronounce better than that)

I really am flummoxed by this gentleman whose good intention was to teach me a cure for the pimples, but I still dont understand the logic of rubbing a woman's brassiere on my face and that too the wonderful garment had to be procured without the knowledge of the owner. How is that for a remedy?

I actually wanted to ask him the size of the 'puraa' which effects the best cure, but refrained, to avoid hurting his sentiments coz he was visibly disturbed when I couldnt control my peals of laughter.

What if femmes had acne? Yucks. Unimaginable. What would he have recommended for the few zits on my butt? :)))) Think of the sorry state of the femme whose bra I decided to flick! Won't her delicate heart be broken to find that her single device of "upliftment" has been looted? Why would a newly married bloke run around for a piece of lingerie item to rub his face on when he has better things to ......cut cut cut...;))))

Then I told him I was married. He was shocked and asked, "Even after
marriage do you get those?" I seriously didnt understand what he meant.

I then went back home and narrated the incident to my wife. Since then
she has been watching me whenever I go into the bathroom and the
neighbours too havent complained of any missing "stuff" from their
wardrobes! What with many femmes having a "wardrobe malfunction" these days:)))))

In case any of you are having thoughts in your mind, I dont have them
zits now and NO, I dont have a bra fetish.

PS: The above incident is a true one:) and isnt a figment of my fertile imagination:))))))

Role of Elders and Parents

2005-09-22T14:32:00.000-07:00

I would like to discuss the positive role of elders and parents in the shaping of adolescents. I have penned a few of my thoughts for your perusal.

I definitely would not be wrong if I say that home is where principles begin and the children involved in the not-so-pleasant act can very well take the liberty of pointing the finger at their parents for having committed a blunder.

Let me begin with an anecdote.

"I am sorry," she replied, "but I dont have time to join your organisation."

"Are you that busy?"

"As a matter of fact, I belong to another group whose president is my husband and I take care of most of the work. My work does not leave me any free time"

"Really? And what is the purpose of the organisation?"

"Its sphere of activity is very great. It is devoted to the promotion of good values in life and the education of children."

"What is the name of the organisation? I've never heard of it."

"That's quite possible. It is called family."

Adolescence is the effervescent stage where most communications go haywire and most parents find themselves in a quandry.

For a good number of teenagers, parents are old fashioned folks who do not understand anything of their interests and problems. Naturally, because of the generation gap, it is often difficult for parent sto realize that their teenagers are growing up and to stop treating them like kids. it becomes even more difficult to guide them.

One of the most positive signs that an adolescent is growing up is his increasing need to assert his independence and free from adult domination. At times, such self affirmation may take the form of rebellion against authority and set rules, but it is nevertheless an important and necessary step toward growth and maturity.

The teenager expresses himself inaccurately when he demands the freedom to do as he likes. In reality beyond his whims and fancies, he is seeking ture freedom, that freedom which allows him to decide by himself, to choose his actions, to do things on his own accord. This is something beautiful and without such freedom he would become a mechanical person.

While they seek greater independence, boys and girls do not understand why they are changing. They are surprised to see that their reactions are different from what they were before. Some are even worried about this and feel sorry to have lost the security of childhood. as they become more and more aware of the deep changes that are taking place in them, they are taken abcak and are led to close up on themselves: they will not speak to their parents or educators. But this attitude does not help them to solve the problems arising in their lives.

The most effective way of helping them resolve this would be is to encourage parents to keep a close contact with their teenagers and to develop an attitude of dialogue. At this juncture of the teens lives, they need a presence that listens, understands, helps and encourages. They want to be accepted as they are.

Any effort to educate adolescents in their growth to maturity demands that they be not overprotected. On the other hand, there should not be any abdication of authority on the part of the parents that would allow their teenagers to forge a false freedom from mere whims, impulses and instincts.

An authentic growth to maturity demands that the youth relinquish certain childhood securities and accept the risk of making mistakes. It also supposes receptiveness to what obedience requires.

It also requires on the part of parents, the proper balance between allowing ample opportunities for the exercise of independence, initiative and creativity on the one hand, and providing sufficient guidance, inspiration and security on the other. It is by looking at everything that is positive and taking into account the legitimate aspirations of their wards that parents will be better able to discuss and dialogue with them. They can demand, advise and if necessary forbid, once they are sure that they are in agreement with the good side in them.

Correct me if I am wrong and dont forget to add your POV's also.

Kubler-Rossian Concepts

2005-09-22T14:31:00.000-07:00

The most beautiful people we have known are those who have known defeat, known suffering, known struggle, known loss, and have found their way out of the depths.

These persons have an appreciation, a sensitivity and an understanding of life that fills them with compassions, gentleness, and a deep loving concern. Beautiful people do not just happen.

That was a quote by Elizabeth Kübler-Ross, the Swiss born American psychiatrist who later became a pioneer in the field of thanatology, the study of death and dying and was also one of the powerful force behind the movement for creating a hospice care system.

Her influential On Death and Dying mapped out a five-stage framework to explain the experience of dying patients, which progressed through denial, anger, “bargaining for time,” depression, and acceptance.

She identified those stages that a dying patient experiences when informed of their terminal prognosis. Not only does a dying person experience this, but also their loved ones.

Denial (this isn't happening to me!) (this isnt happening to my dad!)

Anger (why is this happening to me?) (why is this happening only to our family?)

Bargaining (I promise I'll be a better person if...)(If only there was a way out, I would...)

Depression (I don't care anymore) (not even God can save us from this misery!)

Acceptance (I'm ready for whatever comes)(what else to do than accept the fate)

These stages not only apply to death but also for grief due to various etiologies and here we shall apply it to one of the scourges of marital life-divorce-to understand the concept in a better way.

Denial
Surely this isn't happening to me. Surely this isn't happening to us. Even if it's happening, it's just a stage. He's left before; he'll come back. She's talked this way before; she doesn't really mean it. Even if he means it, he'll soon realize the error of his ways, and our marriage will survive. Everything's really okay.

Anger
I'm ready to kill her. I want to hire the meanest, ugliest lawyer I can find and take him for all he's worth. I'm ready to go to war, and I'll beat her to a bloody pulp. I want to see him spread-eagle on a rock and watch the buzzards eat his insides out one bite at a time (that was an actual quote, by the way).

Bargaining
Here's what I'm willing to do. Okay, honey, here's a long letter in which I spell out for you how I've changed. See, I'm different. I've solved all the problems you told me needed to be fixed. You can come back now. I know. I'll give him everything. If you'll give it another chance, I'll . . .

Depression
This is the end. I am nothing. I am so small. I don't think I exist any more. I'm ugly. I'm fat. I don't matter. I think I'll just lie here. I'm worthless. Nobody cares if I live or die. I can't go on. There is no "I" left. He's much better off without me. I can see why she's so glad to get rid of me. I hate myself. This is all my fault.

Acceptance
I don't like this, but it's going to happen, and I need to get through it. I'll make it. Our marriage is ending. We're divorcing. I need to let my marriage go. My wife is leaving. My husband and I won't be together any more. We're getting a divorce. I'm ready for my co-workers, my family, and my friends to know that I'm going through a divorce.

Acceptance is difficult, painful, and curiously, often liberating.

There is no joy without hardship. If not for death, would we appreciate life? If not for hate, would we know the ultimate goal is love? …

At these moments you can either hold on to negativity and look for blame, or you can choose to heal and keep on loving. The ultimate lesson all of us have to learn is unconditional love, which includes not only others but ourselves as well.

Death is a great leveller. Guilt is perhaps the most painful companion of death. Brevity of life is unequivocal and the let us not indulge in "sleep"--the sister of death--but to be awake to listen to the cry of help by our brethren.

Foot fetish

2005-09-22T14:30:00.000-07:00

The foot is used as a metaphor in many common sayings. Can you find any that is missed? I know, some people are yelling: "My Foot!" ;))))

Be in step.

Go toe to toe

Get a toe hold.

On your toes.

Toe the line.

Head to toe.

Under foot.

Get cold feet.

Drag one's feet.

Off on the right foot.

Off on the wrong foot.

Dancing with two left feet.

Live on a shoestring budget.

Put one foot in front of the other.

Wait on someone hand and foot.

Hanging on by one's toenails.

A step in the wrong direction.

A step in the right direction.

The shoe is on the other foot.

Stand on your own two feet.

Hold one's feet to the fire.

Shoot oneself in the foot.

Get back on your feet.

One step at a time.

Step on one's toes.

One step ahead.

Break a leg.

Shake a leg.

Step lively.

Step on it.

Step aside.

Step down.

Get a leg up.

Tip toe around.

Fancy footwork.

Hot foot it over to…

Something's afoot.

To think on one's feet.

Head over heels in love.

Footloose and fancy free.

Put your best foot forward.

A walk on the wild side.

To get a foot in the door.

To dig one's heels in.

Swept off one's feet.

Get one's feet wet.

He's a real heel.

Be out of step.

To step on one's toes

To pull someone's leg

Foot in the mouth (Blogger's diesease)

One foot in the grave

Foot the bill

Athletes' feet,

Footsie

Foot Stomping Music

Look before you leap

six feet under

Feet of Clay

fleet footed

Put your feet up

99 Handy Hints around the house

2005-09-22T14:29:00.000-07:00

Finally something for the girls! But enterprising hommes would do very well to make a note of these points to impress your better halves! I am not good at doling advice on dating, but thought I could give you some tips on housekeeping and cooking.

1) To treat a shoe bite, apply a paste of rice flour and water and smear over the bite and let it dry and then wash it away

2) A cheap and easy way to keep mosquitoes at bay is to put 2-3 tablets of camphor into small cup of water and place it under your bed. Enjoy an undisturbed and smoke-free sleep.

3) To clean your brass ware boil water with a little onion in it and clean with this solution.

4) Numb your tongue with an ice cube before swallowing an unpleasant medicine.

5) Your mirrors will look bright if you add a little water to left over tea leaves and wipe the mirror with this decoction

6) If your pressure cooker has stains put 2 tsp of citric acid and pour in 2 cups of water in it and bring it to a boil. When cool scrub the cooker.

7)Place soda bicarbonate or lime essence or rose essence in the fridge to keep away odors

8) If the shoe keeps slipping off your foot use band-aid on the inner soles of the shoe

9) To remove paint from the skin, apply a little curd on the area and after few minutes wash it away

10) Cleaning silver articles will be easy if you soak a napkin in a mixture of 1 cup of water 1 tab of household ammonia and one tsp of silver polish and leave the napkin to dry and when dry it could be used to remove tarnish marks from silver.

11) Keep the water in the flower vase odorless by placing a piece of charcoal.

12) Rub toothpaste over fine scratches on glassware. It acts as a slight abrasive and smoothens the area

13) Clean dust particles and dirt from the iron or steel sieve by holding it over a fire for sometime. The grime burns to soot and falls off, wash the sieve with soap and water.

14) Soften leather shoes by applying curd at night on their inner surfaces to make tight shoes to soften.

15) Agarbathi ash can be used to clean your silver ware or brassware.

16) A few sandal pieces kept in a bookshelf will emit a good fragrance and keep the books and manuscripts from being destroyed.

17) Hardened glue becomes soft and usable if glycerin and warm water is added and stirred well.

18) Stains on white footwear can be removed if nail polish remover is applied and rubbed briskly

19) Clean silverware with ordinary ash or common salt. Polished furniture can be cleaned with a solution of vinegar.

20) Soak your diamond earrings rings etc. in a little water for 15 minutes and add some washing powder to this water and boil for 7-8 minutes and it will now sparkle.

21) To remove stains from crockery wash with a solution of baking soda.

22) Old socks pulled over the ends of a broom can collect fine particles without scratching the floor.

23) Wipe your fans and window grills with a cloth dipped in kerosene to avoid the formation of cobwebs.

24) Coat the furniture with a layer of kerosene to prevent insects and to keep it in good shine. Mop the floor also with adding a few drops of kerosene to the detergent.

25) Add 1 tab salt to kerosene before filling the oil lamps to ensure they burn for a longer time.

26) The smell of kerosene from cans etc. can be best removed by washing them with water in which potatoes have been boiled.

27) Sprinkle a little table salt over the toothbrush to get a new sparkle to your teeth.

28) To join a broken pieces of lipstick together hold them over a flame.

29) Soak cotton in phenyl and keep in the bathroom or lavatory for that fresh lingering smell for days together.

30) To remove turmeric stains from plastic vessels rub them with some gram flour before washing them.

31) A quick relief from cold is to drink a mixture of 2 tsp honey, 1 tsp ginger juice and 1 tsp betel leaf juice and follow it up with some warm water. Do this thrice a day.

32) Burn a mixture of incense and neem leaves to keep away mosquitoes.

33) Don't throw away eggshells. Instead finely crush them and use for the potted plants.

34) Apply a mixture of toothpaste and baking soda to remove yellow stains in the fridge shelves.

35) Rub an aspirin on a bee sting to lessen the pain.

36) Sprinkle dry neem leaves in shelves where books are stored to prevent silver fish and termites infestation.

37) Next time the flush tank leaks no need to call the plumber, just apply some Vaseline uniformly on the rubber valve to plug the leak.

38) Add half a tab of aspirin to the water in the flower vase to make the flowers fresh and remain for a long time.

39) Don’t buy car polish. Just add cupful of paraffin to hot water to give it a protective shine.

40) Always fold a garment across rather than lengthwise when on a hanger to remove the creases faster.

41) Postage stamps when stuck together will easily separate if popped in the fridge for a few minutes.

42) To soothe insect bites mix 2 tab of olive oil and 1 egg white and apply to the affected area. It takes away the sting and reduces the swelling.

43) Old belts and leather bags will look new if they are rubbed with cotton wool that has been soaked in a solution of half a tsp of rosewater, one tsp gylcerine and half tsp coconut oil.

44) Silver ornaments will not turn black if you keep them along with some camphor.

45) Add a little milk to the water for cleansing silver articles to give them that extra brightness.

46) A greasy grill cleans best when sprinkled with soda bicarb.

47) To remove grease marks from wallpaper place a blotting paper over the mark and press with a hot iron.

48) Don't struggle to find the ends of a cellophane tape. Just place the roll in the fridge for 10 minutes.

49) Melting bits of candle, kerosene and a dash of turmeric powder in a tin can make wood polish at home. Heat and allow to cool and set before using.

50) Before polishing your shoes hold the polishing brush in front of a heater or lamp to warm it and now polish your shoes with this warm brush to make them shine.

51) To clean dust and grease from exhaust fans and bulbs in the kitchen, wipe with coconut fiber dipped in kerosene. Follow this by a good scrub with a cloth dipped in washing powder.

52) To starch silk suits at home use liquid gum mixed with water. When the suits are dry iron them.

53) Remove pet hair from the upholstery and cushions effortlessly by rubbing a damp sponge over the required area.

54) Protect your self from slipping on the floor when wearing new footwear by rubbing the soles with sand paper.

55) Pressure cooks about 300grams of moong dal and mash it thoroughly when cool. To this add a bucketful of water and strain through a sieve and soak your silk saris in this dal water for 5 minutes and then rinse in water 2-3 times. Dry in shade and then iron them. The zari will look brighter. This is enough for 3 saris.

56) Get back the original color of coral ornaments by applying any oil to the stones and let them dry for two days.

57) Take a few guava leaves and boil in a little water and gargle the mouth if you have tooth ache!

58) Water your plants with water enriched with soda. Your plants will be healthier and with more foliage and flowers.

59) Once a week water the plants with the soap water in which clothes are washed. This will make them look greener.

60) Rinse oilcans with soap nut powder and sour curd along with a little water and wash well. The can will retain neither the smell nor the stickiness.

61) If oil has leaked from the car on your garage floor just spread out a damp newspaper over the oil stain and leave till the newspaper is dry. When you remove the paper the stain will have been gone.

62) Stick a square piece of sand paper inside the pencil box –to clean the erasers!

63) Rub a little perfume on the bottom of the iron with a cotton and the clothes will smell great.

64) Collect the dal washed water and rice water to pour for the plants. The plants will be healthy.

65) Grind 10 flakes of garlic and add this to a bucket of water and sprinkle around the house. This prevents snakes.

66) To prevent a car windscreen from freezing on an icy morning rub it with a cut potato.

67) To clean rusty knives and blades stick them into an onion and leave them for some time.

68) To clean the bathroom tiles, rub them with bleaching powder overnight and rinse with plain water in the morning.

69) Rub faded carpets or mats with warm water and turpentine. This will bring back the original color.

70) Pour a little kerosene into the drain periodically to keep roaches away.

71) A few grains of rice in the salt container will absorb dampness and prevent the salt from sticking to the sides of the container.

72) A much used rubber gasket can still be used if kept in the freezer for a few hours.

73) If there is persistent cough eat a guava that has been baked in an oven or charcoal everyday for 4-5 days to obtain relief.

74) To clean stains from the marble flooring in the bathroom try any of the following:

Apply white shoe polish on the dirt streaks and wipe with a cloth
Scrub the stains with a mixture of milk and lemon in equal proportions.
Take equal parts of finely chopped chalk and washing soda and make a paste and rub vigorously on the stains.
Use a mixture of borax and water to clean them
Mix a cup of vinegar with warm water and apply on the stains and leave for ½ hour and then clean.
Apply a mixture of turpentine and salt over the stains and wash after 15 minutes

75) To cleanse vacuum flasks that have been in storage for a long time, place 2 tsp of soda bicarb in the empty flask and top with boiling water and leave it overnight and then empty and wash with warm water.

76) A slice of damp bread can be used to pick up slivers of broken grass

77) Smelly pans. If previous dinner smells remain in the saucepan, fill with water, add vinegar and boil up. The pan should be fine but the kitchen smells of boiled vinegar!

78) Instead of keeping the flowers in wet towels, it is better to keep them in towels that are wetted with salt water. This keeps the flowers fresh for a longer time

79) Smelly fridge or plastic containers. It is said that to prevent smells in the first place, leave a piece of charcoal on one of the shelves and this will absorb any odours. However, if there was no charcoal to hand and the fridge smells, dissolve 2 - 3 teaspoons of Bicarbonate of Soda in a pint of water and wipe out the inside of the fridge.

80) Fill any offending plastic containers with the same mixture and leave to soak overnight - all should be odour free in the morning.

81) Wash your silver anklets in a solution of salt and tamarind that has been heated and then soak in the solution and then wash with a brush.

82) To keep the mixer blades sharp always grind some table salt in the mixer once a month.

How to tell a silk sari that is from the Kanchipuram Co-op or not. Here are a few tips.

83) The co-op sari is heavier that is around 600gm as compared to the Arani and Cheyyar saris which are usually 500gm.

84) The thread in co-op sari is of 4 parts as against others, which have only 2.

85) In the co-op sari the pallu part attachment will not be seen but in others the attached place shows threads hanging out.

86) When the zari is removed the thread inside will be red color as opposed to yellow in the duplicate ones.

87) The name of the co-op will be inscribed on the label along with the cost as against only the cost in the duplicate ones.

88) Use potato skin to clean a mirror. After rubbing finish with a soft, moist cloth.

89) Kitchen timers are cheap. I keep several around, and set one for each dish, to avoid having to figure out the math of when each dish should come out!

90) To keep a mixing bowl from sliding around when you're whisking something in it, set it on a damp kitchen towel.

91) Disposable vinyl or plastic gloves will keep your hands from staining and keep them from being irritated by hot peppers.

92) Nonstick cooking spray will keep foods from staining plastic utensils or storage containers, Just give them a quick spray before using. It will also help honey or peanut butter slide out of measuring cups.

93) A small, clean spray bottle works well for spraying oil over food. You'll get fewer calories that way.

94) If you get a dish too sweet, stir in 1/2-teaspoon vinegar to balance out the taste.

95) To keep a pot from boiling over, put a toothpick between the pot and lid. This trick also works with covered casserole dishes in the oven.

96) You can keep pasta, custards, and milk from boiling over by coating the inside of the pot lid with vegetable oil.

97) When using a double boiler put a few marbles or a jar lid in the bottom pan -- they'll warn you by rattling when the water gets too low and save the pan from scorching.

98) If you're cooking several dishes at once, look at the recipes to see if any of them use the same ingredients. If so, chopping them at the same time saves time and cuts down on cleanup. If one recipe calls for 1/4 cup bell pepper and another for 3/4 cup, Chop 1 cup to begin with.

99) Start cooking the dish that takes longest first. That way, it can be cooking while you prepare the other items.

Growing Up

2005-09-22T14:28:00.001-07:00

Packing me off to school was probably the biggest hurdle that my parents had to come across each day. It was time to whine and rant everyday in the morning coming up with some excuse or the other, and it ranged from the mundane to the bizarre.

Mundane would be something like pain in the legs and bizarre would be my delusion that I am going to croak in an aeroplane crash into my primary school that day. Somehow I got into my head that these flying objects would someday falldown coz of lack of petrol.

It was the year 1977 when I was chucked into Lower Kindergarten and the tortuous road to acquiring an education that will be a foundation for my career later in life. I tried all the tricks in the book, but then I wasnt going to have it my way.

Finally after much cajoling, with a heavy heart and armed with a double bubble gum (which is my fav pastime to date--chewing the cud) and a box of sweets to be distributed to the fifty odd students of my primary school, I was ferried by dad and was left under the loving care of Mrs. Melda.

My quirky memory doesnt permit me to remember many of my early days at school, but each day when I came home, the first question that I would shoot at my mother is "Eppoma holiday" (when is the next holiday). My mom says,"Naalaikku school mudinju evening veettukku vandha adutha naal holiday." (the day after tomorrow is holiday). The next evening, again the same question posed and the same answer given, until Friday arrives.

Friday evening seems eons away and finally it shows some mercy on me after a gruelling 5 school days and my joy knew no bounds. It is play time again. I take out the tricycle and begin my quota of fun with the cycle. You smart asses used to ride the cycle, but being the genius that I was, I found more fun and pleasure in tumbling the cycle wheel over wheels down a flight of 10 steps outside my house which lead to the orchard.

The tossing-the-cycle-down-the-steps game gets a tad boring after tumbling ten times or if my mom came out and gave me a whack and it was time to 'explore' newer and more exciting games to play. How about irritating my brother? Yea. That sounds funny and it fits the slot of an adventurous game.

Though my parents had christened my brother with a mellifluous name, I had a particular penchant for calling him "pullayaarappan". He sure looked like the elephant God Ganapathi, with a cute rotund belly and chubby face and a lot of tyres in the form of baby fat that he could've modelled for Michelin.

First he too is interested coz it gives him an opportunity to be noticed and irritated upon, but cant stand the onslaught for long and he too decides to pelt me with his toys. I run for my life and find the place behind my mom, who is cooking in the kitchen, quite a safe haven. But no, he is relentless in his pursuits and we run around my mom, when finally she gets weary of this rubbish and whacks both of us with a "murungakkaai"(drumstick).

What a fine choice of vegetable to whip two insolent knaves! The moment it lands on your skin it stings like a thousand bees together, but quite safe and you cant be arrested for MSBP( Munchausen's syndrome by proxy) unlike the poor moms in the UK.

Game abandoned. What next? Ok how about finding some birds nests in the dahlia shrubs. Great idea. As it is evening the bulbuls are coming back to their nests for the night. We allow them to get comfy in the nest and take out a torch light to go and peer for them. The bird flies off on seeing two 'hunters', but hey, the eggs are there. Three ovoid pinkish-whitish, dotted eggs.

It is warm. Kewl. But we need mom's permission to take the nests into the house. So back we go to my mom and beg for the nest's asylum in our home. A vehement NO from my mom indicates that she isnt willing to accomodate the coir-sticks-feather-goo house in the bedroom. Adults, such spoilsports.

Disappointed we demand an explanation as to why. The reason is more than sufficient to leave the bird's palace alone. Now what is the reason? Here it goes: The bird might take revenge on us and "nondify our kannu" (dig out our eyeballs) at night while we are asleep. Sounds spooky. My brother is already having goose pimples. Hell with the bird. Who wants that stinky piece of bird shit.

Now where is the carrom-board. Yessssss. We pester my mom to yank it out from under the cot and place it in the living room and begin our game eager-beaver like. Not even half way through and my brother is cheating. this warrants some swift action and I fling a few pieces of those "carrom coins" and after a while all the pieces are strewn all over the place and this earns me the second whack of the evening. Did that pain? Huh? You should be kidding me! How can it pain for a real man?

My mom yells from the kitchen,"Innikku unakku school-la solli koduthadha, thambikku solli kodu." (teach your bro, what they taught you at school today). Wow, an opportunity to have a one-upmanship and show him his proper place in the hierarchy of education.

"Madaya unakku seriya solla theriyaadha?" I admonish him if he isnt on track. This is wonderful, I am loving every part of it, and whatever words the ma'am scolded me with earlier in the day, I take this God sent opportunity to use it on him. He isnt satisfied with a grumpy teacher and says that he has enough of the crap. But no. I am in no mood to let go. How often are you given the liberty to whack him with a plastic scale if he is wrong?

Nutrition and Mental performance

2005-09-22T14:28:00.000-07:00

In the 18th Century, many sailors on long journeys died from scurvy: indeed some battleships lost more men through illness than through enemy action. The cause of this was not understood, until it was discovered that adding fresh limes to the ship’s supply of preserved food seemed to boost the sailor’s resistance to the illness, and fewer died. The existence of parts of food essential for survival had been discovered.

Vitamins were discovered through the effect of their absence on people’s health, and increasingly the role of nutrition’s contribution to health was seen as equally important as exercise, hygiene, lifestyle issues, environment, and psychological wellbeing.

Increasing number of diseases are influenced by life style, the so called "diseases of civilisation". Nutritionists ascribe this to excess of refined carbohydrates, decreasing levels of exercise, fewer vegetables and fruit and the wrong type of fats in our diet. Fast food restaurants have brought about the diseases of civilisation.

A reaction to this has been the development of a slow food. The Slow Food movement preserves an eco-region's cuisine and the associated food plants and seeds, domestic animals, and farming methods of that region. It was begun by Carlo Petrini in Italy as a resistance movement to fast food but has expanded globally to many countries and now has a large membership.

It now describes itself as an eco-gastronomy faction within the ecology movement, and some consider it also the culinary wing of the anti-globalization movement. It announced the opening of a new University of Food at Pollenzo, in Piedmont, Italy in 2004. Carlo Petrini and Massimo Montanari are leading figures in the setting up of the University, whose goal is to promote awareness of good food and nutrition.

Nutrition can affect health in many ways. Ill-health can be brought about by an imbalance of nutrients, producing either an excess or deficiency which in turn affects body functioning in a cumulative manner. The body can be affected at the micro or macro levels by nutrition.

One such nutrient that has excited interests are the EFA's (essential fatty acids): the omega-3 and the omega-6 fatty acids. Of more interest is the omega-3 acid though both are expected to be in the ratio of 1:1.

Although the word 'fat' has some negative connotation, fats play a vital role in the body. The outer walls of all cells in the body are made of fatty substances. In the brain and nervous system the fatty wall is called myelin. Myelination is a crucial stage in the development of the brain in early life.

Omega-3 seems to help regulate the body's blood sugar levels, which helps keep hunger at bay. In the long term, it is believed that a diet rich in Omega-3 might lower the risk of diabetes and obesity.

The primary sources of omega-6 are corn, soy, canola, safflower and sunflower oil; these oils are overabundant in the typical diet, which explains our excess omega-6 levels.

Omega-3, meanwhile, is typically found in flaxseed oil, walnut oil, and fish

* Flax oil (linseed oil) - the richest natural source
* Flax seeds
* Hemp oil (best balance of omega 6:3)
* Rapeseed oil
* Pumpkin seeds
* Soybean oil (richer in omega 6)
* Walnut oil (richer in omega 6)
* Walnuts
* Oily fish

Several recent studies have shown that the incidence of depression in the population is correlated with a lack of fish in the diet and specifically with a lack of omega-3 fatty acids. Studies have also shown that fatty acid supplements can improve behaviour both in children with ADHD (attention-deficit-hyperactivity disorder) and related disorders and in adults with behaviour problems.

The other problems that could be associated with poor intake of omega-3 fatty acids seem to be: Dry skin, Dandruff, Frequent urination, Irritability, Attention deficit, Soft nails, Alligator skin, Allergies, Lowered immunity, Weakness, Fatigue, Dry unmanageable hair, Excessive thirst, Brittle, easily frayed nails, Hyperactivity, "Chicken skin" on backs of arms, Dry eyes, Learning problems, Poor wound healing, Frequent infections, Patches of pale skin on cheeks, Cracked skin on heels or fingertips.

When the importance of unsaturated fatty acids was first recognised it was in the context of reducing cholesterol levels and hence the risk of heart disease. This is still valid but it now seems they may have a wider significance since they affect the mental performance and behaviour.

Light, air and heat destroy EFAs, so processing and packaging methods are extremely important. Ideally, when buying oils, choose mechanically processed oils in opaque glass containers.

Essential Fatty Acid oils go off very quickly, so should be kept away from light, heat and air. Keep in the fridge once opened (1 week). They are destroyed by commercial processing, so always buy FRESH COLD PRESSED

Pesticides often concentrate in fats and oils, so it is best to buy ORGANIC whenever possible.

From a calorie viewpoint, all oils are equally fattening.
They contain 120 calories per tablespoon.

For optimum weight loss, reduce your overall fat/oil consumption to a sensible level: 25-30% of calories is very good; although 20-25% is better; while fats experts advocate 15-20%

Fear of Losing

2005-09-22T14:27:00.001-07:00

I was in the third grade. Like most third graders I had a vivid imagination and lots of energy, and I loved to draw. One day in class as I was drawing away, oblivious to everything but the smell of the crayons, the feel of them on the paper and the wild and wonderful colours they produced.

I suddenly noticed that all the other kids were laughing and making fun of my drawing. It took me aback. I was sort of stung. The well-intentioned teacher admonished the other children for laughing but reminded me that the assignment was to colour inside the lines.

I was deeply embarrassed and decided at that moment that I never wanted to experience that kind of stuff again. I made a simple decision never to draw again. Even though I enjoyed drawing it became more important never to risk being “humiliated”.

It is not important to know whether I wanted to become an artist and if my aspirations were destroyed in the third grade. I will never know—because I chose a path designed to avoid situations where I might be embarrassed like that again. My early warning system went on alert at that moment and it generalized. It no longer warned me simply about drawing; it helped me avoid situations where embarrassment might occur. And this influenced all kinds of choices I made later in life.

Our early warning systems are put on full alert early in our lives to help us avoid situations in which our status or sense of belonging might be threatened. And so when we are asked whether we experience fear, the reasonable answer is no, because we have often spent a lifetime avoiding those situations where fear or embarrassment might result.

Analysts call this strategy as “Playing not to Lose”. Playing not to lose is like playing tennis against an eight year old who hasn’t played before. We aren’t in any jeopardy of losing; we can claim ourselves to be winner after every match…but we are not playing (living) anywhere near our potential because we are afraid of losing.

We often adopt the “play not to lose” strategy coz we believe that the consequences of embarrassment or losing are awful. We imagine them to be so awful that they are akin to psychological death---“I’ll be embarrassed to death”. This avoidance of embarrassment or losing leads us to regret later in life.

Ask yourself:

a) How you define winning, at work in the family, in other aspects of your life?
b) What situations you avoid because at some level you think there is a risk of losing a sense of belonging or status?
c) What situations do you avoid that could be important to your personal or professional growth?

The Phenomenon of Allergy

2005-09-22T14:27:00.000-07:00

Thanks to the World Wide Web spun by the spider of technology, the non medical person has medical information at his fingertips, loads more than his doc. The poor doc with years of mugging pillow sized books has to read a whole Pandora’s box of diseases while the person affected with a particular condition has to only look up what pertains to himself.

Armed with this knowledge, his confidence levels are soaring and he decides to “check” this out with his physician by bombarding him with so many queries up to the latest news on WebMD, reducing the already beleaguered man into a ridiculous blob of muck, shit and misery.

So how do we guys tackle this unpleasant situation? Of course we could speak medical jargon, but the patient prods on relentlessly, and the last resort is to take refuge in the wonderful term called “Allergy”. A hundred salutes to whoever invented the word.

A person who is suffering from a skin rash has allergy. A person with a dry hacking cough is in a state of allergy. The raving maniac is also suffering from allergy and so does the nocturnal wheezer. You name it and I can fit it into the spectrum of allergy.

When I had taken up a night duty job at a well known private hospital in Adyar, Chennai, whilst I was pursuing my MD, I was disturbed at odd hours by patients who had either a skin rash or a wheeze. Sleepily I came down from the DMO’s room and attend to the patient who is red in the face, lying on the bed and scratching all over.

“What is the problem?” I would ask.

“Doc, I don't know what happened, but since 2pm in the afternoon I have this itching all over my body,” would be the reply. After a brief history taking and examining the patient I would say that he is having an “allergy.”

Fantastic, I would think to myself. This bloke has been scratching his balls since afternoon and he conveniently drops in at 2 am in the night to pester me. I dare not show an inkling of this but would ask the staff nurse on duty to fix him up with a shot and scribble out a prescription for 3 days, all the while sporting a plastic smile.

“Why couldn’t you come earlier?” I would sometimes venture to ask.

“No doc, I popped a pill called Allegra and thought it might subside, but it took a turn for the worse,” says the patient.

“Hmmm. Never self medicate,” I would say with an air of vindication. “Take the tablets I have prescribed and you should be as fit as a fiddle.”

I would have written another brand name for Allegra from a rival pharma company. It satisfies me that I have looked over the patient as best as I can, and the patient that he has had the benefit of an “expert's” advice.

The patient thanks me profusely but the anxious parent/brother/sister/friend who has accompanied him volunteers, “What do you think is the reason for the allergy, doc?”

“Oh, it can be anything,” I say nonchalantly, “From the food that you ate, to household dust, hairs from pets, pollen from the garden etc etc.” This is in effect: “Don't bug me with this anymore. I don't know how you landed up with this and I cant tell you how you can get yourself rid of this. Grin and bear with the damn thing until it leaves you. God knows when it is going to leave you”

I ask the patient to figure out what he has done in the past few days that might have triggered this problem and send him home on an introspective mood. Poor chap he goes home and yells at his wife for dusting the house today, or cursing her that she made some food item with litres of oil in it, and chiding her for having so many kittens in the house, which triggered his allergic condition.

The term allergy has come to span a whole gamut of diseases, like allergic asthma, allergic rhinitis, allergic sinusitis, allergic bronchitis, allergic this and allergic that. Medical science is becoming more and more metaphysical, ranging from the seen to the unseen!

At this rate of dumping anything and everything under allergy carries on, as RK Narayan humorously put it, the time wouldn’t be very far when we would point at a passing funeral and say, “That man isn’t dead, but is allergic to life”

Doctors: My Ordeal-Part 3

2005-09-22T14:26:00.000-07:00

The ordeal of gulping the cough syrup now behind, it was time the capsule meted out its harshness on me, which meant another furore. Stomaching a capsule was something next to the impossible. However hard I tired, tried and again tried, I never succeeded. Whoever came up with the idea of a capsule? I had always seen it as a cartridge filled with explosives waiting to explode any moment inside me.

I was asked to look up and open my gob while mom poured some water into it. I am supposed to hold the water there and she would pop the capsule into my water filled mouth. I worked my deglutition skills to the best of my ability, but simply could not. Either I would gulp only the water leaving the bitter capsule in my mouth or I would end up spraying the water into the air like a whale would while lazing away in the waters. One capsule wasted.

Another method was given a try. I take the pill in my hand, place in my tongue and then drink some water to wash it down. Instead of going downwards as gravity says it should, it is repulsed with such force that it threatened to smash to smithereens anyone who stood in its path. Another capsule wasted.

“Oru maathirai vilai enna theriyuma unakku?” (do you know the cost of one capsule?), my dad chides me, bringing the cost factor into play to see if that can do something to me to digest it. I stare back at him with a look that said, “What has cost got to do with my swallowing the tablet, the darn thing simply refuses to go in.”

Time for some drastic measures. Dad then dissects the capsule neatly into two halves and empties its yellowish powdery “explosives” and mixes it with a little bit of honey. I thrust my sticky amphibian tongue outside and he applies the honey-powder mixture on it and I drink litres of water to dissolve the thing and send it down my digestive tract so much so that it threatened to exit the “other” way.

The effect of the bitterness was so great that it sent my facial muscles into a tight knot that required future generations to unknot it. I was allowed to sleep 15 mins later. By now I am dead tired and exhausted, so I go off into a deep slumber, comfortably covered by layers of warm blankets.

Mid-way into my sleep, I am stirred awake by something cold, wet, clammy and soggy. Oh Yessssss! I forgot to tell you that I had this wonderful and exciting habit of nocturnal micturition (bed wetting) up to about 11 yrs. I get up, rub my groggy eyes and make my way to my parents’ bedroom. I gently tap my mom, motioning her to get up.

Poor she. She is fast asleep after all the “torturing” she had to undergo to put me to sleep. Finally when she gets up, I say, “appa ennoda bed a nanachittaanga !” (dad wet my bed!) Liar the Great! My mom says sleepily, “cheri ok, shorts kalatti pottuttu paduthu thoongu po, vera shorts kaalaila pottukalaam” (remove that wet shorts and go to sleep, I’ll fetch you another pair of shorts in the morning)

How can a male kid go back to sleep naked from the butt downwards? I pester her for a fresh pair, which she does grudgingly. Another bedspread now in place and comfy with the new pair of shorts on, I go back to dream where I had left it halfway.

The next morning, I am up with the lark feeling rejuvenated and on top of the world for today is going to be a holiday for me. Woooohoooo. I reach for my bicycle and begin cycling out into the orchard in a frenzy. My parents are relieved to see me back on my feet and my usual cherubic self. But my mom is secretly drawing up plans in her mind as to how she is going to cope up with my nuisance the whole day.

On other normal, fever free days, I had to be repeatedly woken up by my mom every 10 mins only to go back to sleep again. I kept sleeping even as she bathed and packed me off to school and woke up fully only when the cheery Mrs. Wilson said, “ Good morning children”.

I drawl back, “Goo-ooo-ood moo-rni-iiing Maaa-aaam”.

She notices that and says in a sweet voice, “You still are sleeping, aren’t you, child? Go and run around the playground three times.” There are some guffaws in the class now.

Christ! I had it early in the morning.

Ok.

Off I go and begin my ‘rounds’, cursing her all the while to go to hell. Purgatory is what she deserves. Doesn’t she? I come back to the class all sweaty, huffing and puffing. If there wasn’t any sign of exertion she’ll send me back for another three more! Boy, she was one lady who knew how to handle me.

Doctors: My Ordeal-Part 2

2005-09-22T14:25:00.000-07:00

After lamenting to my mom about the injection story and dad’s back-tracking on his “promise”, my parents had to endure the very difficult process of feeding me my dinner!

I was a fussy kid, born of fussy parents (my mom had two previous miscarriages), and come fever, it was mine pleasure to be my fussiest self! I would insist that my mom ootivittufy me. (Thrust mouthfuls of rasam-rice in my mouth).

As she was feeding me, I took immense sadistic pleasure in irritating my brother, saying that while he had to feed himself, I had the luxury of mom doing me the honours. At this, he would also put up a tantrum with my mom saying, “amma, enakkum ootti vidu, illeyna naanum saapida maataen”(Mom, feed me also or else I won't eat). My mom replies, “annanukku dhaan fever, unakkuma fever? (your bro has fever, do you also have fever?)

"Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah"….One resounding yell from him and her options are limited. She doesn’t want to embark on a lecture with him, as her hands are full, literally. Lets get done with the thing, she thinks to herself. Ok, now she feeds both of us. Some rice manages to get into my mouth and most of it gets floored. By the time we finish our dinner the floor is more fed than we, the area bearing a slight semblance to the great Kurukshetra war in the Mahabharatha!

They wait for half an hour to then get to the harrowing experience of making me stomach the cough syrup and capsules that the doc prescribed. Any minute earlier than that would lead me to barf whatever little the mashed rasam-rice managed to go down my food pipe.

It is very carefully attempted, one at a time with considerable amount of time-gap between the two “procedures”. The easier one gets the first preference. That is how we all like to go, right? Yes. Five ml of the cough mixture is poured into a snifter sort of medicine-glass and given in my hands, which trembled like an alcohol-depraved alcoholic. Nevertheless I clutch it with both my hands and cautiously bring the potion to my lips.

“Uvaaaaaak”, I gag at the smell of the liquid, while my parents eye me with great anxiety. I manage to drain the liquid as quickly as I can, the transit time in my tongue being just a few nanoseconds. Sheeesh, one act completed but I still have that awry, contorted face on me and I demand tons of sugar to counteract the bitter aftermath in my mouth.

Just when I have eaten enough of sugar my mom scares me by saying, “naalaikku unnai nalla poochi kadikka pogudhu” (tomorrow you are going to have the anal itching coz of worms!). Shit, not those worms please…"God help me, pleeeeeease, I promise to be a nice boy!", I mumble a prayer to myself. The pruritus caused by the worm Enterobius vermicularis can be damn bloody irksome!

I keep cursing the doc for sentencing me through all this ordeal. My parents are fervently hoping that the mixture doesn’t come out as instantaneously it went in.

Now we are waiting for 10 mins to elapse before the capsule gets its treatment. I verify with my mom during that interval of time, if I am allowed to bunk school the next day. Coz much before this episode I have asked them to guarantee me leave the next day. My mom confirms it is going to be an off day for me if I can swallow the tablet too. Geez! no respite from the capsule!

My dad touches my forehead, cheeks and the front of the neck with the dorsum of his hand to check if the fever has subsided. “Fever vittudhuthu”, he tells my mom. (The fever has subsided). I get shit-scared. Does this mean they might pack me off to school the next morning? Anyway, I hope for the best!

Doctors: My Ordeal-Part 1

2005-09-22T14:24:00.001-07:00

I remember when I was a kid and had an attack of the common cold along with that ubiquitous cough, my mother applied pounds and pounds of Vicks Vaporub on my chest, back and the nostrils making my eyes as watery as the Thames, and 5ml of Waterbury’s compound was sent down my throat, scorching it in the process!

But then times were simple and mother’s TLC (tender loving care), Vicks, Waterbury’s compound and litres of pepper rasam did the trick about 20 years ago and I was back to climbing the guava trees in the orchard in about 2 days.

If the relentless cough did not cease or if I developed a fever, it was the responsibility of my dad to take me to Dr. Shivalingam MBBS, my family doctor. While on the way to the doc’s clinic I would ask my dad to promise me that there wouldn’t be any oosi (injections). My dad did not hesitate at all and he promised me the moment I hurtled this at him!

The doc was a chubby faced veteran, with a playground of a face, humongous ears, nostrils that would permit a bee to enter one way and leave the other without him noticing, and a macrognathic jaw. I sat shivering in the waiting room partly due to the fever and more because of fright. The dingy tiny place felt spooky, reeked of medicines, and was an assault on the olfactory system. When poor me turn came, he ushered me in and asked dad the details.

He then shoved a huge glass thermometer in my gob and felt my pulse, his huge hand almost crushing my radial bone. The thermometer kept falling down as I couldn’t hold it in place with my tongue, and a petit femme nurse attendant came to hold it for me. He yanked out the thermometer after what seemed an eternity and rolled it and read it as 101 deg F.

He took a huge stethoscope the diaphragm of which was the size of my teeny weeny palm and had a tube about 5 feet in length and auscultated my chest. Each time as he banged the instrument rudely onto my chest I would jerk back in my seat. He was listening to something inside and it definitely wasn’t music to his elephantine ears. He then removes the steth from my battered chest and places it on the table and looks menacingly towards me.

Hmmm, oosi pottukiraya? (You have to take an injection). I look at my dad bewildered, and shake my head pitifully and on the verge of tears. My dad has other plans and convinces me that only then the fever will subside, but I agree to it very very reluctantly.

The doc withdraws a mysterious solution from a vial in a glass syringe which was floating in boiling water and jabbed its contents into my butt which was by now bared up to my popliteal fossa and kept ready for the shot, courtesy--the femme nurse attendant.

The needle went through my tender skin, into the gluteus maximus(?) was there for a few eons and then at his whim (or so I thought) he pulled it out and told my dad: Nalla theychi vidunga (kindly rub the area well).By now I am yelling myself hoarse bringing the roof down and my dad is rubbing my gluteal region with all his might! The reason—to prevent a swelling in my "post-e-rear".

My butt was already a sizeable swelling and I guess dad did not want to see an ugly asymmetric behind for the next few days. Next, a prescription was written out as if the doc suffered from dysgraphia and handed over to my dad.

Doc’s fee of rupees 10 being paid, I was instructed to say “Thank You” to the doc, which was the hardest part, as I was still sobbing. Oh yea! Now who would want to thank a man who just outraged your modesty in front of a femme by stripping you and plunged a huge wide bore needle into your back? In between the sobs I manage to mutter a lengthened, “Thaan…huhuh…K…huhuhh..Y..huhuhh..Ou…

Sadistic doc never left me at that, he tormented me further by saying that he couldn’t hear it well. I cling to my dad’s leg and look upwards at his face, my own countenance seemed to say: “Is the doc deaf or what?” Anyway, I repeat it once again, this time in a stubborn voice.

Father and son then trudged out of his clinic diligently with the prescription in my hand towards the chemist, who was 2 buildings away. The medicines mostly consisted of a cough syrup and a few capsules. Medicines bought, and then dad carries me home. One of the few privileges of being sick is to be ferried by dad on his arms up and down the doc’s place.

My mom would be sitting on the verandah eagerly awaiting us. “Doctor enna sonnaru", she would ask my dad. (What did the doc say). “Onnum illa chumma saadhaarana chali dhaan”,my dad replies. (nothing to worry just the common cold).

My mom would then turn to me, arms akimbo and say, “ Naan un kitta ethanai thadava sollirukken, andha koyya marathula yeraadheynnu”. (How many times did I tell you not to climb those guava trees). Holy cow!!! Was this the start of another lecture? But my mom decides to spare me, as I was a patient then.

Then I would lament the whole of the next few hours to my mom about how dad went back on his promise and the injection story. My dad kept smiling all the time. For the beleaguered me, I thought that was an evil smile and he wanted to take revenge on me for my pranks!!! Meanwhile my brother is having a ball of a time seeing me cry. How he loved it!

Happiness

2005-09-22T14:24:00.000-07:00

Joy is everywhere; it is in the earth's green covering of grass; in the blue serenity of the sky; in the reckless exuberance of sping; in the severe abstinence of grey winter; in the living flesh that animates our bodily frame; in the perfect poise of the human figure, noble and upright; in living, in the exercise of all our powers; in acquisition of knowledge; in fighting evils; in dying for gains we never can share. Joy is everywhere...Tagore, "Sadhana"

Happiness/ Joy has everything to do with the heart. We are happy when we love and are loved. Our happiness can even enlighten the lives of others. If a person spends all his time looking for happiness, he/she is sure never to find it.

"Happiness is something you get in the process of making something else". If a person is constantly pre-occupied with his desire to find happiness, he is like a patient in the hospital who spends his time feeling his own pulse to see whether his heart is still beating! Let him stop thinking of his own happiness and work for the happiness of others: then he finds real joy.

"Happiness is a butterfly which when pursued is always beyond your grasp, but which if you will sit down quietly will light upon you." It is mostly the people who are always engrossed in doing matters of consequence that are least to find joy and contentment. These are the people who merely exist. They do not experience real happiness. They are like a blind man who would continue to beg, unaware that a treasure has been put in front of them.

The Fernadez were the victims of a mania that involved constant moving coz they found little happiness in the places they live. They imagined that their little house was a prison and decided to sell it and buy another. After listing a broker they set out to look for a new house. The broker advertised their house in the newspapers: For sale , a small home near a beautiful river. Hunting, fishing, perfect climate, healthful atmosphere.

A few days later the couple read the advertisement and the husband said: "Look honey that's just we are looking for!" When they checked out they discovered it was their own house that was being advertised. They realised that their house had everything they wanted, and yet they were not happy with it.

Someone asked Mother Teresa, how to lead a better life. She said: "Smile at each other, smile at your wife, smile at your husband, smile at your children, smile at each other. It doesnt matter who it is, and that will help you to grow up in greater love for each other".

Mrs. Lydia Wood was quite old and lived alone in her Philadelphia home. She was not needed by anyone for anything. However, there was one ray of sunshine in the drab day to day existence of Mrs Wood. The postman, John McCalvery, would always smile when he handed her the mail. When Mrs Wood died, the letter carrier leanred that she had left him her home and 175,000$.

Was McCalvery fortunate? Yes; not for the inheritance, but some day someone will say to him: "I was hungry and you gave me to eat". That neighbour's hunger for which he will be judged, was not hunger for daily bread, but hunger for a daily smile.

Happiness is where you are and what you want to be. In other words, it depends on you whether you'll be happy or not. Nobody else can find joy for you. You are the only one who can make it blossom in life. And the worse failure that you can experience is to lose enthusiasm. Sing while you work, and you will achieve more than others.

Extract from the Bhagavad Gita:
"Those whose sins have perished, whose doubts are destroyed, who are self restrained, and are intent on the welfare of all other beings, these obtain God"s everlasting joy."

Extract from the Bible: Mt. 5, 1-12

'How happy are the poor in spirit;
theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Happy the gentle:
they shall have the earth for their heritage.

Happy those who mourn:
they shall be comforted.

Happy are those who hunger and thirst for what is right;
they shall be satisfied.

Happy the merciful:
they shall have mercy shown them.

Happy the pure in heart:
they shall see God.

Happy the peacemakers:
they shall be called sons of God.

Happy those who are persecuted in the cause of right:
theirs is the kigdom of heaven.

We are never constantly and perfectly happy. complete joy without suffering does not exist. Happiness is like gold ornaments: it is never completely pure, but always mixed with other metals.

Nietzschean Uberman

2005-09-22T14:22:00.001-07:00

Think of Nietzsche. Think of Ubermenschlikeit(supermanlike). Nietzsche was the child of Darwin and the brother of Bismarck wrote Will Durant. How very true. It does not matter that Nietzsche ridiculed the English evolutionists and the German nationalists; he was accustomed to denounce those who had most influenced him.

The ethical theory of Spencer was not the most natural corollary of the theory of evolution. If life is a struggle for existence in which only the fittest survive, then strength is the ultimate virtue and weakness a fault.

Thinkers during that period came up with the thought that in this battle called life, what we need is not goodness but strength, not humility but pride, not altruism but intelligence, and that equality and democracy are against the grain of selection and survival and that not the masses but geniuses are the goal of evolution. So Nietzsche conformed to this.

If all this were true then nothing was as significant than Bismarck. His blood and iron policy cleansed rotten Europe with an iron hand. He conquered Austria, then humbled France and got all those little German states to fuse themselves into a single mighty empire. The growing military and industrial strength of this new Germany needed a voice; it needed a philosophy for the justification of war. Christianity would not justify this, but Darwinism could. Given a little audacity this can be accomplished. Nietzsche had it and became its voice.

Hi idea was “Not mankind but superman is the goal”. The very last thing a sensible man would undertake is to improve mankind, mankind does not improve and it does not exist—it is an abstraction and all that exists is an ant-hill of individuals.

At first Nietzsche spoke as if his hope were for the production of a new species but later he came to think of his concept of the Ubermensch or the superman who as the superior individual rose precariously out of the mass mediocrity. The superman owing his existence more to deliberate breeding and careful nurture than to the hazards of natural selection.

The superman can survive only by human selction by eugenic foresight and a formidable education. He found it absurd to let “higher” individuals to marry “lower” individuals out of love-heroes with servant girls and geniuses with seamstresses.

He thought that love is not eugenic and a man in love should not be allowed to take any decisions affecting his entire life, coz it is not given to man to love and be wise. The best should marry only the best and love should be left to the riff raff. The purpose of marriage should not be mere production but also development of the produced.

Without good birth nobility is impossible, he said. Intellect alone does not ennoble, something else is needed for that. What is it? Given good birth and eugenic breeding the next in the formula for a superman is a severe school where perfection will be strived for. There will be few comforts and many responsibilities, where the body will be taught to suffer in silence and the will may learn to obey and to command. No libertarian freedom. Yet one will learn to laugh heartily; he said that grading should be done on a persons capacity to laugh. “He who strideth across the highest mountain laugheth at all tragedies”

He said that there will be no condemnation of the flesh but an asceticism of the will. Hence he told the girls, “Cease not to dance, ye sweet girls! No spoil sport hath come unto you with an evil eye….no enemy of girls with beautiful ankles” Even superman may have a taste for the flesh.

A man so bred would be beyond good and evil, he would be fearless rather than good. What is good? To be brave is to be good. What is good? All that increases the feeling of power, the will to power, power in man itself. What is bad? All that comes from weakness.

Perhaps the dominant mark of the superman would be love of danger and strife provided they have a purpose. He will not seek safety first but he will leave happiness to many. The character in his book “Thus Spake Zarathusthra” amply does all these.

He justifies war that it brings out the best in an individual and that war is good despite the pettiness of its causes in modern times. “a good war halloweth any cause”. Don't know whether Bush follows this concept.

He says that even revolution is good, but not in itself as nothing can be more miserable than the supremacy of the masses, but that it helps to bring out the latent greatness in an individual who did not have a stimulus or an opportunity. Napoleon out of the French revolution is a prime example.

Energy, intellect and pride in harmonious synchronization is the hallmark of the Superman or the Ubermensch. “Ye lonely ones of today, ye who stand apart, ye shall one day be a people; from you who have chosen yourselves, a chosen people shall arise and from it, the Superman.

Cooking

2005-09-22T14:22:00.000-07:00

My "complaisant digestion" and enlightened gluttony allows me to enjoy a wide variety of food, from the showy, ingenious, liquor-lashed, cream-besotted exotic dishes flirting along with Dom Perignon to simple porridge. I for one can stomach the foods of cultural pluralism. But I am not a gourmand who eats so ravenously so to bite my fingers in my frenzy for food.

Surely I cant have four soups, a pheasant, a partridge, a plate of salad, sliced mutton with garlic, two lumps of ham, a plate of pastries, fruits and preserves as Louis XIV did at one sitting. He is supposed to have incapacitated himself with food on his wedding night. Mrs Louis should have really cut a sorrowful figure!

Somewhere in my adulthood, cooking became philosophy with me but am not that kind of religious foodie to undertake pilgrimages to the Meccas of food. I decide to devastate the kitchen myself though I pride myself on being a master chef in this era where most people do the cooking with their fingers(dial up a restaurant)!

I do possess a formidable collection of about 6000 recipes assorted in my computer but would love to possess that bible of foodbooks authored by Jean-Anthèlme Brillat-Savarin, the La Physiologie du Goût. I dont know how many recipes I have attempted in those 6000, but the thought of possessing them gives me immense satsifaction and glee.

Why hold back when the Creator ordered us to eat in order to live, gave us the inducement of appetite, the encour-agement of savour, and the reward of pleasure.

When kitchens are perceived as the laboratories of the laws of nutrition, it is then that cooking turns out to be a mundane chore, but when seen as an art form it is nothing short of ecstasy. As brilliant as a painter would use his palette to mix the colours the chef artfully combines the ingredients with finesse to conjure up miracles for the tongue.

Tasty food apart from being cooked by convention also relies on the inventiveness of the chef. It is here that you can play the part of an inventor and get to mouth the words Eureka if your guests enjoy the food or you could relegate yourself to the corner and finish it off all by yourself comforting your poor soul that aleast you found out one way in which it should'nt be cooked!

Cooking for the self isnt anywhere as exciting as cooking for others. The joy of seeing my friends relish my gastronomic fare with gusto sends waves of joy in me, and I dont feel the pangs of hunger anymore--the soul being fed.

So when was the last time you fed your soul?

You and Me

2005-09-22T14:19:00.000-07:00

A rabbi asked his pupils how they could tell when the night ended and the day was on its way back. "Could it be when you can see an animal in the distance and tell whether it is a sheep or dog?" asked one student. "No", said the rabbi. "Could it be when you look at a tree in the distance and tell whether it is a fig or a peach tree?" asked another student. "No" said the rabbi. "Well, then when is it?" asked the pupils. "It is when you can look on the face of any man and see that he is your brother. If you cannot do this, then no matter what time it is, it is still night for you", said the rabbi.

Words of profound wisdom. So we are responsible for our look. It will be what we want it to be: loving, sad, open, despising, attentive, compassion, indifferent, welcomeing.

It therefore depends on us that the world be a better place to live in and people more united.

There was this busy gentleman whose lively six year old son required special attention that he could not well bestow. In order to keep him occupied that morning, he cut into small pieces a newspaper which had a map of the world on one side and the picture of a man on the other, and told the child to put the map together again and return to him. He hoped to have some time to devote to his business.

To his great surprise the child returned within ten minutes with the task completed, though he never studied geography. The reconstruction was perfect. "How did you do it", asked the father. "All I did was to put the man on the side right. Then the world came out all right", replied the child.

You only have to mind you and the people around you and the world will mind itself, instead of blaming the world for one's misfortunes.

Who is the world? You and me.

You

2005-09-22T14:18:00.000-07:00

She went to the village festival to watch the puppeteer perform daily and was so attracted to the make-believe of the puppets. She was so innocent that she could communicate with the puppets more easily than other people.

Mani was a man who lived all by himself because he could not communicate with others. He was so cynical in his attitude towards people around him that his life was joyless and without meaning. That was when he decided to become a puppeteer. The only way for him to express his thoughts and feelings was through the puppets. Each of them represented a different facet of his own personality, they argued and worked with one another on the puppet stage.

When he went to a village to perform that is where Lily saw this puppet show. Lily being the innocent type was so communicative with the puppets that after some days she began helping Mani in presenting his daily show. She would talk directly with the puppets and through them, she and Mani slowly began to relate to each other.

In this manner they could express themselves to the audience and to each other. And little by little Lily could feel that she was falling in love with Mani. But each time the show was over, Mani would once again retire to his solitary world.

At the end, Lily was so disappointed and heart-broken that she decided to leave. When she came to bid farewell to the puppets for the last time she hugged them close to her heart. Behind these puppets were the puppeteer whom she really loved.

And you, are you...
a puppet on the stage....
or like the girl in the story...
or an anonymous person among the millions of the world...

Or are you yourself?

Every one has three personalities............that which he exhibits, that which he has and that which he thinks he has.

India and Soft Power

2005-09-22T14:16:00.000-07:00

If there is one attribute of independent India to which we have not perhaps paid enough attention, it is a quality which we would do well to cherish and promote in today's world: our "soft power".

I find myself yearning for an India of "soft power" I am sure this "soft power" of India will play a large role in the goodwill that India and Indians enjoy all over the world.

The notion of soft power is relatively new in international discourse. The term was coined by Harvard's Joseph Nye to describe the extraordinary strengths of the United States that went well beyond American military dominance.

"[Soft power] is the ability to get what you want through attraction rather than coercion or payments. It arises from the attractiveness of a country's culture, political ideals, and policies. When our policies are seen as legitimate in the eyes of others, our soft power is enhanced."

The fact is that the U.S. is the home of Boeing and Intel, Microsoft and MTV, Hollywood and Disneyland, McDonald's and Kodak — in short of most of the major products that dominate daily life around our globe. The attractiveness of these assets, and of the American lifestyle of which they are emblematic, is that they permit the U.S. to maximise what Dr. Nye calls its "soft power" --the ability to attract and persuade others to adopt the U.S.' agenda, rather than relying purely on the dissuasive or coercive "hard power" of military force. Its subtly-deployed soft power is therefore as important to the U.S. as --perhaps more so than --its well-established "hard" power.

In his recent book The Paradox of American Power, Nye took the analysis of soft power beyond the United States

He wrote, three types of countries are likely to gain soft power and hence succeed.
"those whose dominant cultures and ideals are closer to prevailing global norms (which now emphasise liberalism, pluralism, autonomy); those with the most access to multiple channels of communication and thus more influence over issues are framed; and those whose credibility is enhanced by their domestic and international performance"

Undoubtedly the US fits all these descriptions, but other countries too have made use of this "soft power" beyond the US. France for example with their Alliance Francaise to promote French and French literature around the world.

But soft power does not rely merely on governmental action: for the U.S., Hollywood and MTV have done more to promote the idea of America as a desirable and admirable society than the Voice of America.

"Soft power," Nye says, "is created partly by governments and partly in spite of them." What does this mean for India?

It means giving attention, encouragement and active support to the aspects and products of our society that the world would find attractive--- not in order directly to persuade others to support us, but rather to enhance our country's standing in their eyes.

Bollywood is already doing this by bringing its brand of glitzy entertainment not just to the Indian diaspora in the U.S. or the United Kingdom but to the screens of African countries--Syrians and Senegalese-- who may not understand the Hindi dialogue but catch the spirit of the films, and look at India with stars in their eyes as a result.

Indian classical music and dance have the same effect. So does the work of Indian fashion designers, who have even dominated the show windows of New York's Lord and Taylor.

Indian cuisine, spreading around the world, raises our culture higher in people's reckoning (the way to foreigners' hearts is through their palates).

When India's cricket team triumphs or its tennis players claim Grand Slams; when a bhangra beat is infused into a Western pop record or an Indian choreographer invents a fusion of Bharathanatyam and ballet, when Indian women win the "Miss World" and "Miss Universe" contests, or when "Monsoon Wedding" wows the critics and "Lagaan" claims an Oscar nomination

Indianness of engineers and software developers is taken as synonymous with mathematical and scientific excellence, it is India that gains in respect.

But it is not just these material accomplishments that enhance our soft power. Even more important are the values and principles for which India stands above all our precious pluralism. Our great democratic elections.

The spiritualism of India has attracted people from all over the world, and its Gurus have travelled around the world spreading the message of yoga and mysticism--when each of these things happens, our country's soft power is enhanced.

The biggest instrument of our soft power is the Indian Diaspora, through the influence and respect they command in the countries in which they live.

After Lana Makhanik, a yuppie Russian immigrant to the United States, saw Monsoon Wedding, the "Bolly-Holly" romantic comedy about a rambunctious New Delhi family, she came out ecstatic.

"The color, the vibrancy, the joy and fun of it all!" she gushed, "It makes me want to be Indian!" Way to go.

The Godhra incidents and the recent tarnishing of the religious pontiff isnt helping in anyway. Let us not allow the spectre of religious intolerance and political opportunism to undermine the soft power which is India's greatest asset in the world of the 21st Century.

It is You

2005-09-22T14:14:00.000-07:00

I had to leave to work in another place and you knew that it wasnt an easy desicion for me to take. But for the sake of our future I left with a heavy heart, promising to take your hand when I returned.

When I returned after three years of studies, I knocked at your door.

"Who's there", you called from inside.

"Its me!" I said.

"Go away, I dont know you", you replied.

The next day the same scene was repeated. Perplexed and unhappy, I went out for a long walk and thrashed out things in my mind. I understood it all at once. I hastened to your door and knocked again.

"Who's there?" you said.

"It's you!" I said and you opened the door to welcome me.

Female Literacy

2005-09-22T14:13:00.000-07:00

A serious topic of the importance of educating the female is definitely not out of place considering that some 65 million girls around the world never see the inside of a classroom. And yet not educating them costs the world more than putting them through school.

Sadly, the world is not yet rushing to "sign up" to the challenge of educating girls, who lag consistently behind boys in access to education throughout the developing world. Scholarly studies and research projects have established what common sense might already have told us: that if you educate a boy, you educate a person, but if you educate a girl, you educate a family and benefit an entire community.

It is obvious to see why?.The children of educated mothers consistently out-perform children with educated fathers and illiterate mothers.

A girl who has had more than six years of education is better equipped to seek and use medical and health care advice, to immunise her children, to be aware of sanitary practices from boiling water to the importance of washing hands. A World Bank project in Africa established that the children of women with just five years of school had a 40 per cent better survival rate than the children of women who had less than five years in class.

The health advantages of education extend beyond childbirth. The dreaded disease AIDS spreads twice as fast, a Zambian study shows, among uneducated girls than among those who have been to school. Educated girls marry later, and are less susceptible to abuse by older men. And educated women tend to have fewer children, space them more wisely and so look after them better; women with seven years' education, according to one study, had two or three fewer childen than women with no schooling.

The reason Kerala's fertility rate is 1.7 per couple while Bihar's is over four is that Kerala's women are educated and Bihar has only 23% of female literacy rate, one of the worst on the planet, added to the woes that we have an illiterate woman chief minister.

Certainly, there is no better answer. U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan put it simply: "No other policy is as likely to raise economic productivity, lower infant and maternal mortality, improve nutrition, promote health, including the prevention of HIV/AIDS, and increase the chances of education for the next generation. Let us invest in women and girls."

Adventure

2005-09-21T06:38:00.000-07:00

Wanted: People to undertake a hazardous journey--small wages, bitter cold, long months of complete darkness; constant danger; safe return doubtful; honour and recognition in case of success.

This was an ad placed by the explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton who was looking for people to accompany him on his expedition to the South Pole. He was describing as honestly as he could an adventure, an endeavor in which the outcome was uncertain, where great reward was possible only at the cost of hard work and danger

Whether he knew it or not, Shackleton's words were also an apt description of most people's lives.

Our lives are adventures. At work, at home and in our communties, we undertake often-difficult endeavours in which the outcomes are unknown, where success and fulfillment are possible--not guaranteed--but only at the cost of hard work, taking risks, and sometimes facing danger.

On any adventure we have a choice. we can try to simply survive it--clinging to the hope we will get to the end unscathed--or we can try to thrive, allowing the adventure to grow us in ways we could not have imagined when we began. Clearly the objective of our lives is not simply to survive("Whew i got to my death safely") but to thrive in it and grow.

Helen Keller sums it aptly. Security is mostly a superstition. It does not exist in nature. Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. Life is either a daring adventure or nothing.

Book Review-How to read faces

2005-09-21T06:36:00.001-07:00

How To Read Faces by Mary Olsted Stanton, pages-840, Black Rose Publications, Delhi, Price-Rs 195/-

A bible in its own respect, the book delves in great depth as to how to analyse the mind through physiognomy. If that word sounds too much of a technical jargon, well physiogomy as defined by the great Johanna Casper Lavater who was the pioneer in this field, is the "art of discerning the character of the mind from the features of the face, or the art of discovering the predominant temper or other characteristic qualities of the mind by the form of the body, especially by the external signs of the countenance, or the combination of features"

The mind is invisible to those who understand not the body physiognomy and this book has done every justice to cover the minutiae of the face right from the dimples to the gums. First it gives the theoretical aspects of the features of the face and then comes the most exciting part of the package, the practical aspects of reading one's face and thence the mind.

It includes analyses of amativeness, jealousy, revenge, secretiveness, suspicion, self conceit, obstinancy, laziness and the whole gamut of feelings. It has a wonderful section on executiveness which one may find it very informative to read.It is beyond the scope of this review to quote examples but I shall quote just a trivial but amusing one...

Amativeness:defn: Love of the opposite sex, physical passion, conjugality sexual perfection.
Facial and bodily signs: Fullness, redness and moisture of the centre of the upper lip, large convex eyes, round limbs. The full lip by its colour and moisture indicate the vigor and development of the reproductive system. he eyes by their disclose the degree of sentiment of love of the opposite sex, while their shape and position show the kind of love present. Rounding out of the lower part of the back of the head discloses amativeness by virtue of being one of the signs of the dominance of the muscular system which rounds and curves every part of the body.

The author has even included a section on how to identify common conditions of the body by reading a countenance which might be of immense use in the household.The author has accomplished the purpose with which she set out, though I have a few misgivings. There is a section on the mathematical divisions of the face and being a medical man i do not conform to it. Secondly a lot of jargons have been used but a well supported appendix can draw you away from the phobia of jargons( is there a term called jargonophobia?)

The print is very much readable and has about 380 illustrations and somehow i felt the the book has a good feel to it and though it is 840 pages doesnt seem so and reading each chapter eggs you on to the other. I do not have the authority to question any part of the book simply because I am not qualified enough and secondly i did not find any incendiary material to provoke very strong feelings of resent.

I would recommend this book to people in administerial positions but after all, all of us come across multitudes of people in our daily lives, at the office, bus station, supermarket and dont you think we like to know what they feel and how they react to yours or others interaction. The face is the index of the mind and this book teaches you how to decipher it-that was in a nutshell ;)

Who is it?

2005-09-21T06:36:00.000-07:00

The old lady lived all by herself except a parrot to keep her company. To keep her company she taught it a few words to speak. One day, the lady, on noticing her water pipes in the kitchen leaking, rang up the plumber to fix the leak. The plumber said he will be there in an hour's time.

Meanwhile she had some shopping to do and she thought she would be back in an hour's time to make it before the plumber arrived. Unfortunately the plumber came before the lady arrived and rang the door bell.

"Who is it?" asked the parrot from inside the apartment.

"Its the plumber," the man replied from outside.

"Who is it?" repeated the parrot, its English being limited like mine.

"Its the plumber," repeated the man.

"Who is it?" repeated the parrot.

"Its the plumber," repeated the man

So this went on for some time that the plumber eventually fainted and fell on the floor outside the door of the apartment.

A moment later the old lady arrives after her shopping is shocked to find a strange man lying on her doorstep. "Who is it?" she cried out.

By this time the parrot had learnt its lesson. "Its the plumber," said the parrot.

We learn a lot from others, all we need to do is to keep our ears open. But the pity is some of us who do keep it open, refuse to learn from others.

Struggles...

2005-09-21T06:35:00.000-07:00

A man found a cocoon of a butterfly. One day a small opening appeared, he sat and watched the butterfly for several hours as it struggled to force its body through that little hole.

Then it seemed to stop making any progress. It appeared as if it had gotten as far as it could and it could go no farther. Then the man decided to help the butterfly, so he took a pair of scissors and snipped off the remaining bit of the cocoon.

The butterfly then emerged easily.But it had a swollen body and small, shriveled wings. The man continued to watch the butterfly because he expected that, at any moment, the wings would enlarge and expand to be able to support the body, which would contract in time. Neither happened! In fact, the butterfly spent the rest of its life crawling around with a swollen body and shriveled wings. It never was able to fly.

What the man in his kindness and haste did not understand was that the restricting cocoon and the struggle required for the butterfly to get through the tiny opening were God's way of forcing fluid from the body of the butterfly into its wings so that it would be ready for flight once it achieved its freedom from the cocoon.

Sometimes struggles are exactly what we need in our life. If God allowed us to go through our life without any obstacles, it would cripple us. We would not be as strong as what we could have been.
..... And we could never fly.

I have no other hands than yours

2005-09-21T06:34:00.000-07:00

The village was razed down by armed faggots, a child could be seen crying here, a mother trying to fetch food from the rations supplied there. Most buildings damaged and many rendered homeless. The scene looked like from a World War movie.

Unfortunately this was no movie, this was when the hostilities of the World War ll ended and a groupf of American soldiers were quartered in a bombed out ramshackle house in a German village.They soon began helping the villagers clear the rubble and repair the shattered homes.

The other bigger job was to renovate the ruined Church. Laboriously they set about repairing it. They patched up the crumbling walls and the collapsed roof.

Finally they began to rebuild the statue of Christ, putting together the shattered fragments. They did a marvellous job. But one thing marred the statue: it had no hands. Unable to find the marble hands, on of the soldiers wrote at the bottom of the statue of the handless deity: "I have no other hands than yours"

How very true. Folks let our Lords be addressed by different names, but dont despair, we have the Lords hands to protect us. May the Creator keep everyone in good spirits.

AIDS

2005-09-21T06:31:00.000-07:00

India, home to the world's second-largest HIV population, may have found a perfect cocktail for safe sex – a free condom with every bottle of alcohol sold at liquor shops. Andhra Pradesh has made it mandatory for liquor shops to hand out a free condom with every bottle of alcohol they sell from December 1, the World AIDS Day. How is that for an education? Now where is the wine shop?

Whatever happened to AIDS? It flashes across front pages and television screens every Dec. 1 on World AIDS Day. Once considered a crisis, AIDS simply doesn't seem to be a priority any more. In one way this is just human nature. It's also a trap.

AIDS fundraising events report record low donations. U.S. AIDS prevention efforts are mired in debates over sexual ethics. Services that provide lifesaving medicines are running out of cash the world over.

For people at middle or higher income levels with access to the full AIDS drug cocktail, the crisis has lessened, And so I think the degree of personal fear that a lot of people felt in the past has probably decreased. Unfortunately, we all pay most attention to the things that seem immediate threats to us. That means we who are concerned about AIDS get less attention when we talk about the size of the problem.

There have been nearly a half-million U.S. deaths from AIDS. Nearly a million U.S. citizens are living with HIV infection -- and 40,000 were infected in the last year. Surveys show unsafe sexual behavior is on the rise. Much of this behavior is among new members of the population that only a few years ago turned the U.S. epidemic around: young gay men.

Prevention messages also are missing African-American and Hispanic men who have sex with men but do not think of themselves as gay. Last year most new HIV cases in Western Europe came from heterosexual sex -- yet American heterosexuals still feel little personal danger.

A quick look beyond U.S. borders offers a totally different picture. Every hour, 350 people die of AIDS in Africa alone. Another 42 million people have HIV infection; nearly all will die .In Africa, where nearly 70 percent of the world's AIDS infected people live, the condition hits women and girls hardest. More than half of the subcontinent's AIDS population is female.

India shares the dubious distinction of being ranked second in the AIDS population and has about 5.1 million AIDS patients and many aren’t receiving treatment at all. They are not nearly as blasé. . Cultural norms block females from health care and education needed to learn about AIDS prevention.

A cruel cycle exists: An AIDS-infected husband dies, leaving a wife destitute and often without the right to inherit his possessions. In turn, she may be forced into prostitution where she too becomes infected. Women are twice as likely to contract the AIDS virus from an infected partner. Only 1 in 10 AIDS-infected person receives life-prolonging antiretroviral drugs. But the fortunate few are overwhelmingly male. Education, health care, legal rights, jobs are less likely to flow to women, putting them at a disadvantage at preventing AIDS or finding care after infection

Public health is not a local or state or national concern -- it is global. We have to get used to the idea that the health of people in Zimbabwe affects the health of many regions in the world. We have to fund the health of the world because it does impact all of us all. The good news is it doesn't cost that much. If all rich countries put in $10 per person per year, we could treat everyone with HIV. It seems that is a pretty good investment, especially compared to what a war costs

Treatment for HIV infection causes serious side effects and eventually fails many patients. Yet Western nations seem to have so much faith in HIV treatment they forget that prevention is the key to stopping AIDS. Sometime ago the CIA came out with a report that HIV is the greatest international security threat. By 2020, 65 million more people will die. So it is something we should be alarmed about. We need to be inspired to do something about this worldwide epidemic. There is no dodging the issue. AIDS is not going away. More access to drugs, doctors and hospital care -- as well as a change in social attitudes -- will be needed to stop or reverse this deadly scourge

Anger Management

2005-09-21T06:29:00.001-07:00

Shravan is a high profile executive working for a leading multinational. An affable person with a formidable education, his colleagues think highly of him. His wife did not think so. Reason being physical abuse. He wants to project a nice image of himself at the work place and so the mismanaged anger and displeasure at the work place takes the form of wife beating.

Take your feelings seriously. They provide signals that hold information for you. Feelings are meant to be felt, understood, explored and then released. Some people run away from their bad feelings and then the feelings stick around. Emotional Intelligence is the ability to understand and use your feelings to get along well in your life. Emotional Intelligence has been found to be far more important than IQ, technical skills or experience in how you succeed in the business world. People who learn and use the skills of Emotional Intelligence deal better with their stress, anger and anxiety and have happier, more satisfying lives.

Anger is probably the most poorly handled emotion in our society. From time to time we all experience this very powerful feeling. Some of the common causes of anger include frustration, hurt, annoyance, disappointment, harassment and threats. It is helpful to realize that anger can be our friend or foe, depending on how we express it. Knowing how to recognize and express it appropriately can help us to reach goals, handle emergencies, solve problems and even protect our health. However, failure to recognize and understand our anger may lead to a variety of problems.

Some experts believe that suppressed anger is an underlying cause of both anxiety and depression. Anger that is not expressed can disrupt relationships, affect thinking and behavior patterns, and create a variety of physical problems, such as high blood pressure, heart problems, headaches, skin disorders, and digestive problems. What's even worse is the correlation between the dangers of uncontrolled anger and crime, emotional and physical abuse, and other violent behaviour.

Here are some other things you can do when you start to feel angry:

* talk to a friend you can trust
* count to 10
* get or give a hug
* beat up a pillow because the pillow can't get hurt
* draw a picture of your anger
* play a video game
* walk around the outside of the house five times as fast as you can
* sing along with the music system
* pull weeds in the garden
* think good thoughts (maybe about a fun vacation)
* take a bike ride

Never getting angry is impossible. Instead, remember that how you act when you're angry can make the situation better or worse. And the bottom line is--> You can’t feel good by making others feel bad.

100 handy hints in the kitchen

2005-09-21T06:29:00.000-07:00

Attention all you genteel ladies and gentle gentlemen! I have compiled 100 handy hints which you folks always wanted to know, but did not know whom to ask. Do not forget to thank me after reading this. How very frank. I like myself a lot :-P ...Kay here we go:

1. Do not throw away hard pieces of stale bread. Dry them in the sun or on the tawa and grind and use as breadcrumbs.

2. Add a little milk to the onions while frying. This will help to retain the rich color and prevent them from burning.

3. While frying mushrooms, add a tsp of lemon juice to the butter. This will prevent them from breaking

4. While cutting hardboiled eggs, the yolk often tends to break. To avoid this dip the knife in ice cold water for a few seconds and then cut smoothly.

5. To 5 kg basmati rice of cheaper qlty add 1 kg of superior qlty and sprinkle a little oil and mix well with your hand. Store in airtight container for 6 months. All the rice will now taste like the superior qlty one.

6. Add wheat flour to the leftover rasagulla syrup and mix to a smooth batter. Keep overnight. Treat yourself to sweet chelas (pancakes) for breakfast the next day.

7. If home made gulab jamuns have not turned out soft and fluffy, steam them in a pressure cooker using the weight along with the syrup for 10 minutes

8. If a recipe requires self raising flour you can make your own by sieving each cup of maida with 1 ½ tsp baking powder and a pinch of salt.

9. To make softer idlis and dosas mix a little cooked rice while grinding the batter.

10. To increase the quantity of fresh cream by say 250 grams add half a cup thick curd and half cup of milk and beat well. This will double the qty and also the taste will be better

11. To boil cracked eggs add some vinegar to the water. In this case the egg won’t leak out.

12. For making soft chappatis add a mashed boiled potato while mixing the dough.

13. To make a quick sauce for boiled chicken or fish stir 2 tsp curry powder into 1 cup of curd and add a little salt. Heat to serving temperature and spoon over each serving.

14. When the sauce is almost over in the chilly sauce bottle. Add some limejuice and shake well and use as a salad dressing.

15. While cooking bitter gourd add a few pieces of raw mango to remove the bitterness and add a little tang to the curry.

16. Liquid glucose when added to ice cream mixture makes it smooth and velvety.

17. Rub your hands with some salt to remove the odor of garlic.

18. To avoid the nauseating smell while cooking cauliflower try one of the following:
19. Sprinkle a little milk powder.
20. Cook with vinegar and salt and turmeric.
21. Wrap half slice of bread in a muslin cloth and place it in the cooking pan.
22. Add a few drops of lemon.
23. Season the oil with cinnamon and clove or add sugar.
24. Cook with piece of ginger.
25. Add 2 or 3 tbsp of buttermilk.
26. Add a few mint leaves while cooking

27. To avoid malai or film formations on custard sprinkle a little sugar and cover the dish.

28. Ladyfinger curry won’t turn out sticky if you add amchur to it.

29. If the curd is excessively sour add some fresh pieces of coconut to reduce the sourness.

30. Make raisins at home. Add 1 tbsp ghee and 1 tsp soda bicarb to 1 liter of boiling water. Break 1 kg of seedless grapes into small bunches and dip each bunch in the boiling water counting up to ten. Remove from water and spread on a muslin cloth to dry

31. After taking out the butter from milk cream (malai) add a little milk or curd to the remaining buttermilk and boil. You now have soft paneer, which is good for small children and those with weak stomach.

32. While making fresh salad cut the toms vertically and not horizontally to get firmer slices. If the toms are soft keep them in a bowl of iced water before cutting.

33. Potato peels can make tasty wafer. Immerse the peel in warm water to which a pinch of salt is added and then dry and deep-fry it.

34. If you want the lemon to last for a month apply coconut oil over them and place in an open tray in the fridge.

35. To prevent the ladyfingers from being sticky toss the chopped pieces in 1 tab of lemon juice before frying or cooking.

36. To get rid of the eggy smells in cakes add 1 tab of honey to the cake batter. The cake will taste better too.

37. To make tasty banana bread beat 250gm flour, 250gm sugar and 60 ml fat, 3 bananas and 1 ½ tsp baking powder and bake till done.

38. If you need to use toms in any curry just grate them in. they cook faster as the skin peels automatically.

39. Add some bay leaves to the raw rice when storing it. Besides keeping worms away it is very fragrant.

40. For any paneer curry add a little grated paneer to the gravy for a delicious taste

41. Add one tablespoon of water to an egg before beating it for an omelet. The omelet will turn out fluffier and larger.

42. When you put chapatis in a container place a few pieces of ginger in the container. The chapatis will remain softer and fresh.

43. When frying fish add a pinch of turmeric powder to the oil to prevent the spluttering out of the pan.

44. If you want to keep the salad fresh first chill the bowl in which you intend to serve the salad.

45. Concentrated fruit juices can be used as sauces for plain vanilla ice cream.

46. When there is any excess oil in any fried veggie add some gram flour over it.

47. Add 10 cloves to the container in which cashew is kept to keep worms and ants away

48. To left over dhal curry add 10 –15 small onions fried in ghee. Then grind together 1 medium sized onion, ¼ cup coconut grated and 2 tsp coriander powder and add this to the dhal and keep on high heat till it boils. Now tasty onion sambar is ready.

49. To left over carrot and beans poriyal add some leftover snake gourd koottu. Then add ½ cup coconut milk, turmeric powder, chilli powder, rasam powder, salt and corn flour and bring to a boil. Add chopped coriander leaves to get a fine korma.

50. Add 1 cup grated coconut and 1 cup of sugar to the idli batter to make sweet idlis

51. For the sambar instead of using whole toms etc. add ground green chillies, toms and onion to the otherwise normal mixture.

52. Soak old tamarind in water in which rice has been washed to give the tamarind juice a lighter color instead of the dark color which the tamarind imparts to the water.

53. Chop an onion finely and add a tbsp of sugar and a small piece of ginger to it and mix well and leave overnight. The syrup that collects in the morning is a safe and effective cough mixture for small children.

54. Make ice cubes of diluted whisky rum etc. and use these instead of ice cubes to chill the drink. This preserves the concentration of the drink and helps retain its original flavor.

55. Boil a few flakes of garlic with the mushrooms and if they are poisonous the water will turn black.

56. To retain the green color of veggies, sprinkle some sugar over them while cooking.

57. To remove the stickiness off your palm after cutting cucumbers apply a little coconut oil and wash with soap and water.

58. A little lemon juice and a spoonful of ginger juice in a bottle of soda help relieve indigestion.

59. Add a pinch of soda bicarbonate to the milk to prevent it from curdling.

60. To remove vanaspati from a packet first cut the packet and remove the contents and place the packet in the fridge for 5 hrs and now you can scrape out the contents easily.

61. Mix one tbsp milk with one level dessertspoon of custard powder as a substitute for each egg to be used while making the cake batter.

62. While preparing egg less cake, curdle half a cup of milk with lemon and mix this with the other ingredients. This makes the cake soft.

63. If it is difficult to whip cream add a little egg white to it and then beat it. One egg white is enough for 2 cups of cream.

64. To quicken the process of stringing beans wash them and put them in boiling water. Cover and keep aside for 10 minutes. Now it will be easy to string them.

65. If you run out of yeast while making naan or roti add a few slices of bread without the crust and knead the dough and set aside for half an hour. The yeast in the bread is enough to ferment it.

66. Roast rawa and moong dal on low heat for 10-15 minutes to keep them insect free.

67. Banana skins will not turn black if they are wrapped in a wet cloth and kept in the fridge.

68. Knead flour with hot water to get fluffy and soft rotis.

69. To remove strong fish odor from the oil add a few slices of peeled raw potato to the oil and reheat stirring occasionally. Cool and strain the oil. Now it can be reused.

70. To prevent hair loss mix castor coconut and mustard oil on equal proportions and apply to scalp.

71. Mix leftover mango pickle masala with roasted gramflour. It makes an instant stuffing for parathas. Or roll this mixture in flour to make tasty kachoris.

72. Roast 1 tab each of basil leaves and fennel seeds. Add a few pieces of dry ginger. Roast lightly and when cool powder it. Store the powder in an airtight container. Just ¼ tsp will solve gas problems.

73. To prevent potato chips from becoming soft, immerse them in cold water and then dry them and fry.

74. Cut ginger into neat pieces and soak them in limejuice and salt. This will turn pink and add it to pickles or salads and it makes a good garnish item as well as good digestion.

75. Add a few drops of mustard oil while grinding red chilies. The chili paste will be deep red in color.

76. When the jelly is almost set, churn it lightly with a little fresh cream in a mixer and let it set again for a fluffy and unusual sweet.

77. To make fizzy jellies heat a little quantity of water to melt the jelly crystals. For the remaining qty substitute water with sparkling wine, ginger ale or lemonade.

78. To avoid garlic skin from sticking on to your hands while peeling it soak the garlic flakes in a cup of water for 5 minutes.

79. If the bread is too soft to cut into pieces, hold the knife close to a flame till slightly warm and then slice the bread with it.

80. After peeling pomegranates don't throw the skin away. It can be powdered and a tsp of the powder taken with water in the morning will not only purify the blood but also serve as a good deworming agent.

81. To preserve lime juice squeeze lemons and strain through a piece of cloth and fill clean dry bottles and add 2 aspirin tabs to each bottle and close the caps tightly and keep in a cool place.

82. If you need to use the egg whites only and not the yolks, cover the yolks with water or milk and keep in a cool dark place and drain off the liquid before using the yolks.

83. While cooking rice add 2 drops of lemon juice. The rice will remain fluffy and not stick together.

84. Do not add raw oil to the pickle instead boil it till smoky and then cool and use. This prevents the formation of fungus.

85. While storing green chilies remove the stem and then store, this way they stay fresh longer

86. To keep curd fresh for a long time, add water to the brim of the container and refrigerate. Change the water daily. The curd will neither turn rancid nor yellow. This can be kept for a week.

87. To keep fruits and veggies fresh longer, wrap them in newspaper before storing them in the fridge.

88. Mix a little boric powder from the chemist along with the rice to prevent worm and insects.

89. To grind a small qty of cardamom grind it with some sugar. Not only is it easy but the flavor will also be uniform.

90. To find out if veggies like brinjal (eggplant) and bitter gourd have too many seeds in them look at the opposite side. If the perforation is small the seeds will be less.

91. Add 2 tab of home made paneer and milk instead of water to wheat flour to get smooth and soft and nutritious dough for chapatis or parathas.

92. Roast your papads in the toaster. It is less cumbersome and they come out really crisp.

93. Hold a peeled banana under the cold tap water to prevent discoloration. Alternatively sprinkle some limejuice before adding to fruit chaat or salad.

94. Add a tsp of condensed milk when making icing. The icing will be firm and soft and will not crack.

95. To preserve eggs for a longer period wash them and put them in limewater or mustard oil.

96. If the toms are overripe and difficult to use, dip them in cold water and apply some salt and leave overnight. They will be fresh and firm to touch the next.

97. To enjoy a hot meal place a soup plate of steaming hot water under your plate to enjoy a piping hot meal till the last bite.

98. Remove the excess salt from the gravy by adding a morsel of cooked rice to absorb the excess salt.

99. Add a tsp of corn flour to the curd and then mix with warm milk. Your milk will till out thicker and set faster especially during winter.

100. Cake has burnt a little on the top, or risen unevenly - don't panic. Slice the top off which removes the burnt piece and levels the surface, turn the cake over using the bottom of the cake as the top. Coat with icing as usual. Use dental floss to slice the top off.

Did you guys ever reach the bottom, I thought half of you escaped in the middle!

Size DOES matter

2005-09-21T06:27:00.000-07:00

This happened about a couple of years ago when I attended my friend's (school classmate) wedding at Gobichettipalayam near Erode in Tamilnadu. Many of my bum chums had turned up and after the reception on the evening prior to the marriage we went to his guest house at Hasanur, which nestles on the sylvan hills on the Sathyamangalam-Chamrajnagar highway. As usual we were enjoying some first class scotch and some light natured banter. We attended the marriage early next morning and sober as we were, the topics ranged from childhood crushes to investments.

One of my friends came up with a question for me. "If there was one lifestyle modification that would help us to prevent disease and lead a good quality of life, what would it be?" I said, "Avoid junk and fatty food, exercise regularly and partake meals in the proper timings to avoid becoming obese." After some pensive moments everyone thought I was a valid point made.

To most people, the term "obesity" means to be very overweight. Health professionals define "overweight" as an excess amount of body weight that includes muscle, bone, fat, and water. "Obesity" specifically refers to an excess amount of body fat. Some people, such as bodybuilders or other athletes with a lot of muscle, can be overweight without being obese.

In recent years, body mass index (BMI) has become the medical standard used to measure overweight and obesity. BMI uses a mathematical formula based on a person's height and weight. BMI equals weight in kilograms divided by height in meters squared (BMI = kg/m2). A BMI of 25 to 29.9 indicates a person is overweight. A person with a BMI of 30 or higher is considered obese.

Women typically collect fat in their hips and buttocks, giving them a "pear" shape. Men usually build up fat around their bellies, giving them more of an "apple" shape. Of course some men are pear-shaped and some women become apple-shaped, especially after menopause. If you carry fat mainly around your waist, you are more likely to develop obesity-related health problems. Women with a waist measurement of more than 35 inches or men with a waist measurement of more than 40 inches have a higher health risk because of their fat distribution.

The causes of obesity are varied. They may include:

*Genetic factors
*Environmental factors-this includes lifestyle behaviors such as what a person eats and his or her level of physical activity
*Psychological factors
*Hypothyroidism
*Cushing's syndrome
*Depression, and certain neurological problems

Of the above, the one which can be easily modified is the lifestyle changes and ofcourse the other pathological conditions that lead to obesity can be treated. Obesity is more than a cosmetic problem; it is a health hazard. Approximately 280,000 adult deaths in the United States each year are related to obesity.

Diseases and health problems linked to obesity include:

* Diabetes Mellitus(type 2)
* Heart disease
* High blood pressure, and stroke
* Various types of cancers in men and women
* Gallbladder disease and gallstones.
* Liver disease.
* Osteoarthritis, a disease in which the joints deteriorate. This is possibly the result of excess weight on the joints.
* Gout, another disease affecting the joints.
* Pulmonary (breathing) problems, including sleep apnea in which a person can stop breathing for a short time during sleep.
* Reproductive problems in women, including menstrual irregularities and infertility.

Obese patients were more likely to die from cancer, despite it being picked up early.The research was presented at a meeting of the American Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology.The study also showed that breast cancer was more likely to spread to other parts of the body if the patient was obese.

Food and drink caused as many as 80,000 cases of cancer each year in the UK of which a third of the cases could be blamed on obesity and over-consumption of alcohol. Unlike many of the other established risk factors for the disease, obesity is, potentially, something we can change.

According to researchers in Atlanta, USA, becoming obese reduces a man's sperm count below the level needed to fertilise an egg. Even if he does manage to fertilise his partner's eggs there is a far greater chance of miscarriage because the quality of the sperm is reduced, the researchers said.

Obesity experts recommend you try to lose weight if you have two or more of the following:

* Family history of certain chronic diseases.
* Pre-existing medical conditions like high blood pressure, high blood pressure levels or high blood sugar levels
* "Apple" shape.

The method of treatment depends on your level of obesity, overall health condition, and motivation to lose weight. Treatment may include a combination of diet, exercise, behavior modification, and sometimes weight-loss drugs. In some cases of severe obesity, gastrointestinal surgery may be recommended. Remember, weight control is a life-long effort.

Golden Moments

2005-09-21T06:26:00.000-07:00

It was another day of exams in Milind's college. He was a second year student of Computer Science in an engineering college located at the outskirts of Chennai and was nursing an ambition of a lucrative career in the 'Land of Opportunities'. His father, already reeling from a financial crisis(Milind's sister was married 6 months back) had to run hither and thither to 'arrange the money' besides pulling a lot of strings to get him there. Today he got up a tad too late and had missed the college bus by a few minutes. He rolls out his newly acquired mobike and races off in a hurry to reach his college in time.

The unfortunate happens. He is hit by a speeding truck on the highway and is lying in a pool of blood. None of the curious onlookers do anything for what seemed an eternity. Atlast a Good Samaritan arrives and dials for an ambulance and transports him to the nearest trauma care centre but of no avail. He has been dead for almost an hour. The doctor rues, "If only you had brought him within the Golden Hour!"

The mortality rate of Road Traffic Accidents(RTA) in India, U.S.A., and U.K are more than 1000, 300 and 100 deaths/week/square kms respectively.

In general, pathetic road conditions, lack of ambulance services, lack of adequate knowledge of paramedics regarding first aid, public unawareness about road safety measures and first aid, fear of harassment by the police are to accentuate the percentage of mortality rate in India. The overall fall and success of the trauma patient depends upon the initial trauma care within one hour, which is the Golden Hour.

Requisites of Golden Hour Concept:

* Primary care of the patient at site of accident
* Efficient transport of injured patient from the site of trauma:
* Well equipped ambulances -meticulous transportation of the patient

In today's unpredictable world anyone could be the victim of a medical emergency. So what do you do when you encounter such a situation with no immediate medical help at hand? Bystanders or relatives not knowing what to do, or being too timid to try, have unwittingly contributed to unnecessary deaths and chronic injuries.

First aid is the initial care of a suddenly sick or injured person. It is the care administered by a person as soon as possible after an accident or illness. It is this prompt care and attention prior to the arrival of the ambulance that sometimes means the difference between life and death, or between a full or partial recovery.

It is important that quick action does not lead to panic. Careful and deliberate action undertaken without too much delay is most beneficial to the casualty. Try to remain calm and think your actions through. A calm and controlled first aider will give everyone confidence that the event is being handled efficiently and effectively.

The main aims of first aid are:

* To preserve life
* To protect the casualty from further harm
* To relieve pain

First aid has limitations, as not everybody is a paramedic or a doctor, but it is an essential and vital element of the total medical system. Each emergency is different so it is impossible to provide you with a precise list of things you need to do for every emergency.

It is beyond the scope of this blog to list the possible First Aid measures for common conditions. This blog is posted to kindle the interest to learn it by yourselves through the internet or by attending the courses which are being conducted by various voluntary organisations or by the hospitals.

A good online resource is the Mayo Clinic website.

Trivia you never wanted to know

2005-09-21T06:25:00.000-07:00

The interrobang (‽)was introduced by the New York publishing establishment as "a twentieth century punctuation mark". The interrobang combined the functions of a question mark and an exclamation point. It received some attention at first, but never caught on, although for a brief period during the 1960s it was added to some typewriter keyboards

"load 200"-- A Russian pilots' term for soldiers' coffins flown out of Chechnya. A military coffin-- zinc, actually --plus a body is rated at 200 kilos.

"nine grams"-- Russian phrase...the weight of the lead in a Makarov pistol bullet, and thus a term for a final solution to a problem

Signo de interrogación, or inverted question mark (¿), has its origins in the mid-1700s. At the time, it was felt that a single mark at the end of a sentence was insufficient to allow Spanish readers to regularly achieve the right intonation pattern, and after officially recognizing the problem, the Real Academia Española in 1754 advocated the use of '¿' at the beginning of interrogative clauses in conjunction with '?' at the end. Even then it took a couple of decades before it came into regular and consistent use.

The phrase "in the pink" comes from fox hunting. Pink is the way the hunt has traditionally described the colour of its red jackets, though there is also a school of thought that believes it originates with clothier Thomas Pink, who made jackets for hunters.

The flatulence of sheep, cattle and other farm animals accounts for 25% of world methane emissions. Australian scientists are working on injections to reduce the creatures' production of one of the worst greenhouse gases, the New Scientist reports.

There are 320,000 lampposts in New York.

There are now more different kinds of cheese made in the UK than France, thanks to new blends being devised, the British Cheese Board says.

Although it's nearly 24 years since Jimmy Carter was US president, he still receives about 4,000 letters a month.

Pink Lady is not an apple variety but the world's first branded apple, derived from the Cripps Pink variety. As such they must meet strict criteria. At least 40% of a Pink Lady's surface must be covered in the characteristic pink blush.

Britain has more than twice as many managers (12%-14%) as France or Germany (5%-6%) due to the trend in "up-titling" - inflating an employee's job title in lieu of a pay rise. For example, train guards are now often called train managers.

Cancers produce certain odours, which dogs have been scientifically proven to have the ability to smell.

Women in the UK spend an average of £33 a year on fake tans, a survey this week found.

Breathing Underwater!

2005-09-21T06:24:00.001-07:00

Phantasmagoric world.

Wickedly pretty girl. Impish smile.

Lovely moonshine. Open windows. Jacquards aside.

Rigatoni with olives and prosciutto in a "raku" glazed bowl.

We perfervid lovers.

A small tape recorder sitting on the sill. The owl in my tree listening to my sweet talk, watching every move of mine. Closer than i have ever remembered.

Thin translucent skin on her hands shining in the dimly lit bedroom.

Her eyes are my eyes. Her smile you can sometimes see in the corners of my mouth. A gentleness I wish I possessed. An overwhelming love. The kind that sits inside the very core of you.

Should I remind myself why I fell in love? Day-yam me. Small waves of happiness and tidepools of sadness- sometimes.

Her two wrists, bound by one hand of mine. I hold them that way for a while. My fingers stretching all the way around right and left.

I say, "you have tiny wrists." and she nods.

I take the ring off her finger and look at the words etched inside.

"SP"

I replace it with the gentlest touch. She sighs a heavy sigh. I know what it means.

Her special farrago of resentments. It all ends with the word "Yes".

My finger traces the lines on her palms. Another traces the outline of her ear.

The space between us shrinking until we're curled up into one another, Our heads close, connected.

She utters those magical 3 words.

I have heard them in every language. I can feel them in my head.

A slow spreading warmth. I can taste them. Sweet. There is heat between our mouths before they finally connect and then...

then.. it is like breathing under water.

Paradox?

2005-09-21T06:24:00.000-07:00

I am sure that everyone who gets up in the morning utters a small prayer to himself or herself invoking the Almighty's blessing for good health and a satisfying day, or atleast if not a prayer everyone wishes for this. But to think of it from another point of view. The medical practitioner who wishes for more patients ( thereby more illness) so that he can put his sons in a "convent" school or buy a new house or car or jewelry for his nagging wife! The undertaker who awaits the news of a death so that he can go about his business. The grave digger who is eagerly awaiting a dead body so that he could feed his wife and children. The man who consigns the dead to the flames, the ambulance owner who "wants" an "accident case" so that he can ferry them to the nearest hospital to rake in some moolah. So many persons' life depends on the misfortunes of others.

I am Yodeling this. Anyone listening?

2005-09-21T06:23:00.000-07:00

"You are important to me". "You are worth my time and my attention." "You are saying something worth hearing." "You are really an interesting person" "You are OK". These are some of the messages that listening to another conveys.

In fact our own silence can communicate so much "If you do not understand my silence, you will not understand my words." How is that for a quotation? Talking is only one of the many ways of sharing. It may be the least effective. A touch, a gesture, a tone, a shrug, a wink or a smile: these and other signs and symbols are so much more communicative.

Listening is powerful and affirmative. Hardly anything is more healing-more calming- more creative-more nourishing-more loving. A decision to listen is really a decision to love, and we all know how powerful love is.

The most neglected art, courtesy and necessity today is that of listening. Here are some considerations:

1) Hearing is not listening. Hearing does'nt make communication, listening does.

2) Listening must take place at two levels, the level of words and the level of feelings.

3) You cant listening to another unless you listen to yourself. If you can't hear your own feelings, you will never hear this.

4) Exploration is one thing, argumentation another. Argumentation is usually the end of listening.

5) Just avoiding interruption would be a great leap forward for many.

6) People need others and today it is more than ever, people need listening.

7)The first duty of love is to listen. To listen is to understand. To understand is to listen.

Can anyone hear me? :D

PS: Excerpts from E.H. McGrath

Urinal Etiquette!

2005-09-21T06:21:00.000-07:00

The Urinal Challenge

Your mission is to identify correctly, based on proper urinal etiquette, the stall at which you should stand. Good luck!

1. Urinals 2 and 4 are occupied

-	X	-	X	-	-
1	2	3	4	5	6

ANSWER: The correct answer is 6. It's the ONLY one to go to and every guy instinctively knows this

2. Urinal 1 is occupied.

X	-	-	-	-	-
1	2	3	4	5	6

ANSWER: The correct answer is 6. Stall 5 is acceptable, but you run a greater risk of being next to someone who arrives later.

3. No urinals are occupied

-	-	-	-	-	-
1	2	3	4	5	6

ANSWER: The correct answer is 1 or 6. By choosing one of these, you are tacitly saying, "I don't want anyone next to me."

4. Urinals 2, 4 and 6 are occupied

-	X	-	X	-	X
1	2	3	4	5	6

ANSWER: The correct answer is 1. You're stuck being next to at least ONE guy, so you minimize the impact and get a wall on your left. NEVER go between TWO guys if you can help it. Exceptions to this are stadium rest rooms where the herd thunders in.

5. Urinals 2, 5 and 6 are occupied

-	X	-	-	X	X
1	2	3	4	5	6

ANSWER: The correct answer is 4. Believe it or not, 1 or 3 "couples" you with the guy in stall 2. And we wouldn't want THAT now, would we? This differs from question 4 in such a subtle way that the nuances cannot be explained. Suffice it to say, only we men would understand!

6. Urinals 1, 2, 5 and 6 are occupied

X	X	-	-	X	X
1	2	3	4	5	6

ANSWER: The answer is NONE! You go to the mirror and pretend to comb your hair or straighten a tie until the urinals "open up" a bit more. If you have to go REAL, REAL BAD, for God's sake, man, use a stall with a door!

ADDITIONAL RULES:

NO Talking, unless it's a good friend... but even then, keep it terse and unemotional. This ain't no clubhouse.

I don't think I need to tell you, but absolutely NO touching of anyone other than yourself. A touch of another's elbow is the highest offense.

NO Singing. Period.

Glances are for purposes of acknowledgment only..."Yeah, I see you there. I will not look again."

2005-09-21T06:19:00.002-07:00

I am a self styled gourmand. I am of the view that a strict gourmet shouldn’t have any bias for a particular cuisine. He should be able to savour every culinary item with equal pleasure. But being me, I can bend the rules for myself. I sometimes relieve my ennui by having some good food! I love Moroccan cuisine. It is something I could die for.

Moroccan food isn’t spicy, just well spiced. Too much spice kills a dish. They don't just have one dish on the table for a meal, often they have up to 15 starters: aubergine salad; cooked vegetable salads, chopped carrots, okra, courgettes; and meat too, lamb's liver or brains. All this comes with bread and the salads are left out to freshen the palate during the following meat courses, which are often cooked in tagines - after couscous, perhaps Morocco's most famous dishes. Meat and vegetables are stewed very slowly in a conical pot, usually over charcoal. Some say the shape of the lid helps circulate and retain the heat, others that it allows the cook to pile in generous portions - so go easy on the starters.

Normally there are three courses to follow. Chicken stewed with preserved lemons, a lamb tagine, and they always finish with couscous, which should always be cooked with meat. Here are some individual listing of some recipes worth trying at home if you cant get to an authentic Moroccan joint. (But nothing beats a well made "vatha kulambu") :D

MARRAKESH CHICKEN
You can substitute chicken breasts or chicken parts, skinned or unskinned. Serves 4.

1 frying chicken, skinned and cut in quarters
Juice of 1 lemon
1 T. crushed coriander (or 1/2 T. powdered)
1 T. dried oregano (or 1/2 T. powdered)
3 cloves garlic, chopped
Good handful regular green olives
1/2 C. olive oil
1 lemon, thinly sliced

Sprinkle chicken with salt and arrange in baking pan. Sprinkle with lemon juice, coriander, oregano, garlic, and olives. Pour olive oil over it. Cover with lemon slices and bake at 325ºFfor 1 hour. Serve over couscous.

COUSCOUS
1 1/3 C. couscous (wheat-grain semolina)
3/4 C. raisins
1/2 tsp. salt
1 C. boiling water
1/2 C. butter or margarine
1/2 tsp. ground turmeric

Mix couscous, raisins and salt in 2-quart bowl; stir in boiling water. Let stand until all water is absorbed, 2 to 3 minutes. Heat butter in 10-inch skillet until melted; stir in couscous and ground turmeric. Cook and stir 4 minutes.

HARIRA
2 T. olive oil
1 large onion, minced
3 large cloves garlic, chopped
2 T. best quality curry powder
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
2 large lamb shoulder blade chops, cubed
1 medium tomato, chopped
2 C. beef broth
1 (14 oz.) can chickpeas
Juice of two lemons
Cilantro leaves

Heat the oil in a large, heavy pan. Brown the onion. Add the garlic and stir for one minute. Add the spices and stir. Add the lamb and coat it completely with the spice mixture, allowing it to fry for a few minutes, followed by the tomatoes. Pour the beef broth over it, and as soon as it begins to boil, turn the heat down to a gentle simmer.

In a small bowl, mash half of the chickpeas. After a half hour, add them along with the whole chickpeas to the simmering soup and cook for another hour. At the end of the cooking time, squeeze in the lemon juice. When you serve it, top each bowl with a few cilantro leaves. Serves 4 to 6.

MOROCCAN PRESERVED LEMONS
6 lemons, about 1 3/4 pounds
1/2 C. coarse salt
One 1-inch stick cinnamon
1/2 tsp. allspice berries
1/2 tsp. black peppercorns
2 whole cloves
1 bay leaf

Bring a pot of water to a boil. Add the lemons, return the water to a boil, and cook 3 minutes. Drain, drop the lemons into cold water, changing it once or twice to cool the lemons; drain again and dry.

Stand the lemons on end and cut lengthwise nearly into quarters so that they open out but remain attached at one end. Spread each open and sprinkle liberally with the salt; close it up and pack it in a wide-mouthed 2-quart preserving jar, or two 1-quart jars, pressing to squeeze out some of the juice. Continue with the remaining lemons. Add the spices to the jar (or jars), along with the remaining salt, and pour in fresh boiling water up to the top. Wait until all the bubbles have risen, then seal and sterilize. Store at least 1 month in a cool, dry place. To use, rinse the lemons and quarter, slice, or chop them with or without the pulp. Refrigerate after opening. Makes 6 preserved lemons.

MOROCCAN LEMON CHICKEN
1 small chicken or pieces of breast or thigh
1 T. vegetable oil
1 small onion, grated or finely chopped
1/4 tsp. saffron
1/4 tsp. ground ginger or 1 T. fresh ginger
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
Salt and pepper
Handful coriander leaves, finely chopped
Handful parsley leaves, finely chopped
Peel from 1 preserved lemon, chopped

Sauté and sear chicken in oil and then add all other ingredients except the lemons. Half cover with water and simmer gently until chicken is very tender and liquid much reduced — about 1 to 1 1/2 hours. Throw lemon peel into sauce, cook for a few more minutes and serve.

MOROCCAN GARBANZO BEANS WITH RAISINS
1 large onion, sliced
1 medium onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
2 T. peanut oil
1 C. diced acorn or butternut squash
1 C. chicken broth
1/2 C. raisins
1 tsp. ground turmeric
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ground ginger
1 (15 oz.) can garbanzo beans, drained
2 C. hot cooked rice

Cook onions and garlic in oil in 3-quart saucepan, stirring frequently, until tender, about 7 minutes. Add remaining ingredients except garbanzo beans and rice. Heat to boiling; reduce heat. Cover and cook until squash is tender, about 8 minutes. Stir in garbanzo beans. Serve over rice. Yields 4 servings.

Try them and let me know about your gastronomic experiences. Don’t tell me if you barfed.

The Green Monster

2005-09-21T06:19:00.001-07:00

Most of us have experienced Shakespeare's “green-eyed monster”. In its intense forms, it is a horrible, tormenting obsession. At its height, it can lead to gruesome murder. If you still haven’t figured out what it is….it is jealousy.

There isn't a clear-cut distinction between jealousy and envy but, in general, jealousy is experienced when something you have (e.g. a lover) is taken away or is threatened by someone else.

Envy is when you do not measure up to someone else or you very much want something someone else has (e.g. an attractive lover, a sports car, success, a sexy build, etc.).

Rivalry is when no one yet possesses the thing you desire (a particular person or position or status) and there is keen competition for the desired goal. Obviously, all of these feelings increase as our desire--our desperation--for the “prize” increases. Jealousy is the most intense. It involves having something highly valued and losing it to the competition--that hurts, angers, and shames us.

It is INSECURITY that leads to jealousy. Some may object to this particular point because they believe that insecurity is necessarily pejorative. That's not what I mean by the word. (I'd love a better word, but I don't have one.) It could be that this lack of security is very well founded. Example that the partner is about to run off with ‘the other woman’. Is it okay to be bothered by that? Of course it is.

Love your Locks

2005-09-21T06:19:00.000-07:00

Understanding the ingredients on even the most simple-sounding shampoo like Organics (which aren't remotely organic) or Johnson's Baby, almost requires a degree in chemistry. Not surprisingly, many people are trying to avoid using chemicals on their hair and are turning to old fashioned, tried and tested natural ingredients.

Rosemary oil is believed to be great for stengthening hair, tea tree oil encourages growth and very effective at fighting scalp problems and lemon juice, a natural bleach as well as conditioner. Neem powder boiled along with coconut oil and applied to the hair once a week is supposed to cure dandruff.

Sesame oil promotes hair growth and acts as a herbal dye. Who hasnt heard of the legendary shikakai?(Acacia concinna). Aloe vera too is put forth as one which promotes hair growth and arrests hair loss. Salons are also increasingly offering alternatives such as seaweed and vegetable dyes in place of your regular chemical hair dyes.

If you dye your hair, it really is worth looking at all the non-chemical options because research indicates that the chemicals in hair dyes can increase the risk of certain bladder conditions and cancers, and the risks are higher if hair is regularly dyed over long periods. Herbatint hair dyes do not use ammonia and claim to use "the minimum pharmaceutical chemical ingredients" along with herb and vegetable extracts. Herbatint dyes are permanent, gentle and widely available from health food shops all over the globe.

So all you people who love your locks, you might want to think.

On principles

2005-09-21T06:18:00.000-07:00

I was at the swimming pool the other day and saw a family of three leaving out the door. The little boy suddenly stopped and stood looking through the glass at the swimmers in the pool who were still swimming. The father yelled at him, "Come on what are you doing, just staring at things again? Let's go, its time." I thought about the paradigm that the father had of his son: stupid slow kid who's always doing something he isn't supposed to.

What if the school master called up the father the next day and told him, "We have just received the test results back from your son and have discovered that he has impressively high IQ. He is a genius." The next time his kid stood staring at something, I wonder if the father would go back to him inquisitively and say, "Tell me what you are thinking about son. What do you see?"

Our behaviour results on a paradigm of the world and it is better to base it on our unchanging principles instead of being centered on what happens in the world, what others do, what we do, how we feel, how others feel, and the vicissitudes of life. If you have a problem, the actual problem is that you are looking at it as a problem. It could be something else, such as an opportunity. When it rains lemons, make lemonade. You just need a paradigm shift.

While other things which we could center our lives on fluctuate, principles do not. Correct principles do not change. We can depend on them. Principles don't react to anything. They don't get mad and treat us differently. They won't divorce us. They aren't out to get us. They can't pave our way with shortcuts and quick fixes. They don't depend on the behaviour of others, the environment, or the current fad for their validity. Principles don't die. They aren't here one day and gone the next. They can't be destroyed by fire, earthquake or theft. Principles are deep, fundamental truths, classic truths, generic common denominators. They are the warp and woof running with exactness, consistency, beauty, and strength through the fabric of life.

PS: some lines have been borrowed from the book: The 7 habits of highly effective people by Steven Covey.

Tears

2005-09-21T06:17:00.000-07:00

Some people get teary at the drop of a hat, but others remain dry eyed even in the face of the greatest adversity. Well being a bit of a crier myself I really don’t understand how people, particularly men, get away with not crying because to me it’s such an amazing emotional outlet and it seems to be one that I take full advantage of. So I don’t quite understand how men in particular process those feelings without having a good old cry.

It’s believed that humans are the only animals that shed emotional tears. Darwin had this idea that emotional expression can result from an overflow of nervous energy and so we may feel better after a good cathartic cry just because we’ve worn ourselves out.

Some suggest that crying could be an inborn healing mechanism, or a way of removing toxins that build up with stress. Others see crying as a so-called epiphenomenon. I vouch for that it is definitely a catharsis. I don’t feel better in that the feelings that led me to cry have gone, I think it allows you to move on in some sense during the day that you have a cry and then somehow you have a better ability to move on to the next thing that you have to do to pull yourself together a bit.

What you do while you’re crying is important. When you go through a period of depression you shouldn’t cry and be hateful towards self and saying to yourself how dumb and stupid you are and don’t feel ridiculous for being this way and be angry with yourself, instead change tacks and acknowledge your tears and your sadness and see them as a valid reaction to things that are going on in your life and not to be upset by the fact that you’re crying. This becomes more productive.

So all you guys out there, it is alright to use the hydraulic method to sometimes let out your feelings. If the cry of the infant is necessary for survival it might well be so for all.

Tickets Tickets

2005-09-21T06:16:00.000-07:00

It happened during my first year at college. Six of us freshies(males) decided to go out to dinner and then a movie on a Saturday evening. This was our ploy to escape ragging and also to skip the monotonous meals that we were served in the mess.

Being freshers we weren’t allowed to have any vehicles. We would 'incur the wrath' of the seniors! Considering the limited funds we had, we decided to take the city bus to Mount Road, the arterial road in Chennai and where most of the theatres are located. Devi theatre complex was one such place. A fine sumptuous dinner over, a much needed tingle for our taste buds, and we headed to the theatre (10pm show). I don’t remember the name of the movie.

Movie over, we again decided to take the city bus back to our college, only a few bucks remaining in our coffers. Damn the guys! They hogged like pigs (I am a connoisseur mind you!).Bus route 1A is available at around 1 midnight and doesnt exactly land us at our doorstep, but within walkable distance. Bus arrives, we budding docs pile in, purchase our tickets (the night charge is double the day fare) and we sit inside “reviewing” the evening. I had the tickets in my shirt pocket and even before the bus could reach the next stop threw out the bus tickets mistaking them for the cinema tickets (you that in India you have the liberty of tossing things out through the window).

Everything goes on fine and the bus reaches the secretariat stop and holy cow! The ticket inspectors get in to check. Non plussed i took out the tickets in my pocket and handed it (they were the cinema tickets) and boy what a way to piss off a checking inspector at midnight. He reminds me that it is the cinema ticket and asks for the bus tickets and only then I realised that I had tossed it out of the window. We then plead with him explaining what had happened. He was in no mood for all that crap and promptly worked out the fine amount. Guess how much? 48x6= (am not good at math ...You peeps work it out!). Bloody hell, we just had a few coins left.

Next what...he takes us to the traffic police station and there we meet the honourable inspector and explained the situation to him, not forgetting to mention that we were from Stanley Medical College (oh we were mighty proud of being med school students). He was a cool chap in his thirties and decides to let us go, admonishing us to be careful the next time. That was my last trip in any city bus.

Moral of the story: don’t litter. If at all you want to clear your pocket make sure you are throwing the right stuff!

My Umpteenth Crush

2005-09-21T06:15:00.001-07:00

Dear S,
I am fine, hope you are fine. I am busy preparing for my first mid-term exams. How is life there? I must say I enjoyed the fete very much. You are amazing. Simply superb. How is your sister doing? That is all for now. Do keep in touch.
Thinking of you.
Affectionately yours,
Me

That was an 'extract' from the billet-doux I wrote to my flame. Casanova me! Did I tell you that we had a girls convent behind our school compound? Ah convenience. I had a huge crush on her. I first met her at the yearly fete held in my school. Both of us were in the 12th class. She looked absolutely gorgeous in the blue and white uniform( mind you it was a skirt, short enough!) I've had a crush on many girls. Each year it was different, starting from class 2, the girl Nandhini who ate my veggies( I loathed brinjal)!

We spoke a lot during the fete but I don’t remember what.(obviously some hack stuff!) and as was the trend, we decided to exchange “notes” through the “love messiahs”. The “messiahs” were the lucky guys who were allowed to visit their sisters studying in the neighbouring school on yonder hill. That they went and ogled at others sisters is a different thing!

These guys went and handed it over to their sisters and their sisters would dutifully hand over the bunch of “notes” written by our Keats and Shelleys to the respective addressees. I have sometime wondered if anyone wrote a letter and gave it to this fellow to give it to his sister! This was my first “note” to her and the guy’s sister in a hurry hands the note to my flame’s sister. Her younger sister was in the 9 th class then. (note that I have enquired about her sister too in my billet-doux) :D The younger girl on the seeing the “note” wasn’t too amused and promptly handed it to their principal, The Reverend Sister Sophia.

It was now Sister Sophia’s turn to call up my princi and convey the news. I believe she was very terse in reminding him that she dint want his boys messing up with her girls. I was unaware of the ongoing drama and went about my usual duties till my princi sent for me. Bro. Joseph Louis, toughie, one whack and you can be sent reeling to the floor. “Gentleman, I believe your ‘essay writing’ skills has crossed the compound”, he bellowed sarcastically. Sad that he decided to call my ‘simple note’ an essay. “Sister Sophia isn’t happy about it, nor am I, and who is the muff who is in cahoots with you, answer me”. I cowered in fright and blurted out “Mike bro…and I am sorry for what I have done” “Call that Mike”, he told the peon.

Enter Mike. “Mike, you will make a fine post man”, says my princi to him. He stands bewildered not knowing the context and I stand with my head low, staring into the ground. My princi then asked me to fill in the details to him. When I told Mike what had happened, he gave a look that said, “Come outside screwball and I’ll clobber you”. Then my princi decides to give us a long lecture about age, hormones, and stuff. Who was listening? Not me! “This is the last warning gentlemen, and the next time I catch you on the wrong foot, God help you” he said and sent off to our class.

Time for me to apologise again. Once outside princi’s office and I almost fell at Mike’s feet. He was very magnanimous and he for his part “It is ok fucker…now that we are off the hook.” Never again did I write any “essays” thereafter.

Moral of the story: it is ok writing love-letters but see to it that it is delivered to the right person.

Kick the Nic

2005-09-21T06:15:00.000-07:00

What’s sexy about bad breath, coughing, nicotine-stained fingers or yellow teeth? Smoking is injurious to health and wealth. I need not elaborate. It is common knowledge. Here are some surefire methods to kick the habit.

Smoking is driven by stimulus-response behaviour; for example, the smell of a cigarette or a cup of coffee automatically producing a strong urge to smoke. A lot of smoking is done automatically, without thinking about it

For the vast majority of smokers, quitting smoking is the single best thing they can do to improve the length and quality of their lives.

When you give up tobacco, your body starts to renew itself as early as the first day of quitting.

After 8 hours:
Carbon monoxide in your body drops
Oxygen level in your blood increases to normal

After 2 days:
You sense of smell and taste will improve. You will enjoy your food more. Your risk of heart attack begins to decrease.

After 3 – 4 days:
Bronchial tubes relax and your lung capacity will have increased, making breathing easier.

After 2 weeks:
Blood flow improves; nicotine has passed from your body

Within 2 weeks to 3 months:
Circulation will improve, making walking and running easier; lung functioning increases up to 30%

Within 6 to 9 months:
You’ll experience less coughing, sinus congestion, tiredness and shortness of breath

After 1 year:
Your risk of heart disease will be about half of what it would have been if you continued to smoke

After 5 years:
Your risk of stroke will be substantially reduced; within 5 to 15 years after quitting, it becomes about the same as a non-smokers.

After 10 years:
Your risk of dying from lung cancer will be about half of what it would have been if you had continued to smoke. Your risk of cancer of the mouth, throat, esophagus, bladder, kidney, and pancreas will also decrease.

Within 15 years:
Your risk of dying from a heart attack is equal to a person who never smoked.

There are many ways to quit smoking. Should you do it on your own? Would a group program or personal counselling be more effective? What about medications and alternate therapies ?. Quitting is a very individual journey.

Quitting smoking is different for everyone. Some people are able to stop "cold turkey" and then never go back. More frequently, it may take several quit attempts before quitting for good. In fact, most smokers make an average of three or four quit attempts before becoming long-term non-smokers.

Relapse or going back to smoking is the rule rather than the exception when you are trying to quit. It’s part of the process in working toward staying smoke free. Don't give up. Your body and your loved ones will thank you when you finally stay smoke free.

If you’ve quit within the past six months, you’re probably still developing this new "habit". After all, it took time to learn to smoke, so it will take some time to unlearn. Remind yourself how far you’ve come and how hard it was to get there – think about what it would be like to have to go through that again.

Remind yourself of your reasons for quitting and all that you would be giving up.

Remind yourself that this craving is temporary, and if you choose to wait it out, you can continue to enjoy the benefits of being a non-smoker.

Saying goodbye can be depressing. But feeling sad is a good sign. It means you are letting your feelings out and no longer using cigarettes to control your mood. Give tobacco a proper funeral.

If you’ve slipped up in your quitting process, there’s good news: you don’t need to start from scratch. If it happened recently (within the last 24 hours) it’s a small setback and nothing more. Don’t be too hard on yourself – you need to stay positive. Decide to get back on track now. Don’t let all of your efforts go to waste. Remember that you’ve already reduced your physical dependence on nicotine (particularly if you’ve gone a week or more without smoking) – the worst is over.

If it happened a while ago: Consider it part of the quitting process. Use this as an opportunity for learning. You’re in a better position to quit now then you were the last time you tried. Everyone who slips up can learn from it. Identify the triggers. Ask yourself. What made me smoke? How did it happen and why? Which situations will tempt you to start smoking? Feeling frustrated or stressed? Going for a drink?Offered a cigarette?
Just feeling bored? What can I do to deal with the situation next time? Come up with a plan.

If the all else doesn’t help ask your doctor about a drug called bupropion. It is an anti-depressant, but could be used to suppress the craving for nicotine. This depends on the country you live in. It is available in the trade names Wellbutrin, Zyban. I don’t know whether this is available in India. Kindly check with your doctor. As for the nicotine patch and nicotine gums...well the less said the better.

FAQs on High Blood Pressure

2005-09-21T06:14:00.001-07:00

Ever since the mythical Pandora opened the box, the world is riddled with diseases and some of the "fashionable" diseases like hypertension(high blood pressure), hypercholesterolemia, diabetes mellitus have touched epidemic proportions. Here is a simple FAQ on hypertension for the benefit of the readers.

What is the normal blood pressure?
140/90 is considered to be the upper limit of normal resting BP at 35 yrs. As age advances BP may also rise in normal people.

Hypertension (high BP) is when the reading is consistently over 140 mm systolic and 90mm diastolic.

Hypotension (low BP) is when the reading is consistently below 90 mm systolic and 50-60mm diastolic.

What are the causes of HBP (high blood pressure)?
To name a few: chronic kidney disease, aortic disease, thyroid and other endocrine disorders, pregnancy, certain drugs, essential or idiopathic-largest group.

What are the factors influencing the development of HBP?
Genetic and familial, socioeconomic, diet habits, obesity, high salt intake, alcohol intake, smoking, caffeine, hormonal influences etc.
Exercise, anxiety, discomfort and unfamiliar situations can lead to a temporary rise.

When should the BP be taken?
Ideally on 3 separate occasions when the patient is resting and relaxed.

What are the symptoms of HBP?
Most patients do not have any complaints and some may feel vague headache or increased urination. It is common to come across patients who have a very high BP and who are unaware of its existence until a routine BP measurement is done. Hence HBP is called a silent killer .

Can HBP be controlled and what are the methods of controlling?
HBP can be controlled by diet changes, exercises, stop smoking, controlling cholesterol, meditation and relaxation techniques. If it cannot be controlled by these methods then your physician is the right person to decide whether medication is necessary or not!

What are the complications of uncontrolled HBP?
The complications are protean and many of them may be fatal! There may be cardiac, kidney, eye problems or neurological problems like stroke etc.

What are the complications of low BP?
Low BP may be common in some people if certain conditions like myocardial disease or infarction and diabetic neuropathy etc. is ruled out.

What should I do if I have high or low BP?
NEVER SELF MEDICATE – Your physician is the right person to decide what is good for you. Remember prevention is better than cure…so even if you do not have any BP related problems ask your physician as to what is to be done!!!

WISHING EVERYONE GOOD HEALTH AND SAFE LIVING!!

Euthanasia

2005-09-21T06:14:00.000-07:00

“I will not prescribe a deadly drug to please someone, nor give advice that may cause his death." That is a part of the Hippocrates oath that we medical people take during graduation. Hey Salonii you are provoking me too much for the past two days! Pulling your leg. No offences. The applied ethical issue of euthanasia, or mercy killing, concerns whether it is morally permissible for a third party, such as a physician, to end the life of a terminally ill patient who is in intense pain.

“Whose life is it, anyway?” was the plea by the late Sue Rodrigues, a high-profile, terminally-ill resident of British Columbia, Canada, who suffered from ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis). She was helped to commit suicide by a physician in violation of Canadian law.

My answer is: it is HIS life. The Creator’s. He decides to give or take. Who are we mere mortals to decide? I do not support euthanasia in any of its forms. What does it mean and what are its types?

Throughout North America, committing suicide or attempting to commit suicide is no longer a criminal offense. However, helping another person commit suicide is a criminal act. One exception is the state of Oregon which allows people who are terminally ill and in intractable pain to get a lethal prescription from their physician. This is called "Physician Assisted Suicide" or PAS.

The word Euthanasia originated from the Greek language: eu means "good" and thanatos means "death". One meaning given to the word is "the intentional termination of life by another at the explicit request of the person who dies." That is, the term euthanasia normally implies that the act must be initiated by the person who wishes to commit suicide. However, some people define euthanasia to include both voluntary and involuntary termination of life. Like so many moral/ethical/religious terms, "euthanasia" has many meanings. The result is mass confusion.

It is important to differentiate among a number of vaguely related terms.

Passive Euthanasia: Hastening the death of a person by altering some form of support and letting nature take its course.

For example:
Removing life support equipment (e.g. turning off a respirator) or
Stopping medical procedures, medications etc., or
Stopping food and water and allowing the person to dehydrate or starve to death.
Not delivering CPR (cardio-pulmonary resuscitation) and allowing a person, whose heart has stopped, to die.

Perhaps the most common form of passive euthanasia is to give a patient large doses of morphine to control pain, in spite of the likelihood that the pain-killer will suppress respiration and cause death earlier than it would otherwise have happened. Such doses of pain killers have a dual effect of relieving pain and hastening death. Administering such medication is regarded as ethical in most political jurisdictions and by most medical societies.

These procedures are performed on terminally ill, suffering persons so that natural death will occur sooner. It is also done on persons in a Persistent Vegetative State - individuals with massive brain damage who are in a coma from which they cannot possibly regain consciousness.

Active Euthanasia: This involves causing the death of a person through a direct action, in response to a request from that person. A well known example was the mercy killing in 1998 of a patient with ALS (Lou Gehrig's Disease) by Dr. Jack Kevorkian, a Michigan physician. His patient was frightened that the advancing disease would cause him to die a horrible death in the near future; he wanted a quick, painless exit from life. Dr. Kevorkian injected controlled substances into the patient, thus causing his death. Charged with 1st degree murder, the jury found him guilty of 2nd degree murder in 1999-MAR.

Physician Assisted Suicide: A physician supplies information and/or the means of committing suicide (e.g. a prescription for lethal dose of sleeping pills, or a supply of carbon monoxide gas) to a person, so that they can easily terminate their own life. The term "voluntary passive euthanasia" (VPE) is becoming commonly used. One writer suggests the use of the verb "to kevork". This is derived from the name of Dr. Kevorkian, who has promoted VPE and assisted at the deaths of hundreds of patients. Originally he hooked his patients up to a machine that delivered measured doses of medications, but only after the patient pushed a button to initiate the sequence. More recently, he provided carbon monoxide and a face mask so that his patient could initiate the flow of gas.

Involuntary Euthanasia: This term is used by some to describe the killing of a person who has not explicitly requested aid in dying. This is most often done to patients who are in a Persistent Vegetative State and will probably never recover consciousness.

World's rarest beverage

2005-09-21T06:13:00.000-07:00

The world’s rarest beverage is KOPI LUWAK. It comes from the Indonesian Island of Sumatra. Native to this island is a small civet-like animal called a Paradoxurus. That is the zoological name. The locals call it luwaks. No prizes for guessing that Kopi Luwak means “coffee from the luwaks.”

These little mammals live in the trees and one of their favorite foods is the red, ripe coffee cherry. They eat the cherries, bean and all. While the bean is in the little guy's stomach, it undergoes chemical treatments and fermentations. The bean finishes its journey through the digestive system, and exits. The still-intact beans are collected from the forest floor, and are cleaned, then roasted and ground just like any other coffee.

The resulting coffee is said to be like no other. It has a rich, heavy flavour with hints of caramel or chocolate. Other terms used to describe it are earthy, musty and exotic.

One must wonder about the circumstances that brought about the first cup of Kopi Luwak coffee. Who would think to (or even want to) collect and roast beans out of animal feces? Perhaps a native figured it was easier to collect the beans from the ground this way, rather than having to work harder and pick them from the trees? We'll likely never know. But because of the strange method of collecting, there isn't much Kopi Luwak produced in the world. The average total annual production is only around 500 pounds of beans.

Because of the rarity of this coffee, the price is quite outrageous. If you can find a vendor, the current cost for a pound of Kopi Luwak is around $300 or more. Some more adventurous coffee houses are selling it by the cup, but you won't likely find it at your local coffee shop just yet. The coffee isn't so spectacular that it's truly worth that amount of money. You are paying for the experience of enjoying such an unusual and rare delicacy.

Any takers coffee lovers?

Effects of Alcohol

2005-09-21T06:12:00.000-07:00

If you care for your loved ones, if you care for your health, then say NO to ~~ALCOHOL~~. I implore you to read on. I decided to post this blog in reply to a query from one of us. A social drink. Drinking with responsibility. Connoisseur of wine. All these are fine examples of euphemisms. Remember I don’t practice what I preach! (that was in a lighter vein.)

Alcoholic beverages are valued on account of their flavour and their stimulating effect and hardly at all as a “health drink”. Nevertheless, the energy value of dry wine is about equal to that of milk. Alcohol is never a prescription.

With frequent use, the brain and nervous system become less sensitive to alcohol's effects. The body's increased tolerance to alcohol increases the level of the liver's enzymes that are used to break down alcohol. The activity of the brain and nervous system neurons increase too. This means that the body becomes more efficient at eliminating the high levels of alcohol in the blood.

However, it also means that more alcohol must be consumed to experience the same effects as before, which leads to more drinking and contributes to ADDICTION. The normal chemical and electrical functions of nerve cells increase to compensate for the inhibitory effects of alcohol exposure. It also causes irritability when deprived of alcohol. Furthermore, the increased nerve activity may induce a CRAVING for alcohol.

Beer provides one important nutrient group - the B vitamins. But there are better means of procuring the vitamin. It has been theorized that alcohol in moderate quantities can prevent the risk of heart attacks. But the harmful effects outweigh the beneficial effects. The adverse effects of long term alcohol intake are protean. I will try to list some of the few. Hope this scares you in a positive manner.

Brain&Nervous system: brain injury, loss of memory, confusions, hallucinations, tingling sensation in the arms and legs.

Gastro-intestinal system: inflamed lining, bleeding, ulcers, inflamed pancreas, swelling of the liver and pain, cirrhosis, hepatitis and liver cancer.

Skin & Muscles: weakness loss of muscle tissue, flushing, sweating, bruising.

Heart & Lungs: high blood pressure, irregular pulse rate, enlarged heart, greater chances of lung infections including tuberculosis.

Sexual Organs: Males: impotence, shrinking of testicles, damaged/less sperm count. Females: greater chances of gynaec infections and damage to the fetus if pregnant.

A sample diet for healthy living

2005-09-21T06:11:00.000-07:00

Being a doc, I wanted to post something related to health in a manner that will be useful to all. Here is my golden chance and I gladly grab the “window” of opportunity. The ensuing sample diet is mainly for people with diabetes but can also be followed by those who want to reduce weight or have hypertension and a high level of blood cholesterol, but nonetheless could be followed by everyone. This is 100% desi and I need not exaggerate about the advantages of a simple, typical Indian meal. This diet is worked out for 1800 kcal and is intended for people with sedentary work schedule and of normal build and weight.

6am : Tea or milk (skimmed) 100 ml

8am : idlis(small) 3 OR bread 3 slices OR upma 1cup (150) ml OR uthappam 3
sambhar 1 cup
any chutney (without coconut) 1 cup
Citrus fruit (1 no.)

11am: vegetable salad OR soup OR buttermilk OR orange juice (without sugar)

1 pm : Boiled rice 1 ¼ cup,
chapathis 1 ½,
vegetable sambar 1cup,
dhal/rasam 1cup,
buttermilk 1cup,
greens ½ cup,
other vegetables ½ cup,
apple/citrus fruit 1 no.

5pm : tea + biscuits made of wheat eg Marie biscuits

8 pm: cooked wheat 3 cups OR dosai 3 OR chapathis 3
vegetables 1 cup
buttermilk 1 cup

10pm : milk 1 cup (skimmed milk)

PS: 1 cup=150 ml

Use sunflower oil/gingelly oil only 5 tsp daily. It could be increased to 7 if it is olive oil.

Fruits that diabetics MUST avoid but can be consumed in moderate quantities by others are: sapotas, grapes, jack fruit, mangoes, pineapple, bananas.

Vegetables that diabetics MUST avoid but can be consumed in moderate quantities by others are: roots and tubers(potatoes, colocasia, yam and the like), beetroot, carrot, drumsticks, corn, beans, groundnut, palak, almonds, pistachio, ghee, butter.

Things that diabetics MUST avoid but can be consumed by others in moderate quantities are: Ham, mutton, sea fish, brain, egg yolk, kidneys, liver, aerated drinks, the so called commercial health drinks, snacks, sugar, jaggery, honey, cake, ice-cream, chocolate, cream, cheese.

Vegetables that can be consumed in normal quantities by diabetics are:
cauliflower, broccoli, banana flowers and shoot, bitter gourds, cabbage, cucumbers, zucchini, gherkins, tomatoes, onions ( the smaller variety), pepper, saccharin, lemon juice(without sugar), orange juice(without sugar)

Foods which can be consumed in moderate quantities by diabetics are:
brinjal, peas, ladies finger (okra), chicken 150gms per week and not deep fried, fresh water fish made as kulambu and not deep fried, egg white, buns and bread, dried fruits, grape.