Around two years ago or so, there appeared an article in the ' Science and Technology' section of The Hindu newspaper. The article reported the findings of a research carried out by Stanford University, CA. It said that there are stem cells in the marrow of one's bones, which decide on what the food one has taken shall be converted into; whether it shall be bones, or, muscles, or blood, or if nothing else, fat cells. It added that by doing the stretching exercises, one increased the possibilities of food getting converted into bone cells, muscle cells, blood cells, or the like and not fat cells.
Now that is exactly what Yoga is generally about: stretching. Doing stretching exercises in moderate everyday helps one to get rid of fat. One doctor advised me that after completing going for a walk 45 minutes a day, or carrying out similar exercise every day, one shall do some stretching exercises to get the full benefit of exercise. By moderate, I mean one shall not try to stretch beyond one's capacity, or ability, or, do the stretching exercises too long that one gets fatigue.
May 28, 2010
May 19, 2010
Devadas syndrome and alcoholism
Both the book and the yesteryear films on DEVADAS became famous and popular. Even today, the name Devadas evokes feelings and sort of empathy in most Indian men. The literary figure of Devadas has become an icon, mm.. an icon of Alcoholism, popular, nevertheless!
The story is all about Devadas, a feudal lord's son, falling in love with a poor girl Paro. Due to differences in class and wealth, the weak-willed youth is not able to marry his childhood playmate and sweetheart and Paro marries an old man. However Devadas cannot forget Paro and to dispel his frustration he succumbs to the bubbly bottle. A golden-hearted prostitute, Chandramukhi, befriends him and tries to make him forget his past. But soon he runs away and goes to meet Paro... Heart-broken he dies in front of her house.
Many thanks to ‘The Hindu’ newspaper and Mr. Randor Guy for the story line given above.
On one side, the youth and the older men and women with youthful feelings identify with the lover in Devadas who fails against the patriarch, casteist, class oriented society in winning his love. Even today, even in these days of so called modernistic and progressive society, the reprimands against the runaway couple are heavy. ‘Honour killings resorted to’ make periodic headlines and breaking news in the newspaper and the media. There come up huge outcries against this barbarism in the name of honour killings, and hopefully, some day we may get rid of this barbarism.
But taking to bubbly bottle…., well, this needs to be seriously looked into! The youth identify with this also in queer manner. Is Devadas able to forget Paro temporarily and the fact that he is not able to marry her, thus booze acting as sleeping pills? Or, does it lead to fantasies and imaginations that suits Devadas’s likes.
Practically viewing in real world, the answer is ‘No”. It is more an expression of anger and frustration against the reality and also against his inability. And torturing himself in retaliation and portraying himself as victim. Many people identify with this situation.
Many people take to Drinking as an expression of defiance against failures in many walks of life! It also helps them resort to escapism from the problems all around them. Though temporarily, they do understand! They need more and more of it over time, they become addicts, they spend all their money on it, their health goes haywire, and over the time they lose their productivity, they become totally useless and become burdens to their familes and the society.
Some people take to Drinking for they feel manly and adventurous, none of it in reality because of drinking though! Here again Escapism plays its part. Joy of making a beeline to liquor shops on salary day and spending fortunes on it cannot be explained any other way! They give a damn to the family running, or, to their children’s’ education!
Then the fancy of it! The elite class feels as a rule that consuming liquor is an essential part of any celebration. Here, they make a person or two get high in the game, and then enjoy the ramblings and stupid acts of the person/s.
One thing I cannot understand though! Many manual workers who put in hard physical labour every day need a ‘quarter’ to gulp the pain and ache down!! One cannot question the genuineness of it! They sincerely believe in it! How to get over this??
Education, continuous education is the answer for abolishing alcoholism and saving millions of people, may be crores. Remember how the nation succeeded in spreading Family Planning among masses?? By continuously educating the people on it. Some villages have succeeded in abolishing alcoholism and smoking within their boundaries.
And may be by enacting a State law abolishing liquor as they brought one for abolishing smoking!
This subject needs immediate attention and urgent action.
The story is all about Devadas, a feudal lord's son, falling in love with a poor girl Paro. Due to differences in class and wealth, the weak-willed youth is not able to marry his childhood playmate and sweetheart and Paro marries an old man. However Devadas cannot forget Paro and to dispel his frustration he succumbs to the bubbly bottle. A golden-hearted prostitute, Chandramukhi, befriends him and tries to make him forget his past. But soon he runs away and goes to meet Paro... Heart-broken he dies in front of her house.
Many thanks to ‘The Hindu’ newspaper and Mr. Randor Guy for the story line given above.
On one side, the youth and the older men and women with youthful feelings identify with the lover in Devadas who fails against the patriarch, casteist, class oriented society in winning his love. Even today, even in these days of so called modernistic and progressive society, the reprimands against the runaway couple are heavy. ‘Honour killings resorted to’ make periodic headlines and breaking news in the newspaper and the media. There come up huge outcries against this barbarism in the name of honour killings, and hopefully, some day we may get rid of this barbarism.
But taking to bubbly bottle…., well, this needs to be seriously looked into! The youth identify with this also in queer manner. Is Devadas able to forget Paro temporarily and the fact that he is not able to marry her, thus booze acting as sleeping pills? Or, does it lead to fantasies and imaginations that suits Devadas’s likes.
Practically viewing in real world, the answer is ‘No”. It is more an expression of anger and frustration against the reality and also against his inability. And torturing himself in retaliation and portraying himself as victim. Many people identify with this situation.
Many people take to Drinking as an expression of defiance against failures in many walks of life! It also helps them resort to escapism from the problems all around them. Though temporarily, they do understand! They need more and more of it over time, they become addicts, they spend all their money on it, their health goes haywire, and over the time they lose their productivity, they become totally useless and become burdens to their familes and the society.
Some people take to Drinking for they feel manly and adventurous, none of it in reality because of drinking though! Here again Escapism plays its part. Joy of making a beeline to liquor shops on salary day and spending fortunes on it cannot be explained any other way! They give a damn to the family running, or, to their children’s’ education!
Then the fancy of it! The elite class feels as a rule that consuming liquor is an essential part of any celebration. Here, they make a person or two get high in the game, and then enjoy the ramblings and stupid acts of the person/s.
One thing I cannot understand though! Many manual workers who put in hard physical labour every day need a ‘quarter’ to gulp the pain and ache down!! One cannot question the genuineness of it! They sincerely believe in it! How to get over this??
Education, continuous education is the answer for abolishing alcoholism and saving millions of people, may be crores. Remember how the nation succeeded in spreading Family Planning among masses?? By continuously educating the people on it. Some villages have succeeded in abolishing alcoholism and smoking within their boundaries.
And may be by enacting a State law abolishing liquor as they brought one for abolishing smoking!
This subject needs immediate attention and urgent action.
May 15, 2010
'Chalega' attitude
Air India used to conduct Essay competition every year, some 20 years ago, for the school students and the winner of the competition got a free holiday trip to Singapore! In one of the years, the topic was "What ails India?" or something like that. A student from Chettinad Vidyashram won the competition that year!
"What ails India?", the boy asks the question. "Is it population?", "Is it corruption?", or, "Is it red tapism?", the boy goes on asking, replying in negative everytime. Finally he zeroes in on the chalega attitude of the people as the real reason for the country's ailments. People put up with everything that happens around them and grin and bear it without protest. The unscrupulous politicians and business people get emboldened by this attitude seen around them, take advantage of it and go on exploiting the people and damaging the country for their personal gains. (These are the impressions I had formed in my mind as the content of the article after reading the write up about the article in the newspaper. The actual content may vary from this.).
Does the situation remain same now, or, has it changed? The answer seems to be yes and no. The boys and girls these days are very smart, confident and bold. They don't take things lying down. The education seems to give them more authority to question the wrong doings around them. Media and consumer forums are playing their roles very well. The people gained great exposure to the world around, especially with the advent of colour television, and with more people travelling abroad. especially the children of those in power. Probably, these children have egged their parents to carry out the policies and action plans that put India on par with the other nations. Definitely the demands of the people were listened to, and better infrastructure, environment etc were put in place. With the gates opened up for globalization, and with IT occupying centrestage, things started moving faster. We are now rubbing shoulders equally with all the frontline nations without qualms.
Then why "No" for an answer ...........?? We are faltering on the human rights issue. The rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer! You see, the people are bothered about only what affects them directly it seems. They seem to let go on the other things. Thus we see the Adivasis and native people of Orissa being robbed of their moorings. All the fight put up to get proper settlements for those displaced by Narmada Dam did not bring much success. The people of the Seven sister states of the North East are a dissatisfied and disillusioned lot, and quite a lot of them see India as allien country. Telengana state is demanded because the region had been neglected all along! The labour force of the unorganized sector is underpaid, and when demands are made for increase in wages, the labour force is quietly replaced by people migrating from the rural areas and from other states, or by machines.
Much water has flowed in, no doubts! But, where the water has not flowed in, it has been left high and dry!! That is why Maoists are making some inroads, and Raj Thackeray is listened to.
Even where much water has flowed in, certain things don't make sense. Why for example, there are bumps and pits in all the roads all over India, barring highways and Expressways, and some of the roads having gaping manholes? These cause fatalistic accidents. Motorists' disregard for the traffic signals also cause deaths by accidents, especially the disregard by the drivers of containers and trucks. The Xrays, scans and ECGs don't work in General Hospitals, nor are essential medicines available. Toilets stink and are unhygenic, and yet we want toilets in every village. The MRTS stations are very dirty. Their huge empty spaces scare you! The list is endless and the less said of the rainy days, the better!!
Our Cricket team winning the world cup in 1983 was a real moral booster that drove out this chalega attitude from people, followed by our winning the T/20 world championship two years ago!! All forms of music and dance from Bollywood and other regional cinemas bear the stamp of excellence. The construction industry has come a long way. We are seeing excellence all around us.
"What ails India?", the boy asks the question. "Is it population?", "Is it corruption?", or, "Is it red tapism?", the boy goes on asking, replying in negative everytime. Finally he zeroes in on the chalega attitude of the people as the real reason for the country's ailments. People put up with everything that happens around them and grin and bear it without protest. The unscrupulous politicians and business people get emboldened by this attitude seen around them, take advantage of it and go on exploiting the people and damaging the country for their personal gains. (These are the impressions I had formed in my mind as the content of the article after reading the write up about the article in the newspaper. The actual content may vary from this.).
Does the situation remain same now, or, has it changed? The answer seems to be yes and no. The boys and girls these days are very smart, confident and bold. They don't take things lying down. The education seems to give them more authority to question the wrong doings around them. Media and consumer forums are playing their roles very well. The people gained great exposure to the world around, especially with the advent of colour television, and with more people travelling abroad. especially the children of those in power. Probably, these children have egged their parents to carry out the policies and action plans that put India on par with the other nations. Definitely the demands of the people were listened to, and better infrastructure, environment etc were put in place. With the gates opened up for globalization, and with IT occupying centrestage, things started moving faster. We are now rubbing shoulders equally with all the frontline nations without qualms.
Then why "No" for an answer ...........?? We are faltering on the human rights issue. The rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer! You see, the people are bothered about only what affects them directly it seems. They seem to let go on the other things. Thus we see the Adivasis and native people of Orissa being robbed of their moorings. All the fight put up to get proper settlements for those displaced by Narmada Dam did not bring much success. The people of the Seven sister states of the North East are a dissatisfied and disillusioned lot, and quite a lot of them see India as allien country. Telengana state is demanded because the region had been neglected all along! The labour force of the unorganized sector is underpaid, and when demands are made for increase in wages, the labour force is quietly replaced by people migrating from the rural areas and from other states, or by machines.
Much water has flowed in, no doubts! But, where the water has not flowed in, it has been left high and dry!! That is why Maoists are making some inroads, and Raj Thackeray is listened to.
Even where much water has flowed in, certain things don't make sense. Why for example, there are bumps and pits in all the roads all over India, barring highways and Expressways, and some of the roads having gaping manholes? These cause fatalistic accidents. Motorists' disregard for the traffic signals also cause deaths by accidents, especially the disregard by the drivers of containers and trucks. The Xrays, scans and ECGs don't work in General Hospitals, nor are essential medicines available. Toilets stink and are unhygenic, and yet we want toilets in every village. The MRTS stations are very dirty. Their huge empty spaces scare you! The list is endless and the less said of the rainy days, the better!!
Our Cricket team winning the world cup in 1983 was a real moral booster that drove out this chalega attitude from people, followed by our winning the T/20 world championship two years ago!! All forms of music and dance from Bollywood and other regional cinemas bear the stamp of excellence. The construction industry has come a long way. We are seeing excellence all around us.
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