Improper bundling of Leafy Vegetables

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Improper bundling of leafy vegetables

When I visit the weekly neighborhood Vegetable market (Shanti) I usually buy some leafy vegetables as well. They are easy to digest but perhaps not so easy to cook: cleaning, cutting, preserving are all difficult, more so for men than women. Adding to our problem is the way these vegetable vendors bundle them in, various sizes.

In olden days greens were tied into bundles using long thin grass lengths. Jute strings, cotton threads, rubber or plastic bands, plastic threads are used nowadays.

When we throw vegetable waste, these binding materials get into garbage bins. Cows and goats that eat them would suffer if rubber or plastic is mixed up. Jute and cotton are indigestible. But rubber bands are reusable, so we can reclaim them. I feel anything other than grass or dried grass should be avoided.

Should we appeal to our authorities and politicians to make some legislation against it? No. It will be as unreasonable as the demand to ban confessions in churches, based on the premises that what is shared during confessions is used to black mail church goers.

Then what is the way out? Appeal to vendors to change their ways. Don’t buy leafy vegetables. Invent a substitute (biodegradable) binding thread. Choose only those vendors who use natural dry grass for tying bundles. After buying, you re-bundle them with a material of your choice at home, before throwing remnants into waste bin.

This is an attempt at making a mountain out of a mole hill. I won’t be surprised if someone starts a signature campaign at change.org after reading my blog post.

Letter to PM - Ease of Living - Suggestions regarging Senior Citzens

I am reproducing Sri Mohan Siroya's letter to our Prime Minister on suggestions for ease of living for senior citizens. Kindly refer to this in your FB or twitter accounts with the tag "ease-of-living-seniors" so that many will come to know of these points.
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Mohan Siroya’s Letter to PM on: “Ease of Living”

Sir,

“EASE OF LIVING” encumbrances the ease of Justice, Protection and Sustenance (survival) of the vulnerable sections of the society. One such SECTION is the Senior Citizens, especially those who live alone in big cities, isolated from the main stream with none to take care of them even when they are economically independent.

·         State Govts like Maharashtra and others have issued directions to the Police to make survey of such lonely and single Seniors, to the Police department to keep a register and visit them for giving them a sense of safety and security. But that happens rarely .Sorry to state in mega cities like Mumbai or Delhi, every day, there are reports in media about gruesome murders, looting or harassment of such Single Seniors. Why this cannot be eased for their safe and dignified living?

·         If someone goes to court for justice, in spite of Government GRs that Senior Citizen cases should be given priority for disposal, it is never done. Some die without getting any justice which is delayed. Will it not be ease of living for them if at least in Senior Citizen cases, the Consumer Forum dispose of the complaints within the specified three months period provided under the Consumer Protection Act?

·         Such Consumer Forums were meant to be without any Advocates, no formatted long plaints or huge paper work procedures like other Courts, but presently is the norm. Each complaint takes between 4 to 8 years when disposed off, due to frequent adjournments given to the Advocates as they are busy in some other courts. Those who are living in Co-operative societies, the statutory Authority Dy. Registrars of Co-operative societies remain busy in their red tapes and do not even bother to suitably reply or console the senior citizen residents against the undue harassment of Society. Can this be not eased by present Government to make Officials to perform their duty in time bound manner for ease of living of seniors?

·         Least but not least of the measures the Government can provide is to make verified, reliable CARETAKERS/COMPANIONS Authority for such Single and Isolated Seniors ( Especially those who are in Golden years) on PAYMENT, lodging and boarding basis. This will also be an Ideal way to absorb the Orphans in a permanent home This way not only necessary care and safety will be provided to spend their golden years in peace and dignity but this Government shall also get big Godly blessings of such Seniors who contributed fully for the Nation during their active, hay days. The Provision of a Regulator to keep an eye on all Homes for the aged, or Senior Citizen complexes, to keep them away from ABUSE

Thanks and God bless you

Mohan Siroya (Mumbai ) (09322211610)

Why Google is God

WHY GOOGLE IS GOD?

Google is omnipresent: Everywhere in mobiles, schools, govt offices, shops, trains, buses in fact with all millions of people using smart phones to laptop to desktop.

Google is omniscient: Knows all and everything. Everyone tries googling with lot of hope & great faith that they will get what they ask. Google data base is collective human memory reduced to writing and digitalized somewhere.

No one knows Google fully. Even Google employees do not know all products and services their nuances etc. What they know and perceive is google. That perception is far from REAL google.

Do you think Sunder Piachai knows Google completely? I doubt.

Google is omnipotent: It has potency and power to bring people together totally unknown hitherto.

No one has seen Google fully. Be it their servers, programs, database or people connected with it. It is a virtual world. Maya and Maya to the core.

Was Google there from the very beginning? To clear your doubt, ask any child or your grandson. They will stare at you as if you are a lunatic.

For these and several reasons you can come up with on your own, Google is GOD.

Technicians and their tricks

Technicians and their tricks

All of us engage some plumber, electrician, carpenter, drainage cleaners and others as a part of housekeeping and maintenance. Like all workmen, they are also driven by greed and try to extract as much as possible sometimes by doing a through and satisfactory job but more often through other means as well. They play upon your ignorance and pave way for expenditure more than what you expected or estimated. We take for granted that they are experts in their field and know the best solution to the problem you are facing.

For example, I have a couple of electrical points in my house where I encounter frequent problem. Any bulb you fix fuses off within a short time. No electrician tries to find the root cause but is only interested in buying and fixing new switches or replacing the wire.

The other day, I had the problem water stagnation in our bathroom. The water outflow from wash basin and  two other taps runs into the common connecting bowl (Mori bowl with cast iron filter / jolly), leading it away to drain pipe outside the wall. This portion got clogged and caused stagnation of dirty water. The plumber suggested that we dig out entire pipe length in the cemented tiled floor and replace it with new pipe length saying the old pipe is corroded. I sent him away; I examined the system eliminating the source of blockage one by one. I located the problem in one of the three pipes. Used “Dranex” overnight and the clogging vanished**.

When you call a TV (earlier days Radio or Transistor) technician, he would always say that some component has to be replaced so that he can make some money while buying it. A friend of mine who is in the business of TV / Radio repair told me that he will always have lots of scrapped junk components and will pull out something or the other (for example a rusted transistor radio antenna rod) and say he replaced that part. The customer has no way to check and will pay for component too in addition to service charges.

Nowadays handymen have become very costly. For a couple of hours of work you need to cough up more than a thousand rupees. I console myself when I compare the doctor who takes Rs 500 for three minutes of his time and expertise after making you wait for two hours, in spite of prior appointment. A car mechanic asked a surgeon: Both of us repair mechanical parts like pump pipes valves etc. But why are you paid so much. The Surgeon said I do my work when the engine is running. May be I shouldn’t grudge.

** But I forgot to say something more in this connection. The Dranex that I poured into the washbasin, being highly corrosive and acidic, ruptured the plastic connecting pipe!. I had to call another plumber and get it fixed!

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Skin problems of Senior Citizens

Skin problems of Senior Citizens

I participated in a meeting conducted by Senior Citizens Association of Marredpally, Secunderabad. This SCA has 320 members on its role. They meet regularly every month having lecture meetings, Birthday celebrations etc. They also go on trips and tours. I was told that a theertha yatra to Shiridi is planned in September. A spacious community hall (nearing completion) of GHMC opposite to Marredpally Park is available for their meetings.

The association collects Rs 500 as one time membership enrolment fee and Rs Thirty per month towards running expenses. Nearly 8 to 10 members whose birthday falls in that month donate about Rs 1000 each which is used to felicitate them and a sumptuous high tea is provided to participants. About 60-70 persons attend birthday meetings.  Lecture Meetings, (when after the lecture, tea and biscuits are offered) are attended by about 45 persons.

There was a talk by Dr Kamal  K Jhamnani, Dermatologist. He spoke on common skin problems affecting the elderly.  He said itching is most common. Dryness of the skin is the important cause.  It could also be due to allergy to certain food items or drugs. Poly therapy involving use of man medicines for multiple diseases usually causes drug interactions that are harmful. Itching could be due to poly therapy side effect also.

Itching may be prevented by keeping the skin moisturized. Smearing simple coconut oil after bath will be very beneficial. Costly lotions / moisturizers are not necessary. Fungal infection of scratched area leads pain, swelling, hotness and at times pus formation. Simple treatment with antibiotics, application of mild corticosteroids would help. Using steroids helps quick healing. But it suppresses fungal infection that will recur once steroids are stopped. Continuous use of steroids only drives infection deep inside.

Herpes is a viral infection at the tip of a nerve ending. It will be very painful. If an anti-viral infection is administered within 24 hours further complications can be avoided and herpes cured. The problem is most people cannot detect it so quickly.

Fungal infections occur in places that are likely to accumulate moisture like inner thighs, between toes, armpit etc. Ring guard and similar preparations are useful. Keeping area dry with dusting powder will help.

Vitiligo can be completely cured but treatment takes time. Ayurvedic and Homeopathic drugs are more useful in many skin diseases. But one should be wary of corporate centers which fleece and dupe patients.

He answered many questions relating to eczema, warts, leprosy, white patches (vitiligo), vestibular infection near jaw etc. When asked about role of turmeric in skin diseases he said that turmeric positively helps.  Drinking a pinch of good quality turmeric powder mixed with half a glass of hot milk every night prior to bed time is very useful. It also helps preservation of memory, he told us. Turmeric paste and similar preparations are good for skin problems as a whole.

Dr Kamal spoke in simple words avoiding jargon with an assuring voice, in a patient-centric manner. He  was felicitated with a shawl towards the end of the meeting.

Announcements of Obituary

Announcements of Obituary

Recently a friend of mine commented: Why do we have obituary announcements in meetings at the beginning? Why not towards the end of meeting? That set me thinking - let me share my thoughts here.

When a member of a group / association passes away, his death is announced at the next available opportunity, say a meeting or via newsletter. In meetings it is almost always done as the first item, taking precedence over agenda. In a large group many participants don’t have any idea as to who is dead, unless reference is made with some re-callable details.  All members stand in silence in honour of the departed soul for thirty seconds to three minutes. Many do not have any clue as to who is dead. This activity is performed in a most perfunctory careless manner. If this activity is a part of annual even then it is a shear formality. If the diseased person is an important or a well known person then he gains entry into agenda proper.

                               

Sometimes, the nearest opportunity may come when the association’s periodical newsletter is released. Here, the news of departed members is given at the end of the publication or used as a filler at the bottom of some unimportant page. Usually jokes are given similar weight. Many times a photo is included so that infrequent participants may guess [which photo resembles the original?] who is dead. Many times, very scanty info is shared, as if to complete some formality.  If the association really cares about the loss of a dear member than brief details such as who, when, where and how are supplied. And explain why or how people remember him. This calls for some work, exertion and exploration.

I have seen photo of some neighborhood slum dweller printed on a piece of A4 size paper pasted to some card board and placed as a placard in street corners to announce the demise of some popular figure. DOB, DOD and Name are minimum info shared. Such placards stay for day and get washed off in rain or otherwise torn in traffic chaos.

Newspaper advertisements on obituary are paid for.  Mostly the purpose is to inform the public who cannot otherwise be reached about last rites or about tenth day events. Almost all of them give enough info to contact the bereaving family members so that we may convey our condolences in time. Sometimes Advertisements of anniversaries of dead persons get mixed up causing confusion. Again seeing some (unknown) person’s photo some half a dozen times on the same page is irksome. Can some publisher volunteer to bundle obituary notices of same person into one large advert and make more money for value addition?

Newspaper obituary advertisements or obituary notes printed by the paper as a news item are permanent and are searchable online. One lady rang up from Mumbai and said: “ I am so & so. I have lost contact with a childhood friend name so and so for several decades. All that I know is she lives in Chennai, married to one Ki Va Jaganathan’s  son.  I am going to Chennai shortly and would like to meet her. Can you help locate her?” Thanks to an obituary advertisement of Ki Va Ja I could help them meet and renew their friendship.

In Senior Citizens Forum, Secunderabad where I am a member we have a song for the forum which runs thus:

The time to be happy is now

The place to be happy is here

And the way to be happy is to make someone happy

And have a little heaven right here!

The current practice is to sing the song in unison by all members present towards the end of the meeting. Keeping the content and import of the song I suggested: “Why not we sing the Forum song in the beginning of our meetings instead of at the end”. That way we will remind ourselves to value NOW – the present moment – and as well try to make someone happy during the course of the meeting.  Well, SCF didn’t accept the suggestion. This brings us back to suggestion given in the start of this article. People are reluctant and afraid of change and are happy to stick to status quo. Mental security at stake!

Database of Trained caregivers for the elderly

Database of Trained caregivers

National Trust for trained caregivers in autism, cerebral palsy, mentally retarded has compiled a database of 825 care givers trained in ten institutions. It is in 50 and odd pages. The full pdf is readable / downloadable from scribd here:

https://www.scribd.com/document/383783231/MOSJE-National-Trust-Trained-Caregivers-List-2015

The listing is of Sep 2015. Embedding the excel sheet here gives very small unreadable font size. One of the institutions covered is Swayam Krushi of Secunderabad.

The listing will be useful to senior citizens as well as these persons will be more affordable than those trained in geriatric care who are costly and rarer to find.

Electrical accessories – Good Brand Name Counts!

Electrical accessories – Good Brand Name Counts!

(Product Review)

When we built our house in 1981 we got the entire electrical wiring done using Anchor accessories. They lasted well over four decades. About seven years ago we got total re-wiring done to accommodate effective use of three phase connection, to ensure proper earthing at all points etc. At that point time the contractor went for Maru brand. That is a big mistake we committed.

Over years we had to replace almost every piece of accessory – be it switch, plug pins, socket or fan regulator and adaptors. Most of them could not stand test of time or normal use. They break or got mutilated quickly. Switches just don't function.I am not all satisfied with Maru and would not recommend them to any.

There are a couple of points in our house where lot of repair work occurs. No electrician is able to locate the root cause and every one of them goes away after giving temporary relief. Bad accessories add to our misery.

I like Anchor brand for another reason. Their logo reminds me of Madras Christian College and school where I studied. They keep reminding me of my alma-mater. Isn’t that great?

  

Some minus points about New Gmail

Some minus points about New Gmail

A new version of Gmail was released in May 2018. Initially it was available to select set of innovative / experimenting users. I was lucky to be one of them. I read up several forum discussions and help files before using New Gmail. Many have written about new features and facilities in New Gmail like: snoozing a message in Inbox for action at a later point of time, sending confidential mail that can be deleted from recipient’s inbox as specified by you, integrating Google keep, calendar etc into Gmail itself etc. But very few have written about minus points. Here are a couple of them

As earlier, incoming messages can be automatically sorted into labels (categories) like priority, promotional etc. Some marketing guys use Gmail to push a lot of promotional messages almost nearing spam. If they get into promotional folder automatically reader is likely to get back to them only when he has time to waste. I am told that auto selection using artificial intelligence techniques are working in opposite direction. Anyway I am not affected as I delete all spam / promotional messages after reading them manually.

In old Gmail video attachments were easy to use. You could open them right inside Gmail and watch them via streaming. There was no need to download and then open them. Now in New Gmail this facility has been removed or is not working as expected. Downloading a large video file without any idea about its content is waste of time, bandwidth etc. Moreover one may not be equipped to open all types of video files. One easy work around is to save it in Gdrive and play from there: you save time and space.

Another small minor point: Constant and more frequent feedback as to what is happening (mail sent, mail archived, mail deleted etc) is irritating.

We can do without constant nagging intimations.

How I am overcoming deficiencies? I have old Gmail in Firefox and New Gmail in Chrome browser. Many queries in Quora that I wanted to answer forced me to learn more by shear experimenting. Through my friends I have learnt how to use new gmail features effectively. It is great but may be improved over time.

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Where to find a speaker for your meetings - SCAs

Resource Persons – Speakers - for SCAs

Very often Senior Citizens Associations are on the hunt for speakers to engage their members during regular meetings. Generally the programmes committee looks after finding suitable speakers. To help you in this task I have compiled the following list with the help of Sri Venkat Ramulu of SCF. Tip: If you are sourcing your speaker from a commercial outfit say some bank, diagnostic centre, elder care company etc you may request them to take care of your refreshment expenses. Most of them will oblige. But be prepared: some half a dozen persons may land on you demanding projectors, sound proof auditorium and so on. Talk to them first and face no surprises. General complaint from SCA members is that we have too many talks on health related issues making them feel sick all the time. If you require more info on anyone mentioned below please ask.

SN	Name	Organization	Contact	Subject	Remarks
1	Dr Vasunder Reddy	SCF		Pharma Industry	SCF
2	Sister Praveena	Brahmakumaries		Thought Control
3	Ms Arfa Abam			Psychology
4	Akshya Investment Consultants			Finance / investments
5	Kamakshi Hatti			Valentines Day
6	Vyasamoorthy		9490804278	Seniors welfare
7	Rama Subramanian			Value of Life
8	Swami Chidananda	FOWAI Forum		Living without hurt / pride
9	Umesh Gunti			solar systems
10	Dr Shah			diabetes
11	Ms Farida Raj			Intergenerational issues
12	Rahul Krishnan			Magician Tricks
13	Dr Amulya Rajan			Dementia
14	Mr Prasad	Nightingales		Home care services
15	Ms Megna Srinivasan			Parkinsons Dementia Stroke
16	Mrs Rajan Ganesh			LPG conservation
17	Justice Rangarajan			Writing Wills
18	Dr Bhanu Chandra	Mohan Foundation		Organ donation
19	Dr Bhaskar Reddy	SCF		medical topics
20	Ms V Vasudha	Nestle		Recipes Food
21	Dr Manish Gupta			Avoiding heat surgery
22	Venkatasubbaiah	YWCA		Stress mgmt
23	VK Narasimhan	SCF		many topics
24	Acharya Prabhu			Good Health
25	Sri Vishnu	Tapasya trust		visually challenged
26	Indira Narayan	SCF		Book Reading
27	Maj Thyagarajan	SEVA		Stress Mgmt
28	Rajendra Prasad	Yellow Homes		Home care services
29	Dr V Rajashekar Ortho		9247739012	Falls, pain mgmt	Aosc
30	Dr Narayana & Dr Anita		9991033953	Nutrition, cardiac problems	AOSC
31	Mrs Rajam Shankar		9849028014	Music therapy	AOSC

I am happy to add the following (12th July 2018) received from Subburaman Sundar

I got the following additions from Subburaman Sundar:
Guest Speakers at Senior Citizens' Association
Name Specialisation Topic Contact No.
1.Lalit Mohan Chandna Advocate Preparation of will 98663 40911
2. Sister Mamta Brahmakumari Process and Benefits of Rajayoga
3.Prof Narasimha Reddy Doctorate in Sociology Relationship Management 98491 39063
4. Dr Ravi Teja Rudra Raju Orthopaedic Specialist Orthopaedic Problems among senior citizens 95425 27977
5. Dr Shanthi Dental Specialist Dental Problems 74060 50967
6. Dr K Shobha Pulmonologist Lung Diseases 96765 76147
7. Dr Ranga Reddy Medican Practitioner Hands on Demo on CPR 92462 75989
8. Dr A Kamalakar Wing Commander  (Retd) Inter-Personal Relations 83417 87215
9. C Suresh Chartered Accountant, Rotarian Gautama Buddha -- Scientist of the Inner World 98480 18951
10. Dr Ravichandran & Dr Aparna Audio specialists Awareness of Hearing Impaired 99890 55111
11. Dr Kamal K Jhamnani Dermatologist Common Skin Problems 93924 64111
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Also Added on 8th sep 2018

Dr BR Sant Retd Scientist  Pedestrian Safety 040-27120542 / 08790182330

Shyam Puli HelpAge Hyderabad - Smart Phone Usage - 9963716618 / 7013753812

Added on 23/10/2018

Dr GV Rajeshwari Integrated medicine alternative therapies reiki etc 9441262839 (AOSC)

Mrs Deepa Kiran / Expert in Story Telling  / 9052910239

Sri Tapan Kumar / Tata  Trust / Elders Spring Helpline / 9849900801



NB: Above persons have addressed SCF and AOSC members; it may be possible to get contact numbers with some efforts. If you know of speakers to be included here please inform me via comments. Thanks