Heritage Tour to Kolunupaka Jain Temple

Heritage Tour to Kolunupaka Jain Temple

Some twenty of us from SCF went on a heritage tour on 21st November 2019 to Jain temple in Kolanupaka in Aler City in Yadadri District. It is 80 Km from our Day Care Center, it took us two hours by bus. Started at 9:30 am from DCC and reached by 11:30 am. Though we were asked to have breakfast and come, we were treated to tasty pulihora on our way. It was so delicious that many noted down the caterer's address and details. Malleswari conducted cine songs quiz where we were asked to come up with Hindi or Telugu equivalent song. Anthakshari of course was there. Malleswari, Chepuri Shankar Rao, Indira Narayan and others excelled in recollecting many songs.

Upon reaching the Jain temple we moved into two rooms for freshening up. Visited the temple which is some 2000 years old. Separate note - see video link - on temple proper is attached. The temple and surroundings were peaceful, quiet, clean,serene, scenic and soulful. We had lunch in their bhojanalaya. Lunch was free. It was a simple but satiating fare of Rotis, Dhal, Sabjis, Gud, Sweet, vadiyalu etc.  After lunch we played a round of Tambola and other games.  Some even took a power nap. We gave a donation of Rs 2000 to Jain Temple.

Thereafter we visited a thousand year old ancient Shivalayam. There is an archaeological museum too. The structures, statues and rock inscriptions were awe inspiring. We returned by 5.00 pm as scheduled.

The trip was meticulously planned by our the leader Mrs Indira Narayan and executed by Sri Narayan, Sri Mallesh, Smt Pratima Mehta, Malleswari and others. The trip was thoroughly comfortable, nothing lacking. I observed that arrangements were made even to get the toilets to be cleaned and opened in DCC, prior to our departure!. Some photos taken during the trip have been circulated in WhatsApp.  

https://youtu.be/TzPCKJaY_cQ

UNMUKT Conference on: Technology – Driving Growth in Senior Care

UNMUKT Conference on “Technology – Driving Growth in Senior Care”

at IIIT, Hyderabad 15^th Nov 2019

Some Notable Points

·         Time management was excellent. Started on time. Ended on time

·         Almost (23/24) all resource persons came and delivered their part, minding time allotted.

·         Jayesh Ranjan mentioned about Selfie based app for TS pensioners for life-certificate

·         Jayesh: Suicide among elderly is a concern

·         Jayesh: Appreciated OBF launched less than a year ago

·         Ravi Narayan stressed that Social organizations should come together & work together

·         Senior care industry is nascent, interdisciplinary

·         Mohit Nirula: Technology brings seniors and children closing distance gap

·         Columbia Pacific community eager to provide testing ground for Apps and solutions

·         Telemedicine services across several centers of covai care started many years ago

·         Sleep apnea can be monitored via wearable device

·         Rajeshwar of HelpAge: Technology should compensate our absence from the scene

·         HelpAge SOS App is doing exceeding well

·         Technology is not just IT – but other technologies also are important

·         Adarsh Narahari: Wearables won’t work! Explained why! (I agree with him)

·         Aarti: AI Robots – our digital twin – can predict our mood swings

·         Ramu Muthangi of ApnaCare: Gave a demo of Alexa. Spoke of kits for AD, Parkinsons Stroke

·         Aparna: Empowerji App gives short video based training for dozens of elder related items

·         Rajit Das od Evexius: Healthcare Integrator. Human touch is most important

·         Lakshminarayana GoldCoast: Fall detection alerts wearable & emergency alert  device

·         Aparna: Making elders adopt and use after training is a great challenge

·         Sailesh MIshra explained ‘all about Alexa’ even how to write Apps for its execution!

·         Mahesh Joshi of Apollo: Enabling accessibility & affordability in healthcare is most important

·         People are not interested in preventive care, while doctors have lost personal touch

·         Getting seniors to come to DCC is a great problem

·         Primary care family physicians should come back – including home visits

·         GOI is coming up with regulations / guidelines for retirement communities

·         Caregiver and geriatric training facilities are inadequate

·         We have not heard of rating of geriatric care giving outfits

·         Several start ups had a chance to introduce themselves briefly

·         There was not much time for questions / interactions

·         Audio was poor – back benchers  could not hear properly

·         Distribution of directory of participants would facilitate  interactions

·         Folder of all pamphlets / brochures of all participants would prove useful – B2B?

·         Many people I knew were there: KRG, Monimita, Smitha, HelpAge, OBF, Life Circle, Aparna and others

·         As a professional Info gatherer I gained a lot; purpose served; worth the time & distance!

Senior Citizen Beggars

I am giving below an article from my colleague Sri M Chaidambara Rao. It deplores the current societal apathy and nonchalant attitude towards beggars and asks for better understanding of the issue especially among senior citizen beggars and seek solutions.

===========

SENIOR BEGGAR CITIZENS

Author: M Chidambara Rao, President, AOSC, HYderabad

Deepavali is a celebration of light dispelling darkness. The darkness in our minds and hearts, the evil in our emotions is to be dispelled by light of clarity, empathy, divine love.

Are we aware of the actual spirit and purpose of Deepavali celebration. One aspect of the darkness in our lives is lack of empathy towards the unfortunate beings, be it human or other. Whenever we see a beggar, whether driven by a genuine need or not, whether due to inability to do any productive work due to physical disability or old age, whether due to lack of mental ability, stability or lack of skill, whether due to innocent childhood, do we recognize that there is something not correct in our social system.

(a)    We ignore the reality that is noticed.

(b)   We consider it is someone else’s responsibility to bother about it.

(c)    We take courage is the escapist thought that it is their fate and nothing can be done.

(d)   We take defeatist attitude and run away from the problem, considering it too big to be dealt or remedied.

WHY,  SO.

On 12^th and 13^th of October, 2019, a conference was held at Haridwar, to highlight the collective responsibility of the nation to care for the welfare of senior citizens. The conference was held in a posh hotel and attended by members, none of whom need any support for welfare or care. Their recognition of the need for care by the nation of the utterly poor among senior citizens, suffering both in urban and rural settings shows concern for the poor, neglected, abused, lonely and ill senior citizens all over the country. And the concern shown is laudable.

Haridwar is a holy city, visited by several thousands of pilgrims every day.  Haridwar is also a place where a few thousands of beggars are present in its streets and the bathing ghats of holy Ganga. The strange fact is that no one bothers about taking care of them in contrast to the objectives of the conference about care of senior citizens all over the country who were not present there. Their presence and suffering are taken for granted. Our conscience is relieved of the pain of noticing such unfortunate scene by tossing a few coins into their dented bowls. The local administration might not have any troubled conceiver about presence of such heavy concentration of beggars in their city, degrading the image of Holiness of the place. The Government of Uttarakhand does not seem to have considered it necessary to provide succor to them and avoid their need for begging.

This situation is not special or specific only to Haridwar or Uttarakhad. The same is the scene in any pilgrim place in all states in the country. Go to any temple, in the north or in the South, there will be hoards of beggars, both driven by destitution and by a desire for easy money. It is a national problem. Neither the society in general nor the political fraternity bestow any thought or attention to the basic causes involved in generating such large number of beggars, and measures for remedying them.

WHY. SO. Why is it that we turn away our faces and pretend as if there is no problem at all.

It is a matter of disgrace to beg. It is a much deeper disgrace for the society wherein the need to beg exists for several lakhs of people. Reasons may be several. Have we tried enough to analyse the same in depth and the approaches needed to avoid existence of beggary either due to need or as a profession. It is to be noted that a considerable part of the beggars are seniors. When we are seiged with the problem of welfare of poor senior citizens these begging seniors also are to be taken into consideration.

A cursory analysis shows reasons for begging are due to:

1.       Utmost depredation due to destitution. The causes could be many like, orphaned childhood,  physical or mental disability, or seniors driven out by their own kith and kin or lack of family support.

2.       Professional begging:

a)      Begging adopted as an easy way of livelihood

b)      Begging after exhibiting some street entertainment due to lack of skills required forother economic activities

c)       Begging by exploiting religious sentiment or cheating by exploiting psychological weaknesses

d)      Begging with pressure tactics as by the third gender people.

3.       Begging for votes, begging for more prosperity from God – these are not relevant for our purpose.

Measures and practices required to address the undesirable situation are many needing political will, religious reforms, legal and institutional set ups etc. which need elaborate discussion.

Mention of this situation here is to highlight that senior population among beggars also should be taken into consideration in deliberations covering poor senior citizens.

==========

On Mangoes and Mosquitoes

On Mangoes and Mosquitoes

On Mangoes and Mosquitoes

(Dr P Vyasamoorthy)

(Originally published in July 2018)

Mangoes have gone but mosquitoes are in. This year the market was full of a variety of the king of fruits. But the quality was not up to the mark. Price varied from Rs 30 to about 150 per kg. I tried many varieties, not very satisfied, though.

Mosquitoes have arrived. I don’t like mosquitoes but they like me. I have lamented earlier at length about repellants, coils, skin creams, patches, incense sticks, liquid dispensers, mats and what not. Of all the anti-mosquito items I found citronella Agarbattis best. Each stick lasts for about 15-20 minutes but you can see these insects coming in swarms and dying like rain. It is effective if you use it in early hours of invasion. Even plain camphor pills kept on electric mats is fine. Plus you get pleasant aroma. A 2% mixture of camphor in coconut oil serves as pain reliever for humans and a repellent for mosquitoes.

There is a strong myth in Kenya and other countries that mangoes and mosquitoes are related. That if you eat mangoes mosquitoes will be attracted and their byte will lead to malaria. This is not true. I have seen flies coming out mango but not mosquito.

Body odor, sweat, body movement, body heat are all invitations to mosquito: they will come dancing from far off distances. Carbon dioxide is a good attractant; place a source of carbon dioxide in a place where you want these pests go to.  Placing clover stuck in lemon in corners of the room is a traditional solution, though cost wise it is not a wise choice.

I understand from my friend Dr Surendra Varma that male mosquitoes do not bite and only female ones prick us to suck blood. So, if you brought your palms together fast enough to catch them and succeeded in killing a mosquito, if your palms are stained with blood, it is a female one and if it died dry then you have harmed a harmless insect.  

I thought a poet is no poet if he has not written about moon. It appears to be true in the case of ubiquitous mosquito too. https://www.poetrysoup.com/poems/mosquito gives several hundreds of poems.  From the poems I gather that while in India we face mosquito menace during rainy season, westerners seem to suffer it in summer. Just a sample before I leave, a short one from Char Ron Smith:

I've been single too long

Obviously

That a mosquito is the only female

that wants to take a bite of me