Father and Son

Father (80+) and Son (45)

Conversation between father and son,

father is in first floor balcony, son in the ground floor,

dusting his car, opposite my house:

F: Cheenu Kutti, Had breakfast? What was that?

S: Hi dad,  yes, over; Adai and butter

F: Wav! Your wife has patience to soak pulses and all?

S: If I keep my mouth shut in the night, I may open it in the morning for good breakfast!

Their talk was so loud, the morning wind blew it into my ears.

What shameless creatures these are; no sense of privacy at all!

About an hour later, father shouts to son:

Hi Cheenu Kutti, please check, drinking water is coming!

Thank God, I too need to collect water.

I rush in, thanking God for giving them such loud voices.

Do’s and Don’ts for senior citizens during lockdown

Do's and Don'ts for senior citizens during lockdown

By Newsmeter Network Published on May 18, 2020 at 9:57 pm
Hyderabad: Senior citizens above the age of 60 and those with chronic illnesses like asthma, pulmonary diseases, and heart disease face a higher risk of getting infected with COVID-19. Hence, the ministry of health and family welfare has asked them to stay indoors.

Keeping this in mind, the secretary of social justice and empowerment, R. Subramanyam, has written to the chief secretaries of all state and Union territories asking them to publish a list of do's and don'ts for senior citizens and their caregivers during the COVID-19 lockdown.

Do's and don'ts for senior citizens who live alone
The letter stated that senior citizens who live alone should not step out to buy essentials and instead should seek help from their healthy neighbors. Such elderly people should constantly stay in touch with relatives on the phone. Hygiene should be maintained at home and apart from sanitising their hands, they should also sanitise frequently-touched objects and surfaces.
Senior citizens should avoid both small and large gatherings and should also not invite people over to their house for get-togethers, the secretary said in the letter.
As far as possible, they should take medical advice via tele-counselling and take their prescribed medicines without fail. He also advised them to drink more water since it's summer and they may get dehydrated.
Do's and don'ts for caregivers
Meanwhile, the caregivers of senior citizens and NGOs which work for the welfare of senior citizens should ensure that elderly people living in their shelters are healthy and are taking proper precautions like washing their hands regularly and covering their nose and mouth while sneezing.
The caregivers have been asked to stay away if any senior citizen shows symptoms of fever or flu. No senior citizen should be kept completely bed-bound and the caretakers should wash their hands before touching any senior citizen.

The caregivers were also advised to contact the helpline if the senior citizens under their care show COVID-like symptoms.

Mental health
Mr Subramanyam also gave importance to the mental health of the senior citizens and said they should not isolate themselves, should talk to relatives at home, and with neighbors while following the social distancing norms. They can practice their old hobbies he suggested.
He strictly asked the senior citizens to stay away from alcohol or tobacco to kill their boredom and loneliness.
The caregivers can call the helpline (08046110007) if the senior citizens under their care don't remember their relatives or if they suddenly stop speaking.
Meanwhile, the senior citizens were also asked to stay away from unverified news and refrain from sharing sensational and unverified news on social media

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Source: https://newsmeter.in/dos-and-donts-for-senior-citizens-during-lockdown/

Dr P Vyasamoorthy
30 Gruhalakshmi colony Secunderabad 500015
040-29552016 / 09490804278 / 8179386472

Seven Tips to Reduce Weight

This listing enumerates seven commonplace tips to fight obesity plus a smilogenic tip as last one

Seven Tips to Reduce Weight by Padmanabha Vyasamoorthy on Scribd

Funny One liner facts about frailties of old age

Funny One liner facts about frailties of old age

(P Vyasamoorthy)

1.When I want to get up after a quick nap, I never set the alarm but I take a large glass of water;

 I am taken care of by my prostate!

2. I know an old man (I am 78!) who keeps smiling when someone is talking to him, managing to hide he is deaf!

3.The same maid who has grown old looks pretty even now because my mind is young, though my eyesight is poor.

4. When I had to get up supported by my hands placed on the floor, I realized I was overweight.

5. I have no use for a comb (that needs two hands to use), as I can count with fingers of a single hand,  my hair.

6. Despite being Covid Negative, my nose has lost sensing smell, good or otherwise

7. My balance is getting lesser and lesser, not just in the bank but in my gait too

8. Though my car may at times be low on gas, never my stomach!

9. “The same maid who has grown old looks pretty even now because my mind is young, though my eyesight is poor.”

To the above, a friend of mine confessed: “Why only the maid?  Every woman I see seems to be young and vivacious and stunning!”

10. Erectile dysfunction? My foot.  I would be lucky if I can to pull out my hiding thing to pee.

A Different type of a doctor - Bibliotherapist

Meet the woman prescribing books as a cure
Read the full story: https://t.co/0uZbAiBXco pic.twitter.com/8c8sDdNKJ0

— WEFBookClub (@WEFBookClub) May 10, 2020

Do you notice anything to be proud of as an Indian in this video? You may like to read a full article on bibliotherapy here: https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/02/bibliotherapy-books-mental-health-literature/

Resolving Locked down Leases

Here is an article by Justice TNC Rangarajan on Legal issues faced by tenants and landlords during leasing property, especially during lockdown.

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1j3UhVunu4Aa7P-wUtFes5KpZJ0Y89K7gT48ngQRs7Z8

Simple exercises to improve motor skills for senior citizens

https://youtu.be/4fPFllHUX6A

Watch this short  video, mere 4.33 minutes, from International Longevity Centre, Pune. 

Simple exercises using just paper, pencil, crayons, colors, sketch pens etc. Easily learnable, and do-able; improves concentration, fine motor skills, just five minutes a day. Given by DR Snigdha Gorana through very simple demonstration. She says use a cotton ear bud instead of paint brush - practice handling thinner smaller things!

Among our members who is going to exhibit results of his / her attempts first?

Dr P Vyasamoorthy
30 Gruhalakshmi colony Secunderabad 500015
040-29552016 / 09490804278 / 8179386472

A Cockroach under a plastic mug

A Cockroach under a plastic mug

When I woke up in the night to go to the adjoining rest room, I found a cockroach searching for food. Lest it crawls into my bedroom, I took a plastic mug and placed it over the insect so as to imprison it for the rest of the night. In the morning when I wanted to release it and lifted the mug I found no cockroach. It had escaped. How, I wondered. In the plastic mug, on the opposite side of the handle, there is a V shaped dip on the rim (serving as a spout?) to direct easy flow of water. In that part, the wall thickness is next to nothing – that is where the cockroach managed to escape through.

One easy way of killing cockroaches when they appear by one or two: you can use a ink filler to pour a drop or two of kerosene on the insect per-se. When they appear in masses say big groups, then, you may spray an insecticide like DDT.  If it is a question of cleaning a drain – opening a manhole and discovering a horror scene - then you need professional help and spend couple of thousands.

Why am I obsessed with this insect? I have heard many things that I cannot forget. They eat dirt and cause TB and other diseases. They have been around this earth for a pretty long time say 200 million years or more. They can withstand radiation ten times more than us, humans. Cockroach may survive for almost a week with its head is cut off. Not only larger roaches, even smaller ones are equally dangerous.  While dirty homes offer more inviting living space for roaches, clean homes cannot guarantee themselves to be rid of them. It is a fact that roaches can feed on anything and everything. They are so adaptable that cockroaches may be found in all continents without exception. They can survive without breathing oxygen for a very long time. They can move fast at rates as high as 3 mph! Longevity of roaches ranges from a few months to a few years. They are indeed formidable species to bother about and eradicate, if we can.

Why do dogs bark?

Why do dogs bark?

Dogs, except when they are eating, bark. It is innate to them. May be an exaggeration but I am so much annoyed.

Dogs bark at individuals. Some bark when they see a rag picker because rag pickers compete with them in rummaging / salvaging stacks of waste / rubbish bins. Some bark at small children – frightening children and seeing them scream or run is great fun for dogs. Dogs also bark at strangers to the locality who appear like thieves. Dogs are fond of barking or even chasing old people with walking sticks – they are vulnerable and easy prey to pass on dog’s frustration which cannot be shown to strong fellows. Single dogs making noise like these do not cause great harm except to the victim concerned.

However, I am talking about group barking when several street dogs in a locality join the game of barking their throats out. During nights when you are asleep this could be very annoying and highly disturbing.  Entire neighborhood gets affected. May be that some dogs have spotted a stranger. May be another new dog not belonging to that territory has entered. May be one got caught while trying to get out through some gate / opening and got stuck. May be some female dog is in heat and many males are fighting to gain access. May be that Police Patrol van has passed by hurting some dog carelessly sleeping in the middle of the road. May be some dog has spotted a dog van and every dog is getting alerted.

How to handle this problem? Drive dogs away from your colony? Impossible. They come back with their friends. Complain to Police or Corporation? Once I audio recorded the barking of dogs in the night and sent it immediately via WhatsApp to police station. When the recipient played the audio in his mobile, the entire station woke up. But they were so angry that they vowed to take vengeance upon me by ignoring my complaint! Complaints to corporation – they send dog van, capture a couple of dogs, neuter them and bring them back to same or neighboring colony. Barking or biting by dogs cannot be countered by simple neutering techniques. Do you know of any technique to render their vocal cords useless? There’s no easy way. If you know share your secret with me.