Book Review: Chicken Soup for the Indian Soul

Chicken Soup for the Indian Soul. A Book of Miracles. 101 True Stories of Healing, Faith, Devine Intervention and Answered Prayers. By Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen and Raksha Bharadia. Westland, 2011 pp 383+

Genre and Series: This title is the latest among the series of Chicken Soup, first one published in 1993 by Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen. It is, as can be guessed, a book in Inspirational Genre. Earlier titles in the series intended for Indian Market include: Chicken Soup for the Indian Bride, Chicken Soup for Indian Doctors, Chicken Soup for the Golden Soul, Chicken Soup for the Indian Teenage girl, Chicken Soup for Indian Women, Chicken Soup for Indian Mothers, Chicken Soup for the Indian Romantic Girl, Indian Spiritual Soul, CS for Indian Fathers, CS for Indian Single's Soul etc.

Authors and Contributors: Apart from original authors Canfield & Hansen, this specific title has been authored / compiled by Raksha Bharadia. She is also the author of India CS titles shown in bold letters above. Stories have been collected from known and unknown writers. There are bloggers, columnists, famous writers / journalists, IAS officers, Engineers, School and College Students and Teachers. -- in a way, common people.   

  

There are 101 short stories all narrated superbly from personal experience. List of contributors gives details of 68 authors, indicating that some have given more than one story. This can be confirmed by a quick look at the Table of Contents too. Generally authors list is arranged under surname but here I find the order to be natural: Something odd. Perhaps because of the background of Bharadia having worked in Femina, Gurlz and the like, most of the contributors (83%) are women. One positive thing about the list is that almost all of them have Email!

Grouping of Stories and Story Titles:

Sections	No. stories
Signs from above	9
The Healing Power of a Prayer	6
Love from Beyond	11
HIS/HER Messenger	8
HIS Saving Grace	7
Angels amongst us	9
Answered Prayers	9
Everyday Miracles	12
Devine Appointment	7
The Magic of Faith	7
Our Guardian Angel	8
The Call from Within	8

Looking at the grouping of the stories one can get an idea of subjects covered. The book need not be read from cover to cover. Picking up what appeals to your mind to read first is made easy through thoughtful and meaningful grouping. All stories are short, say about two pages. Not only that all titles of stories are also short; Ma is the shortest title. Longest is Coincidence is God's way of staying Anonymous.

Stories per-se:  Though it is Non-Fiction in categorization, many stories covered border on Fiction, but unbelievably true.  Most talk about commonplace occurrences such as: a pet being ill, some loved one recovering from illness, problem of transporting a heavy metal "safe" across a long distance, saving people before and after accidents, Kali Ma appearing in person, turning points in one's life coming after long waiting and prayers etc. I liked "Ma" and "The Rickshawala". Anyone interested getting inspiration of any sort from books will try this book.

=================

Dr P Vyasamoorthy, 30 Gruhalakshmi Colony Secunderabad 500015 Ph 040-27846631 / 9490804278.
I have started a third blog:  http://seniorcitizensdiscounts.blogspot.com/ 

Book Review - Aisccon Guide on Elder Care Homes

Prof PV Ramamurti and Dr P Vyasamoorthy: AISCCON Guide on Elder Care
Homes. Published by All India Senior Citizens Confederation, Mumbai.
November 2011. Pages (A5) 86.

This book is two parts. The first part, the Guide on Elder Care Homes
is based on papers submitted by members of AISCCON National Committee
on Elder Care Homes. This part is mainly targeted towards managers and
owners of Elder Care Homes. Minimum Standards for services, facilities
and infrastructure are stipulated for a) free homes run on charity
basis and b) Pay & Stay type intended for middle and upper middle
class elderly persons. Thereafter, provision of healthcare facilities,
Food and Nutritional aspects, and Activities / Entertainment are
covered in three later chapters.

Apart from general aspects of managing Elders homes, there is a
separate chapter on Financial management. As a logical next step,
details relating to Monitoring and Inspection of Old Age Homes are
given next. Rounding off this group are two articles one on: A summary
of Research Studies on Old Age Homes in India and a brief note of the
scenario in UK USA and Canada.

Appendices, forming the second part, are a collection of important and
useful extracts from various governmental sources that serve as
reference.  Architects, planners and real estate persons interested in
providing shelter to senior citizens will benefit from Guidelines on
Space standards for the elderly, Universal design tips and barrier
free access guidelines.  The AP State Rules relating to old age homes
– (still in draft stage as of Nov 2011)- under Maintenance and Welfare
of Parents and Senior Citizens Act 2007 would be useful as a model /
template for other states. These rules will indeed be directly useful
to owners / managers of old age homes.

There are a few a few page formatting errors in second part of the
book. Absence of info on copyright, availability, and details of
AISCCON - the publisher as such are points to be noted if a second
edition is taken up. The book is very useful to all connected with
setting up and running old age homes. Even residents of old age homes
may benefit by learning what they should look for in searching /
selecting old age homes.

Prof P.V.Ramamurti, PhD(Ageing), FNA, Honorary Director(Emeritus),
Center for Research on Ageing, Dept. of Psychology, S V University,
super annuated as Dean of school of social behavior sciences, in 1996.
He was a Fulbright fellow (1983), Andrus Gerontology Center, L A USA.
His Intl and National awards include Sandoz Intl award, Age Care
award, AGI lifetime achievement award,  Pranavananda Research
Award(lifetime), Basu Medal ( API), SCB award for excellence, ISCA
Platinum jubilee award . He is a scholar and teacher of international
repute.

Dr P Vyasamoorthy, co-author, has about ten years of post retirement
experience as a social gerontologist and social activist. He is a
prolific writer. He is a recipient of AP State govt award in 2007 for
his services to senior citizens and a winner of UNV Karmaveer Puraskar
Award in 2011.
==================================================
Available at Rs 30 plus postage, from: AISCCON, Jyestha Nagrik Bhavan,
Plot No 7-C Behind Gaondevi Mandir, Sector 12, Nerul(West), Navi
Mumbai 400706 (Phone: 022-27701228)

Book Review: LinkAge - October 2010 Issue - Special edition on Productive Ageing.

Book Review: LinkAge – October Issue. Special edition on Productive Ageing.

 

This October 2010 issue of LINKAGE – Monthly magazine of Senior Citizens Bureau, Chennai - is a special issue titled:  "Productive Ageing".  It is a 64 pages book containing about 40 articles, both in Tamil and English, mostly sourced from the Internet, Hindu, Dinamalar etc. Some half a dozen articles are exclusively written by members of Bureau and their friends. As usual there is heavy slant towards health and fitness: there are articles on Diabetes, Thyroid Blood Pressure, Physical Fitness, common cold, Backache, cancer etc. Articles relating to senior citizens welfare like Old Age Pensions, National Commission for Senior Citizens, World Elders Day, Suggestions on improving various government concessions / schemes for seniors etc. are also found. There are quite a few poems in Tamil too.   If you are serious here is a list of English language articles:

 

 

No to negative thoughts

Happy and healthy living

Senior citizens welfare scheme

Ageing beautifully & gracefully

Ten benefits of lemon water for health

"every day in every way i am getting better and better"

Govt. Plans panel for elderly

Dealing with depression in seniors

'Kalaivani' **

How to avoid shaky hand writing

Are senior citizens an asset or liability?

DTC and senior citizens

Invictus

Advance of science and technology

Activities report by the secretary general

Senior members - 85 years of age

 

Asterisked story, Kalaivani, is an interesting interview of a book stores girl by a reporter for Washington Post. The journalist was so impressed with the intelligence, duty consciousness and family responsibility of this poor but deserving girl that he volunteered to bear all the expenses of her five poor sisters' education. Very moving story indeed – however, as it is nearly 2 years ago this interview was taken, it would be worthwhile to know how the girl and her family are fairing now. Some SCB member can find out and inform all of us.

 

If you try to find out what "productive ageing" is all about, you will not find a single article in this book. It is only in the title and nowhere else. Anyone ordering the book by reading the title alone will be disappointed. Some other title, justifying the contents, should have been given.

==============

Dr P Vyasamoorthy, 30 Gruhalakshmi Colony Secunderabad 500015 Ph 040-27846631 / 9490804278.
My blog: http://vyasa-kaaranam-ketkadey.blogspot.com/

Last light of the candle - publishers book review

Pensioners Journal – RREWA Gurgaon 2009

Pensioners Journal – RREWA Gurgaon 2009

14th Annual Issue of Pensioners Journal, published by Retired Railway Employee’s Welfare Association (RREWA) Gurgaon for the year 2009, provides lot of useful information to pensioners. Circulars of the government departments affecting all pensioners, articles on Health (obesity, sleep disorders, Ageing issues), legal matters (Wills, Court verdicts) are given. Eight court verdicts are briefly summarized with pointers to full text in the RREWA website.

Most important for the senior citizen (not necessarily government pensioner) is the exhaustive article on current budget & personal taxation written from senior citizens point of view. Impact of Direct Taxes Code is also reviewed.

The editorial by SC Maheswari gives out a clarion call to all pensioners to get united and force the government to listen to their demands. All types of pensioners – States, central, defence, PSUs, Railways, Academic sector etc - account for 2% of our population and roughly constitute two crores. As this is no small number in terms of Vote Bank, getting united is the surest way of demanding attention and action.

The last article in this 100 pages publication is on Philosophy of Life by MV Ruparelia who is a prolific writer in the field of gerontology. The inclusion of advertisements (nearly 20%) shows the association is fairly influential in terms of raising money! This fact is further strengthened when we learn that RREWA has been awarded an annual grant of Rs 60000/- by GOI.

Senior citizens, pensioners in particular, will find this annual publication worth reading. There is no price indicated – may be free to members.

Probus Guide for Seniors - 2009

Here is my review of the latest Annual Publication of Probus Club of
Chennai. I am publishing this in my blog, Merinews, Cplash, Sulekha,
Karmayog and other sites. Vyasamoorthy

==================================
Probus Guide for Seniors

For the eighteenth successful year, Probus Club of Chennai has brought
out this Annual reference book – sort of Almanac. The book may be
considered to be in three parts, though no such distinction is claimed
by the compilers or publishers. First part gives background
information about the club in the form of a note by the President, the
conceptual framework, nostalgic account of how the series of annual
publication began and developed, list of contributors etc. The list
of contributors reads like a who is who among eminent retirees of
Chennai comprising of doctors, psychologists, engineers, teachers,
corporate executives, geriatricians, chartered accountants and so on.
The Educational Assistance offered by the club is commendable: With a
corpus grown to more than ten lakhs (from six lakhs last year),
helping some 55 high school students in four schools is praiseworthy.
This activity will help bridging the generation gap that senior
citizens are prone to suffer.

The second part provides a series of short articles on various topics
of interest to the aged persons like: Law, Safety, Income Tax, Budget,
Religion, hobbies and health. As health appears to be one of the most
important concerns, there are about ten articles in this area alone.
There are three articles in Tamil. There is an account of Chennai in
olden days – Madras: I liked it much as my hometown is Madras. Apart
from signed articles there are a good number of extracts from the
websites on topics like: home remedies, all about blood, quiz on heart
attack, quiz on angina, quiz on Alzheimers, organ donation, ambulance
and emergency services etc. An article on Reverse mortgage is timely
and useful. Among all contributions, there is an odd man out that does
not fit into the theme – you may discover it yourself if you read the
whole book!

The third part is a sort of a directory. Items like Assistive and
Enabling devices, List of NGOs working for seniors, Eye banks, Blood
banks, helpline, important phone numbers, Old age Homes in Chennai and
Tamil Nadu (130 out of 250 covered), Details of Doctors on House call,
Facilities for renting wheel chairs, walkers & the like, diagnostic
labs etc are all given. In the case of Old Age Homes, coverage of
other states and cities has been omitted this year. List of Palliative
care centers in South India is a welcome addition. While we expect a
number of NGOs to be discussed under "Organizations working for the
Elderly" we find only HelpAge being described. List of Ambulance
services (65) is exhaustive. Doctors willing to do house calls
(increased from 50 to 60 in this year) are thoughtfully given area
wise.

The number of advertisements in this 300 pages book has come down from
40 last year to 23 this year – thus increasing the value for your
money! This Annual publication for 2009 is available from Sri KV
Chary, Chennai Ph 24981099 for a nominal donation of Rs 100 plus
postage.

I would strongly recommend this book to all interested in Ageing
related issues and the ordinary retiree looking for a handy book
giving addresses, phone numbers of products and service providers for
his specialized needs.
==========

How to Cure Diseases with Natural Foods: Book Review

How to Cure Diseases with Natural Foods: Book Review

Original in Tamil by Dr M Anaiappan. English Translation by JN Daamodharan. Part 1 Ed2 2000 pp 224 Rs 130/-. Part 2 Ed2 2005 pp126 Rs 120. Published by Good Health Foundation, Hyderabad.

General:

This book on natural foods and its use to cure diseases is a book on alternate therapy. The author advocates total avoidance of cooked food of any sort and recommends one to eat only fruits, nuts, pulses, vegetables etc - all in the raw form.

The book provides basic information on the following aspects:

• Fruits and their medicinal uses
• Which fruits cure which of the diseases
• Usefulness of Natural foods
• Methods of preparing healthy foods
• Nature food plan (Time Table)
• Tables giving Salt content, nutritional values, vitamin contents of many natural food items
• Brief details about Nature Cure treatment.
  
  

Apart from the above useful sections/chapters the book also gives the following - these points require attention when the author brings out the next edition:

1) The chapter "What is the right food for human beings" is a haphazard collection/compilation of several hundred quotations, statements, extracts, comments, ideas, opinions from books articles newspapers periodicals etc. Though the content is useful, there is no particular order in these 40 pages.
2) A bibliography of some 63 books is given in the middle of the book. Only author and title are given. Details of publisher, year, edition, price etc are absent. If you want to buy a book the listing is not useful.
3) "A List of Nature Cure Hospitals in India" contains 33 institutions mostly in Tamilnadu. No Phone numbers or Email is given, which if furnished will make contacting easier.
4) The 40 page chapter of Diseases and treatment is most repetitive. The whole chapter can be summarized into far less number of pages.
5) As many as three chapters (60 pages - 17% of the two part book) contain only testimonials from patients who have benefited from Nature food therapy.
6) The chapter on usefulness of natural foods is very generic to be of any practical use. Few examples: "There will be no fear in Society", "Devotion to God will increase" "It is a great sin to cook and eat" etc
7) Some what costly for most people.

Summary: If you are a collector books on Alternate therapies you may buy it. If you want to buy only a few titles on this topic, you may want to wait for the next (improved) edition!

(Contact Publisher at: Plot 100 Road 7c Jubilee Hills Hyderabad 500033 Phone 23543613 & 23545231.

Book Review: Wellness of Elderly

HelpAge India and VLCC: Wellness of Elderly. No Date.pages 24.
No price mentioned. Presumably free.

This booklet on Healthy Aging provides health, fitness, Nutrition and diet related information for Senior Citizens. This will help them lead a healthy independent life.

Topics covered include:

1. Information of the human body's nutrition requirements (elders),
2. Common eating problems and their management,
3. medical conditions associated with old age (Diabetes, Hypertension,  Cardiovascular afflictions, arthritis, osteoporosis)
4. Aging and Exercises - how to choose safe activities,
5. Mental and social well being,

Annexure gives a Sample Diet Plan for Elders

=============