Live and Let Live - by Sparrow.

I still remember the days when these chirpy little, light brown feathered birds hoping all around my home, eating the left over paddy seeds that my mother used to pick in the rice grains and throw them on the road. The days when the little boys of the neighbouring slum came hunting for these birds with their handmade catapult. The days when you would find a small dried grass nest in a corner of the house and would see a bird flying in and out every now and then with a full mouth. Your guessed it right, i am talking about the beautiful birds of yester years, the sparrows.

I was delighted to see these cute litle birds again in my balcony feeding on the broken rice grains. It has been a longtime since i saw them in such big numbers and this has given me lot of hope about their survival. I did a small study on the reasons for their dwindling numbers and was shocked with my findings. It was a mix of many factors, pollution and mobile technology being the prime ones. The mobile towers that have cropped up like mushrooms in and around the city, radiate high frequency microwaves which affect the reproductive behaviour of these little innocent birds. The high pollution levels in the city kills the smaller insects in air which otherwise would be the main natural diet of sparrows during their early stage of growth. Decrease in tree population has also affected the sparrows without any nesting places. The competition from other large birds has also affected sparrows in finding their natural food due overall decline in insect population in polluted cities.

I could then relate all these findings for the disappearance of these chirpy little birds. Felt very sad for these tiny ones. Man, in his quest for extra luxury and comfort seems to have forgotten his duty and responsibility as the most intelligent creature on earth. On one hand side, he seems to be making tremendous advancements in science and technology and on the other he has become ignorant on the concept of humanity and humility. Not mending our ways, if we happen to continue this trend, i think it wouldn't be too late for all of us to see a day in our life, when every other species would be extinct. So friends, lets do our bit in every possible way to allow our fellow species also to live.

Live and Let Live !

Doctor in Disguise - Dr Aloe Vera

Aloe Vera also known as Gheekunwar in sanskrit is one of the ancient and best known medicinal plant to human kind. Benefits of Aloe Vera plant vary widely from improvement in digestion to external skin care to curing Asthma and many other ailments.

 

• People suffering from gastric & ulcers problems can take aloe vera gel mixed with some quantity of honey to keep away the bland taste of aloe vera on empty stomach. Taking this consistently over a period of time can cure you of ulcers & gastric related problems permanently.

 

• When mixed with Amla and applied over the scalp, improves the strength of hair follicles & enhances growth of new hair follicles.

• Aloe vera fights against many skin allergies when applied over the affected skin region, it acts as an antiseptic and anti inflammatory agent for burns and wounds on the skin.

• There are absolutely no side effects of consuming aloe vera gel or aloe vera juice and is 100% natural. It can be stored at room temperatue or even refrigerated. Better would be to grow a plant of your own aloe vera in your backyard or even in a earthen pot.

• Most of these facts about aloe vera plant have been experienced by me, my family members and my close friends who have been using aloe vera regularly for quite sometime now.

 

Do write to me your comments or questions, I am more then willing to suggest more home remedies for different ailments.

 

'Finding Happiness in Troubled Times' - By Dalai Lama

It gives us an immense pleasure to announce that His Holiness the XIV Dalai Lama has accepted a request of the Foundation for Preservation of Mahayana Tradition (FPMT) to give a public talk in Bangalore.


The talk on 'Finding Happiness in Troubled Times' will be held on January 30, Sunday, from 2.30 pm till 4.00 pm, at the National College Grounds, Basavanagudi.

All are welcome, the entry is free and open to everyone.

A chat with Dr.Devi Shetty, Heart Specialist

Q: What is the main cause of a steep increase in heart problems amongst youngsters? I see people of about 30-40 yrs of age having heart attacks and serious heart problems.

Ans: Increased awareness has increased incidents. Also, sedentary lifestyles, smoking, junk food, lack of exercise in a country where people are genetically three times more vulnerable for heart attacks than Europeans and Americans.

Q: Is it possible for a person to have BP outside the normal range of 120/80 and yet be perfectly healthy?

Ans: Yes.

Q: Many of us have an irregular daily routine and many a times we have to stay late nights in office. Does this affect our heart? What precautions would you recommend?

Ans : When you are young, nature protects you against all these irregularities. However, as you grow older, respect the biological clock.

Q: Will taking anti-hypertensive drugs cause some other complications (short / long term)?

Ans : Yes, most drugs have some side effects. However, modern anti-hypertensive drugs are extremely safe.
Q: How would you define junk food?

Ans : Fried food like Kentucky, McDonalds, too many sweets and other deep fried foods.

Q: You mentioned that Indians are three times more vulnerable. What is the reason for this, as Europeans and Americans also eat a lot of junk food?

Ans: Every race is vulnerable to some disease and unfortunately, Indians are vulnerable for the most expensive disease.

My encounter with Mr Russell's Viper.

It was a sunny afternoon of saturday in the month of december 2010.We had recently moved in to our newly constructed home which is rather in the midst of a lot of green cover. Me along with my brother and a common friend were in the balcony when all of a sudden my friend noticed something moving on the road, it was a huge snake, we were shocked and surprised to see such a big snake.It slowly crept into pile of woods that were placed in the vacant plot beside my house.We thought it to be a cobra and were eagerly waiting on the balcony to get another glimpse of it. It was pretty big in size, may be around 5.5 feet in length, with diamond shaped brown colored markings all over its body. I quickly got out my cybershot sony camera hoping to capture it, felt like a wildlife photo grapher for few minutes :-)
                                             My 3 hours long wait to get another glimpse of the creepy creature, gave me lot of thoughts to ponder upon.I was thinking about the wildlife photographer's dedication & passion to shoot the animals, spending months & years together in the wild.

 

                                          
                                                                   My patience got paid off, the snake hesitantly started creeping out slowly out of the logs. Me and my brother quickly went down the stairs to capture the venomous creatue in our camera, while my wife, mother and nephew were still in the balcony shouting out at us to be cautious with the dangerous animal. I turned on the camera instantly and started clicking at the snake in all possible views and ways before it went into the logs all over again for the noise that we made trying to click a picture of it. For the rest of the day it did not come out, poor creature, we must have scared it to the core. Later that day i did a google on the variety of snake species found in India and got to know that it was a highly venomous snake, Russell's Viper. Some of the facts that literally shivered me about Russell's Viper were

1. Russell's viper is one of the most dangerous snakes in all of Asia.
2. Once bitten, people experience a wide variety of symptoms including pain, swelling, vomiting, dizziness,   blood incoagubility and kidney failure.
3. It accounts to the maximum fatalities among snake bites in India.

I got to know from the locals that there are a plenty of them in here, these days whenever i am outside my house, my hope of sighting another Mr Russell's become stronger. This encounter of mine with the creepy creature has installed lot of respect and admiration for these wonderful animals. No creature is dangerous until and unless threatened upon by man. It is we human beings who have trespassed into its territory. They are the rightful owners !

Tips for a Better Sleep

The quality and quantity of your sleep can make a sizable difference on how productive you'll be the next day. Here are few tips to help you get the sleep you need and deserve:

1. Unwind early in the evening. Try to deal with worries and distractions several hours before bedtime.

2. Give yourself "permission" to go to bed.
Recognize that some minimum amount of sleep is essential for body to rejuvenate.

3. Develop a sleep ritual. Doing the same things each night just before bed signals your body to settle down for the night.

4. Keep regular hours. Keep your biological clock in check by going to bed around the same time each night and waking up close to the same time each morning – even on weekends.

5. Create a restful place to sleep. Sleep in a cool, dark room that is free from noises that may disturb your sleep.

6. Sleep on a comfortable, supportive mattress. It's difficult to sleep on a bed that's too small, too soft or too hard.

7. Exercise regularly. Regular exercise can help relieve daily tension and stress – but don't exercise too close to bedtime or you may have trouble falling asleep.

Get connected with nature @ Chingara

It was one of those trips that we really din't plan much in advance. Our initial plan was to visit the honeyvalley resort which was more popular one than chingara.Later i felt chingara also was not a bad option.



Chingara is around 40 kms from Madikere.I heard it is much nearer to Virajpet (another town in coorg district). There are direct buses from Bangalore to Madikere and also to Virajpet from Bangalore.

We took the KSRTC service to Madikere, it was 4 a.m in the morning and we were in Madikere bus stop, it was very cold. I enquired from the depot manager about KABBINAKAD, the place were chingara is situated.I got to know that there was no direct bus and i had to change route.

Some of the auto drivers proactively came forward to offer their service, but i was not too keen to go because of the huge amount they asked for and more over it was a new place for me.

We waited in the bus station and got into our first bus at aorund 5 45 am. It was still very dark, all sort of thoughts about the connecting bus and the resort were coming to my mind. The driver advised us to get down in a particular place and then get catch another bus.

We finally reached KABBINAKAD and to our surprise the jeep from resort was already awaiting us. The 4 wheel drive to resort was just awesome.



Chingara is in the midst of a private coffee estate with huge forest cover.For people who want to get connected with nature, this is their dream place. There are lot of trekking trails to near by mountains and i also heard that the second highest peak in karnataka is also here.

Next morning we visited a near by private water falls, hahaha, you know why i say this as private? there was nobody else other than me and my wife in the waterfalls.It was very adventurous.




The food at chingara is very simple, but very delicious.The people are welcoming and very friendly. The rooms are neat and tidy without a television.

For nature lovers and people who want to get away from busy and hectic city life, people who want to spend some time all alone or with family, this is the right place.




I am already planning my next trip to Chingara :-)