Are Our Children, Your Children?

Why do i keep on kicking the vaccine topic again and again ?

Well for one it is not getting the coverage it needs, in awareness and its ingredients, and second, it is getting more coverage with forced vaccination, and with out consent, from parents for the children, in future

Don't believe it!!

Well u can look it up with the AB 499 bill ( Anti parent, Merck vaccination bill)that is going to get passed and then , you can't decide for the kids whether they should take it or not, well if u can't, then who are your kids, in this health issue.

If it get passed in this one state of California, then the neighbours,will pass and then eventually all the nations.

We are good at follow the leader.

We parents who are so well read, and still not able to get to know about the vaccines, do u think our children who are in the teens will know to decide?

If u think u know, start with the ingredients and spend some time, for the health of the future generations in your family tree.

Bye bye kids, u are to decide for yourself , at 12 whether u want the sexually transmitted disease vaccination, ( gardasil) or not, well u will have it , they know how to make u say " S".

http://nvicadvocacy.org/members/Resources/VetoAB499.aspx

A bundle of neem sticks-seeks a brusher

A colleague of mine said, neem sticks in our land, are a villagers way to a relaxed brushing, for healthy gums and strong teeth .

A pity there is no time for this safe and sure method, as one is off for a frothy quick swish and a fragrant finish, followed by a smile to oneself at the mirror.

I took to a change , after I had a chance to see the contents of a tooth paste in Readers Digest, long ago.

Some recent studies showed,these ingredients in most toothpastes available across the world.

propylene glycol,

sodium lauryl sulphate

triclosan

sodium phosphates

hydrated aluminium oxides

xanthum gum

sorbitol

tannic acid

peppermint

and of course fluoride.

A study on each one could say it is only an abrasive, a re- mineraliser, an antibiotic, a foaming agent, a thickening agent, a sweetener, an anti- freeze, or a de-melter,flavorants and an anti- caries agent.

Well if all these need to be added to a teeth care compound, when there is a safer alternative, be it native, tribal or some other, it is worth a change, for a good risk less oral hygiene.

Chew a neem twig and brush with it, when u get the feel of a tooth brush, with its bristles.

Find a neem tree, and its twig tomorrow.

Yellow boxes -bitter medicines, colorful memories

Sarabhai had presented us boxes of plastic, to remind us, that they do not grow old, but come along with us in our growth of understanding and experience.

Many practitioners had them on their clinic table, a reminder of strength and care for their patients.

The children of such doctors passed on traditions of trust and concern to their off springs, to take them on, in their stride in curing diseases and keeping families of trust on the go.

The company had offered them a long time back,( our second year) i have stopped using their products long ago, to have forgotten their formulations, but i have not forgotten the bonding, that the families of patients who trust their physicians, carry in their heart for their health and care.

Soup - time

The gap between lunch and dinner , is a large spaced one.

For those who are not used to taking those oiled fried bajjis and bondas,it could be a difficult time for the women of the home to satisfy these health conscious folks.

One menu for those 5 'o clock ones is the vegetable soup.

Last evening we had carrot soup, normally we have it along with beans, but the beans were not to the satisfaction of my lady , so out they went.

The carrots were washed and cut into thin small pieces,this time a special greens meant for the next days lunch, went with the carrots , they were boiled well with the spices on the kitchen slab,seeragam, (cumin seeds)and salt and chilli powder to taste.

The vegetables could be a waste if the elders in the home would not eat it, and so a blender is used to mash the vegetables and boil again for some time

and the end result is what u see, and can smell if u close your eyes.

This could be an appetiser for an early dinner of chappatis.

Literal sense!

I am a very straightforward person.
Maybe the world is round for a reason, but I am not one of the world.

My elders instructed me, never sleep with a boy. I wondered, what is the harm in sleeping?
I can sleep wherever I want, when I want, with whom I want!!
After all if I happen to be travelling, I have to sleep with so many boys/men!!
Big deal!
So no one tried to explain to me what sleep really meant and I found out much later that it was something else!

Similar thing happened sometime ago, where a friend said he found his wife with another couple in a room.
Naturally he kept saying and I kept wondering, why was he upset?
This time of course, I got it cleared sooner!

Same for drinking, I thought why not drink? God! everybody drinks! Who on earth doesn't drink?
Water for example could only be drunk! So yes, I do drink!

Grrr Why can't people talk to the point instead of going round and round and having multiple meanings for a simple basic word!!

A squeeze on lime

I remember there was a famous restaurant in one of the small lanes in Parry s corner in one time Madras, Hamadias.

It was a small eating joint catering to the a variety of customers from rickshaw pullers to big timers, and even Stanley doctors who would one day become surgical registrars of United Kingdom.

The first thing that was served for special customers in their air con restaurant was lime,onions and their speciality pickles, appetisers and mood creators.

It is a curse these days to see lime being crushed under tyres or cut and thrown across the streets.

How it would be if one could offer a lemonade to the ones who are going to travel , to have a good enjoyable journey and a safe return home, with the same lime, than see it crushed and wasted.

The lime is said to have so many good elements with it, that it could save one of the many ailments that one gets these days with junk foods.

We must remember it was this that saved the limeys, on the deck of the sea sick sailors suffering from scurvy.

The acidic lime turns to a different nature once inside the body, that it keeps the pH of the blood stable and soothes the body of its heat and acidic qualities.

It goes great with sea salt , a squeeze of its juice with sprouts can be a great treat, with salads of carrots, tomatoes, and onions it can turn the readers salivate.

Ours is a spiritual country, and any ritual has many offerings of lime, to be used and relished later, and not to be kept and discarded .

Have a lemonade, and enjoy your work.

Soya - the meat of the month

In this region,this particular month( puratasi) is considered a time for keeping away from meat, those who are regular eaters find this month a dull drab time for food, a forced abstinence and dreams filled with meats and aromatic dishes of that kind.

Soya meal maker has been introduced, and its chunky meat like consistency has been accepted, and one can find it in the pulav s and biriyani look alike dishes.

soya is not part of our culture, the far eastern folks ferment it , which produces substances that counter balance the bad things in soya.

http://responsibletechnology.org/article-gmo-soy-linked-to-sterility

Soya is grown in many parts of India, not for staple food , but for its oil and other benefits, and exports.

The Gmo soya , is beyond question a danger to the future generations to come, with research being done and stopped.

In other countries i have heard , soya is being used as a supplement for meat, vegetarian chicken, crabs and shrimp, look alike with pincers too.

Phytoestrogens, phytates and so many others are present in them , that i got scared and told the hotel where we dine, to stop soya or all the men who eat in the hotel will soon loose their moustache.

Women add it to the rice dough, it is used as a softening agent.

It is time we say no to Soya.

Crooked Streets to Crooked Minds

The availability of the Google Maps has provided us an insight into the world of maps with clarity and vision beyond just lines and grid numbers.

It has also shown us, how well the towns and cities of the business world are well laid , with straight and well planned roads and houses built to a scale of correctness, to match an engineers rulerof perfection.

Could this be one reason for the well maintained cleanliness and neatness of the place, and goodwill between the neighbors?

If i had to take a picture of my village from the top, it would be all criss - crosses, and a rare road of straightness.

Straight roads have clear minded one and criss - crossed roads harbour crooked minds .

Encroachments need to be dealt with strictness for the prosperity of all in the street, and safety of the drivers.

Peaceful Peace day

Do u hear the gong from the united nations? it is the peace bell.

21st' Sept' is the international peace day,its ringing is heard and its effect not noticed.

If even the international peace day cannot be peaceful, how will we be able to be peaceful on other days?

It is a sound to remind us, to be peaceful, but what we hear is booms and screams.

With such a large gathering and most of the nations of the world in it, how could there still be fighting? it only shows rules are being broken, laws are being by - passed and the warring factions are not being punished with sanctions.

May things change for the rights of the underprivileged so that war can be averted, and the powerful can be cautioned with their authority.

May the UN bring peace to the nations, so that a celerbation of peace day becomes meaningful.

A shift from one grass to another

We, in south India, belong to a region and culture which has Rice as a staple food.

With the rise in diabetes in the modern world,with new medicines and changes in life style, i wanted to make a point in a shift from rice to wheat.

Both the cereals are a variety of grass, and hence the title.

The dishes we have with wheat, needs us to chew our food well, a munch and munch, till it gets well mixed with saliva before being swallowed,

With the rice dishes, our chewing is less and the food is quickly gulped.

The rice that comes to the market is bright and white, and hence less nutritious with the loss in polishing.

The wheat is ruddy and muddy and hence more nutritious.

The rice , goes great with pulse powders,( podi) sambar, rasam , curd separately and alone or one after the other, making the lunch a feast.

With the wheat preparations, like chapattis,they go great with dal or vegetables,and equally feasty.

The calorie is more with rice and more of starch , which all the more makes us want to make a move north on the path of wheat.

Do u join me?

Rolling the Cameras-master pieces to museum pieces

The clicking game started with a friend's camera, yashika electro 35, he has been kind enough to let me learn, making comments and offering ideas, " hold your breath" and getting the pictures , with no masks and on matt paper, for the best feel of the picture with the clarity of vision.

Another friend offered his Minolta for the class trip to Srinagar, until i got my Yashika fx7 with help from a cousin through the Burma bazaar.

Now the roll films have practically gone into oblivion, making me seek another camera, all the while using the web camera for on the table pictures, until a friend of the street offered, to search on the web for a suitable camera.

Thanks to his help i got a Sony from a centre at Salem, now i can share my words with pictures.

The proofs are just a click away.

Hot Dogs and Cold Men

Our village is not under the dog catchers net yet, so we can see the dogs running around during the season of their heat, some amongst us have learnt to accept their mating, and others show their mind by throwing stones at them.

These dogs are warm. We men are cold.

The happenings across the world, in matters of democracy, and killings in the name of security, freedom and liberty expose the coldness of us humans in regard to fellow men.

I was thinking if men took more to natural tendencies of living, sharing, appreciating nature, warmth and love, our cultivated cunningness will go, and we can discard all these ammunition of war, and our cruelness to fellow human beings will shift to trust,friendship, exchange of trade, and rise in consciousness.

We seem to lack love and affection, or are we shy to express it, and that suppression leads on to aggressive ,explosive nature, and with it the sadistic wild games of pillage, in the name of humanitarian aid.

United Nations, unites nations

The acceptance of a Nation called Israel in 1949,and the refusal of a state called Palestine till now only shows that Palestinians do not have a large majority support for its Nation to get into United Nations.

"The sons of Adam are limbs of each other, Having been created of one essence.

When the calamity of time affects one limb The other limbs cannot remain at rest.

If thou hast no sympathy for the troubles of others

Thou art unworthy to be called by the name of a human."

This is written on the entrance of Hall of Nations in UN building, New york,and it is the same poem Mr President Obama reminded the Iranians in a video speech to them .

We shall see how the member states are either willing or will reject Palestine as a state worthy of a membership, which would grant them sovereignty, worthy of respect and life, which they do not have now.

A kick away from kickbacks

Let me share some of my village ways
for a doctor.

In the days I started, my practice, I wrote my prescriptions on my
letter head, only to get requests from medical shops, how I would like
my prescription pads, how kind I thought of them , later the color
shades, out they came with my address and clinic timings.

Later came the requests of doc, how about filing up more
prescriptions for these left over medicines, or ideas of this is
better than your best.

Now my thoughts were, "how demanding they are".

Next came on the investigating teams,labs, " we have all these
facilities , and all these results for u in a day, or hours", request
pads with all the investigations titled, and we only have to tick.

How sweet .

Many a patient found multi- tests done more than the requested ones.
How scientific and far searching! out went the request slips to the
dust bin, for the benefit of my handwriting.

For my quietness and selecting their labs,they would offer a slash of
theinvestigations money collected , not fair i refused.

Ohhhh the cartons and cartons of sample drugs and what would we do, i
used to run free camps to get to keep my place spacious, until i found
the ones who came along for the camps to make it a gala charity show
with, this many camps and sort of a spiritual show, me and my wife
only had it as a sort of a picnic and fun loving for our professional
help.

Then there was that out door vacation arranged by a multi- national
company, little did I realize I was taken up for a ride to see a hill
station and spend time on their money , and later feel guilty that I
should do some thing to sell their products, good lord.

It was at that time, I began to realize that I was being used, to
exploit who ever I could,
So the prescription pads were refused , and made to order to my taste
with my money.
next the samples were not accepted and more questions were asked and
the medical representatives were asked to convince me with pharma
kinetics, pharmaco dynamics and do their homework.
No more free camps and no spiritual ego kicks.

Thank god no more vacations on company piggy back.

Now no more carrying company logos ,and advertisements.

This is when, the generally yelling public who had said doctors are
BUSINESS administrators with a medical degree,, switch, and say ,
pulaika theriya allu pa.( one who does not know how to survive)

It can be difficult to manage a practice with out these normally
acceptable trends.

Well things carry on, and am moving, safetly away to alternative
medicines with no clutches to these necessary practices.

Standing place to parking space

In our culture, there is a saying, that if u offer a person, some place to stand, he would request to sit and then stretch and then eventually kick u out .

It all stands true, now with the happenings in the middle east,with Palestine, they offered a place, and now they are being rejected a place in the united nations by the very ones they shared their land.

Why should they be rejected? if they are allowed then war crimes would be sought and the continuous humiliations against them would have to be stopped, or questioned.

In this we would know who are on whose side, and why.

We sure do not live in a just world.

Eyeing my plate of eats

My plate for the dinner that evening was a feast for the eyes of all, and a taste for my palate.

It was not a planned arrangement,but it just happened that the herbal soup was taken first and I found it to be difficult to handle with a small saucer, so a large plate was taken, and then came on the sprouts and salads, and they happened to go around the soup bowl and the result is what u see.

A dinner of simple dishes for a pleasant evening, at a posh hotel.

Sea salt , seeks salvation at an hypertension meet

It was another of those rural clinical society meetings arranged at Cennys in Salem and the topic was" Hypertension and management".

I was asked to introduce a guest of the day a Deputy Director of Health services for the Salem district, following which the speaker of the evening ,DR Bakthavatchalam spoke a wonderful speech with slide show, on hypertension.

After the question and answers died down , I asked if i could share Nature's sea salt, in relation to hypertension.

I had taken the small vessel that u see in the picture and expressed the best of the salt , its hygroscopic nature of attracting water, its trace elements, and potassium content, its value in the culture and many more points.

On the other side, I shared the contents of the iodised industrial salt, and requested the audience to think and show concern for the revival of the sea salt for its qualities, and its organic nature for our benefit.

A few asked questions on the salt, and if it could be available and hygienic in quality,but none questioned on the benefits in regard to hypertension , even though i stressed its value, with slides of gunny sack, and our kitchen.

May be i need to seek and search the way to the intelligence of the audience with light, experience, words and actions.

Prince Compliments Complementary medicine

The middle aged handsome Prince had always been one who had a heart for alternative medicines.

He has recently advocated Gerson Therapy for cancer patients, and i am sure He would welcome NHS funding for alternative therapies if allowed .

May that day come soon for the needy ones who are written off in our system of Allopathy.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2004/jun/27/themonarchy.medicineandhealth

Hope U Change

The last American Presidential election was decided on two words, Hope and Change.

Many a citizen in the middle east, would have a thought in his mind, "I just hope the Americans don't have a sight of our land, and get to know our resources."

For the next word would quickly be " change".

Asking for a change in the regime, is the easiest way for the game of war to begin.The Americans have decided that a government in Syria needs to be changed,"as the rulers are brutal to unarmed citizens" how sympathetic of them to feel the hearts of the Syrians.

The sanctions have already been made, cutting the imports and doing business with the Syrians., freezing all Syrian properties,EU and its 27 countries are united in this,now we can prophesy what is going to happen.

Gaze into the crystal ball ,and one would see the things that are happening elsewhere.One does not need to be a historian to notice the steps to the next massacre.

Unless u ( us) change, there is no hope.

A rare ailment - school sickness

I was aware of this sickness which came on during my long winter vacation of 3 months, during my school days.

The vacation started around mid november and went on till mid february.

My mother cared for me well, and pampered me, and utterly spoilt me with food, and affection, how lucky i was.

I missed the neat ness of the dormitory, the silent walk to the school assembly, the chanting of the school song.

The sound of the spoon and fork on the china dishes at the refectory,the Wednesday movies , which were selected to the highest of values, the titles of which i still remember from " machanas gold ,to the good, bad and the ugly."

I missed the smell of the freshly laundered clothes, neatly laid on the bed, and the warm feeling of getting into the bed of the changed linen on Thursdays.

The Sunday walks down aeroplane stream and other favourite haunts were missed.

How could one who was sick with such a syndrome, get well!

Back to school was the only remedy.

A pith that dissolves -stones, and melts a heart

Many would think that getting the vegetables home, and our work is over, certainly not for those who have the time and the interest in them being well done, or least in the capacity of a taster, or a relisher of the dish - some like VijayaGopal, play a part in all the roles, credits.

My preference for the banana pith has been mainly due to the renal colic i once had a few years back, i have heard they play a role in dissolving them.

My lady has been kind to make the dish inviting and palatable.

There is a knack of removing that extra fibre that nature never intended for us to take, when that is done i guess the remaining part is cooking with grace, and the ingredients can be made out in the picture.

Take a quick look, the dish goes great alone or with rice, best with chappathis.

Shaking Hands and Sharing Hearts to relive Montfort

I am Yerikadu, one of the daughters of mother nature, and i have played host to many a get-together of clubs, kinds and folks of other lands, but this group is some thing special, they belong to Yercaud and are back at Yercaud.

They are the montfortians of 76' organised by Richie and chew.

I gave them a warm chill welcome with fog and mist when they were on the climb up, i had prepared them for a cascade of water falls on the way with rains a few days earlier.

I could hear a few like PR whisper " I have never been in such mist and fog up here".

I did not keep them indoor with poor horrid rains, nor spoil their next day at school for the assembly, I could literally feel myself walk in tune along with them, with the Montfort band to the assembly.

I felt warm to the hospitality of the school with its principal and staff and students play music, enact skits and sing along, felicitating the old boys with a bouquet and letting them share their hearts, and sing along the school song with them.

I was walking along with them when they were being shown the campus, and how they missed the olden days and their natural surroundings.

I am in many an estate, many treat me with respect, but there is one who treats me more than a daughter, the one at CAUVERY PEAK, Vijayan, his family care for the foliage and the grandeur of what i am .

I saw them share me with the chattering walk , and the care they offer to the animals and the shrubs.

I was along sitting at the lawn listening to the brothers talk of them as children, good family , strong bondage, i decided to keep the estate safe and give it more bounty and good crop for the Vijayans.

The group dispersed, I remembered the words spoken during the meet, "Long live Montfort and its Spirit", I think it should be so too.

Yeri kadu.

Custard Apples - another temptation from mother nature

What a reminder these fruits must have been to get the Englishman to think of his land.

It just seems some time and the season of custard apples is there again.

My grand ma used to get them in baskets to woo the kids to her side, and share the booty,all of them have grand kids of their own and remember those times with respect for her.

Arranged in a cluster on a carpet, the market folks sell them with care, lest the fruits get hurt, and crushed.

I was very scared to try them again this season, as i had memories of catching a difficult cough, after i had treated myself to these fruits last time.

As far as i know, no one seems to make a business of planting these, they are only from the wild,hence no pesticides and fertilisers, or have they also been targeted?

These are fruits which u cannot have more than a few,and get spoilt soon, it is natures way of keeping u from getting greedy.

They clean up the insides and expel the garbage, with a cold i was told.