Be Health, Go Happy & Try Natural

Too hot this season, isn't it?

Damn this global warming, Damn these politicians! And Damn US! ( It is us-we and not U.S) 

Yes Us,but why? Who elects the politicians? We. Who creates pollution and trash? We. 

So what is the solution? While owning to our habits, we can't go completely natural or healthy or organic, we can at least try at 35%?

How?

Using less plastic. Plastic takes millions of years to disintegrate in earth. And we keep making it. We can order drinks without straws, how about that?

Using LED Bulbs and lights

Shop and eat organic foods. Atleast they are healthy and naturally tasty.

Use cloth bag for shopping.

Shop more often at your local stores instead of supermarkets. They anyway have lots of money.

Use non toxic body products for a change

Conserve water. There are lots of ways to do that. Google it. 

Plant 2 trees on your birthdays and anniversaries. And maintain them till they can maintain on their own.

Turn off your Wi-fi at night when you go off to sleep. Anyway you are not using it while sleeping and the rays affect your health while you sleep. Heard of Arthritis, Depression, Headache, Memory Loss, Eye issues? 

When its raining, smell that wonderful aroma from the earth.

Walk more often.

Play with a small child

I have been trying to do these things, and it has made me satisfied and happy and more healthy.

Eco-Sensitive Anyone?

Come summer and advertisements will begin in the TV. about Maaza and the need of saving trees and planting them. Facebook will also not be spared either. People will become conscious and aware of the need to plant and save trees for the season and then... Boom! They will shift to other 'issues' once the season is over.

But some people are taking this concept seriously.

Take the example of one retired gentleman in my city, whose passion is to plant trees on any barren land, whether it is a newly constructed staff quarters of a hospital or a municipal owned land or a party plot. Everyday, he and his volunteer team go to a selected destination... plant saplings and protect them everyday until they are strong enough to grow on their own. 

Another example is in Telangana's Khaman District. This gentleman known as Daripalli Ramaiah or Chettu Ramaiah is a 70 year young, who has recently been awarded the prestigious Padma Shri Award by the Indian Government. 

His work: He has planted at least 10 million saplings or trees in Telangana. All these with just his passion and his bicycle.

Mr Ramaiah has even made it a point to gift saplings on occasions such as birthdays or marriage or someone's anniversary. It is certainly refreshing and an inspiration to know about him.

Then there is another gentleman in Hyderabad ' Ramachandra Appari', who may not plant trees, but sure knows how to save them or relocate them. Till date he has relocated 5,000 trees which would have fell down in the name of development, home building, road making, etc. with scientific techniques in coordination with the local authorities. 

What have I done in this regard? Well, I may not devote as much time as them, but I make it a point to plant 2 saplings or trees on my birthday and nurture them.

A Century of age and Bye Bye

Uttrayan!

Gujarati's need no welcome sign from anyone when it comes to the festival of Uttrayan! Their terraces literally becomes a war zone during the 2 days of January. 

Enough has been said about this festival, so I will not delve into it again. However today's uttrayan was different for me somewhat.

I had heard that a young granny of 100 years was going to celebrate her birthday differently. It is not every day that you meet people who have crossed 100 years. I had almost forgotten this event but remembered it at the last moment and here I was seeing the young granny celebrate her big day by planting some trees. 

Yes, trees! Even if she is no more tomorrow or the next year, the trees planted by her will stand testimony to the fact that here was someone who cared for the future generation's health and did something for them.

And she was all smiles  when she planted a tree. she was almost 30 years when India got her independence. 

Another good incident of the day happened when me and my mother went to give out some old clothes to street dwellers in the morning. The little urchins who we know are uneducated lined up around us and their face lightened up as we gave them their 'new' clothes. 

As we started to go back, one of the street urchins, hardly about 8 years and without any education or so shouted back to us happily. 'Bye, Bye' in English.  I was shell shocked and pleasantly happy. He might have picked up this line from someone passing by but such a surprise. India sure is progressing.

Kuldip

United in Marriage, United in Water

Couple of months ago, I had went to Nareshwar, the place known for Saint Rang Avadhoot near the banks of River Narmada.

All people go, nothing extraordinary!

Before going to the ashram, we thought to have a good look at the river. Just about time as we reached the river, the boatman was getting ready to leave with the tourists to the other side of the riverbank. My parents immediately jumped on the boat to my surprise and called me in. 

Nothing unusual!

As we went to the other side and waited for more passengers to come back to our shore again, I noticed a picture of a newly wedded couple floating in the river. I thought it was funny that people even resorted to flinging their picture with their spouse like this. Maybe a marriage that ended in divorce or an extra picture that came out of a bag unnoticed. I showed it to my mother. She immediately asked me to pray for them.

As I got the wind of the situation, I kept quiet! Later on the way, she told me that most probably, it was a picture of a couple who had died together suddenly after marriage due to some reason and it was a custom for their family to bid them goodbye like this.

This was unusual for me!

How Karma brings people together all of a sudden and then let them go in one instant. 

Contemplating...

Life in 2030

What will our life look like in the year 2030?

Though it seems, going by our standards of living and our negligence and utter ignorance of environment, I don't think that we will be able to last until that time. But nevertheless by some miracle, if we last and technology takes the lead, how will be our life?

How about your WiFi controlling every electronic item in the house?

How about your furniture shifting its shape according to your needs and desires?

How about drones delivering you food? Oh wait! that's already happening now.

How about using recycled water? I mean your waste goes for recycling and comes back to you for washing and drinking. Yuck! Wouldn't need that facility!

These guys have thought and pictured some really cool visualizations about how life will be in the year 2030. Check it out.

Kuldip

No Choice Left

The last week has seen a lot of action in the country. Nobody expected the Indian P.M to suddenly throw a big surprise and a shock on the national T.V that Rs. 500 and 1,000 notes will not be in power anymore and new notes will come in existence.

The common man who does not understand the nitty grittys of the economy was more concerned about getting the possible required liquidity for their home expenses. Most of them accepted the fact that there must be something better in doing this. Of course people were/are little disturbed standing in long lines. 

In spite of the P.M's assurance that petrol pumps and hospitals would cooperate with the banned notes, some of them are not doing the same, specially the hospitals. How Inhuman! At the same time, there are examples of hospitals giving the treatment for free to people who do not have the required cash. 

All these to stop the black money in the market. The same black money that is used by money hoarders to satisfy their selfish ends without caring for the common people, the same money that is used by some political parties to win elections by dubious means, the same black money that is used by some people from across the border to fund the terrorists and lot more.

The hoarders immediately started throwing the money in fear of the raid. Crores thrown in the river Ganga, bags and bags of currency money thrown in the garbage dumps, and more!

Media immediately started doing its job. Projecting the news as it is and creating news as they thought. ( A newspaper reported that an elderly man passed away standing long hours in the line on the front pages, but later withdrew the statement and apologized with a small note in one of their interior pages that one can hardly catch a glance on.) 

And politicians? We all know what happened. Some U.P bigwig ministers immediately opposed the move. The famous muffler C.M as always put the blame on the P.M. I wonder if he even eats without remembering the P.M. The Congress Prince thought he could mingle with the public by standing in the line and withdrawing Rs.4000. Really! He has the need to withdraw this small amount of money? Not to mention that it was reported he didn't even knew how to use the ATM and had to ask the security guard to guide him! The guard even knows his Pin Number now!

Let's see how the effect goes in the coming time period. for now, the common man supports the P.M.

Have you ever...?

We all go to a nice place for a retreat or chill out, probably near a beach or a small forest nearby sometimes in our life. 

We all think of having a perfect holiday.. like, getting up late.. watching TV until mid morning... then going out for a breakfast and then on shopping and then the other activities... ending up at a disco or dinner or a movie... 

But how many of us prefer to visit a beach or the jungle early in the morning to see nature at its best? Very few.

I had the rare opportunity to be at a beach one morning in Goa before the sun rose. What did I sese? Nothing spectacular except that I could hear the pure silence at the beach, the water making a splashing sound that I could hear clearly unlike the previous day when the beach was busy with people and activities. 

                                                         This pic is not mine... 

The splashing sound of the water early in the morning is worth to hear. Silent, fun, contemplative... That sound is the purest from the regular 'sounds' that we hear in our lives. The bird world had also not awaken so you can imagine. The bonus? The sun arising slowly.

Worth a try sometimes. 

Great Initiative by the UP Government

We have always associated the state of Uttar Pradesh to be that one of riots, goons and a political ground for aspiring politicians and have formed a conclusion that nothing good can happen there.

Well, from some months now, the situation is slowly changing.

The Better India forum that displays positive aspects of the nation recently pointed out that the U.P Government has come out with a great initiative against a social evil. The Child Marriage! And, also atrocities against women.

This new program 'Power Angels' has aimed to to rope in young girls to check crimes against women. And, they have already succeeded in preventing 1100+ child marriages in the state. More than 80,000 young girls have joined this program in just 6 months.

Read more about it in detail here. 

Kuldip

Purchasing a Laptop? Follow these Logics

I recently came upon an article on what to look out for when you are about to purchase a laptop.

Just 4 months back, I purchased a laptop and by the grace of god, it is running wonderful. However, there are many people who I think will benefit from this article, I am sharing.


"Buying a laptop is trickier in today's market than it should be. Reason? There are hundreds of laptops in the market. And there are tens of issues that make it all very confusing for readers. The worst offenders in this whole saga are the laptop makers, who use jargons and confusing language to describe their products. At the same time, they hide the information that is crucial -- such as the screen panel or the actual capacity of battery.

This makes it difficult for consumers to choose the right laptop. We have a laptop buying guide ready for you today, but here we want to highlight some of the jargons, the nonsense that laptop makers say while talking about their products, and why you should ignore it.

Ignore features like True Color, HD display, HD BrightView

These are the terms that laptop makers use to describe the screen in their machines. But they mean nothing. You should always remember that old saying about a duck while buying a laptop. So "if it looks like a duck, swims like a duck, and quacks like a duck, it is a duck" even though laptop makers may like to call it an eagle.

Instead, you should focus on the quality of a laptop screen and that is not determined by tags like BrightView attached to them. It is determined by the resolution and quality of panel. Always remember that a laptop with an IPS panel screen is always going to be better than the TN panel screens.

Ignore terms like Dolby Advanced Audio, DTS Studio Sound, Waves MaxxAudi

All mainstream laptops, more or less sound same, nowadays  because they all use the same $1 or $2 speakers bought from China.

Instead, ask the laptop seller for actual specifications of the speaker (output) and seek details of the sound card or sound chip in the computer. Better still, plug in a pen drive with your music in it and play your favourite songs. Then decide.

Read the rest of the article here.

Giving Back to the Nature

Nature has time an again warned us by its subtle means about how we humans are bent on destroying it for our selfish means. Of course, not all humans share the this thought process...

In the last 5 years, monsoon has been irregular and uneven in almost all the parts of the world. India has suffered greatly to this regards and rightly so. The newly founded love for industrialization has resulted in cutting off trees and creating pollution. Delhi is amongst the most polluted cities in the world after China. Imagine how much we are striving to make our own home unlivable.

However there is a silver lining in the dark cloud. People are gradually realizing about the need to protect, conserve and increase mother nature. They plant trees. Some people have even dedicated their entire lives in planting trees for the benefit of the people and have died in the process. People like me do this occasionally on birthdays and other events.

Some days back, I had an urge of planting seeds or plants on the occasion of my birthday. I could not arrange for the plants till the last minute. But as is the norm, we have a superwoman in every household known as Mother. She arranged for 3 plants in the last minute and my plan came to fruition. 

I along with my parents had the opportunity to give something back to nature. I planted 3 plants on my birthday before going to office. I understand that planting trees is alone not sufficient as one has to nurture them like kids. That will also come to fruition as the days pass. Additionally, mother nature smiled on me as rainfall has been happening since that day. A proof that she approved of my small contribution. 

I request whomsoever is reading this post of mine to do likewise and plant atleast 1 tree on their birthdays, anniversaries and similar occasions.

A small proof:

Regards

Kuldip