Health – Page 65 – Take off with Natarajan

14 Signs You’re not Drinking Enough Water…

September 27, 2015Natarajan1 Comment

There’s not much in this world more refreshing than a tall, ice-cold glass of water. I don’t think there’s anyone alive that can deny that sometimes, a simple glass of water can be more satisfying than a cup of coffee or a can of soda. Despite this, too many of us don’t drink enough water on a daily basis. By depriving ourselves of the world’s most natural resource, we are continuously damaging our bodies. If you experience any of the following, you can improve your situation by starting with a glass of H2O.

1. Your Mouth is Dry

This seems pretty obvious, but the ramifications might not be so. Of course, any time you feel that sticky, nasty feeling in your mouth, you’d obviously reach for some sort of liquid. But sugary drinks are only a temporary solution to a larger problem. Drinking water lubricates the mucus membranes in your mouth and throat, which will continue to keep your mouth moist with saliva long after that first sip.

2. Your Skin is Dry

Your skin is your body’s largest organ, so of course it needs to stay hydrated. In fact, dry skin is one of the earliest signs of full-on dehydration, which can lead to much larger problems. A lack of water means a lack of sweat, which leads to a body’s inability to wash away excess dirt and oil accumulated throughout the day. If you want to stave off breakouts, your first recourse should be to drink more water.

3. You’re Overly Thirsty

We went over dry mouth already, but thirst goes beyond a desert-like tongue. Anyone who’s ever had a hangover can tell you that, upon waking up, your body just can’t get enough water. Alcohol dehydrates the entire body, and drinking water sends “YES PLEASE!” signals to the brain until your fluid levels get back to baseline. Listen to what your body is telling you; it knows what it’s talking about!

4. Your Eyes Are Dry

By now it should be clear that drinking water affects more than just your mouth and throat. A lack of water intake leads to dry, bloodshot eyes (again, think of that last pounding hangover). Without water in the body,your tear ducts dry up. If you’re thinking “So what if I can’t cry?”, realize that this could cause much more harm to your eyes, especially if you wear contacts on a daily basis.

5. You Experience Joint Pain

Our cartilage and spinal discs are made up of about 80% water. This is an absolute necessity to keep our bones from grinding against each other with every step we take. By keeping your body hydrated, you ensure that your joints can absorb the shock of sudden movements, such as running, jumping, or falling awkwardly.

6. Your Muscle Mass Decreases

Your muscles, also, are comprised mostly of water. Obviously, less water in the body means less muscle mass. Drinking water before, during, and after a workout not only keeps you hydrated and comfortable, it also brings water to the right places in your body, and decreases the chance of developing inflammation and soreness related to exercise and weightlifting.

7. You Stay Sick Longer

Drinking water allows your body to continuously flush out toxins. Your organs work to filter our certain waste products like a machine, but if you don’t fuel the machine with water, it cannot work properly. What ends up happening in a dehydrated body is organs start to pull water from stored areas like your blood, which leads to a whole new set of problems.

8. You Feel Fatigued and Lethargic

As we just mentioned, when a body is dehydrated it “borrows” water from your blood. A lack of properly hydrated blood leads to a lack of oxygen being brought throughout the body. Of course, a lack of oxygen leads tosleepiness and outright fatigue. A lack of stamina means you”ll start to experience that 2PM crash earlier and earlier in your day (and remember, coffee won’t help in the long run).

9. You Experience Hunger Pangs

When you’re dehydrated, your body might start to think it needs some food. This happens throughout the day, and overnight when you wake up craving that midnight snack. However, eating food creates more work for your body, whereas drinking water purifies and your organs and supplies it with the fuel it needs to go through the other processes a body goes through.

10. You Experience Digestive Problems

We spoke before about the mucus in our mouth and throat, and how keeping hydrated allows the membrane to function correctly. This also applies to the entire digestive system. Without proper hydration, the amount and strength of mucus in the stomach lessens, allowing stomach acid to do some major damage to your insides. This leads to what we commonly refer to as heartburn and indigestion.

11. You Experience Constipation

Like we said, staying hydrated helps lubricate the digestive system. During the process of dehydration, the colon uses up the water that would have been used by the intestines in the next step of the digestive process. Without going into too much detail, I’ll let you figure out what a lack of lubricant in the intestines leads to.

12. You Experience Reduced Urination

Believe it or not, if you’re not taking a trip to the restroom 4-7 times a day, you’re probably not drinking enough water. And when you do go #1, it should be a light yellow or clear color. If it’s a darker yellow, your body is telling you it’s lacking proper hydration. In extreme cases, dehydration can lead to urinary tract infections, in which case you should consult a doctor right away.

13. You Experience Premature Aging

The amount of water our bodies retain naturally decreases as we age. Obviously, what this means is that, as we get older, we should consciously increase our water intake. While premature aging is more evident on the outside, the damage it does to our insides will ultimately be felt over time. To decrease the risk of running your body raw, it’s important to continue to drink water throughout your lifetime.

14. You’re Reading This And Have Gotten This Far

I drink water all the time. I almost always have a glass or bottle of water next to me, whether I’m working, working out, or vegging out in front of the TV. If you clicked on this article, chances are you thought to yourself “Hm, I don’t think I drink enough water.” So if you don’t think you do, pour a glass right now! Don’t overdo it, of course, but if you’re not getting the recommended amount (which is higher than you’d think), there’s no harm in drinking more. Now if you’ll excuse me, all this typing has made me thirsty.

Featured photo credit: Pixabay via pixabay.com

Source….www.stumbleupon.com

Natarajan

Banana Peels ….Not only edible but also Nutricious….

September 27, 2015Natarajan1 Comment

That’s right, you can eat banana peels. And not only are they edible, they’re also good for you.

If you live in the US, you’re probably used to tossing banana peels in the trash. But people in other countries, including India, have been taking advantage of their nutritional benefits for decades.

While a banana’s flesh is soft and sweet, the skin is thick, fibrous, and slightly bitter. To eat the peel, you can either blend it into smoothies or fry, bake, or boil them for at least 10 minutes. Heat breaks down the skin’s fibre and loosens up that tough texture, making the peel easier to chew and digest.

Also, the riper you allow the banana to get, the thinner and sweeter the peel becomes. That’s because of a natural plant hormone called ethylene that fruits release as they ripen.

Ethylene interacts with the sugars and fibre in the banana skin, changing complex sugars into simple sugars and breaking down pectin, a form of fibre in bananas that keeps them stiff. That’s why the older your banana is, the flimsier it feels. At the same time, other hormones break down the green pigments in the peel, turning them yellow and eventually brown.

Nutritional benefits

The sweet flesh of a medium-sized banana contains significant percentages of your daily recommended intake of various nutrients, such as:

12% of your daily fibre, which helps with digestion and may help lower your risk of diabetes
17% of your vitamin C, which is important for your immune system as well as growth and development
20% of your vitamin B-6, which aids the body’s ability to convert food into energy
12% of your potassium, which helps in development of cells, tissues, and organs throughout the body
8% of your magnesium, which is important for the body’s energy productions and regulating glucose and blood pressure levels

If you then eat the skin along with the flesh you get an even bigger boost in these same nutrients:

“[The skin] contains high amounts of vitamin B6 and B12, as well as magnesium and potassium. It also contains some fibre and protein,” San Diego-based nutritionist Laura Flores toldLiveScience.

Eating the peel is not only good for your body but also better for the environment.

In 2013, bananas were America’s most-popular fresh fruit. The average American ate 11.4 pounds of bananas over the course of that year.

Since a medium-sized banana weighs about 0.3 pounds, that equates to about 38 bananas per person, or roughly 12 billion for the whole US. And since most of us toss the peel, that also means a lot of organic waste. Most of this waste goes to landfills, but some of it is used asfertiliser, in water purification, and in composting.

Other uses for the incredible banana peel

If you can’t stomach the thought of eating a banana peel, then consider some of the many other ways you can re-use this valuable product of nature. Here are a few of the 16 ways that health and wellness website Natural Living Ideas suggests:

Add a few slices of banana peel to a bucket of water and let the mixture sit for a couple of days. Use this to water your planets. The added nutrients from the banana will keep your plants growing strong.
You can make banana vinegar from the peels that can then be added to salads and vegetables. See the recipe instructions here.
Place your meat atop a ripe banana peel in your roasting pan to keep the meat moist and tender as it cooks.

Whether you’re gnawing on a raw peel or using it in your cooking, always make sure to wash it thoroughly.

Source…JESSICA ORWIG …….www.businessinsider.com.au

natarajan

Are you Nomophobic ?….

September 27, 2015Natarajan1 Comment

Nomophobia — the fear of being out of mobile phone contact — is on the rise.

Sapna K, a 19-year-old history student, would log onto social networking sites from her smartphone in between classes.

Slowly, her need to check her phone turned into a craving.

Did someone comment on her Facebook post?

Did she miss out on a WhatsApp message?

Why hadn’t her phone buzzed in the past hour or so?

She would sleep with the phone under her pillow and check her messages in the middle of the night.

Her obsessive attachment to the phone began to interfere with her daily chores and mental peace.

“One day she left her phone at a friend’s party.

She felt anxious the entire time that she reached home and insisted that her father immediately walk back to the friend’s house to pick it up,” says Manoj Kumar Sharma, additional professor (department of clinical psychology) at Bengaluru’s NIMHANS.

He is, at the moment, taking care of at least 60 cases in which the patient is suffering from anxiety related to losing the mobile phone.

What is nomophobia?

This rising obsessive attachment with the phone and the resulting anxiety has prompted medical practitioners to finally christen this behaviour.

It’s called nomophobia.

Although it is not yet listed in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, it finds a mention in the appendix for further research.

Listed or not, medical practitioners maintain that nomophobia is very much a reality – one that is growing to gargantuan proportions.

“Nomophobia literally means ‘no mobile’ phobia; that is the fear of being out of mobile phone contact,” mentions a study conducted by the department of community medicine at Indore’s MGM College.

This survey studied mobile phone dependence among medical students under 25 years of age.

It observed that when the respondent was in an area of no network or had run out of balance or battery, he or she tended to feel anxious and this adversely affected the concentration levels.

“I have seen nomophobia affect children as young as 11 years old right up to adults in the age group of 40 to 50,” says Sameer Malhotra, director (department of mental health and behavioural sciences), Max Healthcare.

He has seen a drastic rise in the numbers afflicted from mobile phone obsession in the past couple of years with numbers running into hundreds.

Such is this obsession that it can destroy marriages and create rifts in families.

Ramesh Vats, 32, and his wife, Urmila, had been married for three years and were parents to a toddler.

From the outside their lives seemed perfect. Yet, not a word was exchanged between them at home.

Ramesh would either be busy at work or would spend the entire night sending Whatsapp messages or checking social networking sites. It was taking a toll on the marriage.

“Finally, a member of the extended family intervened and got them to me. On further assessment, we found out that this discord was an indirect manifestation of his obsession with the phone,” says Delhi-based clinical psychologist Amitabh Saha.

Young children and teenagers are even more vulnerable to this affliction as they force their parents to buy expensive smartphones and tablets out of peer pressure.

Saha recalls the case of a couple of school children who would exchange notes at night on WhatsApp. Just before the exams, their parents banned the use of the mobile phone.

“As a result of this, none of them could concentrate on his studies and would be irritable and aggressive through the day,” he says.

Are you nomophobic?

Clinical psychologists have come up with a list of signs and symptoms that you need to watch out for:

Are you neglecting your priorities?

“If your phone is becoming enmeshed with your being in an intrusive way, you should immediately step back and assess your behaviour,” says Samir Parikh, director (mental health and behavioural sciences), Fortis Healthcare.

For instance, if you can’t concentrate on your chores just because you missed a call or because someone has not got in touch with you, then that should act as a wakeup call.

Are you missing out on sleep?

“People have a tendency to check their phones at odd hours, as a result of which their sleep pattern gets affected. They don’t even get six hours of sleep,” says Saha. This adversely affects their health and performance at work.

Are you constantly irritated and restless?

“Ask yourself if your restlessness is due to being away from your phone for brief periods. If it’s leading to distress and dysfunction then do something quickly about it,” says Malhotra.

Are you turning into a recluse?

“The phone becomes such a source of connectivity with the world that if it’s not there then a person suffers from loneliness and often depression.

The interpersonal interaction with peers goes down,” says Sharma.

Steps to follow

The patient is made to understand that he needs to control technology and not be controlled by it

Sleep patterns are assessed and a schedule is drawn up to correct it

Offline contact is promoted. Some like Sharma encourage Internet fasting, which involves being away from the phone for a couple of hours every day. The patient is then counseled on the distress quotient

The person suffering from nomophobia is encouraged to take up a physical sport or engage in a hobby. The idea is to convince him or her that life without a phone is possible.

The patient is advised to focus on the essential chores of the day. Stretching exercises are introduced to improve concentration. Anytime that you feel the urge to touch the phone, just stretch your hands and neck for five minutes

Most importantly, the patient must switch off their phone when not at work.

Seek the right kind of help

Once you have asked the right questions, it’s time to seek the right help.

It’s wise to visit practitioners who have had experience in dealing with anxiety resulting from the overuse of technology.

For instance, based on the feedback from focus group discussion, NIMHANS has started SHUT Clinic, or Service for Healthy Use of Technology.

Drawing faculty from departments of clinical psychology, psychiatry, psychiatric social work and epidemiology, the clinic aims at raising awareness about the excessive use of technology, training of counselors and developing timely intervention.

Prior experience will help clinical psychologists to ask the right kind of questions.

For instance, if a person has sought help for anxiety or depression, the psychologist will need to identify if use of mobile phone is one of the co-morbid factors leading up to this.

“Usually people don’t come to us directly for nomophobia. It’s up to us to figure out that it’s one of the many factors leading to this mental state and then treat accordingly,” says Saha.

Max Healthcare’s Malhotra (left) concurs: “We need to assess if there is an underlying medical condition such as obsessive compulsive disorder that is behind this overuse of the phone or a deranged lifestyle that is responsible. Then one can decide if there is need for correction or medical intervention,” he says.

Lead image used for representational purposes only. Image: Reuters

Avantika Bhuyan

Source:

& http://www.rediff.com

Natarajan

From Kolli Hills to Italy, two women win hearts with ‘Murukku’….

September 27, 2015September 27, 2015NatarajanLeave a comment

‘I had to stop going to school after 7th standard as my parents did not have enough money to even feed us’

‘I was just an uneducated and poor farmer till I joined the self-help group. Going to a foreign country to highlight our achievements was a dream come true’

‘My dream is to see all women like me who live in villages to come up in life and be independent’

Malliga and Jayalalitha talk to Shobha Warrier/Rediff.com about how millet farming changed their lives, their successful trip to Milan and how their ‘murukku’ was appreciated at Milan.

Image: Malliga Seerangan and Jayalalitha Easwaran in Chennai. Photograph: Ramesh Damodaran

The journey from a remote village in Kolli Hills in Namakkal district of Tamil Nadu to flashy Milan has been an unforgettable experience for Malliga Seerangan and Jayalalitha Easwaran.

Their background is similar – poverty, no education and cut off from development. But today the success story of the two women, 35-year-old Malliga Seerangan and 27-year-old Jayalalitha Easwaran, is an inspiring lesson in women empowerment.

These two women are part of a self-help group supported by by the MS Swaminathan Research Foundation, that promotes biodiversity through farming. They were in Milan to attend an event on ‘Agricultural biodiversity, value chains and women’s empowerment’ organised by Bio Diversity International, on September 17.

The event was organised to celebrate the women ‘who grow, harvest, process, cook, buy or sell a variety of food and agricultural products to sustain their families and contribute towards conservation of agricultural biodiversity’.

“Women and agricultural biodiversity are closely linked,” say the organisers. So both Malliga and Jayalalitha were the right people to represent what the event stood for; Agricultural biodiversity, value chains and women’s empowerment.

Image: Malliga (second from left) and Jayalalitha in Milan. Photograph, courtesy: MSSRF

It was their first trip abroad and accompanying them was Dr Oliver King of the MS Swaminathan Research Foundation. MSSRF is playing a key role in transforming the lives of many women by promoting different types of millet cultivation — little millet, Italian millet, finger millet, common millet, and Kodo millet under different agro-climatological and landscape conditions.

The organisation has helped them follow locally suited traditional agricultural practices like inter-cropping, multiple cropping, mixed cropping and crop rotation based on soil types and rainfall pattern focussing on the food and nutritional security of the people. For example, mixed cropping is practised to maintain the family’s food security.

The nutritious products made from millet are sold through Kolli Hills Agro Biodiversity Conservers Federation (KHABCoFED) in attractive packs as organic food in nearby cities. MSSRF follows the four ‘C’s: conservation, cultivation, consumption and commercialisation.

Image: Millet farming transforms the lives of farmers. Photograph, courtesy: MSSRF

How millet farming transformed Malliga Seerangan’s life

‘My family has been involved in farming for many generations and I grew up seeing my grandparents going to the fields. From the time I could remember, I was also helping them and my parents in the fields.

‘I had to stop going to school after 7th standard as there was not enough money to even feed us. We had a small farmland. Since there was no market for millets, naturally there was not much income from farming. I continued doing the same work after getting married.

‘People in and around Kolli Hills do only farming and that too, only ragi and samai. There was a time when we farmed just enough for us to consume, and nothing more than that.

Today, we are farming six varieties of millets, thanks to MS Swaminathan Research Foundation which came to our village around 15-20 years ago. Other than helping the farmers in cultivating, they also helped us start small self help groups groups of men and women.

‘There are more than 1500 farmers in our small region itself and each group consists of 13 women. I am the head of our group.

‘We pool in small amounts of money and put it in the bank, and then each member can take a loan for farming. Earlier, we didn’t even have a bank account, nor did we know how operate an account.

‘They also taught us how to do farming depending on the weather. We had no knowledge of good farming practices. Now, we are producing several folds of different varieties of millets.

Image: The murukkus turned out to be a big hit at Milan. Photograph, courtesy: MSSRF

‘Earlier, we had to grind millets physically which involved hard labour but today MSSRF have installed mills so that in less than half an hour, the powder is ready.

‘They also taught us how different products can be made of these millets to make it popular among people. We were used to eating them as it is but today, we make and sell products like millet rice, ragi murukku in attractive packs.

‘Now, we know that these millets have high iron content and are excellent for good health. You won’t believe, not a single person is diabetic in our village, and it is only because we have been consuming millets for generations.

Today, even city-dwellers have understood the health benefits of millets. They make tasty upma so children also enjoy eating it. Our ragi malt powder, murukku powder, samai, etc are available in Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka under the Kolli Hills brand.

‘Life has changed for us after all this! We had no voice in those days; we never went to the market alone. Today, we go to the market with our products.

We have our own bank accounts and we need not beg for money from our husbands. If you take the case of our group itself, all of us make a profit of Rs 2500-3000 every month and each one of us deposits Rs 100 in our group.

‘Now, after taking care of the household needs, I can buy saris and jewellery with my own money. I am able to educate my children better.

‘My dream is give as much education to my children as possible. I could not study much but I do not want my children to have the same fate. I want them to do better in life.

‘Till the groups were formed, there was no respect for women; now the men in our village know that we are as capable or better than them.

‘We are financially independent as well. We operate bank accounts, deposit and withdraw money. We take loans and also repay them. We know to do all these things without anybody’s help now.

‘We also have the knowledge about millets and can talk to people about its nutritive values.

‘From being confined to the four walls of the house, if women in our village have progressed today, it is all because of MSSRF urging us to form groups, helping us diversify and selling our products in the markets.

If you take my case, till they came, I had not even stepped out of the village. Now, I got the opportunity to travel to Delhi, Chennai, Mumbai and for the first time abroad too.

‘When I got into the flight the first time when I went to Delhi, I just couldn’t believe it.

‘This time, when we were going to Milan, I thought it was a dream. I am just a small, uneducated farmer who was born in a very poor home, and here I was going to a foreign country to show them what we do.

‘We were asked to make ‘murukku’ for the delegates there. All of them enjoyed eating our ‘murukku’. We made around 50 murukkus and they got over in no time, and we felt really happy and excited about it.

‘They took photographs and videos of us making ‘murukku’. They had so many questions for us and as we don’t understand English, Sir (Oliver King) played the role of an interpreter. I have no words to express my happiness. It was an overwhelming experience.

‘Then, we went around sightseeing. I am so impressed with the cleanliness of the city. I did not spot any garbage on the road and I didn’t see anyone throwing anything on the road.
‘They have built good footpaths for people and I also liked the pedestrian crossings. Here, we have to run to cross the road but there the vehicles stopped for us.

‘After seeing Milan, I wondered why we can’t keep our cities clean. I really liked their city better than ours.’

Image: When they appreciated the ‘murukkus’ we made, I felt extremely happy, says Malliga. Photograph, courtesy: MSSRF

A life changing experience for Jayalalitha Easwaran

‘In our village, everybody has been farming since generations. Though I helped my parents as a child in the farm, I got involved in farming actively 10 years ago.

‘Malliga Akka who was my neighbour told me to join the self help group started by MSSRF, and from then on my life changed completely. She told young women like me that if we join the group and start working we would become independent and capable.

‘I was just a school drop-out who had no confidence to even to talk to strangers but today, I can confidently talk about the importance of eating millets and its health benefits.

‘I go to the bank all alone, I have learnt to open an account and operate it. I also take loan from the bank, repay it on time and manage my finances well.

‘Till I joined the group, I was an illiterate young girl confined to my home. I had to depend on my husband for money.

‘Today, I manage my household expenses with the money I earn from my work. My husband is also proud of me!

‘Earlier, we had to physically plough the field, now with the machines given by MSSRF, we do not have to labour so hard.

Similarly, they have installed grinding machines to powder millets. All these have helped in our work tremendously. We concentrate mainly on ragi malt and ragi murukku and sell them in attractive packets in 15 markets.

‘It’s only because of MSSRF that I travelled to Mumbai in a flight for the first time in my life. Till then, I had not stepped out of our village.

‘Now, I have gone to a foreign land also. I cannot explain how excited I was about the trip.

‘I could not believe that a school drop-out like me could go abroad to showcase what we make. I had never dreamt that I would have such good fortune.

‘When they appreciated the ‘murukkus’ we made, I felt extremely happy.

‘My dream is to see all women like me who live in villages to come up in life and be independent.’

Source…….Shobha Warrier /www. Rediff.com

Natarajan

Message for the Day…” Cultivate Faith in Righteousness as the core of Your Personality…”

September 26, 2015NatarajanLeave a comment

No other person can bind you; you do it yourself! You choose to become bound, straying away from the righteous (dharmic) path. If faith in God’s omnipresence is deep-rooted, you would become aware that He is within you and you will choose to be free. For that faith to grow, you must grasp the Divine (Atmic) bliss firmly. The reality of the Divinity (Atma) is the bedrock, that is the incontrovertible wisdom (nishchitha-jnana). Without that foundation, you will easily become the target of doubt, despair, and delusion. Therefore, first endeavour to be free. That is to say, as a prerequisite to successful living, cultivate faith in righteousness (dharma) as the core of your personality, and then learn and practise the discipline necessary to reach down to that core. When you acquire that qualification, you can engage fully in worldly activities, following the prescribed right conduct (dharma). Thus you transform yourself to be a moral individual (dharma-purusha).

இதோ ஒரு அரிய சந்தர்ப்பம்…..

September 26, 2015NatarajanLeave a comment

செப்., 28 மகாளய பட்சம் ஆரம்பம்

ஜென்மங்களிலேயே உயர்ந்தது மனித ஜென்மம்; மனித பிறவியில் மட்டுமே நாம் பிறவிப் பிணியில் இருந்து மீள முடியும். ஆனால், பிறந்தால் இறந்தாக வேண்டும், நோயில் சிக்கியாக வேண்டும், கஷ்டங்களை அனுபவித்தே தீர வேண்டும். இதில் ஏழை, பணக்காரர் என்ற வித்தியாசமில்லை.
ஒரு சிலர், பணக்காரர்களைப் பார்த்து, அவருக்குள்ள வசதி நமக்கு இல்லையே என, ஏங்குவர். இவர்கள் ஒன்றைப் புரிந்து கொள்ள வேண்டும். அந்த பணக்காரர்கள் காபியில் சர்க்கரை சேர்த்து குடிக்காதவர்களாக இருப்பர். ஏங்குகிற நீங்களோ, காபி போதாதென்று கேசரியையும் சேர்த்து விழுங்கிக் கொண்டிருப்பீர்கள். இப்போது சொல்லுங்கள்… யார் கொடுத்து வைத்தவர்!
மானிடப் பிறவி உயர்ந்தது தான்; அதை தாழ்த்துவது அவரவர் எண்ணங்களும், செயல்களுமே! கோடி ரூபாய் சம்பாதித்தாலும், சாப்பிடப் போவது இரண்டு இட்லி தான் என்ற சிந்தனை மட்டும் இருந்து விடுமானால், நம் பிறவி, அர்த்தமுள்ளதாகி விடும்.
பல பிறவிகளின் புண்ணியத்தால் நமக்கு கிடைத்துள்ளதே மானிடப் பிறவி. இந்தப் பிறவியை நமக்கு வழங்கியவர்கள் நம் பெற்றோர். அந்த பெற்றோரை வழங்கியது அவர்களது பெற்றோர். இப்படியே நம் முந்தைய தலைமுறை விரிவடைந்து கொண்டே செல்கிறது. அந்த தலைமுறையை வணங்கவும், அவர்களது வாழ்த்தைப் பெறவும், ஆண்டில், 15 நாட்கள் மகாளய பட்சம் என்ற ஒன்றை உருவாக்கியுள்ளனர்.
‘மகாளயம்’ என்றால், கூட்டமாக வருதல்; புரட்டாசி மாதம் மகாளய அமாவாசையன்று நம் முன்னோர், கூட்டமாக நம்மை காண வருவதாக ஐதீகம். அன்று நாம், அவர்களை வரவேற்று தர்ப்பணம் செய்து, அவர்களுக்கு பிடித்த உணவு வகைகளை படைத்து வணங்க வேண்டும். அமாவாசைக்கு முந்தைய, 15 நாட்கள், தினமும் தர்ப்பணம் செய்ய வேண்டும்.
இது ஒன்றும் பெரிய விஷயமல்ல; அவர்கள் பெயரைச் சொல்லி சிறிது எள்ளும், தண்ணீரும் நீர் நிலைகளிலோ, கால் படாத இடங்களிலோ விட்டாலே போதும். புரோகிதர் மூலமாகச் செய்தால் மிகவும் நல்லது. வசதிப்படுவோர் கங்கை, காவிரி, தாமிரபரணி உள்ளிட்ட புண்ணிய தீர்த்தங்களுக்கு ஒரு நாளாவது சென்று தர்ப்பணம் செய்து வரலாம். பெற்றோர் இறந்த திதியன்று புண்ணியத் தீர்த்தங்களுக்கு செல்வது மிகவும் நல்லது. இந்நாட்களில் பசுவுக்கு கீரை, பழம் கொடுக்க வேண்டும். சக்திக்கேற்ப தான தர்மம் செய்யலாம்.
நமக்காக, பெற்றோரும், தாத்தா, பாட்டிகளும் எத்தனையோ தியாகங்களை செய்துள்ளனர். அவர்கள் ஆத்மசாந்தி பெறவும், நம் குடும்பம் வாழையடி வாழையாக தழைக்கவும், இந்த வழிபாட்டை செய்து வரலாம்.
இந்த ஆண்டு செப்.,28 துவங்கி, அக்.,12 வரை, மகாளய காலம். இந்த அரிய சந்தர்ப்பத்தை தவற விட்டு விடாதீர்கள்!

Source….தி.செல்லப்பா in http://www.dinamalar.com

natarajan

This 104 Year-Old Grandma, Adorned her Town with Crochet…….

September 26, 2015NatarajanLeave a comment

Grace Brett, a 104-year-old great grandmother might just be the oldest street artist in the world. The grandmother of six is a member of a knitting club known as the ‘Souter Stormers’ – a group that has recently taken over the towns of Selkirk, Ettrickbridge and Yarrow in Scotland, with their impressive knitting skills. Members of Stormers have spent a year secretly planning a project to conduct this street art installation. And this month, the mischievous knitters took to the streets, sewing up fences, benches and lamp poles all across the town in elaborate knitted art. The images below showcase her impressive knitting skills.

Oldest Street Artist

“I thought that it was a really good idea to decorate the town and enjoyed having my crochet included,” Grace Brett said.

Oldest Street Artist

“I liked seeing my work showing with everyone elses and thought the town looked lovely.”

Oldest Street Artist

Her daughter Daphne says that “she always knitted and crocheted all through her life.”

Oldest Street Artist

“She has always done all the knitting for the babies and made shawls.”

Oldest Street Artist

Residents have been enjoying their new yarn exhibitions too!

Oldest Street Artist

Source……www.ba-bamail.com and www.youtube.com

Natarajan

This 12 Year Old Wrote His Exams Blindfolded to Create Awareness About an Important Cause …

September 26, 2015NatarajanLeave a comment

12-year-old R Madheswaran says that he can read even when he is blindfolded. The class 7 student decided to put these skills to better use and appeared blindfolded for his English exam. He did this to spread awareness about a very important cause.

Sri Ramakrishna Matriculation Higher Secondary School in Coimbatore, witnessed an unusual scenario during the recently held quarterly examinations at school. Among all the students who were writing their papers on Friday, there was one who attracted everyone’s attention.

R Madheswaran, a Class 7 student, sat for the exam blindfolded. And he even managed to finish the paper within the prescribed two hours.-

Photo: blog.onlinerti.com

No, Madheswaran did not have an eye injury, nor is he visually impaired. The 12-year-old boy took this unusual step to spread awareness about eye donation. He wanted to feel how visually impaired people experience the world, and at the same time, wanted to spread awareness about the various talents that they possess.

Madheswaran claims to have some unusual skills which enable him to read phone messages, question papers and text books while he is blindfolded. .

The young boy decided to put his unique skills to use when writing his English exam paper. The questions paper was not in Braille, and neither were the alphabets embossed.

So how did this young fellow complete this unusual task? Madheswaran says that every word and number has a different smell, and this smell helps him read them in his mind. He also wrote perfectly, right between the lines, using the same technique of smelling the words and the sheet.

His parents claim that Madheswaran acquired these special skills after attending a brain fold activation programme which improved his concentration and enabled him to sense many things without seeing them. Confident of his skills, Madheswaran and his family approached the school authorities to seek permission for this special act and they happily agreed.

Though these skills look unrealistic, we can’t help praising the young boy who took this step to spread awareness for a cause. After all, it is the thought that counts.

Source………www.the better india .com

Natarajan

Dr Uma Rajan, 75-Year-Old Indian-Singaporean Doctor, Honoured for Her Community Service ….

September 26, 2015NatarajanLeave a comment

This doctor has been working relentlessly and has contributed immensely to the field of healthcare and community service. And now, the 75-year-old has been honoured for her inspiring work.

Dr. Uma Rajan, an Indian-Singaporean doctor, dedicated 38 years of her life to healthcare and community service. And for this, the 75-year-old doctor has been honoured by the Indian community in Singapore.

She has now become the first woman to receive the tabla! Community Champion Award.

Source: Facebook

Singapore Press Holdings’ publication – tabla! is a weekly English language newspaper, which launched the Community Champion Award in 2011. The award, in its fifth year, was given by Minister of State for Law and Education, Indranee Rajah, yesterday at the Singapore International Indian Shopping Festival.

Dr. Rajan, who is currently the vice-chairman of the Siglap South Community Centre, won USD 10,000 and she donated the entire amount to two voluntary welfare organizations – Singapore Children’s Society and Asian Women’s Welfare Association in Singapore.

The doctor has been a part of many philanthropic activities, and has many achievements in her name. She was the director of the elder care department at the Ministry of Health from 1996 to 2000. In this time, she started about 10 elderly care centres with voluntary welfare organisations. She also created the blue booklet which is still being used by students in Singapore for their annual health check-ups. She had come up with this idea in early 1980s, when she was the Director at the School Health Service. She felt that booklets should be introduced for school children so they do not have to carry their medical cards. The booklet helps parents remain updated about their children’s medical conditions. She also participated in extensive research into problems such as obesity, myopia and scoliosis

Dr. Rajan lost her husband 38 years ago, after which she started giving her time to the community. She is also known for her contribution to the field of arts, and was one of the founding members of the Singapore Indian Fine Arts Society. She received the title of Natyakala Bushanam (ornament of dance) from the Indian Institute of Fine Arts in Chennai in 1954.

Source………www.the better india.com

Natarajan

She Helps the Needy Get Access to Wheelchairs, Crutches, Etc. For Just Re. 1….

September 26, 2015NatarajanLeave a comment

Orthopaedic equipment is expensive — wheelchairs cost thousands and even lakhs of rupees, while even a simple pair of crutches can tot up to a few hundred. But more important is the fact that most of the time, this equipment has a short-term use. Falguni Doshi of Vadodara has come up with an innovative way of recycling the equipment while helping the needy.

It all started when Falguni visited her friend Sonal in Vadodara. The latter’s grandmother had recently recovered from a prolonged illness and was no longer in need of her wheelchair and walker, which were now lying useless and discarded around the house.

This is when Falguni came up with the idea of recycling the equipment to help the needy. Soon, the two friends had come up with a plan to rent it out for Re. 1 a day.

Project ‘Helping Hand’ was born in 1999 with just four pieces of orthopaedic equipment.

Falguni (L) started with just four pieces of orthopaedic equipment. –

Over the years, donations poured in as many people don’t have much use for wheelchairs, transport chairs, walkers, canes, knee and ankle and neck braces, etc., after the immediate need for them is over. Falguni would rent them out on a regular basis as the demand for them kept growing with each passing day.

“It was just a simple idea. We didn’t expect it to be so successful. It has been about 16 years and I receive at least two to three queries every day even now. I have rented out thousands of pieces of equipment,” says Falguni.

Sonal had to drop out of the project due to personal commitments, but Helping Hand soon became more than a part-time commitment for Falguni. News about the work she was doing spread by word of mouth and many needy people began to approach her for renting the equipment she had.

Falguni takes the entire cost of the equipment as deposit from the clients. This amount is refunded when the customer returns the equipment.

Most people rent the equipment for a couple of weeks or months at a time.

“Earlier, I used to give these things away for free. But then I thought people would not value things given as charity or take care of the equipment. This way people take it seriously and I get to buy more products too,” she says.

Most of the products are donated to Helping Hand by those who don’t need them any more, while some are purchased brand new by Falguni.

For those who cannot afford to pay the deposit, the orthopaedic items are given on just a rental basis. “It is quite flexible. Our main idea was to put the unused equipment to some use and to help those in need. So we do not care if someone is unable to pay the deposit. What matters to us is that we are able to help them,” says Falguni.

Today, Helping Hand receives queries from across Gujarat. But Falguni has restricted her work to only Vadodara as of now.

“Right now I don’t have the capacity to scale up since I am the only one running the show. But my family members support me as much as they can,” she says.

Although the work has been running smoothly for the most part, Falguni has occasionally faced hurdles in the form of clients who return damaged equipment without informing her. –

For more details, contact Falguni at – falgunikd19@gmail.com

I figure it out when I am giving it to someone else. Also, many people do not take responsibility for the damage and I have to face the loss,” she says.

But these problems do not affect Falguni who is deeply attached to some of her customers — they often come to her for a friendly chat or when they need a shoulder to lean on.

“Many times, these people are frustrated with their sickness. They have already shared the details with their family and friends. But I am a new person to them, and since I work in this field I understand them. They feel very close to me and share their issues with me. I feel so overwhelmed by all the love that I receive,” says Falguni.

Falguni recalls a very touching moment when she received a call from a man named Mr. Gupta. His mother had just expired after a long illness and he had heard about Helping Hand. He called Falguni to donate all his mother’s orthopaedic equipment.

“All those products were imported and of very high quality. When he came here to donate them, he was so touched by our work that he donated some money too so that we can buy more things. His gesture will not only touch so many lives but it also gave me a boost that I was doing something good,” says Falguni.

So if you know someone who needs orthopaedic support in Vadodara, Falguni is there to help. And if you have spare equipment at your place, then you know how to put it to better use.

For more details, contact Falguni at – falgunikd19@gmail.com

Source…..www.thebetterindia.com

Natarajan