| Olive oil is widely thought of as being good for our health. In fact, in terms of its health benefits, olive oil is unrivaled. New research continues to reveal more benefits almost every day. Nevertheless, we are only beginning to understand the countless ways olive oil can boost our health and quality of life. What is it that makes olive oil so beneficial to our health?
Nutrient composition of extra virgin olive oil Olive oil contains modest amounts of Vitamins E and K, as well as a wealth of beneficial fatty acids. To start, let’s take a look at the nutritional facts of extra virgin olive oil: 100g of olive oil contains:
*RDA: Recommended Daily Allowance However, one of olive oil’s well-known benefits is its antioxidant content, which helps the body fight serious diseases. Olive oil’s main antioxidants protect the body from oxidation (more on this below) and against LDL (bad) cholesterol. With these facts in mind, let’s look at how olive oil can benefit the body: 10 Health Benefits of Olive Oil 1. It reduces the risk of Type 2 Diabetes A low-fat diet is typically recommended to prevent diseases such as heart disease and diabetes. In fact, studies have shown that high fat diets may increase the risk of certain diseases, such as cancer and diabetes. With that being said, it’s worth pointing out that it’s the type of fat intake rather than the amount that affects health most severely. Consequently, it has been found that a diet rich in monounsaturated fats (such as those found in olive oil, nuts and seeds) actually offers protection from many chronic diseases. Furthermore, according to a study published in the scientific journal Diabetes Care, it was shown that a Mediterranean-style diet rich in olive oil reduced the risk of Type II diabetes by almost 50% when compared to a low-fat diet. Type II diabetes is the most common and preventable form of diabetes. 2. Olive oil may help prevent a stroke According to a study from France, published in the online issue of Neurology, older individuals who consume olive oil daily may be able to protect themselves from stroke. The study gathered information from medical records of 7,625 individuals over the age of 65 from three cities in France – Bordeaux, Dijon and Montpellier – none of whom had a history of stroke. The individuals were then categorized into three groups, based on their olive oil consumption. After five years, 148 strokes were reported. The results showed that individuals who frequently consumed olive oil had a 41% lower risk of stroke, compared to those that did not consume olive oil at all. 3. It keeps the heart young and healthy As we grow older, our heart goes through a normal aging process. Artery function tends to decline with age, leading to a number of health problems. In a recent study, Spanish researchers discovered that a diet rich in olive oil or other monounsaturated fats could improve arterial function in elderly individuals.
4. It helps fight osteoporosis A disease predominantly characterized by a decrease in bone mass, osteoporosis causes the architecture of bone tissue to become fragile, increasing the possibility of fractures, making even the slightest of bumps or falls potentially fatal. However, olive oil supplementation was found to positively affect the thickness of bones. While olive oil is not the only solution, scientists have concluded that it is very promising for the development of future treatments of the disease. 5. Olive oil helps fight depression While olive oil has been found to be beneficial for a number of physical ailments, what about emotional health benefits? Spanish researchers from the University of Navarra and Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, found that a diet rich in olive oil can protect from mental illness too. It was recently discovered that a higher intake of olive oil and polyunsaturated fats found in fatty fish and vegetable oils lowered the risk of depression. According to the findings, cardiovascular disease and depression share some common mechanisms related to diet. 6. Olive oil has been found to prevent skin cancer A recent study found that olive oil may contribute to the prevention of malignant melanoma (the most dangerous type of skin cancer). Nevertheless, the use of sunscreen remains the best way to prevent sunburn, however, consuming olive oil and other Mediterranean food could help counter the oxidizing effect of the sun. 7. It can reduce the risk of Alzheimer’s disease Numerous studies have been conducted on olive oil and how it may help reduce the risk of Alzheimer’s disease. One study published in the journal of Chemical Neuroscience showed that the oleocanthal (a type of natural phenolic compound found in extra-virgin olive oil) has the potential to reduce the risk of Alzheimer’s disease and the cognitive decline that comes with aging. Olive oil polyphenols are powerful antioxidants, which may help reverse oxidative damage that occurs due to the aging process.
8. It may potentially protect against breast cancer A diet rich in fats is directly related to a higher risk of cancer. However, the types of fats consumed can actually play a protective role against the development of tumors. Virgin olive oil is rich in oleic acid – a mono-unsaturated fatty acid, containing several bioactive compounds such as antioxidants. Research shows that a moderate and regular intake of olive oil reduces the risk of certain types of cancer, including breast cancer. 9. Olive oil has been found to reduce oxidative stress Studies suggest that olive oil can protect the liver from oxidative stress. To test this theory, scientists exposed rats to a moderately toxic herbicide known to deplete antioxidants and cause oxidative stress. The findings showed that rats fed a diet containing olive oil were partially protected from liver damage. 10. It contains anti-inflammatory substances Chronic inflammation is believed to be one of the leading causes of many diseases, including heart disease, cancer, metabolic syndrome, diabetes, Alzheimer’s and arthritis. However, one of the benefits of olive oil lies in its ability to fight inflammation. The oil’s anti-inflammatory effects seem to be mediated by the antioxidants in olive oil. One such antioxidant is oleocanthal – which has been shown to work like ibuprofen, an anti-inflammatory drug. In fact, it has been found that 50ml of extra virgin olive oil has an effect similar to 10% of the adult ibuprofen dosage for pain relief. Source……www.ba-bamail.com Natarajan
|
human
Message for the Day….” Dharma and Adharma …”
In the world the progeny of Dharma and Adharma (Righteousness and Unrighteousness) are continually growing. Consider this lineage: Unrighteousness (Adharma) married delusion (Mithya). Mithya is neither truth nor untruth. This couple had two children, a son calledAhamkara (egoism) and a daughter called Moha (infatuation). As both are the children of Ignorance, with no capacity to judge what is right and wrong, the unholy alliance between them resulted in the birth ofLobha (avarice) and Vanchana (deceit) as son and daughter. From the wrongful union of these two, Irshya (jealousy) and Krodha (anger) were born. Out of their union, Bheeti (fear) and Mrityu (death) were born. This lineage is known as Adharma Santhathi (the progeny of unrighteousness). Following this lineage of Unrighteousness, every union is improper.
Your Next Must-Visit Destination in India: A Unique Garden Made of Threads in the Nilgiris…
Flowers that never wilt and leaves that don’t dry up, can only be found in a dimly lit greenhouse in the heart of Ooty. This evergreen artificial plant kingdom is the only one of its kind in the world. All the plants here are fabricated with thread and look so natural that they rival real ones in beauty.
One of the most fascinating tourist attractions of Ooty is the Thread Garden, located right opposite the Ooty Boat House. This magnificent display of flowers, plants and lawns is fabricated entirely from thread, with the help of canvas, wire and glue. This amazing garden is indeed a sight to behold.
A unique technique known as ‘four dimensional hand wound embroidery’ is used to make the plants in this garden.
Welcome to the unique garden.
Photo credit: Sonika Sharma
Mr Antony Joseph, the man who created this spectacular wonder, used to work as a lecturer in a private college. He gave up his job when his father passed away, to look after the family’s textile brushes and wooden accessories business. Production in this unit was mainly for Coats Vivella Group Companies, which helped him develop his relationship with Coats India.
Around this time, Antony started developing other items too because of his interest in handicrafts.
Antony Joseph making a bouquet of flowers.
Photo Credit: Thread Garden
“Handicrafts have always been a passion and my initial research was in designing caps, wigs and brushes using Coats threads. The success of these items, at an exhibition conducted by Coats Vivella India Ltd, prompted me to increase the scope of my research. This resulted in the innovative technique of ‘hand wound embroidery.’ The company encouraged me to continue my research for designing novel hand wound embroidery crafts, supplying me the main raw material – the embroidery threads,” adds the proud designer.
In 1988, he started a unique research and work centre with nine ladies, making plants and flowers using this technique. Canvas is cut in the shape of the leaf or the petal. Glue is applied and the thread is wound neatly onto the piece of canvas. No needles and no machinery are used to make these beautiful plants. This painstaking technique is done with only the nimble fingers of the artisan and hence it takes very long to complete a project. Grass and stems, as well as the stamen and filaments of the flowers, are made with a wire base and embroidery thread is wound on the wire to complete the pieces.
The various parts of the plant, once ready, are glued together in such a manner that they look extremely natural. When a bunch of flowers is placed in a flowering pot it is very difficult to differentiate it from a natural bouquet, since the design and the colours of the threads used are so perfect.
Keen concentration and patience are the hallmark of every one of the artisans. They have to make sure the winding is perfect, without any overlapping of threads, knots and gaps between the threads.
Bird of Paradise created with thread
Photo Credit: Sonika Sharma
In the initial years, Antony Joseph had several opportunities to display these spectacular works of art in many parts of the country.
“People really wondered at these novel creations and my experimental pieces sold easily anywhere they were exhibited. This helped me to run my work centre back home in Koratty, near Thrissur, in Kerala,” he says.
In 1993, Coats India accepted this newly developed craft technology and published an article with colour transparencies in its magazine Needle ‘N’ Embroidery. The Crafts Council of India sent him a special message congratulating him on his invention of hand-wound embroidery, without the use of needles or machinery.
He received appreciative messages from almost every part of the country and this encouraged him to continue his research and create new varieties of plants.
Beautiful white flowers made of thread.
Photo credit: Sonika Sharma
Antony wanted to establish a garden with many varieties of flowering and non-flowering plants using his unique embroidery technique. He was able to employ 50 women and train them in this craft. After 12 years of untiring work, they were able to successfully fabricate around 100 different plant species and were ready to set up a garden. He initially set up the Thread Garden in Mallampuzha, a popular dam site in Kerala. However, due to floods, he had to shift from there. In 2002, he chose the present location opposite the Ooty Boat House and ever since then this place, which looks so unassuming from the outside, has been on the tourist map of the Nilgiris.
For this amazing feat, Antony Joseph and his artificial garden have been mentioned in the following books of records – India Book of Records, Tamilnadu Book of Records, and Unique World Records – as the first thread garden in the world.
Plants in pots and water lilies in the water
Photo credit: Thread Garden
Antony Joseph hopes that this garden gets a mention in the Limca Book of Records as well as the Guinness Book of World Records. There are some criteria yet to be met to achieve these accolades, which he is striving for.
“Making artificial pieces of flora look natural is the real challenge! This Thread Garden is a success story of overcoming this formidable challenge. Creation of each piece of art is an imaginative expression of nature as it is. To achieve the ultimate goal a permutation and combination of forms, light, shades and patterns has been used” he emphasizes.
The one of its kind evergreen garden.
Photo credit: Thread Garden
The garden, as such, is complete and there is nothing more to be added to it. However, the artisans still work on making these flowers, back home in Kerala. Their products are encased in glass cases and sold at the sales counter in the garden premises. A list of instructions on how to take care of the flowers in the glass case are given to every buyer.
The sale of these glass encased flowers helps promote the craft.
Encased in glass, flowers sold at the sales counter.
Photo credit: Aparna Menon
Mr Antony Joseph can be reached on his mail id mail@threadgarden.com.
About the author: Aparna Menon is a freelance writer, writing for various newspapers for the past 10 years. Her main fields of interest are wildlife, heritage and history. A keen traveller, she loves to read and write and does a lot of art work too.
Source…..Aparna Menon in http://www.the betterindia.com
Natarajan
Message for the Day…” Let our life be dedicated to ideals…”
Do not feel proud about your cleverness or intelligence or about your ability to win laurels in studies. Good character and righteous thinking are more valuable than scholastic achievements, wealth, power or intellectual abilities. Utilise your intelligence and thoughts for achieving bliss which comes from leading a life of righteousness and goodness. Let your life be dedicated to ideals. The Lord is secured and bound only by the intensity of your devotion. The Ganges of true devotion must flow from your heart. Everything that is associated with Divinity has its origin in the heart. Hence the heart should be emptied of all evil and kept pure and unsullied by right action. It may not be possible to escape the consequences of one’s good and bad actions. But even a mountain of sin can be wiped out by winning the grace of the Divine. Hence one should strive to earn the love of God, which is all-embracing and all-powerful.
Joke for the Day…” Is there any cheaper way …” ? !!!
One day, a man walks into a dentist’s office and asks how much it will cost to extract wisdom teeth.
“Eighty dollars,” the dentist says.
“That’s a ridiculous amount,” the man says.
“Isn’t there a cheaper way?”
“Well,” the dentist says, “if you don’t use an anesthetic, I can knock the price down to $60.”
“That’s still too expensive,” replies the man.
“Okay,” says the dentist. “If I save on anesthesia and simply rip the teeth out with a pair of pliers, I can knock the price down to $20.”
“Nope,” moans the man, “it’s still too much.”
“Well,” says the dentist, scratching his head, “if I let one of my students do it, I suppose I can knock the price down to $10.
“Marvelous,” says the man. “Book my wife in for next Tuesday!”
Source…www.ba-bamail.com
Natarajan
Message for the Day….”When the service to humanity truly becomes service to God….”
Many state that service to humanity (manava-seva) is service to God (Madhava-seva). It is true. Although the service of humanity is holy, unless it is merged in the bigger ideal of divinity in everyone, people won’t benefit, however huge the service. Quoting the slogan is useless if service is done with an eye on name and fame and the fruits of one’s action. Only when you constantly contemplate on the Lord, follow true and righteous means in execution, and work with faith in the essential divinity of people, then the service to humanity truly becomes service to God. Without thoughts of God how can service to God originate? All such talk is mere show. In fact those who are immersed in the uninterrupted contemplation of the Lord need not do any other task at all. The fruit of their prayer itself can make the world holy. However all can’t be thus engaged, so others must prepare for that stage by purifying their mind and diminishing their desires.
Message for the Day…” Who Can hope for enduring success in Life …” ?
The game of life you play is akin to the Mahabharatha war. On one side were the forces of evil, the Kauravas, and on the other the powers of good, the Pandavas. They played the game of life with the empire as the football. Until achieving complete victory, Lord Krishna was the sole chief for the righteous Pandavas, who completely surrendered to Him. The wicked Kauravas lost their commanders one after the other in the battle. The real contest today within you is the one between the evil qualities of desire, hatred, envy, pride, etc. and good qualities like truth, virtue, peace, nonviolence and love. Your body is the battlefield. One team’s captain is the embodiment of good qualities. The captain of the other is the embodiment of mundane desires. Those who adhere to ever changing and worldly desires will attain defeat. Only those who attach themselves to the unchanging and eternal Divine can hope for enduring success in life.
Qatar Airways to snatch Emirates title of world’s longest commercial flight…!!!
Emirates cannot hold claim to the world’s longest route – a service from their hub in Dubai to Auckland, New Zealand – for much longer. Fellow Gulf carrier, Qatar Airways have announced their service from Doha to Auckland to begin in December.
The world’s longest commercial flight, Emirates’ non-stop service from Dubai to Auckland, may have only begun on 1 March, but it will not be the world’s longest by the end of the year. Qatar Airways has announced their first route to New Zealand, serving Doha to Auckland, to begin service on 3 December.
Qatar will use the Boeing 777 aircraft to serve the route, which was announced by His Excellency Mr. Akbar Al Baker on the opening day of the world’s largest international travel fair, ITB Berlin. In January, Mr. Al Baker had announced the carrier was looking closely at introducing a non-stop service to Auckland as part of extension plans at Bahrain International Airshow.
The service will cover a distance of 14,539 kilometres which will beat out Emirates’ route to Auckland by 339 km. The flight time is believed to be around 18 hours 34 minutes, whereas from Dubai the flight time averages at 17 hours 15 minutes. Emirates was due to add a non-stop service between Dubai and Panama City in February, which was postponed until 31 March 2016. This service would have been the world’s longest in terms of flight time – around 17 hours 35 minutes – but shorter by distance. The route now will not launch until late 2016 or 2017.
The Gulf carrier had intended on launching the Doha-Auckland direct service in June, but held off until the end of the year. His Excellency, Mr. Al Baker said: “We are not going to chicken out, we will definitely fly to Auckland but as a respect to Emirates as they have already launched a direct flight we will wait until the end of the year before we will operate.”
These new services highlight the growing demand of Auckland Airport, and Auckland as a destination. For January 2016, when the airport celebrated 50 years since their official opening, 893,314 international passengers were welcomed. This is the highest number of international passengers ever for a single month, with 43,000 more passengers than December 2015, the previous month with the highest number of international passengers. Compared to January 2015, numbers increased by 9.3 percent.
Auckland Airport were the overall winners of the Routes Asia edition of the Routes 2016 Marketing Awards, which was announced at the event in Manila, Philippines. It is the first time the airport has received the highly regarded accolade, who was also named the winner of the 4-20 million passengers category. The respected panel of judges who chose Auckland Airport was made up of senior members of the airline network planning community.
As overall winners, Auckland Airport are automatically shortlisted for their category at World Routes Awards in Chengdu, China on September 26, 2016.
After receiving the award, Peppy Adi-Purnomo, South East Asia and India Development Manager, Auckland Airport said: “All the work we do is about ‘win win’ and developing a scenario that the business case to airlines work to deliver sustainable air services. We are not interested about short-term success but always look at the long-term and developing a relationship that is right for the airline and also for us at the airport.”
Source….Laura Hamill
Content Executive, Routesonline in www. routesonline.com
Natarajan
One Doctor Is Quietly Building a World-Class Cancer Hospital for the Poor in Assam….
Dr. Ravi Kannan’s vision has turned a small cancer centre into a full-fledged hospital in Assam’s Barak valley.
Barak Valley is a remote area on the Indo-Bangladesh border in Assam. For years, the people in the area had limited access to medical care. In fact, the nearest hospital was in Guwahati, which is 350 km away. This journey would often take 24 hours to complete, due to the difficult terrain as well as the threat of landslides.
The high incidence of cancer in the region, possibly due to extensive tobacco use, prompted citizens of the valley to come together and set up a hospital in 1996.
The Cachar Cancer Hospital Society faced multiple challenges, including a severe financial crunch and lack of infrastructure, right from the start. In fact, the hospital got its first radiation unit only in 2006.
The first qualified nurse came on board in 2008. Though there were other trained personnel in the region, they were choosing to migrate to bigger cities in search of better employment.
The hospital continued to reel under all these problems till 2007, when it got a saviour in the form of Dr. Ravi Kannan.
“When I got the offer to come and work in Assam, my wife was hesitant. But after coaxing her, we came and spent some time here. I worked at the hospital and interacted with the patients. Meanwhile, my wife and daughter mingled with the members of the community. All of us realised that there was much work to be done here and this is where we should be,” he says.
So Dr. Kannan, who was a renowned oncologist at the Adyar Cancer Institute in Chennai, and his family, packed their bags and moved to Silchar.
It was a big change for the family. For instance, his daughter, who studied in a school which didn’t have exams, had to take her first exam to get admission into Kendriya Vidyalya. The weather was different and so was the language. And life here was harder in comparison to their hometown of Chennai. However, slowly, they all settled into the new place and Dr. Kannan got to work.
“From day one, we just kept reacting to situations, whether they were related to finance or manpower or infrastructure,” says Dr. Kannan.
Over the years, this doctor and his incredible team managed to turn the place around. There were only 23 staff members when he joined. Today, there is a 200-member strong team.
From 25 beds, the hospital now has 100 beds. And from 6, the number of nurses has grown to 102.
It is his selfless service and vision that have transformed this unknown cancer hospital into a comprehensive cancer centre that is providing free and heavily subsidised treatment to thousands of poor cancer patients every year,” says Rajeev Kumar, Dr. Kannan’s colleague.
In the early days, Dr. Kannan noticed that only a few patients who came for the initial check-up would come back again for a follow up. Every year, the hospital would conduct a review and find that most patients didn’t return a second time. Finally, it dawned on the administration that most people couldn’t afford the treatment.
Over 60% of the patients visiting the hospital have an income of Rs. 3,000 or less per month. As many as 80% are daily wage earners – labourers, tea garden workers and agricultural workers.
“We realised that most of them were the sole breadwinners of their families. They couldn’t afford to not work. The challenge was to figure out how to get them to undergo medical treatment, without taking away their daily bread,” he says.
This is how the hospital started home visits. The doctors started going to the villages to provide treatment to cancer patients. The patients do not have to pay for home-based care and follow up. Slowly, the hospital started satellite clinics for patients who are unable to travel long distances to visit the hospital. The doctors also provide phone consultations and stay in touch with patients who have returned home with prescriptions.
Dr. Kannan and his team discovered yet another way to get the patients to come in. They started employing those who come as attendants with the patients. These attendants help out in the garden or do other small tasks. Initially they were paid Rs. 30 but now they get about Rs. 100 per day for their work.
According to Dr. Kannan, because of the free food available at the hospital and the opportunity to work, some patients stay behind even after their treatment is completed.
The hospital has a desk in the outpatient department where the staff proactively assess the economic needs of the patients and assist them in getting treatment from the hospital at subsidised rates or for free.
They also provide patients with a better understanding of their treatment options.
“We make efforts to offer the best treatment possible to all the patients, irrespective of their socio-economic status. No one should be denied access to treatment due to want of money,” Dr. Kannan says.
The hospital now has a strict follow up policy. The supervisors of each ward are given cell phones. They are required to call up people and find out why they have missed their appointments. They maintain contact with patients and their families and motivate them to complete their treatment as advised.
At present, the hospital has an annual inflow of 3,000 new and 14,000 follow-up patients. It also gets patients from other states, as well as from neighbouring Bangladesh.
For Dr. Kannan and his team, every day presents a new challenge.
“There have been times when my colleagues and I have conducted surgeries in fields we have not specialised in. The patients cannot always go rushing to Guwahati. How can we say no to someone who is critical? By taking up these surgeries, we have also been pushed out of our comfort zones,” he says.
The hospital runs on the funds it receives from various organisations and individuals. A grant from the Indo-American Cancer Association helped establish the Department of Pain and Palliative Care in the hospital in 2011. A Department of Dental Surgery has also been set up. The pharmacy offers medicines at highly discounted prices. An ICU was started from the contributions made by individuals and NGOs.
The hospital is now awaiting permission to set up a blood bank in the region.
“The expenses just keep increasing. We rely on contributions to run this place and provide treatment to so many people. My amazing team has chosen to work here despite the fact that they would be better remunerated in bigger cities. The satisfaction we get from serving the community here is indescribable,” he says.
The Cachar Cancer Hospital Society is raising funds to support cancer patients. For more details visit its page onKetto.
To get in touch with Dr. Ravi, mail him at ravi.kannan@cacharcancerhospital.org
Source…….Meryl Garcia in http://www.the betterindia.com
Natarajan
Meeting Latha: A woman mechanic fighting stereotypes in Theni …!!!
“I really don’t think there is any job that men alone can do,” says Latha.
Untouched by the pomp and fanfare of the women’s day celebrations elsewhere, Latha is busy looking at the punctured tyre of a bike that has left its owner stranded.
Latha is such an inconspicuous figure under a tamarind tree on the Theni-Periyakulam road that she can be easily missed. She runs her vulcanising shop from under the shade of a tamarind tree.
“More often than not, many people see our equipment first from a distance and come closer. But when they see me handling it all, they pause and sometimes prepare to leave. I tell them I can fix their tyres and do it in no time. After all, I have been doing it for two decades now” she says with an unmistakable pride in her voice.
At 43, Latha is a good mechanic. “I have four brothers and a sister. My father was a mechanic and as a child, I would keenly watch the way he would fix a punctured tyre. But he would never allow me to touch any of it.”
At 20, she got married to a man who ran a small textile shop. Her father had to sell his vulcanising shop to settle the debts of her sister’s wedding. “My brothers refused to take care of my father and I accommodated him in my place. After discussing with my husband, I took his help and with an investment of Rs 13,000 started this shop.”
Until recently, she would take care of the punctured tyres of all vehicles including lorries and cars. “But now due to ill-health, I do only two-wheeler tyres,” Latha says. Students from an Industrial Training Institute nearby often visit her shop to get hands-on experience. “I really don’t think there is any job that men alone can do.”
Though her father never allowed her to touch any of the two wheelers he was working on, he was a role model for Latha. “He treated all of us equally. I never felt I was a daughter and hence inferior. That was not the case with many of my friends. Even when I was young, I had learnt to drive almost all vehicles. With that kind of encouragement, I think any woman can do what a man can – sometimes even what a man can’t. I only wish the government encouraged women more.”
Perhaps the only woman mechanic of Theni district, Latha has a dream: To have a properly constructed shop. “I only have this thatched roof for a shop all these years. I have never been to a government office or approached any politician for help. But I do wish they will help me get a shop. I can even train students if need be”, she says.
For someone who speaks so passionately about the need for women to be independent, Latha had both her daughters married off before they turned 18. “I had little choice. We are living in such a system which does not support independent women. Also I come from a village and you know how it is. My poor health is another reason. I wish it was different though.”
All photographs by Satheesh Lakshmanan
Source…..Satheesh Lakshmanan in http://www.the newsminute.com
Natarajan
Take off with Natarajan 