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Tag: Health

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  • Mistakes you make while running

    Mistakes you make while running

    When you run, it’s obvious that you can’t see yourself. Unless, of course, you’re running next to a full length mirror. Therefore, it becomes difficult to see if your posture is correct. Have you suddenly started getting back pain? Are you running correctly? Here are five of the most common issues runners patients face…

    Asymmetrical running pattern
    This means landing harder on one side of the body than the other and is one of the first things you need to recognise. Listen to the sound of your running. The sound can tell you a lot about the way you run. If you come down harder on your right side than the left, or vice versa, it could signal an inbuilt mechanical flaw of the running style, which can cause you pain.

    Inward knee collapse
    Many people often face the problem of knees, which collapse inward when they run. This is caused by weak gluteus muscles. Remember, when you run, your knees are supposed to stay in line with your hips. However, if your hip muscles are weak and don’t support your body weight, the weight will go to your knees and cause them to bow inward. To rectify this, you need to do exercises to build up the posterior gluteus medius and the gluteus maximus — two key muscles in your butt.

    Running on your fore-foot
    Are you a rear-foot runner or a fore-front runner? Rearfoot runners strike down harder on the rear part of the feet, while forefoot runners strike down harder on the front part of their feet. While neither running style is better than the other, the impact forces may be different between the two running styles. Rear-foot runners usually tend to have a higher amount of force exerted on their feet when they run as compared to forefoot runners. The problem with forefoot running sometimes is that many people don’t have strong enough feet to support their weight. So if you’re planning to change to forefoot or barefoot running, make the progression gradually so that you can increase the strength of your foot.

    Over-swinging
    Do you swing your arms wildly when you run/ jog? Over-swinging your arms can cause you back pain when you run. These movements in the long term can contribute to stress on your back. Even over-striding, which happens when the steps you take are too big for your body size, can cause excessive rotation since the pelvis and spine move in one direction more than the other.

    When you run, swinging one arm further back than the other also leads to back pain.

    Wear the right size shoes
    Wearing shoes that aren’t appropriate for your foot type can spell doom for your back, hips and knee. If you can’t go in for custom-made shoes, opt for special running shoes.

  • Sitar Maestro Ravi Shankar dies at 92: World Pays Tribute

    Sitar Maestro Ravi Shankar dies at 92: World Pays Tribute

    NEW YORK (TIP): Ravi Shankar, popularly known as Pandit Ravi Shankar, the revered master of the sitar who introduced Indian music to much of the Western world, died Tuesday, December11 in San Diego. He was 92. In New Delhi, Prime Minister of India mourned the music maestro’s death and described him as a “national treasure.” “An era has passed away with Pandit Ravi Shankar. The nation joins me in paying tribute to his unsurpassable genius, his art and his humility,” Singh said in his message.

    Prime Minister Manmohan Singh paid rich tribute to sitar maestro Pandit Ravi Shankar, who passed away at the age of 92 on December 11 in San Diego, USA, describing him as the “unsurpassable genius” who was India’s “one of the most effective cultural ambassadors across the world”. “An era has passed away with Pandit Ravi Shankar. The nation joins me in paying tribute to his unsurpassable genius, his art and his humility,” Singh said in his message. Mr. Shankar, whose health had been fragile for the past several years, underwent a surgery on Thursday, December 6 at the Scripps Memorial Hospital in La Jolla, California where he breathed his last.

    The music icon was admitted to the hospital last week when he complained of breathlessness. “It is with heavy hearts we write to inform you that Pandit Ravi Shankar, husband, father, and musical soul, passed away today,” his wife and daughter, Sukanya and Anoushka Shankar, said in a joint statement. “Mr. Shankar had suffered from upper-respiratory and heart issues over the past year and underwent heart-valve replacement surgery last Thursday. Though the surgery was successful, recovery proved too difficult for the 92-year-old musician,” said another statement issued by the Ravi Shankar Foundation and East Meets West Music. He is survived by his wife Sukanya; daughter Norah Jones; daughter Anoushka Shankar Wright and husband Joe Wright; three grandchildren, and four great-grandchildren.

    A recipient of Bharat Ratna in 1996, Shankar maintained residences in both India and the United States. A three-time Grammy award winner,Mr. Shankar last performed in California on November 4 along with his daughter Anoushka Shankar. Mr. Shankar has also been nominated for the 2013 Grammys for his album The Living Room Sessions Part-1 and was pitted against Anoushka in the same category. In recent months, performing, and especially touring, became increasingly difficult for the musician.

    However, health couldn’t prevent Mr. Shankar from performing with Anoushka on November 4 in Long Beach, California. “This, in what was to be his final public performance, was in fact billed as a celebration of his 10th decade of creating music,” the foundation said. A Bengali Brahmin, he was born Robindra Shankar on April 7, 1920 in Varanasi, the youngest of four brothers, and spent his first 10 years in relative poverty, brought up by his mother. He was almost eight before he met his absent father, a globe-trotting lawyer, philosopher, writer and former minister to the Maharajah of Jhalawar. In 1930, his eldest brother Uday Shankar uprooted the family to Paris, and over the next eight years Shankar enjoyed the limelight in Uday’s troupe, which toured the world introducing Europeans and Americans to Indian classical and folk dance.

    As a performer, composer and teacher,Mr. Shankar was an Indian classical artist of the highest rank, and he spearheaded the worldwide spread of Indian music and culture, said writer and editor Oliver Craske, who provided additional narrative for Mr. Shankar’s autobiography ‘Raga Mala’. Mr. Shankar achieved his greatest fame in the 1960s when he was embraced by the Western counterculture. Through his influence on his great friend George Harrison, and appearances at the Monterey and Woodstock festivals and the Concert for Bangladesh, he became a household name in the West, the first Indian musician to do so. “Ravi Shankar is the Godfather of World Music.”

    Nothing better sums up the stature of the sitar maestro perhaps than these words of George Harrison, the late Beatles member whose famous association with the Indian musician is a folklore in the world of music. While George Harrison called him the Godfather of World Music, violinist Yehudi Menuhin had compared Ravi Shankar with Mozart. “Ravi Shankar has brought me a precious gift and through him I have added a new dimension to my experience of music. To me, his genius and his humanity can only be compared to that of Mozart’s” were the words of Yehudi Menuhin who was a pupil too.

    But the man who celebrated music, also left behind his philosophy of celebrating life as it comes. So his personal life was as colorful, often controversial, as his musical journey that began in India where he was born in Varanasi on April 7, 1920. Ravi Shankar took his lessons under his illustrious guru Baba Allaudin Khan, whose daughter Annapurna was his first wife and with whom he had a son, Shubhendra Shankar who died in 1992. Allaudin Khan was the founder of the “Senia Maihar Gharana” or “Senia Maihar School” of Hindustani classical music. But it was at the age of ten that Ravi Shankar went to Paris with the dance group of his brother, choreographer Uday Shankar.

    By the age of 13 he had become a key member of the group and learned to dance and play various Indian instruments. He toured Europe and America with Uday Shankar’s dance troupe in the early to mid-1930s. It was this time that Shankar learned French, discovered Western classical music, jazz, and cinema. Few are aware that Ravi Shankar recomposed the music for the popular song “Sare Jahan Se Achcha” at the age of 25. He began to record music for HMV India and worked as a music director for All India Radio (AIR), New Delhi, from Feb 1949 to January 1956. Ravi Shankar was ahead of his times.

    According to his foundation official site, Ravi Shankar has written three concertos for sitar and orchestra, last one of which in 2008. He has also authored violinsitar compositions for Yehudi Menuhin and himself, music for flute virtuoso Jean Pierre Rampal, music for Hosan Yamamoto, master of the Shakuhachi and Musumi Miyashita – Koto virtuoso, and has collaborated with Phillip Glass George Harrison produced and participated in two record albums, “Shankar Family & Friends” and “Festival of India” both composed by Ravi Shankar. The Concert for Bangladesh, which was the name for two benefit concerts organized by George Harrison and Ravi Shankar, on Aug 1, 1971 to raise funds for the relief of Bangladesh war victims, had drawn 40,000 people at Madison Square Garden in New York City.

    The concerts were followed by a bestselling live album, a boxed three-record set, and Apple Films’ concert documentary, which opened in cinemas in the spring of 1972. Ravi Shankar has also composed for ballets and films across the world. He had worked for films like “Charly,” “Gandhi,” and more famously the “Apu Trilogy” by Satyajit Ray, another Indian maestro from the world of film making. His musical composition for Tapan Sinha’s Kabuliwala won him the Silver Bear Extraordinary Prize of the Jury at the 1957 Berlin International Film Festival. Ravi Shankar was also famously associated with The Woodstock Festival. He performed at the Woodstock Festival in August 1969.

    However, in the 1970s Shankar distanced himself from the hippie movement. Ravi Shankar was an honorary member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters and is a member of the United Nations International Rostrum of composers. Besides a Bharat Ratna in 1999, which India’s highest civilian honor, he got 14 doctorates, the Padma Vibhushan, Desikottam, Padma Bhushan of 1967, the Music Council UNESCO award 1975, the Magsaysay Award from Manila, Grammy’s, the Fukuoka grand Prize from Japan, the Polar Music Prize of 1998, the Crystal award from Davos, with the title ‘Global Ambassador’ to name some, according to his foundation’s official website. In 1986 Ravi Shankar was nominated as a member of the Rajya Sabha, India’s upper house of Parliament.

    His recording “Tana Mana”, released on the private Music label in 1987, brought his music into the “New age” with its unique method of combining traditional instruments with electronics. In 1989, this remarkable musician celebrated his 50th year of concretizing, and the city of Birmingham Touring Opera Company commissioned him to do a Music Theatre (Ghanashyam – a broken branch) which created history on the British arts scene. But his personal life was not without controversy and social scrutiny. Shankar separated from Annapurna Devi during the 1940s and had a relationship with Kamala Shastri, a dancer, beginning in the late 1940s. An affair with Sue Jones, a New York concert producer, led to the birth of today’s famous singer Norah Jones in 1979.

    In 1981, Anoushka Shankar, another talented musician, was born to Shankar and Sukanya Rajan, whom Shankar had known since the 1970s. After separating from Kamala Shastri in 1981, Shankar lived with Sue Jones until 1986. He married Sukanya Rajan in 1989. But while his personal life was under social scrutiny, his phenomenal talent eclipsed everything else. As Prime Minister Manmohan Singh aptly sums up the contribution of Ravi Shankar when he calls him “a national treasure and global ambassador of India’s cultural heritage.”

  • Shortage of Primary Care Physicians does not bode well for the Nation

    Shortage of Primary Care Physicians does not bode well for the Nation

    American medicine has long had the reputation of being the most advanced in the world. But the US today faces a looming shortage of the versatile doctors who form the backbone of its health system – generalists known as “primary care physicians” – a trend that industry experts call a threat to the nation’s health. If you look worldwide at the countries that have much better scores on health care quality measures than the United States, almost all of them have a higher percentage of their physicians engaged in primary care.

    The US is projected to have 52,000 fewer primary care physicians than needed by 2025, according to a report published in the current issue of the medical journal Annals of Family Medicine.

    The shortage threatens to exacerbate already skyrocketing medical costs in the US by diminishing access to the crucial preventative care offered by primary care physicians and prompting patients to turn to pricey specialists to treat routine maladies, health industry experts say.

    What’s more, such higher costs may actually result in worse outcomes for patients. If patients are bouncing from specialist to specialist, not only are the costs enormous, they get uncoordinated care. They get unnecessary tests, chase spurious information, and can get drug interactions because people get some medication from one physician, and other medicine from another.

    The value in primary care, medical professionals say, is the holistic approach the doctor takes when assessing a patient’s health. Building a stable relationship with a primary care doctor can help a person head off chronic diseases that incur significant financial and quality-of-life costs, they say.

    There’s something to be said for having a place to go and a therapist who knows who the patient is. They don’t have to go to see 20 different doctors and see 20 different records. The knowledge about you is all in one place.

    The increasing scarcity of primary care physicians is driven in part by the projected population growth in the US over the next two decades, as well as by the medical needs of an aging population and the tens of millions of Americans expected to be newly insured under the Affordable Care Act, US President Barack Obama’s signature health care reform.

    It is also driven by the growing income gap between primary care physicians and their counterparts in more financially lucrative specialist fields such as cardiology, medical professionals say.

    For many medical students weighed down with escalating levels of student debt, opting for a career as a specialist is a no-brainer. When young people graduate from medical school $250,000 in debt and see they can make $150,000 a year as a primary care physician, or be a cardiologist and make $450,000 a year, which one do they pick?

    The average salary for a primary care doctor in the US in 2010 was $202,392 compared to $356,885 for medical specialists, according to the US Bureau of Labor and Statistics. The reasons for this disparity are varied. One key factor, however, is that the primary care is holistic and consists of time-consuming patient encounters. These visits, however, have lower reimbursement rates than most medical procedures.

    According to a study published this week in the American Medical Journal, just 22 percent of medical students said they are planning a career in general internal medicine. Meanwhile, 64 percent of the 17,000 students polled said they wanted to become a specialist in fields such as oncology and dermatology.

    It’s a sad picture because primary care is very important. And it’s going to become even more important over the next 20 to 30 years.

  • Three countries, one center of gravity

    Three countries, one center of gravity

    United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Australia’s Defense Minister Stephen Smith, India’s National Security Advisor Shivshankar Menon and Foreign Secretary Ranjan Mathai have all spoken of the “Indo-Pacific” – a region spanning the Indian and the Pacific Oceans – as the world’s new “strategic centre of gravity.” What is behind this new-found discovery of the Indo- Pacific and does it imply a strategic convergence between these three democracies?

    A closer analysis suggests that the Indo- Pacific regional construction is driven more by a desire to resolve distinctive domestic and foreign policy preoccupations rather than promote a common regional vision. For the U.S., central policy issues include reversing the slide in its economic fortunes and dealing with the shift of power to Asia in ways that preserve existing international rules and the U.S.’s position as the world’s foremost rule-maker. Australia has long been preoccupied by the disjuncture between its geographical positioning in Asia and its historical links with the West.

    The implications of continuing a close alliance with the U.S., while growing increasingly economically enmeshed with Asia, have dominated recent foreign policy debates. The Indo-Pacific regional construction is a key part of the U.S.’s “pivot to Asia,” which Australia has supported. For both the Australian and U.S. policymakers, adopting and shaping the “Indo-Pacific” as a geostrategic category helps them resolve their key domestic and foreign policy dilemmas while maintaining their positions in the global order as a great power and middle power respectively.

    Fitting in India
    But how does India fit into this emerging concept? While India supports a basic adherence to international law, freedom of navigation and peaceful dispute settlement, it is increasingly clear that its preferred regional architecture in the “Indo-Pacific” will be shaped by the demands of its domestic economic restructuring and its continuing adherence to the principle of strategic autonomy.

    For this reason, any assumption that India will sign up to an Indo-Pacific security architecture devised in Washington and Canberra fundamentally misreads the domestic political projects that animate India’s own vision of the Indo- Pacific. To see how different domestic imperatives lead to distinctive Indo-Pacific regional constructions, we can examine some of the major regional initiatives that have recently been promoted by the U.S., Australia and India.

    Leaving out China
    The U.S. has recently launched the Trans- Pacific Partnership (TPP), a free trade initiative that does not involve China and includes trade, investment, intellectual property, health care, environmental and labor standards. It has also called for a “regional architecture of institutions and arrangements to enforce international norms on security, trade, rule of law, human rights, and accountable governance” in the Indo-Pacific region.

    These regional initiatives are built on the promotion of regulatory frameworks in the Indo-Pacific – in areas such as intellectual property rights – that serve domestic political and economic agendas, namely increasing the competitiveness of the American economy and maintaining U.S. prominence as a global rule-setter. It is thus central to emerging geo-economic competition over the regulation and rules of the regional and global political economy.

    The Australian bridge
    Australia, meanwhile, is attempting to act as a classic middle power bridge between the East and West by balancing its commitment to a U.S.-driven framework of rules and regulations with the knowledge that its economic future is increasingly intertwined with Asia and China, in particular.

    To manage these growing tensions, it has encouraged the U.S. pivot to the Indo- Pacific while advocating greater political, economic and strategic enmeshment between the U.S. and China and refocusing its attention on the Indian Ocean Rim- Association for Regional Cooperation (IORARC). Australia has also welcomed both the U.S.-centred TPP as well as the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN)- centred Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP).

    The RCEP includes China and focuses on a narrower set of issues than the TPP, excluding issues such as labor standards, which would deter China from ascension. Despite the differences between the two schemes, Australia regards the TPP and RCEP as complementary pathways to a regional free trade area and has vowed to promote the inclusion of elements such as environmental and labor standards during RCEP negotiations.

    Despite embracing the Indo-Pacific concept, India is not a member of the TPP but has joined the RCEP. The TPP’s rigid objectives of regulatory coherence do not fit with India’s stated desire for a “plural, inclusive and open security architecture in the Indo-Pacific” and India has long resisted the inclusion of non-trade related provisions in multilateral trade negotiations.

    RCEP’s provisions for “the different levels of development of the participating countries” and ASEAN’s emphasis on consensual decision-making are far more conducive to the type of regional architecture that India desires, since they are more congruent with its domestic imperatives of development and autonomy. This suggests the contested nature of the Indo-Pacific.

    Domestic imperatives also drive India’s increased attention to regional groupings like the IOR-ARC and smaller, more specialized forums that deal with issues like piracy, energy and food security. These initiatives focus on non-traditional security issues, which India sees as posing the most significant external threat to its economic development.

    This bottom-up, issue-driven approach to Indo- Pacific regionalism may prove, over the long run, to be more sustainable than the elitedriven regional projects that were the hallmark of Asia-Pacific regionalism. Hence, a new “Indo-Pacific” era may well be dawning. But the adoption of the concept in the foreign policy debates and vocabularies of India, Australia and the United States reflect a heightened focus in all three countries on domestic political and economic challenges rather than a strategic convergence or a common regional vision.

  • Recovering After Operation, Chavez May Miss Swearing-In

    Recovering After Operation, Chavez May Miss Swearing-In

    CARACAS, VENEZUELA (TIP): Somber confidants of President Hugo Chavez say he is going through a difficult recovery after cancer surgery in Cuba, and one close ally is warning Venezuelans that their leader may not make it back for his swearing-in next month. Information minister Ernesto Villegas said on Dec 12 that Chavez was in “stable condition” and was with close relatives in Havana. Reading a statement, he said the government invites people to “accompany President Chavez in this new test with their prayers” . Villegas expressed hope about the president returning home for his Janurary 10 swearing-in for a new sixyear term, but said in a written message on a government website that if Chavez doesn’t make it, “our people should be prepared to understand it” .

    He said it would be irresponsible to hide news about the “delicateness of the current moment and the days to come.” He asked Venezuelans to see Chavez’s condition as “when we have a sick father, in a delicate situation after four surgeries in a year and a half.” Moving to prepare the public for the possibility of more bad news, Vice President Nicolas Maduro looked grim when he acknowledged that Chavez faced a “complex and hard” process after his latest surgery. At the same time, officials sought to show a united front amid the growing worries about Chavez’s health and Venezuela’s future. Key leaders of Chavez’s party and military officers appeared together on television as Maduro gave updates on Chavez’s condition.

  • Lifestyle diseases you Should Take Seriously

    Lifestyle diseases you Should Take Seriously

    Communicable diseases like malaria, cholera and polio have become manageable due to recent advancements in medicines. However, a new breed of diseases has developed, called ‘Lifestyle diseases’ such as heart disease, some cancers and diabetes, which are no longer a problem just in wealthy nations. Globally 14.2 million people between the ages of 30-69 years die prematurely each year from these diseases. These diseases have emerged as bigger killers than infectious or hereditary ones. Risk factors for these diseases include tobacco use, unhealthy diets and physical inactivity. Today we will take look at the most common lifestyle diseases that you need to take seriously.

    Obesity

    Unhealthy eating habits, super-sizing meals, and reduced physical exercise all translate to obesity. A person with excessive weight suffers with breathing problems, blood pressure, cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, etc.

    The NFHS figures suggest that currently India ranks second with 155 million obese citizens and are increasing at 33-51% every year.

    Type II diabetes
    Obesity becomes the cause for other health problems such as Type II Diabetes which is the non-insulin dependent form, and generally develops in adults.

    The International Diabetes Federation suggests that India has the largest number of people who suffer with type 2 diabetes at around 40.9 million people.

    Arteriosclerosis

    This is a group of diseases that occur when the arterial blood vessel walls thicken and lose elasticity. Atherosclerosis is when fatty plaques deposit in the arterial walls and cause blood circulation disorders, chest pain, and heart attacks. It is linked with diabetes, obesity and a high BP.Around 30% to 40% of cardiovascular
    deaths happen in India among the age group of 34-64 years of age.

    Heart disease
    This refers to abnormalities that affect the heart muscle and blood vessel walls. The major factors involved in its development are smoking, diabetes and high cholesterol intake. India ranks No.1 in cardiac patients, around 50 million people in India suffer from heart problems.

    High blood pressure
    When the reading is 140/90 or higher, the BP is considered to be high. Hypertension results from a variety of reasons like stress, obesity, genetic factors, overuse of salt in the diet and ageing. In India, more than 100 million people have high blood pressure.

    Swimmer’s ear
    Swimmer’s ear is inflammation, irritation, or infection of the outer ear and ear canal. Buzzing or ringing ears, or difficulty in understanding speech patterns are its symptoms.

    Swimmer’s ears results due to loud music and constant use of headphones. An estimated of 12.5% have suffered permanent damage to their hearing in India from excessive exposure to noise, and the number is growing each year.

    Cancer
    Cancer includes any hysterical, irregular cell growth. The types of cancer could include lung cancer due to prolonged smoking, skin cancer due to too much exposure to the sun etc. Cancer killed almost 5,56,400 people across the country in 2011.

    Stroke
    A stroke results when a blood vessel carrying blood to the brain has a blockage, thus creating an oxygen deficiency for the area of the brain it was carrying it to. Indian studies have shown that about 10% to 15% of strokes occur in people below the age of 40 years.

    Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease

    This is a disease described by a progressive, permanent obstruction of the airways. Smoking and air pollution are factors as well as reasons for worsening of this condition. Percentage of adults diagnosed with COBD in the past year: 4.3 million.

    Cirrhosis

    Cirrhosis refers to a group of liver disorders. Heavy alcohol consumption and chronic hepatitis may be listed as causes.In India, approximately 36,149 people die each year due to cirrhosis.

    Nephritis
    This includes kidney disease characterized by swelling of the kidneys and abnormal function. Around 39,480 deaths are estimated due to nephritis each year in India.

  • Light up your haven

    Light up your haven

    Looking to set a mood? Just try turning on a lamp. The right type of lighting can create atmosphere, define spaces and spotlight prized possessions. The wrong type can make you sleepy, cause headaches and lead to accidents while performing even the simplest tasks.

    My philosophy in lighting design is that the most important thing to address is the feeling that you get from lighting. You have to know what’s comfortable and what works for you.

    Consider the room’s primary function, focal points, seating, colour scheme (dark absorbs light, pale reflects it) and desired mood. Then look at the home’s inhabitants, the bulb life, your budget, and the amount and quality of light required.
    TYPES OF LIGHTING

    General or ambient
    Overall illumination may come from one central source, like a ceiling fixture, or from several individual sources. Keep in mind that a level brightness is required to perform everyday tasks, but dimmers can be added to alter the atmosphere.

    Task
    Task lighting illuminates workspaces. If you already have overhead fluorescent lighting, opt for an incandescent table lamp .The balance between light sources — instead of shifting eyes from bright to dark areas — will help prevent headaches and eyestrain.

    Accent
    Dramatic accent lighting is excellent for highlighting focal points and a few of your favourite things. To effectively accent, you need to provide three times the level of general lighting. Too much accent lighting will destroy the effect and wash out the room.

    Bulbs
    Once you know the effect you’d like to achieve, it’s time to pick the appropriate bulb.
    INCANDESCENTS: Inexpensive, widely available in various shapes and sizes, and easy to install, filament bulbs are a popular choice. However, these bulbs often burn out quickly. Reflector bulbs, an incandescent subgroup, have a narrow, controlled beam that projects double the amount of light of typical filament bulbs. Parabolic reflectors have an even narrower beam, shining four times the light.

    HALOGENS: Technically a subset of incandescents, halogens combine filaments with gas to create a brighter, whiter light. Although these bulbs are typically more expensive than incandescents, they last longer, can be dimmed and conserve energy. Low-voltage halogens provide the same type of light but in a controlled beam, practical for all lighting effects.

    FLUORESCENTS: Available in long tubes and compact bulbs, fluorescents last 10 times longer than incandescents, burn about five times brighter, consume less energy and emit little heat — but can’t be dimmed. So, which to choose? The trick is to match the type of light source with your decor. You have to integrate it into the full design. For a room with warm materials such as wood and terracotta, incandescent yellow or orange hues work well. With cooler tones, such as grey and blue, whiter halogens are a better choice as they render a room’s colours truer than incandescent and fluorescents. For energy efficiency, though, choose fluorescents, especially in areas that you tend to leave lights on, for example hallways, kitchens and laundry rooms. More important than what you decide upon, is when. After a new house is built or following renovations, rewiring can be messy— and expensive. So, go right ahead and light up your haven in the New Year!

  • Tips to Heal Chappy Lips in Winter

    Tips to Heal Chappy Lips in Winter

    Exposure to harsh winter can drain moisture from your skin. Your lips being the most delicate and soft are the worst sufferers.

    Chapped lips not only look bad, they can be very painful if not taken care of.

    Moisturisers can get help you getting soft and supple skin, oil can bring back lost moisture and lip balms surely help keep your lips soft and crack-free.

    Here are some effective ways to say goodbye to chapped lips this winter by skin expert, Eleganza Rejuvenation Clinic, Dr Seema Malik.

    1)First and foremost always go for creambased lip balms that will soothe your lips.
    2)Avoid licking lips as this tends to dry out your lips more. Over-application of balms encourages licking so try to get your hands on flavourless lip balms.
    3) Avoid glosses and long wear lip colour which can have an alcohol base and dry lips out even more.
    4) Stay hydrated and drink adequate water and juices to keep your lips hydrated and nourished from inside.
    5)Matte lipstciks also add greatly to dryness so avoid them and go for lipsticks with vitamin E or with good moisturising properties.
    6)Apply vitamin E to your chapped lips to soothe, relieve and take away the chapping, break open a capsule and apply it on your lips overnight.
    7)If your lips are flaky and dull then start with is an exfoliator. Go for a little sugar mixed in your lips balm and lightly scrub over lips. This will remove dry dead skin creating a fresh layer of moist skin.
    8)You can also use a soft toothbrush to softly buff your lips to remove the deposit of dead cells that will only cause more drying and flaking.
    9) Follow this with Vaseline or a hydrating lip balm, do this at night as this is the best time to heal.
    10) Keep up the routine of applying medicated lip balm with good SPF or reapply the balm.
    11)If you want to keep it more natural and subtle then apply some malai (milk cream) mixed with lemon drops before you go to bed.

  • Indians Now Live Longer, but in Poor Health in Old Age: Study

    Indians Now Live Longer, but in Poor Health in Old Age: Study

    NEW DELHI (TIP): First the good news: Indians are living much longer than they did 40 years ago. The life expectancy (LE) at birth of an average Indian male has gone up by 15 years between 1970 and 2010, while that of an Indian woman by 18 years. An average Indian man can expect to live for as long as 63 years, while an Indian woman can live 4.5 years longer than her male counterpart.

    However, the number of years they stay healthy is much lesser. An Indian male can claim to be in good health till he reaches the age of 54.6 years, and is expected to spend the last nine years of his life suffering from various ailments. On the other hand, when it comes to an average Indian woman, though she is expected to live till 67.5 years, she will remain healthy till 57.1 years – spending over a decade, or 10.4 years in poor health.

    The Global Burden of Disease Study, 2010 — the largest ever study to describe the global distribution and causes of a wide array of major diseases, injuries and health risk factors — has found that even though there is reason to cheer over an Indian’s increasing lifespan, it is still much shorter than an average Chinese or an American. An average Chinese male is living 10 years longer than an Indian male, while a Chinese woman is living 11.5 years longer than her Indian counterpart. An average American lives nearly 13 years longer than an Indian.

    Published in the most prestigious British medical journal, The Lancet, the study was conducted over five years by 486 authors from over 300 institutes in 50 countries, including India. A common practice in Indian households – mainly in rural settings of burning wood, coal and animal dung as fuel in chulhas — has proved to be the greatest enemy for Indians. While globally, high blood pressure was the single biggest causative agent of disease, it was indoor air pollution (IAP) for Indians. The WHO had earlier said that burning solid fuels to prepare their meals emit carbon monoxide, benzene and formaldehyde which can result in pneumonia, asthma, blindness, lung cancer, tuberculosis and low birth weight. WHO estimates that pollution levels in rural Indian kitchens are 30 times higher than recommended levels and six times higher than air pollution levels found in the national Capital.

    The other threats to normal Indians include diet low in fruits, high blood glucose levels, alcohol use, iron deficiency, sub optimal breast feeding, low physical activity and occupational injuries. Tobacco smoking, including secondhand smoke, caused nearly 6.3 million deaths across the globe. With India being one of the world’s major tobacco users, most of these deaths may have happened here. Lower back pain — a common phenomenon among Indians — has been found to be the leading cause of years lived with disability (YLD) globally. Pain in the neck along with depressive disorders and iron deficiency anemia made up the top four leading causes of YLD.

  • Eat eggs for breakfast to fight flab

    Eat eggs for breakfast to fight flab

    Eggs are the best way to start the day for those who want to lose weight. A major UK review of studies into the effects of eating eggs has found that egg contains a powerful ingredient that can help to cut the amount of calories people go on to eat at lunch and dinner. Scientists say boiled, fried, poached or scrambled, eggs keep people fuller for longer compared with other common breakfast foods.

    This appears to help people who are desperately trying to resist tempting but naughty afternoon snacks such as biscuits, cake or chocolate. The review, published in the journal Network Health Dietitian, also revealed that the specific proteins found in eggs are far superior to other types when it comes to keeping hunger at bay.

    Dietitian Dr Carrie Ruxton examined the results of six different studies over eight years. The studies show a consistent effect on satiety and short-term energy intake. Two studies found changes in appetite-related gut hormones, which may explain why egg-eaters feel full. A single, longer-term study revealed that people who ate an egg breakfast rather than having cereal had a significantly greater weight loss and lost inches around the waist.

    “While more research is needed, particularly on longterm weight loss, the evidence suggests a promising role for eggs in weight management,” the Daily Express quoted Dr Ruxton as saying. He also noted two additional benefits of including eggs in a weight loss diet.

    The first is portion control. Dr Ruxton said that since eggs come in a fixed unit of around 78 calories per egg, this helps people to recognise how much they have consumed.

    Secondly, he said, the vitamin D content of eggs may help to support general health in overweight people since vitamin D levels are known to be low in this group, leading to an increased risk of diabetes and heart disease. “There are few natural sources of vitamin D in the diet so eggs can play a role here too,” he added. An average egg contains a high level of protein at 6.5g, representing 13 per cent of an adult’s daily requirement

  • Malawi appoints Bobby K. Kalotee ‘Liaison Envoy’

    Malawi appoints Bobby K. Kalotee ‘Liaison Envoy’

    NEW YORK (TIP): President Joyce Banda of the Republic of Malawi has appointed a prominent Indian American Bobby K. Kalotee as Malawi’s “Liaison Envoy” to India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. President said Bobby will be the bridge to fill in the gap between Malawi and the South Asian Countries. It’s an endeavor to rebuild Malawi’s economy. The Government of Malawi has instituted a recovery program called Malawi Economic Recovery Program (ERP). This is an economic road map that has identified five strategic sectors that collectively constitute the driver of the Economic Recovery Process.

    The President added Malawi being an Agro Based economy, agriculture is at the heart of the program as it seeks to fully commercialize and industrialize the sector.

    President is confident that Bobby will utilize the knowledge he gained growing up in the farmland of Punjab (Punjab is known to be the bread basket of India). President has sent a directive to all embassies of Malawi in South Asian Region to assist the new Envoy in achieving “our goals for the best interest of Malawians”. Jack Brewer former NFL legend and presently Senior Advisor to Hon. President Joyce Banda read out the Letter of Appointment to the attendees at the special function held in Long Island to celebrate the appointment.

    The appointment letter, inter alia, said,” Bobby’s goal will be to facilitate relationships and make improvements in the area of Agriculture and health care in Malawi”. Bobby K. Kalotee said he humbly accepted the honor which “the President, the People and the Government of Malawi have bestowed on me.” He said, “I will devote and work hard to assist and help Malawi to achieve the goals of the President’s initiatives.

    I ask all my fellow South Asians to graciously join me in this humanitarian effort to empower the People of Malawi in the field of agriculture and health care. Just as Punjab has become the agricultural pinnacle of India and Pakistan, they will be used as a model to show the people of Malawi how to achieve the same”. Bobby firmly believes that Malawi can be the bread basket of south east Africa. The special event was attended by over 400 People, with over 25 prominent leaders from different communities who spoke and echoed similar feelings about Bobby’s charitable disposition.

    At times of crises, such as the earthquake, floods or other natural disasters anywhere in the world, Bobby was at the forefront with containers of clothes, food, blankets, medicine, tents and basic items for kids at the time of their needs. NYC Public Advocate Bill DeBlasio was the guest of Honor.

  • Inder Kumar Gujral A Gentle Statesman Prime Minister

    Inder Kumar Gujral A Gentle Statesman Prime Minister

    Born on the 4th of December in 1919, in the district headquarter town of Jhelum in the then Rawalpindi division of pre-1947 united Punjab, former Prime Minister of India Shri Inder Kumar Gujral died just four days short of turning ninety three on October 30, 2012.

    Throughout his long eventful life, he remained a very decent and gentle human being. He never ruffled any feathers. His father Avtar Narain Gujral, a freedom fighter, and mother Pushpa Gujral were both very suave and soft spoken individuals and social workers. Academically Inder Kumar Gujral was a very bright student. He completed his education up to 10th standard from his native place Jhelum. For his college education he moved to Punjab’s capital of Lahore, from where he graduated in arts.

    While studying in Lahore, he inculcated love and affinity for Urdu/Persian as a language and developed special interest in Urdu poetry and became an ardent listener of “Ghazals. He especially liked the voices of Kundan Lal Saigal, Mallika Pukhraj, Mehdi Hassan and Begum Akhtar.While studying in Lahore, he came in contact with some freedom fighters and some left leaning student activists. He was always considerate towards the poor and the under privileged and this tendency brought him into the fold of the Communist Party of India for some time.

    In 1947, India attained its hard fought independence from the British Raj, which resulted in painful partition of the province of Punjab. Ugly riots of unseen dimensions erupted thereafter and a lot of humanity was massacred for no reason or rhyme. Inder Kumar Gujral’s parents entered India through the bloody Lahore – Amritsar corridor and finally settled in Jalandhar, but Inder Kumar Gujral himself, along with his wife traveled all the way to Karachi, from where they sailed to Bombay. From Bombay they came by train to New Delhi, where they virtually starved at the railway station for three days and nights.

    Eventually Inder Kumar Gujral settled in New Delhi, but maintained a strong bond with his parental place of residence in Jalandhar. Mrs. Indira Gandhi liked Mr. Gujral’s uncommon humility and intellectual brilliance. She made him the union minister for information and broadcasting during early nineteen seventies. As a minister Mr. Gujral strengthened the Urdu Service of All India Radio with high powered medium-wave transmitters located at Rajkot and Jalandhar. He streamlined all the language services to the neighboring countries like Pakistan, Bangladesh, Tibet, China, Afghanistan, the Middle-East and Iran.

    He was also instrumental in taking first steps towards expansion of government owned television services in several important areas away from New Delhi. Under his able stewardship, government television was successfully introduced in Bombay, Amritsar and Srinagar and several other projects all over India were planned, which included the establishment of a modern television studio complex for the state of Punjab in Jalandhar. After the promulgation of national internal emergency in 1975, Mrs. Indira Gandhi took away the portfolio of information and broadcasting from I.K. Gujral.

    She sent him to Moscow as India’s Ambassador to the Soviet Union. This was a very important assignment. His stay in Moscow was instrumental in furtherance of Indo-Soviet cooperation. When Mrs. Indira Gandhi lost power in the general elections of 1977, her successor Morarji Desai did not replace him and kept him in his Moscow assignment throughout his own two year long tenure. After P.V. Narsimha Rao’s scandal ridden five year tenure was over in 1996, the Congress was badly defeated.

    Even the main opposition the Bharatiya Janata Party could not win enough seats to form a government on its own. At that time a coalition government under the banner of united front government headed by Deve Gowda of Karnataka was formed in New Delhi. It was supported by the Congress from outside. Mr. Gujral served as the Union Minister of External Affairs of India.

    Within ten months the patience of Congress ran out and Dewe Gouda was shown the door. He was replaced by his most gentle foreign minister, a suave and humble parliamentarian Inder Kumar Gujral. During his scandal free but not too long prime ministerial tenure in 1997, Mr. Gujral improved India’s relations with all the neighboring countries including Pakistan, China and Bangladesh.

    Unfortunately his term was also abruptly cut short. As the Prime Minister I.K. Gujral did a lot for Punjab. He wrote off entire loan obtained by the Government of Punjab to fight militancy during the eighties and nineties. He strengthened the broadcasting services in Punjab by strengthening the existing medium-wave transmitters with high powered ones. He wanted to establish an international airport in Punjab, which could serve the needs of the Punjabi diaspora spread all over the world.

    His desire was to establish this airport on the Jalandhar – Kapurthala Highway. But land was too expensive in that area. Eventually he agreed to let the existing Rajah Sansi Airport on the outskirts of Amritsar to be upgraded to an international airport. For Jalandhar, however he did a lot. As prime minister he took personal interest to sanction money for a lot of road over rail bridges.

    In Kapurthala, he sanctioned the establishment of an ultra-modern high tech science city, which is now the biggest tourist attraction of Kapurthala and the Bist Doab region.

    For the past few months in 2012, he was not keeping good health. When he breathed his last on Friday November 30, the entire nation was plunged into mourning for a departed gentle statesman. A seven day mourning has been ordered by the Government of India.

    During this periods, the national flag of India will fly all over the world at half mast.We salute Inder Kumar Gujral for what he was and what he stood for.

  • Four Indian Americans Named 2013 Marshall Scholars

    Four Indian Americans Named 2013 Marshall Scholars

    WASHINGTON (TIP): Four Indian Americans are among the recipients of the prestigious Marshall Scholarships, giving them the opportunity to study at a university of their choice in Britain next autumn. The two-year scholarship is distributed to approximately 40 promising young American students by the Marshal Aid Commemoration Commission every year. The Indian-American winners are Aditya Ashok from Boston College, Aditya Balasubramanian from Harvard University, Paras Minhas from the University of Pittsburgh and Rahul Rekhi from Rice University. Ashok, a history and biology graduate, served in numerous leadership positions on campus during his time as copresident of the AIDS Awareness Committee. He recently served as an intern at the Office of National AIDS Policy at the White House.

    He will be studying global health at the University of Glasgow from August 2013. Rekhi, a Barry M. Goldwater and Harry S. Truman Scholar, has participated in several health and policy-based internships at organizations like Beyond Traditional Borders, the World Health Organization and the National Science Foundation. He has chosen to study biomedical engineering at the University of Oxford, where he will receive his master’s degree. Balasubramanian will be studying econometrics and mathematical economics at the London School of Economics and Political Science. For about a year, he worked at the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab in New Delhi and focused on the inner workings of political and campaign processes. Minhas, who will be studying molecular cell biology at the University College London next autumn is interested in furthering his career as a physician and scientist. Minhas has received countless awards in college, including a coveted Goldwater Scholarship. He is currently an Amgen Scholar at MIT and Research Fellow at the Mayo Clinic.

  • Marijuana Legal in Washington State

    Marijuana Legal in Washington State

    SEATTLE (TIP): Legal marijuana possession becomes a reality under Washington state law on Thursday, and some people planned to celebrate the new law by breaking it. Voters in Washington and Colorado last month made those the first states to decriminalize and regulate the recreational use of marijuana. Washington’s law takes effect on Thursday and allows adults to have up to an ounce of pot — but it bans public use of marijuana, which is punishable by a fine, just like drinking in public.

    Nevertheless, some people planned to gather at 12 am on Thursday to smoke up in public beneath Seattle’s Space Needle. Others planned a midnight party outside the Seattle headquarters of Hempfest, the 21- year-old festival that attracts tens of thousands of pot fans every summer. “This is a big day because all our lives we’ve been living under the iron curtain of prohibition,” said Hempfest director Vivian McPeak. “The whole world sees that prohibition just took a body blow.” Seattle police spokesman Sgt Sean Whitcomb said he doesn’t expect officers to write many tickets to the celebrants.

    Thanks to a 2003 law, marijuana enforcement remains the department’s lowest priority. Even before Initiative 502 was passed on November 6, police rarely busted people at Hempfest, despite widespread pot use, and the city attorney doesn’t prosecute people for having small amounts of marijuana. Washington’s new law doesn’t decriminalise selling marijuana remains illegal. I-502 gives the state a year to come up with a system of state-licensed growers, processors and retail stores, with the marijuana taxed 25% at each stage. Analysts have estimated that a legal pot market could bring Washington hundreds of millions of dollars a year in new tax revenue for schools, health care and basic government functions.

    But marijuana remains illegal under federal law. That means federal agents can still arrest people for it, and it’s banned from federal properties, including military bases and national parks. The justice department has not said if it will sue to try to block regulatory schemes in Washington and Colorado from taking effect.

  • Workout at Home

    Workout at Home

    While a common complaint of most people is that they don’t find time to go to the gym, there is always the option of utilising a small space in your home for working out. Depending on your exercising routine, you may require a small to a large space and little equipment. Just make sure the area you choose is a cool well-ventilated space and has an air conditioner or fans.

    Get equipped

    When putting you home gym space together, it’s important to purchase the right equipment. If you’re just starting training, it’s best to keep the machines to the minimal. A good exercising mat is needed for push-ups, other stretching exercises and yoga. It’s also easy to store and doesn’t require much space. Buying a small treadmill or a stepper can be good to get some cardio. A fitness ball and dumbbells are some other items you may need.

    Designed to fit
    You don’t need to spend much on the interiors of your personal gym but adding mirrors can help. It will not only make the space appear larger than it actually is, but also enable you to see what you’re doing right or wrong. Mirrors also contribute in making the room appear brighter as they reflect light. A music system can also help to keep your mood upbeat.

  • Things Women Notice about men right away

    Things Women Notice about men right away

    First impressions may be made in moments, but they predict the course your relationships follow. So if you know what exactly about you draws in the votes, you can perfect it — and do better with the opposite sex. So what do women notice immediately?

    According to Dr Gordon Patzer, author of Looks: Why They Matter More Than You Ever Imagined, and one of the world’s leading authorities on physical attractiveness, a lot of what women notice in the first few minutes is appearancebased. “A substantial portion of the six features of a man are apparent, in terms of height, weight and overall physical attractiveness,” he says. And when appearances don’t make the cut, the door slams shut on further interactions. Here’s a list of things to keep that door open.

    Physical stature
    Yep, you knew this already: size matters. Height and weight are right on top of the list of things women notice. “Too much or too little of either immediately classifies the man as unattractive to women, and closes the door before less physically obviously features (such as confidence) can be determined,” says Dr Patzer. Take heart though, the acceptable range is influenced by the woman’s own height and weight.

    Appearances and attractiveness
    Yes, beauty is skin deep, but it’s going to get women to explore what lies beneath. Attractiveness does include what you were born with, but your genes alone can’t scuttle your chances. What really counts is what you do with your hair, clothes, grooming and basic hygiene. If you can’t make the effort, women certainly are not going to work hard to learn more about you!

    Smile
    Once women are done assessing your overall build, women will look at your smile. “The ability to smile, particularly within the first few minutes of meeting, sends a welcoming, non-hostile signal to women,” says Dr Patzer. There is one proviso though — the smile must show off reasonably goodlooking teeth. It’s never too late to fix an appointment with the dentist!

    Humor
    Another reason to show off those pearly whites! Women like men who have the ability to laugh. Even better, make the woman laugh. That instantly nets you bonus points!

    Confidence
    Women find confident men attractive. According to Dr Sameer Malhotra, head of psychiatry and psychotherapy department at Fortis Hospital in New Delhi, within the first few minutes of meeting, women will not only suss out your level of confidence, they will also interpret the vibes you give out and how you think. “Women notice how clear or decisive you are and whether you approach things positively.” Just remember, cockiness and arrogance are not the same as confidence!

    Conversation
    Men have successfully given womankind the impression of being strong and silent. So women aren’t expecting you to have mad talking skills. All you’ve got to do hold her attention. “We know (scientifically) that the more or longer that a woman gets to know a man, the more physically attractive he becomes in her mind,” says Dr Patzer. Women are looking for someone to keep up the conversation — so forget the one-liners, just be yourself !

  • Balasaheb Keshav Thackeray The Tiger Of Maharastra

    Balasaheb Keshav Thackeray The Tiger Of Maharastra

    In over 40 years since he plunged into social life, there was never an occasion for which Hindu Hriday Samrat (the King of Hindu Hearts) Bal Thackeray lacked an opinion. Whether it was on national politics, arts, sports or any other issue, he always had something witty or vitriolic to say and excelled in bringing the country’s financial capital to a standstill whenever needed. Born Bal Keshav Thackeray, to writer and political leader Keshav Sitaram Thackeray, on 23 January 1926 he perhaps had an early exposure to the regional politics of the time as his father was an integral part of the Samayukta Maharashtra movement to form the state of Maharashtra with Mumbai as its capital. He never matriculated from high school but knew how to wield the language more effectively than most, initially using them to greatest effect in his cartoons. Working as a cartoonist with the Free Press Journal in the 1950s, Thackeray signed his cartoons as ‘Mava’ and continued with the publication until he left to join another newspaper News Day. The paper didn’t survive very long and left without a job he started the weekly Marmikin 1960, along with his younger brother Shrikant, also a cartoonist. Often vitriolic, Marmik espoused the cause of the Maharashtrian people and in 1966, as his influence rose in the state by leaps, Thackeray founded the Shiv Sena, which claimed to be a revival of the army of Maratha king Shivaji. His first rally was held on Dussehra on 30 October 1966 in Shivaji Park in central Mumbai, close to his family home. He may have been slightly built, but his words were strong and incisive, making his first rally a grand success, which set the foundation for the growth of the Shiv Sena, symbolised by the fierce roaring tiger that he had drawn himself. The Shiv Sena did not claim to have an interest in politics, Thackeray said and in his rallies he said he wanted his Maharashtrian audience to realise how they were being deprived of their rights and what they could do about it.

    He raised social issues that affected the common middle class Maharashtrian man like the unemployment of the youth, discrimination in employment and erosion of pride that the community had at one time in history. He based his first campaign on the unemployment of the Maharashtrian youth, blaming south Indians for filling up posts that they could have been open to educated local youth.

    It was the politics of entitlement that the Sena preached and it found an eager audience in the form of unemployed educated Marathi youth and men stuck in jobs that seemed to lead nowhere.

    South Indian restuarants faced the brunt of the campaign with Shiv Sena activists targeting them. Gyan Prakash in his book Mumbai Fables describing the Shiv Sena pramukh (head) explains why Thackeray appealed to a disgruntled Maharashtrian community in the city that they had come to with dreams of glamour and had to settle for much less: Only forty years old when he founded the Shiv Sena, Thackeray presented himself as a fearless youthful leader of a new type, one able to bend feckless bureaucrats, the older generation, the elites, and evil enemies to the force of his will. Unlike most political leaders he did not advocate asceticism and sacrifice. He expressed feelings that most disaffected young men may have felt but dared not articulate.

    Openly advocating material acquisition and pleasure, he absolved “them from their feelings of guilt for failing to support their families or for their attractions to the hedonistic pursuits of life.” The Shiv Sena took to politics soon enough with a pitched battle against the Communist Party, which had until its arrival, dominated unions in the city and held sway over the functioning of Mumbai’s biggest industry, the textile mills. Initially the Shiv Sena was content to back a Congress candidate against a Communist one, but soon after the party stepped into active politics taking on the communist parties. Thackeray shrugged off claims of being an alternate front for the Congress and instead continued to build the party through shakhas (branches) in each area of Mumbai, a political strategy adopted from the RSS. In a nation where politicians claimed to follow the philosophies of Mahatma publicly, the Sena never shied away from violence and always endorsed action over thought and words. In 1969 when Thackeray was arrested for allegedly organising protests against the then deputy Prime Minister Morarji Desai, the city was thrown into chaos by rioting activists who were silenced only by a statement from their leader. However, it also meant that Thackeray would never again do anything that would result in him getting arrested or being thrown into jail. It was perhaps an unwritten rule in Maharashtra’s politics that he was not to be arrested in order to maintain the peace with the Shiv Sena. He was arrested on one other occasion but was quickly granted bail before the situation went out of hand in Mumbai. In keeping with his right wing philosophy, Thackeray also took on the Muslim community in Mumbai within years of forming the Shiv Sena.

    In the 1960s and early 1970s, Bhiwandi, a suburb near the edge of the city that housed powerlooms, was his first target for its high Muslim population mainly powerloom workers who had come from states like Uttar Pradesh. The Sena in the 1970s was largely muted barring a few agitations and despite its anti-government stance, the Shiv Sena and Thackeray remained silent throughout the period of the Emergency.

    It was in the 1980s through electoral victories in municipal elections the Sena grew in strength and the tiger was ready to pounce when the opportunity arose in the 1990s in the form of the Babri Masjid riots and subsequent 1993 serial blasts. Following the Babri Masjid riots and riots erupting in parts of the country, Thackeray wrote scathing editorials in his newspaper ‘Saamna’, making veiled calls for action against the Muslim community and in the bloodbath that followed in the city, many blamed him for instigating violence. The Srikrishna report which probed the riots recommended action against Thackeray, but coming while the BJP-Shiv Sena government was in power, nothing of any consequence was done. Subsequent governments also never followed up on it.

    The Shiv Sena which had allied with the BJP in the 1980s, swept into power in 1995 aided by a pro-Hindutva sentiment and Thackeray, despite never contesting elections, held the remote control to the Manohar Joshi-led state government. The easiest way to circumvent the government became Thackeray’s endorsement.

    An Enron power plant, that subsequently had to be shut down, and a Michael Jackson concert in the city were perhaps classic examples of the Shiv Sena leader contorting his own stand in order to finally favour those who sought it. Thackeray always loved to jump into matters pertaining to culture

    From films to art, Thackeray introduced a culture of intolerance towards anything that he deemed against ‘Indian culture’ or offended his sensibilities. The hounding of artist MF Hussain into an exile from which he never returned, a campaign against Valentines Day, a ‘chaddi’ march to the erstwhile friend Dilip Kumar’s house to object to him accepting an award from Pakistan and bringing down the shutters of theatres screening films like ‘Fire’ were among the Sena’s notable achievements in this regard. Despite being the editor of two newspapers, he also didn’t care much for criticism from fellow journalists and scribes writing critical pieces on him faced violent attacks by Shiv Sainiks.

    In some cases even carrying the statements of opposing leaders was enough to invite the party’s ire. However, the period when his party was at its peak was also perhaps the time of great personal tumult for the leader. He lost his wife Meena in 1995 and his son Bindhumadhav in a road accident in 1996. Bindumadhav was perhaps the heir apparent until his demise. His second son Jaidev broke away from the Shiv Sena and remained estranged from his family, despite staying a few buildings away from the family residence.

    His youngest son Uddhav chose to stay away from politics and was rarely seen, but there was a bright beacon in the form of his nephew Raj, who ran the Shiv Udyog Sena. Political stewards managed the state and its politics but none were ever bigger than Thackeray in stature or power. Finally when Uddhav decided he was ready for politics he was heralded in as the future head of the Shiv Sena. However, this resulted in the nephew, who had waited in the wings for years to take centre stage, to take flight and he formed his own political party, that embraced a similar ideology and manner of functioning to the Shiv Sena.

    Thackeray, who was an ardent critic of the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty and used their example to criticise dynastic politics, perhaps might have noted the irony of the situation when his grandson Aditya was also roped in to run the party’s youth wing. Raj wasn’t the only one to leave the Sena disgruntled. Regional leaders rose, battled for control of the party and finally would leave when they failed to get the power they desired. Thackeray and the Sena preferred to let them go rather with their vote bases than let them rise above the family.

    In the early 2000s, deteriorating health forced Thackeray onto the sidelines as his son Uddhav took over the operations of the party and was rarely seen in public barring public rallies. Always fond of his cigars and alcohol, Thackeray even had to give them up as his health deteriorated.

    Despite his worsening health and campaigning across the state in an attempt to revive the party, the Sena failed to achieve the heights it achieved in the 1990s. In his last few years, a frail Thackeray only appeared for the Shiv Sena’s annual rally in Shivaji Park, to hurl a few barbs at his enemies and to appeal for more support for his son. He restricted himself to editorials and interviews in his own paper ‘Saamna’ until his last days, sometimes raising a titter or mild outrage with his comments. But for the man whose words brought the city that never slept to a grinding halt while he sat on his throne in Bandra, it was indeed a tame ending.

  • Indian-American Denies His Energy Drink Responsible for Deaths

    Indian-American Denies His Energy Drink Responsible for Deaths

    WASHINGTON (TIP): The Indian- American founder and CEO of 5-Hour Energy has denied suggestions that the popular drink is responsible for 13 deaths in the past four years following a report that US authorities are looking into the claims. The idea that the drink is to blame for killing anyone is like comparing “drinking a bottle of water today, and then thousands of people died the next day; that somehow it’s linked,” said Lucknow-born Manoj Bhargava. “It’s just false,” Fox News said quoting him.

    The reports were first detailed by The New York Times and Bhargava said he would not expect this from the Times. “They should not be making this mistake,” Bhargava told Fox News, adding that the people making these claims were “just after some money”. The news follows the US Food and Drug Administration’s disclosure last month that it is investigating reports of five deaths that may be related to Monster Beverage’s namesake drinks. “Caffeine is a good thing,” Bhargava said. “The only thing that we get about caffeine is from reporters, who really have no clue what caffeine does.”

    FDA spokesperson Shelly Burgess said that 5-hour Energy, sold by Living Essentials, has been mentioned in some 90 FDA filings since 2009, including more than 30 that involved serious or life-threatening events like heart attacks, convulsions and, in one case, a spontaneous abortion, the New York Times reported. The Times said another federal agency, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, reported late last year that more than 13,000 emergency room visits in 2009 were associated with energy drinks alone.

    Elaine Lutz, spokeswoman for Living Essentials, the company that distributes 5- hour Energy, said in a statement that the product “is not an energy drink” (the socalled shot comes in a bottle that holds less than two ounces). “Living Essentials takes reports of any potential adverse event tied to our products very seriously.We fully comply with all of our reporting requirements,” it said, adding that the company is “unaware of any deaths proven to have been caused by the consumption of 5-hour Energy”. Currently the FDA does not publicly disclose adverse event filings about dietary supplements, including energy shot drinks.

  • No such thing as the perfect mom

    No such thing as the perfect mom

    British psychologist busts myths on good and bad mothers, offering us a different paradigm to understand why our moms are the way they are. What kind of a mother do you have?” asks Dr Terri Apter, psychologist, writer and tutor at Newnham College, Cambridge on the phone from her office in Cambridge, UK. In her new book, Difficult Mothers, Apter explores how mothers can influence our behaviour and offers tips on how to deal with controlling, angry, hypercritical, and emotionally unavailable ones. “I had a difficult mother, but I learnt to deal with her outbursts. I would dread to fail to please her. A mother-child love can be a huge emotional thing. A good relationship with a mother is a buffer against inevitable disappointments,” says Apter, whose last book, The Sister Knot, was a finalist for Books for a Better Life Award 2008.

    Research led Apter to discover that 20 per cent of parent/child relationships are characterised by difficult relationships. According to data from larger studies focusing on attachment, the percentage of difficult relationships is higher – closer to 30 per cent. “I looked at outlying cases, but the number of individuals who have these difficult experiences is high, and too often they are silenced by the cultural idealisation of mother’s love. A child does not need a perfect mother. It’s helpful for a child to realise that even in close relationships there is conflict,” she says.

    The Indian mother syndrome
    “We all know of the Indian mother syndrome,” says Apter. “She needs to oversee everything her child does in order to be a success and a credit to the family. The successes of the child belong to her rather than an expression of what it wants to do. She will not listen to what her child wants, but will only be guided by what she wants for her child.” Yet, says Apter, this kind of behaviour – which falls under the controlling mother category – is not culture specific. Control is expressed in different ways in different cultures. She gives the example of the controlling mothers who learn not to be controlling in Gurinder Chadha’s 2002 film Bend it like Beckham. Both, the British and the Indian moms have fixed ideas of what’s best for their daughters, “but the Indian mom learns to listen to her daughter and allow her daughter to express her own needs,” explains Apter.

    The problem with idealising motherhood
    “Idealising a mother is a way of saying that she should be allloving and always available. The other side to this idealisation is demonisation, when we believe that a mother who is not always loving or attentive or kind is a bad mother,” says Apter. Once again, these idealisations follow different norms depending on the culture, even if certain qualities are universally agreed upon.

    Apter offers a different model. “Instead of thinking in terms of good and bad mothers, it is more psychologically apt to think in terms of good-enough mothers and difficult mothers.” “A good-enough mother is a mother with whom a child finds more comfort than pain,” says Apter, whereas a difficult mother “is someone, who presents her child with a dilemma.

    It’s like, she wants to maintain a relationship with the child on her own terms, or else the child would suffer ridicule, disapproval or rejection.” Apter describes some of the difficult mothers and the dilemmas they unwittingly pose to their children, and how to deal with them effectively.

    Narcissistic mother
    A narcissistic mother’s dilemma, says Dr Terri Apter is, “Either submit to my needs or be the target for my disappointment and derision.” If you have lived with a narcissistic mother, then you are likely to have adapted either by some form of appeasement or by rebellion. This mother feels her kids need to be worthy of being her kids. She craves attention and love. Children often placate a narcissistic mother’s fury and selfdoubt; or, they shore up her belief in her superiority; or, they lay their own hard-won successes before her as tributes.

    Deal with it
    Becoming a proxy for her is a difficult double act. You have to shine, but you cannot outshine her. You have to take centrestage, but you cannot ignore her. Always make a list of your own victories and don’t let anyone take your high moments away from you.

    Angry mother
    The central dilemma of an angry mother is, “Respect my anger and see it as justified. If you try to protect yourself against it, then the relationship will become even more difficult.” Sons and daughters who describe a parent’s anger as unpredictable, feel constantly wrong-footed and constrained; yet, they also feel angry themselves, and wish their anger had power to do damage. A child can be overshadowed by unnecessary stress and fear. They may constantly placate others, or they may withdraw themselves from every conflict, because they expect every expression of difference or displeasure to escalate.

    Deal with it
    It’s important to realise that some of the management strategies we adopt may be beneficial to dealing with other people and some may inhibit us. Children who deal with an angry mom need to be diplomatic, but not too pleasing; that would make them fake.

    Emotionally negligent mother
    This is the modern-day mother, who maybe highly successful and busy, or she maybe going through her own emotional trauma. The dilemma posed by emotional neglect is, “Accept that I cannot respond to you, or see me destroyed by your demands.” A son or daughter who has experienced this kind of difficult relationship may think that their role is to regulate other people’s emotions, protect them from despair, and see their own needs as unimportant. In this situation, the child becomes the nurturer, and is more grown-up.

    Deal with it
    Living with ‘difficult’ people can help us become better at dealing with others, but it’s all too easy to allow an emotionally unavailable mother to take over huge amounts of your time and energy. Start to question some of the ways you behave and create new experiences where you don’t have to be the comforter.

    Controlling mother
    This type of mother likes to take control of everything. A child’s experience of such a mother is less about love and care, and more about rage, suspicion and criticism. Some controlling mothers believe that to raise a child to thrive in their culture, they must take control of them. This may lead her to become the “tiger mother” who pushes them to excel; or it may lead her to be the over-protective mother who shields her child from all outside influences. Children of controlling parents can become distrustful of their own needs and opinions. Even simple independent decisions can fill them with anxiety. They also learn to lie – to say what the controlling mother wants to hear – in order to keep her happy.

    Deal with it
    Sharing your worries will help you identify how difficult the relationship was and how it has affected you. However, going back to basics and identifying what you want and what you think in all areas of your life will help too. Take time to listen to yourself

    Jealous mother
    A jealous mother presents the dilemma, “I will love you only if you do not develop skills and talents that threaten me.” This mother doesn’t like her child’s confidence and is trying to put her down constantly. Mother’s envy is a common trait but needs to be dealt with. Sons and daughters of an envious mother may see success as dangerous to close relationships. As children, they are often confused as to what is expected. Inevitably, they receive mixed messages. They try to please her by meeting her standards, only to discover she is angry at them for meeting these standards. Once they realise the underlying patterns, they may find ways of becoming high achievers, but they try to hide from others the extent of their abilities and successes.

    Deal with it
    There’s a good side – your mother’s dissatisfaction may make you a high achiever. But don’t let her damage your selfesteem or make you seek constant approval.

  • Ayurveda to Reduce Stress

    Ayurveda to Reduce Stress

    We live in truly stressful times, where every day, our body and mind is subject to the ravages of our daily routine. All this can take a toll on one’s health if not addressed timely and in a proper way. Mantra, The Vedic Spa, offers a permanent solution from some of the lifestyle diseases through Ayurveda
    Mental stress
    Our daily life is full of physical and mental challenges which tend to affect our metabolism, and this results in complications like high blood pressure, heart problems, mental imbalance etc. Stress occurs due to access of thinking without giving rest to the brain. This imbalance happens due to three functional factors (doshas) Vata, Pitta and Kapha.

    Treatment
    Shirodhara, Ksheerdhara, Takra Dhara, Shirobasti, Sarvangdhara

    Joint pain
    In autumn, cold wind in the atmosphere causes Vata and Kapha aggravation in the body which leads to collect Aam (a toxic substance due to improper digestion) at the joint tissues. This pain generally affects wrist joint, knee joint and finger joints.

    Treatment
    Abhyanga, Churna Swedanam,Patrapotali Swedanam, Sarvang Dhara,Anuvasan Basti, Niruh Basti, Herbal steam

    Skin disease
    Rainy season brings in humid weather and excessive sweating which cause burning, itching etc. Scrubbing those sweaty parts leads to redness which is called Shita-Pitta in Ayurveda. As per Ayurveda skin disorders may also arise due to psychological problems like stress, sleeplessness, memory loss, high BP, and these problems also affect your skin adversely.

    Treatment
    Mukhlepanam, Hastpad Soundaryam,Kesh Saundaryam, Ayurvedic Snanam, Shirodhara

    Weight management
    Diet recommendation and body analysis; with a combination of detoxification therapy for healthy skin is what Ayurveda recommends.

    Treatment
    Shirodhara for relaxation of brain; anti-cellulite oil massage for reduction of cellulite; Udhavartanam massage for reduction of Subcutaneous fat and Vasp Shwedanam (steam) with diet counselling.

  • How to Inspire Kids to Eat More Veggies

    How to Inspire Kids to Eat More Veggies

    Two new studies may make it easier for moms to get their kids to eat – and enjoy – their greens. Both studies were conducted by Society for Nutrition Education and Behavior (SNEB) president Brian Wansink, PhD, the John Dyson Professor of Consumer Behavior at Cornell University, and funded by Birds Eye, the country’s leading vegetable brand that recently launched a three-year campaign to inspire kids to eat more veggies.

    The first study of 500 mothers with young children found that vegetables helped enhance the perceived taste of the entree and made the meal appear to be more complete. The presence of vegetables on the plate also made the meal preparers appear to be more thoughtful and attentive. “These findings underscore the concept that vegetables make the meal.

    Vegetables do so much more than provide important nutrients, they’re helping to make the entire meal more appealing and even making the person serving the meal appear to be more loving and caring,” Wansink said. The second study reinforced the idea that parents may be giving up too early if they claim their kids don’t like vegetables. Instead, Wansink said it’s better to focus on the vegetables kids will eat, and not on the ones they won’t. Interviewing an ethnically diverse panel of 500 mothers with two children, Wansink and colleagues had participants identify the favourite vegetable of each child along with their own, and the menu of the five most frequently eaten meals in their homes.

    The results indicated that 83 percent of the children in the study had a favourite vegetable their mother could easily name, and 53 percent of the oldest children had the same favourite vegetable as their mother. There were six vegetables that composed 80 percent of the favourites:
    Corn (32.2per cent) – the favourite for boys
    Broccoli (29.4 per cent) – the favourite for girls
    Carrots (23.2 per cent)
    Green beans (17.2 per cent)
    Potatoes (11.8 per cent)
    Tomatoes (11.4 per cent)

    The five most popular dinner meals for children were pastas, tacos, hamburgers, meat balls and pork chops.Broccoli was the most preferred vegetable for children and mothers, except for the youngest male children.

    “Children may not like all vegetables all of the time, but they may like some vegetables some of the time,” Wansink said.

    “Keep serving the vegetables that kids prefer and don’t be discouraged if they turn up their noses at other vegetables. They may eventually like them if you continue to offer them, and if they see you enjoy them, too. But celebrate these little victories and find ways to modify meals to accommodate your kids’ favourite vegetables,” he added.

  • US-India Strategic Partnership Set to Grow in Second Obama Administration

    US-India Strategic Partnership Set to Grow in Second Obama Administration

    The re-election of President Barack Obama is likely to be more promising and fruitful for the growing strategic partnership between India and the United States. During the second Obama administration, his India policies are expected to be upgraded further and there would possibly be more tangible outcomes from policy pronouncements made in the last four years.

    This strategic partnership is based on a foundation of shared values and interests. But due to the different state of their domestic constituencies and regional strategic environments, there could be differences in their understanding and responses on a few issues. That is why it is essential for leaders and policymakers in New Delhi and Washington to develop a deeper understanding of existing ground realities for negotiations on various issues.

    It is evident that India and the United States have been making a move forward. There have been issues in recent times such as defense procurements in India, the Libyan crisis, nuclear liability, outsourcing, allowing FDI in retail sector in India, Iranian nuclear program, Syrian crisis, etc.where India and the U.S. appear to have realized the other’s positions well. This has helped them successfully reduce friction and develop a mutual understanding – which is expected to improve further during Obama’s second term.

    The strategic partnership saw an upward trajectory during the first Obama administration with deepening cooperation in all sectors. It may be suggested here that after Obama’s reelection, there is a need to expedite the implementation process of policy pronouncements made by both New Delhi and Washington in the last four years. This will lead to more concrete outcomes. During the final phase of its first term, the Obama administration announced the re-balancing of its policy towards the Asia-Pacific, recognizing it as “the most rapidly growing and dynamic region in the world”. It appears that the U.S. has realized the need for enhancing its presence in the region so that it can secure its interests and influence.

    As China enhances its economic and military capabilities and becomes more assertive vis-à-vis its neighbors, it is likely that the second Obama administration would be seeking more cooperation with its allies and partners to successfully implement its rebalancing strategy. Also, with this rebalancing, it appears to be assuring its allies and partners in the Asia- Pacific region that it will be working with them to ensure peace and stability. India needs to deeply consider this evolving U.S. policy in the region and should prepare its response to successfully deal with emerging scenarios.

    This rebalancing is also about internal balancing. It is likely that the second Obama administration will be working more closely on domestic issues in the United States so that it can enhance its economic growth as well as national capabilities in sectors such as education, health and energy. This is imperative for the U.S. to deal with any future challenges such as the rise of China.

    India also needs to resolve its internal challenges and strengthen its national capabilities. It is essential to expedite these nation-building processes so that the growth momentum can be upgraded which will lead to a secure and prosperous future for India. During the second Obama administration, India and the United States – the world’s two largest democracies – should also collaborate more closely in their national capability building processes.

  • Indian Woman Refused abortion Dies: Govt to take up Matter with Ireland

    Indian Woman Refused abortion Dies: Govt to take up Matter with Ireland

    NEW DELHI (TIP): India will take up with Ireland the issue of death of an Indian woman dentist there after doctors allegedly refused to terminate her 17-week-long pregnancy on the ground that it was a “Catholic country”. Indian ambassador to Ireland will raise the issue with the Irish government on November 16.

    India was awaiting the results of two probes ordered by Irish authorities in the matter and will “take it from there,” official spokesperson in the ministry of external affairs had said yesterday, adding the country was “concerned” over the circumstances in which Savita Halappanavar died.

    Meanwhile, commenting on BJP’s strong reaction on the matter, external affairs minister Salman Khurshid said one needs to be very careful about the “choice of words” while dealing with a tragedy. “It is extremely sad and unfortunate. Whatever the inquiry does, human loss cannot be compensated,” he said, adding the country might like to reflect upon some positions afresh so that such things do not happen, not only with Indian nationals but also with their own citizens.

    The Embassy of Ireland issued a statement here yesterday, saying the Irish government, at the highest level, was committed to establishing the full circumstances and facts surrounding the incident. Halappanavar, 31, died in Ireland due to blood poisoning after doctors allegedly refused to terminate her 17-week-long pregnancy, telling her that “this is a Catholic country”.

    The Embassy of Ireland said, “The Irish Prime Minister and the Minister for Health spoke on the matter in Irish Parliament yesterday and expressed their deepest condolences to the husband and family of Mrs Halappanavar. “The Irish government, at the highest level, is committed to establishing the full circumstances and facts surrounding Mrs Halappanavar’s tragic death.” Savita’s husband Praveen Halappanavar, an engineer at Boston Scientific in Galway, told Irish media that his wife had asked several times over a three-day period that the pregnancy be terminated. This was refused, he said, because the fetal heartbeat was still present and they were told “this is a Catholic country”.

  • Bal Thackeray remains critical but stable, keeps Mumbai’s heart pounding

    Bal Thackeray remains critical but stable, keeps Mumbai’s heart pounding

    MUMBAI (TIP): Sporadic updates on Bal Thackeray’s deteriorating health kept Mumbai on tenterhooks all through Wednesday night and Thursday even as hundreds of Shiv Sena supporters began arriving from various parts of the state to keep a vigil outside his residence in Bandra. CM Prithviraj Chavan reviewed security arrangements and the Centre deployed paramilitary forces for a contingency plan.

    Around 11pm on Thursday, Uddhav Thackeray, Sena CEO and Bal Thackeray’s son, came out of Matoshree, the Thackeray residence accompanied by son Aditya and told supporters his father is recovering and “we will leave no stone unturned to bring him back. There is power in prayers and he needs your prayers”. He again asked them to remain calm. Earlier, sporadic incidents of stonethrowing and vandalism were reported from some areas, but the police were quick to round up suspects and douse the tension. However, most autos and taxis stayed off the roads, leaving commuters stranded, especially in the Sena’s pocketboroughs in Bandra, Vile Parle, Dadar, Matunga and Bhandup. Taxis refused to ply at the airports, inconveniencing fliers. Passengers also found it difficult to book fleet cabs. Four incidents of stone-pelting at buses — two at Lalbaug, one at Andheri and the other at Sion — were reported. No one was injured. BEST operated 30% fewer buses than usual.

    hops and restaurants in the traditional Sena strongholds of Dadar, Parel and parts of Matunga and Mahim remained shut, partly on account of a holiday for Bhau Bheej, but as much due to apprehensions that Sena cadres may turn violent in reaction to news of their 86- year-old leader’s precarious condition. A pub in Andheri (W) was vandalized and its employees attacked allegedly by Sena activists on Wednesday night for not shutting down.

  • India Lags in Pictorial Warnings on Cigarettes

    India Lags in Pictorial Warnings on Cigarettes

    MUMBAI: When it comes to pictorial warnings on tobacco packets, India ranks a low 123 among 198 countries surveyed on the warnings parameter. While experts agree that pictorial warnings on tobacco packets is a proven strategy that deters people from smoking or chewing tobacco, the ground reality is that less than 40% of the display area on cigarette and tobacco packets is covered by the warnings in India. This finding was part of the ‘Cigarette Package Health Warnings: International Status Report’, released at a recent WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) conference.

    India ranks 123 among the countries surveyed on the size and fulfillment of requirements for picture- based warnings on packets. Under the FCTC, an international treaty signed and ratified by India, the countries are required to carry health warnings on all packages of tobacco products describing the harmful effects of tobacco use. The warnings “should be 50% or more of the principal display areas, but shall be no less than 30% of the display areas”, and include pictorial warnings. Dr Pankaj Chaturvedi, oncologist at Tata Memorial Hospital who has been working against cigarette and tobacco products, said pictorial warnings serve as a deterrent to a first-time user.

    “The tobacco industry has exploited loopholes in the pictorial warning notifications to subvert the law. While smokeless tobacco packets have gory pictorial warnings of mouth cancer, the picture quality is so bad that they become meaningless. Moreover, the cigarette industry chooses the least graphic warning— photo of a lung—that has literally no impact on a user’s mind.”

    International guidelines under the FCTC recommend that warnings should be as large as is achievable, should include a rotating series of graphic pictures and should be on both the front and back of packages. Examples of pictures that appear on packages include a diseased lung or mouth, a patient in a hospital bed and a child exposed to secondhand smoke. However, the written warnings may not help much in compelling smokers to quit, say doctors. “Nearly 20-25% of Indian children are users of tobacco and nearly one-third users in India are illiterate,” said Chaturvedi.

    “They cannot read the warning printed in Hindi or English. Pictorial warnings work better for them,” he added. “Considering that Australia has passed a law that mandates plain packaging of cigarettes packs to discourage branding, we still have a long way to go to get the message across to a user,” said Surabhi Shastri of ‘Smokefree Mumbai’ campaign.