Death of natural resources-world is ending faster.

Unfortunately, I am a resident of one of the cities in India which will have zero water level in 2020, i.e., another 6 months.

My memory goes back to my childhood days when my city was called the green city, full of big trees.  I could see greenery everywhere and would be very happy to see so many trees around me.  The trees used to be so huge that, not a single drop of rain water would fall on me when I walked miles together under those trees to catch a bus back home from school.  This, I am talking happened 34 years back.

When we shifted to our new house in the outskirts of the city, we could hear the singing of different types of birds.  There were lot of sparrows which had made a part of our home as theirs.  They had built a beautiful nest and come summer, we would be watching the mommy and daddy sparrows flying in and out of their nest feeding their hungry babies and some times we had even rescued those babies which had fallen from their nest searching for their parents.  There were the crows, sparrows, pigeons, parrots, wood pecker, barbet, mynas, nightingales and many different birds all around which would wake us up in the morning with their melodious voices.  Come evening, when it was time for them to settle down in their dwellings, again they would be busy making so much of noise, that it would be a pleasant thing to hear.  Like this, we spent our childhood, surrounded by greenery everywhere, clean air with very less vehicles plying on the roads, plenty of water-there was no scarcity, and nutritious food with no insecticide and pesticide in the fruits and vegetables.

As we grew up, things started changing.  All those huge trees which housed many of the different birds gave way to concrete buildings.  We enjoyed monsoon like anything during our childhood.  Come June, it would start raining automatically without any invitation.  So, we would carry raincoats and umbrellas while going out anywhere.  All the fruits and vegetables were available at throw-away price.

Now, the scenario has changed totally.  All the green trees have been replaced by colorful buildings.  Fresh air has been replaced by dusty and polluted air.  Pure drinking water has been decorated with industrial and residential waste.  All those cute little birds which would sing early in the morning to wake us up are no longer there.  Sparrows are missing.  Crows are dwindling in numbers.  Wood peckers, mynas  and parrots are again missing in action.  What is existing is the polluted city.  We are woken up by the shrill horns of vehicles in the morning.  There is heavy traffic at any part of the day or night.  As we, humans are not getting enough oxygen-rich air, we are getting contracted with different types of diseases along with weakness.  Our children are the most unfortunate fellows.  They are able to see the beautiful birds only on TV or the internet.  They don’t know the sound a sparrow or myna makes.

We have become so selfish that we want to grab as much land as possible.  Everyone wants to have as much concrete forest as possible.  Nobody is bothered about the helpless trees that are slaughtered in the name of development.  Everyone is running after money, artificial air purifiers are installed to purify the air and natural air purifiers are removed.  Everybody has money power, so they can buy anything.  We can see lot of companies advertising for air purifiers.  When we were children, we never purchased water in bottles.  Now water is being sold in bottles and packets.  Same way, air also will be sold in cylinders if we destroy the natural resources.  There is no proper planning to collect rain water and use it.  Probably, we are paying for our greed and misdeeds.  The unfortunate souls are our children as they have no access to anything good that we had, at least for a part of our life.  We are not as fortunate as our fathers and fore fathers as they enjoyed their lives the most, though technologically they were not as advanced as any of us, they enjoyed their lives in their own way.  Very few of them fell sick, whereas now very few of us are healthy.  Everyone has one or the other health issue and the doctor will be surprised and shocked if any of us is not sick.  That is the state of affairs.

If we destroy all the natural resources at the same pace, no wonder, human beings will suffer and die a miserable death as most of the animals and birds are becoming extinct and with the fast dwindling green cover, rain becomes absent and water becomes a thing of the past.  Like this, the chain reaction goes on and ultimately, we all will pay for what we have done.

As the proverb says “Better late than never”  at least now if we realize the blunders we have committed and stop committing the atrocities on nature, then we all can live a healthy life and give better future for our children, the next generation.  This is a collective effort and not an individual effort.  So, all of us should join hands and work towards restoring the glory that has been lost.

Ayodhya-Rama’s birthplace, what I saw and experienced.

I went to Ayodhya in the last week of April.  I had a direct flight from my home town to Lucknow.  From there I decided to travel either by train or bus, which I do always.  Unfortunately, I took a wrong decision of travelling by train and took a ticket to Faizabad which is about 7 kms from Ayodhya, the distance is only a rough estimate here.  Why I am saying wrong decision is because this train which came around 2 in the afternoon was full and there was absolutely no place to even keep my foot.  I got into the train after paying 800/- for two of us to the TTE towards a confirmed seat, we were actually cheated by the TTE at the station who told us to enter the reserved bogie which, according to him had lot of place to sit and that he had confirmed our ticket and charged us the above hefty fees without assigning the seat numbers.  The train arrived on the platform when we were talking to the TTE and we got into one of the reserved compartments.  We came to know the truth only after getting into the train.  When we saw the crowd, we were sure that 99% of the passengers had no valid ticket, but were showing full authority on us, their attitude towards us was as if we were beggars begging for some favors.  Somehow, my partner requested one of them to allow to us to at least climb on to the upper berth and sit for 2-1/2 hours, this man refused in the beginning vehemently, but later on allowed us to climb on to the upper berth and sit.  That was the biggest favor he did for us.  We felt cheated by the railways.  This is not for the first time we were experiencing this kind of a thing.  Last year when we went from Varanasi to Gaya also we had such a bad experience. (That time what happened was the train in which we had reserved my berths was delayed by more than 12 hours.  So, I was pretty sure that I would not reach Gaya when people were awake.  So, I decided to get into the train that was coming to the railway station when I was there.  This train also was delayed by 12 hours and its original time of arrival was at around 6 in the morning, but it came to Varanasi by 3 in the afternoon.  I met the station master for help who readily guided me to buy tickets for the train that was arriving at the station shortly and apply for cancellation of the tickets that I had reserved and he assured me that I would get refund as the train was delayed by more than 12 hours.  I trusted him and he issued me confirmed tickets and kept the change for himself saying that he did not have change.  It was about Rs. 100/- and as the train was arriving on the platform, I was in no mood to pressurize him to hand over the remaining change to me as I was scared of losing this train.  I hopped into the train and logged into the website to cancel my already reserved ticket in train which was arriving very late, though the ticket got cancelled, I never got my refund.  Probably the Railways thought that I donated that money to them).  We somehow reached Faizabad and were very much relieved when we got down from the train.  From there we took a jeep who told us that he would drop us on the main road and that we have to take Vikram to reach Ayodhya town.  As it was already evening, we did not want to waste time, so we got into this jeep.  The jeep guy dropped us promptly at a junction on the highway that led to Ayodhya.  We got down and took a Vikram who charged me Rs.50/- (which was expensive, he saw that We were outsiders) to reach the Ashram near the Ram temple.

A view of Ayodhya

Night view of one of the streets of Ayodhya

A view of the street leading to Ram Janmabhoomi.

Sri Ram Janaki temple.

Sri Ram Vallabha Kunj.

On the way to Hanuman Gaddhi.

Lord Hanuman.

Kanaka Bhavan.

Dashrath Mahal.

River Sarayu.

 Though we were supposed to go to a different Ashram, we were taken to another Ashram where the accommodation was pretty decent, but for the high headed and corrupt manager who managed the whole show had lot of difference of opinion with his subordinate.  The subordinate was snubbed always and was not given an opportunity to open his mouth.  In order to not bring disgrace to the Ashram I am  holding back the name of the Ashram as this becomes a negative factor.  The swamiji was approachable and he was very very cordial with us, his guests. I guess, the manager is managing the whole show without the knowledge of the swamiji. He takes the money, but does not issue any receipt. This ashram was walking distance from the Ram Janmabhoomi and I was excited to visit the temple.  I had lot of hopes of visiting the temple and having Lord Sri Rama’s darshan.  The entry to the temple area has lot of restrictions.  One has to deposit all the belongings in the counters on the way to the checking points for a nominal charge of Rs. 20/- wherein the person at the counter notes all the articles kept in the locker and issues us a slip along with a key.  Except for a small men’s wallet and wrist watch, nothing is allowed inside the area.  One has to clear at least 6 security checks before entering a cage, which looks similar to the zoo cage.  The whole place is secured with gun wielding police and the army.  Since that day was not crowded I went through these cages without much difficulty and at one point, I was told to take blessings of Lord Rama.  To my right side was a tent which was about 40 feet away from the cage that I was moving in, and I could hardly see Lord who was a tiny blue colored idol and that was all.  Then I came out along with other pilgrims.  There are other beautiful temples like Hanuman Gaddhi, Kanak Bhavan, Janaki Mahal etc, which are full of spiritual powers.  I enjoyed my visit to these temples during my stay in Ayodhya.  I visited these temples twice a day, once in the morning for a brief period because of the hot weather and once in the evening to enjoy the evening bhajans and aarthi.  The bhajans are so powerful, one would not feel like leaving the place, but we have our limitations.  I would stay till dinner time at the ashram and then walk back to the ashram for dinner and after dinner retire in my room attached to the ashram.  One day I visited Sarayu river to take her blessings and stayed there for a very brief period and then came back.  Next day, I left for Faizabad in a Vikram, this time I took help of the Ashram people who spoke to the Vikram’s driver who agreed to take us for Rs.100/- with our luggage to Faizabad bus stand. We knew he was charging us more, but had no choice as we were getting late to catch a bus to Lucknow. This time, we did not want to be foolish and took a bus which was readily waiting at the station and he charged us Rs. 190/- per seat.  We happily reached Lucknow by 2 in the afternoon to continue our journey to Naimisharanya.

My life at the foothills of The Himalayas for one month.

I went to this village at the foothills of the Great Himalayas.  It was a beautiful village, about 20 kms from Mussoorie, in the mountain region.  This is a heaven.  If someone wants to experience what heaven is without disturbing the nature, then one should go there.  But I was requested by the natives of this village not to disclose the name of their village as they are scared of pollution of all sorts.

These villagers lead a self sustained life.  They grow their food and eat it.  They depend very less for the food from the market including pulses, grains and vegetables.  Actually there are some villages like the one that I lived for a month’s time.  Among them this is the biggest village with about 38 houses, others have anywhere between 5-20 houses.  They are scattered all over the mountains.  My village had motorable road up to the village, but there are other villages with 5 houses which need to be reached only by foot through a trek on a tough path.  But those living in these villages are very innocent.  You can compare them to the innocent folks.  They are contented with what they have.  Depending on the season, they grow vegetables and pulses and cereals.  Sunrise in this village happens by about 6.45 in the morning and sun sets early by 6 in the evening.  The weather is very much unpredictable.  Since I had been to this place in the last week of January and stayed till February end, it rained most part of the month.  If it rains, then the whole village sleeps through the rain as nothing can be done due to the rain.  Sometimes, it rained for days together continuously and there was hailstorm too which brought down the temperature of the whole area further to minus.  Due to this hailstorm, we could see snow collected on the mountains.  During these days, all we were doing was eat and sleep due to no power supply to the whole area.

I was given a beautiful house in the middle of the village by my friend and this house had a big bedroom with 2 cots with beds which were made up of 10 layers below me and 10 layers above me to keep myself warm in bad weather along with a room heater which would work when power supply was restored.  Most of the time, power supply would be off and the tiny room heater would also go to sleep.   There was no dearth for drinking water as spring water was flowing next to the village and also through the village through a canal made by the villagers to feed their fields.

The routine of these villagers was like they would get up between 6.30 and 7 in the morning and finish their morning chores.  Once done with it, the lady folks in the village including the old ladies would sit around an earthen stove and prepare rotis (I learnt making their type of roti) and a side dish for those rotis.  By 8 in the morning, all these people would finish their breakfast and the younger generation would leave for their respective destinations like work place if they had completed their education, or schools.  The senior generation in the village would then go to the fields which is very next to their village and work in the fields till evening and come back home.  Everybody would be home before sunset, say by 6.30 max.  The ladies would prepare the hot rotis with side dishes ready for the whole family to feast on.  By 7.30-8 all of them would finish their dinner and by 9 in the night, they would retire for the night.

Everyone including children are taught to walk and trek the mountains and to my surprise I also learnt the tricks of trekking the mountains.  I am a horrible trekker as I have some issues with my foot and I would always prefer to take a ride by some vehicle to reach my destination, but while staying with these folks I learnt to trek and to my surprise it was not at all difficult with the issue I was facing.  Trust me, I had severe tendinitis and suffered a lot of pain when I was in my town, but when I went there, very much against medical advise since the weather was too cold my orthopedist had advised against my going there, but I was very firm, the weather went down to as much as -7 at times there and I never faced any issue with my foot there.  I was surprised, don’t know how, any answers?  But as soon as I came back to my town, I fell sick for a month with lot of respiratory issues and high fever.  This is the life we are leading here!!!!

In the name of development, all the beautiful trees which were responsible for giving us good air to breathe and keep the surroundings cool and attract different types of birds in large numbers are being eliminated and new residential layouts are coming up in the place of those fields which were responsible for giving us food.  I don’t think we are not away from those days when we start eating food in the form of capsules for each item in the absence of any of these natural resources.

Children in turn would play traditional games till dark and then get into their homes.

Sundays, the day would be slow and all the cleaning would happen in most of the houses like dusting out, washing all the blankets, curtains etc.  If the weather were good, then all the men and women would form their own groups and sit and discuss various things after lunch in the open spaces in front of their houses and children as usual would play various kinds of games and come evening, everyone would be back to their routine and retire for the night.

It was such a simple lifestyle I felt, we, as people living metros have a horrible lifestyle.  The food that we eat does not have any nutrition as it is loaded with lot of pesticides and insecticides and harmful chemicals in the form of fertilizers and the air that we breath again is polluted with lot of air pollutants that are causing various serious respiratory ailments and water again is treated with lot of cleaning agents.

So, where are we heading to and what are we achieving by eliminating the natural resources given to us by God?  Climate changes, drought and no rain anywhere as a result serious problems associated with this cycle.

My experience as a traveler to Mussoorie.

I went to help one of my friends who lives near Mussoorie in a beautiful village. I took a direct flight to Jolly grant airport which is about 25 kms away from Dehradun and then reached Dehradun by road after taking a taxi. Please beware here the taxi guys cheat you, to cover a distance of about 25 kms they charged me 900/-, there is a counter inside the airport and one or two outside the airport and I went to one of the prepaid taxi counter situated just outside the airport and the guy at the counter realized that I was an outsider and at first quoted the fare as 800/- and then gave me a slip for 900/- and when I protested he insisted that he quoted 900/-. I wanted to go to the railway station as that was the point from where buses to Mussoorie are available. Without any option I got into the taxi and went to Dehradun railway station. I was dropped at the railway station and some state run buses were parked there and I saw people standing in the queue. There were separate queues for men and women. I stood in my queue and waited for my turn hoping to get the ticket soon and then hop into one of the buses. But within a minute’s time the person at the ticket counter vanished somewhere and I saw hardly anyone taking the ticket and moving out of the queue. Like this I waited for 2 hours. In that 2 hours I realized that the person at the counter was issuing tickets only till the seats in the buses got filled and you can imagine the buses could accommodate only between 25-30 people at a time and within a minute’s time the tickets were issued and the policy here is not to issue tickets till the next bus arrives. So one can imagine the frequency of these state buses and the way things were getting operated there. Unfortunately I landed in Dehradun on a Sunday and the Sunday being a holiday the crowd was mad and to add to my woes the previous day all the roads leading to Mussoorie were closed due to heavy snowfall and that crowd was also waiting to have a glimpse of fresh snow fall in Mussoorie. So all these things were the factors that made my waiting time longer. The ticket to Mussoorie from Dehradun costed me 60/- and at last I got the ticket and the bus and in that 3 youths wanted me to help them get tickets as they were standing far behind in the queue and I was closer to the counter and I was buying only one ticket. So I helped them too by buying them tickets along with mine and they were very happy as they got their tickets without much efforts. It took about an hour and a half to reach Mussoorie through the beautiful ghat section and there are many spots where travelers stop their vehicles to have a breathtaking view of the snow-clad mountains. As the bus started climbing the hill, it started becoming cold and temperature was around one degree on the day I went. It had snowed heavily the previous day and I could see snow lying on both the sides of the road. My friend came to pick me up. There was a big pile up of vehicles entering Mussoorie and it took me another hour to cover a distance of 500 mts. As I was very much new to this place and with my cellphone nearly dead, I had very less choice to call my friend frequently and on top of that I was carrying heavy luggage too with me. The bus stopped at the taxi stand and I was left with no choice, but to walk a small distance up to the Mussoorie library with my heavy luggage. I managed to reach this library and then met my friend who picked me from here and I went to her residence which was a traditional type of home.

But to tell you honestly, Mussoorie is a beautiful hill station. The only negative point I heard about this place is that it is overcrowded with tourists throughout the year and there is nothing like peak season or non-peak season. There is another famous tourist spot called the Kempty falls which is about 10-15 kms from Mussoorie which is famous for the beautiful water falls. This place again is over crowded with tourists especially between April and June months because of the water fall. I did not stay in Mussoorie as I went to a beautiful village a few kilometers away from Mussoorie to spend some time, which I will share in my next blog. I stayed in that beautiful village for closer to a month and while returning from the village, I waited for the government bus which was supposed to arrive at the bus stop at 8 in the morning and this bus never turned up. I had come to the bus stop at 7.15 in the morning. Then after waiting for almost 2 hours, I got into a jeep with the help of my friend’s husband and reached Dehradun. This jeep took 2 hours from the village to reach Dehradun and he dropped me at the railway station. From railway station, I took an auto which is called Vikram route no.5 to reach the ISBT-Interstate Bus terminus. The auto guy who is supposed to charge 14/- for a ride charged me 35/- for two reasons, one was that I was an outsider and the other was that I had two strolleys with me, though he did not say that I was an outsider, he said since I was carrying luggage, he was charging me extra. I did not want to argue with him for the simple reason of not missing my flight which was scheduled to leave in the evening and I had some reasonable amount of time left to reach the airport. At ISBT, I took a bus that was leaving for Rishikesh which was about 30 kms from Dehradun. The boarding point to get into the bus here is terminus #13. The airport comes midway and the driver charged me about 36/- and I had not eaten my lunch. Jolly grant airport is about 1.5 kms from the main road and one can walk easily up to the airport. As soon as I got down at the bus stop near the airport, another Vikram (auto) guy came and told me that he would drop me up to the airport and asked me to pay him 100/- when I enquired with him the charge. I politely refused and on enquiring about any reasonable place to eat something, he took me to a roadside mobile canteen which was decent and the food was tasty. I ate rotis with sabji and this costed me 10/- per roti which I felt was reasonable. After eating lunch here, I crossed the road and started walking towards the airport. The weather was pretty hot here and I had arrived from a very cold place and I had a sweater on me people were staring at me because of my sweater in that hot weather. I had covered half a distance, then another Vikram came and stopped near me and the driver who was a kind hearted person told me to get into his Vikram, which I politely refused, but he insisted that I should get into his Vikram and when I enquired the charges, he told me to give anything I felt like. He dropped me at the terminal and I gave him 30/- and got into the airport to reach my hometown.

Simple steps for Happy Parenting.

In this tough world, we should try our best to inculcate good habits in our children to turn them into good citizens in the future with a positive outlook in life.

Follow the below practices daily to raise your kids into healthy, responsible and happy adults:

1.  Wake them up early.  As already discussed in one of my previous blogs, getting up before the sun raises has lot of health benefits.  Children will be active and alert too.  You can feel the difference yourself by getting up late one day and early one day.

2.  Make them drink one or two glasses water to start with, on an empty stomach.  (You can also follow this practice irrespective of your age).  The benefits of drinking water on an empty stomach are numerous.  I will discuss with you a few of them:

• This helps in cleansing the colon which in turn increases the efficiency of the intestines to absorb nutrients.
• It helps to flush out toxins from the system, as a result your body will stay fresh and healthy and reduces acidity.
• If your kid is overweight due to his/her lifestyle, he/she will lose weight.
• It keeps your kid’s skin healthy.

The above are a few benefits of drinking water.  There are many more, but the important ones I have mentioned for your reference.  Gradually increase the water intake on an empty stomach to half a liter (500 mL).  This will keep the kid’s kidneys also active.

3.  Make it a habit for the children to pray to God twice a day, once in the morning before leaving home and once in the evening or at bedtime.  This makes them have faith in the Creator.  I know many houses where children question about the existence of God.  Have patience to explain about God.  Read bedtime stories for them.  Include some moral stories in them, so that children will be able to distinguish between the good and the bad, the outcome of doing good things and the bad things.

4.    Draw a time table and assign subjects according to the time table.  But the first and the foremost thing that you should make the child do is solve mathematical problems.  As already discussed in my previous blog, solving a mathematical problem as the first thing in the morning makes the child develop analytical capacity and improves problem solving skills.  This sharpens the mind as lot of thinking is involved.  After that you can assign other subjects depending on the free time the child has before leaving for school.

5.  After coming back from school in the evening, allot some time for the child to play as this is very much important for the proper growth of the child.  Playing makes the child alert, strengthens the bones and makes it strong.  It helps in socializing, the kid will make more and more friends, but here again, teach your child to differentiate between the good friends and the bad friends and encourage your child to have only good friends.

6.  Cultivate the habit of eating your food at least 2 hours before going to bed.  It is a good habit for all in the family to eat your food at least 2 hours prior to going to bed as this will aid in better digestion, else the chances of gaining weight, developing insomnia, heart burn etc, are more.

7. Train them to respect elders and obey them, not to argue unnecessarily.  Set aside some time for watching TV programs which are educative ones instead of the useless ones.  Children should learn something good by watching such programs and not cultivate bad habits watching programs on TV.  The programs that they watch should improve their knowledge.

8.  Engage them in beneficial classes like yoga, music, drawing and painting, arts and crafts etc. which are creative and bring out the better personality in them as all these classes need concentration and patience.

9.  Encourage your children to read out story books instead of wasting time on computer games or unwanted TV shows, or mobile phones, all of which have their negative impact.  Be wise while allowing your children to watch TV programs and supervise their activities, so that you know the happenings.

10.  Be friendly with them.  Don’t be too strict or harsh with them.  After all they are your children, your blood and flesh.  Enjoy each and every minute that you spend with them, because once they grow up, they will go their ways.  Then as people belonging to older generation, you should not suffer from “Empty Nest Syndrome.”  Don’t have too many expectations from your children.

11.  Accept the fact that they are growing up and you are growing old gracefully and don’t expect too many returns from your children.  After all it is your duty as a responsible parent and you have raised your children in the right direction.

12.  As children grow up, they will spend less and less time with parents, because their world starts changing gradually and you will have more and more time for yourself.  Be good friends than strict parents.  Give them confidence and support them emotionally, strengthen the bond between yourself and your child.

13.  Make them gain confidence in you which will strengthen the bond between the parents and children.  Whenever time permits, take your children for outings, because once they grow up they will have their lives and all that will be left with you is those memories.  Your memories should be sweet ones and not bitter ones.

All the best and happy parenting.

Simple efforts for a greener Earth.

We all know that our Earth is becoming hotter day by day and the consequences are serious.  It is our duty to try our best to use the wealth given by nature which is in abundance so that we contribute our part to reduce global warming and promote healthy environment for our future generation.  The coming generation is so unfortunate that they are exposed to the polluted water, air, and contaminated food.  As a result, I read every day in the news that many children as young as 1 year old are suffering from health issues like diabetes mellitus, which is a life long companion, cancer, obesity, vitamin deficiency etc.

With more and more urbanization and the so called development, we are seeing trees being mercilessly chopped.  What is the result of this kind of urbanization, you see for yourself.  On an average a single tree produces approximately 260 pounds or 118 kilograms of oxygen every year.  This is God’s gift to us.  The tree houses a large number of birds which build beautifully structured nests and stay there.  Analyze for a moment how soothing it will be if you sit under a big tree at dusk.  The different types of birds that live in those trees keep on chirping and this calms even the most disturbed or stressed out mind.  Try this, I bet you will feel relaxed.   If these trees are chopped off, then all those birds living in these trees will be either migrating to some other place or die, because they cannot build their nests in buildings and live in buildings.

Trees maintain the temperature around them, they bring rain-this we have read during school time, they balance the eco system and as already discussed give us oxygen in abundance and fresh air.  Trees have the capability to balance ground water level through their root system.  The best examples for trees that maintain water balance in ground water are:

1.  Banyan tree.

2.  Neem tree.

3.  Tamarind tree.

4.  Ashoka tree.

5.  Jamun tree.

6.  Tulip tree.

We know the benefits of maintaining and increasing ground water level.  Water is one essential element which is needed by everybody.  There is no human on Earth who has not used water in his/her life.

It is not that apart from the above mentioned trees, other trees don’t maintain ground water level.  They do, but the capacity of these trees is more relatively.

So, what is our contribution towards a greener Earth.

First and foremost:  Let us all plant at least one tree near our house and care for it as our life.  If the situation is not convenient to plant a big tree, at least a small tree like cherry, apple, almond, to name a few.  They are sources of abundant oxygen apart from fruits and give out positive vibration also, you will experience once you grow them in your backyard.  Different types of birds will make these trees their homes by building their nests.

Make your home sweet home inside also by keeping small pots with indoor plants which produce fresh oxygen too.  Remember anything that is available naturally is long lasting than man made things.  Convert your home in such a way that it is getting more and more of sunlight in daytime and you will not depend on electricity for lighting and heating as sufficient sunlight will provide both.  I noticed one practice followed by residents in Muktinath in Nepal when I went there last year.  They were using solar power for cooking, lighting and heating purpose.  Most of the villages in the hill region suffered from regular and continuous power breakdowns for most part of the day and night and people living in those remote areas had converted the solar power to cook food, light up their homes during power breaks in the night (which was a common occurrence) and heat water too using solar geysers and solar water heaters.  This way they used the sources available in nature in abundance and reduced dependency on man made sources.  Some of them had solar powered pedestal fans too!

A few days back, I visited a shopping mall to buy an electronic gadget and I came across a large number of air purifiers and those air purifiers made me think the direction in which we are all heading to.  Initially it was water purifier, now it is air purifier and if the situation continues like this, those days are not very far when all of us will be buying oxygen cylinders and moving around with our faces covered with those masks.

At this point, I have no choice but to compare my childhood days.  Those days, we had pure drinking water available everywhere free of cost.  Gradually, it gave way to bottled mineral water, then came water purifiers installed in a few homes and now every home owns a water purifier.  Next will be the air that we breathe in to survive.  Already, the statistics shows the danger levels crossed by some of the cities in the world and the initiative taken by the respective governments to check this.  It is not just the Government that needs to take up the initiative to check pollution, but it is our duty as citizens of Earth to check pollution.  If all of us make efforts towards a cleaner and greener Earth, then at least our children and grand children will remember us as we remember our grandparents and great grand parents.

In our country India, two wheelers and four wheelers are so much that if we get stuck in the heavy traffic I have seen in most cases a person reaching the destination faster by walking than by his/her vehicle.  The trend of this generation is to take out a two wheeler or a four wheeler to reach short distance.  Discourage them from doing this, instead encourage them to go by walk which is beneficial for their health.  People previous to my generation walked distances up to 10 kms and this kept them hale and healthy.  They depended less on doctors or medicines.  They respected nature, they grew their food and cooked their food even if it was simple.  We are stuck in between that generation and this generation.  This generation, the trend is don’t waste time walking at all, take a 2-wheeler or a 4-wheeler instead and save that much time.  Eating food also, if you don’t have time, go out and eat otherwise, order online and eat at home if you don’t want to go out.  There is a craving for junk food which is a very dangerous trend.  This is a very dangerous trend adopted by this generation.  These things look very comfortable initially, but as days pass, they will show their ill effects.  This has not been realized by children of this generation.  As a consequence, they are developing irreversible health issues to be their companions for life.

At least now, let us all come together and make efforts to give the next generation a better life instead of a bitter life.  Let not our children and grand children learn about plants, trees, animals, birds and insects only through books or the internet.  Many species of plants, animals, birds, and insects are on the brink of becoming extinct due to our greed.  Let us put in our efforts towards contributing for a greener, cleaner and eco friendly Earth.

Simple and easy practices to improve analytical capabilities in students.

These are the simple tips I practiced on many students to improve their analytical capabilities.

1.  Get up early in the morning.

Getting up early in the morning works wonders.  Practice this for a month’s time and see amazing results.  Get at least by 5 in the morning.  You will have access to a very pleasant atmosphere.  The air is fresh without any pollutants.  I know this is winter, so it is very cold, but still make it a practice to get up early in the morning.  Your body and mind will be fresh.  Finish your morning chores, brush your teeth using cold water, this will rejuvenate your nervous system and keep you alert and then take bath.  See the difference.  You will feel alert and fresh.  Then, the first thing as a student start working on mathematics.  Yes, mathematics.  Don’t touch other subjects.  The advantage here is a student has to think and work out on the problems to solve them and give correct solution.  The student’s mind is fresh and calm because he/she has got up just a few minutes before starting.  So, the thinking capability and analytical skills will improve with this exercise daily.  This is an excellent exercise for the brain.  Give this practice to the student’s brain and see the amazing results.  If you sit and start studying, after one point, you will surely doze off.  So, the best practice to train your brain is to practice mathematics.

2.  Recollect.

At the end of each session, try to recollect each step you used to solve each problem, how many you solved and how many you did not.  It is very difficult initially, but gradually this becomes easier.  For what problems did you take help and for what you did not take help.  Remember one thing, it is easier to take help to solve a problem, but the memory storage for the solution that you took help for, will be very short lived as you have not solved the problem yourself.  The solution came to you easily with no struggle involved.  If you solve the problem yourself after committing some mistakes, you will definitely remember the solution and the steps involved in solving this problem, this will remain embedded in the sub conscious.  Try to find easier ways to solve the problems, try connecting them to your day to day activities.

3.  Visualize.

All of us know the fact that our brain retains most of the incidents that we see.  So, adopt this simple technique of visualizing.  Keep some good reference while visualizing.  Visualize your answer also this way.  Visualize the steps.

4. Connecting.

Simple way to recollect and retain is connecting method.  Example, if you are required to remember the answer for a question then follow this simple technique of abbreviating them.  Link your problems to anything that you can remember easily that happens in your day to day activities.  This way you will learn in the easiest and funniest route.

5.  Abbreviating.

If you are supposed to remember too many things which are complicated to remember, then you pick the first letter of the word and then form a word yourself.  For example:  You are supposed to remember the states in south India and you don’t know.  Then the best way to remember is abbreviate them like K for Karnataka, T for Tamil Nadu, K for Kerala, A for Andhra Pradesh and T for Telangana.  Now abbreviate this like K2, T2 and A.  Your answer is easy to remember.  Simple.  Try this method and your answers will be easy for you.

Tamarind tree-my eerie experience.

When we shifted to our own house it was in the outskirts of the town.  There were actually no houses at all surrounding my house and I was 10 years old and in class 5 when we shifted to that isolated locality.  I used to go to a school close by up to class 7.  When I entered high school, class 8, I was admitted to a very good school which was about 15 kilometers from my house and in order to reach the school I had two choices, either take two buses or go by one bus up to 11 kilometers and then walk the rest of 4 kilometers.  I used to walk about a kilometer from my house to the main road in order to reach the bus stop to take a bus to reach my school.  In those days, bus frequency was very less and if I missed one bus, I would have to wait for the next bus which would come after 30 minutes.  If that bus, for any reason did not operate that trip, then I would have no choice, but to go home and take rest and enjoy my day.

My school was functioning between 10.30 in the morning and 4.30 in the evening.  In order to reach my school on time, I would always leave my home at 8.15 in the morning and take a bus at 8.30 and this bus would take 45 minutes to one hour to travel a distance of 11 kilometer and from there, I would either walk to my school which was about 4 kilometers or take a bus if any was there.  Near my house on this main road, stood tall a tamarind tree in a corner of the road.  I never paid attention to this tree until one day when we all witnessed a horrible accident wherein a sand laden lorry went and hit this tree head-on and the driver and the cleaner of the lorry died on the spot.  Those days (this happened about 34 years ago) technology was not so advanced as now and the body of the driver and the cleaner were lying unclaimed in the lorry for 2 days after which the police came and shifted the bodies for post morterm.

It was two days after this incident, my school had arranged for a day’s excursion and the program was to leave the school in the morning and come back by evening.  Pick up point for the trip was my school and drop point was this tamarind tree as the bus was going in this route.  I enjoyed my trip and while coming back, the bus as already planned dropped me near this tamarind tree on the main road near my house.  The lorry was still lying there embracing the tree.  It was around 11 in the night and I got down from the bus, since we did not have any telephones at home (owning a telephone was a luxury in those days) my father had no idea when I would reach home, but he knew that I would be dropped close by, so he was at peace.  It was totally dark with no street lights and no human movement or vehicular movement.  The place was totally deserted and it was a new moon day, this whole situation was scary to me as I was all alone and with no light to my rescue, I adapted my vision to the situation and started walking towards my house which was about a kilometer from this place.  In order to reach my house, I would have to cross a narrow bridge and go as this was the only route.  When I was walking, I heard some foot steps behind me and felt a very strange feeling, I turned back to see who it was, but nobody was there.  I continued walking and again I heard some heavy foot steps next to me at very close quarters, but did not feel any human movement, but could hear only the foot steps.  This really scared my nerves out and I started pacing towards my house.  These foot steps were not continuous, like they would be heard just for a while and then vanish, but in different directions and with different intensities.  I realized that there was something seriously wrong and started praying God, as I was taught to pray God whenever I was in distress.  By that time, my home was closer and my father had switched on the light outside our home for some visibility.  I ran towards my home and told my father my experience who calmed me down.

After this incident, that tamarind tree was noted for its notorious actions.  Every week, there would be an accident and a death in that place.  Of that the ones that I cannot forget are that of a pregnant buffalo which was being transported to the hospital in the town from a nearby village for some reason which I don’t know and the vehicle which was transporting the buffalo met with an accident and the buffalo and its calf in the womb died on the spot.  This vehicle had a head on collision with a state run transport bus and the outcome of the collision was the instant death of those innocent lives.  Like this every week, some accident and confirmed death in these accidents were taking place.

One more accident that I will never forget is that of a man.  He was getting married in a week’s time and was going to the town for shopping.  As it was a hot summer day, he felt lazy to walk the distance of a kilometer and took a ride in one of the cars that was going towards the main road, where he wanted to be dropped.  As this car reached the spot where the tamarind tree stood, one more state run transport bus came and hit this car which was waiting for the bus to cross this junction.  The impact was so much that the car became sandwiched between the monster bus and the triangular junction which was built using boulders.  All passengers in the car including this future bridegroom died on the spot.  It became difficult for the police to extricate the bodies trapped inside the car in the absence of an advanced machine those days.  There were about 8 passengers in that ill fated car when the accident occurred and after this incident, people in the surrounding villages took this matter seriously and requested the chief priest of the temple in the locality to perform pujas to release the Ghosts from the tree and then eliminate the tree itself.  The chief priest performed lot of homas to release the spirits from their sufferings and then burnt the tamarind tree.  After all these things, there was not an accident which involved loss of life in that place.  Small accidents would happen now and then, but not like this, every week.  Many lives were lost over a period of 10 years as the tamarind tree stood there for 10 years.

Mental Health

Actually, I was busy counselling a college student who got stressed out so much for not clearing the aptitude tests and not getting placed that he developed high blood pressure and consulted a physician who started him on medicines to control his high blood pressure.  How old is this boy, he is 21 years.  Who is the culprit here?  the whole system.  Actually, this chap lost his father when he was about 5 years of age, then it was his mother who raised him single handedly facing lot of hurdles and he also told me that he used to get depressed frequently as a child and lonely always because his mother was a working lady and this child would come home after school to just sit inside the house with no friends to play, no siblings as he was a single child and nobody to talk to and he told me that he would cry for hours together sitting in a dark room till his mother arrived from her office.  His mother, on the other hand had no choice, but to work hard to take care of herself and raise her son which had become a necessity for her then.  Now, this boy has grown up, but his mother is a tough lady, all she has done for this boy is got him educated under an educational loan.

This educational loan, which she could have avoided easily as she is earning a very good salary has become a nightmare for this young fellow.  He is not getting recruited by any company on campus as the companies are conducting crazy tests for recruiting students and he is now getting all the more stressed thinking of his future if he is not recruited by any company on campus with a decent pay package as he has the responsibility of paying back the educational loan which is readily waiting for him like a dagger hanging on his head.  He became stressed up, could not clear even the simplest tests given and at one point, fortunately, he did not think of an extreme step, as it would have been more dangerous, his blood pressure shot up to a very high range and he never realized that he had developed this issue, but realized this only after visiting the physician on campus, who checked his blood pressure casually and found out that this boy has developed high blood pressure.  It was a real tough job to convince his mother to be not too harsh on her son.  After all it is her own flesh and blood.  Disciplining is something different and educating is something different.  As children grow up we need to educate them and not discipline them as they will not accept us if we are tough with them after they cross 12th grade.  So, it is better to be friends with them and analyze their problems and educate them about the right and the wrong things in life in a friendly way so that they realize and will be able to distinguish between the right and the wrong thing in life and will be wise enough to take right decision in the future.

His performance dropped drastically in the class tests too, these are all interconnected and his self esteem became very low because of failure on his part to clear any exam.  Ultimately, I told him to take a break from the college routine which he did not agree to, initially, but later on accepted, sent him to learn some simple yogic exercises including breathing exercises and he is feeling much better now.  It will take some more time for him to completely be out of this situation, but he is almost healed.  Nature has provided us such an amazing method to cure our problems naturally, we fail to realize the worth of all these things and I have seen many of us have the tendency to show off to people how many tablets per day are we consuming because of the illness we have.  Many of us are proud of the fact that we are sick and are on medications.  It would be better if we make use of the gift given to us by nature which is in abundance instead of poisoning our system with medicines.

Stress, depression, anxiety in students-Parents please be wise.

Children now a days are stressed out so much that come their examination results, I read so many reports of suicides!  But why?  The reason for the child to die in that most horrible way is failure in the examination or not able to score the expected marks in the annual examination which the child feels is the only achievement in life.  If the child fails to achieve the goals set forth by parents, then he/she feels it as useless to continue living and die.

I know a very typical case of a 12th standard girl student, she scored very good marks in 12th standard examination and desperately wanted to become a doctor.  Unfortunately, she could not score the rank required to get a government seat in any medical college in the state and her father could not afford a management seat by paying very high fees.  She felt so dejected that she ended her life by jumping in front of an express train.  Just imagine the situation her parents would be when their daughter ended her life like this, for what?  for failure to secure a government seat in a medical college.  Actually, the girl had gone to the Common Entrance Test Counselling Center with her father on the day her counselling was scheduled and on realizing that she was not getting a medical seat in any college under government quota, she left the center without even informing her father, who searched for her everywhere and lodged a complaint with the police.  Ultimately, by evening, he got that shocking news.  Can any parent imagine to lose the child in this horrible manner.  I feel some times fault lies with parents also.  There is a crazy race among parents to get their children in an engineering or medical college.  They have failed to realize that time has changed, it is not what it was about 20 years ago, when the only field of education used to be either B.A, or BSc, or BCom, apart from B.E, or MBBS or BDS.  Now children have so many choices, they can get into Business studies, Computer Application/ Computer Science, Hotel Management, Physiotherapy, accountancy, fashion designing, interior decoration, so on and so forth.  They have umpteen choices in front of them, I have only named a few.  After completing their respective courses, they get decently placed and earn a decent living.  At the end of the day, this is what most of the parents are expecting from their children, is it not?  Then why force the child to study only one particular field when the child has so many options open which can be completed in a relatively lesser time and with less efforts.

We have to understand the amount of pressure we are loading on our children when they come to 10th standard.  I have witnessed many cases wherein a child in 10th or 11th or 12th standard having no life at all.  Their routine starts very early in the morning and goes on up to late night.  They are not given time to even sleep peacefully.  They are made to run from school/college to tuition center and home and this routine continues.  It is good that we want our child to score good marks, but don’t imbibe in the child’s mind that he/she should score a particular percentage of marks only and that he or she should get into a particular course only, otherwise, the child’s life is worthless.  If this impression is embedded in the mind of the child, then even the slightest deviation from the target yields only disastrous results.  Please remember, it is not for this you have raised your child all these years.  The marks that your child scores is not worth its life at all.  If he/she has not scored good marks, don’t taunt the child, don’t worry you have so many options in front of you.  Give confidence to the child, in case the child fails in the exam also, don’t taunt the child, because he/she already will be depressed because of the failure and on top of that as parents instead of counselling our children and giving the confidence to them, if we also taunt them or condemn them, where will they go.  Once we lose them, that is the end, they will not come back to us.  Marks are not everything in one’s life, I know so many average and above average performers academically have excelled extremely well in their real lives and those who always excelled academically have fared poorly in their profession.  So, please remember, never taunt the child for its failure to score good marks or succeed in the exam.  If the child failed today, it can clear in the next attempt, give it all the support and hope to clear the exam.  Instill that confidence in your child so that he/she will clear without any hassles and in case of a failure, he/she can clear it and nobody is going to lose anything, make them realize that it is not the end of life.  So many options are there now for these children to succeed in life.  Those options involve less efforts too.  With these kind of encouraging words, your child will feel confident and definitely do well in life also.

As parents, it is our duty to take good care of our children.  After all it is for them we are all living and if something goes wrong in their lives, imagine the trauma we, as parents have to undergo.  So, be wise, don’t scold them or condemn them in case some thing goes wrong.  After all, nobody is perfect.  We as parents and with so much of experience in life also commit blunders, such being the case, how can we expect our children to be perfect and remember, nobody is perfect in this world.  It is only God, the Creator who is perfect, had we been perfect, then we too should have been Gods and Goddesses.

The year is coming to an end in another two months’ time and come January teachers also will be stressed up to complete the portions for the examinations and drill the students to give their best in the annual examinations.  So, children, especially those writing the 10th and 12th standard board examinations will be under tremendous pressure.  Stress level will be even more for those studying in 12th standard Science stream as they will be expected to write multiple entrance examinations.  Many children because of the mounting stress, tend to forget and go blank when question papers are given to them in the examination hall.  The culprit is the examination system in our country, which needs to be modified completely to ease the stress children undergo, especially the 12th standard ones.  Talk to your children, allocate some time for them to release their stress, by playing some nice music or taking them for a walk in a park or go out of the house, just like that, reduce their stress levels, by giving them frequent breaks in between their studies and allow them to have adequate sleep as it relaxes the mind and reduces the stress levels in your kids too.  Give them nutritious food, discourage them from eating junk food.  Have a healthy discussion with them and be their good friends.  If you have a pet at home, then that is a great stress buster.  Pets give unconditional love to their owners, and children relate with their pets very easily and scientific experiments have shown that when you pat your pet, you get a kind of positive energy, which is beneficial to you.

Finally, all I have to say is as parents don’t stress yourselves and pass on the same to your kid also.  Life is uncertain, make it as memorable as possible and enjoy every moment of life.  Be friends with your kids, so that they feel free to come and discuss their problems with you and express their feelings with you.  Be their best friends and first point of contact.  Make them take you into confidence.  Gone are the days when the theory of being afraid of parents was the order of the day.  Today, in this fast paced world make the child feel comfortable in your presence and make the child open up everything with you, else tomorrow will be a day of surprises and shocks for you which you might not be able to absorb and digest.  After all your children are part of your flesh and blood, why do you want to treat them as a separate entity, make them feel they are a part of your system.  Instill that confidence in them that you are there for any kind of eventuality and that they can depend on you for help and support either moral, financial or physical, whatever be the case.  Win their confidence.  Assure them your support and in case you find them going in the wrong direction, guide them properly so that they are in the right path and do not go astray.

All the best to you all and Happy upbringing.