Home remady for Swine flu

It is essential to remember that all kinds of viruses and bacteria can attack you when your immune system is weak, or they can weaken it easily. Hence, building your own defences would be a better, more practical, long-lasting and much more economical idea.

Here are some easy steps you can take to tackle a flu virus of any kind, including swine flu. It is not necessary to follow all the steps at once. You can pick and choose a combination of remedies that suit you best. However, if you are already suffering from flu, these measures can help only up to an extent. And, if you have been infected by H1N1, visiting a hospital and staying in solitary confinement is a must.

1. Have five duly washed leaves of Tulsi (known as Basil in English; medicinal name Ocimum sanctum) everyday in the morning. Tulsi has a large number of therapeutic properties. It keeps throat and lungs clear and helps in infections by way of strengthening your immunity.

2. Giloi (medicinal name Tinospora cordifolia) is a commonly available plant in many areas. Take a one-foot long branch of giloi, add five to six leaves of Tulsi and boil in water for 15-20 minutes or long enough to allow the water to extract its properties. Add black pepper and sendha
(salt used during religious fasts), rock or black salt, or Misri(crystalised sugar like lumps to make it sweet) according to taste. Let it cool a bit and drink this kadha (concoction) while still warm. It will work wonders for your immunity. If giloi plant is not available, get processed giloi powder from Hamdard or others, and concoct a similar drink once a day.

3. A small piece of camphor (kapoor) approximately the size of a tablet should be taken once or twice a month. It can be swallowed with water by adults while children can take it along with mashed potatoes or banana because they will find it difficult to have it without any aides. Please
remember camphor is not to be taken everyday, but only once each season, or once a month.

Note: People with G6PD deficiency ( I am one of them) should not use camphor, its a poison for them. If you feel weak after having camphor, consult your doctor immediately. If you are not sure of your G6PD status, don't take risk.


4. Those who can take garlic, must have two pods of raw garlic first thing in the morning. To be swallowed daily with lukewarm water. Garlic too strengthens immunity like the earlier measures mentioned.

5. Those not allergic to milk, must take a glass of hot or lukewarm milk every night with a small measure of haldi (turmeric).

6. Aloe vera (gwarpatha) too is a commonly available plant. Its thick and long, cactus-like leaves have an odourless gel. A teaspoon gel taken with water daily can work wonders for not only your skin and joint pains, but also boost immunity.

7. Take homeopathic medicines — Pyrogenium 200 and Inflenzium 200 in particular — five tablets three times a day, or two-three drops three times a day. While these are not specifically targeted at H1N1 either, these work well as preventive against common flu virus.

8. Do Pranayam daily (preferably under guidance if you are already not initiated into it) and go for morning jog/walk regularly to keep your throat and lungs in good condition and body in fine fettle. Even in small measures, it will work wonders for your body’s resistance against all such
diseases which attack the nose, throat and lungs, besides keeping you fit.

9. Have citrus fruits, particularly Vitamin C rich Amla (Indian gooseberry) juice. Since fresh Amla is not yet available in the market (not for another three to four months), it is not a bad idea to buy packaged Amla juice which is commonly available nowadays.

10. Last but not the least, wash your hands frequently every day with soap and warm water for 15-20 seconds; especially before meals, or each time after touching a surface that you suspect could be contaminated with flu virus such as a door handle or a knob/handle, especially if you have returned from a public place or used public transport. Alcohol-based hand cleaners should be kept handy at all times and used until you can get soap and warm water.

For point 8 above, you can contact me. For point 9, you can order over telephone on Uniheal Foods. Delivery any where in India. Amla Panchamrut is very good to improve your immunity. All required herbs already included.

Source: Modified version of a forwarded mail

Sixth Sense: the technological way

MIT Media lab project:

'SixthSense' is a wearable gestural interface that augments the physical world around us with digital information and lets us use natural hand gestures to interact with that information.

Dialing a number with dialpad projected on hand:


The device consists of a camera, a projector, and a mobile for communication. Simple hand gestures are recognized and online help is available any time. If you want to take a picture, simple, just make a gesture of taking a picture and its done..



Details:
http://www.pranavmistry.com/projects/sixthsense/

Live demo


Or: Youtube link

Pranav Mistry is IIT Bombay Alumni, M. Des. 2005 batch from IDC IIT Bombay.

Qualifications of a Researcher

Researcher: One who is keen in learning/knowing about some thing that interests him/her.

Having the following qualification, a researcher can accelerate in his/her research. The more you are having these qualities, better will be your research outcome.

  1. Acknowledging that I know very little and there is so much to learn: Acknowledging this fact is the first qualification of a researcher. The moment a researcher develops an "I know everything" attitude, his/her growth diminishes.
  2. Urge to learn more: Many will acknowledge that they know little but will not have an urge to know more. The burning desire to reach the very depth of your problem is absolutely essential in attaining excellence.
  3. Non-judgmental open-hearted attitude towards research: Based on your prior experience, there will be some notions about research, particularly related to your area. You need to step out of the familiar confines of these notions and be open to new ideas, new ways of doing things. This is like looking at a diamond. If you look at it from one side, you will get only one view thereby missing all the other possible dimensions of the same diamond. A non-judgmental and open hearted attitude will open all the perspectives for you.
  4. Giving priority to Truth and Research before your personal comfort and conveniences: Research has to be the priority even preceding your personal comfort. If you are comfortable with yourself then you will do your research of that level only. You will not achieve the highest level of research and hence the satisfaction. If you are resisting discomfort, your process of learning is always hampered. If you have this attitude then you will not be able to see the depth of any thing. Your relationship with discomfort plays a major role. If you are comfortable to be uncomfortable, your learning process is much faster. The discomfort is because of certain weakness within yourself. Suppose you are required to work on a research problem in the subject in which you are weak, then in such a situation 1) You will try to avoid the work; or 2) If you can not avoid it then you will be unhappy/frustrated doing that work. A true researcher has a different perspective. You should take this as an opportunity to learn something new. Once you have mastered the topic, you will be looking for something new to explore.
  5. Complete Commitment to Research Area: Once you have zeroed down on a particular area of research, you must be totally committed to that topic and stop moving around in different areas of research. This is important because as you go deeper and deeper into one particular field of research, your line of thinking develops in a particular way and the moment you change your field, your thinking has to again realign with that new area. If you want to dig a well for water then your need to dig deep at one place and not small pits at many places. The same way you need to focus on your research area rather than just moving around.
  6. Having patience and perseverance: This quality is a key to the success of a researcher. Many a times, what you think will work, will actually not work and you will get dejected, feel low and might even think of giving up. Having patience and perseverance will help you to be on the path till you get to the success.

Apart from knowing the qualities of a researcher, it is also interesting to know why people turn away from research. The three reasons that puts people off from research are:

  1. Confidence in their own inabilities: People are so much confident about their inabilities that they do not even think of research as an option. They are not aware what they can do and hence are not even thinking of research. A saying in this regard goes very well here: If you know what you can do then you will progress. If you don't know what you can do then you will progress by leaps and bounds.
  2. Fear of failure & What will people think about me: This is another reason for people turning away from research. Their insecurity regarding the research outcome compels them not to go for it.
  3. Lower level of energy: A person with lower enthusiasm toward study will take research as burden and will not opt for it as a career option.

Make research your journey and not just your goal


PS: The article is an adaptation of an article on “Signs of a seeker” by H. H. Sri Sri Ravi Shankar in Celebrating Silence and a discourse by Rishi Nityapragya, Art of Living advanced course teacher on “Qualifications of a seeker”. A seeker in this context, is a person who is interested in knowing more about Self.

PPS: Thanks to all those who helped me fine tune this article.

चुनाव की चाट !!

पत्नी बोली, चखकर देखें, इस बार के चुनाव की चाट !!
इस चटपटी चाट की, कुछ अलग लग रही बात !!

Congress की खस्ता कचौड़ी, BJP की पानी पूरी
3rd Front की खिचड़ी चाट, 4th Front की अभी अधूरी !

Varun की stall पर स्वागत हुआ, धर्म के उसी आलू से
Bulldozer से कुचल दिया, रहा गया ना लालू से !

Mayawati ने तुरंत छिड़का, NSA का गरम मसाला
BJP ने अपनाया आलू को, और प्रचार कर डाला !

Advani ने "week PM" की, लाल मिर्च तबियत से डाली
PM ने भी पुरानी Kandahar की, बड़ी हरी मिर्च निकाली !

Modi बोले Congress की खट्टी चटनी, अब बुढिया जैसी दिखती है
Priyanka की मीठी चटनी पड़ने से, "गुड़िया जैसी दिखती है" !

Advani ने "गुलाम" के छोले संग, पानी पूरी पकडा दी
Sonia ने "संघ के गुलाम" की, खट्टी दही बिखरा दी !

चटनी के संग अब चाट में, कीचड़ भी पड़ने लगी
आचार संहिता की श्वेत साड़ी, काली सी दिखने लगी !

Chidambaram, Advani की stalls पर, जाना ज़रा सम्भल के
तीर चल रहे उनके stalls पर, जूतों और चप्पल के !

Pawar छिड़क रहे मीठी चटनी, सारे ही चाट stalls पर
PM बनने का मौका है, बात है उनके होठों पर !


कौन किससे मिल रहा, गठजोड़ की इस मजबूरी में
सेव-पूरी है टिक्की संग, दही-बड़ा डूबा पानी-पूरी में !
मीठी चटनी लिपट रही, हरी मिर्च के संग
लाल संग गठबन्धन में, मिल रहा है हरा रंग !

खट्टी, मीठी या तीखी हो, चाट तो हमको खानी ही है
पेट सलामत रहे पांच वर्ष, उम्मीद तो कम लगती ही है !
लगता है जल्दी ही हम सबको, पेट-दर्द की गोली खानी होगी
एक - दो वर्ष में ही हमको, नयी चाट बनानी होगी !!

- Raj Seth
18th April, 2009

Disclaimer: This is a forwarded mail. I would like give credit to the author, who so ever he/she is. Could not get any pointer on google.

Spirituality, politics deal with people

by His Holiness Sri Sri Ravi Shankar...

Both spirituality or religion and politics deal with human beings. A politics devoid of spirituality is infested with corruption and creates an unethical atmosphere of manoeuvred situations, circumstances and people. If you do not recognise the individual or universal spirit, there is no reason for you to be ethical. Politics without ethics and human values would result in chaos, crime and corruption.


The goal of politics is to bring good governance and increase material, emotional and physical comfort of people. The aim of spirituality is to boost morality and human values. Both politics and spirituality need to go hand in hand.

For good governance, spirituality is necessary. Only spirituality can invoke commitment, care and confidence. Spiritual people live the values, which are absolutely essential for those in governance. A leader has to be a samadarshi , one who sees everyone as being equal; satyadarshi , who moves with the Truth; paradarshi, who is transparent in action; doordarshi, being broad-minded and a visionary; and priyadarshi, embodying love and compassion.


On the one hand, religion has been the cause of many wars on this planet. On the other hand, religion and spirituality have thrived only because of the patronage of the state. If a society is chaotic and has no spiritual values it is difficult to govern and if there is no official patronage, it is difficult for spirituality to survive.

Spirituality makes people honest and committed and this is necessary to create a crime-free society. State patronage makes spirituality spread faster to all sections of society. While many wars are fought in the name of religion, spirituality has given courage, confidence and commitment to people even in the toughest of times. Many saints, prophets, Sufis and sanyasis have been victimised due to lack of political patronage. For example, many Sikh gurus were persecuted by the state. This affected the morale of society and resulted in bad governance.

Religion has created conflict, but irreligious societies have created chaos and corruption. Did not millions suffer in Russia, China and Cambodia in the name of freeing society of religious beliefs? Today, both religion and politics need reform. Religion has to become more spiritual to allow freedom of worship and broader to encompass all the wisdom in the world and politicians have to become more righteous and spiritual.

When spirituality and politics don't coexist, then you have corrupt politicians and pseudo-religious leaders. Spirituality is ingrained in the Indian polity. Since ancient times rajgurus have guided and counselled rulers and in turn rulers have supported religious and spiritual leaders. Rama's guru was Vasishta and Krishna's guru was Sandipani. Jainism and Buddhism flourished under the patronage of the rulers of their time. Shivaji gave patronage to Samarth Ramdass.

M K Gandhi appealed to people across the board because of his spiritual approach. Spirituality brought freedom to India. Indian spirituality has given a secular ethos to the world.

The need of the hour is a prejudice-free political system. Consensus can emerge only when politicians learn to drop prejudices of religion, caste and gender. To be able to drop prejudices, politicians need to widen their sense of belongingness. This can happen only when they are free from stress and gain a spiritual perspective.

Politics is mainly about caring for people, providing for their welfare. Spirituality gives you a broader vision of life, teaching all to share, care and nurture each other selflessly and with equanimity.

The writer is founder, the Art of Living and the International Association for Human Values.

Source: TOI-6 Apr2009

March against corruption, terrorism held in Delhi



Citizen activism against corruption and terrorism saw a new high on Sunday when prominent personalities, including former top cop Kiran Bedi, ad guru Prahalad Kakkar and others, came out in a unique march to pledge support against the two evils.

Under the aegis of WAYE, the youth wing of the art of living, and youth for equality, the citizens undertook the March against corruption and terrorism from Jantar Mantar in the national capital, which they claimed is the launch of a "nationwide movement" against the evils.

"A positive step towards a positive direction has taken place today. Our 'chalta hai' attitude towards corruption, which is ingrained in us, has to be forced out from the individual level," Anirudh Bahl, who is editor of the 'Cobrapost', said.

Commenting on police's "apathy" towards security, former IPS officer Kiran Bedi said, "Crime registration is your right. Ask the number of entries in police control rooms to get data which is otherwise never revealed by the police."

Bedi also appealed to the youth to "fearlessly exercise their right of no-vote if they were not satisfied with their candidates during the polls".

Appealing citizens for greater use of the RTI Act, social activist Arvind Kejriwal said, "Using RTI is more effective than paying bribes." to get rid of corruption.



Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Delhi/Kiran-Bedi-leads-march-against-corruption-terrorism/articleshow/4209035.cms

Let's march for a better India

Let's march for a better India

HIS HOLINESS Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, founder, Art of Living, has conceptualised this march to awaken and empower citizens in order to create an on-ground structure that will actually effect a change in societal circumstances and situations, in keeping with his vision and mission of a stress-free, violence-free planet where individuals contribute towards the goal of a One-World Family. The objective of the march is to awaken and empower the people of India, especially the youth, to participate in the democratic process. This march is the first step of a nationwide campaign aimed at amplifying the collective voice of the citizens and propelling the youth of India against Corruption and Terrorism. We endeavour to catalyze this movement, across the nation, with a three fold solution: Awareness, Accountability and Action.

With this motive Youth for Equality along with WAYE and AOL has planned a march on March 1, 2009. India has been badly hit by terrorism in the last decade or so and yet our government hasn't taken any concrete step to enhance the security and intelligence of the country. Corruption, another evil in our system, is eating up all the progress which we are making towards becoming a developed nation. If we want to prosper it is very essential to uproot terrorism and corruption. As a country, we need to actively start moving in a concerted way against these twin evils that are now threatening our very existence. So let us send out a call to our country to create a safe society. A society where there is no fear in walking into an airplane, a train or a bus. Or when we enter a mall, a cinema or a hotel, with our children. Or even our very own homes.

Let us take responsibility and bring the change - for our future and our future generations. Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what can you do for your country.

We need to take the future in our hands; see it resting on our palms and take nation ahead.

Change is inevitable and it is important that Indian youth takes the responsibility to bring the change. So, here is the call for all the citizens whose conscience is yet awake and they want to make the system effective.

Be the Change.

Join the march on March 1, 2009 (www.themarch.in)
Time: 2 pm to 5 pm
Venue: Parliament Street, New Delhi

Remember, it is no good when citizens of nation only complain and expect someone else to fix their problems.

http://www.merinews.com/catFull.jsp?articleID=15712018