BAIDEHI

He did not even cast a cursory glance at me

Even though we met after a thirteen-year separation.

My snuffed womanhood yearned

For a few soothing words from him.

Instead, he demanded a testimony of chastity.

I was stultified, tears gushed out of my closed eye lids.

A sense of emptiness gripped my feelings

Laxman and a few others argued for me

But nothing could melt his avalanche ego.

As the evening mist was stealing in

from the nearby hills, I consigned myself to flames.

Dusk was melting into night

And a star twinkled on the blue firmament.

Probably, kindness dawned upon him, and so

Before I was burnt to ashes, he lifted out

my smoldered  body to his palace.

Our togetherness had become an island

Surrounded by strange waters of suspicion.

In a chilling winter night he knocked at my doors.

I slipped out of the back doors, surreptitiously

To the banks of the river of distress, while

The pale moon shed cool light from heaven's lofty heights.

I heard a thunderous roar from a distance

Just like Ravana's laughter

Unafraid I laughed like a lunatic

And asked my inner self

"Was Lanka in any way inferior to Ayodhya?"

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4G: USHERING IN REVOLUTION IN DATA TRANSMISSION TECHNOLOGY #Airtel4G

“G stands for generation, 2G means second generation and 3G is third generation”. This was how one of my colleagues tried to explain when I shamelessly exposed my inability to understand these terms. This was about eight years back when 3G came to Indian small towns. I am sure most of the people at that time did not understand the difference between these two terms 2G and 3G although very few admitted it. As I explored I came to learn that 2G was primarily designed for voice communication whereas 3G facilitated data transfer along with digital voice communication. With the advent of 3G technology the era of smart phones started which eased connectivity. The traditional desktop with a wired internet connection (dial up connection) became a thing of the past. 3G Dongles with laptops and smart phones with wifi connectivity became the order of the day. Broadband and speed of download became the talk of the town. And now with Airtel rolling out 4G in India this is the newest topic of discussion everywhere. As experts in the field put it both 2G and 3G networks were designed primarily for voice communications rather than data. On the other hand, 4G is designed especially for data transmission rather than voice. So 4G offers faster access to data using mobile phones. For example, streaming video works better with 4G, with less stuttering and a higher resolution. Similarly, video conferencing and multi-player online games work better with the faster data transmission offered by 4G.
The definition of 4G has changed over the years. Current commercially available technologies LTE (Long-Term Evolution) and WiMax claimed that they are sufficiently advanced from 3G and thus claimed the right to call their technology 4G. The basic fact is 3G and 4G refer to the communication protocol between the mobile handset and the cell phone tower. The throughput rate and browsing speed also depend upon factors such as:

• how many cell phone towers are in the vicinity
• how many users are sharing these towers
• the bandwidth available to  these cell phone towers to connect to the internet.

Pick upload and down load rates are 5mbps/100mbps for 3G and 500mbps/1Gbps for 4G.For average consumers, '3G' and '4G' are two of the most mysterious terms in the mobile technology dictionary, but they're used relentlessly to sell phones and tablets.

Anyway, as Airtel is providing 4G services for the price of 3G it is definitely driving the young generation crazy. And what is more, the 4G SIM is available free of cost at one’s door step. Is it not enough to go gaga over it? My son has already changed to 4G with his iphone being compatible with 4G technology. As far as I am concerned I am just watching this young generation dancing to the technological tune. No doubt the new technology will make internet surfing at least 10 times faster if not 100 times. My film freak son says he is able to download full movies in a couple of hours  with 4G which 3G was taking more than 12 hours.

Life will definitely be much faster with 4G. Online shopping, bill payments, money transfers will be done in a jiffy. Watching streaming video without interruption can be a new enjoyable experience.Video conferencing will be faster and more effective for corporate honchos. But I am sure Airtel’s 4G will provide much more than I can think of now. For more information on Airtel 4G click on the link below .

http://www.airtel.in/4g/

PS: This post is written specifically for Airtel and their 4G campaign.

HUMAN BODY: AN AMAZING PLATFORM FOR BUSINESS. #HoneyDietIsHere

I was taught about balanced diet in my high school days more than three decades ago and at that time I was not able to comprehend neither its importance nor its requirement. As children in our time we used to eat whatever was available at home. There were no sophisticated eateries outside and no fast food were available except perhaps, chats and golgoppas from road side vendors. We were often cautioned by our elders not to indulge in roadside dishes as they were unclean and liable to cause stomach problems. But never were we conscious about gaining weight and let alone losing weight by using balanced diet. Our life style then was much simpler and our daily doses of food intake consisted of proteins, carbohydrates, minerals, fats and what not. I really did not understand at that time the use of eating weighted quantity of rice, dal, vegetables, fruits and all that terming it as “balanced diet”.

As time elapsed and Indian economy opened up in the early 1990s the Indian market was invaded by the MNCs and drastically changed the way Indians ate. Fat rich fast food outlets mushroomed and mouth licking stuff like pizzas, burgers, pastas, grilled chicken sandwitches etc were made available in plenty. These sophisticated eateries served food having very little nutritional value. No wonder people indulging in these modern fashion foods gained weight and lost strength of body and mind due to malnutrition like condition. Now to combat the weight gain modern health clubs (Our age old body building akhadas, renamed) sprung up. MNCs made money by putting fat on our bodies and the Health Clubs started making money by putting us on rigorous physical exercises to burn the fat. What an irony !!

But the comfort crazy population detests health clubs. All they need is a short cut for losing weight. This is where the dieticians step in with their business ideas. They show beautiful dreams of  weight loss by a couple of kilos (or even more) every week. And the gullible indolent people give in and accept their crash diet plans. Now these plans show very good results initially but what we often fail to realize are the negative impacts of these plans. Crash Diet Slows down metabolism and makes one very week and sleepy. You feel food craving all the time and hardly gather energy for any hard physical work. The worst thing is there is no guarantee that the lost weight will not come back again.

I have been a foodie since my birth and I would never like to accept any crash diet plan to lose my weight. I feel if I do that I will probably not be able to sustain at all. Overweight that I am, I would prefer a balanced diet plan in addition to a regular mild work out. The advantages of a balanced diet plan is that it helps to control and lose weight moderately, keeps you fit by providing proper nutrition and improves your digestive system and metabolism. A good balanced diet plan aims at reducing calories without letting your body to be deprived of nutrition and should include the following.

• plenty of fruit and vegetables
• plenty of bread, rice, potatoes, pasta and other starchy foods (choosing wholegrain varieties when possible)
• some milk and dairy foods (choosing lower-fat varieties when possible)
• some meat, fish, eggs, beans and other non-dairy sources of protein
• just a small amount of food  high in fat and sugar.

It is commendable that Dabur is campaigning for use of Honey, the natural sweetener. Honey is definitely a good substitute for the calories rich Sugar. And the Honey Diet is a good form of balanced diet which every overweight individual should adopt. For more details on Honey Diet please click the link below.

http://www.daburhoney.com/ 

THAT’S HOW SHE FOUGHT LEUKEMIA

She was 14 and hardly 20 kg in weight. Her frame had nothing except bones only. But she was very cheerful and kept herself engaged in activities she liked. She kept her spirits high and heightened ours as well. Yes, I am talking of my daughter who was suffering from Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (a type of blood cancer) and was under a chemotherapy regime at CMC, Vellore. The treatment of the dreaded disease being more painful than the disease itself, my little daughter showed indomitable courage to combat it. We had to rent a house to stay in Vellore for about a year for her treatment. It is during this period she learnt to make tea and cook her favourite snacks. She would prepare the eatables and sell them to us for a price and enjoyed the business. Every week some drug or other was administered to her and that kept her dull and dejected for three to four days. She was unable to move because of the extreme weakness. She was unable to eat as she was under constant influence of nausea because of the side effects of the poisonous drugs. For the two days of the week when she felt relatively better she was very active and wanted to eat tasty things. My wife tried to prepare things of her choice but her almost dead taste buds could not relish them. In order to make her busy and forget the painful treatment my wife asked her to help her in preparing something she liked. Thus, in spite of her weakness my daughter accepted her mother’s challenge and enjoyed cooking with her. Prior to this she had never been to the kitchen even to warm a glass of water.

One evening when I returned from the market doing some grocery shopping she came to me with a tray containing a cup of tea and some pakodas. The tray was trembling as she did not have the strength to hold it tightly. I took the tray from her hand began reprimanding her for her dare devil act. But she was so much overjoyed with her achievement that she ignored my grumble and told me with a smile writ large on her face, “Papa I have prepared everything that you see in this tray. And I have come to sell these to you.” I could hardly believe my eyes. My suffering daughter has prepared all these for me!! My wife confirmed, “Yes, She has done everything with a little bit of guidance from me.” Tears welled up in my eyes and I embraced my little princess. But she shouted in her feeble voice,”No, No that will not do. You will have to pay me.” “How much, my darling?” I asked. “One hundred and fifty Rupees” averred my little princess, “One hundred for the Pakodas and fifty for the tea.” I gave her two hundred rupee notes which she gladly accepted but regretted for not having ₹50/- to return to me. I told her to keep that as an advance for another cup of tea on the next day.

Needless to say my daughter learnt the art of cooking in the most trying circumstances and that pastime helped her to overcome the ordeals of the painful chemotherapy. That also gave us the mental strength to deal with the situation. And today, seven years ahead of that incident my little princess has become a good cook and prepares very delicious fast food. Not only that her never say die attitude towards life has made our entire family quite optimistic.

PS: This post is written specifically for  Kellogg’s Chocos ke saath ‘Khuljaye Bachpan’  contest. For more details on this campaign please click the link below.

https://www.facebook.com/mychocos.