July 2015 by james paul

FROM EDITORâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S DESK

MAGAZINE ON EDUCATION

Evolving taste of new generation

VOLUME 03 | ISSUE 02 | JULY 2015

Food is part of our culture. Every region has its own taste. Managing Editor Dr. Varghese Panthalookaran CMI Editor James Paul Associate Editor Dr. Prasant Palackappilly CMI

Columns K. L. Mohanavarma Dr. K. N. Raghavan Dr. K. S. David Joe A. Scaria

Marketing Manager Varghese Kachappilly CMI Design Sajo Joseph

Today, our taste buds have been hijacked by multinational food manufacturers. Our taste has undergone tremendous evolution through ages and has reached a stage where we cannot live without junk food. Junk food is an informal term for food that is of little nutritional value and often high in fat, sugar, and calories. The ongoing controversy over the ban of Maggi noodles has created a furore among people. However, Maggi alone may not be the culprit. Many health drinks and calcium supplements produced by other companies are equally suspected. It reiterates the unpleasant fact that India is lax in ensuring packaged food safety. How safe is our food? It is not just about being concerned about what is in our food, we have to be concerned about what our food is in. According to a new study from Europe, food packaging materials contain as many as 175 dangerous chemicals. A 2013 study by the US Food Packaging Forum, Pew Charitable Trusts and the European Food and Safety Authority indicates that more than 170 potentially dangerous materials are used in the packaging of foodâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;things that have been linked to cancer, infertility, hormone disruption, and even genital defects. According to World Health Organisation estimates, around two million deaths occur globally, every year, due to food and water contamination. We are programmed to like sweet, salt, and fat tastes. Artificial sweeteners in the packet foods are hundreds to thousands of times sweeter than regular sugar, activating our genetically-programmed preference for sweet taste more than any other substance. They trick our metabolism into thinking sugar is on its way. This causes our body to pump out insulin, the fat storage hormone, which lays down more belly fat. Those slick combinations of sugar, fat and salt in junk and processed food have taken over our taste buds, our brain chemistry, and our metabolism. These foods are biologically addictive. We are held hostage by the food industry.

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Food manufactures resort to all kinds of underhand and insidious steps to increase profits and get consumers hooked on their food products. Attractive packages, advertisements and taste enhancers deceive people. Actors and actresses woo children to these packed poisons. Advertising blitzkriegs lead to the sale of many such products to gullible buyers. They hide dangerous ingredients behind innocent-sounding names that fool consumers into thinking they are safe. Using banned ingredients that other countries have found unsafe for human consumption, has become a pandemic in this country. India now needs to set standards to discontinue the use of banned ingredients to ensure toxin-free food. We need to go back to our traditional food to get rid of the dangers of junk food.

CONTENTS GUEST COLUMN 54

CO VER ST OR Y COVER STOR ORY

22 Taste of new generation The Maggi controversy has brought to light the perils of consuming packaged food. Our taste buds have been hijacked by multinational food manufacturers. We discuss the pros and cons of ‘new generation taste’.

24 Reconnecting tastes

junk food 32 How affects children

Nisha Nair We are raising a generation who is wooed in by the awesome number of beautifully packaged food on market shelves, the unblemished fruits and vegetables available year round.

in eating habits 28 Change among children

According to the Women’s and Children’s Health Network, diet has a significant effect on children’s study habits.

- the good, the 34 Food bad and the ugly

Satheesh Kumar T.N.

Amrita

Children being the future citizens of our country’s, it is necessary to have a healthy child population in the community and society.

The world seems to be heading towards a disaster and changing food habits is a crucial link in this chain of events.

JULY 2015 EXPERT COUNSEL

Towards a healthy lifestyle Dr. K.N. Raghavan

PERSONAL

I get emotional and shout in the class

REGULARS NEWS................................. 06 INSIGHTS.......................... 08

Sajit Malliyoor

VIEW POINT

HEALTH MONITOR

BOOK SHELF

RESTORATIVE CREATIVE LIVING

38 42

Degradation of education

INFO TECH........................ 40

Dr. K. S. David

INNO VATIONS ................... 47 INNOV TIONS...................

Stay healthy in monsoon season How to Raise an Adult

RAINBO W.......................... 62 RAINBOW

Julie Lythcott-Haims

A different world Burn your dark matter to trigger creativity Dr. Varghese Panthalookaran

EDUTRENDS

Sexual health in curriculum Dr. P. C. Alexander

CAREER

SUBSCRIBE NOW TURN TO P AGE 65 PA

Mindset for the new generation job Thomson Skariah

GUEST COLUMN

Taste: the supreme gift from God K. L. Mohana Varma

ASPECTS

Janasruti pautrayanaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s search for a teacher Dr. Augustine Thottakara

CONTOURS OF CHANGE

Death of the high street, now visiting India Joe A. Scaria

SPORTS REFLECTIONS

Let your child play...

A Sickness of the Heart

Shibu P. P.

Jose Panthaplamthottiyil

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NEWS

Kudumbashree forays into higher education

Faculty crunch in TN Medical colleges

fter making its presence felt in various fields from pickle making to IT business, Kerala’s woman self-help group Kudumbashree is stepping into the higher education sector by setting up a community college in the state. The flagship initiative is to be implemented with the support of Mumbaibased prestigious Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS). Eligible members of the all-woman network could avail a post-graduate diploma in Development Praxis free of cost under the programme, Kudumbashree officials said.

t a time when 31,000 students battle for 2,200-odd seats in Tamil Nadu this year, the state government’s efforts to increase the number of MBBS seats have come a cropper. After an inspection in January, the Medical Council of India (MCI), the apex regulatory body for medical education in the country, cited faculty shortage and poor infrastructure facilities to reject TN’s request to increase the seats from 150 to 250 each in Madurai, Tirunelveli and Coimbatore medical colleges. It also turned down Kanyakumari Government Medical

The fee of a similar one year-course would cost about Rs one to Rs 1.5 lakh at TISS, they said. “The community college initiative is a milestone in the history of Kudumbashree. We have a number of educated members and this project will help them expand the horizons of their dreams of higher education,” Kudumbashree Executive Director K B Valsala Kumari said. TISS, one of the pioneers in the education of social sciences, would provide all technical and other back support for the programme. The syllabus and study materials of the course, which comprises nine months’ classroom study and one month’s field work, are drawn out by professors and TISS experts, she said. Kudumbashree members with at least two years’ experience in the mission and the daughters of those members who are five years’ old in the network can apply for the course. The selection will be made through a multi-level process, comprising an entrance test, group discussion and interview. An advisory committee, in which education experts and social activists of high repute are members, would monitor the execution of the programme.

classes VI to X for central government run school. Inaugurating the first yoga

conference organized by the Central Board of Secondary Education and releasing the NCERT prepared syllabus and course material for students, Irani said that schools boards can work towards opting yoga as a subject with 80 percentage practicals during which students have to perform various asanas.

Uttarakhand to recruit 10,000 yoga instructors

ttarakhand government is planning to recruit 10,000 yoga instructors to teach yoga and pranayam in state-run Ayurvedic hospitals. Chief Minister Harish Rawat said that the appointments, which will be made on an ad-hoc basis, will solve some of the employability concerns of

College’s request to increase seats from 100 to 150. “In the recruitment conducted by Medical Services Recruitment Board at the end of 2014, only around 300 applications were received for the post of 1,727 assistant surgeons. Hardly 100 joined. Still there are more than 1,500 vacancies for specialists,” said Tamil Nadu Government Doctors Association president Dr K Senthil. Even if the state government takes immediate steps to rectify the issue, it will take a few years to get adequate specialists, he said. “It will take time for the existing faculty members to get promoted to associate and assistant professor cadres,” he the 20,000-plus trained yoga teachers in said. the state. Rawat added that hour-long yoga and pranayam sessions will be introduced in the Ayurvedic hospitals across the state within a few weeks. The chief minister added that efforts inister for Human Resource will be made to develop Yoga Gram Development, Smriti Irani (Yoga Villages) in different district to proposed introduction of sensitize people about the significance yoga as a subject in schools from of yoga.

Yoga as a subject in central schools

Pallikkutam | July 2015

NEWS

Delhi to appoint 20,000 teachers in one year

UGC likely to allow PhD enrolment under distance education

World’s 1st kidney transplant varsity opens in Gujarat

elhi government has announced expansion and improvement of infrastructure of government educational institutions with more teachers along with formation of a committee to regulate private schools admission and fees.

“In one year, we will give 20,000 teachers to the government schools. Even guest teachers will be permanent after taking their

he University Grants Commission (UGC) is actively considering relaxing its norms which would enable distance education institutions to offer MPhil and PhD programmes, benefiting nearly 10,000 students. The matter will be put before the next meeting of the commission.

IKDRC director Dr H L Trivedi will be university’s chancellor for five years and IKDRC deputy director Veena Shah will be the vice-chancellor. He said that the university, expected to come up on more than 25-acre land

“The commission is taking a considerate view of the matter and it will be placed in the next committee meeting,” UGC chairman Ved Prakash said.

he world’s first kidney transplant university in Ahmedabad, built by Institute of Kidney Diseases and Research Centre (IKDRC) at the cost of Rs 50 crore, was inaugurated by chief minister Anandiben Patel .

The development comes against the backdrop of a section of teachers from Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) reminding UGC about its assurance given four years back to relax norms in context of research programmes conducted through distance mode. examination. Those of you not found fit will not be made permanent,” Deputy CM Sisodia said. He further said that government is mapping each government schools and identifying problem areas in terms of infrastructure.

The UGC had clamped the bar by notifying a rule - the Minimum Standards and Procedure for Awards of MPhil/PhD Degree Regulation - in 2009 saying research courses in the distant mode were of poor quality.

“We have started working on each school after doing mapping. I assure you that when schools reopen in July, they will find substantial change in their school building,” he said.

The varsity will prepare documentarybased science evidence on transplants and new-age techniques. He said: “We’ll conduct research programs in diabetic nephropathy, immunology, cell infusion, cell development and other key areas.”

Claiming that government is moving towards AAP party’s poll promise of opening 500 schools in Delhi Sisodia said, “we will open 100 model schools which will also have auditorium, lab and other modern facilities. We have started construction of 45 schools across Delhi and also planning to run double-shift in 75 schools. We have also identified land for 60-70 schools.”

Pallikkutam | July 2015

near IKDRC, will offer courses in dialysis technology, anesthesia, clinical nursing, nurse technicians, immunology, biochemistry and other vital organs that are affected due to chronic kidney disease.

The regulations had put a question mark on the future of nearly 10,000 students pursuing such courses across the country.

The university will draw research faculty and students from across Indian, American and Canadian universities. Sources said IKDRC is also in negotiation with the health department to use its buildings as laboratory, library and admin office.

INSIGHTS

Time for helicopter parents to be grounded

esearchers at Brigham Young University have shown that parental warmth cannot neutralize the consequences of helicopter parenting. Additionally, a lack of warmth makes the negative effects worse. The negative effects developed in the children include lower self-worth and higher risk behaviors. The study is published in Emerging Adulthood. Helicopter parenting is defined by parents’ over-involvement in the lives of their children. This includes making important decisions for them, solving their problems and intervening in their children’s conflicts. Warmth is measured by parental availability to talk and spend time together. It is already found that the children of helicopter parents are

less engaged in school. The current study further suggests that helicopter parenting combined with an absence of parental warmth is especially detrimental to young adults’ wellbeing. Even though high levels of parental warmth reduced the negative effects, it did not eliminate them completely. The findings suggest that loving parents can’t justify their helicoptering tendencies; too much control is too much, no matter the parents’ affection and support. In short, stepping in and doing for a child what the child developmentally should be doing for him or herself, is negative. Regardless of the form of control, it’s harmful. Lack of control, however, does not mean lack of involvement, warmth and support.

Simple lessons to reduce food-waste

esearch by Cornell Food & Brand Lab shows that the top causes of food waste in such homes include buying too much, preparing in abundance, unwillingness to consume leftovers, and improper food storage. With simple changes in food buying, preparing, and storing, the problem can be remedied. Researchers found that the practice that resulted in the most food waste was simply buying too much food, followed by preparing food in abundance. Leaving foods on dishes after meals or not saving leftovers, and decaying of prepared foods after long or inappropriate storage were also significant factors that resulted in disposal of foods. Furthermore, the researchers found that strategies that are intended to save money such as buying in bulk and shopping monthly, rather than more frequently, and cooking from scratch, actually contributed to the generation of food waste and ultimately did not result in savings. Teaching home cooks efficient meal and shopping planning strategies and proper food storage techniques can have a significant impact on reducing food waste and saving money,

Reminders on temptations boosts honesty

esearch by University of Chicago Booth School of Business suggests that when facing an ethical dilemma, being aware of the temptation before it happens and thinking about the longterm consequences of misbehaving could help more people do the right thing. The results are published in Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin. Unethical behavior is rampant across various domains ranging from business and politics to education and sports. Organizations seeking to improve ethical behavior can do so by helping people recognize the cumulative impact of unethical acts and by providing warning cues for

upcoming temptation. Researchers found that workers were less likely to say it is okay to steal office supplies, call into work sick when they aren’t really ill, or intentionally work slowly to avoid additional tasks, if they anticipated an ethical dilemma through a writing exercise in advance and if they considered a series of six ethical dilemmas all at once. The results of the experiments have the potential to help policy makers, educators and employers devise strategies to encourage people to behave ethically. For example, a manager could control costs by emailing employees before a work trip to warn them against the temptation to inflate expenses.

suggests the study. It recommends grocery stores to offer educational sessions with cooking tips and storage techniques, a strategy that would build store loyalty and help consumers to waste less. The study also suggests that food assistance programs should take these findings into account and incorporate buying, cooking, and storage techniques in nutrition education curriculum.

Pallikkutam | July 2015

INSIGHTS

We do use brain when we vote

McGill University research cast some light on the brain mechanisms that support people’s voting decisions. A part of the brain called the lateral orbitofrontal cortex (LOFC) must function properly if voters are to make choices that combine different sources of information about the candidates. The study also found that damage to the LOFC leads people to base their vote on simpler information, namely the candidate’s good looks. The results are published in the Journal of Neuroscience. Healthy

individuals spontaneously weighed both attractiveness and an assessment of the candidate’s competence when making their choices. The study provides the first evidence that the LOFC is critical for integrating different kinds of information to allow people to arrive at a preference. The study tested subjects with and without damage affecting the LOFC. It was found that although subjects with LOFC damage could rate the competence of the candidates, they did not use this information when voting, instead relying only on the attractiveness factor. It shows that damage disrupts a specific aspect of how a decision is made. It provides evidence that LOFC is necessary for this function. This is the first time the brain basis of political behavior has been studied with these methods. Understanding the brain mechanisms underlying these first impression effects on voting is one route to a deeper understanding of human political

Pallikkutam | July 2015

behavior and offers a novel perspective on the broader topic of value-based decision-making, to date studied mainly through an economic lens.

Shifting gears of mind to learn better

Stanford University research suggests that beginners in reading who focus on lettersound relationships, or phonics, instead of trying to learn whole words, increase activity in the area of their brains best wired for reading. In other words, to develop reading skills, teaching students to sound out “C-AT” sparks more optimal brain circuitry than instructing them to memorize the word “cat.” The study also found that these teaching-induced differences show up even on future encounters with the word. Results of the are published in the journal Brain and Language. The research team used a brain mapping technique that allowed them to capture brain responses to the newly learned words that are literally faster than the blink of an eye. They found that these very rapid brain responses were influenced by how they were learned. This research is exciting because it takes cognitive neuroscience and connects it to questions that have deep meaning and history in educational research. Words learned through the lettersound instruction elicited neural activity biased toward the left side of

the brain, which encompasses visual and language regions. In contrast, words learned via whole-word association showed activity biased toward right hemisphere processing. By comparison, when the same

subject memorized whole-word associations, the study found that they learned sufficiently to recognize those particular words on the reading test, but the underlying brain circuitry differed, eliciting electrophysiological responses that were biased toward right hemisphere processes.

Benefits of strengthbased parenting

groundbreaking study by University of Melbourne outlines how children can draw on their personal strengths to cope with the demands that lead to stress. The results are published in the journal Psychology. Strengthbased parenting is an approach where parents deliberately identify and cultivate positive states, processes and qualities in their children. This

style of parenting adds a ‘positive filter’ to the way a child reacts to stress. It also limits the likelihood of children using avoidance or aggressive coping responses. While some stress such as toxic stress caused by a long lasting intense negative experience can have a debilitating effect on the wellbeing of children, not all stress is bad or damaging. Positive stress is a normal part of the developmental process. When managed well, it has the potential to help children learn, grow and adapt. Essential life skills such as coping with and adapting to new situations grow out of positive stress. The study offers a new avenue for research into the under explored and promising area of positive psychology parenting approaches.

EXPERT COUNSEL

Towards a healthy lifestyle PEDAGOGY

Dr. K.N. Raghavan

wo separate events took place during the last month which would concern all persons living in our country. The first one involved the banning of the

It was also found that the label pasted on the product regarding the presence of certain salts was not correct. Based on this finding, FSSAI ordered the product off the shelf in one state and most

Doing exercises regularly and eating right quantity of safe and tasty food would constitute the first step towards a healthy living. popular food product â&#x20AC;&#x153;Maggi instant noodlesâ&#x20AC;? that was manufactured and marketed by a multinational company on the grounds that it contained certain elements in excess of what was permissible and other was the successful conduct of International Yoga Day on 21 June, which instilled a sense of pride and happiness in the minds of all Indians. Both the instances have the potential to have long term consequences on the health of the people, though by different means. A sample of Maggi noodles which was tested by officers of Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) was found to contain certain metals within it which was far in excess of what was permissible.

of the other states followed suit and promptly banned the product, forcing the company to recall the stocks that had already reached the shops. This created widespread consternation and worry as the product under question was one of the most popular ones in the market and would have been consumed by almost all Indians on one occasion or the other. Further, this also opened up the larger question regarding the safety of the food that one consumes and about the price that one pays for relying too much on easy to cook products. Yoga, on the other hand, is an ancient Indian system which has found wide acceptance in the western world. However at one point of time it appeared as though India was all set to surrender its place as the pioneer of this system as various establishments offering mutant varieties of yoga had

Pallikkutam | July 2015

EXPERT COUNSEL conquered the business space that question as to what are the ingredients ones aimed to keep the body and mind was on offer in the developed world. of yoga that government has tried to fit and refreshed for taking on the However an initiative from the present popularise. This aspect assumes stresses and pressures of daily life. national government led to the United significance as the word yoga has The importance of eating the right Nations accepting India’s proposal of many different meanings, with some celebrating June 21, the longest day in being used in purely religious context. food and doing proper exercise for building up good health cannot be the calendar year, as the International over emphasised. When I was Yoga Day. The wide publicity for the studying in medical college during the event and the conduct of yoga 1980’s, ailments such as high Blood sessions in public in 147 countries has Pressure and served to seal Diabetes and their India’s pre eminent consequences such place in the practice as of this discipline. The exercises are composite ones aimed to Myocardial Infarction As it invariably keep the body and mind fit and refreshed (popularly known happens in our as Heart Attack) for taking on the stresses and country, there were and paralysis of critical remarks from pressures of daily life. body through certain quarters shortage of blood against the supply to brain government and the (known as stroke) ruling party for the efforts taken and used to be seen in persons beyond the the resources spent for conducting the age of fifty. These days one finds that event. Some religious leaders had such disease conditions are opposed the initiative seeing an increasingly seen in the younger age However the yoga that was agenda to impose a system identified group, which is a cause for huge showcased before the whole world on closely with the majority community concern. It has been identified by the 21 June involved a set of basic on the minorities while certain others medical fraternity that the main exercises, named “asanas”, which are felt that performing yoga exercises reasons for this development are the done in a specified manner with went against their faith. A few critics altered food habits and lack of proper appropriate control of breathing. The found fault with the government for exercise. In the earlier days, spending so much money on the event exercises are intended to improve diet of an average muscle tone and to make the joints suggesting that scarce monetary person resources should be put to better use. more flexible, while the specific modes of breathing refreshes the lungs and But the overwhelming response that the event elicited from persons across through it the brain. In short the exercises are the length and breadth of the country composite as well as in other countries indicate that the initiative has been a timely and popular one. This brings one to the basic

Pallikkutam | July 2015

EXPERT COUNSEL used to contain plenty of vegetables this regard keep getting relaxed very rigorously and for promoting yoga and the intake of “fast food” frequently. The combination of fast amongst the public and in schools and containing cheese and mayonnaise food and lack of exercise is a colleges. As stated earlier, consuming was unheard of. People also used to dangerous cocktail and causes obesity bad food is the shortest way towards walk long distances while children and bad health; it is high time to have a even students would spend relook at the food that is eaten so as to considerable amount of time in the ensure that each individual consumes play grounds that were part a balanced diet of every school and comprising of safe college. The change and clean food. in eating habits with The change in eating habits with increased Similarly the increased amounts exercises that form amounts of instant food and lesser of instant food and part of the yoga lesser quantities of quantities of “greens” making up ones diet schedule are “greens” making up essentially simple has posed a challenge to the basic ones diet has posed ones which can be a challenge to the performed by the metabolic processes of the human body. basic metabolic individual wherever processes of the he is. Doing the human body. This in turn has been exercises regularly and eating the right further complicated by lack of exercise quantity of safe and tasty food would as more and more people are turning constitute the first step towards a into couch potatoes, not keen to look which in turn leads to high Blood healthy living, which is as much a beyond television and internet for Pressure and Diabetes and its more basic right for every citizen as clean entertainment. The saddest part is that lethal consequences. and neat environment and freedom of even children and students are falling speech and expression. It is against this background that one 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456 prey to this habit; new schools and 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456 should see the wisdom behind the The author is the Commissioner of 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456 colleges that open up do not have the 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456 steps taken for testing food products 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456 Customs in Kochi, Kerala. 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456 mandatory play ground as norms in

Pallikkutam | July 2015

PERSONAL

I get emotional and shout in the class Sajit Malliyoor

to repeat such behaviours. But try to fill in several shoes in my depressive illness. This vacillating nothing has worked so far. I used to life. I am a mother of two school nature of my emotions, does that going children, wife of an indicate depression? Or am I suffering extremely busy business executive and from some other mental illness? a teacher of high school classes in a Kindly advise me on the course I private school. Lately, I am afraid, I should be taking to get out of the am gradually mess, which is my loosing grip on life currently. each of the roles I I am a mother of two children, wife of a You letter is short play in the life. I get and crisp, but I am business executive and a teacher. I get emotional very afraid there is too easily and often emotional very easily and often little information for shout at children a clinician to take a shout at children, both at even for their minor call on your faults, both at the the school and home. diagnostic status. school and home. Most important There are also piece of information instances when I become irritable missing out in the letter is your age. with my husband over silly matters Here is a word of advice to all of you and consequently burst out in tears. who wish to communicate with When I look back at the instances clinicians in similar columns. Try to read your column regularly and I later on, I feel terribly guilty over my delineate as vivid a description of your doings and make a mental pledge not wonder if I am developing a problem as possible. We will publish

Pallikkutam | July 2015

PERSONAL only those parts of the information to finish the chapters! But when the pages will pop up advising you on an that is relevant to a general reader. stress happens too often or lasts too endless variety of methods to adapt Now coming back to your problem, I long, it can have several adverse with stress; ranging from diet and understand that you are more worried effects on your body and mind. It can exercises to Yoga and meditation. about having little control over your result in bodily problems like Most of these methods can work emotions. This could indeed be a sign headache, upset stomach, back pain, wonders on relieving stress. Hence I of depression, but in a depressive or trouble getting a good nightâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s sleep. am not going to elaborate on such selfdisorder your predominant mood will It can also cause psychological help methods, instead, tell you about be that of sadness or irritability. Since problems like mood swings, or sad, one technique which will help you to you said you are a regular reader of the quickly relieve stress in moments when column, I suggest you please refer to you are frazzled by the challenges the the back issue of the Pallikkutam life throws at you on a daily basis. It magazine which has a column that may not be practical exclusively deals to go for a run or with the depressive do an elaborate disorder. It will give meditation practice you a Stress is what you feel when you have to in the morning, comprehensive when you have to description of the handle more than what you can or what you get your children to illness. Alternately, the school bus in used to do. it could be just that time and get ready you are too tired for the office. For and stressed out situations like after playing these, you need a multiple demanding roles in life. You technique which is more accessible begin your letter by stating that you and that is where the quick stress relief are trying to fill in several shoes. The comes in. The technique I am going to opening sentence cast an indication tensed or depressed affect. As a result discuss here is based on the that you are finding difficulty in of it, your relationships may suffer and mindfulness methods, which is coping with the demands of the recently gaining wide acceptance in multiple roles you are playing out in the field of clinical life. psychology. Let us stop worrying about the diagnostic status of your condition and instead, assume that it is stemming out of the multiple challenges you are facing in your everyday life. Stress is what you feel when you have to handle more than what you can or what you used to do. Most of us experience stresses in everyday life, which is normal and an even useful phenomenon. It will help you to focus on the task at hand and motivate you to work hard or react quickly. Students know the best example for it. When the exams are nearing, we spend more time on our study tables and work hard and long

your performance at work may deteriorate. There are countless techniques for dealing with stress. Google the word â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Stress managementâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;, and hundreds of

Mindfulness simply means living in the present moment. It is a state of active and open attention on the present moment, observing your thoughts and feelings without judging them good or bad. There are mindfulness meditation techniques which require an amount of practice. I am not going to elaborate on mindfulness here but focus only on the quick stress relief method which is more pertaining to the present discussion. But I would recommend that you attend a course on mindfulness meditation when your situation permits it.

Pallikkutam | July 2015

PERSONAL An excellent way to reduce stress responds differently to stressful The quick stress relief employs your quickly is to take a deep breath and situations. Internal responses to sensual experiences to soothe, using your five senses- what you see, stressors are similar for all of us- rising comfort and invigorate yourself hear, taste, smell and touch- to bring blood pressure, the heart pumping quickly in response to stressors and awareness to the present moment. faster and the constriction of the help you feel in control again. When When you are stressed, the first muscles. But externally, people tend to you realise that you are stressed, casualty is that oflosing awareness of respond to stressors in three different bring your focus and awareness to a what you are doing. Your responses ways: some of us become angry and favourite sensual experience – look at become automated and you play into a favourite photo, smell a specific the hands of stressors that make scent, listen to a favourite piece of ineffective moves without evaluating music, taste a piece of gum or the pros and cons of your actions. It is chocolate, or hug a pet or a soft toy, the result of the for example. The actions of the stress only trouble here is hormones on your that everyone nervous system. Squeezing a stress ball or even your fingers responds to You would have sensory could work with people to relax. Slowly heard about the experiences a little fight- or- flight differently. So in savouring a favourite treat can be very response. It does order to master have an adaptive relaxing with some people. quick stress relief function – when technique you you see a child need to track down crossing the road the sensory and an oncoming motor vehicle, you experience that quickly make you calm cannot afford to evaluate your and alert. Here I will give you a few response- you simply rush to save the examples of sensory experiences that child. But while dealing with the agitated; others become depressed, generally make people calm. If you are everyday stressors, you cannot remain withdrawn or spaced out and yet a visual person, keep a cherished in the flight- or-fight mode all the time. another group tend to freeze up in photo on your phone or wallet- of The continuous action of the stress response to stressors. Depending on your child, a postcard from a hormones will eventually tire you memorable vacation or favourite down. What you need instead is a set scenery. If you are a music lover, keep of responses based on the cognitive a music that works on your phone or reappraisal of the situations. It is tune into a sound track of nature such technically called the top-down as wind rustling the trees or birds method in psychology. In order for the singing. Scents can also have cognitive reappraisal to happen, first powerful soothing effect. Experiment you need to bring awareness to the with different essential oils or incense. present moment. This is the science Coming to tactile sensations, try behind the quick stress relief curling your toes. Squeezing a stress approach. ball or even your fingers could work with people to relax. Slowly savouring The first step in the quick stress relief a favourite treat can be very relaxing method is to know that you are with some people. Eat slowly, stressed. Many of us spend so much focusing on the feel of the food in time overly stressed, worn down by your mouth and the taste on your relentless daily challenges, that we tongue. Initially, it may not be easy to hardly realize there’s a problem at all. remember to use your senses in the Being stressed out feels normal. But if middle of a crisis, but with time – and you pay enough attention to the lots of practice- calling upon your bodily clues, your body lets you know your specific stress responses, the first group need to employ activities senses when you are stressed will when you are stressed. You will become second nature. observe that your muscles are tensed, that quiet you down, the second group 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456 look for activities that are energizing 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456 Send queries to your breath becomes shallow or you 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456 and third group, look for activities that 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456 malliyoor@outlook.com may be holding the breath. The next 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456 provide both safety and stimulation to 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456 (Sajit Malliyoor regrets he can not step is to relate with your specific 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456 help you “reboot” your system. 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456 enter into personal correspondence) 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456 stress response. Each one of us

Pallikkutam | July 2015

VIEW POINT

Dr. K. S. David

Degradation of education

t is a fact that for the past few comes under the human resources years education is the most management degraded arena department as a in our country. In all sub division that developed countries too handled by a education is given By denying proper education, they try to state minister or second preference often by a deputy paralyze the thinking and questioning after defence in their minister. This itself budget allocation. shows how much capacity of students. But unfortunately in importance we give our country we to education as donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t have a such. I always felt prominent that the political department for education and a cabinet front is always scared of people minister for education many a times. It getting proper education which

Pallikkutam | July 2015

VIEW POINT

enable them to think and ask questions. As we all know many political changes were initiated from university campuses. By denying proper education, they try to paralyze the thinking and questioning capacity of students and the youth in general.

ground,” helped us to reach certain conclusions on centre gravity. William Stukeley, Newton’s associate confirm the incident, though not the cartoon version that the apple actually hit

of gravitation came into his mind. “Why should that apple always descend perpendicularly to the ground”, occasioned by the fall of an apple, as he sat in a contemplative mood. “Why should it not go sideways, or upwards? But constantly to the earths centre?.

The prominent educator and The drawing power philosopher of the in the matter of the third world earth must be in countries, Dr. Paulo centre. Therefore Freire, who was also Universities are considered to achieve the apple draws a leading advocate towards earth, as of critical pedagogy, epitome of knowledge. Have well as the earth once said we ever thought of people control draws the apple”. “education is not Do we help our swallowing things these great institutions. younger but it is helping generation to have students to create innovative thinking and re-create the of their own? ideas”. His book “Pedagogy of the Oppressed” is considered as the Universities are considered to achieve foundational text of critical pedagogy epitome of knowledge. Have we ever movement. This is the high time to thought who are the decision makers Newton’s head. His manuscript have an introspection that how far our control and direct these great account of 1752 has been made education systems cater to the need of institutions. available by the Royal Society. The our student’s quest to learn and narrations of this incident by him give On top of the apex is the chancellor of develop analytical thinking capacity. the correct visualization of how an the university. Governor of the state Instead of asking what was the taste of innovative thinking can help students. officiate this position in many the apple that fell down from the tree, He wrote: we went into the garden, universities, of course there are the question, which was not a drank tea under the shade of some exceptions. Nowhere in the conventional question, asked by sir apple trees. Amidst other discourse, he constitution it is said the governor of Isaac Newton “why should that apple told me, he was just in the same a state should at least know to read always descend perpendicularly to the situation, as when formerly, the notion

Pallikkutam | July 2015

VIEW POINT and write. Then comes the pro chancellor. The education minister of the state is the ex officio pro chancellor of universities of the state. No where it is said that minister of education should have at least minimum of primary education. Next is the vice chancellor. Often it is a political appointment now. We were fortunate to have eminent personalities as vice chancellors in olden days. Things have changed now. Even the qualification and degree of vice chancellors are at stake in some cases they are the people who preside over

in such a way so that the history of the whole country is tilted to suit the ideological conviction of the ruling parties. The amounts of unethical transaction in the field of education prevent the students’ opportunity to get the quality education to enable them to achieve life goals. We teach teachers should be role model to students. How do you think that a teacher, who is not eligible by merit to get the post, garb it through back door by paying un imaginable

The amounts of unethical transaction in the field of education prevent the students’ opportunity to get quality education to achieve life goals.

senate and syndicate. The members of these bodies are also many times nominated by the ruling parties or by the whims and fancy of the education minister. And no where it is written about their minimum qualification even though the minimum qualification of the class four employ is insisted. Just think of the scenario where these people sitting and decide the quality of education and selection of professors who is paring knowledge to our students and giving guidance to their personality growth as well as career selection. Religious groups and political parties are mainly responsible for this situation in our country. Political parities use education as a tool to inculcate political ideology and increase their vote bank using younger generation. They implant religious fanaticism by modifying the text books

amount to the management will be able to part quality education to their students. I understand that in some of the self financed institutions, apart from collecting huge amount from students, un qualified teachers are appointed with a meek salary on temporary bias. “If you pay peanuts you get monkeys” is an old saying, but in education it is a fearful reality when we think about the future of our students who are compelled to get taught by these people. If the educational system is not catering to the intellectual need of students you can be sure of going the generation stray. Let us open our eyes and come 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456 out of silence. 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456 The author is a psychotherapist, 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456 educator and a renowned writer of 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456 several books on Psychology. He is 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456 also Director, Central Institute of 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456 Behavioural Sciences, Kochi. 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456

Pallikkutam | July 2015

HEALTH MONITOR

Stay healthy in monsoon ♦ Eat fruits as they help you restore energy. Apples, mangoes, pomegranates, and pears are best suggestible. ♦ Have medium to low salt food and avoid heavy salty food as they are responsible for high blood pressure and water retention.

Drink only boiled and purified water to protect yourself from harmful germs and drinking plenty of water keeps your body hydrated.

♦ Eating watery foods like lassi, watermelon, rice, muskmelon creates swelling in the

Pallikkutam | July 2015

body. So, better opt for foods which are drying in nature like corn, gram flour, chick pea etc.

♦ Foods such as brown rice, oats, and barley are the best foods one could have in this monsoon. ♦ Body’s

immunity can be increased by adding a dash of garlic to the soups, sir fries and curries you intake.

HEALTH MONITOR ♦ Opt for yogurt, curd and almonds in your diet instead of milk. Drink only boiled and purified water to protect yourself from harmful germs and drinking plenty of water keeps your body hydrated. ♦ Eat yogurt and curd.

sesame oil, peanut oil and mustard oil as they fall in first place to invite infections.

♦ People who face skin allergies during rainy seasons must avoid spicy foods. Spicy foods raise body temperature and stimulate blood circulation and it leads to allergies

♦ Avoid too much of fish and meat this season and heavy curries and non- vegetarians should go for light meat preparations like stew and soups. ♦ Astringent, mildly bitter and pungent foods must be best served this season. ♦ Drink lots of herbal

Drink lots of herbal teas, especially those with antibacterial properties. These include ginger, pepper, honey, mint and basil leaves. and skin irritation. Other problems such as boils, change in skin color dullness, rashes, pyodera are also some skin damaging effects which arise in ♦ Consuming bitter vegetables like this season. bitter gourd, and bitter herbs like neem, turmeric powder and methi seeds help ♦ Avoid Spicy and Sour Food. in preventing infections. ♦ Avoid naturally sour foods like ♦ Consume drying oils like corn oil or tamarind, tomatoes and lime in your light oil and avoid heavy oils like diet as it promotes water retention.

teas, especially those with antibacterial properties. These include ginger, pepper, honey, mint and basil leaves. Excessive intake of coffee and tea dehydrates body fluids so they must be better avoided.

♦ Consume Herbal Teas.

Quick and easy tests to detect food adulteration at home Milk: Add a drop or two of iodine solution to a few drops of milk. If the solution turns blue then, it contains starch (which is used to give it a thick, rich texture). Butter/ghee: Take small amount of ghee or butter in test-tube and heat it up. Take a small amount of sugar and dissolve it in 10 ml of hydrochloric acid (Hcl). Now, add the solution to the mixture of butter and ghee. If it turns red, then the ghee or butter is adulterated. Mustard oil: Take small amount of mustard oil in a test-tube, add a few drops of nitric acid to it. Shake and

heat the mixture for 2-3 minutes. Appearance of red colour indicates that argemone oil is added to mustard oil. Turmeric powder, dals and pulses: Take a spoon of dal, turmeric or besan powder and let it dissolve in lukewarm water. Add a few drops of hydrochloric acid to it. If it turns pink, violet or purple, it shows that Metanil yellow is present in it. Sugar: Take a spoon of sugar, dissolve it in water and allow it to settle. While sugar will dissolve in water, chalk will not and thus will remain as residue at the bottom.

Pallikkutam | July 2015

HEALTH MONITOR ♦ Vegetables like cauliflower, potatoes, cluster beans, ladies finger, kidney beans, pigeon pea, and sprouted grains must be avoided.

♦ Eat steamed salads instead of raw vegetables as they contain active bacteria and virus that cause bacterial and viral infections.

lychees, apples, bananas are among the recommended.

♦ Avoid eating fried items, pre- cut fruits and juices from road side vendors and stick to high quality and hygiene.

♦ wash vegetables well and clean Following these guidelines helps you to stay safe and healthy during monsoons. Always binge on nutritional food and be hygienic by taking necessary precautionary

♦ People who suffer with arthritis should

People who suffer with arthritis should drink warm water with tulsi and dalchini (cardamom) on an empty stomach in the morning. ♦ Have fresh radish juice to fight cold and cough. To reduce mucous formations add pipli and rock salt to warm water. This reduces the natural monsoon ailments.

drink warm water with tulsi and dalchini (cardamom) on an empty stomach in the morning. Doing this improves bowel syndromes and also decreases pains in joints.

♦ Better eat seasonal fruits as non♦ Always wash vegetables well and seasonal fruits get infested with worms keep them clean especially if they are during the monsoons. Pomegranates, taken raw.

measures like cleaning your house, washing hands before and after having a meal, etc. Have a safe and healthy monsoon.

Three healthy snacks to eat at your desk A diet high in fat and sugar can make you feel sluggish and tired. A mindless snacking in office or college can hamper your productivity at large. Here are three healthy snacks you can eat at your desk: Fresh fruit: Packed with vitamins and minerals, fruits like apple, bananas, oranges, strawberries and cherries are great snack options. They are not just nutritious, but are also a rich source of antioxidants.

and prunes are an ideal snacks to eat in office. Almonds contain omega-9 fatty acid, considered to be beneficial for heart health. These dried fruits are high in fibre and potassium. Hardboiled egg: An excellent source of protein, hardboiled egg is very nutritious and contains a variety of essential vitamins and minerals. It is simple to prepare and can act as a quick high protein snack on hand at anytime.

Dried fruit: Dried fruits such as almond, raisins, apricots, bananas

Pallikkutam | July 2015

Taste of new generation

The Maggi controversy has brought to light the perils of consuming packaged food, which contain alarming amounts of chemicals and toxins. Our taste buds have been hijacked by multinational food manufacturers. We discuss the pros and cons of â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;new generation tasteâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;.

COVER STORY

Reconnecting tastes Nisha Nair

ur food should remind us who of each of these. Their relationship we are. We are losing out on a with food extends far beyond the act generation who knew what of eating. They identified they ate. More than their food using all proteins, fat and their five senses, the carbohydrates what texture, the smell, the We are raising a generation who is wooed they looked at was, a colour and the taste. in by the awesome number of beautifully There is nothing connection with their food, with their more satisfying than packaged food on market shelves, the environment and their tasting a ripe tomato community. Their plucked straight from unblemished fruits and vegetables knowledge about food a plant you have available year round. was so significant nurtured throughout and deep that they the summer. And knew the functional, nothing can hide the smell of ripe nutritional as well as medicinal values jackfruits that will engulf your

Pallikkutam | July 2015

COVER STORY courtyard. Spices like Chilli, pepper, has blissfully ignored what we should We are raising a generation who is tamrind, clove and mint were found in wooed in by the awesome number of be concerned with: where food comes almost every ones backyard. Every from, how it is raised, picked, handled, beautifully packaged food on market meal consist of freshly plucked shelves, the unblemished fruits and altered, transported and sold. Who is vegetables and nicely grounded home to be blamed if our children do not vegetables available year round. In our grown spices, all laid down on a increasingly artificial world appearance freshly cut banana leaf. And every outruns taste, cost outruns origin and morsel reminded them of every plant development gives us a false sense of they went to, to gather their food. The safety. food we eat is perhaps We no longer believe the most basic in soiling our hands expression of our to eat a ripe mango. culture and We no longer believe in soiling our hands All we need to do is environment. into a to eat a ripe mango. All we need to do is walk Until agriculture was supermarket and developed around walk into a supermarket and reach out to reach out to a 10,000 years ago, all flawless one on the a flawless one on the shelf. humans got their food shelf. Have you by hunting, wondered how many gathering, and of us actually taste fishing. As farming what we gulp down every day? Have emerged, nomadic hunter-gatherers you stopped to actually think what we gradually were pushed off prime eat? Does taste really matter anymore? farmland, and eventually they became Unlike olden days where man used to connect a lamb in the fields to their limited to the forests. And today we have his food lavishly and slowly, the dinner plate, eggs to chicken or a bowl look at a generation who is long lost to new generation believes in having of salad to the farms they belong to? the sanitized presentation of food, and food which is quickly available and

Pallikkutam | July 2015

COVER STORY simple to digest. Hence the discovery nuclear families emerging in India, and West, yet the diverse wealth of if Instant food has fulfilled the needs lengthy cooking time and complicated Taste has been celebrated for years. of this new fast paced generation. The procedures is no longer favored. Indian food has been heavily demand for instant results is seeping Noodles have pleased working influenced by climate, soil type, locally into every corner of our lives, and not mothers as they seem sterilized and so available spices, vegetables and fruits, just virtually. Smartphone apps it’s easy to develop trust in them. and also religious and cultural choices. eliminate the wait for cab, or a table at Lately, the “Sustainable/local food a famous restaurant. No one wants to movement” is a strong motive for wait for more than a few seconds. individuals when Retailers are jumping deciding where to into same day purchase their delivery services. All People have started realizing the produce. People have of this, because this importance of consuming fresh locally started to believe in generation wants it, ‘instant’. People will grown sustainable food. They have started making their food visible, i.e to know the wait 30-60 minutes practicing community gardening and even exact journey of the for a pizza to be food they eat, from delivered. They will traditional farming methods. the farms to the wait up to 2 hours at market tables. popular busy Consuming local food restaurants. The time ensures production-distribution they take driving to, waiting at, and networks start at smaller sustainable spend money on food that is overfarms. The farm products are processed, and over-flavored is All said, the recent Nestle Maggie ban transported over shorter geographic ridiculous. But none of them would has been an eye-opener to at least distances generally processed either think of taking sometime out and on the farm itself, or with preparing some fresh food at smaller processors. Though home. As India has one of local food doesn’t the youngest populations in necessarily be sustainable, the world, with nearly 65 but they have few things in percent of the population common. Both of these are under 35 years of age, more healthy, grown using fewer young professionals are or no toxic. These are grown eating fast food in urban using sustainable farming India. India has a reputation methods, and produce less of being unfriendly to few waste. Moreover, these kind foreign businesses, but of food support local when it comes to fast food economies. chains, and instant and convenient food markets, we More and more people have have warmly welcomed quite started realizing the few in the past few years. importance of consuming Instant food and particularly fresh locally grown 2 min noodles has captured sustainable food. They have started some of us, who blindly followed the the imagination of the young Indians, practicing community gardening and Insta generation. Hopefully we will and is fast growing like a habit for the even traditional farming methods. growing up years for those born in the come back to our backyards to Knowing where your food comes from reconnect with our food. Food is a last few decades. It suits the pockets will help us be conscious about what social practice exercised with your of a middle class living away from we eat and thereby reconnect with family, where you exchange great home, who struggle to eat on a small nature. values. Culinary diversity is one of the 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456 budget every day. It works for the 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456 India’s most valuable treasures. Each The author is Youth Programmes 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456 Facebook and Instagram generation 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456 region offers their own culinary 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456 Officer at Centre for Environment who stay up late. Instant noodles is 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456 distinctive characteristics and Education (CEE), Ahmedabad, and 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456 only rising as the Indian households 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456 numerous traditional dishes. There is published a novella “The Myth of 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456 face time deficit, with increase in 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456 Silence” and collection of short no such homogeneity of flavours working women force and reducing 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456 stories. between the North and South or East 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456 domestic helpers. With more and

Pallikkutam | July 2015

COVER STORY

How harmful is MSG?

making beer or yoghurt. he Food Safety and Drug permitted for 454gm of meat while the Carbohydrates from corn, beets or Administration ordered to higher limit being 5 gm (1 teaspoon). cassava are fermented to produce recall batches of Maggi Excess consumption of MSG glutamate which is purified and noodles across the country by promotes sluggishness in the body. crystallised. It’s added to food in Nestle, for containing dangerous It may also cause headache, nausea, crystalline form which is 14% sodium. levels of Monosodium Glutamate increased thirst and a twitching FDA (MSG) and lead. sensation in the mouth. In some Reports suggest that a lead cases one may feel numbness, skin concentration of 17.2 parts per rashes and excessive sweating too. million (ppm), nearly seven According to FDA’s times the website, MSG permissible limit, occurs naturally in Monosodium Glutamate or MSG is was found in the hydrolysed noodles (the naturally present in various food items proteins and so the permissible limit of food agency lead ranges between such as mushrooms, tomatoes, Parmesan doesn’t require that 0.01 ppm and 2.5 MSG be listed cheese and soy sauce. It has a ppm). separately. unique taste which is different from Natural What is flavourings salty, sweet, sour or bitter. Monosodium Labels that claim Glutamate (MSG) and they use natural flavours are not what is the permissible limit? true. There is not much difference Monosodium Glutamate or MSG is between natural and artificial considers the addition of MSG to food flavours. The FDA’s definition of naturally present in various food items such as mushrooms, tomatoes, to be GRAS (generally recognised as natural flavour is a substance safe). Parmesan cheese and soy sauce. It derived directly or from roasting, heating or fermenting any plant or

has a unique taste which is different from salty, sweet, sour or bitter. The artificial form of MSG is derived from Glutamic Acid. Artificial MSG is produced by fermentation, a process similar to

Pallikkutam | July 2015

What is the permissible limit? The FDA (Food and Drug Administration) has set a guideline for the permissible limit for MSG. 3 gm of MSG (less than a full teaspoon) is

animal. These derived substances are blended and extracted through several chemical processes before they are added in your food products.

COVER STORY

Change in eating habits among children Some thoughts based on the Maggi noodles case Satheesh Kumar T.N.

he Maggi similar products noodles issue among children. has been the Children being the major news attracting future citizens of our Children being the future citizens of our country, headlines in most of it is the types of the media country, it is necessary to have a healthy necessary to have a during the last few healthy child child population in the weeks. While the population in the issue is one related to community and community and society. some of the society, and the ingredients of the issue may have to be product which were looked at from a harmful for the children. While the broader perspective. The issue Maggi issue may be one that primarily has to do with the caught the attention of the fast-food culture that has been authorities and the public and taking root in India during the has even led to some other last three to four decades. Let manufacturers recalling the us have a close look at the noodles range from the market, factors that led to such a the issue itself cannot be change: considered in isolation and ♦ Very early school need to be understood or schedules. Children have to comprehended from a larger get ready to catch the school perspective. The issue itself buses by 7.00 AM or 7.30 AM has a lot to do with the or earlier if their residence is at changing eating habits a distance from the place especially among children. The where the schools are located. eating habits of adults also This means that they don’t have been changing due to get much time to take the some of the same factors which breakfast. They don’t even get we will explore as we progress. sufficient sleep under the While tastes may be an current scenario of important reason attracting homeworks, special tuitions, children to such products as entrance coaching etc.) Many noodles, that alone can’t said skip breakfasts due to the to be the reason behind the time-pressure or settle down ever increasing popularity and on a cup of milk or a bowl of consumption of noodles or corn-flakes or other fast food other ready – to-eat snacks or items which can be cooked fast.

Pallikkutam | July 2015

COVER STORY ♦ Both parents employed or working nineties persevered and turned around after a few years betting on the high probability of the scenario where both husbands and wives work.

exclusion from the ‘elite groups’ which discuss about the tastes of the latest varieties of fast food items. This forces parents to prepare and feed fast food items even when they have enough time to cook and feed conventional, more healthy dishes.

When husbands and wives are employed, they also may not find sufficient time to indulge in cooking conventional dishes which will ♦ The fear of exclusion from the consume time. The issue gets peer group complicated if they have to travel long ♦ Addiction to tastes to their work places. There is a pressure on both husbands and wives Ingredients of many fast food items to work today include tastemakers because of the which tend to be increase in cost of This To say that one had puttu and kadala or addictive. living as well as results in the children’s education. children developing appam and stew for breakfast is not Also, with most an addiction for people finding jobs in very enthusiastic or interesting in certain fast food the new generation items and preferring a peer group which mostly sectors like IT, they to eat them more are under time dwells on fast food items. often. These taste pressure to achieve makers will also help targets leaving them in preserving or with much less time at homes and do retaining the food taste even after the chores at home. So, in order to find refrigeration for a few days where as a solution for their time pressures, they idlis or idiappams or appams kept for a gradually shift to easily preparable few days in refrigerator will not retain To say that one had idli, sambar and menus for breakfast and dinner. chutney or puttu and kadala or appam their original tastes. Children who are usually attracted to and stew or egg curry for breakfast is ♦ Children as a target market fast food, do not complain. One not very enthusiastic or interesting in breakfast cereal company which Marketing Managers, irrespective of a peer group which mostly dwells on started its operations in India in the fast food items. Such children may fear product categories have for long

Pallikkutam | July 2015

COVER STORY understood the children as influencers opportunities for women to work. But cancer. But, there has been not much in many decisions in many respects be as time passed, there has been impact among public because of it dresses, food items or even cars. dramatic change in this. Women were some of the reasons mentioned Children could also be influenced offered opportunities and gradually above. easily with catchy advertisements. A the mindset also changed. And today, So, solutions are rather difficult to large number of product with most women highly educated, come by-from the family side unless advertisements have been created to they want to work and support the the families decide on tickle the minds of sacrifices (give up children. Some even aspirations for luxury try to increase the which necessitates role of children husbands and wife (some sort of working furiously for empowering making money, The companies which produce products them)by exhibiting prioritizing the life’s that it is child’s play targeted at children shall think of a niceties- would you, to make the product like spend more and consume. paradigm shift- manufacture available time to cook ♦ The changes in products that are natural healthy food for your the constitution of children or visit the and healthy. families club during your leisure time?) In the earlier days, most communities A better or more used to have joint pragmatic solution family concept. In would be: the such cases, family members in families and opportunities are companies which produce products sufficient numbers were available for available in plenty. This consequence targeted at children shall think of a taking care of the cooking chores for have already been discussed above. paradigm shift- manufacture the entire family. products that are Before children go natural and healthy. to school or when Companies like they return from Pepsi, under the school, grandmas leadership of and recipes would take Indian-born CEO, care of their palate have been reported needs. There used to have some to be varieties but decisions in this which were natural, direction. This will wholesome and involve sacrifices healthy. But as time from the passed, the concept companies’ side as withered (due to quick profits may various reasons like not materialize until units within the they shed the joint families short-termism and wanting more work on long term independence, benefits to the working at places society. which are far away from home, Any solutions ? difficulty to maintain coherence 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456 among family members etc.) and joint Lots of concerns have been raised by 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456 Author is a teacher of Business 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456 families disintegrated giving rise to food and medical experts about the 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456 Strategy, Human Resources 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456 nuclear families. But females of the 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456 harm that could be created by the fast 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456 Development and Ethics and 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456 household usually used to be present food culture among children- obesity, 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456 Corporate Governance. Oxford 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456 at homes as women working were 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456 juvenile diabetes, kidney related University Press published his book 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456 considered taboo or there were fewer ailments, and even possibility for on Corporate Governance . 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456

Pallikkutam | July 2015

COVER STORY

Dangers of instant noodles I

nstant noodles are popular snack MSG or who get a burning sensation, increases your risk of developing foods among children and adult. headache, or chest pain after kidney stones and other kidney Sometimes, they also serve as a consuming instant noodles. MSG problems. The average amount of convenient mealtime food especially consumption is also link to other sodium in instant noodle cups is while travelling. But while instant diseases including cancer. above 800 mg while according to the noodles can satisfy your hunger, US RDA (Recommended Dietary 4. Instant noodles contain propylene there are some important facts that Allowance), the maximum sodium glycol. you should know about this food. intake per day should only be 2,400 Instant noodles And these health also contain antifacts should serve freeze such as as the top reasons Health risk of instant noodles is that they propylene glycol as why you should are normally high in sodium content humectants which avoid consuming help prevent instant noodles which increases your risk of noodles from and feeding them drying. This to your children. developing kidney stones and other ingredient brings 1. Instant noodles kidney problems. about some of the contain substances health risks of that reduce the instant noodles which include liver, mg. If you consume one cup of instant bodyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s nutrient absorption ability. heart and kidney problems, and a noodles, you are already consuming One of the health risks of instant weakened immune system. noodles is that it 5. Instant noodles reduces the bodyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s contain cancerability to absorb causing other nutrients from substances. healthy foods such Instant noodles as fruits and are packed with vegetables. This food preservatives, has a negative effect anti-freeze and in the digestion other ingredients process. If you are that may cause consuming instant cancer. noodles and then eat Additionally, they healthy foods later are also packaged on, your body may in cups which not fully absorb the contain nutrients of the plasticizers and healthy foods dioxin which are because the instant cancer-causing noodles that you eat substances that can affect your may leach to the digestion even after noodles once they several hours of are poured with hot water to cook the eating. almost half of your daily intake of noodles. sodium. 2. Instant noodles are high in sodium Apart from containing substances content. 3. Instant noodles are high in MSG. which can pose some risks to your Another health risk of instant A cup of instant noodles is also high health, instant noodles are also low in noodles is that they are normally in MSG or monosodium glutamate. nutritional value. high in sodium content which There are people who are allergic to

Pallikkutam | July 2015

COVER STORY

How junk food affects children F

or children, who do not always understand the health consequences of their eating habits, junk food may appear especially appetising. However, regularly consuming fattening junk food can be addictive for children and lead to complications like obesity, chronic illness, low self-

esteem and even depression, as well as affecting how they perform in school and extracurricular activities.

Regularly consuming fattening junk food can be addictive for children and lead to complications like obesity, chronic illness, low self-esteem and even depression.

Energy and Focus According to the Womenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s and Childrenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Health Network, diet has a significant effect on childrenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s study habits. Junk food and foods with high sugar content deplete energy levels and the ability to

Pallikkutam | July 2015

COVER STORY concentrate for extended periods of time. Energy and focus are especially crucial for school-age children. Junk food does not provide the necessary nutrients children need for sufficient energy to engage in physical activity.

Chronic Illness According to the Prevention Institute, experts blame junk food for rising rates of diabetes, high blood pressure and stroke.

when they’re young that are associated with disease at a more advanced age. Self-Esteem and Depression

Self-esteem and confidence in oneself are especially important to growing Obesity Risk children, and regularly consuming junk A study published in “Pediatrics” in food can negatively impact this sense 2004 found fastof self. According to food consumption “Kids Health Club” in children was magazine, junk food can linked with many affect a child’s physical dangerous development in precursors for detrimental ways, obesity. According Self-esteem and confidence in oneself are including unhealthy to this study, kids weight gain, which can especially important to growing children, result in self-esteem who ate fast food were more likely to and regularly consuming junk food can problems. consume a higher Low self-esteem can amount of calories, negatively impact this sense of self. lead to consequences fat, carbohydrates like depression. and added sugars in Nutritionists at one fast food meal. MayoClinic.com also According to a report eating junk food statement released can potentially cause by the journal depression on its own. “Nature Neuroscience” in 2010, highnoted in 2012 that obese children are According to the journal “American calorie food can be addictive, causing also more likely to develop high Family Physician,” depression – which children who occasionally eat fast cholesterol and heart disease later in can be very dangerous for children – food to learn problematic patterns of life. According to the Women’s and has negative impacts on growth and eating. These factors were found to Children’s Health Network, changes development, performance in school place children who regularly ate fast can happen in children’s bodies even and social relationships. food at increased risk for obesity. Increasing rates of chronic illness affect children who regularly consume junk food. The Center for Food Safety

Pallikkutam | July 2015

COVER STORY

Food - the good, the bad and the ugly Amrita

n these times, where one hears less of malnutrition and more about ‘mall nutrition’, the dwindling interest in eating healthy would indeed be food for thought. It was

prince and had a king’s breakfast but today’s youth grab a fast bite, that too on the run! No more meals at the table, they would rather dine with their often said and upheld that ‘a phones for company! In this age of FB There were times family that eats together stays together’, status updates, which when apple and and in this way food nourished reveals the when, blackberry meant where, with whom fruits and nothing family ties as well. and what they ate else. little importance is Locally grown fresh given to the quality of food they are fruits and vegetables, free of ingesting. As the very name suggests pesticides, ensured that a visit to the fast food is food that can be prepared market felt wholesome and light on the and served quickly. It is also pocket thus ensuring expensive, highly that the people did not deficient in nutrition, need a ‘light’ version high in trans fats and of cooking oil to stay sodium and hence healthy! Natural foods calories. Fast food is found pride of place in nothing but a fast pass many a belly because to ill health. Is the people then believed youth really willing to in a simple living, deal with disease, mindful and respectful deteriorating family of nature at all times ties and damages to and hence their way of the pocket, simply for life itself was organic; the convenience that in stark contrast to fast food offers? today, where hybrid and highly processed, unseasonal and upheld that ‘a family that eats together Avarice has made man disrespect Nature and destroy the very food unnatural foods, have found their way stays together’, and in this way food chain that nurtures him. Is man then, to many a belly only to make them nourished family ties as well. The dance like jelly. Obesity has become a traditional way of eating implied that a really the most evolved of all creation? consequence of consuming unhealthy nourishing balanced diet was always a The world seems to be heading towards a disaster and changing food food. part of the menu. Packaged and processed food were virtually unheard habits is a crucial link in this chain of Sadly, human greed has surpassed of; after all a packet of instant noodles events. It is time the young awake to human needs and today only fruits this danger and make the changes they could never quite replace the warmth and vegetables are sold as organic must to ensure a better quality of life of a home cooked meal nor match its burning a hole in our pockets! for themselves in particular and the nutritional value! Eating out was for world at large. For like Gandhiji said Those days, eating was not just about special occasions and eating at home satiating hunger, instead, mealtimes ensured that mealtimes were at regular one must be the change one wants to see in the world. were observed like a sacred ritual in intervals. nearly every home. Those were the days, when it was often said and

Those were times when people ate dinner like paupers, lunched like a

”To eat is a necessity, but, to eat intelligently is an art.”

Pallikkutam | July 2015

BOOK SHELF

How to Raise an Adult Julie Lythcott-Haims A must-read for every parent who senses that there is a healthier and saner way to raise our children.

ulie Lythcott-Haims’ new book, How to Raise an Adult: Break Former Dean of Freshmen and Free of the Overparenting Trap Undergraduate Advising, Stanford and Prepare Your Kid for Success has University; Author, How to Raise an a powerful message for parents. Using Adult: Break Free of the her 14 years of experience as an Overparenting Trap and Prepare administrator Your Kid for Success at Stanford University, In her new book, Lythcott-Haims many of those has delivered a provocative as Dean of manifesto that exposes the Freshmen, and detrimental effects of helicopter her role as parenting and puts forth an mom of two, alternative philosophy for raising Lythcottself-sufficient young adults. She Haims takes draws on research, conversations with educators and employers, and aim at overparenting. her own insights as a mother and She breaks student dean to highlight the ways apart our in which over-parenting harms dysfunctional children and their stressed-out modern parents. While empathizing with parenting style parents’ universal worries, she into three offers practical alternative categories: strategies that underline the overprotecting, importance of allowing children to over directing make their own mistakes and and handdevelop the resilience, holding and resourcefulness, and inner shows how determination necessary for each inhibits success. our kids from Relevant to parents of toddlers as becoming the adults we are trying to well as of twenty somethings, come raise. hear a rallying cry for those who She chides us, as a generation, for wish to ensure that the next generation can take charge of their removing risk, pain, and accountability from our children’s lives in exchange own lives with competence and for trying to shape the perfect college confidence.

Julie Lythcott-Haims

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applicant. Lythcott-Haims saw the product of this upbringing every day on the Stanford campus and knows all too well what happens when parenting has gone wrong. She gets right to the heart of the matter as she explains, “I think often that our kids’ childhoods are as much about us as they are about them.” Rather than relying on generalities, Lythcott-Haims arms parents with concrete suggestions of how to change their thinking and behavior. She anticipates the pitfalls (every kid on the block is always scheduled leaving your kid alone or what to say when friends have never heard of the college your kid is applying to) and even give an intriguing list of life’s setbacks that we need to let our kids experiences (eg. having detention, being blamed for something he did not do or being fired

BOOK SHELF

from a job). She examines the entire obsession will make us better parents For a taste of the kind of sweep of childhood from how to talk to and people, “We humans are at our straightforward suggestions to stop a preschooler to tackling the tough overparenting immediately that topic of college rankings. Despite her Lythcott-Haims offers her readers, start years at Stanford, she makes the case with her book’s website. She suggests for an approach to searching for that parents “Stop saying “we” if you colleges that steers really mean your clear of a focus on Changing our kid obsession will make us kid. After all, prestige and, “we’re” not on the instead, focuses better parents and people, “We humans are travel soccer team, on your kid. “we’re” not doing a

at our most capable and are of most

science project, and While the book use to others when we’ve first “we’re” not aims to show us applying to how to better raise looked after ourselves.” college!” This adults, Lythcottadvice may make Haims also shows you cringe but we all hear parents how this will make us better adults. By doing exactly this. making our kids the center of our worlds, and forsaking so much of our Next she asks parents to stop arguing own lives, we make ourselves with the adults in your kids lives. The most capable and are of most use to miserable and provide our kids with a sound reason for this is that so many others when we’ve first looked after very poor example of adulthood. She of them are wise, know what they are ourselves.” reminds us that changing our kid doing and the short-term “win” you

Pallikkutam | July 2015

BOOK STORY SHELF COVER

may get (a better grade on a test) is a long-term “lose” as your kid won’t study harder or advocate for himself.

authority to the subject as Stanford’s former dean of freshmen and

interference suggesting not just a lack of common sense, but a lack of wisdom and healthy boundaries (if not personal dignity) as well.

Finally she tell parents to stop doing their kid’s homework. Lythcott-Haims Instead of allowing kids to experiment says, “When we and learn from do the work for their mistakes, them they may get “When we do the work for them they may get parents hover a better grade they’re not a better grade, but the teacher doesn’t know where (another shortwanted or term “win”), but what our kid’s actual capability/aptitude is, welcome, the teacher accompanying and our kid doesn’t learn the material. doesn’t know children on school what our kid’s trips or shadowing Besides, it’s unethical…” actual capability/ them on campus. aptitude is, and In spite of her title’s emphasis on our kid doesn’t learn the material. success, Lythcott-Haims takes pains Besides, it’s unethical…” Even as to demonstrate that overparenting tales of meddling parents reach a doesn’t merely threaten a child’s fever pitch, Lythcott-Haims’s bleak future income; it also does enormous portrait may just be the “Black Hawk psychological harm. undergraduate advising, has seen Down” of helicopter parenting. varieties of extreme parental Lythcott-Haims, who brings some

Pallikkutam | July 2015

REST ORA TIVE RESTORA ORATIVE

A different world

ditya, 4 years ♦ May arrange a old boy came puzzles box of 1500 to Navajyothi pieces Centre for Child ♦ Good memory Behavioral Science, at Kusumagiri, Kochi, a The medical fraternity terms Autism ♦ Good language few months back. The skills as a “disability” with neurological boy seemed very ♦ Some are good in busy in running differences which affects the ability mind reading around. Aditya was to socialize and communicate. not able to sit in a ♦ Some are good in place and eat his writing poems snacks and would not In the case of Aditya, look at others. He our task was to make falls asleep at 3 AM him calm down and in the morning after 2 for that he was given to 3 hours of calming differences which affects the ability to occupational therapy, sensory him down. The mother used to carry socialize and communicate. Autism or integration therapy and behavioral him on her shoulders to make him otherwise known as Autism Spectrum therapy. It was a herculean task to sleep continuously for 2 to 3 hours. Disorder (ASD) is an umbrella term separate the child from the mother to The parents wanted to make the child make him sleep. It was seen that the to sleep like any other child of his age. which classifies the condition on the basics of severity child threw tantrum and the mother Our therapists studied the behavior of would shed tears. Both the mother and The history says; in 1943 Leokanner the kid and he was diagnosed as a child needed the behavior modification first described that same persons in case of “Autism”. The Autism has for the betterment. We insisted that the the spectrum exhibit many extra been found throughout the world in child slept on bed without his mother. ordinary skills in different areas. They families of all racial, ethnic and social Even though he cried and did all the may be; backgrounds. Autism is a lifelong tantrums he fell asleep. Slowly we were development disability that typically ♦ Good in music able to make him sleep for long hours appears in the first three years of life. without anyone beside him. After a The medical fraternity terms Autism as ♦ Good at computer span of one month, Aditya became a a “disability” with neurological

Pallikkutam | July 2015

REST ORA TIVE RESTORA ORATIVE much settled kid, sleeps well and showed a better behavior. Here at Navajyothi Training Centre, we witness such incidents on daily basis. The number of kids with Autism is increasing day by day. The early diagnosis and intervention can modify the child for a better life. The The Red flag indicators of Autism are;

♦ No babbling like baba, mama, tata

♦ Does not play with other kids Services provide in Navajyothi Training Centre include;

♦ Diagnosis and management ♦ Psychological assessment

number of kids with Autism is increasing day by day. The early diagnosis and intervention can modify the child for a better life.

♦ No social smile (smiling seeing others)

♦ No name call response ♦ Repetitive behaviors like body rocking, hand slapping/flapping etc.

♦ No eye contact ♦ Does not point to the desired object/toy/food

Pallikkutam | July 2015

♦ Psychological management ♦ Pharmacological management

♦ Individual therapy

♦ Family therapy ♦ Occupational therapy ♦ Remedial training ♦ Speech therapy

123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456 Kusumagiri Mental Health Centre 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456 was founded in 1971 by the Congrega123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456 tion of Medical Sisters of St. Joseph 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456 (MSJ), Nirmala Province, Ernakulam. 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456

INFOTECH

E&Y’s first global security operation centre in Kerala

lobal consultancy EY has opened first managed Security Operations Centre (SOC) at Kazhakootam and will invest $20 million over 5 years to combat increasing threat of cybercrimes.

The centre, opened at the Kerala Infrastructure and Film and Video Park at Kazhakootam near here, is the first of its kind set up by EY globally, a top company official said.

cybersecurity needs of clients by predicting advance future cyberthreats by using advanced analytics, Allan said. According to EY Global Information Security survey 2014, more than 56% of organisations are unlikely to detect a sophisticated cyberattack and a similar number (53%) lack the skilled resources to handle them. The managed SOC will offer EY clients on-site and off-site skills to help predict and prevent these cyber attacks.

On choosing Kerala, he said high availability of technologically educated talent and low cost were the major factors for zeroing in on the state, where EY already has an established presence. The high-end and bespoke service is designed to meet the unique

“There has been a trend of 1-2 highranked students staying back for PhD in IIT. But the top ranker staying back with us is rare,” IIT-Kgp director Partha Pratim Chakrabarti said.

US to probe TCS, Infosys on visas

n a worrying development for India’s IT industry, the US government has launched an investigation against Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) and Infosys – the two biggest players in the space – for possible violations of H-1B visa regulations. The matter looked serious enough for the country’s IT industry association Nasscom to promptly come down heavily on the move. Nasscom described it as an attempt by some to tarnish the contributions made by Indian IT service providers in maintaining the global competitiveness of US companies, which in turn has helped create jobs for Americans in the US. The New York Times reported that

n IIT Kharagpur B Tech student who topped across all departments in the institute, has rejected a lucrative job offer from an MNC to remain in academics. Computer science and engineering

The centre would also cater to global clients.

On workforce, Allan said, “Our plan is to match up on market demand. We are already seeing pressure to scale up and that is very encouraging.”

Amongst high rankers, he will only have Anirban Santara from electronics and electrical communication engineering department to give company as a fellow PhD student at the IIT.

IIT-Kharagpur topper says no to ‘lucrative’ Microsoft offer

A similar facility would be set up in US once the centre here became fully operational, EY Global Information Security Leader Ken Allan said.

“EY is set to invest more than $20 million over the next five years to strengthen the centre and increase its Managed SOC cybersecurity professionals six fold to upward of 1,200 by 2020,” he said, adding, “the centre would also cater to global clients.”

most of them are now on their way to the corporate world.

student Sikhar Patranabis has scored 9.87 and passed out as the highestranked graduate this year. He is tipped to get the president of India Gold Medal. The lure of a high-paying preplacement job offer from Microsoft, however, could not distract this talent away from his passion for research. Patranabis has now decided to stay back at the IIT campus and do a PhD on hardware security for embedded systems. “I never wanted to get into a corporate job after B Tech. My interest is in research and academics and I want to pursue that. I never had any second thoughts on this. All my teachers and my family supported me in this decision,” he said. Patranabis is in the minority amongst top rankers as

the US department of labour had opened an investigation against TCS and Infosys for “possible violations of rules for visas for foreign technology workers under contracts they held with an electric utility Southern California Edison (SCE).”

Pallikkutam | July 2015

INFOTECH

Staffing firms go mobile HP to hire 1,400 in India to hire talent

significant rise in use of smartphones has led staffing firms to increasingly focus on mobile recruitment strategies some of

ewlett-Packard is hiring more people abroad as the company prepares to embark on a new round of restructuring, in a move that will save cash and bolster research and development. About 4,700 positions are listed for international jobs or internships, compared with around 2,500 in the US, on the Palo Alto, Californiabased company’s website. That’s in line with Hewlett-Packard’s own business, which gets about 65% of its sales overseas.

which let a job-seeker to apply for an opportunity in less than a minute. “We do have a mobile recruitment strategy and all our digital assets are mobile friendly. We largely leverage the mobile proliferation in India to connect with the candidate ecosystem,” Randstad India CEO Moorthy K Uppaluri said.

It also indicates the future of Hewlett-Packard’s employment strategy, with more people being hired abroad in faster-growing markets as the company seeks savings of around $1 billion through restructuring and the potential for an

enterprise services group because of the change the IT outsourcing market, so that is one place which will over time have less people. But we hope we’ll have more people in security, big data and the transformation area to a hybrid environment.” A few locations stand out, based on open positions, forming a set of regional hubs. These include wellestablished places such as the UK (about 250 jobs) and India (1,400), as well as emerging ones such as Mexico, Costa Rica and Brazil. “Emerging markets tend to be faster growth markets than the United States,” Whitman explained. “We need to have people where we are going to grow.”

TeamLease Services Senior VP Kunal Sen said the recruitment firm has developed a smart job app which would allow a job-seeker to apply in less than a minute, including uploading of resume, if required, and allow jobseekers to get updates on their applications. “Staffing companies mostly cater to lower or entry-level candidates, thus recruiters possibly use only a limited apps that are popular,” Indian Staffing Federation executive director Suchita Dutta said. Moreover these firms are using free social networks like Linkedin, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest and YouTube for image building, marketing, publicity, customer relations and market research purposes. “Staffing firms are increasingly looking to attract top talent are striving towards engaging candidates on social media platforms and communicating their organization’s culture and strengths,” Dutta added.

Pallikkutam | July 2015

additional $2 billion in cost cuts from trimming the services business. “We have to have a cost structure that allows us to compete,” Meg Whitman, Hewlett-Packard’s chief executive officer said. “We needed to take more people out of the

Hiring more people in emerging markets – India, China, the Philippines, Latin America and other places – also helps to keep costs down, letting Hewlett-Packard compete with other providers “from IBM to Huawei, from EMC to Lenovo,” Whitman said.

CREA TIVE LIVING CREATIVE

Burn your dark matter to trigger creativity Dr. Varghese Panthalookaran

hich is easier for you: to Being driven by invisible dark matter, it create a problem or to solve is easy for humans to find fault with it? Normally, it is easy to everything around, than finding good create it rather than solve it. So works in them. By human nature. our very There seems to nature, most be a principle of us are Wikipedia describes “dark matter” as: “a engrained into pessimists; human DNA to training is hypothetical kind of matter that cannot be this effect. Some necessary to seen … but accounts for most of the call it “Original render us Sin”, the realists or matter in the universe.” inherent optimists! tendency of the The question spirit to go is: Can we astray, a kind of “Karma”; others call it optimally utilize the inherent pessimism “Entropy”, the inherent tendency of to derive creative ideas? Can we burn matter to enhance in disorder. Being the inherent dark matter to generate both matter and spirit, humans are creative options? Yes, is the answer! doubly prone to err! We may ascribe it (January 11, 1918 – July 17, 1990), who The creativity technique that cashes in to the “dark matter within us”, which was an American aerospace engineer on such inherent human predicament drives us into pessimism. who worked on safety-critical systems. is called: “Problem Reversal Technique”. Wikipedia describes “dark matter” as: “a hypothetical kind of matter that cannot be seen …but accounts for most of the matter in the universe.” The presence of dark matter is evidenced by the influence it exerts on the visible matter. However, it by itself is invisible. Similarly acts the dark matter in human psyche. Its presence can be predicted by the undesirable effects it produces, like that predicted by the famous Murphy’s Law: “Anything that can go wrong will go wrong.” Further, “if anything just cannot go wrong, it will anyway.” We also observe: “Left to themselves, things tend to go from bad to worse;” Or, “friends come and go, but enemies accumulate;” or, “Anything good in life is either illegal, immoral or fattening.” They are but different funny formulations of the same law by Edward Aloysius Murphy, Jr.

Problem Reversal Technique The core of the “Problem Reversal Technique” is simply to reverse the problem statement. Brainstorming is done only on the reversed problem. The reversal of the solutions to the “reversed problem” provides us with sumptuous creative options to resolve the problem at hand. Here the “reversed problem” is attuned to the human nature, which finds it easy to find faults. After optimally using the natural bend of mind to find fault, we are invited to negate them all over again. It follows principles of mathematics and natural

Pallikkutam | July 2015

CREA TIVE LIVING CREATIVE sciences: a double negation results in the positive. We will be left with a host of creative options at the end!

things. Just like the blind men encountering the reality of an elephant, in Indian Philosophy. Creative minds need to develop a 360º view of things, strictly avoiding segregation of the opposite perspectives. They need to learn to

way, piercing the eyes of the creativity wellspring, allowing your creativity juice flowing. Let us consider a few examples of problem reversals. Let us first consider a typical teachinglearning process, the heart of education, where “a teacher instructs students”. One could create a number of reversals to the above statement, each throwing light to different aspects of education, such as:

This method has its source in the book, “What a great idea!: the key steps creative people take”, authored by the creativity guru Chic (Charles C.) Thompson (HarperPerennial, 1992). For Chic Thomson, problem reversal enables a creative mind to capture different perspectives, which could be Problem reversal technique helps facilitate even ♦ Students diametrically development of total perspectives, generating instruct the opposite to each teacher: other. The innumerable creative options, in a manner Students come opposites, prepared to the quite natural to human nature. however, need class and teach. not necessarily The teacher be assumes the contradictory; they could also be role of students, as done by famous complementary like the Yin-Yang. Plato in his Dialogues, appreciating and at the same time challenging their According to Chinese philosophy, Yinviews. In this way students learn Yang describes the complementarity, things by way of teaching a teacher. interconnectedness, They get mastery and over the subject: an interdependence of effective pedagogy! the so called opposites in nature. They give rise to each other as they interrelate. Dualities like light and darkness, fire and water, and male and female are but manifestations of the primordial duality symbolized by Yin-Yang. Here the boundaries between the opposite melt away or are made insignificant. An idea is conceived to be incomplete without its opposite. For example, to describe the qualities of an ideal leader, Lao Tzu suggests: “in order to lead, the leader need to learn how to follow; to prosper, the leader needs to learn to live a simple life.” (Tao Te Ching). Apparent opposites are considered here as multitude of perspectives of the same reality, which together construct a holistic view of

Pallikkutam | July 2015

♦ The teacher un-

synergize the forward-backward, leftright, top-bottom perspectives into a total view. Problem reversal technique helps facilitate development of total perspectives, generating innumerable creative options, in a manner quite natural to human nature. Pierce the eye of creativity wellspring Problem reversal could actually provoke you to think in an unusual

instructing students: The teacher does not instruct; rather just clears the accumulated misconceptions of students, who come prepared to the class. In his preparation, the teacher focuses on the possible misunderstandings of students over the subject and endeavors to clear them. The teacher remains a facilitator, a reference for students to clear their doubts and misconceptions preparing them to apply the knowledge acquired. A superior pedagogy!

♦ Students instruct each other: Peerteaching and peer-learning has its own value in education. In fact skills are better transferred through peermentoring. We may think of

CREA TIVE LIVING CREATIVE academically well-off students assigned to teach a subject to the academically weaker ones. This would obviously improve the learning of both groups of students. As the academically well-off students consolidate their knowledge by teaching, the academically weak will benefit from such peer instruction. Further, life-skills will flow in both directions.

♦ Students instruct themselves: In this method, students strive for mastery over the subject themselves. They are provided with the tools enabling them to instruct themselves. Students are equipped with the same tools teachers use as they surf the ocean of information, for example in the internet. This is a superior modern pedagogy.

the perspectives through different angles, powerful ideas about education could be generated. Let us now consider the creative possibilities generated by a 180º shift in the perspective, in a total reversal of the problem, through “a provocative rearrangement of information” (as de Bono describes it). For example, let us consider a problem often asked by parents of an adolescent child: “How

♦ Intrude into the privacy of the adolescent child and persistently ask questions such as, “Where were you the whole evening?” or “Who are your new friends?” ♦ Continuously ask the nagging questions like, “Did you do your homework?” “Do you listen to the lectures properly and clarify with them what you do not understand?” ♦ Regularly ask questions registering your mistrust in the ripeness of the child, the questions like: “Do you visit the class regularly?” “Do you waste your time on cinemas?”, etc.

♦ Belittle them in front of their teachers: Comments like, “I am fed up with his behavior. You alone could save my child.” “He is beyond redemption. I am ashamed him. He is such a naughty boy at home.”

♦ Teacher instructing himself: Here, teacher is not You may add thousand and one instructing students, rather he instances to this list. Now, the solution instructs himself. He becomes a role to the problem we were asking is model for students, who instruct already available to themselves. He us. It is: “Just do makes use of the opposite!” The “problem reversal technique” is, of already available tools of self♦ Keep a course, an extremely powerful tool in the instruction and respectful distance even invents his hands of deft minds to generate creative from your own tools, to adolescent options in life. It allows you to burn the “dark inspire students children, giving who prepare to matter” within you to trigger creativity! room for their instruct privacy themselves. A still ♦ Ask questions that would promote better method of instruction! their cheer ♦ Students un-instructing the teacher: In this pedagogical approach, can I improve my relationship with my ♦ Trust the ripeness of your child and promote it students are asked to challenge the adolescent child?” teacher and even to prove him wrong. ♦ Reassure their dignity and Let us first give a 180º reversal to the Even though the ego of the teacher goodness every time, especially in question. Let us rather ask: “How can I front of their teachers. Correct them would be at stake, this paves the way vitiate my relationship with my for a truly interesting and efficient only in person. method of learning a subject. Students adolescent child?” Parents could The “problem reversal technique” is, easily identify large number of who could successfully challenge a of course, an extremely powerful tool instances in which they were teacher would be a master in the in the hands of deft minds to generate successful in vitiating their relation subject. with their adolescent child out of their creative options in life. It allows you to The example suggests how to generate personal experiences, I presume. burn the “dark matter” within you to a large number of creative options, just Listing a few of them: trigger creativity! by viewing it differently. By shifting

Pallikkutam | July 2015

EDUTRENDS

Sexual health in curriculum Dr. P. C. Alexander

ime has come to mix sexual address this issue, but as advocates of and reproductive health with child protection and rights, we have a the curriculum in India, without moral obligation to raise our voices which, our children are going to be and express our concerns about the unfortunate decay of the value victims of the system that modern Great Indian day education is Many countries have gone ahead and Pornographic imparting to our implemented incorporation of sexual and students Revolution. It has been proved reproductive health into mainstream Many countries beyond doubt have gone ahead syllabus for higher classes. that education is and implemented the greatest incorporation of weapon to fight sexual and reproductive health into bad practices, wrong choices and mainstream syllabus for higher classes. social evils. Unfortunately education The fine print can easily be worked out has been reduced to mere numbers and by experts in the field as to the grades and in todayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s world does not I am not sure whether the concerned contents and the level at which the reflect the social wellness of the authorities are doing enough to subject has to be introduced. society.

Pallikkutam | July 2015

EDUTRENDS Essentially the capsule must contain appropriate health care clear, age appropriate, and scienceaspects covering sexual behavior in services of sexual, reproductive based sexuality education that is adolescence, understanding of sexual medicine and the concerned culturally relevant and grounded in the assault and what it means, adolescent authorities must ensure optimum universal values of respect and human gynecology, teenage pregnancy, implementation of health education rights. In fact the authorities should sexually transmitted diseases and programs stressing the importance of even reach out to the large numbers of contraception. The teachers could women to go through healthy adolescents and young adults who easily be trained and made competent pregnancy and childbirth, providing have no access to schools and to handle these sensitive issues by colleges through governmental and expert groups. Kerala, which has non governmental agencies. This possibly the best indices in health and would drastically bring down violence education in the country, can take a against women and gender bias in the lead in rolling out such country. The media Comprehensive sexuality education an initiative. Once the have a profound right information is both positive helps empower young people to protect impact, available to children in and negative on young the most difficult times their health and well being as they grow people’s knowledge, of their lives, and they beliefs, and attitudes and take on family responsibilities. are taught to related to reproductive differentiate right from health and sexual wrong in a language they understand, relationships. For example, the internet many of the problems related to gender and social media can perpetuate inequality and gender insensitivity misconceptions about matters related that we face in today’s society would to sexuality and can lure young people decline. When the contents of the couples with the best chance of to inappropriate websites, particularly subject are defined, religious having a well baby. boys who use internet cafes. At the considerations and cultural same time, the media can also be restrictions could certainly be used to disseminate accurate incorporated. information about sexual and reproductive health issues. Thus, The World Health in the information age, education Organization defines sexual health programs are critical to providing as a state of physical, mental and young people access to reliable social well-being in relation to sources of information sexuality, requiring a positive and empowering them to make wise respectful approach to sexuality choices, reducing misinformation and and sexual relationships, as well as the Adolescence is a critical period in girls’ increasing accurate knowledge, while possibility of having pleasurable and and boys’ lives as they transition from using the social media platform. safe sexual experiences, free of childhood to the responsibilities of coercion, discrimination and violence. adulthood. With a better We must provide our children with the Within the framework of this understanding of their bodies and of right to sexual information, based on definition, reproductive health or their own physical and psychological scientific inquiry and comprehensive sexual health, addresses the changes, young people can go sexuality education leading to reproductive processes, functions and through puberty more confidently. emotional and sexual well being with system at all stages of Comprehensive sexuality education appropriate sexual expression. If we fail life. Reproductive health, therefore, helps empower young people to in our duty, alternate resources with implies that people are able to have a protect their health and well being as abnormal behavior patterns would be responsible, satisfying and safer sex they grow and take on family made easily available by perverted life and that they have the capability to responsibilities. Providing sexual and individuals, armed with modern reproduce and the freedom to decide if, reproductive health education in technology, eagerly waiting for when and how often to do so. One schools is cost effective because the opportunities to corrupt the younger interpretation of this implies that men majority of adolescents are enrolled in generation. and women ought to be informed academic institutions which have 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456 about safe sex and have access to proper staff, settings, and environment 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456 The author is the lead consultant at 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456 Department of Child and Adolescent safe, effective, affordable and for learning. Sexual and reproductive 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456 Health, Aster Medcity, Kochi. He is a 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456 acceptable methods of birth control. health education programs can be 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456 child protection and rights advocate. Young adults should be connected to developed in all schools to provide 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456

Pallikkutam | July 2015

INNO VATIONS INNOV

‘Tunable’ windows

niversity of Cincinnati together with its industry partners has developed windows whose color can be tuned. The new discovery will lead to lowcost window tinting which dynamically adapts for brightness, color temperatures and opacity, to

provide for privacy while allowing light in. It can be integrated into new windows or even easily applied to already existing windows, by means of a roll-on coating consisting of a honeycomb of electrodes. The results are published in the journal, Applied Optics. Currently, most home and commercial windows use mechanical shades to provide privacy and to block light, heat or cold. In the new type of windows shade and privacy can be simultaneously, electronically controlled for the first time. Windows could go milky for privacy so no one can see in, but still allow about 90 percent of the available light in. Or, a setting change could dim the entering light or change the color of the light along a spectrum from cooler blue to warmer yellow, which a traditional blind can’t do. It is no more necessary to block natural light entering the house just for the sake of a little privacy. The challenge for the researchers consisted of applying this technology, common in e-paper electronic displays on our mobile and computer devices, to a larger surface like windows. Here different colors are assigned different voltages and the voltage applied either repels or attract colors into different positions, to do the job.

Pallikkutam | July 2015

Super-lubricant discovered

.S. Department of Energy has come out with a new material combination that demonstrates the rare phenomenon of “superlubricity.” Researchers combined diamond nanoparticles, small patches of graphene and a diamond-like carbon material to create superlubricity, in which friction drops to near zero. As the graphene patches and diamond particles rub up against a large diamond-like carbon surface, the graphene rolls itself around the diamond particle, creating something that looks like a ball bearing on the nanoscopic level. At the atomic level, friction occurs when atoms in materials that slide

against each other become “locked in state,” which requires additional energy to overcome. This is like trying to slide two egg cartons against each other bottom-tobottom, where the positioning of the gaps causes an entanglement which prevents easy sliding. By creating the graphene-encapsulated diamond ball bearings, the team found a way to translate the nanoscale superlubricity into a macroscale phenomenon. The knowledge gained from this study will be crucial in finding ways to reduce friction in everything from engines or turbines to computer hard disks and microelectromechanical systems.

What makes natural tooth special?

n interdisciplinary team led by scientists of Charite Universitaetsmedizin Berlin has analyzed the complex structure of dentin and found out how the internal stress works against crack propagation and increases resistance of the bio-structure. Unlike bones, which are made partly of living cells, human teeth are not able to repair damage. Their bulk is made of dentin, a bonelike material consisting of mineral nanoparticles. These mineral nanoparticles are embedded in collagen protein fibres, with which they are tightly connected. In every tooth, such fibers can be found, and they lie in layers, making teeth tough and damage resistant. When the tiny collagen fibers shrink, the attached mineral particles become increasingly compressed. Compression takes place in such a way that cracks cannot easily reach the tooth inner parts, which could damage the sensitive pulp. In this manner, compression stress helps to prevent cracks from rushing through the tooth. The scientists believe that the balance of stresses between the particles and the protein is important for the extended survival of teeth in the mouth. Artificial tooth replacements usually do not work as

good as healthy teeth do: they are simply too passive, lacking the mechanisms found in the natural tooth structures, and consequently fillings cannot sustain the stresses in the mouth as well as teeth do.

INNO VATIONS INNOV

The shape of a perfect fire

drian Bejan of Duke University has shown that, all other variables being equal, the best fires are roughly as tall as they are wide. This is why, he argues, everyone has built fires that basically look the same since the dawn of time. The study is published in Nature Scientific Reports. From ancient Egyptians roasting a dripping cut of beef next to the Great Pyramid of Giza to a Boy Scout learning to build a log cabin fire in his backyard, everyone builds fires with the same general shape. The reason is that this shape is the most efficient for air and heat flow. Our success in building fires in turn made

it possible for humans to migrate and spread across the globe. The heat flow from fire facilitates the movement and spreading of human mass on the globe, which is a direct prediction of the Constructal Law. According to the Constructal Law movement systems such as trees, rivers or air currents evolve into configurations that provide easier and easier access to flows. Now internationally recognized, the law is increasingly finding applications in improving design and maximizing efficiency of manmade systems.

Chimpanzee are great actors

himpanzee are able to use facial expressions and vocalizations flexibly, notably during physical contact play making them great actors, suggests a study published in the open-access journal PLOS ONE. The ability to flexibly produce facial expressions and vocalizations has a strong impact on the way humans communicate. But scientists’ understanding of nonhuman primate facial expressions and vocalizations is limited. The reserachers investigated whether chimpanzees produce the same types of facial expressions with and without accompanying vocalizations, as do

Pain killer inspired by chilly response

apsaicin is the ingredient that makes chili peppers spicy and hot. The same pathway in the body that responds to spicy food is also activated after injury or when the immune system mounts an inflammatory response to bacteria, viruses, or in the case of autoimmune disease, the body’s own tissues. Researchers from the University of California-Davis have identified the molecular interactions that allow capsaicin to activate the body’s primary receptor for sensing heat and pain, paving the way for the design of more selective and effective drugs to relieve pain. Their study appeared online in the journal Nature Chemical Biology.

TRPV1 is one of the body’s primary receptors for sensing pain and heat. Capsaicin is found to bind to the TRPV1 receptor with exquisite potency and selectivity. Researchers discovered the important atomic-level details about exactly how the capsaicin molecule interacts with TRPV1 using computational biology. The research also explains why capsaicin does not activate the body’s other channels for sensing temperature, and why the TRPV1 receptor in many other species is not activated by capsaicin. For example, birds are missing two key interaction sites, which explains why birds are insensitive to the spiciness of chili peppers.

humans. The study showed that chimpanzees produced the same open-mouthed facial expressions when laugh sounds were present as when they weren’t. This suggests that chimpanzees produce facial expressions flexibly, without being constrained by the accompanying vocalizations. Furthermore, the data indicated that the facial expressions in addition to vocalization, as well as the facial expression alone, were used differently in social play, for instance, when in physical contact with playmates and when matching playmates’ open-mouthed faces. These findings support the idea that chimpanzees produce distinctive facial expressions independently from a vocalization, and that their use affects communicative meaning, as both traits are important for a more explicit and versatile way of communicating.

Pallikkutam | July 2015

CAREER

Mindset for the new generation job Thomson Skariah

t was in Dresden, Germany; on the want to leave, some are asked to leave. roadside that an old man was Choose your path but always have a selling posters. He few people to thank had lots of them, but Choose your path but always have a few for what you have there were three among learned from them. people to thank for what you have them that caught my And definitely have a attention. One among few to be happy learned from them. them: All in black, the about who have poster had an image learned from you half his face showing and the other while you were there. So while you are half in the dark, with the eye visible with the firm, be a good learner, having laser like focus, and the both inspire and be a fine teacher. his fists ready for action. The writings With the above two set, give it time; a It is only fair to expect a smooth onin white said: “Knowing is not enough, couple of years with focused efforts boarding at your new organisation, we must Apply. Willing is not enough, towards qualification-enhancements is and that is an outcome of similar we must Do.” - signed Bruce Lee. necessary. You will immensely benefit, efforts you put into the firm you are and will be ready for tougher Here I was, on my practical training leaving. Fair time for the firm to adjust during my college days. I learned what challenges within the same company, when you are leaving, and a clean and maybe outside if your feel it is it is to work in an organisation and handover. Be fair, its not worth truly time to move. Dont give your contribute; not just read, learn and burning bridges. company all your time, give it quality understand - but apply. I was there to We can have the best education in the time. put to practice what I have been world, have exam scores that give us learning and what I know. Halfway Learn the ropes of something new in the top percentiles, grade point through my time there, coming across your area, see if it is something you averages that exceeds the cut off; and that poster sure did make a lot of sense want to move into; or move up in have to our credit subjects that sound to me then, and a lot more sense now. specialisation. Work towards the most complicated. All this is good My biggest fear at my first task in my successfully convincing the next in only if we know how to apply. And it is very first professional engagement line you are ready to handle the next when we effectively put our was - will I meet their expectations. The knowledge to use, in line with the solution was to realise why I was vision of a company we are a part of; there, and to meet that purpose of we will benefit ourselves, and that is being hired. Realise the Why from the when we truly grow. And as we grow perspective of your company. in our area of work, our company / You can be lost sometimes but the organisation benefits, the community surest way out is to know the process benefits and the economy in turn and the purpose of the company. Ask grows. Grow up in your company, dont while on the job if your action is timely just grow old there. This is when we and contributes to the growth of your can say to ourselves - “I am company.In the formative years of employable! and I can maintain that!” your career (atleast), “ask not what the While skills are dated, values are organisation can do for you, but what timeless. If the values are in place, no you can do for your organisation”. If skill is too tough to be nurtured. 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456 you cannot come to terms with this 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456 level, the corresponding pay will 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456 The author is the CEO of ACELR question, you are foxing yourself, 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456 follow in this company or the next. 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456 Tech Labs, a product development 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456 wrong train, wrong journey. You 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456 Give value to be able to capture value. company focusing on content 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456 should be able to Connect with the 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456 management, cloud computing and 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456 company. No one stays forever. Some grow up 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456 enterprise analytics. 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456 with the firm, some grow faster and 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456

Pallikkutam | July 2015

GUEST COLUMN

Taste: the supreme gift from God K. L. Mohana Varma

hen you are hungry, every get opportunity to eat such a tasty morsel is tasty. Actually you dish in future. don’t worry about how the This poignant tale made me go to food tastes. But Jagdalpur about 15 it lasts only for a years afterwards few moments. There is spicy heat involving a chemical and I sat on a Once your bench outside the short-circuit in our thermal stomach reports, street dhaba near OK, now it is detector which can also be the jail gate and time, the tongue asked the considered a taste. can activate its proprietor-cumtaste buds and chef to give me you become Rohu curry and rice. It had a special wiser, choosy, health conscious, taste which I had never experienced. A religious. mix of our kodumpoli and dates with Verrier Elvin, world some Punjabi smelly famous British ingredients. On half pastor-turned way mark, I asked Gandhian him about the anthropologist, who masala. He assured was Jawaharlal me. Babuji, I know Nehru’s close you are madrasi. I adviser in Indian like madrasis. Good tribal affairs, tells a people. They don’t true story in his cheat. So I give memoirs. 1950s. them the best. Then Central Jail in he whispered me the Jagdalpur, capital of secret. He has the former Bastar added the best and state. One adivasi costly red ants, the youth convicted for best and fresh murder was to be brought from his hanged in the early own village nearby. hours. As was the I don’t know how I custom in such case, he was asked on managed the vomiting feeling. But my inhaled the vapour for a few moments the previous evening what type of and then took a small piece of fish and taste for all food for the next two days food he would like to have as his last had gone. Even tea was tasting bad. put in his mouth. He closed his eyes meals. He thought over and said: and smiled with real enjoyment. He Sahib, give me bellyful of rice and I have four grandsons. My daughter’s then turned to the officer and said. Sir, two sons liked cooked ripe bananas. Rohu fish curry with lot of spicy Dhanteswari matha will bless you. The My son’s two sons won’t touch them. masala. He was to be hanged at 5.00 Rohu curry is so tasty. Sir, please do AM. The Daroga came to his cell The reason was simple. My daughter’s me a favour. I will eat only half of this. at 3.00 AM and placed the rice and father-in-law and mother-in-aw were Please give the rest to my son who will staying with them and in their old age, curry plates in front of him. He lifted be waiting outside the gate when you the cover of the fish curry. The their regular breakfast menu included hand over my body. My son may not vaporous smell was coming out. He the ripe bananas well cooked for their

Pallikkutam | July 2015

GUEST COLUMN digestion. They would always insist of these remain, mostly on the supplying our shops, by the media and the children from their early childhood tongues. But simultaneously, the the government and by trade and itself to join them in breakfast. My tastes are initially guided by other migration. The eating habits of our son’s family never had item in the factors also. The best example is of parents, grandparents and greatmenu and they naturally didn’t have children refusing many a dish by its grandparents would be completely any liking it. It was really the habit that appearance or smell. Individually, each unrecognizable to many of us today. created the taste. But there should be taste bud goes through a constant Our experiences of shopping and something else. I was really cycle of birth, death, and rebirth that cooking have been transformed as wondering, other than the availability lasts about two weeks. Healthy have our attitudes towards health, and lack of alternatives or a bit of table manners, foreign foods, waste outside force to select there should be and choice. Today fast food chains are some scientific explanation as to why a global phenomenon - fried chicken, one has a taste for a specific food. burgers and submarine sandwiches are When you bite into a luscious ripe available on the streets of New York, banana well Edinburgh, Paris, cooked and Shanghai, Delhi and added with sugar The eating habits of our parents, Kochi. While food for extra shortages are still grandparents and great-grandparents sweetness you widespread in many are interpreting a would be completely unrecognizable parts of the world, dizzying array of for a lot of people to many of us today. signals – in the urban area, physical, neurothe idea of eating chemical, only three meals a day is a thing of the memory-based – that ultimately help past. We graze our way through the you decide whether you like bananas day, nibbling on crisps or chocolate in this attractive mix or what or vadapav to keep us going between combination of the five fundamental meals. Poovathumkal Thomas chettan, tastes (sweet, sour, salty, my 105 year old friend bitter, or savory) comes was active in his farm through for you. There are in Thudanganad till his other tastes a bit distinct timely death a few and with innovations and years back. He, a pure experiments like soapy, vegetarian, was metallic and fatty. Then specific about it. Kanji there is spicy heat and uppumanga (raw involving a chemical shortmangoes preserved in circuit in our thermal broil). Nothing else. detector which can also be For non-vegs, in olden considered a taste. But in times, naadan fish all these cases, our age is a curry made major factor in how our with kudampuli, a brains read, or misread, all local tamarind fruit was those signals. Most of us the tastiest dish. as kids had wonderful The Namboodirisbrought taste for sugar, but when four curries, Kaalan, Olan, we grew up, very slowly we were tongues sloughs off and regenerate Erisseri and Payasam, to Kerala. But disillusioned. Similarly, nature has and regroup these taste buds that was after 5th century. Ramayyan provided its own warning symbol for constantly. Once we hit middle age, the Dalava, the crafty Tamil Brahmin potential toxins, the bitterness in buds continue to die and be shed, but Chanakyahanakya invented Avial and general and as in the case of pregnant a very small number regenerate as the introduced it as an original Malayalam women less sensitive to salt years go on. Over the last century, dish and contained the revolt of addressing the increased need of almost in every part of the world eating his nayar troops against giving the sodium in particular. It is said that habits have changed dramatically. Our same type of food served to the lower infants have around 30,000 taste buds diets have been influenced by all kinds caste marayatroops. But that was very spread throughout their mouths. By of factors: by the technologies in our recent. Only 250 years old. The tapioca the time they are 20, only about a third kitchens, by the modes of transport

Pallikkutam | July 2015

GUEST COLUMN was the most recent one to baptize consumed just like chena or kachil. by the virtue of her service, Lord Ram here. In 1880, the entire paddy crop Chena and Kachil can now be seen shall give her darshan. Shabari waits of kuttanad and nanchinad, the rice only in Government sponsored for the arrival of Ram. Everyday she bowls Travancore state failed. The agricultural exhibitions and not in would go out of her ashram, with the resultant famine forced Visakham malayalee kitchens. Tapioca, Kappa or help of a walking stick and pluck berry Thirunal, the king, to search for an Cheeni as it affectionately called has fruits for Lord Ram. She would pluck a alternative staple food for his subjects. now become the staple partner for fish fruit, first taste it, and if it was sweet He came to know about tapioca, the curry outwitting even the boiled rice. she would put it in her basket and favorite of many African and South discard the bitter ones. She wanted to American countries and imported the give the good and sweet fruits to stems in huge quantities from Brazil. Ram.[3] The thought never came to her He got part of them planted in six acres that she should not taste it before it of fertile land in Sreekaryam, a suburb was offered to a deity. At last, Lord of Trivandrum and issued a Rama came. Shagbark offered the proclamation. We are fruits she had cultivating meticulously tapioca, a rare collected to Rama. tuber crop Persuasion and love are part of every human When Rama was imported from a eating activity and taste is also naturally foreign country. them, Lakshmana, Since this is a younger brother, conditioned in a subtle manner. very healthy and raised the concern tasty food, we that Shabari had find that many already tasted people are attracted to it. This is to them and therefore unworthy of inform the public that any theft of eating. To this Rama said that of the tapioca stems which are yet to be many types of food he had tasted, planted is an “nothing could equal offence against the these berry fruits, state and the offered with such culprits will be devotion. You taste caned, imprisoned them, and then alone and fined. The will you know. proclamation had Whosoever offers a the desired effect fruit, leaf, flower or of popularizing the some water with love, taste of the new I taste it with great tuber and the joy.” entire stock of Persuasion and love stems vanished. are part of every The King was human activity and happy and he taste is also naturally issued the next conditioned in a proclamation. We subtle manner. have come to know that our subjects Perhaps that is why are cultivating we pray before taking In Ramayana, there is a touchy story tapioca clandestinely. But they do not the food: about the taste of food. Shabari , a know how it is to be nurtured to get hunter chieftain’s daughter, left her Bless this food to be tasty and useful the best results. (The process was house on the night before her to make us worthy of thy service, and then explained in detail). The tapioca is marriage, when she saw that keep us ever mindful of the needs of a very tasty tuber. But it contains a thousands of goats and sheep were others. For this and all we are about to little unhealthy substance. The brought by her father to be killed for receive, make us truly grateful, Lord. subjects are therefore directed to 1234567890123456789012345678901212345678901234567 1234567890123456789012345678901212345678901234567 the marriage dinner. After days of 1234567890123456789012345678901212345678901234567 1234567890123456789012345678901212345678901234567 double cook it in boiling water (you The author is a Kochi-based 1234567890123456789012345678901212345678901234567 1234567890123456789012345678901212345678901234567 traveling, she met sage Matanga 1234567890123456789012345678901212345678901234567 should remove the water after each novelist, short story writer and 1234567890123456789012345678901212345678901234567 1234567890123456789012345678901212345678901234567 and served him with devotion. Guru 1234567890123456789012345678901212345678901234567 1234567890123456789012345678901212345678901234567 cooking) before use. Now it can be columnist. Matanga at his deathbed told her that 1234567890123456789012345678901212345678901234567

Pallikkutam | July 2015

ASPECTS

Janasruti pautrayana’s search for a teacher Dr. Augustine Thottakara

his interesting story occurs in bahupakya). He also built rest-houses swan Bhallaksa replied: “Lo! How Chandogya Up. IV.1-3. It deals all over the country, thinking, could you describe him so, as if he with two issues: (i) The ‘everywhere people will eat my food’” were Raikva with the cart?” The first Guruship is an vocation. It is not (Chandogya Up. IV.1.1). He was very swan then asked: “What sort of man is based on caste or state of life. Not this Raikva with the cart?” Bhallaksa only learned Brahmanas, but also replied: ‘In the play of dice, number people of lower births can become four, which is called ‘krta’, is the Guru, provided he has the spiritual highest value; if one casts four, the maturity for that, lower numbers and sufficient are included in Janasruti Pautrayana was an eminent knowledge of the it. So is in case sacred scriptures Raikva, the householder; probably he was a very rich man of (srotriay), and knower of provided he is Brahman; and the ruler of a small country. He was very already a man what good generous man, and was very much aware established in others do, go Brahman over to him’. of his social responsibilities. (brahmanistha). Janasruti “After having carefully examined the Pautrayana heard this conversation of worlds gained by deeds, an intelligent the swans. He pondered over it. He seeker should become indifferent to realized that he is not a knower of them, because deeds, which are Brahman, and that he is not a virtuous transient, cannot win the supreme generous man, and was very much and righteous man as he thinks of Being, who is unoriginated. Therefore, aware of his social responsibilities. himself and as people think about him. to know that Being, let him, with One night Janasruti was taking rest on Then he called his attendant and asked sacrificial fuel in hand, approach a the balcony of his house. Some swans him to find out this Raikva. The Guru, who is well-versed in the flew over his house. One of them said attendant searched for him; but could scriptures and already not find him. He established in came back to his Brahman” (Mundaka master and Up. I.2.12-13). (ii) The reported, “I could question whether not find him”. Sudras are eligible for Janasruti said: “Go Vedic and Vedantic and search where studies is also the knowers of discussed in this Brahman should be section of the searched for” Upanisad. (Chandogya Janasruti Pautrayana Up.IV.1.7). What he was an eminent meant is that you householder; probably he was a very to the swan flying in front, whose should search him in lonely places, rich man and the ruler of a small name was Bhallaksa, thus: “O away from the hustle and bustle of life, country. The text says: “He made gifts Bhallaksa, Bhallaksa, the effulgence of away from the crowd. The attendant to others with respect, gave liberally to Janasruti Pautrayana has spread like went out, and came across a man the needy, and cooked much food to the day-light. Do not come in touch sitting alone under a cart and feed others (sraddhadeyo bahudayi with it, lest it should scorch you”. The scratching the wounds of his skin. The

Pallikkutam | July 2015

ASPECTS attendant asked him: “Revered Sir, are you Raikva with the cart?” The man said that he is, in fact, Raikva. The attendant returned to his master Janasruti Pautrayana and reported the matter.

water is dried up it merges into the air. There are two types of airs. The macrocosmic air, the basic element of

(Chandogya Up. I.9.4-5). (Prastava is the introductory part of Sama song). Brahma-sutra on Prana

Brahma-sutra identifies Prana with Brahman. Sutra I.1.23 says: ata eva pranah, “on that very ground, Prana Janasruti-Raikva Encounter (is Brahman)”. Janasruti The scriptural Pautrayana took statements The macrocosmic air, the basic element of air mentioned six hundred cows, one gold like, “It , which moves in the cosmos; it is the vital above, necklace and a is the Prana, chariot drawn by breath of the universe. It is the vivifier of the for all these mules to Raikva, things universe. and said to him, proceed ‘these are all for towards and you; please instruct me about the deity merge into Prana and from Prana they whom you worship’. Raikva said to him: emerge. This is that deity that is “O Sudra, let this gold necklace intimately associated with Prastava”, together with the chariot and cows and other statements like, “Prana of remain with you” (Chandogya air (vayu), which moves in the prana”, ‘Vital force of vital forces’ Up.IV.2.3). Then Janasruti returned (Brhadaranyaka Up. IV.4.18); “O cosmos; it is the vital breath of the home and came back with one Amiable one, the mind is tethered to universe. It is the vivifier of the thousand cows, a gold necklace, a Prana” (Chandogya Up. VI.8.2). “I am universe. Then the microcosmic air, chariot drawn by mules and his own the Prana identified with the Prana, which supports the life in daughter to Raikva, and said to him, consciousness. You meditate on me, all living beings; animates life in the ‘All these things are yours; my individual bodies. No life can survive who am of such nature of life and daughter is your wife; I immortality. Now then, it is also give you this village the Prana itself, identified in which you live’. Raikva with consciousness, that said: “O Sudra, you have takes hold of the body and brought all these things! animates it up” (Kausitaki You give me even your Up. III.2-3), - all these daughter; you will make assertions clearly proclaim me talk by these?” that Prana is indeed Janasruti then gave him all Brahman. those villages of the Brahma-sutra I.1.28-31 country of Mahavrsa, further deals with the same which was thence called theme. pranas tathaRaikvaparna. By all means anugamat, ‘Prana is he wanted to know the Brahman, because it is Brahman. comprehended thus’; na vaktur without Prana; the forces and The Instructions of Raikva atmopadesad iti ced adhyatmafaculties of the body merge into this sambandha-bhuma hy asmin, ‘If it is Raikva realized that Janasruti is a vital breath. “When one sleeps, argued that Prana is not Brahman, genuine seeker of the knowledge of speech merges in the Prana, the mind since the instruction is about the Brahman, and that he possessed all the merges in the Prana; for Prana speaker’s own self, (then we say, no), prerequisites of a good disciple. He indeed, absorbs all these. These, for here is an abundance of reference speaks to him about the air as the indeed, are the two absorbers: air to the inner most Self’; sastra-drstya supreme deity. Air moves everything; among the gods and Prana among the tu-upadeso vamadevavat, ‘But the air purifies everything; air (vital breath) senses” (Chandogya Up.IV.3.3-4). “It instruction proceeds from a seer’s supports the life of everything; air is the Prana, for all these things vision agreeing with the scriptures, as absorbs everything. Other elements are proceed towards and merge into in the case of Vamadeva’; jivaabsorbed in the air. Fire and water are Prana and from Prana they emerge. mukhya-prana-lingan na iti cen na absorbed in the air; when fire is This is that deity that is intimately upasa-traividhyad asritatvad iha tad extinguished it goes to the air; when associated with Prastava”

(vayu)

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ASPECTS yogat, ‘If it is argued that Brahman is not spoken of here on account of the indications of the individual soul and the chief vital force, then that cannot be so, since this will lead to a threefold meditation. (Besides Prana) is accepted elsewhere as meaning Brahman (because of the presence of Brahman’s characteristics), (and these are) in evidence here’. All these sutras testify that Prana is to be understood as Brahman. These are sutras, and to understand the full import and sense of these sayings fully, we need the commentaries of these sutras by the great acaryas, which is beyond the scope of this short essay.

were Raikva with the chariot’, and because he did not know Brahman, he was dissatisfied and frustrated. Raikva knew about his sorrow and disappointment, and therefore he called him ‘Sudra’. He was not a member of the caste ‘Sudra’. He was probably a King; he had servants under him; he seeks knowledge and wisdom from Raikva; without initiation this knowledge of Brahman cannot be communicated – because of all these reasons, he is to be considered as a Ksatriya, and not a Sudra. This conclusion is stated in Brahma-sutra I.1.34-35; “Grief happened to Janasruti on hearing the swan’s disparaging utterance, as is evident from his approaching Raikva, for this is hinted

castes. The Upanisadic text here probably is boldly stating that also a Sudra is eligible for brahma-vidya. Sudras are not Eligible for Vedic and Vedantic Studies

Only the male members of the first three castes are eligible for the initiation ceremony. Together with the scriptures other branches of wisdom are also taught to the initiated in the Guru-kula. This was the only avenue open to a person for any kind of learning and erudition. But women of all castes, Sudras, and of course, the outcastes, are proscribed and barred from entering into the world of letters and learning. “Brahma ordered that Prana has thus three connotations: As service without complaint to these the protagonist of the story Raikva three castes is the only duty of the teaches, Prana in the wider sense is Sudra” (Manu-smrti I.91). “Sudra the element air (vayu), which moves in belongs to the fourth caste and has the cosmos; Prana is the vital breath but only one birth” (Manu-smrti X.4). in living beings, Sudras are not which supports twice-borns, the life; and is the vital breath in living beings, which and therefore, finally Prana is they have no the supreme supports the life; and finally is the right for Brahman, the education. supreme Brahman, the source and source and goal They have no of life of all. goal of life of all. rights; they Meaning of the are born only Word “Sudra” to obey the commands of the higher castes as their Janasruti Pautrayana approached slaves. Raikva twice with gifts. On both

Prana

occasions, Raikva addressed him as ‘Sudra’: “O Sudra, let this gold necklace together with the chariot and cows remain with you” (Chandogya Up.IV.2.3). “O Sudra, you have brought all these things! You give me even your daughter; you will make me talk by these?” What is the meaning of the word “Sudra” here? Does it signify the caste, or does this word have some other significance? Brahma-sutra I.3.34, and commentaries of Sri Sankara and Sri Ramanuja, on this passage, say that it does not connote the caste (na tu jatyaiva sudra iti); it means ‘suca adravati iti sudra’, which means, ‘one who softens (melts) because of sorrow (suk)’. Janasruti was sorrowful because of the verbal attacks of the swans who said about Janasruti to the effect, ‘who is this one, insignificant as he is, of whom you speak as though he

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at (by Raikva by using the word “Sudra”)”; “And because his Ksatriyahood is known later on from his mention as a descendant of Citraratha”. At the same time, a critical reader would ask: ‘Why can’t we accept the statement of the Upanisad in its evident sense? Pautrayana was a Sudra; even among the Sudras there can be rich people; there can be landlords; there can be also Kings who rule over the Sudra countries or kingdoms.’ The round-about and meandering explanation of the text by the acaryas is due to their preoccupation to safeguard the orthodox and traditional caste-Hindu thinking, which teaches that Vedic education is accessible only to the male members of the three higher

“Away with the Sudras” – Apa-sudraadhikarana of Brahma-sutra Brahma-sutra categorically denies eligibility of Vedic and Vedantic studies to Sudras. A section of the sutras, namely, !.3.34-38, discusses this issue and concludes that Sudras has not right for the study of Vedas and Vedanta. The first two sutras recall the story of Janasruti Pautrayana and Raikva. The last sutra of this section reads: “And because the Smrti prohibits for the Sudra the hearing, study and acquisition of the meaning of the Vedas”, sravana-adhyayanaartha-pratisedhat smrtes ca / Sudra has no right to hear the Vedas, no right to study the Vedas and no right to acquire the meaning of the Vedas. Gautama Dharma-sastra says: “Then should a Sudra happen to hear the

ASPECTS Vedas, the expiation consists in his own times, namely, Harijan meaning accept him as his spiritual director. ears being filled with lead and lack” people of God. In spite of this This spiritual adventure of Sri (XII.4). “A Sudra is a walking burial generosity in life, in teachings he Ramanuja should have been a crude ground. Hence one should not read shock to the orthodox Brahmins of his followed the traditional views of castes the Vedas in the neighbourhood of a and customs related to caste system. time. Sri Ramanuja once had to flee Sudra” (Vasistha Commenting Dharma-sastra on Vedanta18). Eminent sutras I.3.33-39, acaryas like Sri which are Sankara, Sri known as the Ramanuja and Sri section called Madhva have The greatest crime caste system committed ‘away with the commented upon Sudras’ against humanity is that it denied access to these sutras. But (apasudradhikarana), they only ratified sacred Vedic texts, and thereby to education, to Ramanuja the teachings of followed the women, to Sudras and outcastes. the surtras and traditional confirmed that interpretation of Sudras have no these Sutras. right to study They discuss Vedas. They did and conclude not, could not that the Sudras think otherwise. Being world-teachers, from Kachipuram to Karnataka to have no right for the study of benefactors of humanity and saintly escape the persecutions of Saivites. In Vedas. We feel that Sri Ramanuja, personalities, being a they should great have acarya, thought and leader of taught people and otherwise; founder of they should a have philosophical proclaimed School, the equality namely, and unity of Visistadvaita all human Vedanta, beings; they should should have have taught that shown caste system more guts is a social to proclaim evil, an the equality aberration of of all societal humans. order and an Crime of Caste-Hierarchy abnormality of right thinking. this flight he readily accepted the The greatest crime caste system I may quote two instances from the life assistance, hospitality and even food committed against humanity is that it from the outcastes and untouchables, of Sri Ramanuja to show how generous denied access to sacred Vedic texts, which was a daring act of irreligion in and kind he was towards Sudras and and thereby to education, to women, to the eyes of orthodoxy at that time. untouchables. One of his spiritual Sudras and outcastes. Equally criminal guides (Guru) was a Sudra by birth, He, in order to show his gratitude to is the creation of outcastes. The namely, Sri Kanchipurna. Sri these poor and lowly people, gave outcastes evidently do not belong to Kanchhipurna’s deep spirituality and them the title in Tamil “Tiru-kulattar”, the four-caste structure of society; solid sanctity of life attracted Sri which means `people of the holy race’. they are untouchables, Ramanuja to him, and he had no A similar title was given to the unapproachables and sometimes even qualms to break the caste barriers and outcastes by Mahatma Gandhi in our unseeables.

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CONTOURS OF CHANGE

Death of the high street, now visiting India Joe A Scaria

or those in the trading business of everything from high fashion to everyday necessities, the high street has been the location of choice for centuries. As the primary business street of any town or city, that is where one had to be present to be on top in one’s domain.

the glass-paneled coziness of the high street shops, much like a bull in a China shop, sending their businesses for a massive toss. Software and the nation of shopkeepers To see the unraveling of the high street business model, the UK may be a good place to consider – after all

The number of existing shops that closed in the UK in 2014, was a startling 5,839. In other words, about 16 high street shops closed each day. So much so that a brand was considered to have arrived only when it had an outlet on the high street. And how the high street ruled! To be hep, chic or trendy, one had to be shopping on high street – no sidestreet shop would do. All of a sudden, technology in the form of online shopping has crashed right through

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the British have been considered a nation of shopkeepers. The numbers are stark: In 2014, there was a net closure of 987 high street shops in the UK, almost thrice the number of net closures in 2013. Net closures, of course, mean the difference between new shop openings and closure of existing ones. Taken alone, the number of existing shops that closed in the UK in 2014, was a startling 5,839. In

CONTOURS OF CHANGE other words, about 16 high street shops closed each day. And this was not a phenomenon noticed in a niche area, but across 500 top UK town centres, according to a BBC report. Predictably, clothes and clothing accessory shops were hardest hit as shoppers found the best bargains and the convenience of homeshopping on these items online. High street may be in shock and awe at the moment over the tech typhoon that is blowing away its business, but other sectors have painfully experienced such change much before it came to hit the high street.

That trend has now grown to engulf everything on high street, from fashion to sportswear, and high tech gadgets to food. And the prediction is that the onslaught of technology on the high street will soon be extended to everything else, from supermarkets to medical stores. Wake up, India Indian businesses have traditionally been the beneficiaries of a technology lag of about a decade, and therefore seen to be complacent about consumer attitudes. The online shopping revolution is certain to rewrite that trend.

Ticketing and The high street is travel agents were shaken up The bigger blow for Kochi’s high street may being perhaps the first to in India like be affected as everywhere else just be round the corner: By the time the travelers and in the world. For holidayers found Metro is ready and the road traffic flows so many decades, the internet to be shops on India’s more freely, consumers may have got the ideal tool to high streets – get the best addicted to online purchases. which almost bargains for airline always is the tickets or holiday Mahatma Gandhi Road, irrespective of packages in any part of the world. That the city or town – could afford to sit was followed by the trend of back and hear the cash registers purchasing electronic gadgets from ringing. Not much longer though, as emobiles to laptops, and digital cameras tailers are fast replacing retailers. Just a to wearables on the net.

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CONTOURS OF CHANGE shopping patterns caused by e-tailing. purchases. Are the dire predictions decade ago, the general marketing As traffic slowed to a crawl on MG about the end of high street flavor in the country centred around a Road, the grandeur of that high street exaggerated? It may be difficult to Coke versus Pepsi campaign. That lay battered, with customers avoiding answer that correctly, but here is a seems like a tale from a long time ago, pointer to where as a new things are generation of heading: The consumers largest brickcelebrates and-mortar retail Flipkart, Myntra, community in Snapdeal and the state, the others of their Kerala ‘Vyapari kind. Those who Vyavasayi thought the Ekopana Indian consumer Samithi’ is itself would be slow to launching an adapt to online online retail buying have been platform, with proven wrong plans to door already. The deliver goods in confidence all municipal among e-tailers towns in Kerala. about Indian Online retailers ran into a tax knot with consumers adapting easily to online the state government, but these are shopping is such that Myntra has early days. In the long run, particularly gone app-only, after the as against GST comes desktop-based into play, The largest brick-and-mortar retail community sales. Studies tax show that 90 in the state, the Kerala ‘Vyapari Vyavasayi governance per cent of may be Ekopana Samithi’ is itself launching an online smartphone easier for users in India retail platform, with plans to door deliver goods the state use apps, and government therein lies a in all municipal towns in Kerala. when it major message deals with for regular online entities rather than with the retailers and the high street operators numerous high street and other retail who look so old-world all of a sudden. outlets. No wonder, the mood on high Twin trouble for Kerala high street street is a little low. the once-arterial road and opting for 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456 The Mahatma Gandhi Road in Kochi 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456 shopping experiences elsewhere. But 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456 The author is former Senior Assistant represented Kerala’s own premier high the bigger blow for Kochi’s high street 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456 Editor of The Economic Times. He is 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456 street, up until two years ago. That 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456 may just be round the corner: By the 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456 presently Director, Management was when it faced a double blow in the time the Metro is ready and the road 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456 Development Centre of the Amal 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456 form of the disruption in traffic caused traffic flows more freely, consumers 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456 Jyothi College of Engineering, 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456 by the Kochi Metro construction, 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456 may have got addicted to online 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456 Kanjirapally. 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456 coupled with the winds of change in 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456

Pallikkutam | July 2015

SPORTS

Let your child play... Shibu. P. P.

hildren these days live a Improves the health of their heart and the brain structure and function in a different life all together. Not lungs: child. only are they glued to their ♦ When a child plays a sport it is Tones and builds stronger muscles computers, laptops, mobiles or tablets and bones: basically a cardio workout. This Helps but they do not have as much his /her heart pump blood efficiently exposure to the outside world. Playing ♦ When a child plays sports his and increases their lung capacity. body becomes stronger, the muscles in the ground has become nonBoosts immunity: existent. They don’t have time also in between their classes and tuitions. ♦ When a child is exposed to mud, Well, letting your child play can open air and other air, soil and water actually help him/her do better at borne bacteria his /her school, be emotionally body gets a boost in stable and grow up to An active kid have better cognition, immunity with regular be a better human. Here exercise. The child can focus on tasks more easily, have a are some reasons why build resistance to the every child should take faster reaction time and therefore bacterium, helping him/ part in sports, her beat a whole host perform better at school. irrespective of their of common ailments. gender. Builds team spirit and competitive Helps develop the mind: spirit: ♦ An active child’s brain develops ♦ The child learns to be a team player much better than one who is not. An when games are played in teams, and it active kid have better cognition, focus become more toned, and bones are teaches him/her the essential lesson of on tasks more easily, have a faster stronger and more resilient to stresses team spirit, playing not for selfish reaction time and therefore perform and strains of daily life. Sports also reasons but for their team as a whole. better at school. Playing a sport also help a growing child’s body to become This also helps him /her understand helps the child be more social, make more flexible and therefore beat the nuances of sharing and being friendships and sleep well; all of which common ailments like selfless. Playing a sport teaches a child are essential factors in mental joint pain later in the spirit of competitiveness. Not only development .Regular life. will this help the child learn physical exercise that to excel at anything can one needs to be resilient influence and strong (mentally), both but will also teach

Pallikkutam | July 2015

SPORTS child learns is how to overcome adversities and still achieve the goal he/she has set out to achieve. So the The child learns a lot next time when you at home and from your child from When a child is exposed to mud, open stop you, but practicing going out to play and what they learn is air and other air, soil and water borne study instead, also an important that a quick bacteria his /her body gets a boost in remember aspect of growing. game of cricket, When a child plays a football, a run or even a immunity with regular exercise. sport or is learning walk is what can help one, the tenacity a him/her excel more. 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456 sports person needs to hone their skill 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456 The author is Asst. Director , Physical teaches the child to never give up or 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456 Education, RSET 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456 back down. Another good lesson a 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456 him/her the importance of wanting to win at whatever they do.

Sports improve fitness of mind and body

hen you think about the advantages of playing sports, your first thought is probably that sports improve your physical fitness. But research shows that participating in sports and exercise helps your mind as well as your body. Here are some of the key mental benefits of sports:

using good judgment. Research has shown that doing a mix of aerobic and muscle-strengthening activities, which are common to most sports, three to five times a week for at least 30 minutes, can provide these mental health benefits. Reduce Stress and Depression

When you are physically active, your mind is distracted from daily stressors, Whether you are playing sports, freeing you to think more creatively working out at a gym, or taking a brisk and avoid getting bogged down in walk, physical activity stimulates negative thought patterns. Exercise brain chemicals that make you feel reduces the levels of stress hormones happier and more relaxed. Team sports in your body, such as adrenaline and in particular provide a chance to cortisol. At the same time, it stimulates unwind and engage in a satisfying production of endorphins, which are challenge that improves your fitness. natural mood lifters that can help keep They also provide social benefits by stress and depression at bay. allowing you to connect with Endorphins may even leave you teammates and friends in a feeling more relaxed and optimistic recreational setting. after a hard workout on the sports field. Improve Concentration Improve Sleep Regular physical activity helps keep your key mental skills sharp as you Sports and other forms of physical age, including thinking, learning, and activity improve the quality of your Improve Mood

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sleep, helping you to fall asleep faster and deepen your sleep. Sleeping better can improve your mental outlook the next day, as well as improve your mood. Just be careful not to engage in sports too late in the day â&#x20AC;&#x201C; evening practices within a few hours of bedtime may leave you too energized to sleep. Boost Self-Confidence The regular exercise that comes with playing sports can help boost your confidence and improve your selfesteem. As your strength, skills, and stamina increase through playing sports, your self-image will improve as well. Sports provide you with a sense of mastery and control, which often leads to a feeling of pride and self-confidence. With the renewed vigor and energy that comes from physical activity, you may be more likely to succeed in tasks off the playing field as well as on it.

RAINBOW

Zen stories A Useless Life

farmer got so old that he couldn’t work the fields anymore. So he would spend the day just sitting on the porch. His son, still working the farm, would look up from time to time and see his father sitting there. “He’s of no use any more,” the son thought to himself, “he doesn’t do anything!” One day the son got so frustrated by this, that he built a wood coffin, dragged it over to the porch, and told his father to get in. Without saying anything, the father

climbed inside. After closing the lid, the son dragged the coffin to the edge of the farm where there was a high cliff. As he approached the drop, he heard a light tapping on the lid from inside the coffin. He opened it up. Still lying there peacefully, the father looked up at his son. “I know you are going to throw me over the cliff, but before you do, may I suggest something?” “What is it?” replied the son. “Throw me over the cliff, if you like,” said the father, “but save this good wood coffin. Your children might need to use it.”

Moving to a New City

here was a person coming to a new village, relocating, and he was wondering if he would like it there, so he went to the zen master and asked: do you think I will like it in this village? Are the people nice? The master asked back: How were the people on the town where you come from? “They were nasty and greedy, they were angry and lived for cheating and stealing,” said the newcomer. Those are exactly the type

of people we have in this village, said the master. Another newcomer to the village visited the master and asked the same question, to which the master asked: How were the people in the town where you come from? “They were sweet and lived in harmony, they cared for one another and for the land, they respected each other and they were seekers of spirit,” he replied. Those are exactly the type of people we have in this village, said the master.

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RAINBOW

Sudoku 06

Sudoku 05 - Answer

............... TEACHER: What does your history book tell you about the Civil War? PUPIL: It doesn’t tell me anything. I have to read the dumb thing. ............... TEACHER: Where is South America?

Classroom Jokes TEACHER: Who is your favorite author?

...............

PUPIL: George Washington.

TEACHER: How many books did you finish over the summer?

TEACHER: But George Washington never wrote any books.

PUPIL: None. My brother stole my box of crayons.

PUPIL: You got it. ............... LIBRARIAN: Why don’t you take home a Dr. Seuss? PUPIL: I didn’t know he made house calls.

Pallikkutam | July 2015

............... TEACHER: How many books have you read in your lifetime? PUPIL: I don’t know. I’m not dead yet. ...............

PUPIL: I don’t know. TEACHER: Where is Greenland? PUPIL: I don’t know. TEACHER: Where is Bulgaria? PUPIL: I don’t know. TEACHER: Look them up in your textbook. PUPIL: I don’t know where that is, either. ............... Send your classroom jokes to editor@rajagirimedia.com

REFLECTIONS

Jose Panthaplamthottiyil

A Sickness of the Heart

ernando Cortes (1485-1547) was a Spanish general who conquered Mexico defeating and destroying the Aztec Empire. This conquistador had his eyes primarily on the gold accumulated by the Aztec Emperor MoctezumaII (1466-1520) over the years. When the natives first heard of the arrival of Cortes and his forces they tried to please him with gifts to avoid an encounter. They offered to give him anything he needed. Then Cortes said with a smile, “We Spanish people have a sickness in our hearts. It can only be cured by gold. You happened to have plenty of gold with you. Why don’t you give some of it to us?” They gave him a large quantity of gold. Initially he was pleased with the gift. However, his heart was thirsting for more gold. He asked for more. When Emperor Moctezuma II refused he was put under house arrest by Cortes. Then the emperor gave him more gold. But Cortes was not satisfied with what he got. He plundered the palace of Emperor MoctezumaII and killed everyone who resisted. What Cortes had said was true. The Spanish really had a sickness in their hearts. It was their inordinate desire for gold. It was not just a desire for gold alone. It was a passion to amass wealth of all kinds at all costs. That is why they never hesitated to kill the natives and plunder the wealth of South America.

But this sickness of the heart was not anything special to the Spanish alone during the colonial times. It was also seen among all the colonial powers. The colonial powers are gone. Times also have changed. However, this sickness of the heart seems to persist all over the world among all nations and peoples. Don’t

All of us need money to live a comfortable life. If we have more money we can buy more comforts in our life. But these comforts will have a limit. A time will come when money will become useless. Moreover, it may also become a burden.

means. They don’t seem to be seriously affected by this sickness of the heart. Even if they crave for wealth they don’t plunder others. They abide by ethical principles and regulations. However, there are many among us who break all rules and ethics to amass wealth. They seem to live for amassing wealth. Other than wealth nothing matters to them. Not family relationships. Not friendships. Not social obligations. Not even life after death. Nothing. And this is really a tragedy. When will they realize the use and uselessness of money? All of us need money to live a comfortable life. If we have more money we can buy more comforts in our life. But these comforts will have a limit. A time will come when money will become useless. Moreover, it may also become a burden. William H. Vanderbilt (1821-1885) was an American businessman and philanthropist who once wrote, “There are 200 million dollars are in my account. Do I have any extra advantage because of this? No, I have only the fear of losing it!” For Vanderbilt his wealth had become a burden. That was why he gave away most of his wealth.

If our hearts are sick like that of the Spanish conquistadors let us remember that no amount of glittering gold can bring us happiness and peace in our life. We will have happiness and peace only when we get cured of this Of course the majority of people work very hard to earn their livelihood. They sickness of the heart. also make their money through honest we see this sickness of the heart even among ourselves? Can we honestly say that we are not affected by this sickness?

Printed and Published by Fr.Varghese Panthalookaran CMI on behalf of Rajagiri Media, Rajagiri Valley P.O, Kakkanad, Kochi-39. Ph: 0484-2973979. Printed at St. Francis Press, Kochi. Editor: James Paul