November: 2014 by james paul

FROM EDITOR’S DESK

The importance of slowing down MAGAZINE ON EDUCATION VOLUME 2 ISSUE 6 NOVEMBER 2014

Studies show that sleep and rest are essential building blocks of the body and mind; you learn better if you take a nap after studying and retain more information long term. Why is relaxation important?

Managing Editor Dr. Varghese Panthalookaran CMI Editor James Paul Associate Editor Dr. Prasant Palackappilly CMI

Columns T. P. Sreenivasan K. L. Mohanavarma Dr. K. N. Raghavan Sajit Malliyoor Dr. Jos Cletus Plackal Dr. Augustine Thottakara Marketing Manager Varghese Kachappilly CMI Art Sajo Joseph

Because of the high level of stress in modern society, relaxation is very important. There has been much research around the world to study the relationship between stress and health. We have learned that stress not only affects our moods but major and potentially dangerous disorders. You can say hello to hormonal havoc in your body as cortisol and adrenalin are being pumped through your blood without you even knowing it; the boost of these hormones long term causing your body adrenal exhaustion and an overall hormonal imbalance that can lead to some nasty complications such as depression, weight gain, estrogen dominance, chronic fatigue and fertility issues. And of course, this will accelerate the ageing process! What’s worse than this? People nowadays are adding extra stress to their already stressed out life. Mentally, you are internalizing a lot of negativity and losing touch with your own body, which will result in emotional turmoil. You’ll end up with the worst version of your own self – stressed, tired, mentally slow and physically vulnerable. Well, what do you expect if you are never taking time to be present in the present moment? You are out of touch with your own life! Exciting highs. Heart-breaking lows. And as we juggle responsibilities, fit all we have to do into a crowded and shrinking work day, shifting and adapting to a constantly changing playground, battling the effects of recessionary trends or hungry new competition, we experience stress. If it keeps on accumulating, we start to feel the ill effects. Sagging enthusiasm. Frequent tiredness. Fading optimism. Bleaker outlook for the future. Even serious health problems. Relaxing frequently has never been more important. Celebrity Nutritionist Kimberly Snyder says it right: “Our society puts too much emphasis on constant ‘doing’, without recognizing that in the recharging space you can come back to work, duties and relationships in a more productive, enhanced way. Whether you are a mom, a college kid or trying to make your way in the corporate world, you may come to a time when you just push and push and push and then leave yourself stressed out and incapable of being the best you can be.”

Contact: Rajagiri Media, Rajagiri Valley P.O, Kakkanad, Kochi-39. Phone : 0484 2973979 Mob: +91 9497711010 Mail : editor@rajagirimedia.com www.pallikkutam.com

Try to take a moment, a few minutes out in your day – even a few minutes a week if daily practice is impossible. If even a minute a week is impossible, just take a moment in the month to rest. Put it in your calendar! Add it to that overflowing to-do list. Treat it like work or family commitments, because it is essential to life.

C ONTENTS CO VER ST OR Y COVER STOR ORY

Importance of relaxation It is a good idea always to do something relaxing prior to making an important decision in your life.

Relaxation and bliss.............................................. 30 Fr. Varghese Kottoor C.M.I

Relaxation : essential for healthy living.............. 33 Brig. N. V. Nair

Let your child relax............................................... 35 N P Geetha

EDUTECH 13

Technologyenabled education

EXPERT COUNSEL 18

Incheon win - is Indian hockey on resurgent path?

India needs to catch up with the technology developments to keep our higher education relevant, competitive and efficient.

The hero of the victory was Sreejesh, the brilliant goal keeper from Kerala.

T.P.Sreenivasan

Dr. K.N. Raghavan

GUEST COLUMN 60

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NOVEMBER 2014 STORIES OF LIFE 21

Is healing a result of mental , medicinal or spiritual power? NEWS..................................................................... 06 INSIGHTS.............................................................. 26 TIONS....................................................... INNOV INNO VATIONS ....................................................... 50 INFO TECH............................................................ 58 CONFESSIONS ..................................................... 66

Dr. Jos Cletus Plackal PERSONAL 23

A fighting family

Sajit Malliyoor INTERVIEW 37

Nalanda : A global university in Indian tradition

BOOK SHELF 44

I Am Malala by Malala Yousafzai

SUBSCRIBE NOW TURN TO P AGE 54 PA

Fatima Bhutto HEAL TH MONIT OR 46 HEALTH MONITOR

CURRENT AFF AIRS 52 AFFAIRS

Human brain - an enigma

Education, does fuel motivation

Dr. Jagath lal Gangadharan

Biju Mangalath

Pallikkutam | November 2014

NEWS

No takers for seats in AIIMS Patna, Raipur A

IIMS Patna and Raipur struggling to find takers for the MBBS course.

the reasons cited by students for refusing to take admission to these colleges.

Sources at AIIMS, New Delhi, the nodal center for counselling and admissions to AIIMS-like institutions said, as many as 44 seats have been lying vacant in these institutions despite four consecutive counselling sessions. “Normally, the number of applicants called for counselling is five to eight times the number of seats available. But in the last counselling we sent out letter to all candidates who had cleared the written exam. Still, the seats could not be filled,” said a senior officer involved in the admission process. He said poor infrastructure, lack of faculty, clinical exposure and hostel facility are some of

“Many students said they would prefer to take admission in established regional medical colleges, such as the Patna Medical

College and Hospital (PMCH), over the AIIMS-like institution,” said one of the examiners. When asked, Union health minister Harsh Vardhan said, “It is sad that seats are going vacant but I will have to check the reasons before commenting.” He said the new AIIMSlike institutions are still in the process of being developed and within months these would be made fully functional. “We should not compare a new institution to the one existing for over six decades,” the health minister said. Six AIIMS-like institutions have been set up under the Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Yojana (PMSSY) in Patna, Jodhpur, Bhopal, Bhubaneswar, Rishikesh and Raipur to spread top quality medical services and education to regions beyond Delhi.

Pre-placement offers at IIT-Bombay up by 25%

re-placement offers (PPOs) at premier engineering institutes are on the rise this year, indicating better times ahead for the placement season. IIT-Bombay’s Powai campus has seen a 25% rise in the PPOs offered till now. Engineering institutes are also seeing a rise in internships offered to students this year. So much so that for the first time, IITMadras is setting up an independent internship cell, which will run parallel to the institute’s placement cell. By the first week of October this year, 94 PPOs were made at IIT-Bombay, as opposed to the 75 received last year during the same period. “By the end of the season, we are expecting the numbers to go up a little more. Placements might be better than last year,” said professor-incharge of placements at the institute, Avijit Chatterjee. In fact, the numbers of PPOs received till now has also exceeded the total number of PPOs made last year—88. Students are also being offered packages close to Rs 20 lakh in Indian companies.

At IIT-Madras, the total number of PPOs received in the whole year in 2013 was 67. This year, the number has almost touched 60 in October. “PPOs going up are always a good indicator for institutes and students. But whether or not this will result in a better placement season entirely can be told only by December-end. We will have to wait and see if these companies, which

are making PPOs, will come for a fresh round of recruitment during the placement season,” said placement advisor Babu Vishwanathan. At IIT-Roorkee, 52 PPOs were made till October first week. The numbers will go up by the first week of

November, when they break for the midsemester exams, said student placement co-ordinator, Kunal Punjabi. Last year, 58 students were given pre-placement offers. PPOs are also going up due to the rise in companies wanting to hire students for internships. “Firms are keen on internships as they get a longer time to evaluate students and then make an offer. Our cell will co-ordinate internship activities for companies,” said Vishwanathan. Non-IITs too are noticing the trend this year. Mukesh Patel School of Technology, NMIMS, has also seen a rise in the number of firms wanting to hire students for internships. Sharad Mhaiskar, the dean, said most of these companies are from the core engineering sector such as mechanical, civil or electrical. “Bulk recruiters are following the same process as last year. But the core companies which usually hire three or four people from campuses prefer students who have interned with them,” said Mhaiskar.

Pallikkutam | November 2014

NEWS

Classmate Spell Bee returns with new season

he spelling extravaganza Classmate Spell Bee is back again — and it is bigger than ever. Classmate Spell Bee - Season 7 powered by the Times of India provides a platform for the country’s best spellers to identify their strengths and achieve recognition for their unique spelling skills. This year the event — ‘ An Initiative by Radio Mirchi’ — will travel to more than 800 schools across 30 cities and will reach out to more than 2,75,000 students from Classes V to IX. Students from across India can also participate online at www.classmatespellbee.in. Classmate is one of India’s leading notebook brands by ITC and Classmate Spell Bee is the largest school-level competition in India. Times NIE is the contest’s education partner. The top 16 participants will also get to showcase their skills on national television on The Discovery Channel, Discovery Kids and Discovery Tamil. The National Champion of Classmate Spell Bee Season

7 will win a grand prize of Rs 2,00,000/apart from the opportunity to witness the Scripps National Spelling Bee in 2015 with a parent in Washington DC, USA, in an all-

expenses-paid trip. The four semi-finalists will win a cash prize of Rs 50,000 each. Commenting on the launch, Chand Das, chief executive, ITC’s Education and Stationery Products Business, said: “Classmate has always endeavoured to recognize, nurture and celebrate the uniqueness of every child. Classmate Spell Bee Season 7 takes Classmate’s brand thought of celebrating uniqueness further as it gives students yet another

Kids at HP govt. schools to learn english from class 1

imachal Pradesh chief minister Virbhadra Singh on Monday announced that students at all government schools in the state would be taught English from Class 1 from the next academic session. Besides this, Math and Hindi, too, would be taught as mandatory subjects to children.

While referring to the issue of abandoned domestic animals, the chief Minister said it was against our tradition to abandon domestic animals when they grow old or fall sick, particularly cows.

“Instead of abandoning, people should take proper care of their livestock and feed them properly. Local community should “The state government has decided that come forward and spread awareness among subjects like English, Math and Hindi the people. Today, we see cattle wandering would be mandatory in all government on roads. This not only pose risk for them schools from Class 1. We are also but also for kids, who might be attacked,” considering the option to start Punjabi and he said, adding it was ungrateful and Urdu classes from middle schools against the rich culture of the Pradesh onwards, provided a batch of more than 30 where cows are worshipped and to 40 children were interested to take up considered sacred. the subject. Then, teachers would be made “The state government is committed to available accordingly,” said Singh. open ‘Gau Sadans’ for such stray animals He also added that the practice of not and was also providing assistance to those, conducting exams for students from Class who have opened such shelters for the 1 to Class 8 and assessing them by grades livestock,” he concluded. is not good.

Pallikkutam | November 2014

opportunity to identify and showcase their distinctive talents and skills on a nationwide platform. Classmate Spell Bee Season 7 builds on the scale we achieved last year with the aim of reaching out to an even larger number of students across schools and cities in India, through a school contact programme coupled with a novel mobile app and a dedicated website to engage students.” Hitesh Sharma, executive president, Entertainment Network (India) Limited, said: “Spell Bee has come a long way since we conceptualized and launched it seven years back. Having started off as a spelling competition, it is today a landmark event that propagates the education of the English language at the highest level. This year the competition gets bigger and will garner participation from across 30 cities through our on-ground efforts to add to robust participation online. Spell Bee aims at becoming the definitive competition for school students in India in the literary space.”

2600-acre identified for IIT in Kerala

erala may finally get its IIT as the state government has identified two plots — 600 acres in central Puduserry and 650 acres at West Puduserry in Palakkad — to set up the premier institute. The state government has appointed higher education department additional secretary M Sherif as liaison officer and he will be inspecting the plots on October 10. “After inspection, I will submit a detailed report to the government. We hope to finalise one of the plots to set up IIT,” Sherif said. Kerala was awarded an IIT in the 2014 Union Budget but on the condition that between 500 and 600 acres of land free of any legal dispute was provided by the state government. The plot identified at central Puduserry consists mainly of private land and bit of forest land, while at west Puduserry it is private land.

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BZy-¢m v Rm\n-t∏mgpw Hm¿°p-∂p-≠v. kzbw ]cn-N-b-s∏-Sp-Ønb tijw ¢m v Bcw-`n-®p. A¤p-X-sa∂v ]d-b-s´, ¢m v ]q¿Æ \ni-_vZ-am-bn-cp-∂p. Ip´n-Iƒ hfsc {i≤-tbmsS Fs∂ {i≤n-®p. CXmWv Fs‚ hgn-sb∂v A∂v Rm≥ Xncn-®-dn-™p. XnI®pw km[m-c-W-°m-c-\mb Hcmƒ°v Xe-ap-d-Isf kzm[o-\n°m≥ Ign-bp∂ Hcp Akm-[m-cW A[ym-]-I-\m-Im≥ Ign-bpsa∂Xns‚ DØa DZm-l-c-W-amWv tXhc kv{I´v lm¿´v tImtf-Pnse ^nknIvkv A[ym-]-I-\mbn dn´-b¿ sNbvX Pn. cma-\m-Y≥. {]]© cl-ky-ß-fn-te°v Hcp sSen-kvt°m∏v h®v t\m°p-∂-Xpt]m-se-bmWv cma-\m-Y≥ kmdns‚ ¢m p-Iƒ. `‡n km{μ-amb A¥co-£-Øn¬ hf¿Ø-s∏-´Xp sIm≠m-h-Ww, sNdp∏w apX¬ Xs∂ XXz-im-kv{X-Ønepw ]pcmtW-Xn-lm-k-ß-fnepw XXv]-c\mbncp-∂p. ]mT-`m-K-ßsf PohnX kaky-I-fp-ambn _‘n-∏n®v ]Tn-∏n°m≥ Ign-bp-∂Xpw Cu XmXv]cyw sIm≠p Xs∂. A[ym-]-I-\m-IpI F∂Xv Fs‚ \ntbm-K-am-bn-cp-∂p. as‰mcp tPmenbpw F\n°v sNøm≥ Ignbpambn-cp-∂n-√. 1961-˛-emWv Rm≥ tXhc Fkv. F®n¬ A[ym]-I-\mbn tNcp-∂-Xv. As∂ms°

Hcp tImtfPv A[ym-]-Is‚ iºfw 125 cq]-bm-bn-cp-∂p. _ v I≠-IvS¿°v 130 cq] amk iº-f-ap≠m-bn-cp∂ Ime-am-bn-cp∂p. tPmentbm-Sp≈ XmXv]cyw sIm≠v am{Xw A[ym-]-I-cm-Im≥ Cd-ßn-Xn-cn-®-h-cmbn-cp∂p Fs‚ Xe-ap-d-bnse A[ym]-I¿. F\n°v a{Zmkv sF.-sF.-Snbn¬ AUvan-j≥ In´n-b-Xm-Wv. Rm≥ AXn\v t]mImsX Fw.-F-kv.kn °v t]mbn. ssZhw Fs∂ A[ym-]-I-\m-Im\mbn krjvSn-®-XmWv. Fs‚ I¿Ωw Rm≥ P\n-°p-∂-Xn\v apºv Xs∂ Xocp-am-\n°s∏´ncp-∂p, At±lw ]d-bp-∂p.

cp∂p BZy ¢m v. Rm≥ A∂v Hc-¥¿ap-J-\m-bn-cp-∂p. Ipń-Isf A`n-ap-Jo-I-cn-°m≥ F\n°v `b-ambn-cp-∂p. Fkv.F®nse hnZym¿∞nIƒ òI-c-∑m-cm-sW∂v Hcp tXm∂¬ F\n-°p-≠m-bn-cp-∂p. BZy-¢m v Rm\n-t∏mgpw Hm¿°p∂p-≠v. kzbw ]cn-N-b-s∏-Sp-Ønb tijw ¢m v Bcw-`n-®p. A¤p-Xsa∂v ]d-b-s´, ¢m v ]q¿Æ \ni_vZ-am-bn-cp-∂p. Ipń-Iƒ hfsc {i≤-tbmsS Fs∂ {i≤n-®p. CXmWv Fs‚ hgn-sb∂v A∂v Rm≥ Xncn-®-dn-™p.

hnZym¿∞n-I-fmWv Fs∂ am‰n-b-Xv. Fs∂ CjvS-s∏-Sp∂ Ip´n-Iƒ°v Fs‚ hnZym¿∞n-I-fmWv Fs∂ th≠n F\n°v F¥p sImSp-°m≥ Hcp A[ym-]-I-\m-°n-b-Xv. Ignbpw F∂v Rm≥ Nn¥n®p XpSFw.-F-kv.kn ]co-£-bpsS dnkƒ´v ßn. Rm≥ AhnsS 34 h¿jw ]TnImØn-cn-°p∂ kabw, c≠p aq∂p ∏n-®p. Hcp ¢m n-se-¶nepw hnj-an®v tImtf-Pp-I-fnev°v A[ym-]-I-\mt]mtc≠ Hcp kμ¿`w F\n-°pIp≈ At]£ Ab-®p. tXhc ≠m-bn-´n-√. Hmtcm ¢m pw kam-\-XFkv.-F®v A∂v Ip{]-kn-≤-am-Wv. bn-√mØ A\p`-h-ß-fm-bn-cp-∂p. F¶nepw Ahn-tS°pw At]£ Fs∂ ad∂v Fßns\ ]Tn-∏n-®pAb-®p. AhnsS \nb-a\w e`n-®p. sh∂v F\n-°-dnbn√. AXv kw`-hnH∂mw h¿j _n.-F- n-bn-em-bn°p-I-bm-bn-cp-∂p.

Pallikkutam | November 2014

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A[ym-]-I≥ hnZym¿∞n-Ifn¬ Hcm-fmbn amd-Ww. ¢m v apdn-Iƒ Cº-ap-≈-Xm-bncn-°-Ww. Hcp Acphn Hgp-Ip-∂-Xp-t]mse A[ym-]-I-\n¬ \n∂v hnZym¿∞n-bn-te°v Adnhv ]I-c-s∏-S-Ww. hnZym¿∞n AXv kt¥m-j-tØmsS kzoI-cn-°-Ww. A[ym-]-I≥ AXn\v Xøm-sd-SpØv hc-Ww. C∂v ¢m p-I-sf√mw Ah-km-\n∏n®v hn{i-an-°p-tºmƒ F\n°v \nd-™- kwXr-]-Xn-bm-Wv. Fs‚ PohnXw Rm≥ ]mgm-°n-bn-√. CXnepw \√-sXm∂v F\n°v sNøm-\m-Ip-am-bn-cp-∂n-√.

]co-£n-®n-´p-≠v. DZm-l-c-W-Øn\v F = ma F∂ \yq´s‚ ka-hmIyw ]Tn-∏n-°p-tºmƒ AXns‚ am\pjnI hisØ ]‰n Rm≥ Ipń-I-tfmSv tNmZn-°pw. am F∂Xv AΩ F∂-Xns‚ ]cym-b-ambn Nne Ipń-I-sf-¶nepw hymJym-\n-°pw. Fs‚ ¢m p-I-sf√mw kw`m-j-Wß-fm-bn-cp-∂p. Rm≥ Ccp-∂√ ]Tn- “The force behind you is your mother” F∂v Rm\-Xns\ hniZo-I∏n-®n-cp-∂-Xv. Ipń-I-fpsS CS-bn¬ sN∂v \n∂v Ah-tcmSv kwkm-cn-°p- cn-°pw. icn-bt√? AΩsb ∂Xp t]mse-bmWv ¢m p-Iƒ FSp- CjvS-s∏-SmØ Bsc-¶n-ep-apt≠m? AΩsb Hm¿°m≥ AXv IpńØn-cp-∂-Xv. Rm≥ ]d-™n-cp∂ Iƒ°v Hcp kμ¿`w D≠m-°nImcy-ßƒ F¥p-sIm≠v Ipń-Iƒ sIm-Sp-°p-∂p. CØ-c-Øn¬ {i≤n-®p, CjvS-s∏´p F∂v C∂pw [mcmfw DZm-l-c-W-ßƒ F\n-°-dnbn-√. BZy-Ime ^nkn-Ivkn-ep-≠v. hnZym¿∞n-Iƒ apX¬ ]pXp Xe-ap-d-bn¬ s]´-h¿ hsc C∂pw Cu DƒImgvN Fßn-s\-bp-≠m-IpFs∂ ImWm≥ hcm-dp-≠v. ∂p-sh∂v F\n-°-dn-™p-Iq-Sm. AXns‚ clkyw F¥m-sW∂v F√m-Øn\pw Hcp Bflob hi-hpF\n-°-dn-bn-√. Kpcp-`‡n Ah¿°v ap-≠v, {]m]-©nI hi-hp-ap-≠v. [mc-f-am-bp-≠v. A[ym-]-I-Po-hn-XùXn-I-Øn¬ \n∂v Bflo-b-ØnØn¬ Fs∂ thZ-\n-∏n® kw`-hte°v FØptºmƒ AXv ßƒ D≠m-bn-ń√. hnZym¿∞n-I-fpsS a\- n¬ ambmsX \n¬°pw. IW-°m-bn^nknIvkv ]Tn-°mØ Ipń-Ifpw cp∂p Fs‚ CjvS-hn-j-bw. ]s£ Fs‚ ¢m p-I-fn¬ h∂n-cp-∂n-´p≠v. ^nkn-Ivkn-eqsS Pohn-X-Øns‚ ^nknIvkv ]Tn-°m-\m-bn-cp∂p Fs‚ \ntbm-Kw. ^nkn-Ivkn-eqsS ka-ky-Isf A]-{K-Yn-°m≥ Bflo-b-Xbn-te°v FØm≥ Fs‚ Ignbpw. Fs‚ ¢m p-I-fn¬ AXv

Pallikkutam | November 2014

hnZym¿∞n-Isf Rm≥ t{]cn-∏n-®p. F°m-eØpw hnZym¿∞n-Iƒ°v th≠n \ne sIm≠ A[ym-]-I-\mbn-cp∂p Rm≥. hnZym¿∞n-Iƒ°v sX‰p-]-‰m≥ km[y-X-bp-≠v. Ah¿ Ip´n-I-fm-Wv. Ah¿ ]Iz-X-bn¬ FØn-bn-´n-√. Ahsc {Iqc-ambn in£n-°p-∂-Xn\v ]Icw ]d™v Xncp-Ø-Ww. Iem-kmw-kvIm-cnI taJ-e-I-fn¬ Rm≥ hnZym¿∞n-I-tfm-sSm∏w \n∂p. Ah-cpsS IqsS ]mSp-Ibpw A`n-\-bn-°p-Ibpw sNbvXp. C∂v A[ym-]-\-tØmSv XmXv]-cy-ap≈ A[ym-]-I¿ Xs∂ Ipd-hm-Wv. e£ßƒ iºfw In´p∂ tPmen-bn¬ Fßn-s\bpw ISn®pXqßn InS-°pI F∂ coXn C∂v I≠p hcp-∂p-≠v. hnZym-ebw F∂v ]d-bp-∂Xv hnZym¿∞n-Iƒ°v th≠n am{X-ambp-≈-Xm-Wv. A[ym-]-Is‚ Adnhv {]I-Sn-∏n-°m-\p≈ Hcp thZn-b√ AXv. Adnhv ]I¿∂v sImSp-°m\q≈ thZn-bmWv ¢m v apdn-Iƒ. A[ym-]-I≥ F{X Adn-hp-≈-h-\mbmepw hnZym¿∞n-I-fpsS \ne-hm-cØn-te°v Cd-ßn-h∂v Ah-cp-ambn

Kpcp-Z£nW

]pkvX-I-Øn¬ ]d-™Xv am{X-amWv ]Tn-∏n-°¬ F∂p≈ tXm∂¬ Acp-Xv. A[ym-]-I\pw hnZym¿∞nbpw Ad-hn\v th≠n H∂mbn tNcp∂ A]q¿Δ aplq¿Ø-ß-fmWv ¢m v apdn-I-fn¬ kw`-hn-°p-∂-Xv. kwth-Zn-°m≥ Ign-b-Ww. AXmWv Hcp A[ym-]-Is\ {]nb-¶-c-\m-°p-∂Xv. A[ym-]-I≥ hnZym¿∞n-Ifn¬ Hcm-fmbn amd-Ww. ¢m v apdn-Iƒ Cº-ap-≈-Xm-bn-cn-°-Ww. Hcp Acphn Hgp-Ip-∂-Xp-t]mse A[ym-]-I-\n¬ \n∂v hnZym¿∞n-bn-te°v Adnhv ]I-c-s∏-S-Ww. hnZym¿∞n AXv kt¥m-j-tØmsS kzoI-cn-°-Ww. A[ym-]-I≥ AXn\v Xøm-sd-SpØv hc-Ww. tNm°p-am-{X-am-bmWv Rm≥ 34 h¿jw ¢m n¬ t]mb-Xv. ]s£ ]Tn-∏n-°m-\p≈ ]mT-`m-K-ßƒ Fs‚ a\- n-¬ hy‡-ambn D-≠m-bn-cp-∂p. ]pkvX-I-Øn¬ ]d-™Xv am{XamWv ]Tn-∏n°¬ F∂p≈ tXm∂¬ Acp-Xv. A[ym]-I\pw hnZym¿∞nbpw Ad-hn\v th≠n H∂mbn tNcp∂ A]q¿Δ aplq¿Ø-ßfmWv ¢m v apdn-I-fn¬ kw`-hn-°p-∂-Xv. kne-_ v Xo¿t°-≠Xv Bh-iy-am-sW¶nepw AXn-\pa-∏p-d-Øp≈ PohnX ]mT-ß-fmWv AhnsS N¿®sN-ø-s∏-Sp-∂-Xv. hnj-bsØ \nßƒ Ah-X-cn-∏n-°p∂ coXn hfsc {][m\-s∏-´-Xm-Wv. Hcp ]pkvX-I-Ønepw AXp-≠m-hn-√. hnj-b-ßƒ `uXoI Xe-Øn¬ \n∂v Db¿∂v Bﬂo-b-XbpsS ]cn-th-j-am¿÷n-°p-∂Xv Ahn-sS-bm-Wv. At\z-jWw c≠p coXn-bn-em-Wv. ]pdta-bp≈

alm-cm-Pmkv tItf-Pn¬ h®mWv F\n°v Cu Dƒ°mgvN D≠m-Ip-∂Xv. AhnsS Adn-hns‚ {]I-º\w D≠m-bn-cp-∂p. ]pkvX-I-Øn¬ ]d-bp-∂-Xn¬ D]-cn-bmbn Nn¥n-°pI F∂Xv alm-cm-Pm-kn¬ h®mWv F\n°v a\- n-em-bXv. Pohn-X-Øns‚ hnhn[ taJ-e-I-fn¬ {]i-kvX-cmb ]e-tcbpw Rm≥ ]Tn-∏n-®n-´p-≠v. I¿Ωw sNøpI F∂Xv am{X-amWv Fs‚ \ntbm-Kw. Hmtcm A[ym-]-I\pw Xs‚ PohnAXns‚ êw Ft‚-X-√. Ct∏mƒ X-Øn¬ \n∂v Is≠-Sp-Ø-Im-cyRm≥ AXn¬ \ns∂√mw AI∂n-cn-°p-∂p. A[ym-]-I-\mbp≈ Fs‚ thjw Agn®p h®p. dn´-b¿ sNbvX tijw A]q¿Δ-ambn am{Xta Rm≥ tItf-Pn-te°v t]mbn-´p-≈q. AhnsSbp≈ Fs‚ tdmƒ Ign- ™ p. Bi-b-ßƒ {]I-Sn-∏n-°p-hm≥ F\n°v Fs‚ ¢m v apdn-I-fp≠m-bn-cp-∂p. at‰-sXmcp sXmgnenepw Rms\mcp ]cm-P-b-am-tbs\. A[ym-]-I\m-b-Xn¬ ZpJ-an√. \jvS-t_m-[-a-hp-an-√. kt¥mß-fmWv hnZym¿∞n-Iƒ°v jhpw kwXr-]vXnbpw am{X-ta-bp]I¿∂p \¬tI-≠-Xv. hcn-Iƒ°n≈q. Db-c-ßƒ Iogn-S-°n-bn-ń√m-bnS-bn-eqsS hmbn-®m¬ AXv a\- ncn-°mw. F¶nepw At\Iw Pohn-Xem-Ipw. F√m A[ym-]-I¿°pw ß-fpsS ASn-Ød Dd-∏n-°m≥ IgnCXv km[y-am-Wv. A[ym-]-I\v ™p. A{X- am-{Xta Rm≥ B{K-lnDƒImgvN Cs√-¶n¬ A[ym-]\w ®n-´p-≈q. _m°n ]qcn-t∏-°-≠Xv shdpw N¿Δn-X-N¿Δ-W-am-Ipw. Ime-am-Wv. AXn\v apºn¬ Rm≥ Poh≥ \jvS-s∏´v ¢m p-Iƒ inc v \an-°p-∂p. hnc-kvam-Ipw. At\z-j-Whpw AI-tØ-°p≈ At\z-j-W-hpw. ]≠p-≈-h¿ AI-tØ°v At\z-jn-®p, imkv{Xw ]pd-tØ°v At\z-jn°p-∂p. Is≠-Ø-en¬ kam-\-X-Ifp-≠m-hmw. kb≥kv ]Tn-∏n-°ptºmƒ Ipń-Iƒ°v Cu Xncn-®-dnhv e`n-°-Ww. AhX-c-W-amWv Hmtcm A[ym-]-I-t\bpw hyXy-kvX-\m°p-∂-Xv.

Pallikkutam | November 2014

EDUTECH

Technology-enabled education T.P.Sreenivasan

India needs to catch up with the technology developments to keep our higher education relevant, competitive and efficient. Technology and education can promote each other, if they are used with reason and vision. Inaugural remarks by former Ambassador T.P.Sreenivasan at the Seminar on Technology Enabled Education at the Chinmaya Institute of Technology at Kannur on October 20, 2014 I am grateful to Dr.K.R.Srivathsan and his colleagues for organizing this timely seminar on technology-enabled education. This is a matter of high priority for the Kerala State Higher Education Council, which has set up a Committee on IT@Colleges, of which Dr.K.R.Srivathsan is a leading member. The Committee has a two-fold agenda. The first is to assess the IT assets that our educational institutions have to enable them to make optimum use of the different platforms available and to provide additional facilities to them. The second is to design the necessary content to facilitate the use of the platforms in accordance with the syllabi of our universities. I hope that the present seminar will provide the

Pallikkutam | November 2014

necessary inputs to our Committee. As is well known, the key to effective use of technology in education is the design. A year ago, the KSHEC organized an International Meet on Transnational Education and issued a Thiruvananthapuram Declaration, which emphasized, among other things, the need to popularize MOOCS in the state to fill

the gap between the knowledge of the teachers and advanced knowledge, which is freely available in cyberspace. We faced some criticism from high places, which pointed out that India did not have either

the connectivity or even the electricity to use MOOCS. What we had suggested was not to replace traditional education with MOOCS, but to use MOOCS as tools to supplement classroom education. Today, however, there is recognition of the central role of MOOCS in higher education. The President, the Prime Minister and the MHRD Minister have spoken of MOOCS as an essential tool. Dubbed as SWAYAM, (Study of Webs of Active learning for Young aspiring Minds) MOOCS have been generated in India with the involvement of UC Berkley and IIT Mumbai. In our own way, we have incorporated MOOCS in our teachers training programmes and held several workshops. Together with the University of North Carolina, the Mahatma Gandhi University has held a MOOCS programme for University students. Since we propose to move rapidly in this direction, we need

EDUTECH

Learning cannot be imparted by machine alone. Interaction with teachers and peers are extremely important to embellish education. Resources available in cyberspace should be used with discretion and on the basis of mentoring by teachers. to create the necessary content to suit our curricula. Distance learning is not entirely new and different forms of distance learning have existed for long. Educational films were produced as early as 1910 and Thomas Edison said in 1913 that there is no branch of human knowledge, which cannot be taught with motion pictures. Technology has transformed education in the last ten years and in the next ten years, it will reach unprecedented levels of innovation. India needs to catch up with these developments to keep our higher education relevant, competitive and efficient. Technology and education can promote each other, if they are used with reason and vision. The variety of learning tools available can be used to enable the teachers and the students to use online resources and to develop research skills. Flipped classrooms have proved effective and technology is particularly suited for Math, which is fundamental to the growth of

technology. Unless our universities specialize in research and create knowledge, rather than gather information, we can never reach the world-class levels of education we aspire to. We do not have world-class universities in India not because they are poor, but because the criteria used are applicable more for research universities, not teaching universities.

of the embarrassment it causes to technologists. I have seen technology failure in seemingly minor technologies even in MIT and NASA. Once I was with Ambassador (later President) K.R.Narayanan at MIT and when he stood up to speak, the microphone failed. Ambassador Narayanan said that if it had happened in his village, it would be called “third world technology”, but since this is MIT, we can only call it “system failure!” Some say that universities, the way we On another occasion, when Kalpana know them, will disappear with the Chawla was about to take off on her first growth of technology. I do not subscribe to shuttle mission, I was told I could greet her this view. Learning cannot be imparted by from the NASA headquarters. The system machine alone. Interaction with teachers failed and later, we discovered that and peers are extremely important to someone had unplugged the device under embellish education. Resources available in the table! If such things can occur in MIT cyberspace should be used with discretion and NASA, how can we rely on and on the basis of mentoring by teachers. technology in the conditions that exist in our universities? The answer, of course, Nobody can be enthusiastic about lies in the mastery of man over the technology without being skeptical at the machine. Needless to say, we have to reach same time. We cannot take effective higher levels of technology to use it technology for granted even in the uninterruptedly on the education scene. advanced countries. Failure of technology has resulted in heavy losses, not to speak

Pallikkutam | November 2014

YOURS TEA CHERL Y TEACHERL CHERLY

A committed teacher happens Dr. N. Prasanthakumar

How I became a Teacher Teachers often join the institutions and retire at the end of each academic year. But a committed teacher happens. I have always wanted to be one. Several of my teachers motivated me, especially in my MA Programme. I studied at SD College, Alapuzha, once known for the gifted teachers working there. Some of my teachers were more studious and perseverant than the students. I have great admiration to all of them; they were affectionate and devoted.

Pallikkutam | November 2014

YOURS TEA CHERL Y TEACHERL CHERLY

My interactions with U.R.Ananthamurthy were wonderful. He gave me lessons in Commitment, the significance of critical insight and originality in research and the need to critique theories before following them. My association with Prof. U.R.Ananthamurthy is one of the greatest gifts of my life. I passed my MA in 1985.Immediately PreDegree was delinked and there was a ban on new appointments in colleges. I joined as an Assistant at Gandhi University office on 30 October 1986. The University office was functioning in a Commercial building opposite to Kottayam Collectorate. Though I was initially disappointed, my exposure to the University system has an abiding impact on me. I was working in the Examination Section and Dr. N Babu, who later became the Vice Chancellor of Kerala University and President of Tranvancore Devaswom Board, was the Controller of Examinations. He often advised me not to waste my time in the office and try to find a teaching post somewhere. He even helped me in my pursuit. As my ceaseless efforts to change to teaching profession had not materialized, I seriously thought of pursuing higher studies. I applied for MPhil in Madras University in1988. As the call letter for Interview came late, I could not attend interview that time. The next year I stayed in Madras with Prof. C. A Perumal, the Professor of Politics and friend of Dr. N. Babu , and attended interviews and finally got admission to MPhil. My contact with our Vice Chancellor Prof. U.R.Ananthamurthy was a turning point in my life. Again it was Dr N Babu

who introduced me to Prof.U.R.Ananthamurthy, who took special interest in my case and sanctioned me leave to pursue MPhil in 1989. My MPhil Programme has been very useful to me throughout my career. We had classes only in the afternoon. I spent the mornings and the evenings in the libraries. I visited the University libraries, British library and

American library twice a week, borrowed books and critical works and read them. I passed my MPhil with commendable grades in1990. Prof. U.R.Ananthamurthy helped me to choose my topic of dissertation. He also gave me some wonderful insights into the methods of Research and demystified the kind of research I imagined. My interactions with him were wonderful. He gave me lessons in Commitment, the significance of critical insight and originality in research and the need to critique theories before following them. My association with

Prof. U.R.Ananthamurthy is one of the greatest gifts of my life. Later I joined for PhD at School of Letters, Mahatma Gandhi University, under the guidance of Prof. Narendra Prasad as a part time student. He was a good teacher of rare originality and critical insights. But soon he strayed into filmdom and I could not continue my research under him. I changed my guide in 1994 and carried on my research under Dr. P.P Raveendran who gradually and silently moulded the researcher in me. Incidentally I am one of the earliest researchers in Gender Studies. Dr. P. P. Raveendran is wellversed in critical theories and his guidance helped me to cultivate an aptitude to read and improve on critical theories. Finally, I submitted my PhD thesis in June 1995, in a period of three years and 6 months. Meanwhile, I got appointment as Lecturer at SN College Nattika. I was awarded PhD in April 1996, five months after my joining the college. In those days the number of PhDs in a college was very small. I got married in March 1991. I considered myself an accidently married man: as Shakespeare said, â&#x20AC;&#x153;Hanging and wiving are determined by destiny.â&#x20AC;? I am married to the younger daughter of Prof. M .K. Sanoo, renowned writer and critic. He silently influenced me as a teacher and social critic. My mother - in- law used to

Pallikkutam | November 2014

YOURS TEA CHERL Y TEACHERL CHERLY

I have always tried to transform myself into an exemplary model for them to follow. Like Christ, I always tempted to tell them “Follow me.” Many followed me and they are working as good teachers. narrate his experiences as a teacher and I unconsciously followed in his footsteps. His patronage is another blessing in my life. Now I set apart most of my time to my students. In this respect he is my rolemodel. I had a wonderful and episodic short tenure at S N College Nattika. I joined there at the middle of an academic year and left there after four years at the middle of an academic year. My colleagues were friendly and students very affectionate. I used to teach BA and BCom classes. I also taught last batches of Pre-Degree. I joined Sree Sankaracharya University in 1999. I was the Director of Thuravoor Regional Campus of the University for two years. At Thuravoor I could create a wonder by producing the best result with almost all students passed in English and a few of them passed with first and second classes. Such cases were extremely rare in the University. I joined our Main Campus Kalady only in 2002. I was approved as a research guide in2002 and have since been guiding students. The University started MA and MPhil programmes in 2004. Our Curriculum is one of the best offered in Indian Universities. I could take the lead in restructuring the Programme twice with wonderful results. In the University we attempt to contemporarise English studies. We have appropriated the canons to cultivate alternative and counter hegemonic use of English. So for our students English is no longer a colonialist discourse: it is a derivative discourse in which they can locate their self as a field of possibilities. We have the largest number of applications

Pallikkutam | November 2014

for MA and Research Programmes, perhaps the largest in the Universities of Kerala. We offer several specializations to our MA students: language studies, linguistics, new literatures, interdisciplinary study of literature, ELT through ICT, Media Cultures. We also offer MPhil and PhD Programmes in Gender Studies. We have nearly 50 research scholars, many of them UGC-JRF

awardees and one Fulbright Scholar. We have produced 26 PhDs and 72 MPhils.

through ICT that explored the effective application of technology in ELT. I also guided such concepts as alternative nation and maternity discourses. I have always been accessible to my students. I have only my time, the knowledge I acquired from my readings and my exposure and contacts with great academics to share with my students. Most of my students are girls and they see a father figure in me, though I often try to deconstruct all patriarchs. I could be a successful Education administer at the University. I enjoy unalloyed pride in my success as the Professor and Head of the Department, almost singlehandedly steering my department to stability and progress. But the ecstasy of contentment comes from the joy of my students when they understand the intricacy of theories or the subtlety of literature. I have trained myself to speak for hours on any topic related to literature or literary theory on any occasion.

I believe in commitment to my students. I have always tried to transform myself into Meanwhile I had to shoulder many an exemplary model for them to follow. responsibilities at the University. I was the Like Christ, I always tempted to tell them Director of the Main campus for three “Follow me.” Many followed me and they years from 2006 to 2009. It was a are working as good teachers in colleges in turbulent period and I could successfully Kerala and outside. I hope they and many overcome many strifes on the campus. I others will continue to follow me. My was the Pro- Vice- Chancellor in charge and prayer is always to make me worthy to Registrar in charge. I am a member of the lead them. I think that a committed teacher Syndicate now. Though my energies get never dies; he lives in the memory of his dispersed in many activities, I have been students. I repeat, a committed teacher contributing to the academic and corporate happens. life of the campus. I have always preferred to concentrate on my students. I have The author is Head of Dept. of English, produced 16 PhDs and 43 MPhils. I also Sree Sankaracharya University of published four books and several articles. Sanskrit. Kalady. I guided the remarkable research ELT

EXPERT COUNSEL

Incheon win - is Indian hockey on resurgent path? Dr. K.N. Raghavan

The hero of the victory was Sreejesh, the brilliant yet unassuming goal keeper from Kerala who saved two penalties to ensure that India lifted the title.

ncheon Asiad concluded in September with China reconfirming their position as the sporting superpower of Asia. Ever since they chose to cast off their self imposed exile from international sporting events by taking part in the 1974 Asian Games at Tehran, China has made huge strides as a nation with all round sporting abilities. They replaced Japan as the premier sporting nation of Asia in 1982 and have since grown to become one of the top medal winners in Olympics as well. The presence of China, Japan and South Korea have placed Asian games on a higher pedestal than Commonwealth Games, making it second only to Olympics in the rank of premier sporting events of the world. Indiaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s performance at Incheon was a mixture of good, bad and indifferent. While

the shooters, boxers and wrestlers did well, the performance of athletes did not rise up to the expectations. In the team games India bagged honours in hockey and Kabbadi while performing commendably in squash, shuttle badminton and tennis; however, the footballers managed to dish out yet another uninspiring show. Indiaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s tally of 57 medals, including 11 gold, placed them at 8th position, lower by two ranks than what they had achieved in 2010 when the medal tally stood at 65, with 14 gold medals. Though the final tally did not per se create any cause for elation, sports lovers in India were overjoyed that national hockey team won the gold medal defeating Pakistan in a tightly fought final which went to penalty shoot out. The hero of the victory was Sreejesh, the brilliant yet unassuming goal

keeper from Kerala who saved two penalties to ensure that India lifted the title. A win over Pakistan in any sport brings lots of cheer to Indian sports lovers but a victory in hockey where they have traditionally been stronger gave cause for extra happiness. But for many of the people of my generation who had been witness to an era which can only be called as the golden period of Indian hockey, this victory brought back many beautiful memories of those times. Indian hockey team took part in Olympics for the first time ever in 1928 and won the gold medal making mincemeat of the opponents. They were to repeat this feat on five more successive occasions till 1960 when they lost in the final to Pakistan. During the pre World War II period Indian forward line led by Dhyanchand, the

Pallikkutam | November 2014

EXPERT COUNSEL

It was only at Rome in 1960 that Pakistan could dislodge India from the top slot that they had enjoyed for 32 long years. Though India fought back and regained the title in 1964. wizard of hockey, brooked no challenge as they weaved their way through the defences of opponents, decimating them by huge margins. The first sign of a challenge to India arose from Pakistan who reached the final in Melbourne in 1956. It was only at Rome in 1960 that Pakistan could dislodge India from the top slot that they had enjoyed for 32 long years. Though India fought back and regained the title in 1964, it was evident that they would never be able to enjoy the type of hegemony that they had over the hockey title again. Towards the mid 1960’s teams from Europe and Australasia also had started taking up the game in a big way. India’s loss to New Zealand in the first match of 1968 Olympics indicated the emergence of

Pallikkutam | November 2014

new challenges that threatened to break the hegemony enjoyed by the neighbours in South Asia. It was in keeping up with the changing times that the first ever World Cup in hockey was held at Barcelona in 1971 which was followed by the second at Amsterdam in 1973 and the third at Kuala Lumpur in 1975. After finishing in the semi finals and final in the first two versions India struck gold in 1975 when they lifted the World Cup beating Pakistan 2-1 in a hard fought final. One distinctly remembers the euphoria that swept the country following this win as one of the highlights of childhood. The team went on an All India tour displaying the coveted trophy in all major cities including Kochi and the payers were treated as heroes. Little did one know

while watching the players holding aloft the cup at Town Hall in Kochi that this would be the last title triumph that India would enjoy in a full-fledged international championship for a very long period. Astro turf was introduced in international hockey for the first time ever during the 1976 Montreal Olympics. Indian players who were groomed on natural grass, which was slower, found themselves out of sorts while playing on this surface that was distinctly faster. This surface also helped a new style of hockey focussing on “hit and run” as against the short passes and dribbling skills that India was famous for. In short, strength and stamina became the key words for success and Indians found that they fared poorly in these areas when compared to their counterparts in Europe

EXPERT COUNSEL

The win in Asiad indicates that there is sufficient talent still available in the country which is required to be guided and mentored properly to produce better results. and Australia. India was all at sea on this surface and fared so badly that they could not even reach the semi finals for the first time ever at Montreal. Looking back, Montreal Olympics signalled the end of the golden era of Indian hockey. The gold medal at Moscow Olympics did not carry any great glitter as most of the hockey playing nations, including Pakistan, had boycotted the event. The humiliating loss to Pakistan in the final of 1982 Asiad at New Delhi hastened the downfall of a once mighty champion side. The repeated losses of the national side in international championships disheartened the supporters and led to the popularity of the game coming down drastically even in those areas that had produced players of quality by the dozen. All this resulted in the national side not winning an Olympic medal or a place in the last four in a World Cup since 1980. This is not to say that there had not been occasional flashes of brilliance by exceptionally talented players, like the one that saw India winning the gold medal at Bangkok Asiad in 1998. However such performances have been few and far between and never reached the levels of consistency that are the characteristic of a champion side. The failure of the side to qualify for the 2008 Olympics was the absolute nadir that the side plunged to, after which a slow revival started. A silver medal in the Commonwealth games and the present gold in Asiad give rise to the hope that this time the recovery is on a more sound footing than in the past. Successes at international championships are an absolute requirement for the popularity of any game to grow within the country. The win in Asiad indicates that there is sufficient talent still available in the country which is required to be guided and mentored properly to produce better results. A gold medal in Olympics or even finishing amongst the top four in a World Cup still appear to be wild dreams but the performances such as this victory give enough scope for such dreams to flourish. It is in the fitness of things that heroes of the game come from states like Kerala, who are not famous for grooming players the way Punjab or Orissa used to in the past. This augers well for the game as broadening the size of catchment area would automatically improve the quality of the talent pool available. This approach, focussing on spreading the game through construction of required infrastructure across the country, had shown positive results in cricket where the national side comprises of players from all parts of the country. And in hockey also, the future of the game in the country would rest on the extent to which this sport would be able to attract the attention of the public across the country and draw talent from all the states from Kerala to Kashmir and Gujarat to Mizoram, in the coming years. It remains to seen whether the small sparks of success that Indian hockey has enjoyed in 2014 would grow into a giant flame that turns to embers the three decades since mid 1980â&#x20AC;&#x2122;s when Indian hockey was in doldrums and chart the course for renaissance capable of carrying national side to the top of the chart in world rankings. As of now, there is hope in the air and a thin strand of light is visible at the end of the dark tunnel. The author is the Commissioner of Customs in Kochi, Kerala.

Pallikkutam | November 2014

STORIES OF LIFE

Is healing a result of mental , medicinal or spiritual power? Dr. Jos Cletus Plackal

Spiritual counselors say it is divine grace that brings about cure, all other interventions, a waste! However, integrational, inter-disciplinary, multimodal approach to mental health problems is the standard practice now.

t’s a topic of persistent and perennial discourse in psychological parlance, what effects cure, the medical intervention or psychological input, and what proportion and intensity these forces interact and how? There are tall claims on both sides, some say it’s the chemical alone that brings about cure, some others, mostly psychologists, insist on psychological intervention as sine qua non for mental health and healing; yet others, mainly spiritual counselors say it is divine grace that brings about cure, all other interventions, a waste! However, integrational, inter-disciplinary, multimodal approach to mental health problems is the standard practice now. Perhaps a case study will illustrate the elusive yet intricate inter-connectedness of these vital and necessary inter-disciplinary, interventional forces that bring about health/healing/cure, and sustain it.

Pallikkutam | November 2014

Geena (name changed) 21 year old, pretty looking, intelligent, 1st year P.G. science student started feeling depressed and anxious about going to college. In college she started behaving strange, fearful and withdrawn. She began to feel panicky about college for no special reason. Geena’s family has a history of mental illness. Her mother and older sister are suffering from mental health problems, and both of them take medication. According to this family’s religious belief medication should be avoided at all cost. They already know what medication can do to the body, the endless dependence, the tiredness and tardiness, over and above this, to be labeled a ‘psychiatric patient’, etc. The family’s sole request to the therapist was, “Save our daughter from medication”. Any trained psychologist would know this was a forgone case, the hereditary factors demand psychiatric attention and no

psychologist in his right mind would agree to treat such a patient. So the parents were told, with all professional honesty, “ I can’t treat your girl, she needs a psychiatric evaluation”... But the parents, with a lot of tears, kept on insisting that they didn’t want her daughter to take medication. In the face of such relentless pleading and praying the psychologist has limited options — take up the case just to oblige the parents, or reject outright. So the former option was taken in order to avoid further pressure on the psychologist. Therapeutic Dynamics involved restructuring the mental frame of the psychologist himself. First, the therapist had to heal himself from the paralysis/ impasse caused by his theoretical bend and pessimism. Some theoretical assumptions blocked meaningful therapeutic intervention such as, “Every psychosis

STORIES OF LIFE

Geena’s mental world was full of fear and insecurity. She felt so insecure at home and outside. Although she was a bright student, she had no self confidence. family of origin. From childhood on, Geena had dreadful dreams of becoming a mental patient. In the dreary dark moments of life, ( she felt childhood was fully so) Geena would imagine herself becoming a mental patient and behaving like her sister and mother. She could not resist such frightening fantasies, and at times would slip and slide into those serendipitous moments, simply to avoid reality with all its harshness. So Geena had only two options: first one, go on living with past painful memories, and the resulting phobia of becoming a mental patient, and eventually becoming one as such. Second option was tougher: she had to accept that there was mental illness in Geena’s mental world was full of fear and the family and she had to suffer from insecurity. She felt so insecure at home and childhood various deprivations and yet outside. Although she was a bright student, she could achieve a lot and has reached she had no self confidence. Ever since her post graduate level. There is a chance for childhood she was exposed to the illness supporting the family by becoming a and erratic behavior of mother, and later on healthy achiever. Geena readily chose the to the hostile behavior of her sister. Geena latter option and was ready to work on it felt that her sister was unreasonable, seriously. adamant and unmanageable. Although she The next phase of therapy was a joint understands the plight of the family, she venture of the family, therapist, extended has no confidence in herself and in the needs psychiatric medication.” “Hereditary factors are involved, so no hope of healing by psychological input”, etc. The next step was to explore the elements that did play a significant role in precipitating the symptoms at this particular juncture. Conceding that Geena was genetically predisposed to mental illness, it was imperative to explore in detail what functional factors that worked as catalyst in bringing about symptoms at this time. Painstaking and patient probing, using interviews and clinical tests helped the psychologist to rebuild the psychosocial world of Geena and her peculiar psychodynamics.

family and friends’ circle. First Geena was helped to reinterpret, reconstruct and resolve the big puzzle called childhood, through many sessions of memory healing therapies. Next she was helped to work out on her fear and phobia of becoming a ‘mental patient’. Third, Geena was given guidance to be focused on her future, her studies, her ambition to become a teacher, to support her father etc. Fourth, Geena was trained to use her social network effectively and therapeutically. And finally, she had training in living with two dysfunctional adults who are her own family members. Finally she had to work toward a mental separation and individuation from the family of origin. Geena and her family cooperated with follow up therapy sessions and made significant progress, went on to complete her studies, got a job, got married, has two lovely children and a wonderful husband who supports Geena so well.

The author is licensed clinical psychologist (HRT), Jeevas Centre Aluva.

Pallikkutam | November 2014

PERSONAL

A fighting family Sajit Malliyoor

My problem is the frequent arguments and quarrels in my home. Ours was a love marriage. If I remember correctly, we have been quiet argumentative right from the beginning

am a 42 year old mother of a teen aged son. My son is pursuing a degree course and stays away from us, coming back to the family only on the weekends. My husband is an engineer with a construction firm and I am into the teaching profession. We are married for twenty one years now. My problem is the frequent arguments and quarrels in my home. When I look at it with an eye of an outsider, it is apparent that we are, as a family, arguing for each and everything! You may be surprised, but this is a new perspective I developed only recently, though the pattern is firmly set for a long time since the early days of our marriage. Ours was a love marriage. If I

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remember correctly, we have been quiet argumentative right from the beginning, though I canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t remember the issues we were arguing about then. But I believe, since our early days together, every decision in the family were fraught with a string of arguments. Though it was distressing indeed to both of us, we hardly ever looked at it as a problem or that this behaviour pattern caused any chasm in our relationship either. Maybe we took it as an unavoidable part of married life, and plodded along uncomplainingly. Now, what brought a change to my perspective is that, lately, my son is also a party to the argument and he takes it rather heavily, by

packing his bags and leaving home abruptly. The latest episode involved buying a new TV for the home. My son wanted to buy a high end TV and my husband opposed it with the argument that spending high on technology is waste since it keep updating. Then he started accusing my son of neglecting his studies for watching sports channels late into the night. This led to a heated argument and sooner than later, I found myself in the midst of it all. Can you please suggest some strategies to reduce the fighting in our family? You ought to be familiar with the Face-Vase illusion. You look at the picture and either

PERSONAL

The most important step in a healthy conflict resolution is the timely realisation that you are in a conflict situation, before it gets too late and goes out of hand. Conflicts can’t be solved in the face of hot emotions. the face or the vase figure is apparent to you at the first instance. Keep looking at it and in a sudden moment you start to see the other image! Many of the life’s situations are similar to this perspective change. You were living with this behaviour pattern for several years and in a spurt of the moment you realised that something is not right with the behaviour! I am glad that you developed this perspective that frequent and intense arguments are indeed painful! Now the next difficult task is to make your husband and son see through this folly and understand the futility of the argument, and then convince them for a change in the behaviour. Once that is been done, half the work is done! On the contrary, if you are trying to do all the changes and adaptions by yourself, I am afraid your task is going to be a herculean one. Hence, take time to sit around the table and have a lengthy

discussion with the family and share with them the perspective you gained in the recent past. Now, in the following section, we shall discuss a few general strategies you could employ to reduce the burden of conflicts in your family. Conflict is inevitable. It is a normal part of any healthy relationships. After all, people can’t be expected to agree on all things, every time! Conflicts can happen when members have differing views or beliefs that are incompatible. It can also occur when people misunderstand each other and jump to conclusions. Learning how to deal with a conflict is a crucial skill for an adaptive living. When conflict is mismanaged, it can cause great pain in the family functioning, but when handled in a respectful, positive way, conflicts provide an opportunity to strengthen the bond between the members of the family.It is how we deal with the conflict that

determines the outcome. The most important step in a healthy conflict resolution is the timely realisation that you are in a conflict situation, before it gets too late and goes out of hand. Conflicts can’t be solved in the face of hot emotions. Emotional awareness- the consciousness of your moment-to-moment emotional experience- is the key to understanding yourself and others. If you don’t know how you feel or why you feel that way, you won’t be able to communicate effectively or resolve disagreements. Take a step back, breath deep and gain some emotional distance before trying to talk things out. People use different strategies to gain control over emotional situations. Consider some of the following: breathing deeply while making a calming statement, describing some objects to yourself in vivid details, splashing cold water on face, or taking a quick walk and then coming

Pallikkutam | November 2014

PERSONAL

Do not hesitates to take responsibility, to acknowledge our role in the problem, rather than blaming others for everything that went wrong. When we take responsibility, we shift the conflict into an entirely different gear, where resolution is possible. back to talk about the problem. Having gained some control over the overriding emotions, next step is the identification of the problem. Clearly define the issue and stay on topic during the discussion. Conflict deteriorates when the issue that started the conflict gets lost in angry word, past issues, or hurts tossed into the mix. One effective method of communicating the conflicts is the use of ‘I Messages’ instead of the ‘You Messages’. ‘I Messages’ are a tool for expressing how we feel without attacking or blaming. By starting from ‘I’, we take responsibility for the way we perceive the problem. An example of ‘I Message’ is as follows: I feel frustrated when you ignore your studies and watch TV late into the night. It is in sharp contrast to ‘You Messages’, which put others on the defensive and close doors to communication. “You are such a lousy student, always ignoring studies and watching TV late into the night”. When

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making ‘I’ statements, it is important to avoid put downs, guilt trips, sarcasm or negative body language. ‘I’ messages should enable us to convey “it is us against the problem, not us against each other”. Once you have shared your feelings, listen to the other person’s perspective. Listen for what is felt as well as said. When we listen we connect more deeply to our own needs and emotions and to those of other people. Listening also strengthens us, inform us, and make it easier for others to hear us when it is our turn to speak. Do not hesitates to take responsibility, to acknowledge our role in the problem, rather than blaming others for everything that went wrong. When we take responsibility, we shift the conflict into an entirely different gear, where resolution is possible. Once the facts and responsibilities are established, it is the time to collectively brainstorm solutions and come up with one that satisfies all the

members. Resolving conflict is a creative art. There are many solutions to a single problem. The key is a willingness to seek compromises. Though many of these points are common sense, when the relationship gets tangled up in the problem, things can get volatile fast- and common sense gets lost! Resolving conflict is impossible if you are unwilling or unable to forgive. Forgiveness is the highest form of closure. It is also important to know when to let something go. There cannot be a perfect agreement on all the issues and conflicts between people. If you cannot come to an agreement, agree to disagree. It takes two people to keep an argument going. If a conflict is going nowhere, you can choose to disengage and move on.

Send queries to malliyoor@outlook.com

INSIGHTS

How to control ‘Phonic check’ helps to “Mean Girl” improve learning behaviors? T U

niversity of Missouri researchers have developed and tested an intervention that effectively decreases relational aggression among teen girls. The study addresses this social problem in a meaningful way by testing an intervention to reduce relational aggression among teen girls. The research is published in Journal of Child and Family Studies. “Mean girl” behavior is a nonphysical form of aggression generally used among adolescent girls, which includes gossiping, rumor spreading, exclusion and rejection. Such relational aggression can lead to tragic and sometimes fatal outcomes. Relational aggression is a complicated issue with many variables, including schools, families

and individuals, the study assumes. Parents and teachers should be aware of relational aggression so they don’t unknowingly contribute to the negative behaviors. The intervention developed by MU researchers, Growing Interpersonal Relationships through Learning and Systemic Supports (GIRLSS), is a 10week, group counseling, caregiver training and caregiver phone consultation intervention for relationally aggressive middle school girls and their families. Students, ranging in age from 12 to 15, participated in one 70-minute session per week that included interactive discussions, media-based examples, role-playing, journaling and weekly goal setting. At the end of the intervention, school counselors and teachers reported a decrease in relationally aggressive behaviors among the girls.

he phonic check introduced by UK government is found to bring rich dividends in the learning outcomes of primary schools of England. It caused 5% rise in number of five- and six-year-olds passing, with 74% of pupils in England reaching expected standard in 2014. In contrast, just 58% of pupils were able to correctly pronounce the expected number of words and sounds when the phonics check was first administered in state primary schools nationwide in 2012. Some 99% of pupils who had passed the phonics check in year one went on to meet the government’s benchmark levels for reading in year two suggesting a possible association between successful phonics teaching and later levels of literacy.

The phonics check is designed to test how children read and pronounce simple words and sounds Nick Gibb, the education minister who was an enthusiastic supporter of the reading program known as systematic synthetic phonics (SSP), said the results showed that the plan was working. Synthetic phonics differs from traditional methods by directly teaching children the sounds that make up words, known as phonemes. By recognizing parts of words as sounds rather than individual letters, children are able to “decode” words and pronounce them. There was large amount of initial resistance to the project, despite academic research that suggests it is a superior method of instruction.

Leaders can be made, if not born

ast research suggests that leadership is 30 percent genetic and 70 percent a result of lessons learned through life experiences. A new University of Illinois study supports the idea that leaders are made, not born, and that leadership development follows a specific progression. The researchers at U of I have developed a more efficient pathway to leadership development. The program focus of three important components of leadership: confidence in their ability to lead (or self-efficacy), leadership skills, and motivation to lead. It’s like a three-legged stool: being ready, willing, and able. Students first become ready to learn about being a leader; then they become willing to learn the skills

necessary to practice leadership; and finally they’re able to lead because they have the skills and the motivation to do it. Historically, leaders have been viewed as being male and power oriented. It used to be if you were tall, articulate, and wellschooled, you were a leader in other people’s minds. But leadership is more than that. A leader is an individual influencing a group of people toward a common goal. The training in leadership developed of UI researchers has helped the students especially in job interviews in which they advanced because they were able to demonstrate and talk about leadership.

Pallikkutam | November 2014

INSIGHTS

Are rats smarter than mice?

Power only corrupts

ew research by University of Lausanne published in The Leadership Quarterly looked to discover whether power corrupts leaders. The study concludes in agreement with what Lord Acton said over 100 years ago, that “Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” Authors used experimental methods to distinguish between the situational and individual component; and determine if power corrupts or if corrupt individuals are drawn to power. After completing psychometric tests to measure various individual differences, including honesty, participants played the ‘dictator game’ where they were given complete control over deciding pay-outs to themselves and their followers. The leaders had the choice

of making pro-social or antisocial decisions, the latter of which resulted in reduced total pay-outs to the group but increased the leader’s own earnings. The findings showed that those who measured as less honest exhibited more corrupt behavior, at least initially; however, over time, even those who initially scored high on honesty were not shielded from the corruptive effects of power. The study suggests that there should be strong governance mechanisms and strong institutions are the key to keeping leaders in check. Organizations should limit how much leaders can drink from the seductive chalice of power, suggests the study.

Emotional abuse as harmful as sexual or physical abuse C

hildren who are emotionally abused and neglected face similar and sometimes worse mental health problems as children who are physically or sexually abused according to a new study published by the American Psychological Association. Yet psychological abuse is rarely addressed in prevention programs or in treating victims. The results are published in the online version of the APA journal Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice, and Policy. The psychological maltreatment is defined as care-giver inflicted bullying, terrorizing, coercive control, severe insults, debasement, threats, overwhelming demands, shunning and/or isolation. Children who had been psychologically abused suffered from anxiety, depression, low self-esteem, symptoms of post-traumatic stress and suicidality at the same rate and, in some

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cases, at a greater rate than children who were physically or sexually abused. Among the three types of abuse, psychological maltreatment was most strongly associated with depression, general anxiety disorder, social anxiety disorder, attachment problems and substance abuse. Psychological maltreatment that occurred alongside physical or sexual abuse was associated with significantly more severe and far-ranging negative outcomes than when children were sexually and physically abused and not psychologically abused, the study found. Moreover, sexual and physical abuse had to occur at the same time to have the same effect as psychological abuse alone on behavioral issues at school, attachment problems and self-injurious behaviors, the research found.

t seems to make perfect sense: the bigger the brain, the more intelligent the creature. Though it is also generally true, exceptions are becoming increasingly common. Many simply assume that rats, with larger brains, are smarter than mice. For more than a decade, rats have been the rodent of choice for scientists studying how the brain arrives at decisions. They

are relatively inexpensive to keep and are the subject of extensive protocols for studying cognitive function. But the question remains: Are rats really smarter than mice? The question is more important than it sounds. Yet the last few years have seen an explosion in the number of genetic tools available to study their smaller cousins, mice. These tools enable scientists to turn genes on and off within specific populations of neurons – specificity that is critical to understanding how complex behaviors arise. However, many investigators have shied away from using these new tools believing that mice simply are not as intelligent as rats. Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) scientists now challenge this belief. They compared mice and rats and found very similar levels of intelligence, a result that could have powerful implications for researchers studying complex behaviors and learning. The team systematically compared how rats and mice learn to perform a moderately challenging auditory task and found that their performance was similar. The study identified just a single difference: rats learned somewhat faster than mice.

Relax !

â&#x20AC;&#x153;It is a good idea always to do something relaxing prior to making an important decision in your life.â&#x20AC;? Paulo Coelho, The Pilgrimage

COVER STORY

Relaxation and bliss Fr. Varghese Kottoor C.M.I

We are living in a multidimensional revolution and pollution. Computer technology may be its most visible sign. There is also a revolution in the human consciousness. Ideas and thoughts, questions and answers.

t is very exciting to be alive. It is equally stressful to be alive. This is the paradox of life in the present day civilization. To be alive means to be fully alive. How to solve this paradox? A person who is able to respond creatively respond to this paradox, is a brilliant and successful person, who is capable of enjoying total well-being. We are living in a multidimensional revolution and pollution. Computer technology may be its most visible sign. There is also a revolution in the human consciousness. Ideas and thoughts, questions and answers. Comments and opinions now flash around the globe in a continuous stream of mental activity. In this new culture of cyberspace, information is free, knowledge is accessible, but wisdom is a rarity.

Pollution is another hard nut to be broken: air pollution, land pollution, light pollution, thermal pollution, water pollution and sound pollution. These growing levels of pollution represent a serious health hazard to the people. Tension has a lot to do with the outside world and the inside world. The negative forces from within and without lead people to incorrect lifestyle. This situation has brought about dispersion of human energies in all levels. The human mind has lost the balance and harmony in every sphere of existence. Psychomatic disease like diabetes, hypertension, migraine, asthma, ulcer, digestive disorders, skin diseases, heart disease, and cancer arise from tensions in the body and mind. Modern medical science has been trying to address these

problems in many ways. But they have failed to deliver the necessary health to the humans. It is because the real problem does not lie in the body. It originates in manâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s changing ideals in his way of thinking and feeling. When there is dissipation of energy and dispersion of ideals how can we expect ot experience harmony in our body and mind? The international problem today is not hunger and poverty, drugs or fear of war. It is tension, hypertension, total tension. When we think too much or donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t think at all, we accumulate tensions. If we work physically or do not work at all, we accumulate tensions. When we sleep too much or do not sleep at all we accumulate tensions. These tensions are accumulated in the muscular, emotional and mental systems.

Pallikkutam | November 2014

COVER STORY

The more real and personal this quality of awareness becomes for you the more you find in the expanded state of consciousness. Muscular tensions are related to body itself. The nervous system and endocrinal imbalances are removed by physical stretching exercises. Emotional and mental tensions are caused by various dualities such as love- hate, profit-loss, successfailure, happiness-sorrow. These tensions are to be overcome by forgiveness. Forgiveness means ability to go beyond not getting entangled with emotions like love, profit, failure, and the like. This ability to go beyond gives relief and inner freedom this will lead the person to relaxation and inner transformation. A panacea for all these problems is relaxation. Expanding awareness Expanding awareness is a method of relaxation proposed by Dr. Jim Dreaver in his book; “Way to Harmony” expanding of

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awareness is practiced in the following way. Sit quietly on a chair, gently close your eyes, take deep and abdominal breathing and silence your mind. Gently look at your body with your inner eye. It is a process of learning to become a dispassionate observer of your body, mind and senses. Gently concentrate your mind on the top of your head. Observe your body gracefully and gently, observe your breathing, sensations, feelings. Continue to do this for fifteen minutes. This dispassionate and loving observation of your own body mind and senses will take you to the deepest level of relaxation. This is called” expanding awareness.” When you practice this exercise regularly you become habitually relaxed. You will improve your creativity, productivity, emotional balance, inner harmony, physical, emotional and mental well-being.

Health is your natural state of well-being and your body’s energies are seeking their own organic harmony and wholeness. When you are able to detach yourself from the areas of stress, tension and pain in your body and just be aware of them without the interference of your analytical mind, they have room to unwind and release a tension. This is not to ignore pain it is to be present with it in a relaxed, open, and non-judging way. From this neutral place you can feel the length and breath of your body within your awareness, your consciousness. You can observe the rising and falling of your breath. You can notice the space around your body. You can watch the movement of your arms, legs, your tongue within your visual and sensory feel. The more real and personal this quality of awareness becomes for you the more you find in the

COVER STORY

Music is not only and art and a refined form of beauty’s expression; it is also the subtle and dynamic power that unifies breath, rhythm, and tone of the human body. Every thought, feeling and movement has its own musical qualities expanded state of consciousness. A sense of ease, a sense of flow, a sense of wellbeing that is your true nature. You feel very grounded in and connected to your body. As a result, all your senses are alert; you fell awake, clear, and extraordinarily present. Besides this all there is a tremendous feeling of spaciousness and freedom. Gradually you begin to realize that you don’t live in your body, but your body lives in you. This is when you start to get really the core inside. It dawns on you that your true nature is pure consciousness, awareness manifesting in this unique constellation of energy and matter, which is your body, mind and soul. It is a liberating experience. It liberates you from inner conflicts fear and tension

Music and relaxation Music gives sound and deep relaxation to body, mind and soul. By the power of music a new world of balance, health and harmony can be achieved. It touches your inner language, thoughts and emotions bringing you to the deepest sense of wellbeing, peace and relaxation. Dr. Don Campbell in his book, “The Mozart Effect” explores the power of music to heal the body, mind and soul. Music has the power to strengthen the mind and unlock the creative spirit and to induce relaxation. Dr Campbell in his book,

When you are really quiet and still, fully present in the moment, attuned to the subtlest movement of energy within and around you, a release of endorphins in your body is caused. These are the hormones that dissolve pain and create pleasurable feelings, feelings of bliss, sometimes even ecstasy. Bliss is what arises naturally when everything within you – body, mind and soul- comes into perfect alignment and harmony. The energy of bliss is incredibly heeling for the body. It softens, melts and eventually eliminates all the physical “Mozart effect” published in 1997, shares blocks, imbalances, stiffness and his 25 years of research and experience on inflammation. It brings a great pleasantness music as therapy. Music effects the to your life. electrical impulses in the brain, he says, “I explored the overwhelming new evidence Tension and diseases are the result of a of music’s essential role in language dominant sympathetic nervous system. development, physical movement and The fight or flight response is the chief trait of chronic anxiety. As you learn to let higher brain functioning. Our children are our most precious resource, and music go and simply relax, the parasympathetic must be acknowledged as a fundamental nervous system takes over and floods the and primary component of learning and body with warm, fresh and pleasant processing, multiple patterns of visual, feelings. As your consciousness evolves auditory, kinesthetic, emotional and expands, you learn to relax and heal information and relaxation”. Mozart effect yourself, you learn how to move and flex is finally understood to be far more than a your body to release tension and to get perfectly still, so that you can open up to simple way of temporarily improves one’s the deeper flow of life energy; that is your concentration and relaxation. It is very gratifying that music is finally, rightly true bodily nature, the pleasantness and bliss.

finding its central place in the society as a fundamental nutrient for physical wellbeing, mental development, stress release and emotional expression. Learning to manage stress and staying centred, is an integral way of doing our best work and being in our best selves. Music is the simplest and the easiest way to facilitate the shift out of a worried, hurried mind to the peaceful and serene Centre. Music is the symphony of sounds and vibration. Just as a tuning fork, when struck can cause the other tuning forks in its vicinity to start vibrating at its pitch. Music can change your energy level. In a practical sense, it can change your brain. It can change in turn every aspect of your life. We have to use this powerful, wondrous, delightful medium to enhance the quality of life by introducing it in the educational institutions. Relax and enjoy the music. It is the food of brilliant life. “Music is not only and art and a refined form of beauty’s expression; it is also the subtle and dynamic power that unifies breath, rhythm, and tone of the human body. Every thought, feeling and movement has its own musical qualities”. Dr Don Campbell “My heart, which is so full to overflowing, has often being solaced and refreshed by music when sick and weary “. Martin Luther “Music washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life”. Sir Thomas Beecham “One good thing about music, when it hits you feel no pain”. Bob Marley “Beauty and calmness are forever filling my heart”. Dr Don Campbell “I release tension with every breath, allowing harmony and peace to abound.” Dr Don Campbell

The author is the spiritual director of St Francis Xavier’s Regional Seminary, Etmadpur Agra.

Pallikkutam | November 2014

COVER STORY

Relaxation : essential for healthy living Brig. N. V. Nair

Calm and relaxed individuals are efficient workers and spread positive energy. Thus, relaxation is a sort of force multiplier for the society. We have to find ways and means to ensure relaxation for all.

Jawan from a Uniformed Force, on duty at Kalppakkam thermal power station, shooting dead his three colleagues was in the news very recently. Similar incidents of extreme indiscretion do happen in other walks of lives as well. A careful investigation will reveal that besides other factors, a ‘troubled mind’ due to tension, fatigue and anxiety also leads to such incidents. These tragedies could have been avoided had positive measures been in place to relax the troubled minds. Calm and relaxed persons will always behave rationally. Lack of it creates problems to individuals and society at large. Generic definition of ‘Relaxation’ is ‘release of tension, absence of anger or fear’. Relaxation also involves reduction in

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the levels of anxiety and stress, thus attaining calmness. Relaxation is in the realms of physical/physiological and mental spheres. Why relaxation is important? It has been experienced that individuals underperform when under the sway of negative emotions like anxiety, stress, fatigue and fear. On the other hand, relaxation can remove these negative emotions. Calm and relaxed individuals are efficient workers and spread positive energy. Thus, relaxation is a sort of force multiplier for the society. We have to find ways and means to ensure relaxation for all. How can we bring about Relaxation? Fatigue, anxiety and tension in individuals

could be only symptoms of serious maladies that they are suffering from, like fever is an indication only of some other hidden ailments in the body. Hence, we have to combat the factors causing these negative emotions. Adoption of relaxation techniques can combat these negative emotions and bring about calmness. Efforts to enhance the tolerance threshold of individuals to these negative emotions, should also progress simultaneously. Some of the common measures adopted for relaxation are as under:-

♦ We can overcome fatigue due to excessive physical work by taking complete rest. Re-oxygenation of body cells ensures freshness.

COVER STORY

Life is a complex interplay of diverse factors. There is no universally applicable solution for all problems. Therefore, there is also no one universally applicable method of ensuring relaxation. ♦ Exercise and healthy eating will result in relaxation. It gives strength to the body to fight early fatigue. ♦ If runners are to be believed, ‘Running’ is the best way to relax. I have been told by Marathon runners that they do it for enjoyment! One definitely enjoys the feeling after the completion of the run, may not be during the run.

♦ Music, both playing & listening have always been a popular way for mental relaxation. Musical therapy is also getting popular these days. ♦ Meditation, hypnosis and recreation help to relax.

♦ Scientists do advocate techniques such as Auto Training, Practising Bio-feedback, Mind-Body relaxation, Yoganidra and Self Hypnosis, for relaxation.

♦ Consumption of various beverages & alcohol under various names had been in use for relaxation from time immemorial. Risk with consumption of alcohol for relaxation is that one should be strong willed to stay away from the temptation of overindulgence which can lead to very negative results. ♦ Periodic break from any continuous work will ensure relaxation. I would like to mention the example of giving a compulsory 20 minutes break to the Army

drivers for every 2 hour during their long driving.

♦ Maintain good health by consumption of nutritious food and regular exercise.

♦ Individual prayers or group bhajans can ♦ Ensure adequate financial resources at also bring in mental relaxation. Army approach to relaxation: Working in difficult operational areas under very strict codes of army discipline can lead to stress and tension to army personnel. But there are organisational ways and means instituted to alleviate stress and tension and to ensure relaxation. The foremost step is to ensure nutritious food and progressive physical training to develop physical strength and stamina. This will make sure that they are not fatigued easily. Various measures are taken to inculcate sense of belonging, camaraderie and pride. Welfare and discipline go hand in hand. Fairness and transparency is ensured in all dealings affecting them personally. Equal opportunities are ensured. Religious teachers like Panditji/Maulavi/Chaplin are made available in units to ensure mental health of the troops. A total package of measures as brought out ensures stress free atmosphere and it in turn brings about relaxation. To ensure relaxation, we have to create conditions so that individuals can cope up with stress, tension and anxiety. I, from my experience, will advocate the following measures:-

your disposal to avoid financial stress.

♦ Work hard but accept results with equanimity.

♦ Develop some hobbies. It will kill drudgery.

♦ Inculcate Empathy to fellow beings& develop a high level of EQ. ♦ Participate in some games. ♦ Believe in one ‘Almighty’ to give mental peace and try to be positive.

♦ Help under privileged & develop your juniors. This will provide you immense satisfaction in future. I hold the opinion that each individual is unique. Life is a complex interplay of diverse factors. There is no universally applicable solution for all problems. Therefore, there is also no one universally applicable method of ensuring relaxation. In fact, measures are to be tailor made to specific individual requirements. One has to choose and make ‘own bouquet’ of measures for relaxation. The author has served in the Army in IPKF (Sri Lanka) and counter insurgency operational areas of Jammu & Kashmir and North East.

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COVER STORY

Let your child relax N P Geetha

As a teacher who has to interact continuously with the students, parents and other teachers who work with me I would say the word relaxation has acquired another meaning, especially in the minds of parents.

he life is a journey. From the day we are born, it is a continuous travel through places, circumstances and events. As we proceed with it, everything in this world fly past us just like the telephone posts standing near the railway track, when our train speeds to take us to our destination. Every second of our life we have work to do.Doing nothing is also a work. And in the course of it we miss targets, people, projects and personal items. These are a part and parcel of our life and we have accepted it, But the one thing we forget most, is relaxation. In the present world, many of us have forgotten how to relax. As a teacher who has to interact continuously with the students, parents

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and other teachers who work with me I would say the word relaxation has acquired another meaning, especially in the minds of parents. They take it as wasting of the precious time of their children. In the race to get A+ in all the subjects as well as an outstanding grade in the extracurricular activities they take it as a crime if the child takes himself away from the job in hand and paly.it does not matter if the child has the talent or aptitude but what is important the record and certificate. The new trends in the curriculum put the child in a tension mode due to the never ending activities, and assignments given to him during the academic year. He or she is like being inside a pressure cooker with the teachers, parents and the classmates

around him. Nothing less than 100 percent is expected from him and the appreciation comes only for those who achieve that high expectation. And in this race it is natural that the child whether he is in the 1st standard or 12th, gets the help from his parents or others. it is also an open secret that in many cases the projects submitted by students are not their original works but outsource and done by professionals. A student in a school hardly gets any time to relax especially if he is studying in a reputed school. He may have to get up at 5 in the morning if he has to catch the school bus as there is tuition in the morning, After the hectic activity in the school; he is forced to attend to special classes by the experts even if he does not need. Over

COVER STORY

Time has to be given to the child to relax. Only that the parents should have a will to provide. I have come across many teachers who are dedicated and who allows the class to relax. ambitious parents arrange for music, dance or painting. From Monday to Saturday it is the same story. Even on Sundays the student is not free to do what he likes to do. The computer has also taken away the balance time left. The days when the children used to run around and play after the school hours are things of the past. With both the parents working there is no opportunity for the family to sit together and talk. Everybody is busy and worried about their problems. In some cases the parents hardly have any time even to see their children. They are looked after either by Ayahs, or stay with their grand parents. No doubt, a child with this kind of schedule becomes a misfit in the society. He cannot adjust with his collegues, family or other people with whom he has to interact. He gets easily irritated and there is no quality in his life, The work becomes routine and the person is always unhappy.

A drastic change is required. And it should start from the family.There should not be any over expectation from the child. Each child is born with some special qualities and IQ. The parents have to understand that and recognize the talents and aptitudes of their children and then only the teacherâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s role comes. Just like we nurture plants with proper amount of water, manure and other nutrients the child should be allowed to express and expand himself. There has to be encouragement and his confidence and self esteem are to be built up. If this could be achieved, the child when he grows, can survive in any situation Time has to be given to the child to relax. Only that the parents should have a will to provide. I have come across many teachers who are dedicated and who allows the class to relax. They takes the children out, allow to have fresh air and arrange some

simple activities like counting the stones of the same size or plucking different kind of leaves of various size and shape. The tasks are simple but makes a lot of differences in helping the approach of the child to different situations. The activities are endless but needs imagination and commitment. One sugestion to relax is to imagine yourselves in the driving seat of a car, at every major junction in the city, there are signals. Sometimes you can pass quickly, but when the signal is red, you have to stop and wait for the green. In the same way, develop the habit of stopping occasionally wait for the green and relax before you proceed.

The author is Principle, Sree Sankara Vidayalaya, Vaikom

Pallikkutam | November 2014

INTERVIEW

Nalanda : A global university in Indian tradition

Dr. Gopa Sabharwal is Vice Chancellor, Nalanda University. She comes to Nalanda from Indiaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s foremost college, Lady Shri Ram College for Women where she founded the Department of Sociology in 1993. Her wide ranging research has focused on ethnic groups in urban India, visual anthropology and the history of society. She explains her future plans for Nalanda University in this exclusive interview with Pallikkuttam. Pallikkutam | November 2014

INTERVIEW

The objective is to create auniversity with a strong evocative resonance globally, but with a special relevance to the East Asia Region. Another important objective of Nalanda University is to position the university globally. Nalanda University is considered to be the reincarnation or avatar of the ancient Buddhist University of Nalanda. What are the traditions of the ancient university the new University will keep? The project Nalanda University is linked to indiaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s pride as a nation of academic excellence. The objective of Nalanda University is to draw and build upon the presence in India of a unique and unsurpassed educational resource, which in timespast was the undisputed model for the creation, transmission and dissemination of knowledge. By leveraging this historical legacy of Nalanda, The new Nalanda University once again gets the chance to re-establish

its position globally as a leader in higher education. The objective is also to create auniversity with a strong evocative resonance globally, but with a special relevance to the East Asia Region. Another important objective of Nalanda University is to position the university globally. Being a new generation university, what are the modern educational insights do you would freshly incorporate to the Nalanda University? The Nalanda University is envisaged as a research universitywhich will combine the best academic practices globally to construct a curriculum and course structure which will be truly unique. The thrust will be on interdisciplinarity in the true sense of

the word and on a fair amount of the learning happening through actual project work and experiential learning outside the classroom. The Univeristyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s curriculum has already caught the imagination of scholars in and outside India and also generated expectations in Bihar and especially in Rajgir where it is located. Nalanda University is envisaged as a space for inter-civilization dialogue at a time when spaces for such dialogues are shrinking. How would Nalanda University be different from the existing Universities in the country? Keeping in mind the legacy of Nalanda University, the newly established Nalanda

Pallikkutam | November 2014

INTERVIEW

Nalanda University project is linked to India’s pride as a nation of academic excellence and seeks to reclaim that position in the EAS region by locating and establishing a world class university in India. University has been declared as an institution of national importance. Never before has there been a ‘revival’ university and clearly no university in the country can boast the legacy of Nalanda. Its unique status is evident from the fact that Parliament enacted a standalone act for its establishment and did not club it with any other similar institution or scheme. Project Nalanda is the most important project which the EAS member states are supporting in India, if not the only one. The university has the mandate to examine and build upon Inter- Asian interconnections at its core. It has a unique international level curriculum and interdisciplinarity at its core.

Pallikkutam | November 2014

What kind of teaching-learning tradition will you follow at the new University? How will be different from other Universities in India and abroad?

post graduate education. It will encourage and promote inter-disciplinary learning and teaching in the real sense of the word. The focus areas of each of our schools are well defined so that students know what they Nalanda University project is linked to are coming to study. Each School also has a India’s pride as a nation of academic focus on inter-Asian connections in its excellence and seeks to reclaim that curriculum. The pedagogy is a mix of class position in the EAS region by locating and room teaching, with real live exposure to establishing a world class university in historical and agricultural sites and also India. The endeavor is to create a project work by students. There is a fair contemporary University inspired by the amount of one to one faculty student academic excellence and a global vision of interaction outside the classroom too. the historic Nalanda and build and There is emphasis on getting students to institution that shapes and impacts higher think for themselves and do a fair amount education worldwide. Nalanda is a research of reading outside the reading lists. university which is currently open onlyfor

INTERVIEW

The possibility of Nalanda once again becoming the meeting ground for Asia and beyond – a place where Asia and the world will congregate to discuss issues and from where solutions will emerge – that is the kind of Nalanda University we are in the process of creating. How does Nalanda University harness the best talents for the creation and dissemination of new knowledge? What will be the thrust areas of the University? Selection Committees that reflect the international character of the University have been formed for selecting the best faculty from across the world. The selection process is tiered and involves the processes of application, review, excellence in publication, teaching, research plan, campus visit, workshops, presentations etc. and is not based on one single interview as is the case with UGC guidelines. Somewhat separate processes are in place for nonteaching staff where, exposure to international norms and ability to set systems in place is desirable. What, according to you, are your major challenges and possibilities as a new University? I think all of us in team Nalanda only view the project as one of endless possibilities rather than as full of challenges. The possibilities of creating truly unique place of learning where learning takes centre stage and boundaries between disciplines are broken, a place where new knowledge will be produced and where knowledge is not confined to within the walls of classrooms. The possibility of Nalanda once again becoming the meeting ground for Asia and beyond – a place where Asia and the world will congregate to discuss

issues and from where solutions will emerge – that is the kind of Nalanda University we are in the process of creating. Do you think that Indian Education is at par with international standards? How could Indian Universities overcome their parity problems with international institutions?

Indian Universities are a large group catering to various categories of students so not all of them are meant to be cutting edge research universities. There are however many Indian institutions which have faculty that could be teaching anywhere in the world and there are similarly institutions that produce students who can hold their own at any international institution. What do you think are the emerging trends and modern innovations in education today? There are many new trends including the use if technology in the classroom, the presence of online courses, and the realization that technology cannot

substitute for the encounter with the teacher and also a democratization of the manner in which the teaching-learning process is enacted. There are also more creative curricula being designed etc. How did technology affect the methods of teaching? How much of modern education technology would you adopt at the New University? Some part of this has been answered above. Technology can be a great aid especially if it is used in an interactive way to have a discussion. Passive one way transmission of knowledge is not always successful since there is no way of judging learning outcomes. However the presence of one way technology like the flipped classroom also allows students the freedom to go over material at their own pace and time. We will use technology in as many ways as we need. This will include e-resources for books and other material and also smart classrooms and for interactive seminar courses or lectures. How do you make sure that the courses at the new University are affordable? What are your suggestions for “quality education at affordable cost”? Affordability is a relative term and it is difficult to quantify what is or is not affordable. As a university we need to have a fees structure which we think is reflective of the kind of education experience we impart. Having said that we are following a need blind admissions policy which will ensure that deserving students get fees waivers and are not burdened by a fees structure that they cannot afford.

Pallikkutam | November 2014

ASPECTS

Independence of A institutions Ksatriya teaches in designing and offer coursesBrahmin scholars Dr. Augustine Thottakara

Uddalaka Aruni, a man of great wisdom and holiness, who was at that time studying the Vaisvanara Atman, that is, the Atman, which is the Self of all.

handogya Upanisad V. 11-24 narrates the story of five illustrious Brahmins, who were eminent Vedic scholars and great householders (maha-sala maha-srotriyah). Their names were: Pracinasala Aupamanyava, Satyayajna Paulisi, Indradyumna Bhallaveya, Jana Sarkaraksya, and Budila Asvatarasvi. They came together and held serious discussion on the questions: “What is our Atman?; and what is Brahman?” They could not find an answer. They decided to approach Uddalaka Aruni, a man of great wisdom and holiness, who was at that time studying the Vaisvanara Atman, that is, the Atman, which is the Self of all. They approached him with due respect and in the prescribed manner and requested him

Pallikkutam | November 2014

to teach them about Brahman and Atman. Uddalaka honestly confessed that he did not know it. At his suggestion all the five seekers accompanied him to Asvapati, the king of Kekaya, who was a Ksatriya. But he was a knower of Brahman, and a saintly person. The king said to them, ‘I shall answer you in the morning’. In the morning these six scholars approached the king with usual rituals customary for such occasions, namely, carrying the sacrificial fuel in their hands, and submitting totally and radically to the will of the teacher. The king knew that all these great men were already initiated for the study of Vedas, and therefore, started to instruct them without again initiating them.

He interacted with and interviewed the scholars individually. He asked Aupamanyava: “What is the Atman on which you meditate? He replied: ‘Heaven only O venerable king’”. The king answered that this is only the head of the Atman, and by this meditation great enlightenment and sacred wisdom will remain in his family. The next in line was Satyayajna Paulisi, who said that he was meditating on the sun. The king answered that this is only the eye of the Atman, and by this meditation many enjoyable things will happen in his family. The king then asked Indradyumna Bhallaveya about his meditation on Atman, and he answered that he was meditating on the air. The king answered that the air is the prana of the

ASPECTS

Brahman is conceived as the ultimate cause of all, the unifying and sustaining principle of the universe, the inner controller of all beings, and the ultimate goal of all. Atman, and that by this meditation many offerings and gifts will come to him from different sources. The next question about the meditation on Atman was directed to Jana Sarkaraksya. He replied that he is meditating on Akasa (space). The king said that Akasa is the trunk of the Atman, and that by this meditation he will acquire vast wealth and generate many offsprings. The next scholar was Budila Asvatarasvi, who said to the king that he is meditating on Atman as water.

conclusions could be drawn from these deliberations:

(i) Here the teacher is a Ksatriya and the students are Brahmin scholars. There are strong internal textual evidences in the Upanisads to prove that the philosopher-mystics who advocated the Upanisadic teachings were Ksatriyas, and not Brahmins. Thus King Janaka (Br. Up. IV.1-4), King Pravahana (Ch. Up. I.8.9), King Asvapati (Ch. Up. V.11-24) and King Ajatasatru of Benares (Br. Up. The king answered that water is only the II.1-3) were great philosophers of lower belly of Atman, and by this meditation brahmavidya. Later the Brahmins adopted he will be endowed with wealth and bodily it, learned it and became the teachers of this strength. The king interacted with the last vidya. Ch. Up. V.3-4 and Br. Up. VI.2.1scholar, who was Uddalaka Aruni himself, 16 narrate the story of King Pravahana of who accompanied the five thinkers and Pancala, a knower of Brahman. householders to the king. He said that he is Gautama, a Brahmin, came to the king meditating on the earth as the Atman. The and asked about the path of the departed king said that the earth is the feet of the souls. The king was reluctant to divulge Atman, and by this meditation he will obtain it, and said to him: ‘stay here for a long many children and lot of cattle. Some time’. At the end the king said: “O

Gautama, before you this knowledge never went to the Brahmanas. The teaching of this knowledge belonged only to Ksatriyas in all countries” (iyam na prak tvattah pura vidya brahmanan gacchati tasmad u sarvesu lokesu ksatrasyaiva prasanam abhut). (ii) The five scholars came together and held a discussion on: “What is our Atman? And what is Brahman?” The entire teachings of the Upanisads revolve around two key concepts: Brahman and Atman. Brahman is conceived as the ultimate cause of all, the unifying and sustaining principle of the universe, the inner controller of all beings, and the ultimate goal of all. Atman is the individualized and personalized Brahman caught up in the psychosomatic apparatus (antah-karana) of individual beings. (iii) Asvapati, the king of Kekaya, is the guru of this episode in Chandogya Upanisad. The concept of guru was

Pallikkutam | November 2014

ASPECTS

Atman is the individualized and personalized Brahman caught up in the psychosomatic apparatus (antah-karana) of individual beings. powerfully proposed for the first time by Upanisadic seers, and the active presence of guru in the Upanisads is all-pervasive and very much perceptible. Upanisads contain teaching imparted by eminent gurus. The derivation of the word ‘guru’ is often made in the sense that he is the dispeller of ignorance. Undoubtedly the primary use of the word is as an adjective, and connotes weighty, heavy or significant. As a noun then this word would mean a honourable and important person; a guru definitely is such a revered person. A plausible meaning as the destroyer of ignorance is derived in a somewhat roundabout way. The letter ‘gu’ stands for guha, meaning a cave or hole, which is symbolic of darkness and ignorance; and the verbal root ‘ru’ means to kill, to hurt (or, the verbal root ‘rudh’ means to obstruct or destroy), and therefore, ‘guru’ is a person who kills and destroys ignorance. Another verbal root ‘gr’ means to proclaim, announce or utter; and with

Pallikkutam | November 2014

the masculine ending ‘ru’, the word “guru” would mean the announcer or teacher of the saving wisdom to his disciples. In either case, guru, according to Upanisads, is one who expels and eliminates ignorance, the cause of all evil, and enlightens the worthy students with knowledge. (iv) Upanisads are dialogical texts, the dialogue being between the gurus and disciples. In fact, the entire Upanisadic texts contain the words of gurus either by way of answering the queries of disciples on metaphysical, spiritual and ethical questions, or by way of spontaneous instructions of the teachers according to the needs of the disciples. In this text the guru is king Asvapati and disciples are five eminent scholars and great householders, together with their mentor Uddalaka Aruni, a saintly and erudite philosopher. (v) Enlightenment and spiritual awakening happen when the seeker realizes the Reality in its totality. The mistake these

scholars committed is that they compartmentalized the concept of Brahman-Atman, and concentrated on part-manifestations of the supreme Self. One meditated on water, another on earth, another on Akasa, etc. These are all external material extension of the Self. They should have comprehended all these elements as one unified whole. These eminent men meditated on the external, material, mutable and destructible objects, mainly the five elements. These basic elements and material things are projected as parts and constituent elements of the Self. This is significant. God is not only spiritual being; he has a material dimension. Means for liberation is not only prayer, devotion, and surrender, but also this elemental world. God’s power and grace are present in all material objects.

BOOK SHELF

I Am Malala by Malala Yousafzai Fatima Bhutto on Malala Yousafzai’s fearless and stillcontroversial memoir “We were learning how to struggle. And we were learning how powerful we are when we speak” – or talking about Pakistan’s politicians (“useless”), Malala is passionate and intense. Her faith and her duty to the cause of girls’ education is unquestionable.

n Arabic, “revolution” is a feminine noun. This is fitting, as without women revolutions are sterile. They have no movement, no life, no sound. Urdu, a distorter of tongues, pilfering as it does from Persian, Hindi, but largely Arabic, uses the masculine word for coup d’etat – inqilab – for revolution, rather than the accurate feminine: thawra. Perhaps that’s why the Taliban were confused. Perhaps that’s why they imagined that shooting a 15-year-old girl would somehow enhance their revolution. I Am Malala, Malala Yousafzai’s fearless memoir, co-written with journalist Christina Lamb, begins on Malala’s drive home from school on the day she was shot in the head. “Who is Malala?” the young gunman who stopped the Khushal school van asked. None of the girls answered. But everyone in the valley knew who Malala was. Ten years old when the Tehrik-eTaliban Pakistan came to the beautiful Swat Valley, once the home of ancient Buddhist kings, 11 years old by the time she had established herself as an international advocate for girls’ education in Pakistan, Malala was targeted by the Taliban for “spreading secularism”. Ghostwritten books pose a constant difficulty – you are never sure whose voice is leading whose. Malala’s voice has the purity, but also the rigidity, of the principled. Whether she is being a competitive teenager and keeping track of who she beat in exams (and by how much) or writing about the blog for the BBC that catapulted her on to the international stage – “We were learning how to struggle. And we were learning how powerful we are when we speak” – or talking about

Pakistan’s politicians (“useless”), Malala is passionate and intense. Her faith and her duty to the cause of girls’ education is unquestionable, her adoration for her father – her role model and comrade in arms – is moving and her pain at the

American state of Connecticut”, and the stiff, know-it-all voice of a foreign correspondent resounds. It is Malala who touches the heart of Pakistan’s troubles. Speaking of Swat, she writes that it was some 20 years after partition that the Wali of the Valley renounced his power and brought his kingdom into Pakistan. “So I was born a proud daughter of Pakistan,” she writes, “though like all Swatis I thought of myself first as a Swati and Pashtun, before Pakistani.” What it means to be from Pakistan – a country of 300 languages, diverse cultures, religions and identities – when real power is restricted to one province is a debate that has always raged in this country. The army and bureaucracy and indeed the functioning power are centralised in the Punjab, while the remaining three provinces – Sindh, Balochistan and Khyber Pukhtun Khwa – are unequal shareholders in the idea that is Pakistan.

Until power is fairly shared among the four provinces the threat of secession will be a cloud hanging over the country. Malala writes of her beloved father, Ziauddin, wearing a black armband on Pakistan’s 50th anniversary “because there was nothing to celebrate since Swat joined violence carried out in the name of Islam Pakistan”, presciently foreshadowing a palpable. deepening ethnic imbalance so profound It’s hardly an exact science, guessing when that only an extraordinary common enemy the ghostwriter’s voice takes over from the could distract from it. The burgeoning power of the Taliban in today’s Pakistan author’s, but in the description, for should not be much of a surprise to those example, of the scale of Pakistan’s devastating 2005 earthquake, the reader is who understand, as Malala does, the need to redress these ethnic wounds. told that the damage “affected 30,000 square kilometres, an area as big as the

Pallikkutam | November 2014

BOOK SHELF

Malala is certainly an ardent critic of the Taliban, but she also speaks passionately against America’s drone warfare, the CIA’s policy of funding jihadi movements, the violence and abductions carried out by the Pakistani military, feudalism, the barbarous Hudood laws. Though feted around the globe for her eloquence, intelligence and bravery, Malala is much maligned in Pakistan. The haters and conspiracy theorists would do well to read this book. Malala is certainly an ardent critic of the Taliban, but she also speaks passionately against America’s drone warfare, the CIA’s policy of funding jihadi movements, the violence and abductions carried out by the Pakistani military, feudalism, the barbarous Hudood laws, and even Raymond Davis, the CIA contractor who caused a diplomatic meltdown between America and Pakistan when he killed two Pakistanis in broad daylight in Lahore – “Even we schoolchildren know that ordinary diplomats don’t drive around in unmarked cars carrying Glock pistols.” I Am Malala is as much Malala’s father’s story as it is his daughter’s, and is a touching tribute to

Pallikkutam | November 2014

his quest to be educated and to build a model school. Malala writes of her father sitting late into the night, cooking and bagging popcorn to sell so that he would have extra income for his project. She quotes him on all matters – from the ban on The Satanic Verses to the environmental problems facing the Swat Valley – and teases him for his long-winded speeches. Yet, even as Malala says she does not hate the man who shot her, here in Pakistan anger towards this ambitious young campaigner is as strong as ever. Amid the bile, there is a genuine concern that this extraordinary girl’s courageous and articulate message will be colonised by one power or other for its own insidious agendas. She is young and the forces around her are strong and often sinister when it comes to their designs on the

global south. There is a reason we know Malala’s story but not that of Noor Aziz, eight years old when killed by a drone strike in Pakistan; Zayda Ali Mohammed Nasser, dead at seven from a drone strike in Yemen; or Abeer Qassim Hamza al Janabi, the 14-year-old girl raped and set on fire by US troops in Mahmudiyah, Iraq. “I wasn’t thinking these people were humans,” one of the soldiers involved, Steven Green, said of his Iraqi victims. It will always be more convenient for the west to paint itself as more righteous, more civilised, than the people they occupy and The author is a Pakistani poet and writer. She is the granddaughter of former Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, niece of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, and daughter of Murtaza Bhutto

HEALTH MONITOR

Human brain - an enigma Dr.Jagath lal Gangadharan

Brain has a special place in the evolution of human race as it is correctly recognized as the seat of our intelligence, reasoning and emotions. Brain and emotions:

carried by some neurotransmitters excite the target cell while others dampen down As a student of human biology, I was their activity, depending on the type of always amazed to discover how GOD had neurotransmitter released at the synapse created each organ of the human body to and the receptors they reach. As an its near perfection. However, among all the example, this is what sharpens the contrast organs, Brain has a special place in the between light and dark during vision. evolution of human race as it is correctly Excitation of the synapse result in recognized as the seat of our intelligence, reasoning and emotions. No other part of our body has attracted attention and focus of modern research as brain, resulting in an explosion of knowledge in the field of modern neurosciences.

perception of brightness and dampening or inhibition results in darkness. The proportion of excitation and dampening results in contrast during vision. These kinds of excitations and dampening occur at various levels in the human brain. As a result of these complex activities in this The human brain weighing just 2% of the total body weight is the hub of the nervous tangled network of neurons arise consciousness, the awareness of oneself system with 100 billion neurons in it, almost equal to the number of trees in the embedded in the world. Your self-reflective Amazon forest. Each neuron is connected awareness defines you in the context of to 10,000 adjacent neurons making almost society, culture and history. 1000 trillion connections in the brain, same The neurons have fibres (axons) attached as the number of leaves in the forest. How to them, that are of various lengths. Some do these neurons form a network? The of them are long enough to reach from the neurons communicate with each other surface of the brain to the tip of the great through these connections known as toe. They forms bundles inside the brain synapses. Here, the communication is called ‘tracts’ which can be visualised using done with the help of special chemicals the modern MRI scanning of the brain called neurotransmitters. Brain uses over called tractography. 50 different neurotransmitter chemicals in these synapses. Although direct electrical To explain in simple terms, the Brain signalling between two neurons is quicker receives information from our sensory and more energy efficient, chemical organs – eye, ear, nose, tongue, skin and signalling is far more versatile. The signals internal organs. It uses this information

and help us to react, remember, think and plan, and then sends out the appropriate instructions to our body. Through the nervous system and the hormonal system, it controls the functioning of almost every organ in our body and often beyond. What are emotions? In affective neuroscience, emotions are described as a discrete and constant response to the internal and external stimuli that have a particular significance for the individual. It can vary from

happiness, sadness, fear, surprise, disgust and anger. Limbic system, a key circuit of the brain linking specialized areas like amygdala and mamillary bodies is known to recognize and control the body’s reactions to emotions. The ability to recognize emotions can be helpful to sail away from a difficult situation, but extremes of emotions can be detrimental. Sadness can lead to depression, pleasure can lead to addiction, anger can lead to aggression and fear can become anxiety, phobia and panic. It is also important for

Pallikkutam | November 2014

HEALTH MONITOR

You can live for a few weeks without food or water but you cannot live sleep deprived for more than a few days thereby affirming the importance of sleep. an individual to suppress detrimental memory. Glutamate, a specific neurotransmitter has been found to be involved in inhibitory learning, a process

were instructed to enter each of these emotional states multiple times, in random order. They found that emotions showed a characteristic pattern of activation throughout a number of brain regions. They also found that there are three main organizing factors namely the positive or negative valence of the emotion, its intensity — mild or strong, and its sociality — involvement or noninvolvement of another person. This is how emotions are organized in the brain. Human touch and emotions Have you ever felt relieved of your tension by the touch of someone’s hand on your shoulder? On the surface of the brain is an area known as the somato-sensory cortex.

of active undoing of learned behavior. This has been found to be useful in therapies for phobias and anxiety disorders. Studies based on functional MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) helps us to identify the region of the brain involved in an activity by measuring the amount of oxygen utilized by that particular region. This is known as BOLD (Blood oxygenation level dependant) imaging. Mapping the brain’s activity for emotion had been an enigma due to various technical reasons. For the first time, scientists at Carnegie Mellon University have identified which emotion a person is experiencing based on brain activity reflected in an imaging sequence. It is the brain’s map of the opposite half of In this study, ten actors underwent fMRI body, known familiarly as the

scan while viewing the words of nine emotions: anger, disgust, envy, fear, happiness, lust, pride, sadness and shame. While inside the fMRI scanner, the actors

Pallikkutam | November 2014

the trunk because they are the more sensitive areas in our body. Do you remember the impact of a loving person’s touch on you? It was much beyond the sensation of a normal touch and had stirred up your emotions. Recently, the fMRI studies show that touch has a wide impact on the brain, influencing our sensations, our movements, our thought processes and our capacity to learn new movements. Complex connections of the primary sensory areas to the deep brain activate many other areas as demonstrated in the fMRI scan. This may explain why we feel more when some people touch us. Sleep the elixir of life: “O sleep, O gentle sleep, Nature’s soft nurse, how have I frighted thee, That thou no more wilt weigh my eyelids down, And steep my sense in forgetfulness?” - William Shakespeare, Henry IV, Part I For about a third of your life, you are asleep. While you fall asleep, you respond less and less to outside stimuli, your heart

rate drops, your breathing slows, your muscles relax and you slip into a state of altered consciousness. It restores the body’s energy level and helps you to organize your memory. “The best bridge between despair and hope is a good night’s sleep” is how E. Joseph Cossman sees it. You can live for a few weeks without food or water but you cannot live sleep deprived for more than a few days thereby “homunculus”. As might be expected, affirming the importance of sleep. Sleep touch activates the neurons in this area. We rejuvenates your immune system and can see that areas like lips, face and thumb accentuates growth. are represented in a larger area compared to

HEALTH MONITOR

Researchers at the University of Warwick and University College London have found that regular lack of sleep could be dangerous. It can more than double the risk of death from cardiovascular disease. Do you know that the sleep occurs in regular cycles? Do you know that our brain is not totally inactive during the sleep? Our eyeball moves left and right rapidly during some stage of sleep. This is called ‘Stage of rapid eye movement’ or REM sleep. During the remaining time, the eyeball is still and is called ‘Stage of nonrapid eye movement’ or NREM sleep. Sleep scientists have done lot of research based on the electrical recording from the surface of the brain called Electro encephalography (EEG) and the chemicals released in the brain at each stage. They have found that the REM sleep is ‘turned on’ by secretion of the chemical neurotransmitter acetyl choline. This stage of sleep is ‘turned off’ by neurons that secrete serotonin. This gives us an idea how the brain switches the REM sleep on and off in regular intervals! An adult reaches REM approximately every 90 minutes, which is the duration of one sleep cycle. We get at least 4 to 5 sleep cycles every night. A hypnogram depicts how a person goes through various stages of sleep during a night. After falling asleep, we slip into REM sleep, light NREM sleep (Stage 1, 2) and then into deep NREM sleep (stage 3, 4). REM sleep predominates towards the end of the sleep. REM sleep is associated with the capability of dreaming. Nobody is sure about why we dream. Some people think that dreams are a way of deleting unnecessary information and retaining important information to be stored in our memory. This is similar to a process of formatting our memory disc! It definitely has to do with reorganization of synapses, a part of organization of our memory. REM sleep is also referred to as paradoxical sleep because although the EEG waves (Electrical recording of the brain) are found to be similar to that seen when the person is awake; it is difficult to arouse the person compared to any other sleep stage. This stage of sleep gives the maximum relaxation to human

brain. In recent years, scientists have discovered that R.E.M. sleep isn’t just essential for the formation of long-term memories: it might also be an essential component of creativity. The EEG waves recorded during each stage of sleep have been studied. The theta waves suggestive of deep relaxation are seen in the stage2 and 3 of NREM sleep. Interestingly, similar increased theta activity in the frontal lobe and alpha activity has also been noted during meditation and deep prayers. This means that similar deep relaxation of brain can be achieved by meditation. Why do we feel sleepy towards the end of the day? There is a neuronal congregation called the ‘ascending reticular activating system’ that maintains wakefulness or alertness in us. We feel sleepy as the activity of this system slows down. A chemical neurotransmitter adenosine that inhibits many of the bodily processes associated with wakefulness accumulates towards the end of the day. This causes a slow shutdown of our reticular activating system and we fall asleep.

rhythm and is influenced by various factors like previous sleep habits, time of sunset and duration of day time. Secretion of a hormone melatonin in response to the decrease in the background light is also a mechanism. Melatonin induces sleep and reduces core temperature of the body. Researchers at the University of Warwick and University College London have found that regular lack of sleep could be dangerous. It can more than double the risk of death from cardiovascular disease. Irritability, cognitive impairment, memory lapses, impaired judgment, impaired immune system, risk of diabetes mellitus and obesity are commonly seen in sleep deprived individuals. Sleep deprivation increases the level of hormone ‘Ghrelin’ that makes you crave for food and decreases the level of hormone ‘leptin’ which sends signal to brain when your stomach is full, leading to overeating and obesity. What is the adequate amount of sleep required?

The adequate amount of sleep required The timing of sleep is also controlled by an varies with age and person. Proper sleep hygiene should ensure good quality of inner biological clock known as circadian sleep along with quantity. An approximate sleep requirement in various ages in given below: Preschoolers (3–5 years) : 11 to 13 hours. School-age children (5–10 years) : 10 to 11 hours Adolescents (10–17 years) : 8.5 to 9.25 hours Adults, including elderly : 7 to 9 hours. Myths about sleep: Myth 1: Getting just one hour less sleep per night won’t affect your daytime functioning. TRUTH: Even slightly less sleep can affect your ability to think properly and respond quickly, and it can impair your cardiovascular health and energy

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HEALTH MONITOR

One night of increased sleep may not correct multiple nights of inadequate sleep or sleep debt. Hence it will not necessarily make up for impaired performance during the week or the physical problems that can result from not sleeping enough. balance as well as your body’s ability to fight infections. If you consistently do not get enough sleep, a sleep debt builds up that you can never repay. This sleep debt affects your health and quality of life and makes you feel tired during the day.

increased risk of injury and more behavior problems, and their growth rate may be impaired. Sleep debt appears to be quite common during childhood and may be misdiagnosed as attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder.

Myth 2: Your body adjusts quickly to different sleep schedules.

Myth 5: Naps are a waste of time.

TRUTH: Your biological clock makes you most alert during the daytime and least alert at night. It can take more than a week to adjust to a substantial change in your sleep–wake cycle. Example, when traveling across several time zones or switching from working the day shift to the night shift.

TRUTH: Although naps are no substitute for a good night’s sleep, they can be

restorative and help counter some of the effects of not getting enough sleep at night. Myth 3: You can make up for lost sleep Limit your naps to no longer than during the week by sleeping more on the 20 minutes, because longer naps will make weekends. it harder to wake up. Avoid naps after 3 TRUTH: One night of increased sleep may pm. not correct multiple nights of inadequate Adapted from: Your Guide to Healthy sleep or sleep debt. Hence it will not Sleep, The National Institutes of Health. necessarily make up for impaired Key points for a good sleep: performance during the week or the physical problems that can result from not ♦ Sleep hygiene is very important in sleeping enough. Furthermore, sleeping growing children for proper brain later on the weekends can affect your development. Make sleep a priority and biological clock, making it much harder to fix a time to go to bed. go to sleep at the right time on Sunday nights and get up early on Monday ♦ A sleep-deprived person cannot focus mornings. attention optimally and therefore cannot learn efficiently or perform to the maximal Myth 4: Children who don’t get enough ability. Get a good night sleep before the sleep at night will show signs of sleepiness day of exam. during the day. ♦ Sleep itself has a role in the TRUTH: Unlike adults, children who consolidation of memory, which is don’t get enough sleep at night typically essential for learning new information. become hyperactive, irritable, and inattentive during the day. They also have

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♦ Regular exercising like yoga and meditation can help to get a healthy sleep. ♦ Substances like alcohol and nicotine can disrupt deep sleep, which is essential for repair of body and building up energy for the day ahead. Hence abstain from addictive substances. ♦ Coffee, colas, certain teas and chocolate contain the stimulant caffeine, and its effects can take a few hours to wear off fully. Hence avoid consuming them in the night time.

♦ Avoid taking a heavy meal at night as it causes indigestion that interferes with sleeping. ♦ Relax before bed with music or reading. Take a hot bath before bed and have a good sleeping environment without noise, bright light or uncomfortable bed. When to set your morning alarm? Have you ever wondered when the right time to awake from your sleep is? Even after enjoying a full night’s sleep, getting out of bed can be difficult at times. This happens if your alarm goes off when you’re in the middle of deep sleep (Stage N3) in the sleep cycle. If you want to make mornings less painful, try setting a wake-up time that’s a multiple of 90 minutes, the length of the average sleep cycle. For example, if you go to bed at 10 PM, set your alarm for 5:30 AM (a total of 7 ½ hours of sleep) so that you wake up at the end of the sleep cycle. The author is Consultant and Head, Department of Neurosurgery, Rajagiri Healthcare and Education Project, Aluva, Kerala. [Formerly Associate ProfessorNIMHANS, Bangalore].

INNO VATIONS INNOV

st We walk our moods LED: Lighting source of 21 and capture mood century of our walks EDs stake its claims to become the consumption for lighting, and avoid many

t is well known that our mood can affect how we walk: slump-shouldered if we’re sad, bouncing along if we’re happy. Researchers of Queen’s University have shown the reverse to be

true: making people imitate a happy or sad way of walking actually affects their mood. People who were prompted to walk in a more depressed style, with less arm movement and their shoulders rolled forward, experienced worse moods than those who were induced to walk in a happier style. The results of the study are published in the Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry.

lighting source of the 21st century, phasing-out the traditional incandescent bulbs and fluorescent sources round the world. A growing concern for energy efficiency has given LED lighting a critical boost. However, that trend could be short-lived as key materials known as rare-earth elements used in the making of LEDs today become more unavailable and expensive. Scientists have listed few new materials for making household LED bulbs without using these expensive ingredients. A report in this regard is published in ACS’ Journal of the American Chemical Society. LED lighting, which can last years longer than conventional bulbs, is an energyefficient alternative. Switching over to LEDs could save billions of dollars in energy costs and halve the electricity

The researchers designed a family of materials that don’t include rare earths but instead are made out of copper iodide, which is an abundant compound. They tuned them to glow a warm white shade or various other colors using a low-cost solution process. Combination of these features makes this material class important LED material of tomorrow.

World’s thinnest electric generator

esearchers from Columbia Engineering and the Georgia Institute of Technology report their first experimental observation of piezoelectricity and the piezotronic effect in an atomically thin material, molybdenum disulfide (MoS2), resulting in a unique electric generator and mechano-sensation devices that are optically transparent, extremely light, and As social animals we spend so much time very bendable and stretchable. The results watching other people, and we are experts are published in Nature. at retrieving information about other people from all sorts of different sources. Piezoelectricity is a well-known effect in which stretching or compressing a material Those sources include facial expression, posture and body movement. Developing causes it to generate an electrical voltage. But for materials of only a few atomic a better understanding of the biological thicknesses piezoelectricity is not algorithms in our brains that process observed so far. The experiment provides a stimuli can additionally help researchers develop better artificial intelligence, while new property for two-dimensional materials such as molybdenum disulfide, learning more about ourselves in the opening the potential for new types of process. mechanically controlled electronic devices. The study builds on our understanding of how mood can affect memory. Clinically depressed patients are known to remember negative events, particularly those about themselves, much more than positive life events. And remembering the bad makes them feel even worse.

millions of metric tons of carbon emission. White LED bulbs are already abundant on store shelves. But this light is generally “colder” than the warm glow of traditional bulbs. Additionally, most of these lights are made with rare earth elements that are increasingly indemand for use in almost all other hightech devices, thus adding to the cost of the technology.

The researchers placed thin flakes of MoS2 on flexible plastic substrates and determined how their crystal lattices were oriented using optical techniques. They then patterned metal electrodes onto the flakes. Consequently they measured current flows as the samples were mechanically deformed. They monitored the conversion of mechanical to electrical energy, and observed voltage and current outputs. The researchers found that the output voltage reversed sign when they changed the direction of applied strain. The research could lead to complete atomic-thick nanosystems that are selfpowered by harvesting mechanical energy from the environment. It could also expand the applications like human-machine interfacing, robotics, MEMS, and active flexible electronics.

Pallikkutam | November 2014

INNO V ATIONS INNOV

Genetic history of tomatoes revealed

cientists have recently developed a brief genomic history of tomato breeding, based on sequencing of 360 varieties of the tomato plant. This study led by the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences in Beijing, is published in Nature Genetics. The current study builds on the first tomato genome sequence completed just two years ago. It shows in great detail how the processes of early domestication and modern breeding influenced the genetic makeup of cultivated tomatoes.

Analysis of the genome sequences of these 360 varieties and wild strains shows which regions of the genome were under selection during domestication and breeding. The study identified two independent sets of genes responsible for making the fruit of modern commercial tomatoes 100 times larger than their wild ancestors. The study calls for genetic diversity in modern varieties and highlight the important role of resource centers that keep such diversity that will be critical for future breeding and research on tomato.

What matters is quality of sleep, not its duration R

eports of insomnia are common among the elderly. A new study finds that sleep problems of the elderly may stem from the quality of rest and other health concerns more than the overall amount of sleep that they get. Symptoms of insomnia, includes difficulty falling asleep, staying asleep or waking up too early and then not feeling well rested during the daytime. Nearly half of older adults report at least one insomnia symptom and that lack of restorative sleep might be linked to heart disease, falls, and declines in cognitive and daytime functioning. The results of the study are published in Journals of Gerontology: Medical Sciences. Older

Turning point in a sleep event

cientists at Massachusetts General Hospital have developed a new statistical method and behavioral task to track the dynamic process of sleep and identified the critical moment of falling asleep. The results are published in PLOS Computational Biology. The researchers used the evolution of brain activity, behavior, and other physiological signals during the sleep onset process to automatically track the continuous changes in wakefulness experienced as a subject falls asleep. The study suggests that it is not when one falls asleep, but how one falls asleep that

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matters. Using these methods, the authors quantified a subset of healthy subjects who behaved as though they were awake even though their brains, by current clinical definitions, were asleep. Understanding the process of falling asleep is an important achievement in neuroscience and sleep medicine. Future work will look to improve the understanding of the mechanisms underlying neural dynamics during sleep, as well as the development of more sophisticated diagnostic and monitoring tools.

adultsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; perception of sleep does not always match whatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s actually happening when a more objective assessment is used to monitor sleep patterns and behaviors. The researchers evaluated objectively several aspects of older adultsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; sleep characteristics using the actigraphs in addition to the survey questions. The actigraph measurements showed that most of the older adults got sufficient amounts of sleep. One other unexpected finding for the researchers was that respondents who reported waking up more frequently during the night had more total sleep time. The research suggests that general problems or dissatisfaction with sleep may be due to other issues in their lives affecting their overall well-being. The study was supported by a grant from the National Institute on Aging in USA.

CURRENT AFF AIRS AFFAIRS

Education, does fuel motivation Biju Mangalath

The little one looked confidant too in her school uniform and appeared pretty similar to the ones that came from affluent families. Thanks to the uniform custom of our educational system. They had no luxuries at all in life, but did realise the value of education.

question with a number of answers! Well yes, it’s a simple two worded question; Why education? We might say, to make future more comfortable and stress free, for some it might simply be for a social recognition or make parents feel proud, in many cases, it is considered as a poverty remover that may pave foundation for a life that will provide those basic essentials. All these answers point fingers towards a common factor called Success. Yes indeed, education does stimulate your motivation which would further augment your strength-ofwill making the stairways to your dream(s) scalable though a little steep. I would not forget a scene, I saw in Mumabi city way back in early nineties; I spotted a family living inside a concrete pipe, which may be as small as 2 meters in

diameter and about 3 meters long. It was early morning hours and the Mumbaicrowd, moving up-and-down had already touched its peak. This pipe was on the main street near Mahul Metro station and Iwas on my way to Sandacruz. I stood still for a while, watching an ambitious father sprucing his daughter in school uniform with a smile on his face with filled with a high degree of enthusiasm and expectations. The little one looked confidant too in her school uniform and appeared pretty similar to the ones that came from affluent families. Thanks to the uniform custom of our educational system. They had no luxuries at all in life, but did realise the value of education. Well for that father, the dream was certainly to see his daughter better-off or at least to alter her future to a little more

comfortable one. I have not seen them after that or do not know anything about them, but will say with poise that they have reached their targeted destination, wherever that determined father and daughter had set their compass to. This happens to be the blueprint of the universe. ‘’Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world” once voiced the Nobel Price recipient for peace, Nelson Mandela. The social changes he brought in eradicating the racial segregation were accomplished using the same ‘powerful-weapon’. Education does expand your horizon and inspires your intellect which is more important that filling your grey matter with knowledge and information. Memorising equations, facts, figures and dates aren’t actually

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CURRENT AFF AIRS AFFAIRS

“Fall seven times, stand up eight” is a popular Japanese proverb, which perhaps was the strong propelling force that has today made Japan ‘stand-up’ strong again against the world after the devastating nuclear bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. reasons behind your success. In fact, it is the confidence and buoyancy one gains through education that undeniably transforms a child born in streets or slums into scientists or civil service officers or international athletes or to any peak of triumph. For some students, it may be difficulty it in coping up with the classroom coaching or for some it might be anxiety about their examinations or even reasons like peer pressure; a panoramic view of the path through which each one of us journey will ease many such anxieties. Set your goals and analytically navigate yourself to that destination with expecting all probabilities of good and bad, happiness and melancholies, rises and falls. Remember,

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the paths are never a bed of roses. When you face those thorns and grumpiness; understand that these challenges are again the design pattern of the journey called life and is meant to ‘make’ you and not ‘break’ you. “Fall seven times, stand up eight” is a popular Japanese proverb, which perhaps was the strong propelling force that has today made Japan ‘stand-up’ strong again against the world after the devastating nuclear bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The fact that Japan leads the world in numeracy and literacy is certainly a portrayal of the importance they give for education. Here the secret unfolds; education did play its part in this rapid bounce-back of the Japanese. The formula

is simple, it is the “ readiness quotient to face any challenges on our path with confidence and determination”. This indeed is the success secret of anybody those who have attained their goals. They have all become all the more strong fall after fall, failure after failure but their determination remained sustained. We are all spirited and fortunate enough to face those likely barriers with a sense of commitment and energy dominated by lot of enthusiasm, we have been gaining through the process called education. So, let’s be sure we are on the steep climb to a pinnacle called success effectively fuelled by education.

CREA TIVE LIVING CREATIVE

Give Caesar his due Dr. Varghese Panthalookaran

The teacher said: “Render therefore unto Caesar the things which be Caesar’s, and unto God the things which be God’s”. It is written that this deft handling of this treacherous question won awe and respect in his listeners. “They marvelled at his answer and they left him and went away” A deadly trap Great masters, when challenged with trapping questions, provided stunning answers that throw light into the core of their message. One such question posed at Jesus, the master was regarding the lawfulness of the Israelites to give tribute taxes to the Roman Emperor, the Caesar. The teacher said: “Render therefore unto Caesar the things which be Caesar’s, and unto God the things which be God’s” (Luke 20: 25). It is written that this deft handling of this treacherous question won awe and respect in his listeners. “They marvelled at his answer and they left him and went away”, reports the biblical text. A short look into the context of the event may help us understand the significance of

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this text. The top leadership of the Jewish community, the Sanhedrin, had already decided to eliminate Jesus, after his triumphant entry to the holy city of Jerusalem and the prophetic cleansing of the Jewish temple there. They arranged spies to trap the master in his own words and to collect evidences against him to be submitted in front of the Roman justice. The spies began their discourse with a flattery of the master. They praised him for his straightforwardness and fearlessness. His answers were without fear or favour! After the initial pleasantries, they presented their carefully formulated question to him: “Is it lawful for us to give tribute unto Caesar, or not?” (Lk. 20:22). They tactfully closed the possible escape-routes by formulating the

question to generate only “Yes” or “No” as answer. They might have calculated: If the answer were in the positive, it would expose the folly of the guru, who is already considered as “Messiah”, the liberator by a vast number of Israelites. If the answer is in the negative, it is enough evidence to hand him over to the Roman rulers, under the pretext of seditious rebellion against the Roman rule, which enjoins a sure death penalty. It should be remembered that during his trial before Pontius Pilate, the Jewish leaders tried to bring such an accusation about the master (Lk. 23:1-4). The master stands at the risk of either losing his face with a “yea” or losing his life with a “nay”. He is caught between the Devil and the deep Sea!

CREA TIVE LIVING CREATIVE

Humans are prone to temptations. Excessive indulgence in anything yokes a person to the object of desire. That is why masters recommend a middle path for life, a path that avoids the extremes. The incident took a dramatic twist as the master asked them for the coin they used to pay tribute to Caesar. He asked them about the image depicted on the coin and about the script written on it. They had to confess that it was all Caesar’s. Thereafter the master suggested rendering Caesar his due and doing so also to God. The message went viral in entire Jerusalem. It remains so to date. It provides an extraordinary insight into human predicament caught between many rulers, whose commands eat into their inner freedom, restricting possibilities of their life and dampening the creative spurs. Need one pay tax to Caesar? Leo Tolstoy interpreted this text and commented: “...if Christ recognized the obligation of paying tribute, and so of obedience, He would have said directly, “Yes, it should be paid;” but He says, “Give to Caesar what is his, that is, the money, and give your life to God,” and with these latter words He not only does not encourage any obedience to power, but, on the contrary, points out that in everything which belongs to God it is not right to obey Caesar”.

Later on, Mahatma Gandhi also interpreted this text in similar lines. He wrote: “Jesus evaded the direct question put to him because it was a trap. He was in no way bound to answer it. He therefore asked to see the coin for taxes. And then said with withering scorn, “How can you who traffic in Caesar’s coins and thus receive what to you are benefits of Caesar’s rule refuse to pay taxes?” Jesus’ whole preaching and practice point unmistakably to noncooperation, which necessarily includes non-payment of taxes.” These interpretations have foundation in the covenant at the Mount of Sinai between Yahweh (Jewish name for God) and Israelites. According to it, God chose Israel as his own people and declared himself God and ruler. Israelites are, hence forbidden to declare allegiance to anybody other than to God. Caesar has no stakes in Israel and Israel shall have no dues for Caesar, their conqueror! However, other moderate interpretations find in the text a call to separate state from religion. One shall pay the tax prescribed by the legitimate state. The master shows way by regularly paying the temple tax

(Mt. 17:24-27). During his public life the master showed great sympathy towards the tax-collectors and even admitted a taxcollector named Mathew, to the college of his apostles. They officially collected the tribute taxes for Caesar and were hated by the Jewish public on this account. However, Mathew, a tax-collector, was considered worthy of apostleship! It is interesting to also note that the master did not organize any armed conflict against the Romans. He did not consider himself as the King of Jews. He did not intend to set up an earthly kingdom, as he confessed in front of Pontius Pilate during interrogation. Irrespective of all these, the following was written on to his cross: “Jesus of Nazareth, the King of Jews” (Mt. 27: 37). The writing on the cross was meant to define the nature of the crime one has committed to deserve the punishment. Hence, the writing on the master’s cross was like a cruel joke. The extreme political paranoia nourished by the Roman rulers led them to the political murder of the master. It was on account of similar fear that Herod, the ruler of Bethlehem, ordered murder of children below two years old (Mt. 2: 16-18) in an

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CREA TIVE LIVING CREATIVE

Humans shall not invoke upon substances to celebrate life. The inner freedom shall be the sufficient reason for immaculate celebrations of life. attempt to nip the King of Jews in the bud. Pilate finally implemented it on the cross. Whatever be the nature of relation between the master and the Romans, the suggestion to give Caesar his due has greater depth. It was the most powerful declaration on human freedom, the wellspring of human creativeness! Teaching on human freedom An interpretation in line with that of Leo Tolstoy looks fitting to the text. To Caesar one may owe one’s riches. But to God, one owes his/her life. The strict command not to bow before anybody or anything excepting the Supreme is in tune with the inner worth of a human person. The statement highlights the absolute nature of human freedom. A human person shall not be subjected to slavery of any kind. S/he is called to complete sovereignty and inviolable freedom. They are made according to the image and likeness of the Supreme, as His children. Their existence bears His signature, the approval of the Supreme. He is present at the root of their being or in the cave of their hearts. They inherit the absolute divine freedom, which shall not infringed by any external agency.

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Only mutual consideration shall set limits to human freedom, in consideration of a tangent where the individual freedom meets the freedom of the other. Such a consideration shall oblige them to pay brotherly or sisterly homage to each other and equips them to work harmoniously in some hierarchical structure in pursuit of a common goal. Absolute freedom due to a person shall lead to inter-dependence rather to independence. Humans need to learn the art of inter-dependence to truly exercise and cherish freedom, which is their birth-right. It is, however, sub-human to become slave to anybody or to anything. Such entanglements could also restrict human creativeness. Freedom unleashes celebration of life Having said this, no body shall imagine that s/he is naturally free. There are numerous entanglements that could radically enslave human condition. Humans are prone to temptations. Excessive indulgence in anything yokes a person to the object of desire. That is why masters recommend a middle path for life, a path that avoids the extremes. One cannot afford to succumb to compulsions of own character or to personal

inclinations. That vitiates the source of one’s freedom to the extent of blocking free flow of creativity. The teaching of “nishkamakarma” or “effort without desire (for its effects)” is directed to save human efforts from the extreme pressure of expectations of immediate gratifications, which could hamper with the human freedom. It is true that subscription to a particular worldview could open new horizons of meaning and provide extensions to one’s own being. However, an uncritical adherence to an ideology could decelerate search for truth, being enchained by its propaganda. Humans shall not invoke upon substances to celebrate life. The inner freedom shall be the sufficient reason for immaculate celebrations of life. Something that meddles with that freedom triggers only momentary celebrations and that at the cost of invaluable freedom. The lingering inner vacuum left behind by consumption of enslaving substances eats into the core of a person. They blast the bubbles of life to a zilch. Creative spurs popping up on account of these substances are only shortlived. They leave devastating wounds on creative living.

INFO TECH

Apple to reignite interest in iPad

pple is trying to reignite sales of its iPad tablet with its new models. Apple’s chief executive, Timothy D Cook, unveiled the next generation of Apple iPads, the iPad Air 2 and the iPad Mini 3 recently. The new devices have fingerprint sensors that could make shopping online as easy as swiping a button. And in the case of the more expensive iPad Air 2, it is also faster, has a better camera, and is thinner than last year’s version. So thin, in fact, that Cook said it was skinnier than a pencil. To make his point, Apple produced a video where a laser beam shaved off bits of a pencil to make it as slender as the new tablet.

that the iPad achieved in its first few years, starting in 2010. “That was just crazy growth,” said Ben Bajarin, a consumer technology analyst for Creative Strategies. “The iPad has normalized because it’s mature. It’s not going to go back to 180% growth, but it is still growing.”

not thinner than the last version. Apple has added a gold colour option to both models. The fingerprint sensor in both tablets is called Touch ID. The technology is used to log into the iPad in place of a typed passcode. It can also be used to make inapp purchases with Apple’s new mobile payments system, Apple Pay.

Now about that svelte look: Apple said the iPad Air 2 was 18% thinner and 40%

The iOS 8.1 system, the next update for the software system that runs Apple’s mobile devices. Apple has made big changes to its iPads more quickly than it has with other Apple products, like the iPhone, which has typically been redesigned every two years. Why the difference? For one, an iPad gives Apple’s engineers more physical space to tinker around. And from a business standpoint, Apple has to do more with the iPad to maintain healthy sales.

“It’s unbelievably gorgeous and look how thin it is. Can you even see it?” Cook said, holding the new iPad in front of an audience of journalists and Apple employees at the company’s Silicon Valley headquarters. But it is not clear that making the iPad Air 2 the Twiggy of tablet devices will be enough to reinvigorate Apple’s iPad sales, which have slumped recently. Analysts speculate that the new iPads, which will be available October 24, will contribute to modest sales growth. What the new iPads will not do is bring back the incredible, triple-percent growth in sales

faster than the last one, a surprising change — and a bit of an engineering feat — because Apple made the previous version thinner and faster just last year. The iPad Air 2 also has a display designed to reduce reflections. The tablet has 10 hours of battery life, same as the previous version. It has a starting price of $500. The iPad Mini 3 starts at $400 — but it is

In the second quarter, Apple’s iPad sales declined 9.3% compared with the same period a year ago, according to the industry analysis firm IDC. And the worldwide market for tablet sales is starting to cool. While shipments of tablets exploded from 18 million in 2010 to 207 million last year, they are expected to increase just 11% this year, according to another research firm, Gartner. Last year, shipments had increased 55%.

Facebook is biggest threat to YouTube: Report

ideos on Facebook are fast catching up with YouTube in terms of number of shares and the social networking site may overtake YouTube in video sharing through its news feed soon, say researchers.

traffic at the expense of YouTube,” reported Socialbakers, a social media

An analysis based on 20,000 Facebook pages and 180,000 posts over one year found that Facebook is now a real threat to YouTube in terms of video consumption. “The content marketers are directly uploading video content to Facebook, meaning that Facebook is retaining the

analytics company, on its website.

“This is a big deal for YouTube. They could lose a big percent of their distribution,” Jan Rezab, CEO of Socialbakers, was quoted as saying. This means users will stay on Facebook instead of leaving, he added. According to the report, “Marketers are going to continue to use the network that is most effective for gaining engagement. Basically, there are no signs of the trend reversing from its current path.” In September, Facebook announced that it was serving up to one billion videos a day.

Pallikkutam | November 2014

INFO TECH

Intex Aqua Style X Twitter spices timelines with with Android 4.4 unasked-for tweets KitKat available witter said it would start “signals” such as popularity, level of interaction, and how much interest is Treconfiguring its users’ timelines with online at Rs. 4,890 “relevant” shown by account’s one does follow. A messages from people they

ntex seems set to launch the Aqua Style X smartphone, as it has been listed for purchase by an e-commerce site at Rs. 4,890. The new Aqua series smartphone from Intex is yet to be listed on the company’s site, and no official availability details or price have been announced. However, the smartphone is available to buy from eBay India. The new Aqua Style X, like other recent Intex handsets, runs Android 4.4 KitKat out-of-the-box. It comes with dual-SIM (GSM+GSM) support, and features a 4.5-inch (540x960 pixels) qHD IPS display. It is powered by a 1.3GHz quad-core (MediaTek MT6582) processor coupled with 512MB of RAM. The Intex Aqua Style X comes with 4GB of inbuilt storage, which is further expandable via microSD card (up to 32GB). It sports an 8-megapixel rear autofocus camera with flash, while there is a secondary 2megapixel front-facing camera also onboard. The rear camera features multiangle view, panorama, face beauty, Smile Shot, face detection, HDR, self timer, tap to capture, and voice capture options. On the connectivity front, the Aqua Style X offers 3G, GPRS/ EDGE, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, GPS/ A-GPS, Micro-USB, and Bluetooth options. The smartphone packs a 1500mAh battery, which according to the official listing is rated to deliver up to 5-6 hours of talk time and up to 180 hours of standby time. It measures 135x68.5x8.9mm and is listed in Black and White colours. Earlier this month, Intex unveiled the Android 4.4.2 KitKat-based Aqua Slice smartphone, priced at Rs. 7,990. Some of the key specifications of the smartphone are dual-SIM (GSM+GSM) support, a 1.3GHz quad-core processor, 8GB of inbuilt storage expandable via microSD card (up to 32GB), an 8-megapixel rear autofocus camera, a 5-megapixel frontfacing camera, and a 1650mAh battery.

Pallikkutam | November 2014

haven’t bothered to follow at the service. Based on a positive response from its tests, the popular one-tomany messaging service is inching toward the Facebook model of using software to “curate” what users see based on their interests or activities, Twitter said in a blog post. “In many cases, the best Tweets come from people you already know, or know of,” the San Francisco-based company said.”But, there are times when you might miss out on Tweets we think you’d enjoy.” Twitter said the plan, which has drawn resistance from some users, remained a “timeline experiment” and might not make it to 100 percent of users. The company said testing showed that many people enjoy seeing tweets from accounts they don’t follow, provided the messages are deemed worthwhile based on

support page at Twitter on Friday explained that when it identifies a tweet, an account to follow, or other content that is popular or relevant, may be added to timelines. “This means you will sometimes see Tweets from accounts you don’t follow,” the Twitter support page explained. “We believe that each successful experiment, big or small, can make your Twitter experience simpler and more relevant to you.” The notion of curating Twitter timelines that have long been loved for the real-time blast of information provided is seen as anathema by some fans of the service. A stream of messages fired off at Twitter urged the company to back away from what was lambasted as a terrible idea. Facebook continually refines its algorithm for determining which posts should be given priority in timelines presented at the leading social network.

Samsung to increase investment in India’s 4G market

orean technology major Samsung has

committed to scale up its investments in India’s 4G market in a meeting with telecom minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, while LG expressed great faith in the ‘changed investment climate.’

“Met CEO Samsung. Discussed NOFN and Smart city projects. They are keen on India’s 4G mobile market. (They) want to increase investment,” Prasad tweeted after his meeting.

GUEST COLUMN

kvs{S pw cmPmhpw ssZhhpw sI F¬ taml\h¿Ω

sS≥j≥ icn°pw `bØns‚ thsdmcp cq]amWv. CXv Ccp´nt\mSp≈ `bw t]msebmWv. Ccp´n¬ Hcp ssIØncn thWw. `bw t]mIpw. B Zo]w I-≠p]nSn®m¬ aXn. \mw dnemIvkvUv BIpw. dnemIvtkj≥ F∂ Cw•ojv hm°n\v aebmfØn¬ Ab®phnS¬, ssiYneyw, hn{iaw, tPmenbn¬ \n∂pw hncan°¬ F∂o hm°pIfmWv ]cn`mjbmbn Cw•ojv˛ aebmfw \nL-phn¬ sImSpØn´p≈Xv. ]s£ icn°pw dnemIvtkjs‚ A¥ Ø Cu hm°pIƒs°m∂pw \ap°p \¬Im≥ ]‰pIn√. ]Øncp]Ø©p sIm√w apºmWv. FdWmIpfØv Hcp c-≠p Znhk C‚≥knhv kvs{Skv amt\Pvsa‚ v h¿°v tjm∏v. Ccp]Xv sSIvt\m˛knhn¬ D∂X]Zhnbnencn°p∂ a≤yhbkv°¿°pth≠-nbmWv. C∂v AØcw h¿°vtjm∏pIƒ km[mcWambn°gn™p. A∂v AXp ]s£ tIcfØn¬ ]pXpabmbncp∂p. F√mhcpw AhchcpsS tPmenIfn¬ Unknj≥ tat°gvkmWv. kzm`mhnIambpw

Xocm{]iv\ßfpsS \SphnemWv F√mhcpw Ft∏mgpw. \√ ]TnØhpw hnhchpw ]cnNbhpw D≈Xp ImcWw icnbmb Xocpam\Øn\pth-≠n Ft∏mgpw sS≥j\nemWv. F√mhscbpw AhchcpsS ÿm]\ßƒ henb ^okv \¬In kvt]m¨k¿ sNbvXXmWv. A°q´Øn¬ A∂v d∫¿ t_m¿Un¬ sk{I´dnbmbncp∂ Fs‚ A\nb\pw D-≠mbncp∂p. A\nb≥ {KmPpthj\v bqWnshgvkn‰n H∂mw dmw¶pImc\pw sF kn U_vfnbp F bv°v kz¿ÆsaU¬ tPXmhpamWv. h¿°vtlmfn°v h¿°vtjm∏ns‚ Ahkm\ skj\n¬ h¿°vtjm∏ns‚ Kpcp F√mhtcmSpambn AhchcpsS kz¥w kvs{Skv amt\Pvsa‚ v {]mtbmKnI coXn hnhcn°m≥ ]d™p. {]m¿∞\, tbmKm, bm{X, sNdnb aZy]m\w XpSßn ]eXpw HmtcmcpØcpw hnhcn®p. H∂pw ]q¿Æ ]cnlmca√. ]s£ Fs‚

A\nb≥ ]d™p. F\n°v Fs‚ kvs{Skv h√msX Fs∂ Ipg°ptºmƒ Hcp acp∂-v. Rm≥ t\sc FdWmIpfØp hcpw. tN´s\ ImWpw. Ipsd t\cw Fs‚ F√m {]iv\ßfpw tN´t\mSv Xpd∂v ]dbpw. Rm≥ kzbw hnizkn°m≥ `b°p∂ kaqlw Adn™m¬ Fs‚ am\w XIcmhp∂ clkyw t]mepw tN´t\mSv Xpd∂p ]dbpw. Hcp cm{Xn. F√mw ]d™p Ignbptºmƒ km[mcW cm{Xn Ht∂m ct-≠m aWnbmIpw. tN´≥ F√mw tI´v Ahkm\w ]dbpw. Ct{Xbpt≈m! CXv ]dbm\mtWm Cu HmSn h∂Xv. CXnse¥p sS≥j\mIm\m. knw]nƒ. A\nb\v CXv Cuknbmbn lm≥Un¬ sNømhp∂tXbp≈p. Fs‚ sS≥j≥ Xocpw. kpJambn Dd°w hcpw. cmhnse ¢o≥ a\ pambn tIm´bØn\v Xncn®p t]mIpw. \apt°h¿°pw sS≥j\p≠v-v. hn{iaØn\p Pallikkutam | November 2014

GUEST COLUMN

Imew amdp∂p. icocØn\pw a\ n\pw hn{iaw e`n°m\p≈ kmlNcyw Ipdbv°p∂ hn[w \ΩpsS B{Klßƒ B¿Ønbmbn am‰p∂ tIm¿∏td‰v kwkv°mcw \sΩ Iogvs∏SpØpIbmWv. CSthfbn√mØ hn[w \mw sS≥j\nemWv. Acq]nbmb Cu sS≥j≥ icn°pw `bØns‚ thsdmcp cq]amWv. CXv Ccpńt\mSp≈ `bw t]msebmWv. Ccpń¬ Hcp ssIØncn thWw. `bw t]mIpw. B Zo]w I≠p]nSn®m¬ aXn. \mw dnemIvkvUv BIpw. Fs‚ Hcp A\p`hIY ]dbmw. ]Øp ap∏Xp sIm√w apºmWv. XncphnXmwIqdnse Ahkm\sØ almcmPmhns\°pdn®v ZqcZ¿i≥ Hcp tUm°psa‚dn \n¿Ωn°m\p≈ ZuXyw F\n°p \¬Inbncp∂p. c≠-p h¿jw apºv ZnhwKX\mb am¿ØmWvUh¿ΩbpsS tPyjvT≥ {io NnØncXncp\mƒ _mecmah¿Ω Bbncp∂p XocphnXmwIq¿ cmPyw `cn®ncp∂ Ahkm\sØ cmPmhv. IhSnbm¿ sIm´mcØn\IØv jqńwKv \S°pIbmWv. Rm≥ almcmPmhnt\mSv At]£n®p. Pallikkutam | November 2014

\msf H∂v sIm´mcØn\IØv c≠mw\nebn¬ \n∂v Aßv Cdßnhcp∂ Zyiyw Iymadmbn¬ ]I¿Ønbm¬ \∂mbncp∂p. At±lw kΩXn®p. sshIn´v hn{iaw Ign™v Xmtg°p hcptºmgmIs´. Hcp aWn°q¿ apºp Xs∂ sse‰nwKv bqWn‰v hnf°pIƒ ^nIvkv sNbvXp. Iymadm dUnbmbn. \ΩpsS s^Ud¬ _m¶v No^v tlm¿ankv kmdns‚ aI≥ t_m_nbmWv Zyiy klmbn. almcmPmhv IyXykabØv h∂p. tImWn∏SnbpsS c≠-p ]SnIfndßn. C\n ]Øp ]SnIƒ ]ns∂ Hcp πm‰v t^mw. hetØ°p Xncn™v A©p \nanjw. ]ns∂ Ahkm\sØ Gsg´p]SnIƒ. Xmsgbndßn sas√ AIte°p \S∂p \oßp∂ _m°v hyq. temwKv tjm´n¬ Ahkm\n°pw. cmP]Zhn hn´v km[mcW ]uc\mbn amdnbXns‚ Ia‚dn°v ]‰nb hnjz¬kv. \mS≥

\¥pWnhmZyØns‚ ]›mØe Cºw. \m¬∏Xp sk°≥Uv Im´mhp∂ Zyiy {imhy D{K≥ ^nenw In´pw. ]s£ Tnw. s]s´∂v F√mw BsI A]ISambn. aq∂masØ ]Snbn¬ CdßnbbpS≥ almcmPmhv apJapb¿Øn. H∂p \n∂p. Hcp sNdp ]p©ncn. A\¥nchcpsS ssIhn´v apJw Aev]w XmgvØn. At±lØns‚ CcpssI∏ØnIfpw H∂n®p. At±lw sXmgpXp. Xncph\¥]pcw \KcØnse {]`mXhpw kmbm”hpw F∂pw km£n \n¬°p∂ B AXn{]ikvXamb at\mlcZyiyw. IhSnbmdn¬ \n∂pw {io]Zva\m`kzmant£{Xw hscbp≈ ]mXbpsS Ccphihpw ImØp\n¬°p∂ km[mcW P\w. sas√ \oßp∂ Imdn\IØv Ccn°p∂ hn\bØns‚ aq¿ØnbpsS sXmgpssI. Fs‚ kv{In]v‰nwKnse aTbØcambncp∂p. Iymadm

GUEST COLUMN

Ah\hs‚ I¿Ωw sNøp∂Xn¬ F√m i‡nbpw tI{μoIcn°pI. AXpw ssZhmcm[\ Xs∂bmWv. imkv{Xw \¬Ip∂ \n¿hnImcXbn¬ \n∂pw tamN\w t\Sm≥ CtX am¿§ap≈p. a\ ns‚ dnemIvtkj\v CtX ssZhmcm[\tb Hcp acp∂p≈p. bqWn‰v FdWmIpfsØbmWv. ]s£ kuIcyØn\pw Nnehp Ipdbv°m\pw th-≠n sse‰v bqWn‰v tem°embn G¿∏mSp sNbvXXmbncp∂p. Xncph\¥]pcØpImcmb tPmen°m¿ Bcmbmepw almcmPmhns\ FhnsS Ft∏mƒ I≠-mepw ssIIq∏nt∏mIpw. almcmPmhv Xncn®p sXmgpIbpw sNøpw. Cu shdpw kXyw Rm≥ ImWWambncp∂p. sse‰v t_mbvkv F√mhcpw Xe Ip\n®v ssI Iq∏n \n∂p. almcmPmhpw Ccp hitØ°pw amdnamdn t\m°n ssIIq∏n ]SnIfndßn. Fs‚ kv{In]v‰v XI¿∂p. IjvSn®v aq∂psk°≥Uns‚ Zyiyw am{Xw D]tbmKn°m≥ In´n. F\n°p Ic®n¬ h∂p. NnØncXncp\mƒ cmPknwlmk\Øns‚ ]SnIfndßp∂Xn\p apºp Xs∂ Xs‚ {]PIƒ°v ka\mbncp∂p F∂ Xncn®dnhv F\n°p thWambncp∂p. ASpØ Znhkw F\n°Xv a\ nembn. Rm≥ At±ltØmSv tNmZn®p. AßbpsS PohnXØn¬ almcmPmsh∂ \nebn¬ G‰hpw sS≥j≥ A\p`hs∏´ kabw GXmbncp∂p? Aev]t\csØ au\Øn\p tijw At±lw ]d™p. XncphnXmwIq¿ cmPyw C¥y≥ bqWnb\n¬ ebn°p∂ Ih\‚ v H∏n´ Znhkw. C¥y≥ bqWnb\n¬ ebn°p∂XmWv icnsb∂v F\n°dnbmambncp∂p. ]s£ Fs‚ {]iv\w B Xocpam\w FSp°m≥ F\n°v tamdembpw \oXn\njvTambpw A[nImcapt≠-m F∂Xmbncp∂p. Rm≥ cmPmh√. sF hmkv H¨fn B≥ GP‚ v. XncphnXmwIq¿ cmPyw {io]Zva\m`\v ASnbdh®XmWv. Rm≥ {io]Zva\m`s‚ Zmk≥ am{XamWv. F anb¿ GP‚ v. Iym≥ B≥ GP‚ v {Sm≥kv^¿ Zn

t{]m¿∏¿t´dnb¬ ssd‰vkv? Hcp GP‚n\v Cu hn[w Cu cmPyw ssIam‰w \SØm\p≈ [m¿ΩnIhpw \nba]chpamb AhImiapt≠-m? sF hmkv dnben tSmén A]vsk‰v. ]ns∂? F\n°v `cX≥ hgn ImńØ∂p. {]PIfmWv cmPmhv. knw_¬ shdpw saXnbSnbpamImw. ]Xn\mep h¿jsØ Im\\hmkØn\mbn cmP]Zhn hn´v t]mIm≥ \n¿_‘nX\mb {iocmas\ XncnsI sIm≠-p hcm\mbn A\pP≥ `cX≥ ImńseØp∂p. cmambWØnse B IYbmWv At±lsØ dnemIvkvUv B°nbXv.

\StØ-Xv? ]e am¿§ßfp-≠v. H∂v, {]]©w apgph≥ hym]n®v \√ KpWßfpsS aq¿Ønbmbn \n¬°p∂ ssZhØn¬ kzbw ka¿∏n°pI. c-≠v, {]mWmbmaw sIm-≠pw tbmKm`ymkw sIm≠-pw a\ ns\ \nb{¥n®v A\pjvTm\ßfpsS klmbtØmsS ssZhk¶¬∏Øn¬ apgpIpI. aq∂v, ta¬∏d™h sNøm\p≈ Ignhns√¶n¬ Xt‚Xmb I¿Ωßfn¬ ]q¿Æambpw apgpIpI. Aßns\ hcptºmƒ a‰p≈ tamlßfn¬ \n∂pw tamN\w t\Sn `‡nbpsSbpw A\mk‡nbpsSbpw i‡ntbmsS I¿tΩm∑pJ\mIm≥ km[n°pw. Imew amdp∂p. icocØn\pw \mev, CsXm∂pw Ign™ns√¶n¬ a\ n\pw hn{iaw e`n°m\p≈ I¿ΩêsØ XyPn°pI. F∂p kmlNcyw Ipdbv°p∂ hn[w \ΩpsS B{Klßƒ B¿Ønbmbn h®m¬ I¿Ωw sIm≠-p e`n°mhp∂ êßsf th≠-m am‰p∂ tIm¿∏td‰v kwkv°mcw F∂p h®n´v Xs‚ {]h¿Ønbn¬ \sΩ Iogvs∏SpØpIbmWv. apgpIpI. Cu \mep am¿§ßfpw ChnsS F¥mWv IcWobw? hnizmkn°p am{Xa√, Bk‡nbmWv a\pjya\ ns\ Ahnizmkn°pw G‰hpa[nIw {hWs∏SpØp∂ A\ph¿Øn°mhp∂XmWv tcmKw. B tcmKØn\v Hcp F∂XmWv CXns‚ sa®w. acpt∂bp≈p. GIm¥Xbnse CjvSap≈, Ah\h\v GIm{KX. AXns‚ _mlyamb kuIcyap≈ Ht∂m AXn¬ cq]amWv ssZhmcm[\. IqSpXtem am¿§ßƒ sXcs™Sp°mw. [ym\amWv Bcm[\bv°v c≠-p XcØnep≈ Ffp∏sa¶n¬ AXp sNømw. ssien D-≠v. H∂v, ssZhsØ {]m¿∞\mKoXßfpsSbpw a‰p F√m‰nepw \nd™p \n¬°p∂ {]IS\mflIamb ssNX\yambn IcpXn sNbvXnIfneqsSbpw a\ ns\ GIm{KNnØtØmSpw ]q¿Æ `‡ntbmSpw IqSn \SØp∂Xv. c-≠v GIm{Kam°msa¶n¬ AXpw sNømw. Nne¿°v CsXm∂pw C{μnbßsf AS°n kIe Bhiyan√mbncn°pw. Ah¿ PohPmeßsfbpw Ah\hs‚ I¿Ωw sNøp∂Xn¬ ka`mh\tbmsS I≠-v D®\oN F√m i‡nbpw tI{μoIcn°pI. hnNmct`Zßfn√msX `Pn°p∂Xv. AXpw ssZhmcm[\ Xs∂bmWv. Cu c-≠nepw GXmWv imkv{Xw \¬Ip∂ sa®w, GXmWv \n¿hnImcXbn¬ \n∂pw tamN\w tamiw F∂p t\Sm≥ CtX am¿§ap≈p. ]dbm≥ ]‰n√. a\ ns‚ dnemIvtkj\v CtX At∏mƒ ssZhmcm[\tb Hcp acp∂p≈p. Fßns\bmWv ssZhmcm[\ Pallikkutam | November 2014

EMVEE’S ARMCHAIR DREAMS

Kerala’s own hindi Hindi was promoted by Gandhiji as one of the arms of our independent struggle along with salt, khadi, and truth. Salt is now iodised and available in super markets easily to everyone. Khadi we converted to silk and retained it for making caps for Gandhi Jayanti. Truth has various forms as we all found out and so everybody is truthful.

ur Prime Minister Narendra Modiji, though a Gujarati made it topsyturvy. He speaks only in Hindi to foreigners. It is OK in diplomatic talks with heads of states since generally they are formal and toast master mutual praises and smiles and shake-hands communicate better. But what was the urgent need for Modiji to address the American and Chinese in Hindi?

easily to everyone. Khadi we converted to silk and retained it for making caps for Gandhi Jayanti. Truth has various forms as we all found out and so everybody is truthful. The history of Hindi in Kerala is really revolutionary. Since India became independent without any of our direct efforts, and we were concentrating on

He spoke to us in Malayalam giving Onam greetings. But not in Hindi. Perhaps he was aware of our post modern Hindi. Hindi, as we all know, is the national language of India and main communication medium in Kerala. But we could not really fully grasp the Hindi Modiji was speaking. He was not speaking in the earthy Hindi we understand. Kerala’s present Hindi, nurtured carefully by literate Monglish speaking malayalee is the real Hindi, the future Hindi. It is not Modiji’s Gujarati- Hindi, nor Gandhiji’s Urdu-mixed Hindustani or Indian Army’s Fauji- Hindi , or even Bollywood Hindi. It is the mix of Assamese-Bengali-Oriya- Bihari rustic Hindi of the illiterate masses of rural India. I have many friends among them. I asked a few Bengali pucca Marxist ideologist revolutionary comrades working as semiskilled workers in Kochi area for the last few years: Why are you not learning to speak in Malayalam? They happily replied: Bhai, zarroot nahi. Yahaam sabhi Hindi samajtha hai. Chechi Chettan Beche sab. Hindi was promoted by Gandhiji as one of the arms of our independent struggle along with salt, khadi, and truth. Salt is now iodised and available in super markets

Pallikkutam | November 2014

literacy and communism, we became global and actually were learning Russian, Chinese and Italian in that order. Result was that even our leaders operating from Delhi did not learn Hindi. Now suddenly Modiji played this trick. Even the members of the Hindi promoting groups fighting for control of the Hindi Prachar Sabha in Kerala have decided to learn Hindi. Hindi almost divided India in

the Ninteen Fiftees. Religion or philosophy or color of skin could not hold on against language. Urdu and Bengali forced religiously carved Pakistan split and Bangla Desh was born. The same happened in USSR and African nations. Independent India’s first major problem was language based federalism. Potti Sriramulu’s fast ended in his demise and Andhra Pradesh was born followed by many linguistic states. The Hindi die-hards like Congress president Purushtham Das Tandon wanted even military action to force Hindi into Tamil heads. But good sense and Nehruji prevailed and India was not divided. Linguistic states were formed. But official Hindi promotion was limited to copies of English memos and progress evaluation holiday tours of umpteen committee hangmen. English was made the official language of India after careful thought by the British Parliament. The chairman of the committee on this issue, Lord Trevelyan in those olden days observed. We should make English the language of the natives of India. In the next few generations Indians will gradually lose hold of their mother tongues or Persian, the present language of the sircar. From now what they learn is what is available in English. They will gradually become our serfs even when they become independent or successful rebels. The language is secondary, but what they will absorb is our heritage, our superior wisdom and our philosophy. Trevelyan was dead right. Only point was that we forgot our heritage, wisdom and philosophy. Now is Modiji making a rebound or we are making a jumpstart of our own.

RAINBOW

Science facts

Food facts E

njoy these fun food facts for kids. Learn a range of interesting facts about food and nutrition, topics that play an important role in everyone’s lives. What foods are popular around the world? Is it common to have a food allergy? What is a vegan? Find out the answers to these questions and much more: Different parts of the world have their own local cuisine. The diets and general food habits of various cultures depend on social, religious, economic and safety factors as well as the availability of different foods.

China is the largest producer of garlic, producing over 10 million tons in 2008 and accounting for over 75% of world output. Examples of popular fruits include apples, oranges, pears, strawberries, peaches, bananas, apricots and grapes. Technically speaking, strawberries aren’t even berries! Read our strawberry facts to learn more.

Types of equipment used in the cooking process include ovens, microwaves, toasters, grills, pots and frying pans.

There are around 2000 different plant types that humans use to cultivate food.

The sweet potato is a root vegetable and is not closely related to the potato. More potato facts. Cutting onions releases a gas which causes a stinging sensation when it comes into contact with your eyes. Your body produces tears to dilute the irritant and remove it from your eyes. Pumpkins are usually labelled as vegetables but they contain seeds and are technically fruit. More pumpkin facts.

Food for human consumption is typically made from plants and animals but we also eat other products such as fermented foods and fungus (mushrooms, truffles etc). Cooking is an important part of food preparation that involves applying heat. In most cases this transforms the chemical make up of food, altering its texture, flavor, nutritional properties and appearance.

Examples of food and cuisine that are popular or famous in certain areas of the world include hummus in the Middle East, apple pie in the USA, raw fish in Japan, cheese in France, roast meat and vegetables in England, curry in India and tortillas in Mexico.

Examples of popular vegetables include lettuce, carrots, asparagus, cauliflower, broccoli, spinach, potatoes and onions.

Although humans are omnivores (eating both plants and animals), many people choose not to eat meat and fish, they are known as vegetarians. Those who don’t eat or use any products made from animals (including eggs, dairy products and honey) are known as vegans.

Various cooking methods include boiling, simmering, steaming, sautéing, pan frying and deep-frying. The average apple contains around 130 calories. More apple facts. India is the world’s largest producer of bananas, producing nearly 22 million tons in 2007. More banana facts. Humans use many different methods for gathering food which include farming, hunting, gardening, foraging and fishing. Humans eat meat from a number of different animals, common examples include meat from chickens, cows, sheep and pigs. Other food products that come from animals include milk, eggs and honey.

Around 70 million people suffer from food poisoning every year with around 7 million of these cases being fatal. Careful food storage, temperature control and preparation is necessary to avoid potentially dangerous bacteria, toxins and viruses. Around 8% of children and 2% of adults have some kind of food allergy, this occurs when the body’s immune system incorrectly assumes a certain food protein is harmful and attacks it. Common examples of food allergies include reactions to peanuts, gluten and shellfish.

Pallikkutam | November 2014

RAINBOW

Quiz 1.The rice dish ‘paella’ comes from what country? 2. Deer meat is known by what name? 3. Are humans omnivore, herbivore or carnivore? 4. What food is used as the base of guacamole? 5. The range of vegetables, fruits, meats, nuts, grains, herbs and spices used in cooking are known as what? 6. True or false? India is the world’s largest producer of bananas. 7. What is the sweet substance made by bees? 8. Lures, reels, rods, hooks, baits and nets are common equipment used in what food gathering method? 9. True or false? McDonald’s has restaurants in over 100 countries around the world. 10. The ‘Pizza Hut’ franchise began in what country? 11. Foods rich in starch such as pasta and bread are often known by what word starting with the letter C? 12. True or false? Trans fats are good for your health. 13. What is another name for maize? 14. Fruit preserves made from citrus fruits, sugar and water are known as what? 15. True or false? ‘Beefsteak’ is a variety of tomato. 16. Dairy products are generally made from what common liquid? 17. Do coconut trees grow better in cold or warm climates? 18. True or false? Cooking food often transforms its chemical make up. 19. What is the popular food used to carve jack-o-lanterns during Halloween? 20. Chiffon, marble and bundt are types of what?

Human Body Quiz Answers 1. The cerebrum

6. Keratin

11. Larynx

16. Circulation

2. Iris

7. The skin

12. Nostrils

17. Ribs

3. Melanin

8. Bone marrow

13. Taste buds

18. The esophagus

4. Quadriceps

9. False (there are 206)

14. Vertebrae

19. True

5. True

10. 2

15. A double helix

20. Epidermis

Pallikkutam | November 2014

REFLECTIONS

To warm the heart and cool the sting Fr. Jose Panthaplamthottiyil, CMI

When people hurt us with their words and actions they often do not know what they are doing. Following the example of Jesus, let us forgive them from our heart. Then we will have true peace of mind.

few youngsters were sitting on the roadside chatting with one another and often making comments on the passersby. When they saw a monk pass by, one of the youngsters ridiculed him saying he was a phony and a cheat and everybody must be careful about him. Though the monk heard the remarks he did not respond. He passed by quietly with a smile on his face. As soon as he left one of the young men recognized the monk who was widely revered by the people. He said to his friend, “You don’t know what you have done. He is widely recognized as a saint. You better go and ask forgiveness from him. Otherwise you will be in trouble.”

The Youngman, realizing his mistake, went after him to ask forgiveness. But by the time he caught up with him the monk went inside a church to pray. The young man waited till he came out. As soon as the monk came out, the young man approached him and apologized to him profusely. Then the monk said, “I went in the church to ask forgiveness for you. You may go home now knowing that you are forgiven.” Now this is forgiveness. This is the kind of forgiveness we should practice in our daily lives. Imagine forgiving someone even before he/she asks forgiveness from us. If we are able to forgive like the holy monk in the above story, then we can

truly claim that we are the true followers of Jesus. While Jesus was on the cross, he said to his Heavenly Father, “Father, forgive them. For they do not know what they are doing.” When people hurt us with their words and actions they often do not know what they are doing. Following the example of Jesus, let us forgive them from our heart. Then we will have true peace of mind. As William Arthur Ward said, “forgiveness is a funny thing. It warms the heart and cools the sting.” We often turn to God asking forgiveness for our sins. While we do that, let us also remember to forgive others from our heart.

Printed and Published by Fr.Varghese Panthalookaran CMI on behalf of Rajagiri Media, Rajagiri Valley PO, Kakkanad, Kochi-39 Ph: 0484-2428249. Printed at Five Star Offset Printers, Kochi. Editor: James Paul