How Can You Avoid Swine Flu

It's believed that Children, Pregnant women and Aged people are most prone to Swine flu. But please note that it can attack anyone. The current day swine flu virus has strains from pigs and birds weakening the resistance power of humans against it very feeble. But it is very much possible that some people might have a natural resistance to this disease.

Swine flu is not that big a villain that Indian media has made it look like. It's mortality rate is just 0.4 % (4 in 1000) and has been proving deadly to those people who are already suffering diseases like Sugar, Pneumonia etc. So , if you are healthy just keep doing what you can and take care to boost your immunity.

Since the sociological, psychological conditions towards anything varies from country to country, I would like to specifiy that this information pertains to INDIA. Nevertheless it is useful to others too. Swine flu is imported into India like the other deadly one - Bird Flu. The disease spreads easily in damp and cold conditions than in dry and hot conditions.

Swine is another word for "Pig", so Swine flu should have actually attacked pigs alone. Nowadays, the virus does not seem to distinguish between pigs and 'some of the humans' ;-) ... very much the reason why all this hell has broken out.

I have a few pointers for you:

• Parents, if you feel your child's life less important than a 30-day school , then do send your children to the school. I don't see any big deal in kids missing school for 30 days. Children are too innocent to understand the term"precaution".
• Drink lots of water - preferably Boiled and then Cooled (we know about our municipalities well ). I would advise to boil and cool the mineral water too (as we really don't know where and how the mineral water was packed).
• No Stress - Be cool that adds on to your immunity.
• Take lots and lots of garlic - boosts our immunity .
• Take herbs like Tulsi, Neem in small quantities regularly as they are good immunity boosters.
• Include Cloves (Lavang), cinnamon (Dalchin) and other spices/herbs in your cup of Tea.
• Always consume Home cooked food, Boiled and cooled water.
• Use a hand sanitizer to clean your palms frequently.
• Avoid mobs. If you have to go into mobs, then use masks (N95 mask advised) and increase the frequency of using Hand sanitizers.
• If you plan to visit a doctor / medic for some reason, make sure you enter those premises with N95 masks only. Also, keep sanitizing your palms frequently.
• Ordinary masks will not be of much use against Swine Flu.
• Use Dettol / Lyzol while mopping the floor.
• Stock up masks at home and if someone with cold / cough visits you without a mask, let’s politely give them one... Just don't know why people feel shy to wear masks which is the first preventive measure.
• Keep a watchful eye over your child’s movements. If they have cold and cough and refuse to wear masks, then, let the elders wear masks. Make sure you keep a watch on the children with whom they play in your residential area.
• Homeopaths claim that there are preventive medicines in Homeopathy for this, consult a very good Homeopath to get a preventive dose (antidote) if possible.
  

Notes on the MASK

• How safe is your mask?
  The blue / yellow colored masks being sold at medical shops do not provide any protection against swine flu, as the size of the H1N1 virus is less than the pores in ordinary masks. So these are of not much use.A N95 mask is the only mask that provides protection against swine flu. Cotton handkerchiefs that are washed in Dettol and soap and ironed everyday (heat kills germs) are the next option.
• How long can you use your N95 mask for ?
  There is no hard and fast rule about the duration of using a mask. Some people say three days, some seven and the more conservative ones say it's just one day. Ideally, they are all designed for a single day use. If a healthy person uses them well and feels that it’s working well enough, he may use it for two to three days. If a person is affected with flu, he should take his doctor’s advise on this.
• How to dispose the mask ?
  After use, soak the mask in a mug of Dettol/Lyzol water for a while before Burning it.
  

More to follow ....

a Owner's review on Tata Vista Saffire Aura

Bought my Vista Saffire Aura (Solar Orange) from Pratham Automobiles - Pune. The car was delivered to me on 14th May 2009 (within a week of placing final order). As on today, I have clocked 2200 km in city traffic with AC on !!

The milege has been 14 km in city traffic (after first service) with AC on and my first-car driving experice of shifting gears and accelerator. It gave me 19 kmpl (after first service) on a highway with AC on sometimes.

Fortunate to get free insurance worth 10K , mud flats, door mats, service booklet worth couple of thousand free of cost ;-). I could have probably bargained more for free filming and anti-rust treatment in these recession times {but well there is no end to human desires ;-) }.

The whole process of sales , The after-sales service has been excellent. There is always a very obidient service personal from Pratham available to attend to my needs whenever I visited them. I also had one of the TATA company professionals visiting me to explain some of the features and clarify my doubts. That was in response to my mail through customer care web-site. The whole process of after sales service is very professional and very plesant.

One thing I would like to warn everyone is if any one says that their car doesn't make sounds like this and like that , but it is found in your Vista...... then just don't go by their word. Better conform their saying by sitting in their vehicle. Get a feel of the same and then make a decision whether whatever they say is true or not. Or-else you might end up running behind service personal unnecessarily. It happened to me.

The perfomance and comfort in the car JUST rocks. The ride quality is too smooth. One of my friends who owns a Swift VDI commented that the smoothness and ride comfort that he found in my Vista is not found in his vehicle. This is not my opinion , but opinion of a Swift VDI owner ;-). Time to feel proud Mr. Tata.

The gas filled shock absorbers are just too smooth even for my pregnant wife. The rear seat leg-room ... oh... man it is just amazing. My 65 yrs old mom feels that finally there is a hatch-back which has respect for elderly parents who usually prefer to sit at the rear seats. { You may note that I had travelled in rear seats of Swift, A-Star, Wagon-R and Alto - and none of them could give me such a great comfort as Vista }. Ofcouse , you might find that comfort in sedans only. But Vista is hatch-back so I am comparing with other hatch-backs.

Value For My hard-earned Money --> Integrated audio with USB, all power windows, height adjustible seat, titlable steering, Engine Immobilizer, Extended Warranty, Warning buzzers ... oh ... man the list just continues. All these EXTRA FEATURES for an amazingly competitive price. Planning to go for a long ride sometime soon . Will update about that experience later.

Finally ... Thanks to TATA for providing such an excellent vehicle at such a competitive price. Keep going. Wish you great success to you.

Updated on 10th August , 2009

Yesterday I had gone for a two types of rides.

• First drive on a 4 lane express way.
• Next on a village road with real challenging road track and ghat junctions.

I was really surprised with the ease of pick up and comfort even at the speeds of 80 - 110 kmph. on the expressway. The milege has been excellent at around 19 kmpl. The load was 2 people on this streatch of the road.

On the village road drive, I could really understand what my Vista is made up of. It has the strenght of a man and comfort of a woman. On that real bumpy road where I had to put suddens breaks at high speeds, the stability of the vehicle has been excellent. The grip was just too superb even in the ghat sections. The cabin noice was minimal. Overall , we can't ask for more as TAT has already given more than enough in the form of this wonderful far.

4 years of an IT professional at Pune

It's a beautiful small city located in the sahyadri hill ranges. The western ghats known for their ecologically diversification are the rages of mountain that separate this city from the financial capital of India, Mumabi. Ofcourse with latest boom in the Indian economy, the goverment has successfully built a 6 lane expressway between these two cities.

If Mumbai is know for it's financial services, banking sectors, stock markets, petroleaum industry ... and lots of lots of people more than you can imagine, Pune gets it's attention from it's manufacturing industries and the IT sector.

The climate is pretty comfortable except for one month glitch. The humidity is less as it is quite far away from the sea.

It's beauty is it's proximity to many of the maratha forts and landmarks. Also it is very near to some of the very beautiful hill-stations of Maharashtra

Some of the prominent places to visit (I visited) and derive some pleasure of travelling are as follows.

1. Daguduseth Ganapathi temple { located in Laxmi road of Pune near to Pune Muncipality Corporation }
2. Balaji Temple {route: Pune-Hadapsar-Satara-Narayanpur-Balaji }
3. Purandhar Khilla (Fort) {route: Pune-Hadapsar-Satara-Narayanpur village - fort}
4. Sinhagad {route: Hadapsar - Sarasbhag - Sinhagad Road - Khadakwasala dam - Sinhagad }
5. Karla Caves {route: Pune-Lonavla road- take right turn at Malauvli for 6 km - Karla caves}
6. Bhaaja Caves {route: Pune-Lonavla road - take left turn at Malauli for 2 km - Karla caves}
7. Lonavla {Pune rly Station - Sanchethi hospital - Nigadi - Lonavla by Pune Mumbai old highway - }
8. Khandala {10 km from Lonavla}
9. Bhimashankar {lots of buses from Shivaji Nagar bus-stand }
10. Nashik {lots of buses from Shivaji Nagar bus-stand }
11. Mahabaleshwar {lots of buses from Swargate bus-stand }
12. Panchghani {All buses to Mahabaleshwar go via Panchghani }
13. Shirdi {Pune - Ahmed Nagar - Shirdi. All buses from Shivaji Nagar and Rly. Station }
14. Mumbai {buses for every 30 min. from Pune Rly. Station }

more to follow ....

The coffee jars are full ....

The following poem was penned down to convey a message to all our office team members here at Sybase India. It's about arrival of new ping-pong bats and coffee powder for all to enjoy a games & drinks whenever they want (need).

The coffee jars are full again
to keep you going again and again.

New branded TT bats have arrived
to tune-up your sporting skills desired.

The location of both is not a suspense
as EMC has a no-lock drawer in your dispense.

If you did not like this poetry of mine
Blame it on the blues of this Monday morn.



love
talpak

Walking in "The Biggest Rainfall Day In India's History"

Am I fortunate ..... YES .... because I am still alive !! next because it opened my eyes to some of the finest values that Indian spirit nay the humanitie's spirit always cherishes.

Am I fortunate ... NO ... because I was a mere spectatre to some very old people walking on the highway but still unable to help them. I saw some helping others but I couldn't join.

'All employees can leave the office by 4'O clock because of heavy rains'... the news from HR. Please don't use lifts go by fire exit staircase only.... not because of any emergency because our reception lobby where everyday 4 tip-top dressed, young ladies sit to receive others, is today flooded and those ladies are sitting on the tallest point of the reception block so that somebody can come and receive them to safety.

We were standing just before the door which leads us to the "open place". It was raining very heavey and the wind was blowing still more heavily. A daring young boy felt like the "The Gladiator" walking among all the fellowers like me on either sides and he juped into open place at the same time opening his umbrella.... !!!!!... WHAT HAPPENNED NEXT..... read on.

For the first time in my life I saw an umbrella getting opened into a straight rod. the open umbrella which was supposed to be like (- was like -- . The powerful Greek-army of rain-drops did enough to our gladiator who was quite sharp enough to fall back with 2 litres of pure water.
After 45 min. of waiting, around half a dozen of us wrapped all our precious things into polythene bags and decided that we must venture into the open rain waters not knowing that it is not another rainy day but the rainy day of the century....... a blunder for some but a good decision for others.

To know what happened to those people who ventured and what each has to say when they all met again after a week...... STAY TUNED (to be continued in next episode ......)

love

talpak

My First Trip To Pune

A place so near to Pune..........

1678.... August 25th......... early morning 6:00 a.m **

"Chathrapathi Shivaji" is sitting there on the floor with the head of a dead person on his lap and weeping like a kid who has lost his most beloved.... He kept on weeping.. .weeping...weeeping and finally said "I have gained Simhagad but have lost my Simha" ( meaning, I have won the Lion-Fort but lost the lion)

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

This was the scene that ran in-front of my eyes when I stood in front of the "Taanaji's Tomb" there on top of Sinhagad fort around 20 km from Pune where "Subbu - The Great" is running ahead of many guys to finish his Doctoral Research in Chemistry.

This patriotic outburst may be due to the presence of "The Patriot" and Naval Officer, Mr. Naveen Chandra Krishan standing next to me.

Yes brothers, I am talking about my trip to Pune. Subbu was kind enough to allow me as another guest to the list of 9 guests who are always present at his home (almost all Research Scholors take their food and some relaxation in his house on daily basis).

Well the night when I reached there in Pune, the Naval Officer did show me his new bike and wanted to go for a telugu movie on that. But the confusion about where exactly the switch for the head-light located on the bike made our plans to be abandoned.

The most amazing person in the entire pack of 10+1 research scholars was "Father of Subbu". To tell all about him in the words of Subbu itself, "My Father is more comfortable with our generation than his generation"... I didn't believe in it, till I saw him comming with us for a movie at 10 p.m. in the night only to get ready afresh at 9:00 a.m next day morning to go for another movie with another group.

Mr. Subbu did test out his culinary skills on me and Navin and we were happy that his food made us feel afresh till late in the night to talk about our good old college days and discuss some very important aspects on some ‘DEADLY’ topics ….. guess them if you can .

I think Navin is in a state where his 'KRISHNA' aspect is surfacing on to the femina and soon, he may be the first wicket to fall. Hey, Navin, please do let us know about the latest developments.

I did visit Shirdi and have darshan of the Old old man. Eventually I managed to travel 3000 k.m. in next few days as part of 'Deepavali holidays'. Had nice time with family and friends.

Hey Subbu ! just few thoughts before I stop this mail…

Thanks for the bubbling boiling water for bath provided to kill that

chill of the early morning.

Thanks for keeping yourself surrounded with such good people like

Jayanthi, who were everready to serve me a big cup of hot

morning coffee to drive away the morning blues

Thanks for your PRECIOUS TIME taken off from your busy RESEARCH SCHEDULE

to drive all the way to Sinhagad and other popular places of Pune.

Thanks for THOSE VERY PEACEFUL GOOD TWO days time that

you gave to us.

Thanks for being a cause to rekindle the memories of college days in Navin,

me and ofcourse yourself.

God bless you with many more oportunities like this whereever you are !!#$%**

PN: The historical timings are subjected to verification. Not Authentic

take care

talapk

Oh! My Dear Mumbai ..... Part - 1

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Everybody might have heard about the crowded trains of the Mumbai City. I feel no other organisation, other than our Indian railways at Mumbai has brought our Indians so close to each other (literally)

Everyday I negotiate for a half foot of train's place for me to stand on one of my legs when I travel from my home to the office. On weekends, the trains are quite free with 90% of you getting a seat (not to sit but to stand comfortably). During these trips, I come across simple incidences which take my vision to the answers, this Mumbai city has for it's masses.

One day a poor couple, the man clad in half-dhothi and woman in saree boarded the compartment in which I was travelling. Their clothes were soiled. They were carrying some masonry equipment probably to work as daily-wage worker at some construction site. Both of them seem to be from distant village from Telangana (they were speaking Telangana Telugu). They seem to have escaped from the four consecutive years of drought in A.P and making their living at Mumbai.

They look simple, humble, ignorant and innocent of the so-called modern pleasures to life and only thing they are bothered about are next two meals for the day. Well it is better atleast they get something to eat than remain back in the village unable even to get proper drinking water. My thougts were gallopping back towards my dusty drought prone native village in Rayalaseema

...... BUT .............. rrrrngngrrrrggrrrrrg ........

my continuous thought process was jolted, when a famous ring tone stated originating from that person. Slowly but steadily his sun-baked palm goes into his shirt pocket and there comes out .....ooooooooppppssssss..... a cell phone (NOKIA 1100) and off he goes off for a coversation in Telugu..... this is too much man... well after all it is Mumabi.

Now I realize what Mumbai's crowded trains carry. They don't carry just crowded people. They also carry the dreams of those people who want to make a difference to their life. The dreams of those people who demand an answer for so called fate.

Mumbai is trying to give it's best, to the population of around 3.5 crores (35 million).
I wish Mumabi all the best in it's endevour.

Have many stories to tell but let me come back to you with one more next time...

love

talpak