Cheap Natural Drinks for Summer

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The simplest of drinks the people used to consume in some tropical countries like India to combat the heat in summer is the milk of rice fermented for two to three days making it tarty and smelly and diluted with water. When the drink is taken enormously to fill the belly no amount of atmospheric heat outside in these summer days can be able to dent the body. This is the age old practice, a culture that has been in profound use in most of the tropical countries where rice is the favourite dish. But due to advent of modern life styles to make such a drink from the rice is very difficult. First of all extracting the milk by cooking rice in earthen pot and its fermentation is not possible; as fermentation can be achieved essentially in earthen bowls which are a very rare commodity in these days. The earthen pot makers have lost their profession to other sundry jobs as there is no such market to provide them the earning for their livelihood. Secondly the processing of the rice is not only to be done in a earthen pot to extract the milk but the fuel is preferably required to be wood. As these ingredients are impossible to get abundantly the practice of preparation of such natural drinks has been lost to oblivion. The coming generation will be wondered to hear the existence of such delicacies in our society. This is a civilisatonal loss. When the civilisation moves forward these drinks yields to its modern corporate formats like Pepsi, Limca and a host of other formatted, bottled drinks.
The Pepsi culture has unobtrusively intruded into the lives of the poorest of the poors as one can see every remotest village shop popping up the canes of empty bottles in its front veranda.

Some days ago there was a vehement counter campaign against these bottled drinks by some environment concerned NGOs showing the unacceptable pesticide levels contained in these drinks, but the marketing strategy has defeated the campaign and the sale is soaring high since then.Surprisingly it never reduced.

Here I venture to suggest a natural and cheap drink that can be easily homemade and can be consumed by mass with much more health benefits. It is the lemon water. There are a number of health benefits besides to quench the summer thirst.
Lemon is a citrus fruit grown in tropical countries. It harvests through out the year. In summer the demand outgrows the production hence it becomes a little expensive but much less than all other citrus fruits in the market. Preparations of the drink is very very easy. Just cut the lemon horizontally into two parts and squeeze to drop the juices into the water kept in the glass jar, remove the seeds by filtration and add sugar or salt to provide a palatable taste. The drink is ready.

The innumerable health benefits it provides can be seen here.

in reference to: Top 10 Health Benefits of Lemon Water health and fitness (view on Google Sidewiki)

Pune Bakery Blast

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While the world is abuzz with valentine day greetings and celebrations the tragic news of an powerful explosion in one restaurant in Pune broke the headlines. It was 7.30 PM Saturday that one package deliberately kept abandoned in one corner of the Bakery while some Indian as well as foreign tourists were busy in celebrating their day inside. While the restaurant menial tried to unpack to see what was inside the package it detonated. Some six persons were died on the spot Nobody has yet claimed responsibility for the mischief but it surely points to an deliberate attempt to jeopardize the process of peace talks now programmed to be revived from 25th Feb. The peace process is to normalize the relation between the two rival countries of India and Pakistan after the gory incidents on 26.11.08. Hence the purpose of the blast is obviously to destabilize the process. It might certainly be triggered by the terror stake holders from the Pakistani land. In short time the investigations will reveal it.

But how far its effect is able to disrupt the normalization process taking place right now? Mr SM Krishna is now silent on it. Mr G. K. Pillai Home Secy busy to establish the links of the blast to the perpetrators and prevaricates to comment.

The incident is tragic no doubt. As some 57 persons succumbed injury including some four to five foreigners. but in no case the peace talks should be postponed. These type of events should be dealt with brave hands and brave minds and should not be allowed to vitiate any diplomatic process.

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How to Prevent Head and Neck Cancer

As we live so we make ourselves amenable to continous disease attacks, some of whic curable we tend to care less than those for which there is no proven therapies. Cancer is one of the disease that instills a sense of fear in us as it over and above is termed as an incurable disease. No medical therapies found out for it. But still the health doctors tell us that attack of cancer is not at all a death sentense. Though in curable it can be checked, prevvented if detected early. Among various cancers Head and Neck Cancer seems to be most common cancer that claims a heavy toll every year. Aout 20,000 persons each year die in US alone. As most other cancers Head and Neck Cancer associates with some of the envirnmental and behavioural factors like smoking and chewing tobocco, consumption of alcohol and certain strains of the sexually tansmitted human papillomavirus. Head and Neck Cancer refers to a group of cancers originating in the upper respiratiory and upper digestive tract, the lip, oral cavity(mouth) nasal cavity, paranasal sinuses, pharynx, and larynx.
As there is no therapies to cure it one has to immune oneself by preventing some of the risk factors like consumption of alcohol, smoking etc and practicing some of the protective practices like regular excercise and a healthy diet.
To follow some of the steps precisely are as under:
1) Don’t smoke or use any other tobacco products
2) Don’t drink alcohol frequently or heavily
3) Don’t combine alcohol and tobacco use
4) Don’t go back to smoking or drinking after treatment
5) Have a healthy diet comprising fruits and vegetables and induct regular exercise into your daily regimen
6) Avoid long sun exposure
7) Maintain good oral hygiene and see your dentist regularly
8) Be aware of the danger of HPV (human papillomavirus)"

The Dream of a Nuclear free World

 The recent Prauge Speech of Mr. Barack Obama  has since evoked a serious and much concerned  debate on the crucial issue of nuclear disarmament. The is not new to a president of United States. Before him some of the presidents has tried to address the issue in their own way. Mr Bill Clinton has tried to ratify the CTBT( Comprehensive Test ban Treaty) and talked much on disarmament. Though in Mr. Bush's time the issue never took off it was not dead. From Henry Kissinger onwards so many western personalities have been echoing  the same language for a nuclear free world

 

In this present scenario of non-nuclear states acquiring nuclear war heads( N Korea testing rockets having war heads, satellite launch) the speech of Obama gets significance. He calls for a world rid of nuclear arsenals. Though he becomes a victim of  the apprehension of not achieving the goal within his life time. How true it is! The complete destruction of such a huge compilation of nuclear armaments is simply not possible in near future.  But the President's concern , his sincerity, his vision is to be felt everywhere.

 

If Mr. Obama is so serious he should concentrate on thre most important things for the interim, however.First, he would reduce the role of nuclear weapons in U.S. national security strategy. Secondly, he was committed to the “immediate and aggressive pursuit” of Senate ratification of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty as the first step towards pushing for the CTBT’s entry into force. Thirdly, a verifiable ban on the dedicated production of fissile material for the manufacture of nuclear weapons would be a top priority.

 

Here again the speech is definitely a step forword from the position maintined by the previous Bush administration. To make it mor meaning ful, not only ratification of CTBT but also  Washington needs to end all work on the design and refinement of new nuclear weapons, whether of the “mini nuke” or the Reliable Replacement Warhead variety.

Ideas 15.3.09

 

Since last Oscar Ceremony India particularly slum India and Rural India got the attention of the World at large. Slumdog Millionaire and Smile Pinki the two plots are the required tickets t our India, the slum and rural India.

 

While roaming through the dusty bylanes and the beten tracks of the sub-urabn and the countrysied nearby the place I reside I am now on look out of such plots, such charatcters, I am deeply observing every nook and corner of the places I happen to visit on my official tour etc to ferret out the unique characters, situations to be a good potrayal object. At least some plots will definitely fit for the generalised blogs. Even specialised blogs can also be fed with some of the rural plots.There are a lot of activities waiting to be captured by photoclicks and put togather in shape of one story are aboud. Just to find out the time and place and separate the special characters and fabricate into one full story.