A reunion after 17 years

Ashutosh and I have been friends since grade 9 when he moved to my school. Throughout our school tenue, we would only sit with each other, which at times ran us into trouble but we didn’t care about it. After our 12^th grade, he moved to Noida for his studies and I stayed back in Varanasi to pursue my graduation before moving to Bangalore for my masters. During this time we would meet each other briefly during vacations.

Once Ashu completed his master's, he came to Bangalore to attend interviews, together we explored Bangalore for a week, before he moved to Varanasi to join his family business, after that we couldn’t meet each other as we were busy in our lives. The irony is we couldn’t even attend each other’s wedding as I had just switched job and I couldn’t take leave. We tried multiple times to catch up but our work schedule didn’t allow us and 17 years passed by but we were in touch through video and voice calls.

It so happened that I had to travel to Delhi on a business trip and I so wished if he was there so that we could meet. I just called him casually and told him about my travel plan and he enquired about the dates, and the moment I disclosed the dates, his happiness knew no bounds and I was wondering WHY? Then he told me that he too would be in Delhi at that time with his family as they attending a wedding. His excitement was evident in his voice. Then I told him that my hotel was in Greater Noida and he would have to come down to meet me as I had no idea of the places.

I also told him that I was not sure how much time I would be able to give him or if we could meet either as I was unaware of my work schedule and his response was clear if we don’t meet “ don’t ever call me” and I was like dude I will try my level best but work is also important. Finally, we decided to try our level best.

I reached Delhi on an early morning flight from Bangalore, took a cab to Greater Noida, checked in to the hotel, and left for my work. All this while I and Ashu were in constant touch with each other. My work got over a little earlier than I anticipated and Ashu asked me to come to Delhi as he was in some market. Immediately I booked the cab and left for Delhi.

After 90 minutes I reached the place where we were supposed to meet, and we couldn’t locate each other, then I asked him to share his location, and based on that finally, we were able to meet after 17 long years.

I still couldn’t believe I was seeing he was in front of me and the moment we met we just hugged each other, ignoring the world around us. Soon enough his wife also joined us, I was meeting her for the first time.  The moment she left for shopping we found a place for us to sit and chit-chat.

We were so engrossed in talking that we didn’t realize that 3 hours had already passed by and it was getting late, as I had to travel back too. We went for dinner and tried Haldiram’s as I had heard a lot about them.

After dinner, it was time to say goodbye I booked the cab and the moment the cab came, Ashu told the driver to drive safely. He even took a photo of the cab and asked me to share the ride details, which I did.

On the way to my hotel I was thinking about the travel that I undertook that day, Bangalore – Delhi – Greater Noida – Delhi and to Greater Noida again. A business trip and a wedding forced both of us to leave our home turf and come to a neutral ground where we could meet. Sometimes unplanned trips are more exciting than planned ones. 

Confidence an important trait for interview

Do you know the most important trait which recruiters or HRs look for in a candidate during the interview process is their level of confidence with which they face the interview and impress the panel.

Now let’s see a few attributes which can enhance your confidence.

Dress Well

It’s always better to attend interviews in formal attire as you may never go wrong with it. Off late I have seen semi formal also being in trend that is also fine. Pay special attention to your footwear. Reason, I have seen candidates usually going wrong here, which affects their level of confidence. If you are well dressed, you are more confident to face people effortlessly than being embarrassed in front of others.

Rehearse your resume

I have seen people attending interviews without going through the content written in their resume, which is a disaster. So, it’s better to read your resume and try to anticipate questions based on it and be prepared with the answers. When you are well prepared you won’t panic in the interview that will have an impact on the interviewers.

Respond Carefully

Interviewers may ask questions from anywhere so you should be prepared for such uncertainty too. When you come across such situations, you should take a while before answering them. Reason it will give you the breather time to frame your answer well and present it in an organized manner. The moment you do that, the interviewer will easily gauge your level of confidence.

Eye Contact

Always maintain eye contact with your interviewer but it must be subtle not contact staring type. Try to keep the process of eye contact as natural as possible, that’s enough for the interviewer to understand how confident you are in yourself.

Why are employees reluctant to work from office?

 Now that we have bid adieu to Covid and offices want their employees to work from the office rather than from the comforts of their home. And this has led to a tussle as employees are reluctant to work from the office. When forced to return to office, employees tendered their resignation which shocked the companies.

Now let’s see the reasons WHY employees don’t want to work from office

Rental issues

During covid times To - let boards were very common and landlords incurred huge loss as tenants were leaving the city. Now when companies have forced employee to come to work, landlords have raised the rentals to cover up for the loss incurred during the pandemic. Employees are unable to find decent accommodation at an affordable price.

Work life balance

While working from home, people were saving a lot of time commuting, especially in a city like Bangalore, which got global attention for its traffic situation. Employees are away from home for 10 -12 hours daily, 2 -3 hours of it is in traffic. While working from home employees can spend those hours with their family members. Because family is always there to support them whether they are with a job or laid off.

Managing household chores

While working from the office, employees used to get only weekends to take care of the issues at home like grocery, technician, and visiting shops before making purchases. By the time these activities were done, their weekend was over.

While working from home employees can handle these things along with work. Like Groceries can be bought during weekdays after office hours, technicians can visit house any day of the week. Such practices gave employees ample amount of time for their weekend to go out on weekend getaways with family.

Healthy lifestyle

Covid taught us to lead a healthy lifestyle as well as to boost our immune system. While working from home people had a lot of time so they utilized it by taking care of their health.

When I was in Kerala, I used to walk daily for over an hour, which boosted my body's metabolism rate too. As I was sweating profusely.

In the work from office scenario people will be back to square one when they will have no time to take care of their health.

50% off on traffic violation challans

 Till date we have heard about discounts at shopping malls and ecommerce sites but never in our weirdest dream we would have thought about a discount on our traffic challan.

But to our surprise Bangalore Traffic Police came up with the idea of 50% discount in challans issued again the vehicles of individuals. It was an unbelievable move by Bangalore Traffic Police, which reaped them with good dividends.  

So, people just thronged on to the BTP website as well as Paytm to check their challan status and made instant payments too. The traffic volume on the site was so high that the site would slow at time. During this time people will opt Paytm to make the payment which forced paytm also to go slow.

This campaign was well marketed by Bangalore Traffic department, as everybody was talking about it. Even in my office we became a part of this campaign. A colleague of mine was checking his challan status which prompted me also to do it.

Then we informed others in our department about the same and guided them with the process to help pay the challan and avail the benefit. By doing so, our department became the part of responsible citizens group who abide by traffic norms.

The best part of this challan exercise was, people attained peace of mind and now they can drive their vehicles peacefully without being scared at the sight of traffic police but they should follow all traffic norm when on road.

Great initiative by Bangalore Traffic Police and  we will look forward to many such people friendly initiatives in future too.

Importance of good phone cover and screen guard

 The craze for high end mobile phones is high amongst all of you but how many of us buy really good gear for our most loved possession. I doubt only a few of us. Reason we all want to flaunt our phones to others, especially the brand.

That’s the reason such phones don't have a good life reason, the screen of the phone will be damaged and it loses its sheen.

I have this habit of taking good care of my phone which has yielded me good returns. A recent incident has reaffirmed my faith in my habit.

I bought this phone almost a year ago and the first few things which I did while purchasing the phone was to buy a good phone cover other than the one provided by the company and a good quality tamper proof glass on the phone.

Last week I went to an unknown location on my bike using google maps. I had clamped my phone well on the phone holder installed in my bike. While going to the place it was fine but, on my way back the phone just flung in the air and fell on the road. I thought my phone was gone but to my surprise nothing like that happened because the hardened cover on the phone saved it from damage.

Prima facie I thought the screen would be broken looking at the condition of my outer screen guard. But when I came home  and checked the screen one more time, I was sure that there was no damage to the screen of the mobile but I was still dubious about it .

So, I took it to the same shop where I had put the screen guard last time. Last time when they had put the screen guard, I told them, don’t you feel it is expensive but this time I kept quiet, as my phone’s screen was safeguarded only because of that tough screen guard. I even told them about the incident and asked them to put good quality screen guard only. I don’t find it expensive because I have learned my lesson now.

So, if you also want to safeguard your phone and want to keep it new along with a good user experience. Then I think you should start buying a good phone cover and toughened screen guard for it.

Why people go blank while speaking in English?

I always say English is a beautiful language and if you love the language, it will love you back.

We all want to speak fluent English but some of us fumble or go blank either while taking to someone or during a presentation. There are multiple reasons for it, in some cases people know what they can do to enhance their communication skills but they don’t want to work on it

First reason - People are still not well versed with English words, which are joined together to form a sentence, secondly  the grammatical portion of English, hence people commit blunder while taking especially with tenses. The fear of not knowing the language take control on people, which in turn takes control on their mind and people start hating the language or avoid it all together.

Second reason -  People refrain from speaking in English else speak only when required or with a set people whom you are comfortable with. So, when you are speaking in front of people who are at par with you, they may not be correct your mistake and you will continue with it.

Some people don’t speak in English at all unless the situation arises and when they are asked to speak in English, they run out of words as well as their confidence as they haven’t used the language for long.

Third reason – People don’t put any effort to learn the language or to  speak in English language. This is done by 90% of the people, hence they lag behind.

Let’s see how we can overcome this problem

Firstly, brush your school’s grammar once again, this will help you to  commit less mistake while speaking and you will be able to learn new words also.

Secondly, try to speak in English with your friends and encourage them also speak in English only especially with you. When group of people is large then, they may come forward to correct each other mistakes and the initial inhibition of talking to someone in English will vanish over period of time. It will make you more confident to speak in English

English can’t be taught overnight, one to really work hard towards learning it. Daily try to spend 30 minutes to learn the language so that you can enhance your skills. 15 mins to read English newspaper, read slowly and carefully. Spend the next 15 minutes in listening to English news, sit down and listen to the news carefully. The benefit of both listening and reading is you will learn about sentence formation as well correct use of grammar in a sentence, how to pronounce certain words as well as get introduced to new words.

Because to speak fluent English people will need all these things.

The only reason people run of words is because their vocabulary in not strong and they don’t practice of the language. Reading and listening are the two ways through with you can enhance your vocabulary and try speak in English to people with your newly learned word. Before using any new word, pls cross check its meaning once, don’t use a word if you are unsure of its meaning.

So, when you start talking to people in English with confidence they might ignore your silly mistake and appreciate your effort in learning the language. But that doesn’t mean you stop learning English, the more you listen, read and speak, more fluent you will become in English.

Even I practice the same technique and spend an hour of my time in this exercise.  I speak to most of my friends in English only, baring a few. Sometimes when I make mistake, they correct me immediately.

I would request all of you to try the tips suggested by me to overcome your reluctance to talk in English. Pls share your thoughts in the comment section.

Doctor G - Movie Review

Finally, I got the opportunity to watch the movie Doctor G after it was released in OTT. And I just loved the movie, I wanted to watch it in the theatre but I couldn’t due to my busy schedule. So, the moment it was released on OTT I didn’t wait much and watched it the day it was released in OTT.

I had a great time watching this movie, full of entertainment, I just loved it. 

Movie revolves around Ayushmann Khurrana, who has got a medical seat in the gynaecology department, a seat which he hates the most. He is the only guy in the course as all his batch mates are female, which again adds fuel to the fire.

He meets Rakul Preet there with whom he befriends and they create a great pair at work. The biggest challenge in front of him in the gynaecology department is the dean of the department, which is Shefali Shah. She is a tough nut to crack.

While working in the department Ayushmann has to perform a lot of duties which are done by gynaecologists and all female patients want to be looked after by him only. Poor guy, here he must perform a task, which he hates the most but is an integral part of his area of study, what is that, for that you should watch the movie only. 

During the course of the movie an incident happens in Ayushmann Khurrana’s life to someone whom he had just acquainted with but that person has led an impact on this life.  That is the turning point of the movie because this is the time, when Ayushmann has to think and act like a gynaecologist if he wants to succeed in it. Will he able to succeed in that is needs to be seen in the movie

Movie is a complete family entertainer with some amazing performances. But I was impressed by the performance of Shefali Shah because I felt she was the dean of the department. The way she conducted classes for students, most important was the seriousness on her face, which she carried all throughout the movie.

I watched the movie on a breezy sunday, if you too want to enjoy your day with some laughter and fun then Doctor G is the movie for you. 

 

Betta fish / Fighter fish as pet at home

 

I always wanted to keep a pet at home but keeping at home is a big responsibility. Especially when you are out of town, who will take care of your pet. Some cities have pet shelter homes but not all cities have this privilege. So, I evaded pets at home.

One of my friend suggested that I keep an aquarium at home and I said setting up is not easy as it consumes a lot of space, hence I disapproved it. I wanted a low maintenance pet.

One day I was at an aquarium shop. I saw fish in a glass bowl and I was attracted to it. I enquired about it from the shopkeeper, he told me about the fish and its upkeep.  I was like, this is what I wanted. I immediately bought that fish and kept it at my Kerala home. Daily I used to feed it food and change water when required and over a period of time, it became a part of life. 

When I was about to shift to Bangalore, I wanted to take the fish with me but it was not possible so I left it there and gave its responsibility to my mom. Now my mom has become fond of it. 

Here in Bangalore, I was missing something at home and I didn’t know what it was. One day when I was at a friend's house, I saw her aquarium and then it struck me that I was missing my fighter fish at Bangalore.   

The day I was back to my house from her home, I bought a fighter fish. Though it was a small thing, it made me happy. Everyday morning after I get up the first thing, I do is to feed my fish. 

Initially the fish was less active but now it is active. The moment I see my fish lying stale in the bowl, I skip a heartbeat. Evening also the first thing I do after going home is check on the fish, touch the glass and the fish will start playing around. That makes me happy. 

Sometimes when I am alone at home, I even talk to the fish, I know it doesn’t understand anything but still I do that.  Sounds crazy but it’s funny.

 One more thing that I have noticed is that, the aura of my house has changed from the moment I got fish to my home. There is lot of positivity in my house now, which I enjoy. Most important thing is, with the fish around me, I feel more happy now.

This fish is my responsibility and I want to take good care of it as long as it is with me. So, I have made arrangements that the fish is fed even when I am away from town for a day or two. 

Fighter fish is a low maintenance fish, anyone can easily keep it at home, if you can’t afford an aquarium. There is not harm in trying it out, I bet you will love it. 

What happens to body if you eat less?

 

We all are aware about the benefits of eating small portions of meals but often don’t know the right way to do it. Today, I am going to share about my experience about how small changes in my diet helped me to eat less and lead a healthy life.

When I was back at my work place, I began my day with green tea, which has few drops of lime in it. It helped to take out all the toxin from the body on a daily basis. It was my first and last tea of the day, throughout the day, I won’t drink tea / coffee after that. But yes, sometimes I may have coffee, that too if I come across CCD (café coffee day) outlet or CCD vending machines. I just love their coffee. Common, I am human being too.

Green tea is followed by breakfast, I have cornflakes with milk and raisons. I add raison to get the sweet taste. I take a small cup of milk in a bowl and add cornflakes to it, so that cornflakes is submerged completely in milk. That’s it, I am done with my breakfast. You can use any other food item like chapati, idli or muesli but keep the quantity minimal. Earlier I used to have 4 idli’s now I eat only 2, as its sufficient for me to survive. I never skip my breakfast as it is the first meal of the day, we shouldn’t skip it. Breakfast itself means breaking the fast.

For lunch I have little rice, curry and some vegetable. I also try to include cucumber as much as I can in my lunch. Whenever I have fried fish or fried chicken, I make it a point to have either cucumber or onion. In such situation, rice portion is reduced a bit.

My evening snacks are digestive biscuits, rice puff or groundnut. As there are healthy snack options and can be easily found at home. But yes, there are days when I crave for having something from outside like samosa, rolls or anything which I feel I having then. And I just have it, believe me it makes me really happy. As these are done occasionally.

I have my dinner by 8 pm usually unless I am out or attending a party. Because I sleep by 10 pm and doctors say we should have minimum 2 hours gap between our sleep and dinner. After dinner I don’t eat anything, not even snacks. Drink water whenever thirsty and also keep a water bottle handy near bed for night. I make it a point to drink good amount of water before and after dinner. So, that I don’t feel thirsty at night. Best way to avoid eating after dinner to brush your teeth 30 mins after your dinner. Then the chances of eating anything is less.

I like to eat something sweet after my lunch and dinner. So, I always keep jaggery handy with me, I take small bite of it or have groundnut jaggery chikki.

 

I know some of you will ask me some tips for eating less

Ø  Drink water before your lunch and dinner, water will fill your stomach and you will tend to eat less

Ø  Include salad for your lunch and dinner, salad will fill your stomach

Ø  Once a week eat very light meal like curd rice or khicdi, it is good for digestion and healthy for stomach

Ø  Always drink water from water bottle and not glass. Reason, through water bottle you will drink more water than glass. Keep your water bottle handy

Is losing weight a mental thing?

If I ask to a question “ who wants to reduce weight?”  I think all of you will raise your hand, including me. We all want to look slim and fit. But it isn’t as easy as raising our hand, we have to work towards to it to achieve it.

The first thing most of us do in order to reduce weight is to either go on a crash diet or take gym membership. This enthusiasm doesn’t last for more than 2 weeks or max to max a month. After that we are back to our usual routine.

But, if we tame our mind we can cut down on our food and try to eat less, which can help us to shed little weight. You would be wondering how to tame our brain to control our hunger pangs. Its time taking process but if you follow it for a long time, till brain process this information. You will see the difference.

Let me explain it to you through an example

We usually tend to eat less at home but we are out for some party or a restaurant were all our favorite dishes are served, we can’t resist and tend to eat a lot. Problem begins from this stage only.

Before I moved to stay with my parents, I followed a strict 3 meal plan with an evening snack occasionally. But being at home, my diet plan changed and I put on lot of weight, which I realized which I was unable to get into my trousers.

So, I again went back to my previous plan which was little tough initially but over period of time, I was able to get my diet plan and control my hunger pangs.

After coming home, my dad used to get samosas or Vada's daily home at around 6.30 pm and I used to have either 2 Vada's or samosas followed by dinner, which resulted in weight gain. As brain got the message that my appetite has increased, it got comfortable with me eating more especially during evening times.

If you eat more in evening, then you tend to feel hungry in morning too. Hence, portion of breakfast also increased but lunch portion was the same.

So, I decided to control my diet again and send a new message to my brain, so that my desire to eat more is reduced.

First thing I decided to do was either have samosa for dinner or chapatis. In case I am having samosa, then I won’t have dinner on those days. Yes, I felt hungry at dinner time so I drank some water for a day or two and from the third day onwards, my hunger pangs decreased a bit and within week things were normal for me.

As a result of which I wasn’t feeling hungry for breakfast also. Now my appetite for both breakfast and dinner have reduced drastically and I am happy about it. And I made a point to continue with it.

On days when I have heavy lunch, I skip my dinner or have very light dinner. Reason, if I have dinner followed by a heavy lunch then again, brain will get a new message and I didn’t want that to happen again, which  I didn’t want to happen.

Try it, I am sure you will get a feel of it when you practice it for long time and stick to this regime that long.

Make Meditation a way of life

 

We do lot of physical exercise for our body but often ignore exercise of our brain, which is the most important part of body and control full functioning of our body. Just like our body our brain also needs exercise which will keep it healthy and functional for long time.

The best exercise for brain is meditation, it is a process through which we try to calm our brain and increase the blood supply to brain through various techniques. Now the question arises WHY should be calm our brain? Just like our body or any other machinery our body also need some time to rest and rejuvenate itself. Remember our brain is working even when we are sleeping. So, it become all the more important for us to give little rest to it.

Let me narrate my story about meditation

I was under the assumption that meditation is for elderlies and youngsters should refrain from it, hence I always stayed away from it.

Due to some back issues (backpain), I was advised for bed rest for 15 days and during this time my sleep was erratic too, because of backpain. As my doctor was averse to the idea of heavy pain killers and sleeping pills unless it is absolutely necessary. I was put on mild doses of pain killers and bed rest was the only way forward for me.

During that time, I saw advertisement for yoga classes close to my house. Since I had ample time I decided to give it a try, my cousin also supported my decision as he had already done a course in meditation.

I called the yoga class organizer and informed them about my condition and checked if I can enroll for the class. They said, it’s a beginner’s course and we have chairs for people with such issue and they will ensure good support to me. And I enrolled for the class

With trembling feet, I entered the class on the first day and I had one more surprise waiting for me there. I was the only guy in that batch, rest were all ladies. But they all welcomed me warmly with a broad smile.

First time I closed my eyes during the class, I wasn’t able to close it for more than 1 min and I opened my eyes. Then our trainer said, it is normal but if we keep trying this practice we will be able to close our eyes for long duration and towards the end of the program I was able to close my eyes for 20 mins at a stretch without any hinderance.

Another benefit of the session was my pain subsided slowly and I was able to get good sleep all throughout the session days. Reason my body and mind were in sync.

Here I would like to narrate an incident from our class.

One day our trainer asked us a question “are you people seeing any change in your life”? We all looked at each other and suddenly one aunty said, “I want to say something”.

She said I am sleeping a lot these days, be it in the afternoon or even at night and the best part is I get good sleep. When I get up from sleep I am fresh and active. We all said yes, we also feel the same.  Our trainer smiled and said it is because of the transformation our body is undergoing now. 

It has been years now since my introduction to meditation and I still make it a point to meditate daily except when I am unwell or during unavoidable situations. After my basic class in meditation, I enrolled for another class in meditation to a higher level. I was really happy with its outcome too.

Few words of cautions,

• Learn meditation from a certified trainer only, as they will guide you in a proper way as well as answer your queries.
• Don’t meditate for 24 hrs after consuming alcohol
• Don’t meditate for 8 hrs after smoking

These are some set guidelines which people should follow while meditating. I practice them as I respect the power of meditation.

Give meditation a try before jumping into conclusions like me.

Stress Relief techniques to be practiced at home

Today I am going to talk about a problem that effect the life’s of people on a daily basis but people prefer to ignore it. The reason for it is not known to me yet.  I am talking about the problem of stress which people don’t want to address at the right time as a result of which they invite other life threating diseases to their life.

Some people feel they have mastered the technique to destress them and their
techniques are smoking and drinking.

People say that every puff of smoke coming out through nose or mouth, isn’t smoke but it’s the stress which has engulfed their mind. After smoking they feel good, little calm and relaxed too. There are people who smokes packs of cigarettes in a day, assuming it to be a stress buster to them. If that’s the case people would have stopped at one cigarette not smoked packets of it.

People also overlook the harm caused to their lungs by smoking so many cigarettes in a day. Smoking indiscriminately makes them prone to various forms of cancer and it is clearly mentioned in cigarette packs too but people don’t want to see it.

Then the second way to reduce stress is through alcohol, some people find solace in it. Over period of time drinking becomes their habit and they get addicted to drinks. Which cause them their job, family and in some case their life too.

Excess of alcohol can damage our lungs and can even invite lot of critical disease to one’s life. Various kinds of liver diseases are attributed to alcoholism including liver failure and cancer too. N

Now image the cost of life treatment for diseases like cancer or organ transplant with that of a pack of cigarette or a bottle of alcohol. 

Let me tell you want I do to destress myself.

Once I am back from work, first thing, I do is to change my clothes. Then grab a glass of water which I drink peacefully while sitting on a chair or sofa.  Then go to a room, make it dark completely but turn off the lights and covering the windows with curtains.

Then I lie down on bed and list to some therapeutic music, in my case, I listen to “OM” and try to concentrate to the OM chanting. I lie down in that position for 15- 20 mins. Then slowly get up and get involved in my work. I am opting for OM chanting, you can opt for any other therapeutic music which you are comfortable with.

While I am listening to OM chanting, I make it a point to keep my phone in airplane mode. This is to ensure that, I am not disturbed during these 15- 20 mins of my life. As they are only for mine and my well-being.

I have been practicing this technique to years and I am really happy with the outcome of it. This technique can be adopted by anyone at home and it doesn’t cause any harm to one’s body.

Try this technique at home and do share your experience in the comment sections.

Covid19 vaccine saved a family from hospitalization

 Health care workers, doctors, state government as well as central government has overtime reiterated the importance of completion of covid 19 vaccination schedule but people have ignored it. They think about getting vaccinated only during peak of covid 19 infection, once the infection rate reduces, people forget about vaccination till another wave comes.

Today I would like to share firsthand information about being infected with covid after completion of covid 19 vaccination schedule.

My friend Raj, has been very protective about himself and his surrounding ever since, covid 19 pandemic hit us. Reason he as a daughter and an aged mother at home and he didn’t want to take any chance with them. Despite all his precautions, his family got infected by covid last week.

When he told me about his coughing problem, I thought it would be common cold (as he drinks only lukewarm water) but he was sure it was covid. Immediately he got himself and his family members tested for RT PCR and the result was positive for all his family members, barring his daughter.

By the time his results came, his sense of smell had vanished too. Immediately the medical team reached out to him over call and enquired about his and his family members health conditions. All his family members were doing fine, including his mom, as they were completely vaccinated against covid 19.

So, doctors prescribed them medicines which should be used only in case of emergencies and they were asked to home quarantine themselves for the next 15 days. I was little worried for Raj, wondering if any of his family members may need hospitalization. So, I used to connect with him everyday in evening to access the situation at his home. He was fine from day1 of the infection, except for sore throat and smell issues, his taste buds had no issues and his appetite had increased a bit.

Its hardly 5 days and he has recovered his ability to smell things completely and has been doing great. He only took a day’s leave from work, despite working from home. He took that leave because of coughing else he wouldn’t have taken that leave also.  

During one of his conversations with his doctor, Raj asked the doctor, how come he and his family recovered so soon without much complication and hospitalization, doctor said “that’s the power of covid 19 vaccine”. Has he not completed his and his family members vaccination on time, situation would have been different from current scenario. Raj never got fever all throughout his infection and recovery period, credit for it goes to his vaccination.

I feel Raj’s story is an eye opener for all those people, who think vaccination doesn’t help, as one can still be infected with the virus. Its true, one can be infected but the morality rate, hospitalization and dependence of oxygen can be reduced drastically and people can be treated at home under the supervision of doctors.

Through this blog I would like to urge all readers to complete the vaccination at the earliest and also encourage others also to do the same. Let’s work towards a covid free world.

 

My gratitude to delivery guys

The advent of ecommerce companies has given rise to number of delivery guys who deliver our goods to us in the comforts of our home. All we need to do is to place the order and sit back; rest will be taken care by the e commerce company for us. When the package is out for delivery, we are notified about it either through a SMS or through a notification on the app. Final stage is being delivery guys calling us to locate and to deliver the order and head for the next delivery.

All these years, I really didn’t feel the plight of delivery guys until I came across the challenges faced by them in dire situations. That one incident changed my perception towards then and increased my respect for them from the bottom of my heart.

Due to pandemic I decided to shift temporarily to Kerala to spend some time with parents as the past one year has been too toiling for all of us, as we were all worried about each other than ourselves. Here too like in Bangalore, I prefer to order things through Flipkart, Amazon, Zomato or e commerce firms which provide home delivery at my location.

This year Kerala has received more rainfall than it required and its repercussion can be seen in news channels with alarming levels of water in all major dams of the state. Even when I am writing this blog, it is raining heavily outside. Due to these incessant rains, I have limited my outdoor activity to bare minimal, similar to lockdown era, only difference is that was forced and this is voluntary.

I ordered few things through multiple e commerce platforms based and was tracking their movement especially when are they out for delivery. It so happened one day, a delivery agent called me inform about the delivery of goods and I was waiting eagerly for its arrival but it started pouring heavily that day. Again, that delivery agent called me to inform that delivery will be delayed a bit as it is raining heavily. I replied take your time, I am in no hurry.

It was still drizzling when I heard someone honking at the gate of my house; I stepped out only to see a delivery agent with my parcel in his hand. He was wearing rain coat with a heavy bag on his back, bracing the rain with a smile on his place when he delivered the package. I happen to look at his feet, he was wearing a chappal but due to constant exposure to water his feet has turned little pale and same was the case with his hands. I was completely saddened by his plight; I knew he would be feeling cold. I have experienced it personally once.

It so happened that I was on bike and suddenly it started pouring and there was no place where I could take refuge from rain for some time, hence I drove the bike and was completely drenched in water. Then I found a bus stop, parked my bike there and waited there till the rain stopped. Once the rain stopped and I reached it was more than an hour, all this while I was in wet clothes. First thing I did after reaching home was to get rid of those clothes and then to have coffee. I couldn’t bear an hour of chillness and these guys they are endure this chillness all day long. Hats off to their sacrifice and risk undertaken by them for earning bread and butter for their family.

Today too, I had a delivery and when the delivery agent called to enquire about the address, I requested him to deliver it tomorrow as roads were flooded and heavy rain was anticipated for the rest of the day. I think they too are human beings and I must think about them also. My package can wait for a day or two but they can’t endanger their life in this extreme climatic situation just for a delivery. I don’t think I can ever allow that.

Every time a package is delivered to me, I make it a point to rate the delivery guys, though it’s a small gesture but goes a long way in judging their performance. I think that the least I can do for them. So next time, please be little cautious before losing your temper at a delivery agent, don’t forget the fact that at times they endanger their life’s for our happiness.

My mom’s first smart phone

 

Younger generation can’t think of a day, without their smart phone as it has become an integral part of their life. But the same is not the case with older generation especially our parents and grandparents. Since operation of smart phone need little bit of learning, parents are always reluctant to use it for themselves.

My mom was also no different from all other people in her age group, she thought handling smart phone is a herculean task and it is not her cup of coffee. Whenever I would bring the topic of purchasing a smart phone, she will say “I am happy with my keypad phone”.  But she also wanted to own smart phone,  so that she can watch her serials on it.

This time when I was at home, fortunately her phone went for a toss and she needed a new phone now. I somehow convinced her to buy a new smart phone with little reluctance she agreed to buy it. Since I know her well, I proposed, she take my phone and I will buy a new phone for myself. Reason if she is not comfortable with the usage of a commodity, she will either give it someone or won’t use it at all.  I didn’t want latter to happen but my mom insisted on buying a new phone for herself.

Next thing, I booked a phone for her through Amazon along with the cover and tamperproof glass. When the phone arrived, she was happy but its usage troubled her but with my presence around, she was little chilled. I installed all the necessary apps in her phone and made it usable for her use. I even transferred all her contacts from her previous phone to the new one.

That afternoon, I sat with her and taught her how to make and receive calls along with reading sms’s. I made her repeat each activity multiple times in my presence, so that she was through with it. Initially she was little furious and wanted to switch to her old phone or buy a similar phone. So, I lied to her that, one you put a sim in smart phone we can’t use in normal phones you need to get a new sim for it. She believed me and things turned in my favor again.

For a week every day, I used to sit with her and train her on the usage of smart phone. In a week’s time she was able to receive call and make calls by herself, even delete messages too. Then I introduced her to WhatsApp, the most happening app on her phone. Over period of time, she learned to read message on WhatsApp and view video files.  Till now she hasn’t learned to forward or send messages in WhatsApp because she doesn’t want to learn it and I can’t push her much.

One place where my efforts were minimal in terms of training her on smart phone usage was, to watch her favorite serials in Hotstar. I taught the entire process to her only twice and she grabbed it instantly. Next day onwards she was on hotstar watching her shows with no support from my end. It made wonder, how she learned it so soon, whereas for other things I was struggling with her.

The same happened, when I introduced her to YouTube and she learned it at a faster pace. She even asked me question about how to search for videos and I showed her the process but she was not interested to learn about it much. Due to artificial intelligence, YouTube suggested her videos based on her previous searches.

Now she plays bhajans both in morning and evening in YouTube and watches culinary videos. Early morning bhajans used to hamper my beauty sleeps so sometimes I used to turn off her phone net. Since she didn’t know about it, I told her network issue and she bought my statement. Her ignorance was a bliss for me in this case.

Within a month’s time she was comfortable with the phone and had mastered things which mattered to her the most, especially hotstar and YouTube. Since I was around, she would reach out to me when she goofed up things.

Now when I ask her “do you want to switch to your keypad phone”? and she jokingly says YES, then I ask her, how will you watch your serials then? Then she doesn’t say anything and brushes off the question with a smile. I strongly feel the main reason for our parents to use to smart phone is to watch serials. Because one of my cousin’s mom told her son, she just wants a smart phone now when her old phone got damaged. When I asked the purpose of smart phone to her, she told me “I want to watch serials without anyone’s disturbance and at my pace”. Finally, her son bought her a smart phone and now she is also a pro in watching serials on phone.

I had two selfish motives for getting a smart phone for my mom, firstly I wanted my phone to be with me, as she wanted to see her serials on my phone. Secondly, I wanted to do video calls with her anytime when I want. Because in the absence of smart phone, we both had to rely on others for video calls and it irritated me.

So, all you guys who are reading this, please get a smart phone to your parents and also train them in its usage with utmost care and patience. Their reluctance to the usage of smart phone is not because they don’t like it but because they aren’t confident about its usage by themselves. With us kids around I don’t think this should be a herculean task for our parents.

My first train trip during pandemic

 

Ever since the pandemic began in March 2020, I have usually confined myself to my house with restrictive travel, that too in personal vehicle or with my friends. No cabs, buses, train or flights was my mantra as I was and am scared of Corona, especially looking at the plight of people infected with the disease.

 When I decided to travel home to meet my parents after a year in 2021, I preferred to travel by car than train. (Had it not been the pandemic situation, I always prefer train journey for short distance). In the first quarter of 2021 I was not even vaccinated so had to extremely cautious about my travel.

I had to travel to Bangalore, just for a week for some work, since the duration was short, I ditched car for train, had it been a long stay, I would have preferred car. I was little confident now because I was partially vaccinated then and I was well aware about the SOPs adhered by Indian Railways.

Courtesy pandemic, now other than train tickets, one also need RT PCR negative report. Equipped with all these things, I entered the railway only to be informed that now only passengers can enter the platform and relatives will stay back at the entrance of station. This time luggage was less so no issue, I managed it by myself.

I booked myself in second AC expecting less people in the coach but it wasn’t the case, may be because of the day I travelled. First thing I did after reaching my birth was to sanitized the entire birth with wet tissue and sanitizer, for my own happiness, even though the coach was pretty neat and tidy. Till the next 5 stations, I was almost alone in the coach, it gave me a royal feeling. Never in my life till date, had I have travelled in a relatively empty coach, so it was relatively new experience for me.

Travelling in 2^nd AC is no fun these days, as we don’t get blankets and bedsheet from Indian Railways so we have to carry them ourselves. Due to this, luggage is increased a bit otherwise, it was like stepping into a hotel and moving out after using hotel amenities.

Over period of time, few passengers entered the train some became my co passengers it the journey ahead. There were few things which were common among us, firstly all of us used to sanitize our hand at regular interval and secondly our topic of discussion was whether we have covid negative certificate with us or not. As Karnataka government had made it mandatory only a day ago. Even the ticker collector also enquired about it while checking our tickets.

Conversations between passengers were very restrictive as it was difficult for people to speak much with the masks on, so people preferred to remain silent. I was glued to my phone, talking to friends, listening to music with my headset on, as I didn’t want to bother others.

One of the best thing, I have noticed while travelling by train all these years is, people wait for someone to open his/her dinner pack for others to follow. Earlier I used to wait for someone to open their food packets but not anymore. The moment I feel hungry, immediately wash my hands and have my dinner, don’t care much about the people around me then.

By 8 pm I opened my food pack and all people from my cabin as well from other cabin rushed to the wash basin to wash their hand and then the aroma of food dominated the coach for some time. Some people slept immediately after their dinner but I waited for an hour before sleeping.

I was carrying 4 N95 masks and 2 cloth masks for night. I changed the mask after 6 hours and for night while sleeping switched to cloth mask. It was too irritating to sleep with the mask on but when I turned around, saw people sleeping comfortability with N95 masks on. I had to no other option but to sleep with the mask. I hardly slept for 2-3 hours that night, as I was finding it difficult to sleep with mask.

I was awake from 4 am onwards but didn’t get up from my birth, rather laid back on seat as everyone was sleeping. By 5.30am few people started waking up and turned on the lights of the coach, I think they were about to get down at the next station. By 6 am all passengers in my cabin also got up and started packing their blankets.

I too climbed down and packed my blanket and took over my jacket as it was little cold. At night AC’s temperate was moderate so we didn’t feel much cold.

By 7 am I was at Bangalore and no sooner did the train stopped at platform, porters came inside the coach looking for people seeking assistance. Once porters left, I too stepped down of the train to get the feel of Bangalore’s air.

I was really scared to travel by train but after this trip, I can clearly say if we take all precaution set by the government, then we can keep the virus at bay and travel safely.

 

Finally, got the first shot of Covid vaccine

Getting vaccinated against Covid 19 has become a thing of utmost priority for everyone, as that’s the only way we can protect ourselves. I was waiting eagerly for the vaccination to begin for 18+ groups and the moment it happened, logged in to Cowin website to book my slot. But finding a slot for vaccination in this category was no less than winning a lottery ticket, as slot weren’t easily available. I even joined a telegram group to get information about vaccination and my phone used to keep buzzing throughout the day with notification alerts.  At one point I was so frustrated that I gave up on vaccination.

Then one day, randomly while checking the website, I found a slot for first dose, my happiness knew no bound, when I was able to book a slot for myself. I received an SMS on my phone about my vaccination schedule and I used to keep checking it whether, it was for real or not?

On the day for vaccination, I decided to go alone and got ready but my dad said he would accompany me. I told him, I will manage by myself but he was adamant, so we went together to the vaccination center. There was little crowd there but the parking area was relatively free, so I was bit relaxed. My center was at a government school so I had ample place for everything.

After initial verification I was given a token number and directed to one of the class room, it was huge. That classroom took me back to school days when we used to sit in benches and look at blackboards. Fortunately people who had gathered for vaccination there, were sensible enough to maintain physical distancing unlike at other places.

After waiting for almost an hour, my token number was called and I went another building, where once again my details were verified. They even asked few question about allergies and did I get covid in the past 30 days? Since my response was No, I was directed to the vaccination room. There two staff were vaccinating two person at a given time. My number also came and I took my seat and I was inoculated with first dose.

Immediately after inoculation, I was directed to observation room for the next 30 minutes. I took a corner side in that room, as it relatively empty. For the next 30 minutes, I was glued to phone, reading articles and chatting with friends. After 30 minutes, the staff in the room called my name and told me to go, I thanked her and left the room.

The moment I stepped out of that building, saw dad waiting for me near the exit point. While walking towards the parking space, I felt little discomfort but the moment got into car, everything vanished into thin air.

I had already kept my clothes in bathroom and towel outside, so that I can enter the house in towel and leave my clothes in water to be washed later. After shower, I was all fine and put the clothes in washing machine. I visited cowin website and downloaded my certificate, a must in some cases.

After lunch, had the medicine which was given to me at the vaccination center. I drank lot of water that day to keep myself hydrated, a suggestion give to me by my cousin. Later in the evening, I could feel little pain in the arm where I was injected. I retired to bed little early that day but next day, when I got up, I could feel my head was heavy and was not feeling great. I was aware about it, as I had already spoken to my cousins who got inoculated before me.

By afternoon, I felt little feverish so I had the next dose of the medicine and slept in afternoon, rare gesture by me, unless I am too tired. After getting up in evening, I was still little drowsy and by 8 pm, I developed severe body ache, especially lower back. I get such aches only during fever but that night I was not feverish but the pain was dominant.

After struggling with pain for two hours, I slept off. Day two was little better but not completely fine for me but better when compared to day one. Pain on the arm was there, so I ensured no one touches that part of my body. Still mom touched that particular point accidently and I was forced to endure the pain.

Other than heaviness of head and pain in arm, day two was fine for me and I was also able to sleep at night without any body aches. On day three, I was all fine.

I was fortunate to get vaccination but there are still many people in my vicinity from the same age bracket, yet to be vaccinated. I helped one or two people with the registration process but booking slot is not in my hand as one has be hyper active about it. I wish soon a large of chuck of population is partially vaccinated at least because something is better than nothing.

I would like to
thank all staffs who are part of this mass vaccination drive, it’s not easy but these people are working tirelessly for a covid free India.