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.