Muslim Medics Tend to Hindu’ Pilgrims Agony at Kumbh: Unity and Brotherhood at its Best

Haridwar, April 18, 2010: The Kumbh Mela with its swirling crowds can be as physically daunting as it is spiritually fulfilling. But soothing the aches and pains of pilgrims, mostly Hindus, has been a group of Muslims medics who have organised medical camps here, attending to as many 1000 pilgrims per day.

Hindu devotees arrive at the river Ganges to take a bath during the Kumbh Mela festival in Haridwar. The Kumbh Mela, world's largest religious festival, which is held every three years and rotates among four Indian cities, attracts huge crowds of devotees who believe a dip in the river cleanses them of sin and frees them from the cycle of life and rebirth. AFP

Azim Mir Khan is among the many doctors who has tended to devotees. "We attended to around 2,000 people in two days," said Khan, who was part of a camp set by the Sir Syed Forum, an alumni group of the Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) that believes in fostering unity and brotherhood among communities.

He said people came with problems like vomiting, stomach ailments, body aches, joint pains, dehydration and hypertension. "We kept a good stock of emergency medicines and those relating to fungal infections. We also sourced some medicines locally," Khan told IANS.

Hindu Sadhus cover their bodies with mud after a bath at the river Ganges during the Kumbh Mela festival in Haridwar. AFP

The camp set up at the Sati Kund temple in Kankhal near here coincided with Baisakhi and Mesh Sakranti - two of the most auspicious days for taking a bath in the Ganga during the Kumbh Mela.

As pilgrims had to walk long distances to reach the bathing ghats April 14-15, the doctors at the camp had their hands full. The forum organised two similar camps on the national highway leading to Haridwar.

Followers of a Hindu Sadhu pour water over his head as they bathe in the river Ganges during the Kumbh Mela festival in Haridwar. AFP

While one was held April 12-13 at Purkazi, 53 km from Haridwar, another was held March 15-16 (coinciding with the second royal bath) at Bhumanand Teerth Charitable Hospital, about seven kilometres from the holy city.

"The forum's decision to take this small step of holding medical camps is in keeping with the views and teachings of Sir Syed Ahmed Khan and his followers, who believed in joint participation in all social and religious functions to foster unity and harmony," said Syed Hussain Waheed, convenor of the forum.

Hindu Sadhus, or holy men, take a bath on the river Ganges during the Kumbh Mela festival in Haridwar. AFP

"We believe that it is the common people who pay the price of social and religious tensions and it is they who must take the initiative to strengthen national unity," he said.

The devotees were all praise for the effort by the AMU alumni, saying the initiative would foster a sense of unity and brotherhood among the two communities.

Rajesh Singh, a resident of Jhijora near Jhansi, said he felt relieved after getting medicines for the pain in his hands and legs.

Jai Prakash Gupta from Kolkata who got some medicine for the blisters on his feet, said such camps were the need of the hour. "They increase love and respect between communities and foster the feeling of brotherhood," Gupta said.

Swami Mahamandelshawar Harish Chandra Maharaj, a Hindu saint who was invited by the forum to the Sati Kund temple camp to distribute juice cans among devotees, also lauded the effort.

"Such camps create a feeling of unity," he said and added that serving people does not need any religious sanction.

Kumbh Mela is one of the biggest religious gatherings on the banks of the Ganga river, with the number of pilgrims this year expected to total around four million since the first day Jan 14 till the time it concludes April 28. The auspicious days of the shahi snan or royal baths usually draw hundreds of thousands of devotees.

Source: IANS

“Prosperity” of loved ones' is the key to happiness: A Cambridge University Study

A novel research finds that people link their happiness with that of the welfare and prosperity of their loved ones.

Researchers at the University of Cambridge, England found that both men and women consider a contented, settled family life as the key to happiness. Lead researcher, Professor Jaqueline Scott said, “Men and women may view happiness differently, but when you dig deeper and look at the nature of their perceptions, you find that in both cases their well-being is bound up with that of others.”

Details of the study
The researchers conducted the study as part of the British Household Panel Survey wherein they reviewed over 10,300 adults from 5,500 households across England. In the study that went on from 1997 till 2002, the researchers examined what kind of life affected people in what manner. Under the study, the subjects were asked questions like what according to them was essential for a happy and prosperous living that could well secure their quality of life.

Results of the study
On analyzing their responses, the researchers found that more than a third of the subjects chose health, family and finance as sole means of happiness. Researchers elaborated the findings by saying that the responses were gender specific, wherein men cared more about finances and women were more inclined toward their families.

Yet, a more detailed investigation revealed that many subjects linked their own happiness with that of a near one.

Other findings
Furthermore, it was found that health was a major factor central to happiness for about 57 percent females, in contrast to males where the percentage was 50.

On the contrary, 38 percent men gave importance to finance as compared to 33 percent women. It was further noted that family had significance for just 38 percent men against 49 percent women. But analysis discovered that men gave more importance to money, so as to earn a good amount and a happy living for their loved ones.

“Our research suggests that more should be done to support the actions of both men and women in caring for others, because that will have benefits for everybody’s quality of life,” said Scott.

Study collaborators, Dr. Anke Plagnol and Dr. Jane Nolan stated, “Policy-makers should be taking into consideration, by ensuring that provision is made to enable both men and women to spend reasonable amounts of time with their families.”

The study appears in the book Gender Inequalities in the 21st Century.

Steep Your Genes in Health: Drink Tea

Tea, one of the most commonly consumed beverages in the world, has many health benefits. Tea polyphenols support health by promoting antioxidant enzymes, promoting apoptosis, preventing angiogenesis, and modulating epigenetic change. Considerable basic science and
epidemiologic evidence supports the regular consumption of this tasty, inexpensive beverage:Carolyn M. Matthews, MD

Reference: Proc (Bayl Univ Med Cent) 2010;23(2):142–144

Read Full Text @: http://www.baylorhealth.edu/proceedings/23_2/23_2_matthews.pdf

From the Department of Oncology, Baylor University Medical Centre and Baylor Charles A. Sammons Cancer Centre, Dallas, Texas. Dr. Matthews is currently president of the medical staff at Baylor University Medical Centre.
**Corresponding author: Carolyn M. Matthews, MD, 3535 Worth Street, Dallas, Texas 75246

e-mail: Carolyn.Matthews@usoncology.com
Proc (Bayl Univ Med Cent) 2010;23(2):142–144

Warm Drinks: Tea or Water

This is a very good article. Not only about the warm water after your meal, but about Heart Attacks. The Chinese and Japanese drink hot tea with their meals, not cold water, may be it is time we adopt their drinking habit while eating.
For those who like to drink cold water, this article is applicable to you. It feels nice to have a cup of cold drink after a meal. However, the cold water will solidify the oily stuff that you have just consumed. It will slow down the digestion. Once this 'sludge' reacts with the acid, it will break down and be absorbed by the intestine faster than the solid food. It will line the intestine. Very soon, this will turn into fats and lead to cancer. It is best to drink hot soup or warm water after a meal.
French fries and Burgers are the biggest enemy of heart health. A coke after that gives more power to this demon. Avoid them for your Heart's Health

Courtsey: Email from Kartik Gahrana, Sanofi-Aventis

Google Aarti

Folks, finally I have figured out what the abbreviation "GOD" stands for! It is short for "Google Oriented Development." So, here is the new version of traditional aarti to recognize all the good that this GOD is doing to help us not only quicken the pace of our everyday tasks but also to guide us through many problems / difficulties we encounter in our day to day lives.

This GOD is always with us! The aarti is in Hindi but the English version is below for those who are not being able to read Hindi.

English translation :-

Om Jai Google Hare !! Swami Om Jai Google hare
Programmers ke sankat, Developers ke Sankat, Click main door kare!!

Om Jai Google Hare !! Jo Dhyawe vo pawe, dukh bin se man ka, Swami dukh bin se man ka,
Homepage ki sampatti lawe, Homework ki sampatti karave, kasht mite work ka,
Swami Om Jai Google hare!! Tum puran search engine, Tum hi internet yaami, Swami Tum hi internet yaami
Par karo hamari Salari, Par karo hamari apprisal, Tum dunia ke swami,

Swami Om Jai Google hare. Tum information ke saagar, Tum palan karta, swami Tum palan karta,
Main moorakh khalkamii, Main Searcher tum Server-ami, Tum karta dhartaa !!
Swami Om Jai Google hare!! Din bandhu dukh harta, Tum rakshak mere, Swami tum thakur mere, Apni search dikhaao, sare reasearch karao, Site par khada mein tere,

Swami Om Jai Google hare!! Google devta ki aarti jo koi programmer gaawe,
Swami jo koi bhi programmer gaawe, Kehet SUN swami, MS hari har swami,
Manwaanchhit fal paawe.

Swami Om Jai Google hare. BOLO GOOGLE DEV KI ————- JAI

Courtsey: Mail from Prof. J M Khandeparker, Indore/Mumbai

Traditional versus New Heart Bypass Surgery Techniques

There is great amount of confusion not only amongst patients but also amongst general physicians and referring doctors regarding the benefits of beating heart surgery. Beating heart surgery in various parts of the world has taken by storm especially in underdeveloped countries, mostly promoted by surgeons under-pressure to counter and perform against much publicised, hyped and also practiced “angioplasties”  by cardiologists.

Following passage is an attempt to throw some light on some startling facts in the back drop of recent researches comparing traditional vs. beating heart surgery.
Surgery to bypass blocked heart arteries has traditionally been done using a heart-lung machine. This machine circulates blood throughout the body while the heart is stopped to permit bypass surgery. It was thought that these heart-lung machines were the cause of
or contributed to certain complications — such as stroke, memory loss or trouble thinking clearly — occasionally observed after surgery.

In recent years, techniques have been developed so that bypass surgery can sometimes be done without a heart-lung machine, while the heart is still beating. The theory was that this would improve results by reducing complications associated with the heart-lung machine.

Not so, according to a study published in the The New England Journal of Medicine. The study randomised more than 2,203 men into two groups that received bypass surgery either with or without heart-lung machines. One year later, about 10 percent of those who had bypass surgery without a heart-lung machine had died, had a heart attack or needed another surgery to open a blocked artery. These outcomes occurred in only about 7 percent of those who had surgery using the machines. There was no difference in cognitive function between the two groups.

A probable explanation is that it’s more technically challenging to sew bypass arteries onto a beating heart. This resulted in a small number of planned bypasses never being completed.

Specialists at Mayo Clinic say the study clearly shows that bypassing all blocked arteries must be the goal of any bypass procedure, regardless of the chosen approach. Beyond that, the results remain controversial because the study population was all male and generally younger and healthier than the typical person receiving bypass surgery.

Other studies have shown that women and older, sicker adults may benefit from off-pump bypass. In addition, varying surgeon and anaesthesiologist skills may have altered results. However, the fact remains that in the hands of extremely skilled surgeons and anaesthesiologists, some class of patients people may benefit from bypass surgery done without a heart-lung machine also called as Beating Heart Surgery.

MCI quantifies punishments for doctors accepting gifts

The Medical Council of India (MCI) has suggested some modifications to the regulations notified in December last that put a blanket ban on doctors for accepting gifts, travel facilities and hospitality from pharmaceutical companies in lieu of promoting their products.

While quantifying punishment for medical practitioners violating the provisions of the December 2009 Indian Medical Council (Professional Conduct, Etiquette and Ethics) Regulations, 2002, the MCI has suggested various degrees of punishments for doctors who accept gifts worth Rs.1,000 from any pharmaceutical or allied healthcare company instead of a total ban including one on research projects.

The punishments range from censure (for accepting gifts valued between Rs.1,000 and Rs.5,000) to removal from the Indian or State Medical Registry for more than one year (for accepting gifts worth more than Rs.1,00,000).

The recommendations, sent to the Union Health and Family Welfare Ministry for notification, also address other grey areas, including sponsorship of travel and lodging of medical practitioners participating in a conference, monetary grants and the question of clinical research funding.

According to the recommendations, a medical practitioner will not accept any travel facility within the country or outside, any kind of hospitality or cash or monetary gifts for self or family members for a vacation or even for attending conferences, seminars or continuing medical education programmes as a delegate. Punishment for violation of these clauses can range from censure to removal from Indian or State Medical Register for more than a year.

However, in the case of medical research projects funded by pharmaceutical and allied healthcare companies, the medical practitioner will have to take due permission from the competent authorities and ensure that such a research project has the clearance of national/State or institutional ethics committees and see to it that all prescribed legal requirements are fulfilled.

The source and amount of the funding has to be publicly disclosed at the beginning itself, proper facilities have to be provided to human volunteers if necessary for the project, and undue animal experimentations are not to be carried out. Importantly, the researcher will have the freedom to publish the results of the research in the greater interest of society and there shall be no compromise either with his or with the autonomy of the medical institution while conducting research.

Any kind of violation for the first time will invite censure but repeating the offence could invite the removal of the practitioner's name from the Medical Register. The period of removal would depend on the clause violated.

A medical practitioner is also not allowed to endorse any drug or product publicly and any study conducted on the efficacy or otherwise of these products will have to be presented to appropriate scientific bodies or published in an appropriate scientific journal.

“With these recommendations, we are looking at strict implementation of the regulations,” MCI president Ketan Desai said. There was some ambiguity on a few clauses in the regulations notified in December. “By clearly defining these we have resolved any confusion,” he said.

Keywords: Medical Council of India, MCI, regulations, ban, accepting gifts, pharmaceutical companies

Food that keeps your heart healthy

It is well known that eating a Mediterranean diet (Italian or Greek) is beneficial for the heart.

Now, the February issue of Mayo Clinic Women's Health Source has covered key components of this diet as well as reasons why this approach is known as a heart-healthy eating  .

Key components include:
1. Eating generous amounts of fruits and vegetables and whole grains. In most Mediterranean countries, fruits and vegetables are part of every meal. They are naturally low in fat and sodium and have no cholesterol. Many are loaded with antioxidants, which may help prevent cholesterol build-up in the arteries.

2. Breads, pastas and rice are typically made from whole grains instead of grains that have been refined and lost some nutritional value. Whole grains provide an excellent source of fiber and contain a variety of vitamins and minerals. Certain types of dietary fiber also can help reduce blood cholesterol levels and may lower the overall risk of heart disease.

3. Getting most fats from healthy sources. Olive oil is the primary fat used in Mediterranean cooking. This type of monounsaturated fat can help reduce low-density lipoprotein (LDL, or "bad") cholesterol levels when used in place of unhealthy saturated fats or trans fats. Other healthy fats in the Mediterranean diet include polyunsaturated fats and omega-3 fatty acids, which can be found in vegetable oils, nuts and fish.

4. Consuming very little red meat and eating generous amounts of legumes. Red meat isn't a big part of the Mediterranean diet. Legumes, a class of vegetables that includes beans, peas and lentils -- offer a source of protein that's typically low in fat and contains no cholesterol.

5. Drink wine, in moderation. Some research has shown that a light intake of alcohol is associated with a reduced risk of heart disease. In the Mediterranean, the alcoholic beverage consumed most is wine, which may offer slightly greater heart health benefits than other forms of alcohol. For women (and men over age 65), the recommendation is no more than one glass, or 5 ounces, of wine daily. For men under age 65, it's no more than two glasses, or 10 ounces, daily.

6. Other aspects of the Mediterranean diet include dining on fish or shellfish as least twice a week; lesser amounts of dairy products, such as cheese and yogurt; incorporating small portions of nuts and seeds daily; eating sweets only on occasion; using herbs and spices instead of salt to flavour food; getting plenty of physical activity; and eating meals with family and friends.

Courtesy: ANI and Times of India Feb 12/02/2010

What is the best, most nutritious, healthful food; price per unit of nutrient (weight by benefit) out there? What is the best, most economical choice with the same criteria?

Experts Are Thinking About What You Eat. Maybe You Should Join Them.

Edited content by Jennifer Huget for Washington Post

It is quite a challenge even for a registered dietician to plan a day's meals based on the standard dietary recommended daily allowance (RDA) guidelines. If a professional finds it hard to wrestle all those RDA’s and Adequate intakes into a reasonable meal plan, how on Earth amateurs can?

However, help is on the way…

A panel of scientists, nutritionists, epidemiologists and physicians is working to revise “the document known as the Dietary Guidelines”, which is updated every five years. Assembled late last year, the panel of 13 were mandated with reviewing the best scientific evidence and using that information to craft the 2010 guidelines.

The Dietary Guidelines can help form nutrition policies, including school lunch programs etc too.

Among the experts invited to address the panel was Adam Drewnowski, an epidemiologist at the University of Washington's Centre for Public Health Nutrition. Some of the question asked were answered by Adam Drewnowski were related to ongoing efforts to devise a new food-labelling system that takes into account not only calories and nutrients but also the price per unit of nutrient.

1. What major change would you like to see in the guidelines?

My hope is that they will at least take the economics of nutrition into account, really think through about real foods for real people. Dietary choices are economic decisions, like everything else. Many good foods cost more -- but they don't have to. I'd like to see a focus on affordable, nutrient-rich foods by category. They do exist; not everything nutritious is expensive. For instance, with vegetables the focus has been on fresh salad greens. But there are cheaper vegetables that provide a whole range of nutrients: cabbage, carrots, potatoes. Potatoes have been completely ignored, but they're very nutritious, low-calorie, full of potassium and fiber, and low-cost. And it's hard to beat the nutrients-per-cost of beans, eggs and milk, especially powdered milk, soups. . . . We need to advise people what those foods are, where you can get them and how to cook them. Foods we've always known are good and nutritious -- and inexpensive.

2. What about delicious?

Unless we aid the public in identifying foods that are nutrient-rich and affordable -- and are enjoyable in the mainstream diet, there's no point telling people to buy lots of lentils and eat lentils for a week. Or recommending that people eat Brussels sprouts. That's very nice -- I love Brussels sprouts. But will most people eat them?

Not every food you consume has to be [the most nutritious], but the combination [of some more nutritious foods with others], we hope, will lead to a better diet. When we want to change the population's diet for the better, everybody says stop eating oils, sugar, and go with leafy greens. That's dramatic. Instead, nudge your diet toward foods that are more rich in nutrients of interest.

3. Is steering people toward affordable, nutritious foods enough to get everyone eating healthfully?

No. You have to know something about nutrition -- and you have to know how to cook. It takes a bit of time, but not an inordinate amount. In addition to time, though, it takes some education, cooking skills, culinary culture and infrastructure: pots, pans, a stove. For a lot of people, those things are slipping out of reach.

Some people assume that everyone makes a decision about what to put in their mouth. But after a day's work, coming home to their apartment, some people have no decisions left, so they take junk out of the freezer. It is said that most of them don't have options!

Eating well is a matter of knowledge, money and time. Some people are zero.

You may subscribe to the Lean & Fit newsletter by going to http://www.washingtonpost.com and searching for "newsletters." Go to Wednesday's Food section to find Nourish, a weekly feature with a recipe for healthful eating.

STAY HUNGRY STAY FOOLISH: Is it the mantra?

Yesterday afternoon my daughter Nimisha came home for a short vacation from her technology institute at New Delhi, where she is finishing her BTech (Manufacturing Engineering). She is also an IIM’s hopeful and this winter she also took the much hyped online CAT. She was one of the spared without an scratch kind after the great pandemonium associated with the online CAT. But all the galata was worth it in the sense that was like a free awareness raising mega media event to many countrymen who are neither offline nor online!.

Since the book titled “STAY HUNGRY STAY FOOLISH” was written by an IIM-A graduate and also presented to me by my daughter I decided to go through it. I also felt a little obliged to read it because I am also a so called “Alumni”  of the IIM-A institute after having done a residential course on management development.

STAY HUNGRY STAY FOOLISH is basically a nonfiction book by a former IIM-Ahmadabad student, Rashmi Bansal. She lives in Mumbai where she works as an media entrepreneur and journalist. In this book she studies 25 IIM Ahmedabad graduates, who chose to become entrepreneurs and hit the rough roads instead of more conventional and comfortable option of high-paying corporate jobs which comes as perk of being an IIM graduate. These 25 inspiring graduates are quite diverse in age, in their outlook and the industries they ventured but all have one thing in common and that is they believed in the “POWER OF THIER DREAMS”, selected their own path and started their own venture to wrote their own fortunes.

This book will help young talent from our colleges to believe in their dreams and and inspire them to see beyond good placements and 5 figure salaries.

I felt that its is a welcome read for young generation which has been forced to think vertically leaving little scope for creativity or as de Bono’s would put it “Lateral Thinking”. If your young son or daughter is travelling far and has spare time on the way, this book will not be boring companion to him. In this book there are some interesting case studies which is also a standard teaching method of IIM-A and Harvard business school.

Overall it is an well written, short and simple travelling companion English book. It’s more or less interview kind of book. However, it doesn’t require one to be a Management student to be able to imbibe the message the author is trying to sell. I found that the language was not very sophisticated at places but that’s what the language of today’s IIM’s and IIT’s!

I can recommend this paperback which has an affordable price of 125/- to all those who are starting out on their career path to read it at their leisure during travel.

Happy Makar Sankranti: Its meaning and importance

Thursday 14th January, Makar Sankranti 2010 will be celebrated by Hindus around the world. This festival is celebrated each year as a Festival of Harvest. The festival is also celebrated in Gujarat as the kite flying celebration. and Pongal in South India states. It is also celebrated as begining of Hindu New Year.

Hindus will fast and cook the famous Kichiri. For the insight, Makar means Capricorn and Sankranti means transition. In a nutshell it means the Transition of the Sun to Capricorn.

What many people do not know is that each month there is a Sankranti! That is a transition to another zodiac sign. However the two famous ones are the Makar Sankranti and the Mesh Sankranti. Makar Sankranti is a bit like the Thanksgiving of the western world. It is harvest time and harvest celebration. Different cultures in India celebrate this festival but each one has his own traditional touch to it. On Makar Sankranti, the Gayatri mantra is chanted and prayers to the Sun is performed to ask for blessing.

Legends also says that on Makar Sankranti, the Sun God meets his son Saturn. These two are generally not in good terms based on Hindu mythology. Well that was a little brief about Makar Sankranti.

Happy harvest festival and Happy New Year 2010 to everyone.

Questions & Answers | The Office of His Holiness The Dalai Lama

Questions & Answers | His Holiness The Dalai Lama