A case for Children Staying in Apartments

I was dismayed to read a notice today on the apartment wall - from the President of the Committee. Telling parents not to allow children to run, skate play ball or do anything on the corridors.

Now one would assume that if the children are not to play in the corridors - then they would have been provided ample space to play. In the form of a childrens play area.

But that is not the case. The childrens play area has been potted - thanks to the brilliant initiative displayed by the apartment owners living in the immediate vicinity of the (childrens play area) CPA.

Now there are parents who dont want their children to play.And that is fine. There might be n different reasons for that.

But, I am only concerned about the children who want to play and who are being progressively denied avenues to do that.

There seems to be a delibrate attempt to muffle children. Which isn't good.

Conversations 2

Nowadays at home topics invariably revolve around Swine Flu , H1N1 .. you get the drift.

Yesterday at dinner out of a whim I put this question ..

Me: Why do Pigs Fly?

Y1(5yr old): (without batting an eyelid) - because they have swine-flu.

___________

How to turn the heat up on flu

How to turn the heat up on flu: "The rapidly circulating swine flu infection in the country has sparked a rush to install thermal scanners at airports and malls."

Swine Flu

If people are panicking there seems to be a reason.

A week ago 100 cases and 2 deaths. Now , 27 deaths and 1500+ cases. And , new locations - chattisgarh has opened the account with 2 deaths.

The News is that the private hospitals(Bangalore) that were roped in to lessen the pressure on govt hospitals - were refusing patients with flu like symptoms and referring cases to RGIMS - which already severely stretched.

There are instances where the test results are arriving after 3 days - so if a person is infected - even after admitting he might have to wait 3 days before the relevant medication starts.

In these circumstances the only option is prevention - don't get infected.

And dont let your children to schools because - whatever the authorities say - containing the spread in schools with 40+ children in a classroom - is just not feasible.


Well, it does'nt get bigger than this.

Life Explained

Life Explained: "

TWO WOLVES

One evening, an old Cherokee Indian,  told his grandson about a battle
that goes on inside people.

He said, 'My son, the battle is between two wolves inside us all.

'One is Evil -  It is anger, envy, jealousy, sorrow, regret, greed,
arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false
pride, superiority, and ego.

'The other is Good -  It is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity,
Humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth,
compassion and faith.'

The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his
grandfather: 'Which wolf wins?'

The old Cherokee simply replied, 'The one you feed.'

"

unkal

Thats how my neighbourhood vegetable vendor refers to me and i have been a regular to his store for 4-5 years now.

Along the way I transformed into the supermarket type opting to buy "fresh" refrigerated vegetables from the neatly laid out displays. Except that these vegetables did not happen to be fresh most of the time.

Plus the religious que's in front of check out desks manned by semi skilled faces that happened to change with the frequency of the moons - drove me back to this gent. He was only too glad to see me back and fussed over me with grating squeals of "unkal" .

Yesterday, as I bought vegetables from his shop I wondered -
would I have received a better fare in an XYZ retail outlet. Probably, the vegetables may have been fresher, and even the prices cheaper (though that is contrary to experience), the store designs would have been appealing and perhaps there would have been a very youthful face at the counter.

But, can all these compensate for the for the familiar face across the thela.
And, why deny a honest man his livelihood - just to pander to our westernized preferences.

Ans who knows someday this man himself might save enough to set up a small store with refrigerated displays -

Conversations

Morning over breakfast this took place with the elder1

L1: Appa.... I want to go to a boarding school.

Me: Well .. they might not take you as a boarder in your current school(her school has a few boarders) as we stay in the same city. Perhaps we can send you to a good boarding school in Yercaud or Ooty.

L1: Sheepishly ..... oh no ... I dont want to be too far from you ..

Swine flu

The pune teen who died recently turned out to be the class mate of my nieces' neighbour. This bit of news was frightening.

Till now with no known instance of a death related to swine flu - the danger never really concerned us. 10 days ago when the elder1 was down with fever and body pain - it never even occurred to have her checked for swine flu, and neither did the doctor suggest anything of that sought - the most we feared was chikungunya.

But, this latest bit of news has set the alarm bells ringing.

As parents , What are we supposed to do. What precautions can we take. Easily, children are the most vulnerable section as they have lesser resistance, plus , they come in contact with a lot many other children.

Do we refrain from sending them to school ? Especially considering that the current weather is ideal for the spread of flu's and colds.

To start with I am trying to keep myself fully informed about what to look for in the symptoms and just plain being vigilant. The good part is that it is curable - provided if detected early. The bad part is that most of its symptoms are very similar to the symptoms of other common flus.

Here a few links on the pandemic :

1.http://www.swinefluindia.com/

2. Indian preperations

3. wikipedia - Asia

4.bbc news