Folk Wisdom

I bought a scooter few years back. Owing to my non adventrous nature and being somebody who had not even tried hands on a bicycle, I was dead scared to ride it. Still I set this goal to learn it soon but my nervousness was not letting me do that.

I started riding within my hostel, learned to balance and made a fair progress slowly. Still I was scared of driving on the main road and was not able to overcome this fear.

Few days later, I happened to talk about this with one of the attendants in our lab. This person himself did not know driving but made a pretty simple statement "Why are you afraid, You should be worried when you are walking. But when you are on a vehicle, you can go anywhere you want. The road is yours". These words instilled a new confidence in me. And well!!! ....I started to ride on the highway!

This is excatly what I call is "folk wisdom"

A single conversation with a wise man is better than ten years of study. ~Chinese Proverb

Come winter.....

Winter is just around the corner
Drizzly days are just so nice
Oh how I miss home!

Wish I could just go back........
Could just go home!

Unique way of publicity

Place to have a wholesome meal........surely the one for "highway on my plate"

The bright colors of nature

Nostalgia

One day happy and glad we strode
To a village in deep Himalayan abode
Where apples blossomed....It was so beautiful to behold!

Valiant Angels

Fox History aired a documentary about the struggle of an Indian family due to a rare genetic disease called progeria. Five siblings have been affected due to this ailment of premature aging out of which two are no more.

What leaves a lump in the throat is the courage and willpower these children demonstrate. They are braving the illness and yet they sing, dance, enjoy. The dual trouble of incurable malady and poverty has failed to rob them of their happy spirit. Its indeed exemplary. Hats off to these little warriors. God bless them!

Tujhe Salaam....a classmate that was....

Did he ever pass by you and did not say Hi
Whether you were a A, B, C or X, Y, Z
Was he ever busy (or pretended to be) when you approached him with a query
Didn't you secretly admire him for his courage and love for life
He always tried to brighten up the surroundings with his wit and presence
He was often blamed to be cacophonous, noise his hallmark
And he did have arguments and issues
But he was the one to make it up all over again
Everyone shared a love hate relationship with him
But this child of god truly impressed us

CARE AND MANAGEMENT OF YOUNG PETS

Bringing up puppies is a challenging period in the life of pet owners. A right scientific approach in terms of feeding, routine care, management coupled with love and affection can certainly

help in successful raising of healthy pets. Pet care begins right when the young one is in the mother’s womb. Pups born to healthy mothers will have optimum birth weight and resistance against infections. Hence, ensure from the breeder that the mother was properly vaccinated, dewormed prior to breeding and was well fed during pregnancy. This aspect becomes a little more important when one is planning to buy pups of exotic breeds. However those planning to adopt our mongrels/stray puppies need not worry. The disease management costs are negligible and mongrel pups are very hardy and thriftier than exotic breeds. Even the weakest ones will make it under proper care!

Bringing home: Pups should be ideally weaned and brought home at the age of 2 months. By the time they are fully capable of staying away from the mother. Also they have optimum resistance to fight infections, having acquired it from the mother’s milk during this period.

Vaccination: Always confirm from the breeder whether the pups have received the multiple diseases vaccine against diseases like Parvo Virus infection and Canine Distemper. This vaccine is given at the age of 6-8 weeks. Also the pups should be vaccinated at the age of three months against rabies. Both multiple and anti rabies vaccines require a booster after one month. Proper veterinary guidance can be sought for planning of a vaccination schedule and it is always better to maintain a vaccination card. The vaccination needs to be repeated annually and a ‘better late than never’ approach is in the best interest of pet and the family.

Deworming: It is essential to give broad spectrum medicines against worms every month up to three months age to save the pets from parasitic burden and achieve optimum growth rate. Later on, they should be dewormed every three months. Dosage is based on body weight and deworming should be carried out only after a veterinary prescription.

Diet: Pups need to be fed a well balanced diet in small amounts at short intervals. They should be fed at least five times a day up to 6 months of age. Either a vegetarian or non vegetarian diet regimen can be followed. Diet can include boneless meat, eggs, finely chopped cooked and raw vegetables like carrots, green peas, potatoes, chappatis, slightly over boiled soft rice, oatmeal, boiled soya flakes and chunks. Fatty portions of meat and spices are best avoided. If the diet regimen happens to be vegetarian, additional calcium and vitamin supplements can be started to prevent rickets and stunted growth.

Housebreaking: This habit can be gradually inculcated by initially taking out the pets at least four times in a day after meals. They learn in a month to alert you whenever they want to go out. Even if the pet is taking time to learn and relieves at home, he should never be punished, scolded or yelled at. Instead, a firm voice will suffice in making him get accustomed to this norm.

Grooming: Lustrous hair coat and skin are the signs of good health. Hair coat should be regularly combed. This helps in maintaining proper blood circulation to the skin and prevents infestation with lice and ticks. Many people have the misconception that the pets should be given bath everyday. It is however recommended that the pets should be bathed with pet shampoos once in a month in warm climate areas. Bathing everyday can lead to washing off of natural skin oils and predisposes the pets to dermatitis. Needless to say, one need not stick to this rule if the pet comes home dirty as in rainy season or starts smelling bad. Detergents and human soaps should never be used. If at all, the pet’s superficial hair coat gets slightly dirty, give a sponge bath. Avoid direct water showers on the head and eyes because it can make the pet phobic about undergoing baths in future. Also, care should be taken that the water should not get into the ears. After the bath, the pet should be dried completely. In winters, they can be exposed to sun for quick drying of the hair coat.

Pica: It is the chewing of furniture, clothes, shoes and other inanimate objects. It is an important sign of worm load, mineral deficiency and anxiety. If anxiety is the case, the pets should be socialized, given pet toys to play with along with a proper exercise schedule. Pet psychologists can be consulted in problem cases. Also it is recommended not to leash the pets. Freedom and space definitely helps in evading anxiety and reduce aggression. Other commands can be taught using the reward approach.

It is indeed a good idea to follow all these simple guidelines and the puppy will eventually grow up as a healthy, happy and wonderful companion!

I 've grown up

When a child/in teens, I never realised that I was living the golden days of my life. I am certainly feeling the implications of growing up, as I remember the small little things I did then :-(

<>I no longer buy posters (inspirational....."Footprints", puppy posters, Tom Cruise, Madhuri's) for my room. Now I have all ethnic/modern pricey paintings adorning the walls

<>

(To be continued....)

<>The excitement of watching chitrahaar and rangoli on doordarshan. Click a mouse and one can now enjoy the latest songs and videos. However, the delight factor was far more pronounced then.....truly the good old days....

A pen is mightier than a medicine

I always knew about pet therapy but writing as a therapy is a news to me. Yes, a recent research has confirmed the healing power of writing.......and it is named as poetic medicine.
The study has promising findings in people battling ailments like cancer and other diseases.

http://www.sgvtribune.com/living/ci_12204681

So can I say.......A pen is mightier than a medicine

Holy Cow!

As a veterinarian, I had this lifetime opportunity to work for dairy cows. I still ruminate over it. Just imagine a farm spread over the acres in the city centre. It  housed 1500 healthy Holstein Friesians and cross breeds. I don't know about the farm area but it was  only the expanse of the farm that one could see.

Generally it is the numbers that are used in the daires for cattle identification. Here, however, each and every cow has a name....I still remember some....shweta, swati, anu,  sujata, smita, abhaya, sushma, manju, anju, suman, sridevi, madhuri........just name it.

The animals live in full discipline.  They have a shower two times in a day. Every cow religiously goes for a bath. This really is a treat that gives them a respite from heat stress.

Then they have meal timings (grass, straw, cereals) , snack time (yummy mollases and maize) and on a lucky day even milk ......Yo!  the neighbour just had a baby!

Milking is done thrice in 24 hours and the average yield is 30 litres from a cow in peak milch period. Milking time comes with a bonus of good music playing in the backdrop and the happy cows bask in the glory of these luxuries.

There is a lot of activity all day long. Calves being fed and groomed in the calf section, sick ones under treatment in the indoor wards, fodder processing, milk transportation etc. etc.

The best is, when in estrus (the fertile period) the wise beauties themselves throng the insemination shed waiting for their turn.

I can not really explain this amazing experience.......the only words I have are......"Holy Cow!!!!"

Politically (in)correct

Politicians propose, politicians dispose.

People propose, politicians dispose (post election).

Politicians can't understand themselves.

Politicians can't understand other politicians.

No one can understand politicians.

Trivia

The goals for this month:

To make a good eggless cake

Excercising expenditure restraint

To overcome this writers block

I long to accomplish a great and noble tasks, but it is my chief duty to accomplish humble tasks as though they were great and noble. The world is moved along, not only by the mighty shoves of its heroes, but also by the aggregate of the tiny pushes of each honest worker-Helen Keller

Unusual

Five unusual things which make me feel great....... I ain't a saint !

Rescuing a drowning ant........I feel like a saviour

Being a good listener.....Just wish I could take away everyone's agony

Watching  young ones.......in pictures, on TV....babies, baby elephants, puppies.....Excellent!

People going home from jobs after midnight....I feel happy for them

Praying for  less privileged people........I silently pray in my heart that god grant them all joys...Amen!

GOOD GREEN, GO GREEN