Healthy Living - Go Green

When so much is going on in the world about global warming and measures being taken to control it, I thought I would add my bits to it.

Plastic is so commonly used in our everyday life that everything we buy comes in plastic covers. The problem is that most of the this plastic is non-recyclable and non-degradable. The result is that the waste land is getting filled up with this junk plastic. While we may not have control on many things happening in the world, we can take some measures to control it as responsible citizens. I have got some suggestions, read on.

Try and reduce using the normal plastic covers provided in the super stores to carry your weekly grocery shopping. Re-use the plastic covers instead of getting new covers every time. Even better is to use the plastic bags sold in the super stores for e.g. tesco bag for life which are completely recyclable and reusable. These bags cost only 10 pence each. Also Tesco promises to replace the old bag with a new one free of charge when the old one is worn out. We have been using for few days now and we found them very comfortable to carry groceries as they don't hurt your hands because they got good handle to hold.

Another most common usage of plastic in our daily life is the plastic cups that we use at work to drink tea/coffee/water. These cups are made from oil (fossil fuel) which is going to be extinct soon so it is important to recycle these cups. But I would suggest you stop using these plastic cups....

Instead buy a cup (you could call it cup for life just like bag for life ). It again costs a pound or two. The only problem I see is that you will need to wash your cup every time you go for tea/coffee but it's hardly an effort.



Also buy a water bottle and stop using the plastic cups. I am yet to buy a water bottle but will be doing it soon.

There are so many ways like these where we can try and contribute to the enviroment.

Ugadi

Ugadi is the beginning of a new year according to Hindu Lunar calendar. I knew only that about Ugadi and I tried to find out more.

It is believed that Lord Brahma created the Earth on this day. It is called Chandramaana Ugadi as it is new year day based on lunar system. It is on this day that there will be change in moon's orbit. There are many people who also celebrate the new year based on Solar calendar and it is called Souramaana Ugadi. Ugadi is celebrated on the first fortnight (Shukla Paksha) of the first month (Chaitra Masa). It also marks the beginning of spring season (Vasanth Rutu).



Wish you all a very happy Ugadi.

Below is a pic of our Ugadi special dish, holige. I tried it for the first time on my own and thankfully it had come out good.

Why cricket is a gentlemen's game?

Have a look at the recent Carling cup final incident between Chelsea and Arsenal. Players of the two champion teams of EPL (English Premiership League) couldn't control themselves and get involved into worst fighting incidents. The team managers had to walk into the field to control the situation.


The incident below is even worse. It was a recent champions leagues match between Valencia and Inter Milan. What is worse about it is that the fight starts after the final whistle! and a player on Valencia bench comes to hit some one and then runs away when chased by Inter players. It's not all over, the fight continues inside the dressing room!


I guess it's the pace of the football game that sets the tone for this kind of fighting. But players need to control themselves as they are not setting a good example for the youth. Many of these players would be considered role models by the upcoming stars and they need to do better on the field.

On the other hand, you could argue that cricket is loosing it's status of gentlemen's game as there is lot of sledging in the game these days. I hope it doesn't get worse in cricket and also wish the authorities take some action against sledging.

I haven't subscribed for the cable to watch the world cup, I don't want to get disappointed if India loose without putting up a fight. I will still be disappointed if they loose but not may be as much as if I would have watched the match live. I wish the Indian team all the best for the world cup.

Ladki Baddi An Janni Hai

I have heard that there are lot of Rajanikant's fans in Japan.
It also looks like they are Bollywood fans, take a look at this.

Holi

Holi festival, as we all know is a festival of colours but I didn't exactly knew why we play colours. After doing a bit of google it, I found out that it is all because of Lord Krishna.

There are two beliefs I found:
1. Krishna, known for his raas-leela, used to play pranks on gopikas (cow-herd girls) by spraying water and colour on them.

2. Another story says that we play colours because Krishna's mother decided to put colour on Radha's face when he complained about the contrast colour difference between his dark colour and Radha's fair colour.

Another main celebration during Holi is bonfire. Again there are two beliefs, I always associated the festival with the first one:
1. Lord Shiva was upset after Sati's death and gave up his worldy duties and went into deep meditation. All the other Gods got worried and got Kamadeva, god of love, to disturb Shiva's meditation so that he comes to normal and also can marry Goddess Parvati who was already meditating to marry Shiva. Kamadeva tried to distract Shiva's meditation and was eventually burnt down when Shiva opened his third eye. Rati, wife of Kamadeva, pleaded Shiva to bring back her husband to life. Shiva agreed to her request and revived Kamadeva but not in his physical form.

2. Hiranyakashipu wanted to kill his son, Bhaktha Prahlad as he was worshipping Lord Vishnu instead of Hiranyakashipu. He asked his sister, Holika who had the boon of immunity against fire, to burn Pralhad to ashes. But finally she herself got burnt into ashes and Prahlad was safe. The festival is named after her name, Holika.

I remember we used to steal wooden logs and coconut tree branches to set up the bonfire. We also used to collect wood by requesting from all the homes in the colony. We used to collect the wood in a secret place and then set up the kama dhahana (bonfire) on the festival day.

People also drink bhang, an alcoholic drink, during the festival. It is more prominent though in Northern India. But I remember one of friend drank bhang when we were in college and thought he was in a boat all day when actually he was in his bed. He was even rowing for some time of the day! (you know who you are if you are reading this).

Wish you all a very colourful Holi.



These are the pics of rainbow that I took using my mobile on my way to work.