Time and Tide

Dengue - of platelets and papaya leaf juice

2013-06-14T01:14:00.001+05:30

My wife was recently diagnosed with dengue fever.

Medical literature says that you must suspect dengue if you have fever accompanied any two of the following symptoms: severe headache, pain behind the eyes, muscle and joint pain, nausea, vomiting, swollen glands or rash. But she didn't have any of them; only fever.

Her illness gave me an opportunity to learn about the disease. Here are some points. I have sourced the following from doctors and web pages of recognized health institutions.

What is dengue?
It is a viral infection caused by the bite of a mosquito (female Aedes aegypti mosquito), which has previously bitten a dengue patient. The disease is transmitted this way: patient-mosquito-healthy person. The symptoms surface 3 to 14 days after the bite.

When should I suspect it could be dengue?
If you have fever that doesn't go with paracetamol tablets within 2 days, go to a doctor. You may or may not have other symptoms like headache, pain behind the eyes, muscle and joint pain, nausea, vomiting or rashes.

Is low blood platelet count, a sign of dengue?
As a first test, doctors order a blood test. The result would give lot of clues on why you have fever. A drop in platelet count could be a sign of dengue. The normal range is between 1.5 lakh and 4 lakh. But a drop in platelet count is no confirmation of dengue, as the count drops with any infection. So, a specific test for dengue is ordered.

After dengue is confirmed, with the specific test, the disease is monitored by looking at the count of the platelets. Typically, in a dengue patient, the platelet count keeps dropping. How fast and how much depends on many factors like immunity of the person and the severity of the attack.

Blood platelets help the blood to clot. When the count drops, there's a risk of bleeding. So patients are advised even not to brush teeth, because the gums could bleed. There are also dangers of internal bleeding.

The platelet count is monitored every 24 hours. But once the count goes below 50,000, every 12 hours the count is checked. Doctors won't let the count drop. Once it reaches a threshold level -- around 15,000 to 20,000, or even 25,000 -- platelets are injected.

Once the infection is out of the body, the platelet count starts increasing: at first slowly and then rapidly. The rate depends on the general health of the patient.

Is dengue dangerous, fatal?
If detected and treated early it is not. There is no need for panic or fear. A severe form of dengue can be dangerous, and even fatal without early medical intervention. So don't ignore the flu-like symptoms. Visit a doctor.

What is the cure for dengue?
There are no medicines for dengue. Doctors give medicines for the symptoms; and intravenously administer fluids. Patients are told to have plenty of fluids, like water and fruit juice; and have normal food. Nausea and vomiting reduces food intake; and that, combined with the infection, makes the patient weak. The infection lasts about a week. Even after fever is gone, the patient takes about one or two weeks to recover from the tiredness. Fluids, and more fluids, is the only way out.

How beneficial are papaya leaves?
Word has gone around that pomegranate and papaya; and the juice taken out of crushed pomegranate skin, papaya and neem leaves are said to be good for generation of platelets. Doctors merely advise patients to have any fruit. Though benefits of pomegranate and papaya have been well known, the benefits of papaya leaf juice is a new development.

People who have taken papaya leaf juice have spoken of dramatic rise in blood platelet count: for example, from 30,000 to 2 lakh; and from 80,000 to 3.5 lakh, within 24 hours. In Kerala, I am told that not just ayurvedic doctors, but allopathic doctors too, are advising patients to have the papaya leaf juice. I was advised by a couple of nurses to give the juice to my wife. I am also told that tender papaya leaves are being sold at a premium in Kerala.

In the hospital where my wife was being treated, a patient was being given papaya leaf juice right from day one. But that didn't help much, it looks like, since her platelet count went down to 15,000 and she had to be administered platelets twice. But after she was cured of the of infection, the count went up dramatically fast: from 55,000 to 1,30,000.

There is no well-validated and documented scientific backing for this. It's merely an anecdotal evidence. Allopathic doctors are not very forthcoming in giving any credence to this. Ayurvedic doctors say there is an urgent need to research thoroughly the correlation.

Doctors say once the virus is out of the body and the infection is over, the platelet count will naturally increase with normal food. But most patients tend to have lot of pomegranate and papaya, as part of the diet; and some go a step further and include the juice from crushed papaya leaves. So whether the rise in platelet count is a natural phenomenon or aided by fruit and juice is not clear.

One way of looking at it is: any way the platelet counts will increase once the infections is gone; and the other way of looking at it is: the fruit and juice have played a role. Until a proper scientific investigation is carried out, we wouldn't know for sure the effect.

The effect of any medicine depends a lot on the individual's health. The effect of such remedies vary a lot from individual to individual.

How to prevent dengue?
Tough. since it's very easy for a mosquito to bite you, and it's very difficult to keep that one mosquito away. But the following steps could be helpful.

Don't allow yourself to be bitten by mosquitoes.
Regularly spray mosquito repellents.
If you are in a mosquito-prone area, apply some mosquito repellent on your skin.
If there are too many mosquitoes, cover your body; and while sleeping use mosquito net, since the effect of the repellent may not last too long.
Don't allow water to stagnate. Keep changing the water in plant pots.

Related literature:

MY WIFE'S CASE

Wednesday, June 5
She got fever on Wednesday (June 5) morning. She had Crosin. The fever didn't go.

Saturday, June 8
After 72 hours, we went to Manipal Hospital at 9 am on Saturday. She was asked to take a blood and urine test. When we got the results at 12.30 pm, we found that all her parameters were normal, except the blood platelet count. It was 1,20,000. It should be at least 1,50,000. She was advised to get admitted to hospital. A specific test for dengue was also ordered.

Manipal Hospital has been seeing a rush of dengue cases. A lot of patients were also being referred to the hospital by smaller hospitals and clinics. There was no bed available and we were asked to call up at 5 pm. Luckily we got. She was admitted around 7.30 pm.

She was put on IV fluids, and given Dolo 650 (Paracetamol) and Folvite (folic acid) tablets. Her appetite had reduced to near nil.

Sunday, June 9
She had nausea and wasn't able to eat solid food. So the dietician ordered semi-solid food like kanji (porridge) of rice, rava, raagi etc, and soup. She was also having pomegranate and papaya.

On Sunday at 5 am, her platelet count come down to 90,000. By evening the fever and blood pressure, which was low, had satablilized.

Seeing the way her platelet count was dropping, I networked among my friends to look for papaya leaves. I thought, if papaya leaf juice has to be taken, then why not early enough, rather than when her condition had serious.

Monday, June 10
On Monday at 5 am, the count dropped to 35,000. In retrospect, arranging for papaya leaves the previous day, was a good move. Since her count had dropped below 50,000, her blood sample was taken at 5 pm. Her count hadn't dropped in 12 hours. It was the same 35,000.

By evening, I got the papaya leaves. Since we couldn't mash it and get the juice then, around 5.30 pm, she took three leaves and chewed them to get the juice out, and spat out the leaves, like bubble gum.

Since she had the leaves after the blood sample was taken, the leaves didn't have any role in arresting the fall of platelet counts. May be pomegranate and papaya and the water she had did.

Tuesday, June 11
The next day, Tuesday morning at 5 am, the count had gone up to 38,000. She had a teaspoon of papaya leaf juice around 11 am. Blood sample was taken at 5 pm. The count had gone up to 54,000. She was also regularly having lots of pomegranate and also papaya, and lots of water.

Wednesday, June 12
On Wednesday, at 5 am, her count went up to 65,000. I thought she would be discharged on Wednesday. But doctor said it was better her count goes up to at least 80,000. No sample was taken in the evening.

Thursday, June 13
Thursday, at 5 am, the sample was again taken at 5 am. Her count had gone up to 1,28,000. May be the juice had some effect in boosting the platelet count by 90,000 in 48 hours. She was discharged yesterday around 2 pm.

She is very weak. Recovery will take a lot of time. She will have to take a lot of fluids, and may be another round of papaya leaf juice.

MY SUGGESTIONS:

If you get fever, especially when there are lot of dengue cases in your city, don't ignore fever. If it doesn't subside within two days, go to a doctor.
Don't panic. Even if the doctor suspects it's dengue, and later it is confirmed it's so, don't panic. Do get admitted to a hospital, where your platelet count can be regularly monitored.
Drink lots of fluids -- water and fruit juice.
Have lots of pomegranate and papaya. If you can get papaya and neem leaves, do arrange for them. Wash the leaves very well. Mash them in mixie with a little water, filter it, and have the juice. Even if there may not not be any good, there won't be any harm.
Recovery will take its time. Eat whatever you feel like. Drink lots and lots of fluid.

Greenery not at the cost of development

2013-06-05T13:49:00.000+05:30

Today is World Environment Day. One of the subjects commonly discussed is the loss of greenery.

We all feel bad when a tree, big or small, is axed to make space for anything -- be it a shopping complex, residential layout, railway or road bridge, Metro Rail or children's park. Opposition to these projects are instantaneous when trees have to be sacrificed. Protests are staged, roads are blocked, shutdowns enforced and litigations initiated in courts. It's almost made out that these development projects are merely an excuse to have the trees cut!

For good measure, parallely, alternative models of development are indeed discussed. But often it's too late to undo whatever has been initiated and bring in the alternative. Finally, these projects get the go-ahead, after enormous amounts of time, energy and money are wasted.

For a moment, look at it from this angle. The roads and railway tracks we travel, the apartments that we live in, the theatres where we enjoy the movies, the shopping complexes from where we get our essential household purchases, the schools and colleges we, our relatives and friends study or have studied in... They were not there when the Earth was formed. Most, if not all, I am sure, of them have been constructed after destroying some natural resource like a lake or a few trees.

How right are the protesters when they obstruct development -- by preventing building of bridges or shopping complexes or schools or parks -- when they themselves are enjoying the benefits of development?

Getting into full-throttle activist mode and arbitrarily stopping all development work just because a few trees have to be cut or a lake has to be levelled is a regressive step. To be fair to people who are involved in these projects, I am sure they have considered alternatives. If not, that's wrong.

The solution is two-pronged: one, ensuring that the strict rules and regulations, which are in place to safeguard our natural resources, are adhered to. Two, relocating trees, planting new sapling, not just on World Environment Day, and protecting greenery to the extent possible.

The heartening fact is that there is widespread awareness regarding the importance of greenery. Many corporates, NGOs, resident welfare associations etc actively support green initiatives.

Development and environment protection have to go hand in hand; and not one at the cost of the other.

Not all autorickshaw drivers are bad

2013-06-01T23:20:00.001+05:30

Autorickshaw drivers are a much-maligned lot. Very rarely do we come across one who is not rude or arrogant. But there are exceptions, which give us the much-needed hope.

The following is a Facebook post by Rita Senthil Selvaraj, who works with Cognizant Technology Solutions, posted in the last 24 hours.

I was for sure lucky today..
took an auto from koramangala to yemlur(my house), in between it started raining heavy. somehow i reached home safely and the driver u see in photo dropped me till the door step so that i don't get drenched. I was so excited to see baby that i made the payment and left my iPhone 4 (Gifted by my hubby on my birthday) in the auto..
after almost 35 mins I thought of making a call to my parents and here i don't find my phone. my hubby Senthil Selvaraj called from his cell to trace the phone n luckily the auto driver had kept the phone safe with him which he received.. he was dropping someone to whitefield but he promised that he will return the phone after the drop.. imagine heavy rain and the driver was so kind and honest that he dint think of his comfort.. he was not carrying any phone of his own. it took almost 1 hr for him to come back.. we generally dont trust auto drivers as they keep asking extra money, late night work and what not.. so with that mentality we used find friend and find my iPhone apps to trace the phone and the route of my iphone was sure to my house.. in that heavy rain he did come home and returned my phone..
We should seriously appreciate such people on earth.. and we do.. this auto driver's name is Zamir auto number KA 03 9847.. Thanks Zamir for being so honest and trustworthy.. and also to be a reason of making my day lucky..

Not all absent-minded people forget their phones in autorickshaws. And, rarely finders take the trouble to return the phone to the owner. Zamir's effort needs to be lauded. Hope we have many more people like him.

The platform ticket dilemma

2013-05-28T13:00:00.000+05:30

My wife and I were at the Banaswadi Railway Station, Bangalore, this morning to receive my in-laws who were coming from Kerala by the Garib Rath. As we were about to enter the platform, my wife nudged me to get the platform tickets. At that point, a thought flashed my mind.
Since anyway no official checks exiting people, should I bother to buy them? At bigger stations like Bangalore Central and Yesvantpur, usually there are officials checking passengers and visitors at the couple of exits. But Banaswadi station being a small one, there's no boundary wall. And, people walk out of the station through the open space on one side of the building. It's impossible for anyone to check exiting people.

But the counter-thought was: irrespective of whether there is someone to check or not, I must buy the ticket, since that's what I am supposed to do. Also, by not buying the ticket, I am being corrupt in a way, as I am depriving the government exchequer of a legitimate income.

I walked up to the counter and bought two platform tickets. By the way, it's Rs 5 per ticket.

Bangalore's voter apathy

2013-05-06T12:24:00.002+05:30

(Crossposted from Kaleidoscope)

Many feared that the voter turnout in Bangalore city had plummeted to a new low yesterday. But the figures put out by the Election Commission paint a different picture. A little more than half the city voted, 52.8 percent, five percent more than the 2008 turnout. But Bangalore Urban continued to record the lowest turnout among the 30 districts in the state.

I don't find anything surprising in many city dwellers shying away from exercising their franchise. There are many reasons why voting isn't a priority for them.
One is the general cynicism about politicians and the system they operate in. Many people don't believe that merely voting will bring about any change in the society. They argue that the changes they are desperately looking for are apolitical development-related ones, like infrastructure; and accountability of public servants. These are in no way related to political ideologies; and many feel politicians have collectively failed to do the least that is expected of them.

There’s no choice either. Most candidates fall far short of minimum expectations. Politicians hardly inspire. There are so many cases of lawmakers turning into lawbreakers. There are honest, educated politicians with good credentials who are committed to bringing about quality changes in society.

But they are a very small minority. Besides, we have many examples of such well-meaning public servants being beaten back by the system.

All parties finally turn out the same. No party has acted in a way that inspires when it comes to, for example, corruption allegations against one of its men.

There are also many reasons why village and small-town residents are less cynical. One, there is lesser disconnect between them and politicians. Two, their expectations are fewer. Three, when it comes to voting, the "herd mentality" works to some extent in small towns and not in cosmopolitan areas like Bangalore where people are individualistic in their thoughts and actions.

Having said all these, did I vote yesterday? Yes, I did. Was the choice easy? No, not at all. But the process was.

I thought if most politicians shun their part of the work, should I shun mine too? Voting is the easiest part in the democratic setup. I didn’t want to fare poorer than most politicians.

How to remote log out

2013-04-16T12:53:00.000+05:30

If you headed home from office, without logging out of Facebook or Gmail, you can do so from anywhere using the ‘remote log out’ feature.

In Facebook, click on the tiny gear sign on the top right of the page, go to ‘account settings’ and then to ‘security’ on the left pane. Under ‘security settings’, click on ‘active sessions’.

No one else might be using your account, but you would not have logged out of Facebook, leaving the session active. Anyone can gain access to your account in such circumstances. To remote log out, click on ‘end activity’.

In Gmail, at the bottom right side of the page, you will see details of your latest email access. If someone else is simultaneously using your account, you will see a notification there.

Click on the ‘Details’ link below it. A new window opens, with a notification on whether the account is simultaneously open elsewhere. Like in the case of FB, you might not have logged out of the account, leaving it active. If so, you will see an option to ‘log out of all sessions’. It also shows you the details of your previous 10 accesses to the account.

How to declutter your Facebook news feed

2013-04-09T16:27:00.000+05:30

If you have many friends or followers on your social network, it’s only natural that your news feed is cluttered. You are either swarmed with photos and videos; or you miss the all-important updates from the people you really care about. Social media makes better sense if you are organized.

Be selective while accepting friend requests. There is no obligation to ‘confirm’, since even if you don’t, he or she will remain subscribed to your public posts. On Twitter and FB, create lists. Facebook by default gives you two lists: ‘Close friends’ and ‘acquaintances’. You can add more like ‘colleagues’, ‘business partners’, ‘family’, ‘strangers’, etc.

In Facebook, contacts added to ‘Close friends’ show up more often on News Feed. The list shows up on the left pane of FB. In Twitter, click on the gear button on top right. Click on the lists to see the updates of people added to it.

Besides, lists also ensure privacy while posting. Click on the dropdown to the left of ‘Post’ and decide who all should see your posts. It’s an important security precaution, to guard your and others’ privacy.

How to know if your laptop is infected

2013-04-02T16:40:00.000+05:30

We are living in an age of cyber attacks. Without your knowledge your computer might have been infected and remotely being controlled by a hacker. There's also the danger of data in laptop being accessed by cyber thieves.

Here are a few simple ways to know if your computer has been infected:

The computer slows down, even when you haven't loaded lot of data in it.
Suddenly a browser or a popup window launches itself, without you having done anything. Even if you close them, they open by themselves.
Security ads pop up, warning you of your laptop getting infected and asking your to download security software.
You are redirected to a site which wasn't your destination.
Your friend tells you about an email that's unlike the one you usually send. Or social network shows posts you never posted.

How to be safe online

The first step to being safe online is never use a pendrive without scanning for viruses.
Two, never click a link unless you know it's genuine.
Treat forwarded emails and links on social networks with scepticism. The mails or the posts may be from your friend, but the attachment or the link may not be one that he or she created.
Test the link if it's safe by typing out the URL on https://safeweb.norton.com/ or http://www.siteadvisor.com/
Test the attachment by downloading, and running a virus scan. Open only if it's clean. Or else delete it. Make sure your antivirus is updated to the latest second.

These procedures are painful. But worth it.

How to back up your mobile phone contacts

2013-03-26T16:46:00.000+05:30

With so much data residing on the phone, it has become important to back them up. Contacts, easily the most valuable information, can be backed up on an external device or in the cloud.

One simple way is to connect the phone to the computer, and copy the contacts to the PC. They get saved as .vcf file. These vCard files can be imported to email clients like Gmail.

Most phones come with a computer software CD or you can download it. For example, Nokia Suite, Samsung Kies and BlackBerry desktop software. Connect the phone to the PC and sync data.
Another easy way is to back up on the memory card.

Storing in the cloud is convenient. Android users can automatically back up their phone numbers, addresses, notes to Gmail, by enabling ‘account sync’. It works the other way as well: changes done on Gmail contact on the web will automatically reflect in the phone. For Windows Phone users, a similar backing up can be done in their Outlook account by signing in.

Some phone security software like Norton and McAfee too provide options to back up contacts.

US tour III -- Detroit

2013-03-03T14:29:00.000+05:30

I was quite surprised on seeing a deserted and virtually dark arrival lounge in Detroit airport as I arrived around midnight on Feb 28. I asked my cousin why it was so. He told me most of the traffic winds up around 10 pm. After that there are very few flights arriving or taking off. The airport is quite far away from downtown Detroit. It'sn't a very safe city either. So airport authorities don't want people to commute so late in the night.

Detroit goes through the 10-year crest and trough when the city looks up and goes down. The recession and hard times the automobile industry faced during the latter half of the last decade hit the city badly. A huge number of people quit their jobs in major automobile industries and left the city, taking in the compensations package they were offered. The good news from Detroit is that the automobile industry is recovering. The Big 3 of the city -- Ford, GM and Chrysler -- are doing well and standing up to the competition posed by Toyota and Volkswagen.

Detroit was very cold. It was almost always below zero degree centigrade: going down to minus 15 during night and barely going over zero during day. So, there wasn't many opportunities to go around, other than to shopping arcades and eateries.

Detroit was very cold.

I went to the Henry Ford Museum. Obviously automobiles comprise a major section. There are mind-boggling range of cars right from the very first automobile. There is a separate section of presidential limousines. There you have the one in which President Kennedy was shot, and so too Ronald Reagan. Anyone who is interested in cars will thoroughly enjoy this. Besides this, there are other sections dealing with mechanical engineering. There is one of the oldest printing presses.

Fosters Printing Press of 1853 at the Ford Museum.

Another attraction is the Allegheny Locomotive, the largest steam locomotive ever built. That was in 1941. This was used to pull coal wagons over the Allegheny mountains of West Virginia. We can enter the engine, right at the place where the driver steered behemoth weighing 600 tonnes.

The Allegheny Locomotive at the Ford Museum

There is also the yellow bus, in which -- on Dec 1, 1955 -- the famous civil rights activist Rosa Parks, travelled and refused to vacate her seat for a white man, as ordered by the driver in accordance with then existing law. She was arrested, she challenged the segregation law, called Jim Crow law. Nearly one year later, US Supreme Court ruled that the segregation law was unconstitutional. There is also the bus stand in which the blacks and the whites had to stand separately.

The bus in which Rosa Parks refused to vacate her seat for a white passenger.

The museum has the chair in which Abraham Lincoln sat when he was shot while he was watching a play on April 14, 1865. You need a full day to see the museum, like all museums in the US. They have a priceless slice of history.

Returning to Bangalore tomorrow, via Frankfurt.

US tour II -- Grand Canyon, Hoover Dam

2013-03-01T13:57:00.000+05:30

US tour I -- Las Vegas

If you come up to Las Vegas, then you must take a day out to go to Grand Canyon and Hoover Dam. Most tour operators ply trips to the two destinations on two days. And I just couldn't decide which of the two I should go for, which I should forgo. While discussing the tour plans with the concierge of Caesars Palace, I chanced upon the Classic Combo package of Pink Jeep Tours, that combines both destinations in one single day. I wanted to see the famous Skywalk; and luckily this package includes the West Rim where it is built. It cost me $304. But it was totally worth it.

There were three couples along with me on the tour in the jeep. Surprisingly one of them was expatriate Indians from Kerala. They migrated to Canada in 1970 and were on a tour of Las Vegas. One couple was from Manchester, UK, and the other from the US. We had an excellent tour guide Mike, very well informed and articulate. Started from Vegas at 7 pm. Mike gave us a running commentary, enlightening us about various interesting facets of those historic places on the way, always peppering with anecdotes and humor.

The Boulder Theater on way to The Grand Canyon

It takes about 3 hours drive from Las Vegas to Grand Canyon. Soon after leaving The Strip, all that we kept seeing was the arid land that forms part of the Mojave desert: quite a contrast from the glitter and buzz of Vegas. We passed through Boulder City. The city was constructed for the thousands of workers of Boulder Dam (that was later named as Hoover Dam). The dam was constructed on Colorado River for flood control and electricity generation.

We also got a glimpse of Lake Mead, formed by the dam. This is the largest reservoir in the US. As much as 90 percent of water in Vegas comes from this lake. All traffic to Arizona used to go over the Hoover Dam. But after 9/11, the dam was declared a sensitive location and traffic banned. A 90-mile long highway was specially constructed as a detour. On the way, we saw a number of Joshua trees, which are typical of the Mojave desert. There is a Joshua Tree National Park in southeast California.

I couldn't find any street lights on the highway that looked very deserted. Night traffic does happen on the stretch, though. Mike told us that many people do come on the highway from Vegas to see the clear night sky bereft of light pollution. One can even see the spectacular meteor showers.

Around 10 am we reached the border of Hualapai Nation. The people of the Hualapai or Walapai tribe, one of the 14 tribes in the region, were the original inhabitants of northwest Arizona. They live in the mountains. The entire Grand Canyon West area is owned by them. The area is virtually an autonomous region. Private vehicles are not allowed. The tribals are exempted from a number of Arizona state taxes. They have a separate constitution, administration and courts.

From the border, we boarded a bus to the Eagle Point. That's where the Skywalk is. The entire area is an amazing visual delight. The huge precipice and the deep gorges through which the Colorado river runs is as much frightening as enchanting. You need to be extremely careful, because there are no railings. No signboards warning tourists to be careful either. Being curious and going to the edge to get a beautiful photo could end in a fall to nowhere. It's very dangerous. You need to particularly cautious if you have children who tend to run around.

The Grand Canyon

Just be wise, stand at a safe distance and soak in the beauty of nature. Definitely this is among the most beautiful creations of nature. We need to pay separately to get to the Skywalk. It came to $32 including taxes. Skywalk is an engineering marvel. It's a semi-circular projection 70 feet from cliff at a height of around 250 metres. A part of the floor of the skywalk is made of glass.

A look down from the Skywalk can just be mind-boggling

The view from Skywalk through the glass right down is an unparalleled experience. Cameras are prohibited, and you need to engage the services of a professional photographer to click your pictures; and buy them. You can pose at will and get many photos clicked. They will put it all in a pen-drive and hand it over to you for $70. If you want three of them printed out, you need to pay $110. Very few will get on to the Skywalk and come away without a few photos being clicked. It is one way of gaining revenue from tourism.

The view of Grand Canyon from Skywalk is breathtaking

From Eagle Point we went to Guano Point. There is a small peak from where we can get a 360 degree view of the Grand Canyon. That's a breathtaking view. Guano in Spanish means droppings of cave-dwelling animals like bats. It has high contents of nitrogen and phospherous. It has applications not only as fertilizer but also in the making of gunpowder. There was an entire industry involved in the mining and harvest of guano.

Around 1 pm we headed to the Hoover Dam, built in early 1930s. We reached there around 3 pm. Never before has such a huge concrete structure been built that too in such a remote area. A whole new city was built for the workers, who laboured 24 hours a day, seven days a week, while America reeled under severe recession. The workers had just two holidays, on Independence Day and Christmas Day. Many worked on those two days as well. The project was finished two years ahead of schedule.

View from the Hoover Dam

Two tunnels were built to divert the Colorado River, and powerful grenades were used to blast the rocks. The story of dam construction is worth reading. At the site there is a memorial for lives lost. There was a dog that stayed along with the engineers and workers. Most tragically, he was run over when one of the engineers backed up his truck. The US government gave special permission for the place where the dog was buried to be turned into a memorial. We went down and saw the turbines and generators.

The turbines and generators of Hoover Dam

We were back at Vegas Strip around 6 pm. On Feb 28th I was off to Detroit.

US tour III -- Detroit

US tour I -- Las Vegas

2013-02-26T12:56:00.000+05:30

There was no mistaking the city I had landed. As I exited the airplane and entered the brightly lit arrival lounge, around 8 pm yesterday, the unusual sight of rows of slot machines greeted me. It was much later that I saw the Welcome to Las Vegas board blinking high above my eye level. I was in the entertainment capital of the world on an official assignment.

The ubiquitous slot machines.

The place most tourists come to is not the city of Las Vegas, it's the 6.8-km-long Las Vegas Strip, where most hotels and entertainment centres are located. The Strip falls in two towns of Paradise and Winchester. I was in Caesars Palace hotel, one of the tallest and big ones in the area.

Late February, the weather was chilly. At night, the temperature dipped up to minus five, in day time in climbed to around 10 degree centigrade. Thanks to good sunshine, it wasn't biting cold. The city lights up in the night. It's an amazing experience to walk along The Strip and gaze at colourfully illuminated skyscrapers. Most people on the street are tourists.

Huge high-rise amusement and shopping centres

There are plenty of shopping complexes and restaurants. There are many hotels as well, and you don't have to pay anything to get into them. You can just walk around inside, may be try your luck at the machines, or dine at the eateries, or empty your purse at the shops.

The Strip is all glitter at night

This is might be the only city where it's legal to walk around with liquor. So, no compulsion to sit in the bar and drink. The most acclaimed attractions are the fountains in front of Bellagio, the Sirens of TI at Treasure Island and the Volcano at the Mirage, all within a few minutes of each other. There are plenty more, big and small.

The Gondolas at The Venetian complex.

There are umpteen adult entertainment hubs as well, like nightclubs and nude strip clubs. In the so-called Sin City, prostitution, ironically, is illegal. That's in the city of Las Vegas which is in county Clarke. Didn't quite understand why in a place where there is so much freedom for indulgence, so much as to get the moniker Sin City, there is such a ban. But many other counties of Nevada state have legalized it.

Smart, untethered, floating in cloud

2013-01-01T09:00:00.000+05:30

That’s what we will increasingly become this year. It’s New Year’s Day today; and like every year, time to stick our necks out to make a few predictions on what will rule cyberspace and gadget shelves in the coming months. Here we go:

Internet of thingsPhones are smart, most things around us too will soon be. Televisions have made a beginning. There will be a better fusion of TV and internet, and it will get more popular. Next will be camera. You will be able to upload and share better quality photos. Soon Kwon, MD, LG India, says, “Home appliances like refrigerators are all set to become the next generation of smart devices by adopting new, interesting features like Calorie Counter and Smart Shopping.” Imagine getting an SMS while in office that your son has just taken the last egg from the fridge and you will need to replace the stock before you reach home. Another possibility: a box that reminds you to have the medicines on time.

Personal cloudMore people will have multiple devices that are interconnected, move to the cloud and use applications like Google Drive, Microsoft SkyDrive and Dropbox. Instead of copying files on portable devices like pen drive and passing on to another person, people would rather prefer to share files on cloud platforms. As Sunil Dutt, MD, RIM, says, “Spurt in smartphone adoption, increasing use of tablets and growing comfort levels with technologies such as cloud are making it easy for consumers to access data from anywhere at any time at seriously low costs.”

Mobile TVWatching TV channels on mobiles will gain huge traction. “Many people have moved away from ‘appointment viewing’, and are consuming content at their own time, convenience and on the device of their choice,” says Vishal Malhotra, business head, New Media, Zee Entertainment, which has the Ditto mobile TV app. Now, you don’t need to be at home to watch TV. G D Singh, director, Digivive, that brings out nexGTv app, says, “Mobile TV adoption is expected to grow with advent of 3G and 4G airwaves, better screen resolutions and affordable mobile phones.”

Design-driven devicesForm-factor will rule the roost. Multiple permutations and combinations of specs will tailor devices to user needs. Phablets (phone-tablet combo) and convertibles (tablet-laptop combo) will become more popular, blurring distinctions between devices. Harish Kohli, MD of Acer, feels, “Designers will be more in demand than engineers.” The USP will be the options for the consumer to use any device any time depending on need. Prices of convertibles are high as of now, but as they become popular, the increased volumes will drive the prices down.

A Leap aheadClick progressed to touch; and soon you wouldn’t have to do even that. Your laptop will understand your movements. A small device, called Leap, set to be released this year, will make a dramatic difference to hand-free motion control. Leap creates an 8 cubic ft area around a laptop. Inside that area users can interact with their PC with gestures. The ability to detect movements with an accuracy of a 100th of a millimeter, makes it the most powerful 3D motion-sensing device. "Moulding clay took 10 seconds in real life but 30 minutes with a computer. The mouse and keyboard were simply getting in the way. Since available technology couldn’t solve our problems, we created the Leap Motion controller," says the company website.

Edge of seat gamesThere is considerable speculation on how the gaming segment will pan out this year. Every big player is scheduled to come out with a new console, though there is no authentic official word on it. All the buzz is around Play Station 4 and the Xbox 720, that are due to come out this year, to replace the earlier ones that run on old platforms. Xbox 720 will have an eight-core CPU and support Blu-Ray, 1080p 3D and DVR functionality, says online journal IT Article. "Media critics believe Xbox 720 will be at least 6 times more powerful than the Xbox 360. This is one of the gaming consoles to watch out for in 2013," it says.

(A version of this appeared in The Times of India, Bangalore, today.)

Rapists have nothing to fear

2012-12-23T15:12:00.000+05:30

What we are seeing in Delhi is much more than a protest against the brutal crime against a woman in a bus, and the inability of the government machinery to ensure citizens’ safety. It’s also an overwhelming outpouring of our frustration with the system. This unprecedented surge in emotion that took the agitators to the very heart of the power centre in Delhi, is also riding on the momentum set by the series of similar popular upheavals against systemic inadequacies.

The fact that people in such large numbers, especially young women, have been forced to take their protest to the hallowed precincts of our capital, like Raisina Hill and Rajpath, in an unprecedented manner, is a reaction to the rapidly plummeting standards in the state of the nation. It is also a reminder to the government that, inspite of all the talk of determination to set things right, nothing much has changed on the ground.

While dissecting the immediate provocation, let us also not lose sight of the depressing overall social milieu we are living in. Our state machinery is unimaginably weak. The lack of state authority virtually comes across as an encouragement for hooligans to indulge in the worst forms of violence with the full confidence that they can get away scot-free. The majority of law-abiding citizens are held to ransom by the small minority of people who seem to enjoy a carte blanche.

Pause and take a look at what is going on around us. Men have the full freedom to stand in public places, expose their private parts and relieve themselves. One, he has no shame. Two, he has no respect for the society he lives in. Three, he has no fear of the law. He knows very well that no one will come asking for a fine of not even Rs 10, forget being hauled to the police station and prosecuted.

My friend recently told me how he doesn’t feel safe to use his motorbike after 11 pm because he feels he might be mugged and in the process beaten up. There’s nothing to deter the miscreants and give us a sense of security.

A scooter mechanic in my neighbourhood has extended his garage on to the recently built, good, broad pavement; as a result, now pedestrians have to get off the footpath onto the busy road. The mechanic knows pretty well that no one will haul him up; and if at all anyone did, he is confident of circumventing the arm of law.

Our roads, and junctions in particular, present appalling scenes of insensitivity as drivers violate all decency and laws of the land.

Not just women, every sense of human values, and laws are raped.

Sad, our rich cultural and religious heritage is not good enough to infuse a sense of morals in some of us. At least they should have a fear of the law of the land. A weak government machinery has ensured that people needn’t be scared of the law either.

When we can’t fix little things going wrong in our society, I don’t know how we can fix complicated matters like cases of rape that often get entwined in legal and forensic issues. It’s a depressing scenario.

Hope we have reached the tipping point, at least now. Hope the girl’s trauma and suffering will pay off. Hope there will be not only some serious introspection but a series of inviolable steps put in place and activated so that we can all live our lives peacefully without being scared of miscreants, hooligans, thieves, rapists and murderers.

(Crossposted from Kaleidoscope)

Connecticut shooting: Need for introspection

2012-12-16T19:34:00.001+05:30

Friday's shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School, Newtown, Connecticut, is the worst of such tragedies in recent times. Twenty little angels, aged 6 and 7, fell to a barrage of bullets. Six elders too died. What makes this horrendous and numbing is the way the violence was perpetrated.

A 20-year old man, Adam Lanza, kills his mother, Nancy, using her heavy firearms, then he proceeds with all those weapons in her car to the school where she teaches, breaks through the security, and opens fire all around on tiny tots. He is said to be an intelligent but introverted person. His mother is described by neighbours as a normal, quiet housewife.

With Adam and his mother dead, there is only his immediate relatives and friends, who can give some clues to what possibly must have led to this tragedy. Answers to whether the hard times in Lanza family had brought emotional trauma to the teenager, and why his single mom felt compelled to buy those heavy firearms, are only in the realms of conjecture.

As with any such tragedy, the one question being asked is could this have been prevented? Did Adam show any deviant behaviour? Did anyone notice him disturbed? Did anyone bother to provide him help? He is said to have been an introvert, who wouldn't reply to questions. Most people have said that he didn't behave extraordinarily different from how any normal teenager would.

Katherine Newman, who has researched and written a book, "Rampage: Social Roots of School Shootings" says that in most cases someone had noticed something wrong in the person who later turned out to be the shooter, but failed to inform people who could provide some help. The Connecticut case may or may not fall in this category.

The incident prompts us this question: If we ever suspect anything disturbing or potentially dangerous in anyone whom we know, should we intervene or just leave that person to his or her privacy? I can well imagine, if someone had even remotely suspected something wrong in Adam, he would have preferred to respect the Lanza family's privacy rather than raise questions about the young man's personality giving an impression of intruding into their personal matters. This is all the more likely given the western social custom of keeping a reasonable distance from each other to ensure personal space.

The Newton shooting is not an isolated one. Such incidents have happened elsewhere in the world, regardless of affluence or social mores. Only the scale or method have been different. Often such tragedies have belied the calm these societies have been known for. Antagonists, single or in a group, would have been under deep stress; and the violence was an outlet to prove a point or grab attention to issues which had hitherto gone unnoticed or unresolved.

There are people among us who are troubled. Hard feelings, caused mostly by insensitivity of others, often go unnoticed as everyone else is busy trying to outdo one another, in a ceaseless race to reach some goal which like a mirage is never achieved. These unattended, unhealed wounds fester over a period of time and manifest in some form of violence, minor or major. How much ever we try, all problems aren't solved, all wounds aren't healed; but at least we shouldn't regret we never made an attempt to set things right.

(Crossposted from Kaleidoscope)

Cut down fat to be fit

2012-12-09T19:26:00.001+05:30

Obesity is a major problem. People put on weight for various reasons. Most of the cases are due to two factors -- one, due to excessive eating, mainly fatty food; and two, due to lack of exercises. But there are cases where neither of the two are responsible; but some peculiar trait in the body constitution.

I have always felt that if one puts his or her diet under strict regulation, most of the health issues would be taken care of. It's not easy as it sounds.We are talking of nearly monastic diet; food that has minimum content of fat, salt, sugar and oil.

If one tries this out, with some determination, the effect on health can easily and immediately be seen. What works best is not complete ban on these villainous food additives, but regulation. Avoid them most of the time, but indulge once in a while. It'sn't easy; but with some steely resolve it's possible. And it's worth it, if you are in your thirties or above.

Of course, we must also be active in our daily lives, even if we don't go to the gym or do regular exercises.

Here's an article from New Scientist that says in order to lose weight one mustn't skip food, but cut down on fat.

Tiger on the prowl in Wayanad shot dead

2012-12-03T12:43:00.000+05:30

Quite shocking. Not just because an animal has been killed, but because we didn't have an alternative to keep it alive.

Over the past 17 days, a wild tiger had been straying into living areas of Wayanad and attacking and killing many domestic animals and pets. This caused considerable dismay among the people, who were pressing the authorities to do something to rein in the wild animal. A couple of days back residents blocked the main road and said they would lift the blockade only if their safety was ensured.

Photo courtesy: Mathrubhumi

So, forest officials from Kerala and Karnataka were called. They apparently tried their best to trap the tiger. But it failed since it was constantly moving from place to place. Then a decision to taken to fire tranquilizers. A few were fired. But the tiger wasn't tamed, and, according to officials, it had turned its ire towards people. Sensing danger to human beings, the officials decided to shoot the tiger dead.

Wildlife activists have said they would approach the court against the unlawful killing.

The issue brings to fore our inability to tackle such crises in a more even-handed manner. Indeed, safety of human beings -- from other human beings and animals -- is of paramount concern. But, it is a bit hard to believe that the tiger couldn't be tamed with tranquilizer shots. Probably the dosage wasn't properly estimated or the shots were not properly fired.

I doubt if even the villagers would have wanted the tiger killed. They only wanted protection for themselves and their domestic pets.

Probably, the forest officials had come under too much pressure to resolve the situation. But, it's sad that a better solution couldn't found in all those two weeks.

Freedom of choice -- to igonre

2012-12-02T18:50:00.000+05:30

Controversies over tweets and Facebook posts are nothing new. It’s been there for over a decade, ever since the advent of web 2.0 that gave us tools to publish, broadcast and telecast whatever we wanted to tell the world. Earlier, controversies were around blog posts. There have been numerous cases of netizens losing jobs, being served legal notice for defamation, threatened, forced to take down posts etc.

Information -- an objective statement of fact or a biased personal view -- exists either in the private or public domain. When only known number of people are aware of what is said or discussed, then that is in the private domain. For example, letters, phone calls, emails, SMSs etc between two people or amongst a group of people. But, when communication happens amongst countless number of people, it is in the public domain. And that's where all the problems lie.

Earlier, defamation and libel cases were only related to what was published in books, magazines or newspapers or what was broadcast on radio or telecast on television. Most of the communication then was in the private domain. But today, arguably, we spend a lot of time talking to the world at large -- uploading status messages and comments, besides pictures and videos. Perhaps what is forgotten in the process is, there is a huge number of people -- most of them strangers, unlike in the private domain -- reading and listening to what is being said.

There is an old adage: "My freedom ends where your freedom begins". This makes eminent sense when two people communicate with each other, or in such private-domain interactions, where "I" and "you" are known entities. But does this adage hold good in today's changed communication paradigm?

Facebook has come to symbolize the new communication structure -- a lot of supposedly private and personal information and views are broadcast, knowingly or unknowingly, to the whole world in the public domain. The virtually unbridled freedom of expression that everyone has to express their views has forced us to adopt a new way to tackle the torrent of comments.

Facebook is also about a new freedom of choice -- where you choose to ignore. When friend requests from people you aren't quite bothered about come, ignore. If for some reason, you are compelled to add them, then make list of people you want to follow, and ignore the rest. There is the 'hide' option, where you can choose not to see the types of posts you don't like. You can customize the news feed option: choose to ignore what you don't like.

Where is the compulsion to read and react to everything in the public domain? Ignore. Just as I may not make favourable comments always, why should I make unfavourable comments whenever I see something I don't like? Ignore.

Inundated with so much information in the public domain, the freedom of choice that I seem to exercise nowadays is to ignore. There may be limits to freedom to my expression; but thankfully, no one has curtailed my freedom to ignore. That's an absolute freedom I enjoy.

(Crossposted from Kaleidoscope)

Be safe, your favourite app might be infected

2012-11-27T12:40:00.000+05:30

Apps drive mobile devices. There’s one for everything, including one to detect a bomb! Apps are tricky in a sense, because they need access to your personal data in the device.

All apps ask for permission while downloading. Some are: access data network, call records, GPS coordinates, rights to modify contents of SD card, to start on reboot etc. On the face of it, they look harmless, and ordinarily most of us grant the permission. But problems crop when the apps have Trojans (a form of virus) hiding in them. With proliferation of apps, they are becoming a popular vehicle for viruses.

Earlier this year, Sophos security firm detected a trojanized version of the Angry Birds game. These are infected apps that resemble the original one, misleading people.

Having such apps is a risk. "Trojans can come disguised as wallpaper applications. They contain the malicious package within it and may be hard to uninstall," says Ruchna Nigam, Security Researcher, Fortiguard Lab.

"Zitmo is a well-known banking Trojan (it has Symbian, Android and Blackberry versions) that can receive commands from the attacker to intercept SMS second-factor authentication banking tokens and forward them to the attacker, thereby exposing users to banking fraud," she says.

Some apps, malicious ones particularly, seek permission for activities unrelated to their function. When a music app seeks access to call records, you must wonder why, and check the credentials of the developer. For all that you know, it might be safe app. But it’s a call worth taking.

Juniper Networks’ Mobile Threat Center analyzed over 1.7 million apps on the Google Play from March 2011 to September 2012. It found that in the cards and casino games category, 94% of free apps that could make outbound calls didn't describe why they would use this capability. Similarly, 84.51% of free apps that could send SMS didn't specify why they should do so.

In the racing games section, 99% of paid apps and 92.42% of free apps had rights to send SMS, while 50% could use camera and 94.54% could initiate outgoing calls -- without any explanation as to why they needed to do that, says Ravi Chauhan, managing director, Juniper Networks.

The survey found free apps were 401% more likely to track location and 314% more likely to access contacts than their paid counterparts. Among location-tracking apps, 24.14% were free, while only 6.01% were paid.

This gives an impression that free apps access info to target ads. But out of the 683,238 apps examined, the share those with top five ad networks was much less than the total number tracking location (24.14 percent). “This leads us to believe there are apps collecting data for reasons less apparent than advertising,” says Chauhan.

How to be safe
1. Avoid free, unsecured wi-fi. Strangers can peep into what you are sending.
2. Download from official app stores like Google Play or iOS.
3. Check if access permissions sought are needed. Trojanized apps seek more permissions than are required.
4. Check who the developer is.
5. Install mobile security app from known brands like Kaspersky, Norton, McAfee or Avast.

(This article was published in The Times of India, Bangalore, today).

How to access internet via text messages

2012-11-22T19:08:00.000+05:30

It’s not necessary to have internet connection on your phone to access the web. A mere text message sent to a particular number can get you basic data from sites like Google and Wikipedia. Text-based applications also provide information like live update of cricket scores.

Companies like txtWeb, Google and Innoz Technologies have such services.

At the heart of the technology is adoption of a different method to access the internet. These services are popular because of three reasons: one, majority of mobile phones in India are low-end ones with just ‘talk-and-text’ features; two, many people who have smartphones don't have a data plan; and three, those who have data plan, use it sparingly considering poor bandwidth and high cost.

In txtWeb, the keywords have to be sent to 9243342000. For example, to see the Wikipedia entry on Diwali SMS ‘@Wikipedia Diwali’. @cricket gives you the latest scores of cricket matches.

You can get the autorickshaw fare between two locations in a city -- for example, send ‘@auto fare Bangalore, Koramangala, M G Road’. Users can text ‘help’ or ‘txtweb’, to get a list of top apps, featured apps etc. The response sent to the user also contains many tips on how to make better use of the platform, says Manish Maheshwari, director, txtWeb.

Randomly sending a keyword also provides a list of applications related to that subject. Besides, a complete list of all the apps is available at ‘txtweb.com/ apps’.

Google has ‘SMS applications’, wherein simple queries can be answered by sending an SMS to 9773300000. For example, to know how much is one dollar in rupee, text "1 dollar in INR". Similarly, by texting "Bangalore weather", you get information like temperature, humidity, windspeed, sunrise time etc.

If you want the definition of a word, say, inflation, send an SMS ‘what is inflation’. Flight status and list of trains running between two stations too can be obtained by this service.

Another company working in this field is Innoz Technologies. It has developed an innovative operating system for mobiles that enables access to internet through SMS. All that users have to do is to send the keyword to 55444 to get the answer. The company is in talks with mobile phone manufacturers to have the Innoz OS preinstalled in basic phone models.

(This is article appeared in The Times of India, Bangalore, on Nov 20)

Personal computers are not dying

2012-11-21T18:53:00.000+05:30

Desktops may be on their deathbed but definitely not any other personal computing device.

The original definition of PC referred to desktops, the complete set of CPU, monitor, keyboard, speakers, modem and voltage stabilizer. Now desktops have shrunk to laptops and netbooks (notebooks). PCs are seen different from smartphones and tablet; though mobile devices are highly personal and effective computing devices.

The talk of imminent death of PCs is evidently prompted by the ever-growing popularity of mobile phones. Many people have two phones, or a phone and a tablet. But it’s no argument that personal computers, to mean laptops and netbooks, are dying.

In spite of all the advantages, mobile devices have their flip side. One, small user interface, because of the screen size. A 14- or 16-inch monitor of a laptop is definitely not the same as a 4-inch mobile screen. Higher dimensions of 5, 7 and 10 inch screens are a shade better. Besides, wider screens are easy on the eye.

Two, mobile devices generally work well for quick work on the go; a multitasking device that lets you talk, text, check mails and Facebook, send a one-line reply, do a web search, etc. But if you want to watch a 3-hour movie or live streaming of a sports event, or read or type a long document, the wider screen and broad keyboard of a laptop is more comfortable.

Three, screen navigation is easier when it comes to keyboard and mouse. Be it opening multiple tabs or copy-pasting text or working on photos or playing games, the superior user experience of a laptop is undeniable.

PC shipments in India grew by 4.9 per cent to 2.99 million units in July-September period of the current year over the previous quarter, according to global market intelligence and advisory services provider IDC. Even the netbook with 10-inch screen and much lower processing capacity compared to the laptop, was supposed to have flopped but that’s not the case. Many people possess both netbook and laptop, and use each for different purposes.

But it is a fact that PC shipments have slowed over the past few years. One, most people have a laptop. So the boom-time, first-acquisition numbers have tapered. Two, with tablets and other options, use of laptops have reduced, making them last longer. So, the replacement-buy is delayed.

Personal computers will be around for some time. Multiple devices is the norm -- each being used for a specific purpose. Nevertheless, a time may come when the nascent convertibles, a cross between mobile phones and laptops with detachable keyboards, would replace laptops. But that is quite some time away. At least now, it’s too premature to say PCs are dying.

(Crossposted from Kaleidoscope)

Misplaced good intentions on Diwali

2012-11-13T19:46:00.001+05:30

There are good autorickshaw drivers. Only that it's like finding a needle in a haystack. Very difficult. Few people have any kind words about them. Instead, everyone has plenty of anecdotes to describe his or her horrible experiences.

They are rude, is one unanimous opinion everyone has. Other complaints include: refusal to ply, running tampered meters and overcharging.

Here is the experience of a friend who had to travel a little over one km today, Diwali day. The normal fare is just the minimum -- Rs 20. But drivers ask for Rs 30. My friend always insists that she will give only Rs 20.

Today, as usual, the driver said Rs 30. My friend said Rs 20. When he agreed she boarded it. While travelling, my friend thought, since it was Diwali she would tip the driver Rs 5, and pay Rs 25. After all, he is working on a festival day because financial situation at his home must have forced him to.

But to my friend's horror, after three-fourth the distance, the driver stopped the autorickshaw and told her that for Rs 20 she could travel only that far! Feeling totally cheated, she barely managed to control her anger. But, not to be outdone, she handed the driver Rs 15 and walked away. She wondered if there was any one driver who deserved a good deed.

I too have faced many such situations.

When I ask the drivers why they behave rudely, they say they get angry only when the passenger behaves rudely!

When I ask why they tamper with the meter, they say it's a machine after all and it goes bad once in a while!

When I ask why they overcharge, they say cost of living has gone up so much that they have no option but to charge more!

When I ask why they spoil the good image of Bangalore, they hurl a counter-question: how on earth are they spoiling the good image!

Well, I think we should just leave it at that.

Connecting Kinect and Android

2012-11-05T22:23:00.003+05:30

Nothing like an app developers' congregation to see young brains at their creative best, pushing frontiers to make out-of-box ideas work. Droidcon 2012 at MLR Convention Centre on Nov 2 and 3 was no exception.

Droidcon is an international meetup on everything related to the Android operating system; and the first such gathering was in Berlin in 2009. India hosted its first Droidcon last year in Bangalore. The 2nd edition, organised by HasGeek, brought together a galaxy of app developers, visual and interaction designers, software startups, enterprise software companies, robotics and arduino wizards, kernel and ROM hackers, OEMs and platform providers, besides of course the technology enthusiasts.

Aravind Krishnaswamy, co-founder of Levitum and Program Chair, Droidcon, said the objective of the conference was to provide a platform for people to meet each other, brainstorm ideas and share knowledge. "We, in fact, encourage participants to skip sessions, so that they can meet other participants and exchange ideas. It is all about learning new things while having fun."

Allen Thomas, a young software professional working with the Innovation Lab at UST, TechnoPark, Thiruvananthapuram, was one of the participants. He spoke on how Microsoft Kinect and an Android device could be used to help two people interact with each other (pictured below). His premise was that the gesture-recognition features of Kinect could be made use of to develop applications that give more value to interactions among different users.

To demonstrate this, he devised a captivating game of swatting a fly. The movement of the fly is controlled by one of the players using an Android device. The other player, who is tracked by Kinect, will have to swat the fly using his hand. With more Android devices, more flies could be added to the game. Thomas said the big challenge was to ensure that there wasn't data transfer loss between the two systems.

There are many user-end applications for Kinect, one of them being the virtual dressing room. You would no longer have to undress many times to try on new clothes. By standing in front of a Kinect sensor and by waving your hand, you can virtually try out new outfits. Kinect has also proved to be a great education tool in classrooms. Teachers could engage their students better this way than with the chalk-and-board approach. Some of the other daily-life applications of Kinect-based systems are for physiotherapy and and market research in department stores.

(Crossposted from Kaleidoscope)

Merely chasing the corrupt won't do any good

2012-10-15T21:59:00.000+05:30

( Crossposted from Kaleidoscope )

Salman Khurshid, the latest entrant to the Arvind Kejriwal stage, has raised the tone of the slanging match to a new high. Anti-corruption activists say that more players would be dragged into media conferences, presumably for people to take the final call on redefining political morality in India. Politicians -- willy-nilly declared corrupt, and therefore guilty -- have their backs to the wall, fighting back to retrieve their remaining reputation.

As new acts unfold on the political theatre, we are left with more questions than answers. What is the stake for us, the common people? Are we mere spectators? In what way do we benefit? Will Kejriwal's campaign translate into votes? Or, are we staring at a mirage, where the political slate has been wiped clean of all dirt?

It's quite a long time since the public campaign began with Anna Hazare's exhortations, rallies and fasts. Down the road, the movement lost sight of the end, bickered over the means and now stands divided. Hazare has virtually given up, declaring that the existing political system itself is beyond redemption. Kejriwal has, on the contrary, entered the system in a bid to clean it. How much he will succeed, remains to be seen.

Nothing has changed

We are supposedly better informed about the evil called corruption and the corrosive effect it has on the nation. But, has anything changed on the ground in the past one year? No. Examples are aplenty.

The conductor of BMTC (Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation) bus is reluctant to return the Rs 2 change. After many reminders he relents, but only when it's time for you to get down from the bus. He gives the change but takes the ticket back. When you ask for the ticket, he gestures you to get down and pretends he is busy and moves into the crowd of passengers to give them tickets. Ticket is recycled, and the fare you gave has gone into the conductor's pocket. Or else, why should he take the ticket back?

Another tactic employed by the conductor is a "win-win" one: if the fare is Rs 8, and you give a Rs 10 note, he gives you back a Rs 5 coin, and moves on without giving you the ticket. The conductor has gained Rs 5, and you have gained Rs 3.

Has common man's life become easier? Do files move faster now? Have public servants become more courteous and helpful? Do we have better transportation facilities in villages, towns and cities? Do we have more electricity for our daily needs? Do we have better and easier access to clean drinking water? Have our elected representatives become more accountable? The list goes on; and you need to have an unrealistic degree of optimism to answer yes.

Need for positiveness

If Kejriwal and IAC members can usher in a new tomorrow, nothing like it. The whole nation will forever be grateful. But there is not even a flicker of hope at the end of the tunnel. Instead, we get an impression that there are now two battles being fought -- one, the common man's struggle with daily tribulations; and two, the war of charges and countercharges. The collateral damages are further erosion of faith in the system and deeper cynicism.

The negativeness is all too pervasive and it's only getting worse. More people are asking: why should we vote? Showcasing the corrupt and pronouncing them guilty in public will do little good; it primarily serves as retribution. If any good has to come out of this campaign, there has to be a huge infusion of positiveness. Instead of stalling everything, the campaign has to look at means to get the system moving in the right direction.

There has to be a parallel, and more powerful, movement at the grassroots to identify the good people in the system and encourage them. It may be a good idea for Kejriwal and IAC to publish a list of clean and efficient public servants, especially at village and ward levels. It is more important to bring them onto the stage and let the world know the enormous amount good they have done to the society.

Or else, Kejriwal risks being branded -- if not already -- as another politician who has his own axe to grind.

Sorry, you are over 80

2012-10-03T11:28:00.001+05:30

India has between 11,000 and 20,000 centenarians, says a UN report. The number will go up, and before long, there will be more older people than children below 15. Not surprising, considering healthier lifestyle habits, easier access to good hospitals and availability of effective medicines.

That is the only good part -- people are living longer. But how well they are living, is the worrying point. The agony and struggle of one of my relatives, who recently turned 80, is depressing. Here's his story.

One June evening, this gentleman -- whom I will call uncle, a sprightly go-getter whose enthusiasm belies his age -- was standing on a pavement along with his two friends in Adoor, central Kerala. They were waiting for the traffic to clear, so they could cross the road.

One moment they saw a speeding car hit a motorcycle, and before they could realize what happened, the car had got onto the pavement and knocked them down. The motorbike driver was killed on the spot, and the three senior citizens suffered injuries. Uncle was admitted to a hospital in nearby town of Tiruvalla with injuries in his head and ribs.

He was in coma for over a month. Good doctors and medical facilities, aided by the uncle's zest for life, ensured he made slow but steady progress. He is bedridden and needs constant assistance.

The family was given to understand that uncle's condition was not an irreversible one; with advanced medical aid, there could be significant improvement. So, they contemplated shifting him to a speciality hospital in Kochi, where he would get better medical help. But the response from the hospital was shocking. They flatly refused to admit him, saying he was above 80.

Since uncle's children and immediate relatives are in Chennai and Bangalore, they planned to move him to Chennai. And their inquiries with hospitals continued. But the responses were no different. Hospitals were reluctant to admit a patient who is above 80. Some were blunt about it -- doctors said they would rather attend to youngsters who have more life ahead of them than attend to an old man. Others were evasive or diplomatic.

Responses went like these: "O, this is a complicated case". "It's an accident case, what has happened to the case?" "There are no beds, why don't you check other hospitals?" One hospital said they would admit if one lakh rupees was paid.

Probably this has something to do with the fact that people above 80 are not covered under health insurance.

Not that there are no in-patients above 80 in any hospital. But this experience indicated a general reluctance on the part of hospitals. Finally, uncle was moved to Chennai from Kerala in an ambulance and admitted to a hospital with great difficulty.

The immediate thought the hospital responses triggered was: Isn't life worth living after 80? True, a youngster's life is more valuable than an elder's, but is that an excuse to deny medical attention to an elderly person? What is the implicit suggestion here -- that there's no point living after turning 80?

It's tragic to see elders languish and left to fend for themselves for absolutely no fault of theirs. Making matters worse are insensitive mindsets and archaic rules.

People are living longer. Good, but as long as they are healthy. Considering that the number of elders is rising, there has to be radical changes -- in institutional rules as well as social and personal attitudes -- in the way we care for our elders.

One, the 80-year cap on insurance cover has to be lifted. Even if there is no full reimbursement, there has to be some significant institutional help for people above 80.

Two, hospitals need to have good geriatric wards; and those that have, need to scale up their functionality significantly.

Three, there has to be better synergy between old-age homes and hospitals.

Only then, we can truly rejoice at the prospect of living longer.

( Crossposted from Kaleidoscope )