Arguments in the Office: Not that bad!

We've been hearing since our childhood days that one must avoid arguments because arguments brew differences and bad-blood. But a new study at Michigan University in the States suggests that arguments aren't that bad and they can even better the mental health of people. Healthy arguments have been found to be catalysts to improving the efficiency of a person and they also help create a competitive mood and atmosphere in the office. 

According to this study, when we avoid an argument, we don't find an outlet to vent our seething anger and exasperation. We keep brooding over it and our efficiency gets affected eventually. Stress hormones must be released through healthy arguments without stooping oneself. Office arguments often give you that proverbial Eureka moment, you've been looking for. In fine, arguments usher in solutions and help in the COD ( Cumulative Organizational Development). 

How arguments in office help an individual:

Those who decently argue with their colleagues and even with their boss, give an overall impression that they're not argumentative or someone who argues just for the sake of arguing, but he/she argues to put the things in perspective. Remember, an argumentative mind is also an analytical mind and such a person could be an asset to any organization, provided he/she argues rationally as well as succinctly.

The rules of argument:

That doesn't mean, one must keep arguing at the drop of a hat. Such person will soon be branded as a bellicose fellow, who's belligerent all the time. One must follow a few golden rules while arguing, yet not getting branded as a fretful colleague. These infallible rules are-

1 Never attack the individual. Attack his/her views, maintaining office decorum. 

2. Never be personal and try to dwarf the other person. A proper argument always avoids personal and individual issues. It's above pettiness. 

3. Don't argue with a feeling of vindictiveness. It'll belittle your image among your colleagues and boss will think of you in an uncharitable manner.

4. Tell the other person, what has upset you. A roundabout manner to deal with an argument in an office, projects you in bad light.

5. An argument, esp. in the office, must not snowball into a fight or abusive display of emotional fireworks. This leaves a permanent blot on your escutcheon.

6. Never leave reason. To argue with reason is a quality, only a few are imbued with. 

7. Never stretch an argument out of office. Learn to bury it there.

8. Ill-feelings for the other person/s should not pester you even after an argument. Don't carry them home.

Remember the aforementioned rules and argue in a friendly manner. Learn to put your foot down but don't be obdurate in office. One can argue with a desirably pliable attitude and approach to things and people. 

                                                                    ----Sumit Paul

Live like a Spectator

A few days ago, I  read a beautiful thought in the Persian mystic Jami's (coeval of India's Kabir) profound poetry, ' There's a mystic in a truly intellectual self which doesn't let one get too attached to anything.' It had me thinking. A truly intellectual mind is above mundane attachments because there's an ever present hermit in the core of an enlightened person. Gita's eternally thought-stirring exhortation by Krishna to Arjuna on the battlefield, 'Tanmay apitu tatasth' (engrossed, yet not involved) articulates this evolved state of mind which remains like a 'drashta' (spectator) despite being in the hullabaloo of life.

Asadullah Khan 'Ghalib' articulated this higher consciousness in his inimitable manner, 'Bazeech-e-atfaal hai duniya mere aage/Hota hai shab-o-roz tamasha mere aage' (The world is like a child's play/This charade has been going on before me for ages). The cavalcade of life is best observed from a distance when one is an indifferent spectator. A little distance always lends a new perspective to life and Truth.  'Saahil pe baith ke lahron ko dekhte hain/Saakit khade hum door se chehron ko dekhte hain' (Sitting on the sea-shore, I look at the swelling waves/Remaining silent and unfazed, I observe the faces from a distance). To see life in its myriad avatars, it's a must to observe it from a distance with the heart and mind of an un-involved onlooker. When the great Buddhist monk Sariputra was arrested and taken to the king of Java, the king asked him, 'Young man, you'll soon be beheaded.

Are you not afraid?' The ever calm Sariputra said, ' Why should I be scared just because the blade of the sword will cause me some pain while getting decapitated by it? I have a body but I'm not in it. I have gone beyond the quotidian feelings of pain and pleasure.' The king was stunned by the fearlessly measured reply of 23-year-old Sariputra and he freed him to spread the compassionate message of his master Buddha. The same happened when the great Arab mystic Mansoor Hallaj was being excoriated for proclaiming 'An-al-Haq' (I'm the God) in 940 AD in Kufa. The evolved mystic went beyond all perceived pains of the human body and proudly declared on the cross that this very pain had now metamorphosed into indescribable bliss: Dard ka had se guzarna hai dava ho jaana' (When pain exceeds its limits, it becomes its own remedy!).

We all can be interested and disinterested in life just like the great souls mentioned here. It's very much possible to be engrossed, yet not immersed just like water and oil. The two remain together but don't get mixed up and merged like milk and water. ' Duniya mein hoon, duniya ka talabgaar nahin hoon/Baazaar se guzra hoon, khareedaar nahin hoon' (I'm in this world, but I'm not desirous of it/I've gone to the market but not as a buyer). Asar Lakhnavi's philosophical take on life is further consolidated by Salaam Machhlishahari's equally apposite couplet that puts an accent on the dispassionate existence of an individual, despite his ostensible involvement in life's varied activities, ' 

Majnoon hain magar khwahish-e-Laila nahin karte/ 

Hum ishq toh karte hain, tamanna nahin karte' (I'm a lover but I don't long for my beloved/I love but I don't covet). Human life finds its true significance, in fact, its true calling in the non-involvement of life's interminable illusions. A superior and unagitated mind realises this and gets insouciant to worldly pleasures, though it doesn't make its indifference obvious. 

                                  ----Sumit Paul

Have Patience

   The greatest human attribute to me is PATIENCE and I'm sure, not many will disagree with me on this count. It's patience that opens up a plethora of blessings and benefits for a person who is eternally tied to the apron-strings of this divine quality. All scriptures categorically eulogise the significance of patience. The Holy Qura'an states in one of its 6666 verses, 'Inillah ma'as sabareen' (God is with those, who have patience). The great English poet John Milton wrote in his immortal and oft-quoted sonnet 'On his Blindness', ' They also serve who only stand and wait.' To have patience is to have a divine sense. 

Human history is full of instances that consolidate our faith in the power of patience. We often get irritated and start cursing ourselves as well as all those around us when things tend to go awry. But we forget the nature's perennial law that one gets everything eventually, provided one has patience.

When young Alexander the Great (he died at the age of 32) planned to conquer the East (India and its extensions), his old Friend Mednoville Erasmus advised him to have patience and tried to dissuade him from going to far East with a tired and jaded army. He also said that his time to conquer the East would come. He must have patience till then. But the young and a bit reckless Alexander didn't pay heed to his friend's sage words and finally reached India from where he returned to Greece disillusioned and died on the way. If only the Great Alexander had a modicum of patience, the history of the East would have been different.

The Scottish doctor and scientist Sir Alexander Fleming, who discovered antibiotics and won the Nobel Prize for it in 1928, wrote in his autobiography that it was because of endless patience, he finally discovered antibiotics that saved the lives of millions and proved to be a boon to mankind. He failed nearly 100 times before discovering an antidote that would be infallible and completely harmless. He finally succeeded and the world will remain thankful to him till the end of human civilization. Louis Pasteur and Thomas Alva Edison never gave up and waited patiently to get that proverbial Eureka moment to discover and invent something that could change the collective destiny of mankind.

They succeeded and succeeded immensely. Had Rabindranath Tagore lost patience and stopped writing because he started feeling that he wasn't producing anything worthwhile, the world would never have got Gitanjali and its sublime 103 poems. His elder brother and an impressionist painter Abnindranath Tagore exhorted him to go on and write verses without losing patience. The rest is history. Patience is a saintly virtue, which's often the mother of all other great human traits. William Ward Beecher called it the supreme virtue that ensues other virtues. It's patience that teaches us that better times are about to come. 'Be still sad heart, cease repining/Behind the clouds is the sun, still shining.'

It's one human quality that deepens the character and gives insights into things, people and phenomena. An impulsive person, however intelligent he may be, loses life's great opportunities that are destined to arrive at their time. Remember the age-old Hindi maxim, 'Samay se pahle aur bhagya se adhik kisi ko kuchh nahin milta' (One doesn't get anything before time and more than his/her earmarked future). This is not a fatalistic adage. This has a great hidden message that only by dint of inexhaustible patience, does one get what he is destined to. So never lose hope and let patience thin out. One has to have an angler's patience, who spends the whole day and finally catches a big fish just before he thinks of leaving for the day. 

                  

                                                             ----Sumit Paul

Is Technology Taking a Toll on Today's Children?

Going down the memory lane, I recall we were a bunch of children as we had a joint family. All that we had to enjoy was our huge green preen open campus and company of our siblings and a few family helpmates. We didn't have any luxuries as such as the children of today have, computers, laptops, video games, I-pads to name a few.

We didn't even have the exhilarating outing in summer seasons, like summer camps. Rather we used to await our relatives or visit to our nanihal(the place where my maternal grandmother lived) or the village of our Babuji (father). We didn't have any extra activity or any co curriculum classes. Still we were much happier than the kids of today. And yes, arguably we were even more active and agile than the kids of today. How to Add ringtones to iPhone from Computer

I am not trying to make the childhood of the generation of today inferior than that of ours, rather I feel more concerned about the burden with which they have to deal with almost on a day-to-day basis. The nature of burden could be of multifarious nature—it could be burden of books, burden of homework, pressure of performance, so on and so forth.

Actually I feel that the way we are burdening our kids with the pressure to get endowed with every ability in themselves is not good for either a healthy childhood or for the development of their overall personality.

The way our kids are addicted to technology it’s not a healthy sign for their future. Though I do also like many, agree that the children of today must be familiar with the new technology, but the way kids of today are attached to technology, it is to some extent a sort of addiction, which may put spoke in their wheels of development.

The rampant use of technology has ruined our children's childhood, their natural ability and a full swing flourishing development of their personality. For every work may be Homework, projects,assignment or entertainment... for every thing we have made our kids dependent on technology/internet.

Finally I may put up a famous saying "technology is a better servant but   a poor owner" . So we must take care of our children while they are using internet or any kind of technology.

Children must be kept at bay from technology in the name of games or entertainment... rather they should be encouraged to play with other children nearby or drawing colour or any art craft activity.

These will boost their personality as well. Inculcate tolerance sharing attitude friendly behavior in our kids. This is very very important if we want our children to have a happier life in future, full of positive vibes.

                                       ----Aparna Jha

Understanding Diabetes in Simple Way

Lots of people come to know about diabetes when they get diagnosed with this disease. But, till then lots of water already get flowed under the bridge. So, foreknowledge of this lifestyle-related disease is very much beneficial both for awareness and educating about these to the loved ones.

In order to understand this disease, let us assume our body as a Government building. There are government officials sitting inside the rooms that is the cells of the body. There are guards(insulin) in the main gate and in front of the rooms. There are two doors in the rooms. One is for exclusive use of the government functionaries and another is from where the people get into the room. The key to open the door is with the guards.

The foods that we intake are actually the people who come into the building(glucose) and meet the persons sitting into the room to get their work done. If foods having high glycemic index( white bread, corn flakes, puffed rice, bran flakes) get into the system, lots of people get surrounded in front of the building. Glycemic Index is in fact the ranking system for foods that contain carbohydrates. So, foods having high glycemic index mean more people and low glycemic index means few people in front of the building.

When lots of people get aggregated around with the motive to enter the building, the guards safeguarding the building, fail to control the number of persons that should be allowed inside the building. The people enter the building, go to the corridor (artery) and from there they start coming near the guards who have the keys of the rooms.

If the guards are healthy, that means if there is no insulin resistance in the body, they become able to open the doors quickly, and all get accommodated in the rooms. The whole process goes on smoothly and they all become able to get their work done with the help of government employees sitting inside the rooms.

But, if there is insulin resistance in the body(in case of diabetes), the guards become frail, incapable and old. Controlling the crowd of the people becomes almost impossible for the guards. They bring the bunch of the keys, tries one key, another key, and in this way the whole process of entering the rooms get delayed. There becomes chaos-like situation.

Those who are in corridors(arteries) start disruptive activities. The guards, unable to control the crowd escort them to the waiting area. The waiting room is our belly. Resultantly, fat deposition starts around belly. And after that problem starts aggravating day by day.

The above-mentioned scenario takes place when a person is type 2 diabetic. In case of type 1 diabetes, there is no guard left inside. And the gate is also closed and we cannot get into people from outside. 

                                                                     ---Ashish Jha

Spiritual Kindness

Years ago, a student wrote to his professor of Theology, Dr Sir Edmund Blunden, at Oxford, ' What's spirituality?' The taciturn professor replied back, ' When you talk less about it and do more to humanity, that's spirituality.' Professor Blunden was right. We are all too engrossed in talking about spirituality without knowing even an iota of what's it all about. When saint Eknath of Maharashtra gave away the holy water from Ganga to a thirsty donkey, that was an act of spirituality. When Tukaram chased the dog requesting it to stop and take the ghee to eat with, that's spirituality. We all meditate, go to temples and shrines and call ourselves spiritual. 
This is not spirituality. First of all, to be spiritual you need no divine connexion or platform. Kahlil Gibran narrated a true story in his Arabic autobiography Al-Sarguzisht. Gibran was 7-year-old. He was living near a town in Lebanon. On a hot summer day, he heard a sound outside his house. He saw a young man was being led for public beheading. In those days, the condemned prisoners used to be paraded before execution.

The condemned man saw a butterfly on the path. He bent and picked up the butterfly and very softly placed it on a stone slab slightly off the road. The sight left an indelible impression on the very young Gibran. He wrote, ' Knowing that soon he would be executed in public and his head would roll in the dust, yet that man had the overflowing compassion to lift a seemingly insignificant butterfly from the path and place it where it didn't get trampled.' Gibran cried and called it the most poignant sight of spirituality he had ever seen.' Most of us are religious and spiritual, but we remain unperturbed by the sufferings of not only the human beings but of every creature. We're impervious to the pains and sufferings of others. Fariduddin Attar, the master of Jalaluddin Rumi, once saved two wounded piglets.

 When someone said that even touching a pig was haraam (forbidden) in Islam, Attar said, 'Excommunicate me from Islam. Because I know what I did have nothing to do with my scriptural faith. I can again and again save the same piglets and for that I'm ready to face Allah's wrath. To me, a simple act of kindness is the greatest step of spirituality and humanity.' St. Augustine would look for poor, hungry and homeless people and only after feeding them, would he break his fast in the Lent, Christian month of fasting and penance. For the devout Augustine, it was the ultimate gesture of spirituality. This is comparable to the Indian sage and mystic Ramkrishna Parmhans' 'Naro Narayanam Asti' (Man is the living god). Isn't it the most practical manifestation of spirituality? The sooner we understand this, the better will it be for the entire mankind.

     A Spanish professor friend of mine, mailed me an English rendition of Pablo Neruda's very rare sensuous quatrain, which he never sent to any publisher. But the girl he wrote the following quatrain for, gave the brief poem to Madrid University's Spanish department after getting married to a renowned pianist. Her liberal husband wanted the world to know that the great Neruda wrote a sensuous quatrain for his wife when she was 22-year-old and madly in love with the future Nobel laureate. 

                  

                                   ---Sumit Paul

A Tribute to my Father

I lost my father on April 23. Though I was never very close to him when he was alive, his departure left a void in my heart and mind. A deluge of nostalgic memories overwhelmed my whole being. Bringing me up singlehandedly as I lost my mother when I was an infant, he sacrificed a lot to raise me. This got me thinking. Doesn't the role of a father in a child's life often go unnoticed and get eclipsed by mother's presence? Fathers are often viewed as rather unemotional beings who leave their offspring to mothers' custody and conveniently shirk their parental responsibilities. This is a fallacious belief.

 Fathers, being men, often don't wear their emotions on their sleeves. They don't display their joy from the rooftops. I remember, when I stood- first- class first in my BA exams with Persian as my major subject, my taciturn father just said, 'Congratulations! Keep it up.' I felt a tad let down and thought that if I'd a mother, she'd have been in the seventh clouds. But at this age and stage of my life with a little more maturity, I understand that his controlled reaction to my 'grand' success was in fact, his own way to tell me that i mustn't rest on my laurels and work harder to add more feathers to my cap. We fail to fathom father's love because it's seldom ostentatious. 

Roman emperor-philosopher (a rare combination, indeed!) Marcus Aurelius observed two thousands years ago that a father's disciplined affection was more important for a child's perfect upbringing than a mother's cloying love (for her child). It was Shuddodhan (Gautam Buddha's father) who could foresee that his son Siddharth would one day become an enlightened one. Siddharth became Buddha because of his father, who was pragmatic enough for not being in favour of Buddha getting married and having a family. If a mother provides emotional anchorage, a father gives survival kit to his child to wade through the harsh realities of life getting unfazed by them. 

Alas, most of us understand this in retrospect. While my dad was alive, I lived in India and he was in Europe and now when he's no more, I kick myself for not spending quality time with him. This is life and this is hindsight wisdom, which's always futile.

                      

                                                                   ----Sumit Paul

How does Family Feud Affect Environment?

All the festivities and along with these, all the oaths and pledges of brotherhood & harmony are also over now…as I realized while standing in my balcony today.

Actually while standing and staring down the lane in front my flat I saw that the vacant space near my flat was well occupied rather packed by now with 3 cars of our next door neighbor.

I am neither going to preach the rising economic standard of middle class nor I'll compare the expenses on luxury along with that of necessities.

Rather I have an different vision to look at it, which will be carved out better after learning the story behind the piling up of 3 cars in our lane.

There live three brothers as our next door neighbor. They all are well off .But none of them had a car. One day the eldest one brought a car and rejoiced and celebrated by distributing sweets around. Within a month or two the younger one too bought a car rather more expensive than that of his elder brother. And a few days ago the second brother too bought a car, just to be equal to his brothers, though he was facing some economic issues these days.

Now, I want to share what went through my mind:

1. Can these purchases be calculated to progress of a person or that of the whole family....?

2.  Do such possessions highlight any family achievement?

3. Will it add on or harm the nature the environment at large?

My answer to the 1. Question is a Big No, because the family needs car in middle class society at certain times. And it may be managed by 1 car too. The frequent purchase of cars in one family goes to show only the rapidly rise of ego, rivalry and lack of submissive attitude and amiability patience and above all total lack of tolerance.

This is not the story of a certain family. Similar is the situation everywhere in our society. It’s really alarming. We are progressing we are developing. But in which direction? We must reevaluate and rethink upon.

My answer to the second question too is again a Big No. It’s not any kind of achievement to a family. Rather, it can be taken as a red alert towards the fall of family's warmth and fraternity. The day are not far when the whole family would be divided on the scale of competition among each other and seen as enemies to each other.

My answer for the question no. 3 is an emphatic Yes, such rivalry among families is much more dangerous to the destruction and demolition of nature and environment around. At a time 3 cars will run on the road from one family, most often for the same purpose. It will increase traffic problem, pollute air and create noise pollution. It will also congest the nearby areas that were hitherto spacious enough to allow free flow of air and sunshine.

So we need to really be humble and humane from heart to think and rethink before any such purchases. That whether it’s really our requirement whether we can afford it. We should try hard to preserve and develop our cultural ethical values of real indianism i.e. tolerance, patience, amiability and brotherhood. These will not only save our environment but also let us prosper along with our family with real happiness that for sure bring peace of mind to one and all.

                                             ----Aparna Jha

Arthritis: Causes, Symptoms and Treatment

Summary: Arthritis is basically inflammation of the joints. Osteoarthritis and Rheumatoid arthritis are the most common types of arthritis. The signs and symptoms of this disease include difficulty in moving joint and at least an hour of morning stiffness around the joint. However, the treatment of the disease depends on the complexity of the disease, age of the sufferer, the type of arthritis and how old the problem is at the time it is diagnosed. Early detection of disease proves to be helpful for its sufferers. Therefore, it is quite important to be vigilant for its symptoms and do utmost to cure the disease.

What is Arthritis?

The human body is held together by a number of joints. The place where two bones join is called joint. It is only because of joints that we are able to move without any difficulty. Cartilage is also very important in the functioning of a joint as it allows the bones to move without any friction. It provides cushion in the joint that safeguards the joint from the shock and pressure of movement making the movement smooth. Arthritis is basically inflammation of the joints.

What Causes Arthritis?

When the cartilage of the body breaks down, the bones start rubbing each other. Resultantly, stiffness, swelling and pain occur in the joints. The joints get inflammed. This condition is known as arthritis.

Types of Arthritis: There are two most common types of arthritis

Osteoarthritis: This is the form of arthritis that is caused due to wear and tear of the joints. The condition keeps on aggravating as a person ages. The most favourite place of osteoarthritis are hands, hips and knees. This type of arthritis is common among adults.

Rheumatoid Arthritis: Poor immune system is the main culprit of this disease. The immune system starts attacking the healthy tissues of the body, causing inflammation and pain in the joint. The disease may also damage other body parts, such as heart, eyes, nerves and blood vessels.

Signs and Symptoms: The symptoms that are common in all forms of arthritis are as follows:

Difficulty in moving joint
Redness in joint
Frequent or constant pain in joint
At least an hour of morning stiffness around the joint
Swelling in joint

Treatment of Arthritis: Treatment of arthritis is based on several factors. Some of these are as follows:

The type of arthritis:
Age of the sufferer
Complexity of the disease
How old the problem is at the time it is diagnosed

                                                          

                                            ----Praveen Jha

Diet for Weight Loss

Before coming to diet food, it is important to know diet. If we go through its Dictionary Definition, diet means a special course of food that is restricted to a health-conscious person, either to lose weight or for some medical exigencies.

Shedding some extra kilos is one of the most daunting tasks for the generation of today. It requires enormous will power, grit and disciplined mind. Doing the things that is right, and not what you like, is of course not simple. Staying away from the food that is irresistible is of course a big challenge.

But, if you keep on doing the things that you have been doing, you will keep on getting the things that you have been getting. Simply put, if you keep on binging on the foods that do not augur well for your body, you will keep on getting extra flab, sans any signs of improvement.

Given below are some secret tips for weight loss that need to be followed:

Take Balanced and Nutritious Diet: No matter whether you consume small or sumptuous food, the first and foremost thing that you need to take into consideration is that it must contain the food from all the food groups in the right proportion—vegetables, fruits, proteins and daily. You must eat nutritious and balanced diet.

Choose the Food that you Enjoy: Your diet should never be boring. It will be a prudent move for you, if you choose any regular food that you enjoy eating. Make your diet healthier. For example, if you enjoy Dosas, you can make it with some healthier ingredients, like oats.

Be Mindful of the Portion that you Eat: No matter what is the food that you choose, exercise strict control over the portion that you eat.

Your Calorie Intake should not Exceed 1200-1500 Calories per day: Just ensure that your calorie intake does not cross 1200-1500 calories. It will be nice if you stick to 3 meals of about 300-400 calories. You can also enjoy 3 mid-meal healthy snacks of around 100 calories. In order to track the calorie count of the food that you take, you can take help of online tools.

Take the Food of your Choice Once a Week: Take whatever food you fancy throughout the week, once in a week. The intake of that food will stop your cravings for those foods and at the same time, rev up your metabolism.

Include Exercise in your Routine: Along with dieting, include exercise of some form to ensure reduction of body weight. Working out for 30 minutes to 1 hour in a day will be a sagacious move. You may include some walking and some moderate exercises.

Never Skip Breakfast: Breakfast is the most important meal of the day and the most important component for weight loss. Apart, do not make your dinner, a midnight affair. Try to get your dinner by 8 p.m.

Say no to Oily, Fatty and Sugary Foods: Avoid these foods as much as you can. Apart from these foods, also avoid the processed food. Your food should contain low calorie and low carbohydrate foods. Include lots of fruits, salads, buttermilk in your meal and have healthy snacks so that you can stand aloof from junk food.

                                                        ---Ashish Jha

Early Diabetes Symptoms

Most of the people do not understand what kind of disease diabetes  is. There is a myth associated with the disease. People think that

diabetes is a disease of sugar. The irony is even the doctors do not communicate. They do not educate the patients.

Diabetes is actually a condition of insulin resistance that leads to high blood sugar level, which causes damage to different organs if it is allowed to progress. After organ damage, multiple organ failure and death follow. In a simple language, it is like a two-edged sword.

If your blood sugar level is very high, you end up dying or having complications, because of high blood sugar levels. But, if your levels are low, you go to hypoglycemia and there you have the chance of dying because of low blood sugar level, as the sugar level does not reach the brain. Even the ketones are not produced during the time, which help person to survive and provide the important glucose for the brain to function and survive. So, these are the two edges of the sword.

The Symptoms of Diabetes

The problem with diabetics is that they do not get early symptoms. When the level increases and go around 250, and may be in some cases, 300, they complain of excessive thirst, increase   in appetite, excessive urination,etc.but at the same time, they also tend to lose weight. Apart from these, they complain of crawling ants in their feet, the feeling of numbness in limbs and very slow or no healing of their wounds. They also feel lethargic, heaviness in their body, and they are not able to function properly.

These are the things that happen when the levels become pretty high. Doctor check the blood sugar level and the person is found to be a diabetic.

But, as far as early symptoms are concerned, they are not many. However, there are some symptoms that indicate the onset of diabetes. One of these symptoms is deposition of excessive fat around the waist area. So, those who have put on extra fat around their waist area, and even if they exercise a lot, things do not work out, need to be alarmed and do something substantial to prevent the occurrence of the disease.

Another symptom is the feeling of lethargy after taking meal. So, the people who feel laziness, after especially taking high carbohydrate meal and get energetic, after taking sleep for 15-20 minutes, are at higher risk of getting diabetes.

Family history is also one of the causative agents of this disease. If both the parents of a person are diabetics, the person needs to be extra cautious about the disease. Even if only one parent has the disease, the apprehension of this disease is almost fifty per cent.

The above-mentioned symptoms include but not limited to the symptoms which point towards imminent diabetes development.

                                                               ----Ashish Jha

Assumptions and Presumptions

Three wise men set out on a journey for, even though they were considered wise in their own country, they were humble enough to hope that travel would broaden their minds. They had barely crossed into a neighbouring country when they saw a skyscraper in the distance. What could this enormous object be, they asked themselves? The obvious answer would have been: go up and find out. But no, that might be too dangerous. Suppose it was something that exploded as one approached? It was altogether wiser to decide what it was before finding out. Various theories were put forward, examined and, on the basis of their past experience, rejected. Finally, it was determined, also on the basis of past experience of which they had an abundant supply, that the object in question, whatever it was, could only have been placed there by giants. 

This led them to the conclusion that it would be safer to avoid this country altogether. So they went back home having added something to their fund of experience.

Assumptions affect Observation. Observation breeds Conviction. Conviction produces Experience. Experience generates Behaviour, which, in turn, confirms Assumptions

Human life is based on assumptions and presumptions. We often miss the bus because of our silly assumptions and fabricated apprehensions. ' Until you swim, how can you assume or presume that water is deep,' Confucius would often tell his disciples. Alexander would never have dared to come to India from Greece had he assumed and believed that the moment he would set foot on the soil of the East, he would die. His father Philip's court astrologer Angoinet warned young Alexander never to go to the East. But he dared and came and also won nine battles before abdominal ulcer forced him to horse back to Bactria in Greece. He didn't care for assumptions and therefore could come so far and win comprehensively.

Assumptions are the weapons of the weak. To assume is not to resume. Assumptions affirm our vague beliefs and make them strong convictions. The great Victorian English poet and critic Dr Matthew Arnold rightly said, ' Assumptions are the feathery wings of our imaginations.' They indeed are. Life's eighty percent tragedies are caused by assumptions and beliefs that were never tested and examined. In medical science, there's a chapter called 'Assumptive Therapy'. Doctors are taught how to make the patients get rid of their assumptive ailments. Once the patient is cured of his/her assumptions, the ailments also disappear in a jiffy. 

Let your assumptions remain assumptions and don't allow them to get ossified. Once they get ossified, they also become fossilised and then you can't disabuse yourself of them. 

                                                                   ----Sumit Paul

Mukul Sinha: Death of an Intrepid Crusader

Mukul Sinha was indeed a man of principles, who tirelessly fought for the Godhra victims and never compromised. His death is indeed a jolt to the Muslim victims' ongoing fight for justice. Despite threats and all insinuations, he didn't waver and continued his crusade against the fascist forces of Hindu militancy in Gujarat and elsewhere in the country. Never a believer in god and any religion, his mortal remains were donated to Ahmedabad Civil Hospital as per his last wish.

I don't exactly remember his words which he spoke when a Calcutta-based English newspaper interviewed him in 2005, but he said something to this effect that no god would come to help the human beings in distress, we shall have to help our fellow human beings at this critical juncture. He indeed extended his wholehearted support to the poor Muslims and exhorted others to join the battle against the injustice and state pogrom and carry on till its logical end. The man had no vested interests and hidden agenda. In fact, he never tom-tommed what he did so indefatigably.

 In this age and era, when almost all human rights activists have a flagrant desire to be in the limelight, Mukul Sinha was a refreshing exception. He always eschewed self-praise and evaded the limelight. That's the reason, people are very well aware of the name of Teesta Seetalvad but hardly anyone has an idea of the yeoman's service rendered by him. He believed in silent execution of work and never expected anything in return. Even fascist Hindus of Gujarat never accused him of something clandestine in his crusade for the battered and beleaguered Muslims.

He earned the respect even of his opponents who never resorted to mud-slinging at him, though he was called a 'Muslim with a Hindu name.' Not only did he help in Godhra victims' rehabilitation, he also fought tooth and nail  in the legal battle surrounding the four cases of fake encounters, involving Sadiq Jamal, Ishrat Jahan, Sohrabuddin Sheikh and Tulsi Prajapati. He was a lawyer sans avarice and cupidity. An IIT Kanpur alumnus, he initially worked at Physical Research Laboratory (PRL) in Ahmedabad.

 After getting his law degree in 1989, he started fighting cases for the underprivileged. His NGO 'Jan Sangharsh Morcha' took up labour issues, such as low wages of drivers and conductors of the city and state transport corporations. It's indeed a pitiable irony that when a militant party is all set to topple the existing government, a lifelong crusader who always challenged this belligerent party's dubious ways and actions is no more. When Allama Iqbal died in 1938, poet Hasrat Mohani lamented, 'Qaum ne apna rahnuma kho diya' (The community has lost its guide and mentor). The demise of Mukul Sinha elicits the same rueful sentiments.     

Ali Sina is an apostate. He resides somewhere in Europe, probably in London.

After leaving Islam, he has been 

spreading the TRUTH about the religion he was a part of. 

Please read his trenchant replies to Muslims' queries.

                                           

                                                                               -------Sumit Paul

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