Why Man falls Sick more often than Woman?

Old Piece-Reproduction.

Why Man falls Sick more often than Woman?

This is a very provocative question.

I wonder how many men of the ego species have pondered about this question at least philosophically, I do not know.

If I have a lecture on this topic how many men and women will attend my lecture I do not know but worth a statistical study..

My analysis is that very few men will attend since the men with ego or without ego would not feel comfortable about my vocal comments that would demoralize their ego still further in front of women.

In any case the number of women (they take any gullible facts sitting in front of the TV) will far exceed the number of men would attend since women of the species, might think I might bare few more secrets of men that they could get hold of it to strangle them some more in deadlock of wedlock.

Real reason I thought of writing is not to do with men or women.

It is really to do with the Sir-Lankan Telecoms.

I am currently downloading Katana (for Window Guys) which has all the utilities one needs in an emergency but the last few megabytes of the DVD taking nearly three hours ( OurTelecoms is downloading it at a snail pace of 5 to 10 bytes per second ( less than one megabyte per minute) and I do not like to have a heart attack of some sort, so if I do not stimulate my creative part of the brain, there would be some side effects.

The non-creative automatic part of the brain that causes surge of androgen and anger, jealousy (oestrogens included), aggression and all the animal behaviour which include thrashing the key board and squeezing the mouse so hard that the mouse defecates intermittently on my hand, should have to be avoided if I want the last few of the MiBs to be downloaded,.without any hassle.

Before I talk about the men, I should give a brief account and the modus operandum of a young woman at work..

This particularly applies to a Sri-Lankan woman.

1. She lies adequately to convince the interviewers (generally speaking more males than females in the interview board).
2. Moment she gets the job she prepares for her marriage
3. She will have at least two kids within 3 years
4. Delegate all the work to spinster girls and bachelor boys at the work place since her home according to her is like the devil’s workshop.
5. The next period she is very secretive and there are frequent absenteeism due to sick children but she can be found in the passport office and front of many foreign embassies.
6. Then she attends all the workshops that are available free of charge or on the head’s recommendation depriving all the bachelors.
7. In the last phase suddenly she hands over the resignation to go abroad.
8. Just prior to the resignation she works like a bull to impress everybody.

All these time she does not know how to breast feed, cook or read a book to the kids. and the husband has to do all the work, including washing and cleaning and taking her from embassy to embassy.

Then she goes abroad drops the husband within a year (who has to look after the kids) and get married to a foreigner with white skin to get the (foreign) permanent visa.

This scenario is typical and I have seen many of the kind.

Now to why man falls sick.

The above scenario is enough to get any male of the species without paper qualification to get sick even without taking to alcohol.

But in my analysis I am talking about a perfectly healthy man before marrying and who does not take alcohol as a beverage.

He is a typical nice man totally dependent on his wife for what he eats from breakfast to dinner.

1. He has not done Home Science for ‘O’ Level.

2. He does not know the basic facts about any nutrition.

3. He cannot make a cup of tea.

4. He is a mummy’s boy and spoilt.

5. He follows the trend his mother has laid for him but he now cannot see his mother even secretly.

5. He gets the dogs share but a very large share (left over food of the previous night prepared for the kid) at home and kid gets the priority, especially if he is a boy.

6. Now the wife has acquired a microwave cooker and cooking is just a few seconds of heating left over food, killing and destroying all the vitamins.

For the next ten years all the hallmark of unhealthy habits are laid down.

7. At work place he eats all the junk food since his wife’s cooking is hopeless and no care for healthy food habits are laid down by now.

8. He gets fat by the day and his wife says see how healthy you are.

When your mother was feeding you were thin like a pole.

9. His kids are also fat like him since he brings all the sweets to lure them to his side.

10. Never goes with kids to play since tuition classes are more important than good exercise.

The bottom line is the marriage makes the Sri-Lankan man sick. 

This is warning for any foreigner who thinks of marrying a local girl.

So I have some remedy for the local guys who want to stay healthy.

1. Do not get married. This does not say you should not have sex.
2. At school offer subjects like home science and nutrition.
3. At least have a few friends for you to go on outing or hunting
4. Play at least couple of games at least at weekends
5. Do not buy a cell phone
6. Learn to climb trees. 
   Good exercise and you are the one who will have the first taste of the fruits but not the girls who are down below. 
   Give them the rotten ones or half eaten ones.
7. Only eat the food that your mum gives
8. Read some girl’s magazines (before marriage) on beauty care and slim foods that give all the health care advice one needs (when you eventually get married).
9. Go abroad if you can and work with some girls (preferably white skin but skin does not matter here, you will see the kinds that I have described above and but much more better (worse is perhaps is the better term) examples) to see how nasty they can become if you displace any one of them them in their job or of administration.
   
10. Get some paper qualification to stand a chance of getting a job by beating the girls in the interview.
    
11. There are more girls doing boys jobs now than boys doing girls jobs worldwide. They will never tell you when a new job is in the offing. Our times boys outnumbered girls by 10 to 1.

You may add any of your personal experiences to this list but I have put the bare minimum to get you the picture.

Lost Command and Logical Conclusion

Lost Command and Logical Conclusion

We had a teacher who had been in the Army during World War 11 probably in the voluntary force who became a teacher in subsequent years. 

He was not a good teacher except his good command in English and the ability to command us the way he wanted us to be.

Our assessment was that he was not good enough to be in the Army ranks and that is why he was booted out. 

Even those days education department was the dumping grounds for undesirable characters.

One good thin we learnt from him was time management. 

He was punctual and because he was no good at teaching he used to leave the class in time and sometimes he took French leave too to escape from our minor harassment.

He was particular about our dress code too especially the shoes we wore. Since we came from neighboring villages we did not like wearing shoes. 

One cannot climb a tree with shoes on and ditch into water 3 to 4 feet high to catch guppies (fish) with shoes and stockings.

That was understandable.
Even if, we had a wound in one leg it got to be one slipper and one shoe to wear.
One day we had a plan.

One of us (let’s say it was not me but I was the one with the bright idea got it adopted from a cartoon of those days) wore black shoe and a brown shoe to school.

He was living in the neighbourhood.
Others decided to wear socks of two different colours or not to wear socks at all.

We shared the socks with different colours before entering the school after playing softball cricket.

The plan was that the one wearing shoes with two different colours to come to class bit late and limping as he was injured so that the teacher would notice the obvious.

We also decided to keep mum and not to laugh when this was discovered.
Teacher was visibly annoyed.
He call him what the hell with two colours (like Sinaha regiment wearing Gamunu regiment colours).

The answer was “Sir, I have another one like that at home but left right changed he said”
We started laughing spontaneously.
Go home and change your shoes and come was his answer.
He did,
The plan worked.

Then being stupid enough he decided to check shoes of all of us and discovered that we we wearing multi-coloured attire.

He then realized that this was a platoon’s display of displeasure and chased us to go home and come with proper attire.

We did not go home but went to the playground and had little bit of gamesmanship and exchanged our socks played for while and returned back to the class.

The guy came little bit later with almost the same shoes.
Now more than annoyed.
Why didn’t you change?.
No Sir, I changed.

I left the other pair at home and put on this pair which I left in the first instance at home, was his answer.

Now the ex-officer was red hot.
He could not send him home lest he will repeat the ordeal.

We only knew that he did not go home but stayed with us and was brave enough to play the game straight.

The teacher in his utter confusion got his left and right confused.
He could not remember what he wore in the first place.
The officer lost both his senses and command.
No wonder why he was not kept in the regular force.

We were in total command of ourselves since then and that is why many of us ended up in the university and abroad.

He did not come to school for couple days afterward and we heard that he had a minor heart attack.

The principal who was a senior officer in rank when in service transferred our teacher to another class and the next year he was gone for good and we never saw him again in our lifetime.

Singing Birds

Singing Birds

I wake up to the sound of singing birds.

I have now faced with a problem.

I try to identify them by their chirpy, chippy, churns but cannot.

Let me list the ones I can identify.

Crows caw, quacks of duck, cock-a-doodle-doo of cocks and few more.

But I hate the whine of mosquitoes.

They keep me up all night.

So, when I am up early with a nasty bite of a mosquito, with raging anger, to calm me and get to Metta Mode, I listen to the early birds.

Probably our domesticated fowl is the first to crack and wake up.

Then the jungle fowl and little later and afterwords, there are many more birds whistling which I cannot identify but worth recording on a sonogram.

I can identify the Polkhicha that come and gobble my guppies.

Then the babblers, bul bul and last the Ceylon Oriole and the parrots and musical coucal.

I cannot count ten (ducks are not in my neighbourhood but are in frozen state in a deep freezer) and I give up.

Words of Wisdom, Pick Only the Gems

Words of Wisdom, Pick Only the Gems

My attempt of spreading the "Words of Buddha" is simply an extension of my handling of the written language.

Of course English is handicapped without proper words to express the Sansara and the Beings bounded by Kamma, simply because, English as a language is corrupted by the Word, Soul.

There is no Soul in Dhamma but "Conditional Existence of Aggregates" of five senses and the quintessential Mind.

Mind is the base from which we have to be freed from.

It is not easy and its very nature is bondage or attachment to senses.

The way forward is Meditation.

It is the Dhammanussati (Recollection of Dhamma) that is more important than "Ana Pana Sati".

Ana Pana Sati without the understanding of Dhamma is meaningless to a novice.

Currently Meditation is corrupted by commercial inputs and interests.

Dhamma has to be freed from bondage to money.

So to defuse this commercial inputs, I am following Rev. Shravasti Dhammika's (Born in 1951 and his Australian name cleverly hidden by him) methods of contemplating of Buddha Vacana.

His attempt is pristine.

My attempt is simple and ordinary but verbose in content.

I never state it is mine or Buddha.s.

That is the secret.

They are all hidden in some my verbose poems and verses.

If I put the dogma call religion to these pristine words, their meaning is lost by default.

So read the verbosity but pick only the gems that are hidden in my Web Site, rather Blog site.

Small is Beautiful

Small is Beautiful
Unfortunately the 1st of April fell on a Saturday and not on a week day. In a country where every day life is annotated with mundane lies be that may be in politics or at home. I was relieved of coining a lie of grand desire. But it looks like of all of us are April fools. To begin with we celebrate our local new year on the fool's month just 13 days later which is an irony which number nobody seems to be having a liking. We married on the 13th of a month and when this was raised by a few in the family circles I told them if we celebrate the New Year on the 13th and why not?
On both counts whether after the New Year or after the marriage one is much poorer (broke) money wise but rich in experience of mundane affairs there was no special risk in doing something on a day (13th) when nobody else is interested in doing anything other than wasting time. That leads me to the point of changing time on the stroke of the New Year. For me it another gimmick to keep people's mind away from real things like cost of living but raising a mundane issue which is in any case detrimental to the economy in the long run further escalating the cost of living.
There are few things the real politicians can do but have no inclination.
Think "Small is beautiful".
To begin with increase the purchase value of our money notes.
Another gimmick of JRJ was to print rupees 1000 notes so big that it cannot be put in a purse. It is very big compared to a dollar note it gives a sense of an enlarged image to the owner. At that time parity of a pound note was about 30 rupees and the 1000 rupee note was in fact over 30 pounds. Those days 30 pounds was a big amount of money and one could stay in a cheap motel in London for seven days for 30 pounds with breakfast which I used to do in my short outings. But if you go to London and display a 1000 note at one of the MacDonald's Restaurants one is unlikely to get a shock but not a square meal. This is so even in Another gimmick of JRJ was to print rupees 1000 notes so big that it cannot be put in a purse. It is very big compared to a dollar note it gives a sense of an enlarged image to the owner. At that time parity of a pound note was about 30 rupees and the 1000 rupee note was in fact over 30 pounds. Those days 30 pounds was a big amount of money and one could stay in a cheap motel in London for seven days for 30 pounds with breakfast which I used to do in my short outings. But if you go to London and display a 1000 note at one of the MacDonald's Restaurants one is unlikely to get a shock but not a square meal. This is so even in  that the rupee has gone up (In actual fact depreciated) so much one needs not to write an economic thesis on the very subject.

Proposal 1
So my first proposal for the new regime if they want to appreciate our rupee according to the market value is to reduce its size of the notes especially the 1000 rupee notes so that my small purse can accommodate enough notes of them to do my daily marketing. Since the new regime has no other way of fulfilling the promises and printing notes is the only viable option it will save lot of trees in the rain forest of our own and in the world too.
I am not going to accept the central banks explanation that they need special type of paper and rain forest is not vandalized for the purpose of printing money. This was another megalomaniac (big size notes bigger than dollar notes) thinking of JRJ in addition to the post of presidency.
Anybody who fills this post become megalomaniac whether it is male or female and they never appreciate the concept of small is beautiful. 
So I do not expect to the new regime to change the size of the 1000 rupee note but it will save lot of money to the exchequer supreme of the Central Bank.
Even though the central bank economists want understand my simple erythma (red in the face not arithmetic) that if they print two notes instead of one the paper wastage is reduced by 100%. Since the number of notes printed is not going to go down (in due course) the fringe benefits they get want be reduced. In fact it would be increased by almost 200% in due course by the time urea bill is settled. They should not worry about the perks getting reduced and devalued. In addition this proposal of mine if the central Bank Governor can espouses as of as one of his own original ideas he might even be invited to become the next Governor of the World Bank.
What an upward mobility for a yappy?
I have many such ideas which I would not dispense for economy of words and to portray the beauty of 'small is beautiful'. 
One's prowess has to be dispensed with in small doses lest the upward mobility would be hindered in due course if all the ideas are dispensed all at once.
The Peter Principle comes into operation then.
This is actually a philosophical issue and the philosophers of yesteryear were very economical in their words lest they were beheaded. They also made sure most of the rulers did not understand the contents of the philosophy but only the face value of their utterances. There is no exception in the modern world. President Bush and Prime Minister Blair are good examples that come into my mind. 
Rulers are rulers and few of them had been philosophers.
What has happened to the newest set of presidential advisers is that they dispense new ideas at a rate even the president cannot keep pace with (considering his age coming to power).
Thinking small is beautiful is not a weakness but a strength.
What it means is not bowing down to pressure but to reason. 
What is happening today is we are bowing down to economic pressures leaving the strength of our convictions at bay.
Small nation can be strong only we think in that way.

For Buddhists the selflessness should be the greatest assert which should drive the selfish dreams of individuals out of the mainstream and drive for collective needs and responsibilities of the nation.
 
Sadly this is lacking and we are slowly slipping into the cycle of violence and selfish drives.
Selflessness does not mean bowing down to all the terrorist demands but striking a balance to reach a best compromise.
We must not let the international community dictate terms.
What has happened is that the international community has become part of the problem.
Norway is a good example and it has become part of the problem rather than a solution.
Sooner we realize this better is for a viable solution.
The Peter Principle is explained elsewhere and my email is also there in "Scan the Scum" for use. 
There is of course no guarantee that I would reply immediately.

4th of April 2006.

Philosopher

Philosopher
 
The scientist collects his
Facts, figures and information
In a sun hat of his own
The philosopher look at the facts
Ignoring the fat hat that contains
The information
But consider wearing it
In style and comfort


The scientist analyze the data
Without dropping the irrelevant
In formulating his concepts,
Law and order
The philosopher frees
The facts
From it confined enclosure
Into public domain
Whether it is relevant or not


The concept that he develops
Are contemporary  in content
In time, space and person
So he can wear the hat freed
From constraints
With colourful feathers adorning
It fringes


But the scientist
Who has a hat collection of facts
Cannot wear it
On a sunny day
Unless he decides
To drop all his
Concepts into 
The public or
Dustbin or Domain

Scatter or not to Scatter

Scatter or not to Scatter
Or, well this is not on scattering of light or scattering of rubbish in my neighbourhood but a rejoinder for the scat and scatology I penned sometime ago. 
It is on a subject at hand every one of us have had some problems associated with at some stage in life be that it may be childhood, adulthood or old age.
 Writing on medical subjects is an antithesis to me.  
This is a departure from that line of thinking. Away from clinical work having enjoyed academic activity liberally I have lost count of how many millions of our fellow beings are affected by the mother nature's call and its aberrations. So writing on a commoner garden topic was due for sometime. What I am going to talk about is our scat, the human variety not animal and the difficulty of its elimination first thing in the morning for most of us. 
The topic is constipation not the emotional (I had this at the time of election) variety but the physical variety of all that afflict my fellow beings. First of all this does not affect the animals in the jungle be that it may be an elephant or an ant to any alarming degree. If at all if it affects the animal kingdom it is the domesticated ones, the cats and the dogs that we associate with that have this man’s perennial problem inherited from our bad habits. 
In any case they (animals) do not need any special medication except for changing the diet.
Going back in history I don’t think that humans like animals were made to use toilets. When they were in the jungles when they got the urge they would go furtherest away from their dwellings and would scatter the scat like any other animal. But I don’t think they ever made use of this activity for marking the territories like animals. If they have done that animals would be in real trouble looking for a free space to populate their kind. 
Their nature is to avoid contact with this ambivalent species who have love and hate both at the same time in abundance and instance. 
I believe even our Vaddha’s children enjoy this activity what we call the nature’s call. By becoming domesticated apart from breeding mosquitoes in our cesspits we add complications to our own lives and to me constipation is just one of them.
This bad habit is probably cultivated and originated in early days of toilet training and tends to last our life cycle.
If one looks at a child he has his freedom restricted even in his early days and expected to adhere to a protocol that adults wish him to do. Whereas adults would do what ever they feel like at whatever time they like which applies even to going to the loo or postponing the desire. 
This is the beginning of the story and I have no intention of going into that except briefly stating that any child would use this scattering as a tool (not stools) against adults to score a point or two in their formative years.
I am interested in the adults for the time being and just a few tips for them especially the elderly. But what I say may apply to some but not to all. Intension is to make adult life easy and simple.
First and foremost majority of the people with constipation have no associated medical conditions but have created a bad habit for themselves and unlearning this bad habit is difficult in adult life.
This discussion is for those who are without medical or surgical conditions. 
A simple warning for adults at the outset is due before any further probing on this matter. If one has (his / her) bowel habits altered for no reason it is worthwhile seeing a doctor early lest a bowel cancer may be missed. Bowel cancers when detected early can be treated easily but if missed for a considerable length of time the treatment is painstakingly difficult. 
Constipation can simply be avoided with right understanding of the process. Evacuation when loaded is a physiological process and its frequency and consistency depends on the type of food one eats and the constitution of the individual. There is broad variation and nothing specific can be termed as normal and if the process is automatic with no straining involved one need not worry about this activity. However, if the consistency is hard and needs quite an effort to empty there is a little problem. What one has done is to complicate a simple process into complicated obsession, which needs divine (medical people) intervention.
One should make lifestyle changes gradually and not in an ad hock manner. If one has learnt a bad habit like taking a paper to the toilet (or having a cigarette to while away the time) it is one of the most difficult habits to get rid of. However, these habits automatically disappear when one's personal difficulty improves and his wellbeing is achieved.

1.Take the shortest time as possible to finish one's activity. Think that other people are (home folks) waiting in the queue.

2.First thing in the morning (what ever one has got used to, a cup of tea, a banana or a toast) fill one's empty stomach with something. Moment one fills the stomach it initiates a reflex action call a Gastro-colic reflex that makes one to void almost immediately and answer this call at once without delaying.

3.The voiding is a simple autonomic function and does not need any help from the individual except for relaxing the outlet gate (sphincter) which is the only part under voluntary control.

4.Wait for the automatic process to finish  (relaxing) without any voluntary action.

5.Even if one still feels full do not wait in the toilet just get out. If the next wave of Gastro-colic reflex does not come it would never come on your voluntary effort. Each one has his own rhythm and just make a note of how it comes the next time around and attend to it with the same relax mood.

6. Always talks to oneself that it is an automatic process and needs no help.

7. Beginning of the training may be difficult but once one has overcome the voluntary intervention the battle is won.

Some people think they should have a bowel movement every day. That is not really true. There is no "right" number of bowel movements. Each person's body finds its own normal number of bowel movements. It depends on the food one eats, how much water one drinks and among other things exercise and personal habits.

At one time or another, almost everyone gets constipated. In most cases, it lasts for a short time and is not serious. When you understand what causes constipation, you can take steps to prevent it.

What can one do about constipation?

Changing what you eat and drink and how much you exercise will help relieve and prevent constipation. Here are some steps one can take.

Eat more fiber
Fiber helps form soft, bulky stool. It is found in many vegetables, fruits, and grains. Be sure to add fiber a little at a time, so your body gets used to it slowly. Limit foods that have little or no fiber such as ice cream, cheese, meat, chips and pizza, and processed foods. 
My favorite fibre rich fruit is banana. 
Kohila and Bellie fruits are supplements that have special properties.

Drink plenty of water and other liquids such as soups and vegetable juices.Liquid helps keep the stool soft and easy to pass, so it is important to drink enough fluids. One has to drink at least 8  glasses of water a day and depending on the dryness and heat (tropical weather) even this may have to be increased. I am not in favour of sugary fruit drinks since the sugar is readily absorbed and defeats the benefits of slowing down of absorption of sugars by high fibre diet. The sugar in banana and starch in soy are absorbed slowly over long period of time without a surge in blood sugar upsetting the insulin secretion. This will help soften your stool. Try not to drink liquids that contain caffeine or alcohol. 
Caffeine and alcohol(diuresis) tend to dry out your system.

Get enough exercise.
Regular exercise helps one's digestive system stay active and healthy. One does not need to become a great athlete and little exercise help in relaxing the voluntary muscles which include the anal sphincter. A 20 to 30 minute walk every day is beneficial.

Allow yourself enough time to have a bowel movement.
Sometimes one feels so hurried that one does not  pay attention to the body's needs. Make sure one does not ignore the urge to have a bowel movement.
Use laxatives only if a doctor says you should.
Laxatives are medicines that make stools softer and make one pass a stool easily. Most people who are mildly constipated do not need laxatives. However, if you are doing all the right things and you are still constipated, your doctor may recommend laxatives for a limited time. Your doctor will tell you if you need a laxative and what type is best for you.
Laxatives come in many forms: liquid, chewing gum, pills and powder that you mix up with water.

Check with your doctor about any medicines you take
Some medicines can cause constipation. They include calcium pills, pain pills with codeine in them, some antacids, iron pills, diuretics (water pills), and medicines for depression. If you take medicine for another problem, be sure to ask your doctor whether it could cause constipation.

Points to Remember
Constipation affects almost everyone at one time or another. Many people think they are constipated when really they are not. In most cases, following these simple tips will help prevent constipation.

Eat a variety of foods, especially beans, bran, whole grains, and fresh fruits and vegetables.

Drink plenty of liquids.

Exercise regularly.
 
Don't ignore the urge to have a bowel movement.
 
Understand that normal bowel habits are different for everyone.
 
If your bowel habits change, check with your doctor.
 
Most people with mild constipation do not need laxatives.
 
However, doctors may recommend laxatives for a limited time for people with chronic constipation.
 
Medicines that you take for another problem might cause constipation.
 
It is important to drink at least 8 to 10 glasses of fluid a day.

What is Psyllium Husk?
Psyllium husk comes from the crushed seeds of the Plantago ovata plant, a herb native to parts of Asia, Mediterranean and North Africa.Psyllium is rich in soluble fiber. Traditionally, psyllium husk is used as a gentle bulk-forming laxative for constipation.

Psyllium Husk for High Cholesterol
3g to 12g of soluble fiber from psyllium seed husk when included in the diet help to lower bad cholesterol and reduce the risk of heart disease.Soluble fiber from psyllium husk forms a gel when mixed with liquid. One needs to eat a small serving to increase the content of soluble fiber to help achieve the cholesterol-lowering effect.
In addition, recent studies also show positive benefits of psyllium in  Crohn's Disease and Colitis. Psyllium acts as prebiotics - aiding to heal the inner lining of the inflamed intestine.  Standard preparations of psyllium are available in dry seed or husk form to be mixed with water as needed.

Warning:
In general, prescription drugs should be taken one hour before or two hours after psyllium, because the absorption and effectiveness of many drugs may be reduced.

Going wild in my neighbourhood

Going wild in my neighbourhood
I am not cynical, if I say in another 50 years from now we would be watching wild life from a roof top garden. With the projected land cover less than 10% in less than half a century and with the rate of expansion of high (property development) rising super markets all over the countryside this scenario is not out of place. The super markets would be running a garden centre (only for the very rich) on the roof top with wild life section for display. The wild (what remain of the wild) life would be fully sustainable on the high-tech biodiversity project housed within the same perimeter of the roof top. The animals would be on a strict diet of large capsules simulating natural food articles developed from the space age know-how. Their natural diet dispensed only on special occasion for human display. I would not count on the number of projected species on any of these locations since my calculation of today would be laughing stock for the then (future) scientists.
This scenario not far away I have some suggestions for the future biologists and naturalists of this country. Do have some field work now itself. The descendents of the present day bio-scientists (not doctors) are the most sort-after job of future world. What can we do to train them?
A lot can be done. A section of the one’s garden could be allowed to go wild without any care except liberal watering to sustain vegetation in the dry season. My belief is that every wild plant would sustain a number of animal and insect species as long as it is left without any attention. We should train the children to watch this section of the garden gone wild and observe and make a careful record of their observations. The young scientists should do this observation in the night. There is lot of activity in the night and watching the discovery channel without knowing what is at hand as far as I am concerned is counter productive. Unless the children watch the bees, the spiders, the butterflies, mud-dauber wasp and the birds nesting learning biology has no meaning. Getting a distinction in biological science is only meaningful if that can be matched with the observation capacity and faculties thus developed in young children’s mind.
In fact, this is what I did for the last 10 years and I am fighting a losing battle with my in laws and neighbours. 
With the Ministry of Health and Education on a war footing against the dengue phenomenon every body is becoming neurotic and chopping every tree in the neighbourhood. 
I have become only a passive watcher in disbelief.
Little science is more destructive than no science at all!
Even though, I have many stories of the garden wild (private) variety that I have observed over the past ten years, I should start with a story from abroad.  We had a lovely back and front garden of our (rented) house with a beautiful hedgerow and a stream running at the edge. 
One summer day with my children in the garden, the topic of lady birds came up and we took turns and started looking for them.  
This is a game we played when we were children. 
Catch them and close the fist and with arms crossed asking the question which one of the fists had the lady birds? 
Then we palm over the lady birds to the winner and release them when we had enough of fun. 
I wonder how many of our children play this game?
Coming back to the story to our amazement we did not find a single lady bird in our garden. Few inquiries later we were out for a long journey nearly 200 kilo meters looking for a patch of safe jungle. Incidentally, I almost dropped to sleep in the driving seat and we had to detour and stopped at a house and beg for some coffee and biscuits from a very old gentleman with a hip problem. He was one of the most charming personalities we met and he was house bound because of his hip problem. No sooner I came back I made arrangements for his hip operation and that was one of the most satisfying days of my clinical career. He of course directed us to the most likely place of all further 50 kilo meters down. We collected bottle full of lady birds for our garden and some wild berries too.
Near at home all the paddy fields are converted into shanty houses there is no room for the small paddy birds to nest. 
We left a little patch of land to go wild because of the distance and the incline and this was the place where successive generations of birds had their nests. This time around a pair decided to built a nest on a slender hanging plant from our balcony (relatively safe from any predators) well hidden. I was more concerned of their stupidity. The plant did not have supporting roots and would not support the weight of the eggs let alone the young ones. True to my prediction the nest collapsed in two days and luckily eggs were not laid. They disappeared and I was happy of their departure. 
My gut feeling was that this may be the last pair in the neighbourhood. I would not see them again (like the humming birds) in the next season. 
Previous season our dog caught (catch them but would leave them when dead) one of the pair and I had to rescue the remaining one who came looking after the companion with great difficulty.
One night my daughter came rushing up to our bed room stating there are four young birds in the sitting room. Having the dog restrained, in about half an hour I managed to catch three of them but the fourth one was smart enough to avoid me and escape. I released them with a threatening gesture lest it would be a prey within my household.
The message is clear I am seeing the last of the Bohemians of nature.
It was with interest that I read an article on “looking for bioindicators”. 
The concept is fine in a scientific sense but be of no value unless comprehensive and without a recorded history. It is high time we look at this problem in an integrated manner. The highest in my list of indicators are the human population growth, activity, mobility, the rain fall and failure of rain. 
With the unusually prolonged rainy spell this time around I saw a single eagle hovering in the sky to my amazement. There were lot of animals and insect activity. The paddy birds also survived because of the abundance of food with the rainy season.
We are looking down the barrel of habitat destruction and changing whether patterns. 
Man is the culprit.
12th of January 2006

Palm Tree

Palm Tree
Torrential rains and inclement weather spared me some plant watching activity. 
This time of course palm variety. 
Looking out side from an advantage, a bird's eye view, I could see only one coconut tree about ten feet tall and probably of the same age with no signs of flowering. Looking down the precipice a few out of the twenty odd palm trees that survived the dry spell has sprung into activity. 
After a year long vigil and watering (when I had time) their survival was a bit of a miracle. 
The soil not conducive and the water logging not possible (due to the incline) their survival may have been contributed by my vigil, perhaps. 
Palms unlike the coconut (which loves the salty soil) are plants that love hot humid and muddy conditions, which support their roots with fungal symbiosis. 
The torrential rain was the most conducive and for nearly a decade we did not have similar weather conditions. I have tried all varieties including arecanut with no success over ten year period so my mind wondered the last time there was a spill over at Victoria Dam. 
Incidentally this was after the elections and the change over from the previous regime to the present. The saying prevalent at that time was “to wash the sins of the previous regime”. 
This time whose sins I would not wonder or ponder!
Coming back to palm trees there are over 1000 ornamental varieties and they are very expensive and home delivered for the wealthy in United States. 
In Sri-Lanka context, the “Cap Rukha”, the gifted plant is vandalized by the rich developers. 
Very soon they will be exported to US polythene wrapped. This is quite an irony. I am not sure where the coconut, the arecanut and the Kithul tree's position in the merit order on the1000 palm trees of the gardener's guide to tropical trees.
I guess the Americans who are likely to be categorized very tall in the merit list of democracy do not like tall trees in their neighbourhood. Also their democratic nuts are not as hard as a coconut and they do not like the impact of coconut falling on their heads. 
This is why the oil industry in America had a vicious campaign against coconut oil for nearly fifty years.  
The real reason though is that they have lost their evolutionary talent like that of the monkeys in climbing trees and swinging from one tree to another. 
Going from country to country and looking for ecological trouble spots is only a pastime.

This is where our politicians who have a coconut size head and arecanut (some of them peanut sized- the American variety) sized brains should explore the possibility of exporting the coconut trees to America. 
The justification is that when the next tsunami hits our shores they can re-export them back as aid for the Sri-Lankans (tourists included) to climb and save their lives. The coconut trunks well preserved would be a new form of life support system developed in America. Few of the tourists of course saved their life hanging on to them a year ago. They could share the experience with the few tree climbers left in this country. 
We can promote this as a new millennium sport. Since most of the tree climbers (party climbers) have joined the parliament over the past half a century they can act as trainers and referees in this sport of tree climbing.
One a lighter note and in a scientific sense the real reason for declining interest in coconut, arecanut and Kithul tree is that all three of them are labour intensive like the tea industry. 
Only way to revive these flagging industries is to promote selective breeding of high yielding variety with short trunks so that harvesting is not labour intensive. 
For some unknown genetic reasons the short plants and animals have the ability to withstand adverse environmental conditions and it is not a challenge to go for such a variety. 
One of the reasons that the tall trees and dinosaurs disappeared from this planet is their enormous size.  They could not withstand the adversity. One area we are far behind is the palm oil industry and our Asian giant in hibernation, Malaysia, pioneered the research in this. They have gone for palm oils even destroying their rain forest. We have to learn a lot from them. 
Biodiesel is going to be an area we should explore instead of drilling for gas /oil in limited resources offshore. 
For me looking down the plane at Katunayake and seeing the coconut trees spanning the landing site is a fascinating scene.  
Sadly this scenery is not going to be there in another ten years. The developers are eyeing every peace of land to plunder. In the process they are developing social and economic disasters in the so-called palaces they are building. The coconut triangle is going to be zigzag in no time. We have so many ministers and ministries in this country a Palm Ministry would not be a burden to the country. In any case some of the parliamentarians are coming from that back ground both in oiling the palms (heads included) and climbing the trees and this is a one sure way to climb the political hierarchy.
For the super market chains and range for this Christmas should include the imported artificial palm trees from India, which do not need any watering, plant care or plant watching. 
For a change we could have Santa on a palm tree. How about that?


21st December 2005

Going Nuts

 Going Nuts

I have excluded the most important Coconuts and Cocoa Nuts in this discussion.
Going Nuts
If one walks along the streets of Kandy or Colombo it is quite obvious how thoughtful all our road users are? 
Both drivers and pedestrian are all in a mighty hurry? 
It looks as every body is on a hitchhike and the situation is free for all. 
Nobody seems to spare a thought for another. 
It looks as if all of them have gone nuts. 
Whether they have gone nuts or not what I would like to talk about is not the nuts and bolt inside one’s skull but the nuts that we eat with our bites. 

The amount of money we spent to keep our spirits high on holidays may be a bonanza for the exchequer but a bit of nuts with the spirits that one consumes might keep one’s health in trim condition without any help from the doctor.

All nuts come from plants and are cholesterol-free.

They are rich in mono and polyunsaturated fats and help lower cholesterol. They are high in folate (prevent hardening of blood vessels) and help lower blood homocysteine levels and more importantly blood pressure and thereby reduce the risk of heart attacks. 
Soybeans are extremely low in saturated fat and free of cholesterol. Consuming 25 grams of soy protein daily has shown to lower blood cholesterol. Beyond cholesterol reduction, soy foods may favorably affect other risk factors for heart disease (i.e., makes arteries more flexible). Therefore, soy may be helpful for everyone, not just those with high cholesterol. The B vitamin they contain helps the metabolism of alcohol and that is an added advantage for the regular users (I mean alcohol).
Eating lot of meats with alcohol is a bit of a myth that we carry on from our early days. 
Valuable potassium, magnesium and copper are all linked to heart health and probably nuts replace most of the salt losses that result from alcohol-induced diuresis. 
One can go on and on, with the benefits of these plant products which include various phytoproteins and phytochemicals (plant proteins and plant chemicals) and the antioxidant Vitamin E (also heart protective). If with the holiday consumption of alcohol cannot be cut down a bit of nuts might save one’s nut in posterity. Additionally extra sweets that one indulges in holiday time soy may be a blessing in disguise. Soy foods may slow absorption of glucose into the bloodstream. May also protect against damaging effects of glucose-induced oxidation, common in people with diabetes.  The only controversial area probably is its content of phytooestrogens and I had the belief that it may in one-day help very elderly with prostate cancer. Limited data available indicate that it may be so. For the very old who enjoy a bit of spirits having few soy nuts may be desirable after all.

Soy contains high levels of the phytoestrogens (also known as isoflavones) genistein and daidzein, which mimic and sometimes block the hormone oestrogen. 
I had my reservation of soymilk for children and this reservation may have to be extended for girls going through their puberty because of its high content of phytooestrogens. But that reservation cannot be extended to the elderly females. Apart from some beneficial effects of post-menopausal symptoms the soy protein helps conserve body calcium better than that of animal protein. Compounds in soy called isoflavones may simultaneously increase bone formation while decreasing bone breakdown.

The next question is what the best nut for the purpose?  
We have a narrow selection. 
Peanuts, cashew nuts and soy nuts are the ones available and unfortunately the cashew nuts are not within the reach of our purse nowadays. 
Since all the foreign nuts are expensive I go for the soy nuts.
It is pertinent to talk little about the soy nuts since it is comparatively cheap and readily available because of its high nutritive value (proteins).
I had my reservation about soy because of high aluminum content but 20 years ago when I was searching for the reason there was no literature available. Now it appears the aluminum came from the tanks (aluminum) used in soy preparation. It was common sense that aluminum kitchenware is not safe but why the researchers kept this as a secret for so long if not to kill the soy industry (just like the way coconut industry was sabotaged) is obvious. 
Now that the bio-diesel is emerging, if the food industry is not destroyed by it (now, before it is firmly established in the West) the price of soy nut  is going to go up since production cannot keep pace with the demand. 

Surely peanut price is going to go up.

I am relaxing my reservation little by little. For children the best milk is the breast milk and I have no reason to change that and I do not recommend soymilk for children. There is concern for mercury in soymilk and this is probably as a result of some contamination down the production chain. There should not be any concern about soy yogurt. The choice of nuts depends on the price and the availability. Cocktail of nuts is probably the best choice. For price soy beats all the other nuts in price. It is probably the best nut commercially exploited in our set up. 
All nuts have common features than not. 
A few differences set some apart from others. Walnuts are highest in omega-3 fatty acids (also found in fatty fish), popular for helping lower cholesterol. Almonds are good source of calcium. Brazil nuts are high in the antioxidant selenium, linked to helping prevent some cancers. Chestnuts have the least calories and fat, while macadamia nuts have the most. Dry-roasted nuts have the same fat and calories as oil roasted. Nut butters have the same nutritional advantages as nuts.
Peanuts are similar to other nuts nutritionally, but are part of the legume family, which includes dried beans and peas. Fortunately the high fat content of nuts makes them very filling, helping curb hunger for long periods of time. An ounce or two a day of nuts or nut butters is all you need for valuable health benefits. 
Health Canada recommends we enjoy at least two plant-based, vegetarian meals per week; hopefully nuts will find a place in your home.

2nd of January 2006

The Man, the Devil, the God and the Cook

The Man, the Devil, the God and the Cook
All beings whether man, devil or god need something for survival. 
The cook has the onerous task of preparing the food for all of them in addition to his own food requirements for his survival. 
We Sri-Lankans are known for satisfying the needs of all three of them be that may be a devil with dola pidheni after a devil dance, a god with puda pooja before an election and a man (with position) with panduru pakkudam for a favour.

What I am going to describe are three doctors all of middle age with whom I had the opportunity to live in the same cottage in Colombo. 
One doctor, I called the Deviya was a doctor who came from a very religious sect where alcohol is a taboo but started drinking with some personal reasons. 
The other is a doctor whom I called the Yakksaya who came from a habitual toddy drinking coastal town of the Western Coast. 
The third was a doctor whom I called the Manussaya who came from the hill country who had the penchant for this miracle drink for no obvious reason.

The first one I called the Deviya for the simple reason that he would religiously attend to his prayers every day in spite of his drinking problem. I believed the god had being with him all the time in spite of his drinking. With drinks he became godlier of course. 

The second one I called the Yakksaya had a deep and rough voice and even before he had high enough to call high enough would make a big racket in the garden and everybody in the neighbourhood knew that there was a drinking spree in our garden.

The third one I called the Manussaya was the one who would leave his car in the garage (which was open 24 hours) and the key in an easily accessible place so that anybody who had a driving license could drive the car away without any formal permission. Those were the days that petrol price was high and our salary was poor enough to have a juice full tank. 

A tankful was a luxury and a bellyful was a chicken feed those days.

The missing link was the cook and his driving force. When I was in charge of the chummery and took in charge of the menu, I realized that the food prepared was ordinary on most of the days but come the days the  three men in their devil or god or manly incarnation, the food was of a reasonable good taste and standard. 
The secret was the miracle drink. 
The three of them used to give him a liberal share (the taste was paid separately) and when he was high the cooking standard went up exponentially. 
So the common denominator or the virtual link was Pol Arrakku. 
Finally, I decided to give him a quarter bottle worth of money as a spare for marketing for two reasons. One reason was the food and menu was kept excellent. 
The second reason was that he would not steal money from the food menu. 
This worked well and our monthly bill was the lowest for sometime and I did not have any complaints from my colleagues. 
However, I did not disclose my secret pact with him to my colleagues. I of course gave him enough money as extras. But not surprisingly he never went home even for a holiday. He was really hooked to alcohol surprisingly enough he never got cirrhosis. We of course had the liberty of visiting all the food joints in Colombo including Union Place, Fountain Cafe and especially the seafood restaurant facing the Galle Face. 
The food was nice and not heavy on the purse but when I visit Colombo now I have second thoughts even having a glass of mineral water. 

Is this the price we pay for open economy, I wonder?

Coming back to the three men in various incarnations be that may be godly, manly or devilish, alcohol brings out best and worst of all beings. 
Blaming alcohol is a lame excuse for lapses in man's own nature. 
That is something I never buy or accept.

All of us left the shores within year and strangely enough I never met them there after. 
They were in the land of liquor with so many varieties available they probably would have found better companions than Pol Arrakku. 
When I  returned some years later, I went looking for the cook and I was told that he suddenly disappeared and never returned. 
I am sure that he must be in the company of one of the three above, since he did no have any savings for his alcohol spree.
 
This I call a form of discrimination on the  ground of the brand name of alcohol one drinks and enjoys.  

Kassippu or Whiskey and the Five Star democracy. 

The voter drinks the adulterated stuff and the winner and the champions drinks the champagne.

13th of March 2006.

Sonic Boom

Sonic Boom
 
Sound of music
Of the mosquito type
Is the sonic boom
Of the supersonic age
Of disposal and conquest 
Of this planet Earth

Presumed twelve hour vigil
With the incandescent coil
May have been designed
For another planet
Of a different orbit, revolving
On another dimension

Why it does not
Last the said duration?
Of the label and the guarantee
God the creator
Only knows for certain

TV the latest in the media hype
Audio sounds of the ‘Santhush’ type
Mosquito music
And their electric hits
Keep me up
All night long

Neither howls of the fox
In a moonlit night
Nor the cold night draught
Of the December chills
Keeps me awake

But the boom,
Boom beats of the
Mosquito nights
Keeps me awake
All night alone


Carbon dioxide boom
Of the industrials needs
If not arrested now
Will cause
The global warming
Of titanic magnitude
Thus
Would be a boon
For the needs
Of the mosquito deeds

Until and unless
We go for the age of ice
The rhythms of nights
Of the mosquito breeds
The menace and indulgence
Of the electronic age
Would continue at tandem
Day and night

Peter Principle

Peter Principle
Peter principle is an instrument that is used in banking management (for that matter any management) to weed out incompetent individuals out of the main stream and isolate them in their own islands of safety without embarrassment to the individual or to the institute.
The underlying principle is that individuals go up the ladder of promotions to the level of their competence (some reach this very early in their work cycle) and once they reach the optimum level of performance there is no way of promoting them higher without substantial risk to the institute. Unfortunately they are not at the age of retirement and the management has to device ways and means of getting them out of the main stream. In that scenario what the management does is to create a glamorous looking (high-sounding) post and sidetracks the individual horizontally in the management structure. This side tracking exercise keep the management and the individual happy mutually and the customers (spectators) do not see this as a fact unless they are privy to the internal dynamics of the institute.
I believe this principle is applicable to our politicians. 
For an example when a politician is running out of his or her own steam they need some recuperation somewhere and in the parliament the post of speaker satisfy the Peter Principle scientifically. Even though he is called the speaker he cannot speak on his own as long as he occupies this chair. 
What a characteristic of democracy? 
I thought democracy is to voice ones opinion. It is quite an aberration?
My concern is what we do with the aging population of politicians who do not want to retire from the limelight and the TV glamour? 
In good old days we had the senate for them to come and socialize with the rest of those who have had reached the level of competence. My belief is that our politicians reach their level of competence or incompetence in the kindergarten itself and some of them become very childish in their likes and dislikes.
Why this is so I do not know for certain but my concern is what shall we do with them? 
We cannot keep then in cold storage like Stalin and Lenin.
Shall we make them actors and actresses in the local tele-dramas? 
After all acting is a glamorous job and most of them were very good in acting in their real life they need not have any training. 
That is only one option.
But I have another option. 
Why can’t we make them peace monitors? 
They had been talking about peace so much in their political life they must be having a real love for peace. I believe they would really enjoy the challenge of peace keeping and traveling all over the world at no expense to them.
The third option is to send them to space. 
They can scan the entire world from outer space with an advantage none of us will have with a camera that enlarges an ant to an elephant size. 
Looking for trouble spots.
Hope few of the readers would have better options than mine for enlightening the voters who are without any entertainment after the elections.
 
Cricket? Or No? No cricket please.

15th of December, 2005