Friday, December 15, 2006

Child is a Teacher of MAN

Just the other day as we walked down the railway platform to fetch my brother and his family, we realised what we had habitually done for years could have such an impact on a little mind of my three year old

A old haggard man with leprosy was begging there and we walked past him and he was persistant...
the little one tugged at his papa and said give me a coin appa....i need to give it to him. but we had none since we had used all coins to buy the platform ticket at the machine outside. We tried to explain that and he wouldnt budge. He said i need a coin to give it to this man.

It then occured to us that this kid had been observing our actions so closely than we ever anticipated. We were shocked and proud at the same time. Of course though the feeling of proudness at the child's giving attitude was definitely misplaced since he followed it as a rule rather than anything akin to sharing or philanthropy.

We were in the habit of doling out coins at the traffic lights and on the beach while walking with the kid. He had seen the action so many times, doing it himself sometimes, aiding it sometimes and come to think of it as a thing to do. We never gave it a thought. Today, it dawned on us as to how true the statement was that child is like a sponge observing and absorbing whatever we say and do.

Sunday, September 24, 2006

travelogue - Maldives

We were still savouring the natural beauty of God’s own Land- Kerala as our flight took off on our maiden visit to the Maldives. The ever so green coconut and palm trees lined the beaches with a fluffy white border to the sea created by the waves hitting against the land. A few boats dotting the blue waters of the Arabian Sea and the thick expanse of emerald land beside it made a spectacular scene.

While munching into the Indian Airlines lunch, we felt the slight turbulence on the flight. Seeing the clouds outside we desperately prayed that our trip would not turn into a “damp squib” due to incessant heavy rains as was predicted by friends and folks - quite a natural occurrence during this part of the year from ‘hulhangu” south west monsoons. However, the clouds thinned away miraculously, as if God had indeed heard our prayers and soon we could see the world outside.

But nothing we had read so far or even seen in travel books had prepared us for what we saw next. As the plane’s engines were turned off and its decent began, the clouds receding to the background, the vast expanse of the water came to sight more clearly and there we saw the breathtaking view. The dark blue waters of the ocean below were dotted with tiny green islands skirted by white beaches and laced with turquoise lagoons. It seemed as though all shades of blue existed here in its very natural surroundings.

The islands grew bigger, ever more beautiful as we cruised in. We got a glimpse of some resorts on islands close to the airport, as well as that of speedboats racing over the waves and some of the yachters happily sailing through clear waters, while we landed smoothly on the narrow runway. But the landing of the huge aircraft on this tiny bit of land surrounded by water on all sides was in itself an awesome experience. I had never really bothered to listen to the safety instructions, which is religiously repeated on every flight about eventualities. As the aircraft turned around and aligned for landing, we couldn’t see anything but water. I sat there motionless, till I felt the tyres touch down.

The skyline of Capital City of Male could also be seen from the air even though the airport itself is on a different island. Male International Airport is situated on a small piece of island, whose length almost, equals the runway, 2kms across the capital city. The visa for tourists is given on arrival. The moment we walked out of the arrival terminal, we saw resorts’ representatives in make shift kiosks. After we registered our arrival with our resort rep, we strolled out and perched ourselves under an umbrella. Since some of the flights from the Asian region and from Europe land at about the same time we had to hang around for the resort personnel to collect all their guests, especially if the resort is far from the airport.

Sitting there under a canopy of palm trees and looking into the clear blue waters of Indian Ocean – hot tropical sun blazing over head, the strong sea breeze blowing across the island, sounds of speedboat motors roaring to life and sailing away, the sight of aircrafts landing on a small strip of land and taking off, and the sea planes humming above; this rare and almost dream like setting convinced me that we had, after all, made the right choice for a perfect short holiday.

The Taj Coral Reef Resort, which is about 38kms from the International airport, was our destination. It is located on the island that is part of the North Male Atoll (Kaafu). Atoll comes from the Maldivian word ‘atolu’ meaning a cluster of islands. The country itself consists of 1192 small coral islands grouped in 26 atolls. Only about 202 are inhabited. The resorts are usually built on a small island with no other development. Natives are not usually encouraged to mix with the tourists. There are only a few islands where the natives and tourists live together.

Nearly three decades earlier, it was an Italian tour operator who felt that a clear market existed for the untampered natural beauty – “for the Sun, sand and sea, a thousand ‘Robinson Crusoe’ islands “ as the official site describes it. Abdul Gayoom, the President of the Republic who was saved by the late Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi from an attack from the mercenaries in 1988, developed tourism to benefit the country. Today, tourism is one of the major contributors to the GDP and hence is strictly regulated by the Government. Every resort has its own desalination plant, power plant and an incinerator for waste disposal. In addition, the non-biodegradable wastes are collected and airlifted to Germany for treatment. No wastes are allowed to be dumped into the sea surrounding the resorts. Commercial fishing is banned on the resorts. With only 70 resorts operating spread over a vast expanse of the water body, the environment doesn’t really get affected by the large number of speedboats plying round the clock transporting people as well as supplies, since its exhausts get dispersed by the winds.

These tropical islands in the Indian Ocean are a paradise for the water sport enthusiasts. From wind surfing and sailing to snorkeling, canoeing and scuba diving, facilities are available for beginners as well as the experienced. Many come from Europe and Japan to just log in more hours in newer waters. If on the other hand you are an adventurous person looking for some sort of rib tickling engagements on an otherwise safe holiday, how about some couple of hours of night fishing. Every resort organises these outing for those night birds who wish to feel the sea in the dark by Dhonis- which are motorised local boats.

Island hopping is another of the favourite activities of the guests here. It may include a visit to a fishing village, an uninhabited island for snorkeling and barbecue lunch if the weather permits and a visit to other resort islands for tea and use of facilities. They also organise sorties by the seaplanes wherein these amphibian planes show around the Atoll.

Snorkeling is something, which can be done by even non-swimmers in shallow waters of the lagoons. The underwater life is a treat for any eyes. The waters are so clear that one has to just look into the water to see schools of fish in its various natural colours and shapes. The breathing apparatus and the waterproof glasses used in the snorkeling exercise allow one to stay under water for a longer duration and thus appreciate the Lord’s creation in its entirety.

The coral reefs or coral garden which form the bed of the ocean is a living colony of polyps – an invertebrate species of living forms belong to Coelenterates which include the likes of sea anemones and jelly fish. These animal forms secrete lime skeletons. The new coral grows on old dead coral and the reef gradually builds up. They reproduce by splitting to form genetically identical colonies. They take many forms and the most common form is one of the staghorn.
Charles Darwin was the first to suggest that atolls develop from coral growth around the edges of an underwater volcanic peak. It has been proven by extensive research by the geologists elsewhere in the world. The sight of the gradual evolution of the islands in various phases of formation from the coral reef below and the vegetation growing on these sand banks in differing stages of development is, at first, almost an incomprehensible experience. It makes one feel as though we are witnessing some sort of an experiment in the nature’s laboratory.

Maldives, with its virgin beaches, huge underwater life system and its natural sandbanks under various states of formation, is considered a perfect combination for the ideal tropical holiday destination. As interdependent elements in an ecology, in a food chain where birds, fish and other marine life co-exist, and for once the humans acting as caretakers rather than the prime destroyers, Maldivian archipelago, seems like an endless marvel.

Wednesday, July 12, 2006

Mass Communication for Health

In a large country like India with over a billion population and about 1% infected with HIV/ AIDS which is likely to increase to nearly 2-4% in the next decade its pertinent that more effort is put into increasing awareness and thereby bringing about changes in individual behavior. In doing so they would help the health system by bringing the people to use the primary, secondary and tertiary health care facilities already existing in the country.

A couple of years ago a study by the World bank 2004, showed that though we have a huge public health system up and running the people participation was so poor that the money spent was useless. Even among the poor people who could garner resources went to private clinics and the rest to some traditional medical units. With polio not eradicated and malaria and TB showing stronger bacterial strains which dont respond to old medicines, public health communications needs a real big push. It needs a different approach. It no longer can be a piecemeal approach which is important for certain important target related awareness programmes but to bring about a total new behavioural changes among the public, a different and a more sustianed effort is needed.

Apart from the LOWE ads which for HIV and now the Break through campaign and some kind of ads by NDTV on HIV i am yet to see a real campaign like for example the pepsi or coke campaigns or even the HLL approach to soap campaigns.

Silk route

The other day I felt nostalgic seeing the Nathulla pass being opened up for trade at the Sikkim Tibet border. About a couple of years ago we had a great holiday there in Sikkim. Its unconquered nature and pristine beauty of hills mountins streams and lakes and forests with just a few monasteries, it was simply a wonderful place which I never thought could actually exist.

I know people who have been to Europe, especially the alps would say that the picture postcard beauty of those places are amazing ....and i guess its right but the experience in Sikkim was something differnet. In this world of busy people commuting as if the world around didnt exist and the constant ringing of phones this was an experience of perhaps a passage back in space.....to an era where life goes on at a leisurely pace with solitude and silence enabling one to devour the real natures beauty in the mountain fresh air, the chirping of birds and buzzing of insects to the croaking of amphibia and the chimes of the secred bells from the monasteries which was disrupted only very occassionally by a groaning of a motor vehicle somewhere in the valley acting as a reminder of the times we actually belong to. The experience was if I had to describe in one word, AWESOME

good human beings


Thats my 2 1/2 year old. He is an absolute bundle of joy for us and has changed our lives. The other day I was at a school function of my brother in law's child and the chief guest - a behavioural scientist touched a right chord in many of us parents and teachers alike by saying that its children who have brought us- teachers, parents together and created an institution called school for the betterment of children who are the future of this country.

Its so important to spot nurture and develop the children as "good human beings". I am sure every parent would say the same. But how many of us can decipher the true meaning of this. We just say this as other than being doctors, actors, engineers, architects, scientists, economists, managers we havent actually thought about it. To me a good human being is one who apart from being nice and helpful to fellow human beings they also have the capability to distinguish between good, bad and ugly and able to decide to do the right thing.

Tuesday, July 04, 2006

random-rumblings

Advertisements are such a powerful mass media for sending across important public policy and in particular public health messages. I wonder why this has not been fully utilised in our country.

For health, as well as for many other areas of development, individual and social changes are necessary for attaining sustained health improvement. Individual change by itself is usually the expected outcome of health promotion programs, especially those dedicated to a single health problem such as the use of oral rehydration therapy to reduce childhood diarrhea, immunization programs, family planning programs, condom promotion for HIV/AIDS prevention, and mosquito-net use. The urgency of the problem, the initiative taken by centralized agencies, the concentration of resources, the specific focus, and the concrete and limited nature of the behavior to be changed, all increase the efficiency and likelihood of success. It is not surprising to find, therefore, that individual behavior-change programs are quite common in the field of public health. By design, however, the outcomes are limited to a single, specific aspect of health. As a consequence, some individual behavioral change may even be limited to a short duration in time unless other measures are taken to ensure that such changes are institutionalized and self-sustaining.

Oral rehydration solution (ORS) for the treatment of diarrhea, a leading cause of infant mortality, underscores these issues. ORS has saved millions of lives, but the alternative solution of hand washing with soap, improvement of latrines and clean water within the community as a whole would be expected to have a greater impact on childhood diarrhea than the treatment of one child at a time with ORS after an infection occurs, especially if some of the ingredients of ORS are not always available.

Health communications could solve this larger problem by addressing the issues of hygiene and prevention of diseases. The maxim of prevention is better than cure is apt here. And, as this proposal suggests, prevention can be brought about by a properly planned and coordinated action of government, media and private enterprise.

While the government takes care of the specific needs as envisaged in their annual plans based on the urgency of the situation, a neutral health communications organisation could deal with the broader issues with a well thought out communications strategy. A P3model can be explored because it needs an eclectic combination of the private and the public sector to succeed. First, it needs legitimacy with all stakeholders, and therefore a not-for-profit model would gain trust and credibility. Second, there is a need for a combined action from government, bureaucracy, common people and professionals – therefore, a mixed model is indicated. Third, it needs competence in multiple disciplines – healthcare, public governance, education, and communication, all of which are hard to come by, exclusively either in the public or the private sectors.

random-rumblings

First post

Ok finally i have managed to start writing here. After months of procastination, it had to be football after all that got me down to it.
No, I am neither a fan not a profilic follower of the game but yeah.....u guess it right.....my significant other is.
So after the englist lost and my ankle which i twisted today and the pain from the sprain is not allowing me my good night sleep.....i decided to do some wrtiing before the next qf. Of yes i do watch the world cup ....after all every 4 years why spoil the fun of the family. ( My 3 year old keeps shouting goal and looks to his father to see if he is right and its so much fun )
Anyways, why am i writing.....gues after all the procastination.....i just decided to start it. And today all i can say is how a small happening which causes pain to oneself makes one suddenly reminiscence of the life gone by. It acts as a flash black to ones life....yeah now i understand the significance of it in the movies.
And talking about pain....football matches are amazing in beautifully depicting the two sides of the coin of life.....happiness at victory and sorrow at loss. Looking at the loosing side....as their dreams come shattering down in a jiffy like a pack of cards...when it is like the last two qf where penalty shoot outs decided the results... my heart goes out to the losing team.....four years of wait vanishes with a wiff of wind. Yet it is in deed a wonderful game. For one its the one platform in this world where a balance exists between the talent and skill and pure mechanical precision and hence a beautifully carved balance perhaps the only example where the develped and developing world ( professional hazard i guess) play on a equal footing.