MY BEST METRO STATION IN DELHI

Courtesy: My Mobile camera - Nehru Place Metro Station, New Delhi

BEHIND STORY OF MY BLOG KNOWEB

This is my first self-shooted video from my mobile phone.   It is a maiden attempt to speak to my readers of what is the story behind my blog KNOWEB.

Your comments or feedback is solicited at tellmeknoweb@gmail.com

DELHI's LORD BALAJI TEMPLE - Courtesy: My Mobile Camera

NEATLY LAID OUT FRUITS IN A JUICE SHOP IN DELHI

A juice shop in Sadiq Nagar, South Delhi : Courtesy - My mobile camera dt. 24.1.2015

FASHIONABLE DISEASES IN DIGITAL AGE

Mental diseases are more dreadful than their physical counterparts.

India Today news magazine in its 12th  Jan. 2015 edition brought out one interesting article on such diseases which are the result of mindless ambitions of man in a fear-driven society.

See the list here:

CEO's Disease:

Hypomania: Those who suffer from this disease are called hypomanics.  They are exuberant, supremely confident, sleep little, have grandiose ideas and super human energy. In the process of accomplishing their tasks, they may lose judgement, insight and control.

Innovation Anxiety:

They worry constantly.  Will their technology become obsolete, will others come up something better, will someone steal their idea?   Unable to concentrate, they lose control over themselves.  Symptoms: shorten of breast, chest pressure, fatigue.

Fomo :  Fear of missing out. Unable to tear themselves away from their Facebook, Twitter, Instagram.

Modern life has offered so many gadgets for our comfort, but peace has to be earned individually amidst all pulls and pressures of daily life! 

SEMANTICS OF MEDITATION

 For long, I thought that meditation is sitting idle which is synonymous with boredom.   I thought action makes me superior and I must cling to it.  But that proves to be the other way,  finally.

Various masks that I wear in my daily life seems to be blocking my progress.   I must first unlearn to find ‘inner balance'.   My experience in life says that pumping  information into mind indiscriminately does not put me on higher path.

Why meditation is difficult for ordinary folks is that they do it as an activity, thereby problems crop up.  Meditation is freeing from that daily din of life.

Living on  'present moment' is the ultimate wisdom.   Here the words of Osho must be remembered: '' if a person is not meditating at least one hour a day, then neurosis will not be accidental, he will create it himself.''  He says that one should disappear from the world into his own being.  For one hour, he should be so alone that nothing penetrates him - no memory, no thought, no imagination; for one hour no content in his consciousness and it will rejuvenate him and that will refresh him.  That will release new sources of energy in him and he will be back in the world, yuppie, fresh, more able to learn, with more wonder in his eyes, with more awe in his heart - again a child.

Meditation is a natural state of your being.  It is not engaging the mind with chanting a 'mantra'' or any other ritual.   It is to remain clutter-free in terms of thoughts, assumptions and presumptions.  Once you get into the habit of being in this state of mind, not only you derive immense health benefits but could find more inner integration, harmony in life!   

BEAUTY OF DELHI's WINTER WEDDING RECEPTIONS

Entrance of a Marriage Reception in Sadiq Nagar, South Delhi - Courtesy : My Mobile Camera dt. 19.01.2015

DISCOVERY OF INDIA

 

 Outlook, India's English Weekly News Magazine in its 12th January, 2015 edition chose Jawaharlal Nehru's much acclaimed book " The Discovery of India' as one of the 100 Great Books of the World.  Surprisingly, I have not read it so far.

But, in May, 2014 when I went to old newspaper vendor shop  which I do regularly to buy second-hand books,  this book  was stacked along with some other books and kept in a dusty corner.   I chose a couple of books which include this one and bought   for a price in kgs.  I did not immediately recognize the importance of this book, but a cursory glance  made me to keep it  in my priority reading list.

But Outlook's description of the book woke me up from the slumber.   The book was referred as  rambling account of the history and culture of India - from  Indus valley civilization to the British Raj.

I must concede to the fact that when I purchased the above book, I have not given credence to it and saw Nehru  more from a political prism which is my mistake.  Now I pulled out the book from the back of my shelf and kept on top of priority reading list.

In his Preface to the book Nehru says that the book was written in Ahmadnagar Fort prison during the five months (April - September, 1944).  The contents of the book offer a scholarly look into India's past,  and no doubt  that it is a thoroughly researched book with a minefield of information nowhere found in a single book.

Being an Indian, it is the duty of every one of us to read the book, not as an obligation but for the love of such rich cultural history which no country in the world has ! 

I ADVOCATE THE IDEA FOR Rs.25 CURRENCY NOTE

When you are receptive to advice, you can improve your personal efficiency on day to day basis.  It is so essential in a democracy where the interests of communities are involved.  Therefore the people in power must listen to the suggestions from  grass-roots.

Considering any suggestion  for effective governance is one of the cardinal principles of  efficient administration. The Hindu in it's today issue dated 17th January, 2015 carried a news item "PM open to idea of 25-rupee note''.

A plastic trader from Chandigarh, India suggested to Prime Minister to print notes in the denomination of Rs.25.  His suggestions sounds good to me also.

In Delhi, I feel a serious shortage of small notes, especially Rs.5/-   Rs.10/-  or Rs.20/-  Apart from increasing the circulation of these notes, printing of Rs.25/- currency note is obviously a suggestion worth for its implementation, because the prices of merchandise are now  in the denomination of  + Rs.25 and printing of note at this denomination would settle many woes, especially in restaurants, dairy booths and bus tickets.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi seems to have taken a liking to this suggestion.  I equally find  lot of public good with the printing of Rs.25 note and hope a decision is taken in its favor.

The present government has opened a Portal (website) to receive such suggestions from public and one can liberally suggest to the government what to do for effective governance.

If you have any such creative ideas to give to Government in India,  log on to http://mygov.in/  and somebody in the government will listen to your idea/ suggestion !

KNOW ABOUT 'SWINE FLU'

The report of ‘"Six fresh cases of swine flu in Delhi' today morning and my daughter’s demand forced me to know more about this disease.   

What is swine flu ?  To get the answer in layman's language, I searched internet which retrieved me to a very reliable website called MedicineNet.com . The slogan of that website is so catchy 'We bring Doctor's knowledge to you'.

It is true that when the expert advice comes from a professional hand, it inspires the user.  For me it always sounds good when health advice comes from a doctor. 

Health experts define swine flu as respiratory disease caused by influenza viruses that infect the respiratory tract of pigs which result in barking cough, decreased appetite, nasal secretions etc.  The virus can create havoc by transmitting to humans as well.  It is the most contagious disease.   The first outbreak of this disease is reported in 2009 and the virus responsible for swine flu is H1N1.

Vaccination is the best way to prevent it.  Two antiviral agents zanamivir (Relenza) and Oseltamivir (Tamiflu) help prevent the effects of this dreaded disease, provided if the affected persons takes within 48 hours of onset of symptoms.

Since, swine flu is contagious, it is better to be very cautious in oral hygiene, especially in public places.

To know more about swine flu visit the following link

http://www.medicinenet.com/swine_flu/article.htm#what_is_the_swine_flu

NATURAL HUES

Courtesy : My mobile camera 15th Jan. 2015 in a fruit market in South Delhi

NATIONAL YOUTH DAY

Courtesy : Indian Express

Today is the birth anniversary of Swami Vivekananda (12.01.2015).  It is also marked as National Youth Day in India.

Swami Vivekananda was born as Narendra Nath Datta on 12th January, 1863 in Kolkata.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has sent a tweet saying that On his birth anniversary, I bow to Swami Vivekananda.  He is a personal inspiration, whose thoughts & ideals have influenced me deeply.

When I read the PM's tweet, I reminisced my own story of how Swamiji stood on my side and helped in achieving  my own goals in life.  I have an envious collection of Swamiji's literature and one must read to get daily a dose of inspiration. 

Earlier I wrote an article on Vivekananda which you can read with below link :

http://knoweb-india.blogspot.in/2013/01/fountain-of-youthful-energy.html

HELP DELHI CLEAN & GREEN

The popularity of social networking sites need not be over-emphasized in today's world.

As per latest news, Delhi Pollution Control Committee, under Delhi Government has opened a Facebook page where the public can register complaints of any polluting activities, besides burning of waste.  They also launched a helpline on WhatsApp.

You can click below to visit their FB page:

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Delhi-Pollution-Control-Committee-DPCC/751737381572713

or you can visit their website below 

http://www.dpcc.delhigovt.nic.in/indexdup.php

Help Delhi Clean & Green

CEMENTED SCULPTURE

 Cemented Sculpture  at Himachal Pradesh Bhawan, New Delhi - Courtesy : my mobile camera

AWESOME SCIENCE APP IS HERE

Amazing Science App icon

Amazing Science App icon

Some Android apps really empower you and one such app that greatly improves your learning curve is 'Amazing Science Facts.   

Once you download this free app, it provides you some interesting facts on science. The crux of this app is as under :

* Thousands of amazing facts about physics, biology, maths, astronomy, etc.
* Receive daily facts in the notification bar
* Very fast and simple to use
* Works offline, even in "airplane mode". Access all facts anytime, anywhere, no internet connection needed.

* Search any term and find all facts about it* Bookmark your favorite facts for quick future reference
* Read random facts
* Share your favorite facts by Email, Twitter, etc.
* Listen to the facts using Android's built-in Text-to-speech synthesizer
* Works in both portrait and landscape mode for easier reading

A must download for knowledge lovers !

AFTERNOON SUN IN FRONT OF MY HOME IN DELHI

Courtesy : My Mobile camera dated  4.1.2015

OUR DEPLORABLE CITY ROADS

Delhi Road near Moolchand Metro Station

The other day, one newspaper reported that 'Connaught Place became the 6th most expensive prime office market in the world.  

According to semi-annual survey conducted by CBRE Group Inc, an American commercial real estate company,  the cost of one square foot of prime office space  at Connaught Place  is $ 160.  Click to read.  No doubt it is a proud moment for a capital city of   India. 

But all this matters little for ordinary city dwellers like me.  People like me only want three things :

-  Better sewage system

-  Better drinking water

-  better air to breathe

On these three counts, it seems that Delhi lags behind.  Sewage system is terribly in shambles.  There is a great shortage of drinking water and water tables are fast drying up around Delhi.  When it comes to fresh breathable air, on that aspect also, a lot is to be desired.   The recent US Embassy's warning for uncontrollable pollution levels in Delhi strengthens my point.  You could read that story from the Wall Street Journal's website. click to read.    

The image you are seeing above was taken from my mobile camera today morning (2.1.14) in front of Moolchand Metro Station in South Delhi.  The road is spread with a sheet of water due to continuous rain from the morning onwards.   The reason is that the roads are not enough gradient to send the floating  water into underground drainage system automatically.  The stagnated water forced me to walk 100 mtrs more to reach the metro station.

It is simply not the case with Delhi.  Even Mumbai floods terribly during torrential rains. There must be a mechanism by which the rain water goes fast to the nearby drainage pipe.  We can have small mesh plates on the roads, especially in all low-lying areas  where the water stagnates  during rains. This is a layman's advice from my side.    Some engineering minds must think on it and we are badly in need of water-free roads so that vehicular traffic is not affected nor it creates any mess to the walkers.

The present government under our able Prime Minister Sh. Modi is doing a lot in the name of Swachch Bharat. A dream project  to make 100 smart cities is also on pipeline.   But Delhi badly needs a big facelift in terms of citizen amenities and hope somebody in the corridors of power are listening to my words !