Discussion Forum, Press Club Mumbai

Heart-to-Heart Mantras

pradeep.vijayakar@timesgroup.com (Pradeep Vijayakar) — Fri, 13 Aug 2010 22:39:00 UTC

A chat with one of the best & most renowned Heart Surgeons we have in India today, Dr. Devi Shetty (Heart Specialist), Narayana Hrudayalaya, Bangalore, was arranged by WIPRO for its employees.

The transcript of the chat is given below.

Useful for everyone...

What are the thumb rules for a layman to take care of his heart?

1. Diet - Less of carbohydrate, more of protein, less oil
2. Exercise - Half an hour's walk, at least five days a week; avoid lifts and avoid sitting for a long time.
3. Quit smoking.
4. Control weight.
5. Control blood pressure and sugar.

Is eating non-veg food (fish) good for the heart?

No

It's still a grave shock to hear that some apparently healthy person gets a cardiac arrest. How do we understand it in perspective?

This is called silent attack; that is why we recommend everyone past the age of 30 to undergo routine health checkups.

Are heart diseases hereditary?

Yes.

What are the ways in which the heart is stressed? What practices do you suggest to de-stress?

Change your attitude towards life. Do not look for perfection in everything in life.

Is walking better than jogging or is more intensive exercise required to keep a healthy heart?

Walking is better than jogging since jogging leads to early fatigue and injury to joints.

You have done so much for the poor and needy. What has inspired you to do so?

Mother Theresa , who was my patient.

Can people with low blood pressure suffer heart diseases?

Extremely rare.

Does cholesterol accumulates right from an early age (I'm currently only 22) or do you have to worry about it only after you are above 30 years of age?

Cholesterol accumulates from childhood.

How do irregular eating habits affect the heart ?

You tend to eat junk food when the habits are irregular and your body's enzyme release for digestion gets confused.

How can I control cholesterol content without using medicines?

Control diet, walk and eat walnut.

Can yoga prevent heart ailments?

Yoga helps.

Which is the best and worst food for the heart?

Fruits and vegetables are the best and the worst is oil.

Which oil is better - groundnut, sunflower, olive?

All oils are bad .

What is the routine checkup one should go through? Is there any specific test?

Routine blood test to ensure sugar, cholesterol is ok. Check BP, Treadmill test after an echo.

What are the first aid steps to be taken on a heart attack?

Help the person into a sleeping position , place an aspirin tablet under the tongue with a sorbitrate tablet if available, and rush him to a coronary care unit since the maximum casualty takes place within the first hour.

How do you differentiate between pain caused by a heart attack and that caused due to gastric trouble?

Extremely difficult without ECG.

What is the main cause of a steep increase in heart problems amongst youngsters? I see people of about 30-40 yrs of age having heart attacks and serious heart problems.

Increased awareness has increased incidents.. Also, sedentary lifestyles, smoking, junk food, lack of exercise in a country where people are genetically three times more vulnerable for heart attacks than Europeans and Americans.

Is it possible for a person to have BP outside the normal range of 120/80 and yet be perfectly healthy?

Yes.

Marriages within close relatives can lead to heart problems for the child. Is it true?

Yes, co-sanguinity leads to congenital abnormalities and you may not have a software engineer as a child.

Many of us have an irregular daily routine and many a times we have to stay late nights in office. Does this affect our heart ? What precautions would you recommend?

When you are young, nature protects you against all these irregularities. However, as you grow older, respect the biological clock.

Will taking anti-hypertensive drugs cause some other complications (short / long term)?

Yes, most drugs have some side effects. However, modern anti- hypertensive drugs are extremely safe.

Will consuming more coffee/tea lead to heart attacks?

No.

Are asthma patients more prone to heart disease?

No.

How would you define junk food?

Fried food like Kentucky , McDonalds , samosas, and even masala dosas..

You mentioned that Indians are three times more vulnerable. What is the reason for this, as Europeans and Americans also eat a lot of junk food?

Every race is vulnerable to some disease and unfortunately, Indians are vulnerable for the most expensive disease.

Does consuming bananas help reduce hypertension?

No.

Can a person help himself during a heart attack (Because we see a lot of forwarded emails on this)?

Yes. Lie down comfortably and put an aspirin tablet of any description under the tongue and ask someone to take you to the nearest coronary care unit without any delay and do not wait for the ambulance since most of the time, the ambulance does not turn up.

Do, in any way, low white blood cells and low hemoglobin count lead to heart problems?

No. But it is ideal to have normal hemoglobin level to increase your exercise capacity.

Sometimes, due to the hectic schedule we are not able to exercise. So, does walking while doing daily chores at home or climbing the stairs in the house, work as a substitute for exercise?

Certainly. Avoid sitting continuously for more than half an hour and even the act of getting out of the chair and going to another chair and sitting helps a lot.

Is there a relation between heart problems and blood sugar?

Yes. A strong relationship since diabetics are more vulnerable to heart attacks than non-diabetics.

What are the things one needs to take care of after a heart operation?

Diet, exercise, drugs on time , Control cholesterol, BP, weight.

Are people working on night shifts more vulnerable to heart disease when compared to day shift workers?

No.

What are the modern anti- hypertensive drugs?

There are hundreds of drugs and your doctor will chose the right combination for your problem, but my suggestion is to avoid the drugs and go for natural ways of controlling blood pressure by walk, diet to reduce weight and changing attitudes towards lifestyles.

Does dispirin or similar headache pills increase the risk of heart attacks?

No.

Why is the rate of heart attacks more in men than in women?

Nature protects women till the age of 45.

How can one keep the heart in a good condition?

Eat a healthy diet, avoid junk food, exercise everyday, do not smoke and, go for health checkups if you are past the age of 30 ( once in six months recommended)..

Wealth mantras

pradeep.vijayakar@timesgroup.com (Pradeep Vijayakar) — Fri, 13 Aug 2010 18:08:00 UTC

While the controversy rages on about the Games of Uncommon Wealth, also known as Commonwealth Games, I would like to share with you some mantras sent by a friend, Karateka Rajesh Thakkar.

No point using limited life to chase unlimited money.
No point earning so much money you cannot live to spend it .
Money is not yours until you spend it.
When you are young, you use your health to chase your wealth ; when you are old, you use your wealth to buy back your health . Difference is that, it is too late .
How happy a man is, is not how much he has but how little he needs .
No point working so hard to provide for the people you have no time to spend with.

Legacy of KM Mathew

padso51@gmail.com (Pradeep Vijayakar) — Sun, 01 Aug 2010 13:21:00 UTC

When news came of the death of KM Mathew the editor of Malayala Manorama my thoughts went to a blog by a BMM student of Rizvi College who had done research on media drawing info from his teacher PK Ravindranath, who is among the long-serving Mumbai correspondents of the Manorama.

I reporoduce from that research paper which highlights the legacy left behind by KM Mathew and his predecessors. When Asim did his research in 2006 Manorama was ranked No 6 in the Indian Readership Survey for papers of all languages.

Readership:

Malayala manorama holds number 6 position in Indian readership Survey’s statistics. Kanadatahil Verghese Mapillai launched it in 1888 under the editorship of K. C. Mammen Mapillai at Kottayam. It was launched by first joint stock publishing company of India. The company started with the sales of 100 shares of Rs. 100 each. The first issue of the paper came out on March 22, 1890, and as a weekly with four pages, it came out on Saturday. It became a daily in 1928 and within a century it launched nine other editions in Kerala and three outside the state. Today (2006) Malayala Manorama is the highest read Malayalam newspaper with the readership of about 93 Lakh.

Advertising and Marketing Strategy:

In 1980’s K.M. Mathew introduced an easy to read style for Malayala manorama Weekly. It is a feature magazine in English, Malayalam, Hindi, Tamil and Bengali. It also runs the Manorama Vision, which since 1993 produces television serials and news and current affairs. Technology advanced all 12 centres of publication of the Manorama are connected to a high-speed wide area network using fibre-optic cable network. The Manorama is the first newspaper in the country to go in for this link-up. In WPP media awards the Malayala Manorama group was adjudged the Best Media Marketer of Year in 2002. The group won the gold award in this category. The Manorama group sponsors many events and awards for social cause.

Malayala Manorama and Political campaign:

On September 1, 1938, there were military atrocities at Neyyattinkara, Mammen Mapillai wrote brutally frank report on firings and campaigned the cause of civil liberties and responsible government in the State Legislative Assembly. Unable to restrain him, the State’s dewan, sir C.P. Ramaswamy Iyer, ruined his bank by engineering a run on it. Mammen Mapillai was jailed and his property confiscated. Malayala Manorama did not appear from 1938 to November 29, 1947.

Banegaon campaign:

When a severe earthquake devastated Latur in the Marathwada area of Maharashtra on September 30, 1993. The quake flattened more than forty villages, killing thousands of people, their cattle and their fowl. The Manorama rushed to rescue of the stricken villagers. It set up a relief fund with rupees 10. Which in less than two months swelled to Rs. 2.39 crores. It was more than what any other newspaper in India could ever collect for relief work. They could have handed over the money to the relief agencies and sat back. But Banegaon had become an obsession. They determined to rebuild the village, they reconstructed Banegaon as a holistic village with 163 houses, roads, a library office, a hospital, panchayat office, an open air theatre, a gymnasium, a big pond to collect rain water and Hanuman temple. Each house had a courtyard, two rooms and bathroom, and space to tie cattle. Eight such houses from a cluster, to provide space for joint families. The buildings are quake proof. In Banegaon, ' No one there reads Malayala Manorama but they love it.

Award for the most innovative farmer:

Manorama announced an award for the most innovative farmer in Kerala in 1992, there were ripples of amusement in the land of backwaters. It encouraged the people who had been relying mainly on paddy and coconut, to grow tea, coffee and rubber as well. Eventually, agro-industries and exports bloomed. Kerala is just 1.2 percent of India's total area, but it produces more than 90 per cent of India's rubber and pepper, 60 per cent of tapioca, 45 per cent of coconut and almost the entire lemon grass oil.

Today's Press Club beckons one and all

padso51@gmail.com (Pradeep Vijayakar) — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 15:02:00 UTC

The Mumbai Press Club has been in existence for 40 years. I have been connected with it since 1972, which means 38 years. It has been a home away from home.

From a young age I learnt to respect senior journalists coming there who followed a golden rule: don't talk shop.

So no one discussed office politics or bitched about colleagues and rivals. Yes they did one thing connected with their job of journalism. Ideas. There seniors who ideated and enlarged one's vision.The idea was to relax, enjoy each other's company, know each other better and respect each other . It was Happy Hours all the way.

There would be Cecil Hendricks, our Times racing correspondent and SV Vasudeo freelance art critic who would be the early birds for lunch.Evenings would see the whole lot of them. The ET group of `Mickey' Venkatraman, Janardhan, Gururaj and their friend, my colleague Sunder Rajan. PTI men Ramanujan, Laxman, ND Prabhu, US Gurjar, SV Seshadri were regulars. Unionists SB Kolpe, Suhas Agashe, Madhu Shetye, lensman Ram Aurangabadkar, Vasu Padiyar and Vivek Karekatte from the Times, other Times luminaries Willie Coutto, KN Prabhu, Joe Crasto, Leyland de Sousa, and of course Behram 'Busybee' Contractor the list is endless. Behram would mention the club in his column and I have seen many curious people asking me `When can I come to the club I want to see it dearly?'.Behram painted a roiser picture of the club, I thought, that the real one. But who cared, who saw the club in any case?

Well, that picture of the club, is fairer today to Behram's description thanks to the projects undertaken by the well-meaning office-bearers.The club beckons not only journalists but also their families. That was the dream I had. A dream that has come true. One dream remains that in future the club becomes a full-fledged recreational place, lifting our spirits in more ways than one-- the traditional one.

As I lay down my post of President after four years I look back on a fruitful working. I was happy to make my presence felt at the functions, both concerning professional matters and recreational.We had fun and games at the new year and dassera events. We ate and drank to our heart's content. There was feedback at the AGM that the club has become elitist and the aam member is turned away. That's wrong. It's the logistics problem as one member pointed out with offices moving away from town.

As I look back there is one meeting I can recall one where against vocal opposition from my own group I agreed to allow the Press Club FDs to be used for building project. Had I cowed down the first few steps towards making a new edifice which we are today proud of would not have been taken and we would be back where we were.

I only hope our members remember this little contribution of mine all along because people have short memories.Needless to add I lost by a thumping margin. You get what you deserve what?

Mother's Lofty Lies

pradeep.vijayakar@timesgroup.com (Pradeep Vijayakar) — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 07:11:00 UTC

This story begins when I was a child: I was born poor. Often we hadn't enough to eat. Whenever we had some food, Mother often gave me her portion of rice. While she was transferring her rice into my bowl, she would say "Eat this rice, son! I'm not hungry."

This was Mother's First Lie.

As I grew, Mother gave up her spare time to fish in a river near our house; she hoped that from the fish she caught, she could give me a little bit more nutritious food for my growth. Once she had caught just two fish, she would make fish soup. While I was eating the soup, mother would sit beside me and eat what was still left on the bone of the fish I had eaten; My heart was touched when I saw it. Once I gave the other fish to her on my chopstick but she immediately refused it and said, "Eat this fish, son! I don't really like fish."

This was Mother's Second Lie.

Then, in order to fund my education, Mother went to a Match Factory to bring home some used matchboxes which she filled with fresh matchsticks. . This helped her get some money to cover our needs. One wintry night I awoke to find Mother filling the matchboxes by candlelight. So I said, "Mother, go to sleep; it's late: you can continue working tomorrow morning." Mother smiled and said "Go to sleep, son! I'm not tired."

This was Mother's Third Lie.

When I had to sit my Final Examination, Mother accompanied me.. After dawn, Mother waited for me for hours in the heat of the sun. When the bell rang, I ran to meet her.. Mother embraced me and poured me a glass of tea that she had prepared in a thermos. The tea was not as strong as my Mother's love, Seeing Mother covered with perspiration; I at once gave her my glass and asked her to drink too. Mother said "Drink, son! I'm not thirsty!".

This was Mother's Fourth Lie.

After Father's death, Mother had to play the role of a single parent. She held on to her former job; she had to fund our needs alone. Our family's life was more complicated. We suffered from starvation. Seeing our family's condition worsening, my kind Uncle who lived near my house came to help us solve our problems big and small.

Our other neighbours saw that we were poverty stricken so they often advised my mother to marry again. But Mother refused to remarry saying "I don't need love."

This was Mother's Fifth Lie.

After I had finished my studies and gotten a job, it was time for my old Mother to retire but she carried on going to the market every morning just to sell a few vegetables. I kept sending her money but she was steadfast and even sent the money back to me. She said, "I have enough money."

That was Mother's Sixth Lie.

I continued my part-time studies for my Master's Degree. Funded by the American Corporation for which I worked, I succeeded in my studies. With a big jump in my salary, I decided to bring Mother to enjoy life in America but Mother didn't want to bother her son; she said to me "I'm not used to high living."

That was Mother's Seventh Lie.

In her dotage, Mother was attacked by cancer and had to be hospitalized. Now living far across the ocean, I went home to visit Mother who was bedridden after an operation. Mother tried to smile but I was heartbroken because she was so thin and feeble but Mother said, "Don't cry, son! I'm not in pain."

That was Mother's Eighth Lie.

Telling me this, her eighth lie, she died.

YES, MOTHER WAS AN ANGEL!

M - O - T - H - E - R

"M" is for the Million things she gave me,
"O" means Only that she's growing old,
"T" is for the Tears she shed to save me,
"H" is for her Heart of gold,
"E" is for her Eyes with love-light shining in them,
"R" means Right, and right she'll always be,

Put them all together, they spell "MOTHER"

A word that means the world to me.

For those of you who are lucky to be still blessed with your Mom's presence on Earth, this story is beautiful. For those who aren't so blessed, this is even more beautiful.