Going Bananas

Folks who have lived in or travelled to the tropics will testify to an abundance of interesting fruits at any time of the year.

There are so many delicious fruits to remember from Africa.

Two of my favourites from East Africa are the Baobab fruit (Adansonia digitata L. on the right) and the rare Victorias (? ref. neeed). More friends have broken arms and legs trying to be the first to get at the Baobab fruit on the slippery branches of these 'upside down' giant trees!
In India such delicacies as Jackfruit (Artocarpus heterophyllus Lam.),












Mangustan (Mangosteen, Garcinia mangostana L.) and the deliciously acerbic Jambolam (Black Plums, Syzygium cumini L.) arrive in sequence in the early summer and make life very livable.






The Genus Musa:
But nothing comes close to comparing with our varieties of banana!

We have super sweet varieties, soft ones, tough ones, red ones, honey flavoured ones and the list goes on... and on.

In Kerala, the all time favourite variety of banana is the Nenthram. The word 'plantain' is misleadingly used of this fruit. This is a robust variety with seeds and a very firm texture. The taste of an orange centred, ripe fruit is quite sweet but with a tart edge to it.

The unripe fruit can be sliced thin and fried into crisp tasty chips (only coconut oil is use for frying and the combination of flavours is wonderfully aromatic), while the ripe fruit can be steamed, eaten as is, or batter dipped and made into the tastiest fritters (slightly salty batter with succulent nuggets of sweet Nenthram embeded in it).

Needless to say, fried chips and fried fritters are out for me, but the steamed varieties I can still enjoy.

Each variety has it's special flavour, texture, aroma and taste. There is the red and quite robust Sevallai (right), the chubby delicately flavoured Rasthali, and the 'anytime after food digestive', the Poovan.

Let me assure you that the temperately available common variety 'Cavendish' just does not begin to do justice to real, fresh, tropical bananas.

Why I am particularly now reminded of these wonerful fruits is mostly because in the aftermath of my hearty lesson (previous post) my diet has been severely restricted; no oil, no meat, no eggs, BUT I can eat as much as I want of vegetables and yes - fruits!

I have little if anything to complain about when the abundance and variety of very tasty fruits comes to mind. I am also reminded that our first parents were set up in a (tropical?) orchard and appear to have been fruititarians, or so implies the book of Genesis!

A Close Brush with Life

For those who have yet to hear the news, I just had a close brush with life. Last Friday very early morning (June 15th) Aruna woke me as she heard me groaning in my sleep. This is one of those small coincidences as she had actually gone to bed upstairs since I had the lights on and was working that night. Somehow, very unusually, I slept off and crawled into the nearest bed and somehow, Aruna came back downstairs at around 2 a.m.

I awoke with a feeling of slight breathlessness and a sense of tightness under my breastbone. We both thought it to be indigestion and i took a couple of antacid pills, but to no avail. Apart from my jaws being very tight, there were no other symptoms. After an hour of fruitlessly waiting for it to subside, we called our family doctor and he suggested that we come in for a checkup. This was about 3 a.m. (dedicated doc Ravi Thyagarajan!). We got there about 3:30 and he checked my BP and pulse and both were normal. I had no temperature, no sweatiness, no chills, no other discomfort except for this steady 'almost pain' under my breastbone. The feeling of breathlessness had also faded away.

After some deliberation and observation Ravi put a tablet under my tongue, 'just to be on the safe side' and ordered me to a nearby cardiologist for an ECG (EKG) and whatever other tests they may decide. The tab melted off not too unpleasantly but then I felt a bit lightheaded and went home to sleep. This tab-under-the-tongue was concidence #2 for without it things would have gone from bad to worse that much faster!

On awaking, the discomfort was minimal, just a vague feeling of tightness and I was ready to ignore that but Aruna insisted and so at about 9 a.m., after sending the kids to school/college, we finally went to a nearby cardiologist's office where the ECG looked suspicious enough that they decided to do an echo and that showed that a heart attack was under way. The medical term is acute myocardial infarction, in this case affecting the muscles of the anterior wall of my heart. Due to a sudden lack of oxygen these muscle cells were unable to beat properly and would soon die altogether unless rapid action was taken.

I was rushed to a nearby hospital where good cath lab facilities were available. There, as luck would have it, mini miracle #3, a cardiologist who was also a good friend and the best in the city for interventional cardiology was handling the cath lab that day (Dr. J.K. Periyasamy) who on seeing my report, ordered me in for an angiogram. I went straight into the ICCU where an IV line was inserted, medication injected, test doses of the anesthetic and radio-opaque dyes were spotted onto my forearm and I was prepped for the angio.

Within a couple of hours they had me under the moveable head of the x-ray machine in the cath lab, with a catheter working its way up my right arm towards my heart. I was conscious and by now enjoying the whole show. The monitors were on my left and I could watch by craning my neck around slightly. The dyes started to be injected in double puffs of black, highlighting the arteries of my heart. The x-ray head swung in all directions as they got a fix on the two main arteries and studied them for blocks. It didn't take too long to find TWO 90+% blocks right next to each other on the artery known as the LAD. This was obvious even to my untrained eye as Dr. J.K.P. pointed it out and then asked if he could go ahead and put in a stent. After careful measurements they decided that they had a stent that was just big enough to cover both the lesions and that's coincidence #4 as without that 30 mm stent, it would have been a bypass surgery for sure and I would have lost some valuable heart muscle while I awaited that surgery. A very worried Aruna was consulted and shown the blocks and after she agreed, the doc inserted the stent and sent me back to the ICCU.

It turns out that ad hoc stenting like this is almost never done in India. There are too many risks involved and the cardiologist has to be supremely confident that they have seen and diagnosed correctly without needing to ponder the films for a couple of days at least! Yet, I was in that critical window period where if the blocks were removed, my muscle would be preserved and back to normal within a couple of weeks, otherwise the muscle would soon die (about 12 hours is all that's there) and an infarct would result - that's the scar tissue that results from an untreated MI.

That next 24 hours was really painful. I was feeling fine but flat on my back with bandages swathing my arms and under the watchful eyes of the ICCU staff, who flatly refused to even let me watch my own monitors!

The next day I begged to be let out, and the doctor reluctantly agreed. Then after 2 more days in a room at the hospital under observation, I was finally let go of but under strict orders to take rest. I've even been kept away from my computer till today and hence the delay in informing all of you.

I would like to thank in particular Senthilkumar (our adopted brother) and the staff of his company Ventura Omnitech Pvt. Ltd. for the constant and selfless support during a time of crisis!

If I can figure out how to podcast bits of my angio, that may also show up on this blog one of these days...

The Culture of Fear

Talking of PTSD led me to think about the ubiquitous nature of fear. Fear is all around us. Fear is within us. Yet we rarely acknowledge our fear.

What are our fears? Why are we afraid of fear?

Looking at my own little self and asking these questions I get a number of answers.

I am afraid of the future.
I am afraid of losing my job.
I am afraid of losing my health.
I am afraid that my relationships are too fragile.
I am afraid that those I love are getting into trouble.
I am afraid of doing something wrong and getting myself into trouble.
I am afraid of the changes in nature and environment that are taking place around me.
I am afraid that my country may lose its political and economic stability.
I am afraid of market forces controlling and spoiling the economy.
I am afraid of the rapid changes in Indian culture.
I am afraid of certain things in my past.
I am afraid of dependence.

These are generic fears, fears that perhaps most Indians would identify with.

But there are other fears. Fears of what is inside of me. Fears of my own inadequacy. Fears of my ignorance. Fears of my personality traits. Fears of my inability to hold together relationships. Fears of my inability to share. Fears of my neediness. Fears of my inability to love, fears of untruth, and the list could go on...

The way I deal with fear is basically to try to ignore it. I do my job. I spend time with my family. I spend time with friends. I watch TV. I blog. I read the newspaper. I read a novel. I go for walks in the woods. When I think, I try to focus on objective 'stuff'. I sleep.

During each of these avoidings, I carry my fears with me. The fears cause all sorts of turmoil, all the worse for being ignored!

Fear, the fear of fear, eventually drives me to face the fear. I recognise that fear. I recognise that the fear may be justified. I recognise that I may be causing the fear. I recognise that I have to change.

The conscious fear is also an indicator (the tip of the iceberg) of a trouble spot, a trend, a trait, or as John Doyle would perhaps term it, a strand. It is something that has to be dragged out, identified, and faced. Like the pain of a real wound, fear indicates that action is required.

Being 'frozen in fear' is an expression of our response to something sudden and terrifying. We have perhaps not even had time for a 'fight or flight' response to kick in. But, most of our fears do not fall into this category. They are insidious and if they are ignored they will prove debillitating!

Fear causes stress. If there is enough fear and enough continuous stress, you may not get PTSD, but depression and anxiety are probably already knocking on your back door.

The market dislikes fear. Fearful people will not be big spenders! The culture is supported by the market. Market forces and culture cooperate to keep the whole machine smoothly running. Therefore the market, supported by culture, actively suppresses fear. One way of suppressing fear is to revel in the fears of others. Reality TV, the News, and images of Iraq, are today's equivalent of the Roman Colosseum which boasted three types of gruesome 'entertainment'; the venationes, noxii, and munera. Another market-friendly way is to sell you a pill or two!

If you look at the map of ancient Rome, you will notice that the Colosseum is called the Amphitheatrum Flavium or Flavian Amphitheatre. it is suitably situated (territorialised) outside the main city but not too far away (I wonder why malls come to mind?). The analogy is perhaps just a part of life in any civilisation. But, in order to really deal with fear, the territory that it has staked out within one's soul will have to be identified and then reterritorialised!

Real fear is not talked about. Fear is the enemy. Let's suppress those fears!

The title link takes you to the "Rome Reborn" website. Check out the video clips under the gallery, especially the Colosseum in 3D!

The Hiding of Paranoia

PTSD, what do you really know about it? Posttraumatic Stress Disorder has been recognised as a common aftereffect of exposure to warzones since the early 1980s. The phenomenon was first identified in Vietnam Vets. Now, those were the days of my youth in college and I got to know quite a few veterans of the Vietnam War on-campus.

I distinctly remember that many of the veterans had a heightened sense of imminent danger that we would otherwise call paranoia. Now, the odd thing is that during a recent series of exchanges at Ktismatics (follow the title link) on fear, depression, and how we perceive/understand reality, I looked up PTSD on a number of sites and found that paranoia, a heightened sense of fear/danger, is prominenlty missing.

I wonder why? Are we afraid to recognise just how devastating a condition PTSD is? This is certainly possible for the fact is that more than 30% of all soldiers in any real war will suffer from PTSD and for many of these people it will be a debillitating, isolating, lifelong reality, of being dysfunctional in society.

I'm just curious, do any of you know warzone vets who are not paranoid? if I had been subjected to these kinds of stress continuously even for a short space of time, I would be!

But, the more fascinating question that arises is, "is there any reason for people in 'normal' (not war-torn) society to not be paranoid?" Are these Vets perhaps simply responding to real dangers that actually exist but that we have sublimated for some reason or the other? Maybe society and the global marketplace are geared to bury the fears, so that production and efficiency are not affected... Even if it is not a silent conspiracy, could it be that fear itself is societally considered the enemy?

The reality is that it is not only soldiers who need to worry about PTSD, or live with fear. Any psychological trauma can bring it on including motor vehicle accidents, having been a victim of child abuse, rape, a natural disaster, and other common occurrences within 'normal' society.

Any thoughts?

BIODIVERSITY versus Global Warming

A lovely new tool for comparing up to three different blogworld variables is available on icerocket and I used it to see how biodiversity was doing in comparison to global warming in the blogosphere.

The result was disheartening. Folks are much, much more worried about a crisis that is yet to come than they are about an ongoing and potentially much more devastating one - loss of BIODIVERSITY!

I AM A BIT AT A LOSS. How does one convince people that we are losing species permanently on a daily basis? Once stable ecosystems are endangered and will be irrecoverably lost if we don't start taking immediate action. Once a species is lost it will never be regained and once an ecosystem is damaged by species loss, that ecosystem is doomed!

Here are the actual stats as of May 18th, 2007:

GW = Global Warming, B = Biodiversity and E = Endangered Species

Trend Terms......Posts per day..........Average %.......Total posts

GW.....................1,353.91................. 0.1791.............121,852

B..........................53.16....................0.0069...............4,784

E..........................96.30....................0.0127...............8,667

That's at present something like 25 times as much activity on GW than it deserves and biodiversity needs to get 50 times stronger...

Any Bright Ideas?

The minute you start getting concerned about bioinversity and start blogging on it and doing something about it, these stats will surely improve.

Women and Men - Complementing Equality

As a Christian, that is, as one who seeks to follow Jesus, I am deeply saddened that injustice and inequality are being actively perpetrated by "the church" against women.

Now, there are segments of Christianity that have moved away from such discrimination, but large parts of the church, most notably the 'conservative evangelical' segment of the church can claim to actually be defending the bible by promoting discrimination against women!

I do not wish to go into why such controversies still exist except to say that it seems to have something to do with a wrong understanding of the bible, the misuse of power, an attempt to protect the authority of male dominated institutions, and a real fear that 'giving in' on this issue will be to let liberalism 'win'. In fact the so called "slippery slope" seems to be where all meaningful discussion is guilotined by these so called conservatives. In actual fact, a truly conservative reading of the New Testament and even of Genesis will show that any type of male domination is sin. It is a sure sign of the falleness of humankind. The gospel of Jesus shines particularly hard and bright on all such darkness however carefully we have treasured it in the nether corners of our hearts.

It's time to put this foolishness away. It is time to recognise the gifts that God has given to all humans and to allow each human to achieve her/his fullest potential - in true partnership and the building up of one another.

There are terrible systemic injustices; poverty, racial discrimination, casteism, war, genocide and so many evils that are perpetuated most obviously by our alienation from God. So, let's not blame God for what injustice and evil we do to each other, let us not allow culture to dictate what true justice is. Rather let us join together to celebrate the reality of our New Creation in God!

I my SELF?

In a fascinating post and discussion on what constitutes 'the self' Ktismatics has topped off a series of posts (developed over some time) discussing the ideas of Hegel, Derrida, Gadamer, Lacan, Deleuze, Tomasello, and many others, and charting out some new territory too on subjects as diverse as language, hermeneutics, psychotherapy relationships, and the self.

Particularly in our work with autistic children, but also with those who have other developmental problems, we often encounter the process of discovering and developing the sense of self. Our interaction, though, is always on the practical side. We are trying to 'correct deficits' and the norm is always what the majority of kids of that age group would attain.

How much is 'just' genetics and what effects do changes in nurturing style and other 'inputs' have on these children? Even if one is inclined to see the self as largely genetically programmed, one is still reminded that an awful lot depends on skill, and skill is something that is very relationally learned. But, my own feeling is that it is not even 50% genes. I believe that environment and social context make a huge difference. I have witnessed what effect some focused therapy can have on a child. We also see marked changes with modifications in physical factors like diet and sleep and exercise.

Children should indeed be encouraged and helped to reach their full potentials. How exactly we go about doing this is something that every parent, teacher, therapist, or anyone else that is around kids a lot, needs to keep struggling with. The child's sense of self and the child's developing personality do require and demand our attention and care.

I am very thankful indeed for Ktismatics' massive effort to help to clarify some very confusing issues even though a large part of my confusion still remains! Indeed very often the discussion has gone right over my head but always in the process setting off various trains of thought and bringing much needed fresh perspectives.

I won't even attempt to summarise what I am now thinking on this fascinating subject. I find that my reliance on a few thinkers such as Piaget has left me with an inadequate foundation (not Piaget's fault!) and so much rethinking is now going on in my mind that whatever I might say now would be just garbled. So, do read for yourselves...

I have some other selfish reasons for frequenting Ktismatics' blog one of which is the ongoing discussion with Ivan that was graciously hosted by Ktismatics shortly after a spam catcher on another blog set some of us adrift as we began a discussion on atheism, religion and evolution-creation! Which then led to the discovery of ktismatics nascent book on creation and in turn, that fascinating topic morphed into a fullscale, ongoing, exegesis of Genesis at OST. Right now, of course, the creation of the self is what it's about!

New Post at Ponnvandu

Follow the link to an important new post on

"NUTRITION FOR KIDS WITH LD"

Perspicacious and Prescient - Samuel Daniel

I read this poem during my second year at college not realising that one day I would be in India and reminded again of this amazing 16C poet.

Musophilus (Containing A General Defence Of All Learning)

Power above powers, O heavenly eloquence,
That with the strong rein of commanding words
Dost manage, guide, and master th' eminence
Of men's affections more than all their swords:
Shall we not offer to thy excellence
The richest treasure that our wit affords?
Thou that canst do much more with one poor pen
Than all the powers of princes can effect,
And draw, divert, dispose, and fashion men
Better than force or rigour can direct:
Should we this ornament of glory then,
As th' unmaterial fruits of shades, neglect?
Or should we, careless, come behind the rest
In power of words, that go before in worth?
Whenas our accents, equal to the best,
Is able greater wonders to bring forth;
When all that ever hotter spirits express'd,
Comes better'd by the patience of the north.
And who in time knows whither we may vent
The treasure of our tongue, to what strange shores
This gain of our best glory shall be sent
T' enrich unknowing nations with our stores?
What worlds in th' yet unformed occident
May come refin'd with th' accents that are ours?
Or who can tell for what great work in hand
The greatness of our style is now ordain'd?
What powers it shall bring in, what spirits command,
What thoughts let out, what humours keep restrain'd,
What mischief it may powerfully withstand,
And what fair ends may thereby be attain'd?
I should be offended by the presumption. After all, Indian culture predates and surpasses the British variety by a good five thousand years! But, in the modern period we have learned a lot from the Brits, both good and bad. As far as both politics and ethics go, India knows what not to do and be. So, despite the condescension, hats off to Daniel and his enthusiasm for spreading his variety of language and learning!

Three more examples of his work are further down in the next page tab (poetry).

I have to especially thank my English Prof. from the University of Cincinnati Dr. Jon Kamholz for his excellent introduction to 16 century poetry and to what English Literature is all about in the first place!

Biodiversity II - or How to be LESS Inversive!

The variety of life is absolutely essential for the survival of life on planet earth. Ecosystems are made up of an incredible range of habitats and habitats are a major driving force for biodiversity.

Mankind's effect on habitats is to radically modify them to suit perceived, short-term needs. See a forest - start cutting and burning because what you want more of is space to build and to grow the few plants that provide humans with food. Now, of course it is the worldwide timber mafia that is destroying forests to make a very quick buck.

The 6 rules for saving our planet are simple:


1. Leave nature alone.
2. Don't pollute.
3. Be least wasteful.
4. Analyse the longterm impact before taking any action.
5. Organise to save nature.
6. Participate in conservancy efforts locally.


Every species occupies its own little niche in an ecosystem. The ecosystem is sustained by the creatures that successfully fill up their respective niches. This interlinking means that the loss of species will result in the death of an ecosystem.

Changes in ecosystems threaten all life for eventually all niches, including man's are tied to the environment of our planet.

Think about it. Learn to love the diversity of nature that keeps us all alive.




Act, or don't - appropriately

Biodiversity - The Inverse Main Point

The blogosphere is full of much talk of environmental issues.

GW (or global warming) seems to take the cake for popularity. The fear factor and much media hype are partly responsible for the focus on GW even though one admits that the overall concern may be a very valid one.

But, for the biosphere, what are the real issues and environmental concerns?

If I had to pick the one greatest concern it would be the growth of

bioinversity / the loss of biodiversity.

I prefer the previous term as more descriptive of what is actually happening - species of all sorts are disappearing once and for all.

It is frightening. Bioinversity means that ecosystems will die, for
the interdependencies are huge.

We won't notice the changes
overnight but our children,
and theirs in turn, will curse us as
the blindest of fools!

LD1 - DYSLEXIA

There are many, many things that can disturb a child’s ability to learn. The commonest cause of learning disorders is improper development but genetics is also thought to play some roll…

Today, I want to highlight reading difficulties or dyslexia as a common and troubling disorder.

Signs can be detected from about 3 years of age onwards as children fall behind their peers in reading. Commonly one will encounter any or all of the following:

• May have poor reading ability or poor comprehension
• May often misread information
• May have problems with syntax or grammar
• May confuse similar letters or numbers, reverse them, or confuse their order
• May have difficulty reading addresses, small print and/or columns

The amount of disability and its causes will have to be determined by experts individually for each child. Various standardised tests are available to help with the diagnosis. Depending on the cause, many childrens’ disability can be lessened or even sometimes eliminated. Early detection and treatment are keys to success but our experience at Challenge is also that it is better late than never!

Dyslexia IS TREATABLE!

Almost every town now has professional help available for affected children. To ignore a child’s difficulties will simply consign them to a life far below their true potential. Any child that is considered "slow", or "disorganised" (stupid, dumb... are words that should never be used of any child!) should be screened for a learning disorder.

If you have questions please do feel free to contact me (my email address is down in the footer) or post your question as a comment here.

I will soon do short highlights on each of the following - Dysgraphia, Dyscalculia, Dyspraxia, ADHD, Autism and Aspergers, nutrition for kids with LD, and finally a few posts on tips for parents and especially for those who do not have access to professional help, at PonnVandu, so please follow the rest of this fascinating series there...

Birds and Elephants at Topslip

Do you know that India boasts over 1,400 of the world's 10,000 species of birds? Of these fully 260 species can be seen in the Indira Gandhi Wildlife Sanctuary - one small 500 sq km patch of forest! Serious birders from all over the world visit here every year to enjoy the myriad and unique birds found only in the various remaining small patches of shola forest.

Ponnvandu (our little trust) organised 15 volunteers from our college student work to participate in this year's elephant and bird counts. It was an exciting two days. Most of our kids are getting into the forest on foot for the very first time! Some are so city bred that they have never even seen the milky way before...

We were blessed with lovely weather. Five of our volunteers were needed for the elephant census and the rest were assigned to enumerate the bird species. Only four of us are decent birders so we decided to form three teams and divided the sholas amongst the three for two days of morning and evening counts. It is exciting work! The forest department lorry drops us at specific points in the forest and from then on we work with the local tribal guides and forest guards to complete routes of 7 to 10 km each in the early morning and then starting again in the late afternoon.

The five that went for elephant counting saw a total of 39 elephants, which is quite encouraging given that this is a dry season census and most elephants are known to head deep into the forest in search of perennial streams and lakes (few and far between). A number of calves and juveniles were counted in the family groups. One young man found himself just feet away from a late foraging sloth bear while he was absorbed in observing a mother and calf elephant. Luckily these bears are very short sighted and it went harmlessly on its way.

Our budding birders quickly got the hang of things, started recognising bird song and we came up with a very encouraging 87 species including many of the rarer birds. The group that first went into the Karian Shola were able to see two nesting Malabar Pied Hornbills (Anthracoceros coronatus) and one male actually feeding the ensconced female - a very very rare treat indeed. They also spotted the very hard to find Ceylon Frogmouth (Batrachostomus moniliger) on this same hike. One group came across the 'dreaded' king cobra up close (a 4 meter/13 footer, about medium sized). This is one species that eats only other snakes. The king cobras come to the bamboo breaks and near spots of water for their breeding season and they can get quite aggressive if someone is found near their nests!

On the second day we were joined by the world famous bird guide (now a forest dept guard) Mr. Natarajan. He is amazing and being a local tribal, knows both these forests and the resident wildlife intimately. Articulate and a wonderful teacher, the lucky five kids that spent the day with him really got a grand education in censusing, bird identification and generally how the whole ecosystem works.

Having these young people from the Sri Krishna College of Arts and Sciences (SKCAS) enthusiastically participating in very rigorous census work was perhaps the most exciting part. They learned a tremendous amount, but more than that they got the feel of what biodiversity means, how fragile these ecosystems are and the crying need for more involvement in conservation work.

One of the saddest findings was that many areas of shola are being invaded by coffee plants. Coffee seeds from the surrounding private coffee plantations are being effectively dispersed into these sholas and one can see that the shola forests are under a very severe threat from this new invasion. Sometime soon I will do a post on what shola forest is, but so far the main point is that we don't have any idea how to regenerate a shola, so once gone, gone forever.