The Tiger Temple

The Tiger Temple or Wat Pha Luang Ta Bua is a Theravada Buddhist temple in Thailand and has been a sanctuary for many endangered animals including several tigers that walk around freely once a day and can be petted by tourists. The temple received several tiger cubs where the mothers had been killed by poachers. As of 2007, over 21 cubs have been born at the temple and the total number of tigers is about 12 adult tigers and 4 cubs. The tigers are tamed by being fed with cooked meat to avoid giving them a taste for blood. The staff keep the tigers under control and the abbot will intervene if the tiger gets agitated. They are treated as family members in the temple and visitors are asked to give a donation if they want to take photos with the tigers.

Coffee protects postmenopausal Japanese women against endometrial cancer

Researchers examined the association between coffee consumption and endometrial endometrioid adenocarcinoma in a case-control study. Drinking coffee reduces the risk for endometrial cancer in Japanese postmenopausal women, study findings indicate.

Researchers surveyed 321 women younger than 80 years of age and found that those with coffee consumption in the highest tertile had a 60 percent lower risk for developing endometrial endometrioid adenocarinoma (EEA) than women in the lowest tertile of coffee consumption.Women in the highest tertile drank at least two cups of coffee a day, whereas those in the middle and lowest tertile drank five to six cups per week and no more than four cups per week, respectively.

Toshimitsu Koizumi and colleagues, from Tohoku University Graduate School of Medicine in Sendai, Japan, enrolled 107 women with a pathologic diagnosis of EEA from two medical centers.These women were each compared with two women without EEA, matched for age and area of residence, who were taking part in a cancer-screening program.
All of the participants were asked to fill out a questionnaire assessing their dietary and beverage consumption, and reproductive history. After adjusting for potential confounders, Koizumi et al found that, overall, women in the highest tertile of coffee consumption had an odds ratio (OR) for EEA of 0.4 and those in the middle tertile had an OR of 0.6, relative to women in the lowest tertile. Further analysis showed that the association between EEA risk and coffee consumption was significant for postmenopausal, but not for premenopausal, women.

“This study thus revealed an inverse dose-response relationship between coffee consumption and the risk of EEA, and its strong association in postmenopausal women but not in premenopausal women,” the researchers concluded.

Preity Zinta Post-IPL

Weekend Academics

The Gas Story

Chicken Soup From Goa

A boat docked in a tiny Goan village. A tourist from Mumbai complimented the Goan fisherman on the quality of his fish and asked how long it took him to catch them.
'Not very long,' answered the fisherman.
'But then, why didn't you stay out longer and catch more?' asked the Mumbaite.
The Goan fisherman explained that his small catch was sufficient to meet his needs and those of his family.
The Mumbaite asked, 'But what do you do with the rest of your time?'
'I sleep late, fish a little, play with my children, and take a siesta with my wife. In the evenings, I go into the village to see my friends, play guitar, sing a few songs... I have a full life.'
The Mumbaite interrupted, 'I have an MBA from IIM-A, and I can help you! You should start by fishing longer every day. You can then sell the extra fish you catch. With the extra revenue, you can buy a bigger boat.'
'And after that?' asked the Goan.
'With the extra money the larger boat will bring, you can buy a second one and a third one and so on until you have an entire fleet of trawlers. Instead of selling your fish to a middle man, you can then negotiate directly with the processing plants and maybe even open your own plant. You can then leave this little village and move to Panjim, or even Mumbai. From there you can direct your huge new enterprise.'
'How long would that take?' asked the Goan.
'Twenty, perhaps twenty-five years,' replied the Mumbaite.
'And after that?'
'Afterwards? Well my Friend, That's when it gets really interesting,' chuckled the Mumbaite, 'When your business gets really big, you can start selling stocks and make millions!'
'Millions? Really? And after that?' asked the Goan.
'After that you'll be able to retire, live in a tiny village near the coast, sleep late, play with your children, catch a few fish, take a siesta with your wife and spend your evenings doing what you like with your buddies.'
'With all due respect sir, but that's exactly what I am doing now. So what's the point wasting 25 years?' asked the Goan.

And the moral of the story is ? Know where you're going in life. You may already be there. Life in the present world is indeed a rat race. Many who have qualifications from reputed Universities too do not know where they are going in life. Give it a serious thought, and please don't forget to take charge of your health....I have cosciously slowed down from running 17 ART clinics a few years back to 5 clinics today.

Straw Republic

Hi!
I received this wonderfully written article...
I share this with you...
A reminder to all of us...
Of the men of Straw in our midst..ruling our destiny...
When those who matter fade away...the Men and women of Straw can as usual only have words to give...
I remember reading, that ' A Country that does not honour its Heroes is doomed'...
Isnt this a cause for worry?


FIELD MARSHAL MANEKSHAW..

WE, THE PEOPLE, SALUTE YOU…

The passing away of the only Indian to be appointed Field Marshal when in active service has been remarkable for the warmth of the ordinary men and women, who queued up to say meebeenamet to the adorable dikra who put his life on the line for them.

It has also been remarkable for the complete lack of grace and gratitude, civility and courtesy, decency and decorum on the part of the bold-faced names rapaciously grazing the lawns of power in Delhi and elsewhere, for the brain behind India's only decisive military victory.

Sam, the Bahadur, had been unwell for a while now. From about 1000 hours on June 26, reports of his being 'critically ill' had appeared in the media. Yet, when the 'expected tocsin' sounded at 0030 hours till the guns were fired in salute around 1500 hours on June 27, 'civil society' chose to show its incivility.

Pratibha Patil , the commander-in- chief of the armed forces with all the time in the world: Absent
Hamid Ansari: Vice-president releasing books and writing reviews of books by fellow-travellers: Absent
Manmohan Singh , the prime minister who could do with a bit of the field marshal's charisma and heroism: Absent
Sonia Gandhi : daughter-in- law of the woman the field marshal called 'sweetie': Absent
L K Advani: prime minister in waiting of the party which would like to do to Pakistan what Manekshaw did: Absent
M Karunanidhi and Surjit Singh Barnala: chief minister and governor of the state which Manekshaw had made his home for 35 years: Absent
Politicians may have their reasons. They always do. Maybe, there are issues like protocol. Maybe, this is one way in which 'civil India' shows the armed forces its place. Maybe, this is why we are not as militaristic as Pakistan. Maybe, the knees are just too old to climb the hills.



But what about the armed forces itself?

A K Antony: the defence minister 'now behaving like the chairman of the confederation of the armed forces' trade unions: absent 'due to prior political engagements'.
The chief of army staff: absent (away in Russia )
The chief of navy staff: absent
The chief of air staff: absent
The fact that the defence minister was represented by his deputy Pallam Raju, the fact that the navy and air staff sent two-star general rank officers, shows that however high or mighty, however rich or powerful, civilian or military, if you should die as you must, you should do so somewhere in the vicinity of New Delhi -- or Bombay.

Or else, they must have some use for you.Or else, too bad.

As he rightly surmised once: 'I wonder whether those of our political masters who have been put in charge of the defence of the country can distinguish a mortar from a motor; a gun from a howitzer; a guerrilla from a gorilla -- although a great many of them in the past have resembled the latter..'



The contrast couldn't be starker:

When Amitabh Bachchan was ill after being socked in the stomach during the shooting of Coolie, Indira Gandhi flew down to Bombay to show her concern.
When Dhirubhai Ambani died, L K Advani cut short his Gujarat tour to pay his respects to an 'embodiment of initiative, enterprise and determination'.
When Pramod Mahajan was shot dead by his brother, Vice President Bhairon Singh Shekawat had the time to attend the funeral.
Our VIPs and VVIPs have time for dead and dying celebrities, charlatans, fixers. Not for a field marshal?

In his biography, K M Cariappa, the son of the only other Field Marshal India has had (and who too died at age 94), writes of his father's cremation in May 1993:



'Honouring him in death as they did in life were Field Marshal Manekshaw, the three service chiefs all of whom belonged to the same course and at whose passing out parade from the joint services wing, his father had presided, the gracious chief minister M Veerappa Moily and C K Jaffer Sharief, Minister for Railways representing the President as the supreme commanded of the armed forces.'



Somebody should have told the geniuses in Delhi that Sam, the Bahadur, passed away in Wellington, Ooty, not Wellington, New Zealand . The nearest civil airport is Coimbatore, just 80 km away.

If this is how we say goodbye to Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw, any wonder why Rang de Basanti could successfully tap into the angst of an entire generation?

Krishna Prasad, former editor, Vijay Times and one of India's finest young journalists, is the guiding spirit behind www.churumuri. com