Thank you!

Dear Readers,

Thank you, indeed. The number of page views crossed 15K on Nov. 1, 2016.

A compilation of the blog posts up to first quarter of 2016 has been published and is available on Smashwords, Amazon (Kindle store), and Google Books.

Friday, November 1, 2024

Generating Ayushman Card for Senior Citizens

 Though the extension of Ayushman coverage to Senior Citizens (70 years and above, not above 60) was announced long ago, the actual registration only started a couple of days ago after inauguration by the PM.  My efforts to enroll myself had started earlier than the inauguration and all that I could achieve was registration on the ABHA (Ayushman Bharat Health Account) leading to issuance of an ABHA card and id linked to my Aadhaar, as I was not shown as eligible on the ayushman portal.  This was done on abha.abdm.gov.in.  ABDM stands for Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission.  ABHA is merely a centralised health record for you that can be viewed by healthcare professionals authorised by you.

Later when registering for Ayushman after its inauguration, I found that the registration process asked for two OTPs, one generated by UIDAI for your Aadhaar authentication and the other generated by ABDM for validating your ABHA number.  This would seem to suggest that ABHA registration is a prerequisite for Ayushman.  However, a search on Google shows that it is not so and ABHA is not a prerequisite for Ayushman.  So I suggest that you proceed for Ayushman card directly.  If it goes through, you don't have to go through the hassle of creating ABHA account.  If it doesn't you can go and complete ABHA registratrion and revert to Ayushman.  

In fact in the final step, it gives a checkbox for creating your ABHA account and linking it to your Aadhaar.  So you need not go to ABHA creation first.

For Ayushman the process is simple.  Go to https://beneficiary.nha.gov.in/ and log in using your mobile number.  Alternatively you can download the Ayushman app and use it for this process.  The page that opens after login has a button for registration by seniors.  Do not input anything in the displayed boxes and directly click that button and complete the form that opens next.  In our case who do not belong to the Below Poverty Line group, the family ID has to be left blank.After successful registration you will get a message saying that your card will be ready after some time.  You can return the next day and download your card.

Friday, October 18, 2024

Things Eternal

 The Guru’s face glowed with sweat from the hard work that he always engaged in.  He cast a fierce glance of indignation on the gathered disciples, clenched his fists and hissed, “Yes, I am acutely aware of the ridicule you face from some mischief mongers when you, the faithful, assert that certain things happening today were happening before 2014 too and that there is nothing wrong with them.”

He made a strong deprecating gesture with his hands adorned with expensive accessories, and continued, “These dimwitted and misguided people simply don’t understand that we are here to ensure the continuity of things eternal, Sanatan, and we won’t stop them simply because those in power in the BS (Before Sevak, not BullShit) era inherited those things through our glorious tradition and had the good sense to adhere to them.  Rising prices, strengthening Dollar and controlling machines erroneously proclaimed to be uncontrollable, taxing the middle class are all things eternal and we never had any plans to do away with them. On the contrary, we are working ever hard to preserve and strengthen these traditions and revive many others that the powers in the BS era had deliberately killed because of their deluded western mindset.”


The disciples felt a load being taken off their minds, heaved a sigh of relief and started chanting, “Sevak, sevak!”  The Guru signalled to them to be silent and continued his spirited speech.

Monday, October 7, 2024

The Idea or The Individual

 The Idea Or The Individual


It was probably a couple of years ago that there arose a debate over a remark by BJP leader Mr Raj Nath Singh.  The remark was to the effect that it was not Akbar, often called Akbar the great, who was great but Maharana Pratap Singh instead.

Recently in a Gandhi Jayanti celebration, a speaker said that the debate as to who was great, Gandhi or Subhash or Savarkar, was futile.  Each one of them was great in his own way and the public opinion got swung towards Gandhi through films and cultural events that firmly established him as the Sabarmati ka Sant, while the others were, more or less, ignored.

I am inclined to agree with the speaker, though in a slightly different sense.  Yes, it is futile to consider any individual as 'the great.'  All men are born more or less alike and they go through life being pragmatic, adapting to circumstances and maximising their chances of survival and well being.  Also we hardly know details of the life on an individual who is not part of our immediate family / social circle except through hearsay. Such transmitted knowledge almost always tries to conceal the fact that no man is a hero to his valet (or those closest to him.)  Yet there are individuals who strongly identify with an idea and and on occasions, if not always, ignore their survival and well being to defend those ideas.  Later on the canvas of history such individuals emerge as icons for the ideas and ideals that they so defended.

When we choose to call such an icon great, we are essentially conveying our approval and appreciation of the idea for which that person is an icon.  Those who do not subscribe to that idea but find it inconvenient to admit the fact, often attack the icon and not the idea.  This is the logical fallacy known as "ad hominem."

We always need to remember that the persona of a man is history which gets written and rewritten as regimes change.  But unlike a persona, an idea is something absolute and can only be accepted or rejected.  So the question to be asked is not who is great and who is not, but instead which idea appeals to you and which doesn't.

Do you agree?

Thursday, March 28, 2024

A Trip To SRJBTK*

 * Sri Ram Janm Bhoomi Teerth Kshetra


This week our son is visiting us.  Back in USA he had heard a lot about the Ram Temple and expressed a desire to visit it.  We cautioned him about the mammoth crowds visiting the shrine each day.  But his curiosity got the better of him.

We started looking for information that could help us during our visit.  We visited the website SRJBTKshetra.org.  The site is quite rudimentary and doesn't provide much help.  I found a recent post by a neighbor on FB telling us of her visit to the temple.  I called her up.  She gave practical tips and a good deal of information.  She also told us about the huge crowds but kept assuaging our anxiety by telling us that the arrangements were good enough and that though it is going to take time, it will be worthwhile.  One strange thing was that the rest break for the Lord was mentioned incorrectly on the website as 11:30 am to 2 pm, while it had been changed to 12:30 to 13:00.  The trust can do a good job by keeping its site up to date.

Another issue is that of Aarati passes mentioned on the website.  Though the site suggests that these passes are available online, the link doesn't work.  My neighbour told us that it has to be done at a camp in Ayodhya where the crowds are just as huge, if not more, as at the temple for regular darshan.  So there is little point in wasting time for a pass.

I knew that a lot of demolition, road widening and construction work was going on and so chose not to go through the city of Faizabad, now renamed Ayodhya and so merged with it.  Prior to this renaming Faizabad and Ayodhya were twin cities, separate from each other.  Since I spent my childhood in Faizabad, this causes much confusion to me.  So when the highway from Lucknow shows a signage saying distance to Ayodhya is in single digit, I often get misled into thinking that I have gone past Faizabad.  And it takes some processing to guess where exactly could I be.

So I reposed my trust in Google Maps and it led me to the multilevel parking in Ayodhya with just one human correction.  Google asked to take a turn, we checked with a group of people standing there and they advised us to go straight.  We followed their advice and found the parking a short distance away.  On our way back when we asked for directions to the parking, people kept asking us whether we want to go to the parking close to the river Saryu or the other one.  So, probably, Google Maps was trying to take us to the other one.  Though, I still don't know whether we were in one close to the river or the other.

There are, in fact, two multilevel parkings opposite to each other.  The guard let us in after confirming that a vacant slot was available.  We were told that AC buses were regularly plying between the parking building and the temple and we did see quite a few of them on the other side of the road.  However the buses seemed very crowded and we decided to take an autorickshaw.  The rickshaw wallah told us that he will take us to a point very close to the temple through the narrow lanes, and that we are not allowed to go up to that point through the main road.  He asked for ₹500 and we bargained it down to ₹300, though my younger sister had availed the service a few days earlier for ₹250.  True to his word he took us through a labyrinth of narrow lanes and to a point where we were supposed to enter the temple premises.

It doesn't take much time to realise that the construction is not complete yet, not even half-way through.  The walkways are not yet constructed and carpets have been laid on bare and uneven earth for moving from point to point.  There is a locker facility for depositing your phones and bags.  Phones are not allowed and there is an announcement repeatedly that phones will be confiscated.  Though we found people using phones for selfies and photos beyond that point and around the temple block and no one seemed to be eager to confiscate the phone.

Next is facility for depositing your footwear.  It may be noted that socks need not be removed.  Then the march towards the temple begins.  We came to a tree with a platform around it on which a huge agarbatti (incense stick) was burning.  At this point the female and male visitors are segregated with woman on the right and men moving to the left of the tree.  This is done for frisking purposes.  Booths for ladies are on the right and those for the men on the left.

At the booth entrance on the top are two signs - a hand and a circle.  I saw people hitting the hand sign and thought that probably it was meant to keep count.  However later I heard an announcement asking people not to touch it.  I hope I heard the announcement correctly and am trying to figure out the reason for the display.  The screening is very perfunctory.

The problem arises after crossing the frisking booths as families try to reunite.  It seems that the queue at the frsiking booths moves faster in the female lanes than the other ones.  We were separated ourselves and spent a long anxious time looking for my wife and sister.  Then it occurred to us that while we had left all our phones etc in the car, one phone had stayed with us in the sling bag worn by my wife.  We thought that they might have been sent back because of that.  We approached a security person in military fatigues who was kind enough to lend his phone to us.  We called the number with the ladies several times but kept getting a busy tone.  We later found out that they had gone ahead of us and were sitting on the stairs of the temple at the exit.  We suspect that a jammer may be installed to cover the main temple and a small periphery.  We thanked the guard, who expressed concern about the ladies and said, "You see, I live close by.  Yet, because of this maddening crowd, I am yet to bring my own family for Darshan!'

The crowd had been huge and there was too much pushing and jostling right up to the booths.  Not finding the ladies we became very anxious and worried if they had suffered a fall, not a remote possibiliity at all.  We next approached a lady in fatigues and enquired if there was an announcement booth.  She took us next to the booths where a microphone was being used by a person with another person waiting, it finally came to us.  We made announcement several times but to no avail.  One reason being that it is not possible for the other person to respond and coming to an indicated point not easy either.  We wondered why each visitor had to make his own announcement but then realised that this was the only option because of the nature of the crowd;  there were people from every corner of the country and the number of languages and dialects spoken was too large to be handled by one or two announcers.  This was an issue in crowd management too.

In the light of this experience, and we were not the only ones undergoing this, I would suggest the following to the authorities there -
  • Please allow visitors to carry their phones to avoid such incidents.  Quite a few people are flouting this meaningless requirement and only the rule sticklers suffer.
  • Advise visitors through displays and announcements for gents and ladies to wait for each other immediately beyond the booths and to proceed only after they are together.
  • Display signages showing directions and what is coming up next.  There is a total lack of these.  This makes the visitor feel lost.  It will be good if each visitor is given a map of the premises. 


Having failed to contact the ladies, we decided to have a Darshan and then resume our search hoping for best all that time.  Beyond the booths six queues are formed for going to the temple without the gender segregation.  It is a rather long walk, 100 meters or more.  The barricades separating the lanes are metal ones lined up one after the other and there is a risk of your finger getting caught in the gaps between two.  There are constrictions in between.  These are very dangerous with the operation of the Bernoulli Principle that subjects those in the constricted area to lot of push and sway and poses a danger of barricades and people toppling over.  It did happen immediately before the steps going up to the main temple.  The barricade fell down and I was saved from a similar fate by my son.  As people sense coming close to the temple building, the shouting of Jai Sri Ram gets louder.  One young chap chanted the phrase so loud and so close to my right ear that it kept ringing for quite some time after that.  We were all tightly packed in each lane almost like a simgle mass that had a life of its own and kept swaying and moving.  I felt an apprehension several times that there might be a stampede or the jostling may lead to a domino effect.  Thankfully it didn't happen.

As you climb up to the floor of the temple,  you notice the intricate carvings on the pillars and the ceiling.  The stone used is neither red nor yellow but cream or off-white in colour.  At present it looks rather monotonous.  It also struck me that the temple is not as huge as I had imagined it to be.  The idol looks small, more so because you are not allowed to go close to it.  Also because of the heavy crowd you hardly get a few seconds to focus on the idol.  Just a few seconds after hours of jostling.

We were so exhausted that I forgot to look for a portion of the floor that looks very realistically like water, as told by my neighbour. As you climb downstairs and head towards the exit, you reach the locker counters on the opposite side, i.e., opposite to where items were accepted.  Same is the case with footwear.  Then you walk down and reach the main street where you see the buses and huge crowds.  As the buses were too crowded we enquired with a policeman where we could get an auto for going to the parking.  It seems most of the police people were from outside Ayodhya and not too familiar with the geography.  Same was the case with various security guards deployed along the path on the exit.

Finally we figured things out and walked a little distance towards traffic signal where we saw autos on a side road.  We also figured out that the tempo ride in the morning had saved us a walk of probably 1/2 a kilometers, the distance from the auto stand to where I think the entry point was.  The exit was another arm of the rectangle.

I feel that till the crowds have thinned out a bit or better facilities like golf carts become available, it is not safe for very elderly people to visit the temple.  I was told by my neighbour that wheel chairs were available.  But we didn't see any during our trip.  All we saw were two office chairs with wheels which were being carried by two people and I don't think it could serve that purpose.

The Ayodhya that I saw (from the parking to the temple) is very different from the congested areas and narrow lanes that I remember from my childhood.  That area has a very nice look now.


Wednesday, July 19, 2023

Persistent Nausea

What causes nausea?  I am aware of two reasons.  You may have eaten something that had its inedibility masked by strong flavours or there is a mismatch between sensory input from two of more organs - as happens in seasickness.

I feel quite nauseous these days, do you too?  What may be the reason?

For sure there is a terrible mismatch between the gloomy signals that we get from managing our own budgets and affairs, and the incessant chatter of relentless progress, investment pouring in, the globe fawning to us and a certain face staring at you from all the directions seeking your acquiescence, and whose intent gaze you cannot avoid at any place or time.  There is absolutely nothing that confirms your feeling of gloom except what you feel in your guts.  Any voices that once provided a confirmation have gradually been muffled into total silence.  Is it this terrible and stark mismatch that make you and me nauseous?

Or is it something that we have eaten? A forbidden fruit, lured by painstakingly applied colour and fragrance to mask its real ones that could have warned us?  And having ingested it we are not unable to get it out of our system, and hence the persistent nausea.

Think hard and find a cure lest this permanent nausea should kill you by making it impossible for you to ingest anything healthy that is good for you.

Friday, June 25, 2021

Organ Donation

 Being advanced in age, I often think of organ donation as an act of compassion. However what deters me is the thought that it might go to a corrupt and powerful person who can easily pull strings in a system that isn't exactly known for its uprightness, instead of to a more deserving recipient. This will be an unethical act and I wouldn't want to be a party to it.


In my opinion, a person who wants to pledge organ donation in his lifetime should be allowed to specify eligibility criteria for the ultimate recipient. Such an instrument should be legally binding on the deceased's legal heirs too. That will rule out any chance of influence or money entering the picture.


As the time available for selecting a recipient is short in case of cadaver donation, a prospective donor should be encouraged to give multiple criterion and also a negative list if he wishes to. For example, if I were to opt for donation, I wouldn't want my organs to go to a politician wielding power unless I have explicitly named him in my criteria list.


In case a person dies intestate in this matter, the right to choose a recipient must remain with his legal heirs.  It cannot be given to a system known for its callousness. If money or influence has to enter the picture, let the benefit go to the heirs rather than a corrupt official.

Saturday, May 8, 2021

A Piece Of Good News Amongst A Storm Of The Bad.

My sister-in-law's son-in-law, we call him Ashu, has made a full recovery from the dreaded Covid.  A CT scan had shown him with a count of 20, a cause for immense worry.  Ashu lives in N Delhi and works in the Medical Equipments industry.  He is an energetic young man with an entrepreneurial bent of mind.  He had set up his own business from a scratch and had received an award for entrepreneurship from the Times of India.  The business, unfortunately, died down in the aftermath of demonetisation and GST, and he was forced to take up a job once again.  Currently he is the sole breadwinner in the family and supporting his mother-in-law and father-in-law too.  And so there was a palpable gloom in the family that deepened as his scan revealed less than hopeful prognosis.

Ashu has shared with me his treatment regimen, which I feel compelled to share with everyone.  Of course I have no medical qualification to recommend it to others but am still sharing it in the hope that this may form a starting point when a Covid patient or a caregiver discusses a line of treatment with a qualified doctor.

His successful treatment is based on a regimen recommended by some doctors and shared on Facebook.  I am providing a link to one of these videos at the end of this post.

These doctors ask to mark the day of start of symptoms including fever as day one.  In most cases, the fever should go away on day 6th necessitating no further treatment.  However if the fever persists or worsens, they recommend a heavy dose of methylprednisolone - 40  mg twice a day for five days, an anticoagulant, such as Apixaban 5mg, to be taken once a day, and nebulisation with Formoterol Fumarate and Budesonide mixture TDS and SOS.

Initially Ashu was given steriod but in a very low dose of 4 and 2 mg.  When he went to another doctor who subscribed to the regimen mentioned above, he increased the dose to the level recommended in the videos.  It is now three days after Ashu went off the medication and he is feeling absolutely fit and fine.  He maintains that with all his problems in breathing, had he gone to a hospital to be put on oxygen, the result would not have been a happy one.  He also practised proning and steam inhalation to relieve the symptoms.

It is important to add that Ashu doesn't have any history of diabetes and hence this line of treatment did not present any complications for him.  However, as steroids are known to raise sugar levels, diabetics must mention the fact to their doctor and must abide by their advice.

Ashu also tells me that doctors normally use the tradename Medrol for the steroid and because of this the drug has disappeared and is available in the black market at 100 times the printed price!  Though the same drug from different companies and with different tradenames is available at the normal rate but doctors and pharmacists are failing to suitably advise the patients in the matter.  In case the drug is not available in the required strength, multiple tablets with lower strength can be taken to make up the dose.

I must emphasize that I have no medical qualifications and have narrated this case merely for information of my readers.  They must not follow this line of treatment without consulting a qualified doctor after disclosing all their existing ailments to him.  It can be fatal for diabetics to go for it without the recommendation and supervision of a doctor.

Here is the link to one of the videos that I had mentioned.