Yep!! Shifted my loyalty to Blogspot!!

The bees in my bonnet..

This morning, I had this sadistic pleasure of watching this woman sitting next to me in the bus, suffer silently when she couldn't spit out the chewed beetal leaves as the windows wouldn't open!!!! :D

I take the BMTC to office everyday. When I don’t want to read in the bus, I look around lazily out of the window, at my co-passengers, listen to music etc..

Yesterday, being one of those “I want to look around days”; I saw the seats behind the driver which are facing each other. On one of the seats, reserved for LADIES, I saw a man sitting. (I will come back to my experiences of fighting with such men, later)

One seat in front of him, right behind the driver was vacant. A 10 year old girl got into the bus and tried occupying that seat. This man, trying to be extremely cooperative, held the girl by her shoulders and her arms and made her sit in the seat! I was so irritated! Why the hell did he have to do that when she could have managed on her own? I could even see that the girl wasn’t too happy being “helped”.

I just could not help looking at those two every now and then. I could see the man letching at her big time. A 10 year old girl!!!! Goddammit!

When she got up to leave, he freaking did it again!!!! She tried to break away from him mildly. Shit! My blood was almost boiling. But somehow, I couldn’t do anything. I could not think of doing anything! Am I supposed to do something????

This reminded me of another incident which haunts me even to this day. I was walking from the Majestic bus stop towards my mom’s office, when a man followed me and kept propositioning to me. I ignored him once. But when he came back the second time, I tried making a scene and showed him my fist… He ran away.

Another incident, where I slapped a person in the railway station when he touched me.

This is just getting to me. Cant we be just left alone? Cant we just stand on the road, and wait for some friends/family, without inviting sidey glances?? Cant we just walk on a busy road without having to think how we can avoid the hands of men around us?

Disgusting!

A life story "I want to stand on my feet" I wrote, has been uploaded on our official E-journal.
You can go here and click on Beyond Boundaries.

Yes! I will update my blog soon and regularly...

Schizophrenics can add another feather in their cap. Thanks to this study

After a desperate and unsuccessful attempt for Master of Health Administration at Tata Institute of Social Sciences,Mumbai, I am back in Namma Bengalooru. I left on 11th June, reached Dadar next day morning. Stayed for a day in my uncle's house at Borivalli then left for TISS in Chembur on 13th. The weather was sweltering hot and added to that we were stuck in the jam for 1 hour. But the TISS campus was a real treat for the eyes..The whole campus is just green..Dint get a chance to see the new campus which is supposed to be even better.
Each of us were allotted a hostel room for 2 days..Stayed there and met my fellow applicants..Each of them were from different backgrounds..Some Docs, Dental surgeons, BSc gards, experienced fellows, bunch of good freshers etc..I guess I was the only engineer with a minuscule experience...Some thought it was weird..
14th, was the day of the exam.After a brief orientation about MHA and TISS we had an essay writing test for a duration of 45 mins. The topic was " Women empowerment- Is it the only solution to population explosion" Wrote a decent essay of about 2.5 pages.
Then the Group discussion in the afternoon. We were 10 of us in the group and we decided before hand that we would not let the discussion look like a fish market and let everyone speak. The topic was " Birth Control- Is it only women's responsiblity"
The results were out at 7.30 pm that day and to my dismay, dint find my name in the list. I was very disappointed, but life has moved on ever since..
Left the hostel the same day and went back to Borivalli. Next day met up with a friend and ex-colleague.Had a nice time. In the evening, went to Linking Road with Shruthi in Bandra and did a bit of shopping..The hospitality extended by my uncle and his family really helped me pull myself together.
Next day morning, left Mumbai by Udyan Express and came back to Bangalore.
It was a great experience going all the way alone with a mission to crack the exam, trying to be independent and get a hold on myself when things went bad. Survived it and I am back with a bang.
Aage kya hoga, dekha jaayega..

One of the best ways to judge the well being of the people of a nation is by examining the standards of health the ordinary people have attained. Healthy living conditions and access to good quality health care for all citizens are not only the basic human rights but also essential prerequisites for a social and econominc development.

With the public health system in a shambles and private hospitals beyond their reach, basic health care proves to be a luxury for a majority of Indians. The basic health indicators in the country are far from encouraging.

The infant mortality rate is 68 per thousand live births every year, and there has been very little imrovement in this situation in recent years.

About 130,000 mothers die during child birth every year.

3 completely avoidable child deaths occur every minute.

18 lakh deaths of under-five children could be avoided every year. The four major killers (lower respiratory tract infection, diarrheal diseases, perinatal causes and vaccine preventable diseases) accounting for over 60% of deaths of under 5 years of age are entirely preventable through better child health care. Around 6 lakh children die from from an ordinary illness like diarrhea.

According to the latest National Family Health Survey, half of all Indian children are undernourished and half of all adult women suffer from anaemia.


About 5 lakh people die from tuberculosis every year.

The number of cases of malaria has remained at a high level of around 2 million cases annually. Cancer claims over 3 lakh lives per year and tobacco related cancers contribute to 50% of the over allcancer burden, which means that such deaths might be prevented by tobacco control measures.

One Indian commits suicide every 5 minutes.

Private health care and essential drugs are increasingly unaffordable. 40% of the hospitalised people are forced to borrow money or sell their assests to cover expenses. Over 2 crore Indians are pushed below the poverty line every year because of the effect of "out of pocket" spending on health care.Due to irrational prescribing, an average of 63% of the money spent on prescriptions is a waste.

These are some of the startling facts that is flashed at the faces of our health policy makers. Is this inevitable? Can only developed countries manage good health for their people? Does India have the resources to provide health for all?

As a country, Indians spend more on health care than most other developing countries. Health care facilities have grown substantially, but these are mostly in the private sector. The system is producing more and more health care professionals, but we lose them to the private sector, or to the western coutries.

As a nation, today there is a need to look closely at the deeper problems in the health system, rather than make exaggerated claims. There is a need to recognize the growing health inequities, and urgently implement basic changes in health system.

With political will and people's involvement, ensuring good quality health care for every Indian is possible.