PULIMOOTTIL SILKS

Pulimoottil Silks, Kollam

SELFIE

I have taken selfies before the word ‘selfie’ came into existence. Long ago I used to travel a lot. When I saw buildings or places that I liked, I took photos. Sometimes I held the camera in front of me when I took the photos, maybe to prove that I was there. When I got the film developed and photos printed, I noticed that my face occupied a large part of the photo, since the camera was closer to me. I soon realised that the building or place would look better without my face in there.

Today many people take selfies. Even Prime Ministers and Presidents do it. Cell phones are specially designed to take selfies and accessories like selfie sticks are widely used. It seems like people are self obsessed. India has the largest number of selfie deaths in the world. Young people take selfies in dangerous places and get killed. Sometimes they stand on a railway track in front of an approaching train to take a selfie and before they know it the train runs over them. Some stand at the edge of a cliff to take a selfie and fall off. There are others who take selfies near wild animals. It seems the number of ‘Likes’ they get when they post it on social media motivates them to take dangerous selfies.

Then there are people who take selfies at the site of an accident or terrorist attack. Some of them even smile while doing so. I hope the selfie is just a passing fad.

PWD REST HOUSE

PWD Rest House, Kollam

US ELECTION - 2016

I remember watching the first Republican Primary Debate. There were so many candidates. I looked at all of them before they started speaking and thought that Rand Paul looked better than the others. When they started speaking I liked Rand Paul because he said he will not interfere in the internal affairs of other countries. People started calling him an isolationist and he lost support and had to drop out early.

I knew Donald Trump would be the centre of attraction because he is some sort of a celebrity. I liked the fact that he had a similar view regarding intervention in other countries. He said there will be no more ‘regime change’, that he would not topple the governments in other countries. I read his book ‘The Art of the Deal’. In it he says he makes controversial statements just to get into the news. It is a strategy. He sees it as free advertisement. He says even bad publicity is good because people come to know about you. He had to spend much less on his campaign because of all the free publicity. He played the media and hogged the limelight. He could brand his opponents ‘Lyin’ Ted’, ‘Crooked Hilary’ etc but none of them could brand him. The media were totally biased against him and lost all credibility. They seemed to think that their experts are the only ones who understand what happens in a debate and that the people have to accept their decision on who won the debate. People have brains, they can watch a debate and understand what the candidates say and decide who won. They don’t need any experts to decide for them.

People usually think about their own interests. If I was an illegal immigrant in the US, I would support Clinton because I would not want to be deported. If I was an American who lost a job because manufacturing went overseas, I would support Trump because he says he is going to bring those jobs back. Since I do not live in the US, the issues there do not concern me. The issue that bothers me the most is the war in Syria. The West armed the rebels and created a civil war there. So many people are dead, injured, homeless and fleeing the country. Clinton’s plan for Syria was to take on Russia, the Syrian government and ISIS. Trump’s plan was to work with Russia and the Syrian government to defeat ISIS. Trump’s plan is better. Some European governments are now trying to convince him not to work with Russia. That would only prolong the war.

Trump’s victory was a surprise for many people. Nobody knows what kind of a President he will be. Only time will tell.

DISTRICT CO-OPERATIVE BANK

District Co-operative Bank, Kollam

DIET IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN EXERCISE

I once read an article about losing weight. I am not fat and losing weight is the last thing on my mind but I found it to be interesting. It says that if you are planning to lose weight your diet is more important than the exercises you do. If you are careful about what you eat and how much you eat, you can easily lose some weight. Otherwise, all the exercise in the world is not going to help you.

A few years ago I had a blood test and my doctor said that my blood sugar was slightly above normal. He told me that I need not take any medicine but that I should reduce my consumption of sugar. That day I started drinking my tea without sugar. I did not make any other major changes. I do some exercises but not every day.

Later on, I fell sick one day. I had a fever and body ache which also meant that I could not do any exercises. A few days later I felt uneasy and checked my blood sugar. I found that it had increased. In those days I used to have corn flakes for breakfast and rice for lunch. I stopped both and had something made of wheat instead. I was surprised to find that my blood sugar was back to normal after I made the change. Most people in South India eat rice for lunch every day, but I don’t anymore. I realised that diet does play a major part in our health.

JACOB BATTERIES

Jacob Batteries, Kollam