S. Venkatachalapathy

It is really sympathetic to see old men and old women suffering from diseases. More than the sufferings, their misunderstanding about the nature of their diseases is awful. I could make this statement from my own experiences with the ailing old people. My experience started with my own grandmother who was very old even when I was a boy. She had perpetual swelling in one of her legs but however she managed to walk and do household works. She was not taking any Allopathic medicine. She used to eat moderately, as I remember, sometimes skipping her dinner or having just a bun for her supper. Only when she was down with fever I used to bring in a doctor to our home. Unlike today, doctors those days were service minded and could understand the difficulties of elderly people. The doctors used to analyse the symptoms. They were using simple instruments like thermometers and the stethoscopes and with that and by their knowledge of observing pulse rate they treated their patients with ver...

Twenty five years ago I expressed my wish to one of my friends that I was considering to join a social service club so that I could meet many people and could engage myself in meaningful social service activities. He suggested me an International Service Organisation in which he was a member and suggested me to attend a meeting of that club. I attended and I was well received by the other members. The then club President was an academician and because that I am a graduate from a premier institution he liked me instantly.   I was inducted as a member and I happily paid the subscription. Then on wards I was actively involved in various events. I got many friends from different professions. The culture of our club was very good that all the family members attended most of the meetings. Ladies and children were very happy since it was like a family recreation club. No doubt there were meaningful service projects like eye screening camps etc. . We also donated to educational aids a...

(All places referred in this article are in Tamilnadu, India)   In spite of being cautious with respect to food and exercise, I see a drastic increase in my weight these days and I was not sure whether I am all that healthy. Most of the days when I am in my home town, I fondly do surya namaskar asana, yoga asana and pranayama. I am aware of meditation also but do not practice it for fear of losing the aggressive attitude that is very much required for my business these days. Contentment may result in complacence and a leader today cannot be contended for he is required to run in the front so that his team will follow. The next generation has more challenges and we cannot be teaching contentment to them because of ruthless society that has been formed.  I wanted to understand what is wrong with my habits and more about healthier living. Some of my acquaintances had gone to Aravind Ashram, Rajapalayam for a training in naturopathy and yoga and I also made up my mind ...

We get our relatives without our choice. However we are bound to maintain a very good relationship at least with very close relatives. Nowadays, our free time is occupied by television and the programs are so captivating that we even fail to do our routines. We plan our routines according to the TV programs. Sometimes we skip our meal and sit awake late night also.   The computer literate youngsters and even oldies are glued to social media and are connected with ‘n’ number of friends. Many of them are not going to be of any use except for chatting, increasing the scores on ‘likes’ and sharing some interesting links. The ‘n’ in many cases is a three digit numeral. The time required to attend our office is also enormous when we take into account the time we spend in commuting to and fro. The competition and office politics are so fierce that we have to take home-work. We have to work from homes at times since we are wirelessly connected to our office through interne...

There was so much of joy going by bicycle. When I was studying in high school, I was one among the few lucky guys to get a bicycle to go to school. Those days in Tamilnadu, India there was a law that only one rider is allowed on the bicycle. However there was no law prohibiting carrying big bundles, sacks or wooden boxes in the goods carrier fitted above the back wheel. My cycle had a big goods carrier to help my dad to bring wooden cases containing tea powder that he used to sell in retail as a part time business.  This part of the machine used to make lot of noise and I do not remember to have used the bell to alert pedestrians. However my friends like this because they can sit comfortably on that and have a good ride. Though there was prohibition to travel like that, no one seems to worry about and only when we spot a traffic policeman on road the pillion rider used to get down. However the policemen allowed small children to travel as pillion riders.  The bi...