Pink October

You get what you get when you get them

This is what Clair Huxtable tells to her daughter Rudy Huxtable in the Cosby Show. It is the end of summer and Rudy has to go to school. She feels bad that she is still a young girl, because her breasts haven’t come yet. Rudy feels that she will be ridiculed by her class boys. One of her friends brings a bust enhancer cream that promises to guarantee results in just two days. Rudy asks Clair if she can excuse herself for 48 hours from school. Clair and her husband Bill Cosby dig deep into why she needs the 48 hour break. When they come know the cream, they had to force themselves to stop laughing and explain to her that it does not work that way.

Cosby tells to Rudy, ‘You can as well put mayonnaise on your chest and get the same results’.  

Clair explains to Rudy, ‘Growing up to be a woman is a natural biological process and you cannot speed it up. You get what you get when you get them’

Ruby obliges and decides to go to school.

October is the breast cancer awareness month and I could not get this story out of my mind whenever I saw the pink ribbon in my e-mails. In my company, we do a human formation of the pink ribbon and wear a pink colored dress on one of the days in October to show our support for the cause.

 I told one of my friends, ‘Tomorrow is a breast cancer awareness day in my company’

She asked, ‘What are you going to do?’

‘We are going to make a human formation’

‘Of the br…?’

‘No silly of the pink ribbon’

The pink ribbon is the symbol of breast cancer awareness not the breasts.

I also wondered what this big ado about breast cancer is. I have heard about the campaigns in the U.S., I did not know that in India as well, we are having such awareness sessions. The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has concluded that over the past two decades, there is a steep rise in the number of breast cancer cases in India. As a matter of fact, breast cancer has been declared the most common form of cancer in India, surpassing cervical cancer. In metropolitan cities almost 1 in 20 women are suffering from breast cancer and Bangalore is the breast cancer capital of India. Now, I am glad that I am aware of this malignant disease. More statistics regarding breast cancer can be found at this website - http://www.breastcancerindia.net/bc/statistics/trends.htm

Early detection of breast cancer can save lives. Medical professionals recommend self examination of the breasts in the ages of 25 to 30, clinical breast examination after 30 and Mammography after 40, once in every 1-2 years. Mammography is a diagnostic and screening tool to examine the breasts and detect lumps or microcalcificatoins (coarse calcium deposits) in the breasts. Mammography is a non-intrusive procedure, there is only some discomfort. About 70 % of the unscreened women succumbed to breast cancer, whereas only 30 % of the screened women became victims of breast cancer. Mammography does save lives.

(http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865587620/Research-points-to-lives-saved-by-regular-mammography-screening.html).  

Women as well as men love boobs. It is time to take a stand and detect this demon early, for a long healthy life.

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All images from google images

The Power of Habit: Why we do what we do in Life and Business

The Power of Habit is a book written by Charles Duhigg. In this book, the author writes about how habits are formed in individuals, in organizations and societies and how habits can make the entities better or worse.

The most interesting story in this book is how the American retail chain Target, banked on their customers’ habits. North American baby market is worth 36 billion a year and Target wanted to attract/retain the customers who were in the early phase of pregnancy. Target developed an algorithm which is based on the products that people who were pregnant bought. If any new customer brought these products frequently, the algorithm identified them to be the would-be parent. After identifying the customer base, Target would send baby coupons to the would-be parents so that they can use them on their next trip to the grocery store.

Imagine the shock of the people if they knew that their neighborhood retail store was spying on them.  

A father angrily stormed into a Target store and demanded to see the Manager. He said to the Manager, ‘My daughter is in high school and you sent her coupons for maternity products’.
The Manager apologizes to the father and tells it was a mistake. The next day, the Manager makes a courtesy call to the father and apologizes again.
The father says, ‘I am sorry. Apparently there were a few household affairs which I was not aware of. My daughter is pregnant’.
After that Target used the sandwiching technique to send the coupons. They would send the customer, baby product coupons alongside wine bottle openers or dining sets coupons so that they seem random and innocuous. No more fathers were hurt after Target changed their marketing technique.

Habits are brain’s way of saving effort. Habits are a three step process. First there is a trigger, which tells the brain to go into automatic mode and which habit to use. The second is the routine which is physical, mental or emotional. Finally there is a reward which helps brain to figure out that this particular routine is worth remembering. 

Let me take my example for understanding the habit loop. For some weird reason, I always have craving for food as soon as I get home from office. My hands immediately reach to the eatables in the Tupperware boxes on the dining table. It is mostly unhealthy stuff, food that is fried in oil. My cue is craving for food after a tired day at work. Then follows the routine in which I eat the unhealthiest stuff and I pack up pounds. ­­Third is the reward in which the craving for food is satisfied but it is followed by guilt.

Fortunately, habits can be modified by changing the routine in the three step process of trigger, routine and reward. I will still have the craving for food but what if I replace the stuff on my table with healthy stuff like fruits or cut vegetables? I would be choosing the fruits or veggies rather than the fried foods. Well, an inventive way to trick the brain.

This book is like a thesis but it does give interesting details about the power of habits.

Bathukamma

After a gap of seven years, I got the opportunity to celebrate Bathukamma and Dussehra at home. In Telugu, Bathuku means live and Amma means mother. The festival is worship to the life giver or Goddess Shakti. Legend has it that Devi after killing the demon, Mahishasura faints. All the women pray for her to be alive by saying ‘Bathukamma (live mother), Bathukamma’. Devi wakes up on Dasami. Bathukamma is celebrated by the women of Telangana region on the day before Vijayadasami (Dussehra). Flowers of different colors are arranged in concentric layers on a tambalam (brass plate) and stacked up on top of one another to form a conical structure, which is also called as Bathukamma.

                                                               Bangaru Bathukammalu

On the morning of the festival, I participated in sorting the flowers used for making the flower arrangement. The flowers which we used were tangedu (cassia), gunugu (celosia), velvet flower, banthi (marigold), chamanthi (chrysanthemum), lotus and pumpkin flower. The flowers were arranged in nine layers. The belly of bathukamma should be filled with flowers and leaves as well; otherwise the pyramid structure would not stand. The heavy belly made the bathukamma also heavy. After making the bathukammas, they were placed in the puja room, in front of God.

(L to R) Flowers used for making bathukamma, tangedu (cassia), gunugu (celosia), velvet flower, banthi (marigold), chamanthi (chrysanthemum), lotus and pumpkin flower (images collage created from google images)

In the evening, all the women of the household got dressed up in their best attires. We took the bathukamma from the puja room and started to the nearby Venkateshwara Swamy temple. The temple was crowded with women folk in their dazzling sarees and ornaments. I loved the attire of the kids; they were completely traditional in pattu langas, their long plaited hair was bedecked with pearl ornaments or ornaments made with multi-colored stones. 

                                                                   Two girls dressed traditionally 

                                        Bathukammas in the glow of candles and jewellry of the women

At the temple, there were Bathukammas of all sizes and colors, little ones were cute and big ones were magnificent. The women danced around the bathukammas by clapping their hands in a rhythmic fashion and singing the folk songs of bathukamma. After completing the song and dance ritual, the women gave each other pasupu (turmeric), kumkuma and sattu pindi prasadam (roasted powdered corns mixed with sugar or jaggery).

                                                  Bathukammas of all sizes, shapes and colors

                        Warangalite women dancing and singing around the Bathukammas 
 
The bathukammas will be baded goodbye by placing them carefully in the water to be carried away by the waves. There is a story behind this tradition. A sister comes to brother’s house to visit him. The brother leaves to the town on some work just before she comes. The sister decides to stay until her brother comes home. She goes to the lake to bathe along with her sister-in-law. Their clothes on the bank of the river get mixed up. The sister ties the saree of her sister-in-law and vice versa. They have a fight and the sister-in-law throws the sister in the river. In the night, the sister comes in the brother's dream and tells him the sordid story of her death. Her brother goes to the river, and on the bank, he sees a tangedu plant.His sister says, ‘I became the tangedu plant after sister-in-law threw me into the water. Make bathukamma with tangedu poolu and throw it into the river’ and her brother does as he is told and the Bathukammas are immersed in water to this day.

Image from http://www.imagesinbox.com/2013/09/bathukamma-festival-images.html#.Ulva8hBQavY

 I grew up listening to the stories of bathukamma from my grandmother. She told me about the mega-sized bathukamma’s they made during her childhood and how four or five men got together to lift the bathukamma to carry it to the nearby temple. I am glad that I finally participated in one. Bathukamma will indeed be one of my favorite festivals.

Unexpected Visitors - Part 2

I understood that the pigeons were fascinated by the wooden plank on which we kept our potted plants. The plank served as their landing, resting, breeding and shitting ground and they wanted to occupy it. Yes, this was the war for the wooden plank.

I loathed hearing the guttural sounds of the pigeons. The cooing sounds turned into an irritation trigger. I imagined making a pigeon biryani our to the shaheed pigeons. The maid complained of cleaning the mess that the pigeons made. We finally gave in, removed the plank and kept the potted plants on the ground. In that way, we could save a few plants.

The pigeons did not stop there. They were angry at losing the wooden plank. They wanted to occupy a greater territory.

Even to this day, I remember the evening one of the brave pigeon's waged a single-handed war on us. I was in the guest room and working on the study table. My hubby was sitting on the bed, close to the window, with his head rested on the window sill. Both of us were engrossed in our work. All of a sudden, my husband jumped at me, as though he got an electric shock and started rubbing his head.

I was startled and asked, ‘What happened?’

He replied,’ The pigeon…’

‘What about it?’

‘I think the pigeon got into the house’

‘Where?’

‘It should be behind the window curtain’

‘What?  Really!’

We slowly moved towards the window. The pigeon was behind the curtain. We wanted to safely direct the pigeon outside, without any causality. The pigeon was on one side of the window. My better-half slowly went to the other side of the window, and slid the glass panes so that the pigeon could fly out of the created space. The pigeon flew out. We breathed a sigh of relief.

My husband later told me that the pigeon thought of his head as some of kind of walking bridge to enter into the house. The pigeon walked on my poor hubby’s head and hid behind the window curtain. The ulterior motive of pigeon is a mystery which can never be solved.   

The pigeon's attack reminded me of another incident which happened before our marriage. I was staying in Bangalore and my fiancé (now husband) was living in Hyderabad. I visited him on one of the weekends. My train to Bangalore was in the night. We took an auto to the train station.

Parting away times are always painful. Moments spent away from your loved one seem like eons. We were seated in the auto, close to each other, with our hands held together and brooded over the good times we spent and planned our next meet. It was in this romantic moment, that we heard some flapping sounds and got steady thwacks on our backs, for a couple of seconds.

Both of us jumped out of our seats. My fiance asked the driver, ‘What’s there in the auto?’

The auto-driver casually remarked, ‘It is a hen’

A hen in an auto? Was the auto-driver giving a ride to the hen? Where did the hen intend to go?

The hen became privy to our conversation. It wanted to let us know how deeply it felt about our separation by jumping around wildly in the auto and scaring us out of our wits.

My hubby and I, emit an avian aura, from which the birds cannot escape. When our horoscopes were matched for marriage, not only our stars but also the birds' stars got linked. The birds want to get close to us, either to trouble us or to let us know their grievances. After the brave attempt by the pigeon to enter the house, we now keep our windows narrowly open. We gave up the balconies to the pigeons; all we have is the apartment and we will not give it up.

‘

                                                                             THE END

Unexpected Visitors - Part 1

Unexpected visitors came at both timely and untimely hours into our apartment. The visitors were the phantoms of the night and day. They came in stealthily and stayed around as though they did not care about the inhabitants. My hubby and I started off amicably with the visitors, but our relationship went sour after they waged a war on our beloved things.

My significant other and I were excited about the two bedroom apartment that we rented out, in an apartment complex, in Bangalore. The city was getting crowded by the day and getting an apartment in a good locality was indeed an achievement. We had two balconies. One balcony, we reserved for the clothesline. The other balcony, was supposed to be our relaxation area. We laid out two cane chairs. We imagined sitting on the cane chairs and watching the receding sunset as we sipped our chai.

In the beginning the visitor came alone, later it brought along with it couple more friends. The visitors seemed harmless in the beginning. They perched on the black metallic rods of the balcony and flipped their grey wings lined with black stripes. It was fun to see the pigeons so close. They cooed and out of excitement, I sometimes cooed along with them. My hubby, the pigeons and I shared the balcony, in peace, until one ill fated day.

 That day was the day we bought four healthy potted plants, with pretty pink and blue flowers. We called a carpenter to create a home for the plants. He fixed a narrow plank on one side of the balcony between the rods and the wall, for the plants. My hubby watered the plants every day, as he did; he dipped into the reminiscences of the garden he cultivated in his long bygone teens. We hoped that our visitors will reciprocate loving feelings towards the harmless and vibrant plants.

One weekend, we went to our hometown. After we returned we saw, what our unexpected visitors did to the lovely potted plants. They mutilated the tender green leaves and bit off the flowers. The tiles of the balcony were covered with the withered flowers. My hubby was devastated. His mini-sized garden was bleeding to death. I was furious over the pigeon’s intrusion into our rented private property. The pigeons’ also shitted all over the balcony as though it was their private bathroom.

We were firm on retaining our ground; after all we were paying rent every month. We watered the plants hoping to rejuvenate them. The pigeons expressed their disapproval in a stronger fashion. They landed on the flimsy branches and shitted inside the potted plants. (Ha! The pigeons do not know that their shit can be used as manure, so there was a small victory for us). Two or three pigeons even got together and overthrew a small potted plant on the balcony floor. The brown earth spread on the floor and we could not save the innocent plant. One fatality happened in the war between the Goudas’ (my hubby’s surname) and the pigeons.

Coming up next…how the pigeons waged a war on my hubby…and did we savor the victory over the pigeons by making a pigeon biryani out of the shaheed in the war?

                                                              Our balcony occupied by the pigeons

To be continued on 5^th October 2013.