Swine Flu Update

WHO has raised the swine flu alert to pandemic level 5. Keep up with the swine flu updates at the WHO website. So far 148 people have been reported affected with the virus worldwide with 8 deaths (7 Mexico, 1 USA)

Keep up with the virus status here.

Swine Flu Updates from WHO

Earth Day

April 22nd is Earth Day. The Day when environment hogs the limelight, the day where all the right forums express the correct environmental concerns. When the vox populi through various media expresses its anguish over the ozone layer, the dwindling rivers, rising sea lines, carbon dioxide, toxic wastes, environmental changes, melting arctics and Himalayas, rising hometown temperature, acid rains. School students make posters and learn how far the and how fast the Mother Earth is headed towards self-destruction.

This building up of the concern was the main reason Earth Day was conceived by Senator Gaylord Nelson, Founder of Earth Day. To get the people and politician involved and more proactive in conserving the planet. However we laymen cannot really shape the oil policies or halt the erosion of the ozone layers or the Arctic caps other than by expressing concern. What we can do, what we need to do and what we should teach our children to do are still a lot.

Here’s a small list starting at the beginning of the day.

Keep the tap shut while brushing teeth.

Walk, cycle or use public transport to work or school

Plant vegetation around the house – it provides oxygen, clean air as well as makes the house cooler.

Carry out a planned energy saving exercise at home – like Earth Hour but on a daily basis

Avoid polythene bags and use paper bags as far as possible

Reuse plastic bottles, containers

Recycle water

Use “natural” personal care products like moisturizers, deodorants, lotions, shampoo, etc. Natural means plant based (not petroleum based) or home made products.

Reduce, reuse, reinvent and recycle should be a daily mantra.

There are many more things we can do at our level. Green guides and green products are plentily available now, both online and at stores. National Geography has a very comprehensive Green guide. Check out this link for National Geographic green guide and green products.

In developing countries, at least in India, reuse and recycle happens as a way of life. Very little gets wasted. Whether this recycling is done hygienically using the correct technology is however a matter of concern. Developed countries face a different problem. Recycle and reuse, though “correct” words are not really applied in daily life. I mean I can’t see newspaper, plastics being collected systematically from house to house to be reused! In fact people need to be paid to remove old stuff and scraps!

A watercolor as my tribute to Earth Day

Should I Give My Son A Cell Phone?

My son is ten years. He wants a cell phone - now. Should I give him one?

Of late, my son has been pestering me to get him a cell phone. He first wanted the one I use and said I had better change to a new slick model. Since that was way too funny, he dropped the idea. Now he wants the slightly older Nokia Model I keep as a stand – by. His arguments interspersed with undeniable logic literally leave me gasping, with horror and shock. Horror, at his determination to wheedle a phone out of me at any cost - and shock, that he has grown up so much! Sample his logic.

He needs a phone because he might get lost. The city has recently had a spate of kidnappings. To make him more aware I made him read the articles in newspapers and gave him a long lesson of safe behavior. He goes to a tutorial and basketball after school hours a few days a week. He goes chaperoned of course. But he tells me if the Driver shows up late, he can ring me up immediately and inform me. If his Basketball gets cancelled, I can arrange to get him from school without delay. Apparently, all his classmates have perfect arrangements with their parents or have hand phones, pagers, transmitters or maybe a tie-up with the school admin too complicated for me to use! These are not his best arguments by far. Our condo lift has got stuck recently once or twice. Apparently having a cell phone would make it easier for him to get in touch with us when he gets stuck in the lift! I think he thinks of these while sleeping! When I argue that he has already lost 3 watches this year and the phone won’t last long in his hands, he tells me his friend has lost three phones and still has got a phone. This friend is two years older and uses public transport to school – if I try to point that, the argument takes an entirely new direction – his friend knows driving and driving and the car keys are the next on my son’s list!

My list of arguments is long and he has an answer to all. The only way I have got my way so far has been by bullying.

He will lose the phone – He wont, he will be careful!
Phone will affect his tender brain – It affects our brains too
He doesn’t need a phone – He does of course, badly
All his trousers / school dress pockets are torn – I can repair them
The shorts he goes out to play in do not have pockets – I can customize them to carry a phone
He doesn’t need one – He does, badly
He is way too young – What do I mean by that?
I cannot afford it – That’s the reason he wants the old model
HE DOESN’T NEED A PHONE, HE IS TOO YOUNG – uh puhleeeze

I really cannot fathom when he graduated from playing games on my mobile to needing a phone as a status symbol (uh-huh). And I honestly don’t know how long the bullying will work. Any ideas? When should a child start using a mobile phone?