Archive for the ‘lifestyle’ category

Role of support person during pregnancy or Pre-Labor checklist

May 5th, 2010

We recently had our first baby and thought like sharing few things which i learned from my experience from being a support person for my wife.

As pregnancy delivery dates approaches here are following things you can do as support person for women who is going into labor.

  • By the end of 36 weeks decide on baby’s name, just make that call and don’t wait till last moment to decide on baby’s name as last thing you want to do on day after delivery is waste time thinking about baby names. You can utilize the time well by being near baby and mom.
  • This one is a no brainer after 37 weeks if you are labor support person always keeps your cell phone handy or some means through which you could be reachable so that you can reach home within short notice.
  • Get the crib and car seat installed by or before 36 weeks. Get the car seat inspected by an expert or police. Police appointments are difficult to get so you will need to take appointments well in advance so don’t wait till last minute.
  • Get tour of hospital and fill-out the pre-admission form, checkout the designated parking places for women in labor at your hospital. These things help you to reach hospital very fast as last thing you want to be doing is walking  with your partner in labor around the hospital building looking for right  department.


  • Store the number of labor & delivery in your phone book so that you can reach them whenever you need to.
  • Make sure you always have fuel tank full with gas as you might need to go to hospital anytime after 36 weeks.
  • Take your partner for regular walks throughout the pregnancy, this prevents her from gaining too much weight & also during latter part of pregnancy it helps baby to get in zero station or in right position for delivery.
  • Prepare a bag to carry to hospital along with you with spare clothes for you as well as your partner. Bag can include various items including diapers, sanitary napkins  & some snacks for support person. Don’t offer any food to mother be once labor pain starts.
  • As support person if your partner complains about labor pains, first thing you need to do is not panic or make her panic (this usually happens if you are first time parents).Put yourself and your partner at ease. Get a timer and start measuring frequency of contractions. Contractions are measured from start of first contraction to start of next. If they are five minutes apart and lasting a minute its time to go to hospital. Don’t rush to hospital at first onset of labor pains as hospital staff can send you back. Best thing to do is walk during those initial hours of labor.
  • On the D-day (day of delivery) before you go to hospital. Make sure the support person has had some food to eat because labor can last up to 12-16 hrs so support person should be well rested and had enough to eat else they could get exhausted by time labor ends.
  • Create a formatted SMS or email messages with news of newborn saved in your draft folder filled with names of people whom you going to send. So you can just fill in necessary details and just hit “Send” button.
    Preferably switch off cell phone after you made call to parents or immediate family members. Last thing you want is a distant relative calling you in hospital and taking up precious minutes of your talk time which you could have well been utilized with your partner and new born. Let your immediate family member know well in advance that you will be unreachable during and few hours after labor.
  • For first few weeks if possible keep the amount of guests to hospital and at home to as minimum possible. At minimum make sure that you don’t make too much noise near the baby for first few weeks as it can get overwhelming for newborn.
  • When your partner is in labor you need to be near her and support her, remind her of breathing techniques you had learnt in pregnancy classes. Also give her back massages from time to time to put her at ease during those difficult times.Here is good website which tells you about breathing techniques .
    Practice them breathing regularly so that you get used to it and comes to you naturally during labor.
  • The environment can get really stressful especially if labor goes on long times however keep your cool Don’t get into arguments with Doctor / nurses or staff and ask him unnecessary questions. Take it easy as Doctors know what they are doing better than you so let them decide what’s best for you. There are certain things which might be out of their control as well since labor is natural process.



Congratulation’s in advance!! & Hope you have a hassle free labor.

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Indian Television Industry, growth and adoption.

April 18th, 2010

I am fascinated by amazing growth of Indian Television Industry in past 3 decades.

Although television has existing in India since 60’s it was mainly considered luxury for the rich and main stream people never really accepted it.

First memoirs of watching TV as a child was in late 70’s / early 80’s.Television programs were broadcasted in black and white back then. One of programs I vividly remember watching was called “Chhayageet” or Chitrahaar which was basically videos of popular Indian films songs played for about an hour. Since our family didn’t have T.V back then, as was the case with major households in urban India, we used to go to neighbor’s house to watch that program. Watching a program on Television would be a major social event during those times as all neighborhood kids as well as elders would get together in one neighborhood household to watch the event.As very few households had privilege of owning television then.

In the 1980’s when color TV was introduced by state-owned broadcaster Doordarshan (DD) timed with the 1982 Asian Games which India hosted. It then proceeded to install transmitters nationwide rapidly for terrestrial broadcasting. In this period no private enterprise was allowed to set up TV stations or to transmit TV signals.

Second major event I remember watching was the 1983 Cricket World Cup finals between India and West-Indies. Although they didn’t transmit any other matches, they just showed finals live since India was in the finals. I have vivid images of Indian bowling session’s play firstly I remember Indian captain and now legend Kapil Dev running behind and taking a spectacular catch to dismiss Vivian Richards. And secondly Mohinder Amarnath bowling slow medium and taking 3 wickets and thus paving a way for India to win their only world cup so far. No Indian cricket fan can ever forget black and white images of Kapil Dev opening up champagne bottle and holding the 1983 Cricket world cup.

Entertainment programs were few and far between. And when the solitary few soaps like Hum Log (1984), and mythological dramas: Ramayana (1987-88) and Mahabharata (1988-89) were televised; millions of viewers stayed glued to their T.V. sets.

Such was the following of those program that whenever those Serials were being televised, Mumbai streets which were usually hustling-bustling with activity, would have a deserted look. People stopped whatever they were doing and were glued to their Television sets.

Same was true when a Cricket match was being played as well. Specially between two arch rivals India and Pakistan.One match I still remember watching was this nail bitting match between India and Pakistan during 1985 Sharjah cup finals.This was one in which Javed Miadad hit six on a final ball of Chetan Sharma’s over to win the match. I was watching that match in my neighbors house, although we had Television back then but still watching a cricket match along with kids from the neighborhood was great fun.

During those days watching Television was more of social event when entire family, the extended family or even perhaps entire community used to huddle around a television box and watch the programs which were immensely popular too like a cricket match being played or one of the immensely popular television soaps.

In 1987 Reliance Cricket World Cup which was hosted in India was another major event broadcasted live by Doordarshan that led to an increase in the number of Television viewers although by then Television had reached many household in urban India.

Some of popular Indian Television soap operas during 80’s which come to my mind are Wagle ki Duniya, Malgudi days, Rajni, Nukkad , Humlog , Ramayana , Mahabharata

Commercials were very simple and sometimes got very popular too , whoever watched Indian Television during 80’s should still remembers most of them by heart , some commercials like Nirma Washing powder , Vicco vagradanti, Dabur chavanprash, Maggi noodles, Rasna were popular.

The third spark came in the early nineties with the broadcast of satellite TV by foreign programmers like CNN followed by Zee TV and a little later by domestic channels such as Star TV and Sun TV into Indian homes. This turned out to be a catalyst effect and led to a huge increase in the number of viewers for Indian Television.

I would say in between 1990 and 2000 more and more people started adopting Television and Television channels had found its place in Indian household and drawing rooms.These 10 years were also important for Indian viewers for developing an appetite to watch tele-soaps.

Let’s fast forward to early 2000 when Balaji Telefilms launched its first tele soap “Kyu Ki Saans bhi kabhi bahu thi” which was run away success and Asia’s #1 Most Watched and Awarded show till present day. Soap opera revolved around the lives of the fictitious Virani family. The show went off-air in November 2008 due to its falling popularity. However, the show had been the longest running serial in Indian Television. It also made records of getting the highest Television Rating Point for multiple years.

Another reality show Kaun Banegā Karoṛpati popularly known as KBC) was an Indian reality/game show based on the U.S game show “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?” The show first aired in 2000 and was hosted by Amitabh Bachchan. This show was immensely popular with Indian audience and had many firsts to its credit, It was first major reality show on Indian Television. It was also first appearance of Bollywood legend Amitabh Bachchan on Indian Television.

Both the above program were leaders in their respective categories a) tele soaps and b) reality shows and leads to increase in such programs across various channels on Indian Television.

Today still same three things sell on Indian Television but perhaps flavors might be different

1) Cricket (as of now Indian Premier league new version of 20 over cricket match is huge hit with Indian audience)
2) Reality shows (Dance shows , Music shows or Game shows)
3) Soap opera stories based on portraying day to day life saga of extended Indian families where uncle, aunties, grandpas & grandmas stay in single household and entertainment in is form of how their lives unfold..

This lead to increasing in demand for Television soap artists and they started making big money. A rumor mill has it that Smriti Irani of “KYU KI SAANS bhi kabhi bahu thi” fame is charging $2000 per day for acting. This also started bringing small time actor/actress from Indian Film industry to either become Judges in Tele shows or host their own Television shows. Shah Rukh Khan, Salman Khan, Shekhar Suman, Arshad Warsi, Abhisek Bachaan and many others have joined the fray.


The number of cable and satellite (C&S) homes in the country. As the graph below indicates, this number has more than doubled during the last 10 years, from lesser than 40 million C&S subscribers to nearly 85 million subscribers today.

Source:
Media Partners Asia, Indiantelevision.com estimates

Graph of increase in viewership of Indian Television audience

Graph of increase in viewership of Indian Television audience

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Pregnancy at 28 weeks – glucose intolerance & anemia

February 17th, 2010

Pregnancy is a period of nine months when every day and every week there is something new and exciting happening. Your body goes through so many physical and hormonal changes. There can be lots of anxiety especially if it is your first pregnancy. You usually visit your OB/GYN every 4 weeks starting your 10th or 12th week depending on your doctor. Usually they do an ultrasound around 12th week of pregnancy and then again around 20th week of pregnancy. The ultrasound done around 20th week of pregnancy is important as that is the time when they check each and every organs of the baby to see if they are developing well. They check baby’s heart, brain, limbs, stomach, bladder, length of the bones of upper and lower extremity, face and also the sex of the baby. So if you want to know if it is a boy or a girl this is the time. Another important visit is your visit to your OB/GYN at 28 weeks of pregnancy.


During this visit, the doctor check the baby’s heart beat, measures the size of your belly to see if the baby’s growth corresponds with gestational age. The doctor also gives you a Kick count card. You will be asked to monitor the movements of your baby everyday. The doctor will ask you to count 10 movements. It should not take more than 2 hours for the baby to do 10 movements. If you are unable to feel 10 movements in 2 hours, call your doctor. The movement count should be done preferably around the same time everyday. Count each and every small movement except for the hiccups of the baby. Mostly babies are more active after meals.

Before the visit to your OB/GYN, you are told to get a blood test which includes your complete blood count including your hemoglobin and a random glucose test. These tests should be done anytime between 24 to 28 weeks of pregnancy. The reason for these tests is that during your second trimester, there is an increase in your blood volume and also the baby’s requirements increase so there can be anemia (Decreased hemoglobin). This can be due to increased needs of the growing fetus or it can be something called Dilution Anemia, which is just because of increase in fluid volume in your body. The second test is a random glucose screening test which is done to check the sugar levels in your blood and rule out Gestational diabetes or Gestational Glucose Intolerance. If you have a strong family history of diabetes or gestational diabetes then you might undergo this test in first trimester of your pregnancy. Without any such history the test is conducted in the second trimester of pregnancy. You are allowed to eat your regular meals, no fasting required. You can go to the lab anytime convenient to you. For this test you will be asked to drink an orange colored drink ( it contains about 50 gm sugar, very sweet and tastes like an orange soda) and then wait in the lab for an hour. You are not allowed to eat or drink anything or chew a gum during that one hour. You may be allowed to drink some water. After one hour the lab technician will draw your blood. The results are usually available the next day or your doctor may discuss the results with you on your next visit. If your hemoglobin is low then the doctor may prescribe iron pills that you need to take until the baby is born. It is very common to have anemia in second trimester due to the reasons I mentioned earlier.

If the results of this Random Glucose test are normal then you will be told to carry out your routine and diet as usual. But, if the results of this test are a little abnormal and it shows levels slightly higher than normal, then in that case your doctor will ask you to undergo another test. This test is called 3 hour Glucose Tolerance Test. For this test, you will have to fast for 10 hours. You are allowed to eat a regular meal the previous night and then may be have a glass of milk a couple hours after dinner. Then you have to fast for 10 hours and go for the blood test to the lab the next day. They will draw your blood and then give you a sugar drink ( it contains about 100 gm sugar, may taste like sweet lemonade). After consuming the drink you will be asked to wait in the lab for 3 hours. Make sure you have books to read or your lap top to work on during this visit as you will be spending 3 hours at the lab. They will draw a blood sample every hour for 3 consecutive hours. The results will be ready by next day. You can discuss these results with your doctor over the phone or via email. If the results of 3 hour Glucose Tolerance Test show that out of the four blood samples collected (One fasting and 3 after consuming sugar drink), if any one or two samples show higher glucose values than normal then it is considered as Pregnancy induced Glucose Intolerance. This is not Gestational Diabetes but it is just that due to pregnancy the insulin is not functioning as well and so there is mild glucose intolerance. If 2-3 values show blood sugar higher than normal, then it is considered Gestational Diabetes.

In case of Pregnancy induced Glucose Intolerance, you will be told to meet with a dietitian who will provide you with all the recommendations for diet control which will help to manage the glucose intolerance. The dietitian will ask you to take small frequent meals. You will be asked to take about 6 small meals a day instead of 3-4 big meals. You will be asked to not starve for more than 8-10 hours during the night. Your first meal of the day should not contain easily digestible carbohydrates like milk, cold cereal etc. You can take hot cereal (Oat meal) or bread, tortilla etc. The gap between your night snack and your first morning breakfast should not be more than 8-10 hours. You can take milk or cold cereal about 3 hours after your first morning snack. Then 3 hours after that you can eat your lunch, 3 hours after lunch have another snack, 3 hours after snack will be your dinner and then 2-3 hours after dinner should be your night snack ( may be fruits if you like). Your breakfast and other snacks should not exceed carbohydrates more than 30 gms. You will be allowed to take 45 gms of carbohydrates in your lunch and dinner. If you eat fruits for your snack make sure that you eat the whole fruit if it is about the size of a tennis ball. If the fruit is bigger than the size of a tennis ball, then you are allowed to eat only half of it. Initially, it is difficult to find options that are low in carbohydrates and sugar and that can satisfy your hunger. But eventually things get easier. You can eat a lot of green salad, green beans, eggs, cheese, etc. Along with these diet restrictions, you should walk at least 30 minutes every day preferably after meals. If sugar is not controlled, it can cause increased birth weight of the baby which can cause difficulty in vaginal delivery. If the baby’s weight increases a lot then your doctor may take the decision of a Caesarian delivery. But that is in extreme cases.


In case of Gestational diabetes, you will be following the same diet restrictions and exercise. In addition to that, your doctor may ask more blood tests in coming weeks to keep a check on your blood sugar. If your blood sugar doesn’t come under control with diet and exercise, then you may be asked to take Insulin Injections every day after lunch and dinner. Your doctor may ask you to check your blood sugar every day after lunch and dinner and according to the results take the amount of insulin. Here there can be chances of high birth weight of the baby. So the doctor will keep a close eye on your sugar levels, baby’s weight and growth. They may induce you early if they think that the baby is gaining too much weight. You may have to undergo Caesarian delivery if baby’s is overweight.

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Threat to secularism & Indian constitution

January 31st, 2010

Maharashtra is one of the major states in western India. Current ruling party in Maharashtra decided that new taxi (cab) licenses shall be given to only those who are well versed in Marathi and have resided in the state for at least 15 years.

I feel this is direct violation of one’s constitutional right to equality which is one of the 6 corners stones of our Indian constitution.

My interpretations of “right to equality” is that any Indian has right to pursue their career and ear their living in any part of India without being discriminated by caste, religion, language or place of birth. Government should be in the business of creating jobs and not in the business of preventing people from pursuing their jobs. In-order for the booming economy of India to grow, each and every Indian should be allowed to do the job of his/her choice and have equal opportunity to make money and earn a living.

I also don’t understand the rationale behind this decision? As per Wikipedia, the linguistic/ethnic demographics in Mumbai consists of: Maharashtrians (42%), Gujaratis (19%), North Indians (24%) and South Indians make up the rest.

Even if all cab drivers in Mumbai learn to speak Marathi, what will be the benefit? They will still be serving 58% of population that doesn’t speak Marathi. And out of the rest of 42% (Maharashtrians), people actually riding cabs would be insignificant. So would the next step be to make mandatory for people riding cabs to speak Marathi as well?

Where will all this end? Major population from North India has migrated to Mumbai to work for security agencies. Should we make it mandatory for them to speak Marathi as well? I am not sure how this would reciprocate to other parts of country. It is possible that other states may start passing laws that will promote jobs to local people residing in that state. So our country will be reduced Gujarati’s in Gujarat, Maharashtrians in Maharashta, Tamil’s in Tamil Naidu and so on. I feel as a country we should be promoting cross country migration to spread harmony and unity between various religions and ethnic groups.

What if IT industry in Hyderabad and Bangalore starts to give jobs only to those living in state for 15 years or to those who know the regional language of the state? Will this be acceptable? What impact will it have on Indian dominance in global IT industry and quality of software Engineers in our country? I agree that I might have gone a bit farther and compared apples to oranges here. Perhaps, skills required for high tech industry cannot be compared to those of a cab driver. But, where would you draw the line? Now is the time to say “Enough is enough” and we cannot tolerate this kind of political decisions by the government to please popular vote banks and certain sections of the society.

This kind of politics will create a rift between Marathi speaking and non-Marathi speaking population. Isn’t the rift between Hindu-Muslim enough? If this continues we will soon have tensions between Marathi and Non-Marathi communities.

The famous spirit of Mumbai is built by people of all religions, cultural and ethnic background living in perfect harmony. The Spirit has never dampened in face of worst calamities, may it be bomb blasts of 1993 or terror attacks of 2008.The “Bindaas” attitude and spirit of “Mumbaikars” has kept Mumbai going for long in worst situations.And I feel People from various ethnicities have played important role in harnessing Mumbaikar’s spirit. Therefore, if we remove one section of this society,this spirit will break.

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Medical Reform and Health Care System in US

January 12th, 2010

United States is world leader in Economy and GDP, however when it come to health care it’s ranked #37 as per survey done by World Health Organization, France enjoys #1 spot for its health care system.

Keys differences between 2 countries are as follows

  • In France everyone has medical insurance, whereas in US 15% of population is uninsured.
    France has Government backed health care system, In US it’s mainly run by private insurance companies.
  • In France 70% of heath care cost is paid by government, remaining most of 30% paid by employers.
  • In US insurance companies provides partial cost (could be any where from 0% to 100%, depending on treatment and level of insurance patient has), remaining has to be paid by the patient.
  • US spends double the amount of money then what France does on health Insurance, yet lags behind other wealthy nations in such measures as infant mortality and life expectancy.
  • In France certain long term & expensive illness are covered 100% by the national insurance.
  • In France, the system is set up both to ensure that patients have lots of choice in picking doctors and specialists and to ensure that doctors are not constrained in making medical decisions

When i first came to this country,  I was surprised to see the TV commercials from drug companies pleading me to ask my Doctor, I always used to ponder, Why should  I ask my doctor?  Aren’t the doctors supposed to tell me what to do?

Over the years i realized that Medical System in US works on push model (analogous push v.s pull mechanism). You always need to ask Doctors to do things , otherwise right treatment wont come to you. Here are few examples from my personal life which have made me reach that belief.

Story 1

This is about my friend who started experiencing difficulty walking and started dragging her feet while walking, She also experienced  difficulty speaking.
It seemed like parts of her body were out of her control. She consulted her primary health care provider who referred her to Neurologist.

Neurologist did MRI/CITI scan and told her that she had “multiple sclerosis” which is a very serious illness.
She was completely freaked out when she heard this, one of things that happens when you hear something like that, is your brain doesn’t accept the fact and you go into state of denial.
So she started consulting other specialists, few of specialists came up with similar diagnosis.She even had hard time getting the appointments with specialists as most of time doctors didn’t take in any new patients or even if they did they didn’t have any available appointments for 6 months. Finally, she found a right Doctor who diagnosed her correctly and treated her.

It turned out that she had blood clot in her brain and was cured with help of blood thinner.Turned out be minor thing but I can’t imagine trauma she must have gone through for few months until she found the right doctor.

Story 2

This time I was at the receiving end & victim of the Medical system, On one my trips to India I caught up a sickness on my way back to States, I was having high fever few days so decided to consult my Primary Care Physician,
Doctor asked me the symptoms, and told him I was having high fever with chills, high fatigue that was interfering with my work.
Doctor did routine examination and said its flu.He asked me to take rest, drink plenty of fluid and was also kind enough to write note of leave of absence at work to my employer.
 
However I wasn’t convinced with this diagnosis. I had caught flu in the past and although symptoms were similar I was experiencing something severe than regular flu.I asked him about the medication and he said “you can have Tylenol if there is high fever”.
 
Few days went by and fever was not relenting, it started getting worse, I remember being covered with 3 blankets and still shivering and sweating at same time. I could not eat much and whatever I eat came out.

Even my wife now started getting worried, she has studied Medicine in India and based on her medical knowledge, she was suspecting something, along lines of malaria.So we called doctor again, but it being weekend my Primary care Doctor wasn’t available, however after talking to representative on phone for about an hour, managed to get an appointment with different Doctor.
At the Doctor’s office again after waiting for long time, we finally saw the Doctor. I was not only was exhausted, but also experiencing lot of fatigue.

Doctor agains  says she was willing to bet it was flu, my wife suggest her that we have been to India recently in monsoon, and it could be possible for sickness to be malaria, which is quite common in India.
Doctor agrees that that could be a possibility but soon rules it out due to absence any visible bug bites.
She orders a few lab tests ,and only at my wife’s behest she also ordered a test for malaria, and it turns out test for Malaria came back positive, I was given right treatment thereafter and completely cured within few days.

There is ongoing debate about health care reform in this country concerning questions of a right to health care, access, fairness, efficiency, cost, and quality.

One of main priorites of Obama Administration is to provide affordable, accessible health care to all.
Medical reform bill might be step in right direction, however i feel we lot of such stories and struggle ahead of us and miles to go until we find system which is right for us.

Finally I would like to leave you with video from “Andy Rooney” a correspondent from Television Company CBS who came with a segment on health care on popular show 60 minutes.

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Funny Tale of Traffic Ticket

December 1st, 2009

Many of us get traffic ticket every year, but this was a very unique way of getting traffic ticket which has stayed in my mind for years.

I wanted to urgently ship some travel documents for my wife in India, who was awaiting them for coming to U.S for very first time since our marriage. So I called up FEDEX office and the attendant on the other end of phone urged me to rush the documents to their Office before 5 p.m (another 30 minutes) otherwise I would miss last shipment for the week (as weekend was approaching) and my documents would be delayed reaching its destination by few days.

So I gather all documents and hurriedly get into my car and not before long I was on Highway 85 trying to drive as fast I can. Traffic on highway was heavily backed up as it was peak commute hour.CARPOOL lane looked very tempting however me being a honest and responsible citizen, decided against breaking any laws and face the risk of getting caught by the cops.

After travelling for few miles on the Highway it occurred to me that I was not going to make it. However I wasn’t ready to throw in the towel yet and in a desperate attempt to reach on time came up with a plan of flashing lights to cars in front of me, so they would realize my emergency and let me pass ahead of them. Some cars did let me pass them so plan seemed to be working but the euphoria soon died down, as soon after I was confronted with this white car in front of me who would not budge and give me way to pass.

“Maybe he is not noticing me”, I tried consoling myself so now I decided to follow him closely and again started flashing lights at him to ensure that I attract his attention.

Sure enough this white car in front of me acknowledged my efforts and went into the adjacent lane so that I could pass it. While was I passing I decided to stare at him and give him that angry look which we usually get from other drivers when we don’t follow the law or make some mistake while driving.

While I was passing him I realized that he was not any ordinary driver but a COP, It looked like a ordinary car from behind but had this “Sheriff” logo on it so all this while I had been FLASHING LIGHTS at the cop.

How on the earth was I supposed to know it was COP?

He had let me pass initially but latter on gave me indication to pull over.

While I was waiting in my car anxiously, waiting for him to come over and hand me the ticket. I was getting very nervous and started blaming myself as now not only I was not going to reach in time but also had to deal with a traffic ticket.

He come towards me, but looked confused.

As I now vaguely recollect we had following conversation.

COP : Why did you flash lights at me ?

“I thought maybe If I come up with something very convincing he would me let off the hook. However I was very nervous and went totally blank at that moment”

ME : Sir, I was checking the functions of my car and pressed flash lights to check if they were working.

COP : So how long you have been driving?

ME : Five years

COP : So it takes you 5 years to figure out the functions of your car?

After that he might have realized that there was no pointing talking further so he went back to his car and handed me the ticket stating the reason “Flashing lights within very close distance of car in front”. In the hindsight I feel I had better changes of getting of the hook if I had told him the Truth. However now when I think about it I can stop laughing at that incident and feel it was most funniest and unique way of getting the traffic ticket.

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Toastmasters Organisation

November 25th, 2009

ToastmastersLogoToastmasters organisation is friendly club which helps you enhance your public speaking & leadersip skills.

This is a nonprofit organization which now has nearly 250,000 members in more than 12,500 clubs in 106 countries, offering a proven – and enjoyable! – way to practice and hone communication and leadership skills.

Club meetings are held once every week and all you got to do is find a nearby toastmasters club near your home or office and visit a few times as guest before you decide to join.Membership fees are very nominal around $27 for a year + one time cost of manuals.

I have been member of 2 clubs and i have always found fellow members very friendly and encouraging.Everytime you get up to speak they encourage you by clapping and cheering.Even if you make mistakes, members cheer you and provide constructive feedback.You dont have to give speeches all the time,you can just sit back and listen to what others say in beginning and then slowly as you gain confidence you can start taking smaller & easier roles. Even if you don’t participate in the meetings you can still learn a lot by listening to what other members have to say.

Toastmasters organisation has 2 track’s one is the communicator track where you give 10 speeches and become competent communicator and other track is the leadership track where you become competent leader after completing all the assignments.

Toastmasters not only helps you to become a good communicator & leader but also help you to organise yourself better and brings self discipline in you.Both the toastmaster’s club i have been to were at my work and meeting are usually held during lunch hours so you dont have to sacrifice your work hours for attending those meetings.You can also multi-task and take your lunch to meeting.

So what are you waiting for be a toastmaster member today!!

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