sexypablo’s blog

Cleopatra has extraordinary ability to bewitch and beguile men has become the stuff of legend.  Her seductive power has little to do with her looks as a recent finding states.  Cleopatra has no beauty as seen in many movies and pictures.  The Egyptian queen is portrayed with shallow forehead, pointed chin and hooked nose.  This portrait of Cleopatra found from a coin in bank vault.  It makes her look more like a witch than a queen.  So think of it!  A witch created a magic because of the preconceived notion of being beautiful!  On the reverse side of the coin, we find Mark Anthony who looks a little better with bulging eyes and a thick neck!  Bulging eyes?? Was he suffering from exopthalmic goiter or genetically so?  Thinking how this turned up?  But we all know fact is stranger than fiction!!  Now just close your eyes picturize Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor .you will find a heaven-and-hell difference! Isn't it?

This coin was hidden away for 85 years.  This went on a public show in Wednesday at Newcaste University's Shefton Museum.  Lindsay Allason-Jones being the director of the museum thinks that it is quite incredible.  For years, we have regarded Anthony and Cleopatra as sex symbols.  But here we find the two people who are quite different from our idea!  She points out that if you look closely then you will see Cleopatra forgotten to put her teeth!  Isn't it crude?  Cleopatra without teeth!  Oh,..no!  Our dream girl created by Elizabeth Taylor just vanished in thin air!  You wanted to know who is standing there in her place??????  A woman with false teeth, hooked nose and a pointed chin!

The coin made of silver is a denarius coin dating back 32 B.C. and the size of a 5 pence piece.  It was the collection of Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle upon Tyne.  The society's collections were examined for the museum called Great North Museum to be build on 2009.  It is not rare but quite an object of interest among numismatics. 

Durga puja is the pride of the Bengalis in India.  We celebrate this Durga Puja for 4 days, i.e. Saptami, Astami, Nabami, and Dashami.  In Astami, we pray Maa Durga going to a pandal in our neighbourhood and we offer prayers to the Goddess Durga.  In this puja, some clubs play music boxes at high decibel thus causing sound pollution.  Sound pollution is not only the last thing that happens in Durga Puja.  We have water pollution.  We immerse the Durga idols in the waters of the river Ganges.  This water gets polluted with the paints in the body of Durga.  The clay gets washed away in water leaving the structure.  But what happens to the poisonous lead and other harmful minerals in the water?  This harmful pollutants absorbed in our body someway or the other.  You want to know the harm it causes.  Well I have seen..being a witness that some young people have gray hair!! You will say, young with gray hair I will say .Yes!  This young men have gray hair as the pollutants enter the body and cause genetic modification.  I am writing this confidence as I have read it in a report in a science column in newspaper. 

Sound pollution is causing harm to our ears and hearing system!  The loud music played during the emersion of Goddess Durga in procession with shouting and screaming hurts our ear, which can tolerate sound only upto a certain decibel.  The music is soothing upto a certain decibel.  Beyond that it becomes an irritant, a nuisance to the human being.  He/She feels irritated and angry and swears those who play the play music barbarically!  Music at that point becomes an object of hatred! 

After a days hard work, I came to my house the day after Dashami and laid in bed, just trying to sleep .but I could not .I couldn't sleep as the noise and shouting of the revelers of Durga Puja going to the riverside is disturbing my hearing tolerance, irritating me to the full extent that my face turned red like an apple and I am shouting at them like a mad person!!

The reputed clubs in contrary never use the loudspeakers.  Their puja is peaceful.  Their puja shows elegance.  They get a lot of prizes.  I appreciate a lot and not only me..many visitors wait in queues for hours to visit the prize winning pujas.  Prizes are given to the pujas so that the puja organizer maintain some ethics and the sense of esthetics helps them stand out from the rest.  A touch of originality is always expected from the puja organizer and the prize goes to them only.  I respect those clubs who maintain an eco-friendly puja and help people appreciate the Goddess Durga in a wonderful way!

an angel remains close to heart…
so close that it can listen to heart beating…
blood flowing,,,,
heart pumping…
dhak dhak dhak!!
life is slow…..
everything you will be waiting for your number to come!
but love at first sight…?
It is as fast as rocket…!
As fast as the lightning…!
It is like a thunder ..happening here and then there!

Still there is brighter side of side!
So my friends never give up…
failure will come and go..
When success comes…
you will be be overwhelmed…
Everybody loves to be with those successful ones..
But never forget ”failure is the pillar of success“

Everybody wants experienced..!
But unfortunately knowing that inexperience is not bad..
You hit and learn
Become strong mentally!
For hard times…
For the time when crisis crops up!
The presence of mind works
Not the experience!

Chase something you love!
Also see whether it is practical
Different people chase in different ways
But with determination, you can go a long way!
You can cover miles without being tired
Without getting any satire!
Forget criticizing others!
Live happy with an absorbing hobby!
With skill…
You can definitely beat!
You have the capacity to win!
To get the best in this world!
Only thing u need is work with smile 
For a while!

It has been found that human being put makeup and hit the seashore for steaming mussels as early as 1,64,000 years ago.  We can call it a beach party for early man!  But this beach party is not done by modern man but by our early ancestors.  The findings are found in a cave in South Africa.  This archeological finding will change the way we look at human evolution.  Just think of it!  An early man using makeup, of course, in primitive form. 

We used to think that man became modern 40,000 to 70,000 years ago.  But the recent findings proves that it happened quite early!  This finding being reported in nature shows how our modernity started earlier.  The findings discovered at Pinnacle Point which is overlooking Indian Oceon near South Africa's Mossel Bay.  The findings are the following:

1. The human group harvested and cooked sea food.
2. Red-dish pigment from ground rocks.
3. Early tiny tin blade technology.

The optical dating technique shows that this happened 1,64,000, plus or minus 12,000 years.

Unusually as a package it looks like an archeological record of a later time period.  Professor Curtis Marean studied this who is a professor of Institute of Human Origins at Arizona State University.  This findings signify the following aspects:

1. Human beings were eating sea food 40,000 years earlier than previously thought.  This is the earliest record of something they ate other than hunting in the land.
2. Prof.  Marean found remnants of brown and black mussels, small saltwater clams, sea snails and barnacle that indicates whale blubber or skin brought into the cave.
3. The cooking of sea food was done over hot rocks.  When the food was done, the shells popped open similar to the modern day mussel-steaming.  Isn't it excited to see our modern form cooking in prehistoric times?  But this cooking of sea food was done without a pot.
4. 57 pieces of ground up rock was found that would have been reddish or pinkish brown.   These are used for self-decoration and social signals for other people.  This is the first use of makeup.  We use makeup for our beautification and social signal.  Early man too used the abovementioned form of makeup to beautify themselves.

Acupuncture has been found to be an effective tool for reducing postoperative pain before and after surgery.  It reduces the need of painkillers.  After studying 15 clinical trials on the benefits of acupuncture, the researchers at Duke University Medical Center in North Carolina in the US analysed the results.  It is a practice that originated in China of inserting thin needles into specific body points.  The trials proved that the patient having acupuncture have significantly less pain.  The patients required less morphine or other opioid pain medication after surgery.  As a result the side effects such as nausea and vomiting are reduced. 

Know more about acupuncture: 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acupuncture

http://acupuncture.com/

Garlic is an essential ingredient in curry.  It is a boon for our health.  Garlic can keep the heart healthy.  Scientists at the University of Alabama in Birmingham states that garlic boosts the body's ability to produce a compound called allicin. The compound allicin has the following properties:

1. Relaxes blood vessels.
2. Increases blood flow.
3. Prevents blood clot.
4. Prevents oxidative damage.

Scientists state that allicin which is broken down into foul-smelling sulphur causes tainted breath.  It reacts with red blood cells and produces hydrogen sulphide and relazes blood vessels and keeps blood flowing easily.

The test was done first on rats.  Crushed garlic juice was injected in the blood vessel of rats.  The results are striking.  The tension within the vessels is reduced by 72%.  The researchers found that RBC exposed to garlic juice started emitting hydrogen sulphide.  On further experiment, it was found that chemical reaction took place mainly on the surface of the blood vessels.  It plays a vital role in helping cells communicate with each other.  This compound stimulated the cells that form the lining of the vessels to dilate.  So this reduced blood pressure allowing the blood to carry more oxygen to essential organs and reduced the pressure of the heart. 

Dr. David Kraus opined that the garlic in the diet is very good for the human body.  In Mediterranean and the Far East, garlic consumption is high.  There is low coincidence of cardiovascular disease.  It is important to know that the large amounts in supplement may interact with blood thinning drugs and thereby increase the risk of bleeding.

Garlic was respected by the Egyptians in ancient times.  They placed clay models of garlic bulbs in tomb of Tutankhamen.  Garlic was so highly priced that it was even used as a currency.

World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) president Dick Pound suggested that the physiological makeup of the athletes should be tracked.  This is the way to solve the problem of doping.  He opined "athlete passport" would be in widespread use within 3 years.  A baseline test will be taken.  This will become part of the medical profile for later comparison.  But he added that this test will not implemented in the upcoming Beijing Olympics in 2008.  He remarked that a majority of the atheletes would be happy to do it because they know we would be able to catch them in a better way.  Dick Pound said these when he visited Western New England College.  In this college, Mr. Pound opened the Center for International Sports Business.   

Currently the doping test is taken in the following way:

The doping tests measures athletes samples against predetermined average levels for substances naturally occurring in the body.

The loophole in this test:  The athletes with naturally low levels might be able to cheat without being detected on the test.

 Best Solution:  We create a baseline for each athlete that would help detect spikes in the testosterone or the presence of anabolic steroids, human growth hormones, unusual levels of erythropoietin or other substances.  These substances affect performance considerably. 

Mr. Dick Pound thinks that most of the athletes are prepared to take the risk of losing.  The athletes who win by fair means do not want to be cheated by those who win by doping.  Mr. Pound is going to step down as president in November this year.  WADA was launched in 1999.  After his retirement next month, he wanted to work in sports arbitration where there is questioned eligibility, doping appeals and similar issues.  Mr. Dick is an outspoken crusader against doping in competitive sports.  He wanted stronger testing and more stringent action for athletes as well as the countries that condone it.  He predicted that 2008 Beijing Olympics will be the most doping free event in history.  He is very much impressed by the organizers who has ensured strict testing and monitoring for doping.

Doping refers to the use of performance-enhancing  drugs, particularly those that are forbidden by the organizations that regulate competitions. Another form of doping is blood doping,  either by blood transfusion or use of the hormone erythropoietin (EPO). Also considered “doping” by many is the use of substances that mask other forms of doping.

The Anti-Doping Convention of the Council of Europe in Strasbourg was opened for signature on 16 December 1989 as the first multilateral legal standard in this field. It has been signed by 48 states including the Council of Europe non-member states Australia, Belarus, Canada, and Tunisia.  The Convention is open for signature by other non-European states. It does not claim to create a universal model of anti-doping, but sets a certain number of common standards and regulations requiring Parties to adopt legislative, financial, technical, educational and other measures.

The main objective of the Convention is to promote the national and international harmonisation of the measures to be taken against doping. In their constitutional provisions, each contracting party undertakes to:

create a national co-ordinating body; reduce the trafficking of doping substances and the use of banned doping agents; reinforce doping controls and improve detection techniques; support education and awareness-raising programmes; guarantee the efficiency of sanctions taken against offenders; collaborate with sports organisations at all levels, including at international level; and to use accredited anti-doping laboratories. Furthermore the Convention describes the mission of the Monitoring Group set up in order to monitor its implementation and periodically re-examine the List of prohibited substances and methods which can be found in annex to the main text.

An Additional Protocol to the Convention entered into force on 1 April 2004 with the aim of ensuring the mutual recognition of anti-doping controls and of reinforcing the implementation of the Convention using a binding

I work in a transcription company.  I had my morning shift for 4 days before the 13^th.  We work in shifts in this company.  I have been working for more than 2 years here. Life is pleasant.  My colleagues are good.  The working environment is neat and clean.  One can see regular mopping of the glass walls by the staff.  Liquid soap sprayed and then they are cleansed with a pad.  Regular cleaning done by sweepers in the morning.  The working environment is quite friendly. 

I asked the supervisor for cancellation of an off day in the previous day.  She told me to mail but unfortunately I could not get the off day cancelled.  Actually I thought that it will be nice to cancel an off day as I have 7 off days, I can easily cancel one and work, so that I can get double payment for that day.  But my supervisor was too busy with her work.  She told me to mail her.  In the next day on 13^th when I went to her, she told me she will talk with me after 3 p.m.  I became absorbed with my work. I forgot to remind her again.  I thought it would be better if I enjoy that off day.  I felt "all work and no play will make me a dull boy!"

In our profession, we chase our target similar to a leopard chases it prey.  If you see National Geographic channel, you will see a leopard chases its prey till it catches it.  We chase our target and sometimes we give much more than our target and get incentive.  You know incentive is something that brings smile in an employee.  It is something that adds value to your work.  When you see your efforts being rewarded, you feel better.

In our transcription profession, our work involves preparation of medical reports of patients from United States of America.  These reports produced during the claim of their insurance.  These reports are so vital that with the help of them legal suits can be made if there is any anomaly. 

Anyway, I completed a part of my work and lunch time came.  I usually have my lunch at 1 p.m.  I took the lunch at a local canteen in Gariahat.  Gariahat is congested place.  There are a lot of offices.  Now the Durga Puja after 4 days.  So the shopping spree is there.  Many people are buying clothes and the traffic jam is high.  The coming week is my night shift.  In the evening, there is too much traffic congestion. The congestion is so high that I am unable to cross the road.  People do not obey traffic rules.  Though the policeman says to stop, nobody is going to stop!  Everybody wants to go first. Traffic rules are often broken. 

Kolkata is not the same as before.  The city has lost its reputation of being kindhearted to visitors.  The recent incidents of bus conductors abusing passengers reflect an ugly face of the city.  In an incident, a school girl was not given the concession and her card that gives her concession has been taken by the conductor.  The parents filed a complaint at the police station.  If you fall down unconscious in Kolkata, there will be hardly few who would help you.  Passengers are ill treated in buses by conductors and often it comes in newspapers that bus conductors attacking and abusing passengers.  The buses racing in the roads for more passengers have increased and the number of casualties on the roads are also high!

On 13^th October, I woke up in the morning and went out for a jogging at my park in the neighbourhood.  It is called Tala Park.  There is a beautiful pond where two clubs teach swimming to boys and girls of all ages.  There is a bridge in the pond which connects the island located at the center of the pond.  This island has been beautified with trees and it is has been fenced with iron railings.  Different trees are planted and the island which used to look bushy and clumsy now looks excellent and we can say it has become the photographer's attraction.  You can take photos of that island as this beautification has added charm to the pond.  People often practice fishing in this pond.  Sometimes big fishes are caught here. 

Around 3 p.m. I went out to stroll in esplanade taking a metro ride to Esplanade.  I often go to this place to visit museum which is at a walking distance from it in Park Street.  I go to M. Biswas where CDs and cassettes are sold at a discount and their collection is huge and they are a major crowdpuller, you will see everyone shoving and pushing their way in the small shop to buy cassettes and CDs.  Recent Moser Baer has launched DVDs at a cheap price which makes is a major attraction.  A wide range of Bollywood movies are sold in DVDs at a price of Rs. 35.  We used to buy these CDs at Rs. 200. 

I came home around 6 and started writing something.  I am presently reading a book by DeBono on Lateral Thinking.  The book is a quite interesting with good examples and the language is simple.  So anyone can read this book and understand  it.  Lateral thinking is something we should try when our normal way of problem solving is not effective.

I read another good book by an ex-IIT student called "Five Point Someone."  I got delighted in the humorous style of writing.  The way he narrated his life in IIT is excellent.  His name is Chetan Bhagat.  At present, he is working in a bank at Hong Kong.  He wrote about his campus life and about his friends.  As you go on reading the book, it will give you will laugh.  I should say that this book elevates your mood and makes you feel happy.  It will force you think that autobiographical writing can be so interesting!!  This book was given by a colleague of my father.  My father is the head of the department of English at a college in Howrah in West Bengal.  This gift has made me feel happier than other gifts I have received.  A good book is something that makes you smile.  You know a good book is a great friend.  It is better than a delicious food! 

Recently I have lost interest in internet chatting.  I used to chat for long hours in Orkut.  But I have now focused more on reading good books.  I have a good collection of books and whenever I get time I enjoy reading them.  An interesting book can help pass your time like no other thing! 

Life is still moving on slowly like a snail in my case.  After my hospital administration course, I returned to my office at Gariahat.  I worked there for the last 2 years and now happily working there.  In Gariahat, Durga Pujas are held.  So huge advertisements are given everywhere.  Huge pandals are built.  The pujas in this locality bag awards and so I visit every year and take photos. 

I have seen people laughing in my nearby park at my home.  I live in Kolkata.  I used to see 1 laughing club.  Now the demand has increased.  In the same park at two different places, you will see 2 laughing clubs.  So more laughter for good health.  You will observe after you laugh during a conversation, you feel good.  You feel as if you have rejuvenation.  Laughing is an excellent way to refresh your mind.

Our life has become so much stressful.  Take for example my life!  I am a medical transcriptionist for more than 2 years.  In my profession, we chase targets.  We work for more than 10 hours in office.  We know how one feels after working long hours in front of a computer.  Your eyes strain.  Your neck has strain.  Your back started to ache.  Your smile goes off.  You become workaholic.  You work and work and get tired.  You come home, take food and go to sleep.  The next morning you wake up and go to work and this cycle continues till you lose all social life.  You forget to chat.  You forget to smile.  You become a total MACHINE.  An EARNING MACHINE.  A day comes when you have depression, hypertension, spondylosis and many other physiological and psychological problems.  I call these problems since these can be cured if you go to a psychiatrist and a physician.  But the long term cure comes in a different way. 

Many people have started different way to be happy.  Some do yoga.  Some go to laughing clubs.  Let me tell you what I have observed the people doing in laughing clubs.  There are instructors who instruct people to do free hand exercises.  There are groups of 5  to 7.  Sometimes the number is 10 to 15.  In our park, we have two groups, one a small one and another a big one.  They teach you free hand exercise and then laughing heartily. 

You laugh with an open heart.  You laugh with hands raised above.  You laugh and finally you feel cool and easy!!  That is the effect of these laughter therapy.  Sometimes I have also thought of joining this laughing club.  But what to do with my back office job.  I work in 3 shifts.  The working hours are so odd that I do not get a time to do a personal development course.  Only thing I did is a hospital administration course through distance learning at Apollo Hospitals.  The course was good.  It gave me exposure how a hospital works.  We got the chance to visit the different departments of Apollo Gleneagles Hospital at Kolkata.  So far so good.  But about job??? No way ..I have to enroll in different job sites and go on searching and searching like a pin in a haystack. 

Laughing is good for health.  Anyone wish to join such a club is good and it will help him evolve mentally as a stress free person.  A stress free person is important in this world.  It will reduce the family and office disputes.  You will not be irritated for minor reasons.  You will be happy and mentally strong, which will help you to proceed further in this rat race.

Metro railway has become the essential mode of transport in Kolkata.  In the surface, the roads are full of traffic. The huge number of cars has lead to traffic congestions.  Autorickshaws increase fares as they have to go through the lanes rather than through the main roads, which remains congested. 

It is important to tell you that Kolkata's metro railway runs from Dumdum to Tollygunge.  Dumdum is in the north of Kolkata while Tollygonge is in the south of Kolkata.

More than one year ago, I have seen metro railway has moderate number of passengers.  You can comfortably sit and go for a pleasant metro ride.  Your metro travel was pleasure.  But now that pleasure has gone forever!  So what do you see when you come to Kolkata and travel by metro?

The metro passengers can be classified in the following order:

1. Upper middle class.
2. Middle class.
3. Lower middle class.
4. Lower class.

It is to be noted that I have not included the upper class as I find mostly they travel in their private cars.  It should be in that way..Why should they travel in metro where large number of people from suburb who catch the train from Dumdum are traveling now?  The environment of traveling metro at present is far from pleasant.  It is foul smelling, nasty and overcrowded. 

Sometimes I think that if the fares are not increased then we will have to travel in metro whose passengers are worse than bus.  I mean "worse"  in the sense that these passengers are mostly people from villages and you will feel that the number of the Bengali population has shrunk.  You will see mostly nonBengali faces in the metro!  So where has this Kolkata's Bengali population gone?  I think they have spread across India.  Some have been Bangalored.  Some have gone abroad, some have gone to other states, etc.  

Metro has become a den of mobile snatchers.  Often you see snatchers being beaten by other metro passengers.  These people are from lower middle class and lower class.  They steal costly mobiles from other passengers and sell them at a high price in the market. 

Metro railways have become moist and humid as the cooling system is not working properly due to the crowd.  People traveling in metro have increased in number.  The number has almost doubled or tripled in the recent years.  Metro railways should have a better air conditioning system. 

Metro railway lines have become a good place for those who commit suicides.  Those who want to commit suicides suddenly jump on the rail lines before the train comes and  his/her body gets crushed with the high speed train entering the station.  The railway authorities have not taken any steps to stop this problem.  It is out of their control.  The only thing they have started is counselors help whose number have been given on the boards.

The following aspects attract people to metro railways:

1. You will be able to reach your destination in time.
2. It is noise free and pollution free ride.  In bus and other surface transport, you inhale a lot of carbon monoxide and other poisonous gases, which is harmful for your body.
3. It is cheap.  This is another important factor.  A minimum ride is Rs. 4, the next is Rs. 6 and Rs. 8.  You can purchase magnetic cards which will cost Rs. 100 and you will have to give Rs. 100 or Rs. 200 in advance.  As you ride the metro, the fares get deducted.  There is a special gate for this card and the fares gets struck off each time you to take ride the metro.

Metro railway authorities have a personal TV channel for those waiting for the train in the platform.  These TVs are big and hug with strong supports.  Each station has many televisions.  There are also close circuit cameras.  There are benches for people to sit. 

Metro railways increase their frequency from 10 minutes to 5 minutes during festival season.  We have Durga Puja round the corner.  The Durga puja will start from 17^th and go on till 20^th October this year.  The metro railways have to take a large number of passengers.  The train compartments are packed just like bus during festive season and office hours.  The office goers use this metro as it helps you reach your destination in time.  Moreover it is a noise-free and pollution-free ride.  It is good for health.  In buses, you inhale smokes of cars which emit poisonous gases, which cause long term damage to the lungs.

Metro railways has been a pride of Kolkata for a long time.  It helps the people living in city to move comfortably.  Though the number of passengers have increased in recent years, metro railways have started a project which will connect the East and West of Kolkata.  Metro railways have been an asset to Kolkatans and it is an important way of transport other than private cars.