Culture shock!!

I never really understood the word"Culture shock" before. But now that I have moved to Middle East, have got to know the exact meaning of the word. Now to give a glimpse into why I am saying its a culture shock.. Freedom of expression, I tend to think thats one word which people here dont know the meaning of. I have totally forgotten to smile at other human beings.This is because when a female smiles at anybody she is thought to be morally backward here.. So I follow,"Be a Roman in Rome".. Hence the above sentence..

Writing

I have always had a penchant towards writing, writing just for the sake of writing, not just for anybody to approve or appreciate. Writing is a catharsis at many a time when just expressing makes me feel a whole lot better and presents me with a better perspective of things. Writing is a passion although I have not been doing it a lot lately. When I read about things that are interesting and that spike my interest, I like to do bring it in my writing. Sometimes, things are better put in writing that merely voicing it out, that way, there is a sort of permanency to whatever we need to express.

As William Wordsworth says,"Fill your paper with the breathings of your heart", feelings locked in our hearts get an expression when there is something written on them.

Addiction 2-Alcohol

I thought I would discuss about Alcohol addiction next because I have seen how Alcohol addiction ruins the lives of people. Let me first start with the definition. Alcohol addiction is a compulsive need for ingesting Beer, Wine and other hard liquors. This is present when a person craves alcohol and cannot limit his/her drinking. When I was little, I saw a neighbour who lost his life because of this addiction. He had a little daughter who at that early age of 6 understood the devastating effect the addiction had on her dad. Socially he became unacceptable in the community and it was very painful for his immediate family as well as his friends. When he died of Liver Cirrhosis, I had heard of that term only then. As years progressed, I have seen various effects of addiction on families. Then I decided I 'd do some research on the topic just to familiarise myself with the concept and why those addicted are addicted.. So here I am. The following is something I read,
"

Scientists say that someone who has alcoholic addiction in his/her family is more likely to develop alcoholism if they choose to drink. Alcoholism can also develop or worsen based on a person’s environment and traumatic experiences in life. These factors may include culture, family, friends, peer pressures, and the way the person lives.

Alcoholism can lead people into serious trouble, and can be physically and mentally destructive. Currently alcohol use is involved in half of all crimes, murders, accidental deaths, and suicides. There are also many health problems associated with alcohol use such as brain damage, cancer, heart disease, and diseases of the liver. Alcoholics who do not stop drinking reduce life expectancy by 10 to 15 years.

• Too much alcohol can destroy brain cells, possibly leading to brain damage.
• Alcohol greatly disturbs the structure and function of the central nervous system, hindering the ability to retrieve, consolidate, and process information.
• Moderate consumption of alcohol can affect cognitive abilities while large amounts interfere with the oxygen supply of the brain causing a blackout when totally drunk.
• Alcohol addiction may also inflame the mouth, esophagus, and stomach, and could cause cancer in these areas, especially in drinkers who also smoke.
• Splurge drinking may produce irregular heartbeats, and abusers experience a higher risk of high-blood pressure, heart attacks, and other heart damage.
• Alcohol also can harm vision, damage sexual function, slow circulation, be the grounds for malnutrition, and water retention.
• It can also lead to skin and pancreatic disorders, weaken the bones and muscles, thus, decreasing immunity

A large portion of alcohol taken in is broken down in the liver. It is important to note that the liver has a fixed rate of breaking down the alcohol, so as the liver is overused, disorders and malfunctions can result, making the liver the primary location of alcohol’s damage. Liver damage can occur in three stages. The first stage is liver enlargement whereby liver cells are penetrated with abnormal fatty tissue. The second stage is the alcoholic hepatitis whereby liver cells swell, inflame, and eventually die. The third stage is cirrhosis in which fibrous scar tissues are formed, hindering the flow of blood through the liver."

They also say that there are two kinds of people who have this addiction.

1. The first group is completely in denial of the fact that they are addicted to alcohol and are firmly convinced that they are totally in control of their drinking. Sadly, it is unlikely that those who are in this group are ever likely to recover on their own.
2. The second group is able to either see for themselves that they are becoming or are already addicted to alcohol, or they open to finally being convinced by their friends and family that they need help. They can then go to an support group which is dedicated to helping such people to conquer their addiction. Those in this segment have every chance of recovery.

I am sharing this in my blog just to tell everyone how alcoholism affects you and eventually leads to loss of life and hence abstain from alcohol as far as possible.

Addictions: 1 -To Internet

I just thought I could discuss about something which has an impact on other lives, the first one is addiction and I just found it amusing when I read this recently..So I am sharing this with you.

Are you addicted to your online connection? Are you one of those crazy folks that can’t wait to read the email with your morning coffee? Doctors are calling it serious addiction combined with: Cybersexual Addiction, Computer Addiction and Cyber-Relational Addiction. They even managed to stamp the cool names for it, like Internet Addictive Disorder (IAD) or the Internet Overuse Syndrome (IOS). Based on the latest research and simple human reasoning. Internet addiction should not be labeled as addiction like gambling or drug addiction. There should be a strict line that distances other addictions from the “internet addiction”. Staying in touch with your friends or watching funny YouTube videos is not a destructive behavior which usually characterizes major addictions. If you gamble on the internet then you are not addicted to the internet, but online gambling. Internet is a wonderful tool, but like everything else in this Universe there is the sunny side and the dark side of the pyramid of life. Stay Positive!

Lets do some learning!!

Stewardesses is the longest word
typed with only the left hand ..

And ' lollipop ' is the longest word typed
with your right hand .

(Bet you tried this out mentally, didn't you?)


No word in the English language rhymes with
month , orange , silver , or purple .


' Dreamt ' is the only English word that ends in the letters ' mt '.
( Are you doubting this ?)


our eyes are always the same size from birth,
but our nose and ears
never stop growing.

The sentence: 'The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog'
uses every letter of the alphabet.
( Now, you KNOW you're going to try this out for accuracy, right ?)


The words 'racecar,' 'kayak' and 'level' are the same whether they are read left to right
or right to left (palindromes).
(Yep, I knew you were going to 'do' this one.)



There are only four words in the English language which end in 'dous': tremendous, horrendous, stupendous, and hazardous.

( You're not possibly doubting this, are you ?)

There are two words in the English language that have all five vowels in order: 'abstemious' and 'facetious.'
( Yes, admit it, you are going to say, a e i o u )

TYPEWRITER is the longest word that can be made using the letters only on one row of the keyboard..
( All you typists are going to test this out )


A cat has 32 muscles in each ear .

A goldfish has a memory span of three seconds .

( Some days that's about what my memory span is.)


A ' jiffy ' is an actual unit of time for 1/100th of a second .

A shark is the only fish that can blink with both eyes.

A snail can sleep for three years.
( I know some people that could do this too .!)



Almonds are a member of the peach family.

An ostrich's eye is bigger than its brain.

( I know some people like that also . Actually I know A LOT of people like this !)

Babies are born without kneecaps.

They don't appear until the child reaches 2 to 6 years of age.

February 1865 is the only month in recorded history not to have a full moon.

In the last 4,000 years, no new animals have been domesticated.

If the population of China walked past you, 8 abreast,
the line would never end because of the rate of reproduction.


Leonardo Da Vinci invented the scissors

Peanuts are one of the ingredients of dynamite!

Rubber bands last longer when refrigerated.

The average person's left hand does 56% of the typing.


The cruise liner, QE 2,
moves only six inches for each gallon of diesel that it burns.

The microwave was invented after a researcher walked by a radar tube and a chocolate bar melted in his pocket.
( Good thing he did that .)

The winter of 1932 was so cold that Niagara Falls
froze completely solid .

There are more chickens than people in the world.

Winston Churchill
was born in a ladies' room during a dance.

Women blink nearly twice as much as men..

Something interesting!

Masculine and Feminine Sides of the Body

If we look in the mirror and view our profile from each side, we may notice that the two sides of our face are slightly different from one another. Additionally, our left hand is similar to but different from our right hand. In fact, these subtle differences pervade both sides of our entire body. Considering these differences in the context of the idea that the right side of our body is masculine and the left side feminine may shed some light on how balanced we are in relation to our masculine and feminine qualities.

Intuition, feelings, openness, and unselfishness govern the feminine side of our natures. The masculine side is characterized by logic, facts, systems, and self-interest. If you are giving too much to others to the detriment of yourself, your feminine side may be overactive and your right side may need strengthening, to speak up on your behalf, protecting and conserving your energy. If your life is too rigidly structured, your masculine aspect may be overactive; developing your feminine aspect will bring a more open-ended and creative approach.

Maintaining harmony between the left side and the right side, the feminine and masculine, is a key to wholeness.This is the concept of Ardhanareeshwara explained scientifically

Cute message

Just saw this message from my ex-colleague in my inbox..

what a Cute Message

--------------------------

A little girl walked to and from school daily. Though the weather that morning was questionable and clouds were forming, she made her daily trek to the elementary school.

As the afternoon progressed, the winds whipped up, along with thunder and lightning. The mother of the little girl felt concerned that her daughter would be frightened as she walked home from school and she herself feared that the electrical storm might harm her child. Following the roar of thunder, lightning, like a flaming word, would cut through the sky.

Full of concern, the mother quickly got into her car and drove along the route to her child's school. As she did so, she saw her little
girl walking along, but at each flash of lightning, the child would stop, look up and smile. Another and another were to follow quickly and with each, the little girl would look at the streak of light and smile.

When the mother's car drove up beside the child, she lowered the window and called to her, "What are you doing? Why do you keep stopping?" The child answered , " I am trying to look pretty, God keeps taking my picture "

"Face the storms that come your way and don't forget to SMILE!"

some thoughts

Its been almost a month since I wrote anything at all here..I was simply too busy for words.. We did our darling daughter's mottai at Pittsburgh. It was lots of fun staying with our dear friends Suneetha and Srini. We had absolute fun with them and their sweet little son, Siddharth.. Manasa and Sidhu became so close that even after we have come back, she keeps talking about Sidhu in her sleep..the other day I caught her saying,'Bye Sidhu Bye" in her sleep.. wow, we dont realise how changes affect our little ones, but they do get affected.. And then we met my brother and his wife after nearly a year and it was good seeing them.. I had missed my brothers so much and I was so glad to see atleast one of them.

We have had so much fun when we were younger.. One of them is actually my cousin, but I have always considered him my own elder brother and one of them my own younger brother..Both of them are very sweet in their own way and I love them both. I remember the times when we all got together as children and my cousin brother had a dog called Lizzie..She was a Golden Labrador. very nice dog. We were very young then and were really frightened of dogs, so when we visited my elder brother, he used to chase us around the house with Lizzie and she would oblige whatever he wants done..So mostly I and my younger bro were standing on top of the dining table..But then we slowly got used to lizzie and then we had fun and loads of it..

This is just one memory, we have had lots of fun together, have cried together when our grandfather and more recently mama passed away, have shared our misgivings and adventures of childhood as well as adolescence as well as later years.. We used to simply talk and be at ease with each other. Now we are all in different places and we dont have the chance to meet or stay with each other for longer duration. Even if we meet we dont get to talk that much and I miss all that..

I wish to say this to my brothers, Dear brothers, Whatever happens and wherever you both are, you are my brothers and you will always remain close to my heart, distances and times cant change any true feelings among Brothers and Sister, Can they?? It definitely cant..

From a loving sister..

I read these in pawprints archives and was so impressed and wanted to share with everybody. So here they are:

45 Rules for Life

1. Give people more than they expect and do it cheerfully.
2. Memorize your favorite poem.
3. Don't believe all you hear, spend all you have or sleep all you want.
4. When you say, "I love you", mean it.
5. When you say, "I'm sorry", look the person in the eye.
6. Be engaged at least six months before you get married.
7. Believe in love at first sight.
8. Never laugh at anyone's dreams.
9. Love deeply and passionately. You might get hurt but it's the only way to live life completely.
10. In disagreements, fight fairly. No name calling.

11. Don't judge people by their relatives.
12. Talk slow but think quick.
13. When someone asks you a question you don't want to answer, smile and ask,"Why do you want to know?"
14. Remember that great love and great achievements involve great risk.
15. Call your mom.
16. Say "bless you" when you hear someone sneeze.
17. When you lose, don't lose the lesson.
18. Remember the three R's: Respect for self; Respect for others; Responsibility for all your actions.
19. Don't let a little dispute injure a great friendship.
20. When you realize you've made a mistake, take immediate steps to correct it.
21. Smile when picking up the phone. The caller will hear it in your voice.
22. Marry a man you love to talk to. As you get older, his conversational skills will be as important as any other.
23. Spend some time alone.
24. Open your arms to change, but don't let go of your values.
25. Remember that silence is sometimes the best answer.
26. Read more books and watch less TV.
27. Live a good, honorable life. Then when you get older and think back, you'll get to enjoy it a second time.
28. Trust in God but lock your car.
29. A loving atmosphere in your home is so important. Do all you can to create a tranquil harmonious home.
30. In disagreements with loved ones, deal with the current situation. Don't bring up the past.

31. Read between the lines.
32. Share your knowledge. It's a way to achieve immortality.
33. Be gentle with the earth.
34. Pray. There's immeasurable power in it.
35. Never interrupt when you are being flattered.
36. Mind your own business.
37. Don't trust a man who doesn't close his eyes when you kiss him.
38. Once a year, go someplace you've never been before.
39. If you make a lot of money, put it to use helping others while you are living. That is wealth's greatest satisfaction.
40. Remember that not getting what you want is sometimes a stroke of luck.

41. Learn the rules, then break some.
42. Remember that the best relationship is one where your love for each other is greater than your need for each other.
43. Judge your success by what you had to give up in order to get it.
44. Remember that your character is your destiny.
45. Approach love and cooking with reckless abandon

Cool rules for life, huh?

Interesting!

Shortly before he left the White House, Theodore Roosevelt, planning a big-game hunting trip to Africa, heard that a famous white hunter was visiting Washington. He invited the man to come along and give him some advice. After a two-hour tête-à-tête the hunter came out of the president's office looking dazed. "What did you tell the president?" someone asked idly. "My name," said the bemused visitor. "After that he did all the talking."

Ha ha ha