The Alarmingly Low Potability Level Of Delhi Water

A survey by two prominent NGOs has exposed a very scary truth about Delhi’s water. In that survey the two NGOs, viz. Hazards Centre and Water Aid, tested 53 samples of the city’s water. Shockingly, only 2 of those samples were found to be potable. All the rest 51 samples were found to be highly contaminated, containing varying degrees of heavy metals, faecal coliform, flouride and even pesticides.

And before you heave a sigh of relief by thinking that you have “Aquaguard” at home, I will like to remind you that this city’s population also includes poor people who cannot afford to have any such household water-treatment facilities.

I do not know whether the NGOs have already submitted their report to the Delhi Jal Board (DJB). Anyways, I sincerely hope that DJB will take the matter very very seriously the moment they have the report on their table.

By the way, I genuinely feel that Delhites should immediately resort to Coke and Pepsi for just quenching their daily thirst. Having such soft drinks on a regular basis is certainly not a good habit. But it is definitely a better choice than drinking water that has such a high level of contamination.

Avoid Using Laptops and iPads Just Before Going To Bed

Don’t use devices like laptops and iPads just before going to bed. Because that will disrupt your sleep, eventually turning you into an insomniac.

A team of American researchers has discovered that devices emitting bright lights confuse our brains and sleep patterns. How? By deceiving our minds that it is still day time. And this eventually prevents sleep and enhances the possibility of insomnia.

Please remember that our brains are biologically wired to be awake when the sun is out. And bright light after dark prevents the brain from secreting the hormone named melatonin. It is incidentally the hormone that makes us sleepy.

In case you want to distress your mind before going to bed, then reading a book or watching television will be a far better choice.

News Courtesy: The Times of India, New Delhi, 18th May 2010.

Now Book Jet Airways Ticket Through SBI Card

Indian private carrier Jet Airways has tied up with SBI Card, wherein the carrier’s customers can book their tickets through Jet Airways portals by using the SBI card option. It may be mentioned here that SBI Card is a joint venture by State Bank of India (SBI) and GE Capital.

This arrangement will enable SBI Credit Cardholders to choose an option to convert their ticket purchases – through the Jet Airways website – into a zero-percent EMI of 6 months tenure.

The offer is meant to make family air travel more cost-effective and economical.

Mumbai’s Bavicca Bharathi To Be India’s Youngest Airlines Commander At 21

Bavicca Bharathi of Marol (a part of the bigger suburb of Mumbai’s Andheri East area) became India’s youngest pilot after acquiring a Commercial Pilot’s Licence (CPL) in 2007. That time she was just 18. This notable achievement was even recorded by Limca Book of Records in its 2008 edition.

Now, after acquiring her Advanced Training Pilot’s Licence (ATPL) on 3rd May 2010 (incidentally her 21st birthday), she is very much on the verge of becoming India’s youngest airlines commander. Currently a co-pilot with Kingfisher Airlines, Bavicca had to successfully fly 1,500 hours to get the coveted ATPL.

By the way, Bavicca’s mother Judith (43) also holds a Commercial Pilot’s Licence (CPL). Any guess when she got her CPL? Well, it was in 2007, along with her daughter. Wow! And yes, Judith is also an employee of Kingfisher Airlines, i.e. the same organization where her daughter is working. What a great mother-daughter duo Kingfisher Airlines has got.

Congrats Bavicca! Wish you all the best in your career. Who knows, one day I might fly in a plane commanded by you.

Human Beings To Get Rid Of Deafness?

We often make fun of people who are deaf or at least short of hearing. But we all know that actually it is not funny. Just think of the plight that our deaf friends have to go through. While we complain of sound pollution, they are forced to live in a world that is disturbingly silent.

However, now there seems to be a ray of hope for these hapless people. An international team led by Stanford University School of Medicine is reported to have identified a way to re-create the sensitive hair cells. Hair cells are the ones which play a key role in hearing. The team has claimed that it has found a way to re-create the hair cells by using stem cell technology. And the team further claims that this finding can lead to a way wherein the deaf people can regenerate their own inner ear sensory cells to cure the condition.

It may be mentioned here that all sorts of hearing loss (ranging from mild to serious) often result from damage to the “hair cells” in the cochlea. And what is cochlea? Well, it is an organ that lies deep inside the human ear, and is responsible for converting vibrations into electrical signals.

Myth Broken: Tobacco-Free Cigarettes Are No Less Harmful For Your Health

You are a smoker, but you are not worried about your health. Why? Because you smoke cigarettes that do not contain tobacco or nicotine, and you are confident that such cigarettes do not cause any harm to human health like the ones which contain tobacco.

Sorry dude, but you are completely mistaken. If researchers at New York Medical College are to be believed, then tobacco-free cigarettes are likely to be more carcinogenic (i.e. a substance or agent that tends to produce cancer), as they actually induce more extensive DNA damage than cigarettes which contain tobacco.

So now you can see that you are not causing any less harm to you health by smoking tobacco-free cigarettes. So now you have two options. Either quit smoking completely (which is virtually impossible for an addict like you), or continue your smoking with cigarettes that contain tobacco. After all, why should you harm the tobacco industry when you are doing no less harm to your health even by avoiding tobacco while smoking?

Causes of honour killings

This article on Honour Killing has been written by my good friend Mr K.V. Gautam. He requested me to post the same in my blog, and I am executing his order. I will like to mention that though this article is being posted in my blog, it is Mr K.V. Gautam who is solely responsible for the outcome of this post. - Raja Basu


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The honour killing of young journalist Nirupama Pathak (Delhi based, working for Business Standard) throws up some disturbing realities. Now honour killing is not limited to some uneducated people with medieval mindsets living in Haryana . It has been seen even in educated middle class.

These are the causes of honour killing in India:


Parents think that they are some manufacturing units and their children (of all ages) are their products

Parents think that their sons and daughters have no life of their own. And they have all rights to use and abuse their sons and daughters

The whole concept of human rights and child rights are alien to Indian parents

Indian parents are experts at emotional blackmailing

Parents think that they have done some favor to their wards by giving birth to them (which is wrong as kids are born out of sex, a pleasant activity. and people give birth to kids because it gives pleasure to them)

Parents think that they have done some favor to their wards by bringing them up (which is wrong as parents bring kids up just for their self-interest of helping them in their old age)

Psychologically speaking, parents unconsciously abuse their wards to take revenge for the abuse they had themselves suffered at their own parents' hands (someone please stop this barbarity in the name of tradition and so-called family respect)


Are people who kill their sons and daughters in name of caste any better than terrorists who kills people in the name of religion?