At some point shortly before the pandemic I discovered that my phone kept track of my steps. I had had fun with pedometers before but never carried them consistently. Or they stopped working. In their heyday they were even among the give-aways at trade conferences, something that a vendor might put their logo on, like a pen or pen drive. Later when things got fancy with Fitbits and smart watches, I went digital in the sense of counting as I walked and noting every 100 on my fingers. Only I’d do paces as that was easier to keep count. Home to vegetable market – 300 paces. Deonar depot to home – 600 paces. If I recall correctly the young cousins in the family even started a spreadsheet to keep a daily tally and compare notes. Heady times!
Read the rest of this entry »Posts Tagged ‘health’
COATS … ‘nuf said
In Wit on 16 February 2022 at 8:00 pmThe tweet quoted below is a year old but thus is the pace of my blogging as we slide into year 3 of the pandemic where we are now accepting that we shall co-exist with the virus. Protect ourselves with vaccines and other public health measures that allow us to keep going. I remember a few years ago when I first realized that winter did not mean I could not go out for discretionary walks. All I needed was a good coat. Tada! I could co-exist with cold.
Why did I miss this basic fact about vaccination?
In Why on 16 January 2021 at 8:00 pmDid it really take a pandemic to make me realize the most basic fact about vaccination?
Reader, it did.
Today I am more than a tad embarrassed to read what I so smugly wrote 10 years ago … a smugness I wore perhaps to cover my insecurity, my mistrust of Big Pharma, my discomfort with doctors. With valid reason … but the comfort offered in the form of “making my own” vaccine schedule was, alas, misguided. The schedule I ended up with was probably just fine, in fact I could have modified it even further with no harm done. However my reasons for doing so ignored one basic fact.
Read the rest of this entry »My Old Bra is My New Mask
In What on 5 April 2020 at 8:15 pmStuff I should have thrown out long ago that now is proving useful includes … lonely socks, broken hairbands, torn clothes that I knew I couldn’t wear, but couldn’t admit that I’d never mend or make into a quilt (!)… and a bra whose hooks I knew I’d never replace and hence was sitting in limbo in a box along with junk mail that I need to go through and recycle. Read the rest of this entry »
For pocket, planet and a happy period: Nirmala talks about the menstrual cup
In Field Notes on 5 April 2017 at 10:41 amOne form of untouchability that we must work to eradicate is menstrual untouchability. Unique to women, this oppression is based on the idea that a woman’s body is defective and dirty, and can pollute people and spaces if not kept in check. A recent incident in a school in Uttar Pradesh highlights the need to fight the notion that menstruation is a cause for shame or punishment. The principal of Kasturba Gandhi Residential School in Digri village made 70 girls strip and be searched for menstrual blood. Following complaints by students and parents, the principal was fired. Parents and teachers of girls should help them to manage periods comfortably and to value the vitality in their bodies, including their menstrual blood, which makes it possible for a woman to nourish new life.
It is good that the community in Muzzafarnagar took decisive action against this outrage; yet menstrual untouchability persists in stark and subtle ways, not only in far flung villages but also among the urban educated. In the march to consign menstrual taboo to the dustbin of history, one important step is to make periods more comfortable.
Saves water, saves money, is comfortable: The Menstrual Cup
In What on 22 March 2017 at 8:00 pmA couple of years ago, my friend Nirmala, who lives in a village in Srikakulam district decided to try the menstrual cup. Recently I got a chance to chat with her about it. She was quite happy with it – one of her first comments was that it really saved water. They get their water from a pump – fortunately the pump is in their own front yard, but still, every bucket saved helps. All the more so for women who collect water from a distance, especially in times of drought.
Today being World Water Day, here is a short excerpt from our conversation about the menstrual cup. Stay tuned for the longer clip.
We All Live in Bhopal: Sign Petition to White House
In Call to Action on 8 May 2016 at 12:50 pmThe Mother hiding her face with one hand and carrying her child in the other, weeps for all of us. This is the Memorial Statue honoring the victims of what many call the world’s worst industrial disaster, the explosion in the Union Carbide factory in Bhopal on December 3, 1984. Survivors have been struggling for justice for over 30 years and are now petitioning the White House meet US obligations under Treaty & international law by immediately serving notice upon Dow to attend court in Bhopal on July 13, 2016.
Sign here: Tell the US Government to Stop Shielding Dow Chemical from its Crimes in Bhopal
We all live in Bhopal – please SIGN the PETITION. And please share widely. It’s what Julia Ward Howe, who proclaimed Mother’s Day in 1870 would do.
About the Artist & Sculpture Read the rest of this entry »
Reusable menstrual hygiene products: pros and cons
In What on 13 May 2015 at 12:46 pmIt was just after noon in Mumbai. Our book club was just winding up and people were chatting in the cafe. A woman called me aside and said, “is it really such a drawback to forget the date of your periods?” She was referring to an article that appeared in the newspaper, where I called the “worst thing about the menstrual cup” the fact that wearing it made the days of one’s period feel so normal, that one could forget about it altogether. “I meant it ironically,” I explained. It’s like saying, “my worst fault is that I am too generous.” “Oh!” she smiled.
So when Bindu Mohanty of the #PeriodofChange Campaign asked me for a frank opinion on the pros and cons of reusable menstrual hygiene products, I almost began to reply in the same tenor. Because, after all, are there in fact any cons?
Disposable Pads: The Medium and the Message
In What on 11 May 2015 at 8:00 pmWhat, in your opinion, are the pros and cons of disposable pads? (If there are no pros you can list only cons.)
– A blogger in Chandigarh
When asked to write about the pros and cons of disposable menstrual products, I remembered what a friend told me when she decided to give cloth pads a try. Her mother was aghast. Why do you want to do all that washing every month? she asked. I was so glad when disposable sanitary napkins appeared in the market, I thought at last my daughter won’t go through all the same toil I went through during those bloody periods.
Why indeed? Her daughter, my friend, proceeded to list the various negative health and environmental impacts of disposable pads and said that she didn’t want them next to her skin, she didn’t want to generate so much trash, and she wanted to practice a solution that would be affordable on a modest income. That it would provide livelihood locally pleased her as well.
Her mother relented. If disposable pads had so many cons maybe the time spent washing cloth was not wasted after all.
But was that, in fact, the only pro? Read the rest of this entry »
Weaning and Acne
In Why on 21 March 2015 at 8:00 pmI am 33 and nursing my daughter. I stopped pumping at work a couple of months ago. I have noticed that lately, I am experiencing a lot of acne on face, around jaw line and neck. I haven’t changed my diet drastically and was wondering if the nursing schedules or drop in pumping may be causing the acne. Is there any natural stuff that I could use to control the crazy breakouts?
Mama of two in Austin
You are not the only one to experience an outbreak of acne following a sudden drop in nursing frequency. It seems like any time we go through hormonal changes we are prone to acne. You may already be aware that breast milk is a popular treatment for acne. Once the hormones settle down so should the acne. Some home remedies that might help include reducing intake of dairy and animal products, which come loaded with hormones, getting regular exercise, and the usual good dietary habits.
Acne apart, if you are nursing less during the day you can expect your daughter to make up for it at night and early in the morning. Be sure to eat well and get enough rest and night-nursing will be boon to you as well as your daughter.
Ask Amma 