Tag: #Articles

Captain Pravin Raghuvanshi, NM

(We are extremely thankful to Captain Pravin Raghuvanshi Ji for sharing his literary and artworks with e-abhivyakti.  An alumnus of IIM Ahmedabad, Capt. Pravin has served the country at national as well international level in various fronts. Presently, working as Senior Advisor, C-DAC in Artificial Intelligence and HPC Group; and involved in various national-level projects.

We present an English Version of Shri Sanjay Bhardwaj’s Hindi Poetry  “चातक ” published previously as ☆ संजय दृष्टि  –चातक ☆.  We extend our heartiest thanks to the learned author  Captain Pravin Raghuvanshi Ji (who is very well conversant with Hindi, Sanskrit,  English and Urdu languages) for this beautiful translation.)

☆ Chaatak ☆

… agreed that you write well but also try to understand the world some time. Learn worldliness. One cannot always drink nectar alone. Write something peppery-spicy. Get into the river, stream, puddle, pond, and quench your thirst. How long can you live with dry throat?

… I’m of Chaatak family. If I drink, I drink water of Swati Nakshatra only, else, my thirst craving will remain my destiny…

 

© Captain Pravin Raghuvanshi, NM

 

≈  Blog Editor – Shri Hemant Bawankar/Editor (English) – Captain Pravin Raghuvanshi, NM≈

Shri Divyanshu Shekhar 

 

(Young author Shri Divyanshu Shekhar writes poems, stories, plays and scripts in Hindi and English. His first collection of poems  “Zindagi – ek chalchitra” was published in May 2017 and first English Novel “Too Close – Too Far” in December 2018. Today we present his article “Be Mental but don’t be Judgmental”. The article is a thorough study and  research work done by young author Mr Divyanshu on the contemporary incidents. )  

☆ Be Mental but don’t be Judgmental☆

The suicidal death news of a great actor Sushant Singh Rajput jolted all of us. It is still hard to believe but unfortunately, it happened. He was a well-known celebrity and his death got limelight and suddenly we all started talking about “Mental Health”. But it’s not a new topic, it is just an ignored topic in our society. According to World Health Organisation (WHO), each year approximately one million people die by suicide worldwide every year, of these 135,000 are residents of India. Globally mortality rate is of one death every 40 seconds but there are lots of unreported and hidden cases that will exacerbate our count estimation problem. It is predicted that by 2020 the rate of death will increase to one every 20 seconds which is really scary.

But why things are getting worse?

Why talking about Mental health is still a taboo in our society? Why Brain is not treated like other body parts? Why visiting a Psychiatrist doesn’t create such empathy like other medical issues? Why showing off is more important than actual ground reality? Why people are giving up on struggle and becoming obsessed with results? Why our expectations are becoming so calculative and materialistic?

Why showing off happiness is more important than being happy? Why expressing true emotions and sharing feelings become so difficult? Why we are living various characters parallel? And there are lots of other questions too and we have to work on that. We can’t deny the fact that our continued ignorance of this topic is responsible for the current situation. Now it’s time to talk, listen, understand, and act otherwise we will go through lots of unbearable losses.

First, we have to understand what is Mental health?

Mental health refers to our emotional and psychological well-being. Having good mental health helps us lead a relatively happy and healthy life. It helps us demonstrate resilience and the ability to cope in the face of life’s adversities. Mental health can affect daily living, relationships, and physical health.

Strong mental health isn’t just the absence of mental health problems. Being mentally or emotionally healthy is much more than being free of depression, anxiety, or other psychological issues. Rather than the absence of mental illness, mental health refers to the presence of positive characteristics. Our mental health can be influenced by a variety of factors, including life events or even our genetics.

When we talk about health then we should also talk about related illnesses.

Mental illness, also called mental health disorders, refers to a wide range of mental health conditions – disorders that affect your mood, thinking, and behavior. Examples of mental illness include depression, anxiety disorders, schizophrenia, eating disorders, and addictive behaviors. We have to understand that anyone can suffer from mental or emotional health problems and over a lifetime most of us will. Everyone has some risk of developing a mental health disorder, no matter their age, sex, income, or ethnicity. Social and financial circumstances, biological factors, and lifestyle choices can all shape a person’s mental health.

Now let’s take a look at some statistics which might give you goosebumps.

One in four people in the world gets affected by mental or neurological disorders at some point in their lives. Around 450 million people currently suffer from such conditions, placing mental disorders among the leading causes of ill-health and disability worldwide. Half of all mental disorders begin by age 14 and three-quarters by age 24. The worst part, that up to 90 percent of suicide deaths result from underlying mental and substance use disorders.

Yet despite how common mental health problems are, many of us make no effort to improve our situation. We don’t want to struggle, we ignore the emotional messages that tell us something is wrong and try it out by distracting ourselves or self-medicating with alcohol, drugs, or self-destructive behaviors. We bottle up our problems in the hope that others won’t notice. We hope that our situation will eventually improve on its own or we simply give up.

Treatments are available, but nearly two-thirds of people with a known mental disorder never seek help from a health professional. Stigma, discrimination, and neglect prevent care and treatment from reaching people with mental disorders, says the World Health Organization (WHO). Where there is neglect, there is little or no understanding. Where there is no understanding, there is neglect.

But why people try to hide these problems? Actually, they are scared of sharing mental problems because our society has wrong and judgmental views towards mental illness. They feel a lack of confidence and faith to share their true emotions and feelings. But we need to be honest and loyal to ourselves. Until we won’t love and consider ourselves as our priority, no-one else will. I think we shouldn’t feel guilty for being mentally ill, we should feel guilty for being judgmental.

Everyone has their own perspectives and struggle stories. Right and Wrong are manipulative words because their definitions vary from person to person and according to the scenarios. So, we should not impose our set of beliefs on others. Instead, we should make ourselves worthy of someone’s faith and to understand their concerns. Healthy communications and kind actions make the mind and problems light and we should work on that. Our collaborative and positive efforts will overcome these problems.

Now, what should be the correct treatment for the diagnosed people?

As I said earlier first we need to understand and treat this illness like other medical problems. It means these problems should be recognized and then patients should go for the right treatment.

One important point we need to understand that treatment for mental health disorders is not one size fits all, and it does not offer a cure. Instead, treatment aims to reduce symptoms, address underlying causes, and make the condition manageable. You and your doctor will work together to find a plan. It may be a combination of treatments because some people have better results with a multi-angle approach. The most common mental health treatments are Medications and Psychotherapy.

Now the question is when it might happen with anyone at any stage of life. So how can we boost our mental health or I can say what can we do for better mental immunity?

Mental illness is not a personal failure. This huge burden of mental, behavioral, and substance use disorders, in our society, calls for the immediate attention of political leaders, policymakers, health professionals, opinion-makers, and people at large. Most significantly, mental health should be given higher priority in the developmental agenda. All policies and programs in health and all related sectors of welfare, education, employment and other programs should include and integrate mental health agenda in their policies, plans, and programs.

And as an individual, we should find purpose and meaning in life. Everyone derives meaning and purpose in different ways that involve benefiting others, as well as themselves. We may think of it as a way to feel needed, feel good about ourselves, a purpose that drives us on, or simply a reason to get out of bed in the morning. In biological terms, finding meaning and purpose is essential to brain health as it can help generate new cells and create new neural pathways in the brain. It can also strengthen our immune system, alleviate pain, relieve stress, and keep us motivated to pursue the other steps to improve mental and emotional health.

Obviously, “Responsibility” is a great word which keeps us going even sometimes without our full intentions but we have to keep balance in our life. Take care of yourself and your loved ones and do some crazy things, which makes you happy. Enjoy the moments at the fullest and release the pressure from your mind and heart. We can never find peace of mind until we listen to our hearts. “Happiness” is the most lovable word in this World. Everyone has a desire to be happy but deep inside we all know that in this running world emptiness is winning the race with happiness. But why?

Freedom is the secret of happiness but we are in a race that is decided by others and according to their expectations and perceptions. We are trying to live and show a standard that is set by someone else.

The day we will understand that success and happiness have no specific standards. The day we will start living life like a journey, not like a destination, most of the problems will be automatically resolved.

But remember one thing happiness is not something ready-made we have to earn it. Struggling is essential to happiness because of the lessons learned and how certain aspects of it serves its purpose. Without a little struggle throughout life, we would have never known better choices and we would never have found true happiness.

But we don’t have to feel bad. There are practices we can adopt to elevate our mood, become more resilient, and enjoy life more. But just as it requires effort to build and maintain physical health, so it is with mental health. We have to work harder these days to ensure strong mental health, simply because there are so many ways that life takes a toll on our emotional well-being and we have to face all those situations wisely and bravely.

© Divyanshu Shekhar

Kolkata (West Bengal)

Shri Divyanshu Shekhar 

 

(Young author Shri Divyanshu Shekhar writes poems, stories, plays and scripts in Hindi and English. His first collection of poems  “Zindagi – ek chalchitra” was published in May 2017 and first English Novel “Too Close – Too Far” in December 2018. Today we present his article “Struggle for Happiness”.)  

☆ Struggle for Happiness ☆

It was a beautiful Sunday morning.

It was drizzling outside. A man was sitting in his balcony with his cup of hot coffee and enjoying the weather.

Suddenly, he saw few people are working in front of a temporary house to make a strong base of a new building and his romantic thoughts and expressions started changing.

But why? And which kinds of emotions, he felt later? Scare or Happiness? Empathy or Proud? or anything else?

He felt empathy with them. He is also a migrant like them, who change places to earn money for their responsibilities. He lives in a well-structured and furnished flat with all the luxurious things and they are living in a temporary house where few bricks are removed from the wall for ventilation, no electricity, and without any modern facilities.

He felt surprised because he is an engineer but he never went in a workshop without proper safety measure but they are cutting steel bars without any precautions and even without any hesitation.

He felt happy in his flat because he has a fear of snakes but they are living in such an area where there are high chances of getting those reptiles. He follows a healthy diet for his good health but they eat what they get. He does exercises daily but they have no time for practicing Yoga and lifting weights during workouts. They just do physical work for the whole day as part of their job irrespective of weather.

He felt jealous because even without such luxury and relaxation, their sleep is deeper and their smiles are wider with whom he always struggles. They have better physical strength and brave heart.

Someone said correctly that “It is the great privilege of poverty to be happy and yet unenvied, to be healthy with physic, secure without a guard, and to obtain from the bounty of nature what the great and wealthy are compelled to procure by the help of art”.

He felt scared by keeping himself in their positions. It’s a bitter truth that we all have grown literally afraid to be poor. Even we despise anyone who elects to be poor in order to simplify and save his inner life and maintain peace. If he does not join the general scramble and pant with the money-making street, we deem him spiritless and lacking in ambition.

He knows all the facts and at last, he stood up and went inside his room. He felt thankful to God and proud of his parents because he knows his current situation and comfort in this tough world is a precious gift and outcome of their parents’ struggle, and he has to maintain this tradition.

 

© Divyanshu Shekhar

Kolkata (West Bengal)

☆ Vyangyam-The Satire ☆

You must have observed a change in template and title of my blog. Now a word “Vyangyam’ has been suffixed. This first post in 2011 is dedicated to “Vyangyam”, a quarterly little magazine (Laghu Patrika) in Hindi fully devoted to Satire writing and edited by me along with two other like minded writer friends Ramesh Sharma ‘Nishikar’ and Mahesh Shukla from Jabalpur.

‘Vyangya’ in Hindi means Satire, a word very close to my heart as I have been writing satires right from my college days first in Hindi and later in English. Often readers mistake satire to humor but we as a satirist draw a line between the two. While humour is purely for laugh and entertainment, satire is serious thought process with a touch of humour which makes the reader aware of the anomalies in the society in and around, socially & politically.

Going back in time during 70s & 80s, satires were published as filler or under humor section of any Hindi magazine without any regularity. There was not a single full fledged satire magazine in Hindi except ‘Rang chakallas’ from Bombay edited by Mr. Chetan but that too was a mix of humour and satire. Madhya Pradesh was a home for top satirists of those days namely Sri Hari Shankar Parsai and Jabalpur and Sri Sharad Joshi in Bhopal. They were the pillars and inspiration to numerous young writers like me and others.

We three friends decided to fill the gap and idea to start a magazine on satire was born. All the three of us were in clerical grade that time and with no financial backing and any experience in canvassing or marketing decided to go ahead with our plan because of our strong urge and passion. That was the time our country was undergoing a dark period of history called ‘Emergency’ in 1976. There was total censorship on media; right to express was oppressed, opposition leaders were either in jail or underground and those in power were crawling. Satire and humour was first casualty in emergency.  Satirical and humorous English Magazine like ‘Shankar’s Weekly’ was forced to close down because it refused to kneel down. Under the clouds of emergency, our magazine was conceived and we brought out the first issue in January 1977 with 500 copies of the magazine called “Vyangyam” costing Rs.2/-.

                                       

During its entire period of publication, we three friends were the editors, proof readers, layout designers, office boy, Chai wallah, dispatchers and hawkers, all in one! During 77-78, eight issues of the quarterly magazine were regularly published. The magazine received full support from all the famous and not so famous writers by way of free contribution of articles but in absence of sustained financial support from any quarter, the magazine started sign of fatigue and illness by the time we published its 10^th issue. Despite its low cost, the magazine unfortunately could not pick up sales or subscription. To mobilize funds we also published two books and a novel but in vain and soon we were forced to discontinue the magazine in 1979.”Vyangyam” could not be revived again. The closure of the magazine also showed us our many friend writers and well-wishers in their true colors, who drifted away quietly.

Back to 2011, after 31 years I am rededicating this blog of mine to ‘Vyangyam’ by suffixing it to my blog title. Let the flag and the flame of spirit fly high.

 

©  Shri Ram Ayyangar

Bangalore

Thursday, January 6, 2011

(Courtesy – Shri Ram Ayyangar)

Shri Divyanshu Shekhar 

 

(Young author Shri Divyanshu Shekhar writes poems, stories, plays and scripts in Hindi and English. His first collection of poems  “Zindagi – ek chalchitra” was published in May 2017 and first English Novel “Too Close – Too Far” in December 2018. Today we present his article “Generation gap”.  Shri Divyanshu ji represents youth’s/new generation’s views and if someone would like to represent his/her views representing old generation are welcome in Hindi , English or Marathi .)  

☆ Generation gap ☆

I chose this article because lots of time, I observed the conflicts between the younger generations with the older generations. We can see these conflicts in our families too, even though we never expressed. I read articles on this, also heard the experiences of people, and then decided to write on this topic.

Generation gap refers to the chasm that separates the thoughts expressed by two different generations. More specifically, a generation gap can be termed as the differences in actions, and beliefs exhibited by younger generations, versus older ones and it causes conflicts.

This is a very important topic to be discussed, which one people generally ignore. We use to blame each other but we don’t talk and act to resolve this matter positively.

If I go for a debate, this topic may create a great war of intellectualism and a book might be less for this topic. But I am going to introduce a single reason

behind this terminology as I found it most suitable in the current scenario. I might be wrong but I observed in this way.

I think “Technology” is the reason behind this “Generation Gap”.

Technology is the knowledge that deals with the creation and use of technical means and their interrelation with life, society, and the environment. It’s a sum of the ways in which social groups provide themselves with the material objects of their civilization.

And knowledge is a familiarity, awareness, or understanding of someone or something, such as facts, information, descriptions, or skills, which is acquired through experience or education by perceiving, discovering or learning. It can refer to a theoretical or practical understanding. It can be implicit or explicit. It can be more or less formal or systematic.

We are in a technology era and we can’t deny that technology has a great impact on our society, mindset, thoughts, and our beliefs. It changes the way of thinking and doing work. It passes information and we store those pieces of information in memory and we learn from them.

Learning is the process of acquiring new understanding, knowledge, behaviour, skills, values, and preferences. We know the fact that a human brain is a great learning system that can automatically learn and improve from experience.

And those leanings make our perceptions and we all act according to data in our mind. Obviously, learning is not limited to any age or any constraint. But as per research and experiences, we have to agree that most of the new things we learn at a younger age or it is better to say that we enjoy learning at a young age.

I saw that the new generations have lots of complaints with older generations and vice versa. But have you ever thought that they are not bad people, they are just technology blind people.

Young people expect that older people should understand them but they don’t try to understand their compulsions. Old generations have seen lesser advanced technologies at their younger age and suddenly within few years lots of new things came up and they found difficulties to cope up with those new and advanced technologies and they are still struggling.

Older generations had more faith in hard work while younger generations have more in smart work due to available advanced technologies. So we can say that they consider each other as technology blind people.

But younger generations also have to agree that they and these smart technologies are results of the vision and hard work of older generations.

Have you ever imagined how technology got advanced in just a few years? Where were we and where we are? How our mindsets got changed within a few decades? If you get this, you can find a relation between technology and the generation gap.

Now younger people can communicate anywhere in the world via different internet-based applications but our older generations were unable to make such conversations even with their close friends at their younger age.

Now the younger generations are very familiar with the concepts of friends of opposite gender, love, relationship. They can easily express their feelings.

But most of older people in their phase couldn’t express such feelings in that way. On a funny note, most of them couldn’t move from the concept of “Crush”. I heard a few stories that they use to like someone but that person got married to someone else and in their next meeting they were proud parents.

So as I discussed above that technology is the reason behind this term “Generation Gap”. But what should be the solution for this? I don’t want to close this topic like an informal letter by saying, respect your elders and love your youngers, because both deserve equally. Every problem has a solution and in this case, solution should be mutual, not one-sided. Because every generation has their own struggle stories.

I observed one thing, lots of people after attaining a specific age, don’t want to learn new things. It might be because they want more stability, more relaxation, and less future struggle. They start telling their old struggle stories and try to glorify themselves. They start imposing their beliefs and practices on younger people which is wrong but if they make learning a habit, it won’t create such problems.

But it is not as simple as I wrote. I also think it’s not only their fault, but it’s our fault too. We accept them partially but we expect that they should think and act like us completely, like free, open-minded, not like a moron. Actually, it will take time and we should guide them patiently as they guided us to learn walking and various life lessons.

I heard from a few young people that their next generations will suffer less than them. It might be possible and I wish for that but even though they will have their complaints with you for sure. Unlike your parents, you get bored from a 1980s movie, similarly, your kids might get bored with a movie of 2020 too.

Blaming is the easiest way to escape from responsibilities. But it will take years to change the data in people’s minds and their perceptions. And to achieve this, generations should broaden their acceptance criteria and they should be open for learning.

So, people of different generations should respect the differences and have to put efforts positively. Their continuous and collaborative efforts will eliminate conflicts and will form a better society.

 

© Divyanshu Shekhar

Kolkata (West Bengal)

Shri Divyanshu Shekhar 

 

(Young author Shri Divyanshu Shekhar writes poems, stories, plays and scripts in Hindi and English. His first collection of poems  “Zindagi – ek chalchitra” was published in May 2017 and first English Novel “Too Close – Too Far” in December 2018. Today we present his article “Maintaining a Healthy Relationship”)

☆ Maintaining a Healthy Relationship ☆

In this modern world “How to Maintain a Healthy Relationship?” should be the most important topic to understand even more than Love and Life. Why it is so important?

We can give a simple formula that two honest, attracted, and interested people forms and maintain a good relationship. Is it that simple? No! we all know, that unfortunately, it’s not. Because maintaining takes more than forming, but why?

According to me, a relationship can’t be formed in one day, it’s like a continuous workout. If you want to get the shape you have to be consistent, you have to invest for it for long.

For example, lots of people join the Gym and within a few days when they don’t notice the change and even if they do according to their expectations, they quit. But in reality, it takes time to get that shape and lifelong to maintain that shape.

Similarly to get the best shape of the relationship we have to work for it, for lifelong because it’s a kind of process, not just a result. Obviously, a relationship without trust and respect is just a matter of need and greed but for a healthy relation, we have to make a continuous investment similar to our fitness.

If I ask you a question, what is the most unique thing? Lots of people will come up with answers, a person, or an idea. But lots of research says that at the same time few people carry the same characteristics even thought process, even we can observe and feel it.

So, you know what’s the most unique thing, a Relationship! between two people.

Those two persons might be quite similar or different but the relationship between them is always unique. So, we should celebrate that uniqueness and avoid comparison with the relationship of other people, even with other relationships in our personal life.

At last, I want to say that a longer relationship is not about the special events, not about the high intensity, not even about the deep feelings. It’s about consistency, trust and respect, and all three demands time.

 

© Divyanshu Shekhar

Kolkata (West Bengal)

Shri Abhimanyu Chaudhary

E-Abhivyakti welcomes Shri Abhimanyu Chaudhary. Presently he is working in a leading position in the Etihad Airways, Abu Dhabi.  He has completed his MBA from T A  Pai Institute of Management, Manipal. Blogging is his hobby.  He has followed Corona, COVID-19 very minutely right from the beginning. He is trying to explain each and everything which you want to know about COVID-19.  How will the world transition to normal? We are reproducing this very important blog from his blog Fresh Morning Brew – Newsworthy stories. You are requested to follow his updates on the topic on his following blog link for his regular updates:

Blog link >>>>>>>>         ☆  Fresh Morning Brew – Newsworthy stories ☆

☆ How will the world transition to normal? ☆

COVID-19, like other pandemics, will pass. Even if the new infections continue to rise today, and there seems to be no end in sight, it certainly will be over. And the world will be normal again.

As we go about our daily lives, do we worry about hundreds of deadly diseases which exist in the world? Knowing these diseases have killed millions and continue to kill many more? No, because they are known enemies, we know how to tame, manage, cure or avoid them. Medicines, vaccines, treatments, and lab tests exist to detect, treat, cure, contain and ward off these diseases. COVID-19 will be no exception.

• We continue to learn more about the virus, its genome, symptoms, how it impacts the body, how it transmits, and how to treat the infected. Although there is lot to be learnt, research is underway to further our understanding
• Government and social response is in line with the threat we face. Wearing masks, online classes for children, work from home, lock-down, quarantine, social distancing are the new normal. People across the globe understand the risks and are taking precautions to stop the spread
• More people are getting tested, this improves our response to treat, quarantine, isolate or trace contacts early on
• We learn from the experience of other countries, and adopt their best practices. South Korea, Singapore, Taiwan, and UAE are few examples where COVID-19 was contained well. It serves as a blueprint for the rest
• Healthcare system is building capacity – isolation rooms, supply of PPE, ventilators, test kits etc. Production is ramped up to meet growing demand, more players are joining the race to meet supply shortages
• Development of vaccine, anti-viral, and plasma treatments are underway. We shouldn’t expect overnight miracles, but it can be available few months down the line. And will be a decisive weapon in the fight against COVID-19
• Be cautious but don’t panic, majority of the infected people recover from the virus
• It’s likely that those who have recovered from the infection will develop some level of immunity

While there are reasons to be hopeful we must remember that this is a marathon, not a sprint. It will take time, and united efforts from all to win against this virus.

How will your country go back to normal? Gradually.

• First evidence that the spread is contained in your community is when new infections come down, and stabilize for a reasonable period of time. Rigorous testing will not catch new infections. Number of people getting discharged will exceed hospital admissions. These are the signs that contamination has stopped
• Lock-down will be relaxed in phases, in a manner that economic activity can be resumed gradually, as risk of second wave remains high. Offices, malls and public transport will resume at limited capacity
• Face masks will remain ubiquitous, social distancing at public places, hand washing, sanitizing will continue. Thermal screening and disinfection at commercial and residential buildings, malls, public transport will also continue
• Its likely governments will increase surveillance to monitor health status, track travel history, and enforce mandatory quarantine. China has implemented AliPay Health Code to this effect. An individual’s risk of exposure to the virus will be continuously monitored, high risk individuals will be quarantined mandatory.
• Outdoor activities will carry some level of risk, people will actively avoid crowded places.

Abhimanyu Chaudhary

Abu Dhabi