Thatched House

I’m home for Christmas. Today is December 19, 2013. Yesterday, as I was cleaning the house and dusting old books, I found this letter I wrote to my family on November 11, 2004 from Imphal. I was in my final year MBBS and the final university exam (the toughest exam I have ever faced) was fast approaching. It is funny somewhere but here it is, unedited. It is 3:00 in the morning and I haven’t slept yet. A friend passed away at 10:00 pm and we went to condole the family. I couldn’t slip out and come to bed early as I was leading the singing. She had been suffering from Leukemia/blood cancer and there is no cure in our college. Anywhere in the world, chance of complete cure is just one in a million (about). Rukuwe’s mom came to visit him and I thought maybe I’ll send a letter to my family through her. A letter about me. The phone line is not working and even if it’s functioning, I can’t talk for long as I want with everyone of you. I wish to come home for Christmas but I ...

I bought three books recently. Two from the internet, and one from attending the program where the book was launched. It is too early to write Review of the books as I have not read them completely, but this is only an introduction. 1. Indian Economy (For Civil Services Examinations) by Ramesh Singh. This was recommended by a friend who is appearing Civil Services Examination. I have sounded to him my interested to learn some basic economics and he recommended this. I have just read a couple of Chapters. The language is very simple and the concepts are made easy to understand, good for someone who is not from Economics background. In an economy, there are certain 'public goods' or 'social goods' which should not be 'marketized'. These are Education, healthcare, sanitation, water, nutrition, etc. Another interesting concept is that the Indian Economy jumped from Agrarian Economy to Service Economy, skipping the stage of Industrial Economy which was exp...

Published in State Dailies The recent ‘Salty rumours’ has little relation with this article. But while salt is still in our mind, let me put forward this pressing health concern. Salt is addictive. Research shows that salt addiction is like addiction to hard drugs or cigarette. The easy availability of salted processed food from the market results in increased intake of salt. The human tongue can be trained that it gets accustomed to food with high salt content. It is not only for preservation; salt produces a craving and helps in sales of such food products.    In Nagaland, salt intake is mainly from the added salt while cooking. The use of processed ‘junk’ food is on the increasing trend. So, we now have the dual problem of high dietary intake of salt in the normal meals and increased intake of salted processed/packaged food. Salt intake varies between individuals, families, and tribes. The amount of salt intake is determined not by biological need but by cult...