Thatched House

In an article 'Bitter truth about sugar' (:-)) in The Hindu today, a nutritionist from Fortis Hospital says that daily recommended intake of sugar is 9 teaspoons (7 if you are a woman). 1 teaspoon is about 5 ml.  A can of cold drink contains 7 teaspoons of sugar. So, if you have a can of cold drink, your sugar requirement is done for the day. You can't have tea, sweets, and all those processed foods.  If you cross the limit, you are increasing your chance of dying from heart disease . Excess sugar accumulates to develop obesity, diabetes, impaired immune system, tooth decay, etc.

Many people move to towns and cities with the hope of an easier life. One of the big aspirations is that one day; they will finally have a place called home. But with each grinding day, they realize that life isn’t moving forward fast enough. Each month brings its own unforeseen and uncalculated expenditures which makes saving for a home so very difficult. Also the price of land and construction materials are shooting up, much faster than the increase of their incomes. So, they stay on in a rented house, with no sense of belonging and a kind of dying-longing for the dream home.  Not so for certain people. They simply receive it in a platter. There is no longing, planning and developing of a home. Dads and Moms do that job for them. They simply inherit a home.  Still some people think that the universe is their home. So, wherever they may be, in a foreign land or in a rented house, they do not feel that they do not belong there. Even in a foreign pagan city, they see...

For tomorrow's newspaper: World Cancer Day Today is World Cancer Day. It is a day for the world to unite in the fight against cancer. This year, it is being observed under the tagline ‘Not beyond us’, which means to say that we should not lose hope but fight cancer positively. It is to highlight that we have the resources and they are within our reach. 8.2 million people die from cancer every year worldwide and 4 million of them die prematurely (aged 30-69 years). The estimated prevalence rate of cancer in Nagaland is 4353 cases in 2013 and 4307 cases in 2012, as per data provided by ICMR. 709 cancer deaths were reported in the State in 2013. It is estimated that 90% of the oral cancers are due to tobacco. Another study in 2009 estimated that 57% of adults in Nagaland are current users of tobacco. According to District Level Household and Facility Survey IV (DLHS IV) which was released recently, 64% of men and 34.5% of women in Nagaland use smokeless tobacco. 35% of men and ...