Raghav's blogs

Water is a basic necessity, and an important resource for sustaining life. The decline in water quality endangers the health of humans as well as the ecosystem. Clean drinking water, hygiene, and sanitation play a vital part in maintaining health.  Contaminated water causes many water-borne infections like diarrhoea, and also serves as a carrier for vectors such as mosquitoes spreading epidemics. Open defecation means no sanitation. It fouls the environment, and spreads diseases. According to WHO-UNICEF report (2010), India has the highest rate of open defecation . Access to safe drinking water and good sanitation are essential for family well-being. It results in control of enteric diseases, and boosts child health. A healthy child has better learning and retaining ability. Girls avoid going to school where there are no proper sanitation measures. Sanitation makes a positive contribution in family literacy. According to a UNICEF study, for every 10 per cent i...

Watch is actually a timepiece which allows us to be updated with the time. The first model of watch used to work with the sun. The time was measured according to the movement of sun. Later it was developed in a better way and this invention remained in move. As a result millions of models or variety of watches are present in today’s market. With most of us using smartphones these days, you might think wrist watches or clocks are a little old fashioned, since checking your phone every 2 seconds makes you aware of the time anyway.  But, there’s still a certain classiness to wearing a watch. If we look at the recent trend of ‘smartwatches’ they made it look like a wrist watch. It’s because a wrist watch is one of the classiest accessories you can own and has been for centuries. I remember very well the times when I was small and used to get a sense of amazement when I looked at my parents, teachers and other grown ups looking at their watches. Since, those times only I’ve be...

There may have been a good many things Spielberg couldn't show in Schlinder's List, for obvious reasons, like the fact that neither he nor his audience could take them. But the most important omission lies in the absence of the pyrotechnical wizardry that's made him the most consistently popular film-maker in the world. The film is in black and white, and there is no obvious flamboyance whatsoever. Many of the shots are hand-held and, though totally professional. This is the film with which Spielberg ceases to be the supreme entertainer and tries for another, tougher kind of glory. Spielberg has never manipulated us less. If there's no such thing as a film which fails consciously to shape what we see, at least Schlinder's List is a great deal nearer to it than most Hollywood films. Though a great work, the flatness of expression can sometimes make three hours plus seem a very long time in the cinema. Since it has been called a masterpiece so often alre...

British humor is often hard to grasp for Indians, with their references and rambling. But  Jerome K. Jerome  hits the nail on the head with ‘T hree Men In A Boat ‘ and brings out British absurdities and traditions in a comic way .  Three Men in a Boat(To say nothing of the Dog) embarks on a journey of three friends Jerome( referred to as J in the novel), Harris and George on the river Thames as a retreat to their monotonous routine and hypochondriac nature. The novel starts with a scene where the three friends are discussing their anxiety over their sicknesses. The three of them consider themselves to be hypochondriacs. The men decide that a vacation will be a good retreat for their health, and after some deliberating, they decide to spend a week rowing up the Thames with their dog,  Montmorency . Although the novel also has portions where various cities residing on the river Thames have been described and thus also acts as a travelogue....