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....

As we enter New Delhi, it's a land of towering Five Star hotels, government institutions & residences. But, whenever we pass through the roads of the National capital, one can never miss a panoramic view of huge landfills & massive sight of more than 100 feet tall Garbage Mountains of the decaying trash having an acrid smell and obnoxious gases coming out of it. ''On September 1, 2017, two people died and five people were injured in East Delhi after a large part of the Ghazipur landfill — which should have been closed 15 years ago — collapsed in the afternoon of 2 nd September, sweeping several people on a road nearby into a canal. Heaps of garbage dropped into the Kondli canal running alongside the landfill, creating a giant wave of slushy water that hit the road next to the canal. It washed away four vehicles -an Accent car, a scooty and two bikes -which fell into a drain on the other side of the road.'' This was an extremely unfortunate incident...

Joblessness is the condition of unemployment or not having a job, often referred to as being "out of work". Not having a job is the most difficult situation of life for any individual which makes it impossible to meet financial liabilities and obligations for daily needs and survival of the family. Joblessness is a major social issue in India. This becomes the main cause of malnutrition and illness, and major sources of mental stress and depression , which may have further negative impact on the health . The rate of unemployment changes with the change in the economy. In the 80s, India was going through a major unemployment and then it little recovered in the 90s. The boom in Indian economy was seen after the advent of BPO(Business Processing Outsourcing) and IT (Information technology).  The BPO industry employed many graduates who were otherwise would have been unemployed due to tough competition. IT industry also employed a huge number of people. But it seems now t...

India has seen ups and downs throughout its long history stretching beyond 5000 years. For thousands of years, India has had a common culture no matter which empire ruled and which empire fell. Mauryas, Satvahanas, Kushans, Guptas, Palas, Mughals, Marathas, the British Raj and finally Sardar Patel kept rebuilding the pieces after everything fell apart.  Lots of people with a limited knowledge of India predicted that the nation would fall apart easily. They have very little clue of the very strong binding forces that underpin India. There instead came a time during the 1940’s that a few historians and a strong ground in believing that the partition would not be a solution and ultimately the nation will dissolve.  As late as 1991, New York Times penned editorials about the impending collapse of India.              Why India's Unity Matters  |Pity India...  Indian disunion would be a calamity for huma...