Guavas: A poor man’s superfood

Guavas which are considered a poor man’s fruit are so incredibly rich in nutrients that they can be termed ‘superfood’. This round or pear shaped low calorie fruit is a treasure trove which contains high doses of soluble dietary fibre, Vitamin C almost four times that of an orange, Vitamin A, E, and K, B-complex, antioxidants, iron, pectin, folic acid, dietary minerals, manganese, potassium, copper, flavonoids, magnesium and carotenoids. 

 Some of the reported health benefits of guavas are:

- anti-aging, prevents cancers, and boosts immunity

- blood pressure regulation

- good for healthy thyroid

- helps to relax nerves and muscles

- can promote fertility

- reduces risk of diabetes

- good for the eyes

- good for the skin

- fights coughs and colds

- weight reducing food

- prevents constipation

- makes the brain work better.

There are many varieties of Guavas. They grow wild and are also commercially cultivated in many tropical countries. Not only the fruit but the leaves and bark of the plant have also been used in folk medicine from ancient times. Modern research is taking a deeper look into these.

The scientific name of guava is psidium guajava. It belongs to the psidium genus of the Myrtaceae family.

Eat guavas whenever you can and keep the doctor away.

Given below are some photos relating to guavas. Click on them to enlarge. The second last picture was taken by me at Olavipe. The rest are from Wikimedia Commons.

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Related post:

Was health providing pomegranate the fruit in Paradise lost?

The Great Indian Tennis Mess

The All India Tennis Association (AITA) genuinely desired scenes like the one depicted below at the London Olympic Games.

(Photo from Wikimedia Commons. Click to enlarge.)

The original decision was to field only one men’s doubles team consisting of Paes and Bhupathi, ranked 7 and 14 respectively. Perhaps it would have been better to have Bopanna (ranked 12) partner Paes. They have played together in the Davis Cup.

But arrogant, well-connected players and politicians who should be having better things to do forced the AITA to keep on changing their decisions. Instead of taking a stand, the Association succumbed. Bopanna and Bhupathi would team up. Leander Paes, India’s No.1 is to play with 207 ranked Vishnu Vardhan.

The poor selectors of AITA did not know that their job had been done several months ago by Bhupathi and Bopanna. According statements of those players, they had decided to represent India at 2012 Olympics and had put in a lot of effort. Neither of them could qualify individually is another matter. Both refused to partner Paes, the only Indian to individually qualify. They defied the AITA selection, and politicians got into the act.

The Association said sending Leander to the Olympics partnering a youngster without Grand Slam experience was meaningless. Paes also said that he would play with a lower ranked player only if Bhupathi and Bopanna refused to partner him and opted out of the Olympics. But AITA had to do a summersault. The revolting players won. The word ‘discipline’ is not in the dictionary for some.

Bhupathi, even with 12 Grand Slams in his pocket, does not have the iconic stature of Leander Paes in Indian tennis. The performance of Paes has been outstanding in both ATP and Davis Cup in which he holds the ‘world record of third highest all time matches’ (quote from AITA President).

Why can’t Bhupathi forget whatever problems he has with his former partner and play with him once again for India to win a Gold Medal at the London Olympics? That would have meant two medals for Leander (he had won a bronze at the Atlanta Olympics) against Bhupathi’s one.

Incidentally, the current ATP ranking the top three players is:

           Paes. Rank 7, points 6,245 from 19 tournaments

           Bopanna. Rank 13, points 4,405 from 27 tournaments

           Bhupathi. Rank 15, points 4,330 from 24 tournaments. 

Bopanna and Bhupathi have slipped down one point each from their rankings on the Olympics qualification cut off date. But what do all these mean in Indian Tennis.

According to The Hindu (Cochin ed. June 22) the President of the AITA says that the Association agrees that the present decision is unfair to India’s No.1 and World No.7 player and that Leander Paes has been driven to the wall. The President also praises the ‘most patriotic’ Leander's selfless service to Indian tennis for 25 years.

I suggest that Leander Paes should frame the above mentioned statement in gold and keep it among his souvenirs.

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Colours & Styles – Indian female attire

The top one 'YOUNG WOMAN' is by Raja Ravi Varma.

All pictures from Wikimedia Commons.

There was a stream by my school

On every visit to our tharavad house I pass by my first school, at Palli Veli. That happens quite often. But I hardly notice the church owned institution consciously while driving by. You know, just another building, a different scene, en route.  

But last week it was different for no apparent reason. Seventy years is a long time in human life, but not for a church. I stopped by the beautiful church that has just been built near the school. I remember the construction of the old church when I was a boy. That structure is still there, in apparently good condition. I can’t help wondering why a new prayer house became necessary and how much money was spent for it. But that was a passing thought.

It was the school that was in my mind. Mr. Narayanan Nair was the Headmaster when I joined the institution. It had two buildings. The long one was north-south and the other east-west. Both were thatched with pleated dry coconut leaves. For some reason Class I was in the middle of the main building. Class II was at the South end and Class IV in the north. The other building housed Class III. The logic behind this arrangement is still difficult to understand.

Would you believe that I was admitted to Class II because for some reason I did not like the teacher of Class I? Such things could happen those days – the Feudal Era, before World War II.

The region around the school was topped with white, loose sand. In fact the central part of Pallippuram Island where the school is situated was almost desert-like.  There were quite a few sand dunes. Some were pretty large. It was fun running up one of them and rolling down. A couple of times I have taken my children (grown up people now) on such excursions on moonlit nights. They loved it. 

The school didn’t have many trees around it. If I remember right, all that grew there were three cashew nut trees and one tamarind. Now the desert like areas of Pallippuram Island has changed as the photo below from Wikimedia Commons shows:

 

The greening of the region started with the locals and those who moved in planting coconut trees. Then the sand was mined deep enough in certain locations to enable paddy cultivation. Sand dunes were also leveled to build houses to accommodate the increasing population. It is hard to believe now that the place was once our little Sahara.

Where did all the sand go? In the beginning people just took away the earth to fill low lying areas. In fact that was the main use. The white sand was also periodically spread to beatify courtyards of large houses. Then, with the discovery that the sand contained silica, the manufacture of bricks and glass started. Today Pallippuram sand is a controlled item. It is almost impossible to get even a truck load for private use.

Oh, I nearly forgot the stream.

Between the school and the nearby church the land sloped gently to a small stream. Really a trickle, less than three feet wide and water level below one foot. I don’t know where it started but it came from north-east of the school, bent right and after a short distance turned left and flowed to a canal far to the south. The water was absolutely clear. One could even watch the tiny fish moving in the creek. They were not big enough to catch though.

The stream suddenly became a sports area. Some boys started making paper boats and racing them during lunch break. I was not aware at that time that many of the boys those days were poor and had no noon meal. That realization came to me only recently. (Please see A 100 years old school sustains the memory of Sree Moolam Thirunal Maharaja)

We, my cousins and me, used to have food brought from home and eat at the Vicar’s dining room. We sometimes joined the sailing game after that. But the amusement slowly faded away. The other boys probably could not get enough paper to make boats everyday. Another reason was the lack of excitement in the competition. There was no skill involved. All that one was permitted to do was to blow merely to free the vessels that got stuck on the growths in the stream and not to speed them in the race.

Then someone came up with a thrilling idea. The World War II had started and there were several stories going around about naval engagements between Brittan and Germany. Why not divide our paper boats to two fleets? Throw stones from the shore at the floating armadas and sink the vessels. The side with more surviving boats wins the battle.

What quashed this war idea was the lack of ammunition. In the white sand there were hardly any pellets or stones. All that one could occasionally find was a clam shell.

The potential admirals shifted to other run of the mill games. I wonder how many of them are alive now. But currently the place, Palli Veli, is a booming junction. The school has new buildings now, but in the same pattern. Wonder whether the Class II room in which I started my formal education is still at the south end.

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Recently I read somewhere ‘Put the words “SAVE NOSTALGIA” in the message box'. That prompted this post.

ATMs go through the motions, but money doesn’t come

Yesterday morning I left home planning to buy some odds and ends and then have lunch at my Club. I didn’t have much money on hand but that was no problem because I was carrying the ATM card – insert it in the dispenser and presto, you get money.

Well, it didn’t work out that way on May 2, 2012 at Cochin.

The first ATM I went to was closed. That was no bother because there are so many such outlets in the area. I went to the next one. It was a new machine I was not used to. But everything worked perfectly except for one snag – no money or printed receipt came out but there was a message thanking me for using the facility. I tried again and the result was the same.

The que behind me was getting restless. I quickly got out and went to another ATM. All the procedures were right at that one too, but still there was no money in spite of a repeat operation. I met the manager of the bank and he was kind enough to send a staff member with me presumably to show me how to operate an ATM. That didn’t work either – I mean that the money was not dispensed.

Now I was stuck with a major worry. All the five times that my card was used the Teller Machine had displayed the appropriate procedures. Did it mean that every time I tried and got the ‘Thank you’ message the amount entered was being debited in my account? The bank staff that was sent to help me had no answer. The crowd that had gathered by then – ATM users and others – had different views.

I rushed to my bank and met the Manager. In a minute he confirmed that no money had been drawn on my card that morning and that the balance in my account was safe. According to him the problem might have been caused by some Network malfunctioning. Can’t they have a foolproof system?

I find two morals to this incident: (1) May be, one rupee in hand is worth two in the ATM, and, (2) Money at ATM is better than lunch at the Club.

Please also see:

ATM Service

Personal Banking: Inefficient ATMs, vanishing ATMs

Shortchanged by ATM? Here’s what to do.

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Sorry, Mr. Grasshopper, the beer's over

Photos by me from Olavipe.

Copyright Reserved.

Agni V and a riddle

In July 2009, shortly after Dr. Tessy Thomas was appointed as Director of Agni V Project, I had written about it under the title Tessy Thomas: A star of space science. That had a fairly good readership. With the recent successful trial of Agni V missile, the interest in this piece has revived. I am getting quite a few visitors.

Two days back, on April 22, I got two comments – one through the blog and the other by email. One is from a visitor who has given his name in his comment which I have included in my post. The other is from an internationally known Europe based economist and author. Both are quoted below.

The first is: “I think enough is enough. We are all indians. Do not discriminate any community or the person as our ancestors from all community contributed in building united India and fought for our Independence. A success in any field of India is our success and in the field of Science & Technology or any other field as the case may be, collective contribution is led to the ultimate results and success. But the only difference is here that those who are led from the front is got more applauds than the people worked behind the screen. But their contributions also very well appreciated by the entire scientific community of india. This very fact well known to the scientific community of india but not necessary to the general public.”

The second one reads: “I have been closely following the news about Agni V and about the (deliberately?) low-profile scientists associated with it, particularly Dr. Tessy Thomas. The world laughed about India messing up the organization of the Commonwealth games, but have shown awe and admiration for the research, engineering, organization, and the capability shown in the Agni-launch. Knowledgeable people abroad of course know that there are 'two Indias'. And it should be also said that most countries, especially the Western Democracies have shown a lot of goodwill towards India's defence developments. Probably no other country could have got away without questions and criticism if a missile launch of this kind was carried out.

Thanks very much for the piece on Dr. Tessy Thomas.”

Can you guess which visitor wrote what comment? And what do you think of the points that these two have brought up?