HIGHWAY ROBBERY
BSNL cables worth Rs 90 lakh which were lying on the roads to be put between the fire station and Caculo Mall were stolen in an obnoxious case of day light robbery. It is suspected that department of the telephone exchange must have been involved in the theft of the cables. It is of course quite possible that private network companies planning to introduce 5Gh have taken away the cables.
PUJA OR NO PUJA NEAR IDGAH?
WE have received this news that due to the high level of tension in Bangalore, the Supreme Court has directed that no Ganesh puja will be conducted near an Idgah in Bangalore. But permission was given later! The disputed Idgah maidan in Bangalore, at Chamarajpet, has become very controversial during its usage during Ganesh festival. However, this year in Bangalore or Bengaluru there is a world record broken with rains pouring and flooding low-lying built up areas – in short, Bengaluru has turned into a water world. Overnight torrential rains have turned the outer ring road into a river and this is where all the IT companies are located. News comes that citizens are using boats to get home in the city.
SENIOR CITIZENS DANCE!
SENIORS are really breaking records. A senior health care and nursing company in Goa has set a world record by bringing together a large gathering of 436 senior citizens to dance at the Indoor Stadium Peddem at Mapusa – on the occasion of World Seniors Citizens Day on August 21. The participants wore traditional costumes and danced away to Goan folk songs.
STREET PROVIDENCE FREE PHYSIO
THE Street Providence Trust is an NGO, registered with the government of Goa since December 2017 and registered with the Social Welfare Department, government of Goa. Its mission is “Ending hunger and homelessness” in Goa. Currently, they are running eight free shelter homes across the state to rehabilitate homeless men and women from the streets.
In addition the Street Providence Trust has installed 13 refrigerators stocked with a steady supply of excess freshly made food from hotels, eateries, bakeries, etc. The food goes towards feeding the poor and needy and they may access the food on their own. It is free food.
In a new development the Trust inaugurated a free physiotherapy clinic on Aug 22, 2022 and this is situated at House No 169, Bella Vista Vaddo, Near Lightening Club/Union Bank/ Sangolda Panchayat, Sangolda, Bardez, Goa. Minister for Social Welfare, River Navigation, Archives & Archaeology Subhash Phal Dessai was the chief guest for the inauguration. Street Providence hopes to open two more freephysiotherapy clinics in north and south Goa for the benefit of patients with mobility problems and in need of rehabilitation through physiotherapy sessions but can’t afford it. For further details go to https://goo.gl/maps/DydMwe39zskz7KNU9
Needless to say the physiotherapy clinics have received support from the medical fraternity in Goa and numerous benefactors. Providing a range of free medical services is the next goal of the NGO which has come a long way from just rescuing destitute people from the streets.
APP FOR DEMENTIA PATIENTS!
IT’S increasingly a world of apps and videos with more and more inventions to make life easier to live even for the elderly! In this case the inventor is 12-year-old Viraj Marathe along with help from Janhavee Joshi who has built an app to help dementia patients keep track of their life. Believe it or not. This AgeCare app, which won keen interest at the Smart India Hackathon, can actually help dementia patients to “slow down” dementia.
Both the students were at a felicitation function to get a pat from Chief Minister Pramod Sawant and IT Minister Rohan Khaunte on August 25, 2022 at the Paryatan Bhavan at Patto in Panaji. Responding to a query, Viraj said both his parents are doctors, his mother Dr Rajeshree a radiologist. His father is Dr Vishwanath and has his own clinic.
Interestingly, it was a chance conversation between his parents at the dining table about a dementia patient that got him thinking about designing an app like AgeCare to help dementia patients. He had designed other apps before because he has been crazy about robotics very early in life!
From the sound of it the new app is a very useful app with two parts, one for the patient and another for the caregiver if there is one. Viraj along Janhavee are students of the Dr K B Hedgewar Vidyamandir in Karapur, Sanquelim and they got a lot of help from their teachers and blessings from their parents. As a matter of fact the app had been submitted as an entry at the Smart India Hackathon 2022 and so impressed were the judges that the app got a fifth placing in the junior category.
It also gave Viraj the thrilling opportunity to talk to Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a video conference, explaining the key application features of AgeCare and answering the PM’s questions. He told the PM that India has four million patients with some form of dementia and the app has gaming inputs which can help a dementia patient locate missing keys or be reminded about medicines to be taken and more. The app has been created to redresses dementia symptoms affecting memory, thinking and social abilities.
Asked if the app will be marketed and cost, Viraj shrugged, “No, we are thinking marketing yet.” But he hopes to further pursue a software diploma course and another web development masters course. He added that the dementia app is currently very minimalistic and simple and light, this means it does not use too much “RAM and CPU power.” Yes, the app also has yoga module defining yogasana which are useful for the elderly. His has previously created apps like EduRoot to making learning simple for young children.
EATING IN THE 50s!
OUR friend, the feisty and no nonsense Libby Lobo Sardesai (who with her husband Vaman Sardesai started an underground radio to end press censorship in Portuguese colonized Goa), has sent us this hilarious take on changing trends in food perception…enjoy and laugh out loud! We believe that Libby is all of 95 years old today.
–When we were eating in the 50s pasta was not eaten in Australia.
–Curry was a surname.
–A takeaway was a mathematical problem.
–A pizza was something to do with a leaning tower.
–All potato chips were plain, the only choice we had was whether to put the salt on or not.
–Rice was often eaten as a milk pudding.
–Calamari was called squid and we used it as fish bait.
–A Big Mac was what we wore when it was raining.
–Brown bread was something only poor people ate.
–Oil was for lubricating, fat was for cooking.
–Tea was made in a teapot using tea leaves and never green.
–Sugar enjoyed a good press in those days, and was regarded as being white gold.
–Cubed sugar was regarded as posh.
–Fish didn’t have fingers in those days.
–Eating raw fish was called poverty, not sushi.
–None of us had ever heard of yoghurt.
–Healthy food consisted of anything edible.
–People who didn’t peel potatoes were regarded as lazy.
–Indian restaurants were only found in India.
–Cooking outside was called camping.
–Seaweed was not a recognised food.
–Prunes were medicinal.
–Surprisingly, muesli was readily available, it was called cattle feed.
–Water came out of the tap. If someone had suggested bottling it and charging more than petrol for it, they would have become a laughing stock!
–The one thing that we never ever had on our table in the fifties were…elbows or phones.
So who is having the last laugh?