| New Age resorts are offering wellness at a price, says Susmita Saha | ||||||||||||||
It's a vacation for the soul for spiritual junkies. At Swaswara by the impossibly beautiful Gokarna beaches in Karnataka, you can have a holiday with a difference. Start the day with a round of Yoga followed by an Ayurvedic massage and end it with a walk along the beach at sunset. In between, dine on fresh vegetables grown on the grounds of the resort and fish caught in the nearby sea. "Swaswara is a sanctuary for the self. Thus, it's another way for holidaying. You take back from the holiday a renewed self," says Jose Dominic, managing director and CEO, CGH Earth, which owns Swaswara. Alternatively, stop off at Shreyas Retreat one of the most extravagant wellness retreats in Bangalore which offers customised Yoga programmes for a mix of Indians and foreigners in search of a soothing spiritual getaway. "A luxurious spiritual holiday is the only way to gently awaken newbies to the power of Indian wellness," says Nidhi Sood, vice president, marketing and business development, Shreyas Retreat. Do you return from your vacations more tired than when you set off on holiday? Perhaps it's time to add a dose of spirituality and wellness treatments to the holiday mix.
That's what's on offer at a clutch of New Age retreats that promise restful and soothing 'far from the madding crowd' surroundings combined with health-giving Yoga, Ayurveda and even customised diets. At Swaswara, for instance, everything has been designed to help the jaded and burnt out attain holiday nirvana. You can go for walks through the 26 acres of lush rolling hills, aromatic spice gardens, vegetable patches and emerald green paddy fields. Nestled amidst all this are 24 luxury villas designed in the Konkan style where you can indulge in some serious pranayam and meditation followed by relaxing de-stressing massages at the Ayurveda centre. Putting Kerala on the wellness map is Neeleshwar Hermitage that's been ranked among top 10 eco hotels by Vogue this year. Located on the Malabar Coast, there's a choice of cottages that look out to the sea and others that look out onto the gardens of the resort. "A wellness holiday needs a peaceful setting and beautiful surroundings to have the best results," says Alistair Shearer, director, cultural programmes at Neeleshwar Hermitage. These wellness holiday resorts do their best to create a cocoon of calmness, away from the hustle and bustle of everyday life. Take, for instance, the 42-acre Oneness University, a lifestyle and relationship management outfit that's located at Varadepaliah (80km north of Chennai). With the who's who of Bollywood in attendance at the retreat, there are plush living arrangements against the backdrop of the Velikonda hills. The sumptuous interiors are appointed with luxury fittings and chic furniture. Even Ananda in the Himalayas, an upscale resort that combines Yoga, meditation and Ayurveda, is located in the pristine surroundings of Tehri Garhwal district so that it can escape the stressful trappings of city life. The property is built around a Maharaja's palace estate and includes a restored Viceroy's palace too. More character is added by way of an amphitheatre, Yoga pavilions and a host of alfresco fine dining options.
But get this straight. The new get-away-from-it-all holidaymakers may want to invigorate their mind but they aren't ready to let their creature comforts slip away. Quite the contrary. They want luxury to be the name of the holiday game. So on offer at Shreyas Retreat are luxury garden cottages that come attached with a tented canopy or a poolside cottage, both of which lead to the chic open air Yoga pavilion. At this lavish haunt, the spoilt wellness addict can swim in an infinity-edge lap pool where the temperature is always controlled between 25°C and 30°C. "The idea was to provide a space with access to authentic spiritual tradition but in a comfortable and stylish environment," says Pawan Malik, a former investment banker who's the man behind Shreyas. At some places, cutting-edge architecture is also a part of the deal. Take the International Art of Living Centre in Bangalore which is wooing soul-seekers with its five-tiered, thousand-petalled lotus-shaped building called Vishalakshi Mantap. Art of Living Courses, satsangs (religious discourse sess-ions) and international conferences are hosted at this picturesque venue, conceived and designed by Sri Sri Ravi Shankar. Activities Along with accommodation, a packed activity schedule spices up your wellness routine. Swaswara, for instance, helps you to get your spiritual act together at the crack of dawn with chanting and meditation followed by a host of customised therapies that address particular ailments. "People are beginning to travel for insights and not just for sights. They want to spend time on and for themselves. A holiday has become a pilgrimage for the self," says Dominic.
There's a mix of asanas and even a 14-day Panchakarma Package (five different procedures used in Ayurveda). "It's all about rejuvenation and finding your inner self," says Ginette Proust, a Frenchman who stayed at Swaswara and who's now sold on Ayurveda as a way of life. Neeleshwar too adds a dash of variety to its wellness programmes with naturopathic treatments like hydrotherapy, acupuncture, colour therapy, magnetotherapy and mud therapy. "Our 10 or 14 day stress-busting packages are currently the most popular," says Shearer. Also, some of the retreats have figured out, programmes on relationship management and personal growth are the need of the hour. Oneness University has a special foundation course titled Breakthrough that addresses these issues. "It is a place where you will get all your questions answered," says actress Shilpa Shetty, one of the celebs who makes it a point to stop by at the resort. Other celebs who've taken a break here include Hrithik Roshan, Manisha Koirala, Rick Allen and Donna Karan. As they devise new routines to keep their patrons hooked, the retreats are clear that every regimen has to be custom-made to maintain exclusivity. Shreyas has customised Hatha Yoga and Ashtanga Vinyasa sessions. "You can't divorce pampering from wellness in this day and age," says Babita Thakur, who heads an asset management company and is a spiritual retreat convert. For those looking at a complete spiritual overhaul along with a bit of do-gooding, some resorts offer the opportunity to interact with and teach local village kids. Alternatively, holidaymakers can spend their time serving local communities around the resorts. "A wellness holiday is about indulgence and letting your hair down. But it's also so much more. Shreyas arranged this special programme with children that realigned my focus on life," says Anna Louise Clegg, an Englishwoman who loved her wellness holiday in India. Wellness and getting away from everything are all very well, but holidaymakers need good food to spice up their vacation. The high-end spiritual getaways are going strong on luxe food too — but with a twist of wellness. So, at the International Art of Living Centre's Ashram Kitchen, Sattvic (vegetarian cuisine with no onion and garlic) is the way to go and most dishes are steamed. Only seasonal vegetables and homemade spices make the cut while briquettes (a mixture of sawdust, groundnut and coffee shells) are used as fuel. Even Ananda has rustled a 'rejuvenation cuisine' that follows Ayurvedic dietary principles taking into account individual body types, personality, response to stress, weather and even factors in the time of the year and your age. At Swaswara, the gastronomic experience is taken to the next level with Continental, Pan Asian cuisine and fusion fare. Innovation is key, and at the interactive kitchen, guests can even suggest recipes to the resident chefs. The star attraction on your culinary trail at Neeleshwar Hermitage is the beachside restaurant Meenakshi where you can actually sample the fresh early morning catch of the local fishermen. Prices As expected, spirituality is steeply priced when it comes with a luxury wrapping. Swaswara has on offer seven-day packages priced at Rs 1.2 lakh excluding taxes for double occupancy. However, there are slightly reduced rates on offer till September 30 next year. Rates at Neeleshwar Hermitage are even steeper and are around Rs 2.1 lakh for double occupancy in a deluxe sea-view cottage for a seven-day stress-busting package. For a garden or poolside cottage in Shreyas, the tariffs are Rs 13,000 and Rs 15,000 per day for single and double occupancy, respectively. Ananda is definitely on the higher side of the price spectrum as the tariff for a two-bedroom villa with pool for both single and double occupancy at this retreat is priced at Rs 75,000 per day. In this bouquet of spiritual bounty, Oneness University has its uniqueness going by charging just Rs 3,150 for special rooms per person per day but yes, donations are always welcome from well-wishers. Evidently, there's more on offer for the wellness junkie this season. So, go spiritual in style if you're ready to pick up the tab. |
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Deo-girl driver in custody | ||||||||
| A STAFF REPORTER | ||||||||
The driver of the A-Star in which Chandrima Gupta hitched a horror ride was arrested on Friday after police traced his employer by listing cars with variations of the registration number she had given. Md Munir, 22, confessed to snatching two cellphones and a couple of gold rings from law student Chandrima on Monday but denied that there was a second woman passenger in the blue A-Star owned by an advocate from Santoshpur. He also contradicted her statement that she sprayed deodorant in his eyes to escape, the police said. "We have recovered the stolen items but as of now there is no trace of the injured co-passenger from the complainant's version of the incident," said Damayanti Sen, the deputy commissioner of police in charge of the detective department. Investigators were on Munir's trail since Wednesday, when they confirmed that the registration number of the blue A-Star involved in the incident was "WB 06B 1459" and not "WB 06B 1456", as noted down by Chandrima.
"When someone is memorising a long number in a hurry, he or she is most likely to go wrong with the last digit. Once our search for WB 06B 1456 drew a blank, we substituted 6 with 9 and asked the public vehicles department to run a second check. It clicked," said an officer. The owner of the blue A-Star, Birendra Narayan Roy, told the police on Wednesday that driver Munir had not reported for duty since Tuesday. Investigators then went to Munir's Santoshpur house but didn't find him there either. "We spoke to several drivers in the area and came to know that he was last seen in Jadavpur. We finally found him on Friday afternoon," the officer said. Munir told interrogators that he had dropped his employer at Bikash Bhawan, Bidhannagar, on Monday morning and was returning to Santoshpur when he spotted Chandrima, 21, standing in front of AMRI Hospitals in Salt Lake. "She signalled for a lift and said 'Gariahat jaabo (I will go to Gariahat)' when I stopped. I opened the door and she hopped in," he said. So did he give her a lift with the intention of robbing her?
"I had no such plan until I glanced at the rear-view mirror and saw her taking out two cellphones from her bag. Greed got the better of me," Munir confessed to the police. The driver's version of what happened after that matches that of Chandrima except that she was the only passenger and that there was no scuffle. Munir said he did brandish a knife when he turned left from the Gariahat crossing and Chandrima started protesting, but he did not attempt to hurt her. "According to him, he didn't have to use force because she quietly handed him her cellphones and rings after seeing the knife. He claims to have allowed her to go after getting what he wanted," an investigator said. The driver claimed he did not take the Rs 20 that he found in her purse. "This contradicts Chandrima's version that she borrowed money from a stranger to return to her paying guest accommodation in Salt Lake," the officer said. Chandrima had lodged an FIR with Lake police station on Monday evening, several hours after the incident. The girl said a can of deodorant helped her escape from the clutches of the driver who "abducted, assaulted and robbed me along with another female passenger".
The third-year student of Hazra Law College said she sprayed deodorant in the driver's eyes and got off the A-Star on the Lake Gardens bridge, after which the car sped away with the other, "seriously injured" woman. A senior officer in Lalbazar said Chandrima may have made up portions of the story to convince her worried parents, who live at Halisahar in North 24-Parganas, that she did not get into a "shuttle car" which had no other passenger. Many women from Salt Lake are forced to hitch rides because of limited transport options. |
Class X split in 2012 |
| OUR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT |
| Students appearing for Madhyamik 2012 will only be tested on the basis of whatever they are taught in Class X, the bifurcation putting them on a par with the system followed by other popular boards. Mamata Ray, the president of the West Bengal Board of Secondary Education, said on Friday that the January to December academic session will be in place from 2012, but the exam will be held in February. For the sake of bifurcation, the syllabi in all the seven subjects taught in classes IX and X have been reorganised. "The overall content remains unchanged but certain adjustments have been made to divide topics between classes IX and X," said Ray. For instance, the chapter on light in physical science now taught only in Class IX will be divided in two parts. The rejig of chapters applies to students who will be in Class IX in 2010 and 2011. According to officials, the new bifurcated course will put less pressure on students appearing for the Class IX exam. "A number of topics which are now taught in Class IX will be incorporated into the Class X syllabi," they said. But would that not put an extra burden on Class X students and defeat the purpose of the bifurcation? "They are not likely to be overburdened with the increased syllabi as they will get more time to prepare for the board exam compared to what they are getting now," an official said. Once the January to December academic session is in place, the teaching duration will increase from 18 weeks to 29 weeks. According to Ray, an overhaul of the Madhyamik syllabi, including its content, is also underway. This revision is meant for Class IX students from 2012. "The overhaul aims at restructuring the Madhyamik syllabi in tune with the changes suggested by the Centre. Expert committees comprising senior teachers of schools, colleges and universities have been set up to decide the changes in all the subjects," said Ray. The revised syllabi will be implemented in 2012. "But we need to complete the overhaul with time to spare as the textbooks will have to be re-written," a board official said. |
Sun, Sun, here we come | ||||||
| In the next few weeks, the government will embark on one of the most ambitious solar power programmes in the world. In the works is a revolution that will include solar power farms and cheaper solar lanterns. The sun power surge will affect all our lives, forecasts T.V. Jayan | ||||||
It's a nice house with split levels, a sprawling lawn and an exposed brick façade. Yet you are reluctant to move into Gurgaon, despite all that the house — built after years of planning — has to offer. The problem, you know, is the erratic electric supply in the Delhi suburb. Just how will you cope with hours of outages which overwhelm the best of inverters? Don't worry — Manmohan Singh is looking into the problem. If all goes well, you may have, some years from now, solar power in your house that will take care of all your electricity woes. The government is all set to announce its National Solar Mission — an ambitious project that seeks to convert sunshine into energy. "It will be a game changer," says R.K. Pachauri, who heads the Geneva-based International Panel on Climate Change. For years, the government has been hard selling solar energy, tomtomming the effects of photovoltaic cells that harness sun rays. But even though the government subsidised the prices, a solar panel that turned cold water into hot, or cooked your rice and dal, still cost considerably more than a geyser or an oven. It came for anything between Rs 13,500 and Rs 18,500. If the mission works, the cost of generating solar electricity will come down to the level of electricity generated from coal, which costs Rs 4-5 per unit. Currently, the cost of producing one unit of solar power varies between Rs 13 and Rs 17. This is expected to drop to a third of the sum because of technology changes. More volume would also mean a lower price.
In the near future, huge solar farms spread over acres will come up — making solar energy commercially viable and therefore more popular. The grid-connected solar farms will produce electricity the way thermal or hydro power does. Experts believe that solar power is one way of meeting India's peak demand shortfall of 12 per cent. Not surprisingly, big and local efforts are all geared towards turning solar energy into electricity. For instance, Pachauri's organisation, The Energy Research Institute, is spearheading a campaign called Lighting a Billion Lives. The New Delhi-based group is working closely with photovoltaic companies to design and manufacture solar lanterns which can replace kerosene lamps in rural India. Or take Yatendra Prasad Bhadola's Aryavart Gramin Bank in Lucknow. In less than three years, the bank, where Bhadola is a senior manager, financed 27,000 standalone solar home lighting systems in six districts of Uttar Pradesh. The bank bargained hard with India's leading supplier of photovoltaic products — Tata BP Solar — to reduce the price of the cells to make the lights more affordable. For Rs 13,000-15,000, a customer can buy a solar home lighting system that will provide lights for 4-8 hours, and support a fan and/or a small black-and-white television set in an area where there is no electricity or inadequate electricity. If maintained well, it can run for 20 years. Bhadola, who is in charge of solar home lighting loans, points out that the monthly loan repayment of Rs 245 (for five years) is less than the price of eight litres of kerosene (Rs 272) that an average household uses in the village. And after five years, there are no costs at all. In neighbouring Bihar, Rajeev Sahi and his colleagues at the Patna Solar Centre are much in demand. Before a wedding, they are drafted in to erect a rooftop photovoltaic system in the groom's house — a gift from the bride's family. "It is a very popular practice among the rich in villages where electricity hasn't reached," says Sahi, who has installed hundreds of such systems in Bihar villages which can power a couple of low-consumption lamps, fans and a B&W television set. But the government plans go beyond all this. The mission, divided into three phases, envisages that India will produce 20,000 Megawatt (MW) of electricity from solar energy by 2020, which is about 1/8th of India's present power generation capacity. That will be five times more than the capacity of Germany, which is the world's leading solar energy producer today. Currently, the total solar energy capacity in India is a mere 160 MW. The plans are to use solar energy to power a series of houses or localities or even cities with the help of a grid. Right now, there is only one solar plant feeding electricity to a grid in India — and that's in Asansol in West Bengal. The West Bengal Green Energy Development Corporation (WBGEDC) set up the Rs 40-crore 2-MW plant earlier this year. It began feeding the local grid on August 20, says its managing director, S.P. Gon Chaudhuri. Clearly, the journey from 2 MW to 20,000 MW in less than 11 years is an ambitious one. The mission, says M. Bhargava, director of the solar photovoltaic division in the ministry of new and renewable energy in New Delhi, marks a paradigm shift in the way India has looked at solar power till now. "Vast areas in the country's sunny belt, particularly in Rajasthan, Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh, will witness the coming up of solar farms with megawatt capacities. The main focus in areas where the sky remains cloudy and overcast for a good part of a year will be solar heating systems," Bhargava says. Meanwhile, states are unfurling solar energy plans too. Gujarat has said it will generate 500 MW of solar power by 2014. Andhra Pradesh has set up a city on the outskirts of Hyderabad with private partnership for solar energy. WBGEDC says projects for generating 37 MW of solar electricity will be commissioned in West Bengal by 2012. By the end of 2010, two solar power plants, each with a 6 MW capacity, will come up in Purulia and Bankura in the state. These plants are being set up by Moser Baer and Videocon, two Indian companies that are diversifying into solar power sector. Once the mission, which is expected to cost Rs 92,000 crore over 30 years, gets underway, it will be mandatory for buildings such as hospitals, hotels and guest houses that occupy at least 500 square metres to deploy solar water heaters. All government and public sector undertakings of 500 square metres or more will have to install solar photovoltaic panels. The environmental benefits of going solar are humongous. According to the mission document, India's carbon dioxide emissions will come down from 1510 million tonnes to 1450 million tonnes annually if the mission is fully successful. India will also save 1.35 billion litres of kerosene and diesel every year once the plans get underway. This will mean a saving of Rs 4,000-4,500 crore annually. The mission is slated to be unveiled on November 14, the birth anniversary of India's first Prime Minister. The Prime Minister's media adviser Harish Khare holds that the PM's climate change task force has approved the mission "in principle". A member of the task force, who does not want to be named, however says the government hasn't placed the final document before the panel as yet. There are other problems. Gon Chaudhuri says that unlike other energy forms such as thermal, hydro and nuclear, solar power is not cent per cent predictable. A cloudy day may mean a drop in power generation. To counter this, safeguard measures have to be put into place, he says. For instance, a particular plant may produce less solar power when the sky is overcast. So the shortfall would have to be met by a plant in a different region. A system will have to be in place to ensure that power flows automatically from one regional grid to another as and when the requirement arises. Rajiv Arya, the CEO of Moser Baer, one of the largest memory disc makers in the world which started making photovoltaic systems a couple years ago, says if the solar mission gets under way there will be a huge jump in the demand for solar photovoltaic cells and modules. Moser Baer, which currently has the capacity to produce 40 MW solar cells and modules, hopes to increase its manufacturing capacity to 1,000 MW per annum in the near future, he says. Devin Narang, chairman and managing director of the Noida-based Freepaly Energy Group, which manufactures solar lanterns, says solar energy is at last getting due importance in India. Solar lanterns, which can be recharged daily, are low cost options for huts and homes that have no access to electricity, he stresses. The scope is enormous — nearly 400 million people in India do not have access to electricity, but only 5,500 solar lanterns are used in India today. "We have a long way to go," says Narang who is also the convenor of a technology forum created to improve the solar lantern technology. The journey is yet to begin. But it's time to make hay — or power — while the sun shines. Bengal Story 2009: ■ WBGEDC sets up country's first solar plant feeding electricity directly into a grid at Asansol. The plant has a capacity of 2 MW 2010: ■ 2 solar plants with capacities of 6 MW each to be set up in Purulia and Bankura by Moser Baer and Videocon 2012: ■ Projects for generating 37 MW of solar electricity will be commissioned alternative energy
Solar lantern ■ Capacity: 2.5 W — 3 W (one LED bulb is used) ■ Cost: Rs 2,200 for a no-frills model but with solar panel to charge the battery; Rs 3,500 for models with extra features like mobile charging facility ■ Hours of operation: 5-6 hours in full brightness mode. 7-8 hours in dimmer mode Solar Home Lighting system ■ Capacity: Lights for 4-8 hours+1fan+1 small B&W TV ■ Cost: Rs13,000-Rs15,000 OR EMI of Rs 245 for 5 years. No costs after that unlike using electricity or kerosene | ||||||
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Glare on below-50 mammography | |
| OUR BUREAU | |
New Delhi, Nov. 17: A US government task force has opposed routine mammography for women in their forties. It has recommended the breast cancer screening procedure only for women above 50 years once every two years — a practice followed in India but apparently coming under strain with the advent of new-age hospitals and overtreatment. The new recommendations (see chart), which do not apply to a small group of women with unusual risk factors for breast cancer, reverse longstanding US guidelines and are aimed at reducing harm from overtreatment, according to the US Preventive Task Force. While many women do not think a screening test can be harmful, medical experts say the risks are real. A test can trigger unnecessary further tests, like biopsies, that can create extreme anxiety. And mammograms can find cancers that grow so slowly that they never would be noticed in a woman's lifetime, resulting in unnecessary treatment. The American Cancer Society has challenged the new recommendations. But senior cancer specialists in India have sided with the task force, citing evidence of limited benefits from this breast cancer screening technique in women below 50. Some doctors have said the debate is relevant to India where the breast cancer incidence appears to be rising. They estimate that about 100,000 new breast cancer cases are diagnosed each year and 30,000 women die each year. Mammography is a technique that uses X-rays to examine the breasts which are compressed under a machine for uniform distribution of tissues which helps obtain sharp images. Probably because of increased awareness about breast cancer, more women in India are also now opting for mammography, which costs between Rs 1,000 and Rs 1,200 in Calcutta. Several women in their forties, especially mid-career professionals, go in for the test as part of their annual medical check-ups, a Calcutta-based hospital adminstrator said. "Mammography is becoming quite popular now as awareness of breast cancer spreads. Many women do it as a part of their annual health check-up. It is done in most of the major city hospitals," he said. But a doctor near Delhi said mammography was not yet "routine" in India. Others said some private hospitals do "gently persuade" women to take the test even when they were in their forties, although publicly most such establishments frown on below-50 mammograms. Charges of excessive tests as well as treatment are often levelled against some hospitals in India. The US task force has cited over-diagnosis among potential harms. If the screening procedure detects a slow-growing cancer that would otherwise not have caused symptoms during a woman's normal lifetime, she would be exposed without justification to the risks of treatment, including chemotherapy. A Canadian study published in 2002 had indicated "clear excess death rates" among mammography screened women in the 40-to-49 age group during the first four years after diagnosis. "The medical evidence for lack of benefit of mammography in women below 50 has been crystal clear for long," said Rajan Badwe, director of the Tata Memorial Hospital, Mumbai, who was not associated with the US analysis. The new US recommendations follow a large analysis of screening strategies, including cases in England and Sweden, that has shown that mammography in women between 50 and 74 helps reduces the breast cancer deaths much more than in women between 40 and 49. There is no evidence of mortality reducing benefits of mammography in women above 75 years. The findings, which appear today in the journal Annals of Internal Medicine, have political implications in the US where researchers worry the report will be interpreted as an effort by the Barack Obama administration to save money on healthcare costs. The American Cancer Society has said although mammography has "limitations" in women in their forties, these limitations do not change the fact that "screening for mammography starting at age 40 saves lives". Badwe and his colleagues at TMH, Mumbai, have for more than a decade cited research studies suggesting that mammography has a significant effect on reducing the number of deaths after early detection only in women above 50. "The US is the only country in the world where women in their forties still get routine mammography screening," Badwe said. "The availability of this technology may have contributed to its widespread promotion," he said. But some doctors caution there is not enough epidemiological data from India to determine the relevance of the new recommendation. "It is unfortunate, we don't really know the age range in which breast cancer incidence is highest in India," said Sidharth Sahni, a breast cancer surgeon at the Artemis Health Institute near Delhi. "Besides, mammography is not a routine screening technique in India — even among affluent sections," Sahni told The Telegraph . "We still need to build more awareness and introduce routine breast self examination," he said. | |
| WITH INPUTS FROM THE NEW YORK TIMES NEWS SERVICE | |
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Stem the clot | |
| Is stem cell therapy capable of treating stroke survivors? Prasun Chaudhuri finds out | |
After undergoing stem cell therapy for cerebral stroke at a German clinic, former cabinet minister Priya Ranjan Das Munshi is back in Delhi's Apollo Indraprastha Hospital. The dynamic Congress leader lies paralysed in the same room (No. 2608) to which he was admitted after he suffered a massive brain stroke more than a year ago. Although his brain has yet to show any signs of response to the therapy undergone at the X-cell Centre in Dusseldorf, the "miracle cure" has aroused hope in hundreds of such stroke survivors in the country. "It's very difficult to say if the therapy is going to work at all," says Dr Vinit Suri, consultant neurologist at Apollo. "Even if it does, the clinical signs won't be visible before two to three months." It's evident from Suri's tone that he's not too hopeful, as there is "little scientific data" on the efficacy of the treatment regimen. Das Munshi, 62, suffered severe brain damage owing to hypoxia — deprivation of oxygen in the brain cells (or neurons) — following a massive heart attack. A large section of his brain suffered seemingly irreversible damage, leading to loss of speech and the ability to move on his own. "The therapy at Dusseldorf was an attempt to revive some areas of the brain. Let's see what happens," says Suri. Two months later, a team of German doctors from the X-cell Centre would come to monitor his condition. Das Munshi was flown to Germany two weeks ago after all the conventional methods to revive him had failed. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had reportedly advised his family to try stem cell therapy. So how does the therapy work? And if it does, why are neurologists like Suri sceptical? "Most stroke patients at the clinic are treated by injecting stem cells into the cerebrospinal fluid (that circulates in the nervous system) in the lower back which transports them up the spinal canal and into the brain. However, a new procedure by which the stem cells are surgically implanted directly into the brain is also available," the centre says in a statement. The therapy is called autologous stem cell transplant because the cells are harvested from the patient's own body. The new process — which was used to treat Das Munshi — is known as neuro-endoscopic autologous stem cell implantation (NEASCI). This "allows neurosurgeons to implant stem cells directly into the fluid spaces surrounding a patient's brain, thus getting closer to the target." The procedure entails inserting a mini endoscope through a small hole in the patient's skull. Once inside the cerebral fluid space, the stem cells are released via a catheter that is guided through the endoscope. "Ours is the first private institute in the world to hold a licence for the extraction of stem cell material from a patient's body for autologous treatment. Since its start in January 2007, more than 1,600 patients have safely undergone various kinds of stem cell treatment," the statement adds. And what is the cost? The NEASCI therapy begins at 17,800 Euros (Rs 12,40,000). Of course, the price is high. But that hasn't stopped thousands of patients from rushing to the clinic from all over. "Such therapies are being tried in many centres across the world, but the science is not very well defined," says Dr Jayanta Ray, a stroke neurologist at Calcutta's Apollo Gleneagles Hospital. "My patients often ask about them, but I always say that unless there are extensive human trials one should not opt for them... All we can say at this stage is that it's not toxic and animal trials have shown positive results." Agrees Prantar Chakraborty, assistant professor at the Institute of Haematology and Transfusion Medicine at the Calcutta Medical College. Chakraborty performed autologous stem cell transplant on patients suffering from multiple myeloma, a type of blood cancer. "The haematopoetic stem cells, which are found in bone marrow, are harvested from the patient's own body. So there is little chance of severe immune reaction or rejection. Besides, these cells have the unique ability to turn themselves into any type of cell," he says. Chakraborty's work, however, is totally different from Das Munshi's treatment process. According to Ray, most of the clinics that offer these therapies cash in on anecdotal evidence. In other words, they operate through word-of-mouth publicity. A Delhi IVF specialist-turned-stem-cell expert claims to have treated more than 700 people at her hospital. She receives scores of patients from Western countries. However, one group of neurologists in India is making slow but steady progress towards proper stem cell treatment procedure. Dr Kameshwar Prasad of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, had shown last year that autologous stem cell therapy could restore movement in stroke patients with partial paralysis. Recently, he even started a large-scale trial at four government hospitals to see whether it's really effective. "The therapy holds promise but a number of safety and efficacy issues remains unresolved," says Ray. "You also need to know how it works, scientifically. There is still an uncertainty about the mechanism by which cell transplantation might regenerate damaged nerve cells." | |
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Tank that's never tanked is 100 | |||||
| DEEPANKAR GANGULY | |||||
An unsung Calcutta landmark, the largest of its kind in the world, turns 100 on Wednesday with a rare record of snag-free service to the city over 10 decades. Tallah tank, the nine-million-gallon behemoth on BT Road, has bathed the city and sated its thirst from Sinthee in the north to Bhowanipore in the south without a single shutdown in all these years. "This landmark public utility's efficiency has been seldom appreciated. There has been normal wear and tear but we are proud to say that Tallah hasn't ever let the city down. In fact, the city would run dry if the tank were to be shut down for a day," said an official of the Calcutta Municipal Corporation, whose waterworks division maintains the tank. True to Tallah's low-profile record, the centennial celebration will also be a low-key affair, a week after it turns 100.
"The Tallah pumping station is a prohibited zone. So we have decided to celebrate the centenary of the tank with a function in front of the Cossipore borough office (opposite the pumping station) on November 26. A souvenir will be released on the occasion," mayor Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharyya told Metro. Technicians have been carrying out some long overdue repairs over the past few weeks as part of the tank's centenary makeover. "For a tank of this size, we find it amazing that it has sprung only 14 leaks in 100 years. The leaks that have reappeared are being repaired, though these have never disrupted water supply to the areas that we service," said Bibhas Maity, the chief engineer of water supply. Built by the British, the foundation of Tallah was laid on November 18, 1909, by Sir Edward Baker, the then lieutenant governor of undivided Bengal.
Clayton Son & Company of Leeds, England, was the contractor for the project and all the materials — including anti-corrosion plates that have stood the test of time — were shipped to Calcutta from England. "The fabrication work was done at the site and the cost of construction was Rs 5 lakh, which now wouldn't buy us even one of the steel grids on which the tank stands. The huge overhead tank is a masterpiece of civil engineering and metallurgy," said municipal commissioner Arnab Roy. On any given day, the tank retains over four lakh quintals of water, which is equivalent to the Salt Lake municipal area's requirement of filtered water for two days. If Tallah were to store aviation fuel in its belly, it would be sufficient to fuel 158 jumbo jets. Filtered water is sent from Palta Waterworks to Tallah through underground pipes. Whenever there is a fall in water pressure in the distribution head, water from the reservoir compensates for the shortfall. When water pressure is high, the tank is automatically filled. "Thus the cycle of emptying and filling the reservoir continues round the clock," explained Maity. | |||||
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Buddha's boo-boo | ||||
"Many of us still believe that astronomy is a science. But I don't believe that astronomy is science" Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, doing a George W. Bush, on Tuesday morning. Not once, but thrice, the chief minister said "astronomy" when he meant "astrology", at the inaugural function of the 36th Jawaharlal Nehru National Science Exhibition for Children 2009 at Salt Lake stadium (picture above). With more than 500 school students, teachers and officials of the National Council for Educational Research and Training (NCERT) in attendance, the chief guest put his Kolhapuri-sandal foot in his mouth, repeatedly. The faux pas forced the chief minister to issue a "small clarification" later in the evening, when at Writers' Buildings he told reporters that he had meant to say "astrology" but had said "astronomy by mistake". He went on to stress that he did not consider "astrology a part of science" and so had "always stayed away from astrologers". On the Salt Lake stage, Bhattacharjee was not reading out a prepared written speech, but was referring to some points he had jotted down on a piece of paper. The chief minister's speeches are either prepared by the state information and culture department or by the chief minister's secretariat. Occasionally, the chief minister takes the DIY (do-it-yourself) route. "For this programme, the chief minister had told us that he would prepare the speech himself," an official of the information and culture department told Metro. Some would say the speech writer was star-crossed. Bushisms
"Who could have possibly envisioned an erection... an election in Iraq at this point in history?" "They misunderestimated me." "Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we. They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we." "And they have no disregard for human life." "General, I appreciate the fact that you really snatched defeat out of the jaws of those who are trying to defeat us in Iraq." Hiltonisms
"Gordon Ramsay!" (when referring to UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown) "London is my favourite city. But I haven't been to England yet." "No, I've not heard of a pint, what is that? Is it beer?" "Walmart... do they like make walls there?" "Essex? What's that?" And a Mamataism
"Ebar keu norbe na. Ami Jana Gana Mana Adhi gaibo. Eta khub important gaan. (No one move. I will sing Jana Gana Mana Adhi. This is a very important song)." Mamata Banerjee, before singing the national anthem, at the Trinamul Congress rally in Metro channel on November 9 | ||||
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Palash Biswas
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