Exploring Luck

Recently, I stumbled upon a very interesting article by Richard Wiseman - 'The Luck Factor'. The article describes in detail the result of the ten-year scientific study into the nature of luck. According to the article, the study proves that to a large extent, people make their own good and bad fortune and it is possible to enhance the amount of luck. The article only reinforced my belief that luck is not a paranormal concept and the sayings like "Luck favors the brave" and "A real man makes his own luck" are not mere fancy quotes. Luck is more about noticing chance opportunities and then converting that opportunity into a meaningful venture. In my personal experience I have seen people cribbing about their luck factor and putting all the blame on it for all the failures that they have seen in their life whereas the reason has always been some or other form of incompetent effort or faulty planning. To quote from the article,

"Lucky people are skilled at creating and noticing chance opportunities, make lucky decisions by listening to their intuition, create self-fulfilling prophesies via positive expectations, and adopt a resilient attitude that transforms bad luck into good"

To share an anecdote, recently two brothers won a prize money of 7 Crore rupees in the popular game show KBC. One can say that it was their luck that they got the chance to be on that show. One can say that it was their luck that they received the questions within the expanse of their knowledge. But how many people know that they have been trying to participate for the last 10 years. How many of us know about the rigorous three-stage process that they had to pass through? It was certainly their perseverance and willingness to take chances that made them lucky. 

A healthy child makes a healthy home

It is only last year when my neighbors, a young beautiful couple, were planning for a trip to Kohima. They had heard a lot about the famous Hornbill festival of the Naga Tribal population that is celebrated in the month of December. And it was a perfect opportunity for them to take a break from their monotonous lifestyle, learn about the rich cultural heritage of a lesser known population and meet travel enthusiasts from across the world. To visit Kohima they had to make a lot of preparations which included activities like getting inner line permits, booking tickets, applying for leave, shopping etc. Everything was set and the couple along with their 5 year old son Bunty were very excited to embark upon the new journey. But something unexpected happened just two days before the scheduled trip date. Bunty fell ill. It threw the couple in a state of Limbo. Their first priority was, of course, to take care of the health of the child. However they were making plans for long and hence they started looking for possible alternate options. I remember how they explored different contingent arrangements ranging from leaving the child to parent's home to inviting sister to stay at their home and take care of the child. But all that made them feel very uncomfortable and so ultimately they decided to cancel the trip. And that decision was the least they could have done. Bunty is in a very tender age and at that age the parents are expected to get totally engulfed into overall development of the child. Improper care at that age is nothing but playing with the future of the child. It is not unknown that child's cognitive, motor and sensory skills develop at the fastest rate in the age range 0-6. 

The after effects of cancelling the trip was very much visible. On one hand they started taking all such precautions to prevent their child from getting ill and on the other they decided to avoid long trips till the time Bunty gets old enough to take care of himself. While they took the right decision, the question remains: 'whether that could have been avoided somehow'. Was it possible that they had taken enough prevention measures to ensure that Bunty doesn't get ill. And what kind of prevention measures were expected from them: Should they have focused more on improving the immunity of the child or should they have taken better sanitation measures. Of course there cannot be a single tiered approach. It ranges from taking care of the food habits of the child to taking extra steps to build the inner resilience of the child towards infectious microbes. Recently Dabur has come up with a product that provides 3 times immunity and helps fight virus, flu and infections. That's one of the option that they should really explore. To have a look at the product you are also advised to pay a visit to the website https://www.liveveda.com/daburchyawanprash/. It would be inspiring to find if Indian parents start being more aware and take better prevention measures for their children in the future.

Sanitation for Babli

Can we imagine a country with more than 50% of the population having no access to basic toilet facilities aspiring to be the next super power? While it is very convenient to say that the centre of world power is shifting towards the east, we are far away from being a country that can proudly claim that its people are leading a healthy, safe and dignified lifestyle. One of the most pressing issue that India is facing today is "Open defecation". And who is troubled the most? Yes, the female community. The poor sanitation is not the only concern. The young women often have to leave their home at dark putting their dignity and safety at risk. Can you recall that recent incident when two teenage girls in UP were raped and murdered after they left their village to go to an open field to defecate? The Babli of India is not safe. Think about her state of mind. She's living in absolute fear amidst the danger of some of the most dreadful diseases. Hygiene is an alien concept to her because of lack of basic toilet facilities. How will she prepare herself to fight with the future that is dark and gloomy. And are we aware? Do we know that there are 45 countries where sanitation coverage is less than 50%? Do we know almost 5000 children die daily in India of which Diarrhea alone is responsible for 13% death. Poor sanitation and lack of basic facilities such as washing hands with soap and drinking clean water are some of the major reasons behind these deaths. How can the children be safe when the women themselves are not equipped?

It is not that nothing is being done. The government is aware of the issue and is doing everything to solve it. But is that enough? Who else shall bear the responsibility? It cannot be just the government and the few NGOs. Efforts of private sector and social enterprises are equally important. In this respect the efforts of 'Domex Toilet Academy (DTA) programme' are well appreciable. Their aim is to promote the demand for sanitation at the community level by adopting the three core elements of their CATS program: Triggering, Behavior Change and Promoting Sanitation. We can also help Babli in this mission by just one click on "Contribute now" in http://www.domex.in/. With every click Domex will donate Rs.5 to eradicate open defecation, thereby helping kids like Babli live a dignified life. This is the least one can do. We, as a privileged citizen of this country, are expected to be more apprised of the issue & its critical nature and thereby raise awareness to the maximum extent. I am happy to see HUL committing to the change. But we need even more of such initiatives to bring about complete turnover. And I believe if each of us pledge towards complete eradication of open defecation, in no time, we can become the super-power of the world. Our Prime Minister has rightly remarked, "The attempt to give dignity to the poor starts from provision of proper sanitation".