Devika Nanda
Tourism is a buzz word in the economies of both developed and developing nations. It chips in to the growth and development of the native lands where it is being practiced. Its vitality can be observed from the stastical data of 2011: Direct contribution to GDP and employment generation was US $2 trillion and 98 million respectively across the world. While talking about the indirect contribution in the same year it accounted for US $6.3 trillion GDP and 255 million jobs globally. This depicts the festering importance of tourism for any nation but the fact is that many parts of the world are still ignorant about the multifariousness of the field of tourism and they consider it only as a leisure activity. In reality Tourism is like an umbrella which encompasses the following flourishing fields:
Discipline:
Tourism is a vast field of study that encapsulates the concepts of anthropology, sociology, history, psychology, archaeology, ethnography, geography , accounting, economics, marketing, leisure, management and various other disciplines. It is the systematic study of the methods used in tourism industry. It teaches how to deal with people , their psyche and other important events taking place in the domain of tourism. It keeps people updated regarding the latest trends taking place in the travel and tourism and provides them with the knack to deal with cross cultural problems reducing the world into one global village. It enhances our knowledge regarding the existing and virgin tourist destinations. This know-how can equip the research scholars to come up with novel topics, notions, ideas and explore them with the tools of this discipline which can ultimately lead to new studies and add to the existing literature essential for thriving the tourism industry.Many private and public tourism organizations have created a new job position for tourism research scholars where dextrous and competent researchers can make their mark and add colours to travel.
Entrepreneurship:
Tourism industry is the only industry which has a shoe for every foot. It has immense scope for those who believe in ‘ Being your own boss'(YOB) approach. It is commonly observed that those who are creative, innovative, responsible and have the ability to influence others have an inherent dislike to work under or for others. But due to lack of resources they are bound to work for the success of other people. Tourism is the field that one can opt for san entrepreneurial career with full investment of his caliber and less monetary inputs. It allows one to work and make profits even with virtual offices. Initially, the only machine that a modern day tour entrepreneur requires is a computer and a space of few feets. So in order to be an effective entrepreneur in tourism one needs the competency to sense the opportunity and exploit it with the right attitude.
JOB:
Tourism also provides the job ‘Just obey your boss’ option for those who prefer an easy life, have poor risk taking capacity, lack initiative and prefer to be directed. In the present era, many national and multinational companies like KUONI, SITA, TUI, COX & KINGS, SOTC etc are dealing in tourism and they have vast job opportunities for the tour professionals. Most of the job vacancies are solicited and can be easily spotted in employment portals. Handsome salaries , job security and good prospects of growth are being offered as per the ability of the individuals.
FOREIGN EARNING:
Tourism has the potential to earn huge foreign currency and add to the strength of our economy. In 2011 ,India witnessed 6290319 foreign tourist arrivals and earned 77591 crores of foreign exchange which is self-convincing regarding the richness of tourism.
Thus, we can conclude that tourism is a multi -dimensional and a multi- sectoral activity which can go a long way in eradicating unemployment and earning huge profits. For this the need is to realize the importance of tourism and introduce it as a discipline and a field of study both at the school and college level. Various diploma and degree courses can prove handy in spreading the awareness regarding the blossoming avenues of the tourism.
(The author is a School of Hospitality and Tourism Management,University of Jammu)

B L Razdan
“You are what you eat’.” and “One should eat to live and not live to eat” are the two often quoted old adages, in discourses relating to eating food. Obviously, if you want to lead a healthy life, you have to eat healthy food. Many people are fond of “good food” and there are those that believe that in life if they are not able even to eat to their liking and heart’s content, of what use is this life to them. I do not have any quarrel with those who openly declare such preferences about the food they take, both in quality and quantity, and in consequence, fill the coffers of the pharmaceutical manufacturers, one of whom had projected “a bright future” in one its of annual balance sheets stating that in the coming decade there would be significant increase in some categories of diseases in India, when their cash registers would start ringing.
As for others let me quote Chandogya Upnishad (verse: 7.26.2) which unambiguously says, “When food is pure, being becomes pure”. The holy Bhagwat Geeta (in verse: 17.8) categorically says that swatta food increases duration of life, purifies existence and gives strength, health, happiness and satisfaction….and that such foods are wholesome and pleasing to the heart.
Obviously, the importance of food in life cannot be gainsaid. But the culinary skills acquired by us over the centuries of making varieties of tasty food nudge us to eat more than necessary. Add to it the use of so many spices that had lured Columbus onto a sea voyage to discover India (but discovered America instead) and we cannot help taking an extra helping if only to pamper our taste buds. Even as there is nothing wrong with having a good sense of taste, we need to be aware of what we eat and how much we eat, if we want to stay healthy.
Lately an overwhelming tendency to have tasty and convenient food is increasingly being noticed. That what we call junk food is fast catching up with our health and if we do not wake up, we may literally pay through our nose to fight the life-threatening diseases that obesity gives birth to. Several years ago, the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) had, after reliable laboratory tests, informed us about the harmful effects of some cold drinks promoted by the MNCs. More recently, it has released a study referring to the harmful substances in some of the snacks brought into India by these MNCs. Expectedly, the MNCs jumped, engaging PR firms to clarify that they are misunderstood without effectively countering the findings. The CSE study should, therefore, serve as a wake-up call for all of us and should prompt us to adopt healthy eating habits both in the family and in social circles.
It would be worthwhile to mention some plain facts, which require no research but can be gauged through sheer common sense. A juice brand sells mango nectar that can easily have seven to eight spoons of sugar per glass. A small packet of instant noodles is nothing but unrefined, processed starch. The malt-based, so-called nutritional milk additives for children are mostly sugar. Fried potato chips and burgers with patties stuffed inside that remain frozen for months together before being served are obviously not healthy. Our traditional sweets and salty snacks called namkeens and the samosas and bujhias too do not do any good to our health.
Almost every person who gains weight does not know how it happened! “Paani ka ghee ban jaata hai” is the common refrain. Well, let me be honest and tell it is all because the calorie intake has crossed the permissible limit or in other words, we ate too much for our genuine requirements of food. To lose weight, we need to cut back on calories. By this we don’t mean that we do something drastic and greatly reduce our eating portions. We can gradually cut back on our food intake and cut calories without drastically impacting our diet. Here are a couple of tips
Start the meal with a salad. Eating salads is a healthy way to cut down on the calories. It is nourishing, filling and can be made appetizing if cooked correctly using the right ingredients. We should, however, take care not to load the salad with cheese, mayo sauce, bacon or any other fattening ingredient. Eating a substantial amount of simple salad will automatically limit the main course intake and thus will lead to consuming fewer calories.
Stuffing oneself with food at the dinner table, apart from being certainly regarded as bad table manners, leads to high calorie intake, which is not desirable.Yes, wasting food can make one feel guilty, but stuffing oneself with it will only make one over-weight. Ideally, we should place orders for meals that come in small portions when dining out or just split the meal with the partner. Studies have proved that seeing or smelling good food can release hormones that make our stomach growl. So, the next time the tummy makes those awful noises, do not simply assume it to be a hunger call.
Chew more. The longer you take to chew your food, the better it will digest and the lesser will be the intake. The more you chew; the prolonged chewing will be processed by the brain, which has a mind of its own, as consuming more in terms of quantity. Therefore, this is a way of cheating the brain into thinking that enough has been eaten to satiate the appetite, when, in fact, there has been lesser intake.
Control the quantity. If one cannot give up on a particular food item, then make sure that moderate portions are taken. Don’t over eat and certainly don’t eat a lot of food during one meal. Space out the meals and thoroughly regulate the portions. Always remember: small is beautiful.
Avoid tea and coffee calories. It is quite understandable that a stressful work day requires us to drink lots of tea and/or coffee. But if we are serious about cutting back on the calories, then let go tea and coffee both. If, however, one can’t give up on it entirely, then one must, at least, drastically limit their intake.
It is as simple as that. This simple alteration in our daily habit will benefit us hugely and balance our body weight. If we do not pay any heed to the timely warning, we shall be paying a heavy price in the coning decade. Obesity levels will increase, fitness will decline and heath care costs will rise. One set of MNCs will make profits out of us by making us unhealthy and the other set of MNCs will make profits out of us by selling medicines and treating us, of course, for a price. The choice is clearly ours.

Dr Rashmi Sharma

Parents usually bring children to doctor’s clinic with acute respiratory tract infection (ARTI) with history of cough, fever, sour throat, blocked nose, difficulty in feeing etc. In both developed and developing countries the incidence of ARTI per child per year is 6-8.Cough and cold syrups are one of the most commonly used / sold medicines in India. These syrups (containing the decongestants- ephedrine, pseudoephedrine, or phenylephrine, and the antihistamines- diphenhydramine, brompheniramine, chlorpheniramine) are available both as prescribed drugs (by prescription of doctors) and over the counter drugs (without doctor’s prescription). Drops/ syrups like sinarest, cinaryl, triminic etc. are frequently brought by parents with or without doctor’s advise for their infants (less than one year) and children .
Cough and cold products contain ingredients like: decongestants (for unclogging a stuffy nose), expectorants (for loosening mucus so that it can be coughed up), antihistamines (for sneezing and runny nose), and antitussives (for quieting coughs). Histamine is similar in structure to biological amines like acetylcholine,adrenaline, serotonin, etc and hence, antihistaminic interfere with these biologic amine receptors and interfere with their actions. Sedative effect and paradoxical excitement caused by their use along with poor clinical evidence of them as effective antitussives agent in children make them unfavourable as antitussive agent in children. Most of the decongestants (both nasal drops and oral syrups) contain sympathomimetic drugs. These drugs produce stimulation of heart and central nervous system, constriction of blood vessels and dilatation of bronchi. Topical decongestants if used for 2-3 days can result into rebound dilatation of blood vessels in nasal mucosa leading to stuffiness which is problematic in young children and infants who are nose breathers. Moreover, dose of topical agents could not be monitored which is often associated with systemic absorption of drug and its relativeside effects(sedation or excitement of central nervous system, convulsions, tachycardia etc.). Psychic disturbances reported among children following oral phenylpropanolamine administration include irritability, sleep disturbances, hallucinations, aggressiveness (particularly in younger children), and seizures. Severe hypertensive episodes have been reported following phenylpropanolamine ingestion. Pseudoephedrine is relatively safe than other sympathomimetic agents. In a study of 81 965 prescriptions of pseudoephedrine to children under the age of 19,only one hospitalization (for a seizure) which could have been related to use ofPseudoephedrine. Antihistamines are the mainstay of therapy for allergic rhinitis and the resemblance between cold symptoms and symptoms of allergic rhinitis led to the use of antihistamines for the common cold. However, histamine is not present in increased concentrations in persons with upper respiratory infections. Hence, there is no rationale for their use in the common cold. Promethazine, an antihistamine widely used for its anti-emetic and sedative properties, has been reported to cause agitation, hallucinations, seizures, dystonic reactions, sudden infant death syndrome, and apnoea. However, the efficacy of promethazine as a sedative could lead to its misuse by parents who may have to cope with a screaming child. Second-generation antihistamines have fewer anticholinergic and sedative effects ,but with poor efficacy.
However, in 2008 US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has advised against the use of over-the-counter cough and cold medicines in children less than two years of age. FDA also advised to use these medicines in children aged 2-11 years with caution. FDA advised to have extreme caution in children of any age with history of neurological disorders, seizures, hypotonia, heart disease, and in view of the risk of respiratory depression, it is advised that a child under two years of age should not be given any kind of cough and cold product containing decongestants or antihistamines, without seeking the advice of a healthcare provider. In January 2008, manufacturers voluntarily removed over-the-counter (OTC) infant (less than 2 years of age) cough and cold products from the market due to safety concerns. But, even now cough and cold products designed for older children are frequently prescribed by doctors and used by parents for children less than 2 years. These medicines were used in younger children by making self-styled dose adjustments like half of the dose of older child. However, there are reports regarding serious side-effects and even deaths in children under 2 years due to accidental ingestion, unintentional overdose, or after a medication dosing error. However, various simple ways can be used to make parents stress free by giving relief to their little ones. These recommendations are:
” A cool mist humidifier helps nasal passages shrink and allow easier breathing (warm mist humidifiers can cause nasal passages to swell and make breathing more difficult); *Saline nose drops or spray keep nasal passages moist and helps avoid stuffiness;* Nasal suctioning with a bulb syringe either with or without saline nose drops, works especially well for infants less than a year old ;* Acetaminophen (paracetamol) or ibuprofen can be used to reduce fever, aches and pains;*Drinking plenty of liquids will help the child stay well hydrated.
“It is further advisable to follow the dosing directions on the label of any OTC medication for children above 2 years, understand that these drugs will NOT cure or shorten the duration of the common cold, check the “Drug Facts” label to learn what active ingredients are in the products because many OTC cough and cold products contain multiple active ingredients, and only use measuring spoons or cups that come with the medicine or those made specially for measuring drugs. If one is using more than one OTC cough and cold medicine to a child always check whether they have same or similar “active ingredients,”(danger of over dose). OTC cough and cold medicines with childproof safety caps should be stored out of reach of children to avoid accidental overdosing.
(The writer is pharmacologist working as Asist. Surgeon Emergency Hospital Vijay Pur, Jammu)

The legendary actor Ashok Kumar’s family today comprises his eldest daughter Bharati Jaffrey, grand-daughter Anuradha Patel and daughter-in-law Meena Ganguly. “Our father was everything one expects in a father and more,” recalls Bharati Jaffrey, remembering the days she spent with her illustrious father. “He was loving, affectionate and gave us the freedom of space and choice to do whatever we wished to do. He didn’t bring his studio back home and was full of jokes that would send us into peals of laughter.”
Mother Shobha Rani Ganguli played the disciplinary role in the family. “His multifaceted talents that reached out to areas and fields that had nothing to do with films, was amazing,” Jaffrey adds.
In memory of this philanthropy and his multifaceted character, his children and grand-children have formed the Ashok Kumar Foundation to commemorate their father’s multi-faceted talents.
Ashok Kumar who this writer had the good fortune of interviewing at his residence in Chembur, Mumbai, was the first actor in Hindi cinema to usher in the natural style of acting where dialogues are delivered as people talk in real life. This is interesting in the backdrop of his film-script-like entry into films as an actor. He was a lab technician at noted Bombay Studio when studios were the epicenter of filmmaking and stars worked on monthly salaries. During the shooting of a film, the leading lady ran away with the actor who was playing the hero. She happened to be the wife of the studio proprietor too. She was brought back pronto but the hero was shown the door. Who then would substitute the hero? The shy lab technician was persuaded to step in. He stepped in with great reluctance. The rest, as the clichéd saying goes, is history.
Ashok Kumar’s long and illustrious career is a happy mix of genres from action films, ghost dramas, family entertainment, through comedy to thrillers to musicals to literary classic and satire. Any listing of names would be just a small drop in the ocean of his performances. He has left behind a great legacy for the next generation to watch, view and learn from.
Ashok Kumar was one of the first actors wise enough to invest in another line of business and attain success in it too. In those days many actors and actresses wasted their wealth in their heyday to repent later. He had invested in a poultry farm which soon became a big supplier to many big and small hotels in and around Mumbai.
He was a brilliant homeopath and for 45 years he practiced homeopathy as an exercise in social service on Sundays and on his shooting holidays.
Moushumi Chatterjee, who acted with him in many films, says that one of her daughters was hit by a severe back pain once which the doctors could not give a happy solution. “I asked him to look into the case and he asked me to bring my daughter to him. He treated her for some days and the pain was not only cured but it never came back,” says Moushumi. “The Ashok Kumar Foundation donates homeopathic medicines to a clinic that takes medical care of deprived and poor children. It also funds solid scripts and its first benefactor was the Marathi film Shwaas that went on to bag many awards both in India and abroad,” says Meena Ganguly who looks after the entire workings of the Foundation.
“He had a passion for learning. He learnt to write his dialogue in Urdu from Dilip Kumar; he spoke French and German fluently. He used to say that one should be open to learning till one dies,” says Jaffrey. The rickety antique car used in Chalti Ka Naam Gadi was Ashok Kumar’s favourite. He helped his cousin when the latter was in trouble to produce Bimal Roy’s Parineeta in which he played Sekhar opposite Meena Kumari. He rescued Kishore Kumar when the latter invariably landed with massive backlogs in his income tax dues.
“Our father didn’t like his daughters to enter the films. But we have it in our blood; so how can we not come in? We never went anywhere near a studio when we were in school. But our youngest sister Preeti became one of the most talented comediennes in Hindi cinema and I made a career in television and in a few films. My daughter Anuradha has also done some good films. So, the bloodline begins to speak no matter how much you want to silence it,” says Bharati laughing at memories of happier days.
One of his sons-in-law, Deven Varma, husband of his second daughter Rupa had a long and successful career in films and a very close friend of his father-in-law. Actor Kanwaljeet, married to Anuradha Patel, is also into films and television. His son Arun Ganguly did just one film which was a disaster and never returned.
The actor was a chess player, a practicing astrologer and also a very good painter. “When he learnt that I am basically a painter by qualification and profession, though I switched over to acting, he made it a point to visit every single one of my painting exhibitions whenever I held them in Mumbai,” recalls actor Amol Palekar who was a fresh actor when he did a role with Ashok Kumar in Basu Chatterjee’s film. Late actor Iftekar who was an old friend, was his daily companion for chess so Ashok Kumar became a lonely man after his companion’s demise.
When he stopped working, his sat on a comfortable chair in his bedroom with his paintings decorating every empty space in the room. There were some knick-knacks scattered around and he picked on his nebuliser to take a few breaths as he had serious respiratory problems that had stopped him from smoking. He felt very lonely he said and wished that those who came to interview him would stay back and watch some of his films along with him on video. Unfortunately, few young journalists with deadlines to submit could spare the time to spend for an old and lonely actor. (TWF)