-ve Health <--- 0 ---> +ve Health

Dear Reader,

"Health is Wealth", is an old saying that I often heard as a kid. When you get to my age, health is not just about wealth but even more than that. It becomes a necessity and takes priority over most other things like, catching up with friends, watching a movie, eating out, etc. Keeping good health is becoming increasingly important for not just those who are unhealthy (physically & mentally) but also for those who are healthy and look healthy. It is just so easy to go from a state of being healthy to a state of being unhealthy in today's world.

Keeping good health is a huge business. Gyms, personal trainers, customised exercise regimes, diet fads, lifestyle changes, pills and many more health related businesses catering to all kinds of unhealthiness exist today. I bet more people are stress out today about their health than about their wealth.

Fundamentally, if you eat right and exercise right, you ought to be physically healthy (but not necessarily look healthy). So, watch what you eat and watch how much physical exercise you get on a daily basis and you should be good. Supplement that with some specifics for you as an individual and you can go from good to great. Yoga is a great exercise regime for improving your physical health.

Mental health is harder to improve. Thankfully with the right advice this too can be improved greatly for individuals. What's important here is figuring out that you need to improve your mental health. Again techniques in Yoga will help in improving your mental health too.

Whatever method you use to get physically and mentally healthy it is a journey that one, as an individual, will have to make. It varies from individual to individual and depends on which stage of your life you are in.

But fundamentally, how does one measure one's healthiness. Most people talk about BMI ratios. But that just measures body fat. Is there an index that measures your healthiness. A health index perhaps that tells you how healthy you are.

Lets make it easier and split the healthiness index into a stamina index (physical, mental) and endurance index (again physical, mental). The medical field should come up with a universally acceptable methodology to accurately measure ones stamina index and endurance index, both physically and mentally. Such a methodology will have to factor in differences in age, gender, environment, etc. Eventually there will be 4 indices to tell you how healthy you are. This will also allow one to improve each index individually by performing focussed activities. Each index also does not have to be only +ve it can also be -ve suggesting how worst off you are compared to an average healthy person.

I bet those with +ve valued indices will be contributing more to society than those with -ve valued indices. What do you think?

Regards,
Jyothin

Lend a hand - Literally

Dear Reader,

Today is my birthday - July 20th. I turn 39 this year. I still believe I have a lot to learn and have a long way to go before I sleep. I'm still not married (if you know of someone interested in me let me know :) ) so I haven't really experienced married life with kids. But hope to find someone I love, get married, have kids, watch them grow up and grow old with my wife. The reason I'm saying all this is because whenever I think about the person I will get married to or the kind of life my kids will have, I've never delved upon what a wonderful life my wife has had and what a wonderful life my kids will have. I, my wife and kids should be thankful for all that we have. Why? read on.

I went to an upbeat cafe today morning to get some good old fashioned tea. As I was about to enter the cafe, I noticed a young girl lugging a large suitcase up a flight of stairs leading to the cafe. At first I didn't pay too much attention but when I looked closer, I noticed she had only one hand! I couldn't help but look again and immediately asked her if she needs help with the suitcase. By that time she was already on the last step and I really was not of much help in carrying the suitcase up on step and into the cafe. The security guard lend her a hand to enter the cafe and she seemed fine and comfortable, I let her be and entered the cafe. All along I couldn't but help how a young girl ended up in such a situation. Was it an unfortunate event that brought her this misfortune or was this a disability she had from birth. Did she really deserve to be in such circumstances? And why was she alone?

I got some tea for myself and sat down at one corner of the cafe. She ordered something for herself and sat down on a chair, opened her laptop, connected her cell phone, and started typing with one hand. I kept watching her from the corner of my eye and noticed that she was adept at typing with one hand, probably had got used to it by now.

I reflected upon myself and how thankful I should be for all that I have. I don't know if I have won the ovarian lottery or not but I can be thankful for all that I have. There are so many people who rant non stop about how bad things are and complain all the time. All I can tell them is to look on the bright side and be happy about the positive things that have happened in their lives.

There are so many people who have not won the ovarian lottery in some way or another but they haven't given up hope. They strive each day to make things better and improve for the better. Are they all equally worst off? I don't know and can't say. My parents have asked me multiple times as to why I don't give away spare change to beggers who come begging for money at traffic intersections in India. They never hesitate to give a few coins. But I usually refrain from giving any money. I've explained to them that I don't know what circumstances have led them to beg for money. Some of them look fine enough to get a job... any kind of job.

I think, of all those who have not won the ovarian lottery, the kind who are disabled in some way or another are worst off. The disability could be physical or mental. It could be by birth or it could be due to circumstances. They are the ones who must be given a second chance. Maybe I'm right, maybe I'm wrong. Let me know in the comments section.

Until next time,

Regards,

Jyothin

The Burden of Going to School

Dear Reader,

If you've studied in India you'll surely remember lugging around a bag with textbooks and notebooks every day. Little has changed since I finished high school (20 years ago). I live in a locality with 4 schools in the surrounding areas, all of which have primary, secondary and high schools. And I can't help but notice the large shoulder bags that children lug around every day. There must be an easier way to carry all those books every day. And its not just textbooks (which are usually hard bound to keep from wear and tear) but also notebooks (multiple per subject at times).

Below is a collage of pics that I took of bags of school children where I live. And these are the shoulder bags of kids in grades 6 to 8. That's a lot of stuff to lug around every day!

What problem are we trying to solve?

Reduce the physical load on school children of carry books.

What solutions exist today for this problem?

Technically none. School children today still carry their books to and from home. The number of books carried can be reduced by providing a locker facility to each student to store their books, wherein they'll only need to carry the relevant books home. Providing lockers to every student is impossible in a country like India where space is scarce and basic facilities themselves are not available in some schools leave alone lockers.

What new solutions can schools implement to address this problem?

A change in the structure of the timetable may help reduce the number of books needed to be carried to and from home everyday. This may already be implemented by some schools in some form or the other. Nevertheless, here is one possible re-organization of the timetable; re-organize the timetable in such a way that a student only needs to carry books for 1-2 subjects for that day thus reducing the load. Swapping the timetable axis in its current form is another way to re-organize the subjects taught for a given day.

Textbooks can also be rebound to weekly or bi-weekly modules. Where the chapters for each subject are collated into weekly (or bi-weekly) modules. In effect you have all relevant content in weekly modules and only the weekly modules need to be carried around for that week. The way textbooks are organized today with publishers owning the copyright for different textbooks, it is not viable to expect publishers to organize content into weekly content. Hence the onus should lie on the schools or parents themselves to do this which is again not a viable solution.

A viable digital Solution?

Extending a more feature rich tablet like device exclusively for textbooks that store textbook content can turnout to be a viable solution. E-Textbook devices must be modeled and designed to suit the ways in which children use textbooks today. A two-sided open design with note taking capability (underline, highlight, circle, etc.) is a start.

An e-textbook does not have to be purchased every year only the content needs to be purchased or renewed for each academic year. Hence the long term cost of purchasing an e-textbook should be low enough to justify buying one. The content itself can be purchased on a subscription basis with limited or perpetual access to the content.

Such a media rich device can incorporate additional learning techniques like audio podcasts from teachers, video snippets from educational sites, sharing of notes, submitting homework electronically, etc.

Note taking is still a challenge in the way note taking happens today. A well designed stylus and screen interface is required to allow for handwritten notes. A separate device can be designed for only note taking just like how it is today... you have separate books for classwork, homework and textbooks. New innovations in note taking for different subjects can be incorporated into the e-notebook for different subjects.

E-textbooks can also be extended to pre-college and college going students. As long as the content is available and cost is not high.

Here is a news snippet that I came across for this shift.

What could be the downside to an e-textbook?

New is always attractive to children. Content must be media rich and continuously updated to keep the interest in the lesson or subject. Note taking must be seamless and easy. Children will adopt quickly, it is the mindset of the teachers, parents and publishers that need to change for the wide spread adoption of such a device. Price will also be an important factor in decision making.

What other challenges do you see in using and adopting such a device? Let me know in the comments section.

Until next time.

Regards,

Jyothin

PS: I plan to follow up this post with a sample design of an e-textbook and e-notebook. Would love to get in touch with designers who can help with that.

The Greatest

Sia - The Greatest: A song for inspiration...