In pursuit of congenial patient care and justifiable returns

The lady, frail and petite, was admitted amidst a lot of twists and turns. She was heavily investigated and diagnosed normal a few months ago. She wasn’t symptom free though. She was having shortness of breath all the while. The company, her son works with, sent the patient to our hospital – supposed to be one of the best in the town. So, there she was getting admitted in the hospital for coronary angiogram followed by double valve replacement.

The lady belonged to a remote village, and looking at her you would know how she was not familiar with the urbanity.  She was scared to death as she was wheeled to the ward. She cried out her lungs when the nurse made IV lines, she tore the hospital suit when she was asked to wear it. She was indescribably paranoid by the syringes, injections, pills and the white dresses. The son requested me to spend some time with her before the OT. So, I managed to take out time to be with her. She looked horridly paranoid. Her face was a question mark. She was pale, white and the petite figure diminished to an immovable body of flesh. However, as we talked she gradually got better. She folded and lifted her hands and asked for forgiveness for her behavior. A lumb in my throat restricted my vocal chord. I got emotional.

The next day was the D-day and as the lady was taken to the OT, she looked apparently composed. I came down to my office to catch up with the backlog. A while later I was surprised to meet the sister-in-charge in the out patient dept. She was supposed to be in the OT!  She walked up to me and told me that she came down to get herself the tetanus injection!

The lady got so fearful looking at the equipments around that she bit the sister! The patient was ridiculed and being laughed at. Later, I went to see the lady once before leaving for the day. She, with tears in her eyes held her hands up, gesturing apologies and asking for forgiveness. I returned home with a numbed heart.

This is not a singular incident. I completely empathize with the ordeal the lady went through. As a matter of fact, the hospital care we are rendering today is something we should not at all be proud of. Everyday we meet various people coming to the hospital for medical aid. They are sick, distressed, depressed and fearful. They are worried of the treatment, care, expenses and hospitality that they would receive. They are not sure if they would get the proper and desirable treatment, they are not sure if they would be ‘looted’ by the hospital, they do not know if they would be guided properly and rightly. The hospitals should not intimidate the patients but aim at all round congenial care-giving services.  In an endeavor to generate maximum revenues, hospitals should not be cruelly commercial and just an instrument of money making. The objective should be to render ‘happy and congenial’ health care to the patients through an organized infrastructure that justifies the returns. .

Snack on with healthy and yummy aloo chat

One of my favorite lunch box food while in office is aloo chat or aloo kabli, as we Bengalis call it fondly. I just love it, so much so that it has become my favorite workplace snacks now. I have also managed to inspire my colleagues to snack on it as well and in no time one of my colleagues volunteered to take up the elaborate task of preparing aloo kabli in office. He is a pro now and I am so proud of him.  

Aloo kabli is a popular street food of Calcutta and the people of city love it all round the year. Enriched with vitamins, carbs, protein and vitamin C etc. it is a wonderful all time snacks and it is healthy too. The best part - it's so much fun when eaten together with friends and loved ones. I have tried to prepare aloo kabli at home, several times, and I have understood one simple fact. It's but impossible to make perfect aloo kabli like the aloo kabliwalas do. It's an art that's not taught in B schools but requires years of hands on experience, sometimes passed on from one gen to the next and so on. So, if you are still tempted to make a decently done aloo chat at home you will need some very common kitchen ingredients. These should be hand picked with much love (the most important ingredient). 

For aloo kabli you will need:

Cut boiled potatoes
Chopped tomatoes
Chopped onions
Chopped green chillis
Ginger julienne
Chopped coriander leaves
Fresh lime juice
Sprouted chana (chickpea) soaked overnight
Tamarind pulp
Salt to taste
Bhujia (optional)
Roasted peanuts

And then you will need a very special masala (spicemix) nicely roasted and ground:

Red chili
Coriander
Cumin
Aaamchur

Toss all the ingredients together, very nicely, till the masala blends into the potatoes and you are done! For aloo chat you can also add variety of other stuffs like yogurt, pomegranates, sprouted green dal, grapes, muri (puffed rice) etc. I love aloo kabli more than aloo chat and it has to be only with potatoes, green chillis, coriander leaves, onion, tomatoes and chickpeas tossed with lot of tamarind water. 

Reward yourself with good shoes

Show me your shoes and I will tell you who you are. Of late I have developed a strange love for shoes. Flip flops, tiptoes, platforms, not so highs - you just name it. I love to reward myself with good shoes. Trust me, it's not just a lavish but a utility you would love to pamper yourself with.

Having shopping for the right kind of shoes, (this keeps changing with seasons and mood), I have realized one thing. Shoes are damn pricy and the ones that keep your eye balls rolling will keep your wallet upside down as well.

The fact that I wear most of them, most of the times in the workplace and that they should be comfortable on feet, I keep a few things on mind while shopping for the ideal ones.

Comfortable on toes and heel

I am lucky that I do not suffer from any physical problem, like heel spur, bunions etc., but for those who do it's advisable to buy shoes with cushioned and roomy bed. Go for the ones that you are comfortable in considering your body weight, work status and nature of work.

Chic and trendy or timeless

I usually go for timeless shoes that do not expire with seasons' fashions. I like flip flops that are always in vogue. However, it's just fine to have a few party pairs like stilettos and high heels in your collection.

Durability

Good shoes are expensive but most are long lasting. I prefer shoes belonging to brands of repute. I use them everyday, all the time, everywhere. I get the best deal from the good brands at the end of the day.

Have less, wear more often and buy often

Shoes tend to lose the sheen and wearibility if kept unused for long. Keep alternating and keep wearing the pairs regularly. Ransack your shoe rack for the ones that are not worn for long. Try to match your dress with them and keep them rolling. After having lost a lot of money, I am wiser now. I have a few pairs of good stuffs now and keep them rolling all through the week. This gives me a chance to go on shopping spree more often as well.

Recycle your shoes

If you think that shoes cannot be recycled, think twice. I give up on my shoes not because they are not wearable any longer but because I don't like them anymore. I give them away to house helps or to the nearest shoe shops.

One last word, shoes make you look and feel beautiful. Reward yourself with them more often.

Picture credit: wedmd

Tips to shop on Black Friday and Cyber Monday

BBB (Better Business Bureau) has laid down a detailed memorandum to shop during the Black Friday and Cyber Monday. As I was reading through the guide, I thought it is relevant for anytime shopping. Shopping would be a better experience if we could follow most of the guidelines.The BBB recommends the following tips for shopping online this holiday season to help fight unscrupulous online retailers, scammers and hackers:


Start planning now. Many retail stores are already promoting Black Friday deals in ads and on their websites. Take time to print out or clip ads for items you are interested in buying to help outline your shopping day in advance.

Read the fine print on gift cards. These can be found on the back of the card and will let you know the terms and conditions for using the card. There could be limitations to in-store purchases or exclusions on certain items.

Ask about return policies. While many stores offer a 30-day return policy, it is important to read the terms and conditions associated with each purchase. And remember that the refund policy usually applies to the day you purchase the item not when you give the item as a gift. Be sure to request gift receipts for all gifts.

Ask for gift receipts. When buying gifts, it’s important to obtain and keep receipts for all purchases in case the recipient needs to return an item. Many stores will provide gift receipts upon request, which allow returns but don’t show the recipient how much you paid for an item.


Protect your personal information. Check to see how your information may be used online. When shopping at stores, keep your card out of sight and make sure you get it back and safely in your wallet before you leave the store.

Check the site’s security settings and privacy policy. If the site is secure, its address should start with https://. You also may see a picture of a small closed lock in the lower right hand corner of the screen.

Know the company’s refund and return policies. Are there restocking fees? Do you have to pay shipping costs on returns?

Do not rely on pictures of a product. Read the description and check model numbers, if applicable.

Be cautious of free or low-price offers. Often, free offers are followed by an open-ended enrollment in a program that automatically bills your credit card account. Before ordering anything online, make sure you click on and read all terms and conditions.

Pay with a credit card.If you suspect fraud or don’t receive your order, you can challenge the charge in the event of a dispute.

Obtain a tracking number for shipments. If you need the product before the holidays, find out when the seller intends to ship it and if possible, how it will be shipped.

Print out the order. Make sure you have the documentation page for online orders and save it until the order arrives.

Be aware of phishing. Don’t respond to emails that ask for your credit card or bank account number or other personal information. Legitimate businesses do not send emails claiming there is a problem with an order or account to lure you into revealing financial information.

(C): BBB

You can actually earn money from your YouTube account!

View YouTube videos and get paid for it!! Yes, that's what Paid2YouTube.com does for you! Here you just view YouTube Videos and it is quite easy actually.

1) Open an YouTube account, if you don't have one yet.

2) Signup with Paid2YouTube.com.

3) Click a video and view to earn money.

4) Refer to friends and earn even more.

You will get paid $0.005 for each video you personally view, $0.10 for each comment you leave, and $0.15 for each subscription you make. You'll also get paid $0.001 for each video your referrals view, $0.01 for each comment your referrals leave, and $0.05 for each subscription your referrals make. Payment requests can be made every day and are processed through PayPal. The minimum payout is $10.00.


Signup by clicking here.

Few Tips for the Newbies Earn from the Internet

Earning on the internet involves a lot on activity. You need to do a lot of networking, sharing, interacting in a way that benefits each other. A major earning logarithm works on down line building and gathering referrals, while others require you to write proactively, consistently and voraciously. Having spent days researching on the right kind of approach on right kind of sites and to earn from them, I have learned a few basic things on which the virtual world works on. I would like to share those with you here.

How to start off

Don’t expect to become rich overnight. Online earnings happen slowly and take a lot of time and effort.

A few cents from several sites add up to a decent amount. So, invest in lot of genuine sites instead of just one or two. Your effort and time would build up a network that’s very important in converting the cents to dollars.

Your profile speaks volumes about you and your work. Invest time to build an enhancing profile. Be honest and modest. It pays off.

Stay away from scam sites. Most of the sites which ask you to pay first invariably are scam sites. The best opportunities are free sites unless you know someone who has got paid from the sites requiring upfront payment. If you are not sure, ask questions in the forums or amongst online friends.

Spend some time learning while you earn. Join forums which talk about your interests and your skills. There is always an opportunity out there with your specific skill set and interests.

Start with a few activities and gradually expand as time permits you. Be prepared to devote your time and effort.

Open a Paypal account, if you do not have one already. Some sites pay you directly by cheque, while most use payment gateways like Paypal. Another important account that you must have is Google Adsense. It helps you earn from your blog or other sites.

The importance of Networking

A lot of online earning opportunities involve networking. The more successful you are in online networking the more you likely to succeed in your earning endeavour.

If you are already part of a social networking site, make as many new friends who are active online as you can. Visit their blogs/sites/articles, leave comments and votes.

When you join a particular site which involves interaction with other members, make as many friends you can and comment/rate their articles.

There are sites which are ideal for promotion or drawing traffic to your articles/content. I strongly recommend Twitter which gets traffic to your websites. You can also consider sites like Digg, Mixx, stumbleupon, Youtube and Facebook.

Lastly, do not lose heart if you are not successful. Keep trying. It took me almost ten years to earn a modest amount from the internet. Perseverance does pay off.

Good luck!

So what your job sucks!!

Hope you all are doing fine. There has been a lot of festivities in the last few weeks and please accept my belated greetings for the season. I hope you all had a good time.

Now, what next? It's time to rewind and get going however drab it may seem. We just cannot be eternally disillusioned and disgusted with our job profiles, can we? It doesn't make sense to curse the job, the bosses and the intertwined politics. At the end of the day we have to live with it. So, why not take a different stand on something that has been sucking. First and foremost, we have to understand that we cannot change the system overnight. We have to realize and consider the loopholes and the negative aspects in order to love the job we are into.


I have found that organizing always helps. Piling up jobs to the point that we lose the inside outs not only aggravates the hassle but also creates a sense of insufficiency and incompleteness. We can do better than that, don't we? So, before going on holidays, I keep myself updated with my job so much so that the day when I rejoin, I am recharged, refreshed with NO hangover from the older backlogs.


Again, delegating the duties timely helps enormously as well. Some people just cannot delegate duties hoping that they will lose out on the credit of the outcome or just because they do not have faith in others. But once we start to do that, things will be more fun and fast.


We should also realize that we will get to no where by being cursing and venomous. The amount of energy we would spend to do this actually would help us in our individual growth if we could dechannelize. My experience tells me that our job starts to suck when we are trying to accentuate on the flip sides that the job comes with. No job on earth would be a perfect platter and sooner we realize this, it's better for us.


We should also start by liking and developing tolerant skills that would help us learn more about the job. Knowing and understanding the intricacies of our jobs help us better our performances and gradually this lead us to the point from where looking back at the journey makes it all the more fun and worthy.


Another important thing I have learned is that, we should be able to laugh at ourselves and take it in the right spirit when anyone else does.That eases us the viciousness and helps us remain unaffected at the never ending office politics.


So, declutter, reorganize, delegate, love the job and have fun at ourselves make things definitely easier. Try out and let me know. Till then happy trying.

A guide to online earning

When I started off my activities on the internet ten years back, it was more of fun and time pass and an endeavor to catch up with the fast changing world. The virtual world was an avenue that gave me an opportunity to let go and do my mind. I was proactively participating on various networking sites when I got to learn about another aspect that the virtual world has to offer. It was an avenue that opened my eyes. I never believed that we could actually earn online until I got paid for micro blogging. It was a few cents but overpowering.

A B Cs of online earning

Soon, I realised that we get to earn here through multiple tasks, micro blogging, writing articles, networking and through clicking on the adverts, some of which I liked immensely and some I didn't quite enjoy. I prioritized on the kind of tasks I would be doing here on internet. I guess, people have different priorities and different fascinations and getting to know them and sticking to those help them excel here. It worked great for me.

A B Cs of online earning

So, I decided to set up a websitethat would hopefully answer the queries of newbies and for people who want to earn online. This website is essentially for the aspirants who want to earn online in their free time. I will guide you through the websites and the dos and donots of online addiction.

A B Cs of online earning

Here, have a look and feel free to ask me anything that you want to know. Thanks for your readership.

Truth has only one face

I have seen many people who would never tell the truth. Some lie outright and some are just so scared to tell the fact! They fumble, hide, make up fake stories and become hated in the whole process. Eventually they fall in the groove and they become habitual liars. The other day, as I was coming down from the ICU, I heard one doctor speaking on phone, quite loudly, telling the person on the other side that he was on the overbridge and would be right there in 5 mins! now the overbridge is at least 30 minutes from the hospital!

I really hate this and never quite get to the point where I have to lie. White lies are fine sometimes and I have been there as well but making up stories and cheating is just so gross. And there is but one truth. No burden, no guilt- only sometimes we have to be careful the way we deliver it because truth is not always taken in the right spirit and may hurt people who should not be punished.

Some people resort to lie because they know that the truth wouldn't be accepted. They fear the consequences. But, I feel, truth should be spoken, no matter how and when its delivered, it should be. And, we can forget about it and do not have to worry about the short term memory that we are suffer from. *Laughs*

Share your experiences.