Health Minister Harsh Vardhan encourages people to donate blood

Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan Wednesday announced the government’s initiative, a nationwide social movement, to encourage people to donate blood, on the occasion of the National Voluntary Blood Donation Day.

The movement is aimed at bridging the gap between the demand and supply of blood. While addressing more than 2,000 school children and other volunteers he said, ‘We have a shortfall of 2-3 million units per year in India. Through more voluntarism we can easily make up the deficit. Till date, 84 percent of the requirement of safe blood has been fulfilled. We must take it to 100 percent soon.’ 

Highlighting the benefits of blood donation he said, ‘By donating a unit of blood a year a person can get more blessings than by going to a place of worship’. He also highlighted that donating blood does not cause deteriorate of heath and is in fact helps improve one’s health condition. It secures a person from heart attacks and cancer. It is a good way of burning calories and moreover gives the supreme satisfaction of saving lives, he added. 

The minister also flagged a rally with the theme: ‘Run for the Little Red Dot Power’ at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium to create awareness about blood donation. The rally comprised volunteers from different educational institutions, NSS volunteers, regular repeat voluntary blood donors, voluntary blood organisations and blood bank officers promoting the cause of voluntary blood donation.

With inputs from IANS

Image source: Getty images

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Review: Devaaya Ayurveda & Nature Cure Centre, Goa

"This is my 4^th stay at Devaaya and love coming here every year. Earlier I used to come for 2 weeks, now I come for 3 weeks. This is like staying in one quite corner of the world that lets me spend time with myself, while I tend to my body, mind and soul." Says a middle-aged woman who lives in Nottingham, United Kingdom as we chat over lunch overlooking the swimming pool and Mandovi backwaters. We are at the Devaaya Ayurveda & Nature Cure Centre at Divar Island in Goa.

The lady was wearing a blue green batik cotton gown that adds the extra ease to her body language and her face is glowing as she prepares to go for her next therapy session. Organic vegetarian food does not excite the tongue too much but it’s so easy on the stomach that does not feel an iota fuller than it should.

I walk around the 5-acre campus that has water all around. Divar is a river island, surrounded by water on all sides and this property additionally has a layer of backwaters around it, especially if you visit it during monsoons. To me it seemed like a re-creation of a Goan village with its multi-colored houses that are never away from water and its open spaces that touch the waters. Each room overlooks the fields or backwaters.

A therapy center stands on top of a small mound where the resident visitors are given Ayurveda and Naturopathy consultations. They undergo various therapies based on their problems or their inherent nature. A typical days starts with Yoga in the open of weather permits, followed by breakfast, treatments, lunch, therapies, meditation and some entertainment. I liked their focus on doing it the right way by not allowing walk in visitors or easy options like day packages. They insist on a minimum stay of 7 days and 2 weeks is recommended duration as it is what the visitors need to see an impact.  Most of their clientele is European women who come here to de-stress and de-toxify, but I was told many Indians have started joining the bandwagon.

Therapy huts too overlook the greenery and a Kriya center has been aesthetically built around the trunk of an old tree. We could spot so many flowers and butterflies in the campus. Incidentally lot of artwork in the gardens was covered to protect it from the rain.

This place is so much of a quintessential quaint Goa and yet the anti-thesis of what is perceived to be Goa – as you get to eat only vegetarian food and no alcohol or smoking is permitted.

Check it out when you are in a mood to detox and spend some time with yourself in an idyllic location.

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Go Goa XXI– Bigfoot Museum, Loutlim

This museum is an attempt to re-create the Goan village seen as it used to be. There are various household, religious places, marketplaces and occupations depicted spread over a hill. Let me walk you through some of the key attractions of this museum.

The entrance door that is ornate and gives an impression of a place that is rich.

A sculpture of Saint Mira Bai in red laterite stone that is supposed to be a longest of its kind and find mention in many record books.

An impression of a big foot on a rock that gives this place its name. Myth is that if you touch the foot and make a wish, it will come true. An illuminated story is told through a series of paintings about the legend of bigfoot that makes it a holy place – worth worshipping.

There are spice plantations around the place like many other places in Goa

A butterfly park is work in progress.

With greenery all around, there are birds all around.

In an attempt to make it a living cultural space, there is an exhibition hall that showcases the works of local artisans. A curio shop reminds me of similar shops in similar tourism economies.

The whole place has audio guides that come up and speak when you are closer to the displays. It can be a bit jarring, but ensures that you do not miss out on any details displayed in the museum.

I would not say a must visit, but if you have time and if you are in that part of the town, you can spend couple of pleasant hours here.

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Go Goa XX : Cotigao Wildlife Sanctuary - A walker's paradise

Located at the southern edge of the Goa, bordering Karnataka, this lesser known wild life sanctuary is a nature walker’s delight.  It cuts you off from the mundane world and surrounds you with sheer greenery amidst flowing water almost everywhere.

Eco-tourism complex at the entrance of the sanctuary will give you entry tickets for you and your camera and vehicle. They would also give you a map of the sanctuary and tell you the main points to be visited. There are a few cottages here where you can stay, an interpretation centre and a butterfly park.

First point we visited was Bela Lake – about 7 Kms from the main gate. It is an artificial lake with a small watchtower by its side. The day we went it was raining so there was no chance of any animals visiting this small water hole. We noticed some vegetation at the base of this shallow lake – beautiful yellow plant with a red tip making it look like a flower. A few varieties of fish were also present in the lake. The mud road through the tall trees makes it a beautiful path to walk around. Only bird we spotted was a giant eagle.

We then moved towards what is called Tree Top. Now this is a tall tree with a fragile ladder attached to it and has a watchtower kind of stand on top. To reach this point you have to walk around 700 meters meandering with and sometimes through a narrow stream of water. As you walk the path you see the stairs made by mud and leaves that fell between two fallen trees and slender branches of some trees hugging the other trees, some twisted branches making you wonder how they got twisted and stones of different colors and make at the bottom of the stream. 

Our best find on this trail were wild mushrooms that were growing on broken tree trunks and on ground. Once we realized there were mushrooms there, our eyes started spotting many of them. We also spotted some flowers that we had not seen earlier and quite a few crabs in and around the stream.

Third spot was a seasonal waterfall that lies in a village called Kuskem about 15 kms from the main gate in another direction. We see the waterfall striding down the near vertical and lush green hill and looks beautiful with a front drop of light green paddy fields. A small 15-20 min trek took us to the base of the Kuskem waterfall where we could see it falling on a spot from where it begins flowing as a stream through small and big rocks. What I liked the most is the sound of water and twittering of the birds.

Goa Tourism websites indicates that you can camp inside the Cotigao Wildlife Sanctuary if you want though you would be pretty much on your own. I think a good birding trail can be followed post monsoons in the forest. I remember a Goa forest officer’s presentation on birds of Goa and lots of them were from Cotigao. He also mentioned some sacred groves in the forest and I think I sighted one but I am not sure if it is one, so would write about it only after I have validated it. There are villages inside the sanctuary making it a very living place from the human population perspective.

It is a perfect day outing for tourists staying in southern beaches like Palolem and Agonda. There is public transport that takes you quite close to the sanctuary though it is quite sparse. Unless you are willing to walk 25-30 kms, you would need your own transport at CotiGao Wildlife Sanctuary.

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Thoseghar Falls – Satara, Maharashtra

Thoseghar Waterfalls were the best part of our trip to Satara and Kaas.  The roaring falls vie for the attention of both your eyes and ears as you stand on the viewing platform.

On our right were the twin falls falling into a U shaped gorge and on our left a single waterfall was falling in tiers reaching the bottom of valley and joining the river formed by the earlier falls.

As we took our eyes off these thick waterfalls and looked at the surface of the hill in front of us, we could see many smaller falls coming down, a bit silently clinging to the surface of the hill. There are pathways built to take the visitors from this viewing platform to the upper part of the twin falls where you can see their source.

You even cross a waterfall through a small metal bridge. The most outstanding feature for me was the roaring sound of falling water – it overshadowed every other sound.

There were birds but we could only see them not hear them. There were quite a few tourists but they all kept quite listening to the sound of water. But for the time of the day that we visited i.e. roughly noontime, place has the potential to send you in a meditative trance.

Came back and Internet told me that Thoseghar falls are the third highest falls of India after Nohkalikai Falls of Meghalaya and Jog falls of Karnataka and I realized I have had the good fortune to visiting all of them.

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Go Goa XIX: Walking with Birds in Maina, Curtorim

One fine morning while Goa was still waiting for the rains we walked through the narrow streets of quaint Maina village close to better know Raia and Curtorim. It is a typical Goan village with narrow roads passing through the paddy fields. While the fields look like a green carpet on earth, the blue sky provides the contrast and the clouds here and there move around to provide the eternal change. Hills Stand on the horizon as if guarding the fields. Coconut trees loom on here and there. Water forms natural ponds and attracts many birds.

There is an absolute quite except some one off villager passing by on foot or on cycle. We spotted many birds with the help of Goa's bird expert Pankaj Lad of Canopy Tours, but could catch only a few with the camera and here are they for you:

Baya Weaver

Little Cormorant

Indian Pond Heron in Flight

Little Green Bee Eater

Purple Swamp Hen

Rose Ringed Parakeet

White Breasted Water Hen

White Browed Wagtail

List of some other birds spotted at Maina include:

Lesser Whistling-Duck     
Cotton Pygmy-Goose    male in breeding plumage 
Indian Spot-billed Duck     
Indian Cormorant     
White-eyed Buzzard     
White-breasted Waterhen     
Purple Swamphen     
Bronze-winged Jacana     
Asian Koel     
Greater Coucal     
Common Kingfisher     
Stork-billed Kingfisher     
White-throated Kingfisher     
Pied Kingfisher     
Green Bee-eater       

Black-rumped Flameback     
Rose-ringed Parakeet    nesting in coconut trees 
Common Iora     
Common Tailorbird     
Ashy Prinia     
Baya Weaver    several nesting 
White-rumped Munia    

Thank you Pankaj for this lovely walk.

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Go Goa XVIII: Budbudi Tal aka The Bubble Lake, Netravali, Goa

Clap and the lake bubbles, is the famous legend associated with this tiny lake that actually looks like a small temple pond with a structure standing in the middle of it.

Tucked away in the middle of spice farms, in the village of Netravali, Budbudi Lake is a rectangular step well style lake is an artificial lake that would have been constructed anywhere between 300-400 years back. It is a fresh water lake and gets water from the underground springs and has outlet at one end from where the water goes out and is used by the farmers around for irrigation.  We were told that when it was being constructed, a layer of sand was stuffed below the surface and that sustains aquatic plants on its base that emit methane gas. When this gas tries to escape, it comes up in the form of small bubbles. Visually the bubbles look beautiful when they pop up and create concentric circles through the ripples they cause. The lake can keep your eyes engaged for a long time as you keep looking for the nest bubble spot. You can also create bubbles by jumping on the stones around the lake or by clapping – basically anything that leads to vibrations in the lake.

There are small tiger fish in the Budbudi lake – the ones that are used by saloons for pedicure. I sat with my feet in the water and within few minutes the fishes were nibbling the dead skin on my feet. It tickles a bit but then you start enjoying it. If you can keep your feet stationary, fish would flock to fill all the space available on your skin.

The small rectangular laterite stone structure is the middle is dilapidated now but it might have been a part of the temple. A white colored stone among the many fallen stones on it, is believed to be Shiva Linga. You would need a local with you to point this out. I somehow felt this might have been a place for Tulsi plant as the temple belongs to Krishna and it is not unusual to have a Tulsi bang opposite the main temple. Standing next to a recently built temple of Gopinath, Budbudi Lake actually is the remnant of the beautiful temple that would have stood in place of the current temple. In the farm next to this lake, we actually saw the saved wooden pillars from this temple and they were not just beautifully carved but had aged very gracefully too. One look at them and you would be tempted to see the temple standing on these pillars but what you see today is concrete and tiles.

Tanshikar spice farm located next to this lake is a good place to stay or eat. They have few mud cottages and they conduct trekking tours around Netravali, besides selling spices grown on their farms. You can see the 200+-year-old mud house that the Tanshikar family continues to stay in.

Netravali is almost on the border of Goa-Karnataka, good 90+ kms South of Panaji, but the drive is very pleasant through the villages flanked by fields on both sides. Your mobile phones will not work unless you are on BSNL network, in which case, they may. So, go with all the directions in hand and not depend on your GPS systems.

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