People can easily get the impression that others have impressive lives. Especially when they see the impressive pictures that others post. I have been guilty of posting impressive pictures of sunsets actually seen from my home.
Here are a few of them.
An actual sunset in north Mumbai
While sunsets do remind me of the magnificence of our creator, they can also provide an opportunity to show off.
July sunset scene in Mumbai
While there have been many magical moments, no doubt, I would like to say that most of the days are, well, not so spectacular.
Yellow and grey shades
In fact, most of the days the sky can be just plain and grey too.
Grey and dark clouds hover
At other times, the heavy brooding clouds can just descend in a heavy downpour within minutes.
I guess that I am trying to say here is that you need not envy anybody just because they can see some good sunsets.
God has made each one of us unique, just as no two sunsets will be alike. And the sunsets fade into night in a few hours. Let us live and love well in the brief time we have on earth. God bless
This will take real guts: Corona cases increasing in India, and especially Mumbai.
Maharashtra, the state where Mumbai is the capital, has more cases than China now!
The state of Maharashtra has more cases than China as of 8th June 2020 HT Mumbai headlines
Look at the Containment Zones list. The majority are fromover crowded residential areas with common toilets like slums.
Why is no one talking about the most obvious cause of the problem here? Instead of just clamping a lockdown, why not use this as the best opportunity to get these slums and chawls transformed.
As it is, many of the residents staying in such areas have fled to their villages. The Government needs to immediately put in action a plan to relocate these high risk people. Then they need demolish all these unsanitary dwellings. Provide prefabricated rapidly scalable multi-storeyed modular homes with toilet facilities for these residents. This way the area will become habitable and open up green spaces too.
Don’t the slum dwellers [those legally eligible, of course] have a right to live with dignity and basic health safety? ! Mumbai is the Commercial capital of India for Gods sake! If there is a will there is a way! Does anybody have the guts to do this? Why should the Healthcare system alone handle the mess created by poor infrastructure and corrupt networks which have caused such overcrowded slums to exist? The answer is not just to increase funding for Healthcare, but to provide basic amenities to the poor and marginalised.
At a fraction of the cost of expensive Hospitals, one can provice sanitary living conditions that will not only help for preventing Corona but a host of other diseases liek TB, Dengue, Malaria, Dysentry etc.
And if you say you do not want to give these people free houses, fine. Would you rather see your tax money being spent on costly treatments, Hospitals, and sops for the economically affected industries? The BMC, MMRDA, Local politicians, and people must join hands and work towards this solution or any other way to ensure a dignified living for the marginalised. I believe they are precious people in God’s eyes and have been serving the city since ages.
Everything else we do to tackle this Corona crisis, and many other communicable diseases, is only like treating a leaking tap by mopping the floor!
I am writing this as a Physician working in a Hospital in North Mumbai. Our team of frontline COVID-19 warriors face this reality daily. Increasing number of cases are coming from areas around, largely from chawls and slums. I really hope people staying in such conditions have a real chance to live in homes with self contained basic toilet facilities in 2020!
A total lockdown has been in effect in India since the 22nd of March 2020. This was declared to help contain the spread of the novel Corona virus. The cyclone Nisarga hit the west coast of the state of Maharashtra yesterday [3rd June 2020] evening. Thank God, the cyclone did not cause any damage in the city of Mumbai.
This picture was taken yesterday, the 3rd of June 2020 from my window in North Mumbai.
Sun set during the Lock down and Nisarga Cyclone
There are some very important things that I would like you to notice here.
Never before in Mumbai has the horizon been so transparent and pure. The setting sun is seen so clearly. It is so bright and the air is transparent, as it ought to be.
Before the lockdown, Mumbai, as with many other large urban cities, had a brown haze which extended up for thousands of feet from the ground. Aviation experts were well aware of this phenomenon. This is called the Asian brown cloud.
Sunset before the lockdown showing the brownish haze in the lower part
The Asian brown cloud is created by a range of airborne particles and pollutants from combustion (e.g., woodfires, cars, and factories), biomass burning[5] and industrial processes with incomplete burning.[6] The cloud is associated with the winter monsoon (November/December to April) during which there is no rain to wash pollutants from the air.[7]
One major impact is on health. A 2002 study indicated nearly two million people die each year, in Asia alone, from conditions related to the brown cloud.[12]
The effect of the lock down has been dramatic in reducing this pollutuon. The health benefits of this will be seen for years in the future.
Data from the pollution control board documents this huge reduction in atmospheric pollution across Maharashtra.
This certainly shows that the lock down has helped to improve the air and help the earth to recover from the effects of man made pollution. One needs to question why we need to pollute the earth in our frenzied desire to grab more and more unwanted junk into our lives.
Sunsets of exceptional beauty are possible when we stop pollutiing the earth to feed mindless consumerism.
I hope we will learn to live by respecting nature in the future. The lessons learnt during the lockdown and the Corona pandemic should always be remembered. Let our needs be simple and few. Let us treasure people and use things, instead of the other way around as it was before the lockdown, I pray.
We are called to be good stewards ot this planet. God has kept us as tenants on this earth. Let us align our lives to His to enjoy life in all its abundance.
I am sharing something very urgent and hope this will spur the administration to take action that is essential and yet difficult: Our Hospital is seeing many cases of Corona [COVID-19] as we are located close to several hotspots in Dahisar East in North Mumbai.
The majority of these cases are from chawls and slums where there are common toilet facilities. People are leaving these hotspots en masse as of today.
My suggestion [echoed by many field workers on the ground] is to make use of this time to convert all those residential areas having common toilets [mainly slums and chawls] into housing units with attached toilet facilities in a legally demarcated land use as per the Development Plan.
Don’t these people deserve a life of dignity and clean, healthy living conditions? And considering the changed socio-economic scenario post-COVID-19, I feel hygiene and safety will remain our top priority. Mumbai is the commercial capital of Mumbai. Our residents surely deserve this!
How can this be done practically, you may well ask. Modular units can be built and shipped. Some friends suggested that we use Cargo Containers. Homes with toilet and water facilities can be built in a few days or weeks.
Beautiful houses can be constructed, complete with attached toilets. Not just two or three floors high!
Ganti + Associates Design’s proposal for a shipping container skyscraper in Mumbai. Image Courtesy of GA Design
I am sure innovative civil engineers and entrepreneurs will chip in and suggest even better alternatives than these.
It will take coordination from the local leaders, politicians, police, army, and civil engineering teams. It will be costly and disruptive.
Tackling the root of the problem takes courage. But we have to make use of this opportunity if we wish to really recover from this Corona Pandemic and prevent even more catastrophic pandemics in the future.
Praying that God would give us wisdom and courage to do what is required, in a time like this. Jai Hind.
The Corona pandemic has brought about a global lock down never seen in recent times. Those who are unaware of how fearfully and wonderfully their bodies are made are now full of fear. Many try out any remedy to improve their immunity and somehow protect themselves from this Corona virus.
The novel Corona Virus COVID-19
As a Medical Doctor, I felt it is important to address this issue with facts, that can avoid you inadvertently causing more harm than good. Your body is complex and superbly designed. There are many defense mechanisms constantly at work in your body to protect you from viruses. Medical and Biological sciences are discovering newer ones even as this is being written.
I will give a short summary of the wonderful way in which our defense mechanisms have been designed. Designs always point out to a designer, whom I have had the privilege of knowing personally. I hope that you will understand the love that the Lord God your Designer and Creator has for you. I also hope that none of you would ever think that such sophisticated defense mechanisms just came about by mindless,random accidents of the so-called evolution process, as many would love to believe.
I hope this awareness of the facts will also reduce your fear and anxiety against the Corona virus. This virus does not have eyes, wings, hands, or feet. It is just a piece of RNA code encoded by a fatty membrane. I sincerely hope that your fear will be replaced by faith, trust, and hope.
This does not mean the virus is harmless, and you should not have a false sense of confidence in your own ability to withstand this virus. What I mean by is faith, trust and hope in the God who made you, which I hope will develop or increase as you read this.
I have taken the scientific material mainly from the latest edition of Harrisons Principles of Internal Medicine, known globally as the Bible of Internal Medicine. which every student of modern medicine will know.
The way in which God has designed our bodies, our immune systems, are to be seen to be believed. The details mentioned below are technical, but I am sure you will learn to trust in God and cultivate a heart of gratitude to our Lord, which will make your immune systems in turn work optimally. Science has confirmed that fear and anxiety damage the potential of your immune system to work to its full capability 1, and I believe that peace, love, and forgiveness are keys to healing.
Here are some of the amazing ways known so far to Science of how our defense mechanisms help us to fight viral infections.
HUMAN BODY’S RESISTANCE TO VIRAL INFECTIONS
Physical defense mechanisms: Resistance to viral infections is initially provided by physical factors that are not virus specific. Physical protection is afforded by the many layers of the skin and by mucous secretions that continuously sweep over mucosal surfaces. So, it is important to maintain the integrity of these surfaces by drinking enough water.
Human Skin layers
Respiratory muco-ciliary defense mechanisms
Blood borne defenses: Blood actively maintains life by providing a vital function for all cells, tissues, and organs, and thus the life of the whole body 2. So says Leviticus 17:11. Science is discovering the astonishing variety of defense and offense mechanisms present in our blood. Our Immune systems are indeed very cleverly designed.
Here are the main ones.
Cytokines: As soon as the first cell is infected, cytokines are induced. These are substances, such as interferon IFN, interleukin, and growth factors, which are secreted by certain cells of the immune system and confer resistance to RNA virus replication.
Cytokines profile in viral infections
Viral infection may also trigger the release of other cytokines from infected cells. These cytokines attract inflammatory and immune cells.
The cellular army: Viral protein epitopes seen on the human cell surface stimulate the expansion of Killer T lymphocyte populations with receptors that can recognize these virus-encoded peptides presented on the cell surface by MHC class I proteins. These Killer T cells are among an elite warrior group roaming in your body.
A cytotoxic T cell (also known as TC, cytotoxic T lymphocyte, CTL, T-killer cell, cytolytic T cell, CD8+ T-cell or killer T cell) is a T lymphocyte (a type of white blood cell) that kills cancer cells, cells that are infected (particularly with viruses), or cells that are damaged in other ways. Cytokines and antigens released by virus-induced cell death further attract inflammatory cells, dendritic cells, granulocytes, natural killer (NK) cells, and B lymphocytes to sites of infection and to draining lymph nodes. IFNs and NK cells are particularly important in containing viral infection for the first several days. Special White blood cells called Granulocytes and macrophages are also important in the phagocytosis [eating up] and degradation of viruses, especially after an initial antibody response.
By 7–10 days after infection, virus-specific antibody responses, virus-specific human leukocyte antigen (HLA) class II–restricted CD4+ helper T lymphocyte responses, and virus-specific HLA class I–restricted CD8+ cytotoxic T lymphocyte responses develop. These responses, whose magnitude typically increases over the second and third weeks of infection, are important for rapid recovery.
Antibodies and Complement: In the initial days, a powerful Immunoglobulin M IgM antibody is secreted glandular-associated B cells. The process is almost magical. Following viral antigen stimulation, IgM-producing plasma cells migrate from the lymph node to bone marrow, where they become long-lived plasma cells. A 5- to 10-day lag time occurs before IgM antibodies appear in blood, and peak IgM levels occur at 21 days. Between the second and third weeks after the first infection other even more powerful IgG or IgA antibodies can then be detected at infected mucosal surfaces. Antibody may directly neutralize virus by binding to its surface and preventing cell attachment or penetration. Complement can significantly enhance antibody-mediated virus neutralization.
Antibody and complement can also dissolve virus-infected cells that display viral membrane proteins on the cell surface.
Cells infected with a replicating enveloped virus usually show the virus-envelope glycoproteins on the cell plasma membrane. Specific antibodies can bind to the glycoproteins, fix complement, and lyse the infected cell.
Surveillance to prevent recurrence: Once our Immune system is activated, it never forgets! Antibody and CD4+/CD8+ T lymphocyte [white blood cells] responses to viral infection can remain at high levels for several months after primary infection but usually wane over time.
Low-level persistence of antibody-producing B lymphocytes and CD4+ or CD8+ T lymphocyte responses as memory cells can provide a rapid response to a second infection or an early barrier to reinfection with the same virus.
God has given you an entire army with diverse defense and offense mechanisms that protect you.. You can choose to fear a virus, or you can choose to trust God.
It is your choice always, for God has also given you free will. By faith we understand that the universe has been created by a word from God so that the visible came into existence from the invisible.
Gratitude to God is an attitude that can also work wonders for your immune system. Peace and joy and other such emotions are the result of knowing this truth, which sets us all free.
Make sure that you follow the guidelines issued by the local health authorities. I wish that you and your family stay safe, healthy, and happy.
Wonder why the environment is changing? Why pollution is increasing? Why the weather is fluctuating? Climate change is seen everywhere. Rains at unseasonal months. Rising temperatures.
The land is rebelling
It’s as if the world is reacting to something.
The land is protesting.
Why? What is going on?
As I was reading today I got a glimpse of what could be the cause.
It was the sin of people with free will, especially in matters related to sex. The abandonment of boundaries set in nature by their Creator.
There are several verses detailing the abhorrent sexual practices of the natives of Canaan and Egypt.
“Don’t have sex with a close relative. I am God . “Don’t violate your father by having sex with your mother. She is your mother. Don’t have sex with her. Etc Leviticus 18:6-18 MSG https://bible.com/bible/97/lev.18.6-7.MSG
God spoke to Moses: “Speak to the People of Israel. Tell them, I am God , your God. Don’t live like the people of Egypt where you used to live, and don’t live like the people of Canaan where I’m bringing you. Don’t do what they do. Obey my laws and live by my decrees. I am your God . Keep my decrees and laws: The person who obeys them lives by them. I am God . Leviticus 18:1- 16 MSG
“Don’t pollute yourself in any of these ways. This is how the nations became polluted, the ones that I am going to drive out of the land before you. Even the land itself became polluted and I punished it for its iniquities—the land vomited up its inhabitants.
This is written in the old Testament.
God adds
You must keep my decrees and laws—natives and foreigners both. You must not do any of these abhorrent things. The people who lived in this land before you arrived did all these things and polluted the land. And if you pollute it, the land will vomit you up just as it vomited up the nations that preceded you. Leviticus 18:24-28
We see this happening even now.
God created sex. It’s for us to enjoy. People pervert sex for their own reasons.
Anything good that becomes perverted causes destruction. And nature will change. The land becomes polluted.
Probably the answer to climate change could be very different from what people are looking at. It’s not just about trying to reduce fossil fuel burning. It could mean examining your own heart. In matters related to vital areas of your life.
Wow, what a camp this was! As I sit down to write this report I’m still flying in the excitement of the atmosphere of the camp.
As one of the ten team leaders, my wife and I got to interact with really wonderful people as we prepared for the skit on the parable of the wheat and the weeds.
The camp was held in a wonderful location called Sereniity resort in Lonavala.
Almost 200 people attended this three day adventure, where the theme was “You are part of the bigger picture”
The organising team worked really hard to ensure that all were accommodated and the schedule provided ample time for all to develop deep meaningful relationships with the Lord and one another.
We enjoyed a wonderful feast of both spiritual and physical food.
There were many games anda treasure hunt arranged by the four quartermasters.
The team that won the treasure huntfor the lost harp of David!
Each of the ten teams were given a parable which they had to enact without dialogues in five minutes. They could use background tracks and props.
The slots were very well presented on the entertainment night.
There was a morning trek too! This was to the nearby lake, a45 minute walk to the hills.
The Tungarli lake is a scenic place with clear water.
The resort also had place for games and a swimming pool.
Camp t-shirts and logos ensure that every team has its identity.
The worship team did a wonderful job and helped all of us to come into the presence of the Lord.
We had two resource persons who spoke on themes related to being part of the bigger picture.
There was a powerful move of the Holy SPIRIT and people were edified, challenged and blessed.
We were encouraged to be faithful, grow in the fear of the Lord, and in the spirit of power, love and a sound mind.
Many gave testimonies of their time at the camp and it was a huge blessing, the effects of which will be felt and seen in the years to come.
Antibody and complement can also dissolve virus-infected cells that display viral membrane proteins on the cell surface.
Cells infected with a replicating enveloped virus usually show the virus-envelope glycoproteins on the cell plasma membrane. Specific antibodies can bind to the glycoproteins, fix complement, and lyse the infected cell.
Low-level persistence of antibody-producing B lymphocytes and CD4+ or CD8+ T lymphocyte responses as memory cells can provide a rapid response to a second infection or an early barrier to reinfection with the same virus.
It is your choice always, for God has also given you free will. By faith we understand that the universe has been created by a word from God so that the visible came into existence from the invisible.
Gratitude to God is an attitude that can also work wonders for your immune system. Peace and joy and other such emotions are the result of knowing this truth, which sets us all free.
