A Dream

On a foggy morning sunrise,
I wake up with birds chirping,
Feeling lazy and fresh.
I can hear water flowing.

A look through my window,
Shows just green.
Grass with dew,
And trees that lean.

No newspaper to read,
No clock or calender to see.
No TV to watch or phone to ring.
Just some hot tea.

Nowhere to go, nothing to do.
All I feel is just peace.
All I do is just be.
And my soul just is.

De-clutter ! De-junk !

We belong to the age of the great Junk.

Junk food
Junk email
Junk thoughts
Junk music
Junk household articles
Junk Documents - paper and e
Junk activities
Junk News in TV

Junk has hijacked our lives, denying us the bliss of plain existence.

I decided to eliminate as much junk as possible from my room yesterday. Started looking at my cupboard. Found many things that I could instantly send to the dustbin. Found many things that I could send to the dustbin after thinking for a few seconds. Yeah only seconds. I also found a box I had labeled as "Important Documents" a couple of years back. Determined to find at least one useless piece of paper, I examined the contents. Bingo ! Not a single "useful" piece of paper. How fast the perception of "importance" changes ! It contained mostly old credit card/bank statements.

Remember अपरिग्रह(aparigraha) ? See my earlier post for the philosophical angle of this.

I have regained some peace back.

Anti Plastic Steps

Steps I have taken so far to distance myself and my family away from plastics:

1. Replaced the of plastic containers used to store spices and condiments with glass
2. Stopped using all Melamine plastic kitchenware / tableware
3. Start looking at stainless steel and wood kitchenware with high respect
4. Stopped using fiber cutting board
5. Stopped buying pickles/sauces that come in plastic containers.

More to follow.

Besides this, our family took a collective decision not to buy the microwave oven.

Escape from BPA

The western world has discovered that most plastic containers are hazardous (some of them in use for decades now). The primary devil is BPA (bisphenol A) that is being associated with a wide variety of serious health problems like breast cancer, prostate cancer, Type 2 diabetes, early onset of puberty in girls, obesity, and neuro-behavioural problems such as attention deficit and hyperactivity disorders.

We in India are going crazy about plastic and its various avatars. There is just one positive thought I have - It is easier for us to switch to safer alternatives as the amount of plastic that we use today is lesser compared to the west.

greenlivingonline.com has a comprehensive article about BPA and ways to escape from it. If you are serious about your and your family's health, minimize all other windows and go read it straight away.
12 protective steps for the dangers of BPA poisoning

All Plastic is Evil

All plastic is chemical. This includes Tupperware. Which chemical is good and which is bad are very difficult questions to answer even for experts. Most 'experts' have commercial interests.

Tupperware is among the best tested (and marketed) food quality plastics 'today'. No one knows what lab tests and 'real tests on consumers' might reveal in a few decades. The intent of this blog post is to "prove all plastic is bad for use with food". Tupperware is discussed here because it is popularly thought as the 'safest'. I do not have anything against the company and appreciate the openness in the FAQs in Tupperware website, which acknowledges the use of "bisphenol A" in their products.

Thanks to Tupperware for this statement:
"As we have the highest regard and concern for the safety of our consumers, however, we will continue to closely monitor this scientific debate and conduct our own research into the best materials for use in Tupperware products."

This means we are guinea pigs. We are living in the cool lab of consumerism. All this is shocking to me is because, I went purely by the hype around Tupperware. I thought since it is expensive, it must be safe. How foolish I have been.

"bisphenol A" is a chemical in most plastics including some Tupperware as acknowledged by them in their website .Wikipedia says this chemical is an endocrine disruptor and can play with your hormones.

'Safety standards' are only 'evolving' guidelines and most probably have commercial bias. The 'safest plastic' may be proved to be hazardous after 10 years from now. That might be too late for you. The point I am trying to make is not just about bisphenol A in Tupperware, but about the whole idea of using chemicals with food.

Special thanks to Vignesh for asking that question in the comment in my earlier post, which urged me to find these facts out. btw, does anybody know the chemical effects of my hot Sambar's tartaric acid on bisphenol A ?

Killing Plastics

Kill plastics before they kill you.

Of late, I have been caught in a grip of fear about what the innumerable plastic containers and wrappers might do to me and my descendants. I am so afraid that I am starting to make a switch to non-plastics especially for use with food.

Some good articles which I am using as kick starts:
Alternatives to Plastic - PAUL GOETTLICH
It’s Your Choice

In my immediate plans are to junk my expensive Tupperware lunch set. I will use it for storing non-food items for the time being. The replacement would be good old stainless steel.

I will write a follow-up post after a couple of months or so about the changes that I will have made by then. I would be extremely grateful if you can participate in my journey to the land of Non Plastica. Post your ideas as comments in my blog. Email me with whatever information you have. We need to find ways to avoid plastics in the context of an Indian kitchen.

Ur'bane' ?

Are we addicted to urban life ?
Are n't hours of daily commuting to office in hellish traffic reason enough to move back to small towns ?

Are n't cities killing the earth ? Is n't your city life killing your natural state of being ?
But town life is so slow moving... It lacks energy... The world looks so small there...

When the world 'outside' you becomes uncomplicated, the world 'inside' you gets a chance to bloom.

OK, let me go back to the world that I created a few minutes back... Listening to New Age music(from www.shoutcast.com) while reading about Ancient Religious Myths(links work in Internet Explorer).