Featured Posts

Introducing Shakespeare Would you say Shakespeare needs no introduction? You would be wrong.  Most of us really do not know Shakespeare. Even those who have read the abridged versions of his stories cannot claim to know the...

Read more

Places to see in Central Delhi: Humayun's Tomb Humayun's tomb is often referred to as the red stone version of the Taj Mahal. It preceedes the Taj Mahal and was the source of its inspiration.  The tomb was built in 1562 by Hamida Banu Begum the wife...

Read more

Luyten's Delhi Having dwelt acidically on the state of preparedness for the commonwealth games and the unabating optimism of the Indian, I would like to make some amends. While the picture painted by me in the earlier...

Read more

Resolutions recorded on liquid surfaces! Having made an ardent promise to myself and my readers that I would henceforth cease to be a drop out and would spend time writing a blog a day, I have failed to keep my word.  It seems these resolutions...

Read more

What is so addictive about blogging? I never did think that I would drop out of blogging.  Yet I have been so tardy with my posts that I am nearly a drop out! So, it is clearly a time to examine why did I start this blog in the first place...

Read more

twitter

Follow on Tweets

  •  

Sep

04

2010

Introducing Shakespeare

Posted by Samantha | Comments : Comments Off

Category : Academic writing, Communication, Creative writing, English language, Freelance content, Freelancing, General, Information highway, Literature, News and society, website content

Tags: , , , , , ,

Would you say Shakespeare needs no introduction? You would be wrong.  Most of us really do not know Shakespeare. Even those who have read the abridged versions of his stories cannot claim to know the bard. After all many of the stories he used in his plays were folk tales that were popular during his time. They were hardly his own!

English Literature students too, cannot claim familiarity. A popular joke that used to do the rounds in our literature classes truly illustrates the state of Shakespeare studies in colleges in India and abroad. The joke was–if Shakespeare were to attend classes on Shakespeare, he would be the only one to fail the year end examination as he would be bewildered with the interpretations of his text!

Having said all this, what kind of introduction to Shakespeare is this post going to offer? Well, to use the cliched phrase, let us begin at the beginning and re-introducte/introduce (as the case may be) ourselves to the bard and his works in very general terms.  Perhaps with the next posts we can worm our way into the heart of the bard?

Shakespeare was a man who understood mankind. He understood the impulses of the people around him in near absolute terms. In fact, his plays underline the universal truth that “human nature never changes”.  Love, hate, anger, jealousy, lust, greed, betrayal (and all the shades of emotions in between) spring forth with the force and energy of yore in the hearts of men and women eternally. So, why should the characters in his plays be any different? He represented man (and woman) as he found him (her).

Therefore, it is not surprising that Shakespeare’s comedies are tragically comic and his tragedies are comically tragic! He laughs at the follies of men and is saddened by the consequences of their folly.  Antonio or Bassanio provoke tense laughter as the audience waits with bated breadth for the looming tragedy–consequent upon their “humanness”–to manifest and miraculously find a resolution.  A Lear or a Macbeth evoke sympathetic pain as their emotions carry them beyond reason and  they descend to the level of being comically tragic as their bizzare responses to the situation and their worldview borders on madness.

Has the foregoing commentary on the bard made you any wiser? I am sure it has not!  So what must be done?  Poll it!

–Dr.Vanitha Vaidialingam, Phd, IRS

Rating 3.00 out of 5
[?]

Aug

30

2010

Salads for every season; every reason

Posted by Samantha | Comments : Comments Off

Category : Communication, Content Marketing, General, Health and Exercise, News and society, Self help

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,

Salads are not just health food.  They are healthy food.  Salads should form a part of at least one meal a day. You can toss up interestingly arranged, tasty salads in a few minutes!

Invite friends over and make a colorful display on your table with salad dishes arranged at suitable intervals! Enjoy the complements you receive!

Here is an interesting salad book that you may like to own, titled simply–Salad Recipes. There are more than 2500 salad recipes that you can use for every season and every reason! Here are a few that you can start with immediately.

Here is a sneak peek into the table of contents.

Introduction
Personalized Cooking Aprons
Antipasto Pasta Salad
Beet Salad
Couscous Salad
Beef Fajita Salad
Greek Salad
Chicken Pasta Salad
Lentil Salad
Ham Salad with Hot Peanut Dressing
Deli Potato Salad
Mandarin Orange Salad
Turkey Macaroni Salad
Taco Salad
Hungarian Cucumber Salad
Golden Corral’s Seafood Salad
Strawberry Spinach Salad
Mediterranean Salad
Spicy Pecan Salad
Rice Salad
Zucchini Slaw
Poached Chicken and Walnut Salad
Sugar Snap Salad
Fruit Salad with Champagne Sauce
Mushroom Antipasto Pasta Salad
Grilled Caribbean Chicken Salad
Spicy Fruit Salad

Rating 3.00 out of 5
[?]

Aug

29

2010

Places to see in Central Delhi: Humayun’s Tomb

Posted by Samantha | Comments : Comments Off

Category : Communication, General, Information highway, News and society, Travel content

Tags: , , , , , ,

Humayun’s tomb is often referred to as the red stone version of the Taj Mahal. It preceedes the Taj Mahal and was the source of its inspiration.  The tomb was built in 1562 by Hamida Banu Begum the wife of the Mughal Emporer Humayun. It was designed by a Persian architect–Mirak Mirza Giyath.  It has been declared a world heritage site by the UNESCO in 1993 and is one of the major Garden tombs of the sub continent.  The graves of Humayun, his wife Hamida and that of many of his descendants are found in this tomb complex.

The tomb is 47 mts tall and is 300 feet wide and is the first Indian building to use the Persian double dome on a high neck drum that measures 42.5 m. The dome is mounted with a 6 mt high brass final crowned by a cresent.  This dome is made of pure white marble while the rest of the building is made of red sandstone in contrast.  The design is symmetrical and simple on the exterior while the interior is complex.  There are eight two storyed vaulted chambers that radiate from a central chamber. The intricate Jaali work or stone lattice work is specatacular.  The actual tomb of the Emperor and his wife lie in an underground chamber directly below the cenotaph and is accessible from a seperate passage.  Surrounding the building is the beautiful Char Bagh Garden or four part garden with a quadrilateral layout. The four squares are further subdivided into smaller squares forming 36 squares in all.  The water channels appear to flow beneath the tomb only to appear on the other side of the building in a straight line.

In the south east corner of the complex lies the Tomb of the first Mughal Emperor of India–Barbar.  This is the only building within the inner walls of the complex and hence it is interpreted to be a building of importance. This tomb is known as the Nai-ka-Gumbad and dates back to 1590-91.  The tomb stands on a raised platform and is square in design.  There are no inscriptions that indicate that it is the tomb of Barbar. However, local legends daub it so and since it stands within the inner walls of the Humayun tomb complex, it could well be so.

There are a number of buildings that dot the pathway leading up to Humayun’s tomb. Most of these buildings are located outside the inner wall.   The Tomb and Mosque of Isa Khan predates Humanyun’s tomb and is the most prominent building in the complex.  It is said to have been constructed in 1547 and is the tomb of  an Afghan noble who graced Sher Shah Suri’s court.  This is an octogonal tomb in an octogonal garden.  It is said to be typical of the monuments of the Sur dynasty.

Other significant buildings in the complex are Bu Halima’s tomb and garden; Afsarwala tomb and mosque; Arab Sarai (rest house for Arabs); Nila Gumbad with a striking blue dome built by Abdul Rahim Khan-i-Khana a courteir of the Mughal Emperor Akbar and the Chillah Nizamuddin Aulia the residence of the saint Nizamuddin Aulia of the 14th Century(typical architecture of the Tugluq dynasty).

If you plan to visit the tombs and do justice to your visit, it will be a good idea to study the  history of the periods represented and learn to distinguish between the different architectural styles that you find in and around the Humayun Tomb complex.   If you are not too hung up on “history” and “architecture” you could visit these tombs to appreciate the sheer beauty of the buildings and the gardens in which they are situated.

Rating 3.00 out of 5
[?]

Aug

20

2010

Oracle vs SQL Server Part II

Posted by Samantha | Comments : Comments Off

Category : Information Technology, software

Tags: , , , ,

Programming differences

SQL server is ANSI SQL 92 compliant and it will be possible to convert the database into other database formats. However, it requires a code rewrite.  SQL server also has no inbuilt JAVA database engine as in Oracle and Java classes cannot be loaded and executed in the database itself.  This limits database security and scalability to Java applications.

In SQL server procedures are not compiled till the point of execution unlike in oracle where the packages and procedures are compiled before execution.  Additionally in Oracle 9i, it is possible to translate PL/SQL code into C code and compile the code to get performance gains for numeric intensive operations.

The read/write of external files from a stored procedure cannot be performed in SQL Server, whereas this can be done in Oracle.

SQL server uses cryptic commands for database administration. Oracle uses more intuitive commands.

Further Oracle uses “create or replace” for procedures and views. This is not possible in SQL.  The result is that in SQL Server one must drop the procedure or view first and recreate it. This makes for two commands in place of one.

When changes are made to a dependent object in oracle the procedure, function, package or view is marked as invalid. This does not happen in SQL and the user may get unexpected results from his program.

Oracle has a recompiling option that is missing in SQL. The “alter procedure compile” command is applicable to procedures, functions, packages and views in Oracle. SQL programming demands that the whole procedure, function, package or view is resubmitted.

Null values will not be indexed in Oracle whereas SQL will index all rows. This may prove to be an advantage in Oracle where large tables and columns are often null and you need to find non null values quickly. It can however, be a disadvantage if you need to find null values.  SQL Server on the other hand allows you to ignore nulls if you wish to and index them otherwise. There are no nasty table scans that can surprise you.

Finally Triggers in Oracle do not provide for transactional control.  SQL server allows commits and rollbacks. This can be potentially dangerous in transactions that fire the trigger. Moreover, SQL server triggers can start transactions of their own, unlike in Oracle.

Performance testing
The statistics is fine grained in Oracle and the user has greater control. Yet obtaining the statistical reports is a challenge.

The SQL query optimizer is more reliable. Query hints are never used. This makes performance testing easier in SQL.

However, both data bases have performance glitches and the programmer will have to fix them.

Concurrency model

The concurrency model between SQL and Oracle are very different. Oracle operates against Point-In-Time snapshots of data, but acquires them on demand. Therefore readers are never blocked.

SQL on the other hand provides for more choices of isolation/concurrency and for more aggressive settings that will block readers and more aggressive readers can block writers.

Standby database differences
SQL Server and Oracle both allow standby databases. However, there are a number of differences in the way these databases are created and handled.  A standby database is usually set up on a second server. Logs are applied to this database for any changes so that the standby can be activated if the primary database fails.

In SQL server the “failover server” gets activated after the “master” and the “msdb” databases are restored from the backup or copied from the primary server and all logs are applied.  This is because the new users/roles added to the primary are not carried over to the standby and backups have to be done of the master and the msdb on a regular basis. Oracle standby database gets automatically activated after the logs are applied and all user and role information is available both in the primary and in the standby.

SQL server’s log shipping mechanism happens at OS level, while Oracles mechanism happens at Net8 level and logs are automatically applied to standbys without any scripts or OS batch files. However Oracle standby does not automatically create data files in the standby even when it is created in the primary database. Oracle 9i has rectified this problem. All versions of SQL server perform this operation automatically.

Direct loads are also not possible in Oracle if the unrecoverable facility is being used to bypass redo logging.  The data files from the primary database will then have to be manually copied to the standby. This has not been sorted out even in 9i.  This is not a problem in SQL Server versions.

Positioning

SQL server is an application that is positioned between MS-Access and Oracle. The functionality, performance and scalability of the application are a testimonial to this assertion.  SQL Server creates work groups and associates members to a work group and access to a specific data set is defined.  However, Oracle is more advanced and makes for larger applications in OLTP and Data warehousing. The clustering features of Oracle are ideal for Application Service Providers on the Internet, who want small clusters of servers that can be added to over a period of time. Oracle therefore makes a more convincing argument for the enterprise.

Cluster Technology

SQL server cluster technology does not permit the sharing of a database by two nodes in a cluster. The application must manually spit up and redistribute between the hosts who work on different data sets. It follows that it is not possible to scale up by adding nodes to a cluster of SQL Servers. Moreover, SQL Server configurations demand that only the power of one node is used while the others are failover clusters that are activated when the active node fails.

Oracle on the other had offers a Parallel server technology and it is possible for two or more instances of a database to remain active on different nodes in an active-active configuration. Lock management is used by the Oracle Parallel server. Oracle 9i has been renamed as Oracle Real Application Cluster and the Cache Fusion is a diskless contention that allows read-read, read- write, write-read, and write-write contention between the instances and any application can be placed in the cluster without changes and upward scaling is wholly possible.

Replication differences:
SQL uses a simple replication of publisher-subscriber for transactional replication. This technology is slow because even when one table is being replicated, the entire transaction log is checked by the log reader agent and the transactional changes are applied to the subscriber.  In Oracle snapshot logs store the changes to a single table and this is copied across the logs. Archive logs are not checked.

Miscellaneous differences:

  • Oracle has 14 independent security evaluation as against SQL Server’s one.
  • SQL Server Enterprise manager is easy to use; Oracle Enterprise manager is very complex.
  • Oracle has introduced XMLType datatype to provide native support to XML and there are XML generation and aggregation operators that increase throughput of XML processing. In SQL Server there is only a limited means of reading and writing to xml from the tables.
  • Oracle information pool is free, whereas SQL Server information pool requires subscription.
Rating 3.00 out of 5
[?]

Aug

19

2010

Oracle vs SQL Server: part I

Posted by Samantha | Comments : (0)

Category : Information Technology

Tags: , , , ,

[This article series was first published in www.sswug.org in November-December 2009. I will publish the next part of this article next week.  Hope you enjoy reading this article as much as my other readers did!]

Both Oracle and SQL are relational database systems (RDBMS). The data is stored in form of tables and columns. Both SQL and Oracle include programming languages, facilities and utilities that support enterprise level applications like ERP and data warehousing. So, both these applications can be described as a set of processes that run on an operating system. The processes define how the data is stored and how it is accessed. ODBC is supported in both.

Having said that, let us now examine the differences:

Multiplatform vs Single platform

Oracle is multiplatform; SQL server works only on Windows. This limits the use of SQL in enterprise solutions. Oracle can be used with Windows, all flavors of UNIX and with vendor machines like IBM, Sun, Digital, HP, Sequent and so on.

The advantage of using SQL server is that SQL requires only a specific operating system that supports multithreading and no special hardware. Oracle requires special hardware configurations. On the other hand Oracle supports unlimited number of user connections. SQL Server has a limitation to the number of user connections that are possible.

The language of data access

The data access in Oracle and SQL is done using a Structured Query language or SQL. SQL Standard was created to provide a means for coders to access and manipulate databases. It is an ANSI or American National Standards Institute standard. SQL allows coders to execute queries against a database; retrieve, insert, update and delete data from a database; create new databases and tables; create stored procedures, views and set permissions on tables, procedures and views.

While the SQL of Oracle and SQL Server implement the ANSI standard requirements, they are really very different versions of the SQL language.

SQL for SQL server uses a number of supportive tools (eg.SQL Plus) to build its applications. Basically SQL for SQL Server is composed of two components–DML and DDL. While DML is a data manipulation language DDL is a data definition language. DML includes commands like SELECT, UPDATE, INSERT, MERGE and DELETE. DDL commands are CREATE TALE, ALTER VIEW, CREATE VIEW or REPLACE PROCEDURE.

PL/SQL for Oracle is a procedural language that is an extension of SQL. SQL can be embedded in PL/SQL. It is used to create applications. It is a fourth generation programming language and has software engineering features such as data encapsulation, overloading, collection types, exceptions and information hiding. Rapid prototyping and development through tight integration of SQL with the Oracle database is a feature of this language.

One advantage of SQL over Oracle that is often touted is that SQL is ANSI-SQL ’92 compliant. This makes it very easy to convert the SQL database into another ANSI compliant database (at least theoretically). Oracle is more proprietary and the conversion is not possible.

Oracle uses multiprocessors; SQL uses multithreading.

Oracle uses multiprocessing to support more than one process simultaneously and this enables a number of programs run concurrently. Different users with different permissions may run different processes simultaneously. This is possible because the application is organized across multiple OS level processes. The processes are insulated from each other by the OS an error in one process will not impact the other process that are running concurrently.

SQL uses multi-threading and creates processes that have multiple threads running simultaneously. Each thread is a stream of instructions in the process with instruction pointers, stack of register and stack memory specific to the thread. The address space is also process specific or common to all threads within a process. This makes the data heap easily accessible. The multithreading process is more light weight than Multi processing. There are fewer contexts per thread than per process. Space sharing by the threads also makes for less work. Therefore costs are also lower.

However on the flip side, multithreading is more complex. The coder has to take care that the code is reentrant and thread safe. Often multi-version consistency is absent and “writers block readers and readers block writers” to make sure data integrity is maintained. This results in delays and waits in a heavy OLTP environment. SQL also will escalate row locks to page level locks if too many rows are locked on a page and this may even involve rows that are not being updated. So, long uncommitted transactions in SQL Server can halt all activity on the database and space allocated to committed transactions is not released till the recycling of the transaction log is complete.

In Oracle, this does not happen. Oracle dynamically re-creates a read consistent image for a reader of any requested data whose changes have not yet been committed. Uncommitted transactions will only halt the transaction itself when it runs out of rollback space.

In other words, the trade off is between speed and efficiency versus code complexity.

A natural corollary is that SQL is highly rated for Cost and performance.Oracle is priced higher.

Differences in Performance and Tuning

SQL server does not offer much control over sorting or memory allocation and Cache allocation unlike Oracle. The sort area size and cache area size can be set by the DBA in Oracle whereas the sort area size and cache area size is predefined in SQL Server.

The DBA also does not have any facility to prevent fragmentation in SQL Server. All pages are set to 8K and all extents are set to 8 pages. Larger extents for contiguous space cannot be specified for large objects. In Oracle this is fully configurable.

Range partitioning of large tables and indexes are not possible in SQL Server. In Oracle a large table can be seamlessly partitioned at the database level in range partitions. The performance and maintenance benefits derived from this are tremendous.

Log miner facility is unknown in SQL Server. Oracle 8i and 9i have a Log Miner inbuilt. This facility enables inspection of archived redo logs. However, in SQL server this facility can be integrated with third party tools.

SQL Server requires fully qualifying the name of an object to achieve 7-10% performance gains. Oracle too has some gains if the names are fully qualified, but the gain would be as small as 0.01% as Oracle uses its internal dictionary to resolve names.

Missing object types in SQL Server

SQL Server has

a. No public or private synonyms; no independent sequences

b. No collection of procedures and functions.

c. There is no such thing as independent sequence objects.

d. There are no packages; i.e., collections of procedures and functions.

e. No “before” event triggers (only “after” event triggers) and no row triggers (only statement)

To summarize:

Oracle is multiplatform and SQL is single platform application

Oracle uses SQL Plus and SQL uses SQL

Oracle is a multiprocessor application and SQL is a multithreading application

Performances tuning in Oracle and SQL server are different

There are several object types that are missing in SQL Server.

Stay tuned in for the next part of the review!

Rating 3.00 out of 5
[?]

Aug

15

2010

Luyten’s Delhi

Posted by Samantha | Comments : Comments Off

Category : Communication, News and society, Travel content, Types of content

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

north block/south blockHaving dwelt acidically on the state of preparedness for the commonwealth games and the unabating optimism of the Indian, I would like to make some amends.

While the picture painted by me in the earlier posts is partly true, it is not the whole picture.  New Delhi is a beautiful place to be in.  Wide roads and beautiful tree laden parks, dotted with seasonal flowering plants makes for pleasant drives. The city traffic in Luyten’s (named after the British architect-Edwin Luyten) Delhi flows free (whatever the situation in other parts of the city). You will certainly catch your breath as you sweep past the North and South block down to India Gate.  The sandstone buildings recahing up to the sky from the rise of a small hill is visually pleasing.  The rising dome of the Rashtrapthi bhavan just below the horizon adds to beauty of the panorama.

If you turn your back to Luyten’s masterpiece, you will be enamoured by the graceful sweep and curving sandstoneIndia Gate facade of the India gate.  To the left and right you will see other sandstone or modern white painted buildings nestling amidst the greenery of the parks that seem to cover most of the landscape. Driving away from Luyten’s Delhi towards Chanakyapuri, the landscape seems greener and formally laid out gardens and greened over patches dividing up the width of the road are pleasing to the eye. Embassies of different countries gracefully line the sides of the broad roads–located at a sufficiently remote distance from the road for security.

Luyten’s Delhi is clean-green. One cannot imagine that one has landed in a third world country where poverty, dirt and filth are the norm. So long as you keep to Luyten’s Delhi and the immediate environs of Central Delhi or even the adjacent parts of South Delhi you can delude yourself into a belief that there is all round progress and India is sufficiently advanced on the path to growth and citizen centric services.  The New Delhi Muncipal Development Corporation ensures that the regions under their control showcase the best of the city to its visitors–at least, I presume that is so.

The roads are named after distinguished individuals or concepts that underlie the spirit of India. There is a Kautilya  (the greatest Administrator of  the Mauryan empire –often compared with Machiavelli) marg (Road), a Panchasheel marg (The path of the five peace principles), a Shanthi Path( the path of peace), a Neethi path (the path of justice) and other named roads that recall the glorious past and present of the country.

The roads themselves are smooth, well maintained and absolutely blemishless. Rains do not flood them and the sun does not melt them. So driving down these roads, one can relax and expect no sudden jerks  that precipitate you to the roof of the car or bring you crashing down to the floor.

However, this should not lull you into complacency. Other parts of Delhi are not so relaxation friendly. We will tell you more about them when we discuss the environs in other posts to follow. For now, I hope you are tingling with anticipation of enjoyment and are eager to know more about the history and sight seeing potential of central Delhi!  Visit this blog daily and we shall gradually introduce you to what you should not miss when in Luyten’s Delhi.

Rating 3.00 out of 5
[?]

Aug

14

2010

Athithi devo Bhava: The visitor is God…

Posted by Samantha | Comments : Comments Off

Category : Communication, Content Marketing, News and society

Tags: , ,

If you are tired of the phrase “Athithi Devo Bhava”, you are a new age Indian. You are highly westernized and proud of it.  So, Amir Khan’s campaign must irritate you no end.

But, I have noticed that without the elaborate  phrases to remind them of their duty, the western world still welcomes its visitors with enthusiasm and does everything to ensure their safety, security and welcome.  If we must be westernized why are we not more polite to our visitors and more welcoming?

I remember on one visit to Berlin, my husband and I lost our way. We were wondering how to get directions from people who spoke only German and we spoke only English. We approached an old lady walking her dog (she was the only human in sight) with a query –”Madam, do you speak English?” When she nodded and said “Little” we were thrilled. “Madam, we are lost. Can you tell us the way to ________street?”  The little lady did not know the road and was so upset about it that she repeatedly begged our pardon and started looking all around trying to find someone who could help us. Her distress was so apparent, that we felt grateful to her and quickly assured her that we would find our way. Needless to say we found our way with help from other walkers on the road a little further down, but her obvious desire to help visitors to her country was overwhelming.  That is the western world for you.

On the contrary I remember an episode in Trivandrum, Kerala, when I wanted direction to reach a tailor’s shop. I was new to the state and had no idea how to get anyplace. The shopkeeper whom I asked, told me with a straight face that if I would but walk a few steps down the road he was pointing, I would find a tailor. I took the road with a quick thanks. The road led to fields and more fields, till I had exhausted myself  walking down the meandering path in the hot sweltering heat and returned to the point from which I started,  fuming and fretting. I found the shopkeeper, slapping his thigh and having a good laugh with a couple of friends at my expense. In fact, he could hardly stand for laughing. That is India for you.

Campaigns like the one Amir Khan has taken up are necessary for the Indian public. They do not know distinctions between simple fun and gross misbehavior.  I personally would welcome an intensification of the campaigns and more  participation from the public in enforcing discipline among the errant members of society.

Rating 3.00 out of 5
[?]

Aug

14

2010

Common Wealth Games: Getting ready…really?

Posted by Samantha | Comments : Comments Off

Category : Communication, News and society

Tags: , , , , , ,

With the Common wealth games round the corner, New Delhi and its environs are acquiring a new look. While the process of acquisition is messy, yucky and absolutely inconvinient to the residents of the city, a bouyant sense of patriotism and a common man desire to showcase the country to the world helps them get along with gritted teeth and absolute tolerance. There is also a overwhelming hope that our managers for the games will ensure that some “Juggard” (cooking up) happens and everything will be ready by the time the first visitors enter the city.

What enthuses the crowd is that everyday some commonwealth games venue is being unveiled and inaugurated. It is really immaterial that the roof is cracking and collapsing with the first rain. Many of the inaugurated venues show signs of incompleteness. Our games committee will certainly attend to it all before the deadline. Of course the deadline seems to be a ever receeding dateline that seems to rush to meet the dateline on which the first event is to be held.

I am certain the public is pinning its hopes on the fact that the games management committee is not succumbing to the charges being levelled at them and strikes by workers are being conducted with invisibility!  There is also a lot of talk in the media about how beggars should be shunted out of the city and NGOs are protesting against removal of slums and everyone up and down the management order is being charged with corruption and dishonesty. So, the public sits back and has a comfortable coze on all the things that are happening around them.  It certainly indicates that something is happening–there is no smoke without fire. It is clear that no one is sitting idle.  So the Juggard will happen.

Elsewhere in the world instructions are being issued by Governments to potential visitors to the venue of the Common wealth Games. One interesting cultural observation “Do not touch Indians on first meeting them. They do not like to be touched”. I am sure many Indians who consider themselves highly westernized will find it disconcerting that the visitors to their country are saying “Namaste” with folded hands while they hold out their hands for a shake.  I am also very sure that the auto rickshaw fellows and the general male public who gape at the fair skinned western women or foreigners  who are female will be disappointed to find that strict dress codes are ensuring that visitors come well covered to the country.

So if you are wondering if New Delhi is getting ready for the Common Wealth Games and intone R-e-a-l-l-y with a tone of skepticism, I must point  out to you–India is a land of mysteries. Anything is possible. So relax, stop worrying the Juggard will happen!

Rating 3.00 out of 5
[?]

Aug

12

2010

Surrender

Posted by Samantha | Comments : Comments Off

Category : Communication

Tags: , , , ,

“Surrender” is perhaps the most difficult action word in the English Dictionary. All religions around the world stress on the importance of surrender. What does this really mean? Are we talking about physcial surrender or mental surrender or both?

“Self-volition” and the “instinct for survival”  are instinctive and primal.  The animal within us will protest loudly and clearly when we try to supress the “instinct to survive” in the name of surrender! We are not helpless babes in arms completely dependent on our mothers physically for nurture and care.  Even babies cry in protest when their physical self is violated!  We, who have acquired physical prowess and mental control react to intrusions into our secure physical environs violently.

Mental surrender presents greater difficulties. Most of us live in our minds. Mental surrender, therefore entails surrender of the “self” in absolute terms. A life prisoner is not so much bothered about his physical confinement because he can continue to live in a mental world that is unviolated.  However, a person who is mentally tortured and forced to act contrary to the dictates of his mind, will appreciate the impossibility of abosolute surrender.

It follows that surrender cannot be achieved if physical and mental security is not guaranteed or believed to be guaranteed. The reality is the subconscious conviction that complete security –physical and mental–cannot be guaranteed by anyone. but ourselves. It follows that complete surrender is not possible!

What then is surrender?

In the Bhagavat Gita, Shri Krishna provides a very simple formula of surrender for the Karma Yogi or the action oriented man.  There is no call to physical or mental surrender.

Surrender is an acknowledgement that one has the right to action but not to the fruits of action.

Action is not taboo. Neither is the thought to action. It is the expectation of results that must be surrendered! The challenge appears to be in the learning.  The surrender of the fruits of action, purifies the cause of action and the means of action and thereby the man of action.

If the readers of this blog would like to discuss this further or would like to contact me with your comments, please use the contact form on this blog site. I look forward to a vitalizing discussion.

Rating 3.00 out of 5
[?]

May

05

2010

Resolutions recorded on liquid surfaces!

Posted by Samantha | Comments : Comments Off

Category : Communication, Creative writing, Freelancing, General, Information highway, News and society

Tags: , , , , , , , ,

Having made an ardent promise to myself and my readers that I would henceforth cease to be a drop out and would spend time writing a blog a day, I have failed to keep my word.  It seems these resolutions of mine get recorded on liquid surfaces that erase them the moment they are recorded.  Anyway, here is a post that I hope will interest my readers.

I am currently grappling with three different topics that interest me. One the literary theory of Saussure, Lacan, Barthes and others. I am doggedly reading the translations of the works of these writers even though I need multiple readings to make sense of them. Finally, I am getting a glimmer of what they are talking about and am getting immensely interested in what they have to say. I am also attempting to apply their theories to literary works!  A challenging and interesting task. Very intellectual!

I am also reading a wonderful novel by a Japanese writer in English called Kazuo Ishiguro called The Remains of the day.  The writer has wonderfully captured the essence of what “buttlership” (if you forgive my coining of this word) implies.  A copy of the novel is available online (in docstoc or is it scribd?–I am not sure). Truly relaxing!

I am also working out the nuances of contract law and bombarding myself with  topics like “invitation to treat”, “postal delay in contract law” and so on and so forth till I am getting a little cross eyed with the effort. Absolutely legal! Keeps my mind live and kicking.

Of course, I cannot complain that my life is drab and dull and lacks variety.  Will perhaps translate the results of all my efforts into little articles that may be of interest to you all?

Why do I do all this?  I like being an intellectual.  In fact I revel in it.  What comes out of it?  A lot of writing practice and of course a number of new creative ideas for books that I plan to write sometime in the future (only the future seems very dimly distant at the moment).   Some of the work may also find a way into literature journals and law journals and law journals.

Rating 3.00 out of 5
[?]

May

01

2010

What is so addictive about blogging?

Posted by Samantha | Comments : Comments Off

Category : Communication, Creative writing, General, Information highway, News and society, social media

Tags: , , , , ,

I never did think that I would drop out of blogging.  Yet I have been so tardy with my posts that I am nearly a drop out! So, it is clearly a time to examine why did I start this blog in the first place and why have the posts fallen off?

I think I began to blog because I felt that I had a lot of information that I would like to share with others. I also felt that it would give me good writing practice as I am a writer by profession.  I was however, not very sure that anyone would want to read what I had to write.  Surprisingly, there are at least 60+ people out there who visit my blog and read it whether I have posted anything new or not.  Now I think I have another reason not become a drop out.  I have a readership who really find my blogs interesting enough to visit daily and read up. I owe something to them.

Blogging is generically very close to dairy writing. Of course you write your most secret thoughts in the diary and keep it under lock and key hoping no one else will get sight of the things you tell your diary about your fellowmen.  A blog on the other hand is an open diary. You write about everything that you are interested in and can be as democratic as you like about your readership.  Of course, you will not share your innermost thoughts and you secret cravings with your fellowmen? Yet, there is a satisfaction that there is someone out there who shares your interest and you feel joyful about reaching out to them.  I wonder what psychologists have to say about blogging?

To come to the meat of the question, I asked in the title–What is so addictive about blogging? The question follows: “Am I an addict?” Well No. I find that I can really live without blogging. It is not like diary writing. I am not searching for a confidant. I think I am reaching out to friends, like minded people who are interested in what I am interested in. One is not obssessed with one’s friends. It is just nice to have them around and have an occassional relaxing chat with them. I think my blogging fell off, because I am a healthy human being with a healthy work appetite. Sometimes I put work before friends and the need to reach out takes a back seat when work holds my attention.  Therefore, while I do not feel guilty about not continuing to blog, I do feel remorseful that I have not shared sometime with my 60 odd friends out there, who hang out at my blog hoping for a glimpse of me.

Perhaps, if I were depressed and unhappy, blogging could become a kind of addictive and I may end up blogging to myself or using my blog more as a diary than as a blog. Perhaps, I would find comfort in my readership and may even obssess about the number of people who visit my blog on a daily basis and worry if there is a drop in readership and so on…I hear people find pleasure in committing online suicide because the number of people who “like” you has changed or dropped or what not…. Even for them blogging is not an addiction–it seems more like a lifeline. They would drown if you prevent them from blogging. It is not merely a question of de-addicting them.

Business blogs are a whole new ball game. They are bloggers who are blogging for survival; to prove that they are better than their competition or just advertising as blogs attract readership. For them, blogging is a necessary adjunct to their business and not an addiction.

So, what is all this talk about addiction to blogging? I do not know. If you do know people who are addicted about their blogging do find out why and share it with us. Contact us using the contact form on http://www.consult4content.com and give us the meat on why someone finds blogging addictive.

Rating 3.00 out of 5
[?]

Apr

11

2010

Laser Hair removal

Posted by Samantha | Comments : Comments Off

Category : Communication, Medical content

Tags: , , , ,

When cutting, waxing, and shaving is no longer desirable or feasible, some patients seek laser hair removal.  Most people have hair covering their bodies that is lightly colored and fine and therefore, not directly visible to the eyes of others.  However, some experience darker and coarser hair in areas that might make them self-conscious, particularly in the summer months when shorts and swimsuits are worn.  This technique of hair removal is quick, effective, and nearly painless.

Electrolysis uses a fine probe and electrical impulse to cauterize the blood vessels causing hair to release permanently from the follicle.  Though electrolysis has a longer history of practice, lasers are commonly used now and have been well received by patients and physicians.  Laser treatment has a much shorter procedure either permanently preventing or greatly hindering hair re-growth.  Patients may immediately resume activities.  Laser hair removal is a widely popular procedure with nearly a million people having the treatment in the United States every year.  Patients should have realistic goals and carefully select a physician while informing themselves of the procedure and potential risks.

Ideal candidates for laser hair removal may be those who seek to improve their appearance or smoothness of the skin, or simply wish to save themselves time by reducing time involved in methods such as shaving.  Once the initial consultation is completed, the actual laser hair removal procedure may take only moments or up to an hour, depending on the size of the affected area.  A beam of highly concentrated light produced by a laser is emitted, passing through the skin, and is absorbed by hair follicle pigments.  Different colors of light are produced by different types of lasers, and this is relevant to the effect on follicles.  The pigment is vaporized, disabling many follicles at once, by the duration of the laser light pulses to the area.

Patients generally require multiple treatments to achieve ideal results.  Though some patients may be satisfied after only one treatment, the typical regimen likely includes up to four treatments, up to eight weeks apart.  Because hair growth cycles are typically about a year, patients should wait about six months to assess results.  If the procedure is performed with qualified physician and adequate consultation and care, any pain during the procedure should only consist of mild stinging.  Worst case scenario might include burns or pain that might require local anesthetic application.  Less serious effects such as redness and swelling will resolve in a few days.  Those with darker skin tones may not achieve optimum results as the surrounding skin will absorb the light rather than the follicle itself.  Affected areas will be sun sensitive and patients should avoid exposure for several days following laser hair removal.  Though the hair removal may be permanent, it could also be simply more sparse and of a lighter color or texture or consistency after the procedure.

Rating 3.00 out of 5
[?]

Apr

07

2010

Gardenia

Posted by Samantha | Comments : Comments Off

Category : Communication, Freelance content, General, Information highway, website content

Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

If you receive a bouquet of Gardenias you can be sure that the sender thinks you symbolize purity and sweetness and they are telling you of their secret love for you. Since a gardenia plant or bouquet can cost anything between $39-50 in the market and a single gardenia flower can cost as much as $11 and a gardenia flower with a bud can cost up to $15, they must really mean what they are saying with the flowers!

Summer brides often choose bouquet of gardenias for their weddings. It has featured in Royal and celebrity weddings. The Princess of Wales Diana, choose a bouquet of gardenias for her wedding with Prince Charles. The exotic, spicy sweet fragrance of the gardenia flowers and the pale ivory color the petals contrasts with the dark glossy leaves to create an impression of beauty and grace as the bride walks down the aisle. It also complements white bridal wear and appropriately symbolizes the purity of the bride.

But, did you know the Gardenia really belongs to the coffee plant family? The white multi layered petals of this beautiful flower belies this fact, does it not? Yet it is true that the Gardenia belongs to Rubiaceae family and is native to tropical and sub tropical regions of Africa. There are more than 250 species of this genus. The flower is named after Dr.Alexander Garden a Scottish born American naturalist.

The gardenia plant is a small evergreen shrub or a small tree that grows to 1-15 meters in height. The leaves are set opposite each other or in whorls of three or four. They have a dark green glossy and leathery texture. The flowers bloom singly or in small clusters and can be white or pale yellow. The tubular-based corolla has 5-12 lobes and is often 5-12 centimeters in diameter.  These plants flower from mid spring to mid summer and may or may not have a strong scent.

Chinese farmers raise the gardenia for the dye that can be produced from its fruit. In East Indies this plant is nurtured for a gum that exudes from its bark. In South Africa the hard wood from the tree is considered valuable. In America the plant is grown for the waxy blossoms it produces.

The gardenia flower has also been used extensively in oriental perfumes and oils. It is known to be an aphrodisiac. It is also used for medicinal purposes as an anti inflammatory drug, anti bacterial medication and for its fungicidal properties. It adds an exotic flavor to tea.

Since the gardenia is a tropical or sub tropical plant, growing gardenias in other climates can be difficult. They are finicky houseplants and require the bright southern light. If you must grow gardenias at home grow lights must be used to supplement natural lighting in cold places and in winter. A timer must be used to ensure that the plants have 12 hours of light and 12 hours of darkness. They must be watered with distilled water kept at room temperature. Hard or cold water will stunt their growth. The soil used to grow these flowering plants must be moist and must not be too wet and slushy.

Rating 3.00 out of 5
[?]

Mar

28

2010

comments on my blog posts

Posted by Samantha | Comments : Comments Off

Category : Communication

My apologies to my genuine readers. I am no longer able to allow readers to post comments to my blog posts as a number of people are trying to post comments, that are merely link backs to their sites. I am quite sure that they are not interested in the contents of this blog and are merely visiting it for the purpose of promoting their own sites and creating a nuisance for me.

If you would like to post comments please register on my blog. I will appreciate that.  You can contact me for registration using the Tiny contact form at the bottom right of the blog page(Side bar). My apologies once again to my readers for this inevitable step.

regards

Samantha

Rating 3.00 out of 5
[?]

Mar

10

2010

Tax Talk: House Property income–the Indian context

Posted by Samantha | Comments : (0)

Category : Money & Finance, News and society, Real Estate Investment, taxation

Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

Before actually launching into an explantion of House Property income and its calculation let me make the legal disclaimer.

All statements made in this blog post are personal views and readers are requested to treat them as such. For advice on your tax returns please contact a qualified chartered accountant.

Let us begin by stating the seemingly obvious:

Calculation of tax on Income from House Property is governed by the provisions of the Income tax act 1961 as modified by the latest Finance Act relevant to the financial year.

Well, that is a mouthful. But is it really obvious?  I am not sure it is obvious! There are several terms that are obscure! I have highlighted them below:

Calculation of tax on Income from House Property is governed by the provisions of the Income tax act 1961 as modified by the latest Finance Act relevant to the financial year.

Tax: The amount of tax payable on this type of income is defined in the Finance act relevant to the financial year.

Income: Income or notional income from house property referred to here is the net income and not the gross income.

Finance act: This is the act that is passed every year in the parliament modifying the Income tax act 1961 to take into account the changing economic realities.

Financial year: the year beginning on 1st April of one year and ending on 31st march of the following year.

House Property: Any building or building with land appertuenent thereto that is owned by a taxable entity and from which he derives an income or notional income. Such a building can be self occupied property, let out property, deemed to be let out property or partly let out property.

Exception:Income from house property can become business income under certain circumstances. If an assessee uses a house property he owns for business or profession, then the income generated by this house comes under the income from business and not under the head income form house property. The case may be different if the Direct Tax code is passed in toto.

Did that bring clarity? No. There are several new terms that need elucidation!

Notional Income: Income that may be derived had the property been let out. Currently, this is generally taken to be ‘Nil’ if the property is self occupied.  It will have a value if the Direct tax code is implemented next year in toto.

Gross income: Total receipts by way of rent for use of property and amenities.

Net income: This is total receipts from house property minus any expenses that may be incurred by the owner by way of payment for repairs, taxes and other charges on the house property.

Building or building with land appertunent thereto: Land by itself is not defined as House property and there is no tax on income from land. However, if there is a building on the land and the building is let out or self occupied along with the land, then the total receipts from the property will be taxable under the head house property income as income from property.

Ownership: Income from house property is paid by the assessees’ who own house.

Ok, so we have the definitions and terms explained! What about an example of the calculation?  Stay tuned in. Our next blog post will do just that!

Rating 3.00 out of 5
[?]

Mar

02

2010

Freelancer alert: Not an export code-A purpose code!

Posted by Samantha | Comments : (0)

Category : Content Marketing, Freelance content, Freelancing, Money & Finance

Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

While we have been busy speculating on what is an export code and what it takes to get one issued from DGFT, paypal has issued a clarification that it is not an “export code” but a purpose code which needs to be entered into the paypal site to enable Indian account holders to withdraw from their accounts to the Indian bank account. They have also made the task easy by providing all the codes that would need to be used on their blog post itself.

So much for the storm in the tea cup and the emotional outbursts against the RBI and paypal and all the ravings and rantings of my fellow freelancers who wished to commit a business suicide where freelancing was concerned!

Before talking about the implications of this move and also what Indian freelancers need to look out for in the future, I would like to appreciate the extremely professional and collected manner in which Paypal has handled the crisis. While the Indian business is not very large, Paypal had a commitment to its clients and perhaps all the Asian clients were watching the fall out and outcome of the crisis. Paypal remained tightlipped during the initial phases of the crisis to avoid speculation and panic and calmly set about doing whatever it takes to set the situation right for everyone round. Kudos to Paypal!

Well, the purpose code as Paypal chooses to call it will give a hook for RBI to collect the data and also evaluate the amount of foreign exchange that is being transacted by Indians. It will also help the premier bank frame a policy for how it will handle this type of foreign trade in the future. In a sense this is real good news for the Indian freelancers and could be bad news for those who are making big money in this field and not paying their taxes on Income? There is now a tracking mechanism in place where transactions through paypal are concerned. The good news is that India is getting ready to regularize the largely unorganized sector that operates over the Internet.   Maybe Indians will no longer be vulnerable to the scamsters and sharks that populate the Internet. Maybe cyber laws will offer some newer modes of protection to this largely helpless and vulnerable set of small businesses that are mushrooming in India.

One question that needs to be answered is: What about those thousands of Auction sites like Rentacoder, Elance, guru, getafreelancer etc which also do a kind of payment settlement for Indians? They act as intermediaries between buyers and sellers and collect money from buyers on behalf of sellers and then settle accounts with the latter at the end of every month. Do they also need to get a license from the RBI to operate in the Indian context?  These sites have a tie up with Paypal and payment agencies like Payoneer or they send checks to Indians by snailmail. Will RBI be contacting them next with requests for compliance? The RBI does not seem to have contacted these sites as yet.

Let us wait and watch. Stay tuned in for more from me on this blog!

Rating 3.00 out of 5
[?]

Feb

27

2010

Freelancer Alert: Export Code(IEC)

Posted by Samantha | Comments : (6)

Category : Business, Freelance content, Freelancing, Information Technology, Money & Finance, News and society

Tags: , , , , , , ,

The email from Paypal has elicited a mixed response. Many are happy to see the light at the end of the tunnel but are puzzled by the rider that everyone would have to enter an Export code before they are permitted to withdraw the funds to their bank account.  I see many blog posts which ask “What the hell is Export code?” So this information may be useful for you.

The Foreign Trade(Development and Regulation) Act 1992 stipulates that every exporter or importer of goods and services must apply for and obtain an Importer-Exporter Number(IEC Number).  The application for obtaining this number needs to be made under section seven of this act to the Director General. Under this act an importer is anyone who brings in goods or services into the country and an exporter is one who sends out goods and services via land, sea or air. However, the term “goods” is not defined in the act itself and the meaning is derived from the dictionary meaning of the word or from the Import-Export regulation act of 1947 which preceded the current act. As per this act “goods” is defined as any “article, animal, substance or property whatsoever”.

There has been a lot of controversy whether sending of digital material over the Internet would qualify as “goods” or “services” and whether the process of transmitting the information over the Internet falls within the ambit of sending out of India goods or services “by land, sea or air”.  Since the issue was unclear, freelancers were not asked to apply and obtain the IEC number under section 7.

However, there was a move to include services into the ambit of the act from time to time. Objections from the Finance Ministry kept the amendment at bay for some time.  The Standing Committee on Commerce made suggestions on Foreign Trade (Development and Regulation) Amendment Bill, 2009 which included a suggestion to bring “Techonology” and “services” including “financial services” under the ambit of the act.  The bill was  submitted on the 25th of November 2009 to effect the following amendments.

2(a) (ii) Supplying Service or Technology from the territory of India to another country; from India to a service consumer in another country; by a service supplier in India through a commercial presence in another country; through a service supplier in India, through Indian naturals in the territory of another country.

Elaborate definitions of service and technology have also been included in the act. You can get more information at http://164.100.47.5/newcommittee/press_release/bill/Committee%20on%20Commerce/Foreign%20Trade%20%28Development%20and%20Regulation%29%20Bill,%2020090001.pdf .  The net result of this amendment would be that all freelancers who supply software or other kinds of services to consumers abroad must apply for and obtain a IEC number.

I am unable to ascertain whether the bill has been passed or is still pending. If it has been passed, freelancers should get ready to apply for the IEC number! Stay tuned in for more information!

Rating 3.00 out of 5
[?]

Feb

27

2010

Indian freelancers Be alert!

Posted by Samantha | Comments : (2)

Category : Business, Content Marketing, Freelance content, Freelancing, Money & Finance, Types of content

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Paypal has finally got the green signal from the RBI to resume services subject to certain constraints. Paypal will be allowing Indian freelancers to withdraw funds soon. However, there is a rider!  They have to enter an export code before they are permitted to withdraw. Paypal does not say who will issue the export code but says that this is required by Indian laws.  The reality is that every freelancer in India will now have to apply for the Export code under the Foreign Trade (Development and Regulation) Act 1992 and get the Exporter-Importer code number issued before they can withdraw money from Paypal! That could take months! There are also a number of other laws which will come into play for the exporter of goods and services–RBI, FEMA, Service tax act and so on.

So I would like to advise my fellow Indian freelancers to get cracking and find out what compliance with these laws imply and how to go about  complying with the laws and getting the numbers you require for continuing to operate. I shall keep you updated from my blog http://www.consult4content.com/blogs. So stay tuned in.

Rating 3.00 out of 5
[?]

Feb

25

2010

Paypal-Not an Indian Pal?

Posted by Samantha | Comments : (0)

Category : Business, Money & Finance

Tags: , , , , , ,

Online home workers and small software busines units from India are having problems with Paypal. They are unable to withdraw funds from Paypal in to their Indian bank accounts. While the customers of the electronic money transfer giant struggled with cash flow problems, the company merrily reversed a number of business transactions and also refused to complete the withdrawal requests of its clients. Emails to the company elicited a standard reply that gave no clue to the Indian clients as to why the money is held up.

Finally, the Paypal spokesman stated in a blog post that

  • Paypal had suspended the services to respond to enquiries from Indian regulators, specifically questions on personal payments and whether these payments constitute remittances into India.
  • He assured the Indian clients that Paypal is working with the Indian regulators to get the issues resolved quickly and on priority and apologized for the inconvinience being caused.
  • However, he could not give a timeline for resolution and said that it could take a few months, since the regulators had let Paypal know about the revised licensing rules only recently.
  • Meanwhile Indian clients who had initiated withdrawals would be credited with the amounts withdrawn and any losses that may be incurred due to currency fluctuation and withdrawal charges.
  • Negative balances arising from reversal of transactions would be resolved case by case if the client requests for a resolution by clicking the “Resolve Negative Balance” link on the Account Overview Page.
  • All instances where business payments were erroneously reversed as personal payments can be resolved by requesting the payer to follow the instructions on the site and to make the payment again.

Why did this happen? What are the revised regulations that have impacted them? New York Times informed the Indian clientele. To quote them:

“Providers of cross-border money transfer service need prior authorization from the Reserve Bank under the Payment and Settlement Systems Act,” a spokeswoman for the Reserve Bank of India, Alpana Killawalla, said in an e-mailed response to questions. “PayPal does not have our authorization.” http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/11/business/global/11paypal.html

It is seen from the Paypal website that Paypal has license to operate a remittance business in many parts of the world but not in India. They feel that they are not in the remittance business in India because they perform online transactions only. Recipients transfer the money to a bank or withdraw it.

The Indian Payment and Settlement Systems Act, however, demands that anyone desirous of setting up a payment system in India should apply for and obtain a license to operate in India under section 5 of the act.  Under the provisions the Reserve Bank of India will have the right to regulate and supervise payment systems including electronic payment systems. The bank can lay down standards for the setting up of such systems; authorize the set up of the system; determine the criteria for the membership; and oversee the administration and regulation of the guidelines laid down under the act.

Consequently, Paypal has no choice but to decide to apply for an authorization under this act if it wants to continue its operations in India. It is expected that Paypal will be applying for the license immediately and will be allowing its Indian clients to withdraw monies into their Indian bank accounts soon. So those who hold accounts with Paypal hang on! A resolution of the problem seems to be on its way!

Rating 3.00 out of 5
[?]

Feb

21

2010

Cosmetic Procedures: Fillers

Posted by Samantha | Comments : (0)

Category : Medical content, website content

Tags: , , , , , ,

Plumping thin lips, enhancing contours, softening wrinkles, and improving appearance of recessed scars may be accomplished with injectable fillers.  Several different types of fillers may be used and include collagen, human fat, hyaluronic acid, hydroxylapatite, and PMMA.

Collagen, a natural protein, may produce results that last up to four months.  Certain types of collagen may require preliminary allergy testing in some patients.  Results of six months or more may be achieved by hyaluronic acid, a natural substance found in our bodies.  This may be used to fill in creases or plump lips.

To fill in deeper folds near the nose, frown lines, or to enhance fullness of the cheeks, hydroxylapatite may be used.  This is a compound found in human bones that is suspended in gel form and has mineral-like qualities.

Human fat harvesting and injection requires more extensive procedure because it uses liposuction to do the harvesting before the filler injection may be done.  This can fill in creases and contours to enhance fullness of the face.

FDA-approved PMMA is recommended to correct facial wrinkles such as smile lines.  PMMA is 20% polymethylacrylate and 80% purified collagen gel.

Though there is wide variance in results, patients may expect results to last up to a year in some instances.  Preserved fat injection results are more favorable if the fat is used at time of harvest.  Some filler may be FDA approved on a basis not specified to a particular application.

Patients may expect almost immediate improvement in appearance with some potential for bruising or swelling that will resolve.  There may be redness, sensitivity or itching briefly after the procedure.  Complications are rare and will vary depending on the type of filler used.  Rarely, filler may migrate to an unintended area producing temporary paralysis or there may be skin necrosis. There may be overcorrection. Milder symptoms from some fillers should resolve in just a few days, while the fat injections may produce symptoms that endure for a few weeks.   For the most part, fillers produce marked improvement in appearance and are safe and effective.  Choosing someone who is trained specifically in administering fillers and other types of rejuvenation is important.

Patients may experience anxiety about the procedure and are encouraged to have realistic expectations and ask questions.  Many variables affect results of fillers, and the results are not permanent though the substance is.  Issues such as continued aging and the way that the body absorbs the material will affect duration of results.  Without repeated treatment, issues such as thin lips or wrinkles and scars will reappear over time. With aging, fillers may shift or clump and surgical removal may be required to avoid unwanted changes in texture of soft tissue.  Consultation is required prior to treatment, but follow up visits take only moments.  Costs vary greatly, but many surgeons have financing available. Patients should inquire about their surgeon’s board certification and membership, years of experience, accreditation, the procedure and recovery period, and the way in which complications might be handled.

Rating 3.00 out of 5
[?]
Get Adobe Flash playerPlugin by wpburn.com wordpress themes