Astrology - To Believe Or Not To Believe, That Is The Question

Astrology has been one of the most debatable topics since the 17th century after the arrival of some ground breaking discoveries about the universe (source: Astrology). People were divided into two major categories, those who believed that the position of the stars affected our lives and those who believed that these were utterly rubbish and made no sense because they had no hard reasoning behind it. But, when you think about it, like accepting something just because it doesn't exist makes no sense, it also makes no sense to deny something just because you could'nt prove it exists. I'm asking you to open up your minds and  reconsider your stand, because I am about to present to you some logic and reason behind all this.

Before talking about Astrology, its customary to give an introduction to what it is. Astrology is basically a divinaton or the art of using signs to draw a connection between the stars & planets and the human lives. This connection helps us identify the nature of a particular humans and thereby helps us predict his future by refering up the stars. Sounds too much? Well its not. Here is a scientific explanation to all this.

We all would agree to the fact that planetary motions are periodic in nature, which means they come back to the same position after a given amount of time. So, they follow a cyclic pattern in their movements, always coming back to the inital position. The time of each cycle varies between celestial bodies. Lets assume that the whole universe has a certain period and the same events keep occuring in these periods. I'll call it the Universal Cycle just for reference. Now, human birth is a continuous process and there are always people being born within these periods. That said, its obvious that there are always people who were born in two different universal cycles having the same position of stars at the time of birth. So, keeping this concept in mind, for centuries, people have recorded the lives of humans for every single combination of positions of the stars for a given universal cycle. What follows is simply statistics. Probability theory introduces us to the concept of something called Expectation. Expectation is an estimate value for a certain given experiment that can be calculated based on the  previously calculated values of that experiment. It uses a probability weighted average to find this value. In simpler words, its basically an average of all the events occuring in the past for a particular setup of planets & stars and everything in the future is presumed to be close to this value for the same setup of celestial bodies. Doesn't sound so impossible anymore, does it?

Now, you're probably thinking that this only explains how we can derive the connections between humans born under the same positions of the planets and stars, but actually doesn't prove these positions would necessarily affect these people in the same way. Well I have a theory for that too. You see, every living creature on earth, including plants and microbes, exhibit a sort of pattern through out a period of 24-hours. This pattern is called The Circadian Rhythm (source: Circadian Rhythm) or more commonly The Biological Clock.

General Events in the body over a 24-Hour Period (Source: Wikipedia)

It has been observed that certain environmental components, most commonly the sun, has an effect on the functioning of the body. The body not only reacts to the environmental changes, but also entrains or adjusts itself with any change in the condition of the local environment. This is most commonly observed in cases when a person travels across timezones. The person experiences a jet lag for a brief time but his/her body eventually ends up aligning itself with the local environment. These changes are observable from outside, but what about the innumerable changes that are not so obvious to us from outside. And who is to say that the sun is the only source which affects us. It doesn't seem so far fetched anymore, does it, to think that the stars and planets actually can affect us in many ways which is still unknown to us? As a matter of fact, this points to a more interesting theory, that the sun and the stars not only affect humans but also other living organisms, for instance, your dog.

So, all non-believers out there, who think our lives are so independent from the other components of the universe, think again. I am ofcourse not suggesting that you start believing just anyone claiming to tell the future, because most of them, in my opinion, do not fully understand what they are talking about. Its not such a bad idea to keep an open mind when thinking about something impossible. As a french proverb says, "To belive something is impossible is to make it so". But hey, its just a theory. 

The Pains of Restless Leg Syndrome

Have you ever felt so tired that you just drop to the bed and fall asleep immediately only to wake up in a short time because of a certain irritation occurring deep within your leg and thereby rendering you sleepless for the rest of the night? Ever felt the need to tightly contract your leg or stretch your calf muscle in the middle of a sleep to get some relief? Or simply get up from the bed and start pacing across the room to reduce the irritation in the leg?

If you have, then, my friend, there is a good chance you are suffering from Wittmack-Ekbom Syndrome or more commonly known as The Restless Leg Syndrome (RLS). It is not a fatal disease but once you got it, it simply stays with you for a long time in your life.



Being a patient of RLS myself, from ever since I can remember, I found out some good ways to keep it at bay. It begun since I was a child and I remember frantically rocking my legs inside the bed covers before I could fall asleep, sometimes even shaking my legs when sitting in the classes to stop my irritation. I never actually took this thing seriously until much later in my adulthood, when I started looking into the matter and trying to find out what's wrong with me. Following are a few things that might help people suffering from similar things.

Cause: 

RLS has been looked upon by many doctors and researchers, but unfortunately no exact cause has been found for it yet. It is believed to be genetic and generally seemed to be found in patients suffering from iron deficiency. Why this is so is still unknown. A more concrete but unproven reason for RLS patients is suggested to be due to a certain imbalance in the way the brain uses the neurotransmitter called Dopamine, which is responsible for a lot of functions in the brain as well as in the body. It is casually also called the Happy Hormone as its secretion produces happiness in the brain and also has the ablity to regulate muscle movement. Altered or decreased levels of Dopamine may result in some major nervous diseases, namely Parkinson's disease, Schizophrenia etc. But, as I said before, its still unproven if Dopamine actually causes RLS.

A recent study (source: http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org), however says that, patients suffering from RLS have abnormally high amounts of Glutamate in the Thalamus portion of their brain. Glutamate is a neurotransmitter which is responsible for alertness and arousal. This chemical is said to be the one which causes the sleeplessness in the patients. Researchers blame this for now, but studies are still inconclusive. To find the cause of RLS is at the moment "Work in Progress".

Cure:

As sad as it is, there exists no cure for this disease. There may be some drugs for extreme cases of RLS, which balances the imbalance in Dopamine, but for mild to medium cases, there exists no cure (assuming you are not willing to take serious nerve drugs yet). It is generally advised to have an iron rich diet, but honestly, that never really had any effect on me.

So, is everything lost? The answer is No.


Methods to keep RLS at bay:
After being irritated with RLS for so long, I did some research of my own and came up with a few solutions which might help patients get through the night.

Applying Muscle Bandages-

Massage generally helps, which suggests that applying pressure on the calf muscles alleviates the pain. Muscle bandages or crepe bandages work like a charm to this theory. 

As the pressure gradually sets in, you will feel the pain going down. So, wearing them to sleep at night may actually help get a goodnight sleep. However, one must not tie the crepe bandage too tight that it hinders the proper flow of blood through the legs. Same is the case for the muscle bandages. Too tight bandages may result in lower blood flow through the legs. Both of these products can generally be found in a drug store.

Small Exercises-

As good as the previous method is, I found its usefulness decreasing on overuse of these bandages. Maybe the leg actually adopts to this pressure and gradually renders these bandages useless. So, they can not really be used for a long time. However, a little exercise can go a long way. 

Now, there are plenty leg exercises available in the internet, but not all helps. One of the important muscles that play a role in these pains is the Hamstring Muscle. What's a Hamstring Muscle you ask? Keep your leg straight and lift it forward. Depending on how flexible you are, you will be able to lift your leg upto a certain height with ease. On lifting it further you'll find a pull at the back of your thighs and knees. This is the hamstring muscle. And I found that doing regular stretching exercises for this muscle gives a long term relief from RLS. 

But, if you are looking for immediate relief, I have just the thing for you. Of all the exercises in the internet, I found the following two calf muscle exercises to be the most useful. Before I show you how to do them, let me tell you very briefly about the calf muscle. 

The calf muscle essentially consists of two types of muscle - The Gastrocnemius and The Soleus. I found that the deep seeded irritation occurs from these two muscle and putting these two muscles on tension helps alleviate the pain. I have with me two exercises which work specifically on these two muscles. They are as follows -

The Gastrocnemius Stretch: Place your body in the exact position as shown in the picture. Now, without lifting your soul up, for both the feet, slowly bend your knee of the forward leg. Do this till you feel a strectch in your backward leg. Hold it in this position for 5 sec and then do the same for the other leg. Repeat this process a few times till you feel better.

The Soleus Stretch: Again, position yourself in the exact way as shown in the image. Keep the distance between the two feet a little lesser than the previous exercise. Now, gradually go into a half squat position without lifting the souls of the legs. Stay for 5 seconds and then do the same for the previous leg. Repeat his process till you become tired or till the pain reduces.

If the description was too much, the video here can help you understand these better.

Stretching Your Calf Muscles

I hope this helps some of you out there with their pains. However, if you feel the pain is too extreme, I suggest you pay a visit to the doctor, because it might so happen that RLS is only a side problem to a much bigger problem.

Capsule trip to Lava, Lolegaon, Rishyap and Gorumara/Murti

An introduction is customary, I believe. My name is Kaustuv Chakrabarti, 24 yrs of age and I was on  a trip to the mountains-forest with my parents.  We planned this trip 4 months beforehand, as we took the trip during the peak season. Needless to say it has been an amazing and exhilarating experience. I write my experience while it is still fresh, waiting for evening to come at the dining hall the forest Bungalow after check out from Murti( Our last destination). This is my experience –

Day 1 – Lava

Technical details –

We left Kolkata on Kanchankanya at 8:30 PM on Saturday (24^th Oct, 2012). Having reached New Mal Jnc.  near around 9:30 AM, we Took a hired car at a bargained price of 1,200(they started from 1,500) on an Omni, which dropped us off at Lava at around 12:30 PM. We had a pre-booking at Hotel Himalaya. It is a good idea to pre-book a hotel, especially during the peak season, as there are very few standard hotels at Lava.  The room was a single room with a double bed and an extra cot. The total price was 1,200/- + 300/- (Extra Cot charge) .

Scenic beauty –

Lava is more or less a town just like Darjeeling, only much less crowded and a lot smaller. My trip from New Mal Jnc. mainly started off on plain lands with vast stretches of tea gardens on both sides. Goodricke, a renowned tea company, had most of these gardens booked. They also had their factory there, which happened to be on the way to lava. As we passed the factory, an intense, yet delicious smell of tea came flowing into our noses for a brief time.  As we started going up the slope, the sight of tea gardens gradually started changing into pine trees. The road was smooth at first but with increase in altitude, the road started getting more and more bumpy.

We had a clear view of the Kanchenjunga from our hotel. There was not much to do after reaching there. Water is very scarce over there. My dad and I went off for a little stroll in the evening at around 6:30 pm. The roads have light only as long as the cottages are present. Beyond the cottages it was just dark meandering roads and cliffs with shady trees. The moon was full that night and the mountain looked amazing under the moon light only. The cold environment added to the thrill. It was a sight worth seeing. Sadly the dimly lit roads could not be captured by my camera and so remains only in my memory.

Day 2 – Lolegoan Visit

Technical Details –

Our trip to Lolegaon began at 8 am and we were back at Lava by 1 pm. We did not stay at Lolegaon. However, that option is open if anyone would like to do so. On the way, we visited the Monastery at Lava and also a museum which contained an artificially created Neora Valley. The main attraction at Lolegaon is the Canopy walk, even though a portion of it has been broken off. Other than that, there is a view point from which Kanchenjunga can be viewed (not really a big deal). The whole trip cost us 1,200/- + 200 for the Lava portion.

Scenic Beauty-

The monastery at Lava was our first destination. It’s just like a normal monastery with monks roaming around and a Buddha temple. The cold and clean environment with flowery bordered path made this place special. After spending some time here, we went to the museum which was like a cave.  It was just like a ride at Nicco Park (an entertainment park at Kolkata, India) where you are put into an artificially created environment. It was a nice location to take pictures but not worth a lot of time. Having wrapped up this walk quickly we headed out for Lolegaon.

The trip to Lolegaon was quite bumpy. There was nothing new to watch, other than dense pine forest.  A walk through the forest would have been more thrilling but from the car it was same old same old. On reaching Lolegaon, there was a small cottage where we had our breakfast and started walking downhill through a forestry path. There were stone steps at intervals, which finally led us to the beginning of the canopy walk. It was strongly constructed wooden bridge which started as a steep slope leading us straight into the canopy. After that, it was more or less a straight walk and a new experience to see the trees so closely. The walk was not exactly at the canopy. It was around at half the tree length.  The shaking (yet sturdy) bridge was exciting and a fun experience. This is how the canopy walk looked like –

After taking a lot of pictures at the canopy walk, we headed off to the view point, which was actually a little boring, even though the whole valley could be seen from this viewpoint. We headed back to Lava after spending some time at this place.

Day 3 – Enter Rishyap

Technical Details –

We left for Rishyap at 11:30 am on a jeep and reached our destination at 12 PM. It was only a half an hour ride, but it was a ride that shook our innards completely. The ride cost us 550/-. We stayed at Neora Valley Resort. It was a very modern place with all kinds of facilities like gizer, TV, comods etc. I mention this because water and electricity is very scarce in the mountains and gizer is rarely available at the hotels. It’s mostly hot water in kettle at most places.  We stayed at a cottage (part of the resort), which cost us a total of 1,050/- + 100/- (extra person charge)

Scenic Beauty –

If you are a nature lover, strap yourself for a full length description, as scenic beauty does not get better than this. It was an exhausting yet energizing, an intoxicating yet purifying, an insatiable yet satiating experience. The jeep ride was the extremely jumpy, mainly because there WAS NO road. It was just boulders and rocks placed in a straight line. The road is very short and also can be walked.

When we reached out destination, it was actually a little surprising cause, all we could see were the hills and mountains all around and a small cottage in front of us. That is when I realized the true meaning of living on the mountains.  Our luggage was taken to our cottage, which was a based on European design. A picture can explain better –

Inside of the Cottage

The view from the front of the cottage comprised of mountains for as far as my sight went.  Towards the left was the Kanchenjunga, which somehow looked more beautiful, showing off its white façade and gracefully holding on to the little cotton clouds with its tip that tried to hop over its massive structure. The scene was exactly like an oil painting, with the white Kanchenjunga range at the background, the gray and shady mountains smothered with clouds in the middle and the green grassy and Forestry Mountains in the front.  This is a picture of the view from our cottage –

As I sat in the midst of nature, the sun hid itself by 4 pm, behind one of the mountains. With the sunrays gone, cold took its place. Within 30 min, the place where I sat went from warm to shivering cold, from light to twilight, from “just a t-shirt” to “full length hooded jackets” . That was the place to give into nature and to blend into it.

The nights at rishyap were very cold and dark. On looking out into the mountains, faraway places/towns appeared as little light bugs on bushes. The moon rose from the cleft between the mountains and flooded the whole valley with a dim light. It was a complete fairytale land experience here.

Day 4 – Delo and Kalimpong market

Technical Details –

Delo is a small place above kalimpong. There is a nicely decorated flower garden spread over some land. The whole trip to delo, Kalimpong market and back cost us 2200/- and took us around 6 hrs.

Scenic beauty-

The roads were nice and the view was back to pine trees. On reaching Delo, we strolled through the well decorated garden. There were certain benches present at the end of the cliff beyond which it was miles after miles of fall. A person, sitting on this bench could get a view from the Tista River at the bottom to the Kanchenjunga at the top.

That's me with the whole view in the background

We headed off to kalimpong after here. Not much scenic beauty there. What I found amusing was almost a score of school students in uniform heading towards or were returning from schools. We shopped a little at the market which was quite crowded. Finally, we headed back to Rishyap that slowly began to feel like home.

Day  5 – An early morning trek at the mountains and Murti

Technical Details-

Due to a chance encounter with a very energetic and determined person, who happened to stay at our neighboring cottage, I, along with a guide accompanied him to tiffindara, which is a sunrise point.  It was a 30min walk for a local, but for us it took almost an hour and 20 min. The guide charged us 200/-. We started off at 4 AM and came back by 7:30 AM. We checked out at 9:30 AM and reached Murti at around 1 PM. We checked into the forest bungalow by WBFDC where a well decorated cottage waited for us. The total cost for this place was 1,200/- per day.

Scenic Beauty-

The chance encounter on the previous day with a very lively personality brought about a little spicy twist in the plan. I woke up at 3:30 AM, freshened up , wore warm clothes and was all set for trekking. We began at 4 in the morning when the sun was still sleeping and the cold was at its maximum. The man, the guide and I, set out in the darkness, with the moon lighting portions of our way. This experience was so ravishing that this trek made my whole trip worth coming. The three of us walked through the stony path with the moon light showing us the way. The stony way ended soon after walking a certain distance and then began our walk between the trees. We walked; climbed; hopped; stopped; rested and then again walked. With hand torches lighted, we just made out what our surrounding was. It was a narrow path with steep cliffs on both sides, with the trees and bushes bent like in an ominous tale. Our footsteps echoed as we went on this wild odyssey. When we finally reached tiffindara, the sun had already begun to rise in the east. The sky had turned burgundy and far away Kanchenjunga stood with all its grandeur like a white princess with hundreds of minions surrounding her in a bowing posture. As the sun ascended over the heavenly steps, inundating the valley with the seven colors, the eastern sky lighted up. And then something happened which made my eyes glitter in wonder. The peaks of Kanchenjunga became red and gradually, flared up, as if it was on fire. A picture would help describe this even better.

Kanchenjunga burning at Sunrise

This beauty filled me with awe and made me wonder, how exquisite raw nature is; how magnificent this world was before men gradually wiped away nature for their own useL.

After returning, I prepared myself for another experience – The forest. We reached the forest bungalow at 12 in the noon. Our cottage was prepared for us before we even got there. It was a funny looking cottage, was actually a little cute. Here is a picture of the cottage-

Me...in the cottage

Once at Murti, it was only rest. The temperature was back to 21®C. I slept for around 3 hrs in the afternoon. Towards the evening, my dad and I went for a walk. It was the scariest walk I had in the whole trip. The trees in the mountains, even though dark as they were, never scared me. The trees here, dark and dense, had evil written all over them.  As we walked through the dark roads, a car came in front of us announcing the sightings of a wild elephant at a nearby field. Although scared, we ventured off to find this elephant, but could not find it. We came back to the bungalow and heard some wild tales about the forest from the receptionist which gave me Goosebumps.

Day 6 – Murti and Gorumara Forest Safari

Technical details-

The booking for this safari was done at the reception of the Resort. A jeep was booked for 6 people. Since there were 3 of us, we had to share our drive with another family of 3. It cost us a total of 1,150/- inclusive of the vehicle charge. The safari included a visit to the Gorumara Forest, where we were taken to two view points, and then were taken to show a folk dance by local children at some distance from Gorumara.

Scenic Beauty-

After a lazy morning, the safari began at 3 PM. There were a few morning safaris too, but we chose the afternoon time. We reached the gates of the Gorumara National Park at 3:30 and after that it was just jungle everywhere. This being my first visit to an actual Forest, I was actually stunned to see how densely packed the terrain was with plants and trees. If one was to venture into these woods, he would have to cut his way through the forest. We were all warned beforehand that the nature’s beauty was guaranteed but the sighting of wild animals is not. And so it was. We saw no animals at first. The only things in surplus were the peacocks; almost 10000 of them, I heard. Here is a picture of the forest road -

On reaching the first view point which overlooked a vast area including the Murti river, we waited quietly (except was the occasional murmurs and the irritating shrill cries of the babies), hoping for some wild animals to show themselves. After waiting for some time, we saw a rhino, hidden far behind a bush. While we waited for it to come out, there were murmurs of sighting of a wild boar, at a faraway distance, which was crossing the river. We saw it cross the river and disappear into a nearby bush. Our gaze naturally went back to the half hidden rhino which still remained behind the bush. Bored, we headed off to the next viewpoint which had a few tamed elephants standing in the front. We took pictures and then looked out the second view point which was pretty much the same. We saw nothing and instead of wasting any more time here, we left the place. While returning, our paths crossed a certain corridor (an open path with lesser trees which some large animals use for passage) where we saw almost 5 bisons standing. Those were all the animals that we saw here.

The safari ended at 5:30 PM and we went to see the cultural program by the local children, where we relaxed, had tea and videoed the dance. To be honest, the dance was not anything spectacular, but it was a commendable effort by the underprivileged people/children of the village.  After the dance, we drove through a pitch dark highway (it was around 6:30pm) and returned to our respective resorts.

Day 7 – Way back to home

There isn’t much to describe here. We checked out at 11 AM and the departure of our train is at 6:40 pm (Kanchenkanya Express). So, as you can guess, we have a lot of time to kill. Waiting here at the dining hall, I decided to write down my whole trip, just to remind me later on how my trip was and also to let anybody, planning to take a trip to any of the places that I visited here, know the details beforehand.

Another thing that I’d like to add is the food cost, because it was something that we expected to be a little less. It was around 800/- per day for 3 people. This included a lunch (A veg thali with dal, rice and a side dish, and an extra egg plate), Dinner (Chapati and a side dish) and around 9 cups of tea/coffee.

Feel free to comment or ask any questions.

 Regards.

The Good and Bad cycle of Life...

It is a well known fact that our lives are made up of alternate good and bad phases. During the good phase, everything said or everything done seems to fall rightly into place.Certain things even come unexpectedly and fits in such a manner as if it were meant to be.  Conversely, during the bad phase, everything somehow manages to go haywire and end up in an utter disaster. These two phases always keep interchanging in every person's life.

Inspite of the presence of both the phases, some people seem to be experiencing more of the good phase than the bad phase and vice versa. Now, why does this happen? One explanation can be that some people are luckier than the others and gets things exactly when and how they want it. Another explanation can be that for some, things are available before they even ask for it. However, this does not mean that these people don't experience bad in life. What I have deduced is that there is an average line to everything. This average is the actual level of goodness/badness which a person experiences in his/her life. To explain better I have made a graph as given below -




In this graph, we see, that two people have there average lines at two different levels. Person 1 experiences more good than person 2, for whatever reason possible. But does that mean that person 2 will always be at the same level below person 2? The answer to that is NO. Because, I believe, even after considering all the luck and good fate, one can always change these two parameters  through persistance and precaution, hence, increasing the good and reducing the bad, thereby raising the average line.  The reverse is also possible where when a person keeps doing more bad than good, his average line keeps going down. It can also be seen in the graph that the Person 1's bad is even better that Person 2's good. Now, this usually happens whenhappens

Thus, next time when you are happy, you can rest assure that something comparitively bad is gonna happen to you and when you are sad, something good will soon happen. Keeping this in mind take precaution, be diligent and you will have a better average line and consequently, a better life...