A Blast from the past...

It was an intense summer that day, the temperature recorded 48°C. It was a 30 over match and I was batting at No.3 losing our opener. It was good opportunity for me to come at No.3 when the stakes were down early on. I had a chance to prove myself today, I had a feeling that today I am going to score big. Initial 5 overs were bit slow on the scoring rate, and I was just rotating the strike, I was waiting for the sun to burn down the bowlers stamina before I could counter attack.

But something was wrong, I was already burning since morning due to high fever and a blocked nose. But my determination and will power were stronger than the fever that was preventing me from being fit. I scored a handsome leg glance first up, that opened the boundaries for us. Followed by a square drive and cover drive. Next over was really easy for me, after having hit 3 fours in a the previous over, my confidence was sky high, I scored a straight drive boundary which was a pleasure to many eyes, including my father who always enjoys watching me bat.

Then came on the spinners, to give respite to their fast bowlers. I was going strong, confident and having the highest stamina among all the players out there. It was in me that every time the temperature soars in Chennai, I get a good field day. I outshine other players in hot humid weather conditions easily. It was a gift to me I thought and I realized it that day. With such thought in mind, came a dolly from spinners hand and I hit the ball straight down the bowlers head and it was a sixer, just managed to cross the ropes.

They were all getting tired by the end of 15 overs and I had just scored above 40+ that time. Few wickets fell the other end and my stronger partner started scoring some big shots giving me some rest and I was just rotating the strike happily for him. It was a good relaxing time for me, but I had to still do all the running. I could sense the hot air going in and out of nostrils by this time! By the end of the innings I emerged not out around 60+ runs and my partner scored a quick fire 40 odd runs. We scored a good 180 runs on the board by the end of 30 overs.

We came to bowl, and their players were already dehydrated and exhausted under the sun, but our players were looking fresh, well thanks to me of course ;-). We dismissed them within 100 runs and I was rightly adjudged the player of the match. I remember the words of the opposite captain that day, “You played really well even in this hot and humid condition. Well done young boy, I wish to see you play for India one day.”

This was the day that I cherished the most and the words of the opposite team’s captain did motivate me to do better in coming matches. It was also the day when I realized that hot humid climate does no harm to my body and I was adaptive to such high temperatures. It was a good realization for me that day, to know my ability, my body condition and my stamina/endurance. 

Windows 10 upgrade - quick review

Just wanted to share my side of the Windows 10 upgrade story (from windows 7). Depending on the number of devices that your PC / laptop is currently supporting, the file size for the upgrade varies. For my PC it took nearly 2.2 GB size for the whole downloading of OS / driver files.

 

Using the 1 Mbps BSNL connection, it took nearly 4-5 hours for the download to complete. Then the Windows asked for a reboot, upon reboot, the windows configuration starts with absolutely no manual interaction from the user.

 

The actual upgrade runs by starting to copy the OS files, followed by driver files and finally the configuration starts.

 

The whole process took less than 1.5 hours and the desktop was up and running within another 5-10 minutes time.

 

The Changes:

 

1)       Your old desktop and all the files are retained. Whatever theme packs you were running on before upgrade still exists (even installed ones). So the desktop still runs your themes that you would prefer to have.

2)      Start bar is really beautiful and stylish with the search box at the left side. Default search engine is Bing.

3)      Upon clicking the start button (windows key in keyboard), your recently used apps lists and the live tiles are loaded on the right side. Its rightly a marriage between Windows 7 and Windows 8.

4)      In the start menu, there is an option to search for all apps, which would list us the apps in alphabetical order as in Windows phones.

5)      Live tiles are stylish and updates real time.

6)      All the applications that you had before upgrade still exists and runs perfectly without any hitches.

7)      You can configure what live tiles you want to see.

8)      The Start menu has settings option, which contains everything you want to configure in the PC/laptop (from device drivers, to installation of apps, to configuring background colors etc.)

9)      Microsoft has dumped IE and has come up with Edge browser, which is good so far.

10)   Default programs to open pics, videos will be setup

11)    Windows media player is missing. Groove music player is the new kid on the block!

 

If you already have a webcam, that is connected via USB, you might probably need to download an update post setting up the PC. The driver will install additionally and set it up for being compatible with Windows 10.

 

Windows 10 is definitely sleek, comfortable and easy to use. With Service packs coming up, it is definitely going to fix any ongoing issues and make this OS a win-win for both MS and customers alike.

 

Windows 10 is free for an year post upgrade.

 

Note: In case you need to downgrade from Windows 10, you can do it only within one month of the upgrade. Post which you cannot downgrade the OS. This is a good option for customers to try out Windows 10 for now, and go back to the shell and live within their own comfort zone.

Products that harm us

Most of us would have used these products in our life time sometime. We would have used it mostly in our teenage I bet. I also bet that we would have at least tried one imported product of this category and would have recommended our family members or close friends/relatives. It was a part of my life too until couple of months when my wife raised a concern about cancer causing chemicals that are used in these products. These products are: deodorants and antiperspirants.

I am really against any of the products that act against our natural body system. Soap for instance, blocks the pores in our skin that would otherwise be helpful for perspiration of skin and also used as a channel for releasing sweat. The sweat contains urea, minerals and lactate. Our body sends them out because they are either in excess or they have the potential to cause cancer cells in our body. This process of sweating in humans is called perspiration (also called as transpiration).

Clearly the name antiperspirants should have ringed an alarm bells in your mind by now! Now let us see what chemicals do these products contain and why they might be potentially harmful for our body. Remember there are studies that are out there which determines the potentiality of cancer cause in people who use deodorants and antiperspirants. These studies are yet to determine and prove a direct correlation however. So caution needs to be exercised in understanding what I am going to say further.

Both Deodorants and Antiperspirants help in reducing the body odour that is a result of sweat.  This odour is caused by specific bacteria underneath our skin (underarms). Deodorants tackle the odour by targeting the bacteria. To do this, they contain antibacterial compounds, such as triclosan and chlorhexidine. Antiperspirants, unlike deodorants, don’t do anything to act on the bacteria that produce smelly sweat compounds. Instead, they contain chemical compounds whose goal it is to prevent you from perspiring at all. These compounds are always either aluminium or zirconium-based; aluminium chlorohydrate is one of the most commonly used, but a number of others can also be employed.

Triclosan has been proven to contribute to bacterial resistance to antibiotics. Though this only proven in animals and in humans it might be different and there is no concrete study yet. The solvent, cyclomethicone is used both in Deodorants and antiperspirants evaporate very quickly and easily. But studies have proved that this solvent causes dry skin and other problems. Apart from that there are growing concerns of potential bioaccumulation in the environment. It doesn’t break down easily in water, and also it is further not clear if they are the reason for toxicity in water which threatens aquatic life. Aluminium compounds that are used in Antiperspirants have been under major controversy with links to breast cancer and Alzheimer’s disease.

Both Deodorants and Antiperspirants have been under lenses and are posing a great health risk upon prolonged usage. It would be wise if each of us look at the ingredients in these products and see if any chemical used in it is having potential to cancer of other major controversies. It would be good if we can avoid such products and choose a safe alternative.