Swallowing Live Fish For Health

In Hyderabad where I grew up, every June after the first rain there would be a flood of people coming to the city for this treatment.

Reuters reports that, "Thousands throng to swallow a live fish "wonder cure" in southern India. In India's southern Hyderabad city, people gather to receive a traditional treatment believed to cure asthma and other respiratory ailments. Patients buy a two-inch-long Murrel fish, and swallow it live after it has been stuffed with a herbal mixture. And for people finding the remedy a little hard to swallow, there are doctors on hand to help the fish on its way."

Akshay Rajagopal wins the National Geographic Bee

The Indo Asian News Service (IANS) reports that, "An 11-year-old
Indian American boy won the 2008 National Geographic Bee contest,
taking home a $25,000 college scholarship and a lifetime membership."

This annual contest organized by the National Geographic Society,
finds nearly 5 million students participating each year. According to
the IANS, "Akshay Rajagopal, a grade six student from Lincoln,
Nebraska, emerged winner at the contest held in Washington, DC,
Wednesday for students from fifth through eighth grades, aged 10 to
14. The final question to which Rajagopal provided the correct answer
in a jiffy was: The urban area of Cochabamba has been in the news in
recent years due to protests over the privatisation of the municipal
water supply and regional autonomy issues. Cochabamba is the third
largest conurbation in what country? Answer: Bolivia. Rajagopal, who
attends Lux Middle School in Lincoln, answered all questions correctly
in Tuesday's preliminary rounds and the final and championship rounds
where the top 10 contestants pitted their geographical knowledge
against one another."

Among the top 10 in this competition, which was moderated for the 20th
year by the 'Jeopardy!' host Alex Trebek, were two other Indian
American students -- Nikhil Desai of California and Milan Sandhu of
New Hampshire.

Mango Eating Competition In Bombay

"With the arrival of summer and mango season, India's western city Mumbai plays host to the 6th annual mango eating competition. Around 30 people took part, having to eat as many mangoes as possible in 3 minutes. And if they could stomach any more, the winners were rewarded with a fresh box of the fruit. The competition was a part of the six-day Konkan Festival that started on May 06 and ended on May 12," reports Reuters.

Gender Discrimination?!

More news on Indian Americans practicing gender discrimination!

Becoming Smarter...

"What is perhaps most intriguing about the list in Condé Nast
Portfolio of the 73 Biggest Brains in Business is how few traditional
businesspeople are among them," says a New York Times article. One of
the Indians represented on this list is Ratan Tata of of the Tata
Group, the multinational conglomerate based in India.

In this article titled "How to Be Smarter," The Times quotes from
Wired magazine and says, "WHILE your I.Q. is basically determined at
birth, "still, there are lots of ways to get smarter — to max out your
so-called functional intelligence" at work and elsewhere." They list
ways to get smarter as below, and I quote--

-- Discover. "Learning new things actually strengthens your brain —
especially when you believe you can learn new things," Steve Knopper
writes. "It's a virtuous circle: When you think you're getting
smarter, you study harder, making more nerve cell connections, which,"
he says, makes you smarter.
-- Don't panic. "While a little nervousness can boost cognitive
performance, periods of intense stress essentially turn us into
Neanderthals," Eric Hagerman writes. Try to control your breathing.
Yoga could help.
-- Drink tea. "Caffeine jump-starts the body and sharpens the mind,"
Mathew Honan says. "But studies show that we Yanks are doing it all
wrong" by drinking coffee and high-energy drinks. "For optimal brain
gain, regular tea breaks" are the way to go, he writes. Small doses
throughout the day are more effective than one huge drink.
-- Practice the types of questions that appear on intelligence tests.
"They're supposed to be objective and consistent, but don't believe
it," Mr. Knopper writes. "By prepping for the verbal, numerical and
spatial problems on a typical psychometric test, you can boost your
score."
-- Exercise. Studies have shown that students who are aerobically fit
perform better on cognitive tests.

Read the full article at--
http://select.nytimes.com/mem/tnt.html?emc=tnt&tntget=2008/05/10/business/10offline.html&tntemail0=y

MIT On A Lovely Spring Day...