Boredom

Ever since my childhood, as far as I can remember, I never have experienced boredom. I was busy with studies and extra-curricular's. Friends, library, books, TV & music were my entertainment. I remember few days in my teens when I never wanted to go out or even to watch TV, if I had books. The books can be any novels, weekly magazines or even deepavali malar.

After wedding, top-to-bottom chores & job kept me engaged. After baby, she became my world. Of course work from home also joined a bit later. During this phase, there was no time for friends, chatting or entertainment. Even then I was not feeling bored, as I was occupied with something or the other.

Whenever possible I used to read books, watch cinemas online, blog, twitter or face book. But even these interests kept changing. So gradually I lost interest to blogging (I was not sure what to write. In Tamil they used to call this state as “sarakku theerndhuduchchu” :D) and twittering (I had to think too much to be unique in every tweet, so obviously it did not fit me & also I cannot freely talk to people who I don’t know personally, but that is twitter’s main culture).

Now somehow I manage to allot time for everything right from job, house chores, Manasa, chatting with friends & relatives, Whatsapp & FB and youtube for movies. The only thing I need to catch-up is listening to songs, like how I used to before.

Of course I needed a break from routine several times, but when it comes to routine, I was not bored.

But why am I sharing all this now? Because of late I frequently started thinking about what would be my pass time activity in my old age.

Few elderly people, for example my mom or even my MIL, feel loneliness and boredom most of the times. Only TV or talking with someone makes them happy. And the major reason is they don’t have any responsibilities other than keeping them healthy, which is not so interesting.

As I am witnessing such persons, I started to wonder about my old age. I wish I should not feel boredom or loneliness even in my old age.

Allexperts Answer

My Question:
Hello Doctor,

I am Sudha from Chennai and this is regarding my 5year old daughter. 

She frequently gets cold n cough. Most of the times, with just Citrezine syrup, she is not getting cured. So I give her antibiotics also along with it. Azithromysin or amoxyline etc for 5 days, twice a day.

My doubt is is it harmful or not advisable to give anti-biotics frequently? Say I gave antibiotics last month for 5 days and again this month she got cold and can I give her antibiotics again this month?

Please advice.

Thanks

Doctor's reply:
Hi Sudha,

Yes, unnecessary use of ANY medicine, including antibiotics, should always be avoided as it does more harm than good.

Most cold and coughs in children are viral, and antibiotics have NO ROLE in viral infections. If your doctor prescribes antibiotics everytime the child has cough and cold, I would strongly advise to look for a better doctor in your area, since the doctor is not doing justice to your child. 

IF, on the other hand, you are using antibiotics on your own without consulting a doctor, then I am sorry, you are not doing justice to the little one who has no choice but to trust you. You breach this trust everytime you give ANY medicine (including cough and cold medicines which are schedule "H" drugs: to be taken strictly under medical supervision) to the little one without consulting a doctor... (I have purposely said all this since I often see antibiotics and even cough and cold medicines taken very lightly by parents...it's great to hear from parents like you who have raised such an important question)


Best wishes,
Dr. Puneet Kumar,
Kumar Child Clinic, Dwarka,
New Delhi, India

மதராஸி டா!!

சில கோவை வார்த்தைகள் நான் இங்க வந்து கேட்டது - ஒட்டுக்க, ஈக்குமாறு, கோட்டு, ங்க போன்றவை. இது தவிர கிழக்காலே, மேற்காலேன்னு திசையை குறிப்பிட்டு வழி சொல்வது. நமக்கு left, right, stright தான் புரியும்.
இங்கயே வளர்ந்தவங்க, பெரும்பாலும் வயதில் பெரியர்வர்களுடன் (maid, watchman, சில auto காரர்கள் etc), பேசும்போது, பலமுறை "ம்ம்?" "என்னது?" ன்னு "ரிப்பீட்டு" கேட்டுகிட்டே இருப்பேன். அவங்க என்னை பத்தி என்ன நினைச்சிருப்பாங்ககுறதை நீங்களே யோசிச்சிக்கோங்க. அதே சமயம் நான் "peter" பொண்ணும் இல்லை. நான் ஒரு அருமையான (!?), அஃமார்க்கான (??) சென்னை பொண்ணு (சரி..சரி..பேரிளம் பெண்'ன்னே படிங்க).

மெட்ராஸ் பாஷைதான் சுலபமா புரியுது - மெர்சல், பேஜார், கலாய்க்குறது, ஒருதபா, கப்பு, டபாய்க்குறது etc.

மதராஸி டா!!


Few Kovai terms which I came across are: Ottuka – together; Eikkumaar – broomstick; Kottu – kadaisi; and the very familiar ‘nga’ slang as in yenunga.

And one more is they use kilakke..merkke etc words to show directions. This is actually fine but for me I need to do few quick home works mentally to understand them. First I need to mentally equate it to English directions and then comes the trickiest part. When someone says turn “merku”, I get confused and I need to see sun literally to understand the directions. Left-right-straight is the only the coolest guidance which I can understand. :-D

When talking with proper Kovai based (rather elderly) people, they might think I have some hearing problems, as I keep asking them ‘hmmm?’. And my mind starts singing the Rajini song “repeattu ”. I am not a ”peter” girl either.

I am a proud Madrasi who very well knows “Madras bashai” like mersal, bejaar, kalaaikkuradhu, oru’dhaba’, andhaanda, gappu, dabaikkuradhu etc etc.:D

So what about you? :)