Helmet : The मटका which saves lives

क्या बाबू भैया आपको दिखता नहीं है ? 

अरे कैसे दिखेगा रे हलकट, सर पे मटका चढ़ा है  चश्मा नहीं है...जा जा के चश्मा ला 

Remember this iconic dialogue from the movie Hera Phera?? 

This is what I have been referring to helmets also.. and these मटका do save lives. This post is written for all those people who either treat helmets as nuisances, things which are carried on hand/in the mirrors or think that its uncomfortable to wear. Today, as on this day I’m writing the post after having being saved once again from a horrific accident by the helmet. The injuries which I have sustained right now are very deep…. The only thing which saved me from a possible fatal injury was the helmet. 

All of a sudden somebody’s pet dog rushed across the road at a milliseconds notice and I crashed into it. When I fell down I was relieved that I was wearing a helmet because I could actually choose to some extent the side or body part on which I could afford to take the hit without worrying about the head. Over a period of 14 years since I’ve started riding two wheelers, this is probably 6th big accident of mine and the saviour at all times has been the मटका .

Helmets are comparatively expensive but not so expensive more than your life. When I had first purchased my helmet all I knew was just 2 company names- Wrangler and Studds. Now I don’t know that how many companies are out there in the market but whenever I have to purchase a helmet, I only choose from these two. The roadside ones which you buy for as low as 300 or even 100 in some cases just to save yourself from police challan, are the useless 3rd class types. They won’t save you when the time arises, not even a bit. So set aside a minimum of 1000 bucks as starting range for these. The cost can go up now that there are a variety of helmets available- fullface, half face, scratch proof visor, tinted visor etc. and they have become quite lightweight too when I compare it with my bulky helmet. Wearing a helmet and getting used to it takes time. 

I remember the first time I for a helmet, my whole jaw was hurting for 1 week because my face and mouth were not accustomed to the inside padding of the helmet and my shoulders too suffered some collateral damage as they were not used to an additional weight on the head. Slowly slowly it has grown to a point where I don’t venture out from my home without the helmet - it just doesn’t feel right or I feel like that’s something important is missing… It becomes second nature to you. The visor means that I can drive uninterrupted without carrying a damn about the weather conditions and feels very uneasy if I forget to fasten the strap. 

Here are a few tips for people who feel uncomfortable in wearing helmets, these are tips I had read from a very old issue of automobile magazine plus some of my personal experiences- 

· When you try the helmets of the first time see that the internal padding does not leave any allergic reaction to your face. 

· Strap in the helmet and move your head from side to side and feel it. A perfect fit helmet should move with your head and should not be lagging behind. If you’re moving your head to the left and the helmet kind of fits to the head one second later it means that the helmet is a loose fit and you should get the size which fits you. In case of an accident there are chances that the helmet itself might give you some injuries. 

· By helmets which are from well-known and established helmet brands. 

· Choose the form factor according to your needs and carrying convenience. Don’t buy any fancy looking helmet form which would be cumbersome for you to put in or even put it in the vehicle. 

· For those who can’t afford the scratch proof visor helmets, make sure to get the visor replaced once you start noticing scratches on the visor after prolonged usage. The visor glass is easily replaceable in a city`s automobile market for as low as 50 bucks. 

· One common indication of the visor nearing its life is during night driving. If the incoming headlight for an incoming Michael’s seen by your eyes as something like a star and not a proper spot of light, it’s time to change the visor. As the visor would get scratches the light would start to expand and resemble more like a star. तारे दिखते ही बदल लो 

I hope that my this small post on helmets would help you to be not afraid of wearing one and maybe when help somebody you know to start using one… coz at the end of an accident you might just thank one.

Environment: My bit to save it....

It’s a well-known fact now that very few governments take climate change seriously and unfortunately India is not in the list. For them environment is of no concern it seems. Faced with the harsh reality of climate change, global warming, plastic pollution, droughts it is now up to us to try to save the environment otherwise in the next 2 to 3 decades we would be wiped out permanently like the dinosaurs. 

So this post is all about contributing your real-life ideas, actions you’re taking to make sure that we try to save the environment as much as possible. As this is an ever evolving blog post which would be regularly updated, any ideas shared by readers/friends would be updated into the main body of the blog post as soon as they are received. Apart from the real-life solutions we are using, there would also be a heading known as "problem" which would highlight some action which we had studied way back in our childhood but is not followed by the society today and another heading “read” which would speak of a particular instance of environment friendly measures taking in a part of the country which could be tried . 

So here are the ways I use in my daily life to save the environment- 

Kyaari- This is an eco-friendly calendar from 21fools.com which is made from beej kapas paper which is planted into the soil after the month gets over to get a plant. It is comparatively pricey at Rs. 1200 but it is proving to be worth every penny I spent. The frame of the calendar is made from old furniture which has now been reused. I already have the Gulamas plant growing up from this calendar. 

Vegetables- Just a few months back my mother started throwing all the bad vegetables into my kyaari. Not the vegetable peels but a few pieces of vegetables which are bad in a particular batch likes a bad potato, squished tomato, too much old coriander etc. She started throwing all such vegetables into the soil and they acted as natural fertilisers and now I have a few vegetable plants growing up... Right now tomato, coriander, green chilli have all come up in a small space. 

Paper- Making full use of the multifunction laser printer I have at home, I make sure to print on both sides of the paper as and when it is possible. Every discarded paper goes into my pile of rough papers which are used to note something when using the computer. They act as notepads to note something quickly and not discarded until there is even an inch of mm available to write. Same in my office, I make sure to print all non-important communication on rough papers as much as possible. The effect of this is that a 500 page rim of papers issued to me now lasts approximately close to a month in earlier comparison of maximum 15 days. 

Cashify- In this era of ever evolving electronics, gadgets there are instances at home where there are quite a lot of phones in a single home and you don’t know how to dispose of the old ones. I have been using cashify for the past many years now to dispose of my old mobile phones. I sell my old phones so that they could be refurbished/resold to the public who can’t afford pricey smart phones. This is just a small drop in the ocean but I’m trying to reduce plastic pollution from my end. 

Problem- In my childhood I read that leaves are buried in the ground to make composite manure but people today don’t tend to follow it. The sweeper who comes in the colony is hell bent on lighting the dry leaves on fire as a way to dispose of the garbage and I  had quite a lot of fights in this regard with her but to no avail. She doesn’t want to listen. 

Has anyone found a way to deal with the plastic packings sent by the various e-commerce companies? I have a lot of such packets with me but don’t know what to do.. You have any solution? There have been numerous petitions online asking the companies to take their cardboard packings from customers , recycle it but none of the said companies are really interested. 

Read- An article in the Better Indian spoke of an instance where a housing society in Bangalore switched to ways of saving water. They are using discarded RO water for all the non-essential activities such as washing of cars, parking lot, watering plants etc. 

These are my ways, contribute yours towards saving the environment…….