Its Time to Speak up

Remember this proverb we grew up learning in school – “Cleanliness is next to Godliness.” It is an old saying but it has merely become another set of words to be mugged up from the textbook. A very meagre population is actually seen following it. The issue is that everyone wants to keep their houses or occupancies neat but do not take any responsibility for the areas beyond their immediate surroundings. Instead most of the times, people are seen littering on streets and other public places despite the presence of bins in proximity. They are ever ready to complain but never think about taking a step ahead and solving the problem. Most of us have this embedded notion in our thought process that the upkeep of the public areas is the responsibility of the government without shelling out any thought on the fact that as citizens, it is not just our responsibility but our duty to take care of the place. Just a little effort on our part would deflect the valuable tax money into development and progress programmes rather than correction and mending projects. This year October 2^nd was picked up by our Honourable Prime Minister to initiate the “Swach Bharat Abhiyaan”. The initiative did spur a cleanliness drive across the nation. Celebrity nominations saw participation of stalwarts from all fields – cricket, cinema, politics, industries and educational institutions. At my workplace as well, we participated whole-heartedly in the cleanliness campaign and our endeavours were realised with our parking lot transforming to a cleaner and greener spot, adding to the presentable appearance of the place. However, two months since then the enthusiasm has plummeted and the predicament has regained its normalcy. “Swach Bharat Abhiyaan” is not just an initiative but a reminder for the nation to make it a clean, green and beautiful place to live. Moreover, the agenda here is not just beautification but also maintaining the hygiene and sanitation of the area in order to avoid the spreading of germs and diseases.

Strepsils, the world’s leading throat lozenge has taken up the onus of instilling the zeal in the Swach Bharat Abhiyaan via #Ab Montu Bolega Campaign. Strepsils helped Montu regain the courage to speak up for the right things and maintain his integrity. #Ab Montu Bolega Campaign gives an opportunity to the people to address  the agendas in prime focus for the nation's interest. One can speak up about any of the following trending issues of the country- #MakeIndia, ISL, #SwachBharatAbhiyan #ShameGame by logging in to the website http://www.abmontubolega.com/. The Strepsils facebook and Twitter accounts have several interesting opinions listed by the web users.

https://www.facebook.com/StrepsilsIndia

https://twitter.com/StrepsilsIndia

This noble cause is sure to catalyse the awareness and execution of the cleanliness drive so that we see a much healthy and serene India by 2019.

Presenting the Game Changer - Fat Cat Lucky6

FatCat Gaming presents the Game Changer in the league of lottery games. A coming of age, gaming app – Lucky6  gets past the era of plastic chips and paper chits and presents an interesting version for easy betting and minting profits for the app users.

India may be seeing a dawn of game developing, but the gaming scene in India in terms of active users has never ebbed. Moreover, introduction of mobile gaming created a domino effect in this context and the convenience of gaming on the go has added to the number of users exponentially. Hence the exclusive launch of Fat Cat Lucky6 from India is only going to catalyze this scene. The game has been designed on an innovative lottery concept and works via a crowd-funding platform. It is a win-win for the Indie-gamers, where it provides you not only with the thrill of gaming but also an opportunity to transform lives through its jackpot cash rewards and exotic getaways to dream destinations.

The nuances of this App design have made the downloading and gaming for its users convenient, intriguing  and visually pleasing, at the same time. Lucky6 can be easily downloaded from the website - http://fatcatgaming.com/ . It has links to download for both iOS and android users. I was easily able to download the app for my android device with a mere change in the security setting. Since then, it has been a ride. All you need to do is to sign up for the game and pick the six brands that may be the highest stock gainers on the particular day and if you are fortunate enough to make the right introspections about the day’s stock gainers, you are granted with an ever-changing life reward. Though I did not win anything yet, I exploited yet another feature of Lucky6 to double my chances. The concept of “sharing is caring” on this app enables you to send invites to your friends over social media and if they win in the game, you win as well. In fact my Mom has been glued to my Android device since I have downloaded it, so contagious is the spirit of the game.  I have downloaded it on her phone as well and now we compete against other with our set of points until our fortune takes a strike.

Personally, I found Fat Cat Lucky6 to be a leap ahead of the current gaming and gambling scene. It combines the elements of thrill, fun, pleasure, luxury, connecting, sharing and caring, elegantly packaged in a fortune-driven gaming app. I also have my share of bias towards Lucky6 since I share my birthday with the launch date of this app in India – 19^th November, 2014. Considering that, I have all my stakes for my stars getting lucky soon.

Toilet for Babli

I am a travel enthusiast and fortunately my research profession encourages me for the same. Most of the times, I have to tour the remote villages in the hills for my research-sampling. Despite the breath-taking and picturesque landscape that the wilderness has to offer in the mountains, it is the interaction with the natives of the place that brings out the real picture of the place. During all these trips, the one problem that I have faced universally across all these villages is the lack of toilets. People have to move out of their houses towards a deserted area for defecation. Considering it is the mountains I am referring to, the colder months when there is snow all around makes this basic chore a hardship. These areas are the pit-stops for most of the mainstream tourism destinations. As a consequence, they only serve as traveller’ stops to attend nature’s call, without any major any major contribution to the uplift in infrastructure of basic facilities. This only adds to the waste load in the region and adds to the burden of disease-causing pathogens. Even the schools in these areas do not have toilets, which is a great hassle for the staff and students here. Unfortunately, this issue is not just restricted to the mountains, but sprawls across the country. Nearly six million people in India have no accessibility to toilet and defecate in the open. This sanitation problem has magnified into a major health issue wherein the sites of defecation- (fields and roadsides), serve as a medium for dispersing the pathogenic agents from the faecal matter to drinking water sources and crops. According to UNICEF reports chronic enteropathy and diarrhoea risk around 600,000 lives in India, while child malnourishment rates fail to plummet despite all efforts. An outbranch of this problem in the country is also public safety issue especially for women who have to step out of their houses even at wee hours to attend to nature’s call. The infamous Badaun case that saw vitriolic outrage against the teenager girls who had to step out of their house only due to lack of this basic facility.

The #Toilet for Babli initiative by Domex to build 24000 toilets till 2015 is a step towards solving these problems at the grassroot level. The least we could do as citizens of this nation is to rake in as much contribution for this noble cause. The website, (http://www.domex.in/.) gives us the sheer idea of the hassles little Babli has to face as she looks for a toilet. Just by clicking on the “Contribute tab” would add to a donation of Rs.5 on your behalf in not just helping these kids but also solving a major health problems of the country.