Destination Infinity's Blog, page 7

My Travel Book to India [Promo Video – Explainer Video style]

I made this new promo video for my travel book to India that I wrote and published eight years ago. I’ve made this book trailer video in the explainer video style that uses 2D animation extensively. Each scene has visuals that match the narration, to reinforce the message being conveyed.

Hope you like this video

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If you are curious about the book, here is the Amazon Kindle product page.

Chennai Flower Show

The first edition of the Chennai Flower Show just concluded on June 6, 2022. Above-embedded is the photo slideshow video with photos taken during the Chennai Flower Show.

Since I was not able to go, Ramya clicked all the pics. Looks like she is becoming the photojournalist for Destination Infinity, and I, the editor!

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Photos courtesy: RR Fashion Jewellery

Island Grounds Exhibition, Chennai (Jun. 2, 2022 Onwards) [Kodai Kondattam]

The Island Grounds Exhibition, Chennai, [Kodai Kondattam] is happening from June 2 (2022) Onwards at Island Grounds, Chennai. The nearest bus stand/metro station is Chennai Central. (Google Maps link for location.)

Timings: Weekdays – 3 P.M. to 10 P.M., Sunday: 12 P.M. to 10 P.M.

Attractions: Stalls, Games, Food Court, Waterfalls, Snow Show, Bird Show, etc.

All this info is based on the below poster we found nearby Wallajah Road.

Coffee = Rs. 350, Veg Puffs = Rs. 250?!

We were expecting the coffee to cost 350 rupees+ because we searched for the prices before going. But Rs. 250 for veg puffs is something we didn’t expect!

We had White Chocolate Mocha (Iced). It was sweet & good. But the other one we bought, Double Chocolate Chip Frappuccino, was not that good. Despite that alluring name, it was bitter. Since we went there for the first time, we had no clue what to order, so we ordered randomly from the menu

After Starbucks, we went to our local Primas bakery and bought veg puffs for Rs. 25 each. What a satisfaction!

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Perils of Athletic Training & Sports Achievement at a Young Age

In, “The Pain Relief Secrets: How to Retrain Your Nervous System, Heal Your Body, and Overcome Chronic Pain” the author Sarah Warren writes,

“Those who start their athletic training at a young age may be at increased risk of developing overuse injuries because their musculoskeletal system is not fully developed… Many of these injuries will stay with them for their entire lives…”

Sarah Warren.

The author further states that kids’ muscles or connective tissues may not be strong enough to support their fast-growing bones.

So next time you push your child to pursue competitive sports training at a young age, remember this – their achievement is at the cost of their long-term health. It’s fine to have a dream or ambition, but know what you are getting into and its consequences before pushing it too hard. Especially if you are dreaming for others.

“Another part of the problem is that they specialize in one sport far too early. Children
who play two or three sports suffer fewer injuries… because they learn how to move in varied ways…”

Sarah Warren

If left for themselves, that’s what kids would do right? They happily play whatever catches their fancy at the moment. Maybe they are right after all.

So shouldn’t kids train for competitive sports at all?

“The emphasis should be on preparation for future success and health, rather than
performance…”

Sarah Warren

So the next time you feel your kid should run faster than Usain Bolt when they are five, I hope, you realize where (with whom) the problem is!

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The (Chronic) Pain Relief Secret [Book Review]

The book description for “The Pain Relief Secret: How to Retrain Your Nervous System, Heal Your Body, and Overcome Chronic Pain” by Sarah Warren says, read this book if you want to,

“Cure sciatica, TMJ, iliopsoas syndrome, carpal tunnel syndrome, osteoarthritis pain, Lower back pain relief, and other common pain conditions.”

Since I have sciatica, I thought why not try this book (too). I should admit that many things mentioned in the book (about general bone and muscle health) was an eye-opener.

Could we, because of the forward-bent posture due to our introverted personalities, be hurting our neck and back? Could we be sleeping in a wrong posture? YES! At least in my case, I have been with the wrong posture since as long as I remember. That probably is the root cause of my pain that has been developing slowly over the years.

The book says that the main issue with other methods of treatment esp. physical therapy which we most probably try first is – they cure the symptoms but not the cause. That’s true. I wonder why my doctor didn’t address my wrong posture – I am sure he noticed it. So even if those methods cure us temporarily, the pain is bound to recur. That’s what happened with me.

This book gives you a good foundation on why pain occurs in the first place, what we need to learn from it, and which actions of ours impairs the condition even further. That’s important. If we don’t do that course correction now, we’ll forever be entangled with pain killers and electric-assisted therapy.

Frankly there is a lot of detail on how the muscular-skeletal system in our body works and why pain occurs. I think it’s required because only then the concepts are ingrained into our minds deeply and we become determined to correct our incorrect postures and other bad habits.

The author says that our bodies don’t have to degenerate with time. We have come to accept such things but I know people who are fit even in their 80s! We can retrain our bodies to be fit and stop doing things that are inadvertently hurting us, and that’s what this book teaches us.

The best thing about this book is the individual exercise links (to videos) given for each condition like back pain, sciatica, scoliosis, carpel tunnel, headache, etc. I will definitely add these exercises along with the ones I am already doing.

The only issue is – the book is too long. If you don’t have the patience to read the entire book, just go to page no. 205, follow the exercise video link applicable to your condition, and start doing them.

Fortunately this book is not a lead magnet. There is no ‘push’ or ‘discount coupon’ to buy more expensive guides or training videos. The focus is on self-cure and the author gives the information and the practical methods to achieve that ourselves.

I am quite impressed with somatic treatment philosophy and methods. I wonder why I didn’t know about this before. I have just started with the exercises, I will try to update this page after a while.

I feel, while we could approach other forms of treatments like physiotherapy or surgery for quick relief, a long-term approach to correct the things that have been causing the ailments is equally important. And that’s what this book teaches us.

Go for it.

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Bloggers Meet after a Long Time

Pradeep of Time & Tide was in Chennai earlier this week. I have been following his blog for some time now so we thought it might be a good idea to meet and get to know the person behind the words. Besides, it’s been ages since any bloggers meet happened.

Since I am not able to travel much due to sciatica, I requested him to come to our house and he graciously accepted. I, my wife, and my mother met Pradeep and his wife. Turns out all of us were/are connected with writing in one way or another!

I think we spoke for a couple of hours but never realized how time flew so quickly. This was like an oasis in the desert as we’ve been having next-to-zero social interactions – the situation accentuated due to the pandemic as well.

There was a time when there were abundant bloggers’ meets and interactions with bloggers on social media, etc. After all, all bloggers can easily connect over their common passion for writing. Nowadays only bloggers who are really passionate about their craft are still writing – so that’s a good reason to (re)form a blogger’s social network.

Maybe we need something like GoodReads for bloggers. I am sure people are doing this already on a personal level, but a more interactive platform is required. Even our previously extremely active chennai bloggers club facebook group is relatively silent.

Anyway, I take this opportunity to thank Pradeep and his wife for taking the time and efforts to travel across the city (from where they were staying) to meet us. It was a great evening

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Garden Cycle!

Here is the newest addition to our home garden – a cute little garden cycle! We bought it on Amazon.

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Reality Show LIVE Streaming 24×7?

Bigg Boss Ultimate Season 1 (Tamil) is a reality show in Tamil that’s streaming now on Disney+Hotstar OTT.

They are not just streaming episodes, they are streaming what’s happening inside the house LIVE 24 hours-7 days, delayed by one day. I guess it will be streamed continuously for over two months if we take the previous episodes as a benchmark. Of course, they are also streaming a one-hour summary every night.

The point is, why would anyone want to watch a reality show 24×7?

OK, let’s assume that people don’t watch/cannot watch all day. So they might peek in at times to see what interesting things are happening in the house.

But that’s exactly why the one-hour summary show is for, right?

Is it possible to show interesting content for 24-hours at a stretch? I guess it’s going to be extremely difficult for organizers to retain the ‘LIVE’ audiences for longer periods.

Anyway, our interest to know what’s happening in others’ lives seems to have reached a new pinnacle.

I wonder what’s coming next. Maybe a celebrity might wear a few cameras on themselves and live stream their life 24×7?

Anything might happen in this metaverse-aspiring virtual world. Virtuality seems to be the new Reality

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Managing Sciatica Back pain – My Experience

Eight months ago, I was diagnosed with Sciatica (Back pain). I was finding it difficult to sit or walk continuously. I had pain in my right leg which seemed to travel upwards towards my stomach. I went through the physiotherapy treatment, took medicines for 30-days which included pain killers, and have been continuing the exercises given by them since.

However, after a couple of months, the pain came back again – my knees started to ache whenever I sat or walked for more than 20-minutes. In the late evenings or nights, I even experienced back pain, especially on the days I had to go out, etc.

Since I work from a laptop, I did some research on Amazon.in and found this orthopedic seat cushion. That enables me to sit and work longer – maybe for 20-25 minutes per session, but walking longer was an issue.

Recently, I had to visit the hospital multiple times as my wife was admitted there due to COVID 3rd wave. And that increased my back pain even more – even though I used cabs to go and come back.

It was then that I found Dr. Ashley’s informative Fix Your Sciatica podcast on Audible, where he talks and interviews experts exclusively on one topic – How to Manage Sciatica Back pain without medications or surgery. He also runs a Youtube Channel on managing sciatica pain.

Online Consultation and Therapy

The best thing about Dr. Ashley’s ifixyoursciatica.com program is, any one from across the world can not only book a free strategy call, but they can also sign up for his weekly online therapy sessions.

I booked the initial strategy call without being sure whether he’ll turn up or not. In spite of the 12-hour time difference between US and India, I was able to connect and talk to him via online video.

He asked me to tell me what how I developed Sciatica back pain, and what I had done until then. He listened patiently and then he told me about his way of working/treatment.

One week later, he asked me to show how I sat, stood, and walked – all over online video. The first thing he did was to correct my posture. I had been slouching forward all these years, and that was a fundamental mistake.

He also asked me to show him the exercises I was taught by my physio, and suggested some changes to them.

He then taught me some movements/stretches – to do while sitting and also just before/after walking. One of the stretches gave me instant pain relief, right during the session. I have been doing that stretch whenever I feel pain while walking – and there is pain relief. The pain comes back if I continue to walk for longer periods, but I am able to walk longer than earlier.

Easy to Reference Video

One important thing that Dr. Ashley did after one of our calls was to record the gist of exercises/sessions he suggested and and he sent a personalized video to me via whatsapp. This has been very useful as I refer to the video whenever I have some doubts about the posture or I forget some stretch. I think all Psysios should give their patients a personalized and easy to reference video like this.

I am trying to reduce or eliminate my sciatica back pain without surgery or medications, and so far this is the best option I have found. I am not saying that I am much better than earlier and I have resumed my normal life, but there is improvement and I guess this process takes time.

I hope to resume a normal life after the COVID lockdowns and restrictions have ended. Let’s hope for the best!

Readers can also share your experience with sciatica and the steps you’ve taken to cure/manage it, in the comments. Let’s learn from each other.