Vista: When talent meets opportunity at Rajagiri School

School children have a heavy load of books, assignments, assessments to go through from day one of every academic year- no matter whether it's dark clouds, rain, lightning or thunderstorm. No doubt their career fortunes are impacted by the number of A+, A’s in their report cards.

Globalisation has brought a new challenge to our school and college education. New job opportunities are now more in private sector than in government and more people may need to start new ventures rather than seek jobs as technically qualified and skilled people.



Children who finish school need to have multiple skills (sports, games, art, culture) apart from good academics to emerge successful in their career. Traditional school festivals that only assess singing, dancing or music skills may not suffice in such a scenario.

It is against this backdrop, that some institutions have come up with novel cultural festivals that bring out the best talent in children to fore front  and give them the much needed confidence regarding their capabilities. One such cultural event is Vista organized by Rajagiri Public School, Kalamassery.  Individual talent does matter but more importantly team building, leadership, sports man spirit will decide the true winners.Here's a peep at what is going to happen at Vista 2016:

Dance, Drama, music….puzzles, quizzes and more…

-How about enacting a character from Vaikam Mohammed Basheer’s literary works or a sing a folk song with harvest, festivals and Kerala tradition as the theme and test your knowledge of the state’s rich art, culture and films through MUTHUCHIPPI. These are not for the big boys though. Only Classses I & II are welcome.

-For slightly older students (Class III-V)- WORDSMITH gives the opportunity to test their competency in words, spellings, anagrams…authors, and if you are kid is fond of grammar rules, this is for you.

-Get the fear of mathematics out from your kids with PROBLEME DE MATHEMATICA- it’s filled with puzzles, riddles, quizzes and you need not be a tiny Ramanujam to take part in this though. Again only for Classes III to V).

-Heard of decathlon, marathon, biathlon … . if cycling, running and swmming is your forte, TRIATHLON would be ideal . All that you need bring is shorts, tees, canvas shoe, swimming and plenty of energy and enthusiasm. The bicycles are parked here.

- Chefs and needle masters have the FRILLS and THRILLS to prepare a tasty falooda with the ingredients provided and give that extra punch with the surprise ingredient provided.

- ALCHE MYSTERY- if reading the biographies of scientists are your passion, this game is for you.  And a good working model for making our surroundings greener would clinch you the prize.

For the big boys/girls:Classes IX to XII

-Do you mean business? Do millionaires, billioinaires excite and motivate you. You must be adept at marketing as well. What is your Profit Quotient is for the budding entrepreneurs and business leaders of tomorrow.
-Then for the artistic there are the street play –Theruvarangu and  La Symphonie D’Emotion for the rhythm, melody and harmony conscious.
-Save the Earth---that’s the only one we have. Use hip hop, contemporary dance to depict the challenges facing our planet in Bhumikkoru Kuda.

When and Where
With hardly a two weeks to go, kids should gear up fast-call 0484-2911202, 2911230 or www.rajagiri.ac.in for registration. Venue: Rajagiri Public School-Kalamassery. Organised by Rajagiri Public School, Parent Teacher Association.
 

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How to fight Obesity among kids?

If you randomly look at the kids coming out of school buses in any city, you are likely to find more oversized girls and boys in skirts and shorts than normal ones. Dr Abraham Paul, a renowned paediatrician in Kochi warns that rising obesity poses huge health risks later on in life including cardiovascular disease, diabetes and other life style diseases. In a recent interaction titled 'Know Your Child' with parents of Rajagiri Public School, he underscored the need to be vigilant against health hazards, learning disorders and inability to adjust with daily challenges that growing kids may face in the modern era.

I remember in my childhood days after a hard days study at school, we would come home, have some thing to eat and then straight away go to play—it could be badminton, cricket, kho-kho, or a game called ‘seventies’ or just run around catching each other. All the fancy fried foods now available in bakeries and super markets were unheard of those days. Obesity at that time may have been confined to less than five percent of the kids and that too because of genetic or hereditary factors than lack of physical activity.

Dr Abraham K Paul said that colas, samosas, burgers, fried foods, biscuits are all high calorie stuff that require heavy physical exercise to burn it out. For example, a samosa may require one hour cycling to burn the energy generated while 3 biscuits at a time would require one hour of swimming to neutralize it.

Good food habits: Start Early
Dr Abraham Paul warns that undesirable food habits are learned from early childhood when parents try to force feed a child who refuses to eat. He advises parents to introduce vegetables, fruits and cereals at the age of nine months to one year. A child may not agree to eating fruits or vegetables at higher ages say, five, seven or ten if he or she hasn’t introduced to such food by the age of one. Parents have a tendency to force feed a child who refuses to eat there by creating stress. Slowly, the child learns to eat whenever it is stressed, thereby causing fat build up in the body.

In infant years, parents have a tendency to grind five or six food items into a paste and then push it in their throat. This will only lead to the child not getting a sense of taste for food and ability to chew food properly.

The rapid decline of play area, more emphasis on class room learning, more time in front of television while munching fried snacks all add to the unnecessary fat build up in kids, according to Dr Abraham Paul.  He suggests schools should provide four hours of physical activity every week and they should maintain a height, weight chart and look for obesity signals in children to initiate remedial action.

In many play schools and kindergarten, milk and biscuits are provided as snacks during first break in the morning and in the afternoon. This becomes habit forming and lead to fondness for refined food which are unhealthy because of preservatives, oil content and fat.

My daughter Diyah had the habit of asking for biscuits every day and now I told her about Dr Abraham Paul’s advice and atleast for a day she didn’t ask for new biscuits. We are not sure when she goes to another house, she may be offered biscuits and might eat.

The Solution
In the absence of play area and physical activity, kids can be prevented from becoming obese by avoiding calorie rich junk food and reduce TV watching. They could also be provided opportunities in indoor play, learning music, encouraging reading and so on.

Let’s not make  promising citizens of tomorrow end up popping pills, using insulin or going for early cardiac surgeries. Time to act is NOW.
(Please mail your suggestions/comments to sreekumsree@gmail.com or post it here itself)

What matters more for us – Indian identity or religious identity?

India by its Constitution is a secular, democratic republic. What is meant by that? Every person has a right to believe and worship his religion. Over a period of time, if we really went by the ideals of our Constitution we would have gone a step further and truly appreciated the good in other religions.
Lighting a lamp is considered sacred in Hinduism and in Christian functions you find candles are lit.

Islam doesn’t sanctify the lighting of the lamp and therefore some leaders of the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) refused to light the traditional lamp during a government function in recent years- it included P K Kunhalikutty and E Ahmed, both ministers at State and Centre respectively at one point of time.  But recently at a function in Rajagiri School, Kochi, APM Mohammmed Hanish, an IAS officer and Secretary, Education lighted the lamp, so did V K Ibrahim Kunju, former Minister and MLA who attended the function.

A Lamp is considered to awaken our consciousness and shed the darkness of ignorance with the light of knowledge.In many houses, lighting the lamp in the morning and evening is a ritual and is considered to bring positive energy.

And now Shailaja Teacher, a CPM leader and Health Minster belonging to LDF government in Kerala has taken exception to the recital of a Hindu prayer during the state level celebration of International Day of Yoga on June 21 at the State Capital in Thiruvananthapuram. In Chandigarh, Prime Minister Narendra Modi described Yoga as not a religious tradition but a scientifically proven method to attain health and wellness.

I hope most Communists are atheists- so is Shailaja Teacher. She may have differences of opinion on the issue of reciting a prayer in the beginning of a Yoga programme but she shouldn’t have expressed it at the venue. It could be construed as disrespect to millions of believers in Hinduism in the same way she was arguing it could have hurt the sentiments of non-believers or followers of other religions who may have their own methods to attain concentration of the mind before a yoga session. Photos of her not being involved in the meditative session and looking angry was splashed in the newspapers and television. Sitting by her side was V S Sivakumar, MLA and a former minister in the State. If every citizen of India is keen on seeing Yoga as a scientific way of attaining health and wellness, will this public outburst by a Minister and leader help in any way?

Shailaja Teacher has pointed out that as per the Indian Constitution there are believers and non-believers.  But my reading of Article 25 reveals that Constitution is silent on non-believers or atheists. It doesn’t mention any such term. It only says Citizens and even aliens in India are free to profess, propagate their religious faith and State does not have any religion of its own. My interpretation is that the Constitution is silent on non-believers. It is only bothered about people who are keen to believe and profess a religion about which it is quite neutral but enough safeguards have been put so that there is no governmental promotion or funding of any religion and state the right to impose restrictions if their activity impinges on public order, morality,health, social welfare and reform …

What is more important nationality or religious identity?
I am coming back to the question raised in the beginning of this piece- are we truly secular? Are we Indians first or religion matters more.  A boy or girl of different caste or religion falls in love but when they decide to marry- obstacles start coming in front of them- either of them will have to convert to other religion if the marriage is to happen. 

Religion was no obstacle for them to fall in love, how come they become vital for married life? You are constantly reminded of your religion and caste as every government application form or a registration form to an educational institution carries question on religion and caste. I know a girl who applied to Christ University and stated her religion and love and truth. She was given admission and completed her course.

You go to a restaurant and order food—who are the people who work behind the scenes to make it- to what caste and religion they belong and even the waiter- do you ask his religion before you eat the food served?

Our framers of the Constitution allowed religious freedom with a good purpose- let the citizens find their own ways to be spiritually uplifted but possibly never wanted people to be identified with it even as it gave the freedom to publicly air their beliefs and practices.

With religion being a powerful force across the world, how did a minority non-believers or atheists come about? Is it because Karl Marx and his lineage believed that religion is the opium of the masses and was critical of it? Or is it because scientific reasoning and temper helped temper blind belief in religious practices? How come the large number of scientists adore the Indian scriptures and see the wisdom and see the omnipotent, ominiscient force that is invisible to us?

Understanding the role of Legislature, Executive, Judiciary, Fourth Estate

Most people agree that democracy is one of the best forms of governance compared to monarchy, dictatorship or military rule. India has more or less followed the British Parliament but has a written constitution unlike Britain.

The other day I was listening to an interview with G Sudhakaran, Minister for Public Works and Registration in Kerala State with senior journalist Hari S Kartha of Amritha TV. He pointed out the paramount importance of Constitution. Every law, every ruling and government order has ultimately pass this important test- whether it is constitutional or unconstitutional.

Recenly the Inspector General of Registration in Kerala issued an order stating that citizens are free to write documents pertaining to registration of will, sale deed, agreements and need not utilize the services of document writers. As in any other state there may be more about a lakh or more people dependent on this job for a living. They protested and the concerned Minister G Sudhakaran said it was not a ministerial ruling but within the power of IG to release such an order. It may be recalled that citizens are free to argue their case in court and not seek the help of advocates.

The power of Minister/Officials- The Executive
Many people think the minister in the state and central level has tremendous power and authority. They have all facilities. They rush about in state cars, are invited for functions, do foreign trips, are respected because they have some constitutional authority vested in them. However, if you look closely, the ministers still have some limitations. They can take policy decisions in consultation with cabinet and can make some key political appointments to top posts.  But government has its own rules and procedures that are laid down from time to time and are based on our constitution. These are implemented by various levels of officials (IAS, Gazetted and non-gazetted officials).

My mother has a building in Trivandrum where the first floor was not initially having separate door number. When assessment was made for separate door number, the new building tax was set at a higher rate. However, since my mother didn’t file an appeal within fifteen days, corporation officials refused to accept the appeal. But later on it was informed that any pending issues with any department can be redressed through Chief Minister’s Grievance Cell in the Secretariat.

My mother filed an appeal before CM and it was forwarded to the Local Administration Department and subsequently to Trivandrum Corporation. However, the Corporation officials said the appeal was not filed within 15 days and government has to condone the delay. A reply given by my mother to this government clarification was not acceptable. Thereafter, I met the officials of Local Administration Department (LAD) after six months when nothing was working out. They said the entire paper work was a waste of time and my mother needed to write a request to LAD Secretary to condone for the delay and make reassessment of tax. The LAD Secretary said people have a feeling that if they write to the Chief Minister or concerned minister, every issue can be solved. But there are some rules and procedures, executive authority lies with the concerned secretaries or officials. Once the application for condonement was moved things began to work swiftly. He himself admitted that many procedures and systems in government had no logic or was beyond common sense.

In some cases a gentle push from the concerned minister or private secretary can help matters but mostly it’s not the case.

The Ministers have the right to formulate policies. For eg. the decision to close down liquor bars in Kerala and restrict it to five start hotels was a policy decision.  So was the decision to close down arrack distillation and sales. Whether more money should be allocated to government schools, hospitals and public utilities are done by the Finance Ministry but they are based on requests that come from various departments or ministries. There are also checks and balances here. The Finance Minister has to get the budget approved by the legislature or parliament – which basically contains a large number of proposals for new projects or existing projects.

The Legislature
it is the supreme law making body in the state and large number of new bills may come before it every session and they are discussed, analysed and put to vote. The elected representatives bring a variety of issues facing their particular constituency before the government for redressal and the minister is briefed by the concerned departments and a reply is given. Amendments to existing rules and acts, allegations of corruption, red tapism,nepotism in departments are also brought to the notice of the legislature by the legislators. The Governor’s Address (although he is only a titular head) to legislature spells out what the government intends to do in various areas concerned the citizens and also its key policy views. When a government says its policy is against conversion of agriculture land for commercial purposes any deviation in this regard may be questioned by the Opposition. The Right to Information Act, Anti –Defection Bill for legislators were all brought to bring more transparency and responsibility  for officials.

The Judiciary
The judiciary has a vital role of examining whether a particular act passed by legislature or parliament is as per statutes laid down in the Constitution. That again brings to the fore the supremacy of our Constitution.  Nothing on this land can violate it.  The judges also examine each case and issue based on whether a particular rule applies to it and whether it is constitutional or not. In recent times, judicial activism has come to the forefront and sometimes they seem to trespass into legislature and executive functions. However, it could also be because judiciary has to intervene when legislature and executive don’t rise upto the requirements of the public in certain issues.

The National Green Tribunal established as per the National Green Tribunal Act 2010 of Parliament has the power to issue directives that are related to water, air pollution, biodiversity, environment protection and so on. Recently it issued a directive that in Kerala diesel vehicles above 2000 cc engine capacity and more than 10 years old should not ply on the roads in select cities. The State Government has gone on appeal as several of its buses are much older and also Motor Vehicles Department had collected road tax for 15 years which means there will be huge fund requirement for refund of tax. This issue came up because all these years we promoted diesel vehicles subsidizing diesel fuel . This killed the petrol vehicles industry and also there was no incentive to move to Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) or LPG. The resulting pollution has forced the NGT to issue directives to limit the use of diesel vehicles.

The Fourth Estate –Press
In a democracy, free and impartial press has a big role to play in basically providing information to public. Their power comes from Article 19 (1) of Constitution with respect to Freedom of Speech and right to information but there are enough safeguards to protect an individual or institution from defamation, libel,slander etc.  Accredited journalists are provided freedom of movement and entry in key institutions to enable easier access to officials and information.

Democracy-Theory and Practice

Ideally, democracy should work fine because there is a well-defined constitution, institutions and procedures. Then there is the press to function as the watchdog and judiciary to examine cases related to constitution, crime, civil issues. But it also requires men and women of impeccable character, education, vision and outlook to hold top positions of ministers, secretaries, directors. The other day, Anup Kurivilla John, IPS, Superintendent of Police (SP), National Investigation Agency  pointed out that public service to which he belongs is indeed a noble profession to pursue. That explains why having an LLB degree from National Law School, Banaglore and thereafter an LLM from Harvard University,

Recently we saw young IAS officers in Kerala taking up cudgels against established business houses. Many people came to know of the power of Chief Election Commissioner only after T N Seshan donned the mantle so was the case with Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) when Vinod Rai was at the helm.

There are some who feel  C Achutha Menon was the best Chief Minister that Kerala ever had but some others also point to the vision and leadership qualities of K Karunakaran which was unparalled. The nation was also fortunate to have A P J Abdul Kalam as its President.

It is an ideal mixture of law abiding citizens, right policy decisions by government, timely framing of rules by legislature/parliament, judiciary that is not hampered by lack of judges and infrastructure in view of large number of pending cases, the media that performs the informative and watchdog role and above all faster adoption of e-governance that will make democracy worthier.///ENDS

Who’s a Sports expert- a minister or someone who loves Sport?

I was prompted to write this piece after seeing bombarding of trolls against Kerala Sports Minister E P Jayarajan’s comment on boxer Mohammed Ali. How come the Minister didn’t know about Mohammed Ali? Or what was the need for Manorama News to elicit the views of our sports minister on Mohammed Ali? Wouldn’t it have been easier to find a person knowledgeable in boxing, a boxer or someone who has observed Mohammed Ali’s career to comment? How many of us are eager to hear what Sports Minister E P Jayarajan has to say on Mohammed Ali unless he is a boxer himself or known to be knowledgeable about boxing?

I think there should be a serious rethink in channels on how to identify experts in various field to talk on a news break or development. I remember Narottam Puri, the ace cricket commentator of 1970’s and 1980’s who was a friendly figure in both Doordarshan and AIR. He had statistics at the tip of his tongue and knew the game well. He was not a cricketer but a practicing ENT Surgeon who found spare time to indulge in his favourite hobby. His father was also a commentator, Devraj Puri and his father was his role model in commentary. What distinguished him from an average commentator was his passion for the game and his job.

In my childhood,when there was no TV or cable, we were glued to our radios to hear cricket updates . For a complete story of what happened we had to rely on the likes of R Mohan of The Hindu, Rajan Bala of the  Indian Express whose writing was interspersed with quotes from literature and most often they so graphic in their writing that we used to read and re-read it. They were not mere reporters but had a passion for the game and its rules.

Similarly I have found lot of people who closely follow global football and cricket and whose knowledge of the game has astounded me.  Manorama News or other leading channels will never take the pains to identify them or project them. It is always better to go behind popular names and titles- who is going to question them.

By the same yardstick, if something happens to Bill Gates our news anchors will ring up our Industry Minister and ask his views which I am sure would be another big disaster unless he is an IT expert himself. This is not journalism. As a former journo, I am pained to see the depths to which our journos are falling. Journos are also not infallible. Sometimes they learn through trial and error. I was once stumped when a senior businessmen in travel industry asked me who are the people who have done something for Kerala’s Tourism? I didn’t have a clear answer and the names I gave were all wrong. Then he talked about Late Minister PS Srinivasan, Jose Dominic (CGH), E Chandrasekharan Nair and so on.  Later on, I interviewed Jose Dominic for a story on Commodity Tourism thanks to  K C Chandrahasan  of Kerala Travels who opened my eyes.

Later doing agri- commodity stories, I understood that the most knowledgeable people were farmers and not scientists and researchers in our universities who drew fat salaries.  There was no one who knew cardamom and pepper in India as much as Sebastian Joseph, who developed the high yielding njallani variety that revolutionized cardamom cultivation in Idukki. I had the good fortune to meet him and was instrumental in getting him a Life Time Achievement Award from Spices Board. How many channels or newspapers have gone to him for his views on spices cultivation in his life time? He was not a PhD holder but stopped studies in 4^th standard.

This is the age of specialization. If you ask an IT specialist any topic related to IT he may not be able to answer. It’s not their fault. Also if you ask a physician or a surgeon a query, he may not be able to help unless it is his field of specialization. A cardiologist is not likely to know the latest advances in ortho surgery or opthamology.

The duty of a journalist is not to just expose some wrong doing or go behind gossip but do something that creates value to society. A journo is not a specialist but most often a generalist but that doesn’t prevent them from finding experts in an area and do stories with them. That is the minimum they can do to minimize their own lack of knowledge being transferred to hapless readers.

The E P Jayarajan incident or Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan incidents are all eye openers to not only journos but to the public as well- don’t laugh over the ignorance of someone but search for experts who can enlighten you! 

Twin objective of exercise- building body and mental muscles

By Aswathy Visweswaran**

Early morning scene in cities- stadiums, parks, and roads are all alive much before the rising sun. You will find young men, women, old men and women either walking, jogging or do stretching excercises. If you quiz them you could get some common reasons why they have all hit the road early in the morning:

-High Cholesterol
- Blood pressure
-Blood sugar
-Over Weight (Body Mass Index -BMI over 26)
-Belly fat, thigh fat
-Knee Pain, back pain

Still others rush to the nearest gym – do cycling, treadmill, bench press, take the dumb bells, take weights and so on. Their intention most probably could be to build muscles and keep fit.

Why do Excercise?

It is a fact that with more mechanization, computerization many of us are glued to some computerized device, forced to sit for more hours and leading a sedentary life even at home. Not to forget the high fat, high cholesterol, high protein diets, oil foods that clog your arteries or high fat deposits on your tummy. No wonder many succumb to first minor heart attack before 40's. Without exercise you are likely to be unhealthy and witness some of the symptoms given above.

Contrary to popular perception exercise is not only for building body muscles but also mental muscles. According to Chris Paley, author of Unthink (Coronet, UK ,2014). exercise is also beneficial for self –restraint. It helps in dealing with distractions, less TV watching, willingness to wash dishes at home and so on.

Is Exercise alone enough?

If you do one hour of exercise and increase your food intake especially sugar, oily foods, and fat, whatever gains made are quickly offset.  Health and fitness requires moderate exercise and balanced diet as opposed to dieting or starving. Balanced diet- is a mix of vitamins, proteins, minerals, fat,anti-oxidants …

There are others who are lazy and try out quick slim formulas sold either as capsules, powders or compounds from over the counter (OTC) in medical shops and super markets.  They are marketed as herbal, ayurvedic or natural products, whatever it means.

The harm created by dieting need not be over stressed- it leads to deprivation of essential nutrients in the body, lack of oxygen flow to cells, and overall weakness. Their role models are the the ones who appear on TV, banner ads in newspapers and magazines.

NB: If you are excercising or doing regular workouts, it is better to get the advice of dietician or nutritionists on what to eat before and after the workout.

#Advantages of Exercise
- lowers heart rate
-lower blood pressure
- lowers probability of cancer in women (endometrial cancer, liver cancer, ovarian cancer,bladder cancer, blood cancer)

-improves physical and mental alertness
-helps in weight management
-helps in toning of muscles.

The popularity of Dance-Fitness
Many people get lazy with morning walks and jogging after a few weeks or months, gets disappointed with workouts in the gym, still others who shell out INR 15000 to 25000 to have exercise machines or treadmills at home, only to give up after the initial enthusiasm is over. In many homes, they become the favourite hanging place for your Tees, vests and briefs in bedroom and balacony!

It’s when many people give dance –fitness a try. Zumba has emerged as one of the top favourites as it appeals to all age groups from Kids to old age – Kids Zumba (7-11), Jr Kids Zumba (5-7), Zumba (18-50), Zumba Gold (50 years and above), Zumba Toning (to keep muscles in shape), Aqua Zumba. Zumba is a Latin American dance-fitness program that integrates the best of dance forms Salsa, Cumbia, Regaetton, Merengue accompanied by entertaining global music. Beto Perez is the creator of Zumba Fitness formula that keeps your mind, body agile and brings an amazing change in your lifestyles. Zumba burns upto 800 calories an hour. Aerobics continues to appeal to all age groups due to its scientific methods and music based workouts.

Wishing you all success in health, wellness efforts!

(NB: Those having heart, asthma, ortho or other medical problems needs to first consult a doctor before joining for any fitness program).

(Aswathy Visweswaran is a pharmacist turned Zumba Fitness instructor well-versed in diet and nutrition. She is the co-founder of Beats 'n' Steps, a dance fitness studio in Kalamassery, Kochi and mother of two children). For any suggestions and queries- write to beatsnsteps@gmail.com or call Prasanth-9895611537)

**(Edited by Sreekumar Raghavan)

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Painting without Brush,Ladders and Horses

Those who have seen a house being painted knows how messy a work it is. First the painters put on the work clothes. Use sand paper/emery paper or stone to clean to scratch the surface to a smooth finish. This will bring all sorts of dusts, old cracked or peeled paint on the floor and the room will be filled with smoke.

Next they use two buckets to mix the paint using a stick or by hand. For height they need the ladder or a contraption which in Malayalam is called “Kuthira” (horse). In high rise buildings they put up bamboo poles which are tied to each other in layers horizontally and vertically for doing exterior work. They place a plank at suitable heights to sit or stand and paint.

Once the painters complete  the whole process their pants and shirt will be messed up with paint and if they don’t wear a cap, their heads will also be quite colorful.

Traditional painting is indeed labour intensive activity. If you are painting your home where you are presently living you need to move certain furniture and utensils or cover them up with cloth or paper. Who doesn’t want a less messier, less laborious and more cleaner way of painting?

High tech is in –Now paint without a Brush

When robots have entered medical surgery and house cleaning, it is quite natural that painting industry would also witness the introduction of high tech equipments. It has already happened thanks to Berger which has launched its super-fast, high tech and efficient Express Painting service.

#Sanding Machine: Instead of a sand paper or stone, they use a sanding machine to clean the wall surface. It has got a speed regulator and a vacuum suction bag where all the peeled paint and dirt is deposited. It is fairly long and can be used on walls and celing. For use on corner walls rotating handles round parts can be replaced to enable smooth movement and cleaning.

#Multipurpose Mixer: For mixing paint untouched by hand, they have a speed-variable multi purpose mixer which looks like an enlarged version of a cream mixer  we use to make cake dough. It can be used to mix putty as well as wall paint. All you need is to put the requisite paint or putty in a bucket, pour sufficient water and place the mixer in it and regulate the speed as required.

# Auto Paint Roller: Instead of brush, painters have started using rollers which do not leave behind any marks on the surface unlike brush. Now Berger has introduced the auto roller to make the actual paint job much easier and say good bye to four-inch brush. It has got a body, roller head, extension pipe, inlet pipe for paint and speed control knob. When suction pipe is connected to the paint container, it draws paint when the machine is switched on. It and the roller will be filled with paint and the machine is ready to start its work. The advantage of auto roller is speed, uniform finish and less labour time.

#Jet Washer not the hose: To clean the exterior walls, why not use the express jet washer instead of the normal hose which can put only at a single speed?  It is a versatile machine with high pressure pipes, spray gun, suction pipe and strainer and comes with a higher pressure washer unit. There is a pressure regulator to control water pressure.

#Automatic sprayer: Then there is the automatic sprayer  that gives a uniform finish on water-based and oil based paints on walls.

You no longer need so many brushes of various sizes to paint! All you need is a paint and a surface!

(For details contact Dulux Paints dealer: Katticaran Paints, Palarivattom & Vytilla Ph:9349413517)