Too many external factors are responsible for our health conditions these days and being healthy consistently is a task that most of us fail to master. With the levels of dust and smoke present in the air we are breathing today, one might consider getting admitted to a hospital and breathing oxygen straight out of an oxygen cylinder! And it is this polluted air that our children breathe, which most often leads to Allergic Rhinitis, Asthma, COPD and various other respiratory problems.

The factors to be blamed for respiratory problems including climate change, vehicular smoke, dust from the road and building construction, not to mention countless smokers surrounding us! We know just how torturous it feels to have a sore throat, leaking nose, bronchitis, and chest pain when we catch a common cold, suffer from sinusitis or bronchitis. And once our kids get affected, the added fuss to the mayhem is to have them take medicines they absolutely hate!

I have always been into fitness and have made sure Kabir too has some healthy habits; however, sometimes maintaining your son’s health is not that easy. I can’t stop him from doing the average stuff kids do! How much can I protect him from exposure to the heat, dust and infamous Delhi pollution! And believe me, I know as a mom what it takes to make your 11-year-old take medicines which aren’t exactly tasty! I know a couple of kids in my neighborhood who were suggested hospitalization every time they needed nebulization.

In simple words, a nebulizer is a drug delivery machine which converts your liquid medicine into aerosol droplets that the patient can easily inhale through a mouthpiece or mask that comes with the nebulizer kit. It is no longer a necessity to have a professional nurse hook you to a large and noisy nebulizing machine. With independent alternatives available for everything we do, easy-to-use nebulizers too are now all over the market.

While I see my friends discussing and debating on the best nebulizer to get for their children, I came to know from a close family friend about Omron’s Nebulizer NE-C101, a portable nebulizer for children. This nebulizer is very easy to use and takes little effort to understand how it works. It is one of the easiest and most portable breathing devices I have come across and is quite handy if you have to carry it with you.

The nebulizer you choose will ensure whether your medicine reaches the upper airways, mid airways or the lower airways depending on the one you need. Nebulizers are great if you are suffering from Allergic Rhinitis (Hay Fever), Rhinitis (Common Cold), Sinusitis, Laryngitis, Bronchitis, Bronchiolitis and Pneumonia and by just breathing you can be relieved. Check the particle size of the nebulizer and don’t fall prey to the myths that say the more mist produced, the more effective treatment happens, which is often the case in using steamers.

A pack of Omron’s Nebulizer NE-C101 consists of a mouthpiece, nosepiece, nebulizer kit as well as an adult mask and a child mask made of PVC. The transparent design and wide medicine chamber make it easy to check how much medicine you are pouring in. All you have to do is let your child breathe for 7 to 10 minutes and the nebulizer will deliver the medicine to the target problem area with no extra effort, which seriously is one the best features of this device. An added advantage is that the nebulizers manufactured by Omron are less noisy, making its use on babies nice and easy without getting the little ones startled by the weird noises the general devices make. You can readily administer the medicines even when your baby is fast asleep.

Cleaning a compressor nebulizer is easy too, though it might sound tricky! Just like Omron’s portable mesh nebulizer NE-U100, the compressor nebulizer NE-C101 is easy to clean by using lukewarm water to disinfect the nebulization kit (mouthpiece/nosepiece/mask /medicine kit & pipe) which is known to be one of the most convenient ways to disinfect tools and attachments of medical devices.

So to all moms out there, all you have to do is make your child sit with his favorite cartoon or Lego set and put on the nebulizer for him and all the medical job of getting the medicine into his system is done, as he simply inhales through the mask. No more running around to force down bitter pills or having to get the little ones to adjust to a noisy steamer. The portability of Omron only adds to the advantages.

A year after we had moved back to Delhi, I had a bit of an emergency in the middle of the night and needed to go to the hospital. I get hives, and if the attack is serious and you don’t get a shot in time or medical attention, it can lead to choking. I didn’t want it to become much worse.

But I was torn between leaving the 6-year-old Kabir at home with the maid and making my way to the hospital or waking him up and taking him with me while I got my treatment (what if it became worse? or something happened to me? What would he do then?). In the end, I decided against taking him and didn’t even wake him up. Continue Reading

I did it! Unbelievable, but I did! I crashed my car under two weeks of participating in a car rally. A car rally which was meant to boost my confidence behind the wheels.

For the most part, it was my bad, I admit. But I can’t help feeling that it was his fault too. Thankfully since it was a blind turn on narrow lanes, we were both quite slow and the collision resulted in minor batters on both cars. After assuring myself that all 3 children in my car were unhurt, I got down to apologize. The man in the other car (a Honda City) also got down and was furious with me. Since we were both on our way to drop children to their school, I gave him my cellphone number so that we can discuss the settlement later.

Back in the car, I tried to put up a brave face, but the kids sensed that I was upset. And just like that, out of the blue, one at a time, they started narrating stories of how their mother or relative or some driver ‘bhaiyya’ had crashed their cars. All stories had a funny twist to it and they all laughed out to loud at the end of each, in their efforts to make me feel better. The intent of what they were doing was such a pleasure, so touching – that it made me wonder how kids are so emotionally intelligent, non-judgemental, and guileless. And why do these qualities disappear when they grow up? Kids are such a breath of freshness in this otherwise suffocating adult world.

While driving back home from school, I missed a couple of calls from the guy. Once I reached home I saw a threatening message, to which I responded politely as it wasn’t my intention to not pay for the damages. Though I was dearly hoping that it wouldn’t cost us too much. As if not contributing much, financially, to the household doesn’t kill me enough – and now this out of turn (possibly big) expense…

After discussing with Pratim, we met Mr Honda (let’s call him that to maintain anonymity) and mutually agreed to take his car, to a service center. Once there, then between car inspections, paperwork, cost estimates and the such other works – I began talking to Mr Honda. Despite the awkwardness of the situation, I could tell that he was impressed by my forthrightness in owning up to my mistake. In turn we also found him to be a reasonable man, unlike my first impression of him when he was furious with me over the accident. In due course, while waiting for the sluggish insurance workflow, we discussed politics, life in Sweden (his work takes him there every few months), our times in the Philippines, and even some Rakhi Sawant and Alok Nath jokes.

We also learned that he had Navratre Puja at his house earlier that morning and I blurted that there must be poori, chana and halwa for lunch. Then we joked about having lunch at his house, and at once, he invited us without a moment’s hesitation. On a day, when his car had crashed, he had to push out important meetings at work, he was calling home folks who had caused all the trouble! Awkwardly, reluctantly, we accepted the invite we had actually joked about.

With the insurance and repair work sorted out at the service center, we drove over to his house. As he rang the doorbell and we stood before his door, I wondered if Mrs Honda would swing a saucepan at me as the door would open. But contrary to my fears, she turned out to be an extremely friendly and warm host. In minutes, she had a sumptuous meal served at the dining table. She made us hot pooris to go with the dum aloo, chane and halwa. As I enjoyed every bite of the meal and every bit of the conversation, I couldn’t help thinking of the unusual turn of events that had got us there.