The Hindu : New Delhi News : Reader's Mail

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, May 16, 2006

New Delhi

New Delhi

Reader's Mail

Music for the heart

Music has the power to alter the mood of the listener, but can it affect the body? Heart Care Foundation of India president K.K. Aggarwal says heart rate, blood pressure and rate of breathing do fluctuate in response to music.

According to him, music is health-friendly with an arousal effect seen with an increase in tempo, while slow and meditative music induces a relaxing effect, especially during pauses between tracks.

Quoting a report by Dr. Luciano Bernardi of the University di Pavia in Italy, Dr. Aggarwal says appropriate selection of music can be used to induce relaxation. Alternating fast and slow rhythms with appropriate pauses in between may be useful in the management of cardiovascular diseases.

Dr. Bernardi had made 24 men listen to random series of six two-minute musical tracks and measured their heart rate, breathing and blood pressure. All the participants relaxed for five minutes before the music started. The tracks included ragas, slow and fast classical music, techno, rap and dodecaphonic (twelve-note) music, which lacks traditional rhythm, harmonic and melodic structure.

The tracks were then repeated in a different order, with a two-minute period of silence inserted at random into one of the sequences. The results showed that fast music increased blood pressure and heart rate. The effect appeared to depend on the tempo and not the style of music. During the intervals of silence, the participants' heart rates, breathing and blood pressure fell.

-- Staff Reporter

A nuisance for motorists

Following a hue and cry by the Capital's citizens last year, the Delhi traffic police had taken a strong view on begging and sale of items at traffic signals across the city. Though some social organisations had protested against the move, it helped in checking harassment of motorists at the hands of these people.

However, within a few months these people were back on the city roads again selling their wares or begging at traffic signals, not only hindering smooth movement of traffic but also causing a great deal of inconvenience to motorists. And all this was happening right in front of traffic police personnel. Soon eunuchs also joined the bandwagon, demanding money from people.

"It is very difficult to tackle these elements at traffic signals. At one of the traffic lights, a friend of mine lost his bag after a beggar snatched it and ran away from the busy traffic junction even as he watched helplessly," said Deepak Kumar, an information technology professional, hoping that the police would take some steps so that this menace is eliminated forever from the Capital.

-- Sandeep Joshi

Red and green

Skipping red lights at road crossings and roundabouts in the middle of the night is an acquired skill. While there are law-abiding citizens who wait patiently for the traffic lights to turn green even late at night, there are those who just whiz past. But there are unwritten rules about which ones are safe to jump as a wide-eyed Delhiite learnt the other day from the best in the business: a taxi driver.

Travelling to the airport in a taxi on two consecutive days, he found that his taxi driver consistently skipped all the red lights on his way to and from Mayur Vihar. However, the taxi came to a screeching halt at a traffic light near the Mathura Road crossing and the driver suddenly turned into a model citizen waiting patiently for the light to turn green.

The taxi driver followed the same pattern at the next night too. Jumping all the red lights, he stopped at the same Mathura Road traffic light. Curious about this exception to the rule, the passenger asked the driver why this one was special.

"I have been driving at night for years. I now know where the policemen station themselves at night. So I stop at those red lights only," remarked the seasoned driver.

-- Mandira Nayar

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