Its been a while since I played a harmonica, around 30 years at least. I remember the black Hero harmonica that dad had. In fact most of my friends who had harmonicas had Heros. Its quality was pretty good and I was surprised to find out a few days back that it was/is made in China. I always thought the print on the cover was Japanese.

My mother presented it to my dad sometime after they got married, sometime in the late 1960′s. I called her up yesterday and she told me that she had paid about Rs. 34 for it. The cost of a Hero today is around Rs.240, still cheap -the price of a meal at a good restaurant. When I remember the Hero, I remember it with a pang of guilt, because as a kid  to satisfy my scientific curiosity I took it apart  in such a way that it would only make farting noises when put back together. Dad had various things locked up in his cupboard -always for display and never for use, but this harmonica was one thing that he sometimes used, although I don’t remember hearing it very often (probably my fault again).

In its strong pretty plastic case

The harmonica was forgotten except for a couple of toy harmonicas bought at fairs which had covers that would rust and had bad quality reeds and wooden combs painted pink which cut into my lips. When I was nine, I started learning the violin and it was my companion for many years until a few fractured fingers later (at work) I stopped playing it. It was a beautiful instrument no doubt but had too much maintenance associated with it -tuning, proper posture, notes and of course perfect fingering and bowing to eke out the proper sound. This always made it feel like a tedious chore rather than an enjoyable and relaxing past time -like I felt when I played my cheap bamboo flute. Soon my violin was relegated to its case for close to 10 years and it still awaits repairs as some of the parts have begun to separate.

Close up of the plastic comb

When I was working on a draft for posts in my bug-out category. I wondered if I were to pack a musical instrument in my bug-out bag, which one would it be? I knew that the mood lifting properties of music are a great stress reliever and from experience I knew that my body and soul responded better to music I played rather than those heard through head phones. The answer was pretty simple as the instrument had to be light, compact and more or less maintenance free, so the choice boiled down to either a flute or a harmonica or probably both!

High quality brass interiors

Checking out Youtube for AV samples of small harmonicas, I finalized on the Hohner Golden Melody primarily because of its size. Although all recommended that a C harmonica be procured for beginners, I opted for the GM in D as that was what was available at the Furtado’s website where I bought it for Rs 1875 + Rs. 50 for shipping.

Matt finish makes a valiant attempt at hiding fingerprints but does not completely succeed

Although I knew it was relatively small, I was shocked at how small it was when I actually received it. Its size was comparable with my Victorinox Swiss champ and it looked like one of the toy harmonica’s that we bought as kids from fairs for a few rupees. This seemed more so because the harmonica was seated in a a black formed plastic holder which looked as it was made of recycled garbage bags and was formed (inset) in a similar way to disposable blister packing. The lower holder had also come unstuck and I used some petroleum based adhesive to stick it back on. Another visible feature was that the M.HOHNER stamped on the covers was not sharp as though the impression was worn out or the stamp had failed to cut deep enough into the metal.

The slots in the box vent the moisture inside the box -works very well in the dry Delhi summers

On the positive side, the red plastic box was without reproach with all the printing impressed onto the hard plastic cover in golden color. This plastic feels very good to the touch, shuts with a positive click and won’t open easily if it is dropped. It also has two rectangular cut outs which form slits when the box is closed thus allowing air circulation and drying of the harmonica when inside the box.

The golden melody comes with a red plastic comb and its sound is hauntingly sweet. The low tones when properly played sound like a pipe organ and are incredibly beautiful. I found a lot of complaints  on various forums that some of the reeds were stiff and needed more energy to blow. I have the same “problem” but I don’t think the good folks at Hohner have anything to do with this. Although I am a beginner, I think this has to do with the laws of physics. Just as it is more difficult to bend a shorter object and easier to bend a longer object, similarly the higher notes need more air pressure to bend/vibrate their reeds. I could be wrong on this though.

Size comparison with my Victorinox Swiss champ

In a similar way, when you create a proper resonant cavity with your mouth and blow from deep inside, the lower notes sound sweeter. This again uses the same principle of a woofer requiring a large resonant box and so has nothing to do with Hohner’s quality control but more with playing style and skill.

I enjoy playing the GM every night before going to bed. Unlike my violin I can play it with the lights out with one hand and even sometimes lie on my side while playing. The deep breathing probably relaxes the body as a psychiatrist friend had once told me that stressed people breathe in a shallow way and that they must consciously breathe deep. The GM helps me do this in a melodious way and clears the mind.

I was a bit apprehensive about the plastic comb and personally I’d prefer a wooden comb, but the sound was still excellent and the comb will definitely last a long time. Although I read on some sites that there is no data to prove that wood is better, with my experience on the violin and the flute, I feel that wood being a natural material resonates better. Wooden speakers sound the best too! Some people swear that the sound gets sweeter as the instrument gets older.

Of course I’ve realized that I can’t play all tunes on the GM. Initially I thought that the GM was defective. Then of course you can’t play half notes which takes away a bit of the joy. The beauty of the chords however do patch up some of this lost joy, but I went ahead and ordered a Hohner Chromatic 270 deluxe with a Pear wood comb. This time I bought it from newharmonica.com as it worked out cheaper in spite of the International shipping and I should have received delivery in a couple of days if it wasn’t for this unpleasant Independence day security delays. In addition it wasn’t displayed on the Furtado’s web site. I will let you know how it performs in a new post. In case you are contemplating on buying the diatonic Golden Melody, go ahead and get it, its a great buy! BTW if it means anything, mine says No. 542 on the cover, and it is in D.

Notes:

After using my Chromatic 270 Deluxe for over a month, I have learned to appreciate my Golden melody more, not that the Chromatic is bad. I’m just amazed at how easy and effortless the golden Melody is to play -hats of to the Hohner team. Comparing the wooden and plastic combs, I couldn’t make out any appreciable difference in sound quality. The plastic comb however seems to stink when played regularly in humid weather. With the wooden comb on the other hand, I was inhaling sawdust for quite a while and close inspection saw the inside of the comb finished pretty roughly. More on the Chromatic 270 Deluxe in a separate review.

 

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Buds, Flowers and leaves of the Calotropis procera in Charmwood Village, Faridabad, Haryana

A folk remedy for joint pains. The leaves are wiped clean, toasted on a tava (griddle) on both sides till the leaf wilts and becomes pliable, applied to affected part and bandaged.

Distribution: Throughout India on plains and on wastelands up to 900 meters.

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A dried seed pod releasing its seeds to the wind (Calotropis procera) [Courtesy Wikipedia

Flowers: White or Lavender  in colour. A flower that has fully bloomed has a centre that resembles a crown.

Medicinal uses : (unverified)

• Leaves found to be effective for treating elephantiasis.
• Flowers along with jaggery are useful against cough and improving appetite.
• A mixture of its latex, turmeric and sesame oil  is useful in treating scabies.
• Plant works as a powerful cardiac stimulant (probably due to the cardiac glycosides present in the latex)

A sticky latex is present in most parts of the plant

Medicinal uses : (verified that it is used this way, however its efficacy is not verified)

Other uses:

• The long fibers (fluff) attached to the seeds may once have served as lamp wicks.
• Some scholars suggest that the fibers could also have been spun and woven into a kind of linen in Biblical times.
• The seed fluff is used as a stuffing for pillows instead of cotton and rural folks use it for therapeutic reasons.
• The seed fluff might serve as a down alternative in cold climates. (untested)
• The seed fluff might serve as a good tinder for fire starting, particularly when still in its dried shell. (untested)
• Traditionally, leather manufacturers fermented parts of the plant and mixed it with salt using  it  to aid in dehairing goat ( for making “nari leather”) and sheep skins for production of  leather.
• Yields a durable fiber (commercially known as Bowstring of India) useful for ropes, carpets, fishing nets, and sewing thread. This is possibly obtained from the inner bark -the phloem layer of the stem.
• My friend from Bihar claims that his father used to harvest Calotropis roots from the oldest plants in the forest and prepare drums out of them for sale. He also claims that the roots are preferred for making Sarangi‘s – ( An Indian musical instrument) as it resonates with a very sweet voice.
• The latex was allegedly used to to coat arrow tips during the production of poison tipped arrows

CREDITS : |Sunayana Walters | Spoorthy P | Charlton P | Ramdhani Yadav | Daniel Masih| Manorama Soans|Malyadri Sudarsi|

 

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The drumstick tree, as it is known in India or the Moringa Oleifera, is a well known tree. The stick like seed pod is commonly cooked, the leaves although being highly nutritious are seldom used. Even though we had a tree by our window all through our childhood years in Bombay, my mother, in spite of knowing that it was edible, seldom prepared it. They themselves ate it during their childhood, but only in its capacity as a medicine or probably as some kind of emergency food during hard times. Even when I go home for Christmas every year, and we have a tree growing in our garden, she won’t prepare it unless I insist. This time I did.

This is prepared and served when some one in the family usually has loose bowels or some similar stomach problem or digestive problem. However on comparing notes with mum’s sisters, I figured out that the drumstick leaves are more or less an added source of nutrition, as the key ingredient which seems to effect the cure seems to be the onions fried in ghee (clarified butter). So if you are going to use this recipe as medicine and you don’t have drumstick leaves on hand, you can go ahead and skip it. So here goes.

Ingredients:

• A bunch of drumstick leaf stalks which should yield you about two cups of leaves after cleaning.

• A tablespoon or so of ghee which is clarified butter. (This is known to have a cooling effect on the body)

• One large or some small onions sliced

• Rice for two persons prepared in the usual way.

Preparation:

My mother discovered an easy way to get the leaves of the stalk which would otherwise become a tedious task. She’d put the stalks in a poly bag and leave it in the refrigerator overnight. Then she’d shake out the leaves in the bag in the morning and discard the stalks. I haven’t tried it, but it might work even if you leave the leaves to wilt outside the refrigerator.

Wash and drain the leaves. Add the ghee to a wok or kadai. When it is hot, add the onions and stir fry till it turns reddish. Then add the drum stick leaves and stir fry till it is partly cooked and lastly add the cooked rice. Stir fry till it is done and acheives the color or consistency of fried rice.

Other leaves of equivalent thickness like methi (fenugreek), “vitamin” leaves, spinach etc.. can be added instead of drum stick leaves. If the leaves are quite large like palak (spinach) leaves, then they will have to be chopped up before they can be used.

 

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When I bought my 40 oz (approx 1.1 liter) Klean Kanteen, I also bought a neoprene jacket made by Built NY from them. It took me quite some time -almost a year to get used to the neoprene jacket (because I was carrying my Sigg around) as it  was a bit different from the simple zip up jacket on my Sigg made of the same material. It leaves the top 3-4 inches of the bottle uncovered on one side. Then it has this vertical handle, which makes for a great grab handle for drinking but when used to carry the bottle, its like carrying my violin in its case and this gets me a lot of stares -not because it looks bad, but because not many people in Delhi carry a stainless steel bottle horizontally in a designer jacket. I don’t enjoy the unwanted attention. This means that I can’t really carry the bottle without my backpack if I need my hands free -true I can loop the tail of the jacket through my belt loop and secure it using the sturdy velcro reinforced press button, but a full bottle of  water dangling from a single belt loop wobbling and bobbing on a stretchable neoprene strip is very uncomfortable even on a short walk. Now don’t get me wrong, I love my Built NY neoprene jacket and always use it when I carry the bottle in my pack, but carrying a pack just for the bottle is not ideal in spite of it affording  extra protection and insulation for it. Sometimes you just feel like going for a walk or biking around and at such times it is good to have a bottle holder  which can be slung across your shoulder.

Some time back, searching for folding bags on Google (The ones that zip up to resemble a wallet) to avoid using plastic bags for my grocery, I accidentally stumbled on the Chicobag website and their glacier  colored bottle sling caught my eye. International shipping to India was just USD 3 so that brought the   total cost to USD 13. Paying for the order was the easy part, receiving the order was not so easy and I was on the verge of filing for a chargeback with my card company four times before I received the product. Each time I received some communication from Chicobag which stopped me from proceeding with the chargeback. They weren’t trying to cheat me or something, its just that they

The bottle sling can be stuffed into its own pocket!

need to work on their sales and support procedures and timeliness for International orders.

I buy a lot of stuff from overseas online and was surprised at how long it took for the bottle sling to arrive. It wasn’t just the delay in posting, it was also the delay in any remedial action  that Chicobag took. Here is a time line reconstructed by going back to my email communication with them.

15th September 2010

I receive an invoice for the purchase that I have made. I immediately inform them that my address is messed up and that Haryana has been added after Delhi although I’m sure the postman will figure it out. Two emails later, I’m assured that the corrections have been forwarded to the shipping department.

7th October 2010

I’m shocked as I receive an empty envelope with an invoice for something that I have not purchased. The address corrections too have not been made. I suspect that someone stole whatever was inside. Why did it take so long? Did it actually go to Haryana and come back? I don’t think so, the postman would have to be a complete idiot to do that. I write back and tell them that the invoice for USD  58.17 was not mine, I didn’t order a nylon shopping bag and that there was nothing in the envelope -neither bag nor bottle sling.

14th October 2010

I get an email saying that my order was “damaged on the way” and that they are working on it. I suspect that if they can send the wrong invoice, probably they could also forget to put in the product too. Besides the product is so thin that it is not easy to figure out whether there is anything in the envelope even after packing it. I think the addresses and orders have got mixed up, but an empty envelope, sounds like chaos at their end, unless someone flicked the shopping bag and resealed the envelope. However I have never had any stuff stolen in so many years of online shopping.

23rd October 2010

I get another email asking me for my shipping address as my order is being processed. This could probably be due to any doubts caused by my first email to them.

11th Novemner 2010

I get an email informing me that my order has been shipped

15th November 2010

I receive the bottle sling and it is really beautiful and well made. I stuff my Klean kanteen into it and it fits well. However there were no instructions or description along with it and only when checking their website for the dimensions when writing this post today did I discover that it could also be folded and stuffed into its built in pouch, -a neat feature!

I've got a pen and a walkman in either of the sleeves in the strap. When the strap is let down as shown in the picture, the pockets turn upside down.

PROS:

• Uses recycled materials which Chicobag innovatively calls rePETe, short for recycled PET (polyethylene terephthalate). The bottle sling is made from 100% recycled PET which is used as the main fabric for the body, the strap liner from 100% recycled Polypropylene, and the carabiner from 97% recycled Aluminum. (All from their website)
• The strap or handle of the bottle sling has two pockets of different lengths. The longer one can be used to clip your pen and/or chopsticks and the shorter one can fit in a pen drive or a similar sized MP3 player or your lipstick or lip balm or any other object of that size. The slightly elastic material forming the sleeve holds the items tightly -at least in my case (Depends on what you put in)
• An iPod classic can be put into the integrated pocket used for stuffing the bottle sling when not in use, but it juts out as being flat it doesn’t follow the curvature of the bottle.

CONS:

• Some people might find the strap too long and there doesn’t seem to be any way to adjust its length.
• When the bottle is placed down, the pockets in the handle turn upside down. If you have things that fit in loosely in the pockets, for e.g chopsticks, they will fall out of their pockets. My Smith & Wesson tactical pen held on tightly to the sleeve and the sleeve held on tightly to my Sony Walkman, but you’d better think twice of putting in anything precious into it.

All said and done it is a very well made product and not very pricey for all its refined looks. The shipping too is pretty cheap. I’m looking forward to buy  a daypack from Chicobag in the near future. It is good to have a compact bag which I can carry around when I’m traveling. Here is the link to the product page of the bottle sling.

 

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Renewable energy is what I’m passionate about and an opportunity to live off the grid would be a dream come true. Among known renewable energy sources,  solar photovoltaic cell technology is  way down on my list of favorites, as it is dependent on industrial manufacture. In addition to that, broken/disposed solar cells are not something that can be easily digested by the earth. I do love other solar technologies such as solar heating, solar ice making, solar water purification etc… Besides solar, you can of course use wind energy, capture energy expended in motion (such as the motion of tidal waves) and of course the most familiar, water energy -familiar in India,  because of the electricity we use here, generated by hydro electric turbines.

The running Turbine of a Gharaat

Even though water powered electricity generation is so common. It is not half as exciting as something powered directly by water. Besides ,dams destroy the eco-system and flood an area which could have been used for better purposes. I had seen water mills on TV, but they were usually huge water wheels immersed in canals and other deep water sources,  and the technology abroad had grown to become increasingly complex and precise over time, much like that of the wind mill -too many gears and couplings -hence introducing many more points of failure and  for maintenance. The first time my interest was aroused in a water powered mill [ Called Garhaat or sometimes Girhaat or Panchakki in Hindi]  was when I visited my brother in Aurangabad and saw (from outside) the century old Panchakki.Unfortunately climbing up and down the Daulatabad fort and then spending time watching the sculptures in Ellora in the sun totally sapped our energy. I was also advised that there was  nothing of interest to see inside -some thing still oft repeated on forums -but something I deeply regret not doing now and plan to remedy when I visit my brother next.

A discarded, chipped grindstone. Note the groove cut in the center where the drive shaft grips the stone for spinning it.

When I visited Kathwar village in the Sirmaur district of Himachal Pradesh, I was therefore excited at the prospect of seeing them at work and noting their mechanics. Unfortunately, the time I chose to visit them, with my friend  acting as my guide, was not very suitable as there were several weddings in the village and all the 4 or 5 garhaats we visited were locked -some of them running and some of them shut down. There were several more down river, for everyone in Kathwar and the neighboring villages mill the wheat and corn grown in their fields at these garhaats as they are an easy way to turn grain into flour. The other alternative of course is the hand operated  millstone- the symbol of punishment in Hindi movies of yesteryear where prisoners in jail grind wheat. We couldn’t keep walking along the river bed for ever  looking for an open water mill as we had to return home for lunch. These flour mills are found all along the Himalayan region. The first photograph is that of a Garhaat in Kata Patthar on the Yamuna river near Vikasnagar on the outskirts of Dehradun on the Chakrata road (Uttarakhand).

One section of an under construction circular sheep/goat pen under construction. It will probably later be thatched with these date fronds which the garhaat owner has been collecting.

Nevertheless it was interesting to see how the garhaat owners  lived and examine their lifestyles in their absence. Looking around, it was obvious that they did not survive with only their income from the garhaat or the typical percentage of wheat or flour they received for their grinding services.  To supplement their income, they had planted fruit trees -apricots ( khubani in Hindi) and walnuts (akhrot) among others). Some had their own patches of ginger, almost all of them had at least a cow shed  [and some had goat pens in addition] where they had cows, goats and probably sheep. The advantages of the gharaat   are for both parties. The speed of the stone grinding wheel in a garhaat (or in any hand grinder) is way slower than that of the commercial mills -some of which which use steel burrs for milling. (In India the chakkis (flour mills) still use stone wheels for grinding, but as kids we experienced first hand how hot the flour got after grinding as we carried the flour back home from the mill). This was due to the stone wheel (mounted vertically) being spun at high speed by an electric motor connected by a fabric belt.  Studies have shown that many of the critical nutrients that wheat has are adversely affected by heat thus degrading the nutritional quality of the wheat.  Read more on that here.

A cook-place in the separating wall (between two properties) makes for an effective windshield when cooking. Believe me, when the wild wind starts blowing it can carry on at high speeds for days on end.

Milling at high speeds therefore adversely affects wheat  (and probably other grain) and is at best a nutritional compromise in favor of convenience. For the Garhaat owner, the advantage is that the same quantity on his mill takes longer to grind -leaving him with more free time on his hands to pursue other means of income. He knows from experience how much time a quantity of wheat poured into the hopper takes to grind, so he can safely lock his Gharaat and go to collect fodder for his cattle, tend to his crops or go back home up to the village.  From the  cuttings of the  tree called Biyul in the western Pahari language, the left over straight stalks after the leaves are stripped  for the animals are woven into a beautiful blond rope after about two months of processing in a waywhich is similar to Jute.  The left over sticks (after processing) are bone dry and burn extremely well and serve to cook the garhaat owners food -especially in adverse weather when other damp wood might not easily ignite.  The environment benefits too from the mill… no pollutants to deal with, everything returns to the earth in a form which she can digest and recycle and the water gets aerated and thus oxygenated at the turbine and thus benefits the water creatures which need dissolved oxygen to survive. (Not that there is any dearth of aeration in those agile mountain streams and waterfalls.)

The construction of the gharaat is simple. The mill itself consists of a hopper, and a stationary lower stone wheel which can be likened to a stator. The upper stone -the rotor, which turns, is connected through the floor of the construction with a wooden drive shaft to the turbine which rotates and drives the shaft as it is hit by the jet of water (exactly opposite to what happens in your washing machine -there the impeller rotates the water -here the water rotates the drive shaft). The bush on which the turbine spins is made by a solid horizontal column of hardwood on which the turbine-drive shaft assembly rests  on and turns.  The fins of the turbine seem to preferably be bamboo split into two halves or else probably made of hard, rot resistant wood like the Deodar ( Himalayan Cedar -Bot. Cedrus Deodara). The ramp to get the water to achieve the required kinetic energy to turn the ‘turbine-drive shaft-grind stone’ assembly was traditionally one vertically halved  hollowed out tree trunk or log, but is now usually an ugly concrete gutter.

How it works…

Before cement arrived... a hollowed out, halved tree trunk acting as the ramp!

A grating made of sticks to catch debris which might otherwise damage the turbine. A similar grate exists after the water exits the turbine to catch any blades or other parts that come loose, which would otherwise float away in the water.

Water diverted from the river is accelerated by using a natural or artificially created ramp. This boosts the kinetic energy of the water .

A piece of slate (used for roofing) acting as a two way water valve. In places where slate is not used because it does not snow, such as in some places in Uttarakhand, I have seen a plank of wood being used to stop water flow to the garhaat and at the same time divert water away to turn off the mill at the end of the day or for maintenance.

Underneath the gharaat... As the jet of water hits the crude turbine, it transfers most of its kinetic energy to the turbine blades. This energy gets converted to rotary motion which in turn is transferred from the blades to the drive shaft

The now rotating drive shaft spins the top stone wheel (rotor) of the grindstone assembly. The rotating stone also works like a flywheel, storing mechanical energy in it, much like what a capacitor does for electricity.

The parts of the milling assembly: The measured grain falls from the hopper into a hole in the center of the rotor and the distance between the stator and rotor determine how fine the flour turns out to be.

The future?

Here is one design that needs no improvement… unfortunately, we are seeing the effect of modernization on the garhaats. Its not just the cement and the plastic sheets under the thatched roofs. It is more and more people realizing that the city offers more -a so called “better life” of conveniences, thanks to movies and other media which attract simple people like these, living a healthy,  content life and making them feel as if they lack something or are backward and primitive. Also, as the new generation of people who have tasted the city stop planting wheat and corn and start  opting for cheaper mass produced but inferior, unhealthy plastic packaged flour, the beginning of the end for the garhaats will be in sight which will be very sad.

Is this the future of the Garhaat?

Credits:

Harold Soans at Aurangabad, Maharashtra

Asha Singh at Kathwar, Himachal Pradesh

Anil Kumar at Kata Pathar, Uttarakhand

Links:

You can find a video of an operating Garhaat on This Website

Click here for an old photograph of cascading water mills at Brahmaur in Himachal Pradesh taken in 1971

 

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Its over a year (or is it two?) since I gave up plastic. My biggest dilemma at that time was carrying my drinking water without leeching any chemicals into it. On searching the net I finally short listed these two bottles. It was just a matter of who accepted credit card payments and shipped to India -both would also shock my colleagues and keep them passing snide remarks for the next six months or so once the cost of the bottles and the shipping were converted into Indian Rupees… but I planned to buy only one of them, not both -or at least that’s what I thought then… unfortunately the International Shipping doubles the cost of the actual bottle.

When I compared the bottles feature by feature, the beauty of the drop dead sexy Sigg traveler soon began to fade. I detest aluminium as much as I detest plastic. In fact I had only recently done away with all my barely used aluminium cook pots and even my Prestige pressure cooker in favour of stainless steel. For my cooking I prefer Cast iron, Iron and lastly Stainless steel in the kitchen (and a few traditional brass & copper vessels) and Titanium for all my camping needs.  Aluminium is just too ready to react with other stuff, pits easily, is soft enough to get dented and  ends up getting slowly scraped by your spatula and later becoming an integral part of your meal (and you).  Aluminium poisoning is also a suspected cause of Alzheimer’s. The Sigg had some proprietary, secret, golden yellow translucent resin coloured liner on the inside of the bottle to prevent whatever you put into the bottle from coming in contact with the aluminium. They also claim that third party tests have proved that it doesn’t leech into the drink. (Read more about it here) For me as an end user, this was all hearsay -there was no way I could verify their claim and had no reason to trust them -besides there was also the fear that the coating would get scratched off when scrubbing it with a bottle brush… which meant I’d end up buying a special cleaning brush from Sigg and also pack of cleaning tablets for life … which is in my opinion foolish, as it would set me up for a recurring expense + recurring International shipping. The Klean Kanteen on the other hand was made of 18/8 brushed food grade stainless steel, had a wider mouth (Sigg has them too now but didn’t then) which meant easier cleaning. It also wasn’t painted (They are offering coloured ones now) which meant in an emergency, I could boil water in my Klean Kanteen over my camp stove! (w/o the lid of course). I don’t remember whether the Sigg came with various caps then (does now) but the Klean Kanteen definitely did. Both also came (optional extra purchases) with Neoprene jackets. The Sigg came with its own and the Klean Kanteen shipped with an odd looking (which I still hate) jacket manufactured by ‘Built NY’. I had to literally use my hands and feet to shove the Klean Kanteen into the bottle carrier… its loosened up acceptably though over the one and a half years of use…

Before I go any further, I must let you know how I ended up with two water bottles instead of one… One of the advantages of the Klean Kanteen was that I could buy directly from the manufacturer, which is a lot safer when buying online than from some unknown merchant. I placed an order for my Klean Kanteen (40 oz  -1.22 litres) and a couple of different caps. However, their credit card processing was done offline and so my card was not immediately charged. After a lot of email exchanges with the guy in charge of International sales, I finally gave up and cancelled the order as it was getting delayed beyond my expectation (Due to Christmas sales). I then went ahead and bought my Sigg from http://www.swiss-memories.ch/

A couple of months after I had done this, I noticed a suspicious charge on my credit card by the name of Cressline. After giving Citibank 2 days, I did my own Googling and realized that this was the company that owned the trademark  Klean Kanteen. On contacting International Sales again, they admitted to a goof up and admitted that the order had been accidentally shipped (probably they forgot to cancel it) and asked me to refuse to accept the package. When they got  the package back, they would give me a charge back on my card. This sounded fair enough and I refused the package when it arrived. 15 days later, I received a dirty postcard in bad handwriting from the office of the Director of foreign posts. The message was short and sweet,  -If I didn’t collect my package within 7 days, they would auction it off… So I took 2 days leave (Their office was closed on one of the days) paid a fine of close to Rs. 750/- and of course the crazy to & fro auto charges in Delhi and then became  the not so proud owner of two wildly expensive water bottles… Thanks to Klean Kanteen and  the guy that sits under the turban in the office of the director of foreign posts. So my Klean Kanteen was sparingly used or rather mostly unused for about a year and a half.

IMPRESSIONS: The Klean Kanteen holds slightly more water at 40 oz  (1.2 liters) than the Sigg (34 oz or 1 Liter). The second obvious difference is the weight, the Sigg being only slightly heavier than a plastic bottle. When it comes to the mouth of the bottle, the Klean Kanteen is bigger than the Sigg – the intention being to allow you to drop in ice cubes and also allows a better view of the inside of the bottle. The Sigg has a narrower neck and has its translucent golden coloured liner which makes it very difficult to judge if the bottle is dirty.

The Sigg & Klean Kanteen bottle Caps

However the neck (Diameter/length) of the Sigg makes a perfect seal with your lips and makes it a pleasure to drink from. It is also easier to drink from the Sigg in a moving vehicle than from the wide mouthed Klean Kanteen as due to the wide mouth of the bottle, I’ve often spilled water all over the front of my shirt in a moving vehicle. The bottle caps come in various types. For the Klean Kanteen, I bought a sipper type sports cap, a cap similar to that of  the Sigg and also a flat cap as shown in the picture. I found the Sports cap  to be of not much use, except that I did not need to unscrew the cap when I needed a drink. The Sigg cap was finished like ebony and comparing it to the rough Klean Kanteen cap felt like comparing a Ducati with a Bajaj Scooter.  A year and a half later however, both materials look  similar. Klean Kanteen should work on their cap finishing so that it doesn’t turn off first time prospective buyers.

Note the stainless steel cap of the Klean Kanteen bottle. It is an optional extra for guys who do not want any plastic touching their water. Also note the white strip running up the side of the Sigg cap. That is a kind of fuse in case excess pressure builds up inside the bottle. It vents the pressure without destroying your bottle. Please note that both the bottles come with a variety of caps. I am only showing the ones I am currently carrying on my trip.

Coming to the bottles, the Sigg has a long history in making aluminum extruded bottles. However the lightness of the bottle comes at a price. The dent visible on the top of the bottle was caused by a full bottle rolling to the floor from a height of one foot! In addition to that, I have numerous other small dents caused when the bottle was in its neoprene jacket and inside a sturdy bag as cabin baggage -probably caused by smooching with my Nikon SLR when the aircraft banked sharply. Sigg claims that the coating is flexible and so dents don’t have any effect on it. However that still doesn’t make me a  fan of dented water bottles. If you plan to buy the Sigg, you MUST also buy the optional Neoprene bottle sleeve -and leave it on always which kind of takes away the joy of showing off your sexy bottle

After filling up at a mountain pool in Kathwar village in Himachal Pradesh, India

Finally the neoprene bottle sleeves… The Klean Kanteen guys openly declare that their bottles are made in China, but that they oversee the quality (which is good) so I wasn’t surprised that the sleeve (optional extra) they shipped (Manufactured by a third party company -Built NY)  was made in China  too (again to good standards). However I did get shocked when I found that my Sigg bottle sleeve was made in China. What’s more -it had loose threads coming out of the sleeve. Unlike the Klean Kanteen,  it also started producing very small fuzz balls of the Neoprene material. It does seem to have worn well for the one and a half year of use though. The zipper pull has started rusting and I hate Sigg for that. The other main differences are…

The Sigg sleeve completely covers the bottle and needs to be zipped down slightly to place your lower lip on the bottle neck. This full sleeve also marginally enhances the keep cool capacity (Not very much) of any cold beverage. It also comes with a carabiner type clip and a Velcro strip which can be opened and fixed over a belt loop or attached to a backpack. I use the carabiner type clip often for affixing the half empty or lighter bottle to a loop on my jeans. Its not very comfortable on a full bottle.  The Velcro seems sturdier. The Klean Kanteen sleeve -or rather the Built NY sleeve has a side handle which enables you to carry the bottle horizontally like a suitcase. It also has a strip of neoprene which terminates on a sturdy press button surrounded by a skin coloured patch of Velcro. I sometimes loop the strip through my jeans belt loop to hold the bottle temporarily (like when I need both hands free to lock/unlock my front door) or when it is empty. It is uncomfortable when the bottle is full as the neoprene strip is slightly elastic. However my bottles have been most used in my daily commute to and from my workplace and of course on my outstation trips, so they have usually been  carried inside my backpack as I fear that someone might pinch them on the train. The only times they have been outside are when I have been trekking. (When backpacking I prefer to additionally carry my 3 liter Camelbak hydration bladder as water consumption during backpacking in north Indian summers is usually very high)  Both the bottles sure catch everyone’s attention and understandably the Sigg has more fans that the quiet , sturdy Klean Kanteen.

I have never used anything except water in both the bottles so I will be unable to comment on how other beverages fare.

The rusty zipper pull on the Sigg Neoprene bottle sleeve

All said and done, both the bottles have their place. For the hot north Indian summers, I switch over to the Klean Kanteen for its marginally extra water carrying capacity. Maybe the Sigg would be preferred more for college kids or for EDC especially in cooler climes or where you can refill your bottle frequently. I have started using the Sigg more for treks  where there are established water sources on the way as it is light weight, but plan to use the Klean Kanteen for backpacking and camping as I can use it to boil my drinking water if necessary. In the cooler months, I carry the Sigg to work. However that will all change as I gave off the Sigg to my friend last week.

I am disappointed that my friends can’t spot any difference between the Sigg and the Rs. 99/- look alike bottles available here even though I can spot so many… I’m guessing that not many will buy it here unless it becomes established like some of the other brand names like Levis and becomes another status symbol. I wish people would buy these bottles for the sheer build quality that they possess.

Now that Klean Kanteen has started coming out with coloured bottles as well, I hope they don’t discontinue the existing brushed Stainless Steel finished models. Design wise I like the Sigg though. If they ever come out with a Stainless Steel version, instead of their existing coated aluminium bottles, I’ll switch over to Sigg! (Simply because I prefer a bottle with a narrower neck and prefer my water at room temperature -so don’t need to drop any ice cubes into it)

I highly recommend both the bottles though! Check out the pros & cons and decide which one suits your purpose. As I used both the bottles for a long time, I realised that I automatically adjusted to some of the  features in the bottles. For eg. I’ve stopped spilling water over myself as   I learned to drink in between movements of the bus. I loved each bottle when I used it.

IN A NUTSHELL:

KLEAN KANTEEN (40 OZ – 1.2 Liters):

PROS:

• 18/8  (Chromium %/Nickel %) High Quality Food Grade Stainless steel Body
• Sturdy and durable ( I have SS items in good shape from two generations ago!)
• Holds relatively more water than the Sigg Traveler
• Can be used in an emergency to purify water by boiling [W I T H O U T THE LID]
• Doesn’t puncture or dent easily -very good value for money (but it does dent)
• Wide mouth makes it easier to clean or drop in ice cubes
• Optional stainless steel bottle tops
• Can be used as a condenser for distillation by buying an extra sports sipper type cap and modifying it to accept a plastic pipe

CONS:

• Wide mouth makes drinking in a moving vehicle difficult without spilling water.
• Relatively heavier
• No safety vent in the bottle cap in case pressure builds up for any reason.
• Bottle sleeve is fashionable and does not cover the bottle completely up to the neck which is not very good news if you are carrying cold water in hot weather.
• Bottle cap is not completely threaded (Note the close up pic of the bottle caps) Friends drinking from my bottle have inadvertently tried to screw down the cap forcibly almost damaging the threads on the cap -Needs practice to thread the cap properly.

SIGG TRAVELER (34 OZ – 1 Liter):

PROS:

• Light
• Colorful & Eye catching and makes heads turn
• Comfortable to carry
• Matte finish, a pleasure to hold
• Sleeve completely protects the bottle
• Narrow mouth makes it a pleasure to drink from even when moving
• Ergonomic design
• Good for those who use water purification tablets, where you need to drop a tablet into a liter of water
• The matte surface of the paint gives better grip when using the bottle without the neoprene cover
• The paint also insulates the bottle marginally and makes the bottle warmer to hold (in winter) and provides better grip when it is cold and when water has condensed on the body.

CONS:

• Very easily dented  so lower value for money in the long run
• Chinese made bottle sleeve needs more  attention to detail and materials and proper inspection
• Needs special care when cleaning to avoid damaging the internal liner and the external painted surface too
• The Paintwork -particularly the cross has started wearing off -in spite of always using the sleeve
• The internal liner has started to wear out at the neck where the bottle cap threads in -might spread to the rest of the bottle.
• Bottle cap is not completely threaded (Note the close up pic of the bottle caps) Friends drinking from my bottle have inadvertently tried to screw down the cap forcibly almost damaging the threads on the cap -Needs practice to thread the cap properly.
• Narrow mouth/golden coloured translucent  liner on inside makes it difficult to see into the bottle and clean
• Aluminium, lined  with an undisclosed flexible liner

Note: [30th Nov 2010]

I’ve given off my Sigg to my friend. I’ve been using the clean Kanteen as my sole water bottle for a few months now and its grown on me. I bought a water bottle sling for it from Chico bags and I am in the process of modifying its useless sipper cap to accept a tube so I can use my Klean Kanteen as a condenser for distilling water in a survival situation. I’ll do a separate post on it as soon as I can find any tube which does not taint the water on getting hot.

Note: [17th Jan 2011]

My Klean kanteen got dented yesterday after falling from the same height that my Sigg had fallen down from when it got dented -roughly about a foot in height. This was with the Neoprene jacket on like with the Sigg. The location of the dent was identical to that on the Sigg. Both the bottles were full when they got dented. More on this and photographs in a separate review for the Klean Kanteen.

Here is a video on Youtube showing how you can repair dents on a Sigg. use this at your own risk! I have not tried it!

!!  DANGER WILL ROBINSON  !!

 

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Think Louis Pasteur and what comes to mind is his famous discovery about germs being the cause of some diseases. I don’t know whether he foresaw what his discovery would mean to us. On the one hand, we have reaped great benefits on account his discovery. This has led to an increase in the number of turnarounds in the medical field and probably saved a lot more lives where hygiene made a difference. Unfortunately, on the other hand what has happened on the home front has been appalling. Goaded on by the pharma companies and other businesses who have jumped on to the anti-germ bandwagon, a terror of germs, and an obsession with extreme cleanliness and with maintaining a germ free environment -where everything has to be sparkling and spotlessly clean has overtaken the general populace. It has also given birth to a strange new term called mysophobia (also known as germaphobia )

Probably the seeds of mysophobia were sown sometime during my parents generation, for even as a kid, between the lessons on cleanliness in school and on TV -Those black & White documentaries by Films Division… I remember seeing advertisements  targeted at kids like me in the Phantom comics (By Indrajal) that we used to read. The most memorable as it was oft repeated, -apart from the Ad for Parle poppins was the Ad for Binaca Toothpaste, where Killer COOH (The leader of the germs) and his red tipped cronies would use various strategies to attack Toothsville, but would always be repelled by Binaca-F with his cannon sized tube of toothpaste. Similar Ad’s on TV were being aired by another rival toothpaste manufacturer showing a wrestler wincing in pain while biting into a sugarcane (or was it corn on the cob?) and attributing his decayed teeth to using a local tooth powder which allegedly could not keep the germs at bay. Unfortunately it didn’t stop with teeth -they were just an indicator of things to come… Suddenly germs became enemy No.1 and responsible for all sorts of real & imagined ailments. The chemical companies who probably also had a part in sowing the seeds, were quick to capitalize and jump onto the bandwagon to make a quick buck and so began the big chemical invasion into our lives. Dangerous toilet cleaners, hand washes, Phenyl’s and germicidal soaps. People would not even stop to think about the side effects of indiscriminate use of chemicals. For that matter, even an excess/unbalanced use of a natural product would have its own side effects… Balance IS the key!

Practicing germicidal precautions in a hospital is perfectly understandable, but bringing it home and using it regularly in the hope that you and your loved ones would be better protected? It is at best advertising based deception and will only set you up for long time trouble. Why would a healthy person need to be dabbed with an antiseptic or taped over with a band-aid every time he gets a scratch? Unfortunately there  are so many other sources of chemical contaminants – in our food, cosmetics, household consumables, mosquito repellents, toilet/drain/floor cleaners etc.. There are also some really sick contaminants like those filthy cistern blocks which you drop into your flush tank which unnecessarily pollutes the water by coloring it blue or green. Some of us are proud of buying products made of recycled material, yet even the process of recycling itself adds more toxins to the environment and to our bodies as they come into contact with these strange new materials.  Reduce must come before Reuse  and go hand in hand with products sourced from natural materials...Germs the body can deal with if you are healthy and your immune system is working well -your body was created/designed to live with germs! But alien man made materials? The body hasn’t a clue how to defend itself against these strange poisons. Coming back to recycling…

If we look closely at how nature recycles stuff we see that anything that nature breaks down (recycles) is available for all creatures/organisms. Our selfish recycling programs recycle products so that only man can use it again… this will NEVER work out!

In one particular season in Delhi, you get a lot of these small brownish grasshoppers every where. I often find them in my kitchen sink. Since at that time I used to be scared of insects, I’d just rub the wet scotchbrite scourer on a very popular green colored detergent cake (which we have been using at home for as long as I can remember after Biz stopped production) and squeezed the now liquid soap onto the grasshopper. -The grasshopper died instantly without even a twitch of its leg! I tried it a few times over the years with the same result and finally got so freaked out that I stopped buying any kind of dish washing cake and switched to Amway’s organic coconut oil based dish washing liquid. I don’t know how much poisonous residual dish washing soap I have ingested over the years as no one will be able to wash off detergent (used in a loose sense) from utensils (or clothes) completely. The best option still is ash! Ash when it combines with water and the fat or grease left on a utensil, forms a natural biodegradable soap and the traces that are ingested are not as harmful as the horrible detergents (again used in a loose sense) available in the market.

[Ash + Water = Lye (Potassium hydroxide) + edible grease or fat from the Plate = Natural soap]*

Unfortunately most of us Indians always go for things that “work well” (Consumables) (even if it ultimately reduces the life of the object in concern) and costs less -regardless of the cost to our health and environment and to those around us, whereas for products that we should be buying which work well -like good quality equipment which lasts, -we buy the cheapest, justifying that it still cheaper to discard and buy a new one. I was a victim of the former when I supposed that buying cheap detergent powder was ok as it was a consumable. However when I saw the leather patch on my Levi’s jeans shrivel and crumble in a few washes, I realized how dangerous and caustic the product was even though it washed cleaner and brighter than the more expensive powders.

As a believing Christian, I believe God created the world and everything in it and is concerned even about the dust mites that live on the floor of my house. So it was obvious to me right from the start -even before the greenies shouted themselves hoarse about habitat destruction, chemical contamination and the loss of bio diversity that all of creation complements/supports each other. When people speak of Bio diversity, they automatically think animals and plants and forget that insects and micro organisms are part of creation and an integral part of the food chain! Since modern science has left God out of the picture and believe that such stupendously complex things such as the human body and the rest of creation just happened or was just a coincidence, scientists try to find solutions from their own finite knowledge and “intelligence” fooling themselves that because they have some half answers, sooner or later they will have all the answers.

Even if you don’t believe in God, it still doesn’t make any sense to go to these extremes. If we believe that vaccination can give us enough immunity to protect us from dangerous diseases like small pox (Thanks Edward Jenner), we also must realize that when we get nicks and scratches (or even wounds) and our bodies are invaded by foreign hosts, antibodies will be produced. I always believed that animals have special immunity because of which they can feed off the ground and eat stuff in various states of freshness without getting sick (Mind you! Some animals CAN eat things which are poisonous to us) until one day near Paschim Vihar I observed a man picking up discarded food from the municipal dust bin and eating it without any ill effects! I observed him every Sunday on the way to Church!!! After conducting experiments on myself for over 3 years. I came to the conclusion that at animals too have achieved immunity -natural vaccination! I have also totally stopped taking any kind of medication -giving my body enough time to recover before consulting a doctor. I don’t avoid going to a Doctor -I just give my body a fair chance to do what God designed it to do. I prefer natural stuff like Homoeopathic or ayurvedic medicines, but at the same time am not averse to getting myself admitted to a hospital and consuming chemical based medicines in an emergency situation or say in course of a surgery. The doctor would know my body a hundred times better than I would myself. There are just three things I’m scared of in conventional medicine, -being treated for symptoms rather than the cause, being poisoned by chemical medicines and suffering their side effects. It is at best a compromise which I will opt for only in the circumstances mentioned above. Hospitals ARE scary places!

“Antibiotics kill “good” (beneficial) bacteria along with the bacteria that cause illness.” source www.webmd.com

The next area the ghost of Louis invades is our food -boil water for 20 minutes to be safe say the textbooks. One of the main reasons that our immune system is so weak is because our terror of germs causes us to over boil and over cook everything. (destroying nutrients in the food) Drinking sterile water weakens our immune system because we do not allow natural immunization to occur, and in the case of RO (Reverse Osmosis) based water filters, robs us of essential minerals that are part of water.  Besides most water filters cannot get rid of chemical contaminants! Just a few days back my friend had a case of loose bowels by eating (or drinking) from a roadside vendor. He swore that he would not patronize the stall again. (I’m sure this has further bolstered his faith in the bad effects of unsterilized water) It seems highly likely though that he had lost his immunity by regularly drinking sanitized bottled water or by using one of those super seven stage UV water filters. Sometimes we do need to be safe though, like when we are traveling and we can’t risk diarrhoea and the accompanying dehydration. So for those who need to boil -like when you are camping or those who boil regularly out of habit or because they are unsure of water quality, some advice from the wilderness medical society… but remember, along with the “bad” organisms, you also destroy the good organisms and probably other minerals also which are affected by heat. (I do take special precautions during the rains though when there are usually outbreaks of water borne diseases)

“Water temperatures above 160° F (70° C) kill all pathogens within 30 minutes and above 185° F (85° C) within a few minutes. So in the time it takes for the water to reach the boiling point (212° F or 100° C) from 160° F (70° C), all pathogens will be killed, even at high altitude.”

If you Google solar water purification, you will find instances of solar disinfection -fill a bottle with water, place it on its side on a dark surface on your roof and by evening your water is safe to drink. But beware of using plastic bottles in the sun as the plastic will leech toxins into the water! At the time of writing, I have been drinking tap water (unfiltered, unboiled and without any additives) for quite some time. The only time I would boil water would be when I am camping in a remote area by myself. I’m not very happy about the fact that I paid Rs.7000/- for a popular 7 stage water purifier with UV and have given it away to friend who was contemplating to buy one.

Recently I was reading a magazine which had a write-up on one of the most famous cheese makers around, -their secret? In their own words “we don’t use dead milk!” i.e. milk that is pasteurized or heated -they use only raw milk as pasteurization destroys/modifies essential nutrients/micro organisms in the milk. This is further confirmed by Dr. Price** in his research on why certain communities like the Swiss residing in the Loetschental valley in Switzerland had almost no cavities -one of the ingredients of their diet was -fresh, raw milk from free range pasture fed cows! I extend this principle to water too. Google hexagonal water to find out the difference between water that is alive and water that is dead and why some Koreans climb the hills for a couple of hours each morning just to drink from fresh, oxygenated mountain streams. For me if fish can’t live in the water I drink, it is unfit to drink simply because that is how water is found in nature and that is the way God intended it to be.

“The normal human digestive tract contains about 400 types of probiotic bacteria that reduce the growth of harmful bacteria and promote a healthy digestive system. The largest group of probiotic bacteria in the intestine is lactic acid bacteria, of which Lactobacillus acidophilus, found in yogurt, is the best known. Yeast is also a probiotic substance.” source www.webmd.com

Yeah, some of the business tycoons have jumped onto all of these bandwagons. I find someone selling organically grown produce wrapped in clingfilm! (Plastic) Some grocery stores not giving out plastic grocery bags anymore (on account of the government banning them), but still selling polished rice, refined sugar etc. Others selling “probiotic” curd and other probiotic potions laced with a lot of refined sugar. preservatives and artificial colours and flavours… they cannot see the whole picture, because they don’t want to, they are just doing it because that is what sells.. if anything sells (preferably for more) then that is exactly what is sold. Recently the retail chain that I used to shop from stopped selling brown sugar (unbleached sugar) -because it did not sell as they expected it too… (I had already switched to Jaggery by then) so that is the long and short of it. Thanks to businesses and manufacturers, governments and corporations we will continue to receive unnecessarily high doses of chemicals -as germicides, cleanliness aids, added to our food (either to add attractive unnatural tastes, give it a more pleasing appearance/consistency or to increase their shelf lives), from our dear modes of conveyance and last but not least from Chemically derived medicines.

As I was writing this the power failed. My poorly ventilated house being on the top floor is like an oven in the now 43 degree Delhi heat. I went for a drink of water and realized that water was over. I went downstairs and instead of buying a bottle of water packed in plastic and “fortified” with sodium chloride and magnesium something, I went to the nearby juice wala and ordered a tall glass of sweetlime juice for the same cost of that of a bottle of water. I saw an AIIMS doctor ordering the same -however, she wanted it in a plastic glass -probably due to the probability of micro organisms breeding in improperly washed glasses or transfer of some disease from the guy who used it before her. Then just as she was walking away, she turned back and demanded a square of aluminum foil as “there were flies around” and another plastic straw to pierce through the foil. I looked around and with great difficulty found a single juvenile fly hopping from spot to spot. If I was her, I’d be worried more about the unwashed plastic glass, aluminum foil & straw -right from the time of manufacture and the leeching of chemicals from the plastic into the juice, and lastly the quality of the water used to make the ice which was grated and added into the juice. What would happen to the square of aluminum foil, plastic glass and straw after she chucked it into the dust bin would also weigh heavily on my mind! Sigh!

Towards the end of Louis Pasteur’s life, he confessed that germs may not be the cause of disease after all, but may simply be another symptom of disease. He had come to realize that germs seem to lead to illness primarily when the person’s immune and defense system (what biologists call “host resistance”) is not strong enough to combat them. The “cause” of disease is not simply a bacteria but also the factors that compromise host resistance, including the person’s hereditary endowment, his nutritional state, the stresses in his life, and his psychological state. ****

Quotes

“For many of us it comes as as surprise to learn that bacteria are highly intelligent and adaptable. We have been taught from birth that they are pretty dumb and that, through the use of antibiotics, we are winning a war against them, a war that will end all disease. In fact the opposite is true. Bacteria show behaviour that indicate intelligence and they are acting together throughout the world to counter the antibiotics we have invented to kill them off. Bacteria, it turns out, are inextricably intertwined with the formation of the human species and the health of the Earth. One to two pounds of our body weight are bacteria and over eons we have developed a crucial and important symbiosis with them.” ***

Alexander Fleming, the scientist who discovered penicillin, cautioned against the overuse of antibiotics. Unless the scientific community and the general public heed his warning, Harvard professor Walter Gilbert, a Nobel prizewinner in chemistry, asserted, “There may be a time down the road when 80% to 90% of infections will be resistant to all known antibiotics.” The scientific community and the general public have ignored the insights of the late Pasteur and have ignored the importance of host resistance in preventing illness. ****

 

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