It’s a common issue in a household that has children in their early teens or in their teenage years. Apparently, more than half of the youth are suffering from phubbing, which leads to psychological distress among them. Phubbing for the unversed is the practice of ignoring everyone around you as all attention is on the phone, according to a study.The study was carried out by Dr. Sudha Bala, asst prof at ESIC Hospital, Hyderabad, along with Dharani Tekkam and Harshal Pandve. It has been supported by ICMR. A total of 430 college-going students from engineering, medical and Unani colleges were part of the study.It was found that 52% of the city’s youth were phubbing, and 23% suffered severe psychological distress due to it, while it was moderate in 34%. Statistically, a correlation was found between the amount of phubbing and psychological distress.Incidentally, the word phubbing is a mix of two words – phone and snubbing – and was coined by an Australian advertising agency in 2012 as a part of a campaign and was later picked up worldwide. The study also found that youth who were into it lost their cool when confronted or questioned about it. This led to serious issues between parents and children, it was found.In one instance, when the mother took away the phone, the teenager, who was known to be cool, started showing signs of irritability and even aggression towards his mother. One psychologist from the city says they also educate the parents on giving family time and insist on them not using the gadgets unless it is quite important.

Phubbing Causing Psychological Distress Among Hyderabad’s Youth

When you are a minority community, you feel extra responsible for passing on the traditions and rituals to the younger generations so they carry them forward. Also, in these busy, hectic times, when lives cannot be taken for granted, inculcating the right values within children will help them in the long run to live better lives.A lesser-known gurudwara in Hyderabad, the Gurudwara Sri Guru Singh Sabha at Manovikas Nagar in Bowenpally, has taken initiatives that can be lauded. For a long time, it has had activities for children that help them attune to the culture and history. Now, the gurudwara has added a library for its members.The initiative is the brainchild of Sardar Kuldeep Singh, who is a culture enthusiast himself. He says he comes from a writing background and understands the need to have a good foundation by reading interesting books. This helps the children stay grounded, he says.Given that the attention span of children is just about 8 seconds in today’s times, they need to be introduced to visually appealing and information-rich books, he says. For now, the gurudwara has a big cupboard filled with books. Singh intends to add 10 books a week with the help of members. The books are in Hindi, Punjabi, and English, and the borrowing and returning will be taken care of by the Sangat’s women members.The gurudwara also holds Dastak-tying classes and learning Shabad Keertan and Gurmukhi learning sessions.

City Gurudwara Instills Culture, History Among Children Through Books

It is known that labor can be extremely difficult for some women. The pain felt during those crucial moments is unbearable, and many women suffer a lot while delivering babies. To address this issue, the state-run King Koti district hospital has begun using Entonox (a gas that is a mixture of nitrous oxide and oxygen) during the process of delivering babies.The pregnant women suffering from severe labor pain will now have some relief, says the head of the gynecology department at the District Hospital, King Koti, Dr. Jalaja Veronica. She adds that it is first-of-its-kind equipment to be used in a government hospital.According to her, women can have some relief by breathing in a mixture of oxygen and laughing gas. Every contraction involves breathing in the gas, and depending on the patient’s pain threshold; the gases begin to work on the sensory nerves within 15-20 seconds and provide pain relief for one to two minutes. Instead of functioning as an anesthetic, it acts as an analgesic, she explains.At the time of labor, when the woman cannot bear the pain, an oxygen mask is given to her, which is connected to a cylinder of Entonox. When the patient exhales deeply, the gas goes into her body and helps her to reduce the pain.So far, it has been used on 13 women, and the government intends to use the formula in all government hospitals.

Govt Hospitals To Use Laughing Gas On Pregnant Women

This comes as good news for all the pet parents who are worried about leaving their pets at home while going to work. Even though nothing matches the love and pampering you do to your own pets, we bring you the list of best pet-care centers in and around the city which take care of your pers with utmost care.The pet centers located in Hyderabad offer services on a daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly basis. Earlier, we used to have pet cares where the pets used to be caged, but nowadays, pet-care centers are providing open spaces for the pets to roam and happily take rest where ever they want. A few centers are even providing a splash pool, personal cabins, and customized food options for pets.Pet Café, located in Banjara Hills with five employees, offers daycare and boarding services for all varieties of pets. Reportedly, Pet Cafe's management will take six to seven pets a day and even has pets living there for more than a year. Video calls, sending pictures to parents, and keeping updating on the health condition of the pet to its parent are also available here.The next one on our list is Ocean's Pet Boarding at Gachibowli. The founder Abhilash Vadada says this pet care is exclusively for only dogs. Currently, he is taking care of ten to fifteen pets a day and even has pets staying there for a few months.The third one from our list is the Paw Kingdom at Khajaguda is a daycare and boarding for all pets and has individual rooms for each pet. The facilities include air-conditioned and accommodate 25 pets a day. Lastly, Furry Affair Pet Care at Gandipet also offers daycare and boarding services to all kinds of pets.Coming to the costs, it all depends on the breed, food requirements, and facilities being provided, say the pet-care owners. Important points are Client agreements, vaccination certificates, and client information must be submitted before leaving the pets at the above pet-care centers.

Best Pet-care Centers in City

There was a time when one read about the Great Depression and later the Great Recession. However, the pandemic has given rise to a new term – the Great Resignation. This has been the buzzword abroad, and many tech giants are worried about the latest trend. But looks like the Indian IT industry is not oblivious to this latest development.For higher salaries, work-from-home opportunities, or career progression, IT employees have been shifting jobs more than usual in the post-pandemic world. Ironically, the word was coined in the US in 2020-21, with many leaving for better or alternate prospects; the Indian IT industry has also been impacted by it in the past two years.Large IT companies like Wipro, Infosys, and TCS have reported high attrition rates for the fiscal year 2021-22, with TCS and Infosys reporting 15.3 and 25.5 percent, respectively, in the third quarter, while Wipro reported 22.7 percent in the second quarter. However, this is not a problem for big companies; even small companies are facing a crisis as people leave for better positions and better pay cheques.However, Bharani K Aroll, president of Hyderabad Software Enterprises Association (HYSEA), says that such attrition levels are common when there is demand. He points out that this was a trend in 2011, which is repeating now. While the 20% attrition is common during such times, Bharani says it is a temporary phenomenon and assures it will die down soon.Some of the main pulls for attrition include better compensation, lateral shifts even in a large company, flexible working hours, locally available positions, career progression wherein employees get to work on the latest technology, and upskilled employees looking for new prospects.According to one founder-CEO of a tech company, companies are witnessing an average of 50 percent of the employee base either resigning or relocating. As a result, they are being forced to work with one-fourth of the workforce even as the number of projects grows. As a result, there is an obvious talent crunch, she reiterates.

IT Industry's Latest Fad: 'The Great Resignation'

The pandemic hit the realty market really badly. However, once the pandemic started subsiding, the realty scene in Hyderabad hit an all-time high. Not just the middle and upper middle class, but even the corporates were vying with each other, pumping in money and taking over prime properties.It is known that during the pandemic, real estate was given many subsidies and people thought of property as the best investment. Thanks to the digitization of the real estate market, people and corporates from within the country and outside showed great interest in the market, and many sales were made in succession.In fact, Hyderabad was seen as one market that did exceptionally well during the fag end of the pandemic. It also topped when it came to south Indian cities. However, the scene is totally different. Suddenly, the real estate prices have plummeted, and it seems as if saturation of sorts has hit the market.In the past couple of years, people invested extensively on the outskirts as they saw growth prospects. But now, with the withdrawal of GO 111, many are awaiting what clauses this would have as there has been no clarity on the matter till now. So, many are not keen on selling their properties now. Even farmers who sold their lands and tried to invest along the development zone are in a frenzy as there are no buyers for their newly acquired land.To add to all these factors, the biggies in the realty sector are in the election mood, and they are in no hurry to announce projects or take them forward.So, in short, the glorious era of Hyderabad's realty has finally come to an end.

Hyderabad's Realty in Doldrums As Election Year Approaches

Dengue cases are on the rise, and this has caused an alarm in the city. With the onset of monsoon season, the number of dengue cases has also increased, and this has become a major issue for doctors and hospitals. They say it is a bigger concern than the return of COVID at this point in time.Dr. K Shivraj, the consultant general physician of KIMS, says that the hospital got several cases from Begumpet, Kompally, Uppal, and surrounding areas. There has been an increase in the number of dengue cases, and they are getting at least 5-7 suspected cases of dengue per day. Incidentally, some of them test positive. Also, about 3-4 patients out of 10 require hospitalization.Another pediatrician from Niloufer Hospital shares that earlier dengue cases were mainly reported in the old city. She said nowadays, the incidence of the disease is high in areas with lots of construction and nalas. She adds that the number of dengue cases spikes every 3-4 years, and this could happen this year, too, going by the pre-monsoon numbers. There was a spike in 2019 when 70-80 cases were reported per week in the Mahbubnagar district.The doctors say they are getting 10-20 clinical cases, out of which 2-3 are confirmed cases. The discrepancy between confirmed and suspected cases is due to the antibody and antigen tests for dengue are not reliable. Those who showed symptoms and responded to the treatment were slotted as clinical patients, they say.A study was carried out by GHMC’s entomology wing last year, which showed that 60% of cases in 2021 were from the same localities, similar to the clusters in 2019. The areas included Secunderabad, Serilingampally, and Khairatabad zones.

Dengue More Harmful Than Fourth Wave of COVID

Already media is full of the negative impact of social media. While it is helpful in many situations, there is collateral damage due to it for sure. Many gullible men and women are falling prey to Facebook and Instagram friends.One such incident occurred in Hyderabad, where a boy and a girl became friends. Slowly, the guy started talking about marriage, and the girl started visiting his house. The man, B Prakash, 21, is a resident of Rd No 2, Banjara Hills. Eventually, they got into a physical relationship as the girl believed that they would be getting married soon.Prakash assaulted the victim on several occasions on the pretext of marriage. A few days ago, the girl found out that Prakash was also having a relationship with another girl. She confronted him, and Prakash then refused to marry her, citing various reasons.The victim then approached the Medchal police, who registered a zero FIR, and transferred the case to Banjara Hills police, who re-registered a case and arrested Prakash.Ironically, despite the best efforts of police and NGOs and stories in the media, such incidents of violation only seem to be increasing. Unless and until strict action is taken against offenders, it looks like some will stoop down to committing such heinous acts.

Girl Raped by Her Instagram Friend On the Pretext of Marriage

Gaming is the ongoing 'it' thing, and the city has its share of gaming development companies that are doing good. One such company Atirath has raised an undisclosed amount of seed funding from Kalaari Capital. The Hyderabad company develops games in casual and strategy genres. Their games are special, thanks to the sub-continental culture that they incorporate, with a global appeal. The funds will be used for team expansion and to develop the economic model of the game metaverse.Incidentally, India is among the world's top five mobile gaming markets. High internet penetration rate, mobile first phenomena, and low cost of internet connectivity are three key factors driving this growth. As of today, mobile gaming is a $2.2 billion market in India and is expected to reach $7 billion by 2025, growing at an astounding CAGR of 40 percent. According to reports, an average Indian spends over 8.5 hours of gaming content per week.Atirath was founded in mid-2020 by Shiva Bayyapunedi and Ramachandra Raju, who worked together at Apalya Technologies, which Shiva founded and was later acquired. The duo has a strong tech and business operations background. Their vision is to create a game metaverse with geographic, economic, and social experience in a strategy game, connecting players, content creators, and game publishers.According to Shiva, co-founder of Atirath, business models like play to earn and play to collect with technology innovation in blockchain-based solutions in NFT/FT will fuel phenomenal growth. He points out that players are no longer passive, and new platforms will enable them to contribute and monetize the success of games. He further reveals that their firm is building a game metaverse in the strategy genre with an Indian mythology theme with unique gameplay features.Vamshi Reddy of Kalaari Capital explains that they will see new forms of monetization layers coming up. For example, mythological games like God of War and Assassin's Creed have worked well worldwide, selling over 200 million copies. Reddy is confident that Indian mythology is an untapped opportunity and offers a high possibility of creating an immersive experience.

Hyd-based Atirath Gets Funding From Kalaari Capital

The Wheelchair Cricket team player cum the vice-captain of the Telangana Wheelchair Cricket team, Monu Shek, is all set to play his first-ever Indian Wheelchair Premier League. The tournament is the third season of IWPL-2022.Monu Shek, an employee at Dell Technologies, gave a byte on the struggles that motivated him to participate in IWPL. As per his version, Monu Shek lost his limbs and arm completely seven years ago during a fire accident. Done and dusted with the sad past, Monu is moving forward in life with new hope. Reportedly, he developed his own techniques to play wheelchair cricket and participated in the IWPL 2022 premier league.Despite facing many hurdles, Monu Shek says he never gave up his passion for cricket. Being one of the founder members of the Telangana Wheelchair Cricket Association three years ago, Monu said that they are a team of 20 members. Revealing his performance details, Monu said that to date, he played seven national matches and has a strike rate of 150+. His best score is said to be 87 runs in 55 balls.

Inspiring Story of Monu Shek Who Fought Against All Odds

A helpdesk has been set up at the Hyderabad International Airport for migrant workers who fly abroad for employment. The helpdesk was jointly set up by Telangana Overseas Manpower Company Limited (TOMCOM) and GMR which operates the airport.&nbsp;This helpdesk has been made available to assist migrant workers in their commute from Hyderabad Airport. The Help Desk was inaugurated by Special Chief Secretary Rani Kumudini. Workers from the Telugu states regularly travel from Hyderabad airport to Gulf countries such as Kuwait, Abu Dhabi, UAE, Qatar, and Dubai.&nbsp;However, due to the fraud of the agents and lack of proper documentation,‌ many people are facing difficulties after going abroad. Unaware of their rights, they suffer big time in foreign countries. This desk will be very helpful in resolving such issues and giving appropriate suggestions.