Orchids The International School Implements CBSE’s ‘Sugar Board’ Directive; Strengthens Existing Nutrition-Focused Initiatives
Rolls out informative Sugar Boards across campuses to build awareness on added sugar intake
Reinforces long-standing practices like balanced school meals and low-sugar hydration options
Empowers students with hands-on food education through farm-to-plate and nutrition learning
National, May 20, 2025: In response to the CBSE’s recent directive urging schools to establish ‘Sugar Boards’ to address the growing concern of childhood diabetes, Orchids The International School has announced the implementation of a comprehensive Sugar Awareness initiative across its campuses. This move complements the school’s ongoing commitment to nutrition-first education and student well-being.
Speaking on the rollout, Vijay Sreedhar, Culinary Head, Orchids The International School shared, “At Orchids, we believe the classroom extends all the way to the cafeteria. Nutrition isn’t an add-on—it’s an essential part of learning. CBSE’s ‘Sugar Board’ initiative validates the importance of what we’ve been championing for years: helping children understand what’s on their plate, and why it matters. By integrating farm-to-plate experiences, balanced nutritional meals, and now structured sugar awareness tools, we’re not just reducing sugar—we’re raising consciousness. Our goal is to nurture a generation that doesn’t just eat healthy, but thinks healthy.”
Speaking on the implementation, Naresh Ramamurthy, National Academic Head, Orchids The International School said, “These Sugar Boards will provide daily sugar intake guidelines, charts showing sugar content in everyday foods and beverages, and student-led tips and insights. We already have a strict no-junk-food policy on campus, and this initiative takes our commitment further. With nutritionist-led workshops, interactive challenges, and a phased reduction in sugar consumption, we aim to empower students to make healthier, more informed choices that will benefit them well into adulthood.”
Over the years, Orchids has already implemented a series of structured, health-centric initiatives, like:
Balanced School Meals: Orchids’ meal program meets approximately 70% of a child’s daily nutritional needs, offering a carefully curated mix of macro and micronutrients with minimal use of processed sugars
Smart Beverage Options: The school serves Waterfull, a premium flavoured water with 80% less sugar than conventional drinks, promoting hydration without high sugar intake
Farm-to-Plate Model: As India’s first school group to integrate hydroponic and polyhouse farming, students grow vegetables used in their own meals—reinforcing sustainability and nutrition
Food Education Modules: Through projects, classroom discussions, and culinary sessions, students gain critical knowledge on healthy eating habits
Through these proactive steps, Orchids The International School continues to lead by example in fostering a generation that values health, balance, and informed decision-making.
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Summer Holidays 2025
The thing about summer holidays are…they disappear with adulthood.But fear not, I have a full proof plan for you to enjoy summer holidays …even as an adult .
If you are a parent ,it’s easy.You get your summer holidays when your child does.You can take leave coinciding with her/him for the full duration (difficult) or few days .
If you are not a parent, take a holiday in summer when it gets too hot or when your heart wants one!
Now what will you do?
Chill at home.Do nothing sleep ,chat with friends at home.
- Reading
- painting
- starting a balcony garden,
- crafting
- sewing
- or learning an Art form are all great.
- You could watch Amazon prime movies
- Start a blog (My healthwealthbridge blog is on the list of Top Indian doctors blog)
- Start a youtube channel
- podcast or
- write a book.
- You could also learn swimming, learn to shoot,start a nature club,tree plantation club.
- Try cooking, baking goodies at home for tea time and snacks.
I took several art courses during my holidays.The Kesh Art Course,Gods of Mithila Art Course with Anushree, painted calm.I also painted during the COVID shutdown,Art helps me feel restful,creative and finding flow .I managed to publish my Audiobook and it’s available everywhere.You can listen for free on YouTube.
This year I am finishing the Jenna Rainey Art Course, watching Reacher on Amazon Prime,hand crocheting,took a creative writing course and am planning on signing up for another art course.I also have a travel plan brewing in the back.
I an writing this with Blogchatter Bloghop .
Sharing is good Karma!
48 Laws of Power by Robert Greene #Bookreview
48 Laws of Power by Robert Greene was on my to read list for a very long time.The Pahalgam Islamic terrorism in April 22nd and the India Pakistan war in May 2025,made me realize how world power equations ,relations and diplomacy ,wars are not things we can solve over a cup of Chai .Everything is nuanced ,veiled and nothing talks like power and money.
Both are important and both needs to be user for the good,if you want an unending supply of karmic good fortune.
Pros and Cons of the 48 Laws of Power
Pros:Quick easy to read.Comes to the point without meandering. Some very sane advice for anyone who wants to go forward in life .
Cons:Its brief and people who don’t like knowing the why,psychological aspect of what you do and why you do it ,may be unable to grasp the tenets of it.
My favorite one:48th one
Be like Water :Fluid
How do I know its a good book to read?
I like corroborated facts .I like laws which are backed by common sense and which helps me make sense of a world, hell bent on self destruct mode.
The book unfortunately doesn’t hold true to my first requirement but more than makes up for it with the second must.Also trying to find research links for the laws and including them in the book would have made this difficult to read.
Who should read the 48 laws of Power?
A must read for anyone struggling with office-politics/college politics/real world politics/for upping your social understanding.
Who shouldn’t read this
If you don’t like reading or getting along with people …you may safely skip this one.
Sharing is good Karma!
Top Indian Doctors Blog and Top Doctors Podcast in India!Feedspot Feature
I am third on the list of top 25 Indian doctors blog 2025 May edition.Lists like this always make me smile.The reason is obvious but it’s not what you think.The main reason being ,I have never paid money to be on such lists.Unfortunately most such list inclusion, needs a contribution and that doesn’t serve it’s purpose.The list needs to be authentic as far as possible.
https://bloggers.feedspot.com/indian_doctor_blogs
There are many offers to increase social media following, increase visibility ,increase collaborations and what not .But at the end of the day ,paid, barter and free work must all have value.
When I started blogging it was 2014 and I thought it was a desert .I was the only human in India with a blog. Then I discovered twitter ,now called X ,blogchatter community and the rest is history.
But that’s a history I plan to put down in words .Not right away but someday.I blogged through starting my job as a medical teacher ,resigning from the job ,starting the Healthwealthbridge podcast ,starting the Doctors Creative Diary podcast which came 3rd in Anchors Podcast contest,published books ,audiobooks. Then in April 2025 when Pahalgam Islamic terror attack tore through India’s heart, I felt paralyzed mentally .
I was participating in two blogging contests and I couldn’t write. Words were frozen. I didn’t know what was going to happen. I didn’t want to write about a topic I only knew about from news channels and social media.But then when the India Pakistan war started with the continuous drones and missile attacks,my fingers started tapping away .I still found it difficult to publish ,but I was writing again.
Today as I started updating a few of my websites pages ,I randomly checked out Feedspot and got the most wonderful surprise.Check out all the curated lists that Feedspot publishes.Thank you to all my readers,friends and family whose support has made this possible.
I am also on the list of top 10 Indian doctors podcast .5th on the list.
https://podcast.feedspot.com/india_doctor_podcasts
6th on the Women’s Health podcast list
https://podcast.feedspot.com/india_women_health_podcasts
14th on the list of top Health podcast 2025
https://podcast.feedspot.com/india_health_podcasts
In case you are curious about what Google search AI overview thinks of Healthwealthbridge by Dr.Amrita read this
Sharing is good Karma!
Forest Man of India #WorldEarthDay
Jadav Payeng, is famous as the “Forest Man of India,” planted a variety of trees in Molai Forest, including bamboo, cotton trees, and other indigenous species. The forest now includes several thousand trees, including arjun (Terminalia arjuna), Pride of India (Lagerstroemia speciosa), royal poinciana (Delonix regia), silk trees (Albizia procera), and moj,Arjun,Gulmohar, Bamboo covers over 300 hectares of the forest.
Molai forest is a forest on Majuli district in the Brahmaputra River near Kokilamukh, Assam, India.
He planted for 3 months every year on a barren land which now has turned into a Famous forest.
The Majuli island forest in Assam India,s 300 hectares and is bigger than central park.
I wrote about how to create a forest garden at home using the Miyawaki method, but that’s stretching it a bit far.
But the jungle garden in the village is real .The story of India’s green hero is real too
“Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in, where nature may heal and give strength to body and soul.” ~ John Muir.
To that I want to add …everyone needs a little bit of Green forest in their life to really bloom.
I am participating in Blogchatter A2Z 2025 and also the April Ultimate blog challenge and you can find all the April posts here. This is a I post.
One more example of great work in green India by Vijay Dobaria.
Sharing is good Karma!
Physical Quality of Life :Adopt a Small Town and live there?
Abstract:This is an observational study drawing from the author’s own experiences and her peers working in a small town in West Bengal While the small towns and villages suffer from lack of quality healthcare,the cities are overcrowded.Young doctors are often at a loss about their career path and personal life.Earning a living as a qualified professional in a city is getting exceedingly difficult.Physical quality of life for doctors are on a constant down hill when it comes to their own mental and physical health.Lowering the stress of living,livelihood and helping those who need your help most might help Medical professionals find balance in this exceedingly chaotic world .
Keywords
Medical practice setup,quality of life,quality of life for doctors,healthy doctor,wellbeing for doctors,physical quality of life
Adopt a small town and live there?That’s the unexpected life decision that changed my life topsy turvy .It was the moment of truth and I took a long look inside to see where exactly I wanted to go.But before I go forward,I have to go back.Way back.
In the early 2000s when I joined Calcutta Medical College, I knew what I wanted from life.A Medical teaching job in the WBMES(West Bengal Medical Education Service)after getting my post graduation done.Marriage and baby somewhere in between( if so blessed).But I didn’t really think of marriage ,because I wasn’t sure how that would work out with the career I was planning.
Well God has his own plans and luckily for me,marrying my best friend from college was the turning point in my life.He helped me find my inner compass and my daughter was born, the compass pointed in only one direction.
My daughter needed me .My daughter needed both her parents around .This meant my grand plans needed realignment. I didn’t give up. The Medical teaching job though needed giving up.
I loved teaching.I loved seeing the light of comprehension in bright,young faces when something hit their brain just right.But the juggling with on-call night duties broke the proverbial camel’s back.My husband’s transfer to another town ,was the tipping point when I got off the camel !
In all this we continued living as a family in the small town close to the village my husband grew up in.Its well connected by rail and road.It has my in-laws close by and since it’s a small town ,you don’t have long commutes.Luckily we found a CBSE school we could send our daughter to and we could continue to build our private practice .
Life is slow.But you can earn a living living a quiet life.I am not a mall-hopping person.But I miss the swimming pool in my Kolkata housing complex.But my weekend visits to the village home help me in more ways than one.Its a reset button .It’s a chance for forest bathing and we look forward to this eagerly.
That’s not something we could have done in a bigger city.Plus we started reforestation in a few plot of land we bought with friends during COVID and that’s where we play cricket and badminton on weekends.I didn’t get my swimming pool,but I did get a very green mango orchard to sit dreaming in.I will forever be a Kolkata girl at heart,but Malda gave me a chance to discover myself and that’s my home .For now .Because you never know where life takes you.
Conclusion: When you set up your professional practice,do it at a place you can imagine living in and growing old.This is not a one size fit all solution but a way to slow down and do the work you want to do while getting off the hamster wheel.Don’t give up your city practice to suddenly go and live in a village or small town.Test it out first.Its also easier for those who have family and roots there.Its a way of giving back to the soil,family,society who helped you become who you are.
I am participating in Blogchatter A2Z 2025 and also the April Ultimate blog challenge and you can find all the April posts here. This is a S post.
References
Shankar, Kiran, et al. “DO MEDICAL GRADUATES PREFER TO WORK IN RURAL AREAS? – A FOLLOW UP STUDY OF OLD STUDENTS OF A PRIVATE MEDICAL COLLEGE IN TAMILNADU.” Journal of Evolution of Medical and Dental Sciences, Akshantala Enterprises Private Limited, 2013, doi:10.14260/jemds/1330.
Sheikh, Kabir, et al. “Location and Vocation: Why Some Government Doctors Stay on in Rural Chhattisgarh, India.” International Health, Oxford University Press, 2012, doi:10.1016/j.inhe.2012.03.004.
Saini, Narender K., et al. “What Impedes Working in Rural Areas? A Study of Aspiring Doctors in the National Capital Region, India.” Rural and Remote Health, Deakin University, 2012, doi:10.22605/rrh1967.
Behera, Manas Ranjan, et al. “Living Conditions, Work Environment, and Intention to Stay among Doctors Working in Rural Areas of Odisha State, India.” Annals of Tropical Medicine and Public Health, Medknow, 2018, doi:10.4103/atmph.atmph_338_17.
Kinchagulova, Miliausha Vainerovna, et al. “Research of the Motivation of Future Doctors to Work in Rural Areas and Small Towns.” Manager Zdravookhranenia, 2024, https://doi.org/10.21045/1811-0185-2024-9-112-120.
Sheikh, Kabir, et al. “What Rural Doctors Want: a Qualitative Study in Chhattisgarh State.” Indian Journal of Medical Ethics, Forum for Medical Ethics Society, 2016, doi:10.20529/ijme.2016.040.
Vallikunnu, Vinod, et al. “A Qualitative Study on Working Experience of Rural Doctors in Malappuram District of Kerala, India.” Journal of Family Medicine and Primary Care, Medknow, 2014, doi:10.4103/2249-4863.137643.
Saha, Somen, and Harshad Rathod. “Shortage of Doctors in Rural Health Centers: Empirical Evidence from Gujarat.” International Journal of Medicine and Public Health, EManuscript Services, 2012, doi:10.4103/2230-8598.108394.
Thayyil, Jayakrishnan, and Mathummal Cherumanalil Jeeja. “Issues of Creating a New Cadre of Doctors for Rural India.” International Journal of Medicine and Public Health, EManuscript Services, 2013, doi:10.4103/2230-8598.109305.
Sapkota, Bhim Prasad, and Archana Amatya. “What Factors Influence the Choice of Urban or Rural Location for Future Practice of Nepalese Medical Students? A Cross-Sectional Descriptive Study.” Human Resources for Health, BioMed Central, 2015, doi:10.1186/s12960-015-0084-5.
Sharing an AI Review by academia.edu of this article which I found very useful.
