Heights!

remember the post about two birthdays approaching fast (school birthday this month & actual birthday next month)? I mentioned how the kids are eager and preparing for these events.
Yesterday Neha bettered herself and probably hit the heights of birthday preparation.
She was practicing how to give the chocolates to her friends on the D-day!
she was holding a pen holder as the chocolate box and telling me and veena "take one more"

More on the plus sign on a doctor shop

Thanks to my cousin Shylu, I was able to find the answer to neha's question :-)

The plus sign on the doctor shop or a "red cross" is in fact one of the emblems of the Red Cross Society. Their other symbols are - a red crescent and a red crystal. According to the Geneva conventions, any of these emblems can be used by the following:

• facilities for the care of injured and sick armed forces members;
• armed forces medical personnel and equipment;
• military chaplains;
• International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement organizations such as the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), and the 185 national Red Cross and Red Crescent societies.

In India, the red cross emblem is misused by doctor shops and pharmacists on their name boards. (you'll even see it on a first aid box or on a doctor's car) There is a recent movement to do away with misusing the emblem and you may notice that many doctor shops now don't carry a red cross. Some doctors have created their own emblems cleverly using the red cross in some form. I saw one dentist in our neighborhood using red cross in the background and the staff with two snakes in the foreground as his unique symbol.

The pharmacists in India are switching over to using a green cross. This is the symbol of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain and they allow usage on a pharma shop. Notice the green cross on a Lifeken shop when you visit it next time.

A blue cross is used to indicate an endeavor in animal care. So you might see that on a vet shop.

Phew, feel learned and relieved now!

Plus Sign on a doctor shop

Neha played with bare feet in the sand pit in kids' play area and had a cut underneath the middle digit of her right leg. Not wanting to take a chance around contamination of the wound with tetanus bacteria, I took her to a doctor nearby and he gave her an anti-tetanus injection. I could see a glimpse of my grown-up & shy neha there. This was the first time we went to this doctor and so neha was shy to cry when he gave the injection. She tried her best to hold back the tears and remained silent when he asked did it hurt her too much. This is the same neha who acted like kalpana for a previous injection! I felt sad in a way cos she is already choosing dignity over her kiddish behavior. Maybe its a transition that I should get used to. My T-shirt slogan would not be "18 till I die" but "35 till I die cos then my daughters stay at 4"

On the way back, she was her inquisitive self and asked me - why do doctor shops have a symbol of "one standing line & one sleeping line". That took me off guard and I had never wondered what the plus sign on a doctor shop meant. I googled around for a while to look for meaning of the usual medical symbols. And found out about two of them:

Rx
The symbol "Rx" has two representations. It is meant to signify the eye of Horus (Egyptian god for light, sky & goodness) or it just means prescription (take this). So its either a god's symbol to wish good luck or a direction to take something to get well.

The symbol of staff with two snakes coiled to it:
It is the staff of Aesculapius (also called Asklepios), the ancient mythical god of medicine. His Greek name was Asklepios and his Roman name was Aesculapius. In reality, Asklepios may have once lived and been renowned for his gentle, humane remedies and his humane treatment of the mentally ill. His followers established temples called asclepions, temples of Asklepios, temples of healing. According to mythology, Asculapius had a number of children including Hygieia, the goddess of health (from whose name comes the word "hygiene") and Panaceia, the goddess of healing (from whose name comes por word "panacea" for a universal remedy). Today, the staff of Aesculapius is a commonly used symbol of medicine. It is the symbol of the American Medical Association (AMA) and many other medical societies.

+ sign
I could not find the meaning of the "plus" sign. I'm expecting it to be something very basic but cant find it. Do you know?