Acharya Shivnarayan

Beware of the beauties !!

2011-08-08T10:11:00.000-07:00

Even the Gods could not understand women , how could I, I am only a mortal being . I realized it from the incident that can never be forgotten .

It was early morning of 10th April 2008 .

A beauty entered my home . She was tall , slim , fair complexioned with dove eyes . She came apparently all alone , no call bell , no invitation , no formalities , headed straight to my bed room . I had never seen her earlier . From her no non- sense attitude it appeared as if she meant nothing but business .

She had a straight face with sharp angles er … like bollywood actress Ravina Tandon . Her sharp features were as if uttering ‘ankhiyon se goli maare …’ . Just then she smiled .

Her smile was like Madhubala , the matinee idol of yester years . Her smile was unilateral , her left naso labial fold was more prominent than right one like Madhubala . Who can forget the dance on the the versatile Mugal-e-Ajam song ‘Jab pyaar kiyaa to darnaa kyaa ‘.

But her eyes were as glittering as those of Madhuri Dixit . When Madhuri danced to the tune of ‘ Dhak dhak karne lagaa ,jiyara jalane lagaa ’, my heart jumped in my chest , the way it had jumped when I was 16 .

As I was getting mesmerized with the beauty , she walked towards me with spring in her feet . Her gait was like Priyanka Chopra . When Priyanka danced in ‘Don’ , and did a thumka on ‘ Khaike pan banaa rasvaala ,’ all film lovers went gaga with the enchanting beauty .

The girl was lean and thin built like zero figure Kareena Kapoor . Kareena had also shown her prowess in the same film with Shahrookh when she danced on the tune of ‘ Ye mera dil Pyaar ka divaanaa ….. ’ the original dancer was Helen .

Oh miss why don’t you speak ? Say some thing no …!

The sweet little thing opened her mouth , she was about to say some thing … . Her upper lips moved in like Zeenat Amaan . In Hare Rama Hare Krishna , Zeenat captivated her audience with the song ‘ Dum maaro dum …’

I was in my dream land , but was woken up by her words … ‘ Doctor , I am from Income Tax department , there is a raid in your house ’. Soon , few more tax sleuths entered my house , followed by armed police men .

Now the little sweet thing was looking like …. Er …. Lalita Pawar !

Eternally late

2011-06-11T09:42:00.000-07:00

8 pm , 5th June , 2011 .

Howrah railway station .

The platform was overcrowded . Thousands of passengers from Kolkata and nearby have gathered to catch Howrah – Mumbai Mail . The train has not yet been parked at the platform , it shall soon arrive . Sourabh , my nephew has come with his luggage to catch the train to reach Nagpur for some important family event .

Clock struck 8.15 pm , departure time , but the train was no where in sight ! Gradually time ticked away , 1, 2 , 3 hrs , train was not in sight . There was no announcements , the officials said that they do not know about the status of train . Whole night people were stranded in the platform without any proper information about the train . Saurabh , finally got tired , he had a wink of sleep for few minutes . at about 4 am , he was not able to keep himself awake .

At 4.30 am , he opened his eyes , his baggage was no where to be seen . These were stolen . His all belongings , ticket , money and all important documents were all gone . Finally the train arrived in the platform at 4.30 am , and left at 5.30 am without Saurabh , as he did not have ticket and money .

The train was late by over 9 hrs . This was not an isolated event , this is happening day after day , months after months daily since last 8 months . All the trains leaving Howrah station and which pass through so called Naxalite infested areas at night are delayed by over 8 hrs so that the trains pass through these supposedly dangerous terrain only during day time .

We are in a democratic country , where the law of land prevails , an elected government exists . But there is no answer to this situation . The authorities do not declare that the train timings have been changed and the trains will always leave after 8 hrs of the scheduled time of departure .

My daughter aged 11 years asked me , “ Papa , who are naxalites ? How do they look like ? Are they terrible creatures ? ” “ No my dear , they are humans like you and me !” I answered . “ Then who are they papa” , the innocent child asked . “ They are educated but jobless , homeless , poor tribal who create law and order problem .” “ Why is it so , papa ? ” again the simple question .
I looked at the ever inquisitive child .

How can I tell her about land mafia , mining mafias , corruption , government apathy , swiss bank accounts of our beloved leaders whom we have voted to power !

A tale of two friends

2011-06-11T07:05:00.000-07:00

Circumstances change our attitude . What may appear obviously wrong today may seem appropriate tomorrow . The same situation or event may appear proper or may appear totally bizarre depending on which side of the fence are we .
Ramu and Raman are two close friends who studied together in primary school in a village . Ramu was son of a farmer who continued his studies to become a an agricultural graduate and devoted his life in village only . Raman , son of a businessman went on to become an engineer , did MBA and settled in Mumbai . He is a top executive now .
So far so good , the stories differ from now on . Ramu remained a middle class person , earning just sufficient enough for his families’ livelihood . He has a small farm and is happy with it . He walks a lot in his farm , grows plenty of vegetables , the people in the village know him closely and come to him often for any reason . He has many friends to talk to , celebrates various festivals with joy and gusto .
Raman on the other hand is a top executive , earns a lot , strives hard for more and more , has lot many responsibilities , has put money on shares , never gets time to walk but tends to travel by Mercedes to save time on travel and also for social reasons . He attends to night parties . He has professional colleagues but no friends . He has a costly cell phone as company . Drinks and smokes are his compulsion if not a choice . He became irritable , gets bodyache , headache and is constantly under tension .
After a decade , Raman developed diabetes and soon hypertension followed . He had to take eight different tablets to keep his blood pressure and diabetes under control .He soon got frustrated with the chain of events . He remembered his childhood friend Ramu and rushed to his village . Both met each other after three decades .
Ramu was very glad to have his friend Raman after such a long time , he gave a bear hug and after a lot of gossip under the banyan tree , both sat for dinner together .
Raman asked Ramu , “How much do you earn ?”
Ramu replied humbly , “ Just enough to keep me and my family going , few thousands , but its enough for us .”
Raman laughed at him , “ Only thousands ! I pay that much of tax every quarter . Well what do you drive ? ”
Ramu replied ,” I have a bullock cart and also a bicycle , but I prefer to walk ”
Raman gave him a sarcastic look , “ I always travel by Mercedes. You know it costs 22 lacs . And you know Ramu , I have a flat in 13th floor from where I can see Arabian sea all around . That flat costs two crores . ” Raman looked around with pride .
“ Bhai sahib , should I give you some more rice ? ” asked Ramu’s wife .
“ Oh no , my blood sugar will shoot up ”.
“ Then will you like to have jhunka bhakar , bhai sahib , and also have some baingan bharta . It tastes delicious if you mix it with nimbu-achar ( lemon-pickle ) ” , she asked again .
“ What are you offering me bhabhi , my blood pressure will go up , already I am on 5 different drugs to control it . And pickle ! My doctor will go mad if he comes to know about nimbu achar . I am on antacids round the clock you know . ” said Raman .
After the dinner , Ramu offered him rus malai . Again the Laxman rekha of diabetes came in the way .
While departing , Raman invited Ramu and family to Mumbai . “ Why don’t you come and settle in Mumbai , Ramu ? I shall help you in starting a business there . There is lot of money in Mumbai , you know . ”
“ Yah , there is , but you get diabetes , hypertension and acidity free with that money . What is the use of such money which prevents one from enjoying jhunka bhakar , nimbu achar , baigan bharta and rus malai ?” said bhabhi innocently .
Raman thought that how foolish these villagers are , while Ramu felt lucky that he did not settle in Mumbai !

Protect your kidneys, Save your heart

2011-03-09T10:15:00.000-08:00

Recent researches show that kidney disease somehow speeds up heart disease well before it has damaged the kidneys badly . Vice versa heart disease can trigger kidney damage . So now it is prudent that heart experts must check for kidney ailments while the kidney specialists should be watchful for existing heart disease in a patient .
Chronic kidney disease, or CKD, is a quiet epidemic: In America , around 19 million Americans estimated to have it don't know they do. The kidneys lose their ability to filter waste out of the bloodstream so slowly that symptoms aren't obvious until the organs are badly damaged. End-stage kidney failure is rising fast, with 400,000 people requiring dialysis or a transplant to survive, a toll that has doubled in each of the last two decades.
And while CKD patients often are terrified of having to go on dialysis, the hard truth is that most will die of heart disease even before their stage of dialysis is reached .

High blood pressure and diabetes are chief risk factors for both chronic kidney disease and heart attacks. But the link goes beyond those risk factors . Once the kidneys begin to fail, something in turn accelerates heart disease, not just in the obviously sick or very old, but even in younger age .

There are three markers of kidney function . Firstly , the rate at which kidneys filter blood, called the GFR or glomerular filtration rate . Second , levels of the protein or albumin in the urine and lastly anemia . As the kidney markers worsen , there are more chances of having heart disease.

What about the heart's effect on the kidneys? People diagnosed with heart disease has twice the risk of declining kidney function in the next nine years. Heart disease narrows arteries all over the body, kidneys included. Also, some heart imaging tests use compounds ( radio- contrasts ) that harm kidneys.
It is thought that both the heart and kidneys send various signals to the bone marrow, which produces a type of stem cell that keeps those organs in good repair. When either starts to fail, this key repair mechanism falters.

What patients can do ?

Any one with heart disease should check for presence of kidney disease as well and vice versa . The tests for kidney disease are inexpensive – just get your urine examined for protein , check your blood pressure and hemoglobin . Presence of protein in urine accompanied by hypertension and anemia indicate advanced kidney problem and need further evaluation .

Remember that presence of protein in urine in any age group is pathological .
Keep the blood pressure below 130 systolic Smoking and tobacco chewing cause narrowing of blood vessels and rise in blood pressure , thus damaging both heart and kidneys . Diabetics must keep their blood sugar under control with diet , exercise and medicines .
Fat content in blood especially low density lipoproteins should be below 70 .
A relatively non-expensive drug called as ACE – inhibitor protects kidneys and delays onset of dialysis .

Medical Negligence - - - Searching for the root cause

2010-04-17T02:34:00.000-07:00

Ramkrishna Paramhans had said that there are three kinds of physicians , one who prescribes drugs and forgets ,has nothing to do as what has happened to the patient . The second category are the ones who hand over the medicines to the patient and lastly the ones who will forcefully make the patient gulp the medicines . In today’s scenario of lack of faith on doctors , last kind of medical practice is better forgotten .

Medicine is a noble profession . Medical negligence literally means neglect of a patient by his physician . Professional negligence or medical negligence may be defined as want of reasonable degree of care or skill or willful negligence on the part of the medical practitioner in the treatment of a patient with whom a relationship of professional attendant is established, so as to lead to bodily injury or to loss of life.

By and large no doctor will ever neglect a patient wilfully . A doctor will always try to do his / her best to help a patient . However in present day on and off we come across the news about medical negligence . The root of this dreaded disease is quite deep . The negligence is far more than just forgetting scissors in patients tummy . Negligence means any fault, imperfection, shortcoming or inadequacy in the quality, nature and manner of performance, which is required to be maintained by or under any law for the time being in force .

Why should a doctor neglect a patient ? Either he is not trained well enough to take care of his patient , or he is well trained but is not able to devote sufficient time due to other responsibilities like family or social or he is over burdened with work . The training starts at the institute from where he has graduated . Let us have look at the medical training institutes.

Hippocrates oath states that a doctor should practice medicine without bias on caste , creed , religion or sex and without fear . But right from admission to medical colleges this oath is corroded at the fundamentals . Admission in medical colleges in graduate and post graduate courses is based on caste and if the wishes of our politicians materialise , then soon we will have religion based admissions.
In all the medical colleges in India , there is no teachers training program like B.Ed. (bachelor of education ) . So the medical students are taught by the teachers who are not trained in teaching at all. Naturally the undergraduate students are often taught by the post graduate students who do not touch the basics of medicine and teach whatever they have learnt from books or their limited experience .

The teachers in medical college are supposed to take rounds in wards , see patient in outpatient departments , attend emergency calls , do administrative duties , attend medico-legal cases , guide PG students , up date their knowledge in latest in medicines , and also fulfil the national health programs like leprosy eradication etc . It is hard to believe but a bitter truth is that most of the time of medical teacher is wasted in the corridors of power in preventing transfers or getting promotions . So they have very little time and energy left for teaching the students .

With proliferation of private medical colleges , the teachers from government set up are resigning to join these institutes for better salary and better perks . There is awful shortage of teachers in medical colleges . In order to get sanctions for medical courses from MCI ( medical council of India ) the colleges show the number of teachers by unethical means . These include the government medical colleges who transfer and retransfer the teachers in order to show the adequate number of teachers prior to inspection by medical council.

The curriculum in medical courses are vague . Take an example of curriculum in medicine in M.B.B.S. course , it states cardiovascular system but does not define the limits where the cardiovascular system begins or ends .
The studies in medical colleges are not research oriented. So there is very little research work going on in medical colleges . Thesis written by post graduate students lack depth and often repetition of some work already done earlier .

Because of poor payment structure , the teachers from medical colleges tend to leave colleges and start private practice which gives them both money and stability . So the bitter truth prevails – there is exodus of quality teachers from medical colleges . The lack of good teachers in medical colleges and hence poor training is one of the root causes of medical negligence .

Once a student graduates or post graduates and thinks of starting practice he has already a significant burden on his shoulders . Burden of finances – during admission for basic medical course or post graduate course a medical student has already spent lot of money in studies even when his non medico counter part pursuing other courses have started earning their livelihood . So naturally here is a situation where a doctor is interested in recovering his money even before he has actually started practice .

The establishment cost for doctors is high . The lack of basic infrastructure like constant electricity and water supply interrupts smooth functioning of his practice . Exorbitant cost of instruments topped with high taxes like octroi on the instruments , high interest rates for loans besides the cost of developing infrastructure which includes purchasing power generators in power starved states makes him indebted to financial institutes for ever .
A medical practitioner today is in extreme tension to meet financial challenges . In view of this he has to work more to pay back loan .

For a beginner it is difficult to get patients directly so he has to stress on referral from other doctors which feeds milk to the nasty serpent called “cut practice”.After all these , once the patient has come , he has to be looked after , operated upon and also has to be provided with round the clock supervision in a decent environment . So the doctor needs to employ more staffs . This adds to financial burden .

A doctor also has to look after few non-medical aspects of his practice that includes maintaining his establishment , taking care of environment , paying taxes , paying dues to employees provident fund , paying professional tax , renewing license of hospital with municipality or corporation , getting registered with labour department , attending medico-legal cases etc. Unfortunately all these government offices are located at different places and have different time frames of last dates . All these non-medical aspects are often more important than the practice itself as the neglect on these fronts have serious consequences .

The practitioner must bring to his task a reasonable degree of skill and knowledge and must exercise a reasonable degree of care. The doctor has to be of good quality , well trained , - so also the juniors assisting him . – it is difficult to get well qualified MBBS doctors as assistants – so doctors untrained in allopathic medicine like BAMS and even BHMS doctors are employed to look after the patients treated by practitioners of allopathic medicine . Hence there is every chance that something might go wrong .

Treating Medical Negligence ! !

2010-04-17T02:25:00.000-07:00

Medical negligence has become a matter of concern . Let the meritorious students opt for a noble profession like medicine . Give them all the support from social and government level. Let the doctors concentrate on seeing patients and not waste time on standing in a que for getting clearances from government agencies .
There is a need to look in to the problem of medical negligence . I have few suggestions -
a. Reduce cost of medical studies basic courses like MBBS as well as post graduate diploma and degree , reduce fees structure , abolish donations ,
b. Abolish caste and religion based admission to medical courses .
c. Allow the graduates of other pathies to work as assistant to allopathic doctors by including the basic allopathic courses in their curriculum
d. Include teacher’s training program in post graduate level before a doctor is allowed to teach medical students
e. All medical establishments should be provided with uninterrupted electricity and water supply .
f. All government offices should have single common window system so that doctor need not be harassed at various government offices and need not waste time on non-medical issues.
g. Give loans to doctors at cheaper rate and waive off the taxes from life saving medical instruments
h. Recruitment of medical teachers and their promotion should be only on the basis of merit and experience and on no other criteria like caste , creed and religion .
i. Liberal scholarships to economically backward students

King for a few moments !

2010-04-04T05:58:00.000-07:00

By default , I was a king for a few moments .

It was a flight from Nagpur to Mumbai by our ‘ international’ domestic carrier . As I entered into the air craft , I handed over the boarding pass to the air hostess .Interestingly and to my surprise , after seeing the boarding pass , she bowed down and respectfully ushered me to a seat . She asked me with respect with a divine smile on her face , ‘ How do you do , Sir ? ‘. She was an edifice of humility .

Soon followed another hostess , she presented me with ice cold towel to clean my face with . After a grueling day at Nagpur , it was refreshing indeed . As I finished , another beauty followed with a tray , ‘ What you will like to have , Sir , fresh lemon juice or water melon juice , sir ?’ I obliged her and asked for water melon juice .

By now I grew suspicious , am I dreaming ! Am I in a real world or in a wonderland or did I rub a magical lantern like Aladdin ?

I have flown to Mumbai on innumerable occasions but never did I have such a grand welcome . I looked around . The seats were broad , spacious , very comfortable , a separate tray holder with each seat , had extra leg space . The seat cushion was more than comfortable . Oh , at last our national carrier has changed its style of functioning - could be due to tough competition from other airlines . Competitions are really beneficial to passengers - so I thought .
As I was getting adjusted to new kind of unusual VIP treatment , I was further pampered by another air hostess , ‘ Sir , which magazine will you like to read please ! ’ said she in a melodious voice . She had brought 15 chronicles to choose from . ‘ Wow , great . The airline has definitely changed for good !! ’ , I thought .

Now time was ripe for the air craft to leave Nagpur .

An officer from the ground staff came to check the number of passengers in the air craft .Soon he was dialing to the air port check in counter , “ Sir , you said 2 executive class passengers , I find three here . ”

Now the things became crystal clear to me . I was offered a wrong seat , in place of usual cattle class , I mean business class , I was ushered on to executive class seat by mistake and hence all the pampering .

Soon I was back to my original seat in poor cattle class with congested seats , neglectful ‘ care you not ‘ air hostesses , torn outdated news papers in the cabin , passengers sitting next to me had dry parched throats , no one offering water even after asking , forget about fruit juices , ice cold towels and up to date chronicles .

I sighed a sense of relief when passengers of both the classes reached same destination i.e.
‘ aamchi Mumbai .’

2009-10-20T10:55:00.000-07:00

My Step Wife

2009-10-18T11:28:00.000-07:00

She is a new entrant in my life. Right from the time she came in , she has been by the side of my heart . I feel ashamed but I must admit that she has somehow replaced my legally wedded wife , later stays inside my heart !
I told my sweet wife that its impossible for me to live without this new entrant . My wife was apprehensive , she felt that the new entrant will be more of a nuisance .
She had captured my attention the day I saw her in a mall . She was a point of attraction for everyone around . She was beautiful , slim , attractive , decent and royal . Naturally I fell flat for her . Wherever I moved around , my eyes were always on her . So was of other guys around . More I saw her , more enchanting she looked . I was mesmerised , hypnotised , unaware of the surroundings , just I kept on looking at her , as if the time stood still . I missed my heart beat . As I returned home , I kept on thinking about her . My wife asked why am I looking distracted . I replied that I have fallen for a beauty . She was shocked but thought that I am befooling her .
Next day I brought her home .
Life has been never so nice . She is always with me . Initial few days , it took me time to understand her . She appeared very beautiful but very complex . She had many sharp features . Her qualities were endless . She has a very sharp memory . She can tell me any phone number any moment . She remembers home addresses , office addresses and also keeps appointment record for me .
Morning till night , she is with me . Even at night she is with me . I have become so fond of her that I take her wherever I go . She is with me even in my office .
Occasionally she sings songs in my ear . She is very well behaved and follows my commands as per my wish . If I ask her to keep mum , unlike my legally wedded wife , she follows my dictates and keeps mum till I tell her to chatter again . Whenever she is mum , and still wishes to speak , she transfers her feelings through vibration . Unlike my wife , she does not demand to go to my in-laws house , has no demands for gold , diamond , does not ask for bangles , necklace , or ear rings .
Early morning she wakes me up with a sweet tune . She can remember the faces of people or any scenery and captures these for me . She is talented . She can solve difficult sums . She does divisions , multiplication , addition or substraction in no time . I am weak at calculating percentages . If I ask her to derive a percentage , she does it in no time . She is a wonderful company to keep . My children enjoy her company very much . Strangely enough my wife does not mind a bit .
She is sautan to my legally wedded wife or in other words she is my step - wife . Though she can not cook delicious dishes as my loving wife does , my cell phone is not less than my wife in many ways !

Ganesha drinks milk again

2009-09-25T05:42:00.000-07:00

The God has done it again . Last time in 1996 , Lord Ganesha was kind enough to drink milk in different places all over India and this time his parents Lord Shiva and Goddess Parvati did so. Never mind , this is all in the family !

Since time immemorial we know that the God has special liking for milk and milk products . In so many temples the paintings and sculpture show lord Krishna drinking milk , curd and stealing butter .

But the question is whether the idols really drank milk ? The students of physics have easy explanation . The so called drinking of the milk by idols is actually the phenomenon of capillary action whereby the liquid tend to move up into a capillary . If you dip a biscuit in to a cup of tea , tea not only wets the part dipped but it wets the part of the biscuit above the level of tea .

Whether the God drank milk or not , but the news – starved television channels were delighted . The mobile companies too had a field day as they minted money through SMS . ( e.g. whether the idol would drink one ounce of milk or 1 gallon , send a SMS !!! )

Offering food to God is symbolic in nature . This is in fact thanking the supreme being for giving us food .The food offered to the idols are not really eaten by the God but by the people who worship Him . In fact the Creator Himself does not need any food , water or milk . These materials have been created by Him for the living beings in the world .

Over centuries , the idol worship has led to many misgivings . In almost all temples , milk , curd and ghee are poured on the idols as a ritual . Those who do so should think about thousands of mothers and children in the country who go to bed without food . These poor people can only dream about milk . Many children do not know how butter looks like . These costly and high protein nutritious substances go down the drain in every temple daily .

During snake festival Nagpanchami , milk is offered to the snakes with the hope of getting blessings . But milk is definitely not the natural food for snakes . In fact milk is harmful for snakes .

In south India , statue of Mahabali is bathed with tons of milk , curd and ghee . In the name of worship people do havan or yagnya in which wood , ghee , food and vegetables etc are put into fire . The same philosophy is stretched to the extreme limit in the sacrifice of animals and even humans in the name of pleasing gods.

People offer not only milk but gold ornaments , diamonds etc. In fact daily collection in one of the south Indian temples cross a crore . There is nothing wrong in faith and beliefs provided the fruits are utilized for some good cause .

Rabindranath Tagore had penned “Tomar poojar chhaley , Tomay bhuleyi thaki” which means that in the process of following rituals , I forget Your true self .
( I forget that you are much beyond the stone idols, you are omnipresent and omnipotent .)

The idol worship was practiced mainly for meditation purpose so that the wandering mind can be controlled and focused . But over a period of time people started identifying the idol with real God which led to many ill conceived practices including animal and human sacrifice .

History tells us that the Somnath temple was destroyed by muslim invaders 17 times. This temple was a very rich temple those days . Temple property was looted and taken out of India . The temple had a Shiva-Lingam which people believed that it possessed many powers . They thought that the moment the enemies touch the Lingam , it would burn the enemies in to ashes . But it did not happen . The invaders virtually looted everything without any resistance from the devotees . Hindus looked helplessly with a hope that some miracle will save the deity but in vain . They forgot that the god is far beyond the stone idols , in fact He is in our heart and mind .

God is not to be found in temples or palaces , He would be found by the side of the road breaking stone or in the fields growing grains , It is worth searching Him amongst the downtrodden hapless poor people .If at all you wish to feed him milk , feed the poor , it shall reach Him automatically .

I remember a hymn learnt long back during my school days . It said --

“When I was hungry you gave me to eat
When I was thirsty you gave me to drink
Now enter into the home of my Father
For whatsoever you do for the good of your brothers
That you do unto me”

Bulls of Barcelona

2009-08-21T11:20:00.000-07:00

It was a bone chilling experience .
I was witnessing a sport in Spain which has been going on since time immemorial. It was a bull fight . With the display of the colourful band , fierce bull rushed inside the ring arena . It found a man inside and rushed to crush him under its mighty hoofs. The man was expecting this attack so he jumped over the boundary to clear off the attacking bull. The mighty bull then started thumping its hoofs on the ground . And there entered a warrior with a flag mounted on a sharp arsenal . The angry bull now attacked him but before it could pierce the man with its sharp horns , the man had pierced the sharp arsenal on the back of the ferocious bull . The crowd became ecstatic . There was appreciation all around and the man jumped the boundary wall like a hero .

The stadium was jam packed . I reached the stadium before-time lest I should be denied a ticket . My daughters accompanied me but were not allowed inside as they were below sixteen . As I stood in the queue , horse mounted police force took up position to ward off any kind of disruption by animal lovers who had assembled to protest against the cruelty to the animals . They were people from different walks of life who assembled in front of the stadium carrying placards depicting the photographs of poor animals being injured by almighty humans . Something inside me cried aloud and I was about to return back from the venue but then my curiosity won and I purchased the tickets .

It appeared to me right from the beginning that the bulls were intoxicated possibly with opium or alcoholic drinks . Their ability to judge and then attack was missing . After the sharpened arsenal pierced the bulls , there entered warriors ‘picadores’, mounted on horse's back and armed with a sort of lance. The horses were huge , muscular and tall . The horses were covered with protective coverings . Their eyes too were covered with clothes to prevent them from seeing the attacker . The ferocious bull attacked the horses . The warrior sitting atop the horse attacked the bull with the arrow and pierced its chest wall . A gush of blood came out of the wounded chest . The bull lost a lot of blood following this attack. It had become weak and also confused . It was unable to understand as to why he should be a target of such inhuman attacks by human being .

And then the real hero ‘torero’ descended on the scene . He walked up to the centre of the arena , waived his hand carrying a sharp sword muleta, in one hand and a small red rag in the other . He waived the red rag at the bull . Bull rushed at him but could attack the cloth only as the warrior had moved to a side . This game continued for quite a while , the warrior would enrage the bull with red cloth , bull would attack towards the red cloth but the man behind would just move a bit to a side to score off the attack , the bull would get enraged further to attack with renewed vigor . But the bleeding bull was getting weaker every moment due to continuous blood loss from the inflicted wounds . Soon it was damn tired and was unable to move quickly . The hero then attacked the bull with his sharp sword to pierce its heart . The bull fell on the ground , convulsed a little , vomited blood and soon became motionless . There was excitement all around . The crowd started shouting with joy .

This was followed by a play of band and second bull was deployed for the game . The same routine followed , this bull too was intoxicated , repeated assault by the warriors well dressed and decorated , and final assault by a hero who fought with a tired and weak bull who was at the verge of death any way due to incessant rapid loss of blood . To my utter dismay , there was cheers all around , viewers were ecstatic with joy as their hero triumphantly killed the animal . This show was repeated many times but I could tolerate no more , my heart was pounding as if it would come out of my throat . I was saddened by the fate of poor hapless animal . I came out halfway from this terrible show of inhumanity and pseudo-triumph.

.................Thus justice is done

2009-04-08T08:33:00.000-07:00

“You are fined Rs. 500/-”, said honorable judge.
“Saheb, I am not guilty “, replied Ramdeen.
“Thousand rupees”, judge ruled .
“Saheb, please, I am a poor man”.
“Thousand five hundred or fifteen days imprisonment”, judge closed the file and took up another case.
Ramdeen could not pay any fine hence was jailed for two weeks. I knew Ramdeen since last four years . He has been visiting me for health checkup of his second child who is suffering from kidney ailment. This time he came after an unusual long gap. “How is it that you came after such a long time, Ramdeen? “I asked.
“Saheb , its all game of stars”, he replied . Later he narrated the chain of events that led him ‘behind bars’.

Ramdeen used to sell cloth bags at one of the busiest traffic points in the city . This was his only source of income . He was blessed with a daughter . At a very tender age of two, she had developed redness of eyes and gradually lost her vision. Ramdeen took her to government hospital but did not get any benefit. His second child, a son, was healthy but had developed nephrotic syndrome, a kidney ailment, for which he used to visit me frequently. I was moved by the tragedy of his children. I took opinion of my ophthalmologist colleagues . The girl’s blindness was caused due to Vitamin A deficiency. But by the time she was seen by my colleagues, her blindness had become irreversible.
Whenever her father and brother would visit me, she would accompany them holding hand of her brother . My heart would bleed for the poor child .

Off and on, police constables would pester Ramdeen for putting up the shop at traffic point . Everyday, police constable would take bribe from him and let him do his business . But one evening , he could not bribe the constable on duty and hence he was arrested, produced before the court and fined . He was told to pay a fine of Rs. 500. When Ramdeen tried to explain it to the judge, his penalty was doubled and then tripled. As he was unable to pay penalty, he was put behind the bars.
“ I have stopped selling cloth bags , sahib”, said Ramdeen. “ I am working as an attendant in a shop now ” , he replied.
“But why have you given up your business of selling bags?” I enquired.
“Saheb , in my life , I have never been humiliated so much. I had never seen the prison before . I always thought prison is for thugs . For initial two days even my wife did not know my whereabouts. She was shocked to learn that I was jailed. My neighbours look down at me and my family. Even the children from the neighbourhood have stopped playing with my kids.” His eyes turned moist. “ I shall never sell bags again, it has robbed me of my pride.”
I could understand that Ramdeen has lost confidence in himself. The judgment delivered by the judge changed his life. There stood the man humiliated and shattered, father of two ailing kids, one of them being blind forever . I looked at the far window to hide tears in my eyes .
After a few days I happened to pass by the same traffic point where Ramdeen sold his bags. There still were a few bag- sellers selling cloth bags. A police constable was standing nearby sharing some tobacco with them , but Ramdeen was not to be seen . I have not seen him since long now.

Hysterical Hindustan

2009-03-26T09:35:00.000-07:00

(This article was written before Ashwarya Ray and Abhishek Bacchhan got married)

Don’t worry , be happy Hindustan , this is Hindustan news channel bringing you head lines - Ash and Abhishek have got engaged . Its time to celebrate Hindustan !

What did you say ? Farmers committing suicide ….. Oh , it is routine affair . It occurs very frequently , in fact its happening over three years now , it will go on happening as the authorities continue to be in deep slumber . How can it be the prime news ? Forget it , now elevate your moods , wipe the tears , it’s the time to celebrate , Ash and Abhishek are getting married .

Oh no , not again . Why are you in blue mood over load shedding ? You do not get electricity for 4 hours in your town and for 12 hours in your village . Don’t you worry . When our favorite starlets get married , you shall see and enjoy what electricity look like . The best lighting of the century shall be displayed in their wedding . The world will remember for ever the great show ! So worry you not , Hindustan , forget load shedding , its time to celebrate , Ash and Abhishek are getting married .

What if the Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mulayam Singh did not visit Noida where hapless children and innocent girls were tortured , their body dismembered and bones thrown in to garbage , but don’t you realize that Mulayam is the only Chief Minister to express his overwhelming happiness over marriage of Ash and Abhishek . In fact he has deputed his lieutenant Amar Singh for Herculean task of making arrangements for wedding of the starlet duo . After all , such ‘small’ incidents of murder do happen on and off . You should not be anguished for such insignificant incidences , elevate your mood , see , Ash and Abhishek are getting married .

Water scarcity ! What is that ? Every one knows that during summer you shall be without water and electricity . Why do you worry about such routine things ? The authorities will dig the wells once water scarcity starts . The health care facilities ? Don’t you ever say that ! We have severe resource crunch for these basic things of life . Now we bring you a news flash – Ash will be wearing anmol Benarashi lehanga worth Rs two lakhs for wedding . This is only lehanga , don’t ask about georgette and bandej saris in varied hues including pink , scarlet , mustard , royal blue and magenta with exquisite pearl and stone work , ornaments , Italian chappals for Ash , best designer outfits and German shoes for Abhishek , Swiss diamond studded wrist watch for both and a party to be held in an exclusive yacht over pacific ocean where a chartered flight shall ferry the guests . The wedding itself will take place in some palace of Jaipur . Oh , how exciting !
Never mind if the amount spent can feed and rehabilitate the starving hundreds of Melghat for ever .

The rapes , day time robbery and murders , rising prices , corruption , suicide of jawans at the frontiers , battering of cricket team in South Africa , closure of factories and small scale industries ….. ….. these can no longer be the head lines , oh , Hindustan , these happen day in and day out . Don’t worry and be happy , see , Ash and Abhishek are getting married . In the mean time we assure you that we shall bring you the latest details from time to time about premarital gossips , shopping , wedding , honey moon , pregnancy …………,......., .........

Divine Sticks from Mahabaleshwar

2009-02-21T08:30:00.000-08:00

Mahabaleshwar is a holy place . It is situated in the Sahyadri range of mountains along western coast of India . Besides natural beauty , temples and serpentine rivulets , this place is also famous for beautifully carved walking-sticks . It is believed that prayers made here always come true . I have a feeling that the sticks from Mahabaleshwar are as effective as prayers . I have a reason to believe so.
During my childhood , we used to stay in railway quarters . We six brothers and two sisters with parents lived in a quarter admeasuring about 600 square feet - courtesy South Eastern Railways . I was the seventh child of my parents . Our home was shabby for more than one reason . There was always more luggage in our home than needed - some useful , many useless , mostly such items which were never to be used but could not be thrown out either . As if the number of children were not enough , we also had two pet dogs . Not surprising then that in spite of all efforts of my overworked mother , the home remained shabby .

My Mejda ( second eldest brother ) had brought two walking sticks from Mahabaleshwar . These were well carved with beautifully decorated handles . The grips of the handles were designed like the head of Chinese dragon . Mejda brought these sticks for two reasons , one - to decorate the walls of our otherwise shabby home and the other that they would prove handy in father’s old age. Well , the second logic did not amuse my father !

My father was always worried about the future of his sons and daughters . “Alas ! I wonder if my children will ever become manush ”, he often said . ‘Manush’ in Bengali means good human being and amanush meant a spoilt child . I , his seventh child , was far from being a manush , in fact I was more of amanush.

There was a mango grove next to our school where I studied . During the school periods , instead of concentrating on what the teacher taught , my thoughts would hover around the branches of the mango trees . In the recess , we all friends would play hide and seek game in the mango grove . I used to rush to these trees and hide among the branches , while my classmates would search for me frantically .

Once I spread itch – powder on the benches and desks in the class room and later when powder showed its effect , all the kids started scratching their body and I had a hearty laugh till I got a good thrashing from the head teacher . In short I was a naughty and lazy student .

I never lost any opportunity to gossip . In fact I loved to listen to other people gossiping , especially the elders , as that seemed to be the only available entertainment for them in our small town. Needless to say most of my time was wasted like this. Once , just a month prior to exams , a family acquaintance visited our home . He started telling stories about some Bengali hit movie he had seen in Calcutta . I was glued to the spot voraciously gulping his make belief .

My Mejda was an army man ,a strict disciplinarian . He disapproved of all this especially wasting time before exams . He was home for his annual leave and was watching all that was going on for sometime , silent but disapproving . When suddenly….

Dham ..dhoom … dham ..dhoom …. crack , the stick broke on my back . It happened even before I realized what hit me. Unable to tolerate my wasting time Mejda had silently brought down one stick and then ……. This had two immediate effects . Firstly , from that day , I stopped wasting my time in gossiping . Secondly , my father was apparently very happy . Sticks no longer reminded him of his old age .

Many years have passed since then . My father is no more . I do not know whether I have fulfilled my father’s dream of my becoming a manush . I often tell my Mejda , “ Brother , your one stick has made me a kidney specialist , you should have broken both the sticks on my back , then possibly , I would have become a manush in the real sense .”

After all , the sticks were no ordinary sticks , these were divine sticks from Mahabaleshwar !

The Miracle water

2009-02-01T10:50:00.000-08:00

I was in seventh heaven , naturally so because my patient Ramu had shown remarkable signs of recovery . This 10 years old lad was admitted in the intensive care unit ( ICU ) 3 weeks back in a state of coma. He had high grade fever , seizures , bleeding tendency , jaundice and kidney failure . His father Haridas had brought him with great hopes .
In the first week inspite of our efforts Ramu was deteriorating . Myself and Devyani, my physician colleague were involved in the management of Ramu . As he deteriorated we scanned many books , literature , discussed day and night and went through the internet about the disease and the possible treatment available .
In our ICU , we have a very dedicated staff in-charge , Sister Ammini . She is very strict with the staff nurses , friendly with doctors , sympathetic to the patients and co-operative with the relatives . She is very religious . As I enter the ICU , from her face I can understand the status of my patient . If her face is bright , my patient must be improving ., her dark face indicates that something is grossly wrong with the patient , a bored face indicates that the number of patients in the ICU are less . In short her face is the mirror of ICU . If any patient is critically ill , she is in blue mood.
“ Ai ai yo , I shall pray to Jesus for his recovery “ said sister Ammini .Her face was dark with pain and anguish of the suffering child .
Devyani and me appreciated her feelings .
We have a very dependable friend Jay , I call him as a “ mobile medical dictionary” . He is very intelligent and always helpful . I took his help in patients management . But inspite of all our struggles , patient was not doing well .
We had exhausted almost all available medications of our armamentarium . We were feeling helpless against the hopeless situation . The child had started bleeding in his stomach . Lot many blood transfusions and blood products were transfused .
I felt as if the earth below my feet is giving way . I was depressed . My enthusiasm had disappeared . I was greatly disturbed with the chain of events .It was difficult for me to face child’s father , who was always calm and serene . He had great faith on us , that made me feel more helpless .

God has his own ways to make us feel His existence .As we were fighting against all hopes , the child gradually started improving . His breathing improved . His urination picked up . Jaundice started fading . One fine morning he opened his eyes . A wave of joy spread in our ICU .
“ Ai ai yo , ” giggled sister Ammini , “ See sir , our prayers are answered ”.

Out efforts were fruitful . The child had started taking feeds . Soon he was sitting with support and started communicating . I felt elated . I was in seventh heaven .

Now I could face Haridas , the father of the child , confidently .
“ See , I am glad to tell you that your child Ramu is now out of danger . He will soon be discharged . This all was possible because of the continuous day and night care in this hospital .” I said .
“Yes sir , you all have done very hard work .But ….. er sir , I hid a fact from you sir” said Haridas “ that I have been giving my son miracle water of 300 yrs old village-pond secretly for last so many days . And see the result , my son has recovered . ” said Haridas in full faith .

My heaven crashed .

The Kohinoor

2009-01-10T09:40:00.000-08:00

Recently I visited United Kingdom to participate in nephrology conference . I utilized this opportunity for tourism . I visited many places and museums . The unforgettable experience was my visit to Tower of London because here I saw Kohinoor , the diamond about which I had heard many stories since my childhood and always yearned to see it . I was dumbfounded with the beauty of it , this large glittering diamond is now glorifying the crown of her majesty , the queen of England .

The authentic history of this jewel begins in the 14th AD when it was reported to be in the possession of the rajas of Malwa. It later fell into the hands of Baber, who founded the Mogul dynasty in 1526. It decorated the peacock throne of Shah-e-jahan. During the next two centuries the diamond was one of the most prized items in the treasure of the Mogul emperors. In 1739, Nadir Shah of Persia invaded India and all of the treasures of the Moguls fell into his hands except the great diamond. Nadir Shah was told by one of the emperor's harem women that the stone was hidden in the emperor's turban. The conqueror then invited the conquered to a feast and offered to exchange turbans as a gesture of friendship. The emperor had no choice but to agree. Later, in the privacy of his tent, Nadir Shah unrolled the turban, the gem fell out, and Nadir is supposed to have exclaimed "Koh-i-noor", mountain of light.

The stone continued in the possession of the Persian dynasty, although many attempts were made to gain ownership of it. The Persian king was assassinated, and his son Shah Rukh, was deposed. In an effort to discover the whereabouts of the diamond Shah Rukh´s eyes were put out, and boiling pitch was poured on his head, but he refused steadfastly to reveal its hiding place. Later, a Persian king fled with it to the Sikh court and Ranjit Singh, the Lion of the Punjab, took the stone and wore it as a decoration. It was later placed in the Lahore treasury.

In the mean time Englishmen learnt about Sone ki chidiya , the golden bird , India and they sailed in search of it till they reached America and then Africa . Ultimately they reached the west coast of India and took permission of Jahangir (in fact from her majesty , Noor e jahan , wise queen of Jahangir , who virtually ruled India behind the
veils ) . Englishmen found that India is really very rich , had fertile lands , rich in garam masala , cotton , jute , resham , jungle wealth , coal mines , and what not ! You name it and you would find it in India .

To their great joy , Englishmen found that India is a divided lot , many kingdoms existed in India fighting with each other . Englishmen took full advantage of the situation . They had brought gun powder with them . They sided with one or other king and destroyed both . They found dishonest ministers , likes of Mirjafer who was bribed by Englishmen which led to the defeat of king of Bengal , Siraujudoulla and East India Company could set its feet in India .

After the Sikh wars, Kohinoor was taken by the East India Company as part of the indemnity levied in 1849, and was subsequently presented to Queen Victoria at a sparkling levee marking the company's 250th anniversary.

Queen Victoria thought that the jewel displayed insufficient fire . It was decided to recut it from its original Indian form. The cutting took 38 days, but did not add much to the stone's brilliance. It was rather believed that the historical value of the diamond was diminished by the cutting.

There were three good things that happened because of English rule - firstly India was benefited with the great discoveries occurring in England those days like railways , telephone and electricity. Secondly English abolished the age old horrifying custom of sati , wherein ladies were burnt alive in the pyre of their dead husbands . Last and most important benefit reaped was the formation of United states of India . Against the oppressive rule of British empire , all different states of India united and fought for freedom . In the process we have a single country of varied culture which never happened in the history of India in last thousands of years !

As a partying gift , English inflicted India with two deep wounds - they divided western India as west Pakistan and intellectual capital of India , Bengal in to west Bengal and East Pakistan .

Mother India was gifted with the crown of thorns and continues to bleed relentlessly while our Kohinoor glorifies the crown of Her Majesty , the queen of England .

The Enigmatic Smile

2008-12-30T04:04:00.000-08:00

She had a pretty face adorned with an enigmatic smile . She was a black beauty and had I been a poet , I would have likened her to a black pearl , such was her radiance. Her soft lilting voice , her dark wavy hair dancing on her forehead and graceful walk held our attention.
We met her during our short trip to Kerala . As we drove from Cochin to Periyar we wished to quench our thirst with fruit juice . From a distance we could see a shop where fresh pine apple juice was being sold . As we stopped for a drink , the black beauty rushed towards our car. There was a spring in her steps and a welcome smile on her face. She was wearing a simple handloom sari and had a white dupatta thrown casually over her right shoulder. She ushered us to her single room mud house and made us sit comfortably on a bench made of bamboo and wood . She quickly arranged for a bamboo tripod which she lifted with her left hand and arranged in front of us in as decorative manner as was possible in her hut . Behind the hut was a small farm full of pine apple plants . They were selling freshly picked pine apple juice . The black beauty ran to the farm with a sickle , plucked a pine apple with her left hand , then dissected it into small pieces with a fine knife and then she put the pieces into a juicer . She moved the gear of the juicer with her left hand and the fresh juice started pouring in to a container .
Then she poured the juice in to big glasses and brought the tray to our table with her left hand , kept it on the bamboo tripod and served us smilingly . As we asked her about the farm she smilingly answered in broken Hindi mixed generously with Malayali. Though we could not understand everything she was saying we could understand that she and her husband were working on the farm for many years. They looked after the farm and also attended to any thirsty traveller who stopped by to have a drink. They stayed in a tiny hut on the farm itself. Every evening the landlord came and collected the days earning.
I took the glass and moved around in the farm behind that hut and later after I had finished the drink I handed over the glass to the black beauty which she collected with her left hand . I thanked her for the nice juice and for her hospitality , paid her bill and continued our journey .
As we drove ahead , my daughter asked me , ‘ Papa , did you notice something strange about that lady ? ’
I gave a thought and answered ‘ Oh yes , she was working with her left hand only .’ ‘That was because she had no right hand , she had lost her right hand in an accident long back . ’ replied my wife . I was astonished . I looked back towards the hut , there stood the black beauty waving at us with her left hand and a beautiful heavenly smile on her serene face .
‘ God has gifted us with so much but we understand the importance of such divinely gifts only when we loose them . See this young lady who has lost her hand but look how happy she is . Even in this dire poverty where she and her family are practically living hand to mouth , she is able to smile forgetting that she has lost her right hand . Look at the radiance on her face . She is helping her family from dawn to dusk . She is contented . She has no grudges , ’ said my wife . We were all dumb founded .
Truly we all live but only a few live life fully .

Nest of Love

2008-12-09T10:32:00.000-08:00

Since few days , a bird was frequenting my home , and soon followed its mate . Throughout the day the couple would chatter and make lovely sounds . The male bird was dark black in color with beautiful dark red collar . The female was slightly smaller in size , but fully dark . They selected a corner in verandah of our house . Soon they started building a nest .

Throughout day and night , they brought shreds of paper , grass , tiny branches of shrubs and twined these in to a tiny but beautiful nest . We eagerly observed the growth of the nest . Soon the nest was ready . It took about 5 days for them to build the nest . All of a sudden , chattering stopped . We wondered as to what had happened . Soon we discovered that the female had laid eggs - off white eggs with brownish tinge . Throughout the day , she sat on the eggs and incubated . She would sit still for hours together. Her size was larger than the size of the nest . Her wings would remain outside the nest while she sat there patiently . It became a routine for me to see the bird before going out for my work . The first thing I used to do after coming back was to have a look at the nest and see whether there was any sign of new born . The days passed by and every day appeared very long for me . I was not able to hide my eagerness to see the new comers .

There was enthusiasm in our home , my kids were very excited .
“ Papa , what are they doing ?”, asked my youngest daughter .
“ They have built a home , and now they have laid the eggs , and soon tiny kids will be born ,” replied my wife .
“ The way we were born ?” asked the tiny tot . My wife smiled .

The birds remained silent throughout the period of incubation . There was no chattering . Soon the tiny little ones were born . These were featherless bundle of muscle mass with closed eyes and tiny beaks . We all congratulated each other as if there was a new born in our own family .

The mother bird brought eatables and fed the new born , the father bird was hanging around nearby keeping a close watch on the kids .

Often we found the kids were alone and protruding their beaks out as if they were very hungry . Soon the mother would arrive carrying some insects to feed the young ones . The kids started growing . They started making noise and soon chattering restarted . The hungry kids would shout as if they were demanding food and the mother bird would chatter as if to assure that soon the food would be available . The moment , mother bird would arrive with food , the chattering and eagerness of the kids increased . They would jostle among each other to get their share of food .

Once early morning there was a call from my hospital to attend an emergency . I got ready in a huff and rushed to the hospital . As I was nearing the gate , a frail voice called me back . I looked back - my mother was calling me back.

My mother is about to complete her ninth decade . She has tremors involving her hands and tongue . She is lean and thin . Her face is full of wrinkles of wisdom and experience . She is an abode of love , affection and strength for me . I have always remained a tiny kid for her . She was calling me back .

“ Why don’t you have some food and then go to hospital to see patients . After all your return is unpredictable .” said my mother with a trembling voice . She had slowly come out of her room , walked with shaky steps up to the door and called me . Even in most urgent situations , I could never say no to her . I turned back to the dining table . She served breakfast for me . I gulped my breakfast in a hurry . She felt relieved once I finished eating .

As I started back for my work , I heard the chattering of the birds again – I looked at the nest - mother bird was feeding her kids .

All mothers are same , so I thought .

Just cool that heat off

2008-11-08T10:18:00.000-08:00

All TV channels , news papers and tabloids are agog with violence , murders , loots , rape and rage . These have become very routine so much so that these appear to be very insignificant events which do not merit any mention .
A brother killing brother , son attacking father , wife plotting against husband and a jealous lover kills his beloved because she did not give an ear to him . What exactly is happening ? Why so much intolerance ?

When a person is angry , momentarily the faculty of reasoning fails . It is difficult to judge good from bad . If an action is done during a fit of rage , almost always it backfires . This results in loss of peace , self respect , respect in society and creates enmity . Then whatever a person may try to undo that action , he does not recover that respect and dignity again .

Many a times a situation arises when it is difficult to control one self . My teacher said , “Count ten , your anger would subside , if you are very-very angry , better count hundred ”. What he meant was that one should never take a precipitous action in the fit of anger . Better cool down , relax and then act if at all you must . One of my acquaintance resigned from the job in a fit of rage only to find that he has landed himself and his family in a financial soup. When I look back , I recollect many events when I expressed my dislikes instantly without giving a thought and almost always I had to eat an humble pie .

One of the ways to win over an unpleasant situation is to see the events from opposition point of view . We tend to judge only one side of the story while often the opposite side has also some substance . This simulates situation of Dhritarashtra who never saw anything wrong in the actions of his son Duryodhan . Even in our day today life we tend to over react in a situation which otherwise could have been ignored .

We often form an opinion without judging the circumstances in which an event happens . Once I expressed my displeasure to my daughter for not listening to me . She started weeping with her hands hiding a piece of paper . I snatched the paper from her hand and found it to be a hand made greeting card with the ‘ Happy birth day , Papa ’ written on it . She was busy in drawing the card when I was calling her . She thought that she would surprise me by offering the hand made birth day wish card but instead she got a firing . I had hurt the innocent child without realizing her sentiments . I took her in my arms with moist eyes .

There are usually three driving forces which make us move . These are name ( or fame ) , money ( or property ) and sex . Most of the problems we see around revolve around these three driving forces . We tend to run after these forces . The craving for these is insatiable . The thirst for these can never be quenched .
Most of the crimes committed are due to one or more of these forces . In today’s rat race of life , we have multiplied our possessions but reduced our values . We have reached Moon and Mars but we do not get time to meet our neighbor staying very next door .

We tend to be angry when our ego is hurt . We tend to be egoistic if we are empty within . Every time we get angry , we are in fact defeated by ourselves , for it is easy to get angry but difficult not to be ! Those who are full of love , will always forgive and forget . In the history of mankind we find that only those are remembered with affection who have sacrificed , be it Jesus , mother Teresa , Mahatma Gandhi or Martin Luther King . We would like to forget likes of Hitler and Saddam .

During my childhood , whenever for some reason I got angry on any one , my mother would say ‘ krodhe paap , paape mrityu ’ which means , it is sinful to get angry as anger causes self destruction . There are innumerable incidences in the history where anger resulted in self destruction . Whether we talk about mighty Ravana or Duryodhana , it was anger that eventually destroyed them .

Be a little tolerant , hold little patience , sacrifice few egos and extend your hand of love , try to understand other’s point of view and if all these do not prevent you from getting angry , keep the gun aside and just cool that heat off .

The lighter side of darkness

2008-10-02T11:20:00.000-07:00

For the aam aadmi , i.e. the common man the load shedding has proved to be a boon in disguise .
It has instilled a sense of punctuality , endurance , discipline among the masses and also has taught value of money to common man .
Load shedding has taught us the value of time . The government offices are having record attendance now a days . The employees do not have to work as due to load shedding , computers do not work. Once the lights are back , they can do overtime to compensate for lost hours !
Nothing can be more punctual than load shedding schedules . I often correct my watch timings with time of load shedding . By and large electricity department never follow Indian standard time while applying load shedding . They possibly follow Green witch timings , as at exact time , the lights would go off .
The load shedding may help in reducing country’s population by default . By and large during our most crucial moments , the lights go off. When a patient is very critically sick , needs to be brought to the hospital by lift , or needs to be hooked to a cardiac monitor , the lights would go off . The patient undergoing major surgeries or dialysis , or infants in the premature baby unit suffer most .
The wives of the surgeons are very happy as they are now finding their better halves more at home than in the hospital . Their children have also started identifying their parents as their doctor parents find more time for children due to load shedding .
The parents are happy too . The children who had become addicted to television serials are now back to the study tables with kerosene lamps !
Earlier due to well lit nights , the stars in the sky were not visible but now we regularly watch the sky and wonder the creative skills of the Creator . The moon has regained its lost glory , it blesses the world with its soothing light during load shedding hours .
Besides human beings , the vertebrates and invertebrates too are joyful due to load shedding . The mosquitoes are happy as the mosquito repellents are mostly electricity dependent . These are the days of merry making for these poor tiny creatures . After all they also need to survive ! Mosquitoes also help in controlling countries’ population by inflicting humane with dengue and malaria .
The mosquito-net sellers are also very happy . They had never seen such a boom in sales of mosquito nets .
The people dealing with inverters and generators are more than happy now a days . Their sales have soared high . Sale of petrol or diesel have also soared high , as the generators need fuel to produce power . It is but natural for the prices of these commodities to go up .
All the good and auspicious works are done during early morning hours , i.e. bramha-muhurtum . Similarly all the black deeds are done in dark hours of night . The thieves and dacoits have hay - day now , thanks to load shedding . The petty thieves and chain snatchers are turning in to full time thieves . The thieves are becoming dacoits . I wonder whether the dacoits would now think of joining politics and bring a constitution amendment to make load shedding compulsory !
Because of hot climate and mosquitoes , people are not getting peaceful sleep during load shedding . The staticians dealing with demography are predicting that there is a likelihood of population boom for obvious reasons !
Load shedding at times may create funny situations . In a town in South India , during a period of load shedding , in a mass marriage ceremony , a groom garlanded a wrong bride in the darkness and a bride in turn garlanded her own friend instead of the groom . Fortunately the wrongs were detected in the right time and then the elders of the family did the needful to rectify the mistakes .
In spite of so many benefits , the aam aadmi are the unhappy lot . These poor , stupid , so called tolerant chaps are drained off and virtually squeezed to the extent of intolerance due to load shedding .

Beloved's departure

2008-09-28T10:51:00.000-07:00

I love green . Green is the sign of prosperity . Green is soothing to eyes , its a serene color . And she was wearing aquamarine green outfit - a shade of green which we see if we look at deep sea . She was elegant , bright , sober and well dressed draped in aquamarine green - the color I love .So it was not unusual for me to fall flat for her right at the first encounter .

She has been my partner for more than eight years . She can not be forgotten . During all ups and downs of my life , she was there . Whether during rains , chilly winter or scorching heat , she was by my side .
During heavy rains she will just surround me , embrace me and prevent the rains from touching my body . Oh , how secure I felt !
She has been there during scorching heat . She did not allow the rays to touch my face . She used to shower on me a cool breeze . In that cool breeze , my eyes would automatically shut and I felt like going in to a deep slumber .
During chilly winter , she would give me warmth . In her lap I felt safe . She would keep away the chilly wind .

Whether I was in jolly mood or otherwise , my this darling would caress me and cool me down . She would as if sing her heart out to me when I was in blue mood . She was my Love .

The days are never always the same . Human heart must not be trusted . Especially a man always has one or other weakness . I have weakness for beauty . I can not possibly blame myself for this . After all its the rule of the nature to fall for beauty ! History shows that even the Gods and rishis have fallen for beauty .

One fine day , I met another beauty , very elegant , beautiful , sophisticated , and charming . My heart dwindled and from that moment , my inclination was towards the new entrant in my life . My Love must have understood this . She must have felt how cruel I have been to her , for I have used her for so many years . During good and bad days , she shared with me all the joys and agony , but now the time had changed . She must have felt it . A night before , when I had finally decided to leave her for ever , I touched her tenderly , kissed her and embraced her .
“You have been my love for years darling , but you see , my heart is weak and feeble . I am unable to resist the beauty of the new entrant in my life .” She possibly understood . She said nothing . But I could feel her silent cry . She definitely did not want to leave me . I had always been very gentle and loving towards her . Did she feel cheated ? Did she say that a man must not be believed .
How unfaithful a man could be !!

I handed her over to an unknown person with broken heart . He took her away from me . I felt a sharp shooting pain in my heart . Then I realized for the first time that I had fallen in her love . But it was too late to withdraw from my commitments to the new beauty . I looked at my Love being towed away and with heavy heart I waved her good bye .
She was my aquamarine green car of last eight years .

Aborted Love

2008-09-26T11:36:00.000-07:00

I had fallen in love .

She was a beautiful lass in her twenties , fair , charming and always smiling . When she talked , stars glittered and a sweet fragrance spread all around . She had dove like eyes . A sweet smile adored her face . With movements of her head , her earrings would dance . Her wavy hairs played hide and seek game on her innocent face .

I saw her first in a social gathering while celebrating Durga Pooja . I saw her offering prayers to the goddess . With closed eyes and calm face she looked exceptionally beautiful . I thought that I must get acquainted with her . But how to start ? Soon I got an opportunity , she was sitting alone in the pooja pandal . Where the heart loves , there the legs walk .

I approached her and asked , “ Pinki , when did you come here ?”
She said smilingly , “ Since an hour , but by the way , I am not Pinki , but I am Anju . ” Albeit I knew that she is not Pinki but that was my way of finding out her name !
“Oh , Anju , your face looks so familiar , by the way , do you stay in civil lines ? ” I must know where she stays.
“ I stay in Ramdaspeth ” said she and added , “ why don’t you just say that you wished to talk to me ”. We both laughed . We developed a good friendship over a period of time .
Later whenever she met me , my heart would sing a wild song , it would race fast and my face would turn pink .
She took keen interest in whatever I did . She had a good sense of humor .
Once with a trembling heart , I proposed her to accompany me for a movie . To my great delight she agreed instantly .

On the D day , I decided that in order to impress her , I must look smart . I had a clean shave . Looked at the mirror , oh , no , not good enough , I shaved again . I wore nicest dress , looked myself thousands of times in the mirror . Do I look presentable ? Oh, no , my shirt does not go well with my trousers . I changed the shirt , looked at the mirror , oh no , the shirt is definitely sparkling , but the trouser looked a bit dull . Now it was the turn of the trouser to be changed . It went on and on and on . Some time I changed the wrist watch , at times the handkerchief , applied a little powder and thought the next moment that it looks little too much , and washed my face off the powder . My shirt got wet in the process . I had to change the shirt but then the new shirt again did not go well with my trouser !
I had my shoes shined and spent half an hour to give my shoes a shiny look .
At last , I got ready . I sprayed a little perfume and started for theatre hall . Am I too early to reach ? She will presume that I am too eager to meet her . Oh , no , I should be reaching the hall little late . In fact , let her wait for me . Very thought of her waiting for me gave me a sense of déjà vu .

I reached the hall just little ahead of the time . Soon I saw the sweet thing reaching the hall . She wore a light pink attire – the color of romance .
‘Hello’, said she .
‘Hi ’, I replied . ‘ How is life ?’ I asked her with full enthusiasm .
But my enthusiasm dampened a little . She was accompanied by a boy . My heart sank . Who could he be ? Love is blind , friendship closes its eyes .

“ Meet my fiancée , Arun ” she gave a sweet smile and introduced the lad , who I felt was most indecently dressed , his shirt did not match with his trousers , had face full of unkempt beard , wore dirty shoes .

Many are the roads that do not lead to the heart . I felt like having eaten few quinine tablets . My love feelings evaporated in to thin air .

The Lucrative Dowry

2008-09-23T04:04:00.000-07:00

She is very sweet , beautiful and pretty . With her unkempt careless hairs touching her rosy cheeks and innocent looks , she must be a heart throb of many youths . So it is natural for any one to fall in love with her .
First time I saw her was when she was moving around in the Taj corridors at Agra she was looking at Taj with awe , wondering if any one could make such a magnificent structure just for love !
Next time I saw this beauty was at Jaipur palace with a bright tikka on her fore head on the occasion of holi . She was holding her dear papa’s hand .
I saw all these in television off course .
Her name is Chelesa and her father is Bill . As in case of most fathers , Bill must also be worried about the marriage of his only daughter , an apple of his eyes .
Recently she has been proposed . What if Bill is ex-president of United States , he too must have felt relieved to get a proposal of marriage for his loving daughter from a distant corner of Kenya . The dowry is also very lucrative , 40 goats and 20 cows !

This reminds me of miss Allis , another beauty from distant Swaziland , whom I happened to meet in Cape Town a couple of years back . I felt interested as she was also a practicing doctor - a homeopath , practicing in Swaziland . She was about 22 yrs old , fair beauty , 6’2’’ tall and naturally attractive . She had come to South Africa to meet her friend at Cape Town during the period I was working in Groote Schuur Hospital . As we were gossiping over a tea , she told me how she had been proposed by a young man who had offered 6 cows and 10 goats as dowry to her father . Unlike India , in African tribes , the custom is just reverse . Its the groom who offers dowry to the bride’s father . When Allis turned down the proposal , the man commented as how foolish she was to refuse such a nice proposal . After all “ 6 cows and 10 goats” , that’s rich dowry for a girl like Allis !
In African continent , only the rich landlords can afford to offer such proposals .

Swaziland by itself is a very interesting country . Love flows freely here . It is not unnatural then that the incidence of HIV and AIDS is maximum in this poor country . Swaziland is surrounded by South Africa from all sides . It depends upon that country for almost everything .

Swaziland is ruled by a king . The existing king is about 37 years old and has eleven wives and innumerable children most of whom he does not know by name. I do understand his dilemma – how can one remember the names of so many kids!

The king of Swaziland has a wonderful custom to choose his wife .On his birthday he holds a grand party. All the young and beautiful ladies across his kingdom are invited to this annual event . The girl he fancies is chosen as his wife. He of course presents a dowry to bride’s father . No father can possibly resist the temptation of royal dowry and no girl can resist the title of “ her highness” , even though it is only till the king’s next birthday when he chooses a new wife.
This custom is going on since many generations . The present king’s father had 42 wives .
One interesting fact Allis told me was that the present king is very intelligent and handsome . She was also invited to the palace once for the annual reception , but could not be that lucky one to be called as “her highness”.

Another fact she revealed was that the present king is very careful person – all his wives undergo HIV testing annually!!

2008-09-21T09:03:00.001-07:00

The Bald Truth

2008-09-21T09:03:00.000-07:00

I loved my father very much . He was well built , hard worker , had a deep voice and could sing well . He was a poet , used to pen nice Bengali and English poems . Occasionally , during our school days, he would write Hindi poems for us . He was a towering personality . He was tall , handsome and was bald . His bald forehead had added to his personality . During my child hood days , I wished to follow his footsteps . I wanted to be like him .
But as I grew up , as compared to him , I found myself a dwarf in every aspect. I am neither well built , nor a hard worker . I do not posses qualities of poetry writing and can not sing well .However I inherited one thing from him -- baldness . As I reached thirty plus , I found my lovely dense hairs getting sparse and gradually my beautiful hairs bid me good bye .

There was an intense struggle on my part to hide this baldness. I started spending more time in combing and bring the remaining hairs on the bald portion . But the mirror always spoke the truth .
Gradually I started accepting the truth of life - yes I am bald .

There are many benefits of being bald . I do not have to spend on hair oil which is a costly commodity . I save a lot on shampoo , hair creams , herbal products etc. As I have very few hairs left on my head , I do not have to colour my hairs black like my other colleagues do.

If we see the history of the world , most of the great men were bald . Father of the nation , our beloved mahatma Gandhi was bald . Every one knows his contribution in freedom struggle . At that time did any one say , see mahatma , you are bald ! In fact people fell at his feet , feet of a great man , who we all must realize , was bald .

The architect of modern India is Jawaharlal Nehru . He was intelligent , far sighted and honest to the core . He decided the destiny of the country and off course - he too was bald .

Netaji Subhash , a brave leader , who was president of Indian National Congress , who fooled the English men following his house arrest , whom even Hitler respected for his courage , too was bald .

Music maestro S.D.Burman, Naushad , Roshan, directors Hrishikesh Mukherjee , Yash Chopra , Mahesh Bhatt are all bald. Who can forget versatile Rafi, Talat , Manna and Mukesh who ruled over the hearts of many , they were great and off course bald .

Intelligence and baldness go hand in hand . Almost all noble laureates have receding hair line .

Baldness is a sign of prosperity . Most of the multibillionaires are bald . They have palatial houses , big business empires and fleet of four wheelers . Presently I am also thinking of purchasing a second hand bicycle !

It is a known fact that the cause of baldness is male hormone . Those who are more sexy , are bald . As I remember my bachelorhood days , a gush of adrenalin flows in to my veins , my heart gallops fast like a wild horse and ear-pinnas become warm . At this point I must not reveal stories of my good old golden days lest this article be read by my beloved wife !

Unlike general perception , baldy men are cool headed . Shiny bald head reflects light and keeps the head cool . While a head full of black hairs absorbs light & heat and tends to be hot . Besides this , bald head is in direct contact with environment and hence better ventilated . During rains , a person with head full of hairs is likely to retain moisture and catch cold but a baldy will not .

When there are so many advantages of being bald , I really feel proud to be an egg headed and do not feel necessity of hiding my prestigious baldness with a wig . Nor do I feel an urge to grow vegetations on my unfertile head with chemical or bio-fertilisers . Afterall , baldness is a divine gift , very few fortunate ones get this boon .

As I was writing this article , my nephew Satyajeet entered my home , he is a young man with dense hairs on his head . As it was friendship day , he was planning to meet his friends . He had parted his hairs like John Abraham , today’s matinee idol and has even colored his hairs bronze in the middle . I looked at him wistfully and sighed , alas , if I could move the hands of the clock anticlockwise !!

Shibu 18.8.05