Wonderful Doodh!

There was an old commercial that talked about the benefits of milk (doodh) in a jingle. The music is so catchy that I could still remember the lyrics, even after almost 2 decades!

The Youtube link and the lyrics of the jingle are written at the end, in case you’d like to sing it out loud. This commercial was launched as a part of Operation Flood, to increase awareness regarding benefits of milk and to encourage people to consume milk on a daily basis.

With the success of Operation Flood, an average Indian household could afford milk at reasonable price.

Milk is indeed wonderful but what makes it so wonderful? While it is a great source of many different types of nutrition, perhaps a single greatest source of so many nutrition. Except Iron and Vitamin C. Moreover, milk itself can be consumed in its original form and can be converted into so many wonderful forms (milk products like cheese, paneer, curd, butter, coffee, tea, ice-creams etc).

Operation Flood has improved our milk situation and made milk and its products much more affordable to us all.

I’ve often observed that kids, especially urban kids, generally would not complain about consuming milk products, but they don’t like to drink milk, at best they’d mix some chocolate flavoured powder like Bournvita to alter its taste. However I’m sure this Wonderful Doodh commercial would have inspired kids to consume milk willingly.

Youtube Video:

Lyrics:

Doodh Doodh Doodh Doodh,
piyo glassful doodh (2),

garmi mein daalo doodh mein ice,
doodh ban gayaa very nice,
piyo daily once or twice,
mil jaayega tasty surprise.

Doodh Doodh Doodh Doodh,
wonderful doodh
piyo glassful doodh,

doodh hai mast in every season,
piyo doodh for healthy reason,
raho ge fit, fit and fine,
jiyoge bas 99,

chaaro ore mach gayaa shor,
gimme more, gimme more,
gimme gimme gimme gimme,
gimme more wonderful doodh,
piyo glassful doodh.

What is in milk that makes it wonderful? The point here is not talking about all the nutrient contents, but about the fact that milk can be converted into so many wonderful forms, (cheese, paneer, curd, butter, coffee, tea, ice-creams etc.).
An interesting point to note, kids generally would not complain about having the things written in bracket (avatars of milk), but don't like to drink milk... especially urban kids!
A bigger question, though is, how does the cow's population manage to give enough milk for both their kids and also for humans and their families? :O

P.S. - I love chocolate bournvita (or similar ingredient) milk and chocolate ice-cream or its variant!
P.S. - Link to the advertisement: youtube (posted later).

Gonna miss the days of our lives

today in my dream, in my deep sleep,
what I saw was what I now feel,

i'm gonna miss these days,
the days we've been together,
and had all the fun and pleasure,
i'm gonna miss these days,
the days that looked like forever,
but in the end seemed so less
these days of our lives...

the days are gone, leaving memories behind,
the bonds made stronger by the passage of time,
now we walk away on our paths of destiny or dream,
perhaps to get together later when our paths meet.

whatever the future be like,
it will never be the same,
like these days of our lives...

'Present me' becomes 'Real me'

Continuing from the previous post...

Present me makes a list of all that he must change in himself to become the real me. He decides to sleep by midnight every night, wake up at the first ring of the alarm clock, make a time table and follow it to avoid procrastination, start believing that he's also worth something, have self-confidence, do some yoga and physical exercise, play some sports, clear his thought process by meditation, practice public speaking, read newspaper everyday, interact with more and more people to know the current state of the world around him, forget about the regrettable parts of his past and anticipate an awesome future for himself etc.

Present me followed above said things with full vigor and zeal. He already starts feeling great by the end of a couple of days, as if rehabilitated after heavy drug use. Alas, he was yet to see lot more. Body aches due to exercise led him to sleep in some lectures and his sleep timings were disturbed. He got frustrated and watched a couple of movies that day. Next day, he had to do work for previous day as well as present day, since he shouldn't procrastinate any further. This forces him to miss the 1 hour of his yoga and exercises, which is good because that gives his body time to rest and next day he's ready for some more exercise. This continues for few weeks till he decides to take part in a group discussion. He's not able to put across a single opinion on the table. He realizes that whatever he had been doing was still in his own comfort zone. He had to get out once in a while in the cold winter to get used to the chilly weather. A few times more he's smacked on his face in such group discussions and rebuttling rounds. Battered and bruised, he decides to give up completely, and think of her only as a dream he ever had, a pleasant dream that woke him up and showed him the face of reality.

He hears her voice again...

The internal struggle grows wild as present me tries his best to become real me, and thinking of her and the awesome life he'd have as real me helps. But not entirely. Present me still hesitates when he feels the cold but the cold doesn't pain as much as it used to. The cold breeze feels thinner and the bite of the wind pains less. Present me now can survive for long time in the cold before he feels the need to get back into his cosy bed. But he still shivers in the cold, he's still not comfortable. The shivering must stop.

All the while present me had been training himself and accepting and bringing changes in his life, he also observed the tiny changes in him. He was now comfortable about standing at the podium, about speaking with partial or complete strangers. He can now run a few kilometers at a stretch before his body gives up. He now has a couple of hobbies and proudly shows people whatever he does. Sleeping problem still persists, but he has accepted that and likes his random hours of sleeping, thinking that he's sleeping less and living his life more! He loves himself and his new life. He could now see himself as the real me. Only a few more steps away...

He hears her voice again while in his bed. He rushes to the door, confident now that he'd cross the threshold and walk upto her. Finally he'd meet her...
He crosses the threshold in excitement and suddenly feels cold. The weather doesn't seem that cold outside. But he's shivering, more than he used to, in recent days. But for all he has done to meet her, he can't let this chance slip through his hand. As he walks towards her, bearing the sudden chill that he feels, all he can see is her, smiling at him. She was neither standing in a welcome pose, nor a repelling one. She was just smiling.

He stops a couple of steps away from her. He extends his hand at her. She smiles, a little confused she looks, which makes me (90% real, 10% present) shiver again. She happily holds his hand and lo, he stops shivering (i.e., present me completely converted to real me). He feels warm inside once again. He feels the sun-rays at his back, and looks at her face shining in sunrise.

Present me becomes real me, at last!

I meets 'present me'

I doze off in lectures, in lab, while traveling etc. I don't wake up at the sound of alarm from my mobile, but at the bang at the door of my room at mid-day. I struggle to find words to express myself (after having learnt my speech by heart) while standing at the podium in front of people staring at me. I get out of breath after jogging for a couple of hundred meters. I am 5'5'' tall and am not overweight. I am underconfident. I don't even acknowledge my good points and talents. I am average at academics and null in anything and everything else happening in the campus. I am addicted to movies, tv serials etc. and watch them for at least a couple of hours everyday. I procrastinate, and am almost completely dependent on others, for many things I need to do in life. I live in past, breathe in the present and spend my life anxiously anticipating my future.

So, that's me. Honestly speaking, that's present me, not me. Me resides in my mind, someone who's almost an opposite replica of the model of me that I described above. Then why is present me not the real me ?

Present me resists change. Present me is not happy, not satisfied but is living comfortably. Present me doesn't want to leave a cosy bed with a fireplace beside it, and walk out in a breezy winter night. Present me wants to learn to bear the cold, but doesn't want to leave the cosy bed. Present me thinks that one day, when there'd be no fire, no quilt on the bed, he'd be able to bear the biting cold. Twenty years have passed and present me still believes that only good will happen to him if he doesn't do anything wrong in life.

Life suddenly throws a test at present me and he fails. Away from home, present me starts feeling the chill of the cold winter. He is not able to bear it, and rushes back in his cosy bed. Life throws another test at present me and he fails again. Series of failures show present me that he is not ready for the world outside, for the chilling winter. He starts feeling uncomfortable and insecure. Clinging to his quilt, all he now wants to do is live the rest of his life quickly. He stops smiling and talking stupid. Now he hardly speaks. Present me is feeling worse, now that he knows himself better.

But wait, something is happening. Someone is calling from faraway. Present me feels warmed up inside listening to that voice. He smiles after a long time. He gets out of his bed and ignores some chillness that he feels as he walks to the door, from where he hears the voice coming. He wants to get out of the door, but he can't. He can't bear the winter outside. He must remain inside. He starts hating himself, cursing himself. Anguish starts brewing within him.

All his life, present me had been changing the ambitions according to the capabilities. Eventually both ambitions and capabilities settled at some level permanently. Eventually present me became exactly opposite of the real me. But today, after hearing that person's voice and not being able to meet that person made the present me decide this, 'I will learn to live in the cold, if that is what it takes to meet her.'

Afraid of Darkness

I wrote this when I was in 12th class, with near zero experience of writing. That day I got bored with sitting on my study table for the whole day, and at night looked outside the window beside my study table. I saw the street outside, with street light shining on it. It reminded me of those days as a kid when I was not even able to walk alone on those lighted streets at night. I started pondering over what I felt while alone, in the dark...


I am afraid of the darkness,
it makes me feel alone.
It has no boundaries, no end marks,
it has no voice, no sound, no tone.

It is just darkness, black black all around,
surrounded by black colour, I feel totally bound.
Like a prisoner, helpless, no way can be found,
unless I get a small hint, a touch or a sound.

It haunts me, to my horror, scares me a lot,
I constantly feel that NOW a hand will touch my shoulder,
and I will jump out of my skin due to fear I have never felt or got,
and on turning my head would encounter a flashing ghostly figure.

As I walk in the darkness which shows no end,
on any sound or movement I can only rely on myself not to shout or yelp.
A ghost follows me, I feel, to catch me or to offend,
when suddenly the place is lighted and I thank for heaven sent help.

But as I start going back with relief and in vain,
I feel a small pain which tells me that my journey had no gain,
As I didn't have any source of light and lost lighting again,
And darkness covered me all around while I stood on the same lane.

The same feeling, same fear, same chillness came back,
I went dry, cold and sweated again, standing at the same place.
Now it won't make sense to repeat the things said above, in any case.

Sports and Me

The spirit of competition is quite intense in the human beings, and it comes naturally (survival of the fittest model of nature's design). In sports, as in other spheres of life, lots of competition is there. But that is not what amuses me. The amusing element is that even simple games can become challenging once you play against some good players.
Two things I learnt from my experience of trying out various outdoor sports. First is, one can get hurt in any outdoor sports, even a game like badminton. Second is, there's a concept of a 'smash' shot, which can be clearly seen in games like table tennis, badminton, volley-ball etc. It basically means using a lot of energy in one shot so that it becomes faster and more difficult to break or return.

The first game that I had played was Badminton. Simple enough, I thought... a light cork which can be conveniently made to reach the other side of the net. When I played against significantly better players than me I found the complexities in the game, the tricks and techniques that could be and are usually used.

Cricket was the second game that I had played. A bat, a ball, three wickets, some protection kit, fielders etc., phew! quite a complex one. Add to this, long list of rules and various fielding positions etc. I did find cricket as a complex sport. And since I was (am) really afraid of facing the ball, I prefer(red) the bowling part rather than batting part!

Table Tennis was the third one, a complete disaster I must say... didn't learn it seriously though had plenty of time to do so and my father was willing and had lots of free time to teach me. I found this sport a little tricky, not complex though! The ping pong ball moves quite fast but smoothly, which I really like(d).

I found volleyball second in number, in terms of simplicity, i.e., just after badminton, among the sports I've played. Initially I found it a bit difficult to make the ball reach the other side of the net, but with some practice I found that the game was quite simple. The only problem part I thought was the 'smash' shot, but later after breaking those shots and making the ball reach the other side of the net, I grew more confident about the game. Later, looking at some real good players playing Volleyball I realized that the game might look simple but the tendency of people to get better and introduce some challenge induces some innovation and raises the level of expertise that can be achieved.

The more one plays, the more one learns is something I realized after I started playing basketball. I played for a few weeks in my first semester, but when I realized I wasn't picking up the game, I left playing it. I started again in my 6th semester and was more into the game this time, so I learned a few things.

A couple of months ago, I decided to go for P.T. so that I also get into the habit of waking up early. After P.T. everyone played hockey, so I also joined them. I found hockey interesting, especially after watching the 'chak de' movie. The interesting parts I found were the rotation of hockey-stick so that ball is hit by only the front part of the stick, and that the ball shouldn't touch any of the body part, and that the ball shouldn't be lifted in air and should be kept on ground.
Hockey is my latest attempt towards learning at least one outdoor sports in life! All the previous sports I just mentioned were not the ones I know well, just that I played them sometimes. I feel a threshold has to be reached, a threshold in performance, crossing which a person plays reasonably well and can say that he/she knows the sport. It might take longer for people like me, but for people with better experience in sports would take lesser time but the threshold can be crossed.

I hope to cross that threshold soon.

One Winter Morning

While going for my coaching classes, a half an hour drive from my home, at 6:30 am one winter morning, made me think of these lines:

Well, wonders will never cease,
in the cold biting breeze,
foggy-foggy weather ahead.
Chilling-chilling down the spine,
just moving on the road destined,
and wish to be on the cosy-cosy bed.
But you see, the world won't let me,
be a lazy pig!
Whatever you wish to have,
you have to work for it!

Drowsing on Independence Day!

Happy Independence Day to all the Indians. I feel bad that I could not attend the Independence Day celebration in my college as I woke up quite late in the morning... missed the sweets distribution... speeches are boring... flag hoisting, accompanied by singing of the national anthem is the best part, people standing in attention, no movement, leaving all the other work they're doing, for the respect of the National Anthem. It is a moment of national unity... I am not much of a patriotic myself but people singing National Anthem (or for that matter "saare jahaan se accha") triggers my patriotic instincts!
Alas, today was one of the most uneventful days of my life. To start with, today I slept at 4 am, after watching Hellboy II - the Golden Army and reading all about the Hellboy in general. After occasionally waking up for a few seconds every few hours, I finally woke up and looked at my wristwatch - '11:20 am' and started counting the no. of hours I had been drowsing. This happens almost every morning. Worse happened when I slept after having lunch. I sat in front of my laptop to read news articles and ... I woke up in front of my laptop, didn't even come to know when I had dozed off.
Next time I was woken up by one of my friends living in Noida. We used to be neighbors when we lived in Bhopal some 8 years ago. He had given me a call on gtalk. The ringing sound made me raise my head from my crossed arms on which it rested. I was surprised but I accepted the call. After initial bunch of confusing and mixed up sound from an electric guitar, I heard a familiar music, ah yes it reminded me of morning school assembly... it was the National Anthem. It sounded so wonderful on an electric guitar, with the usual effects of rock music.
Rest of the day also I kept on sleeping on the chair in front of the laptop. Finally I woke up at 6:40 pm (precisely!) and went to wash my face. I promised myself, yet once again, that I will make it a habit to wake up by 7:30 every morning.
For now, no more sleeping for the day!

Please don't curse anyone.

Today at the dinner table in OBH-GF mess, one of my friends asked me a favor. He asked me to get him "kheer" in a glass. I might have got that for him, but for some reason I thought that he could have got the kheer for himself. Little did I know the implication of my action.
He took it to heart (i.e., he took it seriously) and cursed me. :(
Now a curse is as bad as your belief in it. A curse might be dismissed as a form of superstition by many so called "educated" or "progressive" people, but I believe in the power of curse. And personally I have witnessed the menace of curse.
I don't know how bad will my friend's curse affect me. The power of curse depends on how strongly the person feels about the curse, while cursing. Since we are a part of cosmos, we also have a small part of its energy and we also have the power to influence things around us. Blessing and cursing are some of the unseen forces that can affect the recipient's life manifoldly. All this might sound kiddish and absurd, but trust me, it happens. Most of the time we don't notice it and dismiss the bad happening as a part of life. But sometimes its not just the part of life, it's an aftermath of a curse, a silent curse perhaps.
Curse is like an e-mail, once you have pressed the "send" button, the e-mail can't be prevented from reaching the other person's mail account. (disconnecting the internet is not applicable in this case :P)
So, please don't curse anyone. Use your wisdom. Sometimes, why should a small mistake pay a heavy price of devastating curse!

I wanna break free

all these voices around,
the pollution of the noises in my head,
the grunting sound,
heard them for long, never turning them down,
thought them as truth, never thinking on my own

Everytime I did something, I felt like a lie,
it made my mind shriek and cry...

I wanna break free, I wanna fly high,
I never wanna visit the graves of the past,
I wanna change life, the way I wanna live,
take everything in my stride,
pushing the feeling of pain and grief aside.


I did reach somewhere, but no further could have got,
I did become someone, but I myself didn't know what,
all these voices around, somehow,
took my freedom, leaving me lame,
a guy with some name,
to do anything, I can't try to think,
I search for these voices...
it happens all the time, just the same

Everytime I did something, I felt like a lie,
it made my mind shriek and cry...

I wanna break free, I wanna fly high,
I never wanna visit the graves of the past,
I wanna change life, the way I wanna live,
take everything in my stride,
pushing the feeling of pain and grief aside.


so if you don't change it now,
you're never gonna change it anyhow

so break free, fly high,
to the graves of the past, just say goodbye,
change your life, the way you wanna live,
give chance to yourself, you have a lot to give...

OBH Ground Floor (GF) Mess

At present, OBH GF caterers are on a 15 days trial period. OBH GF mess is perhaps the only mess in which I can have all the three meals everyday. The reason is simple, the menu of the present caterers suits me. They make two kinds of cooked vegetables (sabzi) and of course there's daal (pulses), chaawal (rice) and roti (chapatti). Even if one of the vegetables turns out to be the one I never eat, I eat the other one, and never has it happened that both the vegetable dishes have been something that I never eat. In other messes, vegetable dishes like kaddu, lauki, tomato, bitter-gaurd etc. are made, which not many students have, on a more frequent basis than OBH GF.
A common thing pointed out by many students here, and I have heard my batchmates say this a lot, especially about OBH GF mess, that Rotis are not made good in OBH GF mess. I eat both lunch and dinner in that mess and I can say that not always are the rotis badly prepared. In fact, something interesting that I have also observed is that people would rather have good roti and daal than having a not so good, but a healthy roti nonetheless, and daal and a variety of sabzi (well, of course curd and lassi, in case of Yuktahaar, are always there, but not for me because I never have them!).
Excessive oil in vegetable dishes or puris is also something that becomes an issue. I agree that sometimes food becomes too oily, but those cases are not as frequent as we believe they are. In fact, oil adds to the taste of the food... isn't food in canteen oily? Why do people have food there?
In conclusion, I like food where menu suits me, else I don't have food, unless it is a very critical situation (like taking anti-biotics, or starvation for half a day!)
Things like tomato, curd, lassi etc. which I can not consume at all, I call them 'foreign particles' and I don't eat them because I can't tolerate their taste, and this condition I call 'taste allergy'.

The Biking Experience

Day before yesterday was my first time experience of riding a motor-bike (bajaj discover). I have had some experience of riding a scooty (two wheeler non-geared), a scooter (two wheeler geared), and a maruti (four wheeler geared) but the bike thing was for the first time. And bike won hands down among all the vehicles I've driven. The best part of bike was the sense of stability and control that one feels while sitting on the bike. Second thing is the gear system, which is easier than a scooter and a maruti. Today was my third day and apart from the occasional first gear jitters, or rather clumsy handling of first gear, everything else was great. Another great thing about a motor-bike is its fast pick-up.
P.S. - I still fear the cross-roads and the U-turns :(
P.S. - If you think driving on Pune roads is easy, its' not. :P

IPL Twenty20

I have been watching IPL Twenty20 everyday for last four days (much to my surprise) and have started liking it a lot. Smaller faster matches, higher average runrate, unpredictable fall of wickets and of course, higher no. of sixes etc. make it much more interesting than 50-50 ODIs. Lately I've been watching all the matches of Mumbai Indians as my family supports Mumbai Indians. Unfortunately Mumbai Indians lost all the matches I watched! :( And all the matches were lost during the last over, due to some outstanding performance by the other side or some mistake done by the Mumbai Indians. Today's loss of Mumbai Indians to Rajasthan Royals has especially been sad, as Mumbai Indians were in a very good position to win but lost in the last ball.
It seems unlikely that Mumbai Indians would make it to the semi-finals. But whatever it has been, I really liked the last moment twists in the match.

P.S. - My sister has changed her loyalties from Mumbai Indians to Rajasthan Royals after today's match!
P.S. - Twenty20 version of the game is enjoying much larger audience than 50-50 ODIs and Test Cricket.
P.S. - Things are shrinking in every sense and every way... be it electronic stuffs, or cricket matches. lol.

Change: The past and the present, Part I

When I look back at those 19 years of my life, and compare myself as what I was earlier and what I am now, I feel that I've changed significantly. Of course, I won't include my height and looks, as those things have hardly changed.

1. I waste infinitely less amount of food now a days as compared to when I was staying at home. What exactly happened I don't know but I have changed, and it's for good.

2. I don't talk for hours over the phone. At home, since we have to pay fixed rates for one month use of phone connection, so I sometimes talked a lot over it, but slowly this habit also wore off, like the previous one.

3. I used to be uncomfortable with talks about sex and similar issues, but then one fine day I realized that all these things are a part of nature and a part of what we are. Its foolish to ignore these things (of course my friends advised me a lot on this issue).

4. Another issue was abuses. I despised people who used abusive language. It took me a long time to make friends with them and get comfortable in their company. Some of them are excellent people and were my good friends, which made me realize that using abusive language doesn't make someone bad. Its just a way to vent out all frustration and what I realized as a result of that, was bad for me... since I never abused, all my frustration got collected within me, and I got all sorts of weird thoughts, and sleeptime dreams and I also slept more than required. (I still don't abuse anyone and so sleep a lot and still have weird thoughts and dreams.) But I've accepted abuses as a part of life. Now a days I interpret their meaning and tell people that if such things happened in reality then...

5. I had limited exposure to music at home, but after coming to college, I have started listening to different kinds of music and now I know what kind of music I like (the names, like "rock", "alt rock" etc.)

6. Now a days I have bath (almost) regularly, but till a couple of years ago, I had bath sometimes, not regularly. Seriously, I felt lazy to go and have a bath, but while bathing, I used to feel nice. Winters was another reason!

7. I was afraid of the dark. I used to watch all those horror TV series, "aahat", "Zee Horror Show" etc. and then used to tremble in the dark, feeling presence of ghosts all around me. I could not stay in the dark, even with people around me. But then, after I stopped watching those TV serials, the fear disappeared. But when I saw, "The Ring", that fear came back, but it wasn't fear of staying in the dark, it was fear of being alone. (Ghosts scare person who's alone, its convenient for them that way, chun chun ke daraate hai).

8. I used to get frustrated about small things in life, about small issues. Now it has lessened. Lower grades, bad performance, etc. used to frustrate me. I used to behave rudely with others, but I think that has also lessened, now that I've realized that I've reached 7th semester and CGPA won't make much of a difference now! :D
But sadly, even now a days I do get frustrated during exam days when I'm ill prepared! :(

9. Now for some bad changes, I've started chatting a lot, especially on gtalk, and have got addicted to orkut, a lot!

10. My sense of humor has gone from bad to worse. I become desperate to crack jokes that I try to use anything anyone says and comment on it, and many times its not amusing, and mostly confusing!

11. Something that hasn't changed as yet, is my social phobia.

The way I'd like to meet the special one

1. In a total random situation:
Total filmy way! (except the one about saving her from the bad guys... do you think I'd be able to fight?!) Maybe during some dance class, cooking class or maybe piano lessons I'd meet her... she might be a student or an instructor, or maybe my activity partner. Lots of possibilities...

2. In a plane or train etc.:
Another filmy way and a subset of the above one! But I still find the idea quite exciting and interesting. The whole journey would just be awesome!
It need not be plane, it could be a bus, a cruise, a train or walking maybe! (Yeah, and waiting for a lift on the roadside.)

3. Meeting an old friend after many years in a totally unexpected way:
Say I go somewhere, say to some function, or marriage (I don't like marriage functions) or some other place (grocery store!) and she's also there and suddenly she calls me by my first name and I'm surprised at hearing that voice.
Even better, I see her first and call her. She'd be surprised that some unknown familiar voice calling her, and then I'd say, "Hey, its me!".

4. An old friend or acquaintance and I stay in same city and are strangers to that place, our only interest in staying there being our profession. So, we hang out together and roam around together. It'd be interesting to start that memorable journey through time.

5. Involved in same project or same activity (social cause, maybe!) and working on it together.

6. My good friend's sister or my sister's good friend.

7. The common friend thing:
We are introduced to each other by a common friend!

They are ranked by the priority order.
Note that I have left out a few other possible ways like, oh wait, yeah this one'd be good too.

8. She's flattered by my work in my profession (my research or something else, maybe story, if I write another one!, or maybe my blog! Who knows?!).

Yeah, some of the cases have been left like "Matrimonial.com" thing and Oh wait... another one!

9. The girl next door!

Now I guess the numbering are not according to priority order. I think i've covered almost all the cases! (except matrimonial.com and dating sites stuffs)
But whatever be the way, I think they're all exciting and worth it... and I'm sure my life will fit into one of these models in near future.

wait a min... the boss-secretary thing?
too filmy... leave that! Offices are workplace dude...

P.S. If you think there are other cases which could be as cool as the ones I've listed you're most welcome to include them in or as comments!
P.S. This idea just struck me and I wrote this post, no particular reason whatsoever.
P.S. The common feature all the scenarios have is the fact that she and I would be interacting a lot with each other.

Apollo 11 a.m.

Yesterday morning, I had gone to Apollo Hospital for donating blood. It was the first time that I was going for blood donation. I was excited and a bit nervous. A few of my college seniors and I left for the hospital and reached there at 11 a.m., hence the title (I know, its a lame one!).
I was strongly advised to have good breakfast before leaving, but I had only a bottle of flavored badaam milk.
After filling the form (a formality), while I sat waiting for my turn for blood test, my mind recalled my previous experiences of blood tests and the pain when the sharp pricky metal piece was pricked into my fingertip, and the blood that used to ooze out when the pricked finger with the tiny hole was pressed. The pain was not much and watching the oozing out of blood was quite amusing.
I was glad I was called for the blood test, because I had to wait for half an hour after my mental tour of past experiences, during which I was just reading a couple of small posters on the walls which mentioned the precautions to be taken after blood donation.
The person doing the blood test took my finger and started rubbing a piece of cotton soaked in some liquid. I told myself, "this is it. This finger would be pricked with some metal piece and then the blood would ooze out." I felt my finger moving a little backwards, just a tiny but a gradual twitch. He again rubbed the liquid soaked cotton on that finger, and he used something which didn't look like the pricky metal piece I was used to. I didn't feel anything and was waiting for him to use that metal thing. He asked me to leave. I realized he was done and a tiny sample of my blood had been taken in that thing which he'd used to prick my finger and surprisingly, I didn't feel anything.
I went back and sat, waiting... a few minutes I felt slight pain in that finger and saw a tiny cut. The blood test was nicely done.
So now I felt more comfortable.
My seniors started talking, chatting just like that. One of them said, "Once it happened so that one of our batchmates, went to donate blood. After the blood donation thing, when he got up from the bed, he fainted." They all started grinning. I also grinned, slightly. He continued, "Later it happened so, that he had to be given 3 bags of blood." and they all started laughing, and I also joined in. He further continued, "As a result, one of our professors, said, 'we only need positive blood donors'."
I thought that since I'd not had much as my breakfast, what if I fainted?! One of the seniors told me that they're experts and they do it nicely.
For the blood test, I was called in with a couple of my seniors. I sat in the middle chair. The AC was giving me slight shivers. They checked everyone's BP. They started taking blood from the two seniors. I saw the whole procedure on one of the senior. I saw the long, thick pipe like needle with a distinct opening. I'd never imagined myself to be pricked with such a thick needle. Some other lady came and checked my BP, again. One of my seniors was done with his donation. The guy came again and checked my BP, again. He asked, "Are you nervous, or anxious?" "Is this your first time as a blood donor?" "Your BP is too high for taking blood, you relax for sometime, then we'll check your BP again and if its stabilized, then we would take the blood."
I went out, and told the reason. That guy took me to the doctor and she got worried after she heard that I had 150/90 BP. She looked concerned, "You must be anxious, since this is your first time, but its okay. You relax for sometime."
I tried to reason with her, the guy who drew out the blood, and my seniors that it might have been the AC, but of course it made no sense. I later realized that it might have been the long thick pipe like needle. My seniors (the ones who'd already donated the blood) were sipping frooti in front of me, which they'd got because of the blood donation thing, and I said to myself, "I also want one, please take my blood too."
I sat in a separate cabin and tried to relax. I closed my eyes and tried to relax, while sitting. I tried one of the relaxation techniques I'd recently read on the net. When I opened my eyes, I felt relaxed, but being in a hospital, due to the hospital environment, I lost it within a few seconds. But all I wanted was to donate the blood, that my journey from IIIT-Hyd. to Apollo be a success.
I was called again for a BP test and this time, though it was still high, it had fallen within the manageable range (140/90). The guy searched for my veins, then rubbed the liquid soaked cotton over that area, and then inserted the thick pipe like needle into the vein. The pain was negligible and I was happy, and relaxed. I was given a ball to press, so that the blood be transferred into the blood bag. I pressed the ball but after sometime I ran out of energy and I pressed the ball gently, less frequently, with lesser energy. After I was done, I sat there for 10 minutes, then I got the frooti (finally!) and then I didn't rest much in the separate cabin meant for resting purpose.
Everyone asked me if I was ok, including the lady doctor. Ah! I love that attention one gets, but sometimes it gets frustrating, makes you feel like a 10 year old kid. I assured everyone that I was fine!
I did feel a little drained out of energy, especially in my legs, but slowly everything felt normal. Back in the sun, while waiting for the vehicle, I felt nice. I don't like AC.
Talking of blackout, I had a blackout while traveling in train once, but that's a different story.
I liked the experience, but that high BP thing shouldn't have happened. I wasn't anxious as such... it was the AC

P.S. I think the liquid in which the cotton was soaked was probably a local anaesthesia or combination of anesthesia and antiseptic kind of thing... don't know much about it.
P.S. These bloodbags look really cool. I saw the blood taking guy opening their cover and making them ready for use.
P.S. The Apollo hospital looked like some airport kind of place from inside, and had something on its wall on the outside, which made it look like a museum from outside. Interesting place.

Bread Toast

A few hours ago, my friends and I had gone to Reliance Fresh to buy bread, jam, and butter. I had particularly went out to get my mobile recharged!
I had no idea that they were planning to use a toaster to make bread toast, then apply butter on it, and then have it!
When I finally saw their intention, I somehow remembered those days when I was in 3rd standard, i.e., 8 years old! My grandpa (or naana) used to make bread toast for me on his old toaster and give it to me during the evenings I spent there... though he is no more, today suddenly I felt like going back in time and relive those days!
Its funny how human mind works! A simple thing like bread toast can remind you of such big things. And yeah, I did enjoy the bread toast which I had with my friends! :)
I didn't use butter or anything else, had only the roasted bread, the way my grandpa (or naana) used to give me.

The incomplete book

Chapter 1

“The formidable curse”, he read the title and loved it. He always wanted to read such a book. And now he had one for himself. He carefully kept it in the drawer of his study. While leaving, he turned back and looked at the drawer, thinking ‘Why don’t I just start with it, one page maybe’. He went back to the drawer, opened it and took out the book. He read, “The formidable curse” and “Chapter 1: The Visitor” and
“Those were the months of dryness and bitter cold and little Joshua sat near the bonfire along with his uncle, parents and others. They were a part of community of farmers and shepherds and those winters were the worst times of the year for them, as the whole of land and water around, and perhaps everything distantly visible were covered with snow. After sometime, while sitting near bonfire, Joshua felt thirsty but ignored the feeling. They only had some raw meat and nothing else for themselves, and they didn’t cook the meat, or they’d loose perhaps the last source of water for them.
It is said that these winters were not natural, but were a curse upon their society by some unknown visitor. He had said, “Thou shall suffer the way I have suffered because of you all, thou shall have inhabitable conditions here but will not die. The winters and dryness would be pain, suffering and only the one who doesn’t belong to your society, nor believes in your evil practices, but loves you all as his own family, shall restore thy summers and rains to you.
Alas, the visitor…”

He heard a familiar voice calling from downstairs, “Sir, we have a visitor here,” which brought him back to his study from those cold biting winters. It was as if he’d been there for the past few minutes. He felt his shivering dissipate quickly and as the warmth of the room entered his cold body, he felt the sense of warmth inside. He loosened his body, unclasped his hands, and without looking at the book, quickly kept it back into the drawer.

“What is it Sebastian?” he asked as he left the room and reached the stairs. But he didn’t have to wait for a response.

“Uncle, it’s me, Nick! How’ve you been?” said a young man in his early 20s, while getting up from the couch.

“Nick dear, how’re you?” he exclaimed, smiling, as he walked down the stairs and towards him, though it took him a few seconds to recognize his nephew.

“I am fine, uncle. How have you been all these years? Looks like you haven’t changed at all. You still keep yourself busy in your study.”

“Oh yeah, that’s my way of living, and I like it!” he said excitedly, “So what made you visit your uncle after so many years?”

“Well finally I’ve completed my college and got a job. I am an architect now.”

“That’s great news.” his uncle interrupted.

“And during my college life, I couldn’t visit you! You lived quite far from my home and college. I don’t know why you had to do this to yourself and to us. I still don’t know why you left us that evening.”

“Well, that’s history now, I suppose.” his uncle smiled, with guilt and a deep breath.

“Mother misses you a lot.”

“Nick, maybe I should show you around, and then I need to leave for some important business. I want you to enjoy your stay while you are here. Sebastian here will be of assistance to you while I am away this afternoon” his uncle said and showed him around.

“Wow Uncle, you do still have a lake in the neighborhood.”

“Yes Nick and I suppose that means that this weekend we can go fishing sometime.”

“I’d love to.”


Two days later:

“I had been waiting for you since last one hour by the lakeside, alone, with that fishing net in my hand and staring the water in the lake, and mountains beyond that. The place looked wonderful you know, but I wanted it to by like the old days, you showing me around, we sitting together.”

When he didn’t get any response, Nick was surprised.

“If you had some work to do, you could have just told me. We’d have gone sometime later.”

No response again.

Nick was standing at the doorway of the study; his uncle was sitting on a chair, with his back facing the door, in a stiff pose as if reading something, and surprisingly looked cold. He didn’t budge at all. He was totally fixed in one position, though Nick saw him shivering occasionally. He waited for a couple of minutes, thinking that he might be sleeping, but that twitching in his uncle’s body, that occasional shivering made him sense that something was wrong.

“Uncle, Uncle Mark!” this time Nick raised his voice.

Mark’s body gave a jolt and jumped on his chair. Nick saw his body loosening, relaxing, as he shook a little, then turned and said, “O hello Nick, when did you come? So, is it time to go fishing!”

Nick simply stared at him.

Pointless Literally!

Language helps us communicate and express ourselves. We use words which help convey the meaning in the best way possible. But most of the times, as I have observed and as many others might also have, that words are not good enough to express oneself completely. We consciously or sub-consciously use body language, facial expressions, voice tone to convey ourselves in a better way. A smile may not always mean happiness or good feeling, it can also be a sarcastic one, which might mean something bitter!
The word "Pointless" is made of "Point" and "Less" but the role of "less" in "pointless" changes from reducing the effect to nullifying the effect... the meaning changed but what if we take it literally? (Hindi does it better here).

The interesting part here is,
what if we don't any choice of using body language, facial expression, tone of voice?
What if the only thing we have is our words and the knowledge of language to express ourselves?
Yes, that's right. I'm talking about going for literal meaning rather than intuitively judging the context and mood for learning the meaning completely.
Tough, aint' it? But more than that, I guess it would be irritating!
Our usage of language has been a careless one, wherein we use figurative things sometimes. Yesterday one of my batch-mate said that he could convert a C# code to a java code within a second. Of course he meant "figuratively" but then I took it literally (my sole purpose was to irritate him!) and said, "not possible". He tried to defend himself by saying that he has a software which directly does that work. I again said that software might also take more than 1 second. He started cursing me and abusing me but I was rather amused :D He said that one should use one's mind and intuition to judge the meaning rather than taking things literally...
Also, we keep some short phrases for conveying long messages which replaces the long messages over a period of time. Language evolves, but we still use it in an ambiguous manner!
We've really become careless with our usage of language. Mixing hindi and english and using hinglish is still fine, but not conveying the precise meaning is what makes it worse!
My friend could have used the phrase, "in a short period of time" instead of "within a second".
Anyways, all my views are my own, and I don't expect anyone to agree with it, just wanted to share in on the blogosphere. :)
P.S. - Poll of the day, "Which is deadlier, taking meaning literally or abusing/using bad words against someone?"
P.S. - The easiest way to generate P.J.s or A.J.s (Alternative Jokes) is by taking the usage of language "Literally!"

Natural Machines Part I

Each living being can be conveniently called a 'natural machine'. Humans perhaps come under the category of those natural machines which has the maximum capability to think and act on it's own. Each living and even non-living beings follow some unknown yet existing "Laws of Nature", like we had "Laws of Jungle" in Jungle Book! These laws determine our action/reaction, behavior, and decisions, emotions etc.
Also, evolution has played a major role in making us and this world as we are and as it is today.
Some of these Laws of Nature have been discovered like "Laws of gravity", "Laws of motion" etc., yet much is left to be discovered.
The functioning of our being is governed by laws and things like bio-chemical reactions, metabolism, hormonal secretions, or some other body reactions are what runs our body and gives the reaction to stimuli. This can be directly compared to a machine/android.
Hence, our physical being can be compared to a machine and hence can be simulated. The tricky thing here are "emotions". While I believe that emotions are also a part of our brain and can be simulated, many of my friends don't agree to this point.
Another general belief is that brain and mind are different. I think that brain is a physical structure which enables us to think, make decisions and consciously or unconsciously control our body. Mind is something that is the working brain and also handles our emotions. Now, many other species have brain, but they may not have a mind, which means a brain which can feel and interpret things differently so that changes are made. The mind helps us think differently and make discoveries and improve our lives.
I think this mind works on a randomized model which leaves some scope of unexpectedness and innovation but it still follows the "Laws of Nature". This would also mean that emotions, which are a part of what our mind generates, can also be modeled. I think that's also possible, but we haven't done enough "out of box" thinking to come up with a different and appropriate model for simulating emotions.
Also, what I feel is that each and everything that a living being, especially human (the most complex living being) comprises, are interdependent on each other and hence simulating one thing in isolation would not have complete meaning and our intended purpose might not be met!
For example, if we have to simulate pain, then only simulating pain may not give us correct picture of how human perceives pain. If we add present state of a human mind, it's emotions etc. and the kind of person he/she is (afraid of pain maybe), then maybe we'd get a better simulation.

It's a wasted situation!

Forget the sciences, ignore the statistics...
because you don't need them in this case.
The only problem that EARTH faces at present is the mistakes that we make and then ignore! Later when these mistakes all combine and kick our ass, then we wake up to it and try to resolve it, but sometimes its too late...
One of the serious one is the problem of excessive wastage that we do since the time we wake up in the morning till the time we sleep at night.
Leaving taps open while getting ready in the morning, especially while brushing teeth, not using
"use-me"s and wasting food (one of the most common problem) etc.
All this sounds kiddish and trivial, but the fact is, problem of global warming, poverty, pollution... all this originates from our wasting resources and our reckless behavior...

I trust a normal human mind to be able to recognize that something is being wasted when it is being wasted, but we don't seem to care.
To be honest, making communities, going for rallies and discussing statistics and sciences don't always help, and sometimes become a waste of time, when some people are too stubborn or dumb to understand. So keeping it simple is better, i.e., the idea of not wasting things around.
That is why, the thing that we really need is self-awareness and knowing when we are being wasteful and stopping ourselves from doing so.

The best part is that everyone can help. A normal human mind always knows when wastage is being done, so we should shrug off our laziness and stop wasting (which doesn't mean using them
sparingly!) resources. Stopping wastage would promote hygiene and cleanliness.
Wastage is done for a lot of reasons, some of which are out of our control, for eg: industrial wastes, or wastage to earn profits etc. but if everyone stops wasting in his/her life, then I don't think anyone need be concerned what's happening outside their lives and EARTH would be able to bear our burden, even if we double in number.

Thank You for patiently reading it. :)

P.S. - I really respect the people who do the cleaning stuff... I can bet you it's the most difficult thing to do, to clean something that others can't tolerate the presence of, but wouldn't even get rid of, while it gets accumulated... :)
P.S. - I'm not a Jerk ! I'm trying to paint the correct picture, which people ignore and think,
"chalta hai" ! But I guess, NATURE doesn't think so. :)
P.S. - Ignore the informal slang language... that was just for fun :)
P.S. - Hyderabad Bloggers meet was on 1st March... had a good time.
http://lifeizlikethat.wordpress.com/2008/03/02/hyderabad-bloggers-meet/

Future Prediction Paradox !

Suppose that you could predict the future.
If you could see your future, then you may or may not want to have that future.
If you do, then you'll follow the path that leads to that future, depriving yourself of choices to be made in life as the path to the future is decided. But then since you've already chosen the future that you want, making any further choices makes no sense till you reach that future.
If you don't, then you'd not follow the path that leads to that future and will follow an alternate path to reach an alternate future, hence making choices on the way. But in this case, since the predicted future is not the same as the future that you'd be living in, your prediction is wrong !

What say?

P.S. I'm totally confused about the whole thing !

Humans, SuperHumans and God

I have a theory. I believe that human are capable of gaining supernatural qualities, which has been agreed upon by a lot of experts ! So it's nothing new.
We need only learn the way the nature works. By nature, I mean everything around us, the forces, energy fields etc. We even exert gravitational force on distant stars, but stars are too big to show any change.
I think some part of nature's laws/rules are encoded in our DNA, which is the instruction book of how we should function and behave etc. and our limitations and capabilities which we naturally seem to develop. The fact is that, if by genetical engineering, the instructions could be changed to make a big difference, then a lot can be done.

Telekinesis: If a person learns to control the force (gravity mainly) exerted by the molecules of his body, he can exert gravity or electrostatic forces or similar force to a distant object's molecules and make it move ! Code of DNA might have to be altered, though some people have achieved it on the basis of their power of concentration and meditation alone !

Flight: Like in telekinesis, if a person could create repulsive force, he/she could fly and if attractive force then he/she could fall back on ground, simple !

Mind Reading: The impulses and neurons in our brain traveling may be emitting some waves out of our brain, which if captured and converted into suitable form, the thoughts of that person can be studied. So, if I emit some waves and you seem to have trained your brain to catch those signals/waves and understand those waves then you could possibly read what's going on in my mind. Changing coding in DNA might help.

Time Traveling: Here DNA tempering has to be done ! The instructions might be changed and it'd be encoded/written that there exist more than 3 dimensions that we seem to perceive naturally. Time is one of those hidden dimension. If we learn to recognize time as any other dimension, then we can walk through time faster than other, both back and forth. The idea of slipstream is not clear to me, though.

Spontaneous Regeneration: Regenerative power of cells stronger than ordinary species, again to be encoded in DNA.

Moving through solids: To control your body's molecules so as to exert forces that would weaken the internal forces of solid so as to provide you a free pass through it. DNA coding required I guess.

Super Strength: Creating anti-gravity for lifting objects easily. To break/destroy other objects, tightening the intermolecular forces within one's body and weakening the intermolecular forces in the other bodies to be broken/destroyed.

X-Ray Vision: Ability to look through the gaps of the molecules of opaque objects like walls, other persons etc.

Power Absorption: Simply emulating what the superhuman do to make his/her powers work. Here the trick is that the molecules in the person learns about the other superhuman's molecules so that this person can also do things like that other superhuman.

Locating Distant Person: The impulses of neurons or waves emitted by our brain could propagate the message to other neighboring molecules so that the molecules which would be closer to the person to be located would recognize the person using the pattern of the face of the person who's image is in the mind of the superhuman, and the message of his/her location can be propagated back to the superhuman.

Controlling electronic stuffs: Propagating messages to the electronics/atoms by the electronic impulses of the brain.

Invisibility: Light which reflects back from a surface tells about that surface. If the surface from which light reflects back could change the way light reflects back so that it looks as if no object exists. Now if light doesn't reflect back, then the object is like a black hole. If light directly passes through an opaque object without reflecting back, then that opaque object becomes invisible. This could be done by allowing passage to light through the tiny spaces between the molecules/atoms of the object.


I believe in the theory of evolution and that man evolved from monkeys etc. Now when men lived close to nature and other creatures, then he could understand the laws of nature better and hence could use that knowledge to control things around him/her. If he/she absolutely learnt about nature and became efficient to take control of nature's activities, then they became God/Goddesses.
Sadly we can't be God/Goddess because we are too much into our own lives to recognize nature's laws and gain the knowledge.

In conclusion, this cosmos is a system and we are only mere creatures who live because favorable conditions for sustainment of life exists. If we absolutely understand this system, we can rule it else we end like any other creature who does what's encoded in its DNA and perishes one day.

P.S. The movie Matrix gives a very nice analogy of our world, that is, nothing is true but we are only made to believe that. If we could free our mind from the conventional thinking and think out of the box, then lots of new things that exist would come to light.

Times spent with you.

Grateful for all the times spent with you,
it had a great feeling.
Thankful for all the time you'd been by my side,
it had a special feeling.
It makes me happy, it makes me smile,
to see you, to hear your voice.
When with you, I feel nothing can go wrong,
you give me energy, make me feel strong.

Now all I want to do is, hold your hand and hug you deep,
and to have you in my life as well as in my dreamy sleep.