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 !