Ah The ominous date-day combo when something unlucky has to happen. If the whole world is facing the day, the bad luck is uniformly and evenly distributed. Why should one worry then? If I am gonna have a great fall, isn't the person who is laughing at me, stepping on a banana peel simultaneously?
This way of looking at things is very interesting though. One can read his horoscope and live a day before even living it. Prejudice comes easy with superstitions. Thoughts, actions, all of them get affected by thinking in this direction- the grand scheme of things, God's plan, nature's course of action. I would call it micro-time-travel. You live the immediate next moment before even it touches you.
A car is coming to hit you, if you are told that in the grand scheme of things, you are supposed to die today... you won't resist it. If you are told the opposite, you will drag yourself out of the deepest mud to make it come true. Knowing what someone would think, say or how he or she would react to you, may determine your course of action. It's even worse than not resisting a car accident.
If you think you know someone, you tend to project him into a virtual existence and daydream about his actions and behaviour. It kind of takes away the spice...
Friday, 13 November 2009
Wednesday, 11 November 2009
Voices in the head
Watched the movie "London Dreams" recently. The movie adopts a style where one of the characters is also the narrator of the story but, the story he is narrating is just a string of thoughts he underwent during the course of time. It is talking to oneself. Francis Bacon in his essay "Of Friendship" says that we all need friends to talk our hearts out. So that our thoughts are out in the open for dissection and analysis. Self-talk doesn't let you do that fully. It's a way of burrowing aimlessly into a wide open trench.
The other side of the fence isn't so pretty either. The majority of people consider someone talking to them as an opportunity to argue and to prove a point. Conversations should be had for the heck of it. When someone tells you how he or she feels about a particular person, it is not for you to judge their views and tell them what to do. It is more about letting them talk, providing the punctuations in their speech so that they can iron out the wrinkles in their soul.
It actually is easier said than done. It is hard not to advice. It is hard to keep a conversation going without arguments and suggestions. But, it is hard to keep a friendship going with their continual influx.
The other side of the fence isn't so pretty either. The majority of people consider someone talking to them as an opportunity to argue and to prove a point. Conversations should be had for the heck of it. When someone tells you how he or she feels about a particular person, it is not for you to judge their views and tell them what to do. It is more about letting them talk, providing the punctuations in their speech so that they can iron out the wrinkles in their soul.
It actually is easier said than done. It is hard not to advice. It is hard to keep a conversation going without arguments and suggestions. But, it is hard to keep a friendship going with their continual influx.
Wednesday, 4 November 2009
The role you choose to play
We often see actors complaining of being typecast as mere "action heroes" or "comic actors." that there is more to there skills than what the public has typecast them into. They would complain just for the sake of complaining to satisfy the inner urge of justice. Justice to the profession, and justice to themselves.
So, in Bollywood, as Sunny Deol continues to play the umpteenth someone in the umpteenth movie who can smash pillars to dust, he wouldn't react well if told that he has failed as an actor. It is what I guess is called "playing oneself."
In life too, we assume roles and accordingly, we play them. If you don't choose a character, your friends will assign you one. The world runs on the fuel of simplification which is used to detangle certain complex situations. Typecasting is one way of achieving this simplification.
If you are an angry young man, you cannot just wake up one day and start cracking hilarious jokes. It is out of your character. These are long-term deals. There is also something I call as "point typecastings"... or more accurately "instantaneous role-assignment."
If you are sitting with a group and among them, someone calls you a shy kid, you will, to a certain degree, oblige the comment with your acts even if you are one of the most chirpy kinds. This act of obliging is not voluntary. It just happens. This psychological tool is often used with hard to control, unruly children. Saying that, they are "good boys" or "good girls"... gives them an opportunity to change their image in front of the audience. It is another matter that kids have long deciphered this code language and have stopped obliging the orator and audience.
It is a nice thing, in my view, however, to understand this setting. If you know what is where on a stage, you can perform better, you can play more diverse characters, win more accolades. Likewise, in life, if you know which character to play, how to have a control over your character, and when to stop... you can win.
The last three words taken without permission from Mr. Shiv Khera.
So, in Bollywood, as Sunny Deol continues to play the umpteenth someone in the umpteenth movie who can smash pillars to dust, he wouldn't react well if told that he has failed as an actor. It is what I guess is called "playing oneself."
In life too, we assume roles and accordingly, we play them. If you don't choose a character, your friends will assign you one. The world runs on the fuel of simplification which is used to detangle certain complex situations. Typecasting is one way of achieving this simplification.
If you are an angry young man, you cannot just wake up one day and start cracking hilarious jokes. It is out of your character. These are long-term deals. There is also something I call as "point typecastings"... or more accurately "instantaneous role-assignment."
If you are sitting with a group and among them, someone calls you a shy kid, you will, to a certain degree, oblige the comment with your acts even if you are one of the most chirpy kinds. This act of obliging is not voluntary. It just happens. This psychological tool is often used with hard to control, unruly children. Saying that, they are "good boys" or "good girls"... gives them an opportunity to change their image in front of the audience. It is another matter that kids have long deciphered this code language and have stopped obliging the orator and audience.
It is a nice thing, in my view, however, to understand this setting. If you know what is where on a stage, you can perform better, you can play more diverse characters, win more accolades. Likewise, in life, if you know which character to play, how to have a control over your character, and when to stop... you can win.
The last three words taken without permission from Mr. Shiv Khera.
Saturday, 31 October 2009
Children...
Posted in pediatric dentistry these days, children are the most lovable creatures. They are the hope that if we start from this, how bad can we get? Innocent, giggling, smiling, scared.... all very basic emotions required to spread harmony and establish an evil-fearing society.
My last patient was a chatterbox. She wouldn't just stop talking unless I put my scalers or micromotor in her mouth. She tells me her mother is also the same. Well, she just lightened up my spirit... so, I don't know about those who have to hear her out daily but, she was a delight to me.
All kinds of personalities can be seen shaping up in childhood. Some will look at you in the eyes and put their demands forward, some would be tentatively bossy. The one I grew the most sympathy toward were the shy, unnoticeable types. They would be smarter than what they are made out to be but, are labeled as "dumb" by their friends. Once you get them into talking, you can really know, whether they are the silent genius type, the selfish cunning type or maybe sometimes what their friends think is right.
God bless them all.
My last patient was a chatterbox. She wouldn't just stop talking unless I put my scalers or micromotor in her mouth. She tells me her mother is also the same. Well, she just lightened up my spirit... so, I don't know about those who have to hear her out daily but, she was a delight to me.
All kinds of personalities can be seen shaping up in childhood. Some will look at you in the eyes and put their demands forward, some would be tentatively bossy. The one I grew the most sympathy toward were the shy, unnoticeable types. They would be smarter than what they are made out to be but, are labeled as "dumb" by their friends. Once you get them into talking, you can really know, whether they are the silent genius type, the selfish cunning type or maybe sometimes what their friends think is right.
God bless them all.
Monday, 12 October 2009
The situation
It was getting late in the afternoon, slumber was creeping in the shadows of hardworking doctors, nurses and interns in the clinic. The day had been a long one for the department of oral and maxillofacial surgery in the government college of dentistry. Just ten minutes were left before the counter could comfortably close and the health workers could comfortably return to the remaining half of their routine lives.
At that point, an elderly female walked into the clinic. Avoiding eye contact was the first reflex of the interns as no one wanted to undertake a last minute case. Dr. Rohan who tried his best to hide from the duty was assigned the case by the professor who nonchalantly walked out of the clinic in holiday mood. In no mood to attend the patient, the intern dragged his feet to the patient's chair and inquired about the ailment. The patient gave the generic history he had given earlier to the other dentists he had seen.
The internee listened carefully not the patient's story, but the sound of his friends and colleagues packing up to leave the clinic. They were all excited as it was the much awaited weekend of diwali and everyone had plans of his own. Listening to the sound, Rohan asked the patient to remain calm as he administered local anaesthesia. His practice-perfect hands took out the teeth one by one as instructed in the case sheet. The patient was very co-operative.
The nurse took away the instrument plate from the chair and soon after, the patient and the doctor were the only ones left in the clinic. It was closing time, so the patient, after being instructed about what to do and what not to do, was about to leave. "Here is your case-sheet, Gopalanna", the dentist extended a leaflet to the patient reading his name from the sheet. The patient frowned and detested something. It was beyond the comprehension of the preoccupied intern. He questioningly, raised his eyebrows. "I am Ramanna" was the patient's innocent reply.
Rohan again looked at the case sheet, and saw his table. Another sheet of paper was lying there as innocently as possible for a case sheet. Rohan checked and cross checked. He had extracted the wrong teeth. The sweat drops on his forehead were enough to explain the matters to Gopalanna.
Gopalanna was furious. He was shouting his lungs out at a mummified Rohan who didn't know whether to die trying to say something or just jump off from the window. He was just an intern. His seniors would murder him for this. They would kill him! An image of professor Gowda suspending him from the department and blackening his, until now, clean sheet loomed into his mind. His knee jerk reflex was to beg the patient not to raise his voice. He promised to get the thing fixed. He also offered monetary compensations and finally Gopalanna melted. He settled with a prosthetic rehabilitation completely sponsored by Rohan and a compensation of Rs. 5, 000 for just keeping mum.
As the havoc was avoided, Rohan, with a heavy heart moved out of the hospital. The patient walked away with a straight face and a distant philosophical look in his eyes. The next morning, he was standing outside the conservative and endodontics clinics of the same hospital with two case-sheets in his hand- one labeled Ramanna and the other Gopalanna.
At that point, an elderly female walked into the clinic. Avoiding eye contact was the first reflex of the interns as no one wanted to undertake a last minute case. Dr. Rohan who tried his best to hide from the duty was assigned the case by the professor who nonchalantly walked out of the clinic in holiday mood. In no mood to attend the patient, the intern dragged his feet to the patient's chair and inquired about the ailment. The patient gave the generic history he had given earlier to the other dentists he had seen.
The internee listened carefully not the patient's story, but the sound of his friends and colleagues packing up to leave the clinic. They were all excited as it was the much awaited weekend of diwali and everyone had plans of his own. Listening to the sound, Rohan asked the patient to remain calm as he administered local anaesthesia. His practice-perfect hands took out the teeth one by one as instructed in the case sheet. The patient was very co-operative.
The nurse took away the instrument plate from the chair and soon after, the patient and the doctor were the only ones left in the clinic. It was closing time, so the patient, after being instructed about what to do and what not to do, was about to leave. "Here is your case-sheet, Gopalanna", the dentist extended a leaflet to the patient reading his name from the sheet. The patient frowned and detested something. It was beyond the comprehension of the preoccupied intern. He questioningly, raised his eyebrows. "I am Ramanna" was the patient's innocent reply.
Rohan again looked at the case sheet, and saw his table. Another sheet of paper was lying there as innocently as possible for a case sheet. Rohan checked and cross checked. He had extracted the wrong teeth. The sweat drops on his forehead were enough to explain the matters to Gopalanna.
Gopalanna was furious. He was shouting his lungs out at a mummified Rohan who didn't know whether to die trying to say something or just jump off from the window. He was just an intern. His seniors would murder him for this. They would kill him! An image of professor Gowda suspending him from the department and blackening his, until now, clean sheet loomed into his mind. His knee jerk reflex was to beg the patient not to raise his voice. He promised to get the thing fixed. He also offered monetary compensations and finally Gopalanna melted. He settled with a prosthetic rehabilitation completely sponsored by Rohan and a compensation of Rs. 5, 000 for just keeping mum.
As the havoc was avoided, Rohan, with a heavy heart moved out of the hospital. The patient walked away with a straight face and a distant philosophical look in his eyes. The next morning, he was standing outside the conservative and endodontics clinics of the same hospital with two case-sheets in his hand- one labeled Ramanna and the other Gopalanna.
Monday, 5 October 2009
Windy day (continued)
Suddenly, she realized that the sound of her footwear striking the mud was not alone in stirring the otherwise lone street. She, froze, not out of fear but out of curiosity... to see who was following. As she turned back, she saw nothing. Her eyes searched the crossroads to ascertain the finding. After giving it little thought, she carried on with her puddle hopping spree. A moment later, she again heard splashes of water of the exact same frequency behind her. It was spooky this time. She wanted to turn back and check but, from within, she didn't really. It was a sunny day, and those sort of things happen in the middle of the night, in complete dark and all that. But, this wasn't a lonely street, the traffic did resume in the form of one or two bicycles which were chased down to the limit of human eyesight of the topography of the street by the vacuum which had started to haunt little Mary.
She really wished it was something funny. Some law of physics or some error of hearing but, currently it was the biology of human brain that was driving her nuts. She...
To be continued
She really wished it was something funny. Some law of physics or some error of hearing but, currently it was the biology of human brain that was driving her nuts. She...
To be continued
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