Adding your cards to zero

Less than 2 years ago, I remember a pleasant conversation with a friend while walking down the puddle ridden roads of PICT, a conversation more strikingly philosophical than our usual verbal grind.

I remember telling him about my plans ahead and my apprehensions of how a degree from a "not so well known" college would impede any high ambitions that my mind could ponder upon. The conversation was opposed by my friend, who had far too many whims in his head for life to predict. He said that our lives are like a game of cards. I didn't have much else to say after that, but always tried to decipher the hidden wisdom in it.

What happened between that day and now has really amazed me and has probably been the best time of my life. Points of view change in just a few months. And all your actions start behaving in exactly the way you think. You are what your thoughts are.
And I realized that this bizarre unpredictability of life seems better than trying to lay things before you on the table, in most colloquial dialects, called a 'plan'.

I have come a long way from that day and have had great moments of surprises, influence, failure and success. I slowly began to appreciate the ‘journey’ and the thought of life being an endless pursuit of the 'end of the tunnel' wasn’t as exhilarating. Everything being predictable and laid before you isn't the best thing after all, is it?

A MIRACULOUS SURGERY

CASE HISTORY

Patient BANDA SINGH, 16 years old, resident of Ludhiana, Punjab, had sustained injury of Dorsal (Thoracic) Spine as a result of a car accident on 25th December 2009. He was taken to Dayanand Medical College, Ludhiana where he was diagnosed as a case of “FRACTURE DISLOCATION OF DORSAL 3 VERTEBRA AND COMPLETE PARAPLEGIA (Paralysis of both lower limbs)”. He was having no sensation below the level of 3rd Rib. There was no power in the muscles of both the lower limbs. There was no control over his urinary bladder and bowel (Incontente). He was treated conservatively in that hospital. MRI was done which showed Comminuted Fracture of body of D3 vertebra. The Fracture fragments are body compressing the Spinal Cord and the nerve roots. The Spinal Cord was lacerated and transected at the level of D3.

The patient was transferred to Indraparstha Apollo Hospital, New Delhi under care of Dr.S.S.Sanyal, Senior Consultant Orthopedic Surgeon on 15th January 2010. After examining the patient and his investigations, Dr.Sanyal and his colleague Dr.V.Jaiswal, Senior Consultant Neurosurgeon decided to go for Surgery. They planned to DECOMPRESS the Spine at D3 Level followed by fixation of Spine and fusion by Hurtshill Ring and Bone grafting.

On 16th January 2010, they operated on the patient. Decompression was done at the level of D3 vertebra through a small incision. The whole operation was conducted under Microscope with minimum blood loss. Soon after decompression, the surgeons could see Pulsation of the cord. That was an indication that perhaps the part of the Spinal Cord is still intact. Micro-drills were used to decompress the spine. The Surgeons decided to postpone the second part of the Surgery at a later date seeing the vital status of the patient and with the advice of the Anesthetist.

Next day, when the Surgeons examined the patient, it was a MIRACLE. There was substantial improvement as far as his Neurological status was concerned. His sensation had improved dramatically. He could feel 50% till his umbilicus and below that he could feel very meekly. As far as his muscle power was concerned, he could press his foot against the surgeons hand downward and he could feel that he is pressing.

Most important thing is that the patient could feel that he wanted to evacuate his bowel. He also started getting a feeling that there is some sensation in his urinary bladder. Surgeons started clamping his catheter 4 hourly and got a sensation to evacuate his bladder. The next part of the surgery would be done to fix his spine in order to mobilize the patient.

To conclude, only one in a Million shows signs of improvement only after 36 hours of surgery (Decompression). Secondly with such a small incision, going antrolaterally without damaging the pleura, hung, very few Surgeons are able to successfully access that area. Both the Surgeons expect that the patient would come to their Clinic Walking in One year time!

This is truly a Miraculous Achievement for our Surgeons and deserves Media Attention so that our Doctors could perform such difficult surgeries succesfully and save millions of lives - who knows, it could be any one of us someday.

If any of you have any contacts with the Media, then Please leave a post here or call me at 9912633993.

A Decade Gone By...

31st December, 1999 :

I remember this day very well. It was the millennium. Probably the most exciting New Years I have ever witnessed. I had just turned 12. Back then, I was a young lad who was hell bent on spending the New Years awake all night partying at a friend’s place. A night out was a pretty exciting thing back then. Little did I know how common a thing Night-Outs would be once I'd be in college :P.

They were showing back to back shows of Titanic on Star Movies and a re-cast of a WWF Pay Per View show called Armageddon. I remember quite well what happened on that show but elucidating that here would be a waste of blog space :P.

The clock struck 12. My friends and I ran out of the house in utter glee and joy. We had no idea why we were so happy, but that's the beauty of the age I guess. The air was covered with a thick fog. A car at an arm's distance couldn't be spotted. But that was the beauty of Delhi's winter. The millennium had come. WOW ! How lucky were we to experience it. The rest of the night just flew away in playing games and eating chips. The next morning, the 1st day of the millennium was spent sleeping away the night before.

31st December, 2000:
I have bleak memories of this day. But yes I do remember a bon-fire and a me along with my friends dancing around it. Back then I was a maverick against pollution :P so I wasn't really too happy with the bon-fire ! Again the idea of a night out was exciting and we did go through with it at my neighbor's home. The six of us. WOW ! Back then it seemed like these days would last forever. It's funny how life takes turns and everything just goes away in one blink of an eye.

31st December 2001:
2001 had been a very bad year for many of us. The year that started the terrorist attacks on 9/11 as well as the parliament attack on 13th December. This day was spent quietly at home thanking God for ending the year and wishing the same would never occur. I do remember spending an hour or so outside in the cold celebrating new years. I took a small piece of a brick and wrote in bold "2002" on the road.

31st December 2002:
I remember this day ! I was at my Dad's clinic trying to learn History. My dad's a very learned man ! He knows a LOT ! But he never had any answers to my stupid questions of why it's necessity to memorize dates ! ( I have a really bad memory in such respects)

I was there at the clinic till 10 o' clock and then I came back and quietly slept.

31st December 2003:
Hmm.. This is one year I don't really remember so I can't write much on it. :P But probably the same tale of spending the new years at home with family. Oh yeah ! I remember now.. I went to sleep at 10, woke up at 12.15am and went out to wish my friends a Happy New Year and ran back inside and jumped back to sleep :P.

31st December 2004:

Oh ! I was in 12th. The year of the Rat-Race. But I guess I'll consider myself lucky enough to not have joined this Race-to-hell for IIT JEE. Probably because of my lack of interest in getting a rank and more interest in learning. I spent the night studying the Schrodinger Equation and determining the probability of the position of an electron in an Infinite Potential Well :P. I never did get any Rank anywhere :P… But I think it served me better in the long run. :)

31st December 2005:
Oh my first New Year as a college student. I had just come back home from a trip abroad to Singapore and Malaysia. But again I spent the New Years with friends sitting outside and chatting about how life has taken all of us to different places. Actually I was the one who was doing all the talking as only I had gone out while the rest were still in Delhi :P.

31st December 2006:

I was in my Second Year. Had just finished my exams 10 days before and had started work on a Project. I had kept myself busy for much of the holidays studying on the project but I had decided to give myself a break and went to an old friend's house. I went out with him to one of our favorite old hangouts and wished away the New Years in nostalgia.

31st December 2007:
In my Third Year of Engineering. Pondering over the year that had gone by. 2007 was a good year for me. It really changed me as a person, and only for the better. I was a much more confident and mature person by the time this year ended.

31st December 2008:
This was a memorable one. A house party. And I was the bar tender. The first time I got drunk in front of family. :P Well, not DRUNK drunk, but I did feel the kick :D. I guess that was the time my parents realized that I do drink (at least socially). But they didn't have any complaints. That was a very consoling moment for me because it showed how much faith and belief my parents had in me and how they now considered me an "Adult" of the family.

31st December 2009:
So here I am now. Penning down the last 10 New Year Eves. Drifting down memory lane. Images of the past flashing before my eyes. It's been a great journey- the Last 10 years. I have changed only for the better and I thank all the people who have been a part of my life in the last 10 years and who have contributed in some way or the other to make me the person I am right now !

Cheers to all of you. Thank you.. And here's to the next 10 Years !!! :)

I'm 21 years old..

I'm 21 years old. And I am ashamed. Ashamed of being a part of this world. Ashamed of my people. Ashamed to face the fact that those who teach me the difference between right and wrong themselves don't know what they are talking about. Ashamed to see the sun set down every single day and still the world doesn't change. Ashamed of waking up in the morning and genuflecting in front of the almighty in hope for a better world, in hope of a better life, in hope of more love amongst us. Ashamed to know the fact that I'm successful in my young life only because I was lucky enough to have a 'good' education, lucky enough to be born the way I was, lucky to have grown up under a safe shelter, lucky to have access to more than 3 meals a day.

I'm ashamed to know that I'm only one of the 6 billion grains of sand on this beach we call earth, yet I have never learned to feel at one with all. Is it because I was never taught this way? Is it because of the paradigm shift in the education I received throughout my life, which slowly changed from learning what's 'right' to learning what's 'right for you' ? Or is it because the world around me is just too ignorant to look at the the fact that there are ever-increasing problems that surround us and yet we go to sleep every night and pray to God to make our 'own' lives better. Pray to make our 'own' day better tomorrow. Pray for getting a good Job. Pray for getting rich. Pray for being famous.

I'm 21 years old an I am ashamed. Will we ever realize that the wars we wage are only a part of the vicious cycle of rage and resentment that keps on increasing every day? Will we ever realize that our brothers and sisters are out there who are dying of hunger and poverty and epidemics and illiteracy? Will we ever see beyond the bounds of our petty lives and differences that we ourselves have created amongst each other? Will we ever learn? Will we 'ever' learn?

Or is that too much to ask for?

Leger-de-Man !

Traveling can be a lot of fun. Especially traveling alone. Even more so, if you are keen and observant of the surroundings and the aura of opportunity hat surrounds you. I've been lucky enough to have been given this chance. The chance to travel the world and meet so many different kinds of people, their lifestyles, share their thoughts, their emotions, their stimulus to what surrounds them and the life that they define. In my 21 years of existence, I've become learned enough to know that people vary magnanimously ! And here I am, sitting alone and just observing the people who surround my existence. It's all an opinion really. Some would consider 'holding a nosegay in front of a porch' as stupid, whereas others would interpret the same as logical and brave.
The world's an oyster of variegated personalities, a multifarious plenitude of characters and a plethora of experience in living. The more you explore, the more you're left baffled. In this age-an-era, it's easier to travel and explore contrary to what Magellan had to go through to accomplish his ambitions. Technology has served in our favor and made it essentially trivial to go to different places. All you need is a tutorial on the web and some greens in your pocket. Our generation hangs between the valleys of the Angels and the Daemons. On one hand we're surrounded by the comfort and ease of technology and progress, and on the other we got Guns waging bloody tales in the newspaper every single day. Who's to make a choice anyway ! We can't really turn back time to go back to the dark ages, nor can we zoom into a distant future where television would be on a handkerchief.

I sit here, in a posh restaurant with a glass of Apple Martini and a bowl of my favorite, fish and chips. And I consider myself lucky. Lucky to be born this way. Lucky not to have been poverty stricken. Lucky not to be suffering from some epidemic in a third world country. Lucky to have an education. Lucky to be traveling the world at this an age. And more so...
Anyways, I got a flight to catch soon so I'll just go down and dig into my sumptuous banquet and fly off.. :)

Chao..

Oracle and Aerosmith !!!!!

It was a dream. I had to pinch myself to believe it. Oracle Open World could well be, to most, categorized as, a dream come true. When I entered the gates of Open World. A sort of whim hit me. I was taken back to those nostalgic lanes of childhood when I used to dream and wish I'd find a place where all sorts of chocolates and cookies and ice creams and cola would be strewn all over the floor and I could just pick it up and eat or drink it. Ah, Open World was of such standards. Except one difference- instead of the cola, they had Liquor !! Yeah baby - Beer, red wine, white wine... You name it, you got it !

To add to this fantasy, there were free rides, games, beverages and the big daddy of them all - THE AEROSMITH CONCERT !!!! There was a different high altogether. The atmosphere was gaining voltage, and you could feel the pulse going high. In front of me was a stage - with a mammoth drumset visible from up front (Man! how much would that cost !! ), some 5 zillion Watt Speakers, the size of .... well ... me and a HUGE ORACLE sign in the background. Suddenly the curtains dropped and it read - Aerosmith! There was a huge cheer by the crowd. People pushing each other up front in their best attmepts to get as near as possible to the legend himself. After an hour long wait, finally............ the lights went off, the curtains came down, and there he was ... right above my nose ! Steven Tyler - The lead vocalist of Aerosmith. It was surreal. To see them live. To see them in flesh and bone singing your favorite tune right in front of you. It's a different high altogether.

Aerosmith is undoubtedly one of the greatest bands of the present era. Steve's voice resemebles no other's and his inimitable style of singing and music is what makes this band legendary. Not to take any credit away from the rest of the guys, the guitarist Joe Perry, is a fine master himself. They blew the crowd away with songs like "Walk this way", "Livin on the edge", "Dream on" and "I don't wanna miss a thing".

The crowd had lost itself in a different world. As for me, I was no different ! His voice spoke to me ! It was unbelievable. The range of his voice is impeccable and original. Although I hoped that they would play a few of my other favorite Aerosmith songs too, but nonetheless, it was definitely worth it. To add to the worth Steve's joke about Windows was definitely a checkpoint of the show ! :) I'm sure Larry talked money with him and convinced him to do that stunt !

In the end, the night was mesmerising and breathtaking. A night to remember definitely ! Aerosmith rocks ! (And so does Oracle :) )... !!!

In the arms of the wind...

We live in a crowded place. A place which binds you to such tight chains, a place that squeezes all your virgin thoughts and floods your mind with mundane words of survival. We are blinded to the aura of richness that surrounds us. The same richness, which, if ever espoused, would bring about a feeling of deep content and happiness in us.

From the moment we're born, we become a part of this cycle which I like to call the "Cycle of serfdom". This cycle of serfdom slowly and steadily enters our minds and drives us away from our free thoughts of innocence. Its a natural phenomenon really. If we observe what Darwin did among different living species, we'll notice the theory of "Survival of the Fittest" applies everywhere. Not only in the arms of infancy and embryonic stages of life, but also in our daily lives. Our lives are a mere struggle for survival.

Some of us were born gifted, a vision and ability like no other. But these chains of survival snatch all that away from our blood. All we're left to see is that we got a lot of life running through our veins, going to a complete waste.

Anyways..... enough Blogging for now. Gotta go n sleep for a new morning, a new ring to the chain......