Live Life King-size!

Saw Anand for the ... ummm... I have lost count. There has never been a movie like that and probably never will be. Makes me so emotional every time I watch it. I keep silently praying that the voice on the tape at the end is not that of a tape, but that of the the live Anand.


Poem in The Evergreen Classic Hindi Movie ANAND. Recited by Amitabh Bacchan

Maut tuu ek kaviitaa hai
mujhse ek kavita ka waada hai milegi mujhko

doobti nabzon mein jab dard ko neend aane lage
zard sa chehra lekar jab chaand ufaq tak pahunche
din abhi paani mein ho, raat kinaare ke kareeb
na andhera na ujaala ho, na abhi raat na din

jism jab khatm ho aur rooh ko jab saans aaye
mujhse ek kavita ka waada hai milegi mujhko

And those immortal lines spoken by Rajesh Khanna at the end (that makes me cry every time I see the movie) :


Zindagi aur Maut Upar wale ke haath hai Jahan Panah ...
Hum Sab to rang Manch ki Katputliyan hai...
Kaun Kab Kaise Uthega... Yeh Koi nahin Jaanta.. Ha HA HA HA...

So many things to learn in life from that one character...

Current Mood: Zindagi Kaisi Hai Paheli...

Book log.

I just finished reading 'Complications: A Surgeon's Notes on an Imperfect Science' by Atul Gawande. Really amazing book. Takes a peep into the minds of the doctors and what really happnes behind the scenes of the cool and impervious face of the doctor.

I honestly think that the author (he is incidentally an American, born to parents of Indian origin) has escaped from coming under serious attack from other doctors because of his strong academic background - a graduate degree from the Harvard medical School and the Harvard School of Public Health.

Here is one paragraph that makes you re-read it many times.

"Surgeons as a group, adhere to a curious egalitarianism. They believe in practice, not talent. People often assume t hat you have to have great hands to become a surgeon, but it's not true.When I interviewed to get into surgery programs, no one made me sew or take a dexterity test or checked if my hands were steady. You do not even need all ten fingers to be accepted. ....... what's most important to them is finding people who are conscientious, industrious and boneheaded enough to stick at practising this one difficult thing day and night for years on end. ........ Skill, surgeons believe, can be taught; tenacity cannot. "

This is not just about surgeons... Makes me think that pretty much everything is achievable with perseverance, hardwork and dedication.

Current Mood: Inspired

Self-reliance or kanjoos !??!

I don't know if I was being miserly or self-reliant ! I hope you can help me clear it ...

Here in USA, spares are extremely expensive and 3-4 small spare parts together add up to more than the original cost itself! And no need to talk about manpower cost... It is lost somewhere amongst the skyscrapers :-(

What happened was this. My cycle had a puncture. Here at the local bike shop, they dont mend punctures; they replace it with a new tube! And all spares carry with them instructions about how to replace the item. And the replacement cost is $10 with the cost of the tube being $3(for cycle for which I paid $49!!!) ! So I decided to do it myself...

But the argument I had with someone was this: Was I an example of self-reliance or miserliness ? I agree that one one hand I was forced to do it to save about $10(which does mean something to me on a student stipend!) but then most things you buy in the USA have instructions which means that you should be able to fix almost anything yourself. Thats why Home Depot and such stores make a huge business (ppl build homes also themselves!).








Current Mood : Confused

My Tag resume

I got tagged by Namratha and have already been questioned about my lackadaisical attitude in completing the tag and passing it on... So here we go...


Three names I go by:

• Pratapa
• PP
• Sims
  

Three screen names I would like to have:

• pps
• I_know_what_I'll_do_next_summer
• bengalooru_huduga

Three physical things I like about myself:

Hmmm...I'm not exactly a clone of Hrithik...So ditch it.


Three physical things I don't like about myself:

I don't actually care ...but ah well.. we are all so human :D
Could have done with a shorter nose, longer legs (I think Brahma got it reversed there :-) ) and definitely more greyness up there(I mean in my brain, not on my scalp!)


Three parts of your heritage:

• The awesome 'sahitya' of the diggajas of Kannada literature ( Kuvempu, G.K.Adiga, Bendre, D.V.G, V.Seetharamiah, G.S.Shivarudrappa, N.S.Lakshminarayana Bhatta, K.S.Nissar Ahmad, B.M.Sri, etc ).
• Chanting Rudra and subhashitas and sanskrit shlokas.
• The Hindu way of life (including awesome food!Any self respecting Brahmana cannot give up gooooooood food :D ).
  

Three things that scare me:

• My complex thought process(which people mistake for conceit sometimes :-( )
• Separation from my family (which I am already experiencing)
• An idling mind.

Three of my everyday essentials:

• Seista
• Outlook - The best email client God ever helped man invent!(I hate all the other clients)
• Kannada Music

Three things I badly want to do before I die:

• Go for a trek in the Grand Canyon.
• Climb the Kanchanaganga.
• Run a mile in under 4 minutes.

Three careers I'm considering:

• Wildlife Photography
• War Correspondent (journalism)
• Wireless Communications research.

Three places I want to go:

• Manasa Sarovara(in the Himalayas)
• A cruise on the Amazon (seen Anaconda?!?!)
• The Great Pyramids

Two truths and a lie (in no particular order):

• I can cook awesomely well :D
• My research is currently going great :D
• IT was probably a good thing to happend to Bangalore
  

Passing the tag to Kishan , Dileepa and Ajax.

Look at the means, not the end!

कर्मण्यॆवाधिकारस्तॆ मा फलेषु कदाचन |
मा कर्मफलहेतुर्भूर्मा ते संगोस्त्वकर्मणि ॥

Hmmm...
Been thinking and thinking and thinking about this. I have read this shloka and heard it said a hundred times... Sri Krishna himself couldn't have packed more into these two lines of Bhagavad Gita(2nd Adhyaya, 47th shloka)!

How often do we just enjoy what we are doing without thinking about the end ? When will we actually realize that the end is not just everything ?

Sri Krishna says that our business is to act; the action is our business not the result. HE does not say there is no result. There is bound to be a result. Every action will have a result. But it is not our business to look for the result.

What a profound thought.

Current Mood: Contemplative
Current Music: Something is playing. I am just hearing it, not 'listening'.

NQ! Thats the Nerd Quotient.

Wanna know if you are a nerd ?
Try this test!
My Nerd Score is 93! I was really surprised! Dont know whether to be happy or sad :(
That itself makes you call me a nerd isn't it ?!!?! :D

The Mile under X minutes .

Sir Roger Bannister created history in 1954 by becoming the first man to run a mile in under 4 minutes representing Oxford(Note that he was not knighted for that! His contribution also in the field of Neurology as a outstanding and world famous surgeon fetched him that award).

But I can run 2 miles in just 13 minutes! Thats my record. However, there seems to be a rider to that! I can run this distance in a better time only on a treadmill where I set the speed of the treadmill and decide not to change it. It gets tough but I can manage to complete the distance successfully within the time. However, if I run on the athletic track, I need to run 8 rounds of the 400m track which takes close to 14-15 minutes :-( .

Question of weak will power ? Am I just another brick in the wall ?

Current mood: Deflated :-(

July 4th celebrations.

Many friends here were telling me not to miss the July 4th celebrations that the town of Auburn sponsors every year. So went to see it with Anil and dose(a.k.a Pradeep! ) ...

The fireworks display was amazing. But what I was thinking was about the Deepavali celebrations that we have back in India. Is it really necessary to pollute the environment so much that 3 days of Deepavali accounts for almost the same as 1 year's pollution by the vehicles ? Why cant we also have a celebration and pooja kind of a ceremony with really glittering fireworks(not the ear splitting hydrogen bombs) for all to see and enjoy ?

Click here for some pics

I am finally mobile...

After a lot of thought, discussion and debates, I finally decided to take the plunge. I finally got a mobile (for good or bad, its too early to say). Just got it by FedEx. It is a Samsung E715.

This is how my new phone looks!