Bliss.

Bliss.

Saturday, June 20, 2015

Monsoon Love.

Call me whatever you wish but the weather is so beautiful that it makes you want to sing out loud, tap your feet to the tune in your mind, sway along with the wind and soak in the drizzle that surprises you when you least expect it. Monsoon in Malnad will evoke a happiness in you that cannot be compared, you start appreciating the magic around you, the cool winds its distant echoes add to the aura of the place and the cool, damp earth makes you want to curl up with a warm mug of coffee and a novel..... Alas!! Internals are approaching and it would be wise to begin burning the midnight oil as soon as possible for there aren't many nights left for them to begin.

But then again, Rain has always brought about unequivocal opinions. To the spirited soul, rain is the symphony of the elements of nature, rain is the shower from the heavens above, rain is the aphrodisiac for the ones in love, rain is the harbinger of freshness for those looking to begin again and rain is the atonement for those who let it wash over their past. Yet, rain plays a spoilsport to those who prefer the bright and sunny disposition of the sky, it brings a pall of gloom with its dampness, it may seem like the heavens shedding their tears of sorrow, it evokes memories of a past that cannot be changed, it persists and leaves you damp and chilly without the comfort of the warmth of the Sun. To each person, rains signify something different. To the same person, rain can mean different things at different phases, It's all about perspective. :) Every monsoon, there's a song that I have for it.

  • Jeeyein Kyun (2011), 
  • Yaariyan (2012)
  • Tum Hi Ho (2013)
  • Kabhi Jo Baadal Barse (2014)
  • Yet to decide! So many on my mind, most likely, the award goes to Hamaari Adhuri Kahaani (2015)
Some evergreen songs on rain are:
  • Barso Re Megha (Guru)
  • Bhaage Re Mann (Chameli)
  • Baarish (Yaariyan)
Apart from my ode to rain, there's more to blog. 

Last Friday, I OD-ed on coffee and stayed up till 4:20AM (-_-) to complete the Peds Case Sheets and on the following afternoon I left for Bangalore enroute the drizzly Arsikere road. The next day passed in a flurry: Bball session with Di and Dad at 6AM, Baddie on the road later, Ele oota session followed by Pizza and some shopping. Short trips like these ensure that not a moment is wasted. The train journey back to Shimoga was an interesting one. There was a group of young corporates (fresh out of college) in our berth and they seemed lively and chatty. Typical Bangalore cosmopolitan crowd of two guys and 3 girls, I couldn't help but reflect on how different I/We had become. One guy was explaining all about Liposuction and the procedure, he seemed to have a fair idea of what happens to the glycogen and the glucose in the Liver, one guy and girl requested me to shift to the other side because they wanted some privacy from the rest (I knowingly smiled and said "I understand" but they thought I was some lost highschool kid and I didn't bother correcting them either. :P After a while, they got bored and took selfies alone, chatted some more and then fell asleep. In the morning, they all woke up bleary eyed and claimed that none of them had slept a wink.("I was watching a movie", "I couldn't sleep at all man, that uncle was snoring so much","I was on the phone till 3.30, see, my battery's almost gone!") Soon, we disembarked from the train and I got back to college at the crack of dawn. :)

So we had this Poster Making "Project?" in college organized by V Sir as a part of World Blood Donor Day (June 14) and the whole class (well, almost) was divided into groups of 4 or 5 and we set about making a poster on a particular aspect of Blood Donation such as Criteria for blood donation, Rh Incompatibility, Major and minor cross matching, Infectious diseases, Adverse Reactions and so on. The topic we chose was Misconceptions on Blood Donation. So we conducted a small survey (among 70 second year students) to assess the knowledge and practices regarding blood donation. All though most of the questions were basic and showed that the students were aware about blood donation and the procedures, the percentage who actually donated blood was a paltry 10%. Rakesh, Raji, Satisha and I were a team and we managed to do a fair job with our poster. It was a good experience and I'm actually glad the Patho Dept came up with something that got the class working in groups. :)

Here's the Poster that we prepared. I hope many more people donate blood after the survey. I'm also contemplating the possibility of taking the survey further. As V Sir advised, it would be interesting to conduct a modified version of the survey on a larger scale here as well as in an engineering college and look at the trends among the students. That would make this the pilot survey since it was done in a smaller scale and now we know some of the flaws in the present survey and how to improvise upon it.


Paediatrics Postings have passed (yet my passing in the end posting remains a valid doubt) and we have now commenced with Dermatology postings. Pathology is weighing heavily upon us and if I were to Stage (depth to which I have read) and Grade (to what extent I remember the basics- That's a way of saying differentiation, okay? :') ) my knowledge, the results would be quite disturbing. 

Yesterday we decided to watch ABCD2 all of a sudden. The fact that it released in Shimoga is in itself a surprising event so we (Nammu, Adi, Likki, Akkamma, Reddy and I) got ready in no time and started towards the city despite the mild shower. The auto could take us only upto a point because the roads were blocked and a makeshift bridge (that could accomodate the width of one person) had been made with drainage (+river water?!) flowing underneath in full flow. We made our way through the squelchy mess only to see the entire Subbaiah community in full attendance! (mostly our batch, truth be told) Funnily enough, I enjoyed the second half of the movie a lot more after I got some insight on the seating arrangement. *grins like a Cheshire Cat*


See, now nobody can make out that Nammu is tanned! :P
After the movie (which is an interesting watch for those who like dance-themed movies) we headed to Mathura Central for a quick bite and then it was back to hostel. All plans of of coffee party were damned and I slept happily ever after. -_-


This isn't how I usually end my blogposts but I've been bitten by a crazy bug of happiness.
Exceptions happen. :')

Wednesday, June 3, 2015

This Too Shall Pass.

So yeah, I’m back again. It’ll probably be a while before I blog again (unless of course, I have a severe attack of Blogospasm)

The famed Paediatric postings have finally begun and it seems to be interesting. I don’t want to say much and jinx myself but the department is well organized and they seem to know what exactly they’re doing. They’ve given us a clear outline of what to expect in the entire course of Paediatric postings, what are the topics to be covered in each postings, the proforma for History Taking, the growth charts for grading the growth of the child and so on. Let’s hope that everything goes well for the next two weeks :)

Too often we get bothered and bogged down by trivial bullshit. (My apologies for the usage of the word but the situation demands it) We let random things clutter our thought process and divert us from the things that matter. We let ourselves get involved in conversations that have no rhyme or reason; we let ourselves think about events that have no consequence in our lives until they actually start to impact us. The more we let ourselves get bogged down by these inhibitors, lesser our efficiency. This happens to me very often. I alternate between cycles of productivity and lackadaisical disinterest. And when realization dawns, regret sets in.


It’s all a façade; behind the smile a hundred lies conceal.
Raw and fresh, the wounds had just begun to heal.
Just when you begin to believe that the storm has passed,
The distant clap of thunder mocks at your ignorance.

Some storms do not end, some battles cannot be won.
Some nightmares have no dawn, some wars cannot be conquered.
The bitter reality awaits and the illusion of perfection shall end.
Knowing that this is the beginning of the end, the pain lies in having to pretend.                                       

The waves come crashing in with all their intensity and rage,
Only to retreat meekly in shame and regret.
Year after year, day after day,
They never seem to learn and make the same mistakes.

Having to watch in despair and do nothing is a pain;
As the rock slowly crumbles to sand and fades,
As the sand melts under the tyranny of the waves,
And what was once a majestic boulder dissolves into nothingness.



Perhaphs one day, I can explain the meaning of this to you, dear readers.. 

Malnad Diaries. :)

Back from another Malnad-exploratory weekend!

My first trip was in Chikmagalur district and we covered Mullayanagiri and Habbe Falls. The route to Chikmagalur was serene and a splash of green all around. The roads were nice enough for us to zip through at a good speed and the weather was pleasant throughout. The Homestay was by itself like a bubble of solitude and tranquillity. Simple, comfortable and quiet; the variety of flowers around was a visual treat. Mullayanagiri is a trekker’s delight and the drive was narrow and winding. The pure air of the hills left us rejuvenated for the reminder of the trip. We took a jeep to Abbe falls which is relatively well preserved and easily accessible. The falls by itself is not huge but it appears picture perfect.
Spectrum Homestay
Habbe Falls
This weekend, Dad, Mom and Di arrived in Shimoga on Saturday afternoon and after soon quick and crazy thinking it was decided that Abhigna will join us and soon we worked out all the formalities and started off towards Horanadu. The journey was again beautiful by itself with fields, farms, villages and coffee plantations dotting the landscape. We reached by nightfall and visited the temple and then proceeded towards dinner. There’s something about the food here, the memory of it lingers in you for a long time. I still remember my visit to this temple about 15 years ago and the food was the same; simple yet so satisfying. :)

After this we retired for the day and I spent the next few hours sandwiched and wide-eyed yet oddly immersed in deep thoughts. The next morning, we woke up early enough to watch the changing colours of the sky in the sunshine and took a long rambling walk with no specific destination in mind. Di led the way, (other) monkeys welcomed us on the way and the chirping of a variety of birds greeted us. Post this walk and a visit to a Jain temple; we had our breakfast at an eatery on the street.


In the middle of our meal, an unkempt middle aged man walked in with a stick and began rambling loudly in what sounded like Telugu. He sounded angry and ranted for what seemed like a long time. The customers began to feel uncomfortable and we waited and watched hoping that he would leave. However, he seemed to be on roll and was spewing profanities and the owner had to raise his voice to make him leave. He didn’t leave immediately and his threatening growls could be heard as he made his way towards another eatery.

A few minutes later, another man (fairly well dressed and possibly in his 60s) entered the eatery and made some enquiries regarding the breakfast options available. He bargained for a while and then walked up towards us and started talking. He began with a detailed interrogation of Appa’s details: his occupation, place of residence, education, number of offspring, gender of offspring, reason for absence of male offspring (-_-), education of spouse and offspring and so on. This went on for a while and then Ma started getting fidgety and signalled towards Dad to begin his side of the interrogation or terminate the conversation. He was a retired History teacher from Mysore (which Appa tested by asking him about Battle of Plassey :P )and had worked in the PU Evaluation Board for several years. His children, a daughter and a son both had done MS and the son lived in London while the daughter lived in the country. He was here for the rice-initiation ceremony of his grand-daughter. He left soon after he finished his meal and we heaved a sigh of relief and finished our breakfast without any further interruptions.

Appa being Appa, unearthed some meaning out of this whole experience. In the end, the two men did not have much difference. Yes, one was supposedly well off and the other was not. One was educated and the other was not. Yet both man had a single trait: they wanted conversation. They wanted to talk. They had something in their mind which they wished to unburden upon any stranger on the street. They didn’t mind that it was a complete stranger they were opening up to. They just wanted conversation. The difference lies in the fact that while one is ostracized from society and treated as an outcast because of what he appears to be, the other is treated as sane and normal. Every individual has gone through something that changes them. Sometimes we just need to empathise with people. They aren’t the way they are for no reason; everybody has a story. 



After this we had another Temple darshan and then started back towards Shimoga. We halted at a river bank where Di played for a short while, at Khalasa where we had lunch and had a quick glance at the temple and at Amulya Shodha; a museum of sorts about 10km from Shimoga. It’s definitely worth a visit for the plethora of interesting things on display. The happiest moment for Pa and Ma was when the curator played an old track on an ancient gramophone. The experience transported us to another era for a few minutes. :) ) After this, MaPaDi packed up and boarded the 5pm bus back to Bangalore while Abhi and I reached the hostel and collapsed for the next several hours.


Thus ended another weekend well spent! Here's hoping for many more such beautiful experiences..