Bliss.

Bliss.

Friday, August 26, 2016

Rhapsodies In The Rain.

The mesmerising scent of the pure Earth,
The tangible freshness of the air,
The hesitant quiver of young foliage against the wind;
The overcast sky was poised to perform.

Tender drops glittered down in grace,
Even as the skies opened up with renewed fervour.
The nascent buds bloomed into a vibrant rhapsody,
Even as the seasoned trees embraced the ethereal showers.

The unwritten cue for celebration in some,
The song of monsoon is an eloquent hum.
Droplets condensed into a rapturous shower,
And Nature was ensnared in the arms of the heavenly power.

To some, this magic remains a stormy downpour,
Its chilling pleasure they may never explore,
The emblem of a raging tempest for the ordinary,
Is the stamp of an exotic dream, albeit momentary.

I was a bit skeptical about this one but it's actually got some veiled references. I'm trying to show how the rains can hold Nature under its spell. I want to potray that  people can experience the same monsoon weather and feel differently. To one, it is a celebration of their love. It seems that the rains are euphoric about their togetherness. To the other, the rain is but a reminder of a painful past. The same thing can mean different things to different people.

Sunday, August 21, 2016

Brain Fry

Here I am blabbering much earlier than expected but what can I say, it seems like the best thing to do. :)

Sometimes you curse Fate and wonder why you end up in situations you’d happily forgo but before you head in that downward spiral, take a moment, take a deep breath and take it as a wonderful opportunity. :)

It is the easiest thing to judge people for who they are , their looks, their actions, their social standing (to this burgeoning list add this as well: their clothes, their footwear, their popularity and preferences on Facebook or Instagram and of course every useless bit of detail that we can devour on!). In fact, it is most convenient to do that in order to make yourself feel more important or make others feel that they are less important, but one often forgets that in the process they are merely selling their own souls. How does it matter what ABC does in their life? If we have descended enough to bother about it and pass opinions on it, it is indeed a sorry state of affairs of our own lives.

Am I propagating a pious and holier-than-thou attitude? No. All I’m saying is, rise above the pettiness. Atleast try. Rise above inane gossip. Judging others for their misfortune does not make you any richer. It’s not about how nice you are to the people who you need in your life, it’s about how you treat the people when they need you, it’s about how you treat the people you don’t see eye to eye with. Of course, that’s the hardest, isn’t it?

Am I saying that I have reached this point? Not at all. Known or unknown to us, we are all a part of this saga to variable extents. It would be a pity to make this trait our most prominent feature. Surely, one can do better than that? Surely, we're meant for much more than this? At least , that's what I'd like to believe.

So that’s enough of philosophy for now but my point is how I’m so glad that there is always light at the end of the tunnel, always a silver lining in the cloud and always the friend who tell you that you deserve better. :) Here’s to the friends far and farther (and maybe a little near :) ), to the ones who matter and to the ones who know your worth.

OhBiJee tomorrow. Tata :)

Friday, August 19, 2016

Moonlight Memoirs.

It was in the quiet melody of the night,
Guided by the tranquil beauty in white,
It was underneath the star spangled sky
That the wandering souls came alive.

She peeked through the veil of grey,
Offering only a sliver of lustrous white
In those fleeting moments she shone
With a radiance that brightened the darkest souls.

It was in the tempest of dark nights,
That the restless wanderer found a lamp,
That the wayward traveller found a path,
When she glowed with an ethereal beauty.

The dark night gave refuge to the haunted
They drifted away in her presence
But to the scheming minds prowling in the dark
But to those who crept stealthily under her light,
She led them to the stairways of death.



Tuesday, August 16, 2016

Attraversiamo.

I know this can wait but knowing how I am prone to procrastination, I might as well say what I have to say. I’m back after a short but eventful stay in namma Bengaluru and how I wish I could go back in time! How I wish I could rewind the clock back to a time when I could have done what it took to stay in Bengaluru (if not anywhere better!)

It’s ironic that coming back home fills me with inexplicable happiness as well as some sadness mingled with regret. Seeing my city evolve with each visit, experiencing the familiar sights and sounds of the neighbourhood and just watching the fast pace of this bustling metro that was once my home infuses fresh energy and hope into me.

Bengaluru is not just about the swanky malls, beer guzzling pubs or upscale restaurants that every other non-Bangalorean assumes it to be. It’s a lot more than that. It’s about generations of families that began life with humble beginnings, worked their way up to a better position and gave their descendants ‘The Good Life’ which most seem to take for granted. The quaint neighbourhoods have a charm of their own, the tree-lined parks are the only lung spaces left of a city choked by the vehicle population and traffic; suffice to say that there’s nothing like braving the Bengaluru traffic in the peak hour!

I may not live here anymore but I will definitely get back to this wonderful place (if not, better). Like I once confessed to Pingi, maybe I wasn’t worthy of being a part of this place, but doesn’t mean I don’t belong here! To put it in a better way, “You can take me out of Bangalore, but you can’t take the Bangalorean out of me!”

Vijaya Vittala Temple near Nelamangala.









Of course, life will continue to be volatile but maybe that’s part of the deal. I’ll just have to accept that. Being it home is like a reality check about who I am, where I come from and what I want to be.

I recently picked up “Éat. Pray. Love” on Avenue Road and I like certain parts of it. EG has painted a beautiful picture about the Italian language that one even wants to know if it is indeed as beautiful as it is depicted to be.

Several phrases got my attention but the one that made the final cut is Ättraversiamo meaning “Let’s cross over”. It’s a nice ring to it. :)
Ciao!

Sunday, August 7, 2016

Oh Bee Ji, Sir Jerry and more

This was supposed to be this exuberant post about the many things going on right now in life but it’s going to be all the headlines sans that dose of saccharine sweetness!

I realize that I’ve not spoken much about how college is going on in a long time.

So we had Surgery Postings and it wasn’t too bad. Nagraj Sir did a fairly good job with every class that he engaged us in. We took cases (most of us) and presented them. The EPT wasn’t all that great though, I basically had to speak over Arun Kumar Sir to let him know that I did know a thing or two and he didn’t have to answer his own damn question all the time! We saw a lot of ulcers (in the leg and foot), sebaceous cysts, varicose veins, hernias (inguinal as well as umbilical), a few cases of lumps in the breast and one of thyrotoxicosis. On the whole, it gave us about 15 cases in one month and ample time for me to watch Suits when the OPD would be empty. We didn’t get to go to the OT this term since the seniors get preference but there weren’t too many cases in the first place, truth be told.

It’s been about 2 weeks since OBG started and it’s a lot more organized than the other department which is a double edged sword. The good thing is that there is no dearth of cases here so all you need to do is to be on the lookout for the case you need. I had to present a case of Fibroids along with an absconding adjacent batch mate and it was not bad, I guess.

The Ophthalmology Department expects us to present seminars on designated topics every week and my last one was a COMPLETE disaster so I had to make amends this time. The topic was Colour Blindness and so there was ample scope for pictures and the occasional joke. As usual, I was nervous prior to the seminar and from what I was told, I hurried through the slides but it was definitely a lot better than the previous one. :)

And yes, last week I ended up attending NISACON 2016 in JNMC Belgaum. I’m not really sure how the whole thing transpired but one thing led to another and Akhila and I did this race against time to reach Belgaum. It was a budget mission (that blew completely out of proportion) and the KSRTC bus strike at that time just made things all the more difficult for us (not the mention the yearly Purle Jaathre that COMPLETELY blocks the road connecting our college to the rest of Shimoga). So we boarded a bus to Harihar, another to Davangere to reach the Railway Station at 6:40 for the Sampark Kranthi Express scheduled to arrive at DVG at 6:40PM precisely. Thankfully Indian Railways doesn’t always adhere to the aforementioned timings so we had enough time to grab some dinner parcels and catch our breath before setting off towards Belgaum (unsure of our accommodation). 

As Akhila managed to convince normalcy on the homefront, we realized that we might have to travel by ourselves to the campus in the middle of the night and this was unsettling. I was quite lucky that MaPa agreed on such short notice and had even arranged stand-by accomodation with Chikkoo (my first roommate, FYI) But thankfully, I realized it was just me being HD because the JNMC peeps were there at the station to pick us up and we did get accommodation after reaching campus around 1.30AM (Whaaaaaat?!) The next two days passed in a blur; workshops on Surgical Skills (which was pretty cool considering how we actually tried out the suture techniques on artificial material) and ECG (which was good but just not enough time to actually know it that well), campus tours with Adi (surprise surprise!), some interesting lectures on Robotic Surgery (it’s the future of surgery, they say) and even a DJ night which wasn’t half bad. (or maybe I’m finally getting a hang of them :’) )

On the third day, the seven of travelled to Gokak by bus, boarded another to Gokak Falls and took a God-forsaken unbearably jam-packed bus to Godachina Malki falls which had a good view but given that it was a Sunday; it was quite populated. The return journey took hellishly long and the seating arrangement is something I’d like to forget at the earliest! *that moment when all of us start yelling at the conductor when he actually dared to ask us to budge a bit to seat yet another passenger in the overloaded bus*

Nevertheless, we managed to reach just in time for the bus back to Shimo and after a mild e-ticket scare; we hogged on parcelled KFC and called it a night. The next morning it was back to business in OBG and thus, it was the end of a short but memorable trip. It was unexpected and I came back with some unexpected memories :)


On the whole, the past month had some interesting events and its fair share of excitement and drama. It’s been a long time since I’ve set foot in Bangalore (for a sufficiently long time) and it looks like even this time it’s going to be a “flying visit” but one does not mess with the OBG Ladies so I can’t do much about it. -_-

Something about the travel to Belgaum made me realize how different life is in North Karnataka. It kind of explains why people from NK are the way they are. Of course, I might be generalizing but there’s a stark contrast with how things are back home in Namma Bengaluru where are aplenty and there is no dearth of options for a person unlike how it up north. Here a person might have to work against odds to reach their destination and that’s probably what makes them resilient in the face of hardships.

Books I’ve been reading include:
  • Sensory Deception (All about sensory saturation and virtual reality set against the backdrop of global warming and animal extinction)
  • It happens for a reason by Preethi Shenoy (about premarital pregnancy in the Indian setup and the aftermath based in Bangalore)
  • Letters to Love (another run-of-the-mill story about two adults thrown together after a tragedy and how they move from staunch enemies to something else. -_-)
  • Detour from normal (About how a person with mental illness copes with it and analyses what he is going through)
  •  Flying blind (based on Amelia Earhart’s final expedition where she went missing and subsequent attempts to trace her)
  • Into The Wild by John Krakauer (a thought provoking book about the life and times of a young man who sets out an a solo expedition in Alaska. Described by some as foolish and lauded by others for his bravery, his story will nevertheless leave you thinking for longer than you might be prepared for.)
Musicophilia:
  • Stand In The Rain (Superchick, TB to the old times, Heard this recently on my old phone)
  • Thinking Out Loud (Ed Sheeran. I watched Me Before You recently)
Ciao :)