Updates From My End

First of all, I'm really sorry for not blogging since long. Got so busy with other things that the time slot I kept reserved for blogging got occupied by other activities. What's new on my side??? First of all, I've got a job in the Energy sector at a company called G.S.P.C. Ltd. (Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation Limited). The profile I've got is that of an Offshore Drilling Engineer. So I'll be working on the rig floor in the middle of the oceans, exploring Oil & Natural Gas. A very adventurous job indeed.

Since the inception of office-life, I've stopped staying up till late, and if you guys must have noticed, most of my posts were written around 1.30 - 2 AM time slot. That is the time I'm generally at my best. I did wish to sit down & write at other times as well, but after coming back from office, I spent the remaining time catching up with friends or finishing off some other pending work.

There's a sudden transition in the lifestyle and a lot new experiences have come my way. If you get the right kind of work environment to begin your career with, it really helps you groom your personality. And I feel I'm fortunate to be a part of a company that pampers its employees and makes them feel special & wanted. Inspite of being a government firm, there's nothing government-like about the place. The office building represents work of modern architecture, with plush interiors and absolute cleanliness. The fully air-conditioned company bus picks you up and drops you at stops allocated in such a way that they are pretty close to everyone's respective places. You need to flash your access card in front of the door to enter any department. In my department, there're atleast 20 expatriates of different nationalities, so my department resembles a global workplace. The canteen has 70 inch plasma screen for the employees, and there's Table-Tennis, Carrom and a gym for re-creation. The wash-basin & wash-rooms are fully sensor equipped and they have hand dryers & tissue papers as well. I know all this description sounds kinda stupid but the basic idea I'm trying to convey is that there's nothing out there which gives you a hint of a quintessential government building.

I was out for training last week. It was called P.S.T (Personal Survival Training) & H.U.E.T (Helicopter Underwater Escape Training). The place where it was held was a small port area in Andhra Pradesh called Kakinada, where all the major E&P companies have their foothold. It was a great experience, learning all the emergency survival techniques, going to the port, getting onto huge Vessels (Industrial Ships), having a look at the company base, meeting all the international service providers who have their yards out there to cater to the companies. I was busy the whole week and so didn't realize where time flew by. Language was a major problem with the localites as they didn't understand Hindi or English but the experience of going to a new place was great.

And hey, I got a chance to travel by air for the first time in my life. But yeah, it wasn't so exciting as I had thought it'd be. The first five minutes - when the plane took off upto when I saw the sun rising across the horizon were awesome. Then the excitement was all over. Maybe because you cant realize the speed with which you're going from inside the cabin. And ya, my ears are way too sensitive for a flight. Next two days are really bad. That also added to the turn-off for flights. One more great experience was to board the company's chartered flight while returning home. And yeah, the excitement of traveling across the width of the nation in a couple of hours was definitely there throughout.

Now that I'm back, I've been sent to yet another precious training certification course for a software that the company uses. So far I've been on a learning and observing mode and have been getting myself used to the office life. It's not like there're no cons here. The office politics is pretty much prevalent, but since I'm a trainee, I've not exposed to it so much as I shall be in the time to come. Till then, I guess I shall have got a fair idea of that as well.

But then ofcourse, my job is also equally tough n laborious, and once it starts, I'm sure I'll come to know why is the company providing so much facilities to me. But the learning is all on my own - how I grasp the working and fundamentals of offshore drilling will pave my way for the future. With optimism and good hope, I'll sign off. hope things work out great for me in the time to come as well. Will try to keep in touch regularly from now on. Peace out!!

The Superhero Paradox

Yesterday I went to watch 'Hancock', yet another superhero story, but this one seemed different. Hollywood has converted all possible comic superheroes into major motion pictures, but Hancock wasn't one of them. The trailer didn't make the movie seem to be yet another conventional superhero movie. And so, I was interested to know what new aspects of a superhero could they portray through the story of Hancock. The film definitely turned out to be good. The story this time, concentrated on the messed up relations of the superhero with the public. His stunts, landings, fights and saving acts proved costly to the government and subsequently the tax-payers, who also had to suffer damages like car dents and broken houses. The public starts seeing him in bad light. The media is hell bent on spoiling his image, and he, in turn becomes a kind of escapist. He starts drinking excessively, doesn't give a shit to the crime happening around him, falls into some kind of depression and starts avoiding public.

The basic problem with him was that he wanted people to love him. He still wanted to help people, wanted to be recognized, and wanted to be thanked for his acts. This got me thinking, we humans always want to see the exact opposite of the conventional practices or acceptances of things around us. This habit is good and has definitely helped mankind break so many unthinkable barriers and evolve in a way unimaginable to anyone earlier. But sometimes this leads to a kind of a paradox.

Take superheroes for example. The very first superhero (maybe it was Superman. I'm not sure) was created when someone thought that what if a there existed a person who could control his senses, his powers, his emotions and get in touch with his inner self to realize his own potential in a way, no human being has till now?? And the idea became an instant hit. And thus, the trend of superheroes started. More and more concepts, stories, superheroes with different abilities were created in the world of comics, one after the another. People lapped up all those stories, because they enjoyed it. They tried to satiate their imagination by being a part of that world vicariously where this unconventionality did not exist. With the passage of time, technologies for film making evolved and superhero comics were turned into motion pictures.

People started connecting to the idea of a superhero more easily. Soon, most of the famous comic superheroes had turned into hollywood flicks. And finally people grew tired of them. Why?? Because now, the superheroes had become conventional. They were the invincible, self-controlled ideal characters who placed their duty over everything else. And this was not really digested well by the audiences. They now wanted something different. They wanted superheroes to behave like normal, everyday guys who could feel weak., get hurt and could be overpowered. And hence the Spiderman trilogy and Batman Begins struck a chord with the audiences around the globe.

Those stories were acceptable. Even I could connect to them well 'cos the story showed ordinary humans getting superhuman powers. In case of Batman, it was just technology, and a tough person who could survive all odds at a higher level as compared to normal people. Spiderman was shown to be overpowered by love, a desire to be someone else in the second movie and to be overpowered by jealousy, false pride and revenge in the third one.

And here is Hancock. This superhero has existed from thousands of years, and is immortal, until he comes close to his lady-love and they both loose their powers to lead a mortal life. Now coming to my point, if a character is given almost God like qualities, then why do we want to see them in a mortal light?? i.e. Why do we want to give them human qualities of love, hate, revenge, acceptance, false pride & depression?? If they are so human-like, how can they be called superheroes???

A superhero is someone who can keep his emotions at bay (control them very well so as to not hinder his ultimate goal of protecting people). Hancock is rude, lacks all possible public etiquettes, and reacts like every normal person would do. How does that qualify him to be a superhero??? Agreed he's good at heart, and he changed for the good. But a superhero by convention would never become what he was at one point of time. A superhero wouldn't be rude, not give a damn about others' property or what they think or evoke anger amongst the masses so as to go against him in the first place. And not just Hancock, there're more in the line to follow. "Screw-up Superheroes" are the new "in thing" in hollywood. We'll all be brought to witness a fleet of movies in which a superhero can't control his own suit (first of all, should just some ordinary guy with a hi-tech suit and no sense to use it be called a superhero??? No Batman, you aren't one of those), a superhero who's sloppy, a bad guy assumed to be superhero, etc.

My question is - should we label these characters as superheroes, who are more ordinary-people-like, have weaknesses and go thru' emotional roller-coasters like humans do???

Disaster Knocking...

What do you do when life throws at you such a shock, that even after stabilizing yourself, you get goose-bumps the moment you think about it??? What can you do when you have to choose between two situations where you know that either ways the outcome is disastrous??? Today, when I was least expecting anything in a slow paced day, a major shock landed up at my doorstep to say hi. And boy, did it overstay its welcome!!!

I guess not all the things in life are fathomable. Like why would a certain individual do a certain act in a certain way?!?!? We would never understand that. There're certain things that just take place, and unless and until we're a part of it, we don't really understand how can such a thing happen!!! No amount of empathy works out at that point of time. And the worst part is when you're clueless and blank and the other person is looking up to you for help!! How can you help?? You want to try your level best yet you fail to offer any solution. For you, that incident seems so far fetched and unreal that at times you wish that you just open your eyes and all this turns out to be a dream.

How you wish for the best outcome of the situation, yet you know in your mind, irrespective of your choice, things will go wrong for sure. And when you have to brace yourself for a deadly outcome, knowing that it will come irrespective of the time delay, then it's even worse. Maybe I'm sounding way too abstract but that's the most I can offer to share. Things seem grim as of now, but hoping for the best possible outcome. It's like being given a choice between an hydrogen bomb & a nuclear bomb. No matter which one you choose, both will cause wide-scale, unimaginable destruction, but yet you gotta pick one which seems to be the lesser of the two evils.

Philosophical Potpourri - Chapter 1

The other day I was having a casual chat with Palak about some topics with regards to philosophy and psychology. Psychology, because that's her major subject and I too take interest in psychology, and philosophy because we both love discussing abstract ideas. And it's difficult to find people who can listen to your abstract ideas, not try to force their ideas on you, show that whatever he/she thinks is absolutely proper and you know zilch...... in short, have a healthy discussion on philosophy.

Midway through our discussion, she popped up a question - "Do you believe in destiny? If things go bad in a person's life, who is responsible - destiny or his/her wrong decisions ?" Wow!!! What a question!! Wonderful to talk or debate upon. I did try to justify my answer in concise version. But I'd like to talk about it in length out here.

I believe that destiny plays a role in person's life, but to an extent. As put forth by Palak, destiny is only in the part where a certain event is not in our hands, e.g. like being born in the family that you are. It comprises of things that happen to you until you can make your own decisions. Rest is all your decisions that affect your life, and life's trajectory in a particular direction.

I feel an event, e.g. meeting someone in your life, is like a probabilistic event turning out to be true. From there, it's up to you to decide the outcome of the event based on your acts or decisions. People call an event like that as destiny. We were destined to meet, I was destined to get this job, I was destined to be present at this place at this time, etc. Destiny for me is probability. Probability of two people meeting up is true when both the person happen to be present at the same place at the same time. It's the constraints that make an event happen in a particular way that we feel whatever happened was a rare case and doesn't occur to everyone everyday. The probability of you getting a job is the product of probability of vacancy at a particular company, the probability of you looking for one in the same time duration, the probability of you reading that advertisement in that time frame, and the probability of you performing good at the interview process.

We tend to label the probabilities as 'luck' as well. "I performed bad at the interview today. Generally this doesn't happen to me. Tough luck today." But here, the probability of you performing good or bad is not 0.5 each. Your confidence level, your attitude, your way of tackling things decides what percentage of probability falls under success and what percentage falls under failure. All of this leads up to an outcome of an event. The moment your attitude changes, the probabilities change.

Once any event has occurred, its up to you to decide its outcome. It's your decisions that will affect the course of your future. If destiny was to shape that as well, then men would have just accepted themselves the way they are, and would have never tried to think or go outside their society-defined-boundaries. If men were destined to walk on earth, then the idea of flying would have stayed as a wild fantasy. But men challenged the concept of destiny and decided to change the 'impossible' notion of flying into a possible one. And after several futile attempts, they succeeded.

Same is the case with life. If you accept life, your attitude, your habits, as a destiny, then your future isn't bright. If people think that what you are is your destiny, then you shall never be able to improve yourself. If you see 'the-better-you' as a far- fetched dream, then you shall never be able to achieve that state, which is not impossible to attain, only a li'l difficult. And that's because you've to break out of your mental mould and see things from a completely different perspective and accept them. If you manage doing so, then you'll realize the difference between what destiny is what it is not.

Anyways, I know I'm getting way too abstract for you guys to comprehend it all. So without getting much into more elaboration of my idea, I shall end it here. Your thoughts on the same topic are most welcome.

Heart to Heart

So I think I'll have to take a break from writing, until exams are to go on. They begin from day after tomorrow, or technically speaking, tomorrow, since it's past midnight. So back to long nights of studying, uncomfortable buses, lack of sleep, and to add to the woes - summer in mid-May. The heat!! Ughhh!!! But hey, can't help it. So; exams!!! They tend to drain out everything from you - physically and mentally. And specially out of people like me, who tend to study at the last minute. You guys who are birds of the same feather as me, know how!! :)

Anyways, exams have their share of feel good factor as well. I don't know why, but the best part about exams everytime has been the ride home. It gives you a certain sense of satisfaction and happiness, that you've covered one more milestone towards your set destination. Forget whether the paper was good or bad, plug in your earphones, go to sleep while listening to your favourite tracks, wake up fresh and go home and start preparing for the next exam. Only this time, sleeping and the bus ride might be uncomfortable owing to the huge ovens or baking machines the buses turn into when parked in the heat since morning. And to top it all, we've to leave around 2.30 - 3 p.m. from the college in these bestowals of sweat and disgust.

But still, you're done with one paper. And so you're contended. The sweat and all can be tackled at home later on. And since these are supposed to be some of the very last milestones towards my journey of engineering, I shall savour each and every journey back home, despite the heat. Each & every paper will bring me 25% closer to the completion of the phase. The vivas that are slated to be held after the written papers are not that much of an issue at all.

And hopefully if the results of a certain activity off the campus come out positive, I shall be able to savour the holidays even more beautifully. 'Cos it shall mark a beginning of a new journey into the real world. And I shall make sure to enjoy all the time that I've before that with my friends and family. 'Cos it's now or never. Time to sleep now. Hoping to catch up after 10 days or so. Later!!!

The Sikh Sovereignty

This is one article I read in the Times of India once, and I stumbled upon it while going though my scrapbook. Have to share it with you all. My comments - at the end of the article.

MARCH OF BALLE BALLE (by Arvind Kala):

"Sikhs number less than 3 per cent of India' s population. They are outnumbered three to one by Bengalis and two to one by people who speak Telugu, Marathi or Tamil. In terms of population, Sikhs are also fewer than Gujaratis, Keralites or Oriyas. Yet Punjabi impact on popular culture goes way beyond numbers.

Take music for instance. Outside of Hindi music, Punjabi pop is the only music that electrifies audiences across India and livens up parties from Bangalore to Kolkota. Punjabi music far outsells other regional music and its popularity is rising. Explaining why Punjabi singers are good is as hard as explaining other stereotypes. Why are south Indians good in maths? Why are Marwaris or Gujaratis good at making money? Why does Kerela produce India's top women athletes?

Different communities excel at different things for a variety of reasons. But the vitality of Punjabi pop comes from a zest for life nurtured in a frontier people whose lives were ravaged by centuries of invasions. Facing danger peps up a culture by infusing energy into it. It's this Punjabi energy that India connects with when singers Daler Mehndi or Sukhbir or others take the mike.

Music and dance go together. The popularity of Punjabi pop has been accompanied by an even greater popularity of Bhangra, which has become a national dance. The irony is that people dancing at weddings or at parties all over India don't know they are doing the Bhangra. But they are, because typical of undemanding Punjabi spontaneity, the Bhangra as a dance form has no grammar. It just requires you to flail your arms, hence even restrained Indians summon the courage to do it.

Weddings in India have become truly Punjabi-'ised'. A ladies' sangeet at the bride's home was a typical Punjabi pre-wedding party with a dressed-up bride and her female friends and relatives dancing and singing songs. Today, a ladies' sangeet has become a must for any wedding celebration in India. When Mira Nair's Monsoon Wedding hit the screen, it reflected the growing appeal of Punjabi boisterousness that is infecting non-Punjabi weddings. Even traditional Bengali and south Indian homes have been influenced. Their rich Kenjeevaram and Benaras silk sarees at weddings are giving way to Punjabi lehengas.

Colourful weddings apart, even rural Punjab astonishes. It's the only place in India where you might see a tall, strapping Sikh farmer in a shocking pink Afghan suit whose colour matches that of his wife's. The Punjabi salwaar-suit defeated the saree two or three decades ago. That's probably due to the salwaar suit's practicality. A woman these days doesn't have the patience or time to wear a saree. The salwaar-suit's widespread acceptance as women's preferred attire testifies to Punjabi culture's disproportionate impact. The impact is also visible from the spreading popularity of Punjabi festival. Karva Chauth, that's marked by wives fasting for the long life of their husbands. The festival has caught on because an innate Punjabi zest has turned this festival into a day of celebration with women dressing at their best.

Popular culture in India is best represented by Hindi movies. Here again, Punjabi dominance is huge. The names tell the story: Raj Kapoor, Dev Anand, Sunil Dutt, Dharmendra, Kareena Kapoor, Hrithik Roshan. Dharmendra apart, all of them are Punjabi Khatris, as are top film producers and directors like B R Chopra and Karan Johar. Why should Punjabis dominate Bollywood when its talents should have emerged from the Hindi speaking states?

The reason is that success in Bollywood requires mental toughness, freshness, innovativeness and adaptability. A cruel history has given these qualities to the Punjabis. First, they faced invasions, and then came the 1947 Partition which tore their lives apart. Having gone through fire, Punjabi culture has acquired a dynamism and can-do spirit that shapes popular culture."

A few more influences and facts I'd like to add:

All of my friends want a 'Kadaa' (the metal bracelet Sikhs are supposed to wear on their right hands). All of my friends are crazy after Punjabi food. The event of stealing the bride-groom's shoes by the bride's sisters and friends during the wedding and asking for money in exchange is an event that originated in Punjabi weddings. Most of the Bollywood tracks can't do without Punjabi words such as 'kudi', 'mundya', 'soneya', etc. One or two Punjabi lines ought to be a part of most of the tracks. Bhangra or Punjabi Pop has been the very first Indian style of music to be classified internationally and has been given a genre in International Music.

The representation of a quintessential Indian outside India is done by a figure of a Sikh. People recognize Sikhs immediately as Indians. They don't do so with other communities. All the new people I meet say that Punjabi is a very sweet language and ask me to teach them a bit of Punjabi as they would love to converse in that dialect. You'll never find a Sikh beggar anywhere. The Sikhs shall live with respect, even if they earn a meagre income. And last but not the least, Sikh community has been the only one to have lost the maximum number of lives of it's own people, not in order to save it's own existence, but that of other religion's (The Hindu religion, that is).

In spite of such a huge influence of Punjabi culture in the lives of majority of people of the nation, many of them tend to form an opinion that Sikhs are brainless. Or that they are the dumbest creatures alive on earth. Who created this image? It was the jokes that started all of it. The jokes, whose origination took place when the Sikhs set out for a noble cause to help others again. It came into existence when the Sikhs used to raid the Mughal forts at midnight to save the women-folk of the Hindu families who were abducted and forcefully taken away to be used as slaves for physical pleasure of the king as well their soldiers. There started the talks by Mughals that the Sikhs go crazy at night, and they loose it completely. And from there, it took the form of jokes. It's the warmth of the lion-hearted Sikhs who enjoyed laughing on themselves and hence didn't mind the jokes. Even I don't, and I tend to laugh on these jokes. But only till they are taken lightly as jokes. If people tend to cross some limits, you have to stand up for yourself and speak out. There's a limit to insulting anyone's integrity and I've seen many people doing that off late. Heights were when Sikhs were depicted as dogs in a poster at at Reliance Web World outlets. Opinions have been formed that Sikhs are actually what the jokes convey. And when someone tends to treat me that way, I loose it.

This community has proved to be one of the bravest and strongest. Lets not forget that it was a mere 110 Sikhs who fought against a Pakistani army of thousands, loaded with tanks, and still emerged victorious and helped end the 1971 war then and there itself. This just goes to show the amount of self confidence and never-die attitude possessed by people of this ethnic group. I'm proud to be an integral part of the only community in the world who can laugh on themselves. But there's a limit of decency one needs to maintain. Until the Sikhs are taking it lightly, everything's fine. But that doesn't mean it gives others the liberty to degrade their status as much as they want to. If aggravated, the Sikhs can create a revolution in the entire nation, and nothing shall be able to stop them.

Anyways, even if this entire ethnic group is really as dumb as they are portrayed to be, it's the others who are adopting the culture, the lifestyle and the traditions of Punjabis. The facts speak for themselves. I'm sure even you must have been influenced by this culture in some way or the other. Then who's more dumb I ask you? A person who's tagged dumb or the ones who give him that status but still copy him in almost every aspect of life and adopt all possible traits of his life in theirs ?? Think about it. It's your call.

Persistence

Twenty-four oceans
Twenty-four skies
Twenty-four failures
And twenty-four tries
Twenty-four finds me
In twenty-fourth place
With twenty-four drop outs
At the end of the day

Life is not what I thought it was
Twenty-four hours ago
Still I'm singing 'Spirit,
take me up in arms with You'
And I'm not who I thought I was
Twenty-four hours ago
Still I'm singing 'Spirit,
take me up in arms with You'

It's funny how life tests you everyday in the smallest possible things. The idea of life, according to me, is to check how far can you sustain something that's been going wrong since quite some time. If you want to change a certain habit of yours you feel is not so great and it's affecting you negatively, and you see someone else doing just the opposite and savoring its sweet consequences, then the initial tries will not give you the same results as it does for that person. Initially you'll face a lot of disappointments and failures, and that's the point where you decide to revert back to being what you were, thinking that luck's never with me. Or that I'm going to face disappointment in whatever I do. No matter how much I try to change, things never change. But if you still manage to continue despite the failures, things will change. You'll start noticing the change gradually. And then, as time progresses, you'll also start getting the same results as the other person, who inspired you, did. Basically, life's testing you to see how desperately you want to adopt that habit or anything for that instance. And every good change has to pass thru' nature's test and then only are you rewarded. 'Persistence' is the key-word here.

Even in the most trying situations, if you sustain yourself very well, give it back in the face of difficulty, prove that you're not gonna give in no matter what, then automatically you'll stop getting problems of such sort later on. Life always throws problems or difficulties of an intensity, which are higher than your capacity to take them. The idea is to see how well you cope up with them. If you can get yourself out of the most trying circumstances, you win and you'll seldom face any such problem. But if you don't, you'll keep facing problems of some sort or other every now and then. It's a kind of training that goes on throughout your lifetime until you achieve the level of success that you're supposed to.

And when I heard this song, Twenty-Four by Switchfoot for the first time, it reflected on the same habit of not giving up. No matter what happens, if you feel you're going on the right path, continue doing so. There's no short-cut to success, they say. And it applies in this context very well I guess.

Random Thoughts - IFs, WHYs and HOWs

Why is it that life gives you so much at once that it becomes really difficult to handle, whether it be happiness or grief? Why, does it always want us to somehow try & achieve a harmony between both the extremes, which is, in a way, improbable?

Why are you made to feel so special for a while and then all of a sudden, you’re made to feel as if you’re a worthless piece of junk on this planet?? Why is it that when you really don’t need it, everyone’s there for you, and they overwhelm you with their support, and all of a sudden when you’re in dire need, there’s no one for you??

How do you define ethics in friendships?? How do you justify your logic for doing certain things that you did thinking they’re practically correct whereas your overtly-emotional friend doesn’t think it so??

If A is a good friend of B and C, but B & C don’t like each other, then what practicality each one has to show on his/her respective parts?? Where do you think, as an 'A', you’re to draw a line when in an A-B-C kind of situation??

Why does the college management have to set our exam schedule in mid-May, and that too during afternoons when they know that summer’s on its peak during those times?

Why is it that many-a-times when I sit down to write something, I don’t find a really good topic to write about and end up writing nothing or some random crapp like I’m doing right now??

Why are you stuck up in so many trying situations with people that really matter you the most, that you’ve no other option but to hope that you’re wrong and wait patiently for the right time to come and reveal all you needed to know & clear your doubts?? Why is it that such situations have to be left to time to be healed in a peaceful way??

Why do people honk horns as soon as the traffic lights turn green?? Why don’t they understand that no one in front of them is actually interested in standing right in the middle of the road and that he/she is in as much hurry as you are and will leave in a jiffy??

Why do people regret over the past and keep holding on to it?? Not all the past memories are worth clinging on to.

Why does everything and anything in the college life end up with regards to relationships?? Why does it occupy the center-stage of all the talks people have got?? Yes, there’s much more to talk about than just relationships.

Is life a full circle where equilibrium is maintained during one’s lifetime or is life really unfair to some people??

Our 'Burn' Voyage

The visit to Civil Hospital had to be shifted to L.G. Hospital, yet another government hospital which specializes in treatment of the burn-victims. As Dr. Vora put forth, there's no one to visit those patients. There're already volunteers who visit the Cancer Ward and Paraplegia Ward apart from the days that we used to. So he asked if we could shift to burns ward and pay a little attention to patients over there. I immediately got stirred up and felt that this is what we should be doing. No doubt we're used to our regular visits to Civil but better pay a li'l attention to those who are getting none.

Due to personal reasons, I had to miss my first visit. But yesterday I got a chance to go there. The burns ward has been newly built in the hospital by an N.G.O called Samvedna and they've made it as good as any private hospital. It's plush, has got all modern amenities, aesthetics have been properly taken care of to provide soothing conditions to the patients out there. Cleanliness is fully maintained. We had to remove our original footwear and were given slippers from the hospital staff to be worn around in the premises. The floor manager was really happy to see us there. He made sure he stuck around with us throughout. He was trying to provide the smallest of details regarding any doubts that we would or could possibly get.

The very first ward was the female ward. There were 4-5 patients out there. Most of them suffered burns between 25% to 45%. But what really caught my attention was that each and every female had almost the same story to tell us. Either she got burnt while cooking food, while igniting the primus, while roasting chapatis or papad or because of some or the other reason near the stove. After the fourth bed, I was sure that it was all made up. I told Priti that something's fishy out here. Then came two kids. one was 2 & a half months old. His name was Rahul. Right side of his face was severely burnt. Her mother had problem conversing in all possible dialects we tried initially. Finally she spoke some kind of Gujarati, still I don't exactly know how did he get hurt. But it really was a miserable sight to imagine how such a small kid would have taken it all. His eyes were alright. Only the cheek area was burnt. No vital organs had been hurt and the burns were rated 6%. The other kid was 2-3 years old. He fell down on the stove from his mother's lap while she was cooking. He suffered major burns all over his body. The sight of strangers intimidated him and he was like, shoo them away. So without making him cry more, we left his bed. Skin drafting had been performed on him and doctor had said that he'd recover soon if things go well.

There was only one male patient. His condition was still favourable for recovery. When asked by Yesha what all happened, and how things were at home, he started crying. Here's his story: His wife was trying to ignite the primus. The stove was on, and without realizing that, she tried to fill in the kerosene. And there was a sudden blast and she caught fire. He jumped onto her to douse the flames. When relatives rushed in, they didn't notice his condition and immediately took his wife to the hospital. Later on, his condition was brought to light and even he was admitted in hospital. His wife expired a week back and he had been brought to the hospital for the second time. Skin drafting had been completed and he was to be kept in the ward till his wounds would dry up. He was really desperate to go home as his kids were alone. Whoa!! That was.... I don't know. How the hell do you comfort such a person?? What can you tell him at such a point of time?? Nothing actually!!! No words of encouragement can work at such times. I still don't know what to say. Even when I think of him now, I get unnerved.

Then came the turn to go to the I.C.U. That's the place where the most extreme or fresh cases are brought to. There were two patients, both females. The first one yet again had the same old story. Burnt while cooking tea. Who the hell cooks tea at 1 'o clock in the night?? Yup! That's the time when she was brought to the hospital by her husband. Not brought, actually dumped. He wasn't seen since then. Her parents came the other day and since then, they are with her. She was the patient in the entire premises with the maximum amount of burns. 69%. The entire body was covered up in dressing. She said she felt like drinking cold juice. She felt really uncomfortable from within. But then after skin drafting, a patient is not allowed to eat or drink anything for the next 48 hours. So there was nothing we could tell her except to wait patiently and keep up the fighting spirit. All we could tell her that soon she'd be fine if she really cooperates. Then we moved on to the last patient. She was asleep and her guardian wasn't present in the room at that point of time. So couldn't get to know anything about her.

So, we were done with all the patients. Mr. Hiten Pandya, the floor manager, took us to the conference room. He called in the doctors on duty and we had a chat session. He said we could clear any doubts that we had in our minds at that point of time. My only doubt was with regards to the stories all those women were putting forth. I straightaway asked the doctor, "How many of these female patients were actually telling the truth?" She said, "None!!!" All the female patients are suicide victims or victims of dowry extraction and in-laws-torture. They all cooked up almost the same story to avoid any harm to their husband's family and also because they were to get alright and would have to go back and live with their in-laws again. They all mostly belonged to lower class of society and so separation or a divorce was considered a very big stigma or blot on the reputation of the family and the character of the female herself. The girl's parents themselves, in many cases, were not ready to take back their daughters due to the fear of society. The poor females had to either bear the brunt of the in-laws' dissatisfaction and end up getting abused physically and in the worst cases, as were in the hospital, getting burnt up. If not, the female herself would get so exhausted of the circumstances that she herself tried to commit suicide.

I for one, personally feel that committing suicide is the worst thing one can do. It's a path chosen by cowards. Maybe you have really big problems, but still they are not impossible to deal with. I've seen women from that stratum of society fighting for their rights, even though they are not even aware of the legal ways to go about it. Doesn't the person who tries to commit suicide even care for the loved ones he/she'll leave behind?? People to whom he/she truly means the world?? If that person does, then what is it that still forces him/her to take such a step??? I dunno, but I feel if not for yourself, but the thought of your family should stop you from taking such a step. It's a controversial topic. Maybe all of you might not agree with me, but that's my view put forth.

Anyways, even if a person sees no alternative but to commit suicide, then also, committing a suicide by burning oneself, not being successful in the attempt and then end up getting admitted to the hospital is even worse than death. If the burns are severe and deep, there's very little the doctors can do. The internal organs if burnt up, turn septic and they smell awful. The stench is so bad that many a times, the relatives don't want to come and sit besides their own kin. I wonder how the hell can you take all that as a burn victim. And yes, if the internal organs are damaged, the chances of survival are as good as the chances of finding a pin in the haystack. I guess you could even succeed in the latter. To bear all that pain, the smell, the regular dressings, to see your own wounds regularly, to realise the fact that you still have to live and the burn marks are here to stay forever, that there shall be no growth of hair on the damaged skin, that you shall look like an albino all your life, and again you'll have to go and face the world outside from which you were wanting to do away with when you went ahead with the ghastly act; all of this would take away all the fighting spirit you need to tackle the phase and survive.

If you really wish to end your life (which I'm still against), then there're other ways, which are sure-shot. Try those. But don't try getting yourself burned and put yourself and your relatives in the most awkward and testing situations. The plight of the victims gave me a weak stomach for the first time. It happened when I entered the I.C.U. and met the first patient, the one who had 69% burns. That was the time I really felt I might not be able to take it. After seeing all this, you just wish you never have to be a victim of any kind of burn-injuries.

The hospital also had psychic cases wherein the patient was mentally ill and tried to burn himself/herself on a couple of occasions. The last patient, the one in the I.C.U whose relative was not present in the room, turned out to be one such case. We asked the doctor if there's any provision of psychiatrists for such patients. Also, how much did the hospital spend on every patient, how much were the patients charged. It turns out that if a patient stays within the corporation limits of the city, then atleast 50% of the expense is borne by the government. Sometimes even more, depending on the economic condition of the family. And if during the treatment, the patient dies, then the government doesn't charge a single penny. The family's then allowed to claim the body by finishing off with further formalities as soon as possible, unlike private hospitals, wherein, until they don't receive a fax from the insurance company, they wouldn't let the relatives claim the dead body. Then the hospital doesn't care how long it takes. Also, the regular dressing costs 150 to 200 bucks per patient, and the daily phsyio sessions, extra. The government is doing a fairly good job in looking after these people I must say.

We tend to generalise the notion that government in India is good for nothing, and doesn't do anything to help the weaker sections of the society. But after visiting such places, your view changes. There're some places, if not all, where the government is really spending a lot of money in taking care of its people and providing them with utmost care and attention. And the hospitals are one of those places. There are other examples where the government has shown that it is striving to work for its people. One being freeing the farmers of the loans, on a nationwide scale. Second being the construction of an array of shops on a vacant land nearby my place, where the government puts up exhibitions every now and then, by inviting all the skilled craftsmen and handicraft workers to showcase and sell their products, without charging any rent for those shops for the entire duration. This is done just to encourage their business, to keep it alive, and to make sure that they can earn decent money to provide their families with more than just square meals a day. There're many more if you set out to find them. That fills you with some kind of optimism, that things are improving at some level, even though some things haven't changed till date in the functioning.

But, by looking at the state of the art hospital, the ultra modern facilities, and the passion shown by the doctors who work there, I can surely say that the government is trying to improve its image in the minds of the commoners like us. We shall be back again next saturday, for our regular visit, as we listen to more of the mysterious tales, or as put by Kavita, "Ms.-terious Tales."

The Day Today - Take "Mine"

Today I signed in to actually write something, but now that I've sat down to write, nothing great's coming to my mind. But nonetheless, I'm gonna write something here today. He heh. Well, had a not-so great day in the morning. Went for an unfortunate off-campus recruitment process. And as luck has had it so far, it really doesn't like to stick with me in some circumstances, one being these entrances, it didn't. Came back home dejected after a great show again. Got words of encouragement and support from Vivek to keep me going. That helped man. Since Kavita and he knew about it, they kept calling at frequent intervals to check what's the update. (Thanks a lot for that!! Genuinely keh raha hoon, no sarcasm intended) Talk about caring friends. That's where luck has decided to stay me for a long time. (Touch wood) Whew!!! One good place for it to stay as well. :) Went to sleep for while. Watched Lord Of The Rings: The Return Of The King to recharge myself. Yup that movie works wonders for my mood and emotions. It's like "It Gets Better With Every Watch!!"

Was a bit recharged by evening, but still, not in a mood to really socialize. But still, was anticipating a great time at Shweta's (one of our very good friends) treat. She got selected in NMIMS. Something to cheer about at the end of the day. :) It was a fun evening, had a great time torturing others with my usual doses of high-level hathodas. What made me really happy was that I couldn't believe I got myself off from the isolation-preferring, unhappy and sour mood and was able to lift myself up to the level of making others feel that I'm doing really great. Wow!!! I wish I can carry on with that. It's not like I did that for the first time, but whenever I can manage to pull it off after really bad and testing times, it kind of helps me actually lift my mood from within. Something (unexplainable) from within gives you that feel-good feeling of being able to do something worthy atleast at the end of the day. With that happy feeling, I'm off to sleep now. Really hoping for some miracle to happen in the days to come and take me sailing comfortably through some troubling times that are going on right now with regards to a few aspects in life. Well, hope's not lost. It never will. Optimism keeps me going, and LOTR just helped me refuel myself today with it by heaps and bounds. :) Signing of for now. Later!!!

Friendship - Ocassional Jadedness

Does one ever feel that sometimes, too much of being together in friendship is really bad ??? Well I, for one, do. It's great that we always think of our friends when we want to spend free time of ours or look forward to spend a great time, or maybe sad times as well. But too much of time spent with your friends in some circumstances can sometimes lead to excess. And it happens with both new friendships and really old friendships.

When I talk about new friendships, it's when you meet someone new, you start understanding them really well, and you do that task so well that the other person starts expecting a lot out of you. He/she thinks that you can turn out to be his/her best friend because you're understanding them on a level, maybe no one else could so easily. But you, on the other hand don't feel that connection happening, even though you really do understand the person. That builds up lot of expectations you know you won't be able to fulfill. And in turn, you feel bad and indirectly responsible for raising the bar. You've nothing against that person, yet you know that you don't wanna go that fast in the relationship building, but the other person is hurrying you up. That's one of the most difficult situations to tackle. A direct show of disinterest can lead to you looking like one of those fake persons who really was never interested and you're just one of those hard-hearted people who don't understand others' feelings. A tough situation to handle man!!!

With old friends, it's when you know they are going through a rough patch and so you're the one they'll turn up to look for comfort and peace. It's not that they'd talk about their problems but they would wanna spend time with you. They'd be really irritated, or frustrated and may take it all out on you, yet you take it calmly knowing the fact that it's not meant for you and it's good that he/she's letting it out. But if this continues for long (really long) time, then even you get tired of taking it all silently just for the sake of friendship. I mean you understand their viewpoint yet you're full to the brim of your capacity to take it anymore. You know you can't tolerate it anymore. Yet you don't want to tell your friend that this is the case, because you know he's looking up to you for support and peace. You then start to avoid his company or avoid talking to him, just because you're now irritated and you don't want him to become your victim, because you already know his situation. But at the same time, you're helpless because neither you can tell him so, nor can you take it out on him, even though he as a friend should understand your position. But on the contrary, if he really understood your position since day 1, then he would have made sure that he doesn't make you the object of his anger and irritation, but rather try to talk it out to you.

A Catch-22 situation??? I'd say so. And also, there's no simple solution to clear yourself right out of either of them...

An Excerpt from Ratatouille

This is the review of Anton Ego in the movie Ratatouille after he tastes the dish, 'Ratatouille', made my Remy, the rat. Of course it's a fairy tale but the essence of the paragraph has very much of a relevance in reality as well. A wonderful approach to the conventional mode of critics' way of working, their follies and what should be their actual job. A must read for everyone.

"In many ways the work of a critic is easy. We risk very little yet enjoy a position over those who offer up their work and their selves to our judgement. We thrive on negative criticism which is fun to write and to beat. But the bitter truth we critics must face, is that in the grand scheme of things, the average piece of junk is probably more meaningful than our criticism designating it so.

But there are times when a critic truly risks something, and that is in discovery and defence of the 'New'. The world is often unkind to new talent, new creations. The New needs friends. Last night I experienced something new, an extraordinary meal from a singularly unexpected source. To say that both the meal and its maker have challenged my pre-conceptions about fine cooking is a gross understatement. They have rocked me to my core.

In the past, I've made no secret of my disdain for Chef Gusteau's famous motto, 'Anyone Can Cook.' But I realize, only now I truly understand what he meant. Not everyone can become a great artist, but a great artist can come from anywhere. It is difficult to imagine more humble origins than those of the genius now cooking at Gusteau's, who is, in this critic's opinion, nothing less than the finest chef in France. I'll be returning to Gusteau's soon, hungry for more."

Two Worlds!!

For some reasons, our visits to the Civil Hospital got reduced to only visiting the Paediatric Cancer Ward. For the past two-three visits, that had been the case. And to an extent, it left me feeling incomplete. It's not that I didn't enjoy meeting the kids, not that it had become monotonous or that the process process didn't enlighten me. It did. There're a few realizations that come to facts only after meeting the cancer-affected kids. But yes, I did miss the visit to the Paraplegia Ward. There's a certain quality of attraction that ward has. It's the closest reality-check you get to face or experience. With the kids, the surroundings are all so sweet and a little eased up, comparatively. It's toys and swings and cartoons painted on the wall (the government has done a fairly good job in providing for the same). There's a certain sense of happiness, even though partial or artificial, that keeps those patients and parents sane and happy, even if it is for a while throughout the day.

But that's not the case with the patients in the Paraplegia ward. There, the surroundings are dull, and typically reflect an old, uncared, government building. The patients are are grown up people. So talking to them is a challenge in itself. Since we're very young as compared to them, most of them wouldn't give a minnow for our concern. But after a lot of pestering and insistence on my side, we did pay a visit to the ward this time. And the visit there is a different kind of an eye opener in a way.

Both the wards work in respective ways to help us grow more as a person. Our regular visits to the Cancer ward paid off as the children had started recognising us. Parents enthusiastically welcome us and it is evident from the smile on their faces when we enter their room. Even downstairs, outside the doctor's office, where the kids who are in the process of healing, who don't stay at the hospital as they don't require further closely scrutinised care, and are there for regular check ups, remember us and welcome us with a smile on their face. We met one such girl this time. Her name's Tulsi, and she's 3-4 years old. She was downstairs, leaving for home. She saw us and gave a big smile. Even we remembered her from our past visits, when she was in one of the rooms, undergoing treatment. But now she was better, and had come for a check up. She was feeling a little shy, so she didn't talk much, but all the while she couldn't stop smiling. Her parents were elated on seeing us and were telling us how she was on her way to a speedy recovery.

Just the fact that she remembered us all made me so very happy. Even though it was no big a gesture. I feel that a cancer ward is the best place for a new volunteer to start off with. Cos even someone who's interested in being helpful by involving in such kind of activities but feels that he/she lacks the capacity or proper way of doing so, can benefit and learn by visiting this ward. The fact that it's the children who are suffering from such deadly disease can help create empathy even in people who generally can't empathize or wouldn't have been able to much, had it been an adult in a child's stead.

The Paraplegia ward, for me is a place everyone should visit once. Whenever I go there, I get more of a sense of satisfaction. I had talked about a deaf man in my previous post. He was still there in the ward when we went this time. And I told all my friends that he's the guy I had written about. There was something I had forgotten to mention that time. He's not only deaf, he can't speak also. So can't his wife and kids. The entire family suffers from the same problem. But when my friends saw him, they realised the spirit with which he embraced all his problems. The zest for life that he had, was clearly evident from his body language. This time it was his dad with whom I got a chance to talk to. He was recovering nicely after that surgery I had talked about last time. Now he could feel sensation in the leg, movement was clearly visible, and the exercises were to be started from the next week. Which again was a clear sign of good recovery. Slowly but steadily, he was going good. I asked his dad if still there's something we could do. And I realised his love for books, and asked him if he'd want more of those. Affirmation from him was obvious. So I'm in the process of collecting any written material I have which is in Gujarati.

Besides him, there were loads of other patients. Some who didn't want to talk, some who had lost all hope, some who were doing good, some who didn't understand one bit of what the doctor said, some who were taking is strongly and some who didn't have anyone besides them. They were all alone. We tried to talk to many of them. Let me give it to you, it's really tough talking to them. But then, we have to do it. In the ladies ward, I asked my female colleagues to do the talking as females are more comfortable opening up to females. Then we left the hospital and headed back to the RC Center.

And like every time, I could feel this sudden shift. There's such a stark contrast in the worlds; the one in the hospital, and the one outside it. Inside, you experience pessimism, problems, suffering, care, neglect, hope, survival, endurance and many such other feelings; and the moment you step out of the campus, you're forced into the other facet of the real world, where the people are too busy with their own selves to even think or experience what we did just a few minutes ago. You see the pedestrians vying for space to walk, traffic policemen catching the offenders and arguing with them, the roadside vegetable vendors shouting bargains, the milkman struggling with his bicycle, two vehicle drivers arguing after a minor accident, school children stuffed into a rickshaw heading towards their school, the workers ferrying goods to earn their meagre square meals, the sweeper doing the "so-called" cleaning act (all he does is to shift dust from one side to the other and blow up a part of it in the air), and even you yourself jostling for space to drive on the road.

All this makes you think whether such people do even have time to think of the lesser-fortunate people, leave aside spending time with them. But then, you also know that you're a part of it as soon as you enter the realm of the outside world. And if you do, then so must others. But in a way, it feels good and fortunate to be a part of this side of the campus than the other, to be fortunate enough to be able to walk ourselves to our destination, and in the meantime use our hands to do other work rather than push our wheel-chair, to be able to eat with our own hands, to be able to run around, play, do masti, drive, talk....; in short, lead a normal life.

But then what makes you realize that you're fortunate??? It's the very visits that you have made to the hospital so far, and seen it all yourself. You've learnt to appreciate the smallest of gestures and the smallest of your abilities on a grander scale. You learn to enjoy the bad roads because at least you're fortunate enough to drive on them; you learn to enjoy cleaning your room b'cos at least you have your own room, your own house; you learn to enjoy the pile of clothes waiting to be ironed, b'cos at least you've got so many good clothes to wear. But apart from the learning, it's the feeling that people want you there, which is evident from the way they welcome us every time, that makes you want to work towards this cause more and more.

I'm sure everyone in our group feels the same. And with more of our friends joining in, the activity has assumed a larger interest than before. Things are going good as of now. More details later. That is if some story or incident inspires me enough to share it with you guys, and take us into whole new direction of things. Peace Out...

There's A New Story At Every Bed

Thanks to my altruistic friend Yesha, whom I consider the epitome of altruism and selflessness, I decided to pay a visit to the Red Cross Society Center in our city (Only she can come up with new and great ideas to help people, and I'm always happy to help her in any of such endeavours). So she led a group of us friends to the center to meet the Head, who was more than happy to welcome us. There we decided to basically take up the task of counselling children suffering from Thalassaemia, and apart from that pay weekly visits to various government hospitals where there're patients in the T.B. Ward, Cancer Ward, Paraplegia Ward, and various other such wards. We are not some experts to sort out their problems, but we were advised by the head of Red Cross Society (RCS) to go and spend time with the patients, talk to them, befriend them, and make them feel a bit comfortable amidst the not-so-hygienic, and boring, and dull surroundings of the hospital. He first advised to take a few trips with the regular volunteers, and then once we are introduced to the hospital staff as RC Volunteers, and we see how they go about doing things, then we can start going on our own.

So today was my first day with the volunteers. We reached the RCS center from where their vehicle starts off and picks up volunteers on the way to the hospital. The volunteers today were basically ladies, senior citizens, who have been associated with the RCS since past 20 - 30 years, and have been regularly doing the rounds. As a part of regular routine, they stopped to buy fruits for the patients on the way. We were to go to the city Civil Hospital today. The volunteers took rounds in the T.B. ward, the Eye Center and the Paraplegia Ward on Fridays.

We started off with the T.B. ward, distributing fruits to every patient. Today, there were less patients as compared to any other week, that was what one of the volunteers told me. The Paraplegia Ward had some activity going on for the patients. So they were all out in the small area in front of the building. On taking a closer look, I found that there was a race going on. The handicapped patients were on their wheel-chairs and were racing against each other. Even the medical students took their turns on the wheel-chair; which according to them, was their way to feel what these patients felt, their way to experience what these patients generally have to go through for so long a period. The patients were surely enjoying it, hooting and cheering for their favourite doctors.

There were a few patients in the ward. We went and talked to them. Asked them a little bit of their personal details, how did they get hurt, what kind of operation had they undergone, and what did the doctor say about the recovery. They loved even the littlest of attention showered on them. Each and every patient wanted to share his/her experience with us, tell us what they do, how they got hurt and anything and everything that struck their mind at that instant. We inquired if we could provide them with books or any pastime activity, and made a note of it, and promised to bring it with us the next time we came.

In this ward, we were told to just keep the fruits on the beds as most of the patients were downstairs enjoying the events. So I started from one corner and Yesha from the other. One of the patients was on his bed. I went and offered him fruits. I asked him as to on which bed there were patients and on which there weren't. And he smilingly nodded to my queries every time.

The shocking part comes now. It was later that his mother called us all there, and told us that he wanted to share his life-story with us. He was born deaf. (Now wait a second. How could that be??? How did he understand what I was saying without me even gesturing much?? He understood all of it. And even gave proper answers to my questions.) Anyways, I listened to what she had to say. She said that since he was deaf, he got a deaf wife, which was very obvious. But the sad part was that they had two kids and both of them turned out to deaf by birth. It seemed to her that she was not destined to have normal grandchildren either. He was earning a meagre income of 2000 rupees per month and was managing his house. He put his children to a school, but his eight year old son ran away from there one day, as he disliked living in a hostel. He was reported missing and they tried their level best to find him. He was finally located after 15 days in some Orphanage, where someone must have left him when he must've been found roaming around on the streets.

Now he wants to study in a day school which is at Abu, and from where he can come home every week. She said that his father cant afford that kind of money, as the travelling expense for the month just amounts to 1000 rupees. So his son was not studying as of now. The guy was admitted here because of some injury to his knee. He was elated to show us a newspaper cutting in which there was an article about a surgery performed on his knee for the first time in India by a team of American and Indian doctors. His mother said that though he was deaf, he understood everything we said to him normally. I was amazed at the level to which this guy had developed his sense of understanding. But they say, that if a person looses one of the five senses, the other four become very strong. He was on the way to recovery. His wife hadn't been much supportive and was right now at her parents' place with the kids.

We asked her if he could read and write and she said that he had done his schooling. So we asked her if he would like to read some magazines and books, and he was all happy, nodding in affirmation. The books must've reached him by today evening itself. Then there was yet another patient who had fallen from a height and had dislocated his neck bone or some bone around that region (pure Gujarati words can still sound alien to me). The doctors said that there was no need of a surgery as this could be cured by stretching his head by dead weight and keeping it in that position. His condition was pitiable too.

Why am I sharing these stories with you ?? Well, because just one particular incident of the deaf patient shows what problems really are. And what we face in day to day life is nothing as compared to it. Sure even we may have our share of huge problems in life but most of us are lucky enough to not be troubled by problems of such intensity daily. These people literally live with it. They don't have any source of money for treatments, and if it's the head of the family who's a patient, then they don't even have money to afford the square meals per day. They are greedy for even the smallest attention bestowed upon them by anyone. I had a feeling that talking to them would make them feel better and happy, but I did not know that it would make them feel happy and elated to the extent that they were.

There were so many stories and experiences to listen to. And they give you a totally new dimension to life. These are the harsh, ground realities. If India's progressing as a nation on one side, there's a whole big section of society that is not enjoying the fruits of the economic boom. And I got a chance to meet them, and live their lives through their tales. They gave me a chance to see or experience some things like I've never done before. They make us realize how small deeds can be appreciated so much. They make us realize how lucky we've been to have been born and brought up in good, respectable and well-to-do families. They make us realize the importance of money. How for the rich and the upper middle class, where two thousand bucks gets you just a pair of branded jeans or a pair of branded glasses, there's one section of the society that runs all the monthly family expenses in two thousand bucks.

If we're suffering from problems such as a fights or quarrels with one of the many friends we have, there they are dealing with loneliness. They are desperately waiting for any damn soul to just look at them, notice them and talk to them, even if it for a few minutes. We don't realize the kind of comfort and security given to use by our near and dear ones until we meet such people.

I feel one cant say that he/she has seen everything in life, or has experienced all that was to, until he/she has spent time with such people, realised the facts that me and Yesha did, and what the rest of our group will, eventually. To develop an all round perspective in life, you need to know all the possible outcomes or conditions of any situation. And these people show you what the extreme opposite feels like.

I don't say that I've known all that I needed to in just this visit. This is just the beginning. This time the patients were very less as compared to any other day. The more the patients, the more the stories. The more the stories, the more the experiences. The more the experiences, the more the feel-good feeling for being able to help someone in whatever way possible and for enlightening our own selves from their talks.

There's a new story at every bed.... And I'm all ears...