Now that I am so close to Nature sitting in a cosy room in a
resort near Dalhousie, with the lightning striking almost atop my hair, I
decided to meet some significant people living on the other side of this world.
What use is technology if it does not help us in reconstructing the…blurred lines? Thus, I am all
set to have a group chat with the help of a super cool app calledWeChat.(I have written a review for the app,
you can read it HERE.) I have added my contacts in the list I have named,The Misunderstood.
Misunderstood… because they have been portrayed in a different
light unlike the person that they truly were. The politics of representation
and that of absence is a repertoire used by everyone to attach power to those
who could control it more effectively. My list consists of
The Pandavas i.e.
1. Yudhistir
2. Arjun
3. Bheem
4. Nakul
5. Sahdev
And of course, Duryadhan from the opponent’s side. Krishna is
omni-present and thus, he says, needs no app. What can I say, well for him! He
anyway is quite perturbed when it comes to his role in determining the
difference between being Clever and Cunning. He usually seems to be smiling
with a certain discomfort camouflaged in the creases of his smile.
5:27pm
They are punctual and appear online in my friend list and I receive a pop-up
message… “Are you there?” from Nakul. I had turned my appearance to invisible,
I recalled. And though I didn’t check, I could feel Krishna smiling.
5:30pm
I begin with wry chain of thoughts scribbled in my mind, not having heard of
such an event happening before this. Talking about the advancement of science
and technology!
Dear Pandavas,
Welcome. I wanted to let you know that you are not celebrated heroes
for me. In fact, I think it was a battle that the Kauravas should have won,
considering they were so much more well-equipped and strong. Moreover,
according to the way kingship worked in ancient India, it was their right to
ascend the throne and not yours.
I do not understand why you guys are celebrated, for what virtue, I
reckon? You went ahead and first, accepted Draupadi as the ‘common wife’ and
then later agreed to treat her like your common ‘property’ and gave her away?
I had typed a little too much, and no one was responding. Fine, my
tone was accusatory but then, it was straight from the heart.
Yudhisthir typing…
We felt terrible for that. It was all due to that evil Duryodhan and Shakuni
Mama!
Bheem:I felt like punching them on their face. I bet history would have
changed then!
Sahadev:We asked for forgiveness after that incident, PD. C’mon! You’ve got
to stop being so rude!
Me:
That’s rubbish! What good is your chivalry if five of you could not
prevent the humiliation for your woman? Krishna had to come as the savior? He
could have stopped the battle from taking place, from your side winning the
battle, from Abhimanyu being killed…The list can really go on guys!
Krishna smiled and commented, “Who told you to speak from the heart? Don’t you
think that if that is what I wanted, I would have placed the mouth above your
heart and not on your face, near your brain.”
I cringed.
Me:
Krishna! It is Krishna’s support that let you win the battle. He is
always celebrated as some heroic icon with Godly virtues innate in him. While
all I see, is the manner in which he twisted and plotted, who stood by his
promise to not use a weapon against the Kauravas but used every other twisted
repertoire to assure their defeat. Such politics has been terribly underplayed!
But hey, I am a Masters Degree-holder in history. I know better now!
Krishna roared in laughter this time, my angst peaking to further
levels. “It is good to have a clever enemy than to have a foolish friend, my
dear” he said. “Everything is politics, it is an inevitable part of one’s
existence. You talking about it, having an opinion, about the Mahabharata or
Me, is politics! Why not learn it and destroy those who are less powerful, than
to let the others use it against you anyway?”
I could not believe this! Not just that Lord Krishna was directly
conversing with me, but because he was admitting to it. I have in my five years
of studying History have wondered why Krishna is called clever while Shakuni is
called cunning. Was it because Krishna had the virtue of being a ‘God’?
I was cursing the advantages of being a God when thunder struck.
So wild and violent, I thought I was dead, with all the effect it had.. The
lightning was followed by series of lightning, each worse than the earlier;
thunder crackling like conflicting against me. I jolted out of my chair and my
phone fell down from my lap. I let out a swear and picked it up. The WeChat app
was running and no, there was no group called The Misunderstood. No, I did not
have the Pandavas in my friend list either! It wasn’t possible, was it?
Thus, I solemnly pledged to instead find the Pandavas, Kauravas
and Krishnas of today and show them their place while they are here. Who knows
who shall be erased with the passage of time in the histories of a people who
love to worship a cunning/clever Krishna and an extremely patriarchal Rama..
This post has been written for a contest organised by WeChat and Indiblogger
Teesta? Teesta…
Where are you? Your friend is on the line, she wants to discuss your history
homework. Only God knows what you’ll end up doing such stupid things! Only if you’d
studied well! Teesta…shrieked Mr.Sen, opening the door to his
daughter’s room. He stopped short as he entered the room and froze in his
steps. A stream of liquid was moving gradually towards the door, in an awfully
slow pace, dividing the room into two halves; the study table with her books
unevenly spread on it and above it, a paper which had something scribbled on
it. And the bed on the other side, draped with Teesta’s favorite bed-sheet, now
stained red with the fluid and there she lay in a pool of blood, half-dropping
from the bed to the ground, unconscious. Gautami… Gautami!!! Call the ambulance…
Teesta hated blood, she hated the sight of blood and it had taken him considerable
time to acquaint her with her periods too. How could she then, do this to herself?
My little girl, how much trauma did she undergo to slash her wrists so cruelly?The
thoughts clouded his mind as he held her hands delicately in the ambulance that
was striding towards the hospital.
Mr.Sen’s conscience tugged at him, as the ambulance jerked due to the
potholes and he cringed as he held his daughter’s hands with foremost care.
Gautami Sen was a silenced woman, partly by shock and partly guilt taking over
her as the couple sat next to each other looking helplessly at their daughter.
Mr.Sen gave her a nudge that the mother needed to come to terms with the
reality and she broke down, sobbing profusely.
“I
am proud of her, she is my princess. I haven’t really told her that. You know,
few days back she asked me if I am proud of her and I did not tell her directly
that I am. I told her that she hasn’t done anything to be proud of. In fact, I told
her how she has brought shame to us by scoring so badly and then choosing to study
arts…”
“…humanities”, Mr.Sen
interrupted her. Gautami nodded silently, tears running down her cheeks as she
continued praying with folded hands. Teesta had interrupted him similarly few days
back, in the same manner. She had been browsing her Facebook account when he’d
entered her room and smirked, “So, congratulating your other friends who’ve scored so well?
100 in maths, science and social studies while the highest you got in any paper
is 85 that too in SST! And I should not even begin talking about maths or
science!”
Teesta’s eyes had welled with tears, as she hid her face in her curls and
turned to the computer screen. And to add to her pain, the news feed was full
of congratulatory status updates and pictures. People tagging each other…
congratulating…and wishing each other luck… 96.6%, 94%, 92%... How could so
many people score better than her? Was she really not good? Her teachers had
always appreciated her, especially her English teacher. He’d gone to the extent
of telling Teesta that someday she’d be known as a great poet and laureate. And
yet, she had broken all hopes by scoring a 70 in English.
The next day, Teesta hardly got out of her room. Whenever called, she’d
excuse herself saying that she was studying. The same routine had followed for
weeks now. It had been two weeks since her new session had begun and she had
chosen to study Humanities. Her parents had already been disappointed by her ‘dismal’
results that’d been announced only days back. But she, opting for humanities
had crushed all hopes that Mr.Sen had brewed for his daughter being an engineer
or a CA. That night she again refused to come out of the room with the same
excuse. “Whaton earth do
you need to study for the stupid arts subjects?” he’d snarled at her.
Teesta came out of the room, winced and muttered, “Humanities, Baba. It is humanities,
much more than arts. Why don’t you at least try to understand what and how much
it means to me, Baba? Can’t you give me one chance, I asked for just one!”
before she turned around and went into her room and closed the door behind her.
Only if he’d stopped her then, only if he’d said that he’s okay with
whatever she does as long as is seriously pursuing it. That he was so proud of
the wonderful human being and daughter she’d become. But we never say such
things, because these are exposures of our own vulnerabilities. In the path to
guiding Teesta to her path to success, Mr.Sen realized that he’d failed in
walking his own path properly. He had not been appreciative of Teesta, in fact
he’d always been cynical right from her birth. First that she was a girl child
and he had wanted a son. Secondly, Teesta always seemed to get disappointed by
him, though she never expressed it, he’d read his failure as a father, as a
friend and as a hero, in her eyes.
And he always put it on Teesta, scolded her for being imperfect, for
not being ‘good enough’ while the truth was that he was not good enough. His
intentions were always to guide his daughter, to curb her from doing the
mistakes he’d done, the suffering he could’ve avoided by not trespassing into
things that wouldn’t have made Teesta successful too. But how was he so sure?
How could he not see the talent his daughter had, that he never had. The
determination with which she pursued her passions such as poetry and painting,
he’d always lacked such instinct. And today he failed as a parent too. He
joined Gautami in her prayers, asking God for one more chance to make things
right.
The Next Morning…
Sir…Mr.Sen, just one question Sir. The students deserve
to know Sir. What is going on in your mind?
Sir…Why did Teesta choose suicide over life?
Sir..Sir… What would you like to say to the youth of
this country? And to the parents?
A flock of press reporters rushed in front of the hospital entrance
loaded with questions and cameras. Mr.Sen turned to the media, moved his hand
to the pocket on his chest, where Teesta’s last note resided and broke down,
falling on his knees… I am sorry babu…
I am sorry Teesta..Come Back! Come back… Give me one more chance…
The last post she’d made on Facebook was this:
“And they’ll say told you so
We were the ones who saw you first of
all
We always knew that you were one of the
brightest stars…”
I wish someone would sing the song in
my funeral…I wish I was worth it. I wish I too, was one of the brightest stars…
Don't ignore the signs you get from your children and sibling. Listen to them. Understand them...While you still can. We don't always get a second chance, do we?
The post has been written for the theme, "The Moral of the Story is..." by Colgate in association with Indiblogger. Colgate runs a blog called,My Healthy Speakwhich turned one year old this May. The blog is your one-stop answer to all dental-related queries, making it not just informative but also interactive with facilities such as Dentist Appointments, Virtual Dentist and Dentist Locator.
Post the LPG (no, not the gas! Liberalisation
Privatisation Globalisation reforms of the 1990s) phenomenon in India, the
first couple of decades of the 21st Century promise to become a
watershed period for not just India but at a larger worldwide level. Though the
cross culture traditions have been formed since Homo sapiens began exploring
newer lands and peoples; interacting, conflicting, displacing and assimilating
became loquacious verbs to mankind. Over thousands of years, like the Darwin’s
theory suggests, we’ve evolved, we’ve fought to survive and who we are and what
we do, the way we live and the way we source our living from Nature has helped
us make it to this day. And so shall we survive, as long as we strive to be the
fittest.
Twelfth century and on we saw an array of kingdoms
setting on an endeavor to what is called the Voyages of Discoveries. Through to
the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, colossal campaigns, some
state-commissioned others privately sourced, were arranged for to discover new lands,
peoples and cultures. Such interactions led to the pivotal exchange of
knowledge, which made these voyages also ‘intellectual’ voyages of discovery. Imperialism
and Colonization in the consequent centuries became significant repertoires of
this very exchange. But by now matters of exchanges weren’t restricted to
goods, lands and peoples. It also included finer details such as food tastes,
religion, etiquettes, diseases and hygiene and sanitation.
In the twentieth century, many nation states came up as
territories were carved out in a much stronger manner with laws, rights and constitutions
coming in place which meant more consciousness about the culture and heritage of
both what constituted within as well as outside a nation. Such sense of
awareness was complimented by the need for improvement of facilities and
resources for poverty, illiteracy, health and hygiene, especially in the developing
countries, which constituted of two countries which had the largest population
in the world namely, China and India.
India has been considered to have the oldest
civilization in the world, which also adds to its credit a long trajectory of
civilisational history of surviving through the ages.
Though India has been in
a respectable position as a country with a rich heritage of medicine, science
and mathematics, it has been subjected to much discrimination having being a colony
till very late until the 1940s. India even now cannot boast of having excellent
facilities in the realm of medical and hygiene services, though we are proud to
announce ourselves to be a favorite tourist destination in the world. We lack
proper resource management and infrastructure which are absolutely essential
for tackling medical challenges and adversities that come. However, Indian
doctors are respected worldwide for the innovations and breakthroughs they come
up with despite the problems of finance or complicated illnesses.
I have been part of the Make Poverty History campaign in
India which is a project under the Millennium Development Goals signed by
nations with the United Nations. Did you know that the resource allocation of
the GDP(Gross Domestic Product) for health and hygiene is Less than 1%? The
plans under MDG is to increase that to 3%, however the only significant
increase seems to be going to Defence! Basically, the policy-makers want a
strong defence for a population that’d die of medical illnesses rather than
bombs!
Intelligent planning, eh?
The problem is also with the drug manufacturers who do
not seem to be interested in intensive research in medicines and sciences,
considering we have had one of the oldest forms of medicinal sciences in the
form of Ayurveda and Unani. The capitalistic motives of the economists of the
nation have given a setback to the welfare motive of the society, the
nationalist leaders had once envisaged for India.
Nonetheless, there have been significant advancements
and breakthroughs which earns credit for the Indian medical practitioners and
researchers. Below are some significant areas where I believe, India has
managed an impressive standing in the world and there, that is what our hope is.
CARDIAC SURGERY- ROLE OF ROBOTICS AND TRANSPLANTS
Dr.Naresh Trehan, a well known cardiac surgeon had
worked on several complicated surgeries such as repairing of heart valve as
well as holes, coronary artery bypass, artery grafting. Under him, cardiac
surgeries got a path-breaking lead as Dr.Trehan pioneered the technique of robotic
cardiac surgery in 2002 which promised not just efficient and easier surgeries
but also effective and quicker healing for the patients.
Such robotic treatments have now been revolutionized and
used in surgeries such as organ transplants such as kidney and liver
transplants, the first of which was performed in 2011 by Dr.A.Soin. In fact,
such transplants have seen a high success rate in the last couple of years
under specialists who have done years of research to bring about significant
changes in medical implementation of such complex techniques.
While the mechanization is an innovative foot forward,
what holds back is the specific training it requires for a doctor to undertake.
In a nation which suffers from lack of hospitals and doctors, having such
expensive machines, robots as well as trained doctors seems blurry.
In fact, even the coronary artery graft has been a new
development, with the first grafting been done by Dr.K.Cherian in the 1980s.
Early detection procedures have been enhanced well over the years with the eco-cardiogram
and Doppler tests revolutionized along with FFR or the Fractional Flow Reserve,
which help in assessing signs of blockages and blood pressure levels accurately
and efficiently. Furthermore, though
surgeries help in clearing the blockages, there is no guarantee that an
angioplasty or stents would be accepted by the heart and body and thus, doctors
can now with the help of advanced machines like the FFR can analyse the levels
of blood flow and whether a surgery is required or not. Sometimes, up till a
certain amount of blockage, doctors nowadays suggest alternate medical
treatments and therapies instead of a surgery.
This is a considerably major breakthrough considering
reports from the WHO, suggest that more 16 million people die of heart strokes
and attacks every year and strikingly, almost 75% of these patients are from
developing countries!
Of course, like mentioned above, the finance is a major
cause of concern considering that the FFR and other tests altogether cost more
than 50,ooo INR, and this is only for the tests. The surgery if required has
additional costs to bear. Thus, one needs to consider the availability and
reach of these advanced medical practices in the rurale of India.
CERVICAL CANCER
Did you know that more than 70, 000 people die of
cervical cancer every year, if statistics presented by the AIIMS, Delhi are to
be believed! However, there’s a reason why Indian doctors are respected
worldwide. The Apollo Speciality Cancer Hospital in Chennai was the first to
device what is known as the Cyberknife Technology, which is a radio surgical
procedure under which the cancer-infected cells are targeted while the healthy
cells remain unharmed from all the radio-active elements minimizing the damage
to the healthy tissues. According to Dr.Reddy of the Apollo Speciality Cancer
Hospital, the Cyberknife radio-surgical
procedure has helped in the removal of tumors and treatment of the neck, liver,
lungs and various organs of the body, thereby becoming a successful anti-cancer
agent.
DIABETES
Not just treatment, but early detection of cancer can
really help the patient to get the correct and proper treatment. Thus medical devices
such as the BreastLight, Injection of hydroxyl-progesterone have been brought
forth as the future of preventive measures for cancer as they are not just efficient
but cost-effective as well. Mobility of such small devices are easier and their
cost-effectiveness both, ensure their availability for the poor and needy.
Innovative medicines such as the
Polypill has been invented in India itself, which is a combination of four most
commonly taken pills taken for Hypertension, Diabetes, etc. Considering that a
patient who has diabetes suffers from other diseases such as hyper tension and
statins, this tablet is cheap and easily available. Of course there are recent
researches going on for controlling diabetes, and Diabetes-Type2 can be now
controlled with the help of what is called the Key-hole Surgery, pioneered yet
again by the medical practitioners in India.
IMPOTENCY
Even with the huge population, it has been noticed in
the young generation that while girls have early puberty and earlier
menopauses, boys suffer from low sperm count. It is Dr. Krishnamoorthy that
deserves a mention here, who performed the first microsurgical varicocelectomy
in India and who developed a lot in the study of urological and sexual
diseases.
No doubt, medical tourism in India has increased in the
past few decades, with people from the more advanced developed countries coming
in here to get their treatments done. Nonetheless, like every other sector,
what is clearly missing is the Trickle-down Effect. According to a survey,
getting medical treatments and surgeries in India are near-about 70-80% cheaper
than it would be in the UK or USA. Dr.Debina, a doctor in Delhi agrees to the
above-stated fact and concurs that medical tourism has increased in India and
this would be the time when the Indian government should re-direct its focus in
improving the health and hygiene in India, not just in the urban areas but the
rural areas as well. Such standards cannot be compromised upon, warns Dr.Mukherjee, a specialist at the Lady Hardinge Hospital in Delhi for after all, falling sick
due to uncouth living conditions would be the last thing on a patient’s mind
traveling in a foreign land. Thus, if they fall sick, it would have direct
consequences on medical tourism in India which then of course would have
greater consequences in store for us as a nation, both in terms of goodwill as
well as economy.
The other dire problem is the lack of advanced training,
research and opportunities that leads to the ‘brain drain’ of our nation. The
best of the lot of doctors, engineers leave the country to work in developed
nations in search of better prospects and thus we lose out on a significant
powerhouse of talent.
Modern medical services are nothing short of a miracle
and the chances of our very existence seems bright with the fact that the life
expectancy rate has increased from 42 years in 1960 to 65 years in 2011. (WorldDevelopment Data Indicator)
And like Einstein once said,
Miracle it is, but without the perseverance and
goodwill, even miracles do not happen.While Medical Sciences has clearly been a boon to mankind, it is now for mankind to share it amongst itself, trickle it down to those in need. We may blame the government, the authorities, and rightly so...but it also is important for us to help each other in any way we can. Like I tried getting a little kid who lives in the slum in front of my home, admitted to a hospital in the capital of India, Delhi and after running from post to pillar, and due to a very kind doctor, I finally admitted her to a government hospital. And it was one exhausting journey that only made me reflect on the veracity of the so-called "availability" of services that our government offers us; but like an illusion, is something we never actually get. Sometimes because we do not have money and other times because we have no reference. Until these things change, how far can we as a civilisation thrive, even with all the medical facilities in the world?
Like the Beatles sang, Money can't buy me Love! Only Love can!
Anu is a leather wearing,
no-nonsense professional guardian with a reputation for killing the most
dangerous vampires in New York City. But when her enemies murder the one person
she truly cared about, all she wants is vengeance. The only clue points to New
Delhi, so Anu puts in for a job transfer.
What you read
above is part of the synopsis of the book. And it makes me utterly happy when
once in a reading span of months, you come across a book that is not a chick
lit and yet has a Woman as the main protagonist. The little feminist in me
applauds the theme. A lot of people consider writing from a woman’s perspective
to be easy, but it isn’t so.
A woman’s
mind is complex and imagining a female vampire slayer with a wicked sense of
humor and a wisdom tooth for quick givebacks for attempted flirtations. I loved
the naughtiness of Amit, the guy whom she meets in New Delhi who is supposed to
help her get acquainted with the new city, and how things twist and turn into a
different confluence altogether…
That’s the
book for you, in a jist. Of course, you need to read the book for any more
details. The USP of this book has to be the manner in which the protagonists
have been blended into the plot, they are distinctly laid down before the
reader as the reader delves deeper into the circumference of events. So there
are vampires, dark and bright streets of Delhi, some situational characters… An
easily one-time read, especially if you are the fantasy kinds!
It definitely
is the kind of book you’d love to read before you go to sleep. And it is the
kind of book that’ll edge you that little extra bit to delay your sleep and just
read the next line..the next page…the next event….and before you realize you’ll
be done with the book. The language is simple and flows readily with the
adventures of Anu in the streets of New York to New Delhi.
Baba Senaka
turns out to be a master in his arts, a tantric who is suspected to be the one
killing children and Anu and Amit are in search of him with the help of
Dr.Sharma.
However,
there are attempts by the author to change his writing style as few parts of
the book reflected, which I felt, broke the flow of the events in the
narration. The author should have maintained the same pace, or perhaps been a
little fast-paced considering it is a book which fantasy thriller.
There is a
conscious effort to ‘Indianise’ a plot that is usually international in other
books. The use of tantra makes it a wonderful attempt but sadly, not much has
been incorporated to make it worth it.
Instead, the book becomes an attempt at
Indian Fantasy writing, I wish the storyline did not have such intentional
spurts of mere acknowledgements of being situated in India..in Delhi.. I, despite of
being a Delhiite could not imagine the roads and scenes as mentioned in the
book. I also did not like the cover picture of the book and I think one can really work towards that!
Anyhow, I
think in terms of a storyline and definition of characters, it was a good
attempt considering this was the author's first attempt.
