Doklan standoff eases off and lessons from it

The eminent writer Khushwant Singh was once visiting Hong Kong on a journalist assignment. It was close to the heels of the humiliating defeat suffered by India at the hands of the Chinese due to their surprise attack on our Eastern front, in October, 1962.

As he was walking on the street, a man approached him - "SARDARJEE (As Sikhs are addressed in reverence). DESH SE AYE HO (have you come from our country) ? NAAK BHADDA DITTA (you cut our nose - you have shamed us)".

He continued - "CHINIYAAN NE TO TUMHARI BH***ND MAARLI (the Chinese have screwed your bottom). KUKKAD KHAANDE JOGE HO (You are only good at eating chicken - poking at the Punjabis' voracious penchant for chicken. The pun was - you are just chicken eating, good for nothing guys who have forgotten how to fight).

The Sardar of Hong Kong went on - "I used to boast before my Chinese wife about our great martial skills. Now she is poking fun at me". Point taken, the Chinese beat us left and right in that war, catching us totally off guard.

But the situation ain't 1962 anymore, neither India is so off guard to be taken for granted. Nothing lasts forever, so also China's age old policy on territory - "Our's is our. Your's is negotiable" no more holds good. India has progressed in size, both economically and militarily, now possessing Nuclear weapon.

The world has since moved on. Lessons learnt from the American fiasco in Vietnam and Iraq and Russian defeat in Afghanistan - war is no more a desirable option which is become incrementally Pyrrhic costing both sides.

There is an old African Proverb - When two elephants make love or war, it's the grass which suffers. China realized its folly, fully aware that this stand off is getting it nowhere. The longer it stayed put in that no man's highland of Himalays, the worst it's going to get. With a fast approaching Fall, the winter isn't far away. The pragmatic Chinese decided to back out from before Doklam becomes inhospitable, avoiding a further loss of face.

Glad this standoff  between the two Elephants has eased and the grass can breathe easy, at least for the moment. Full marks to India on being proactive without letting its guard down. Here are couple of takeaways from this imbroglio-

1. Don't lose cool when provoked, for provocation can be a trap where an agitated person or a nation can get reactive and prone to make mistakes. India did well not getting into the Chinese well laid trap of relentless provocation and make a mistake.

2. Diplomacy works best when it is done behind the scene away from the media glare - certainly not on the social media. It should always be left to the experts, not to journalists. The background efforts yielded results in a face saver for both, especially for China. President Xi Xingping must have calculated the risk of losing PLA soldiers before the crucial Communist Party Plenary session in November when he is up for reelection.

On the other hand, we must show some maturity by not going overboard raising celebratory slogans like BHARAT MATA KI JAI (Hail Mother India), JAI HIND (Hail India) etc. This is not a victory in a war, rather a diplomatic fix. So trying to make narrow political gains out of it by coating it with populist oratory and patriotic fervor is totally unwarranted.

Ronald Reagan famously said - "Trust, but verify". In case of the inscrutable Chinese it is - "Don't trust and verify". The Chinese are very shrewd and strategize on long term. We must forever be on guard, as we don't know what card they are going to play next. Dragon may not breathe for now, but hold your breath until BRICS meet is over.

Story of a Rwandan Holocaust survivor

Immaculee Ilibagiza, a Rwandan Holocaust survivor and the author of NY times best selling "LEFT TO TELL", had quite a tale to tell as the guest speaker at our Office yesterday. She has appeared on 60 Minutes, CBS Early show, CNN, Al Jazeera as well on NY Times, US Today, Newsday. A major motion picture about her is in production and scheduled for a release in theaters in the year 2019.

An immaculate speaker, Immaculee's life story extraordinaire of surviving from an ethnic cleansing of colossal magnitude in her own words kept us spellbound for more than an hour. The gifted orator she was, she had an amazing command over English language and vocabulary - for it was hard to comprehend that she learnt English as a teenager in the mid 1990s.

She had a normal childhood, growing up with her caring parents and 3 brothers. It all started when she was in College and came visiting home for the Easter holidays. During her stay on 6th of April, 1994 the Rwandan President was assassinated. The sky fell upon her soon after the President's aircraft was shot and fell from the sky.

The traumatic events that followed would change her life forever. The dead President belonged to the majority Hutu tribe who came down heavily on the minority Tutsi tribe suspected of complicit in killing. Tens of thousands, including women and children were murdered or maimed in what followed the biggest holocaust since Nazi days.

Her father knew that his nemesis were closing in. Fearing rape and eventual murder of his teenage daughter, he hid her in a small bathroom. Soon 8 other women squeezed into it.

The pogrom had just began. The killers were looming large, looking at every nook and corner of house, inside attics, ceilings, rooftops, closets, even looking for kids in suticases - instantly butchering them as soon as they found any. The women were lifted away to be at the pleasure and mercy of marauders to live for now and die another day.

Immaculee could hear the cranking sound of hand trying to open the doorknob of the cramped, dilapidated bathroom where she took shelter with other girls. All froze for those endless few seconds, too scared to even breath or close their eyes. Suddenly came a sound which sounded music to their ears, a voice shouting - "There aren't any more cockroaches left. We exterminated them. Let's look elsewhere". The girls frozen blood thawed as the footsteps faded away melting in the commotion. They were still too scared to breathe shy of relief.

Days, weeks and months passed. Still ensconced in the tiny bathroom, they could hear Hutu leaders on local Radio espousing to kill kids, ascribing them as those little snakes who shouldn't live to breed more snakes. Finally, when she came out after spending 91 days inside that toilet she weighed 65 lb, looking a la a living corpse with her skin barely covering her bone. Soon she came to know about her parents, grandparents and two of his brothers victim of the massacre, with a solo brother surviving as he was studying outside.

Such are the vagaries of life. A million died in that Rwanda genocide but Immaculee survived. Many are shot and die in the hostile hills of Pakistan, but Malala survived. Both lived to tell their story and became icons.

Tragedies happen all over the globe. Some perish, some survive. The survivors are often treated as heroes earning a leash of new life as celebrities. The rest who perish soon fade into oblivion. Life ain't fair and lovely. As the popular saying goes from the Mughal rule, it can be TAKHT YA TAKHTA" - meaning "Crown or Coffin".

Blue Whale strikes again

The killer Blue Whale has struck once again, this time in the temple town of Puri located on Bay of Bengal. It's not the real whale from the blue waters of the Bay, rather a stupid game which has claimed its life.

The latest victim is a 17 year old teen who killed himself by hanging as the last challenge prescribed by this game. The guy's smartphone told everything, that he was in a group from the same town who were playing this ghastly, dangerous game for a while.

In fact, one of them committed suicide on 23rd July, exactly a month before this young man opted to take his own life on 23rd of August. The first death should have raised red flags, but apparently it didn't. Now an alarmed parents and authorities become alert enough to alert the parents of their friends who are still living and playing this dastardly game.

Such untimely death of young minds and bodies call for some introspection. These are teenagers, the rush of adrenalin which can cause havoc to their body and mind can be attributed to this cusp of youth and childhood. This is the time when emotions defy logic, heart rules over the head and tragedies are known to strike at the least expected moment. Parents offering sane advise are often seen by them as insane interlopers from Zurassic generation.

Every person has a right to live. It hurts utmost when someone commits suicide. And it hurts more, if that person happens to be young. Because, like every young man and woman, they too have a dream. But unwisely they decide to procrastinate their unfilled dream by killing themselves, that too for a stupid game.

When does a person decide to end his or her life ? It's not just the frustration with their life, it's more due to the lack of care or concern for the rest of the world, which includes their near and dear ones. If I feel suicidal for some reason, I may resist that thought for a moment, if I think of my family, if not me. Apparently they don't care about their loved ones, not to mention themselves and decide to end their life into their own hands. In the spurt of the moment they decide to leave, never getting a chance to regret it later.

Suicides in school and college campuses are not so uncommon, neither a recent phenomena. Surging teenage hormone can create havoc in hearts and minds, which can be due to failure in academics, love or bullying by others.

Suicides are happening quite frequently in premier institutes of IITs in India. Now many mediocre students churned out of innumerable coaching institutes mange to clear the entrance exam. Once in, when left on their own they can't cope of the aggressive curriculum and choose end their lives.

This is a wake up call those who have teen or pre-teen kids. From what we know, such incidents can't be pooh poohed and swept under the carpet. The root cause must be addressed, before as we say in Odia NEDI GUDA KAHUNI KU BOHI JAI THIBA (Jaggery from the palm would have reached the elbow). Good patenting and proper councelling is the key.

As long as the slushy jaggery stays on the palm, it can be put into mouth. Once it reaches the elbow, it wont be easy to lick it. (Try licking your elbow). Never this proverb has been so appropriate - it simply means act better it's too late.

Trump last night speech on Afghanistan - 21st August, 2017

Last night Donald Trump during his Afghan themed speech delivered a scathing message to Pakistan. Knowing the double game played by India's western neighbor since time immemorial, his speech was enough to make me glee and veer into a state of reverie.

President Trump declares Pakistan a terrorist state and clamps down on it with unprecedented sanctions against its once non NATO ally. India's National Security Adviser and the Modi's "Man Friday" Ajit Dobhal dashes to DC for talks with his American counterparts to tie up the rest of the formalities.

Not so fast - the pragmatic part of my brain awakened me. Like waning NASHA (kick) from alcohol, I slowly came out of my mid Summer late eveing dream looking into stark reality. Trump and Pentagon are known to be against Pakistan, whereas the Bureaucratic State Department has a pro Pakistan tilt. So it wil be fallacious to think of US divorcing Pakistan, nor is it going to declare it a terrorist state anytime soon. 

World relationships are governed by self interest, not driven by emotions or ideologies. US didn't even come close to declare Pakistan a terrorist state when the Americans hunted down their sworn enemy Osama bin Laden next door to Pakistan's Militarily Academy inside the later's heartland. It won't declare now.

About 13 years ago, in the year 2004, George Bush and John Kerry were running neck to neck in the USA Presidential election. Kerry, performed well in his debate and was catching up with Bush, the later with the Iraq War albatross firmly tied to his neck.

John Kerry was closing in fast, until came the October Surprise on 28th of that month, hardly a week prior to the elections. A video of Osama Bin laden was released. It reminded the Americans of 9/11. During the time of crisis the Americans cling to their leaders and give them a free hand, letting the status quo prevail. (On the aftermath of 9/11, Bush's approval rating went up to a record 91 and no one demanded his resignation). The video gave Bush a 2-3% lead in the polls, enough to romp home for his 2nd term.

Please feel to call me a Conspiracy Theorist, but let me connect some dots here. John Kerry spoke virulently against Pakistan's double standard (it's another matter he cuddled the Pakistani Army Chiefs during his tenure as Secretary of State). The then Pakistani President Musharaf must have figured out its best in his interest to bet on Bush's 2nd term. So he did his best to get this video made from Bin Laden, who we all know was living in his backyard, all along and helped delivering Bush Jr. his 2nd term.

Years later, a year before Barack Obama was getting ready for his reelection, the US Navy seals raided and killed Osama Bin Laden deep inside Pakistani territory, next door to the American equivalent of West Point, the Paki Military Academy. It would be preposterous to assume that the Pakis had zero knowledge of this raid by the Americans. Rather the men who matter in Pakistan felt that their famous guest SAIKH (as Laden was called in Afghanist - Pakistan) is more of a liability than an asset, delivering him to Obama, which delivered a 2nd term to the Left liberal lad from Chicago, now perceived as tough against terrorism in a Center-Right nation a year before his crucial reelection.

These two incidents, and incidents like the unflinching support by Pakistan during the 1980s Afghan war at the risk of pitted against the Superpower of erstwhile Soviet Union and many more beyond the scope of this blog, shows Pakistan has been a nation of utility value to Uncle Sam.

In the iconic Hindi movie SHOLAY when a puzzled duo of Amitabh and Dharam ask Sanjeev Kumar why he hired them, the later responded - "LOHE KO LOHA KAT TA HAI" (only iron can cut iron). Bad boys can be of more utility value than good boys. It needs a thief to catch a thief. India has long been perceived as a good boy, but a weak nation vis a vis Pakistan. It hasn't been, rather unable to protect its own turf against a virulently belligerent Pakistan, though tomorrow is another day. 

Hence, too much need not be read into President Trump's speech last night. Mercurial as ever, if some pro Pakistani bureaucrat or a lobbyst at a Golf Club can convince Trump about the utility of Pakistan, it will take only seconds for the mercurial Commander in Chief to change his mind and mollycoddle Pakistan once again.

The Kamikaze kids of millennial generation

The kids from the millennial generation are so different - a generation with a high sense of entitlement. Lot of things we used to strive for and earn it, they take it as granted from their parents.

They yell at their parents at the slightest of pretext, which we rarely did in our generation. Making eye contact with fathers was a taboo for many, most confided their issues to their mothers. It was the norm to look down towards your feet while talking to male elders, a sign of obedience, otherwise you will be looked down upon by the society which mattered more than the individuals then. Not anymore. 

It was not much different when I joined Engineering, where we were supposed to talk to our seniors looking at the 2nd button of our shirt lest we invite a tight slap. (One of my friends while looking down got nervous and fumbled. So instead of addressing a senior as "you are my Senior God and I the junior Dog, he swapped the words God and Dog. He ended up getting a few slaps as bonus)

The driving force behind this present day behavior of kids is a convoluted sense of entitlements as Rights from their parents. The simple reason - we tend to pamper them more. The lesser the kids, more is the pampering. 

Most of them grow in single, non nuclear families without any grandparents to play or sooth them with affection. AAI (Grandmother in Odia) is now replaced by iGadgets, but gadgets and Apps are no substitute to Grandpas. Soon friends will be replaced by Robots (we give so many toys to our kids, those toys being no less robotic than the real Robots). 

These Kamikaze kids are mostly parents who belong to the category of DIOK (Double Income One Kid), live in Metros and take everything for granted. It is because due to lack of time and inability to provide their kid a sibling, they tend to shower or bribe them with whatever they crave for. The kid often grows up with lack of sharing tendency and a staunch inability to accept a firm "No" as an answer. This adds fuel to the fiery sense of entitlement of present generation at an early stage in life. 

Most from my time grew up with at least a couple of siblings to give company in households, some running well into double digits. It wasn't uncommon for our grandparents to live with us. My mom instructed us to share everything with our siblings, including our farts. When one emitted a silent, sneaky one, upon discovered moments later would be yelled at - "CHHEE, CHHEE JAA ETHU JAA", "Yuck, Yuck. Go away from here". Now this generation's single kids have no one but only inanimate gadgets to silently give company to their silent fart.

It probably explains why the Chinese, where an entire generation born post 1978 when their authorities ruthlessly implemented their "One child"policy are getting increasingly pugnacious. An entire millennial generation, all who grew up as single, lonely kids have a high sense of entitlement, with crave to be pampered, with an innate inability to take No for an answer. That might be a factor behind their bullying over neighbors - the Doklam standoff with India being the perfect example.

The Kamikaze kids of millennial generation

The kids from the millennial generation are so different - a generation with a high sense of entitlement. Lot of things we used to strive for and earn it, they take it as granted from their parents.

They yell at their parents at the slightest of pretext, which we rarely did in our generation. Making eye contact with fathers was a taboo for many, most confided their issues to their mothers. It was the norm to look down towards your feet while talking to male elders, a sign of obedience, otherwise you will be looked down upon by the society which mattered more than the individuals then. Not anymore. 

It was not much different when I joined Engineering, where we were supposed to talk to our seniors looking at the 2nd button of our shirt lest we invite a tight slap. (One of my friends while looking down got nervous and fumbled. So instead of addressing a senior as "you are my Senior God and I the junior Dog, he swapped the words God and Dog. He ended up getting a few slaps as bonus)

The driving force behind this present day behavior of kids is a convoluted sense of entitlements as Rights from their parents. The simple reason - we tend to pamper them more. The lesser the kids, more is the pampering. 

Most of them grow in single, non nuclear families without any grandparents to play or sooth them with affection. AAI (Grandmother in Odia) is now replaced by iGadgets, but gadgets and Apps are no substitute to Grandpas. Soon friends will be replaced by Robots (we give so many toys to our kids, those toys being no less robotic than the real Robots). 

These Kamikaze kids are mostly parents who belong to the category of DIOK (Double Income One Kid), live in Metros and take everything for granted. It is because due to lack of time and inability to provide their kid a sibling, they tend to shower or bribe them with whatever they crave for. The kid often grows up with lack of sharing tendency and a staunch inability to accept a firm "No" as an answer. This adds fuel to the fiery sense of entitlement of present generation at an early stage in life. 

Most from my time grew up with at least a couple of siblings to give company in households, some running well into double digits. It wasn't uncommon for our grandparents to live with us. My mom instructed us to share everything with our siblings, including our farts. When one emitted a silent, sneaky one, upon discovered moments later would be yelled at - "CHHEE, CHHEE JAA ETHU JAA", "Yuck, Yuck. Go away from here". Now this generation's single kids have no one but only inanimate gadgets to silently give company to their silent fart.

It probably explains why the Chinese, where an entire generation born post 1978 when their authorities ruthlessly implemented their "One child"policy are getting increasingly pugnacious. An entire millennial generation, all who grew up as single, lonely kids have a high sense of entitlement, with crave to be pampered, with an innate inability to take No for an answer. That might be a factor behind their bullying over neighbors - the Doklam standoff with India being the perfect example.

The Kamikaze kids of millennial generation

The kids from the millennial generation are so different - a generation with a high sense of entitlement. Lot of things we used to strive for and earn it, they take it as granted from their parents.

They yell at their parents at the slightest of pretext, which we rarely did in our generation. Making eye contact with fathers was a taboo for many, most confided their issues to their mothers. It was the norm to look down towards your feet while talking to male elders, a sign of obedience, otherwise you will be looked down upon by the society which mattered more than the individuals then. Not anymore. 

It was not much different when I joined Engineering, where we were supposed to talk to our seniors looking at the 2nd button of our shirt lest we invite a tight slap. (One of my friends while looking down got nervous and fumbled. So instead of addressing a senior as "you are my Senior God and I the junior Dog, he swapped the words God and Dog. He ended up getting a few slaps as bonus)

The driving force behind this present day behavior of kids is a convoluted sense of entitlements as Rights from their parents. The simple reason - we tend to pamper them more. The lesser the kids, more is the pampering. 

Most of them grow in single, non nuclear families without any grandparents to play or sooth them with affection. AAI (Grandmother in Odia) is now replaced by iGadgets, but gadgets and Apps are no substitute to Grandpas. Soon friends will be replaced by Robots (we give so many toys to our kids, those toys being no less robotic than the real Robots). 

These Kamikaze kids are mostly parents who belong to the category of DIOK (Double Income One Kid), live in Metros and take everything for granted. It is because due to lack of time and inability to provide their kid a sibling, they tend to shower or bribe them with whatever they crave for. The kid often grows up with lack of sharing tendency and a staunch inability to accept a firm "No" as an answer. This adds fuel to the fiery sense of entitlement of present generation at an early stage in life. 

Most from my time grew up with at least a couple of siblings to give company in households, some running well into double digits. It wasn't uncommon for our grandparents to live with us. My mom instructed us to share everything with our siblings, including our farts. When one emitted a silent, sneaky one, upon discovered moments later would be yelled at - "CHHEE, CHHEE JAA ETHU JAA", "Yuck, Yuck. Go away from here". Now this generation's single kids have no one but only inanimate gadgets to silently give company to their silent fart.

It probably explains why the Chinese, where an entire generation born post 1978 when their authorities ruthlessly implemented their "One child"policy are getting increasingly pugnacious. An entire millennial generation, all who grew up as single, lonely kids have a high sense of entitlement, with crave to be pampered, with an innate inability to take No for an answer. That might be a factor behind their bullying over neighbors - the Doklam standoff with India being the perfect example.

Amma Indiramma Canteen

The failed, nincompoop Congress Scion Rahul Gandhi announced opening of "Indira Amma Canteen" in Bangalore, touting to make the poor folks from the state of Karnataka free from hunger via freebie doles. The timing is apparent. He is laying the groundwork for the next year's crucial poll in this Southern state with lots at stake for the party.

For the forever young and forever novice politican, this is a desperate attempt to stay afloat when his as well as his party's fortune has tanked rock bottom. Losing a major state like Karnataka will leave his personal fiefdom called Congress party in tatters -confined and shrunk only to small states like Punjab. 

So nothing to lose, this is his last ditch attempt at survival at any cost. But at what cost ! Freebies can fetch some votes as vindicated by AIADMK in Tamil Nadu and Naveen Patnaik's BJD in Odisha - its ruining impact on the economy of the state and work culture be damned.

Peak monsoon and flooding in India brings this Odia proverb to mind - BUDI GALA LOKA KUTA KHIA KU ASHRA KARE, simply meaning, a drowning man clutches the straw as the last resort to stay afloat. Rahul Gandhi's situation is not far from this scenario. Only time will tell the efficacy of this move.

Naming this scheme after her grandmother only shows signs of desperation. It is as good as beating a dead horse after 33 years of its death. It is true that once upon a time Indira Gandhi attained a cult status. In spite of imposing emergency and being ruthless, she could have won the elections in 1977 and probably declared herself as Empress of India, but for the JP (Janata Party) united under iconic JP (Jayaprakash Narain).

In fact she swept South India where they only knew to cast their vote for AMMA  INDIRAMMA, or Mother Indira. It included the state of Karnataka where then Indira led Congress party swept 27 out of the 28 Lok Sabha seats allotted to it. It probably prompted Rahul Gandhi ki NAANI YAAD A GAYEE or grandmother came suddenly to his mind (a phrase often used by his father), to resuscitate his moribund fortune.

The Indira wave from the South touched 4 seats of Odisha bordering Andhra where folks would say in the local dialect KAANGRESS KU VOTE DABARA EKKA (we only would vote for Congress), though she lost from rest of Odisha and India. She had her own blind followers or devotees (BHAKT) earning a cult status, in spite of what she did. 

But every product has an expiry date. This is not 1970s. Many who will be be voting in next election barely remember her, perhaps their grandparents were the last ones who voted for Amma Indiramma. But desperate times invoke desperate measures. It's rather Congress Party's hunger for vote, not acare for hungry voters.

What's in a name ?

What's in a name ? "A rose by any other name would smell as sweet" - William Shakespeare wrote in Romeo and Juliet. 

Shakespeare was so ahead of time when he mentioned it in the 16th century. The personality of a person is entirely personal, with his or her name hardly playing any role in it. I know an untruthful guy named SATYABRATA who came out as a congenial liar to the core, an ordinary looking girl named "TRIPURA SUNDARI (Universal Beauty)". A Beggar was named as KUBERA (the Hindu God of wealth), a man dying at an early age bore the name JEEVAK (Long life). A person with the name SUBUDHI (Good thoughts) should have ideally be named DURBUDHI (Bad thoughts) - his name proved to be a misnomer as his mind was filled with filth.

Back home in India, we grew up in a collective society where our identity is often qualified by our lineage, village, caste, community etc etc. Most South Indians and many Punjabis have their village names tagged to their names. For example, for a P. Ravi Kumar, P could be the first initial of his native village. A Sikh Jagjit Singh TALWANDI, the last part being the name of his PIND, or village. We as an individual entity akways come last. 

Most South Indian Hindus from my generation have at least a God or Goddess's name embedded in their own. There is hardly a name without Ram, Laksman, Lakshmi, Parvati, Krishna, Gopal, Shiva, Srinivas, Ganesh, Karthik, Murugappan or a combination of some of these. 

One such combo name is Laxman Shiva Ramkrishnan. During one monsoon, no sooner my flight took off from Calcutta than violent air turbulence engulfed it. While remembering God instantly came the name of the cricketer "Laxman Shiva Ramkrishnan" to my mind. The nervous passenger in me started chanting his name which comes with all premier Gods name in a Combo package. Before I could finish uttering my chant 108 times, the flight was preparing for its descent at Bhubaneswar Airport. 

In olden days, half of the kids used to die before they reached the age of 5 in an age when there was no vaccination to kill harmful micro bugs before they kill you. If one of these diseases Tetanus, Polio, Whooping Couph, Diptheria, Malaria, Flue won't get you, the dreaded Cholera or Small Pox would.

In Odisha it was superstitiously believed that Lord Yama, the Hindu God of death ignores the kids with mundane names as he prefers to take children with catchy, fancy, attractive names. So parents used to give avoidable names as AINTHA (Miss Messy Food-Leftover), GOBARAA (Mr. Cow Dung), BALUNGA (Mr. Weed), POCHARA (Mr. Dirty Rotten) and so on. Not sure if Lord Yama obliged.

Time flew and many Odias developed wings to fly to faraway lands as Europe, Australia and of course the farthest and most attractive destination for immigration - The United States of America. But they never imagined their names would go through distortion which Lord Yama would yet again love to ignore.

Here is a list of such names along with their American / Anglicized ones which the westerners find hard to pronounce. 

Pitambara - Pitt
Nityananda - Nit
HarishChandra - Harry
Dhananjay - Dan
Dinabandhu - Dean
Krupasindhu - Krip
Narayana - Nora
Nabaghana - Nab
Nilamadhab - Neel
Pradipta Kumar - PK
Satyajit - Satty
Debasis - Dave
Krishnamurthy - Krish
Radhakrushna - Reed
Jagannath - Jaggs
Nikunja - Nick
Markandeswar - Mark
Bichitrananda Patnaik- Goes by a shortened form of his last name as Pat, thankfully not by a truncated version of his first name.
Dambarudhara Patra - Similar situation here Prefers to be called Pat, not Damb.

So, what's in a name ?

 

RIP Robin Williams

Today is the death anniversary of Robin Williams who killed himself 3 years ago on this day. He is one of my favorite actors who was only 63 when he decided to take his life, apparently suffering from chronic depression. 

A versatile actor who is mostly remembered for winning the Oscar for "Goodwill Hunting" and his comic role in "Mrs. Doubtfire", also played some great roles in movies like " Renaissance Man", "Dead Poets Society" and a lot more.

I will never forget his negative role in the movie "INSOMNIA" opposite to the legendary Al Pachino which came in 2002. Not a great movie, but I still vividly remember the encounter of both actors in a scene from that movie when both are standing near a ferry. It could only be Robin Williams who can stand up to such great actors like Pacino and Di Nero.

Of late Robin was doing stand up comedy shows but soon he slid into depression which led to this untimely ending. It was a sad and tragic end to a versatile actor who could play any role so effortlessly - from lead character to a bad guy, a comedian and your next door neighbor to natural aplomb. He reminds me of another talented Indian actor, Sanjib Kumar. Both died frustrated with life, but carved their niche with their natural flair which made reel life look like real life.

Life can be such an Oxymoron. Best bowlers are often poor batsmen. Awesome astrolgers can't control their own destiny. Best Doctors who cure incurable diseases are caught off guard by common ailments. Superb Comedians who can make you laugh till your stomach aches are often the saddest people. Such is the tragedy of life. RIP..the great actor.

Please don't add me to Doctor's group on Facebook

It wasn't a dream, a reality. This morning I woke to find myself added to a Doctor's Forum on Facebook. I promptly exited out of the venerable league of distinguished gentlemen (and women) as I simply don't belong there.

I have many great Doc friends who treat humans and are wonderful human beings. I do have a deep respect for their profession, which I consider very noble and honorable. It can be very stressful too, where unlike my area of work failure is not an option. 

I can write a bad code or do a bad design but end of the day can recuperate. But a doctor or a surgeon can't afford to prescribe a wrong medicine or do a sloppy surgery where human lives are at stake. It could lead to liability issues, even loss of job and/or license - at least in United State of America.

Yet my message to whoever added me there - I am not a Doc and never aspired to be one. So adding me to a Doctor's group on social media does not make sense. It will just make me stand out as the odd man out as I simply don't belong there. 

Since my childhood I abhored the sight of blood, gut and gore. The thought of dissecting dead bodies brings puke to my mouth. A recurring nightmare often hunts me - I am dissecting a corpse when it wakes up and starts staring at me smiling, startling me to core. I turn around and in the process my white apron gets stuck to the tin made hospital cot, as the dead body grapples me from behind. I wake up sweating. 

Often in an extended version of the same dream I manage to escape from the embracing clutches of the corpse, only to be chased by him as strive to run him out on a long, semi-lit hallway. I look behind as the fast approaching dead man walking catches up as my static run falters. I again manage to gasp myself out to the safety zone by waking up and walking out of my pulsating and palpitating nightmare.

That's when I decided I could never be a doctor and opted out of studying Biology during my higher secondary education, taking the first step not to study Medicine. It was a step in the right direction which saved me from real life nightmares. I have no qualms about it.

So, please spare me by not adding me to a Doctors forum. Adding me to this august group in this month of August will only further accentuate my nightmare and misery. 

Reminds me of the infamous episode of NILA BARNA SHRUGALA (the Blue colored Jackal) from the popular Odia folklore, where the wily animal coated himself with blue color to distinguish from his brethren is finally caught and gets his ass kicked. Similarly, by wearing a White Coat or entering into a Doctor's Facebook forum doesn't make me a doctor. 

I have garnered a little knowledge on medical stuff via Google and WebMd. But as we know - "Little knowledge can be a dangerous thing". One fine morning this fake white coat wearing Doc might get caught as the ill fated blue coat wearing jackal and get kicked out of the group. Hence let me better preempt it by kicking myself out of the group beforehand.