Do they own the roads?

This is the question that rings in my mind and probably most others who use the roads, both in the cities and suburbs, especially in the nights . What  do you think  i am talking about- thieves,  totally drunk kudi magans  , speeding  cars , formless/ gory  ghosts . though all these are potentially fearsome , there is  something else that's a more common frightener for me

 

Sure , u will find it difficult to identify if you have not been on the roads especially after ten on the roads. It is the one touted the man' s best friend , a lot of times- but i  beg to differ about that (as i always  have). Yeah i am talking about the dogs ( but they look like jackals on the prowl during  the night).  Being animal phobic has not helped me any better

 

Am not even as worried to cross the unsignalled main roads in the city at eleven/ travelling in poorly inhabited night trains , as I am about travelling the last 2 kilometres from the the station to my home. the couple of kilometres is mostly a main road with a lot of side roads along it . that distance is inhabited by at least a dozen packs of stray dogs. They come in various hues from the dark black  to white with brown and cream too , but it  does not matter as their bites would leave not so dissimilar marks with morbid and mortal complications.

The problem with them is that you never know when you will be attacked by them. You never take them for granted  even if they appear to be enjoying their sleep ; they could just pounce on you thinking you could run them over. Worst possible scenarios are your crossing their routes when they are in the middle of their territorial fight or an orgy ( which primarily is the cause for their burgeoning numbers - Blue  cross ! are you listening). You are definitely bound to suffer collateral damage ; when you happen to be in the middle of their quarrel.Your escape depends on how your adrenaline acts  to produce  fright / flight / fight response, anyways all three of them are going to get you some wounds if they are in a bad mood. My advice is not to try the flight response;because its tough to evade their teeth  unless you do  an Usain Bolt ( that should be enough unless  you you have another hungry pack in the next territory). Remember the world's fastest man Usain Bolt is at least 50 to 100% faster than  humans with subnormal sedentary lives as yours truly. Fighting is not a good option unless you have a weapon ( at least 3-4 stones / two feet stick).I have seen a neighbour carrying a three feet stick in his scooter for his canine enemies ( that he got a pet dog himself and treated him like his son is  a different matter altogether.  but my dad still maintains a good shout is more than enough most of the times and he says he uses it prophylactically even  before crossing. I too have done that a couple of times , but it has been shouts of fear than frightener!!

And one other unnerving memory would be the way they chase the hapless hen and pigs during the days. There have been instances when I have just avoided head on collisions with them at corner of the streets when they blindly charge during their fights. And lastly about the one blackie that always sits on the compound wall of a house. I don’t pass the route every day without the fear of it pawing and scratching my face

But still I go through the route as I don’t have a choice, praying nothing happens. To part with I am sure , the government should do something to alleviate the stray dog menace!! Otherwise lots of people will have similar thoughts as mine “Do they own the roads? “. Hope and pray the Blue Cross guys behave much more responsibly and treat humans, at least as equals to the animals and not take cudgels against what needs to be done.

wait.....

Wait......

It all begins with your

parents' wait for your arrival

their wait for the joy that

you and your pranks alone can give

Their wait for your first day at school

your returning home in the evenings

their wait for your becoming a grown up

then comes your waits in life

Your morning wait for the newspaper,

coffee, breakfast, lunchpack

your wait for the bus/ train , for the start of

classes , end of it and the lunch

These apart are your innumerable 

waits at the cinemas, hotels and temples

and the most thrilling wait for anyone-

that for exam results and college admission

Followed by that for your first day at the college

the semester exams and finally the convocation

followed by the most trying wait- that for a job

then the wait for your spouse and then your kids

And the cycle goes on and on

finally the eternal wait for the end

the most fascinating lesson that is never learnt is- that

Only we wait for the event  and

Time never waits for us!!!

This was an attempt at a poem , a long way back , for the college magazine

and it got published !!!(as the last content  in the english section - guess they did it because 

thay had to no other way to fill in the pages!!)

why i never went elsewhere

Had long self deliberations when I finished my class XII and had both engineering and medicine seats on offer in top institutes.

I was 12 years younger; so guess my brain should have been in a better shape undamaged by all these medical literature

One of the reasons I dint take up engg was that I dint want to entertain any thoughts of going away from my parents (I was not even ready to move to a hostel!) apart from the fact that I dint have any aptitude for engineering

By joining medicine, I banished any chances of me moving far from my parents as early as within 4- 5 years( that was the time  everyone was going onsite  as if it was boarding an EMU to Beach)

The primary reason of not wanting to move away from my parents was the issue of being near them, when they need you- I know a lot of parents who are proud to say that their kids are doing great abroad. Their kids earn well , send them money , buy property in posh locales, call them daily , pamper them in all all ways staying away, but when you  get the parents  to talk freely , u will definitely get the answer that most of them would prefer them to be here with them and that they miss something inspite of having a lot . I never wanted to put my parents in that position

About six years as medical undergraduate and intern meant I was not moving anywhere for that period. And I also had a false impression that life would be a bed of roses after MBBS. But that soon became a mirage seeing the need for PG

Even in UG period there were a few temptations like PLAB and USMLE.

I am sure even then I was not swaying towards that thought due to my primary reason apart from those choices needing quite an investment then. Anyway I had the confidence in me and God (more on Him) that I will get a good PG course. And luckily he gave me a good speciality where I will be able to earn decent early as well as stay in the city with my parents. Now I don’t have any regrets for not having gone out so far

Serious reasons apart ,others are

Never comfortable with the idea of missing home food ( if you look at my weight for height , you will know) and for the fact that  I should be having one of the most fragile gastric mucosa- it cant take tea for two days together- so no obvious interest in trying out new cuisines or so

Cant bear the cold climes I guess- I shriver at 18  degrees in an AC room- am more at home in the furnace that’s Chennai( hope I am not hypothyroid)

Don’t need a lot of money, as I never learnt the habit of spending and shameful fact being that my spending pattern has not changed between the dependent days and now. but one thing is definite - more money is more pain

Traveling far is a dream that I have a few times; but its stayed a dream because once I need to implement that dream, I become the laziest guy on earth – I actually prefer to travel virtually!!!- seeing on TV and net and transferring myself there!!

Challenges - those are things that are best enjoyed on the TV- i like to keep my life simple, uncomplicated

Silly fears  being - not wanting to die falling from  a plane; not wanting to die in another country; not getting caught by the law of the land(foreign)- as shown in a lot of movies; going without food / getting sick there; not wanting to be at the brunt of racist attacks

Anyways most people  go outside country  to earn a lot; some to train ; some to enjoy life; some for the sake of it; some because they cannot do anything here

None of the reasons above inspire me to do the same as i am double sure that i wil have the best life here simple, uncomplicated- i dont need anything more , anything less

May be its too mediocre to think so ; but everyone's got to live on their own terms . I dont hold anything who go searching for greener pastures

I surely believe akkaraikku ikkarai pachhai (not ikkaraikku akkaraikku pachhai)

This had to be a reply by mail to a friend who asked me the question yesterday ; but its become a blog ( still she will  be only victim to read this)

street smart

Is that a fitting term for the indian  voter? i guess so, seeing the way the average indian citizens have turned in a mandate! this was a most unexcepected verdict for most people. what many thought was that congress would just gain a slender lead and would have to deal with the poltical backmailers to survive for as long as possible before plunging the country into another election.i suppose congress itself was not too far from the opinion. Though the regional powerhouses ( thats what they thought of themselves before 16 .09.09) were of the opininon each one of them would be a king/ queen or a kingmaker.  The right wing ( called so despite most of their ideologies being wrong) was assuming that it was their turn to return to might and the left ( are they called so because their motto is to see everything  good left the country ) pining hopes on india's poor to have another shot at  run(i)ning the country without responsibility.

How did the large number of people of such a diverse country give an  unexpected opinion that surprised most psephologists. My common man brain sees two patterns in these - the voters have rejected the political opportunists of the first degree , blackmailers and the most ungrateful ministers( read bihari babus, china's partners in india  and the most health conscious minister). The second one being approving those who had worked towards development and who took steps to keep their poll promises( not letting them being just promises) - read bihar, gujarat , delhi and tamil nadu

The people have supposedly chosen the least toxic option available on view at present inspite of quite a few blips from the government.The way the people have rejected means  they  still believe their country is secular and hope it stays so. the Left's been red carded for showing 

red flag to everything good. People are wary of the regional powerhouses , especially the two ladies , one each in the in the north and south , who have a penchant for obnoxious display of wealth , unattainable by fair means. probably people thought what would remain 

in the country if they wielded their wands for some time.

Now its upto the parties to show the people that they have not made a wrong choice. Their re election , has had to with the opponents mistakes as much as their right choices. Now that they have a reasonable mandate , people expect them to behave responsibly and be as 

humble as they were/ are when they go garnering votes; hope they dont forget their promises and indulge in self sustenance. I hope they dont mess themselves giving berths to criminally tainted persons; but choose efficient persons with integrity(Mr. Shashi Tharoor- to name one)

and utilise their services.

Anyways i am happy that i dont have to vote for a central government for another five years; happy considering that its a very costly affair-take this sample, air turbine fuel cost for the netas election campaigns have been ~! 5 crores- for a country that  is still not able to help a lot of people going to bed( sorry lying on the floor) with hungry stomachs.

If the new government is able to buck the anti incumbency based on its good work, after another five years i am sure the country would have done well providing inclusive growth.Whatever the government does , I am sure that the street smart indian voter will use his common sense to right the wrongs, as needed!

Life as a radiologist

Life as a radiologist is a dream for a lot of young medical students when they intern / prepare for their PG entrance. It looks glamorous from the outside and a few succumb to it even if they have a greater aptitude for some other field. The features that make radiology attractive are the easy big money( its neither easy/ not very big after some time), cool working environment and lack of tension/ risk and ultimate lack of physical effort.

Most of them turn out to be false when you enter practice  or at least few years down the line. Money is big intially , but it stays the same for a long time . Our minds being human , never seem to come to a conclusion how much money is much!! Our surgical and other speciality friends start slow but once they cross a period only their choice limits the amount they earn.only cool thing about the working environment is that its cool literally( no one knows if all the places are radiation safe- no one takes those into consideration - they just think these guys sit all day in the AC rooms and just sign something). Most ironical impression is the apparent lack of risk / tension. You got to sit and work in a full fledged busy scan center at 8 in the evening to feel the real pressure associated with the job( you have CT/MR scans going on two sides, with a bunch of films on the table to report, a few on the lobby and a kid wailing in pain with probable torsed testis -  and imagine you have not had anything from the afternoon). it does not get worser than that - thats what you feel atleast at that moment. And you do not have the liberty of making a mistake and rectifying it later. whatever is typed and signed is going to stay on forever even if you leave this world .  A mistake however small is going to stay on ever recorded in words (haunting you for a long time if you are unlucky). You are always going to get some cases you are not very sure of , as the field is too vast- it covers from head to toe , skin to marrow and embryo stage to the  demented geraitric patients( though you do not "do" much). 

To top it all , some of the ignorant comments from people  like why are you working like a technician, why dont you start a clinic and why did you join this course, can be really irritating at the  least.

Even worser is the situation when you get to see young patients walking in normally and walking out with grave diagnoses in  hand.I have cried atleast on four to five such occasions and struggled to avoid being the person having to break the news.Hope not to be in such situations at all

Anyways  i love this speciality  as i think i fit it ergonomically.Hope its the same with anyone who joins the course and no one joins it because it just looks cool.

An afternoon gone totally wrong!!

Never thought the rare deserved off i take wud be spent roaming the streets of chennai. it had to do with both the  choice of my activity and partner( a" major" armyman- who is sometimes punctual).Fortunately for him he was uncharacteristically punctual that day. We chose to see a tamil movie in a theatre located between both our houses. To our horror we found tickets were not available at the counter for the film half an hour before the movie( it was being sold at the gates at double the rates-for a movie in the 6th week). So we chose to move to a theatre half a kilometre away to find it was no different there(though it had multiple screens).Hence we decided to go to a proper multiplex - satyam - only to be disappointed with the fact that tickets were available only for the night show. Other shameful reason for going there was that being a true blue chennaiite since birth , I had only heard the name of satyam cinemas- never watched a movie there(one previous attempt on a sunday afternoon had ended with nonavailability of tickets). My second attempt at correcting that anomaly was gone in the dust and severe heat today too. Never the ones to take disappointments easily, we bravely marched to inox for the same result. We felt really horrible feeling like fools on a sunday afternoon in the burning chennai heat

I immediately banished any thoughts of further trudging the city( remember we had sloggged from the west to the east within the city limits). My friend thought of giving a shot at a multiplex close to our college- butI dint have the energy and was almost averse to watching a movie that day ( a case of sour grapes)

And we decided that the best way to overcome the disappointment was to do some retail therapy; hence we moved towards the shopping hub of Chennai ( should i say its T.Nagar- am sure everyone who visited the city knows) . What did we get to see there- a sea of humanity and vehicles jostling for the smallest denominator of space. Took a few minutes to cross the road , jumping between the vehicles . Oh god! worser thing was my friend was about to get a bumper fracture ,when a parked car started moving ; but luckily he was not hurt and the driver apologised(rare nowadays as people dont own their mistake)

Finally we went to the 7  floor store(where u get almost everything u need- only if u have the patience to bear the congestion).  Even at the entrance we were sure that our day is made(for struggle). We just finished our shopping with a couple of pieces of footwear and made a hasty exit only to find that road was a lot worser

I hear anyone who comes to chennai know Ranganathan street and I no longer wonder why.

Seeing the sunday crowd at 6 in the evening, i had a feeling similar to what i hav when i see the holy crowd  thronging the mecca!! I dint dare to walk through the street initially for the fear of  being caught in a stampede/ being picked and the worst , accused of  being a frotteur. So i limped to the bus stand to see overflowing buses. And walking further I was thinking what recession are they talking about , when the shopping hub is so crowded.

 I dint hav a choice but to return to my favourite mode of transport(EMU) through a less congested road( the lesser congestion was becaause of the horrible stink emanating from the garbage on the road).Finally lady luck smiled on me that evening; got a seat on the train my way home. which seemed  heavenly after the six hour toil on the road.  On the way i picked up a original DVD( for viewing during my next off) , promising i would never go to a theatre again in the near future and that too with my lucky buddy.  I dont know if i would be able to resist my temptation to pick up a pirated disc of new movies if the theatres sell tickets outside the counters( today i resisted the thought of buying the dvd of the movie i wanted to see).

Let me see how long my resolve stays so. And  sorry to anyone who manage to complete reading  this cribbing!!