The Numbers Game!

After a lull, I am back with something to blog. I was inactive because of a lot of factors. But for now, I am dealing with 'Numbers'.

When I was a small boy studying in primary school and then high school, I had a fetish for using words like ‘Dozen’, ‘Score’ and ‘Peg’ almost as a rule. Very few of my friends knew the exact meanings of these words. In those days of the Amitabh Bachchan dominance; I enjoyed every opportunity to call him the 'Numero Uno' of Indian Cinema. Two weeks was too weak an expression for me; I preferred the 'Fortnight'. Thus I used to ‘Score’ over my peers by using words that were not very familiar to others. In spite of my fetish for exotic words, this wasn't exactly Sesquipedalia.

Well, everyone knew a ‘Dozen’. Some of them who had heard about Bar and Booze knew vaguely about a measure of Alcohol being called a ‘Peg’. But a ‘Peg’ means a third of anything was not known to any of my friends. Not a single friend of mine knew ‘Score’ was not exactly the Cricket Score but actually ‘Twenty things together’. I also knew what was ‘Baker’s Dozen’ and why was it called so!

So I never dealt with numbers and milestones in ordinary terms. When I completed ten years on this planet, I was actually a ‘Decade’ old. I was never really twelve years old; I was a ‘Dozen’ years old. In one of my elocutions, I went on to say, “Maha Bharat war went on for One and a half Dozen days where a Handful of Pandavas fought with a Century strong Kauravas for two less than a Score days”. Looking back, all that sounds stupid today. Taking this stupidity a little further, I am 'Three and a Quarter Dozen' years old today.

I think ‘We, Indians’ have the greatest admiration for numbers, landmarks and milestones. We as a Country are so enamored by Cricket primarily because of runs; centuries, records and a hell of a lot of numbers conjured up by this game. So much so, I know many women who can’t differentiate between a cover drive and a back-hand cross-court shot; will rattle up statistics about the number of centuries Sachin Tendulkar has raked up in ODI matches and Test Matches. I have seen people who have never invested a single penny in the market gushing about ‘Sensex’ crossing the 16K or 17K mark!

I think it all started with the Great Aryabhata contributing the ultimate weapon to Mathematics, the Zero. We are obsessed by this one single entity. We ought not have been what we are today but for this singularly patentable entity! When it comes to Zero, the more the merrier for us. Sunil Gavaskar told this when he reached the milestone of Ten Thousand Test runs, “When I played my first test, I did not know I would last this far. I thought for myself that if I can score one thousand runs in tests, that would be magnificent”. The newspapers ran the headlines next day “Ten Times Magnificent”!

By the way, on September 3, me and my wife completed a Dozen years as man and wife. What inspired me to write all this? Well, I am reaching a landmark here. This in itself is not really a great affair. But for someone who still has a long way to go in communicative writing; this is an achievement. With this post, I have completed a 'Half-century' of blog-posts.

Intelligentleman

I have an extremely intelligent but unbelievably modest friend. He calls himself UMD on the Face-book and the Twitter. He is a Graphic Designer and works somewhere in the middle east. Those names always elude me. Riyadh, Rial, Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Kuwait and so on... But that is not what I want to discuss here. It is about a man, who will never give you even the slightest of hints about his real wares.

We know he is a Graphic Designer and is damn good one at that. He writes poetry is what his wife told me. He also writes very intelligent posts on the Face-book wall. He also makes some very intelligent sounding sounds. He is again very proficient in creating art out of vegetables and drawing on his mobile. He is driven by the word "Expectation" and loves challenges.

He has a very talented wife who is an accomplished Kathakkali artist. They all have great taste for art-forms. I keep getting invites from them to attend programs. But unfortunately I am neither as smart as them and nor do I understand any of those 'Arts'.

But the best thing about UMD is his humility. I never knew anything about him till I realized what kind of a guy this one is on the Face-book. The more I follow him, the more I've started to admire him. Actually I have no hesitation to add here that I am a 'Fan'.

This is not a blog-post to gloss about a friend of mine. This is just to say... We have a lot of people who are very simple and down-to-earth but are in reality 'Great Souls'. His nickname is 'Unni' and whatever he does is Unique to him. Hence I call his innovations... 'Unnique'. Due to his intelligence and gentle nature; I also have coined a new identity for him: "Unnique Intelligentleman"

And he has two adorable kids. The younger one, a boy is too young to make an impression. But his elder; a just turned teen daughter is a hyper-intelligent girl who looks and promises to go places. I sincerely wish a wonderful life to this adorable family!

The New Indian 'Express'

Recently an eminent Doctor from a small town in Kerala wrote a letter to the Editor of the Indian Express and that really upset me. So what did he write? He was reacting to Serena Williams doing the bare it all act for some fashion magazine. He wrote, "Serena Williams has realized that even ugly girls look better without dress"

Now, if I am not wrong; this is both racist and sexist. Racist because he is obviously calling a black girl 'Ugly'. Sexist because he is commenting on a woman's looks in a definitely politically offensive language. If Serena or anyone dares to bare; it is purely a personal choice. She is not the first girl to do that and certainly will not be the last. Why should she be called 'Ugly'?

We all know beauty is skin deep. We also know how much of an issue we have made out of the racist attacks on Indians in Australia. What moral rights can we claim if we ourselves are racial like this? A little sensitivity and sophistication in commenting on other people's life should not hurt us Indians.

I wrote a letter of protest to Indian Express. That was never published. I think the Editor endorses the views 'Expressed' by the Doctor. But a shocker came five days later. Another 'Eminent Gentleman' wrote, "I support the views of Dr. TS. Serena looks like 'Bitter Chocolate' in the mentioned picture. Now I am convinced about what 'The New Indian Express' stands for!

The learned Doctor again came out with another gem last Saturday. He was commenting on the concerns of the Church about the currently debated 'Love Jihad'. He came out with these lines, "Let the Terrorists marry these Christian girls. They will suffer at the hands of these Cantankerous Christian Females". Isn't this preposterous? Such a generalization about Christian women? I am surprised not even a single whimper of protest is coming out. Well, on second thoughts; I think I know the reason. The Editor again endorses the views of the respected Doctor and perhaps finds it unnecessary to provide space for any dissent.

I don't think there is any respect for woman or womanhood here. I am canceling my subscription to this insensitive newspaper with immediate effect. I know that is not going to make much of a difference for this 'Esteemed and Fearless' Newspaper. But I find it very difficult to accept this kind of journalism.

Side Effect :-)

I have been keeping quite busy these days and hence not been able to blog much. But something funny happened this morning. It was so funny, I had to write it instantly. Certain things can't wait!

During my morning rounds, I went to see a 76 year old Gentleman who has been complaining of dizziness since past 3 days. He was in the ICCU with high blood pressure. I asked him, "How are you?". He smiled at me and said, "I am better. But I have this dizzy feeling due to Side Effect". I was taken aback by this. We recently had a lot of problems with some patients complaining of adverse effects; real or imaginary, supposed to be caused by medicines. So I asked, "Side effects... Due to what?".

He immediately quipped, "Oh it is just that I feel dizzy on turning to my right Side".

That indeed was some Side effect !

It's all about loving your Parents!

Recently I was surprised by a senior lady praising me for taking care of my elders well. She introduced me to another lady and said, "Look at this boy, he takes care of his parents and his in laws very well. They all stay close by now and he is really a wonderful Son and Son-in-law". The other lady quipped, "Really? it is so hard to find children who take care of aged parents today. God bless you son, your elders are lucky!"

Was I pleased? Did this increase my pride? Am I feeling responsible? No... To be honest, I am pained. I am totally at a loss to express my feelings. Why should this pain me? Very simple, I have not seen anyone appreciating aged parents for giving their successful son or daughter the kind of upbringing they received. I have never heard anyone say, "What wonderful parents you have got, they have given you a life and all that you have."

Why is Parenting taken for granted? All those sacrifices the parents made during their lifetime never get mentioned. A son or a daughter looking after aged parents is considered a great charity! What a life are we living? Call me old fashioned; but I believe in joint families. I just can't imagine a life without my parents as well as parents-in-law. At least for now, I can't even imagine that. Illnesses, forgetfulness, tensions and pains come along with age. Differences do crop up due to generational thinking. But does that mean we have to stay separately? Differences can arise between peers and spouses too. Nuclear families scare me. Faced with some problem, I have seen people wilt under pressure. Nothing can beat the presence of a senior citizen who has seen life.

The support of a big family when in trouble is very crucial. I have seen this umpteen times because I live my life in a hospital. Some Muslims, who live with huge joint families are the ones who respect, love and take care of their elders the best. There never is a dearth of people to stay with the patient and the demand for Home-nurses is unheard of. I have seen elderly ladies weeping silently in solitude in huge air-conditioned Deluxe rooms and I have seen a whole family crammed in a single bed pay-ward to take care of the aged mother!

My eleven year old daughter hates it when my Mother or Father have to go out; even for a few days. She goes to sleep only after a mandatory story session by my Father. She misses my mother even if it is for one day. Yes, age, ill-health, debility and impending death do create the much needed ability to look beyond. We all know no human being lives forever. But as long as they live; isn't it right to be with them?

What a society we live in, where the busy children have no time for their parents? I know a family where two sons found it difficult to provide fifty rupees per day towards the cost of medicines for their parents. But the same people had no problems in spending double the amount on dogs; yes, DOGS! Life will never forgive them for what they did with their parents.

I expect no appreciation, no words of praise or awards for looking after my elders. It is the least I can do for giving me a life and a wife! Though it was a bit overloaded with melodrama, I definitely related to the Amitabh Bachchan - Hema Malini movie 'Baaghbaan'. Such incidents of children ill-treating aged parents happen every day and everywhere. I only hope, we realize the ultimate truth. We too will be OLD some day and might need support of our children!