Big Hug & Kiss

One of my favorite smell is that of an old book, that musty sweet odour does take some of us to another world.  And like a cherry on top some of them have a postcard, an invite, a sketch, a bookmark, a date or a note. They are like a window to somebody's world, It is always a pleasure to read these personal messages in old books, I found one today right under the cover written with a pencil that made me like the book all the more . Especially the last line "Big hug & kiss", you know when you actually relate to it as though someone wrote it for you, that feeling :-)

Good night

-R. 

PiZZa Effect

"This now qualifies as free right?" I asked him. He gave me a sheepish smile and said "Yes Ma'm". For once there was a pizza delivery boy at the door without any spontaneous reasons. It was half past five and I remembered one of those somber voiced girls on phone telling "Your order will be delivered by 4:35 pm, thank you for placing the order Ma'm, have a good day!" after which I had waited and waited.

This boy, there was something peculiar about him, the look of a new kid on the block. He did not explain, he did not argue, no reaction unlike his peers would have given, not everybody is of the same make you see no matter how much one trains them.I looked at him and I looked at the bill, I wondered if the management would cut it out of his pay. The way things work in this jet set age and our oblivious attitude to the same, aren't we happy that we get what we need in a call or a click, need anything more? He constantly seemed to avoid eye contact, bending his head down under the cap looking here and there at the floor. I handed him the amount along with the bill and asked him "Are you new to this place?" by now it seemed like it.

"Yes Ma'm" he replied again, nothing more. I knew he wasn't lying and all the yelling that I was contemplating to do somehow did not happen. He thanked me with a brighter smile than the previous and ran down the stairs to his bike, I guess he had more boxes to be delivered. He looked to the right, and then to the left and then finally up. He must have sensed someone watching him. "Ma'm if you don't mind, can you tell me how do I reach the main road?" he called out. "Go straight and take a left" I replied and waved from the balcony. He waved back with one of the nicest smile I shall remember for a long time to come.

For those who are not aware of the PIZZA EFFECT, it is a term used for the phenomenon similar to the one in which the Americans reshaped the Pizza and sent it back to Italy, making their own Pizza a very popular food. Strange ain't it? When someone else has to tell us the value of what we own? It has been happening with most of us as well. We see, read, hear, judge and opine about everything and everyone in and around us with suspicion, GREAT suspicion unless someone from outside gives a greater deal of assurance. Just like the way we half open the doors for these pizza delivery guys, we do so many things half-heartedly. It is sometimes okay to let go off our inaneness and inhibitions and make an extra conversation with a stranger or give a kind smile, who knows it may make somebody's day :-)

PS: This post is for all those delivery guys under the rain and sun who make our lives easy :-)

-R. 

Happy Teacher's Day

Picture Courtesy

To all those people who tread the less chosen path so that the others acquire enough insight and discretion about the working ways of this world. To all the good Miss Wormwoods of our lives from kindergarten to college, we are because of what you are, a Happy Teacher's Day :-)

-R.

60 Minutes - Book Review

Picture Courtesy

“Revenge is a natural instinct…But there’s more often than not too much collateral damage and in most instances we miss the point in the process, and hurt ourselves”

That’s something from the book which aptly sums up its concept. 60 minutes is the second of the triumvirate novels of Upendra Namburi, a contemporary Indian life thriller. The story is set in the background of current urban life of those who reign at the top of corporate set ups. The high intensity drama happens in a span of sixty minutes. On one end there is a kind of fanatical rivalry between two chief marketing officers, jealousy and competition drives their actions in a battle of their product launches, and on the other there are gross personal failures. The author has tried to make the story as realistic as possible. The issues that emerge, at the office and back at home, and how the characters-Agastya, Maithili and Sailesh deal with it in a constant rush is the matter of the book.

Professional networks and game plays, stock market and millions of money, relationships and stress, domestic violence and infidelity-the author highlights all aspects of their lives. The characterization is from an insider’s perspective and that adds to the realism the plot tries to convey. There is no right or wrong, no good or bad in this game which is more than a cold war. Everyone goes through the process of survival of the fittest. One can almost feel the pulse of their office rooms.

The pace of the book is another impressive point; the events unfold as the reader turns the pages. I finished the book in about two reading sessions. The flashbacks in between kind of adds to the movie like feeling and the reader can understand the motive behind the character’s actions and decisions. An another opinion about it is that the scenes are a bit off from the title of the book, in the sense if the happenings of the previous weeks, months and years were not highlighted there is not much of drama, without the background what happens in the 60 minutes is just an another incident. When I began with the book I was excited and curious to know how the story would unfold in 60 minutes, the rewinds were a big disappointment.

Obsession and revenge carried from the past is all what drives the scenes in the sixty minutes. Some happenings do seem without purpose, some of the flings and fights in particular. What happens in the concluding chapter is beyond a reader’s expectations, the two rivals portrayed in the story meet during a holiday at the beach watching the sea and the setting sun, having a conversation like estranged lovers, a weird but an interesting ending.  I did not put down this book nor did I like it overly. The last line of the quote in the preface ”The truth lies in the shades of grey” is quite what I felt about this book, very grey.  A one time weekend read and a good addition to the genre of Indian corporate thrillers, this one.

Book Details:

Title: - 60 minutes

Author: - Upendra Namburi

Publisher: - Westland Ltd

Publication Year: - 2014

ISBN 13:- 978-93-84030-24-7

Binding: - Paperback

Number of pages: - 361

Price: - Rs 350

My rating: - 2.5/5

PS: This review is a part of the biggest Book Review Program for Indian Bloggers. Participate now to get free books!

A Rose Is A Rose Is A Rose

...whether you give it with your left hand or right, so I argued with one of my friends way back in school. It was during one of those functions when we had to go up the podium and give each of the teachers sitting there one. And me being left handed, it was quite scout like, surprisingly the teacher smiled too. Well, that's the magic about a rose. It conveys everything that you feel - how many ever you give, however you give and whichever colour you give, it really doesn't matter. I am sharing a few of my favorite rosy quotes today. I hope they make you smile too :-)

"What's in a name ? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet."

-William Shakespeare

"The fragrance always stays in the hand that gives the rose."

-George William Curtis

"A rose can never be a sunflower, and a sunflower can never be a rose.All flowers are beautiful in their own way, and that’s like women too. I want to encourage women to embrace their own uniqueness."

-Miranda Kerr

"One rose says more than a dozen."

-Wendy Craig

And last but my favorite: 

"Anyone can love a rose, but it takes a lot to love a leaf. It's ordinary to love the beautiful, but it's beautiful to love the ordinary."

-Unknown-

-R.

The Record

“You never know what you’re going to find in your house”

-Franz Kafka in ‘A Country Doctor’-

“So what are you going to do with these?” she asked” Keep them of course!” I replied. It was one of those situations when the mother wants to do away with the clutter in the house the daughter wants to keep the treasure box. It did not take me long to convince her, she gave me a smile like the family was related to Pablo Picasso somehow when I showed her what was in the box.

Around a good ten years ago in my first year of medicine when I had the pleasure of learning human anatomy with a scalpel, the Cunningham's Manual Of Human Anatomy, the nicest teachers and the best bunch of friends at the dissection table there was a GROSS ANATOMY record to be made at the end of the term. Here are a few pictures from mine:

 Anatomy is all about science and art, and the human body is nothing less than a master piece. Every muscle, bone, artery, vein or nerve is there for a reason and they work as a team. Drawing them is as meticulous as they are at work. Each picture had taken me hours back then, and when I look at them now besides making me happy it reminds me how much we take what is inside us for granted. It is only when we are ill we end up wondering what could have gone wrong where. 

The structure and function of every part of our body is nothing short of a marvel. And it is often assumed that everything under the skin is fine until there is PAIN, which is just one of the hundred signs and symptoms. How wrong are we, only if we did introspect more often! Think of the various organs we see here, how much they work day in and out for us. The innumerable cells that make them, the genes that code, the nutrients that they consume, the products they synthesize, the way they grow, sustain and die.

I am glad I did all this learning and drawing. I understand they are a little complicated, I have a hard time remembering the terms even now. But it is a nice thing to know what we are actually made of, isn't it? There are so many questions to ponder, like why is the heart beating in one particular rhythm and why is the brain thinking this way, there is no end to my list.

What are you thinking? :-)

-R.