oh god...not again !!

Jus when i thot i knew wat i wanted in life....ive been thrown off guard by 45 seconds of confusion!! (yep im pretty wierd!) Am beginning to get amused and worried at the same time..how do sum ppl REALLY know wat it is that they want? How do they say so assertively that this is wht they want to do..and well sum ppl even stick to it..i think thats absolutely amazing. but seriously HOWW do they do it??

Ive been going thru a whole load of stuff over the past 1 month, been pondering over things and decisions made over the last 1.5 years...and this time i really felt i knew wat i was doing...but bam!! sumthinng had to happen and jus throw me off my feet......makes me feel like a complete idiot..makes me get soo worked up about stuff..and there i sit down again trying to re-think wat it is that i want!! and i sit back n think...oh god! not again..please not another time of this doubtful indecisiveness!!! :( and this time, im as disappointed with myself as i was happy when i made the decision. so over the last 2 days..ive been trying to figure out the answer to the question...how do sum ppl really know wat it is that they want?? do they let time jus rule..and with time do they end up realising wat they want in life?? or do sum ppl jus grab it...and convince themselves that this is wat they waana do!! one of my friends felt that one never really knows wat it is..u jus haveta sumtimes work towards feeling glad about wat u have and feel happy about it..and eventually think that this is wat it is..or this was how it was meant to be...
either ways..i think ppl that really know wat they want...espply those that truly know within themselves and dont jus say so on the outside.. deserve to be admired and appreciated!! its amazing that they r so confident about wat they waana do....atleast in sumthing if not everything! and so as i spend moments thinking about this, i feel bad that im not there yet!! and i jus wait patiently impatient for things to dawn into me..i really hope the day breaks soon here!

(and while i actually tread thru these weak spots with time, i realize once again its my friends who are my pillars of support. and so even while i am going thru this self inflicted thot process, i really waana thank some of them for not jus lending an ear but also for being really supportive of me. Thanku..cant imagine carrying along so far without u folks!!)

anda naal nybagam nenjile vandhadhe nanbane..

Dedicated to those 4 years of PTM..

me: nanbane..bday update kodu!! :) priya raagangal la edavdhu onnu aavdhu swaram serndhudhha??? :P

JJ: priya raagangal-la onnu appapo srudhi saerudhu...
but most of the times... srudhi baedham dhaan... lots of pisiru !!!
idhu enna matter-nae puriya maataengaradhu !!!

me: sruthi bedham laam irukkardhu daan nalladhu....yenna thappana priya ragatha pudicha nnu vei..appo naraga sparisam daan.."sollunga dhaa" nnu nee sollikkite irukka vendi daan...nee enna daan irumbu kudhirai ya irundhaalum, paathu yosichu sruthi seru..illa nemesis daan!! "yen ivargal" ippadi irukeraargal? appdinu ponungla pathiyum priya raagangal pathiyum marupadiyum marupadiyum yosikka thonum..aana adhellam free a vittudu!! seri meendum sandhippom!!

aahaa..total nostalgia...sruthi bedham/naraga sparisam to yen ivargal..wat a wonderful journey it has been. i leave them here so i can look back at it and remind myself of those days.

my nervousness...

sumthing I jus emailed one of my friends today....

"Have u ever had to make a pretty huge decision in ur life.?? as in sumthing thats gonna determine ur life for the next few years atleast...and have u ever felt nervous about it??... lets say its a decision about a person and going and informing that person..have u felt nervous about it if ur making the rite decision or not??
went thru one of that jus a few hours back...ive been pretty confused abt which prof to choose as my mentor...had 2 options..both equally good..but pros n cons in both labs..so after several months of contemplation and decisiveness and undecisiveness .. i decided to choose the 2nd prof...and so today i wanted to inform him that i would like to work in his lab .... i walked in to his office to tell him Id like to choose him as my mentor...
and those 45-60 seconds while i was walkin to his office..i was sooo nervous..felt like one of my biggest decsions in my life...i doubt if ill be this nervous even when am gonna say yes to a guy or get married!!!!!
the feeling was kinda wierd..but priceless i shd say!!"

jus thot this is sumthing i waana remember for a long time to come..and decided to put it up here!

Thank God for my friends.....

Notes about me, myself...
Time: 2.42 am...jus a few (cranky!!)realisations that suddenly dawned into me...

I am a very "people's person". I'd rather be out with my worries than keep them to myself! Even if it means making another person lissen to everything....so from my crushes to self-introspection and self analysis..Id rather let my friends know...

Sometimes I go thru these self-analysis sprees...and in an attempt to be sumthing im not..id get a ltl worked up about it..and try to change...by when a swell friend would bring me back to sanity telling me theres no point getting so worked up...and after a few nice words from the friend (and a few chocolate pieces!!)..ill be like...Bloody hell, f**k it!

So this blog goes out as a dedication to those closest and dearest friends of mine, with whom Ive shared lots...and will continue to do so!

Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake

Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high
Where knowledge is free
Where the world has not been broken up into fragments
By narrow domestic walls
Where words come out from the depth of truth
Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection
Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way
Into the dreary desert sand of dead habit
Where the mind is led forward by thee
Into ever-widening thought and action
Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake

- Rabindranath Tagore's Geetanjali

I remember reading this poem as a school kid...trying to analyze Tagore's depiction of India as a utopia. Well, when I read it in the 8th grade..it din't mean much to me, but now, over the past few days, this poem's been ringing in my head...espply the last few lines.... and I've been thinking a lot about India. I'm not the kinds who appears very patriotic on the outside...infact I'm quite sure none of my friends know that side of me...and I prefer not voicing it out to people....bcos the immediate reaction that ppl give me is..."oh yaa rite...u are sitting there in the US of A...and u talk about patriotism and coming back to India....who u kidding????? "Some are'nt this blatant..but they jus end up smiling to themselves and thinking...."ya here she is...am sure shes gonna get married to sumone there and end up living there the rest of her life!" So I'm pretty much closed up about what I think of India. But today, I really waana pen my thots down...mebbe im a ltl home sick & am jus longing to make a trip to India. Almost always it's only when u dont have sumthing that u've had for a really really long time, that u end up missing it. Its the same thing with staying away from the country... only when u stay far away from it, do u think a lott about it and think of the people there and feel concerned about it too.

During my stay in the USA for the last 2 years, I've had several opportunities to interact with ppl from different nationalities. Some seem to be happy to be out of their motherland and be in the land of opportunities, while there are a few others who want to learn the maximum possible from here so that they can use the experience & exposure when they go back home and work there. Over the last month and a half, I've been working in a Japanese lab and have been in close association with Japanese scientists and researchers. And I've honestly been very impressed and definitely inspired by them. Most of them seem very patriotic and conscientious of their responsiblities to their own country. It actually is a great pleasure to meet and work with people like them. They take real pride in everything thats their own, from cars to reagents and protocols used in the lab. They simply like & trust anything n everything thats Japanese..its quite amazing.
Anyways.. Im not writing this blog to simply pen down how patriotic the Japanese or other nationals are. But what has triggered me to think about this is a simple conversation I had today with a postdoc in the lab. We were talking about airlines and flights and travel deals to go back home...and he was telling me (obviously with a lot of pride) about Japanese airlines.. that they have special deals and their service is classy... And when he asked me about airlines of Indian origin that operate internationally...and why they dont give us the best of deals or why their service isn't of the best quality.. I had very few words to say. All through the dicussion I just wished I could do something about it. Why is it that India lacks a good international airline, despite a large portion of her population flying to/from different countries? That was the smaller picture. On the larger note, I had this raging desire...Why can't our country be the best in something....in anything, but atleastt Something... And well I must point it out here...this desire or thot was NOTT one of accusation about the country...but one of a strong aspiration out of concern. As I said..I reallly wished I could do something about it. I felt as if I should jus go back home to India the very minute and start a world class airline!!!!!
The more I think on the same lines about India... the more I realise that there's soo much one can actually do for her, to make her one of the best. Be it education, science, defense or pharma n bio research...theres soo much that can possibly be done. I think the more important question is how many people are willing to do it and how many CAN do it. Even if most of us , if not all, realise that we owe the country a lottt....considering we've had atleast 21 years of education from her... then that can help us focus better, with respect to our careers and priorities. Offlate, there are a lot of people who have realised that and want to go down to India and do their best with the knowledge they've gained abroad...and Ive learnt that there are some organizations which help such ppl focus too and also give them ideas about what they can do and how they can do it...
Neways...I'm hoping this blog remains as a reminder to my own self, about my ambitions....about those raging desires and aspirations. I shall strive to fulfill it and hopefully I will.

Give it a thought...

Dedicated specially to the bitsian fraternity of smokers:

Note/Disclaimer: This post contains some technical details that could really help make a healthier you. A lot of the scientific details have been taken from different websites and papers. I don't claim any of the scientific information or pictures as my own. As this is just a blog...and not a technical paper written for school, I havent listed all of them out as references!

Definition: "A cigarette is a euphemism for a cleverly crafted product that delivers just the right amount of nicotine to keep its user addicted for life before killing the person.'' World Health Organization director-general Gro Harlem Brundtland.

Cigarettes have always been something that have completely annoyed me. ..the very smell just puts me off, not to forget the wheezing and coughing I'm almost immediately subject to when someone smokes around me. And beyond a point it turns into a splitting headache, by when I actually lose it completelyyyy and end up either sulking or screaming or getting totallyyy pissed. But well, quite ironically, most of my friends smoke...even those reallly close ones whom you know will understand if you yell at them for their disgraceful habit. Tried as I have over the last 4-5 years to convince them to quit, it hasnt been quite successful. I've tried everything a person could possibly do....advice them, caution them, scream/yell at them, throw a fit, walk away with a cold face,and to some...Ive even broken down in tears asking them to quit....but as I said, they havent been received very well. So with time, I've become accustomed to their habit and have also learned to like my friends just the same. And heck..they are my friends (which is why Ive been begging them in the first place!!)..but come on..Im sure they have their own justifications for doing what they are doing. And I know it can get really annoying if someone is at your back all the time telling you what is right and wrong. So as I said, Ive just learnt to remain silent and have got used to their habit.
However, over the last one year as a grad student in a PhD program, there have been these courses and lectures covering the different ill-effects of smoking, and I've had several chances to reflect upon the damage cigarettes and smoking beget. In this post, I have attempted to list some of them. I think every smoker should know what they are doing to themselves...to every single part of their body, and then decide if thats the value they have for their own life and health.

Disclaimer: I'm not writing this blog in an attempt to convince anyone to quit....although it'd do you a whole world of good, and me a lot of happiness, either directly or indirectly, if you did.

CANCER: Cancer cures smoking! (No..I havent written that wrong..jus re-read it.) Almost everyone is just aware of the fact that lung cancer is predominantly caused by smoking. Not many know that smoking is a major cause of several other cancers, including larynx (voice box), oral cavity, pharynx (throat), and esophagus, and is a contributing cause in the development of cancers of the bladder, pancreas, liver, uterine cervix, kidney, stomach, colon and rectum, and some leukemias (blood cells).
87% of lung cancer is caused by smoking and is the leading cause of cancer deaths in men and women alike. Its difficult to detect at the early treatable stages, but its a disease that can be largely prevented. I just found a good pic online with the caption "Healthy lung vs smokers lung. You decide."


Here are a few others... (they might look a little scary..but as I said..a smoker MUST know all that the body is put to simply bcos of inhaling smoke off the cancer sticks.) This one I really want to state the website..
http://freehosting.tomaweb.com/QuitSmoking/scarystuff.htm
The first picture is that of a neck tumor caused by excessive smoking, where the cancer can spread from the lungs to the neck. The second is an X-ray which shows how it can happen, and the third is the image of a person with oral cancer.





If a person stops smoking, the risk of lung cancer reduces drastically. Yearly the abnormal cancerous cells are replaced by normal cells. 'After 10 years, the risk drops to a level that is one-third to one-half of the risk for people who continue smoking.

HEART: Please visit http://www.quitsmokingsupport.com/heart.htm when you get a chance. It does not have any scary pics ( I guess..), but has a lot of scientific details that make a good read, espply if you are interested in your heart and its healthy functioning.

Within minutes of inhaling cigarette smoke, the heart rate begins to rise, almost by 30% in the first 10 minutes. It raises the blood pressure and causes the heart to work harder to pump blood to the rest of the body. Smoking also increases the blood cholesterol levels and makes the arterial walls sticky. In Australia, government health campaigns use TV images of fatty deposits being squeezed out from an aorta (VERYYYY important artery in the human body, that carries pure blood or oxygenated blood to the rest of the body). Smoking causes fat to be deposited in the walls of the aorta to an extent that it can clog it up entirely. So when a person consumes food or a dish rich in fat, what would otherwise be not very unhealthy to a normal non-smoker, becomes catastrophic when the person is a smoker.
Below is the pic of fatty deposits being squuezed out of the aorta of a 33 year old smoker, who used to smoke since he was 23. The red tube like structure is the aorta.



So if you are in your 20's and are a smoker, and if you think, you can consider quitting later on in your life, cos now you are just too young to quit...afterall you jus started...you might want to reconsider the thought. I dont intend being pessimistic, but I think its important to know this instead of being regretful later. The nice thing is that its never too late to quit. So go ahead and use your common sense and do the thing that seems more logical.

Smoking also causes the blood to become more sticky (by causing raised fibrinogen levels and platelet counts). Carbon monoxide (CO) which is one of 4000 different toxic compounds identified in tobacco and tobacco products, reduces the ability of blood to carry oxygen, reducing the amount of oxygen available to the tissues. All these contribute to a smoker developing atherosclerosis, a condition where an artery carrying blood becomes blocked or narrowed 'cos of fat deposition. This causes lesser blood flow and as the atherosclerotic plaque progresses a clot or an occlusive thrombus can develop, which can lead to a fatal heart attack or myocardial infarction. In some cases, the clot can undergo 'embolism' and migrate to the brain, blocking blood flow to the brain and thus lead to a stroke or cerebral thrombosis. In some smokers, a condition called aneurysm can also develop, which is the ballooning of the arterial wall with an increased risk of bursting/clotting leading to catastrophic results.
To those folks interested in cardiovascular research: 'Smokers are very much more likely to die from a ruptured aneurysm of the abdominal aorta than non-smokers'.
Some statistical details I found interesting...check 'em out..espply the second one.

"One cigarette can impair circulation for up to 45 minutes by constricting the small blood vessels. (The narrow vessels in the feet are particularly vulnerable to the damaging effects). (Hara Podiatrist Group, Covina, Ca., Prevention magazine, Dec. 1987)"

"In the winter, smokers may be at an increased risk of heart disease due to higher blood pressure and heart rate, say researchers in Israel. Although winter blood pressure readings are typically higher for most people, in smokers the average increase in systolic blood pressure was twice the increase in non-smokers. (“Cold Weather Raises Heart Risk for Smokers,” heartinfo.org - June 2001)"

OTHER ORGANS: As I was surfing the net for the ill-effects caused by smoking, I came across this really scary disease, that most people dont know. And I thought I should list it down here... I know it is quite a lot of technical jargon, but if you've read thru till here..I'm hoping youll be interested in knowing more about the damages cigarettes cause..and so I hope you wont mind the technical details.
Thromboangiitis Obliterans (Buerger's disease). This is a peripheral vascular disease caused by heavy cigarette smoking. It involves an inflammatory condition of small vessels that leads to blocking of the arteries and the gangrene. It is a disease caused in young males(20-40) who are heavy smokers. Offlate, however women have also been found to aquire the disease. This disease is most common in the Orient, South east Asia, India, and the middle east. The disease is characterized by excessive pain caused by insufficient blood flow to the extremities of the hands and feet, leading to numbness and tingling sensation resulting in amputation of the limbs.

http://vasculitis.med.jhu.edu/typesof/buergers.html - This is where you can find lots of info on the disease. Here are some pics (again, might be scary!)





Apart from these, smoking causes diseases like bronchitis, emphysema, severe pneumonia. Tobacco is also a teratogen (a substance known to cause detrimental effects in the development of a baby), and has damaging effects on a woman's reproductive health...being associated with increased risk of miscarriage, premature delivery, still birth and infant death. Also, cigarette smoking causes impotency apart from affecting the beauty & looks of a person by causing darkening of lips and teeth, increased wrinkles, increased features of aging, etc.

So all of you smokers out there.. think, and think well. Is it worth soo much torture?..the smoking that is done, jus outa peer pressure, or jus to act cool or jus to impress ppl, or jus for the heck of it.. You might have started with a reason, a reason that seemed perfectly justifiable to you, but now you have more than 1 health reason to quit. This blog is just a small description of the real damage smoking does to you, but theres definitely a LOTT more to it...simply giving key words like "damage/ill effects caused by smoking" etc on search engines like google gives tonnes of information. So read up and see what you are doing to yourself and then decide if this is what you really want to do. Reason out rationally and do what is healthy and what is right.

PS: I individually thank every one of you, who've read this blog till here! Thanx guys!

Sarvam samarpanam..

To the One I trust more than anything else..

Dearest,
I look back and think about all that You have helped me do for the last 10 - 15 years of my life. In every stage of my life...every success and failure, I have felt Your presence..and am sure I will continue to do so. You have been really kind and loving and I waana thankyou for every bit I've experienced... everything that has ever happened to me in the world...both good and bad. Jus the mere thought that You are there..."sarvam samarpanam" ..keeps me alive and kicking....

Hope to be always indebted to You, so I can NEVER forget You, or NEVER feel ur not there. Love you always!

Charanam Prapadhye!

Those days...

A typical day in my 3rd year at BITS...
5.50 am - Wake Bugs up and thus rouse everyone in the wing.
5.55 am - hurry ...hurry...hurry..5 mins more or v r dead..
6:01 am - reach the lab opposite 3158...get ready for some early morning sermon!
6:15 am - Typical run-through of the previous day's blunders by Joy + sermon
6:15 - 8:30 am - work really hungrily in the lab...
8:45 - cycle back to the mess while everyone else will be going TO the insti.. (eee-ites ..tuts!!!)
8.45 - 9.00 - crib about the mess food and the lab and lab work!!
9.10 - Cycle to the insti rather tired...
9.15 - 10.00 am - work in the lab..
10.00 am - Give attending class as a pretext and get out of lab...
10.15 am - Chk mails hurriedly in S-9
10.30 am - Breathe the air of SKY - air of freedom..
10.31 am - Start Pappu's buisness for the day... "double kadak chai....baad mein!!!"
10.40 - 10.55 am - enjoy the solitude, the chai, tiger biscuits and the dog feeding on them.
11.00 am - Catch hold of Apu, Loki, KK and the others in Sky.. and discuss about how classes are a waste of time..
11.00 am - 12.30 pm - discuss current issues in Friends, Harry Potter, Ragamalika, Wing..watch psenti couples walk away...Crib about being single!! ;)
12.30 pm - Cycle back to the mess and have grub..pulikaachal, thengai podi, paruppu podi, thattai's appalams, oilllllyyyy french fries..
1.00 pm - Wing...Laccha with Bugs, KK.
1.30 pm - See Kandy/DS ...ask em about happened in class!! Enthu with Rowdy, Deepix, dubba et al..
1.45 pm - Ask Dubba/KK/rowdy what movies they have stored in the comp...Start watching Friends/ Panchathanthram/ MMKR/Road/Mr & Mrs Iyer or hmm.......
4.15 pm - Go to the IPC while rest of BITS is asleep/in class.
4.45 pm - Go to sky for Chai/ 5 o clock lachcha..
5.00 - 5.15 - Quick lachcha with makkal
5.15 - 7.30 pm - ragamalika - Thyagaraja Aradhana Practice..
7.30 pm - 11.00 pm - PTM session...Enthu with Raj, Jugs, Geethu, Baasha and the others.
11.00 pm - Cycle rather hurriedly back to the bhawan.
11.10 pm - Crib about NC and the sickkkk maggi!!
11.30 pm - Stop by Gram's room or someone in the wing...Lachcha...
12.00 - 1.00 am - Lachcha with KK, Bugs, Mokshi, Kandy, Deepix, Dubba, Rowdy...think about how to start studying for the next day's test...and crib about how tests are a waste of time...
1.00 - 1.30 am - Try ghoting for the test....(Fail miserably!!)
1.30 am - Decide that a make- up is the easiest solution!!
1.45 am - Irritate Bugs and the others who are studying about my plan for a make-up!!
2.00 am - Sleep blissfully reminding myself to get up b4 Bugs goes for the test the next morning at 8.00

And so, the subsequent morning...I'd get up at 7.30..give Bugs the make-up letter! And while everyone else would go to the insti to give the test...I'd go to the Med-C and get a certificate... and then cycle back to sky to enjoy solitude and life again!!!

THAT was life!!!

priorities!!!!

Question of what to read....

1. Eragon - seems very magical to keep away. And as I read it, I only seem to realise more n more why Tolkien should be worshipped as the Father of Magical Genre Writing...I've been reading some books on the same line....

• Reading, re-reading, and revising the 6 Harry Potters...and off late started a collection of the potter dvds.. so took it on me to educate 5 muggles in 25 Patterson St about the magic of Potter...got a few of 'em educated atleast to the level where they knew Hermione and Ron's names, and some of 'em also got to personifying one of their friends as Peter Pettigrew!! Ok ...so Potter is always there in the menu of books..
• LOTR - Started reading it in Aug 2005 and finished it just b4 the new year2006... come on...I was/am a 1st year grad student in a PhD program...and had tests every other weekend.. so i should be excused for the 6 months : 1 book ratio! B4 I read LOTR, I could never accept it if someone told me that Tolkien was the 'Ultimate Lord' and that even some ideas of Rowling's were inspired from Tolkien..But now, yes...I totally agree to that...Tolkien's LOTR is definitellly THE masterpiece. This does not make me loveeeee Potter or Rowling any lesser, but just my due appreciation to the genius of the 50's.

Eragon - And so now..I'm reading this book. I'm very impressed and inspired by the author Chritopher Paolini. I think his language and style of writing, as a mere lad of 19 is commendable. (He was 15 apparently, when he wrote the book). I definitely am enjoying the book..thanks to my sis (and bil) again. So while I have a deadline by when the book should reach the library...being saturday April 22, I have a few other things that I could read tooo...

2. Driver's license - Knowledge test
The story of failure and procrastination...Its funny how I've reconciled to the fact that I dont want a car at all..bcos I think I can't clear hurdle 1. Well, its more-so laziness and my tendency to dilly-dally thats stopping me from thinking positively about it. So I end up thinking..."oh no, those grapes are sour for sure!". But if I postpone it any more, I'm putting quite a few things at stake...most important being amity between my brother and me.. He's sparing no efforts to ensure that I appear and clear the test this time...Gud luck to him!! But ya..those efforts again begin with a deadline...a chosen date when Ill be sent to the gallows again - April 22 (He hopes!!)

3. A Test in a course
PS: Normal mortals - beware..cud be too much technical jargon. Those Piled Higher & Deeper..read on.
We are supposed to have a test in one of the courses in the subsequent week. And one of the topics for the test is -Danio Rerio & Xenopus Laevis as model organisms. A rather interesting piece of information about insertional mutagenesis in the zebrafish. The small lecture notes prompted me to probe into the topic this afternoon, while I was sitting jobless in my lab, with my prof's hawk-like eyes trying to see, if I was doing sumthing worthwhile or not. So after several partially-effective google and pubmed searches, I landed on a publication that spoke exactly about the Tol2 Transposon system and its use in gene trapping and transgenesis. Eureka!! I finally managed to comprehend what it all meant...differences between enhancer trapping and gene trapping, splice donor and acceptor sites, transgenesis and gene trapping...et al. So now I'm going through this compulsive disorder of finishing off that lecture completely...so I can rest in peace...and not think about it...
Once u tend towards the 'Ghotu' side...I guess its quite normal to go through what I'm going through ....U'll hate leaving something half done...Its like I either dont know AT ALL...or i know it ALL... so I soo badly waana complete that chapter of the course!!
PS: My bitsian peers ...pleaseee dont die after reading the afore- mentioned lines...Once a grad student ur life kinda changes..so please excuse me!!!

I'm sitting here trying to contemplate wat the order or priority list should be...only to realise that I haven't been doing any of the 3..All I've been doing is just methodically jotting down in my blog what to do... what wud be the ideal thing to read for the evening...And now..its almost 12.00 am...who'll want to sit and spend the evening/night reading while the bed's right beside you...extremely tempting....
Well anyways...sum day I'll realise that all this is just a pretext to do the one thing most bitsians loveee doing...Nothing. :)

Marvellous....

“Whatever is here is found elsewhere. But whatever is not here is nowhere else.”

- An awesome one-liner that describes the Mahabharatha... a true marvel, the pride of India's culture and literature..a book I'll always love reading.
To think of it...I cant find anything or any situation or problem the current society faces that has not been touched upon in the Mahabharatha...be it an overplay of passionate human emotions like anger and envy leading to destruction, or the presence of social evils like gambling..it has all been alluded to in the epic.
A few others just to mention...The concept of adoption (Krishna's birth and childhood), physical abduction of women (Draupadi's harassment), a political leader becoming a puppet to a manipulative friend/relative (Dhritharashtra - Duryodhana - Shakuni's relationship), pre-marital child birth (Karna's birth), the significance society seems to bestow on status/caste/wealth rather than talent/knowledge/character of the individual (Karna not being permitted to compete with the pandavas since he was the son of a 'mere' charioteer), wars, brothers working day in and out to slay each other, polyandry & polygamy, the strength of truth & honesty, friendship, devotion, discipline, simplicity, faith, belief, & love...
I simply adore all the short stories that have been so beautifully and intricately woven within the main storyline. Every character in every story, either directly or indirectly epitomizes some value that we ought to possess & which, if we do, would make us better human beings. And when I realise that the Indian culture is rich with such wonderful scriptures that guide us at each stage of our life, giving us examples of what is right and wrong..it makes me feel really proud and passionate about being an Indian.Long live the country's cultural heritage!

The first one

Hi,
This is the first one...a true beginning- Akaaraha meaning 'the first letter/alphabet'. I've been wanting to do this for quite some time now, but for sum reason..it's been the last thing I seem to have put my mind on. And well everytime I begin, I'd go through the usual - 'beginners syndrome' - like anyone else I'd aspire to start with a bang...but not finding a suitable topic to start writing, my enthusiasm wud just fade away...But well today, thankfully is a little different. I've finally begun and I hope my enthu continues a long way.
I've quite enjoyed the habit of penning my thoughts down. My diary has actually witnessed some of my best and worst emotions. It was something I learned from my sister - the art of 'complete surrender.' I remeber how I used to reconcile to my diary and to Yanni - 'In my time', at the end of each day, while I was in BITS. Those diary entries not only gave me clarity of thought, but also helped me remember incidents that were definitely not to be forgotten. I'd come bursting into the room and turn on the music. Grab a pen and my diary with the most apt quotes in each page. And well, I'd just let the keys of the piano do their job of extracting my emotions...
And now, I sit back and realise that what was once a habit has slowly been fading away... I miss it definitely...its not something I wanna let go of. ..so, now by blogging I'm hoping I can kick-start my habit of writing, shed my laziness and get united with 'me' that was once my best friend...