Flamingo

As we get old, we feel a little sad about losing the vigor of youth and energy of life. A few weeks back, I was in the Atlanta zoo with my kids. I learned Flamingo was borns gray as a baby. Flamingo gets pinkier, prettier, and more desirable as they get old. On that day, I realized that pink color comes from the deposition of a molecule called canthaxanthin which accumulates via their diet. Zoo-keeper made an interesting comment: "Those of you who are getting old should feel happy as getting old makes you more beautiful." At least, I find some solace!

- I am not a big fan of Zoos for various reasons, but Atlanta Zoo is one heck of a place to visit.

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Nature's game

(I don't agree with below. But this blog is all about how people perceive and experience life. Following thoughts were expressed to me from an extremely intellectual man. Again, I differ but these are strong sentiments)

Nature has no interest in individual humans, except to continue process of procreation. One generation gives birth to coming generation, gets old and die. And, so process of evolution continues. Nature banks only on two things to sustain this. Firstly, gender attraction and secondly, love of parents for children to nurture them. All wars, religions and fight to protect own's genes stem from this. In short, we all are fucking pawns of nature's game.

Bachhe, Kainaat aur Sadaye kun-faya-kun

Einstein ne kaha tha: "The most important question science has to ask: Is universe human friendly?"

Aur Iqbal ne kaha tha: (Bale-jibril)

"Ye kaainaat abhi natamam hai shayed, 
ke aa rahi hai dama-dam sadaye-kun-faya-kun"

Aur

Khalil Jibran ne is ki wazahat yun ki: "Jab tak bachhe is duniya main paida ho rahe hain, khuda abhi hum se maay'us  nahi huwa".



*Below is Einstein's full letter

"I think the most important question facing humanity is, ‘Is the universe a friendly place?’ This is the first and most basic question all people must answer for themselves. 

"For if we decide that the universe is an unfriendly place, then we will use our technology, our scientific discoveries and our natural resources to achieve safety and power by creating bigger walls to keep out the unfriendliness and bigger weapons to destroy all that which is unfriendly and I believe that we are getting to a place where technology is powerful enough that we may either completely isolate or destroy ourselves as well in this process. 

"If we decide that the universe is neither friendly nor unfriendly and that God is essentially ‘playing dice with the universe’, then we are simply victims to the random toss of the dice and our lives have no real purpose or meaning.

"But if we decide that the universe is a friendly place, then we will use our technology, our scientific discoveries and our natural resources to create tools and models for understanding that universe. Because power and safety will come through understanding its workings and its motives." 

 "God does not play dice with the universe," -

Albert Einstein

Aik aur tarah ka Ishq

Arifa (here) ki barsoN pehle kahi hui aik baat aksar yaad aati hai ke:

"Tum jaante ho, kisi bhi mard ya aurat ke liye sab se ziyada qatil ishq kaunsa hota hai? jo use kisi ke saath sone ke baad hota hai. Us ishq ka Dasaa poori zindagi tarapTa rehta hai. Na to koi dawa asar kerti hai aur na dua.... Ris Ris ke aahista aahista saari umar ye peep bhara nasoor rista rehta hai".

A 'twisted' story

Following story on first read may make you disgust but try to answer the question afterwards

A distressed but attractive woman stands at the edge of a cliff, trying to get up the nerve to jump. A passing person stops and says, "Since you're about to kill yourself anyway, would you mind if we had sex first?"

The woman said "Get away from me, you sicko!"  The man turned to leave and muttered, "Fine, I'll just go wait at the bottom."


Q: Was he really a sicko  -OR-  a genius who may have saved a woman's life who was at the edge of the cliff and can be rescue only by words?

(I went with second)

On "Dishwashing"

(Mention of pyrotherapy from uncle reminded me of this simple episode from life)

I have known Salim Sahab for almost 12 years now. He was my neighbor when I moved here, and we stayed in touch due to the proximity of the same neighborhood. His children grew in front of me and went from elementary to college. He is known in his house to be responsible for dishwashing every night. Despite having an electric dishwasher available, he has his unique way of dishwashing. He will leave all utensils in natural hot water with tons of jhag from his favorite dishwashing liquid brand (dawn) for 2-3 hours, and then will clean and rinse them under hot water, one by one. 2 weeks ago, I was invited to his place for a dawat. I stayed at his home to hang out after other guests left and his family went to bed. I asked him about his obsession with dishwashing. He replied.

"Nothing soothes me better than dishwashing. Every night after family dinner, I leave dishes under hot water and washing gel in the sink. A half-hour before I retire to bed, I put my favorite songs on youtube and rinse each utensil slowly under very hot water. It may sound crazy, but the dim light of the kitchen, low volume of songs but otherwise silence around, a touch of hot water, and taking hard stickies from plates - allow me to rinse my head from the dirt of all day. I see my mistakes, my falters, my blind spots, and my weaknesses. Call it my meditation. Trust me; I use the ritual of dishwashing as a sleeping pill".

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Bed 26

(I named this post "Bed 26" as this was my first patient of my first ever job in USA. He was in Bed 26 and always remained with me)

"I miss my wife"
"Seems like you really loved her"
"Nope! Never"
"So?"
"She made me a better human being. Since she is gone, I feel slacking off"

On "lautna"

(Central idea of following post is taken from Joseph Campbell's "Hero's Journey")

Koi to wajah rahi ho gi 

Noah kashtii le ker phir aik nai duniya basane nikal paRa
Musa Kohe-toor se tajalli paa ker phir insaanoN ke beech laut aaaya
Muhammad iqra ka sabaq phar ker gaare-hira se aam logoN main utar aaya
Buddha ko roshni naseeb hui to woh jungle choR ke aabadi main aan basa

Aur suna hai ~ Kisi din Esaa bhi phir laut ker aaye ga 

Tum ne kabhi socha hai - ye sab laut ker wapas kiun aate hain?

Koi to wajah rahi ho gi

Chapters of our lives

Agree!

Dawn

Dawn bohat arse se hamare hospital main kaam kerti hai. Us ne  hospital main pehli job to 'as a secretary' shuru ki thi magar saath saath courses kerte kerte ab woh 'jack of all' bun chuki hai. Kabhi CNA ban jaati hai, kabhi Xray techs ko help kerti hai, kabhi respiratory therapists ko - to kabhi telemetry techs ko. Bura waqt aaye to CPR bhi ker leti hai aur maze se doctors ko batati hai ke: "Since last night your patient is in atrial fibrillation"!  New graduate nurses ko sikha bhi deti hai ke 'Pulmonary Artery Catheter' ke cables kese monitors pe lagte hain!! 

Is qadar intelligence ke bawajood hum aksar Dawn ka mazaq uRate hain ke - sach hai 'blondes' main aqal nahi hoti! - wajah ye hai ke - Dawn job per rozana, bila naga - apni moti si shadi ki anghuti pahen ke aati hai, jis pe aik khubsurat house ki shakal ka tarasha heera juRa hai.......Ye anghuti us ka mazaq bun gai hai. Sab kehte hain - 'kisi din chori ho jaaye gi, kho jaaye gi, toot jaaye gi', wagera wagera* - magar Dawn ka peechle 7 baras se aik hi jawab sunta aaya hun: "Aurat ko zindagi main bus yahi khawish rehti hai ke koi aik mard use TooT ker chahye. Aur agar aesa ho jaaye to woh zindagi ka aik lamha bhi is ehsaas ke saroor ke bagair guzaar nahi sakti. Ye anghuti mera wahi ehsaas hai". 


*(reason = personal jewelries and cosmetics items are generally not allowed in US hospitals clinical areas and need to be placed away while at work).

On "white bedsheets"

(Posted as quoted)

"There is something very unusual about making love under white bedsheets"!