Crow's Nest...

I am rotating through general medicine these days. It is a four week long rotation that takes us through many basics of medicine. We are supposed to rotate with on floor teams and become active participating members on the floor. Since we are at the lowest level of food chain most of us end up working as clerks in this rotation. Unless the team you are working with is good you can not expect to get much out of this rotation. The patient load is sufficient and set objectives can be met although with much difficulty due to considerable time constraints.

Back to Square one.    Of late the two old rivals are passing signals of dissent towards each other. After three years of confidence building measures, mainly from the Pakistani side of the border, both Pakistan and India are coming back to square one faster than one could have thought. There was a border clash at the line of control the other day. The Indian prime minister has been making funny remarks during his visit to the USA. Pakistan's foreign office has been doing its job fairly well too. I see mistrust in the air building faster than a whirlwind.    All of this could very well have been expected from the two rivals. Our very existence atleast for the past 50 years rests on negating each other where ever possible however possible. Be it the cricket ground or the battle ground it all boils down to the very basic human emotions. One can't really blame the public of the two countries either. With alarmingly high illiteracy rates this emotional...

Publish or Perish.    Yea right as if anyone of you believe in a theory otherwise. We are so concerned about our futures and in finding out ways of securing them that we forget the elite purpose of research and in the process degrade the elite purpose of creation. Just a few moments I delivered a lecture to a gathering of juniors in our place on identifying research projects and finding their way in the maze of possibilities. There were around 30 or so students sitting in front of me to listen to what I had to say. None could answer my very first question. I asked them a very simple straight question, "Why do you attend this lecture series?" There came a feeble reply from somewhere telling me, "To eat the food that is served after the meeting". The rest was all silence. I can tell you why_because most were there to get a certificate to show up in their CV or to really just eat food. while during the lecture when I talked about preserving the greater purpose...

There's a hole in my soul!

A Q Khan     South Asia Tribune carries the story of the father of the nation's atomic bomb Dr. Abdul Qadeer Khan that i am sure no one wants to read. We are a pathetic nation who do not deserve to be called a nation. Can i abhore 'us' anymore.    A few excerpts from the news item written by the Ex-counsal of Pakistan to the UK Mr. Wajid Shamsul Hasan ... "...Enormous strain and stress, third-degree methods to question him and to keep him silent on the role Pakistani military generals, the larger partners in the nuclear super market, has almost crippled him to the extent that the words he utters cannot even be deciphered by his own family or the language experts..." "...It would also save the generals from being exposed as those who had the cake and had eaten it too, from the multi-billion dollar nuclear export spoils..." "...National apathy to the shabby fate of Dr Khan shows that something is dead in each of us. If anything happens to Dr Khan...

On a rather different tone and in a different perspective this song keeps on spinning in my head Any minute now, my ship is coming in I'll keep checking the horizon I'll stand on the bow, feel the waves come crashing Come crashing down down down, on me And you say, be still my love Open up your heart Let the light shine in But don't you understand I already have a plan I'm waiting for my real life to begin When I awoke today, suddenly nothing happened But in my dreams, I slew the dragon And down this beaten path, and up this cobbled lane I'm walking in my old footsteps, once again And you say, just be here now Forget about the past, your mask is wearing thin Let me throw one more dice I know that I can win I'm waiting for my real life to begin Any minute now, my ship is coming in I’ll keep checking the horizon And I'll check my machine, there's sure to be that call It's gonna happen soon, soon, soon It's just that times are lean And you say, be s...

Muslim organizations issue timely messages in the wake of the unfortunate London bombings. It remains to be seen what effect would this have on the backlash on Muslim community living in the area. "We were together in our celebration; we must remain together in our time of crisis," said Sacranie. "The Muslim Council of Britain (MCB) utterly condemns the perpetrators of what appears to be a series of coordinated attacks in London this morning that have led to several fatalities and a large number of casualties," the group said in a statement posted on its Web site.

What is wrong with this world. I simply fail to understand at times. Why this again ? Bombing is not the solution. Terrorism, be it from the east or west is inacceptable.

The Live 8 Concert.    I have been watching the live 8 concerts on my TV screen all this evening. The turn over of the people to these rock concerts in huge numbers bears testimony to the fact that we care about the dyeing.    The purpose of these concerts is simple_ to convince the G8 leaders to provide much needed money for the African poor. Be a part of this experience even if you dont listen to music or dont believe in it. Go to the official website by clicking here and sign the LIVE 8 LIST .

Hero    On Usman's recommendation I watched ' Hero ' last night. Of course not the Indian hero or the bollywood version but the chinese movie called 'hero'. I must say that by far this is the best martial arts movie that I have ever seen. The director Zhang Yimou has done a superb job at merging martial arts and fantasy into one beautiful stretch of 95 minutes. Its a big budget movie and this shows right from the very first scene to the last. The action sequences are breath taking and the colours are splashed on the screen as if we are travelling through a rainbow.       All in all its a must watch for all die hard fans of martial arts. No wonder it has been nominated for more than 25 awards and won most of them including the Academy award for best foreign language film in 2003.

We can strike a pose' too!