Tagged....

This is in response to a tag game that apparently does the rounds on the blog site...so I go along.....
1. LAST MOVIE YOU SAW IN A THEATER:

Juno….from a purely human relationships point of view…yeah , decent watch…but if the film’s supposed to have some kind of social message, then I either missed it….or the makers got it horribly wrong.

2. WHAT BOOK ARE YOU READING?

Diagnostic Ultrasound by Carol Rumac….but I guess it doesn’t count….among non-technical stuff , I’ve been revising Jared Diamond’s “Why is Sex Fun”….splendid read that explores the evolutionary aspects of human sexuality.

3. FAVORITE BOARD GAME?

Chess , of course…bridge better than that (but it aint a board game)….also Cluedo , Scotland Yard , Monopoly and Ludo.

4. FAVORITE MAGAZINE?

Sportstar…the only magazine I have read for any length of time and have the patience to complete…in general not a magazine kinda person.

5. FAVORITE SMELLS?

The inside of my 15 year old much battered , moth eaten copy of Lord of the Rings…transports me instantaneously to Middle Earth. That apart….mary jane , old monk , El Paso by Lomani , and the smell of pretty much anything clean and far from the maddening crowd.

6. FAVORITE SOUND?
Of Silence….
…..also bluesy guitaring , baritone crooning and Jack Nicholson speaking .

7. WORST FEELING IN THE WORLD?

….god and religion and social customs replacing scientific and logical thought.
….indoctrination of impressionable young children.
....hollow patriotism bieng bandied in your face by people who couldnt care less.
....having to communitcate with people you couldnt care less about in the general course of everyday life.

8. WHAT IS THE FIRST THING YOU THINK OF WHEN YOU WAKE?

…..fuck….goddamit.

9. FAVORITE FAST FOOD PLACE?

…Not given to fast food in any kind or form….much rather prefer a lazy drink and steak.

10. FUTURE CHILD'S NAME?

My favourite question….hee haw
Lets see…
Eblis o’ Shaugnessey
Turin Turambar dagnir glauranga
Rand al’Thor
Heathcliff
Sherlock Holmes
…that’s the guys…for a girl…
Death

11. FINISH THIS STATEMENT. "IF I HAD A LOT OF MONEY I'D...?

Lets see…firstly give up Medicine…
Then….open a rock n roll themed café….name it “Stairway to Heaven” or “Wonderful Tonight”….get my own ensemble band…and play the blues and rock n roll on weekends.
Or possibly…..
Buy the Arsenal football club !!!!

12. DO YOU DRIVE FAST?
….when I’m stoned.

13. DO YOU SLEEP WITH A STUFFED ANIMAL?

…of course….I also wear…pink polka dotted underpants….watch all the saas-bahu serials (even the reruns)…bunk work to watch Sharukh Khan-Yash Chopra films (or for that matter most bollywood films)……pray to GOD 60 times a day....dance nude in a tub full of ox-blood every full moon night so that HE / SHE / IT does not send me to hell….ANYTHING ELSE????

14. STORMS-COOL OR SCARY?

hmm…inconvenient…mostly.

15. WHAT WAS YOUR FIRST CAR?

…if the childhood dinky cars are discounted ( I had at least 15 of those)…then none yet…fingers crossed…hopefully within the next 2 months.

16. FAVORITE DRINK?

Water….with Old Monk / Bacardi / Smirnoff….soda with single malt scotch….chilled white wine….bloody mary….heady beer on summer afternoons......strong coffee…black tea.


17. FINISH THIS STATEMENT, "IF I HAD THE TIME I WOULD

.....….learn reading music….master the bass and classical and blues guitaring…..work on my ‘nipped in the bud’ drumming skills.....also….perhaps….write a book !!!!

18. DO YOU EAT THE STEMS ON BROCCOLI?

….I only eat meat.

19. IF YOU COULD DYE YOUR HAIR ANY COLOR, WHAT WOULD BE YOUR CHOICE?

…pretty irrelevant question…considering I’ve nearly lost all of it.

20. NAME ALL THE DIFFERENT CITIES/TOWNS YOU HAVE LIVED IN.

Jamshedpur…Kolkata….Delhi….Pune….Jalandhar…Lucknow…and…some god-forsaken wilderness in the Kashmir Valley.
( lived in..I’ve equated to…spent more than 30 days in one go)….
…also spent considerable amounts of time in…Ranchi…Bombay…Srinagar.

21. FAVORITE SPORTS TO WATCH?

Football….Tennis…F1…Golf….Basketball….Rugby….MotoGP….and cricket when Australia’s playing…..can pretty much watch each and very sport.

22. ONE NICE THING ABOUT THE PERSON WHO SENT THIS TO YOU

.….that she’s from Kolkata….likes rock n roll….and doesn’t believe in god (or at least looks like it).

23. WHAT'S UNDER YOUR BED?

….I’m scared to look….mostly books…books…..and more books....lying there coz there isnt room in room to display them.

24. WOULD YOU LIKE TO BE BORN AS YOURSELF AGAIN?

….I’d much rather be spared the inconvenience of being born at all….to quote…I forgot who….Bertrand Russell..or Douglas Adams…perhaps…. “…considering that I’d been dead for millions of years before I’d been born and had suffered not the slightest bit of inceonvenience from it”.

25. MORNING PERSON, OR NIGHT OWL?

night owl…and also very early morning…it’s the sun high up on the sky that I dislike.

26. OVER EASY, OR SUNNY SIDE UP?

…neither….dark side of the moon…or better…dark side of the LOON!!!

27. FAVORITE PLACE TO RELAX?

……any place…away from the mad rush if humanity.

28. FAVORITE PIE?

Sheperd’s….

29. FAVORITE ICE CREAM FLAVOR?

…..all said and done…good ol’ vanilla…better….if its spiked with a dash of rum or khalua.

30. OF ALL THE PEOPLE YOU TAGGED THIS TO, WHO'S MOST LIKELY TO RESPOND FIRST?

...My blog’s pretty much a dead end…I don’t expect anyone to respond.

Dictionary of a Cynic

I was tagged on to this by an unknown lady's blog....and the idea was exceedingly fascinating...hence here goes...an A-Z of all that matters...causes sentiments...passions...smiles and hurts.


A …..is for AFMC….the ol’ girl resplendent after nigh on 60 years….who says the flame has died…so what if there are no bikes for the cadets….so what if they actually attend classes and clinics …so what if they study any other time beyond 30 days preceding a university exam….there’s something imperishable about the air….the walls….the gardens……aahh…..quite simply…the show will go on.

B….is for Baggins…..quite simply the best surname in the real and fictitional world combined. I’m sorry Bilbo , ol’ chap….there was nothing Tookish that made you probe William’s pocket , riddle Gollum in the dark , ‘Attercop’ and ‘Tomnoddy’ the nasty spiders of Mirkwood , and not to mention engage Smaug in banter only hobbits can…it was all Baggins….we loves it…we loves it…we loves it forever!!!!


C…..is for Coffee….of which, I get through 8-10 cups in a day…..of any sort and kind…filter , black or machine brewed.

D…..is for Darwin , Dawkins , Dennett , Diamond…..the scholars who gave , structured and simplified the theory of life for us ….. Evolution....the simplest , most beautiful though abominable yet inescapable truth about everything that exists ..and the way it exists.
Also…for Death…the eternal love of my life…oh to look into those eyes…to hear the sound of her wings
Also…for DNA…..the magic molecule of life.
Also…for Dylan ( Bob)…the greatest poet of the 20th century ( Nobel prize or no)
…wow …in other words….D was simply the most DIFFICULT.

E….is for Einstein…the man who changed the way the world looks….the way it functions…and pretty much brought to a naught all that existed the way it did before his time…….all things are relative…but in human society …he seems destined to remain the only constant.

F….is for Football…the most beautiful game on the planet. A toast (and looking forward to many more) to the lip smacking Premiership / La Liga / Serie A weekends , late Tuesday and Wednesday night UCL fixtures….not to mention the summer Euros and WC’s.
For a long suffering fan like me…here’s hoping…
…Arsenal win a champions league title
…Holland finally win a World Cup
…Christiano Ronaldo and Didier Drogba get banned for life for diving and cheating.
And…
…Sir Alex finally hangs up his boots at Old Trafford.

G…is for god…..to sum it simply in the words of Richard Dawkins….
“……. arguably the most unpleasant character in all fiction : jealous and proud of it; a petty unjust unforgiving control freak; a vindictive bloodthirsty ethnic cleanser; a misogynist, homophobic, racist, infanticidal, genocidal, filicidal, pestilential, megalomaniac, sado-masochistic, capriciously malevolent bully. Those of us schooled from infancy in his ways become insensitive to his horror.”

H…..is for humans…an absurd species that has lived for barely 50,000 years in the 5 billion year history of life on a tiny planet in the solar system of an insignificant sun, located on the fringes of a rather average sized galaxy amidst infinitesimally larger galaxies , stars , and black holes of the known universe…..yet a species which believes that the entire universe and everything within it along with the laws of physics that govern it , are made solely for the purpose that it could exist.
….to quote from Gaiman… “Ah , humanity ! You never cease to amaze me.”

I…..is for Intelligence…or the utter lack of it….which characterizes….the ‘H’ mentioned above….which is inspite of the best evolutionary efforts of massive calvarial and cerebral development. Yet humans remain , mired in petty hegemonies , entrenched in atavistic unscientific societal norms , and utterly resistant to intellectual and philosophical progress of any kind.

J…is for Jimmy ( Page ) , Jimi ( Hendrix) , John ( Lennon , Bonham , Paul Jones , Fogarty etc etc) , (Mick) Jagger , Janis Joplin ( the only double J) , Joan (Baez) , Jim ( Morrison) , James ( Hetfield)….the eternal imperishable spirits of rock n roll….who enable me to clamber out of bed every bleary morning…sustain me through my most trying and testing moment each noisome day…and soothe and lull me into the arms of Murphy at the end of it.

K….is for Kilroy…the ubiquitous , all-pervading , all knowing , rum guzzling , chain smoking , guitar toting ,Floyd quoting, rascally imp….who incidentally also manages to save human lives by practicing medicine.

L….is for Loyola….13 of the very best years…in the very best school….

“Those were the days my friend,
We thought they’d never end;
We’d sing and dance forever and a day.
We’d live the life we choose,
We’d fight and never loose,
For we were young and sure to have out way.”

M….is for Morpheus….the Sandman…the eponymous hero of Gaiman’s cult work….to his endless bretheren…the Corinthian , the immortal Hob Gadling …and all the rest….
Indeed… what power would even hell have if those that dwelt there dreamt not of heaven.

N…..is for Night……time for rest…for musings…time for the blues….to walk under the enchanted stars….and marvel at the lights of ages gone by.....to sleep…in peace for some…in angst for others…awaiting the arrival of the tyrannical sun.

O…is for Old Monk…the elixir of life….and my steadfast companion…whether it be through the travails of an uncertain final year at MBBS , bone chilling winters of Kashmir , or at the fag end of a weary day’s toil in residency.

P…is for Poetry…..anything…from the nonsensical ‘Man in the Moon’….to the immortal verses of Shelley, Keats and Coleridge.

Q…is for quantum mechanics….and the scarce understood, crazy world of strings, quarks and uncertainty, which blasphemous as it sounds , sets the ball rolling for everything that occurs within the universe…..I’m sorry Mr. Einstein , but if such an entity does exist.…it would appear that god DOES play dice with the universe.

R….is for Rock n Roll….the greatest discovery ( or invention if you like) in the history of human civilization…..the language of rebellion….of angst…..of sarcasm…of passion….of romance !!!!

S…is for Schumacher.... In memory of those glorious sunday evenings where the master would make a mockery of the rest of the field. 2 years on ,the sport is not the same…will never be again. A lifetime of my earnings to see one final ‘Schumi-Leap’ atop the victory podium.

T…is for Tolkien…for giving me Middle-Earth…my home away from home for the best part of the past 15 years….for giving me Felagund and Frodo….Aragorn and Aldarion…...Luthien and Arwen…Gondolin and Gondor….for making me weep , rejoice , bleed , feast , sing and philosophise over the countless revisions of the tales from the 3 ages. “Let us at last praise the colonizers of dreams.”

U…is for Us….us..us....and them...them...them
......and after all , we're only ordinary men!!!

V…is for Valhalla…and the childhood tales…..of feasting gods , bloodstained battles , rainbow bridges….the Thunderer , the All-Father and the glorious legions in their train.

W…is for Warne. ...For every bamboozling leg break , googly , flipper, zooter and have what you may that made him the best ever to ply the glorious art of spin. Just sit back and cast your mind back to the moments of magic….Mike Gatting, Basit Ali , Daryl Cullinan, Andrew Strauss…thanks for the memories, Shane!


X…is for X-rays…the mysterious discovery of Wilhelm Roentgen…that revolutionized medical science ….in whose company I am destined to spend the rest of my attenuated life.

Y…..is for Yesterday…in the fond memories of which, we while away our precious todays.

Z…is for Zeppelin.... In the world of rock n roll…first there is Led Zep…..then there’s daylight……..for the most haunting compositions , the most monstrous guitar riffs , the most outrageously orgasmic crooning , and sheer death defying , hell raising, earth shaking drumming……unquestionably the gilded stairway to rock n roll heaven.