My breakfast has changed for the last month…

… and will remain the same for the next 7.

This is what I have for breakfast these days. AKT4, a kit of 4 tablets that need to be consumed empty stomach. Well, that is the only way to have it unlike what Sanjay says here and you can’t skip a single dosage!!

Yup, it is painful. The very thought of having these makes you want to sleep a little more and then a little more. But then that is the only cure. Yes, DOT [directly observed treatment] is there, but both the experts I consulted were of the opinion that I should have AKT4, so here I am.

‘cos it’s such a pain, I find myself playing with the tablets and making funny combinations of which one to have with which each day and making symbols like this one.

As in this blog I try and capture my memories of the days that I am living, I wanted to capture this event as well.

Oh! but why the heck am I having this stuff and why have I been at home for the longest time (well, not actually, but then that is another story that we will come to in some other post)? ‘cos I am suffering from TB. Many have asked me “how did you get it?” all that I could truthfully tell them was – “If I knew, I wouldn’t have got it ”. Here is what the doctors diagnosed -

1. Due to very quick change of temperatures, like walking in/out of an air-conditioned environment to a non air-conditioned one
2. Stress
3. … and how could they have missed my Smoking
4. As I was swimming those days, could also have been from the change of the water temperature (no daksh, it wasn’t what you were thinking )

So after nearly a month of medical intervention, I have experienced a lot of -

• loss of taste (can’t taste salt in some items)
• discoloration of urine, it turned orange (got scared and got a LFT done, as it is well known that TB medicines affect the liver)
• marching ants on torso and other parts of the body, extreme itching and allergy

These medicines are known to make you sleepy, but the anti allergic tablets just take the cake. They make you sleep wherever (and that is not uncommon for me )

In the last month I have lost all the bloody stamina I gained with a couple or was it 3 months of swimming. Can’t think of sitting in a chair and not falling off to sleep!

I am looking out for a driver ‘cos driving for over 20Kms is a stress that I wish to avoid + so has been suggested

The tiredness is reducing day-by-day and soon I hope to be back in action.

Cheers!!

to copy…or not?

The question is – Why shouldn’t I copy? ‘cos it is bad to do so. Who said so? I know it is bad to answer a question with a question, but then, what about the zillions of artists making duplicates of the masters, to the last possible, droplet of color? Can you in any which way undermine their skill or talent? If they can copy a Rembrandt or a Picasso, then the are as good – even better, ‘cos many a times it is the same person who – one day ‘copies’ a Rembrandt and the next a Picasso.

Even the greats would have applauded him/her – is my take! What do you think?

I say even God copied! Can you deny that?

• Why are all the barks some shade of brown? *
• Why are the leaves green?*
• Why is grass green – there are many kinds of grass?
• Why do we have 4limbs, 5finger on each limb, 1nose, 2eyes, 2ears,….?*

*(exceptions are there, that’s when He got bored!!)

Music, ya, that is where this post started from… I was listening to this number on the internet, when my wife said, that is a copy from …. and she couldn’t remember the name. What a waste, I thought? If this would have happened in public, then that would the beginning of ‘mouth-bashing’ the music director. And if it were by any chance – one Mr. Pritam, then, he would have got a mouthful for sure.

My take – Ok, so he copies, but the damn thing sounds good. So what’s the problem?

If Mr. Bhupen Hazarika could win all possible awards with his ‘O! Ganga tumi…’ which is a direct ‘lift off’ of ‘Old Man River’ [http://amplify.com/u/kwq], then why are we after Pritam’s . Mr. Hazarika’ s songs did not sound half as good!!

Salil Choudhury copied a marching tune of the Soviet Red Army –

and also copied Mozart’s symphony no 40 – 1st movement -

1. Now the common man has the accessibility to the source, earlier they did not. That is one difference.
2. The other, if Salil Choudhury copied from the marching tunes, then it would take decades for the information to reach the then Soviet Union, now,  it is as simple as – upload to youTube…and share on twitter, facebook, digg…the works!!

If I read the environment correctly, then it is shouting at me, to copy. Get what I mean – “Do not waste time, reinventing the wheel!!!”

If there is a lightbox available, pick it up and use. Do not change the name in the source code is all that is being requested. Please do not make it. We know you can, but why do you need to?

If there is a template that you like, use it, just let the world know we made it.
We know for sure you’ll be able to make it, but then, who will run your business, not us?

The environment is saying pick up what is already made, concentrate on your thought and make what you want to make of it. Build upon what is available. Trap – To build upon what is available, I must know… The answer is yes, that is what you are being paid for! So bloody well get your basics right and everything will fall in place.

… and by the way, please leave  that pseudo intellectual, holier than  thou, … ‘jama’ at home from 2mrw! ‘cos we know what, where and how to copy!!

OhK! “TATA” BYE BYE

My comment on the oktatabyebye.com appeal page -

<bright bold and blinking> B U L L S H I T !!! </bright bold and blinking> By the look of it, now TATA will claim that all the trucks which have ‘TATA’ scribbled on the backside are also infringing their rights. CRAPPY! to say the least.

…and by the way now onwards no one will be allowed to say “ok ta ta”, else the local wi-fi tower will spot you and make mince meat of you in the next 20 seconds.

… but Partha, you know what, the man acquired Jaguar and Corus… and is after you… you must be bloody good

http://www.oktatabyebye.com/support-us/Appeal.aspx

The “Marlboro Marine”

Image via Wikipedia

Nearly as a rule for the last many years I start my day by clicking on a random link. This is more less a ritual now. The link could be from an email, my bookmarks, something that I read on a billboard or  sometimes even on cabs or autorickshaws! It’s my way of exploring something that I have either not seen in a long time or never.

Yesterday, I chanced to click on a link from Twitter about the Marlboro Marine – James Blake Miller. It was something that I had marked as a favorite to come back to later. 12 Aug 2009, was the day that I was introduced to James Blake Miller.

The video shook me up and the pictures by Luis Sinco were apt (for lack of a better word).

What hit me was that the people who have the courage to live under extreme circumstances are somewhere inside so shaken that they are not themselves. They live two lives. They are desperately trying to be themselves, but have forgotten who they are…

Questions buzzing in my mind…

• Why do we need wars?
• Who cares for the people who survive the atrocities?
• Who care for the veterans?
• What goes on in the minds and lives of the war heros?
• Do they ever lead normal lives?

I think that this video and the articles, will live with me for a while. It will be difficult to forget the music by Marine Lance Cpl. Miller. It will be difficult to remove the pictures by Luis Sinco from my mind.

As I post this, I was checking the links to share, and guess what, the pages have been removed/ archived by LA Times.

I got the link to the video via Wikipedia, here.

• Two lives blurred together by a photo
• Rescue operation aims to save a wounded warrior

I don’t know how to end this post… just wish Blake finds peace!

Do you really want to test drive a new car?

Image by St Stev via Flickr

Lately I have been test driving cars to figure out which one I’d want to buy, as my 2007 MS Zen Estilo is suffering from a ‘head’ disease.

So what am I looking at when I am test driving a car? 

• Reliability
• Power
• Comfort
• Re-sale
• Looks and Feel  

Out of the above IMO what matters most is – Reliability with a twist. The twist being, how reliable is this vehicle after it has run, let’s say 40,000 km or say, after 3 years? How reliable are the interiors if you have an active 5 year old, you know what I mean, don’t you – banging doors, playing with the windows, …?

The other aspect that crosses my mind is – “… but this is not the car that the company will finally deliver, right?” So why test drive something that you’d never get. Do you ever try a pair of jeans and buy another one? And this is much more… expensive than a pair of jeans. It is an extremely painful and time consuming procedure to ‘get another piece’ if the one that you’ve landed up with is faulty.

Does anyone think about this? I would love to see this happen, ‘cos a new car is after all a new car and all new cars are great to drive.

What say? Any ideas?