MOTHER LANGUAGE CRISIS

Believe me or not, the best time to plot a blog is right after the completion of a significant examination. Currently I am having that part in my favor. First 2-3 days after an exam is a fertile soil for curiosity & I love it immensely. Being driven by one of my post-exam curiosities, I was checking the number of Odia movies having non-Odia titles & it was surprising to see that number rising tremendously in an exponential manner over the years. I found some funny names like ‘something something’, ‘Love Master’, ‘Mu ashiq mu awara’, ‘I love you’, ‘Metric fail’, ‘Good boy’ etc. The list is as rich as Alastair Cook’s recent form against Indian cricket team. So the question arises why the film producers are not assigning pure Odia titles to their movies? Don’t we love our own language?? I believe there is no simple answer to this question & reason is surely multi-factorial & this bitter situation doesn't remain restricted to Odia film industry, in fact it has victimized almost all of us in different aspects of life.

Following the psychiatric defense mechanism ‘Rationalization’, few of the readers will argue that their love for English is because of the fact that it is a global language & being fluent in English means half of the job is well done. They are true to some extent but I am really allergic to use of languages other than the mother language during the normal conversations. I have seen odia people talking to each other in Hindi (of course the quality of their Hindi was below the quality of Rakhi Sawant’s acting) in plenty of occasions. For the 1^st time when I went to a College in my home city Bhubaneswar for my 11^th & 12^th, I found few of my batchmates conversing in Hindi. Initially I thought they must be non-Odias. But during the 1^st roll-call I found their surnames to be the SAHOOs, DASHs, JENAs, PRADHANs, MOHAPATRAs etc!!  At that point of time, finding the reason was out of the scope of my grey matter. Now I realize it is a very common situation among Indians. 7 months back in JFK airport in New York, I heard 3 people from Andhra Pradesh talking among themselves in English which was ridiculously bad in standard (The TOEFL would have given negative marks to them in speaking section of their exam). The habit of giving facebook updates in Hindi, typing SMS in Hindi are becoming an integral part of our DNA. Without Hindi/English (Unnecessary use) we are feeling like castrated Casanovas! In my opinion, the 1^st language while using a device like laptop or phone should be either the mother language or English & not other ones. [I know some of you are silently shouting WTF (?) towards me]

If we fix your gaze at some of the most developed civilizations, we will realize the fact that those civilizations who have given priority to their mother language have always been ahead of their counterparts. The best example for this scenario is all the European countries. You can’t survive for a longer period in countries like Germany, Spain, Turkey, and Italy if you don’t know their respective languages. Their love for their mother language doesn’t make them ‘Narrow minded’; rather they are the most favorite destination for talents across the globe now-a-days. I am not saying that if we start talking in pure Odia, out state will shine like Munich or Madrid, but it would at least reinforce our status as Odia. Strength of a civilization is always directly proportional to the passion for the mother language.  So it is time to ask our inner core whether we are giving enough respect to our mother language or not. I am sure that we can definitely prevent the progression of Odia language to coma stage because we the educated mass are the biggest culprit for abusing our own mother language. If you think talking among yourselves in English/Hindi drastically enhances your social prestige, you must search the word 'PSEUDO' from a standard dictionary.

[There is no conflict of interest on this blog & this is not intended to hurt anyone's emotion; rather it is an honest expression of my own emotion. I don't want to apologize even if it has hurt anyone because I think I haven't written anything wrong]

PHOTOGRAPHY IN THE AIR !!

                                       'Nature photography by me’

                                                                   ‘My photo-blogs', 

                                                                                 'Random Clicks’..... 

In my opinion, these types of phrases are very much in the lime light in recent times. 5-6 years back, there was not much interest for photography among the youth. But now people are keeping it on the 1st position on their passion/hobby list. It is getting enough attention in the CVs of almost all the modern guys. I would love to admit the fact that at one point of time I was also attracted by photography but later I realized that I don't have the potential & I didn't dare to overestimate my abilities. Now, I feel like suffering from delirium whenever I try to explore the reason of these phrases. Finally I have some free time under my belt to put lights on those reasons.

When I looked back, I found three factors. 'Evolution of digital cameras', 'Inspiration from 3 Idiots' & of course the most prominent factor is availability of different social networking sites. Now I can hypothesize that, the passion for photography originates from 'Mr Farhan Qureshi', inserted into social networks & functions by the sophisticated DSLR cameras.

‘3 Idiots’ was one of those Hindi movies which have taught us to follow our passion & I guess it is one of the rare movies in which an actor wishes to be a photographer. It has shown us that, photographers are not paid that badly & everything is possible if passion is consolidated by sincerity & dedication. Had there been no '3 Idiots', the number of people claiming to have passion for photography would have been less. I hope most of them would admit this fact. In our society, almost all of us have been under pressure to become either engineer or doctors. But this movie has partially ignited the desire of few guys to mark photography at least as their hobby.

Another significant factor for the sky-rocketing popularity of photography is evolution of sophisticated cameras. I am 500% sure that nobody would have shown a little interest if there were no digital cameras. It doesn't matter whether you are from the families of Mallyas/Ambanis or from a middle class family; the truth is 'money matters'. Nobody would have spent money to get snaps with those old generation cameras with rolled films. Who the hell would have spent approximately Rs 6-8 (camera role+ development charge per picture) for each photo?? But with the birth of digital cameras & smart phones, photography is much more convenient now a days. Now we don't mind if one of the captured images is blurred because we have the option to delete & recapture. The only investment is the camera cost & the final result is limitless pictures. Anybody who owns a costly DSLR camera gives the impression that he/she is a passionate photographer because most of the time, our attention is snatched by the quality of the camera, not by the quality of the picture. But hats off to the real photographers as it requires a lot of innovations & photography always starts from own eye lens. The camera is just a mediator !!

I have a feeling that, we do things in our life either to impress someone or suppress someone/something. Please remember that this rule is applicable only for psychologically stable people.  'REWARD' is a well established human instinct & as you know, social networking sites are the biggest 'REWARD' factories available on the galaxy. Nobody captures a picture just to save it in his/her hard drive. During 99% of the time, when we get an extraordinary picture (after getting hundreds of bad picture), we tend to upload it in Facebook/Indiblogger/Google plus with the blink of an eye. Then we look for the shower of 'LIKE's & comments (Nice click/Great snap/Kudos etc) on those pictures. How many of us would have loved photography in the absence of this facebook mediated reward generation??? We would have lost the motivation to have good snaps in the absence of social networking sites (appreciations). If someone says that he/she has never strived for appreciation & admiration, he/she is either the biggest liar or the biggest hypocrite in the God’s creation. In that sense we should be grateful to these sites as they give a nice momentum to our passion. It is hard to ignore the contribution of social networks in resurrecting the confidence in photography.

[PS- I have no conflict of interest for typing this blog. I have a tremendous amount of respect for those who follow their interests. It is just an analysis to know what really has created so many photographers. I apologize from the bottom of my heart, if any passionate photographer finds this blog to be cardiotoxic].

DOES AAMIR KHAN NEED HEALING ??

The so called ‘Mr Perfectionist’ is on fire & almost all the Indians are very much passionate for the show 'Satyameva Jayate'. Even I was a huge admirer of this show until the last episode. Episodes on 'Female foeticide', 'Child sexual abuse' and ‘Dowry issue' are very much useful for both the society & the government. It was great to see the 'child sexual abuse act' to be passed by the Govt of India within one week after the episode. But he has made me swallow something which is hard to digest. Telecasting the episode with the name ‘Does Healthcare need healing?' & blaming all the doctors is like a double edged sword for the society. Though the episode was very sensitive for non medicos, in future it’ll pose a tough situation.

In all the social networking sites, plenty of discussions are going on about this particular episode of SMJ (Satyameva Jayate). As usual, medicos are opposing this episode & non-medicos are supporting it. Only person who is silently enjoying this is Mr Aamir Khan. I can't understand why people call it 'SOCIAL SERVICE' even if the actor demands Rs 3 crore for each episode of SMJ. OK, Let's get serious & I shouldn't eye on someone else's salary!! There is not a single profession on this planet in which there is nothing called 'CORRUPTION'. Bureaucrats, doctors, engineers, actors, directors, scientists, police officers politicians.... all are amalgamated with corruption. If someone says his/her profession is absolutely clean, he/she must be the biggest liar/Imbecile of this universe. But we have to admit the fact that the way of corruption & the degree of corruption are different in different professions. One traffic police officer taking bribe doesn't mean all of them are bad. One A.Raja trying to own planet-M(Money) doesn't mean that all politicians are money minded. There are good people like Dr Kalam & Mr Vajpayee too. One Azharuddin trying to fix matches doesn't mean that all cricketers are insane. The Dravids, Sachins & Kumbles still reinforce the fact that 'Cricket is a gentlemen's game'. 

I admit that Indian healthcare system needs some significant positive steps & the Govt of India is the one who should be responsible for the ill system. But instead of focusing on that issue, Mr Aamir 'insane' Khan has thrown every bit of allegation towards the doctors in India. Yes, there are few bad doctors but majority don't fill into the natures of a doctor as described by Aamir Khan & his mentally retarded research team. There are huge numbers of honest doctors in India who are working in conditions that Aamir can't even imagine while sitting in his air conditioned bungalow. Nobody beats an actor for a bad movie, but people do beat doctors for minute mistakes in peripheral areas. In that show Aamir took the interview of Dr Devi Shetty & described him as the role model. But I would love to remind others that he is an extraordinary surgeon who has graduated from KMC, Manipal & completed his Cardiothoracic surgery fellowship in London. Comparing his attitude & skills with other doctors is same as comparing Don Bradman with Gambhir. I mean, even if both are good players, there is only one 'Bradman type' player. Average Indian doctors dedicate more than 12 years for their study & majority of them work in non-workable atmosphere for an underpaid salary. If Aamir Khan (w/o any significant qualification) can't do SOCIAL SERVICE (in the name of SMJ) for Rs 30000, how can he expect a doctor to do TRUE SOCIAL SERVICE with full potential with the same salary in a village?

I am not sure how much idea does Aamir Khan have regarding 'Generic drugs' & 'Pathological tests'. I know that, for megalomaniacs like him, the best doctor is ''Dr Google’’! Now after this particular episode, patients will always have a doubt regarding the lab investigations sent by a doctor even if it is highly accurate. Now onwards, the blind followers of Aamir will definitely overestimate the amount of medicines & lab investigation prescribed by a very honest doctor. He has created such a situation in which the public won't get honest doctors; they will get only 'Very Corrupted' & 'Less corrupted' doctors. This is a serious disgrace to the honest doctors. Now young students will think twice before entering the medical stream. Who wants to be passively tagged as 'corrupted'/'unethical' even after working honestly???

You left your 1st wife & married your secretary Kiran. Isn't it an example of ''DOMESTIC FEMALE ABUSE?? Your children from your 1st wife are deprived of a father's love just because of the fact that their father loves another lady. Isn't it an example of ''CHILD ABUSE''??? Aamir Khan must learn the fact that ''CHARITY BEGINS AT HOME' !!

Ok.. For 1 minute, let me be the anchor of SMJ & Aamir just an actor. How the actor would feel, when I declare in a national television that ''SINCE SHINY AHUJA IS A RAPIST, MOST OF THE ACTORS ARE RAPISTS'' .......'' SINCE KASAB & LADEN ARE TERRORISTS, MOST OF THE MUSLIMS ARE TERRORISTS''....???  After this part of my show, I would love to do a fake attempt to pacify the actor & Muslim fraternities by inviting Mr Amitabh Bachhan & Dr APJ Abdul Kalam respectively as Aamir did it by inviting Dr Devi Shetty. I am having the same feeling that Aamir would have felt after watching my hypothetical show. (aap ne kia to chamatkar, hum ne kia to balatkar ??)

For those who think this article is the product of overreaction to the show, I must say that this is not my over reaction, rather it is a tribute to all the honest doctors who are working extremely hard for the underprivileged people in shitty working conditions being underpaid. I admit that, the concept of the episode was perfect but the blame game was played by using doctors as a soft target. It is Govt's responsibility to establish more medical colleges, improve the market for generic medicines & after all punish the real bad & unethical doctors. If Aamir Khan wants to do real social service, he must fast with Anna Hazare, he must buy generic medicine to distribute in the PHCs worth the amount he is getting from star plus. 

SATYAMEVA JAYATE!!!!!!

CHILD ABUSE: THE ROLE FOR PEDIATRICIANS

'Every child born into the world is a new thought of God, an ever fresh & radiant possibility'.

'Children are the bridge to heaven'.

'Every child comes with a message that God is not yet discouraged by humanity'

Our brain always gets entertained by the aforementioned quotes on children. Whenever we see a beautiful healthy baby, we tend to say ''Ohh..So sweet/Cho chweet'' & on the other extreme when we see poor or underprivileged baby, ''Oh My God... '' is the 1st line that our tongue passes. Does our duties & responsibilities get a full stop mark right there?? Do we ever try to have a deep sneak at the so called 'active-healthy' babies or the 'poor-underprivileged' babies? I realize the fact that, the general population must be giving a sarcastic expression especially after going through the 'deep sneak' term. I agree that we don't have enough time to look into the matters behind the babies. But the most blessed professionals who can do this 'deep sneak' job seriously are paediatricians.

According to a report by CPS (Child Protective Services) around the world in the year 2006, 64% of all the child abuse cases comprise of domestic neglect, 2%-Medical neglect, 16%- physical abuse, 8.8%- Sexual abuse, 6.6%- Psychological abuse. Whenever we hear about the term 'Child Abuse', we always draw a picture of sexual abuse in our visual cortex. But as evident from this report, child abuse is much more than sexual abuse. According to dept of Woman & child welfare of the Govt of India in 2007, approximately 53% of children are victims of sexual abuse. We can always use the term 'Iceberg phenomenon' to child abuse because we see a fraction of the real occurrence in our society.

Now let's refocus on the roles of a pediatrician towards the prevention of child abuse. Other than the parents, if someone has the legal access to examine the body parts of a baby, he/she is a pediatrician. Pediatricians are close to the parents. So he/she is positioned in the best possible place to assess the risks & consequences of child abuse. According to a report from AAP (American Academy of Pediatrics), the universal prevention of child maltreatment must begin with an approach that assess the care giver's strength & deficits. So the key term is ''Anticipatory guidance''. A pediatrician must be ready to tackle all the issues which may impose risks of child abuse. So identifying the possible risk factors is a cornerstone for the prevention this issue.  For example, a mother suffering from post-partum  depression is often a source of negligence for the baby. So the pediatricians must have an eagle's eye on psychological aspects of the parents as any negative change in parent's psychology will definitely affect the child care at home. Another crucial situation is the evaluation of a child with disabilities. Most often, the children with physical/intellectual disabilities become the victim of maltreatment. Here the biggest reason is the parental frustration. Same is the risk, when the baby is a product of unplanned pregnancy. So the pediatricians must look for the aforementioned factors (parental depression, unplanned pregnancy, child with disability) carefully to assess the risks of child abuse.

 

After doing 5 months of Pediatric rotations in USA, I realize that, the Americans are much more aware of these issues than Indian (Now, don't drag me into the controversy that I am biased in favor of US). Each & every examination room in USA pediatric hospitals has the child abuse report forms hanging on the wall. It is the role of the pediatrician to report any suspected case of abuse. I guess we lack that part in India. There should be more awareness among paediatricians about this issue. Fixed follow-ups of all child patients in regular intervals should be strict in Govt hospitals & careful assessments during these follow-up visits can reduce the risks of child abuse to a great extent.   I strongly feel, instead of following the American culture, we must follow at least this useful & important aspect which can keep our babies secured. 

Special thanks to Aamir Khan’s 'Satyameva Jayate'' & Prof Howard Dubowitch ( Dept of Child abuse, University of Maryland school of Medicine) as they have inspired me to type about this topic.

VICKY DONOR: What I have learnt??

My biggest problem is that I can't shut my grey matters off while watching a movie. This time 'Vicky Donor' snatches the attention of my grey matters. It is not wise to spend 2 hours in watching something but not learning anything. So here are the facts:

1) If you want to score a half century (in terms of no of children) with a very high strike rate, Sperm donation is the best possible path.

2) Charity doesn't always begin at home.


3) Patients positively attend the silver jubilee of the clinic of their doctors.

4) Bengalis & Punjabis can fall in love with each other.

5) Sperm donation can be a good source of income (gifts).

6) Sample collection rooms of infertility clinics are very exotic !!

7) It is better to donate than to waste ;) ;)

MY NAME IS KHAN & I AM ARROGANT !!

Till the last Wednesday, he used to be my all time favourite celebrity. I was a huge fan of his style, sense of humour & attitude. But some of his recent unpardonable activities are forcing me to remove my name from his fan club. According Sigmund Freud, 'Ego' is a basic instinct of a human, Dear Mr Khan, you are somewhere ahead of this term now a days. Had Dr Freud been alive, he would have discovered some new terms based on SRK's public behaviours. 

Few weeks back, this megalomaniac super star was detained in an NY airport. At that point of time he didn't say a single word. Not a single sign of protest in public was there regarding the cause of his detention. It was just because of the fact that, unlike in India, he doesn't have stardom in USA.  He went to the prestigious Yale University & sprinkled few quotes (stolen from internet) on the NRIs at Yale. Then he came back & cheered for his team KKR in IPL matches & rest is history.

Now the same person was obstructed by a Mumbai Police official in Wankhede Stadium for some security reasons. But the situation was different; now he was not in USA, he was not obstructed by an American official. Perhaps that was the biggest reason of his spontaneous rowdyism. How can an ordinary Indian police officer stop a superstar?? That is a serious disgrace to a Bollywood superstar!!! That is most disheartening aspect of reality. As soon as we realize that, the person standing in front of is not so powerful/ esteemed, we tend to overlook/dominate the person. Now this man is overfilled with arrogance & egos. Instead of blood flow, his brain is getting 'success flow'. He forgets the fact that there are much better actors in India who are not as arrogant as him. Now onwards, he may earn much film fare, IIFA awards but he mayn't be able to earn the respect of common sensible Indian people. Someone has rightly said that ''We are where we are, as we are, because of what we are''. 

I am not sure what SRK would teach his children: 

'A' for - Arrogance 

'B' for- Ban

'E' for- Ego etc...   :(

FEMALE DOMINANCE IN SOCIAL NETWORKS !!!

[P.S: This article is not designed for short-tempered/narrow minded girls, so if you are one of these characters, please don't go through it]

If we open the pages of history & mythology, we can well visualize the fact that, we the Indians have been spending our lives in male dominant societies. Although the degree of male dominance is gradually decreasing, we can't frankly declare that our society is a neutral one. But if we try to take a serious glimpse into the virtual world, we can realize a completely different pattern of dominance. 

It is surprising to note that, the sex ratio in social networks is tilted more in favour towards females but in real world in India, we have a different picture. According to a study, 69 % of females use social networking sites & among all the users, 58 % are females!! But we always had an impression that males outnumber the number of hours they spend in Social networks than their female counterparts. Now some of geeks will point a mistake in me by saying that the above data is not exclusively from India. I would appreciate their comment but even if I reduce 7-8% from the above numbers (69 & 58), they would still stamp on the fact that females are more dominant in social networking sites.

Besides the quantity issue, the females also dominate males on the issue of quality. If you consider the 'No of LIKEs' & 'No of comments' in Face book as a symbol of dominance, then you'll realize that females are 'Mammoths' & males are just 'Moths'. Even if an average looking girls gives an update '' I am happy today'', you'll witness millions of 'congrats/ what/How' in the comment section. But if a boy gives the same update, there would be only 4-5 leg-pulling comments!! A simple 'Good Morning' update from an average girl gets so much attention from others that would even make Katrina Kaif envious. If updates can create such situation, it is easy to imagine what pictures would do. When a girl posts one of her good looking pictures after short listing millions of bad ones, it creates euphoria among boys. There comes shower of terms like 'Looking cute'/ Cho Chweet/ Amazing'. Within a fraction of time, the picture gets more ornaments in the form of 80-90 likes & endless comments using all the sweet adjectives available in the galaxy. Such ATTENTION is always a source of pride for psychiatrists who love to treat ADHD.

Now what is the biggest reason for this paradox? In real world, it is hard to be a hypocrite for a long duration. But in social networking sites, almost all of us are hypocrites until proved otherwise. All seems to be loyal/cool/stylish in social networks, while in real life 'you are what you are' in most of the times. A 'Rakhi Sawant' is always 'Rakhi Sawant' in real life, but in Face book/twitter, she can create an illusion of being an 'Aishwarya Rai'...  Another reason for this dominance is female-seeking behaviour of males. I wouldn't type much about that because it is universal.

[PS: This blog was not intended to complain that females are getting more attention in social networks, rather it is to make others realize that, the male-female status can be equalized only if we can be perfect in our real life as we are in our social networks]

# if you are girl & you don't like this blog, please go through the parenthesized part on the top ;)

THE GREAT CANCER COMEBACKS

From a Oncologist's notebook: ''Cancer is the uncontrolled growth of abnormal cells in body''
From a Psychiatrist's notebook: ''Cancer always leads to severe major depression''  
From an India-TV journalist's notebook: ''Cancer is something that Yuvraj Singh is suffering'' !!!


                       Nothing is more disastrous than knowing the fact that you are suffering from a malignant cancer & death is knocking at the door. Though AIDS is more dangerous,it is not as famous as it's glamorous counterpart CANCER because no one really comes back from AIDS to reveal the fight with it. But comeback stories are more in case of cancer. Cancer causes depression, depression may worsen cancer & the vicious cycle continues. That is why those who have fought & won the battle against it deserve the salutes from us. Treatment in the textbooks are same for all patients but the patience & self-confidence differs, hence the following personalities are a huge sources of inspiration for all of us.

STEVE JOBS:
If you have slightest of general knowledge then this man doesn't need an introduction.Though he was suffering from carcinoma of pancreas which has a very high mortality rate, the way he worked & uplifted apple is just amazing. The word 'Inspiration' is just another word staarting from 'i', when we talk about Steve Jobs. Now-a-days there are two kinds of phones in market, the iphones & the non-iphones!! this is the man behind the 'i' revolution. Surviving 8 years with a highly malignant Pancreatic tumor, undergoing a liver transplantation & managing Apple simultaneously makes you a true legend.

LANCE ARMSTRONG:
When it comes to sportsperson with cancer, it is Lance who always takes the top spots in web pages. He was suffering from a malignant variety of Cancer of testis. But for him, it was just a disease. His performance after the diagnosis of the cancer proves that self-belief is much more malignant than a malignant cancer. He won the prestigious Tour de France championship for a record consecutive 7 times after the Cancer diagnosis.
Hats off to you Lance.

                   KATHY BATES


Frankly speaking if you want to know about the achievements of this american actress please refer to her Wikipedia page. I guess space will be an issue to type her achievements here. In short, she is a super acting talent. Though she was diagnosed with a malignant ovarian tumor in the year 2002, she revealed that in public in 2008 after getting recovery from cancer. But the interesting thing is that during those 5 years with cancer she had acted in nearly  4o movies which include some of the biggest hits like, 'About Schmidt', 'PS I Love you', 'Around the world in 80 days' etc. She is currently the executive committee chair of the actors branch of the Academy of motion picture arts & Sciences Board of Governors.

KYLIE MINOUGE

The famous Australian singer, song writer, recording artist, actress, show girl...... In short, a talent powerhouse.

She didn't stop after being diagnosed with carcinoma of breast in the year 2005. But after the mastectomy surgery & intensive chemotherapy she staged her own comeback. Plenty of hit albums & stage performances speaks the volume of her confidence. Salutes to you.

                           NELSON MANDELA


1st black president of Republic of South africa, Nobel laureate for peace. 




He was diagnosed with a malignant prostate cancer for which he had to undergo series of radio therapies & chemotherapies.  More than 30 years of imprisonment, pulmonary TB infection & now battling against Carcinoma of prostate.  He is a true example of 'how to bear pain patiently' !!! 








MARK  HERZLICH
A famous American footballer & one of the bests of the team 'New York Giants' of the NFL. He was diagnosed with a rare bone cancer named as Ewing's Sarcoma. After the diagnosis he gave a speech in media which was really inspiring for all the cancer victims...'' I had been extremely focus on preparing for my senior season in the Boston college & for life beyond that.. but now, I must channel all that energy into facing my toughest opponent yet & that is exactly what I'll do. At this point, what this means for football in future but I am determined to rid my body of this disease so that I can put my uniform back on''. 
Despite not playing college football in 2009, he received Disney's Wide world of sports spirit award for overcoming cancer, as well the Nils V.''Swede'' Nelson award for sportsmanship. In January 2011, he received the ''Most courageous athlete award from the Philadelphia sports writers association.  You are a true champion !!

JON LESTER

One of the best base ball players of USA. Currently in the Boston Red Sox team. He was bought by BRS with a price $1.1, the highest signing amount for a second rounder.

He was diagnosed with a malignant Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma in the year 2005. But within 2 years of the diagnosis he came back to the field & won the final game of the  2007 world series  & in May 2008, he pitched a no-hitter against the Kansas City Royals. To honor Lester's comeback from lymphoma, the Boston baseball writer's association of America voted him for the 2007 'Tony Conigliaro award' .. 

               JOHN CULLEN

He is a professional NHL9 National Hockey League) player of Canadian origin. He was the all time lead scorer for Boston University. He was diagnosed with NHL( Non Hodgkin's Lymphoma) in the year 1997 for which he had to undergo intensive radio & chemotherapy for 2 years. During those days he had nearly faced death once because of cardiac arrest. But ultimately he got cured & re-entered on to the field of ice with a $0.5 million contract for the 1998-99 season. Rest was history as because of his performances the team 'Tampa bay lightnings' easily advanced to all tournaments. Coming back from a Non Hodgkin's Lymphoma, sustaining a cardiac arrest & giving some match winning performances just makes this man special.

                     EDNA CAMPBELL

She was a professional Basketball player of the WNBA playing for the Sacramento Monarchs team. 

She is well known for continuing her playing career in spite of being diagnosed with breast cancer. She became the WNBA's national spokesperson for it's anti cancer efforts with Susan G. Komen breast cancer foundation. During the 2006 WNBA season, which honored 9 years of existence, Edna Campbell 's return from breast cancer was nominated by fans as Most inspirational & one of the top four WNBA anniversary decade moments

I have mentioned about the comeback of 9 personalities from the jaws of cancer. I could have easily searched another name to make a list of 10 comebacks. But I did keep it only 9 deliberately because I'll edit this post & I'll make it 10 only after YUVRAJ SINGH comes back from the Cancer center to the Cricket Center. In short, the slot is reserved for YUVRAJ & this post is dedicated to this person who has tasted us a World Cup.

DEAR YUVRAJ, YOU ARE A SUPER TALENT & WE ALL ARE PRAYING FOR YOUR QUICK RECOVERY. 

LOVE BREAKUPS ZINDAGI; what I have learned !!

  First of all I apologize my favorite Dia Mirza as it took me nearly 2 months to watch LBZ... :( :(  This is just like eating girlfriend's birthday cake a month after her birthday !!! After all she is the only Bollywood actress who has replied me in twitter !!! :)  luckily I got time to watch this movie... I got love, i got breakups, I got zindagi !!.... Well how can I waste 2.5 hours without learning? Here are the things I watched & leaned from my darling's movie....


1) It doesn't matter whether you are single or committed... whenever you are visiting a new place to meet plenty of new people, always confidently say that ''I AM SINGLE''..

2) Most of the time the ex-boy friends of the lead actresses are investment bankers !!

3) If you are desperately searching for a partner to get married soon, then attend the marriage ceremony of any of your Punjabi friends.

4) Whenever the girl you love shows her interest for puppies, you have to SHOW that you too are crazy for the puppies [even if you are allergic to them]

5) Never consider the door to be closed when the girl/boy you love says that he/she is already in relationships...because nobody ever mentions whether the relationship is in a good or bad state ;)

6) Most of the successful Bollywood love stories end either in the airport or on the way to airport.

7) It is always wise to stop a bad ongoing relationship as soon as possible. life in PAUSE is better than life in PUS !!

8) Sometimes movies are good even in the presence of Zayed Khan.

9) All the MIRZAs look marvelous.... ;) ;)

THE KING OF SAND

                A nice sunny Sunday, not much work,12000 km away from from home and importantly alone...Believe me this is the best time to have a look at the pictures saved in the laptop. It really refreshed all my sweet memories. While watching, I really paused the windows picture slide show to concentrate on a particular picture.I was with a great person in that picture & frankly speaking I am really proud to have that picture with me.  It  is the picture neither with SRK nor with my darling Dia Mirza. He is one of the biggest achievers of the state ODISHA. He is unorthodox in the fashion that he gives shape to sands, supremely successful but extremely down to earth . He is none other than the great sand artist Mr Sudarshan Pattnaik.


                 I always believe that if we can't do anything for our own state/country, we must at least let others know about the achievements of our people. So it gives me immense pleasure to let others know about this great personality from Odisha. This talent was born in a very poor family in  1977 in Puri, the holy land of the Lord Jagannath. He is the first sand artist of India. It is such an art in which one needs to swim in the sea of creativity in order to achieve something. The holy air of puri, blessings of Lord Jagannath & the DNA power-packed with creativity gradually drove this person to the pinnacle of success in a unique field of art. he has been conquering the sands since the age of only seven ! In a state where people are obsessed with turning their children into either doctors or engineers, he has proved that nothing can beat creativity. Interestingly there was nobody to teach him these arts. He was his own teacher, he created & he mastered it.. !!


               Now after almost 25 years of romance with the sands, he is regarded as the numero uno sand artist of the panet. A person who was never taught anything regarding sand art is managing an institute in the name 'Golden Sand art Institute' in Puri which is first of it's nature in whole India. Plenty of students are working under his arm & one of them is Manas kumar Sahoo who was the semi finalist of India's got talent season-2.

Let me put light on some of his remarkable achievements;

- He has participated in more than 40 international sand art competitions & won may awards for the country

- The 15 feet high Santa clause of sand made by him holds the world record for tallest ever Santa clause.

- He won the people's choice award at the 1st International Sand Sculpture Championship held in Moscow,  Russia.

- He brought to life with sand the stirring image of Mahatma Gandhi leading the Dandi march at the commonwealth games opening ceremony in New Delhi.

- He had created a 15 feet high hindu God Ganesh to create awareness among the people on the potential dangers of global warming at the international sand championship. The top of the sculpture depicted the melting the glaciers of the Himalayas & in the flowing water Lord Ganesh travelling on a boat with a sign 'Divine concern on global warming' !!

- His other  amazing sand creations were the  'Black Taj mahal' , Obama, Lord Jagannath, Buddha etc

                            The above achievements are like a drop from an ocean. He is just 35 years old so plenty of artistic wonders are on the cards  & I can't use the phrase ''Rest is history''. You are really a star & we the Indians and Odias are really proud of your achievements & we pray for your success in future endeavors.