Swine flu

Swine flu is everywhere. We are advised to keep a distance of 3-5 mtrs from people affected with swine flu. It spreads through droplet infection and we dentists are always swimming in all sorts of droplets. What do I do if I find a sneezing and coughing fellow in my waiting room with a complaint of unbearable tooth ache?

I hope that the germs causing tooth ache and those causing swine flu are enemies and one does not show it’s face where the other is present.

You can rely up on our politicians to make a farce out of any serious matter. When we are worried about the situation and trying to find ways of dealing with it effectively, one Karnataka politician cursed his opponent that he gets swine flu and our media got a new twist to the situation about which they were getting bored. Now you may forget the infection, sufferings and loss of life. Enjoy the drama.

The Guava Fruit

We harvested the guava fruits from our ‘garden’ recently. The ‘harvest’ was five fruits. I mean, five was the total number of guavas that we counted on our tree once. In our eagerness to taste our own fruit, we plucked two, when they were still raw. Having realized our mistake, we allowed the next one to remain on the tree longer. It got over ripe, fell down on it’s own and got partly spoilt. The fourth, we got just right. The fifth one is still on the tree. So, till date our harvest has yielded one proper fruit. This was removed from the tree and brought in to the house in a procession, offered to the gods, (because we were sure that they will not deprive us of our fruit) was ceremoniously cut and eaten. We even thought of sharing it with few of our friends from whom we have received gifts of home grown mangoes, bananas, jack fruit etc, but gave up the thought because we felt that 1/8th of a guava fruit may not be appreciated much. The fruit is of good quality. The seeds are not very hard, they are concentrated at the centre of the fruit and there is a thick layer of pulp next to the skin, devoid of seeds. Compared to my ‘gold standard’ in guava fruits - the fruits from the tree we had in our house at Bangalore- these fruits lack only in size.


Whenever I see a guava fruit, or talk about them I can’t help remember the Bangalore tree. That tree is not there anymore and I am trying to get used to the picture of the house without it. We spent a lot of time around it. I used to climb on to the tree for fun and have practiced pull ups and hanging upside down on it’s branches. I have cut and used them for preparing ‘gilli- danda’. We even tried ‘mara –koti’ (a sort of ‘catch me if you can’ played on the tree) but the tree was not very big and the ‘koti’ did not get much space to move around.

The tree branched out very low and at very convenient levels and positions and so, we could climb it like a ladder. We plucked many of the fruits when they were very tender. We spat out the outer skin which used to be tasteless and ate the inner core. The young seeds were still very soft and the pulp, sour. The tree yielded plenty of fruits and in spite of our indiscriminate harvesting, many of them grew to full size and ripened.

Our house was on a busy street and the tree was very next to the compound wall. Almost all the school boys who passed in front of our house and the urchins from the shanties behind our house, had our tree in focus and were our competitors. We tried to guard it as much as possible from these predators but were not always successful. They were experts in climbing the tree noiselessly but our ears were also tuned to the faintest rustle of the leaves and branches. The moment we heard the sound we ran into our veranda shouting “hey, who’s that”? If the boy on the tree was much younger than us, we continued our run into the compound shouting “wait, I will break your legs” or some such expletive. If we found someone our size, we halted and shouted from within the door “hey, what are you doing there?” Since most of them had a feeling of guilt about the theft, they usually jumped down on hearing our voice and ran away. But some tough boys stayed put on the branches and some even challenged us saying “come out of the house and see”. They were all street fighters and we had seen them fight amongst themselves. We believed in “discretion is the better form of valour “, (that’s the saying is it not?) and ran into the house calling “papa look at these boys “ or some such thing, never to come out again. We peeped through one of the inner windows and ventured out only after the coast was clear. A broken ego healed faster than broken limbs.

As I have said, those fruits were gold standard in guava fruits. I enjoyed them but had a hell of a time taking out the seeds from my cavities. To save myself the unnecessary trouble, I developed the habit of cutting the fruits, removing the core containing the seeds and eating the remaining part. (Getting the teeth filled was not even thought off). Now, even with all my teeth filled and in reasonably good condition, I do the same. If the seeds are dispersed all over the fruit, it is useless for me. The fruit which we get from our tree, suits me and I am very happy about it. I had purchased four fruit trees from the horticulture department. I hope that we have similar luck with chikoo, mango and coconut too.

Only a stray thought

Some of the news items irritate me. I need to express my irritation but not many are interested in them. Hence, I post my thoughts here, get them out of my mind and try to be peaceful. No credence need to be attached to my views.
One such news item was regarding the losses suffered by Air India and the government trying to do something about it. I just cannot understand why the government should do anything about it. If Air India is not making enough money, either it needs to reduce spending or increase air fares to get more income. If not, shut down the company. Why should the government feel compelled to run a loss making, high flying concern?
After Air India, the other private airlines have started demanding “bail out”. All are co called ‘professionally’ managed companies dealing with thousands of crores of rupees. They ordered new planes, bought each other, paid unrealistic salaries and created a glamour profession. On the other hand they reduced airfares. Why can’t they increase the fare? Those who can afford to and have to travel at those prices, will. People like me who occasionally tried our luck with Makemy trip.com or Yatra.com will stick to our Jan shatabdis and Garib raths.
Belatedly, the airlines have realized that they cannot sustain and threaten stopping their services if the government does not bail them out. In other words, make up for the loss. Since it affects the so called high fliers and influential people, the government may listen and help them out too. But I don’t like my money being given to jet airways or kingfisher to subsidise Vijay mallya’s spending on ‘glamorous’ calenders.
If the cost of silver amalgam or lignocaine goes up, I have to increase my charges for fillings and extractions. If I cannot manage, I need to close my clinic. I can’t ask the government to ‘bail me out’. My reasoning does not go beyond that.
May be these big industries have a different profit -loss and management system. Or, the issue has other ramifications that I do not understand. Let me see the developments.

Jesus amongst us?

Do you see an empty space between the branches of the tree? Well, what does it look like? Please stretch your imagination and see if you can give it some shape.
In a village near a place called Cuncolim, in Goa, few friends who were out for a walk one evening saw such a space between the dense foliage of some trees at a distance. The first one exclaimed
“Eh, what is that there on the trees?”
The second one said “yes, there is something”.
The third one’s imagination was better, “looks like a ghost”.
It looked like a “divine apparition” for the fourth, who felt it is better to have gods than ghosts
and the faithful fifth, confirmed that it was Jesus Christ.
In no time the place was crowded with thousands of devotees praying and chanting. The nearby national highway was blocked with vehicles.
One sensible fellow, who felt that the lord will never risk venturing so close to his flock, if he knew them as he should, (he was also sensible enough not to say it aloud), suggested that they ask the local priest to confirm the presence of Jesus. The priest, who possibly knew the lord better, seconded the opinion of the sensible fellow, but expressed his doubts in a “sitter on the fence” manner and got away with his limbs and life intact.
The faithful, who did not intend giving up the Lord so easily, took the matter to the higher authority, the bishop. But the Bishop was out of station and the lord (who did not possess either PAN card or driving licence)had to wait to have his identity confirmed.
Meanwhile there were discussions as to why the lord chose to visit Goa? Did the “Sell the raindrops” campaign of the five star hotels and tourism department even fool lord Jesus ?
One person who believed in world welfare said “lord Jesus has descended on the earth to save humankind from terrorism, global recession and nuclear conflicts.”
But another, who had a somewhat narrow vision and whose property the government had acquired for widening the highway, said “Lord Jesus wants to sensitise Goans about the wrong policies of the state government, including widening of the NH 17 and displacement of people from their village”. Clever fellow. He found a free advocate in the form of Jesus. Who knows? The sentiment may catch up and save his property!
Report in Navhind Times dt 25th July. Matter has undergone some alterations but the quotations are as they were. I do not know if Jesus is still with us. Page 3 of Times of India to-day, only mentions Deepika padukone, Arshad warsi and Anil ambani as the celebrity visitors.

want to delete? are you sure?

Counterfoils of credit slips and cheques, receipts of water, electricity and phone bill payments, receipts given by the paper boy, Gas man and the cable fellow, all these and other such pieces of paper go into the second drawer of our TV table. The pile also includes tax deduction note given by the bank, premium payment receipts from insurance companies, pension certificate issued by the treasury, account statements and other useful material. Once a month I decide to sort them out, keep whatever is useful and discard the rest. With twelve decisions a year passes and the drawer fills to the brim. When it is time to file my tax returns I put the whole lot in a plastic bag and hand it over to the person who prepares my returns. This year, the gentleman refused to prepare my returns unless I gave the papers properly sorted out. (People are getting fastidious.) He says that his business is not to sort out trash, but to present the sorted trash in a form acceptable to the tax authorities. So, I dumped the contents of the drawer on the ground and started sorting the pile. I tore all the useless bits of paper and kept others aside. I handed over the neatly bunched papers to the accountant.

He called me after a day.
“Doctor, where is that TDS certificate from Karnataka bank?”
“Everything is there in the lot that I gave you”
“Everything else is there but for the TDS certificate”
“OK, please prepare the returns without that TDS certificate. It is a small amount any way”
“You can’t do that. You have shown it last year and will have to account for it.”
I called the bank and blasted the clerk for not sending the certificate on time.
“But sir, you collected it yourself last month. You have signed the acknowledgement”
(Curse these bank fellows. They have this bad habit of making you sign for everything.)
I asked my son if he saw this certificate. I enquired with my wife.
“I know where it is. It is in the dustbin. You have torn the certificate along with other bits of paper when you were sorting out things. You are absent minded. Don’t bother others. Apologise to the bank and request for a copy”

My computer is also absentminded and acted similarly while sorting out trash.

It is six years old. That is approximately 120 years in human terms. It was taking a long time to start, was very slow and was not able to reach some sites at all. One of my friends said that it would work better if I reduced the load and suggested that I delete all unnecessary files. He said that I simply have to select the files and press ‘delete’. “An idiot can do it. You definitely can” He encouraged.

I started the job and the computer started interrogating me.
“Do you want to delete this file?” (Silly question. If I do not want to delete, why will I press ‘delete’?)
“Are you sure?”
“Do you want this to be available for other applications?”
“Are you sure?”
“Do you want to delete all the off line content?”
“Are you sure?”
“Do you want to delete all the online contents?”
“Do you want to delete all the objects?”
“Do you want to delete all the cookies?”
I really do not know what these cookies have got to do with my computer. As far as my knowledge goes they are things that you eat and are supposed to be good. Also, nowhere were there provisions to say “don’t know” or “Can’t say”. It had to be “yes” or “no”. What do I do if can’t answer with yes or no. I am not a computer professional.
After sometime I could not make out what it was asking and simply typed “yes” and “no” alternately. Once, I even typed “do as you please”.
After a long time it said “All files deleted” and I typed “Thank you.”I was happy that I had been able to unburden my computer and could make it’s job easy.
I switched it on the next morning and was expecting it to jump into action with extra vigour. But it remained sleepy for a long time and then gave out a message “one of the important files required to start windows is deleted/corrupted. Check system 32//reboot/reinstall”

I had asked the stupid computer to delete useless files and it had deleted it’s life.

I asked my son to do something about it. He told me to dump my desktop in the dustbin and buy another one. Meanwhile, he said, I can use his lap top (‘HIS’ lap top for which I had paid through my nose) if I assured him that I will not delete things and meddle with the system unnecessarily. Arrogant fellow. I told him that I need neither his services nor his laptop and that I will take care of things myself.
Now, I had to call the computer agency. They usually send a goofy looking fellow who wears a cap reverse and wears an ear ring. His pant will be a foot too long and it will bring all the dirt from the road into my house. But my computer responds if HE presses the keys and I really have no other go.

Just then there was a patient. He had a bridge for his front teeth and the bridge had come off. He wanted it fixed urgently as he could not go to work without his teeth. As usual I recorded his name, address, telephone numbers etc and enquired about his profession. He was a computer mechanic and he had come along with his bag full of magic CDs which have the power of bringing computers back to life. God send! I told him that I will fix his teeth immediately if he can fix my computer. Good old barter system! He sat for an hour in front of the computer hitting keys and inserting and removing CDs and brought it back to life. I thanked him, repaired his bridge and glued it back in position. He walked away with a big smile. I attended to the other cases in the clinic and started the computer again. It struggled for ten minutes and gave out the message “one of the important files required to start windows is deleted/corrupted. Check system 32//reboot/reinstall”. I hope that the computer fellow’s bridge falls off again and brings him back to me. I really should have used a weaker cement.

Since my son had left his lap top at home I decided to make a quick posting on the blog. I need to erase all traces of my use and keep the thing back as it was. I have to work fast but this lap top does not co-operate. I am used to hitting the keys of my desktop with a hammer to get the letters on the screen and the cursor on my desk top moves an inch if I drag the mouse one foot. This cursor jumps a foot and out of the screen if I move my finger as much as a millimetre and this thing types on it’s own even before I touch the keys. I have managed to say what I wanted to, without allowing it to dictate terms, but it is tiring.

I have to resign to my fate and call the goofy fellow from the agency who comes carrying half a truck load of dust (muck, if it is raining) on his extra long pants. Bye till then.

rainy season - again

I like the rainy season. I think I have already mentioned it a dozen times and I also understand that it does not mean that I should torture everyone with rainy season posts all the time. Hence , I decided not to torture everyone and target only those who are willing and who can read kannada.
We were on the road between Margao and Quepem and came across an enchanting stretch of green. The camera was on hand and for once, in working condition. It had stopped raining for a moment, and so, I decided to get out and try my luck with the camera. As I got out of the car, the batteries fell out. The cover of the battery compartment is broken. My son informed that I need to keep the batteries in place by pressing a finger against them. As it is, I need a dozen fingers to operate his camera and am always two short. Now, I was short of three fingers! Meanwhile I had to keep an eye on the busy road if I did not intend ending up in the same condition as the camera. I arranged everything and was about to focus and click when the camera went off. My son said, that once switched on, it remains so for a few minutes and if the operator is not fast, gets bored and shuts itself off. I switched it on again and arranged myself and it started raining. I had to get into the car. By the time it stopped raining and I got out again, the other occupants of the car got bored and stared grumbling.
I am writing all this so that you understand the odds at which I have been able to get the pictures and why I am thrilled to see them and eager to share my thrill with those who are willing.
If you are willing, please go over to’kaaDu haraTe’ at www.maatu-kate.blogspot.com.

Burst of green

It is now a month after the first rains. The monsoon, which showed it’s face and disappeared for about twenty days, reappeared last week and has begun it’s job in right earnest. It is almost raining non stop. The cement side walk leading to my clinic has turned slippery due to the growth of algae. I slipped and almost broke my back this morning. It is time for the monsoon to take a break and allow me to go out and scrub the side walk and trim the overgrown branches of the rose bushes. My patients have to watch their feet so that they do not slip and at the same time have to look out for the rose branches extending on to the sidewalk trying to rip their faces off.
I water these plants every day, dig around them, pour manure, pamper them and they grudgingly grow a few inches. Once it starts raining, they wake up suddenly and make up for all the inactivity through the year. I see hectic activity everywhere. Even though most of our surroundings have turned into a ‘concrete jungle,’ there is still some greenery left. We call it green but ‘brownary’ is more appropriate. The rain has washed them clean and has doubled the quantity of green. The green growth has covered all the trash that we have dumped in the neighbour’s plot.(in the true tradition of any civil society) The creepers spread on to the trees and cover them completely obliterating their shape and turning them to heaps of green. Electric poles and cables have a festoon of green leaves. Even the laterite brick on the compound walls is sprouting green adding to the effect. I enjoy all these sights walking in the rain early morning while the world is still asleep.
I managed to get some pictures without drenching the camera. With Shruti’s guidance, I have tried to insert the pictures where I want them. If you are seeing this post with pictures at appropriate places, Shruti is a good teacher and I have passed.