"Aapki Asuvidha Ke Liye Khed Hai"

For those who don't know, I am stuck in Ahmedabad since 24^th of September due to heavy rains, no modes of transport available since then. I had a ticket for 24^th afternoon in Shatabdi Express, after standing on the station for an hour or so, it was announced that the train is cancelled due to technical faults and bad weather. It was really, really frustrating, not only for me but also for hundreds of co-passengers standing with me. That was the time I was relishing observing various reactions around me. Anger and disappointment were mainly the dominating feelings that rose in people around. There were various types of aftermaths of the announcements.

Majority of the passengers got agitated and started barging towards the station master’s room. Dropping down their luggage, pulling up their sleeves, removing their spectacles (majority had specs), shaping down their eyebrows (a gesture to portray anger, though I found it funny). Watching them, it was like the Spartans were out to fight for Sparta against the God king- The Station Master. Everything was so war-like! Ticket in one hand and ID in the other were like sword and shield of the Spartans A.K.A passengers, whereas the opposition had a resilient armor with “IRCTC” engraved on it. Suddenly, the atmosphere changed, the sky above had the color of a television tuned to a dead channel, moreover something menacing could be felt. The Spartans charged in the cabin with an absolute clear mission in their minds, while the God-king was resting on his throne unaware about the Spartan troops storming in. The Spartan troops had to deal with a variety of deadly obstacles like sinister staircase, the blood-curdling bridge and the depraved door before entering the God-king’s fort, the station master’s cabin. Having noticed the dynamic entry of the Spartans, the God-king rose up from his government-funded throne. They had eyes in eyes, nothing was exchanged as yet, but it seemed the war had already begun. The war was silent yet deafening. Gradually, the Spartans drew out their weapons (ticket and ID) and forced it on the table. Spartans after their first attack decided to take the verbal route and destroy the opponent. At first, the God-king was found dumbstruck, but then he was no ordinary man, he was a government employ and they are naturally gifted with a skill so unique; the skill to speak impromptu, even if it doesn't make sense and to argue eloquently and win, even if they are wrong. The war was at its top potency. Along with the ticket and ID, other weapons included cruel abusive words that pierced through the chests like lethal spheres. But, my favorite weapon was the venomous spit used by the God-king, the Spartans were dreaded by it, it was frightening. It was gross. After twenty long minutes, the war finally ended, the God-king made a settlement with the Spartans, got their tickets cancelled and gave them their rightful refund. The then proud and deliriously happy but stupid Spartans thought it was due to their quarrelling tactics and techniques that they got the refund. What they didn’t notice was that it was nearing lunch time, and the lousy, stout station master granted refund to the passengers only because of the dancing rats in his stomach! At the end of the day, everyone goes home happy, the passengers got their refund, the station master got his tiffin and I got a hell of a show! Though a popcorn tub was missing, the scene was entertaining enough to cover up for it.

I then decided to inspect the battle field after the battle. What I found was stunning! A starving station master was gobbling up food more than his mouth could accommodate. An unusually huge tiffin was placed in front of him to satisfy his unusually huge belly. Well, I choose not to describe the latter, just three appropriate words will explain the scene, it was gross! 

The other minority group of passengers was again divided into two types. The first type of passengers were terrified by the announcement. Beads of perspiration formed on their foreheads. Wandering off in the future, they were creating numerous simulations of what could possibly happen and not happen if they didn't reach Mumbai. Simulations were hilarious! And some kind aunties were blabbering their self-created simulations out loud. I would like to share one.

 So this one aunty was supposed to be attending a wedding in Mumbai, a close relative’s wedding. Then, the announcement was made. Precipitously, a shade of melancholy grew over her face. Her neck was straying in all directions in sheer disbelief. After her neck regained balance, her eyes stayed restlessly on the speaker; it was as if she was listening from her eyes! Or maybe giving the speaker a wild glare in an attempt to scare the speaker so the announcement changes (it is mine imagination, maybe aunty wasn't doing that, or maybe she was, well whatever). Gauging her reactions and expressions, it seemed like cancellation of the train had made her life miserable in a couple of minutes. Then suddenly, after all her expression exhibition and drama stopped, she started blurting out her self-created simulation. “If I don’t reach Mumbai by tonight, there will be a huge problem. I don’t know how they’ll manage without me, they’ll simply get worried about me. My god, this can’t be happening” (Translated). Now obviously at first, it sounds very genuine, it did to me also, avoiding the exasperated expressions she showcased before. Now, do you want to know for whose wedding was she worried so much?? Get ready to be surprised (actually, don't get ready, if you get ready, that won't be a surprise!)….It was her cousin sister’s daughter in law’s cousin brother’s marriage. Probably the guy getting married doesn't even know her. And yes don’t doubt the relation, I've reconfirmed it. The person, who came to the station to drop her, was humble enough to give me the info. The lady was his maternal aunty.

The second type of passengers were as cool as cucumbers. They seemed to be in a state of trance, not affected by the announcement; they were enjoying their blissful ignorance. They were very calm and content, after the announcement, they just coolly picked up their luggage and walked out of the station, like a boss!

P.S.:- The announcement which caused so much commotion and forced a variety of feelings, reactions and expressions to come out was… “Aaj Ahmedabad se Mumbai jane wali, Shatabdi Express radd kar di gayi hai, aapki asuvidha ke liye khed hai, dhanyavaad”----> “Today, Shatabdi Express between Ahmedabad and Mumbai has been cancelled, we deeply regret your inconvenience, thank you”.   

Esoterica

I was just wondering, the different ways in which different people lead their different lives. At first I thought I’ll come across several different types of leading one’s life, but I was amazed to find that everything narrows down to just three major ways of leading one’s life, they are: Religion, Spirituality, and Positive thinking attitude. I came to this conclusion based on a focused observation I made in the last six months. The observation just included to observe and understand how different people face various problems in life. For example, for a given problem, the people who are religious will pray to their Gods they believe in, they’ll go to temples, mosques, churches more often and maybe also try to practice and indulge in some religious practices by inviting Brahmin saints to their houses. Whereas, the people who are inclined towards spirituality will meditate and try to find the solution of the problem within themselves. They’ll try to dissolve their emotions and feelings through their practice of meditation. On contrary to this, the modern positive thinkers will suppress their real feelings like anguish, ridicule or anger and coat it with an artificial layer of hope. They’ll live in the future, and assume that everything is fine or everything is going to be fine. They’ll leave the problem to their subconscious minds. They somehow have an unusual unwavering belief on the power of their subconscious; they surely expect that everything will be just right and in place.

Well, differentiating all three kinds:

Religion, people often tend to have a misconception that religion and spirituality is the same thing, but its’ not. Religion is surrendering yourself to an unknown supernatural force commonly known as “God”. Different religions have different Gods, but they follow the same principle. They believe that everything happening in their lives is planned and is occurring due to God. They hold God responsible for almost everything that is occurring. During bad times, they see God as their savior and are very firm that God will see them through the bad times.

Spirituality, people who seek to know the ultimate honorable truth. They believe they can achieve that in two ways: - Meditation or Unconditional love. In both ways they strive to unite their conscious, bounded, logical, “society based” mind with their subconscious, limitless, illogical mind. They try to reduce the common conflict within themselves, practical VS impractical, something you need to do VS something you want to do. Living in the present with unfocused alertness, being conscious while doing everything; that is the basic principle of spirituality. Stop the mind from wandering off in the past or the baseless future is what spirituality says. It says, hope or expectation is the basic root cause of all suffering. If you don’t expect, why would you ever be disappointed? That’s spirituality, according to me. For example, Gautam Buddha (meditation) or Jesus Christ (unconditional love), I hope this will give you a better picture now.  

Positive thinking, as it says is, being positive. More and more number of people have now started to adapt to this way of living. It is simple, just think about something you want, and imagine it’s already done. Keep thinking about it as many times as you can, just keep hammering your subconscious mind about what you want. The urge for that thing should be really, REALLY strong. When you think about it again and again, you create a similar frequency that goes out in the universe and orders it to fulfill your dream, make your thought a reality. That’s it, simple, isn't it? But you need to be patient, and you need to have an unwavering faith that your dream is going to turn into reality.

All three ways seem to be flawless, if so, why do dreams of majority of the people don’t turn true? Why doesn’t God bless all his followers with a splendid life? Why majority of people who meditate don’t find the solution within themselves? Why aren’t all positive thinkers’ millionaires?

Often, people in temples are found to negotiate with God, they place numerous offers in front of God in order to get their job done. For example, I heard an uncle in the temple, he said: “Ganpati bapa, mera tender paas kara do, main roz siddhi vinayak chalke aaunga.”à “God, please somehow get my tender accepted, then every day I’ll come walking to the temple.” And I was like, yaa right! How can god possibly refuse or turn down such an offer! Also depending entirely on god is wrong, blaming him for everything is wrong, the belief that one’s fate is sealed is wrong.

Nowadays, there are camps for “vipassana” everywhere. Thousands of people go there to find peace and answers to their problems. Unfortunately, not even 10% of them are satisfied at the end of the camp. That is because they are “doing” meditation, whereas Buddha said, real meditation is what happens, it doesn't need to be done and if you are “doing” meditation, it isn't meditation. So basically, people are faking meditation; obviously they won’t achieve anything except for they can claim that they meditate.

Positive thinkers have taken the “being positive” thing way seriously. For everything, they start thinking positive, so as a result they lose their practical approach. Also, they tend to hide their real feelings, even if they want to cry or shout at someone, they’ll just put on a smile and tell themselves “everything’s fine”. Now that’s suppression, killing oneself in a way. This may lead to create a dual personality. At some point of time, you’ll be afraid facing your problems or maybe you’ll just run away from your real feelings.

   

If observed closely, all three have something in common and that is -------> our mind. Confused? Well in positive thinking it is obvious; the entire technique is based on the mind. In spirituality, the basic principles and all technique point out to control and stabilize the mind. It is controlling the mind, and not allowing the mind to control you. Uniting the conscious and the subconscious mind, therefore no conflict in the mind. While in religion, the part played by the mind is a little oblivious, but it is vital. If seen technically, the temples and mosques always have a dome shaped roof whereas churches have high roofs. These roofs help in creating a serine atmosphere, good ventilation, and importantly voices echo. Flowers and scents are all around adding to the tranquility of the place. Also you generally have your eyes closed. Now when you pray to God, you tell him what you want, you either list out your wishes in your mind or you say it loudly, so actually if thought intensely, you are actually telling yourself or maybe repeating to yourself what you want, relating this to the positive thinking technique, you are actually hammering your subconscious and reminding it what you want.

I prefer to live in the present without worrying about the future and the past, making the best of what is in my hands and take the rest as it happens. I prefer believing in myself more than believing in some unknown supernatural force, not that I don’t believe in God, I do believe in him and I know that he’ll help me more when I’ll believe in myself rather than being completely dependent on him. I am optimistic, but I won’t force that on me, I’ll cry when I need to, I’ll get angry when I need to, I won’t suppress my real feelings and put on the fake smile.

So what about you? Which way did you find the best and which technique do you follow??

NOTE: - All above statements made are my personal opinion. I am not against any sort of belief. I am sorry if I've unknowingly said something opposing your beliefs. This is what I feel; I don’t intend to imply anything. 

Doctors, why this kolaveri di?

31^st August, 2013, Gujarat.

I was on vacations with my family to Gujarat where we visited some of our relatives and friends. My uncle there had a rule of visiting and inspecting his factory every Saturday. As an IIT aspirant and a future engineer, it was natural for me to join him to the factory and satisfy my curiosity and technical part of my mind.

What I witnessed there, was beyond my imagination! I was overwhelmed with the kind of advanced technology used there. It was a small scale production unit in a minor rural area, I didn’t expect these kind of machines and production rates there. Also the workers there, mostly the locals of the village, had detailed knowledge about the product and the working of the machines. I couldn’t contain my astonishment. But that’s not what the post is about.

Later, while we were returning, we stopped at Bhachau, a small city in Gujarat. We stopped because every alternate Saturday uncle made it a point to get a blood test his way back home(he is a kidney patient). After blood collection was done, we had a light brunch. After an hour or so, we were handed the reports there itself. The journey resumed. Uncle immediately called his doctor and dictated all his reports to him, the reports were bad, terrible in fact.

The potassium level mentioned in the reports was 9.4 mEq/L, the normal range is from 3.2 to 5.2 mEq/L. If the potassium level nears the 8 mEq/L mark, it is alarming, the patient can have a cardiac arrest without any symptoms. At that moment, we were dealing with 9.4 mEq/L potassium level, it was frightening. Uncle’s doctor suggested him to get his blood tested again at some other pathology lab immediately. In another 2 hours, we got another report from another pathology lab, the potassium level mentioned was 5.4 mEq/L, a little over normal. This experience created a reasonable doubt in our minds, so we decided to check the reliability of some reputed pathology labs.

Monday morning, 2^nd Sept, 2013, Uncle and I went to four different pathology labs for testing. Uncle gave his blood and got only his potassium checked. After 2 hours, all reports were in our hands. It was simply mind boggling. The reports were as follows, 1) 5.1 mEq/L, 2) 7.3 mEq/L, 3) 3.2 mEq/L and 4) 6.5 mEq/L. Same person, same report request, same blood, only different pathology labs, what conclusions can be made? A difference of say 0.1-0.4 is still acceptable, but the reports were just not digestible. What was to be done? Which report was to be considered true? We all were bewildered.

Reports are the only way we get to know what’s going on in our body, all the chemical balances and biological levels, etc. Reports are considered to be true, hard evidence of our body chemistry. They form the base for any kind of treatment or for detection of any kind of disease. If they are produced false, if we question the reliability of these reports, whom are to be believed then?? Only for the sake of good business, pathology labs are willing to give away false reports to the patients and we the patients, medical illiterates, we innocently visit the doctor, doctor prescribes more tests and some medicines and this cycle will go on and on. Like pet hamsters we’ll keep running, providing doctors and pathology labs large revenues and we’ll also allow them to experiment on our body.

I am not against any kind of medical practice, I just have one nagging questions which is irritating me since that day, If the reports are prodced wrong, how are we supposed to diagnose our body reliably?

P.S.:- One of my friend’s relative is a head pathologist in one of the reputed pathology labs, I discusses this matter with her. Her reply was shocking, “haan, yehi toh hota hai, kafi cases mein doctor jo value bolte hai, hum who hi likh dete hai, hume upar se order aata hai.”---“yes, this is only what happens , in many cases, we just print the values instructed by the doctor, we get orders from higher authorities.”  

I don’t want to name any pathology lab, doctor or person, don’t want any controversies. I just wanted to share my experience with the world, and I guess I can say nothing more than, TAKE CARE.

Premier Episode

Hello! Salut! Namaskar! Welcome to my blog “The SM talk”. I am Shrey Maheshwari, a very much normal teenager who wants to speak out to the world, and now that we can connect so easily through internet (most precious man-made miracle), I want to make the best use of it. My blog is the way I look at our world, my views, my experiences, my queries, etc. So looking forward to showcase my perception, I hope the readers find it interesting (fingers crossed). Also all the readers are invited to comment their views on that particular topic, I would love to indulge in discussions on various topics, a way to enhance knowledge.