The Marine

Xander's brother is visiting him and his relatives over this weekend. Xander so had left for his uncle's place to visit him. That meant that we three (me, E-boi and Parry) were left to hang-out/ jam.

E-boi had his salary in his account and on a Saturday evening, we didn't want to hang out just at the apartment. We wanted to watch a movie. There were just two left which were worth watching; or so we thought.

'The Marine' was the choice. I was hoping for some good old hunky action from a respectable WWE superstar John Cena. We went to the poshest of all multiplexes for the priciest of all tickets.



Yes, it was the most boring of all movies we had seen in the past year or so. I slept for most of the first half.

Torn Jean

Today something crazy happened. Something that shouldn't have happened. Something which is due to the fact that for a doctor, I dress funny. I wear Jeans and T-shirt under my lab-coat as a daily routine for rounds etc.

Today, I was wearing my lovely fit Levi's L530 dark blue, faded boot-cut jean with a T-shirt. The boot-section had been torn because of chronic usage.

My porfessoo picked at me for that. I was embarasssed though. But can't help it. I should suffer for my lack of integrity!

Ray's cruisades

This month has been a great one for Ray and his cruisades. Every time we talk, he has an experience to share with. At buses, at movie stalls and parks where not. If I'm not mistaken, he has had at least 7 or 8 separate cruising acts! Holy shit! I'm ashamed of myself! I can't even find time or space for one.

I couldn't help but divulge this amazing fact to Xander and E-boi. If I haven't posted it already, both have had gays attmept 'cruising' at them. They hate gays for that. And when I tried explaining to them that it is hard to restrict ourselves to our shell as we are also temptable humans wanting to have sex, they said... don't do it Kris... we don't expect a dignified, respectable (doctor) doing such stuff.

I don't know what to say.

The '3' factor

After I gifted myself a new Nokia Handfree set and a card reader, my life has been much richer. I'm listening to a lot of new songs and have been totally inspired by them. The Common Factor in all these bands is the number '3' These are the ones.

• From Yesterday - 30 Seconds to Mars: From the guitar filled intro which sounds strikingly similar to the U2 Classic 'Where the Streets Have No Name', to the amazing angry melody of the chorus, I feel the songs is a master-piece from this new band. I have watched both the videos on You Tube. I'll post both of them for your pleasure. 30STM have a future in Modern Rock.
  
  
• Pain by the Three Days Grace (3 Days Grace): Long live Canadian Music! Long after Bryan Adams and his hits trespassed by adolescence, Canada still has its share of amazing bands which continue to inspire. Nickelback, Our Lady Peace and more recently, the amazingly heavy-riffy, catchy and tight Three Days Grace. This song, the first time I listened to it on BOB (WorldSpace), I picked up the band about 12 seconds into the song. But I didn't like the song at first. But this week, I am loving it. I want to play all the songs of Three Days Grace like 'Animal That I've Become', 'Just Like You'.
  
  
• Hows it Gonna Be and Deep Inside of You by the Third Eye Blind (3rd Eye Blind): Both the songs are about 10 years old. But still, amazing chord/melody/melancholy makes me wanna moan - Hows It Gonna Be when we'll make such songs.
  

The Hills Have Eyes

Again a good movie. 3 stars almost. If you are going to watch it, be prepared for a lot of dirty, bloody scenes. The most important facet of the movie is the amazing concept of radioactive fallout induced mutation who have been cannibalistic.

But, the gay-adult-male in me raised it's ugly head during the parts of the movie with Ted Levine in it. Oh fuck! How cute is he. I have collected about 10 photographs of him.



Apparently he acts in authoritative roles - like Police Officer etc!

Wooof! Woof! Droolz! I want him! Right now!

The Namesake

The morning was as usual as a pre-emergency day could be. Rounds, stupid office work for my seniors and stuff like that. But despite all that, I left the wards happy feeling that I was doing a job which was being appreciated by everyone in the ward.

I was not decided on what to do in the afternoon as I didn't have any concrete plans. I hadn't seen the newspaper for three days or so.

I came back to my room early afternoon to find my stupid idiotic room partners studying. That also meant that I couldn't do anything that I wished to do like falling asleep listening to some music or learn some song on the guitar. I was deeply disappointed not to find today's newspaper as well. I didn't want to even ask my roomie whether he had seen it.

Instead, I looked up NowRunning.com, and amazing website for movies in India. I found three movies worth watching. As usual, I chose a Double Bill. 'The Namesake' and 'The Hills Have Eyes (Part 1)' at the Metro Adlabs.

I rode downtown and reached well ahead of time. Last time I was in the theater to watch '300', I had the strongest desire in my entire Mumbai life to cruise. Similarly, today I felt like calling Victor, my sef-estranged boyfriend. First I thought I would call him up before the first movie. But then I decided not to as it might cause confusion regarding watching this movie which I was dying to watch.

Instead, I took up a copy of today's Times of India. With lots of cricket fodder to munch, I lazily went to the theatre to book my tickets for the double bill. I was surprised to find that The Namesake was running at the Ebony Lounge, the most expensive screen probably in the whole of Mumbai.

I decided to risk it. I paid 500 fucking rupees for the tickets and gingerly went up hoping it to be worthwhile. Inside the theatre I went through the phases once again whether to call Victor or not. I had been feeling bad that I had not returned his call about a couple of weeks back.

Times of India kept me to myself. I tried calling up my friends 'T.' my psychiatrist friend/shrink and Ray, but without luck.

At about 10 minutes to the show, I entered the Ebony Lounge. Whoa! What seats! Full recliners, with blankets and side trays/tables to keep your snacks! The screen was small but the sound was amazingly rich. And there were lights bright enough for me to recline and read the newspaper sipping coffee!

The bliss that I miss at the hostel (or home for that matter) was relived at half a grand! It was well worth it though.

Coming the the movie - I have to rate it 4 stars! Amazing acting. Amazing screenplay. And amazing direction. It's about a Bengali family settling the the US of A and all the problem of the mixture-culture that results. You can read up about the movie on the internet. It is based on the book by Lahiri.



Tabu was simply breathtaking. I loved the cinematography and New York scenes.

Once again, I could relate a lot to this movie. Because of my desires to live in New York, because of my not-so-close relationship with my parents and finally, because the movie stresses the importance of books in life - Books helps you travel the world without moving and inch.

It has also inspired me to try and read the novel 'The Overcoat' the Nicholas Gogol, the Russian Writer.

I'll write about the other movie in my next post.

Being popular

Today was another day assisting my professor in a relatively short spine surgery. After the tiring weekend, some respite I guess. After the theatre, I wanted to take some rest at the room. But because of my stupid roomie, I decided to stay in the ward.

This meant that more time with relatives and patients. Which I totally enjoy! Today I was on a roll altogether. Making all patients smile and laugh cracking jokes etc. Today, I was appreciated for it by the staff as well as the relatives of the patients.

Now, I'm loving the experience! Thank you my profession for making me feel so good!

Newspaper issues becomes inflammatory

I hate my life in my room after my roomie has moved in. There are so many things about him that is irritating. Ever since he had come, I have had problems reading to my newspaper; The Times of India. The delivery guy gets my copy everyday after 8 O' Clock. On days when I have to leave even before, I might not even get to read it. Either him or his 'friends/batchmates' (all are SOBs) take my paper away, make a mess out of it and might not even care to keep it back.

I hate that. In fact I hate it when I don't get a fresh copy of newspaper. I have a a slight obsession with that. But what's wrong in expecting your newspaper, which you pay for, everyday?

Today, this issue went inflammatory (got the word of Greg Chappel's dictionary after India's shock first round exit from the World Cup of Cricket). After a tiring day which started at 7.45 AM, I came back home at around 12 AM (midnight) and didn't find my newspaper. I asked my roomie if his 'friend' had taken it.

He was so pissed, he said 'Kris, I don't know where your newspaper is. I have not seen it. Why don't you go tell him (his friend) about your problem. Why should I interefere.'.

Fucken I was so irritated I didn't want to even shout. I got out of my room and went to watch some cricket on TV downstairs at the mess.

Double Emergency

After yesterday's party, I should have had a difficult and therefore, depressing time at the hospital with a 24 hour shift at the emergency. Somehow, I managed to get just adequate sleep and managed all night without any sleep while doing/assisting 3 surgeries. I'm impressed with myself!

Xander's b'day party - a success

Even though Xander's B'day is on the 26th of March, because of our work schedules we had planned for today evening. It was almost totally a surprise. I was ruing the fact that I had to get tied up all day with that Conference thingie. Or so I thought. After attending the first half, I took off hoping to start afresh as to what to buy and how to execute the plan.

And these days, in my life, what better way than to relax watching a good movie. I searched the paper - yeah there was just one show at Regal - The Aliens Return. I was totally disappointed when I saw the poster - looked awfully shabby. And it was a Hindi dubbed version! Yet, my movie-goer-heart thumped on and on. I took a fucken ticket and watched some really stupid action with dishearteningly ridiculouus Hindi Voice-overs.

But the thing was the magic was I was looking for. I executed the rest of the plan to near perfection!

Immediately after the damned show, I made my only damned move of the day. I got a call from Xander's number and I heard a voice which sounded like S.'. It was actually Xander in a false mallu accent and I accidentally divulged the plan for the purchase of gift with GS. I was ashamed of myself once I realized that and then I called up Parry and enquired about the plan. Parry was busy at work and was supposed to go out with GS for the purchase of the microphone. He asked me if I could go. I was about 10 minutes away from the shop. I said yes and called GS. She said she would be free in an hour. So, I headed to the musical shop.



There I checked out the microphones on display. I found the one - the Shure SM-58 Vocal Dynamic microphone. It was cute and heavy and had a pro-feel to it. The price was a grand above the budget that we had said to GS. But I felt it was worth buying. You would also feel so if you were to check out reviews of it on Google.

GS came down on time and we bought it in under five minutes. Then I gave her a ride back to the apartment. On my way, we got a message from Xander and S. who were hanging out at the mall asking me to come there. I dropped GS and went to the mall. There, S. was luring Xander into confessing on what he liked amongst the stuff in there. But Xander, somehow knowingly or unknowingly, acted unintetested.

After an hour we decided to head back home. To salvage the blunder that I had commmitted earlier in the evening, S. told Xander that we might go bring a Shure microphone for him as a gift. We left him and hung around the mall waiting for Sandy and Parry to turn up. Sandy came in sometime and we started finally shopping for stuff. We had decided on PS2 stuff, chocolates, the cap and the nokia handfree. We hardly had 1 and a half hours to get all this.

Parry was stuck up at work. So we three (me, S. and Sandy) left to the Lamington Road where we checked out PS 2 stuff and headsets. We bought him a memory card and a PS2 gaming DVD which he wanted badly - the Grand Theft Auto - St. Andrea or something like that. All this gaming lingo rarely stick to my head. Excuse me for that.

Then we headed to the place where I had bought my new handfree. We bought a brilliant grey-market-priced one and bought it. Along with that we bought Acoustic strings for him from the shop we had earlier bought the mic. Then we called Parry and asked him to check out the caps at the mall and to get chocoloates.

By the time we reached the there, the mall was closing. I requested the management to let us in to buy this one cap that Parry had found. We liked it and we bought it. Parry had bought Snickers and Mars before that.

We had completed our list of purchases! Whoa!

And then we had to get Xander dressed and ready for the Surprise Party. But, as usual, Xander was not in the mood... rather, was unwell. Had a splitting headache. He didn't quite get the importance of this party. We tried calling him. He said, going out was impossible because of the headache.



But tonight was my night! I bought him a couple of strong painkillers and we bought an amazing Chocolate cake on which Sumit drew a miniature guitar! Then we went up to the apartment and tried to cheer up Alex. He refused initially. But finally gave into the pills and persuasions.

So we headed to The Hard Rock Cafe Mumbai with all the gifts and the cake. I paide for the might 4 grand entrance fee for the five of us. GS couldn't make it because of her father refusal to allow her to go out.

Then we had a ball! Really! Whoa! I managed to get the DJ play couple of requests for the B'day boy. We had a huge dinner with great music. The feeling was awesome and there are lots of cute snaps that we took. I'll try to post some here.

At the fag end at around 1.20 AM, we cut the cake and at that point, the DJ played 'So Cold' by the Breaking Benjamin, our second request! Picture perfect it was!

Then we went home and jammed. We all felt so happy to have pulled off the amazing feat of planning and executing a b'day party in under 6 hours when Xander was not in a great mood!

The tiring day - executing responsibilities

Post emergency days are driving me tired these days. This weekend was a special weekend without the major OT on a Saturday. But we had an academic event lined up for that. I wasn't in the mood for that. With Xander's b'day looming and with all the plans that we guys are making, I was more interested in that.

We have stuff lined up to buy for him

• A Shure vocal microphone
  
• PS2 Stuff including memory cartridges and controllers
  
• Nokia handfree; his was lost
  
• Imported Liquor
  
• Sweets, chocoloates
  
• Corduroy cap that Xander adores which went missing last month mysteriously
  
• T-shirts, Cigarette lighters and other stuff
  

But still, I don't know what's wrong with the academics here. There is no real interest. That's probably because we don't get any time to relax and then to study. My life as a busy registrar who's actually interested in staying at the wards and doing work with my alter-life as a bassist certainly adds to the cause.

With great talents comes great responsibility of managing them I feel (LOLz at the RottenTomatoes.com article title on Spidey 3 picture galleries.

Anyways, I was so tired despite having to do nothing basically, that I slept and I overslept in the process. Thereby, I denied my gang to get in touch with thim despite their earnest efforts.

What eventually transpired was that Parry, Sandy and S. went out to town to buy gifts for me. The masterplan of letting GS buy the microphone for Xander didn't quite work. But there is a tomorrow ahead for converting 'talents' to 'responsibility' executions!

The pervert character from 'Water'

It's been a long time since I posted photos of men who arouse me. This guy Gerson D. Cunha portrays the role of the protagonist's father who uses the protagonist's lover as a prostitute.

Two things about him. Firstly he is hot. Secondly, his surname when pronounced, sounds like the Malayalam slang word for the penis!

Water and Rob-B-Hood

I can't help but succumb to the desire of watching back to back movies these days. Today I saw two.




'Water' directed by Deep Mehta was the Indian representative at the Oscars. Although it took up the controversial topic of widows and harassment in India, the movie was not all that exciting. But being the pervert that I am, I had some hots thinking about the protagonist's father using his son's lover as a prostitute unknowingly.

During the movie I was eyeing a couple of Muslim Dad's sitting nearby. My interest in them suddenly diminished after one of them assaulted the Hindu Brahmins in the movie by calling 'Sister fuckers' in response to the dialogue in the movie when the protagonsist's friend glorifies prostitution by saying the whomever that a Hindu Brahmin sleeps with is blessed.

My cruising instinct which was on 'active' mode since yesterday hoped for more action during the second film. But this time around, there weren't any hot daddies at all. All were young families with small kids for watching the Jackie Chan action comedy 'Rob-B-Hood'.



This movie is below average with a lot of great Jackie chan action sequences. The only thing that I can remember about the movie is my intense desire to urinate during the intermission, because of all the coffee that I had been drinking today. That gave me another whiff at cruising. But not even on dick was made visible! How mean of you the average Mumbaikar man!

I bought myself a new Nokia Handsfree headset and a MMC card reader. That should solve my current problem of not having a working portable music player. My Zen Micro's headphones are with e-boy for a long time.

Inspired again because of brighter twist to life (thanks to the headset), I clean my room up. I also make plans with the gang to buy Xander a microphone on his birthday.

Busy day

Today was a busy day with my operation theatre duties. Nothing to mention about. I ended up watching a little bit of the cricket from the Windies. While sleeping, I was thinking of what gift I should get for Xander. His birthday is coming in 6 days on Monday!

Overrated I would say. The graphics were amazing. 3 and a half stars max.

What? On the second consecutive holiday, I saw the movie 300!



Like apocalypto, lots of male nudity on display. But still didn't really whet my appetite.

I had gone their at the 10.30 AM show in a plush multiplex. After that I hung out at the Musician's Mall almost all afternoon and I picked up the guitars by evening. After jamming for a little time, we hung out at the Phoneix mall. We had dinner again at the famous sizzler restaruant in the mall.

I left back to the hospital after that.

Sunday fight

Today morning, I felt like I wanted to do something other than jam. Like watch a movie. Therefore, after getting up really late, I had a lazy breakfast reading the newspaper, bathed leisurely and at around 2 pm I set to to the wards. I took an extensive round thinking ahead for 2 days (of holidays) and as I was finishing up, I got a call from Parry. They were jamming at home.

Even while lying that I was about to call them, I felt happy that I'm going to jam after all. I can't explain the sudden change of emotions.

Everyone was free and in the mood. Therefore, we headed to the Musician's mall with my new bass guitar and Xander's electric guitar. Both needed some minor adjustments (hopefully). We went on a cab and on the way, I, finally feeling happy about the way things had evolved after nearly 1 days of purposeful avoidance of the rest of the band, was happy and gay. I felt like singing songs on the cab. Nobody was in the mood and Xander had a cold. Really, I was left with just myself and with my hoarseness, it was more like croaking/screaming. I had fun. But no one else had really.

At the shop, we were glad to find that my bass was doing very well except for a set of ageing strings. Xander's guitar needed further check-ups. We also ran into a retired professor from my hospital who was introduced to me by the shopkeeper who knew that I was a surgeon working at the hospital.

After that, the main-even unfolded. We jammed for the first time in history as a band with all on their own instruments. The jam was not as good as last time when me Parry and E-boy had gone. But still, E-boy was sounding like heaven on drums.

The shopkeeper needed the shop to be closed by 6 AM. We left both the guitars there for further check-ups tomorrow. After a coffee at Cafe Coffee Day, we set out to meet J., E-boy's former colleague and a possible future-band mate of mine (and E-boy's for that matter). J. owed E-boy some money and was returning it to him.

Then we went to the mulit-cuisine, pork-specialist restaurant called Oasis. There we had wonderful food. We headed back home and on the way we stopped at Xander's office to finish off some urgent work. We took some print outs of tabs and Sumit made us listen to a few inspiring songs from Dave Matthews Band 'So Damn Easy', 'American Baby', 'Dreamgirl' and the acoustic rendition of 'Creep', which, particulary that one, inspired me totally.

In that awesome mood, we headed home. As soon as we reached back, me, E-boy and Parry started jamming. Oh wow, it was sounding great. But Xander was not in a mood. He didn't really sing like he was enjoying it. After a while, even E-boy went and sat with him strumming some songs on the acoustic.

While all this, me and Parry were figuring out riffs from the latest song that we were working on; 'So Cold' by the Breaking Benjamin. Sometime later, E-boy and Xander started fooling around. I was already in an irritable mood after the nipple crushing that I had received from boy E-boy and Xander in the cab ride earlier. Yet, I was controlling my anger, smiling and playing along.

Then I lost my mind completely and threw my four-string bass guitar on to a pile of beer bottles on the floor. I was so pissed that I said that I have had enough and that I was leaving then. Parry calmed me down. Apparently E-boy and Xander were also pissed with my behaviour.

Parry tried talking to them as well. He tried so hard to get us talking that I felt bad for him and I went and started the conversation. We started blaming each other for what had happened. I was unhappy with the fact that I threw my bass guitar to show my rage instead of talking to them/shouting at them. I was starting to feel creepy about how I was becoming like my Dad or my sister, both of whom, I modelled against when growing up.

Arguments got heated. Finally I lost it and started crying. I was feeling very bad about not being able to talk to my set of friends about how I felt. About the lack of freedom and honesty that we had in our relationship. Parry and E-boy tried consoling me and finally I settled down.

We ended up talking till about 6 AM after which, I came back to the hostel and slept.

Saturday without the jam

Tonight, I didn't feel like going for jamming. I don't exactly know why. There was work until about 12.00 midnight. After that I felt like sleeping. So I didn't reply to the gang's calls. They must have been rocking away. I was sleeping away as early as 1 AM.

The letter of errors

My stoopid houseman created another problem for me today. About a week back, he had gotten into an argument with one of the patients who had come to the OPD. The usual 'Doctors are not seeing patients fast enough' crap. The patient had lodged a complaint against my junior.

Now, what my houseman had to do was to write an explanation against the allegations that the patient had made. Yeah, he did that! After about a week.

When my professor actually read his letter, he was struck with dismay. There were on an average 4.389 errors per line. Spelling mistakes, punctuation errors, grammatical blunders and what not.

Although we had a hearty laugh over this, I ended up getting the responsibility for framing a letter on my own on my junior's behalf which he would copy and submit later.

At 2 AM in the night, I'm still drafting the final copy of the letter!

Fuck!

Because of all this shit, I wasn't able to go over to the apartment where Xander and E-boi are jamming.

Flurry of accidents

Today morning, I read in the paper that Mahrashtra was the nations leading 'accident-prone state' and that as usual, Mumbai was the the jewel in its crown in this aspect as well.

Quite true I would say. At least, on the basis of what I had experienced at the emergency today. We had around 10 new admissions; all of them being accidents on the road.

In a related story, have also read somewhere that Kerala is the leading 'geriatric filled state' with over 10% of population being above 60! Now you have a scientific reason for me like Older Men; I have more chance of falling in love with an Older man.

'Dreamgirls' and 'Apocalypto'

The double-bill finally materialized. I watched two movies back to back on the same screen of the same multiplex.



'Dreamgirls' - ***1/2

I really didn't know what to expect from it. I knew it was a musical and had been told that it was not worth watching in the theatre. But I did as I usually do. I was impressed by both Beyonce and Jennifer Hudson. It was an amazing experience with so many electrifying vocal performance. Again, one of those movies which inspired the musician in me.



'Apocalypto' - ***1/2

It was actually a surprise. I expected it to be ***. But Xander's review forced me to believe that it is more like ****. But what effects. Although the string of coincidences at the latter half of the movie which help flee the protagonist of the movie is a little silly.

After all that, I spent the rest of the evening the hospital slogging.

Another busy day

Today was yet another busy day at the OT. Nothing special to comment on that. In the evening, I searched in vain for my favorite HS-23 Nokia Handsfree headset. After that, I caught up with Ray. He had an eventful night the day before when he watched 'The Departed' at the movie hall. A crusing experience both inside the thatre and after that on the bus ride! Whoa!

I slept off watching 'X-men: The Last Stand' hoping that tomorrow would give me enough time to finish my pending movie list.

Sister in town

Yesterday, meeting with my sister didn't take place. She was supposed to drop down to the hospital sometime today before leaving. And she did that at the time when I was at my busiest. I had my follow-up OPD in the afternoon. She came here just after the OPD began. Obviously, I couldn't have run out of the OPD to see her.

So she had to roam around the campus (with my brother-in-law) until about quarter past five when I finally got free. Then I went over to her cousin in-law's place where she was staying on her brief 24 hour stay. From there, we started immediately to the railway station.

The funny thing about all this is the hurriedness in it. I was able to at least not disappoint her parents-in-law by giving medications and stuff for her MIL's knee, shoulder pain.

I was very happy with what had happened.

Back at the hospital after that, I worked till about 3 AM so as to finish most of the work.

The Pursuit of HAPPYness

This weekend was different because I got up at the hostel instead of at the apartment. I finsihed my laundry which had piled up for about a couple of weeks. Then I searched my entire room to gather all the medication for my sister's mother in law. So, I finished my round as soon as I could, which was at about 1 AM, and then went to the apartment.

Me, Xander and E-boy jammed for about an hour or so after which all of us felt tired. Parry was at his home and was in an indifferent mood. All this meant that another weekend passed without us going to the jamming room cum guitar shop.

Instead we went for the movie 'In Pursuit of HAPPYness'. I was sort of surprised at my reaction to the movie which would have otherwise been a okay-good movie. But I could really relate to the perpetual brokenness of Will Smith's character, his internship woes and the lack of a good apartment to live - all part and parcel of my life as a resident her.

The day which was screwed by my dick-head of a junior

Today again I was involved in three of the four surgeries which took place. I actually performed a hemi replacement of hip as well. But the strangest incident was the fact that my Associate Professor, with whom I have been having a rather 'friendlier' relationship, called me in to help him out in a problem case despite my colleague and senior being washed up with him. Apparently, he trusts me more than those two.

And he called something which I did 'sexy' which sent rages of suppressed laughter through the Operation Table. As usual, after he had left leaving almost the entire closure to ME (and not the other two), there were those nasty comments about what I talked to him in the calls that I make at night!

Fuck off pricks!

My evening round which was supposed to be an early affair got delayed because S. had dropped by. We jammed some songs in my room as my roomie had left for a few days to visit his uncle. Oh yeah and before he left, he had left a message as SMS on my mobile phone which read 'Kris, I'm going to my uncle's place for a function for four days. There are no restrictions on your music if they ever were.'

Yeah, Fuck off roomie!

What the hell does he mean by if they were ever there. Whenever I played "BOB" on WorldSpace or when I jamed on my guitars, he used to say 'Kris, I'm getting disturbed by this and I need to study'.

After all this shit, then came the real night mare - my junior, who by his usual acts of carelessness and negligence, destroyed my peace for the entire night by not doing any of the things he was supposed to finish before my evening calls to my professors.

I was so bloody upset that I was almost relieved when S. and Xander okayed my decision to not turn up for jamming. So, I spend the night in search for some online sex which I couldn't find because I slept off soon.

The post emergency

Due to a freak incident yesterday, thanks to one pesky relative of a patient, my Nokia handsfree headset, which I have been so thankful of having lately, went bad. That has changed my life totally. Less than 12 hours after the incident, I was so uncomfortable with talking in the traditional way that I had to go look at the shops nearby for another headset.

I could'nt get it. And I slept late because of this shit. All this meant that I was tired and late in starting my evening round. After doing all the pre OT work with my nincompoop of a houseman, I finished up all the paper work hoping for a busy weekend with my sister visiting town.

I hit the bed quite late but only after practicing a little bit of Tool on my four-stringer.

Tiring emergency

As the trend continued, I couldn't get a night's rest before the emergency because of the trip to visit my sister etc. But still, probably because of what i had achieved in the 12 hours or so for the journey, I had a proverbial 'spring in my feet' today.

The breakfast at the 'Anna's' fast food joint gave me the kick-start. The OPD was busy as hell. We got free by practically 10 to 2. After that, I had my lunch but couldn't chat to my parents cuz they were away on tour.

My professor had his usual series of post-op wound checks lined up for the late afternoon. So once again, as is for the last 5 weeks, I spent the early afternoon waiting for him. Once the wound checks were finished, I spent some more time in the ward completing what was pending of today's paper work.

In the emergency, I was operating all night. I did three of the four surgeries and was feeling good about what I had done.

Super unplanned trip

Yesterday, I had signed off saying that my sister was visiting me this weekend. Today morning, she called me up to say that she'd already reached pretty close by (meaning 3 hours from); she actually was visiting me as part of her little tour for a training course in Water Works engineering.

The day began and dragged off as usual in the morning. The only difference for today from any other Wednesday being the fact that I got enough time for a bath and a sumptuous breakfast of almost home-made Dosas and Chutney from the relatively unknown tamil vendor just outside my hospital.

After the second round from our Associate Professor (AP), I lingered on in the office. There were a couple of X-rays of hip fracture which needed to be planned. I did that. The AP had asked yesterday if I would help him out in a surgery in a private hospital were he was practicing. I had agreed without thinking too much. The surgery which was scheduled at 2pm in the afternoon was postponed due to some freaky electrolyte (read Potassium) value in the blood test for the patient.

Talk about blessing in disguises!

My sister rang me up again at around 1.30 pm when I was lazily completing my ward work. Then it struck me... I could easily go and visit her. For that, I would have to go under cover though. On the pretext that I was still in campus. Yeah, I'm a daredevil, a stupid one... as my sister will point out later on in the evening.

I did just that.

I boarded a train at around 3 pm and reached my destination at around 6.30 pm. Then I took around an hour to reach the place where my sister was waiting for me. Then we went on meandering through a strangely deserted street to end up eating at a veggie restuarant which was also, voila, deserted! The food was pretty good, thankfully. But the mood was spoilt by the calls that I received and had to make to the hospital.

We caught up with each other, not with the same kind of earnest intrigue charecterstic of our relationship about 5 years back. But still we did. After our dinner I had to drop my sister back to a place which must have meant 'Middle of Nowhere' in Marathi. It was about 20 km off the city and it was really cold. But that's where my sister's guest house was located. On the way, inside a rackety rickshaw, I came to know that this blog, YES FELLOWS... IT'S TIME TO STAND AND APPLAUD, is read both by my sister and brother in law.

It was kinda strange initially. Because of the sheer explicit nature of the description about my life. More intriguing because I'm sure that my blog isn't searchable on Google with my real name. I guess my BiL must have gotten this off my computer from the history section.

Anyways, my sister wanted me to take the picture off of the page. And that's why she thought was my life's at risk. That settles a lot of the laughs that me and my gang had over the last month or so.

The journey was pretty fast. I made back to the hospital hostel from the 'Middle of Nowhere' in the same time as that for the train journey.

And now I'm blogging after I found that my roomie, who must have thought that I wouldn't come so early, was playing James Blunt lamenting 'Your'e Beautiful' loud and clear from FM routed through my speakers. He didn't exactly understand what he had to do after I came in. What he did was strange as well. After the song got over, he got up and went and waned down the volume and then switched it off.

Yeah great! Just after that song he would have to go back to the supermely concentrating state! Fuck u! I turned 'BOB' on at nice volume; not too loud though and start typing.

Facts of the day -

• In around 3 hours and with 55 Rupees - you can travel around 190 km on a train.
  
• In around 3 hours and with 350 Rupees - you can travel about 50 km from the city to 'Middle of Nowhere' and back.
  
• In around 3 hours and with 280 Rupees - you can eat a nice two course dinner at a posh Veg restraunt.
  
• In around 3 hours and with 300 Rupees - you can travel around 190 km on a Volvo bus.

Fantasy land? Not quite

My life is not going anywhere in particular. Just a hell lot of dreams swaying in the oceans. Maybe not practicable at all. Like the picture above... This car is designed by a Mechanical engineer in my home town and the sea and the harbor in view is about 15 km from my home.

I have problems with work with people misunderstanding me. I have problems at the Surgical table. I have problems with juniors and seniors. Whatever!

But the best news for today is that my sister is going to visit me coming weekend. This would be the first time I have met her after I came out to her.

Nishabdh postponed

From the lazy morning until late afternoon, my life had one pointless aim - to catch a show of Nishabd in one of the oldest cinemas of South Mumbai. But the sheer lack of proficiency of my junior colleague forced me to spend the whole of the evening and night (until I sat on the computer for this post). But that brought memories of good things from the past - from the day of my House Surgeoncy in Kerala to the first 1 and a half years of residency.

Really, the interactions with the patients, relatives and other persons are the brightest points of my hospital life. I mean, I don't have the pointless aim of achieving greatness in the field of proficiency that I'm trying to master.

Yeah, I was very happy. In a great mood as I left the hospital. I lstened to a couple of old songs on my phone. I got very excited and I sang and recorded with my roomie sleeping (or trying to doze off).

Fuck, what if life has postponed a movie!

2nd 'Holi'day

This is my second year in this Queen of Metropolises; hence my second time celebrating the festival 'Holi'. I kind of despise it. I'm scared by it rather. I hate colors and ruining of clothes in the act of celebrations. Therefore, I had clearly planned my protocol to avoid.

Yesterday night, I got out of the hospital sleatlhily. Today morning, despite we having plans to go for a matinee show for the latest hollywood blockbuster, we didn't dare to step out of the apartment fearing the predicament of getting drenched in colors thanks to those crazy kids at the apartment complex. They had made such a racket in the morning trying to call Xander 'uncle' out for a splurge.

We got up from our slumbers in the late afternoon phase. After having a 'Chicken Maharaja Mac' at the mall across the street, I went back to the hospital. I sat on my screwed up Windows XP trying to set right what had gone wrong; my Nokia phone's synchronising software had crashed a few weeks back. I couldn't manage to get it done but I did some system stabilizing functions which has improved the speed of the OS.

After all that, I went and finished my work. The gang (E-boi, Xander and Parry) were planning to pick me up en-route to 'The Last King of Scotland'. Xander was indisposed cuz of a suspected post-binge gastritis. We couldn't get the ticket at the 9 O' Clock show at a premiere multiplex.

So we changed plans. Xander wanted to go home. We, the three (the rest) of us, went to a hair salon (or saloon), had dinner and watched the amazing movie at another Multiplex starting 10.45 pm.

After I came back, I sat on the computer again. But again, I couldn't fix the jinx. I think I need to sort this out by reinstalling Win XP. As I tried to doze off, I completed X-men Part 1. WOW! What a fantastic movie and concept.

I slept of at 5 AM bloody! What a wrteched routine?!

The routine OT with a difference

Normally, our OTs are dreary and prolonged due to our professor's elaborate Spine surgeries taking place in one of the two tables. Today it was different, as my professor did a relatively simple (small) surgery resulting in a totally different atmosphere.

I was washed up with a rare and interesting paediatric surgery. Although I hadn't read up anything, and despite fact that I was humiliated for the same, I enjoyed my time. But there was something nagging me at the back of my mind. The humiliating persisted during the second case as well. But still, I had a nice time.

I finished off work by 11 and headed for the jam session. There we had an amazing time by covering 'So Cold' the definitive 'Breaking Benjamin' song. We recorded it as well. That's a change after about 3 weeks.

Then, we had a nice time eating sandwiches made by the e-boi. We had those at 5 AM! And then we slept off watching the movie 'Robots'.

The Sleepathon

I was so tired on post-emergency that I fell asleep in the ward in the morning. Sort of dozed off when I was waiting for rounds. Then came rounds. I finished up the work which was there and then got the opportunity to chat up with visually appealing man.

In the days of 'Nishabd' and me coming out, I think I'm becoming brave enough not to hide my feelings about people I meet at the hospital. Today's subject is a sexy looking man in late forties who happens to be the son-in-law of a patient in my ward. He is an ex-army fellow.

Rounded face, adequate hair parted in the middle which has started greying, a thick but trimmed moustache, a charming smile. But the thing which attracted me most was his style of dressing. A checked half-sleeve shirt, a crotch-tight jeans clearly outlining his endowements and a pair of sneakers. Unusual by any standards.

But his way of talking (accent etc.) and his honestness attracted me the most. I spent about an hour talking to him making him understand the pros and cons of a surgery being offered for his mother in law.

After that I slept off at the Ward Servant's Godown for around 3 hours. Getting up groggy, I returned home and then slept for around 5 hours after going through the internet news articles.

My sister called me in between and confirmed that she might be visiting me next to coming weekend. But she'll be travelling with her in-laws. And after a gap of about 4 months, I talked to Dr. R. He was chugging along in his life as usual.

Then after finishing off work at the hospital, I went for a jam session after E-boi and Xander persuaded me.

Today, I felt normal, like the way I feel. The bass was sounding better as well. I don't know if I've written about the issues which are arising because of the bending of my new bass' neck.

I came back at around 5 AM and then slept for another three hours before my Operation Theatre.

Pre-emgergency jinx

I cannot break the jinx of the pre-emergency day. I slept today morning at around 5 AM after completing all the blog entries. But I didn't have a problem getting up. In the afternoon, my professor's antics cost me to spend extra time in the ward and not in the emergency.

The emergency went okay. No major issues with anyone.