Sunday, March 16, 2008

A comma, a full stop.

Manjunath Kalmani: Was a software engineer in Silicon valley. Paralyzed from neck down. Spinal cord injury level C4 when he got injured in a car Accident at Nashville, TN, in April 2002.. slowly injury level became C2 complete. On ventilator 100%. Only communication- writing through sip n puff mouth control device.

Presently in Safdarjung Hospital, New Delhi.

Well, you think you have problems? Think again. Do you have enough problems?

I don't know why I started writing this on my blog- may be sympathy, may be frustration at seeing someone so helpless, may be the fear at a 'what if scenario' (what if something like that happens to me?), may be this... may be that... may be...

For one, I did see (and yes, experience as well) a similar situation to a far lesser degree where you see someone helpless, bedridden slowly waiting for the day when there can be a full stop to the suffering. My grandmother was bedridden (more for age related issues) for nearly half a year, a month in hospital. I understand the pain that comes along.

Why did I write 'A comma, a full stop' as the heading: Manjunath's life is a full stop. he knows he is not mentally ill, he knows he can do all the mental activities you and I are capable off... but still he cannot do those. He is a chronically ill patient. I actually pity the family of Manjunath too. Some people may not appreciate it. But I am sure the lives of his parents and immediate family at Koppal would have sorely got affected. When someone you know very well suffers, a part of you automatically starts suffering too... a comma seems to crop up in a smooth flowing life.

As someone says - 'If 'ifs' and 'buts' were pots and pans, there would be no tinkers'. Life goes on. But, lets take in a moment's silence. Lets do something which will lessen the burden of a fellow human.

May be he can lead a near normal life. Look at the pic. There's a person sitting- he's Perry. May be he can sit too. You know that is a great pleasure for someone who has slept for past 5 years- to sit, to move on a wheelchair. That's bliss.

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Ciao till next time...Harsha

Wednesday, March 05, 2008

The pleasures of gyming!

I strongly recommend this to all those souls who feel they need to be in the thick of action all the time... every time. Gyming.

Of all the basic human needs, the most important one seems to be 'the need to be counted.. the satisfaction of having achieved something every single day'..

Since yours truly falls into this category and gets bored at the drop of hat, gyming time has becoming crowning glory everyday nowadays!

Yeah also, who doesn't want that sculpted 'Greek God' body! Its been a month now since I started visiting the local gym.. and though no actual physical improvement on outset can be seen, the joy of getting physically stressed out makes the day ahead look a lot rosier!

For all the unlucky folks struck in jobs like me where male-female ratio seems to be rather skewed... more like 100:1 (whoever keeps telling there are 929 females for every 1000 males in the country must be kidding!) its a chance for seeing the 'chicks'..

Well.. I can go on.. but, I see you've got my point- join the gym my friend!

Here are some good cartoons I came across- worth reading for laughs..



Ciao till next time...Harsha