Wednesday, July 30, 2008
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
Fear Factor - 'Khatron Ke Khiladi' - the Akshay version
Reality shows are the biggest hits on Indian TV these days. Four or so years back we had channels like AXN, Discovery and some others airing Hindi dubbed versions of reality shows abroad. Sa Re Ga Ma, Antakshari etc were more like competitions being aired on TV but Indian Idol if I am not mistaken was probably the first Indigenous reality show. Then all sorts of shows came, some of which tested talent and others things like strength, endurance and tolerance.
The newest biggie on the idiot box is the Indian version of Fear Factor called "Khataron Ke Khiladi" airing on "Colors" and featuring none other then bollywood's original Khiladi - Akshay Kumar, as the anchor. The show which started with 13 glam dolls of TV, cinema and modeling fields had created waves even before it saw light. The show has lived up to the hype and the expectations.
The stunts in the show are of the highest standards and indeed very very scary. The glam girls too have caught eyes with their gutsy acts. Yana Gupta and Netra Raghuraman have looked like perfect army material. The biggest disappointment has been the attitude of Vidya Malwade, who played the role of "Vidya Sharma", the Indian women's hockey team captain in "Chak de India". She looked an absolute coward denying attempting two tasks and ended up being kicked out on the second occasion. She did everything possible to rubbish the image she had after "Chak de...", at least in the eyes of those who watched those episodes of "Khatron ke...".
The show has thus far looked very impressive with different stunts requiring contestants to climb very high, dive in cold water, handling snakes, burying the face in insect dunes etc. The extremely beautiful contestants have pleased the eyes and bagged applauses displaying great courage.
The newest biggie on the idiot box is the Indian version of Fear Factor called "Khataron Ke Khiladi" airing on "Colors" and featuring none other then bollywood's original Khiladi - Akshay Kumar, as the anchor. The show which started with 13 glam dolls of TV, cinema and modeling fields had created waves even before it saw light. The show has lived up to the hype and the expectations.
The stunts in the show are of the highest standards and indeed very very scary. The glam girls too have caught eyes with their gutsy acts. Yana Gupta and Netra Raghuraman have looked like perfect army material. The biggest disappointment has been the attitude of Vidya Malwade, who played the role of "Vidya Sharma", the Indian women's hockey team captain in "Chak de India". She looked an absolute coward denying attempting two tasks and ended up being kicked out on the second occasion. She did everything possible to rubbish the image she had after "Chak de...", at least in the eyes of those who watched those episodes of "Khatron ke...".
The show has thus far looked very impressive with different stunts requiring contestants to climb very high, dive in cold water, handling snakes, burying the face in insect dunes etc. The extremely beautiful contestants have pleased the eyes and bagged applauses displaying great courage.
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
The Ducking Stool
Yesterday I caught hold of the Allan and Barbara Pease authored book, "why men lie and women cry".
It had an interesting chapter on nagging. Until early in the nineteenth century men could complain in the court against nagging. If found guilty, the women were punished by the "Ducking Stool". She was strapped to a seat which was suspended by the end of a free moving arm and dunked in river or lake for a predetermined time interval which depended on the severity of the offense. If it wasn't enough they were paraded around the town with iron masks clamped to their heads and a metal bar going in the mouth to hold the tongue down. Jenny Pipes from Leominster, England was the last woman to suffer ducking stool in 1809.
The book says that women more often than not nag with a positive intent but actually nagging doesn't help. It appears to the men as a taunt. The authors say that asking the man to do something as if it were the woman's right would help better.
Nagging can lead to really ugly ends. Women have three times the area reserved for speech and language in a man's brain. This further complicates matters. When a woman finds it necessary to talk and speak, a man may not have the stamina to talk anymore.
The female brain is organized for multi tracking while most men can concentrate only on a job at a time. This is the reason why a woman may speak about many topics at the same time and expect the man to understand and recall all of them. This may complicate the nagging even more.
Continuing reading.. Will get back to all of you soon..
It had an interesting chapter on nagging. Until early in the nineteenth century men could complain in the court against nagging. If found guilty, the women were punished by the "Ducking Stool". She was strapped to a seat which was suspended by the end of a free moving arm and dunked in river or lake for a predetermined time interval which depended on the severity of the offense. If it wasn't enough they were paraded around the town with iron masks clamped to their heads and a metal bar going in the mouth to hold the tongue down. Jenny Pipes from Leominster, England was the last woman to suffer ducking stool in 1809.
The book says that women more often than not nag with a positive intent but actually nagging doesn't help. It appears to the men as a taunt. The authors say that asking the man to do something as if it were the woman's right would help better.
Nagging can lead to really ugly ends. Women have three times the area reserved for speech and language in a man's brain. This further complicates matters. When a woman finds it necessary to talk and speak, a man may not have the stamina to talk anymore.
The female brain is organized for multi tracking while most men can concentrate only on a job at a time. This is the reason why a woman may speak about many topics at the same time and expect the man to understand and recall all of them. This may complicate the nagging even more.
Continuing reading.. Will get back to all of you soon..
Thursday, April 24, 2008
Crux of Dr. Shrikhande's life - Must read
Today at our college, Rabindra Nath Tagore Medical College, Udaipur, we had a seminar with Prof. Dr. V.N. Shrikhande of Bombay Hospital, FRCS from England and Edingurgh and formerly a professor at Grant Medical College, Mumbai as the speaker.. He is a general surgeon and by choice practices Gastro-intestinal and specifically Hepato-billiary and pancreatic surgery.. He is renowned world over.. He delivered a lecture today on "Success in Professional Careers, boon or bane"..
The thoughts were really enlightening.. I was amused at the way he spoke and earned everybody's favor.. He described the components of success as, physiological, physical, material, identity and status.. He said that even after having all this there is a feeling of emptiness inside.. Then he told us to go into the cause of doing what we do and try to check if it is worthy..
He gave an example where about 50 years back when much facilities weren't available he had a young patient who required operation to save his life.. But those days surgeries carried high risk of contraction of infections, consequently leading to death.. And the relatives of the patient said that they would agree to let him be operated only if he doesn't die after surgery.. Legally Dr. Shrikhande could have got the signature of the relative, not agreeing to operation and could have let the nature take course but ethically he felt that it was incorrect.. So he decided to operate upon and the surgery was successful.. He says that any thing done with good intention always pays off..
Dr. Shrikhande was the one who had operated upon Dr. Shankar Dayal Sharma's hernia when all other doctors had refused owing to high risk.. He successfully operated him..
He says that people must have their conviction, belief in themselves and their own abilities..
He says imagination is the key to find solutions.. He gave an example where once his son had asked him that in heart attacks if the garbage gets accumulated in the pipes (blood vessels) why don't people clean it with a brush.. And this is what we call today, "Angioplasty"..
He cited that when he first went into an operation theatre, a senior surgeon was shouting and the patient was panicking.. He says that, that day he decided that he will never shout or get angry..
He says that in the same manner as we never forget to keep control over the brake while driving, similarly if we try and keep control over the brake on our brain we will never get angry..
And one won't believe, that Dr. Shrikhande was an average student and one teacher in his medical college had even told him to leave medicine.. The same teacher called him one day and asked if he could see him operate once..
After today's lecture there was a feeling of pride and I felt extremely privileged to be a part of a profession where we get to interact so closely with such souls and minds..
The thoughts were really enlightening.. I was amused at the way he spoke and earned everybody's favor.. He described the components of success as, physiological, physical, material, identity and status.. He said that even after having all this there is a feeling of emptiness inside.. Then he told us to go into the cause of doing what we do and try to check if it is worthy..
He gave an example where about 50 years back when much facilities weren't available he had a young patient who required operation to save his life.. But those days surgeries carried high risk of contraction of infections, consequently leading to death.. And the relatives of the patient said that they would agree to let him be operated only if he doesn't die after surgery.. Legally Dr. Shrikhande could have got the signature of the relative, not agreeing to operation and could have let the nature take course but ethically he felt that it was incorrect.. So he decided to operate upon and the surgery was successful.. He says that any thing done with good intention always pays off..
Dr. Shrikhande was the one who had operated upon Dr. Shankar Dayal Sharma's hernia when all other doctors had refused owing to high risk.. He successfully operated him..
He says that people must have their conviction, belief in themselves and their own abilities..
He says imagination is the key to find solutions.. He gave an example where once his son had asked him that in heart attacks if the garbage gets accumulated in the pipes (blood vessels) why don't people clean it with a brush.. And this is what we call today, "Angioplasty"..
He cited that when he first went into an operation theatre, a senior surgeon was shouting and the patient was panicking.. He says that, that day he decided that he will never shout or get angry..
He says that in the same manner as we never forget to keep control over the brake while driving, similarly if we try and keep control over the brake on our brain we will never get angry..
And one won't believe, that Dr. Shrikhande was an average student and one teacher in his medical college had even told him to leave medicine.. The same teacher called him one day and asked if he could see him operate once..
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Doctors, IITians beware!
A nursing northern fur seal mother leave their pups to feed on fish in the sea. When they return, even if after a week, they identify them amongst thousands in the breeding colony. They use a mixture of sight, sound ans smell cues.
They can remember voices for very long duration. They have been found to respond to each other's voices after even four years of parting.
They can remember voices for very long duration. They have been found to respond to each other's voices after even four years of parting.
IPL: Food for thought
There has been hue and cry about the auction of players at the Indian Premier League. People have gone as far as labeling it as the auction of the game.
But what one needs to understand is that this world works on the principle of demand and supply and the bid prices of players went in proportion with the number of franchisee owners having them in their wish list.
The thing that needs to be understood here that the soul of the game lies in nation versus nation ties and nothing can arouse sentiments higher. More money the BCCI is able to generate through IPL, stronger will be the infrastructure and thus the whole system will get better.
The stadiums that have been selected for IPL matches are going under a huge make over with the currency coming in through IPL.
Another argument thats been brewed is that the youngsters will opt the T20 style and will aim to play only in IPL because of big money. But here again one has to be reminded that IPL teams in all will pick up around 80 players from domestic and under 19 circuit. And these will be the players who are performing well at international or domestic level. So there's no question of cricketers not playing for their state or country and playing for IPL.
Still there may be problems but one has rise higher to touch the clouds. Lets hope that this Kerry Packer Part 2 movie gets public vote as well as critical acclaim.
But what one needs to understand is that this world works on the principle of demand and supply and the bid prices of players went in proportion with the number of franchisee owners having them in their wish list.
The thing that needs to be understood here that the soul of the game lies in nation versus nation ties and nothing can arouse sentiments higher. More money the BCCI is able to generate through IPL, stronger will be the infrastructure and thus the whole system will get better.
The stadiums that have been selected for IPL matches are going under a huge make over with the currency coming in through IPL.
Another argument thats been brewed is that the youngsters will opt the T20 style and will aim to play only in IPL because of big money. But here again one has to be reminded that IPL teams in all will pick up around 80 players from domestic and under 19 circuit. And these will be the players who are performing well at international or domestic level. So there's no question of cricketers not playing for their state or country and playing for IPL.
Still there may be problems but one has rise higher to touch the clouds. Lets hope that this Kerry Packer Part 2 movie gets public vote as well as critical acclaim.
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