The Dangerous Habit of Living in Denial..

It hurts when we don't support, in what so ever way we can, the causes which have or can have greater impact on our society, our nation and our Home- The Blue Planet EARTH..!

Yesterday was world Earth Hour (28th March 2015 from 8:30pm-9:30pm local time). It's being promoted by WWF (World Wide Fund for Nature) every year since 2007 when it started in Australia as an awareness initiative against Global Warming.

All we had to do was Switch Off our all non essential lights for 1hour starting from 8:30 pm local time! But did we?

I didn't..because I forgot! And why I forgot?? probably because I didn't give it that much importance.

I was also hurt by the fact that we all have all the time to send/forward so many useless nonsense jokes/pranks on all social media sites. But, I don't remember seeing any regarding this important issue in my frnd circle..which disheartens me! 

We can't be aloof about climate change for long. Because it's inevitable.. unless we pledge to act now! 

"We are the first generation to feel the impact of climate change, and the last generation that can do anything about it!" -Barack Obama 

6 Reasons why every 'arrogant' bachelor should Cook!

I started cooking (full-fledged cooking! I mean...I used to cook maggie and stuff like that earlier as well..) few months back - Last week of October or early November last year. Prior to that I have always been getting food cooked by some maid or was lucky enough to have with me my mummy or  my cousin who are expert at this art.  Last year in October my cousin shifted to her new house and I was having trouble finding maid for cooking due to my work timings and also due to the fact that I am a lone bachelor (will not be for very long though! ;) !! 

So, unwillingly though, I decided to cook myself. And today I can tell you this was one of my best decisions of my life. Learning to cook was a great fun. It also has given me great confidence and brought within me a kind of humbleness/ humility. Here is what all I have learnt from my experiences: 

1. Cooking is not EASY.

Yes, it's not at all easy! It's a full fledged work! And now that I have done it for a while I realise, what someone once said to me was absolutely right that a housewife's introduction shouldn't be "ye kuch nahi karti, ye housewife hain!" anymore. I've started cooking only few months back and I know this is not all that a housewives do...It's just one aspect of her daily chores but after having gone through this I must say it is indeed a very significant and demanding one. So in my view being a homemaker is not at all any lesser job than the so called fancy job of yours!

2. Cooking is not that "Big Deal" thing as well.

You also come to know this fact after you are in the kitchen for 2-4 weeks and after you have burnt few dishes and few fingers of yours as well, ruined some recepies and after you finally got the measure of salt and spices to be added to some particular dish you start to have this feeling that cooking might not be as simple as a walk in the park but its not a 'rocket science' as well. So, it's not a big deal after all.

3. Cooking is a Great Stress buster.

At least for me. It works. I think mainly because when you are naive at something you tend to focus bit more consciously to get things right as you are not used to these kind of work. So your all attention is on the job at hand only and not wandering all around in the universe...and after a period of an hour or so you really feel relaxed as your mind was doing what was in your control instead of worrying about things that may or may not be in your control. This brings happiness feeling of achieving something, specially when your chapatis puffs up like a big spotless sun-melon!!

4. Cooking makes you a multi-tasking expert.

Well, not from the day one I suppose. In fact, during initial days all I could do was just one thing at a time. If I was boiling milk I used to keep staring at the milk in the container until it got boiled and I have turned the gas off. And today, I can use all four burners of my gas simultaneously with different things cooking on each of them.  

5. Cooking reminds me of my Mom.

This I didn't know till few weeks back, although I was cooking for almost 4 months now! Very recently I think last to last week, when I was done with my kitchen's rituals and when I had rearranged all the stuffs to pre-cooking stage in my kitchen, I washed my hands and was checking my twitter account when I smelled my hands- in that very instant all I could remember was my mother - her hands too smelled exactly the same...! I belong to that generation of people and come from that family background where we didn't have the luxury of servants. My mom is a working lady. And she is a homemaker too. She used to cook and occasionally, feed the two of us (me and my brother Kunal) with her hands...! It was a priceless memory lost somewhere in my mesencephalon and I am glad that I have revived it and it was possible only because of cooking. 

PS: Now I never forget to smell my hands after cooking.!!

6. You can always Experiment/ innovate.

As long as you are bachelor and you are cooking for yourself alone or some 'chaddi-buddy' friends, you can experiment with whatever you are cooking whether be it cooking rice with few mint leaves in pressure cooker, cooking maggie with oregano seasonings with hint of garlic butter added right after turning off the gas (awesome) or cooking maggie with scrambled eggs (Awful- never try) and many more such things. And sometimes something amazing comes out of your experiments. So, while there is no one to judge you or rate your cooking keep experimenting and keep learning.

Dr. Virat Kuntalam (Follow me on Twitter @viraat_k)

Happy New Year

For me this whole year was some sort of roller coaster ride... with so many highest highs and equally even were the lowest low...! But over all, like they say, all is well if it ends well...

If I were to sum up the whole year I would say I did reasonably well professionally...made new good friends who were just my colleagues once, earned respect from colleagues and sub-ordinate staffs, gained admiration of my superiors, and most of all, it was the love and affection of patients which blew me over...!

While my professional life was full of highs...(except for a few lows too!) my personal life was a bumpy ride... with me hurting so many of my near and dear ones...! Though on most of the occasions it was purely unintentional.. but still the fact remains unchanged that I did hurt them and hurt them pretty badly.

Sometimes it so happens that you are so pissed off with yourself that you don't even treat other people well... it's not that you are mad with the person standing next to you or the person you are conversing on phone with...but still you behave rudely...you talk rudely... and they think its them who are at fault...when the fact is its actually your frustration with yourself that coming out...!!

A while back, I read somewhere, "People will forget what you said, people may forget what you did, but they will never forget how you made them feel." this is so true..everyone should remember this...I need to remember this all the time.. for there is no greater cruelty than to make someone feel awful..specially when you are aware of their feelings..

Problems aggravate when you become habitual in taking people for granted...you need to cherish the people who care for you...not take them for granted...as if what they do for you is their duty...! Be wise, and always have this knowledge that if you are cared for then you are certainly very lucky! Stand for them. Take good care of those who care for you..for you can only repent once you have lost them to your arrogance..!

May this New Year brings more happiness and wisdom to all of us.. 

True Love...

Handle with Care...

Few weeks ago, I was among my colleagues, and during casual chit-chat somebody asked…What is true love? And the weirdest and the most unexpected answer which came, we all knew it for sure, was a mere sarcasm and nothing else...but in our hearts we all wished it be true... Not just for the guy who said so, but for all of us so that when we say, "My true love is My wife!" we better mean it...from the core of our hearts!!  

True love is such a cliché...For some, its what Jane Austen’s Mr. Darcy and Miss Elizabeth Bennett shared amongst themselves in the famous romantic novel Pride and Prejudice, for some its the chemistry shared between Bella Swan and Edward Cullen of Twilight Saga epic…and for some it’s the on screen chemistry of Varun (Humpty) and Alia (Kavya) of Humpty Sharma ki Dulhania fame…! 

For me, its none of the above…!! For me true love is not something...which should be such a rare commodity…or which has to be looked for in epic novels or movies or out of the world stories… For me it has to be present amongst us only…among common ordinary people…leading daily ordinary lives!!

I believe, true love is...when someone who despite knowing your darkest of dark secret, which you literally are ashamed of to share with anyone, doesn't judge you or label you with some permanent tag but gives you a chance to  improve yourself… When someone whom you have hurt beyond all measures knowingly or unknowingly, not only forgives you but loves you back unconditionally… When you have found someone with whom you are not afraid to share your funniest of funny ideas, weirdest of weird fantasies...who are aware of your most irking of habits yet ignores it... someone who sleeps with head on your chest despite the fact that you actually snore like a pig and you on the other hand, lying on bed at night with eyes closed can proudly sport a subtle smile on your face for you know that there is someone lying just next to you with his/her arm around you, who is always there for you no matter what! 

If you are amogst the luckiest few then you probably have found 'the One' and are currently spending your life with him/her deeply satisfied and madly in love...despite having all the daily discord, disagreements and what not!

And for those of you who are not as lucky as the above mentioned ones...I would still call you guys lucky if you did have 'that one' in your life at some point of your life but unfortunately you two are no longer together for what-so-ever reason/s!! Its an amazing feeling...isn't it? To know that you have/had someone who at times understands/ understood you even better than you understand yourself!! Cheers to all those who have even faintest of idea about whatever nonsense I am talking about...!! :-)

And for those who don't have 'the one' yet in their lives I feel sorry for you...! You have done everything but lived! You may have worked/studied/played etc but not yet lived!!! So, I guess, its time.... Take a break...Get out, explore and LIVE..LAUGH...LOVE...ENJOY!!! 

Virat (@viraat_k)

New Delhi

Swachh Bharat: My Litter, My Responsibility!

               Today while going through the different newspapers, felt really good and somewhat accomplishing that this 'Swachh Bharat' initiative got such a support from all sections of society. I had this gut-feeling yesterday while I was standing along with our Prime Minister at Valmiki Sadan, where he interacted with the Safaai Karmchari of NDMC and from where he started this movement, that it would definitely turn out into a mass movement!

I am not saying this just because I am still in awe of his persona or I was lucky enough to physically meet our Prime Minister (by the way I had never imagined that!!) but rather I am convinced by his belief as well as by his actions that together we can make India clean and much better place. And when he said, "yeh kaam sirf aapka nahi hai, hum sabka hai!" (this is not just your work, but of all of us!) while interacting with safaai karmchari of NDMC! and soon after that he borrowed the broom and started sweeping the pavement along with them. This only shows that, not only his words but his action too are in sync with his beliefs! 

                       One more thing makes me believe that this dream of Swachh Bharat is not just dream but an achievable reality! Let me elaborate it a bit...by default we all inherently love cleanliness. It's just that our standard of cleanliness varies and also the extent of surrounding that one sees fit to keep neat and tidy varies... Even someone who is homeless and has to spend nights on footpaths love cleanliness for he does clean the area where he is going to sleep! I would even go to the extent and say this - Everyone Loves Cleanliness and No one likes things in shabby state!"

                       Its this deep rooted love for cleanliness govt. needs to tap on! We all keep our houses clean. We set beds in morning, sweep and mop our floors (or get these things done by a paid maid)... this again only proves that we love clean surroundings. Similarly, in societies that are better maintained and are frequently visited by civic bodies (like garbage collector etc) are not only clean from within but also outside the houses! 

                  So all that is to be done is just provide basic facilities to society and the domain of cleanliness will gradually enlarge and soon will engulf the whole nation! Well I am aware that its way easier said than done... while authorities need to worry about infrastructure and support issues, we as individual need to work a bit on our own to help improve the situation. We all need to make conscious efforts not to litter on streets, parks, footpaths, roads etc. just the way we don't litter in our homes! 

                       Also, one more thing that we can do is segregate the garbage at our homes itself... its far more easier to segregate a kilo or two of garbage at source than nearly 10 million tonnes of garbage at final disposal point. (The figure is derived from the fact that on an average household garbage produced per person per day in a city like Delhi is nearly a kilo. Multiply this with population of Delhi and you will get the daily garbage produce of our city!!) And this, segregation thing, is quite doable!! 

                          Nearly 74% of daily household litter consists of Paper/Cardboards (30%), Vegetables (23%) and Dust, Cinders and misc. (21%). While vegetables can be utilised as organic compost in kitchen garden (if you happen to have one) and others can be bagged into one and disposed to garbage collectors. Even if you don't have a kitchen garden all you need to do is make separate baggage for vegetables (organic) and the other contents (inorganic) of this 74% part of household garbage. Luckily, we are a country which recycles a lot of inorganic wastes! 

                         As far as the remaining 26% of garbage is concerned its produced in small quantities in regular households. It mainly consists of Glass (10%), Metals (9%), Plastic (4%) and Textiles (3%). These can be stored for sometimes at the source of production itself (that is, household) and disposed off in a while say every fortnight or month. This way a lot of burden will be taken off from final disposal sites and hence will improve waste disposal management. It's high time now, we all need to step up for this cause which is for our own good. Let's make it a policy..."My Litter, My Responsibility!" Let's stop blaming civic bodies for not installing adequate numbers of litter bins in public place...trust me they are not needed! As astounding as it may sound, Japan one of the cleanest country is among the country with lowest number of garbage bins in public place per 1000 people.

So, lets do it...let's make Our Home, a Clean Home; Our Neighbourhood, a Clean Neighbourhood; Our Village, a Clean Village; Our City, a Clean City; and Our Nation, a Clean Nation...!
Together We Can, and together WE WILL...!! Let this cleanliness drive not just be a 2nd October symbolic thing...let's inculcate it into our habits and also into our children's habits. 

Come on, Let's realise Mahatma's saying, "Cleanliness is next to Godliness!"

Jai Hind!!

Dr. Virat Kuntalam (@viraat_k)

Medical Officer,

New Delhi Medical Council

Parliament Street, 

New Delhi 110001

The Learning Enemy - Ticking Time-Bomb within us...!

                    Have you ever imagined why defence and offence strategies of our security forces are so Top Secret!? It’s simple because we  don’t want our enemies to be prepared for what all we have in our stock!!! 

                   Same principle applies to the vast world of microbes (pathogenic - disease causing microbes to be specific). We would not like the Salmonellas (typhoid causing bacteria) Vibrios (cholera causing bacteria), E. colis (many gut and urinary tract infection causing bacteria) and many others to be prepared for the gamut of antimicrobial agents (mainly antibiotics) that we today have and which we use in patients suffering form these diseases.

                 Therefore, need of the hour for we as doctors is to use antibiotics (for that matter any antimicrobial agent!) judiciously and cautiously… It’s really distressing to see the use of higher/next generation antibiotics for simple infections that too without any evidence (e.g. Culture sensitivity reports etc). But we all health care providers are more or less aware of this monstrous problem…and frankly speaking bit scared too…at least I am.. Specially after the emergence of ‘SuperBug’ few years back…!

We medical professionals need to USE ANTIBIOTICS WISELY, NOT WIDELY!

                   So, with this article I basically intend to enlighten the 'non-medico’ segment of the society. Why today? Because, Indian Academy of Paediatrics has undertaken this MISSION AAA (Avoid Antimicrobial Abuse) and is celebrating the Rational Antibiotic Use Day (28 September 2014) and Antimicrobial Awareness Week (28 September 2014 - 05 October 2014).

               Most of the common illnesses like Common Cold, Flu, Diarrhoea are basically caused by viruses…and hence use of antibiotics are redundant. They will not help you get back to office any sooner…! And so, for you- as patients its of utmost importance that you get over this inherent urge to buy prescription medicine over the counter from the pharmacist. ALL ANTIBIOTICS ARE PRESCRIPTION MEDICINES meaning thereby, its illegal to buy them without a valid prescription… and its rightly been that way.  Text below will make you understand why its important.

                      In 1953, there were more than 7,50,00,000 cases of malaria per year! And it was a huge public health burden. Govt. of India launched NMEP (National Malaria Eradication Program) and there was free lance use of DDT to kill the mosquitoes. It did work, temporarily though, bringing malaria cases to all time low of  50,000 cases per year in 1962!! But in next 10 years the number of cases rose 12times…leading to catastrophic failure of program. This happened because of the natural selection! Use of DDT killed the susceptible mosquitoes but spared the once which were resistant to DDT and in next 10 years these multiplied and led to increase in cases of malaria. Had other strategies would not have been undertaken, malaria and death due to malaria would have risen back to same 1953 level. Life subsists and so does mosquitoes and malaria. And by the way, this led to change in approach by govt. which reflects in name of malaria programs over the years: started with NMEP---> National Malaria Control Program (NMCP)---> Intensified Malaria Control Program (IMCP)!!

                        There was a period when we, kind of, lost our track as we were so goal oriented.! In order to decrease the cases of malaria and malaria related death we started giving presumptive treatment of malaria to all cases of fever suspected to be due to malaria, specially in malaria endemic regions. And we used Chloroquine the most common drug for malaria. As expected, it did bring the cases down initially but soon number of cases started to rise due to development of Chloroquine resistant Plasmodium spp. (parasite that causes malaria) but fortunately, this time we were intelligent enough to see the trend early and literally stopped the presumptive treatment. Now we use anti-malarials only in proven cases of malaria (either by microscopy or by RDT- rapid diagnostic test Kit). 

                        Another example where inadequate treatment (mainly premature stoppage of medicines prescribed) leading development of such a dreadful disease is: Tuberculosis!! Once easily treatable under DOTS (directly observed treatment short-course) program, TB is now rapidly transforming into difficult to treat MDR (multi drug resistant) TB, even more difficult to treat XDR (eXtremely drug resistant) TB and now there is TDR TB on the horizon...! (totally drug resistant, though WHO avoids the use of acronym TDR as it gives hint of hopelessness!). This is all because we as patient don't stick to the prescribed regimens...the moment we start feeling well we tend to forget about medicines...and leave the treatment mid way!! And remember is a contagious disease. If one has MDR TB, one will spread MDR TB!!! 

                  Similarly, when we take antibiotics irrationally we put selection pressure over microbial population. Sensitive microbes die…resistant ones survives…and now whole resource is available for the resistant ones which flourish rampantly…and the worst part is Resistant bug replicate into Resistant BugS!! 

             Also, Its important to take antibiotics for prescribed duration and in prescribed dosages. Most of the time you start feeling better just after few doses of medicine. Its because majority (NOT all) of disease causing bacteria are killed by the first few doses of antibiotics (provided right antibiotic has been prescribed!!). But you need to take the complete dose of medicine so that the infection is completely eradicated. If you take meds for sub-optimal duration there is always risk of relapse of illness with greater severity. 

REMEMBER, If we SAVE Antibiotics TODAY, They will SAVE us TOMORROW!!”

                    Other important thing is, microbes are enormous in number. Just 1gram of your faeces may have somewhere around 100 million-1trillions of them!!! And even though rate of mutation (random change in genetic material of an organism leading to change in its characteristics) is very low, mere number of these little bugs make it a significant event for them. Its nature’s experimentation for betterment of the organism. 100 experiment may fail, 1000 may fail, may be million experiments fail…which is unfair for them…but they are in trillions..!! Someday some random iteration in genetic material may work… and nature’s experiment continues creating newer forms of bacteria…some of which are inherently resistant to our antibiotics…but as long as these are in the company of their own 'cousins and nephews’ we have no problem as they have to compete with trillions of bugs to grow and survive with limited resource! 

Problem occurs when we use antibiotics irrationally and sub-optimally! This creates favourable condition for resistant ones by wiping out the billions of competitive sensitive bacteria…now all the resource is available for these dangerous bugs and they multiply!!! 

The other worrisome fact is we have already made antibiotics which act on all known targets of bacterium…there are hardly any novel antibiotics in pipeline. Also, in past decade or so there were only a few antibiotics which were produced. On the other hand bugs have developed resistance to all known antibiotics…fortunately they all are not present in same single bug so far…but if we continue like this with antibiotic abuse that SUPER BUG is not very far from reality…!

            So, irrational-sub-optimal and rampant use of antibiotics must stop. Otherwise, there will be so many superbugs that we probably will not be able to contain them! Instead of self medicating seek the expert and get optimal treatment…

Stay active…stay healthy…Do well!!!

Dr. Virat Kuntalam

Medical Officer

New Delhi Municipal Council

Parliament Street, New Delhi 110001

The Exercising Habit...

         Early morning yesterday...by early morning I mean- around 7-7:30am and please, don’t take it any other way..7:30am is early morning! At least for me!!! :-) I was at Talkatora Garden. Although, I was there for the physical fitness test of security personnels that NDMC (New Delhi Municipal Council, which happens to be my employing body as well) is recruiting and before all the equipments could be set up I had some time to explore the beautiful garden…after all, I had not been an early bird of late…specially on a weekend…! ;-)

         The garden is really beautiful and soul comforting. The chirps of birds, and playful shouts of children, that routine-synchronised-animated but altogether necessary loud laughters which you can hear in any garden/park of Delhi by the group of people mainly in their 60s and beyond…the sound of water at water fountain….the footsteps of jogging individuals…the excerpts of political chat by mostly older people while taking their break after certain amount of physical activity…the panting of competitive youngsters who just dashed the extra 50 meters-or-so after their self-set distance for the day...

          I really had forgotten that there are still so many people who are not only awake but fully functional that too so early!!! And among all these hustle-bustle

of early morning...I saw another of group of individuals at the far east corner of the garden near the cricket ground…this is that side of garden which is adjacent to Mother Teresa Crescent Road…There were individuals of all age groups…The sight at first amazed me..and later pleased me as a doctor! 

          I saw three generations of a family: the Grandfather, the Father and the Son working out together..and no need to mention that this habit inculcates in the younger generation from older generation itself. If you are active, likelihood that your son will lead an active and healthy life is fairly high..and so it is for your grandson provided your son is active too…! 

           Having said this and due credit given to the individual/family…I would not be just if I don’t mention the efforts taken by the NDMC and its staffs to provide and maintain the equipments at public parks/gardens like this one which make exercising fun and not something which is tedious and brings wrinkles on forehead…! These are the equipments which NDMC recently purchased from Garden Gym.

           Its amazing how simple basic facility encourages people to be active and thereby healthy… Though, initially it may seem like futile investment but as a doctor I can say this small initiative will translate into a greater good for I know a healthier society is a productive society… Not only this initiative will reduce the burden on heath care delivery system but also increase the outcome from each and every involved individuals.

           I would be happier to see more sets of such equipment in different corners of Talkatora Garden and also in other parks/gardens of NDMC and Delhi as well…! :-)

Stay Active...Stay Healthy...!! 

Dr. Virat Kuntalam
Medical Officer,
Palika Kendra,
NDMC

When You Have Wronged...

We all go through the ups and downs of life and the most of us, on average, come out just good...
Majority of us have done 'something' wrong in past...

'something' that intermittently keeps pushing the guilt button ON and we, after a brief moment of resulting-bitterness, constantly keep pushing it OFF...

'something' that we are not so proud of...
'something' that makes the grey  shade of ours one shade darker...

'something' about which we keep mumbling to ourselves "That's it! NEVER AGAIN.." and simultaneously pretending as if it never ever happened at all altogether....or at least, wish  that it never had happened...

'something' that we so desperately WANNA UNDO... but unfortunately we can't...!

'something' for which we often find ourselves knelt down to the almighty, praying for wisdom so that we don't have to bear the same shame and pain again...

It's very important NOT TO DEMEAN ourselves by unnecessary guilts... guilts indicate that at least our "Superego" (the 'angel''; our moral guide, inside us!) is still alive... which is really a good sign..! The Superego judges our deeds mainly based on our 'self-image', moral values and social norms... whenever there is a discrepancy at any level the guilt button is turned On...

The intensity of guilt thus generated, depends on the sphere in which the discrepancy has occurred! Although it varies from individual to individual, discrepancy in 'self-image sphere' usually contributes maximally to guilt...! 

So, the highly you think of yourself... chances are, you are going to feel the deeper guilt if you do something wrong... but the bright side of the story is- the probability of wrong-doing by you, at the same time, is decreased proportionately too... which means you will probably do what you think is RIGHT THING to do most of the time..!! 

The "Id" (the 'devil''; our basic instincts, inside us) on the other hand, is responsible for our survival and pleasure... FOOD, FIGHT or FLIGHT, REPRODUCE (sex)...!!

If Superego is the 'Breaks' of a Ferrari... Id indeed is the 'gas paddle'...! It's main function is to put your survival as the utmost priority..! Left on its own, it will lead you to a path that will do all that is, at least, bodily good..! Majority of Lower animals, specially those, which don't live in herd... are guided by Id only...! 

Since, We human beings live in a highly sophisticated and equally complex social structure and hence all the time, subconsciously though, there is some sort of conflict going on between the 'angel' and the 'devil' inside us...!

In fact, it's the wrong handling of these inner conflicts by 'Ego' (the 'Middle Man' between the 'Devil' and the 'Angel') that are at the base of majority of pervasive psychiatric illnesses, if not all...!

So, in the nutshell how you handle these conflicts in your life decides how mentally healthy you are gonna be..!

Hence, my dear don't whine too much about what wrong you have done or how many times you have wronged... if you are brave enough to acknowledge it and determined enough not to repeat it again... it's okay! For we all know...To err is only human...!!

Having said this, I don't mean that you should forget what you have done...

My suggestion would be: always Apologise to the one whom you have wronged but apologise only IF YOU REALLY MEAN IT...!! 

And, don't expect forgiveness at that very instant... even if you meant every single word of your apology... because you are in no position even to have the slightest of idea about how deep actually their wounds go or how ugly their scars look...
May be your apology is accepted or may be not... in fact, you might face humiliation altogether... but it's still okay... it's still better than having not apologised at all... 

Trust me, what ever be their reaction, if yours apology was a sincere one, you will find your head and heart at peace once again...

Dr. Virat Kuntalam

@viraat_k (twitter)
(+91)9990-22-7677

(The Photographs used here, have been freely downloaded from google and author doesn't claim or has any copyright of them!)

First Love...

First Love...❤❤

First love is blinding and deafening...!

just like that Flash Bomb of SWAT team which fills you and everything around you with light so bright that darkness of any sort seems like an impossibility...and it rings a bell so loud in ur ears that all noises fade except for that one tone...

And if u are among the lucky few, you remain brightly-blinded and deaf for all the tones except for the one...for rest of the lifetime...but if not... well...then, you get the second sight..and u no longer remain deaf... but the thing is the green earth no longer seem that green afterwards..the colours fade, the flowering spring suddenly changes to a leafless autumn and that too not even with a slightest hint of the warmth of the summer or the patterings of the showering rains... music too are not that melodious as it once happened to be...rather it gets damn noisy and you in fact become tone deaf! Tone deaf, to that particular tone which once used to rang in ur ears all the time...24x7! :p :D

So, here is what I suggest... if you happen to be one ignorant 'blind and deaf' fellow...don't screw it up buddy... Chances are, you're not gonna like the sight or the sound once what you have right now is all gone..! So, Cherish it, Protect it...and for your own good Work on it...!

And don't forget...❤❤ Being someone’s first love is good, but being their last is beyond perfect...icing on the cake!! ❤❤

Take care.

Be deaf and blinded for ever...! ❤  :-)  ❤

Virat.

Follow me on Twitter

+91-999-022-7677

Let's save our arse...FIRST!!

It's a sad day. Black Day. We have failed... as a nation, as a society or for that matter...as an individual...

A girl is brutally raped...gang raped...ravaged...and dumped...to die... and she did die! and what did our government do? NOTHING..!! Except to oppress the awakening...!! What a shame.!!!

This whole incident has shown that apathy and selfishness has no nadir...at least in this govt... basically  our 'dear' govt. is currently on "LET'S SAVE OUR A** FIRST!" mission... coz:

1. That's why they first flew the girl out of the country to Singapore...sighting reasons of small bowel transplant... well, at least there are 40 diff hospitals here which are equally good, if not better than Mount Elizabeth Hospital, singapore...

2. This happened the night after Safdarjung Hospital in its Media release stated that 'she' is critical and has developed sepsis... I mean come on yaar... how can you go for transplant if patient is in sepsis...and critically ill!! You don't need to be a Venugopalan or Trehan to know that... and this clearly indicates motive behind transfer was anything BUT MEDICAL !!! (Rumor is, IB has info that if girl dies here in India...that could be outrageous and situation may become difficult to control.)

3. Not only this... then there are likes of Mr. Mukharjee Junior and similar hypocrites who issues statements like

"its the clothes of gal that is the cause of these incidents..." 

"Protests with candle in hand has become fashion" 

"they go to disco at night and to protests in morning.."

that's the kind of mentality we have sent in that 'multi-pillared circus', if I may say so, to represent us...well then, shame on us as well...!

4. the first response of govt. after the death of the victim was not a condolence msg or any assurance or pledge to bring the involved ones to speedy justice...BUT... what they did ...CLOSED THE METRO STATIONS... DEPLOYED 45 UNITS of para military forces...NOT for the protection of Women in the capital... BUT to protect their big fat f**king a**es....!! 

had you have shown even half the sincerity or the effort in ensuring security of your fellow citizens...you would not have to be on your toes saving your arses...in fact people might have kissed your f**king a**es...!! NO kidding..!

Well, jus t a gentle reminder that Mr. Govt. You have only done one thing... made our belief stronger that we can trust you NO MORE... you have only fuelled the anger of WE THE PEOPLE... and if you still don't realise it...ask Mrs. Sheila Dixit..!

Today you can barricade us, force us away from showing our emotions, our pain to you... I promise you tomorrow we may barricade you away when you come begging to our doorsteps for votes...

Today you prevent us from gathering at India Gate...tomorrow we might not gather there when you need such a gathering...

It feels very shameful to believe that we belong to a society which appears to have no humanity left... to be in country whose people's soul, empathy, compassion probably have died... It's becoming even harder to believe that this is the nation which believes in motto of "Vasudhaiv kutumbakam" "atithi devo bhav.." ... how can it be... if it can't respect/protect its own citizens... children...girls...women...!!

I remember, I used to get goose-bumps whenever I heard our national anthem... I still get those goose-bumps... and I want to get those goose-bumps in future as well... I want to be a Proud Indian... who can hold his head high... and can proudly say "I am Indian!"

So, let's all pledge together that 'her' sacrifice will not go in vain... that we will stand for her until justice is served...that will not stand any such incident of whatever magnitude anywhere near us... that we will not let humanity die...and that we are still empathetic, compassionate and caring... that we are a true Indian both at heart and deeds...!! 

Virat.

@viraat_k (twitter.com)

Prayers do get Answered...!

"We pray daily, sometimes quietly and other times aloud... We pray for our near and dear ones' health, direction and salvation in their times of distress and pain. But it's not always that things happen the way we want them to happen...

Despite our prayers, tragedies do happen with all of us! What does this mean? Didn't God hear our prayer or didn't He understand how much it hurt us? Does it mean that we stop praying and give up on God?

NO. Prayer will be more vital now than it was earlier. God's desire to hear from us is still alive. Faith is not demanding of what we want; but is rather trusting God's Goodness in spite of life's tragedies...!

We grieve, we pray and we keep on praying. We should understand that God has His own ways and plans, which is much more supreme. When he takes away something from us, He wants us to have something better...

So, keep on praying and have faith in his supremeness because he will surely answer one day. He will help us wait patiently and to trust Him for His good perfect answer. We know that in the pain and struggle of living without answer, we may find comfort in our Heavenly Father... Something beyond the tears, pain and loss; there is hope where there is praying...!"
Take care...!

PS:  (I read it a few days ago in some news paper and found it soothing and felt like sharing it with you people..)

Virat Kuntalam,

999-022-7677

The Anna Aandhi...

The Anna Aandhi...

Though I don't firmly concur with the ways in which this movement is going on, (by saying this, I am fully aware that most of you reading my blog would have labelled me as "devil's advocate"! Let me clarify right in the beginning only- I AM NOT PLAYING DEVIL's ADVOCATE here... I just have a DIFFERENT OPINION...!), still it's really heartwarming to see people coming out to support Anna on this noble cause. The magnitude of mass movement which has started in past few days is enormous... I just hope it's not just the 'Soda bottle fizz' which fades away in short duration...

The Indian system- Part II

The Indian System- Part II


My schooling is from Nainital, Uttaranchal. And I did my graduation from Shimla, Himachal.. and before that few years of PMT preparation at Delhi... So what I want to convey is I, for most of the time of my life so far, have been away from my home...which is a small town, Forbesganj, in North Bihar, near Indo-Nepalese border.

Keeping the Child alive in YOU...!

"Why small kids usually succeed?

How babies learn first to stand, then to walk and ultimately to run...?"

Well, why am I asking all these today?

An Idea can Change You!

Actually, it had been quite some time since I wrote rather I would say I even visited my blog site... and deep down I was feeling compelled to write some thing... but to write you need ideas and ideas don't come easily... :-(

                So, I was sitting in OPD... day before yesterday (i.e. one day before Holi) and hence it was a relatively lighter day... I was looking out through the window in the waiting hall... thinking what should I write about... and I saw an infant in the common waiting hall of my department and Dept. of Ophthalmology... she (or may be he!) was 11-12 months old...

Lets Recycle...!!

The shock-waves of failure in 1st two encounters of the year have settled now and after amply consoling and motivating myself with words like "Take few step back to leap further.."etc. I was finally back on track with my studies!

But somehow yesterday, I was not able to concentrate on my studies... so to utilise the time, I finally decided to make my messy room bit tidy... Just like every other bachelor's room where the largest chunk of 'mess' comes from the thrown away clothes, missing pairs of dirty socks & of course the boxers and 'chaddies', and dirty plates & coffee-mugs beneath the bed...in fact the only thing which can be found exactly at it's usual place is deodrants and perfumes...! ;-) And Mine too was no exception

NDM 1: New Delhi Metallo-Beta-Lactamase-1

NDM 1 or New Delhi Metallo-beta-Lactamase 1, is a Plasmid mediated gene which confers high degree of antibiotic resistance in bacteria which carries this gene, particularly against Penicillin group, Cephalosporins, Fluoroquinolones and Cabapeneme Group of antibiotics! And thus is a potential threat to the entire health care delivery system!

A parting Note from a Friend....

My dear friends,

            “How time flies by!” We had only heard about it so far... but, a few months back when we left each other after almost 6 years of love and togetherness we actually came to realize the true meaning of the phrase...

Are we still EVOLVING??

I think YES! We are still evolving!!

But then it's NOT in the purest Darwinian form- The Survival of the Fittest!

WE are indeed transferring our genes of better qualities and efficiency to the future generations but, as opposed to what would have been the Natural Selection in true sense, not losing the genes for weaknesses or traits usually are detrimental for our survival!

Living up to the Expectations....

Living Up to the Expectation… The story of My life...

Before I went to boarding school in Nainital in class sixth… ours was a joint family and for providing best possible education, my parents and I used to live in a small town called Forbesganj in Bihar... and so did my 8 cousins! The city was named after the Britisher Alexander John Forbes, a Military adventurer who later on established many indigo-farms in the nearby areas!