Pakistan Sangeet Icon 08

I surely missed a lot of things in the exams. This Asad Abbas won the competition and became the Pakistan Sangeet Icon. A great voice, crystal clarity and full control over notes, indicative of hard practice and learning from a good maestro.



And then this ghazal, Ranjish hi sahi. It's my favourite. I never get bored from it. Of all the version of all the singers I've heard of it, and I have tried to listen to EVERYONE who has sung it, Asad's rendering was one of the best.

Again

He did it
again.
Fell into darkness,
darker than the night.
Cold beyond measures
from which
he had emerged
after this hard endeavor.
But he will rise again,
he won't let them
have him.

After all
he was just
a little kid.

A sixty two membered cabinet

Har ghar se minister niklay ga
Tum kitnay ministers maro gay

Jiye Bhutto

Did we land on the moon?

Well, well, well. I was quite taken aback when I learned that there are a few people who believe that man never set foot on the moon. And that America, in order to establish her superiority, fooled the whole world. The evidence provided by these conspiracy theorists (shown in this 43 minutes long documentary of which I have posted the first part) seemed so concrete that I was quite convinced. :-D



Some of the arguments presented by the theorists were proven wrong by the Mythbusters (Those episodes are available on YouTube too).

White fairy

I think the floor was a bit slippery thats why her tatkar wasn't that fine and all her other movements seemed a bit restricted too. Anyways teen taal and dhamar, both are my favourite. Couldn't identify the raga. This Mughal atmosphere was an extra treat.

Golden principles

Dad took me to his work place today. All the way through, in the car, he showered upon me golden pieces of advice. 'Never take revenge on anyone, specially when you are in power.' And 'He who gets to have a control on his anger is successful.' And then, 'Whenever you meet someone, meet with good attitude and good gesture. Try your best never to do harm to anyone.'

I just wrote these down so that I can remember them for a long time.

Independance day

Who else could tell better the importance and feeling of independence than a medical student who has just gotten done with his Professional exam. After three full months of continuous crushing and grinding, my whole body is reduced to very fine powdered particles. These ten or fifteen days that I have got now, I'll reshape myself. I'll try to melt the kilograms of extra fat that I've accumulated over this period by sitting and eating, and eating and sitting day and night.

My incubation period is over and with all prayers I wait for my eggs to hatch. I celebrate today my independence.

Height of stupidity

"Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former." (Albert Einstein)


Sorry Mr. Jinnah, we are ashamed...once again.

Two souls, one body

Lovers might have one soul and two bodies but Abby and Brittany have two souls and one body! It's amazing how instead of having a separate control on each hand, they can clap, drive, hold a baby and perform other chores with such co-ordination. God...one girl can't feel what the other girl feels and they have a line of division on their body of the perception of touch. And they are hopeful to become moms! And the height of optimism: 'The best thing about being conjoined twins is that theres always someone to talk to and you are never alone.' Amazing.

The 'chosen ones'

Weak hearts, persons easily going in to shock/trauma better bury your faces, hide some where and don't watch this.



Jumping over the dead bodies, collecting bits and pieces of human flesh, checking with the ear pressed against the chest if the person is alive or dead, and that general uproar and noise all around; who won't cry after watching that? The number of killed is about to reach a thousand. Those who do this, don't they have hearts? And they talk of disarming Hamas. Hamas can't even have small rockets while Israel can have atomic bombs and what not? And they call themselves the chosen ones. They are using white phosphorus bombs which burns down even the bones and the use of which on civilians is a crime. Why not disarm Israel? Why Muslims ever where? Why are they all against Muslims? Might be because they are weak. But Pakistan is an atomic power. They are against Pakistan too. Why has the rest of the world united and the Muslims are on one side? Why did the Koran say that the Jews and Christians can never be your friends?

Saadgi Muslim ki dekh auro ki ayari bhi dekh

And what can we, the common people do? Just sit and watch. Or just go and have a part in the protests on roads.

The six vivas

I don't know its significance but giving viva to SIX professors in a day is definitely tiresome, irksome and 'mind blowing'. When it was over I felt like my blood vessels had adrenaline instead of blood in them. I must not have secreted this much of it ever. And Mom's comforting consolation was, 'Han phir doctor banna asaan to nahi hai na.' :-)

My angels

God sends angels to protect and guide his men. To make them happy. I have got some angels too. My family and my friends.

My mom gave me two rose flowers today. Two signified my turning twenty two. She also gave me an English translation of autobiography of Emperor Jahangir, Tuzk-e-Jahangiri and another book, 'Madina se White House tak'. And she is proud. Calls aside, a few of the messages that I got were:

*Happy Birthday to my handsome, cool, cute and Babloo friend. (The sender is partially blind actually)

*Happy birthday buddy! Best wishes for your life and exams. Keep singing your melodies.

*Happy b'day mate. You sure know how to get born at the wrong time. (Pointing towards the ongoing exams)

*Treat time! Happy Birthday to you P**** (The sender has a pathological affiliation with P****)

*A very very Happy Birthday! Prayers, Regards and Love! Main **** kar raha tha is liye dair ho gaye. (The sender is actually a fun master)

*My dear doctor! Happy Birthday. May you have many more.

*Happy Birthday baby

*Happy Birthday Abdullah dear!

I look at the bunch of Tulips that lie in my room and that I got today and my eyes well up. I never thought God could bestow so much happiness upon such a sinner.

Thank you all. Thank you for being around me, thank you for making me happy. And thank you God, for every thing. You are the best.

Zindagi or Imtehan

I don't know if this verse is by Faraz or not but it aptly describes the lives of medical students.

Suna tha zindagi imtahan laiti hai Faraz
Per yahan to imtehano ne zindagi le li

:-D

The vision of your face

The vision
of your face
stimulates my hippocampus,
causing recall of past experiences,
stimulating my reward center
producing a sense of well being.
It stimulates my sympathetic system,
releasing epinephrine
and cytokines,
producing asystolies and extra systolies,
giving me skipped beats
with cold clammy skin,
dilated pupils, and
euphoria.
I mean
I miss you.

(I don't need drugs to get high)

A. Shahid (Inspired by a text message)

Appendicitis and friends

I don't look like a mosquito but that ward boy sprayed the mosquito killer almost over me as I laid there in the ICU of Mayo Hospital crying in pain. That was a useless attempt to kill all the mosquitoes/flies/bugs in the ward just before the professor’s visit.

I have got the best friends in the world. When I told them that I have got appendicitis, they were...err...rather happy about it. One replied, as excited as ever, 'O really??? Thank God we got some chance to serve.' The other said, 'Nice yaar, so when is the surgery? I would love to assist.' I dont know what were they happy about. As far as I am concerned I wasn’t sure whether I should be happy or not amidst all that nausea, vomiting and pain.

It was the first time I saw any operation theatre (OT) of Mayo Hospital. I had to ask the guy carrying me, 'Are you sure this is an operation theatre?' He smiled. I believed him anyways. The OT had to be occupied a considerable time before my surgery just in case some other doc might claim it, so I was there like an hour before my surgery. I lay there on the table as if I were lying on a beach, sun bathing; both hands behind my head and the legs crossed. After a little while two final year girls, wearing the OT gown popped in, giggling.
'So...its YOU who have got appendicitis??'
(Yeah...SURPRISE!!!)
'You know what, we have stayed here at this time of night specially to see your appendicectomy'
(Oh! What an honor!)
Seeing them getting on my nerves I decided to attack
'Ok you are here to see my appendicectomy, just tell me the blood supply of appendix.'
It was no wonder they could not.

I was shifted to ICU after the surgery. I had been to the ICUs of Mayo Hospital before so this time I did not have to inquire about its authenticity. Pain did not let me sleep the whole night and time seemed to have frozen. In the morning I got my first three visitor friends. They had their bags and overalls with them and were ready to attend their first lecture. The first thing they did on reaching the university was to come to the hospital and meet me. As long as they stayed, I did not feel any pain.

Then the doctor came along with his whole crew and after inquiring about my health, pain and sleep asked, 'Have you passed any wind?' Now firstly, this is a personal question and should not be asked in front of so many people. Secondly, wind is not the proper word. A real wind blows harsher and is pleasurable to others. Thirdly, I don’t keep a record of my winds. Whichever doctor came afterwards, wind was the hot topic.
'Hi, How are you? Have you passed any wind?'
(Which was good of course as it indicated that my bowels had recovered from post operative shock)

After an hour I got seven more friends and I got a reason to laugh. After an hour I got seven more friends and I got a reason to laugh. Then I was shifted in a room. Those were the same corridors where I had been walking as a doctor, seeing the misery of the patients since the beginning of third year. I was in the same corridor again but this time on a wheel chair, as a patient and this time people were staring at me. Now I knew what its like to be patient.

By night I had about 30 friends who came to visit me. They left no chance to cheer me up. One was kind enough as to offer, 'Don’t worry yaar, it was just a vestigial organ and it had no particular function. But if you still insist we will buy you a new appendix.' Another came and drew three stars, wrote 'Get well soon' and put his signature on the palm of my hand.
Now I was happy, I’m sure about it. I thought I was lucky that I got operated in Mayo Hospital, so very close to my university, King Edward! It helped me get better sooner. Believe me if you have got loving parents and good friends, a lot of them, you wont regret having appendicitis!

P.S. Thanks to my parents for everything. And special thanks to Prof. Khalid Javed for helping me getting rid of that goddamn appendix and for treating me like his own sons.

A. Shahid (published in Kemkol, King Edward Medical University's annual magazine)

Another year

Another year went by,
another story ended.
The same old days,
the same old nights,
empty spaces
haunting darkness
gloomy secrets
futile efforts.
Then another year came
and changed my heart,
changed my direction.

A. Shahid