There's a God in all small things

The God of Small things-the very title itself had changed the way I perceived life. That there's a God in every small thing, made me think.

Been a long time, but I still remember this dream I saw. She visits my house. With a cup of coffee in her hand, she says, "Well Nithin I'm writing my second book." 

Ages flew. And today, I met her. Spoke with her. And she said, "Well, couldn't visit you at your house, but I am writing my second book."

‘I’ AM HERE… Or MAIN CHETAN BHAGAT BANNA CHAHTA HOON

“Hey, I’ve updated my blog…check it out”

A while later, I am hit with a reply-

“Hoo…it’s ‘too long’ pal. I have better things to do”

This was one moment that made me feel proud of myself…I successfully held back from replying

“Yeah…go…do the ‘better things’…don’t forget to get a condom…”

Sirji…what a ‘self-control’!!!

Yuckkkkkk.

So is this what a ‘blogger’ gets? Hmmm…I’ll stay here…anyway.

Well this occurred few months back…January to be exact…when I stepped into the blogosphere.

Weeks back…

I scrolled through the preface of ‘Five point someone’…even before reaching the prologue, I said to myself, “Hmmm…one day…I’ll create ripples…write something…and I’ll be another Chetan Bhagat”. I bunked the day’s posting (well…folks…bunking ‘surgery casualty’ was not new…just that…now I had a reason…!)

Once I completed the book…I said to myself…

Hey there’ll be a day when people say…’Chethan? Did you mean Nithin?’

He he…fortunately, dreams are never taxed…!!!

For few days…I was mad…desperately trying to get hold of the next book that he penned ‘One night at the call centre’…I didn’t get it… finally I bought ‘The three mistakes of my life’…I stressed ‘bought’ since reading a book is something that I did on every blue moon night and ‘spending’ money to buy a book was a thing that occurred on days when all ‘navagrihas stood in a line’

I finished the book at a record breaking speed that made me realise that if I read Harrison’s Internal Medicine so fast I would master the subject in months and become the new big thing in class…!!!

“Main Chetan Bhagat banna chahta hoon”

Few days later, I heard that the writer landed in Kerala. I read the interviews that filled newspapers.

The release of ‘YOU ARE HERE’ by Meenakshi Reddy…blogger-turned-author was another major event.

'Oh! The time is ripe' I said to myself…

The days that followed saw a dreamer…who kept aside his textbooks…stethoscope…what more…even my mobile phone…!!!(Nithin minus his mobile phone is a rare sight…and I promise…if there’s a paparazzo with a shot of me sitting without holding a mobile phone, let him try e-bay, he might get quite a lot of bucks!!!)

I recalled one of the most wonderful books I had read, ‘The god of small things’…the book that made me proud of being a malayalee (kudos to Arundhati Roy!!!)

I forgot simple questions like,

“Hey what would you do if your mobile phone didn’t have a thesaurus?”

“Hey what if Microsoft never added a spelling and grammar check or the auto-correct option?”

Yes…I had decided to become the new big thing…though in reality I was a ’blogger-turned-dreamer-turned eccentric medico’.

What did I have to fear? After all it is Nithin…the pompous-swashbuckling hero…with an ever-fresh mind ready to take up anything!!!

It didn’t take such a long time to return to the normal mood…

The following ‘events’ helped:

1) The article ‘Half naked in the flat’…a review of ‘You are here’ by Lakshmy Venkiteswaran (the New Sunday Express, Sep 14,2008)

“….Chetan Bhagat’s appalling and irksome novels becoming record-breaking best sellers”

2) The article ‘Book,booker,booked’…by Meena Kandasamy(the New Sunday Express, Sep 14,2008)

“The beginning of the book can give you a sense of déjà vu.

But after40 pages, you may skip paragraphs and then pages…”

3) The medical texts that I had kept arranged on my computer table-to remind me ‘I had lots to learn’!!!

4) A telephone conversation: “da remember Chetan graduated from IIT Delhi, then got into IIM-A, and finally settled…and then he penned his book…and you have too long a time ahead to graduate your MBBS”

5) The ever increasing tummy (ahem ahem de single mega pack) that the sedentary times I spent in front of my computer monitor had gifted me.

6) A recent exchange that took place in my kitchen

Chechi: ‘da get the uruli from the shelf, I can’t reach it’

Nithin: ‘Chechee…my eyes can’t catch a glimpse of the uruli…!!! Where is it?’

Chechi:’OH!!! This checkan (checkan=lad)…da an uruli is the thing that is right in front of your eyes.Take it’

Nithin: ‘ooops….i was searching for the tool that we use to make chapathees’

Chechi:’eeeeswaraaaaaa…nee ethu lokatha?(oh god…are you still on earth?)

I realised that being logical alone isn’t sufficient…URULI in Malayalam referred (as I had thought) to something round…!!! ‘Reality’ was different.

FINALLY I STEPPED BACK INTO THE WORLD WHERE PINCHING WOULD PAIN…

So world…’REST-IN-PEACE’…for now…

There will be a day.

A day...when… Kalidasa or Shakespeare will book tickets back to earth to thrash the newly unleashed terror!!!

Mera number aayega…!!!

Nithin:" So howzzat?"

Xyz: "Wow, Nithin, that’s a cool write-up. But why the hell are you so excited?

BLOGGING ain’t such a biiiig thing…"

Fortunately…I COULD RESIST FROM REPLYING

”F*&*% you”

(PS:K...Im baak...an official 'post' after a long time...this time...i need u 2 shoot...
holidayz r almost over...
;(
wid lots of luv...yers Nithin)

thanks 2 Smriti Srivasthava
and Amooma)

(I am one huge fan of Chetan Bhagat...and I am one guy who wishes for
Chetan's dreams of becoming India's favourite writer come true...
in my post i never compared myself to him...ooo...this has been typed in after going through the comment page)

The Chicken or the Egg???

(And my dear friends...this time..its short...and thanks to my colleagues...since i've 'borrowed' experiences...)

The pretty gal walked into the podium. I am sure my eyes weren’t alone in the run to watch her getting ready. Within seconds her lips began moving…and began the ‘melodious’ symposium. It took a few seconds for me to realize that the talk had started…I missed the title…who cares…I knew it is something related to gynaecology…

It has been more than a week since I got posted in gynec, and still I am not sure if I know something more than what I had learned in Obstetrics… (The one in which I was previously posted). I don’t know how fast time flew all these days. I still remember the bewildered look in madam’s face when none of us could identify a Sims’s speculum (an instrument to excavate interiors) even after a week in wards and theatres. (Honestly…I refer to the operation theatres and not the abode of lecture ‘cutters’). It is not exactly the lack of interest…but…hmmm…I don’t know. Some low immortals reason that gynaec is for gals…how absurd? I call that attitude absurd not since such a thought is out of question…but because I know the equally pathetic condition of my female colleagues. Well here is the actual underlying problem (which I reason)…lack of ‘maturity’…being in the third year of MBBS means ample time to relax (misconceptions rule the intermittent time period in the magnificent course). I still live in the world of fantasies. There was indeed a golden age...when I strived…real hard to get into a professional course…then I had dreams…but I worked for them…okay my brains is not dead yet… still I do have dreams…but now…I just dream…so that they remain in dreams!

Hey…is someone calling me…? I was half awake…

Ya the symposium is over…

“Get up child!!!”

A strong sound drags me out of the chairs, “Good morning…hope you had a comfortable sleep…okay…Tell me about the kinds of ultrasound scans done…”

Is it the clarity of my pals sitting right behind me (whispering the answer to me!!!)? Or did the beauty of the presenter succeed holding my attention at least for some time?

“mmmm….ma’am…mmm….trans-vaginal….trans-abdominal…”

Madam had turned red…perhaps she didn’t expect me to spit out…

I sat down…sighing…

Hooo….escaped….

TRING TRING

Oh!…I had forgotten to switch off my mobile!!! It was yelling.

CAUGHT!!!

Perhaps Tenzing and Hillary wouldn’t have turned so happy after reaching the pinnacles of adventure… that smile madam had when she ‘ushered’ me out…I’ll never forget!!!

I was once again an ‘outstanding’ student…

“Hey …do you have balance…I wanna make a call from yer mobile”

And this is the nice part… I am never alone...no remorse…I’ll be on track sooner or later…’tomorrow never dies…!!! ’

Then the madam comes out…, “Hey fellows…when I was in your age…I preferred gaming in my mobile rather than dozing off…

”

From Heaven with love…

(Don't even dare to read this half asleep...! THE STUFF is a bit too long!!!)

You are making me tired.

Son, I have a trillion cases to look into every moment. You know that well right?

Ya,I do. If you can’t do all this alone…try a retirement !!!…grrr…sorry im outta patience…

Tell me what your problem is.

I wanna know if this is the treatment I deserve.

Oh! Dear. You have been out there for twenty years and all that I’ve heard from you is complaints.

I have my fundamental rights!!! Right?

Its high time for amending that thing called constitution...Well…well exercise them…continue…

Im fed up Oh Lord! you know how well I love all those pig heads out there. I spend atleast three quarters of my time thinking of others. Still I suffer humiliation, neglect. I am fed up.

Hi hi... ‘fed’ up? Son that’s exactly why you are here now…

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.

k… k…continue…

You’ve heard my speeches.

Ya I have.

You love my styles right?

OH! I can't stand this 'self praising' anymore..okay…Whats your point?

Half the audience had turned into wolves when I took the microphone in my hands.

Lucky, I wasn't there...

??????

Else I would've turned into one!!!

Grrrr…tell me now…you belong to me or them?

I belong to all…

Oh! Cut the crap. No philosophies here.

K...K…well…any thing else?

Do you know the total time I’ve spend loving her? Caring for her?

She never demanded that, did she?

Grrrrrrrrr...You are not supporting me....

Ha ha…speak son…

I’ve spend half my pocket money recharging my phone…I send hundreds of messages every week to all corners. Asking “ how r ye”… “how did the exams go”...and all blah blah…a few misers respond with missed calls..some don’t even respond.

Everyone has his or her life to look right? If you fail to do that ,why blame others?

Oh! Are you here to console me or criticize me?

Son. I know you well. That’s why I send so many people out there for you. You are aware…

Ya lord..i know…but I times…I feel dumped…

Leave it dear.

No, I can’t. How can I leave it? I always wanted someone who belonged to me…just me…you never give me that.

I wanted a friend…

I had sent one….

Ya but…………

What ‘ BUT’ ? You repeat 60 times a minute… ‘She’s your this’... ‘she’s your that’… ‘Lucky having you’… and so on…and still you suspect her…

That is ‘human’ right?

That is not ‘human’…! You go on complaining… ‘do you know how much I care for you’… ‘do you know what sum I spend for you’… ‘What energy I ‘waste’ for you…but still you never care for me’ and all that…

But lord I rarely mean anything when I say she doesn’t care for me…’coz I know she does care…!

That’s cruelty right…?

Perhaps yes…hey hey …..so now I am the culprit?

HI HI BINGO!!!

Nothing doing…and where is my love?

I send one right? Not one...many..

Ya a dozen..grrrr….u make me paralyzed…you send gals I can love…and lets me wish to own them…just ‘wish’..and right in front of my eyes they grow and disappear…and at last I remain a loser…

Loser? Who? You are not a loser…just a slow learner… always late when you realize things… say… 'learning' … when did you start that? When you found that if you remain slow...you will lose someone you craved for…again that was for ‘someone’...and not to fulfill the dreams of those loving parents…

Yupp!!! This ain’t fair…I came here to fire you for the ‘injustice’ I am suffering and now the ball is in your court…

Hi hi.. .you always want people praising you right?

Ya. Even when my dearest ones call me pompous…I love that…even when I am mocked at and jeered at…I love that…simply because of the fact that everyone knows that I am breathing…I want attention…always…someone should be with me every time…!!!

Don’t worry dude…there are lots who love you…care for you...be satisfied…you can’t expect all to do the same…can you?

Okay okay…cut all that…what are you going to do ‘now’?

What “now”..what has happened has happened…

That’s not it…this ain’t fair lord…

Whats not fair..? I didn’t ask you to adore the beauty of a college going gal while crossing the road did I?

You created beauty for us to enjoy right?

Right. But not while you are just seconds away from getting run over by a racing KSRTC bus…!!!

But that gal could have dressed properly so that I couldn’t have lost my concentration completely…moreover she was too beautiful…and you created her pretty…didn’t you

Now blame that gal for her beauty… and yes... its my fault for having made her pretty... hmmm…. Son…you just won’t change…k... I’ll give ye a choice...HELL or HEAVEN?

Mixture of both…!

Earth…?

You got that buddy...yupp...lord…

Hmmm…so you want another chance…?

But promise me…this is not my last chance…

What? So you’ll repeat similar things again?

Oh! Lord... ‘to err is human’… right?

Right right...kid…get off from here now…here is your return ticket…hooo…I am confused now…Assistant get me some tablet to drive this ‘ headache’ off…

(AND I WAKE UP TO FIND MYSELF COVERED WITH PLASTERS AND BANDAGES…ON ONE SIDE OF MY BED IS MY BELOVED FRIEND AND ON THE OTHER SIDE IS MY LOVE…AND ALL AROUND I FIND MY CLASS MATES…AND FEW DOCTORS…THEN I HEAR SOMEONE ON PHONE SCREAMING, “AUNTIE DON’T WEEP…HE IS BREATHING AGAIN…”

OH BEAUTIFUL WORLD…BACK I AM...AGAIN...)