Happy New Year !

A very Happy New Year to you all ! I am eagerly looking forward to seeing my son, Ojas in the New Year. He's visiting India with his mum. Its been 2 months and I am going bonkers. For tonight, I am going to stay home, have some peg sheg (JD with soda) with "namkeen" and "bhurji", and cook mutton-shutton. May you all have a fun filled New Year's eve !

King Kong is Jatt!

Saw King Kong today, and I can confidently say that he must have been a Jatt, and more specifically a Deol. The way he walked, talked, loved, danced, fought, and died, I could see every bit of Dharmendra and Sunny. The best part was when he tore apart the jaws of that dinosaur, and then played, "Flick", "Flick".

Other than that, the film was average. Initially, it felt like another sequel of "Jurassic Park". Soon, I was sitting through a sequel of "Eight Legged Freaks". Towards the end the film tread the path of an oft repeated (ghissi-pitti) story of a Hindi film.

the funniest joke

A couple of New Jersey hunters are out in the woods when one of them falls to the ground. He doesn't seem to be breathing, his eyes are rolled back in his head. The other guy whips out his cell phone and calls the emergency services. He gasps to the operator: “My friend is dead! What can I do?” The operator, in a calm soothing voice says: “Just take it easy. I can help. First, let's make sure he's dead.” There is a silence, then a shot is heard. The guy's voice comes back on the line. He says: “OK, now what?"

This winning joke was submitted by Gurpal Gosall, a 31 year old psychiatrist from Manchester in the UK. He told LaughLab(www.laughlab.co.uk) that:"I like the joke as it makes people feel better, because it reminds them that there is always someone out there who is doing something more stupid than themselves."?So why did the hunters joke perform so well? DrRichard Wiseman, the psychologist behind the LaughLab project, said:"This joke is interesting because it works across many different countries, appeals to men and women, and young and old alike. Many of the jokes submitted received higher ratings from certain groups of people, but this one had real universal appeal. Also, we find jokes funny for lots of different reasons – they sometimes make us feel superior to others, reduce the emotional impact of anxiety-provoking events, or surprise us because of some kind of incongruity. The hunters joke contains all three elements – we feel superior to the stupid hunter, realise the incongruity of him misunderstanding the operator and the joke helps us to laugh about our concerns about our own mortality."

Last and Final Call

I recently returned from my gruelling tour of the US which took me to Albany(NY), Buffalo(NY), Albuquerque(NM), Chicago(IL), Rockford(IL), Milwaukee(WI), Minneapolis-St.Paul(MN), Austin(TX), San Francisco(CA), Baltimore(MD), Long Island(NY), St.Louis(MO), Cleveland(OH), Springfield(IL), and Jackson(MS). I was interviewing for a residency training position. During the tour, I came across some interesting people and some interesting incidents happened on the way.

Amongst all the experiences, there are two that stand out. A lot of the people I met thought I was Espanol. I met one such lady,an Espanol, in a hospital corridor, while waiting for my interview. She was waiting there to see a friend who was admitted to the Psychiatry inpatient. She asked me something in Spanish. When I told her that I didn't understand and that I was Asian Indian, she said, " Oh ! I could have sworn by God that you were Hispanic, if you hadn't told me!". Seeing me all "suited-booted" she asked if I was there for an interview. I told her that I was a physician, and that I was interviewing for a position to undergo training in Psychiatry. She then mentioned, she herself was a Psychiatric patient, and was often in and out of the hospital. But, had been feeling better recently. When I asked her, "What has helped?", she said, "I have come to accept that my condition is like any other health condition, say cancer or diabetes, however, it is something that has not been found out enough about. And I am confident that with people like you, it will soon be. That makes me feel better." I couldn't have agreed more, and went on to explain how research is helping better understand brain and psychiatric illnesses. She parted by saying, "I wish you get this position, and become my doctor. You too made me feel better. Good luck!." I thanked her, and thought,"Though I didn't like the program, this lady definitely made my visit worthwhile."

The second incident happened at the Chicago O'hare. I was waiting for a connecting flight to Springfield, Illinois, and was the last one boarding when I heard this announcement, "This is the last and final call for the captain and flight attendant of United Airlines flight 5823 to Springfield, Illinois. All passengers are on board. Last and final call."