Hospitalization

I had to undergo a surgery. When I conveyed this, almost all the folks told me, somewhat wistfully, think of this as a forced break. It clearly showed me a) All my friends are overworked if that was their first reaction b) Modern medicine is so marvelous that people don't have any doubts about certain surgeries. If this were say 50 years ago, I am sure there would have been more longer faces around me

I actually packed 4-5 books and checked myself in cheerfully. I had this vision of myself, convalescing gently reading books, walking slowly, listening to music, feeling that melancholy feeling. How naive!

One week later I am just back home, barely able to sit and type this. It was like my brain went into some sort of hibernation for a while. I knew in the back of mind there was the ability to read a book or have coherent conversation, but my brain just wouldn't get past the physical discomforts. With all kinds of tubes attached for body and IV fluids, poked and pricked a hundred times, loaded up in antibiotics for the next couple of centuries, for a while I lost sense of time. It was just me and my senses. Especially the sense of smell. I feel in retrospect that was the sense that kind of overworked, keeping me nauseous all the time.

How much I wanted the ability to eat something, anything, to be able to walk to the bathroom myself, to have a shower and feel clean. KJ told me after an illness, he said grace before eating for the first time in his life. I could identify with that.

I thought I'd never ever take for granted my ability to climb up the stairs, my ability to enjoy a nice dish, my ability to read a book late into the night...Of course this too shall pass and I would probably go check my mail and do other trivial things but I wish it didn't, I didn't.

The extremes

New author for this week was Christopher Priest. To be completely factual though, it was not a random choice like the other authors I had decided to read before. A few weeks ago I saw the movie 'Prestige' and was intrigued enough to pick his book 'The Extremes'.

It is one of those book that can't be pegged and leaves you feeling extremely uneasy. There is the grief and sadness that permeates throughout the book. But, what struck me most as I stared into the rain after reading the final pages was how plausible the premise was. The concept of virtual reality and reconstruction of events in a VR environment or to borrow a trekkie word - a 'holodeck' seems shockingly reachable. A few connections to the appropriate neurons and clever programs and voila - 'extreme experiences'.

Would I want to 'use' the holodeck. I probably would. But would I know enough to realize later what was real and what was virtual. The ending was - not predictable - more inevitable and reminded of 'Vanilla skies'

Another US trip

Just back from another US trip. TV commentaries were all about the problems of obesity, drop-out rates in school and of course the election.

Law and order still seems to rule the prime time though in different flavors. I must have watched all the old episodes of law and order and star trek in those back to back run days.

I cant believe I haven't blogged in over a month. When I logged in I realized I have been blogging for more than five years now - perhaps not in great volumes but at least a post a month. I tried to see if I have changed in the past years.

I haven't learned anything new. I can not think of a single thing I could do better. Actually, my skills in most areas have deteriorated considerably. On the other hand I am fundamentally the same person. I am still unlikely to join a cult or quit my day job to write the great Indian novel. Is that a blessing?

Chini kum

Was staring abstractedly out of the car window when my attention snapped. The DJ played the title song chini kum. Five seconds into the evocative composition, I exclaimed - 'Ilayaraja'. It is the same composition as the hit 'Mandram vandha thendralukku'. I thought is has been copied and I even thought that the background music was not up to the original. Apparently the song is credited to Ilayaraja in the new film as well.

I revisited http://www.s-anand.net/Classical_Ilayaraja_4.html

Went to the library. 'Feluda' books are fun to read. Ray never ceases to amaze me.

Rain come again

Rain always brings out the best in me. It makes me want to read good books, listen to music, write letters to my friends, quit my job...

The quitting my job feeling is compounded because of the trip to Madurai. This time I visited a farm. The man in charge, an interesting character with varied interests, offered lemon juice from a freshly picked lemon and a nice bouquet of flowers all grown there. It was so peaceful and happy. On the trip back, it rained.

Oh well, I better go check my email.