Month: January 2010

Salt and Pepper

Its been more than 5 years. I had proposed that we be more than just friends and she accepted. What that naïve proposal started back then, is now growing into, what people call, an engagement. By the end of this month, I will be formally engaged to the girl I have been in love with for quite some time.

I really excited and at the same time quite palpably apprehensive. But I know I will sail through. And it is going to be quite a journey!

Bollywood istyle!

Since the time that I started understanding movies, I must say, and you must agree, that Bollywood has come a long way. I mean, look at all the crap that it puked on us in the ’90s. It used the same old script, that got altered by the scriptwriter. And I am sure, somewhere in the confines of Bollywood, there still is that old, original script, that everyone seems to have copied.

Not that they all were bad, we did see an odd movie that was… different, fresh, new. The likes of Dil Se.., Sarfarosh and a few more did save the day for the ’90s. But these oddballs were limited.

Come 2000 and a new face of Indian cinema was revealed. It started with Lagaan in 2001. The masterpiece from Aamir Khan took the hearts of millions of Indians (who by-the-way love both movies and cricket!) Aamir hit the bulls eye again with Dil Chahta Hai. This story of friendship and love gave the youth of India something that they could relate to.

King Khan sang the tune of patriotism with Swades and more recently, Chak De India!. Hrithik wasn’t far behind with Lakshya. Nana chipped in with Ab Tak Chhappan. Dil Dosti Etc again got the youth all pumped up again. Aamir came back with Rang De Basanti!

More recently, Dostana, New York, Wake Up Sid, Rock On!!, Delhi-6 all rocked the cinema houses! They all were so unique and perfectly made. They all left us thinking. You could see that very unique expression on the viewers face after he is seen the movie. They motivated us and entertained us even more.
And what’s stolen my heart today is the latest by Aamir, 3 Idiots. It has been more than a week that I saw this movie, and I still can’t get it out of my head. I still can’t help but laugh at the crazy moments from the movie. It was a beautifully written script, even better executed by the master himself, Aamir.
What this new Bollywood has brought for us is variety, quality and a story that we can relate to. The old folks have gotten better at their game. The new ones are simply outstanding. I wait for a Ranbir Kapoor movie as much as I would for a Aamir Khan. As the acting is getting as good as it gets, the attention to detail and the cinematography is simply superb! The songs aren’t just a string of rhyming words, they have meaning and they alone can make you skip a heart beat.
Today, I can proudly say that I love Hindi cinema. I no longer wait for a Hollywood flick to be entertained!

Got Published!!

Accuracy and Reliability of Pallor for Detecting Anaemia: A Hospital-Based Diagnostic Accuracy Study

In the summer of 2007, I had spent a lot of my time peeping into the patients eyes, looking at their tongues, gazing at their palms and inspecting their nails! 400 of them! Back then, it was just a summer project for the ICMR. All that I did was fantically collect as much data as I could as fast as possible. Later we put together a project report for the ICMR.

And then, 2 years later… Voilá!! I got a paper out of it! About 6 months ago we started working on this report. Trying to sculpt it into a paper. We shortened the 30 page report into a less then half, reanalyzed the data, made a few tables and graphs and then finally it was ready for submission. After about a month of submission, I get an email from the editor… “I am pleased to inform you that your manuscript has been deemed suitable for publication in PLoS ONE.”

And day one of this year, its published! I am really excited to have my first article published in PLoS ONE!! This is huge for me! Great start to this great year!

Link