Saturday, March 31, 2007

Cesar Pasta

I love pasta - not particularly for how it tastes; sure, it tastes good, but I love it because its so easy to make. Ingredients are simple, prep is quick, and if you botch it up just add enough cheese and you'll be okay.

Finding Italian ingredients used to be a problem - and still is, in some places.. so I usually substitute with local or dried herbs.

Todays recipe is a spin-off on something I originally saw in a book called "Fast Pasta". Excellent book, but the ingredients are a tad too exotic in most of the recipes. This one is quite good on one of those hot summer nights.

Ingredients:

Dry Pasta (Any).. 250g
Tomatoes.. 4 big ones, chopped
Tomato Puree .. 1/2 pkt.
Onion.. 1, chopped
Garlic.. 4 cloves, minced
Button Mushrooms.. 10 or more.. quartered
Bacon, de-rinded.. 100g, chopped
Chicken Sausages (optional).. 2 nos, cut into small pieces
Parsley (optional).. a few sprigs
Chilli Flakes .. 1 tsp.
Olive Oil .. 1 tbsp.
Salt and pepper .. to taste

I used Penne, but I think Spaghetti would be ideal. In which case make sure the bacon is cut in longer strips.

Method:
Into a little olive oil in a hot saucepan, sautee onions and garlic. When onions turn translucent, add bacon and fry till a little brown. Add tomatoes. Stir. Add tomato puree, bring to a boil, and reduce flame to low heat. Add sausages, chilli flakes and parsley. Add salt and pepper. Cover and simmer for 10 minutes or till tomatoes are well blended into the sauce.

On covering start boiling water for pasta (new pan, of course) and cook it according to instructions on cover. Al dente :)

Add cooked pasta to the sauce, mix it delicately in the pan till the sauce coats the pasta. Sprinkle Parmesan on cheddar cheese on top and serve.

Of all the things, I found Kokam juice an excellent accompaniment. That's a personal choice, of course..

Make it today. I can guarantee you, girls will love you for it. Guys.. well, they'll eat anything with meat in it. Cheers!


Wednesday, March 28, 2007

Damp Squib

What a bunch of losers! The CR actually complained to the Senior Lecturer about my actions. That too, without hearing my side of the story. They behave like a bunch of Primary School children, I tell you. "I am the monitor and if you don't listen to me I will complain to the teacher". Idiots!

As for me, I had no choice but to be apologetic. This woman, I knew from prior experience, has no interest in my welfare. As expected I was let off with a slap on the wrist and a warning.

Which basically means I can't slack off as much as I used to. For a couple of days, at least!

Tuesday, March 27, 2007

Lull Before the Storm

I went to clinic with a bit of trepidation. A fellow intern had told me earlier that the CR intends to complain to the HOD about me. My mom was furious at my cockiness and convinced me to be apologetic in front of the HOD. I didn't know what to expect. I looked up the days remaining for my posting to get over at the notice board - there is exactly one month left.

The residents came by, and we went for the rounds. Not a word was spoken, and the hostility was palpable. Not even a glance, nor an acknowledgment of my presence. I asked JR if anything needed to be done and after some careful thinking led me to fill one discharge card. He let me go home soon.

I doubt if they'll do anything against me now. They sure as hell won't be friendly for a long time, but I didn't come here to make friends anyway.

Monday, March 26, 2007

Stand your ground, Soldier

Wow! What a roller coaster day! I have not done anything as radical as this in a very long time!

As you probably must have gathered from my previous posts, I have mixed feelings about my Medicine Department where I am currently posted as an Intern.. and that there is no love lost between me and most of my residents, especially the Junior Resident (JR).

In the medico hierarchy, an Intern becomes a Junior Resident, after passing the requisite competitive exams of course, who then automatically becomes a Senior Resident after one year, who is promoted to Chief Resident in another year.

My JR, is a pain in the ass. He tries to dump his dirty work on me - which means collecting lab reports two floors down, writing discharge cards, filling registers - clerical and peon work. The initial days of this fiasco I considered it as a minor chore.. but now, I see it as an embarrassment. I, being a qualified doctor having to do work befitting a ward-boy - and that too not getting paid for it - ridiculous!

Interns in my hospital have been doing this all along. I don't know what morals or principles they adhere too - apparently they have no regard for their self esteem. Thus, the residents have gotten used to having their personal slaves hanging around with their tails behind their legs doing what they say.

Today, that was not going to happen. My JR told me to collect 5 reports from the lab. And if the reports were not printed yet, scribble the findings on a piece of paper, so that the rounds of the senior residents could be done with first.

I went to the lab and only 1 was ready. The lab rats wouldn't let me copy any findings as they were busy printing the reports. So I went back to the JR with the one report.

After voicing his frustrations for a few moments he told me to go back and collect it. I told him, "Frankly, I won't do your servant-work any more". Yelling at me followed, saying this was my duty and I had to do it, to which I retaliated, "No. It isn't my duty, its yours. Further more, ever since I joined this unit you people haven't taught me a single thing worth knowing, and all I do is run around with errands. I am not interested in doing such work any more."

He said he'll complain to the CR. I told him to go ahead. (The CR happens to be a friend). He then said he'll complain to the Head of the Department. I told him, "Go right ahead. Either ways I think I'll complain to him myself, against the kind of work you make me do". And then, silence. This was in the ward. The patients were looking on, and the sisters were also staring. I walked off.

The worst that can happen is an extension of my posting -which will be a torture - to a slap on the wrist. But I intend to confront the senior teachers if the residents provoke me. Tomorrow will be more interesting.

You know, this is such a small incident. Collecting reports and delivering them, sort of like an elaborate mailman with a stetho (Fittman, of course). Hardly something to get worked up about you might say.

But this is about principle. An intern is a qualified doctor having dedicated 4.5 years of his life to medicine. And then, being delegated to work fit for a servant - it can be done, but it won't be done. Nobody has bothered to protest the pathetic scheme of things in this place. I choose to stand my ground. I can't wait for tomorrow.

Sunday, March 25, 2007

The Namesake and 300


Two movies in two days. Big deal, huh? Well how about two very good films? How often do you come across something like that now-a-days?

I saw The Namesake today. Honestly, I didn't go with any great expectations. In fact, I went more to accompany my family rather than anticipate a moving experience.

The movie is about a Bengali family in America.

A phrase from the movie resonated within me when I heard it - for it reinforced something I deeply believe in. A man says to his son -

Whenever you feel everything is against you - pack your pillow, and see the world, my son - And you will never regret it.
Indeed, how else can you get over your present troubles than by experiencing something different, or something new? There are so many things left to be done in this world - what can be so big as to stop us from discovering it?

This boy, in the movie - being brought up in a foreign country, comes to India one day and finds a part of the country in him all along. We will always carry a part of India with us - and will always recognize it when we see it, whether we like it or not.

And that is how it is with us youngsters, isn't it? We feel that the country has let us down - for many reasons, but once you triple distill all of them like Smirnoffs Vodka, it is because we are not up to the challenge. We yearn to go abroad in search of opportunity and a "fair" life - but does it feel fair to be running away from your homeland? Isn't there a voice within you saying you might as well try and make things better instead of going someplace where poverty means not having money to buy shampoo?

The movie, on the other hand, also has some good things to say about life back there. Indians there form a community through which we remain closer to our roots than we imagine. And that of course, you can make it big there if you really want to.

The other touching aspect of the movie, to me, is about family bonds. It is very easy as youngsters to ignore the wishes of our parents in the pretext of freedom and independence. Thinking that we are indebted to them makes us feel old fashioned. And only when they are gone, do we realise our shortcomings.

There is some good acting, and decent love scenes. I wish it was less decent, of course. Tabu is a seasoned veteran, our protagonist Kal gives an above average performance - but Irrfan Khan is splendid. From start to finish. And beyond.

See the movie, you won't regret it.



The other movie is 300. There's nothing much to say, given its spartan storyline. It's about fighting for what you believe in. And about what to believe in. Sterling performances and stunning visuals. A must-watch.

Friday, March 23, 2007

Show's over, Blue Billion.. Time to go home

Sorry for the delay, busy with the markets lately.

The quintessential World Cup post. Honestly, I didn't feel the hype this year and even though we lost, it doesn't seem like the end of the world as it would have, say, four years ago.

Everybody is going to have his or her emotional boo-hoo's about the whole fiasco. I just feel sad for all the school boys and girls; for whom cricket is the only source of inspiration in a sport-drained country. Our team has let us down, once again - time to move on. Then again, for some of the kids, it would be a blessing in disguise, as it is exam season after all.

Brace yourselves for the postmortem. Every true Indian will have his or her 'humble' opinion on why we lost, who should be sacked, why they will not watch cricket any more, and whose house is going to be stoned first. Out of which nothing really is going to happen - except for the stoning part.

Don't dwell on it too much, folks. Maybe we'll come back like France did in football; or maybe we'll lose to Bangla again. It is in our nature to be inconsistent and unpredictable. Think about something else in the meanwhile, like our economy. At least it's doing much better than that of the teams that have beaten us.

Tuesday, March 13, 2007

Breaking the Jinx

Bought Mindtree @ 844
Day Open: 799
Day High: 914
Last Trade Price: 878


Better Late than never. Have some cash to buy on dips too. I'll sell it within a few days coz it's not gonna hold for long.

*Update 15/03/2007*
Day High: 1021.80
Last Trade Price: 932.40

Intuition based stock. It's growing too big, too fast.

Monday, March 12, 2007

Mistakes, Mistakes

I'm an amateur stock market investor. One fine day I had thought to myself, "Hell, I don't really need money for anything anyways, other for fuel and drinks, so why waste it?" And thus I began my foray into this jungle.

I consider myself a risk-taker. Which doesn't mean I go about hunting for small-cap, sub-100 Rupee stocks; nor do I (anymore) go on the tips of some 'expert' on the telly. I can put it a substantial amount of cash and bear the occasional arrythmia because the greed is there. And of course, I have no dependents nor debts of any kind, so there's no urgency.

There is an IT company called Mindtree. In a nutshell, its run by one of the ex chairmen of Wipro, and it looks pretty darn good on the fundamentals side. When it came out with an IPO, it was, on the surface, a must-have stock. "Aankh bandh kar ke khareed lo" types. Hell, it was so good that it was oversubscribed about 100 times. And so, even thought I applied with a modest sum of 20 grand I got nothing. I had locked in my cash for a month waiting for the results and the refund. Lost out on many other opportunities.

I learnt that for an excellent IPO; like Mindtree, or the erstwhile Tech Mahindra, one should consider buying it on the listing day, or maybe a few days after that. Lesson 1 learnt, I ventured to buy this elusive stock after all, in the Secondary Market.

Cut to today morning, before the Opening Bell. Last Traded Price: Rs. 649. I thought of getting ambitious and bid for Rs.655. I had to go to my clinic and and left it at that.
Cut to the afternoon. I checked the stock status at my college 'digital library'. it had shot up to Rs.725.

Words cannot describe the euphoria I felt. It was, maybe the first time I had the guts to go about buying a stock with a substantial amount of my savings, based on some sound research. I met two friends with whom I couldn't help but share the joy. It was a particularly boring day at the clinic till then, but what difference can a few idiot Residents make to a person on the path to financial freedom and riches galore!

And, cut to evening, 8.30pm. I had just been let off by my Residents. Those sadistic loafers had made me wait till 7 doing odd jobs of collecting lab reports from two floors down and up several times; and filling in OPD registers with fake names for an upcoming MCI Inspection. Although totally exhausted the faint excitement of the days profits (and future profits) were still ebbing within me.

Well. Disaster. For some reason the order had expired. My bid, although it was acceptable, didn't go through. I tried several times refreshing my Order Book, hoping against hope for something to come through, but nothing happened. I went to my account to see my balance funds and they were still there. What had happened? I don't really know, but there was a column which I had left blank while placing my order - called "trigger price". I never used to fill it so I really didn't know what it did, maybe that did me in.

I'm gonna find out what exactly went wrong but till then I'm only gonna buy when markets are open.

I keep getting reminded everyday that the market is not for the weak of heart. One makes mistakes but one learns a lot from every one of them. The more mistakes you make the more you learn. It is difficult to remember that when you are losing money all the time :) but it shows if you persevere.

I'm just caught thinking what to do tomorrow. Should I still go for Mindtree (thinking long term) or should I wait for lower levels. My gut tells me to buy. I'm not going to clinic tomorrow.

Monday, March 5, 2007

Bloody Idiot

My tyre was FLAT the next day. Reason: there was still a bit of the nail sticking in the tyre, which Baby had overlooked to remove. Had to mooch a ride to hospital and took the bus home. My poor bike!

Sunday, March 4, 2007

Puncture XXX

Today the rear tyre of my bike got punctured for the fourth time. It's not a big deal by biker standards, especially considering I've had it for about 3 years. But what a pain it is.

One major bit of advice I'd like to give you.. Always be on the lookout for puncture-wallahs/repairers. You should know their locations all around your city. Searching for the tyre-wallah can get very frustrating, especially since passers-by are as clueless as you are (if they are walking, they don't have a bike - so how will they know where repair shops are?)

A petrol pump is your best bet, especially if you don't know your whereabouts. Usually they have repairers there itself.

And once you do find him, be ready for a long wait. I had two people ahead of me and it took him one hour to get to me.

All basic info eh, but what the heck.

I did find a puncture repairer, a guy called Baby. He was (of course) a Mallu, and I had a chat with him. I didn't understand half the things he was explaining about my tyre, but there were about 8-10 holes in the tube and the cheaper option was to change the tube itself. 170 bucks. Hmm I wonder if that's why I needed to inflate my tyres every week. Lets see..

One thing which struck me was what an advantage it is knowing a language alien to your city. Or what that matter knowing about different cultures and places. For I was able to connect with a puncture-wallah of all the people; simply because I recognized his hometown by his accent. Well you might argue it was quite useless considering he didn't give me any discount as such, but would you do the same? Naah, me neither.

Thursday, March 1, 2007

Littman and Fittman

This is a Littman. If you don't know what it is, you do not have anything to do with the medical profession.

For this is the Rolls Royce of Stethoscopes. The best in any Price Range. Take it from me, it is enough to make you feel like a better doctor the minute you hold it. The winding L on the face of the Steth is enough to even evoke gasps in the chests of fledgling medical students. It is expensive, classy, and one of those things that last a lifetime. One of the signs of making it "big" as a doc is owning a Littman.

Cost: Littman Classic SE II: Rs. 3500/-

Er.. In case you are wondering, Littman, if he was a man, did not invent the Stetho. It was a Frenchman, Rene Laennec.




And this, ladies and gentlemen is the Fittman. Heh heh.. on close scrutiny, you fill find that the "F" on the face closely resembles the well known "L" of the Littman. The trained eye will notice that it is indeed the same L; which is inverted.

The Fittman is a far cry from the big L. It cannot come close to duplicating the quality of a Littman. It is like comparing your local auto-rickshaw stereo speaker to a Harmon-Kardon. In all probability you will mistake a pan-systolic murmur for breath sounds.

But what is it, other than a cheap stetho with a big presumptous "F" on it? Ah, it is the ultimate show of attitude of the medical student against his harassing superiors. When less civilized folks show their middle finger as an act of insult, all our tactful little medico needs to do is flash the stetho as it dangles on his shoulders. This is thus, The Big F!

Cost: Fittman ver I: Rs. 100/-

Contact me for a piece. Limited stocks!

We've saved the best for last

I started my last major posting in this hospital today - Medicine. It was the one subject that I truly loved - not because I followed a good textbook, not because of any superb teachers, not at all because of a good clinical exposure in terms of patients, hell, not even because of any hot residents/interns/teachers. I just loved it. There is a scientific method to be followed in diagnosis; and clinical examination is really an art. In Surgery you need investigations to assist you; Gynae and Obs is limited in scope and variations. But Medicine - it remains a rare fusion of Art, gained only by practice and Science, acquired only by sheer hard work and (more importantly) Common Sense.

Lets see how it goes.. I got into the most hectic Unit with 2 OPDs a week (the other units have 1) and it is run by the HOD himself. To top it all, the person in charge of attendance/performance of the interns, a strange little sadistic creature is also one of the lecturers here. Great. Another 2 eventful months. I tried to get out of it by fabricating stories of fake classes on OPD days but the sadist told me to either leave the classes or get an authorized letter proving I have classes on that day - and on doing that I still wouldn't be allowed to change units, I'll only be allowed to exchange my OPD days with someone else.

Looks like my college won't be letting go of me without trying to bestialize me one final time.