War have given us better lessons

Spent half a day at national museum of US Air Force in Dayton, Ohio. It is fascinating to know that it was 7 miles from this very place is where Wright brothers tried their first flight. It was remarkable and motivating journey of human thrust that keep us flying. 

Much talked topic on every news channels here is on whether US will fight a war against Syria . I spoke with some locals here and they say that what Syria doing is inhuman and the world community should come together to stop it, but what they don't agree is US getting into never ending battle , when there are N number of things to be taken care at home. I think that is why congress is as well divided. 

I heard some one saying, all we need to get united is to find a common enemy  , rather then common interest. Which is true , when we see nations can't come to common agreement on global warming, do come together to fight the war of terror very quickly. Very strange , is it ? 

After seeing world war 1 , 2 and Cold War displays  in the museum, I can't imagine any war in anywhere in the world . There is nothing we can't resolve through dialogue and discussions. Having said that, I also see that human's quest for excellence is often get accreted during war. 

Evaluation of flying machines , drive engines is one such example. War do gave us some remarkable technology and materials. I learnt that use of lean concepts, six sigma were developed during war times. No wonder , we say necessity is mother of all invention . 

But more important question is what we do with these technologies for betterment of our living or saving our planet. Do these lessons learnt from these war translate in development. We take the IC engine or CF6-6 engines and used it for powering a city or a ship, which is good. But can we do more, answer is yes. We should have a separate wing to connect the dots to see what technologies can be taken from defence and use it for betterment of man kind. I don't know whether such department is there in Indian government. 

Getting a bill for pension, food security or right for education do take very long time, some time 10 years. But when a nation security or defence development fund or bill  sees a faster approval. We need to use this defence development route to get more innovation and in turn use the result of such to the development of country. 

We don't need to flight a is war,  but getting ready for a war drives this defence development. This Cold War out there between countries keep the fund flowing. We can't stop it, but we can utilise it for better reason.  At least I believe these war thought us to be better human. 

Serious topic ha ? Getting to Orlando to have some fun !!

Chalo bye

My encounter with my heart

Bangalore episode 

It was Friday 31 May 13 , 00:30 hours , "Evan almighty" movie was reaching its climax. 

Its a strange feeling, as I stood up from the bean bag I felt that world around me is literatly revolving me, heavy sweeting, anytime I was above to throw out.I realised that not everything is all right. thinking about the andra meals that I had that night, I walked outside of my home to get fresh air. It was awesome climate that time, little drizzling cold wave, but I don't had time to enjoy nature. As time goes, the situation got worst. So, I decided to go to hospital. 

Hospital contact numbers are not handy, so pulled my iPad and browsed. Thanks to google, it gave the number. Yes, it was ringing. Then heard automatic voice message something like "press 1 for doctor's appointment, press 2 for bill desk ..." At last an operator took the phone

Me : madam I need a ambulance immediately

Operator: sir, I will connect you to the driver directly and you can ask him to come to your location

And then operator connects and no where I can find the driver of the ambulance. Again the call came back to operator 

Me : madam I am not able to speak to driver 

Operator : sir, can you take down the cell number of ten driver. 

My patients hav limits, I said, " madam, I am the patient here and I am alone at my home, this is not the time for your drama" ... 

This time driver picked up the phone and in next 20 minutes, our ambulance reached hospital.

I got down and walked to the emergency area, but noticed still the doctors and nurses were looking at the ambulance. Oh, then I realised that they were expecting more serious patient. Then I said them I am the one who need their attention. 

Walking into the emergency room, I went and sat on the bed I had chosen. Few nurses came around and started asking what happend. Yet I don't see a doctor. After few minutes, I saw a lean, beautiful lady doctor approaching me. She was very kind. She instructed her staff to take ECG, blood samples etc., 

On seeing the ECG report, her face changed. She asked to take another ECG to confirm. But now she is confident with her assumption . Yeah, it was something to do with cardiac arrest. My BP went as high as 190 , 100 ... She had instructed to move me to ICU . Now the funny story starts..

One young boy came and asked me whether I am going to pay or insurance company, I said I will do it. 

I was lieing down on bed and was not sure why I was not shifted to ICU. My lady doctor is still on phone, getting instruction from her boss. 

Then someone woke me up and showed me a paper, I was shocked. It was the room rent details. He wanted me to choose which room I can afford. I wanted to slap him, but not had enough strength. I choosed one. Then he asked my card for deposit. I gave my debit card. Then in 5 minutes, he returned , saying the card machine is showing some error and asked my credit card. I gave mine. That doesn't work either. My lady doctor got upset for good reason and said that the patient is alone and asked them to do the procedures later. 

It's 3 am , Friday 

Now things started moving the way I would have expected. I was hooked up with oxygen, moved to ICU. Dressed like a really patient in his death bed. The stage is set. She came and said that they believe that I have a block in my heart and they want to proceed with angiogram to detect any blockage. I connected her with my uncle who is a doctor. They both agreed and me too. 

Looks like without any relative or friend signature, they can't start the angio procedure.so, I called my friend for rescue. I can see a shock in his face on seeing me. All procedures set. Heart surgeon arrived. I was transported to operation theater. I see all people around me in full swing. My face got brighten after seeing GE logo on the screens and instruments. All it took was 10 minutes, approximately 1 to 2.5 meter probe to go to my heart and highlight the vains. I hear doctor praying at my bed side. I wish that I was not the first one that he want to try. But at the end his voice is loud and clear " it is error" .. I am clueless on what it was meant, until when the nurse came and said that there is no cardic blockage . And my heart is perfect. Now I can't move my right leg as the angio is performed there. I was bed ridden for next 24 hours. 

What next, it is now 8 am, Friday 

I had my breakfast with the support of a nurse. Now all my friends started pouring in. I am excited to see them. Now I have to wait for neuro opinion. Since it is not heart, they want to check my brain, Hopefully they should find one. 

CT scan done, everything is normal. Got discharged ...after one week of rest in Bangalore...we decided to go to chennai and take second opinion

Chennai episode 

Reached chennai on 07 June 13

Took every test possible... Atlast my uncle found that it was typiod which causes the situation on 31 may. 

Damn, it is just , well familer typhoid ... now thinking about what me, my family and my friends need to go through in last 10 days ... Well the hospital in Bangalore took very very conservative step , less risk for them.... 

will take this as a warning to take care of little machine inside me ... 

Cheers 

SK 

My India that was .....

I have started this blog, when I was travelling 32000 feet above sea level at a speed of 800 KMPH and temperature of approx -30 deg ... You might have guessed it already, yes I am on flight to Jamnagar. Just now captain said that we are over Rajkot ...

Flight captain was a Christian, to my left was a saint who is chanting very loudly Hare Ram and to my right was a Muslim on his traditional dress. Who said that we can't travel together, we did. I am sure we do it in land as well. ;)



How come we can talk about India and not politics, so here we go.

Last week, I boarded an auto from Richmond signal to lalbarg, auto driver was in his fifties. He started asking about my native and where I work. Since this was election season, I was curious to know what people think, so I asked him. He said that he was confused, since each person what so ever his party is, he or she is blaming the other. At the end, he finds no one is honest politician to vote for. It was interesting that he said that the British rule was better than the current state political affairs. Finally , he gave me a shock by saying that he prefers military rule than this. He feel at least corruption will end. But poor guy, looks like he is not seeing any news channels in recent times.

On return, I boarded a Volvo bus, and next to me was 2 boys in their early twenties. They started blaming every government offices that went to ..like getting driving licence , birth certificate etc.,...

It was very evident for me that both our previous generation and next generation are not satisfied with the current status ... Which is very good sign for development and for CHANGE...

Felt the inclusive development by public private partnership in passport office. though it took me 3 hours to go through the process, I was enjoying the snapshot of developed India . It is amazing to see the new born to very old queuing up to get their passport .... Looks like everyone want to explore the rest of the world...

in the other extreme , i went to a civil court to get couple of affidavits. I have seen in movies and heard of such environment . This scene makes you to feel that you traveled 25 years back in time. It is strange to see lawyers carrying latest mobile gadgets on one hand and big , paper files , documents on the other hand.

Super experience to see developed India and developing India at the same time, some India embrace the technology while others resist, some India embraces change while others resist.

Equality is certainly a buzz word in our constituency , but not practiced well enough... As far as I see...

SK's dictionary

As i stood on the steps of the moving train, got few random thoughts,

Leadership.... what politicians thinks that they have

Democracy.... Comes once in 5 years to people of India

Politics... Everything except development

Love...when silence speaks more than ever

Courage ... When you stand up knowing you will loss the battle

Inspiration...needed to live the life in mid of all chaos

Influence... Getting thoughts from everyone, except from within

Women... Nothing is complete without them

Men... Born managers, we manage everything

Charity... part of Eco (nomical) balance

God... Who watch everything hoping his creations would solve all problems themselves

Peace... People want it, but politicians don't

Cast... People want to forget it, but politicians don't allow

Laziness... Let me write about it later

Friends... Unconditional

Family... Support structure

Freedom... What corrupt politician enjoys, what 23 year girl doesn't have

Media... Always wants breaking news

Role models ... Look around

Life... Fun ride with lots of surprise on its way

P.S ..sorry for posting me watching sea, actually I don't have "me in the train" picture :)

Thoughts on higher education on science and humanity

Few hours before watched tv debate show , that was on the occasion of Infosys science foundation awards... Of course mr. Murthy was part of the panel .. Here are some of interesting points that I like most from this Science & society debate....

One of award winner said the main reason for him to pursue his dreams on maths is his Family, and he added if he was in India ( he was NRI) that now a days it is either engineering or medicine is the only 2 options. I see that this is mainly driven by the job opportunities.

One of the problem is that the Scientific elite group cut off from real India, need to make sure that people get the message that the Science touches all and it is responsibility of the scientists is to talk about what they are doing.

When problems of the world get more complicated, needs people having science background to understand them and resolve them.

The best part is as follows,

Higher education is about seeing the truth, it's all about debate and discussion with data & facts, it's about questioning the facts, assumptions, bias, understanding what brings balance to the society . Building culture of Freethinking. Appreciating the diversity is key part of school education.

Aim of education is seek truth.

Discussion ended with these lines

Pursue ur passion , do what you like...then you can do better job. ...Push your quest for truth...

After a very long time, I watched a very positive and motivating news channel debate . I think all of us have to responsibility to spread this message to the school students and parents community.