Lessons from PATCH ADAMS !

Another POWERFUL movie played by Robin Williams ! This is a true story about Patch Adams, who was an UNCONVENTIONAL Doctor who believed that the biggest healing for patients was through the HEART and not just through medicine http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hunter_%22Patch%22_Adams

Robin Williams plays the role of Patch beautifully and most amazingly from the heart ! Patch is a medical student who doesn't believe that Patients should be treated as Patients ( but as people) and that Doctors should not get attached to the individuals.

At the end of the movie, the villain of the movie moves the medical commission to debar Patch from practicing medicine because of his unorthodox methods. Needless to say, Patch wins.

Here is an excerpt from that scene !! Enjoy !!

Medical Commission : Did you consider the ramifications of your actions?

What if one of your patients had died?

Patch : What's wrong with death, sir?

What are we so mortally afraid of?

Why can't we treat death with a certain amount of humanity and dignity and decency...and, God forbid, maybe even humor?

Death is not the enemy, gentlemen.

If we're gonna fight a disease, let's fight one of the most terrible diseases of all-- indifference.

Now, I've sat in your schools and heard people lecture on transference... and professional distance. Transference is inevitable, sir.

Every human being has an impact on another.Why don't we want that in a patient/doctor relationship?

That's why I've listened to your teachings, and I believe they're wrong.

A doctor's mission should be not just to prevent death...but also to improve the quality of life.

That's why you treat a disease, you win, you lose.

You treat a person, I guarantee you, you win, no matter what the outcome !!!

Lessons from DEAD POETS SOCIETY

One of my GREAT Influences in life ( wow ! how many influences do I seem to have ?!!) is the movie Dead Poets Society in which a Poetry Professor Mr. Keating, played by the affable Robin Williams connects with the hearts of the students.

English Poetry was at the bottom of the list for these students for both interest and career prospect reasons.

Keating however, captures their imaginations using Poetry to Excite and Energise the students into making them believe in themselves as INDIVIDUALS.

This of course goes agains the GRAIN of "formal education practices" but it ignites PASSION and ENERGY amongst the students.

After watching this move, the questions that came to my mind were :

"Why couldn't any of my teachers adopt this INSPIRING way to make the boring subjects at school come alive ?" I may not have given up on Science subjects and moved on to Commerce had that been the case !

"Why not follow the Dead Poets Society approach in everything I do in life from now on and EXCITE people about anything and not take their INTEREST for granted ?!

I have started following the above and can confidently say that it has made a HUGE difference in my life and I would like to believe that I am making one in others lives as well !

Three cheers to the movie and Professor Keating ! ( Robin Williams !)

Why do we need to get TECHNICAL about Life ??

Here we go round the mulberry bush
The mulberry bush, the mulberry bush
Here we go round the mulberry bush
So early in the morning

This is the way we wash our clothes
Wash our clothes, wash our clothes
This is the way we wash our clothes
So early Monday morning

This is the way we iron our clothes
Iron our clothes, iron our clothes
This is the way we iron our clothes
So early Tuesday morning

This is the way we mend our clothes
Mend our clothes, mend our clothes
This is the way we mend our clothes
So early Wednesday morning

This is the way we sweep the floor
Sweep the floor, sweep the floor
This is the way we sweep the floor
So early Thursday morning

This is the way we scrub the floor
Scrub the floor, scrub the floor
This is the way we scrub the floor
So early Friday morning

This is the way we bake our bread
Bake our bread, bake our bread
This is the way we bake our bread
So early Saturday morning

This is the way we go to church
Go to church, go to church
This is the way we go to church
So early Sunday morning

So this is THE WAY WE LIVE OUR LIFE ????

Can we FOCUS on THIS IS THE WAY ( various WAYS !!!) we ENJOY OUR LIFE ??

Just like Professor Keating in the movie DEAD POET'S SOCIETY professed about Learning Poetry ?

History made FUN ! The Mel Brooks way !!

Back to one of MY ULTIMATE Inspirations in life - Mel Brooks with his MAGNUM OPUS creation - History of the World. Check out this awesome clip of the introduction of the TEN COMMANDMENTS ! ( or was it FIFTEEN ? !)

Why do we need to be SERIOUS ???

I have always loved people who are SERIOUS about FUN and spreading it. I have written about Mel Brooks earlier on my BLOG.

This is another series of movies - AIRPLANE ( and AIRPLANE 2) which I feel just CHALLENGES the Imagination of the mind and more importantly, makes one relaxed and ENJOY !!!!!!!!!

How can we SPREAD this message in this world ? How can INJECT this world with a SENSE of HUMOUR so that it forgets its Powerplay, EGO rifts, War, Sadness, Misery, etc. ???

Enjoy the clip !!!!

Who is in CONTROL ?

I smoked for 15 years of my life. I never admitted to myself that it wasn't me in CONTROL. It was my dependance; my addiction that was in control. One fine day I just asked myself this question - "Do I want to be in control at all ?" I never smoked after that.

Many people might exclaim - "Oh its not as easy as that" ! Whatever be your reason to quit and get back your FREEDOM, it is definitely WORTH it !!! Its been a 5 year long SMOKE FREE life for me ! And I don't miss it one bit !!!! Here's to exercising CHOICE in life !!!!!!

Would you want this kind of a TRANSFORMATION ?

Its sad to see one of this century's greatest talents become this way. And not just his looks - but the way the world has transformed from ADORING him to SPITING him ! I remember idolising him in the THRILLER days. That was 24 years ago !! MJ has contributed a lot to this world. Perhaps, the world has just not umderstood him. Here's wishing this legend realises and remembers his invaluable contribution and gets his PEACE soon !

Jazz - Take Five ! A True Classic !!!

GROAN !!!! Not Take Five !!! These are the normal protests uttered by the "Jazz afficianados" ! But, the ubiquity of this track actually reveals the GIANT nature of its influence ! It is a CLASSIC and well deserved. It crossed over to mainstream music from Jazz and is one of those compositions which made Jazz famous !!! Catch this amazing 1961 video with Dave Brubeck's leadership, the genius of Paul Desmond on the sax and the awesome drum solo by Joe Morello ! ENJOY !!!

A thrill like no other !!!

Shotover Jet, originally uploaded by dominic_tristram.

Yes, to add to the LIST OF THRILLS, that I have been amassing in life, here is another MEMORABLE one !!! This is a JETBOAT RIDE in new Zealand on the Shotover River.

A fact many may not know is that Jetboats were first designed in New Zealand by Sir William Hamilton to navigate the shallow rivers there. These jet boats do not have propellers under the boat. They eject the water through a jet proulsion system. Check the wikipedia link for info ! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jetboat

See the video to experience the thrill. Note the HAMILTON turn viz. the 360 degree turn by the boat !!! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YASqQq9gJco

This is a THRILL not to be missed in life !!!

OSHO: LOVE and HATE are ONE

Sex God. Outrageous.Anti-Society. Anti-Religion. Some of these are true. Some not. What is TRUE is that OHSO was one of the VERY FEW people in the world who had the GUTS to say it STRAIGHT and hit it where it HURTS ! His Controversial aura has not allowed thousands to extract the ESSENCE of OSHO which when understood can cut the CRAP in your life and focus on the BEAUTY !!! Here's to TRUE LIVING !!!!

Darth Vader hates cell phones !

Please Mr.Vader, can you use the FORCE to do the same here in Mumbai to our tech savvy mobile users in the cinema multiplexes ????

My MEIN KAMPF, BIBLE, RIG VEDA

Ok !!!! Here's my second BIG BIG BIG SECRET !!!! My guide to How to NAVIGATE LIFE in the twentieth century !!! This one came out in 1983 !!! Yes, almost 25 years ago !!! Its called DELIRIOUS !

And those of you have enjoyed Eddie Murphy in Beverly Hills Cop ( which I did !) FORGET about it !!! All those roles are not a PATCH on what he does here !!! Of course, this is a stand up Comedy act on stage and therefore totally different ! But wow !! what a difference !

And mind you, this is not for the FAINT HEARTED !!! He swears and is VULGAR !!!! But in all this I believe he captures the ESSENCE of LIFE oh so beautifully !!!

The way he parodies and mimics various icons of the time - Stevie Wonder, Michael Jackson, Bill Cosby, etc. is just incomparable !!!

And in all that he steals a march away from the Cosmopolitans of the world with valuable RELATIONSHIP & SEX advice !!!

He had a follow up to this effort with the show RAW in 1987 - but I feel this one is the BEST !!! I have seen RICHARD PRYOR do similar shows, but for me it will always be Murphy who is the guru !!!

A tried and tested medical recommendation for STRESS !!!

Ok here it is !!! My secret in my life to all the HUMOUR !!! All the twisting words ! All the puns !!! This is one of my GREATEST INSPIRATION which graced my life more than 20 years ago !!!

Mel Brooks !!! Yes, the king of satire and comedy ! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mel_Brooks

And this one was to my mind his MAGNUM OPUS !!! He takes on the entire History of the World right from Cavemen times to the French revolution ! And he MASSACRES it with FUN, WIT and WIT !!!

I must have watched this movie 234 times !!! And, a word of advice, DON"T ever watch it with me !!! I know every word, every ooh ,every grunt and I will preempt them while watching the movie and will therefore make your experience MISERABLE !!!

But , watch it you MUST !!!!! Live life with this outlook and I can guarantee its GOOD BYE STRESS & WORRY for the rest of your life !!!

The best part of the movie is no matter how many times you watch it, you will always grasp new nuances of humour in the movie that you didn't get earlier !!!! That's the mastery of Mr. Brooks !

A year full of adventure !!!

One more guide to ADVENTURE in Your life !! This fabulous book from none other than Lonely Planet lists out various adventurous activities and destinations in the world and tells you when is the best time in the year to do it !!! Makes planning a lot more simpler !!!

Its also nice to see a book like this and make a mental check list that you HAVE DONE some already !!!

So here's to PUSHING THE LIMIT and maximising the sweet nectar of LIFE !!!!

My FIRST TREK !

Taranaki Falls Walk, The National Park, New Zealand, originally uploaded by abhijit_dan.

Yes ! I am back !!! After neglecting my beloved blog for months , I am back ( and with a bang !!!). I guess I needed some fuel ! And now I have plenty !!!

I was never an Outdoors person in my life - in fact City life was life for me ! The song "You belong to the City" by Glenn Frey reflected my ideology in life !!!

All that changed when I first went to New Zealand in 2005. I fell in love with nature ! I connected with it and for the first time felt the connection with my self so strongly !!!

On my second trip to NZ ( this time with my wife), I ensured that the Opportunity to Connect was phenomenally high !

I discovered that NZ was one of the best havens for Trekkers in this world ! In fact they call it TRAMPING ! http://www.tramper.co.nz/

It has superb facilities ! Well marked and made out tracks all over the country - well managed by the Department of Conservation ( DOC).

NZ has many GREAT WALKS. http://www.newzealandnz.co.nz/great-walks/

These take many days and there are huts which allow one to spend the nights. This allows people to travel light as they do not have to carry tents.

Our FIRST walk was a baby step. It was just a 2 hour looping track. But the terrain was slipperry and it started raining - so all in all it was great training !

This walk was in what is called the National Park area in the Northern Island, NZ. Also called the Tomgariro park. The Tongariro crossing is one of the GREAT walks of NZ. We didn't do that. We were not ready and neither was the weather !

However small our baby step, it was awesome ! And today we are a few treks old !!! One great step to connecting with NATURE !

My FIRST ZORB !!!

ZORBing in New Zealand, originally uploaded by abhijit_dan.

Hey !!! I found another MY FIRST !!!! And this time - a very unconventional one !!! A Zorb is a GIANT Hi tech Transparent Rubber / Plastic ball. You get INTO this ball and ROLL down a hill ! Like in the photo. By the way I am INSIDE that ZORB in this pic !!

It is great fun !!! Lots of thrills happen on the way down. They also put some water inside to make it even thrilling !!! Thats what I did ! Plus I chose the ZIG ZAG route rather than the conventional Straight way down !

Net net - might seem scary to try first - but BOY is it FUN !!!!

My first SCUBA DIVE !!! Feb 2002

Great Barrier Reef, Cairns, Australia, originally uploaded by abhijit_dan.

This is sounding like a series of MY FIRST .... But since I have blogged about My first Sky dive, My first Bungy Jump, I felt it was appropriate to talk about MY FIRST SCUBA DIVE in life !!!

It was in the FAMED Great Barrier Reef, Australia off the coast of Cairns, that I tool this step !

We were on a small cruise ship ( called Ocean Spirit) which took us on a journey across the Reef.

It was BEAUTIFUL ! I remember Sarita not taking it too well though ( she got sea sick !). Thats when they offered people to go for an INTRODUCTORY DIVE - and I got excited and went for it !!

It opened a whole new world for me ! To get underwater with Scuba diving gear, navigating the PEACEFUL world of the deep blue ocean, silently communicating with the millions of living species that inhabit that world - AWESOME !!!

I decided then that one day I would become a PADI certified diver !!! And I did ! But that's another BLOG story !!! What's next in MY FIRST .. series ? Looks like MY FIRST TREK/ Hike seems appropriate !

Taking that FIRST STEP !!! / My First BUNGY Jump !

I had been waiting for this moment in life !! I had taken difficult short cuts - like Scuba Diving and Sky diving ! But I had not come to terms with doing a BUNGY Jump ! Lot of people pacified me by saying that if I have done SKY DIVING then Bungy is nothing ! Some how I didn't agree !!!

I knew there was FEAR between me and that first jump !

That moment came ! Fast ! Queenstown, Kuwarau bridge. The first commercial bungy jump site in the world - set up by A J Hackett in 1988. It was a 43 metres jump !

The best part when I decided and went up to the bridge, I realised one critical thing !

There was NO FEAR !!! Just anticipation and excitement !!!

Wow !!! And I just jumped !!!

Hope you enjoy it !

Lets all Have PUN !!!

I am a self declared ( sometimes condemned - but mostly admired !!!) fan / addict of PUNNING !!!

And, I have been for a long long time !!!!

In fact I remember responding to a "structured" discussion on puns in school almost 20 years ago !!!

The teacher read out a statement - "Life depends on the LIVER" and asked if we could figure out the double meanings in it.

I promptly answered, saying that meaning no.1 was that Life depended on the person living it. Meaning no. 2 was that Life also depended on the state of your health - in this case signified by the organ, the LIVER !!

I got pat on the back from the teacher - who then declared that LIVER was a PUN !!!! I also got lots of amazed looks from the other students !!!

My formal career in Punning had been launched !!!

The fun of punning for me has always been the amazing possibllity of interpreting MORE than ONE meaning to the same word / concept !

And for that, I salute the ENGLISH language for allowing so many many LOOPHOLES which allow the wild and wonderful of Punning to flourish !!!

A serious attempt at defining punning ( wikipedia) reveals the following :

A pun (also known as paronomasia) is a figure of speech which consists of a deliberate confusion of similar words or phrases for rhetorical effect, whether humorous or serious.

A pun can rely on the assumed equivalency of multiple similar words (homonymy), of different shades of meaning of one word (polysemy), or of a literal meaning with a metaphor.

Bad puns are sometimes called "cheesy".

Walter Redfern (in Puns, Blackwell, London, 1984) succinctly said: "To pun is to treat homonyms as synonyms".

In order to be able to pun effectively it is necessary that a language must include homonyms which may readily be misrepresented as synonyms. Languages with complex gender or case structures tend not to facilitate this, although puns can be constructed in all languages with varying degrees of difficulty; i.e. puns are said to be easy to construct in languages such as Chinese or English, but rarer in Russian.

A realisation came to me about a Universal Truth : Everyone loves Puns - they just REACT to them in different ways !

Reaction 1 ( The Honest one) : Wow !! How do you do that ?! Its so amazing ! And you just thought of that right now ?!

Reaction 2 ( The Sour Grapes one) : Groan ! Groan ! Not again !!! When will you stop ?

Reaction 3 ( The Fence sitter one) : That was nice ! ( wince wince !) / That sucked ! ( with a smile of admiration !)

Unfortunately I know a lot who fall into Reaction no.2 or 3 - as if it is beyond their dignity to laugh at a well cracked pun ! As far as Reaction 1 goes, well quite rare indeed !!

I mean - hey lighten up ! I am just having PUN !!

Also, for those who do not know, there are many BENEFITS to PUNNING :

• For the PHYSICALLY INSPIRED, PUNNING is like RUNNING - It is an exercise - for my brain - which is always in tip top shape.


• For the SPIRITUALLY INCLINED, It is helpful in BUILDING AWARENESS


• For the SEXUALLY INCLINED, it helps in chatting up the Opposite Sex, especially when you run out of words !


• For the ENTERTAINMENT CHALLENGED ( Bored), it is a great way to pass time


• For the ROMANTICALLY FRUSTRATED it is a great way to create POETRY

So, as you can see there is a very POSITIVE side to PUNNING. It is definitely not the PUNishment that it is made out to be !!! :-)

Kicking your own BUT !!!

Yes - yes ALL Puns intended !!!

This line emerged in my mind after a conversation with a friend. She said that everything was going beautifully in her life - but, she still felt incomplete.

I told her that it was the GOOD, BUT syndrome.

Example - "This dress looks good on me ... BUT ...!"

How many times do we subject ourselves to the BUT ???

So, I told her to start Kicking your BUT from now on !!! The moment you see yourself adding a BUT to an otherwise obviously GOOD thing in your life, STOP right there - and KICK that BUT goodbye.

We deserve a good life, we deserve enjoying the good life and no BUT is going to spoil it !!! Not for me at least !!!

So, lets help each other in Kicking BUT !!!!

At a slightly deeper level, most of us might / might not know that we can CREATE our OWN CIRCUMSTANCES.

If we truly believe that a) We deserve a GREAT LIFE / Circumstances and b )we can make that Great life / circumstance happen for us then we need to ELIMINATE that BUT !!! ( also the IFs !)

Next post : Managing the IFs !!!! ( Just kidding ! Why WORRY about IFs !!?)

Cee ya !!!