Siamese Twins

I suppose you have heard about conjoined twins, if not here is a wikipedia article(written by a stranger with no credibility) describing it. I also suppose that you would agree that it is one of the most terrible abnormalities that one could possibly have and that you are lucky you aren't one such(again assuming that you are not one). From what I know, remedy for the condition is available through a very complex surgery which involves considerable risk. Also, the complexity of such a surgery supposedly increases with age.

I happen to know one such Siamese twins, for quite some time now, although not too personally. And I think you would be knowing about them too, unless you have been living in a spider hole for a very long time. The couple I know of were born before I was and there is an interesting tale surrounding their birth. If you love solving puzzles, chances that you have come across the one involving triplets born on different dates are high. I could never understand the solution to that one, but was convinced that there is a perfectly logical explanation to it. Well, their tale doesnt explain it, but it sure shows that such a scenario is perfectly possible. Yes, the twins that I am referring to are actually part of triplets, all born on different dates. Wait, there is more, all were conjoined, until surgery(a quite bloody one I am told) separated one from the remaining two.

Let's talk about the ones that continue to be joined. Despite their situation, the pair I speak of have actually developed their own identities, for which I am happy, but at some point(probably from the beginning itself) their thinking, their ideology and their perspective on what is good and otherwise and life in general hadn't sync-ed as much as their bodies(after all no two people are the same, conjoined or not). Their already worse life was made further miserable by constant bickering and petty arguments(usually followed by long silence, which is unimaginable given their state), even frivolous squabbles over who was the rightful owner of the organs they shared. They have even claimed at times that they don't need the other for survival. Do you think that it is entirely possible for them to be so? Do you think that they can go about their business as normal people do? Do you really think that they can be INDEPENDENT as they stand and claim and are probably celebrating this very moment?

P.S: Its OK if you dont feel like answering my questions, I shouldnt have asked them at all, there is never a good time to ask them, especially on their birthdays.

My first cartoon strip...

I have finally managed to create my first cartoon strip, courtesy toondoo. Anyway, I couldnt decide on the theme and ended up choosing the theme for the contest in the site. I have picked on Bush's misery.



I am hoping to do regular strips, but finding a good common theme is proving to be difficult, all my ideas seem to be a EEE of either dilbert, calvin n hobbes or pearls before swine. Do you have a nice theme for a cartoon strip?

Matrix Conspiracy Theory

I have been a great fan of the movie 'The Matrix' ever since I watched it for the first time. I was(yes.. was) fascinated by the whole 'brain in a vat' concept and would make compelling and lengthy arguments in its favour with anyone who would argue against it. However, in time, the theory lost its charm once I couldn't make much progress in it(although I still respect it as one of the possibilities). I am not going to discuss the theory here and revive my enthusiasm, rather I will make some observations from the movie.

The movie has a character called Morpheus, an elusive personality who has been freed from the Matrix and goes about freeing others. Morpheus believes in a prophecy that there is this 'One' who will liberate the entire mankind from the Matrix and will bring about the fall of machines. His belief is more than just belief, it is an obsession that drives him to kill other people stuck in the Matrix in his war against the machines. He even encourages his followers to do the same, and justifies it using the 'if he is not one of us, he is one of them' theory. The matrix is also inhabited by agents - programs that search and destroy Morpheus and their kind, programs that maintain order in the Matrix. As part of maintaining order, the agents also misinform the residents about the extremist nature of Morpheus and his followers. Now, anybody who has seen the movie will say that Morpheus is a hero out to save the world and the suit clad agents are the villains.

Ok, now that we are clear about who are the good guys and the bad guys, let me make a few changes to the characters. I would like to replace Morpheus with Osama and the agents with the CIA and the other agencies searching Osama(I would have asked you to picture Bush as Smith, but I think Smith is quite intelligent). All we know about Osama is that he is waging a war against the USA and the reason given to us is that he is doing so in the name of religion. Cutting down the religion motive, don't you see a Morpheus in Osama? Both have been portrayed as terrorists, both have eluded capture. Both have killed people and believe in similar theories('if he is not one of us, he is one of them.. so kill him' theory). The agencies out to nab him snoop on us very much like the agents. (You can cite many similarities if you start to imagine.) Is it possible that we have been misinformed and brainwashed by the US government about Osama? What are the odds that Osama is indeed the equivalent of Morpheus and is out to relieve us?


PS: its better if i put up a disclaimer... this is just a perspective... I am not an osama supporter.. and i dont want agents coming to my office and picking me up for interrogation... but if you do choose to come.. i will choose the blue pill and kick your ass ;)

Bienvenido Torres... Adios Garcia!!

Finally the much awaited big budget move happened. Fernando Torres has moved to Anfield after 12 years at Atletico Madrid. El Nino ( The Kid ) as he is affectionately called in his home town is a perfect blend of youth and experience. He's only 23 and he joined Atletico Madrid's first team when he was 17. He became the club captain at 19. So he's more than just a striker, he can be a force in the field with his leadership qualities and the passion he brings to the game. I recently learned he has been supporting Liverpool for quite some time now along with his friends. Apparently all his friends have "You'll never walk alone" tattooed to their arms but Torres could not, instead he was given an arm band with YNWA embroidered in it. The move to Liverpool is worth 20 million pounds or 30 million euros with a wage expected to be around 100k pounds a week. The player averages 15 goals in the Spanish league and it has been a much debated topic as to whether Torres is the player Liverpool want especially with the amount of money at stake. Liverpool fans voiced their opinions in various forums to bring Charlton star Darren Bent to Liverpool. They exhibited nonplussed behavior at the prospect of signing Torres as to whether he's the "finisher" goal-getter that Liverpool needs and why not go for a talent that's proven to work in the premiership. A fair thought I should say considering the strength in Liverpool's midfield. The strikers have been getting great service from the likes of Gerrard, Alonso and Pennant and they have also pitched in with their share of goals every now and then. Personally I have not watched much of Torres but he is a highly rated player in Spain. He averages 15 goals per season in a side which lost to Barca 6-0. But is he the finisher that Liverpool need? According to me Torres is one type of striker Liverpool does not have. Liverpool have a work-horse in Dirk Kuyt, a flamboyant finisher in Crouch and a muscle man in Voronin. Torres brings that Spanish flavor of attacking football which is new to Liverpool and might be really useful considering Liverpool's Spanish style of playing. I would be happy even if he replicates his 15 goal form next season. With Crouch in great touch and Kuyt's hard work Liverpool can get the goals they have been missing. Of course I didn't mention Bellamy... Rafa has admitted that he's on his way out with a number of clubs making offers for him.

Luis Javier Garcia Sanz is back to Spain after a great record of 30 goals in 121 appearances for Liverpool. This prolific goal scoring midfielder has been a valuable asset to Liverpool over the last 3 seasons. He's saved the day on many important occasions such as the Champions League Quarter final vs Juventus (a stunner), the controversial winner vs Chelsea in the semi final, his last minute winners vs Arsenal in the League and many more. He's a midfielder with a difference. All said I think this is a good move for both the club and Garcia since his style of play is more suitable in Spain than in England where the game is about fast paced physical action. I have been frustrated many times by his failure to complete a superb counter attacking move. Many breaks have been foiled by Garcia's inability to maintain composure at that high pace and he tried one too many tricks which were to say the least, disrespectful to the opponents. As a midfielder his ball distribution is poor but he is a genuine attack-minded player who gets free very often and has got a great touch with the ball. I wish him good luck in Atletico Madrid. He has already played for Atletico and has scored 9 goals with them. He's sure to be a fan favorite and Atletico gained two for the loss of one, with Forlan, another Spanish hit having already signed for them.

Nolte soccer

It is great to be playing soccer again out in the sun. It's that same field as last summer - Nolte Center, which isn't supposed to be a field exactly. This field has two huge triangular sections of a rectangle separated at it's diagonal by a broad patch of concrete for people to walk on. Ok you can say that the triangular patches are just two sections of lawn we play on and nobody at the University cares. I tore my ACL in this very field last year trying to play a ball from the right flank to absolutely no one in the box. All my efforts of running after a poor ball went to waste plus I got myself injured. This year I am happy to be competing at the same physical level as the others. I am not a forward anymore it's a boring position to play soccer. I love playing central midfield and I know almost everything about what to do at the position although I can do only 20 -30% of the job. It's a place where you can spot your players and the opponents. Envision and execute some top notch passes or guess your opponents movements and try to stop them. I am a good passer I think and I can run well and get free. But I am not as good as the others at dribbling and I am so so with tackling. I try to make up for it by combining with someone while attacking. I think I have a good understanding with Karthik who I think is good naturally as a winger. Shyam is a menace, he's an awesome dribbler and it's difficult to win a ball against him. I shouldered him several times and won the ball about once or twice. I thought he was being nice to me since he knows about my injury. Although I hate that attitude towards me I have to admit that I am not a pro player and I have other things to take care of. Shyam keeps a cool head in not getting provoked by my physical style and makes sure he doesn't hurt any one. Prashanth likes to stick to the ball and holds it for a long time and waits for a player to make a run. I hate it when he shows his back to me, I haven't figured how to get the ball off him when he does that. Raghu is a good player and very relaxed in his approach. He is very experienced and can make good use of a mistake by the opponent. Vardi is a natural sportsman, he understands team games superbly and is a basketball player from college. Although he doesn't follow soccer he has the ability to adapt to the game. He is famous for his clumsy dances with the ball, but he's a very good team player. KC is the player I miss, he's off to California for good, but playing soccer with him was immense fun, a very passionate player who doesn't like to lose. He's a skilled forward but lacks heavily in stamina. He creates problems in small pitches. Soccer makes me happy and feel young. It's the best form of work-out according to me. Nothing gets me excited as much as soccer does. I am really looking forward to our game today!

Just Smile!

I recently visited my friend in Ann Arbor, Michigan. On the day I left Minneapolis I was kind of tired and a bit sullen. I finished checking in my luggage at the Airport and I was at the gate 1/2 hour before boarding. Just to make sure everything was ok I went up to the desk at the gate and asked "Am I all set to go. Do I have to do anything?". The guy replied "Just Smile!". It conjured up a smile in my face as if it were some sort of a magic trick or hypnosis since I kind of got instructions as to how much I can smile by looking at his suggestive face. Whatever that was, I was in a very good mood that day and it made a wealth of a difference to me. Thank you gate guy!

Crying - Physically challenged - Television

Laughter is the best medicine. Let me tell you.. tears are equally good. A friend of mine tells me she cries for no reason at all some times and it helps her to feel better. Well.. that might be a bit weird, but the point is that crying helps. Whatever the reason may be,I have this new found love for crying. Laughing makes you feel happy, crying makes you feel good... sometimes crying makes you feel better. Living all by yourself without your loved ones around is a strange experience. You feel that something is wrong but it's hard to understand what that is. Sometimes all you need is someone to ask you "What's wrong?". I am not creating sympathy here but I wish to analyze my emotions in a not so emotional fashion. When you miss home you don't exactly know what you miss about it. When you are sad, you rarely know what exactly you desire to make you feel better. Sometimes all it takes is to fool the system with a few tears. You share your sorrows with a friend... how does it make the situation any different?; but you often feel better, relieved or supported. Crying is similar... it's a drug. However it needs a trigger and it's not easy to cry. People who often cry are experts with this trigger. People who don't cry often can't cry because they don't know how.

I found this Japanese Series on stage6 called "1 litre of tears". I started watching this initially because I thought the girl in the lead role was too cute and also due to my recent craze for the Japanese language. But as the name suggests it is a very good tear trigger. I am so in love with the quality of this series, the acting, the background score and the direction and it has a very touching story. It is about a girl who suffers from spinocerebral ataxia by which she loses all her physical faculties slowly. Her slow degeneration from the age of 15 till she dies at 25 is well portrayed with the highlight on the difficulties she faces in the society and the hardship she faces in realizing herself that she's not the "normal" person in school anymore. This is based on the diary of Aya Ikeuchi, originally intended to inform her doctor about the progress of the disease. This kind of a series in my view is definitely a good way to bring about awareness in the media about physically challenged people. It makes one understand things about disabled people we would normally otherwise not think about. I injured my knee last year this time and I had to undergo surgery to fix it. I was so to say "handicapped" for a few months deprived of my very basic physical activities like running. It took me 3 months to get my walk proper. I am not saying I am in a better position to understand the disabled but I know what it feels like to see people around you walking 3 miles to downtown to watch a movie or playing in a sunday league soccer tournament. I can understand what frustration is. I wonder what I would have done without my friends who always made sure my spirits were high. They even agreed not to give me my birthday bums :). So I could relate to this story where Aya Ikeuchi talks about how her friends made her life less miserable. Once she says "Just being alive is a lovely and wonderful thing". Very true, isn't it? People keep talking about luck and fortune these days... I ask how greedy can one get? Anyways I seriously recommend "1 litre of tears" to our Indian housewives and nannies if they are really fond of crying. It is much more meaningful than our commercial soap operas. Cry for the good I say!