Trying new things

I am now at Zalm for over 2 weeks. It has been a very quiet phase in my professional life, there is no doubt about that. The lack of any professional challenge is actually quite irritating, but I find that if I do other things that are creative or productive, the irritation goes away. So, yesterday was Friday. I had debated about whether I should return to Al Muwayh for the weekend, as I am off-call this week. Then, I realised that even if I went home to Al Muwayh, I would be the one to suffer, as I would have to cook food, search for other stuff and so on. So, I decided to stay put in the room in Zalm and make myself busy online. 

I am now in the process of polishing a novel that I wrote earlier ... more than a decade ago on THIS site. Having learned where to sell my e-books, I think it is a good idea to prepare yet another e-book and try and sell it on POTHI.COM, where I have also put up my Child Care book for sale.

This is an adventure story set in India and features a group of college students fighting for survival in a forest in Madhya Pradesh. I will send the link to it once it is approved and put up on the site. I plan to price it low so that more and more people are able to access it. 

The next thing I am doing is continuing my online studies. On THIS site, one can take free courses whenever they want on a wide range of topics pertaining to all disciplines. A free course is good enough for learning, but if you wish to add the study to your CV, you need to pay a small amount of between USD 39 to USD 59 to get a verified certificate for the given course. The one I am doing currently is from the University of California, San Francisco, and is on Communication between Healthcare Professionals and what impact it can have on the hospital's Healthcare statistics and performance. 

Next on the list is watching movies that I have for long downloaded on my laptop or in my external hard disc, but haven't had the chance to watch until now. In the last two days, I watched two classics from Hindi cinema - Sadak, starring Sanjay Dutt, Pooja Bhatt and Sadashiv Amrapurkar (the last one in the role of "Maharani" - a transgender owner of a prostitute den - a role which brought him the National Award that year); and Taal, starring Anil Kapoor, Aishwarya Rai, Akshay Khanna and Amrish Puri ... a musical that took the people of India by storm when it was first released. Next on my short list are other movies that are equally famous, including Aah, starring Raj Kapoor and Nargis, and a few others.

Last, but not the least, is to walk. I have begun walking about 3 days ago, and am trying to walk at least a few kilometers each evening to return myself to some semblance of fitness. Let me see how long I can sustain this activity. 

Yesterday, I received a lovely gift from one of the radiology technicians Mrs. Khairunnissa - she cooked spicy chicken and chappatis for me on my specific request which I had made the day before. I really dislike the food provided by the hospital's kitchen and I have been going around requesting Indian/Pakistani/Filipina staff to share their food preparations with me. Hope they all bring me food ... 

And on that note, I end this entry. I hope you liked it and will take some inspiration from it. Thank you.

Day 45, Friday, 30th December 2011

So, the month seems to be coming to an end, as also a very eventful year for me, for Mumbai, for India and perhaps for Asia and the world too. Back in Al Muweh, things are slow and I don't think anything has changed much in the last year, except that the hospital and the people living here have aged 1 year. As my friend Dr. Ravi Pandit informed me in a comment to an earlier post, prices here haven't altered much here either; almost 17 years ago, Saudi bread khubs used to cost 1/5th of a riyal or 20 halalas. It costs the same today as well. Prices of petrol, diesel and cooking gas remain at very low levels, and second hand cars are still available at the same rates as they were at that time. (This he hasn't told me, but I found this out myself!)


The second off day of my weekend was not unusual, but as I had foreseen, the man who was supposed to come to my place to cook food and make chapatis never turned up. In the event, after waiting for him until half past two in the afternoon, I started the work myself. I made two appams with pre-soaked rice made into a paste using the mixer, six dal-parathas from the left-over dal, and nine chapatis. After this gruelling task, I made mixed vegetables and chicken curry. The vegetables got partially burnt because I was busy chatting with my family at that time. However, all the food turned out nice, as I tasted most of it. 


There were a few emergency calls, but nothing extra-ordinary. The unusual thing is that one of the parents actually came to pick me up from my house to go to the hospital, and promised me that he would take me back to the house afterwards. And he did. This was cool, because I don't see such responsive and responsible men here very often.


I skipped my evening walk today, but did manage to walk here and there throughout the day. For example, the walk from my house to the hospital in the morning to see admitted patients, and another walk early in the evening to buy some stuff.


In the night, I watched "Pyaasa" a 1957 classic produced, directed and acted in, by Guru Dutt. Waheeda Rehman looked ravishing in her role as a street woman. She is one actress I have always loved watching since childhood. May she live a long life. As to the movie, it is immensely watchable thanks to its great songs and music. The story-line will not appeal to the present generation, but was appropriate for those times.