A wise physician said 'The best medicine for humans is CARE and LOVE'

Someone asked him 'And what if they don't work?'

He smiled and said 'Just increase the dose'

(Forwarded)

A day at Nehru Science Center

One of my favorite weekend haunts since the past few years has been the Nehru Science Center. You can easily spend a whole day there roaming through the different sections and get a lot of scientific information about many things. Some of the machines no longer work but those that do are, to quote Mr. Spock - fascinating. The section that I find most entertaining is the one about Prehistoric times. It has lifesize models of animals from that era of the earth's history like sabertooth and woolly mammoths and many of them move, albeit a bit jerkily. And the room always reverberates with sounds of animal calls like those that must have rang out so many millions of years ago.

A new section has been added recently - on climate change. There is one exhibit there that is guaranteed to pique your interest - a model of how a tornado builds up. Don't miss that.

An added attraction is the dome theatre of Science Odyssey. A new show has been playing there - on the Amazon. It's a 35 minute film that explores all facets of the Amazon - the mighty river, the moutain ranges, the deep forests and the tribes that inhibit it. At the end of it, you just can't help but feel that it should have been longer.

As far as the cafeteria goes, I don't know how the food served there at lunch time is - I am not a big fan of chinese noodles or Indian thali. But I have tried their breakfast items like sooji upma and medu wada-sambhar before. And both dishes were pretty good. One more plus point is that the sitting area is very clean - even during rainy season.

At INR 65 per person for the package of science center + science odyssey and INR 20 for car parking, it is easy on the wallet too.

The only downside is that the Mumbai Darshan buses keep bringing hordes of tourists who might fill up the place within minutes.

So, if you are looking for something that combines entertainment and education, Nehru Science Center is the place to head out to over one weekend.

जिंदगी कैसी है पहेली हाये

Why does it always happen that we talk about people only after they die? So many fans talked gushingly abour Rajesh Khanna when he passed away last week and yet he was almost forgotten till he did that ceiling fan ad. There are still so many actors and actresses who were the favorites of many during the period called 'Golden Era' of Hindi Film Industry. But there is hardly any newspaper article or TV program on them even on their birthday - except for 'Ansuni Kahaniya' on India TV and their occassional interviews on FM programs such as Radio Mirchi's 'Purani Jeans'. Is it just the pace of life or a case of 'Out of sight, Out of mind'?

I must confess that I wasn't one of Rajesh Khanna's fans though I have always found him incredibly cute in some of his earlier movies. But that evening I felt really sad as I listened to his songs - I cannot explain why. Maybe it was the effect of lyrics like 'जिंदगी कैसी है पहेली हाये' or 'जिंदगी के सफरमे गुजर जाते है जो मकाम'.

The only sour note came from Amitabh 'Big B' Bachhan who supposedly wrote on his blog saying that it was sad that a lot of people in the crowd had come to watch the celebrities as they came to pay their last respects. I wonder how he reached this conclusion. This comment seems rather mean and petty, don't you think Babu Moshai?

एका लग्नाची दुसरी गोष्ट

मग? तुमचं काय मत? राधाने घनाच्या मागे आपला वेळ वाया घालवावा? कां अबीर तिला जास्त योग्य होता? तुम्हाला जर 'कोण हे राधा आणि घना' असा प्रश्न पडला असेल तर पूढे काही वाचू नका. कारण तुम्ही नक्कीच झी मराठी वरची 'एका लग्नाची दुसरी गोष्ट' बघत नाही.  खरं तर मीही पहात नाहीच नेहेमी. काळ्यांच्या घरातली घनाची आई, त्याची आजी, दोन काका आणि काकू, तो माउली, कुहू आणि मराठी बोलता बोलता मध्येच हिंदीवर घसरणारी राधाची आत्या ही पात्रं (!) माझ्या प्रचंड डोक्यात जातात. पण सुरुवातीला राधा आणि घनाच्या व्यक्तिरेखा चांगल्या वाटल्या होत्या. आणि 'तू तिथे मी', 'दिल्या घरी तू सुखी रहा' वगैरे इतर पकाऊ मालिकांच्या मानाने ही मालिका बरीच सुसह्य आहे.

आता मात्र कथानक अगम्य वाटू लागलंय. अमेरिकेला जायच्या घनाच्या हट्टामागचं कारण न पटण्यासारखे आहे. त्याहूनही अधिक त्याचा स्वार्थीपणा चीड आणणारा आहे. त्याला स्वत:ला राधासोबत आयुष्य काढायचं नाहीये पण अबीरचं तिच्या आयुष्यात असणं त्याला खटकतय. 'तुला मला डिव्होर्स द्यायची घाई झाली आहे' असं म्हणण्याइतकी त्याची मजल जातेय आणि तरीही माईआजी, घनाची आत्या आणि तिचे बाबा ह्या त्रिकूटाचं 'घना आणि राधाचं एकमेकांवर प्रेम आहे' हे पालुपद चालूच. घनाच्या नोकरीबद्दल, नुकत्याच कंपनीत आलेल्या employee चा डबा खाणाऱ्या बॉसबद्दल न बोललेलंच बरं. राधा तर 'काय होतीस तू, काय झालीस तू' असं म्हणावं इतपत शेळपट झाली आहे. कसलीही लायकी नसलेल्या आणि तरीही प्रचंड माज करणाऱ्या घनाच्या मागे लागून तिने आपल्या आयुष्याची कां फरपट चालवली आहे तेच कळत नाही.

तो अबीर जाताना माईआजीला सुनावून गेला ते मला फार आवडलं. ज्यां वयात देव, देव करायचं त्या वयात उगाच लोकांच्या अत्यंत खाजगी बाबीत ढवळाढवळ करणारी आणि वर 'माझं आता वय झालं, मला रिटायर्ड व्हायचंय' असं म्हणणारी ही माईआजी अतिशय नाटकी वाटते. राधाने 'लवकर डिव्होर्स दे' म्हणून घनाच्या मागे धोशा लावलाय खरा पण त्यात काही दम दिसत नाही. अबिर पण जरा लवकरच निघून गेला.

अर्थात ह्या 'दुसर्या' गोष्टीचा शेवट काय होणार ते आपल्याला माहीतच आहे म्हणा. घना राधावरचं आपलं प्रेम व्यक्त करेल आणि मग 'नांदा सौख्यभरे'. पण मला आपलं वाटतं बरं कां की राधाने 'चल फुट' म्हणून मंगळसूत्र घनाच्या तोंडावर फेकून अबिरसोबत जावं, घनाला अमेरिकेला जायला मिळू नये आणि त्याचं तेल, तूप, इतकंच काय तर धुपाटणेही जावं. कारण असं म्हणतात की तुमचं ज्या व्यक्तीवरवर प्रेम आहे तिच्याशी लग्न करण्यापेक्षा ज्या व्यक्तिचं तुमच्यावर प्रेम आहे तिच्याशी लग्न करावं.

अर्थात, हे राजवाडेने ऐकलंय की नाही माहीत नाही.  म्हणून त्याला एक चकटफु सल्ला - पुढल्या वेळी एखादी रहस्यमय मालिका काढा. :-)

'Why don't you arrange for one cab for your daily travel to and from the office' said a female colleague. 'I don't know. I am not comfortable about someone knowing my daily schedule'. I said as I weighed the pros and cons of her suggestion. I need not have bothered. The idea was shot down with a thumping majority back home. So I dropped it as well.

The result is that I get to see different facets of human nature each day. Some cab drivers are very patient - they will wait at red signals without driving at the rate of an inch per second, they will not curse if others try to pass them and they will not honk unnecessarily. On the other hand, some will be so impatient that I end up praying to the Almighty all the way to the office.

I once ended up in a cab where the driver had probably just landed in the city from some hinterland. Unfortunately for him, and me as well, we got stuck in a bad traffic jam. He kept on saying 'Look, there is so much traffic ahead'. Patience is not my claim to fame. But what little patience I have got tested to the limits that day. Only the fact that there was no other vehicle that I could get into nearby kept me calm and sane.

Well, as they say it takes all kinds to make this world.

I have always prided myself on my civic sense. I wait patiently for the pedestrian signal to turn green even when people all around me are dashing across the incoming vehicles to cross the road. I make it a point to walk on the footpaths, whenever possible. But that day I surprised myself. I was getting late for office and there was not a taxi in sight. I must confess that I was so desperate that if I had had a gun I wouldn't have hesitated to force another passenger out of a cab at gunpoint :-)

I had almost given up when I saw a cab cruising past. Hoping against hope, I flagged it down. Usually, the cab drivers drive to one side of the road before stopping. But this one was not a stickler for rules. He stopped right in the middle of the road. And I, like a fool, threw all caution to the winds as I dashed across the road - directly in the path of another incoming cab. It was just my luck that the cab wasn't driving at a breakneck speed or else I would have landed in a hospital - in God knows what state. The driver of the second cab braked in time. I stepped back in horror and let him pass. Needless to say, I didn't look at him because I knew the fault was all mine.

But as I stepped into the cab, I resolved to be more calm in the face of delays because as I never tire of telling others 'it is better to reach late than never'.

Food for thought....

It's always at the End of something that makes us realize how beautiful was the Beginning