Doctor doctor where art thou?

My dad sent me this anecdotal article of an American's experience in the Indian healthcare system. For someone who has been in the US for the last 8 years and has seen more than his share of doctors, the healthcare system and people's attitude towards it does amuse me sometime! Here are a few gems:

1. Proponents decry any form of government-funded healthcare as vile because it "adds bureaucracy", "government coming between you and the doctor", etc. Here is a typical experience at a doctor's clinic:

I get a fever. I call in my doctor, who by the way I have to select as my Primary Care Physician. I cannot go to any other doctor without informing my insurance company first. Anyway, the earliest appointment they have is two weeks away (if by then my fever does not go away I might have to visit a hospital).

During one particular lucky fever I was able to get an appointment within the fever's life time. I walk into the clinic, check myself in with the receptionist. After a 5-10 minute wait the nurse calls me in. After checking my vitals, she asks me about my symptoms. I tell her everything. She takes copious notes, and then leaves. About 15 minutes pass. Then the doctor arrives. Asks me what happened. I repeat everything I told the nurse. A few questions, an exam. The doctor decides to prescribe me something. He asks me which pharmacy I'd prefer (people who don't know this will find it even more amusing that a lot of insurance companies mandate which pharmacies you can or cannot go to, to receive "full coverage"!). Call me naive, but a doctor hiding behind two levels of nurses....bureaucracy anyone? Anyway in a particularly impressive stroke of "unbureaucracy" he manages to electronically send my prescription to the pharmacy of my choice, so that I can pick it up on my way home.

The moral of the story according to me: there IS already someone between me and the doctor.

2. Anything more than a fever or a simple wound, and you can be assured of a "referral" to a specialist. I've had the unfortunate privilege several times. The specialist's wait time is even more hilarious: in weeks. My germs pitied me and surrendered after just hearing the waiting time. Even they couldn't wait for the medicine that long!

3. I moved a couple of years ago. I had to transfer my medical records to the new place. I went in, and they told me I had to sign a release form in order to send the medical records. Fair enough. But here's the catch: "Send the medical records" meant that they would print it out for me and I would physically carry a file. Again, no worries. But why did I have to sign a release form to release MY OWN medical records TO ME? Apparently the right to medical privacy applies to my internal organs as well.

4. This truly is the country of personal choice. Doctors give you treatment options and ask you to choose. Amongst much of the knowledge that I gained when we were having our first baby that I could've lived all my life without, came the debate about epidurals or not. Apparently the doctor explains you the pros and cons of taking it, and then leaves the choice to you. Muster the courage to ask the doctor "what do you think I should do" and you're assured of a gem of an escapist reply. But no, the doctors are more than competent. They simply fear the judicial system in case the patient sues them later on.

5. Pharmaceutical companies are free to advertise their prescription medicines on TV. Every ad has the following gems: "Talk to your doctor about XYZ" (I pity the doctor who has to answer these sentences), "side effects include..." (for some medicines, this includes heart attack, blood clots and stroke :-) ), etc. The best ad that I saw (that was subsequently questioned by medical journals in the UK) was for a medicine for "restless leg syndrome". The ad was so wonderfully vague that anybody getting up after sitting on the couch for an hour may mistake the funny feeling in his/her legs for the "restless leg syndrome". The ad came on so many times, it may have been another mutation of the flu!

5. Pharmacists have very important jobs. I don't deny it. Why they take about 20 minutes to dispense medicine is beyond me. "Too many customers" is particularly unimpressive for a guy coming from India...I was once given some cream in a tablet bottle!

I'm sure there are perfectly valid reasons for each one of the above, but hearing about the health care debate on the news hardly helps. Upon being carried to the hospital and treated promptly in Hawaii when he was on vacation, a smug Rush Limbaugh commented "...based on my experience here I don't think there is anything wrong with the healthcare system in this country". This from a very famous radio talk show host who is rich enough to contemplate buying a professional football team. That's like Amitabh Bachchan saying "based on my life there is no poverty in India" :-)

Am I a Mumbaikar?

I would like to ask this question to the Thackerays (which one, it doesn't matter. They all speak the same language). Of course I would be wearing a helmet, knee pads and a guard, and would have signed my will by then. Because who knows what reaction this innocent question invites!

Mr. Thackeray is at it again. This time he chose to spew venom at Mukesh Ambani. It was Sachin Tendulkar before that. So I humbly apply for "Mumbaikarship", based on the following:

1. I was born in Mumbai. To allay possible domestic disputes over whether Bandra is mainland Mumbai and Borivali is at the fringe, I was born in Dadar. To accurately use the new metric of measuring Mumbaikarness as proportional to your proximity with the Shiv Sena, I happened to be born in a hospital that is right opposite the Shiv Sena Bhavan in Dadar. So unless there was a hospital inside the Shiv Sena Bhavan, I am the "closest born" Mumbaikar there is.

2. I studied for four years in Mumbai, travelled by BEST buses, local trains, consumed Mumbai food and used Mumbai toilets. In fact I developed the habit of reading Marathi newspapers and at one point was able to solve about 20% of a Marathi crossword puzzle! That makes me leaps and bounds ahead in Mumbaikarness (allegedly) than many of the taxi drivers who know and see Mumbai much more than I do. I also learned Marathi lingo and can construct perfect sentences peppered with the words "aaila", "chaila", etc.

3. I speak Marathi, and will be the first one to admit that knowing Marathi provides a distinct advantage in Mumbai that has nothing to do with being spared from the various armies' (Senas) wraths.

4. I have successfully walked through the waters of the Mumbai monsoon, literally. This wasn't for pure fun; I was on my way to college to meet recruiters!

5. I have not taken any job away from Maharashtrians (as I am one of them).

6. I have successfully looked the other way when political parties announced bandhs or "bahishkars", have threatened someone and claimed to spoil my everyday life that already has no time. And yet I have quietly digested the claims that all this is to preserve something about me. An unfortunate hallmark of all Mumbaikars!

7. My heart has been ripped to pieces and independently claimed. For there is a "samrat" for every aspect of my heart!

8. There have been times when my sheer desperation to get through one day has been hailed as resilience, and then has been used against me to test it further.

We may all agree from time to time on what you have to say, but please do not claim public property as yours and then have the temerity to claim it is for the public's own good!

Apple's iPad: the big brother of Apple's iPod

So its finally here! Apple today unveiled its highly anticipated Tablet device, christened iPad. The iPad promises to revolutionize its market. Normally I don't actively follow Steve Jobs's presentations, so I don't know if he sounds so unbelievably optimistic in each of his "unveiling ceremonies". But then again, I have heard other CEOs talk sweet about their new fares too and its almost never as good as they claim. Personally I think the same fate awaits the iPad. Here's why:

1. To be fair its not really a "tablet" in the conventional sense since most other tablets only work with a stylus. Its really a big touchscreen device and is thus destined to compete other similar touch screen devices. Don't get me wrong: working with fingers is actually better!

So its a monstrous touch screen device that runs the iTunes store, a web browser, has 3G capability and all iPhone applications without any compatibility issues. That to me is a gigantic iPod/iPhone. Now iPhone has a great interface, so the iPad is already ahead of devices like Amazon Kindle in terms of the sheer interface. But is it to its market what iPhone was to the smartphone market? I don't think so.

e-Readers tend to have an eclectic market for one reason: price. The idea looks very cool, but unfortunately not worth its price for most. Why? It's greatest use is to use like a handheld monitor, capable of storing far more than a book in a very small and light package. But how many people do I see carry it around? I'm afraid I have seen only 2 Kindles till now at public places like airports. The iPad also falls within the netbook market, but I have my doubts about how popular those things are going to be. The reason again is price. One can get a 12-inch laptop for $450 these days. While one cannot use it like a tablet or a touchscreen, it is capable of doing everything a laptop is, and is incredibly light. So why buy a cooler device that is capable of doing much less at virtually the same price? There's the bridge between being extremely cool and being affordable/worth its price that I doubt the iPad will be able to cross. I'm unfazed by the Apple brand that loosens the purse strings of most Apple aficionados, so maybe this seems like an overly bad deal to me.

2. Its not as revolutionary as a tablet PC was when it came out in 2001. The tablet PC offers everything a laptop does, plus a screen you can write on. It kinda fizzled out eventually because nobody redid the applications. Everything was merely "inkable". Again, its cool to be able to write into a Word document or an email, but how many would use it everyday? Is there a suite of everyday applications that one simply could not use before the tablet PC? No!

The iPad didn't seem to have the capability of writing into a document, perhaps with a finger. So its borrows most of its interface innovations from iPhone, and does not present a radically different way of interacting.

3. The third problem is its size. At 0.5 inches thick its a hardware wonder and tempts with its ultralight 1.5 pounds body. But its 10 inches tall. And that's a wonderful thing for those like me who hate reading something on our smartphone screens. But its no iPhone: you cannot carry it in your pocket. Personally, if I have to carry it in a case separately, I'd rather carry a laptop that a couple inches thicker and a pound heavier. Why, even a MacBook Air qualifies! The iPhone packs everything: a touchscreen, an impressive interface and cool application support in a pocket-size frame. That's why its successful.

Frankly a MacBook Air with a touch screen would've been more compelling! But maybe Apple will pull off what Microsoft couldn't: maybe they can finally re-invent applications for the iPad instead of just making them "touchable".

What will it take?

Normally I reserve my "serious" opinions to myself, but this was too much to keep within.

Look at the plight of the poor parents of the children who died in the Gujarat earthquake. I don't blame the Chief Minister and the state ministers as much as I blame the local leaders. What in the world are they doing if not social work like this? Forget lofty words like "social work", "duty", etc., where is their basic humanity? I'm sorry to say this, but even a stray dog shows loyalty towards the beggar who spares a few crumbs. These people come begging for our votes, and for whatever illogical reason they get them. But how can a human's accountability be less than the loyalty of an animal!

I honestly cannot understand what brainwashing their jobs involves that people in power become so desensitized. A politician, no matter how small a position he/she is holding, cannot have any of the grievances that most of us ordinary mortals do.

1. Unemployment: What a politician has to do to get a job has nothing to do with the job. It is the only profession that does not require any sort of education or training.

2. Job security: Again this is a unique job. You actually declare what your job responsibilities will be during your job interview (the elections), and then you fail to do those! How incompetent can one be?

3. Job satisfaction/being appreciated: My most fond memories of childhood were winning contests. Politicians with power win elections! They are given the job by people who know they are not going to perform, are completely incompetent and will rob them silly! If that is not a satisfying victory (with seemingly unlimited chances to repeat it), what is?

4. Pay: Now one may argue that politicians don't get paid (officially) matching what they have to do. But look around, the same is true for many other professions. For example, high-school teachers who arguably perform the most critical of social duties, public transport officials, even the official who works for politicians and who actually does all the work! And they do it knowing fully well that there is no scope for any "fringe benefits" unlike politicians.

Exactly which aspect of their job desensitizes these people? Any law enforcement official or army officer will tell you that having to physically harm another individual as part of your job ends up making you even more human. So I struggle to think of even one barbaric aspect of the politicians's job that desensitizes them so much. And again I'm not talking about bigwig chief ministers and union ministers. I'm talking about the local leaders--the corporators, the Zilla Parishad chiefs, etc. True, they have their jobs probably because of endless pandering that they may be forced to indulge in. But still, how does that make you incapable of understanding basic human emotions!

The simple truth that I have failed to mention may be that politician or not, power corrupts all. I take that to mean a sense of entitlement that power gives a person makes them act simply to show their superiority. So am I to believe that people will display this level of insensitivity only because they can ,and they can get away with it? Is it just me or many of us simply cannot relate to such behaviour of a fellow human?

3 idiots: the review

Aal iz well...with this movie I mean!

Any college graduate will identify with this movie, although it may have a special effect on engineers. 3 idiots is the story of the life of 3 friends in and after college in this era of engineering-mania.

This is one of those movies whose script cannot be effectively narrated through words, so I won't attempt it. It is also not one of those movies that you may want to see again and again. But nevertheless, it is a thoroughly enjoying, enlightening and paisa-vasool movie and has all the usual strengths of its participants, synergistically creating an extremely satisfying 2 hours and 50 minutes of story telling.

The theme of the movie as the promos give away, is the rat race in joining the best college, excelling, then continuing the same struggle with changing opponents throughout life. Albeit in a filmy way, the movie throws light on a subject that is close to my heart--the "manufacturing" of engineers by treating college education like a certificate course that has immediate but short-term benefits. And yes, it does take some filmy imagination and story-telling to get the point across.

But onto the participants. My personal bias towards Aamir Khan forces me to spend only a few words on him in this review. His body language and mannerisms subtract most of the years his wrinkles add, making him a very believable college student in about 75% of the scenes in the movie. Again, perhaps not surprisingly, he pulls off his college mischievous self better than his character's serious side. It is difficult to decide whether he was selected for this role, or the role was written with him in mind. Like Munnabhai's Circuit, it is just plain difficult to imagine any other actor in his role.

Fully justifying the name of the movie are the other two actors: Sharman Joshi and Madhavan. They dispel any fears in the viewer's mind that this would be a "1 idiot and 2 sidekicks" kind of movie. Madhavan is the other chameleon of our film industry, magically adding and subtracting muscle and age from one movie to another. Sharman Joshi once again proves that he's not made just for bufoonery but can convincingly shed a tear or two, and perhaps compel the audience to too. Boman Irani, a regular feature in Hirani's films, entertains, awes but does not surprise us with his good performance. Again, his character will remind each one of us of a former professor, minus the filmy sheen. Personally a bit of a surprise for me was Kareena Kapoor, who otherwise I struggle to tolerate. She looks good and acts well in the smallest of the 5 main roles.

But the grand star of the show is the director and script writer, Rajkumar Hirani. He once again proves his extraordinary knack of story-telling. There's something in the film for all ages: plenty of innuendo for youngsters, interspersed with valuable and practical lessons of life for all. Perfect breaks for songs and the intermission, a watertight script and classic editing, Hirani makes no assumptions about the ability (or lack thereof) of the audience to understand his subtly hidden messages. The smooth flow of the movie truly hides and thus reveals his laudable efforts in script-writing, directing and editing. To me this was a perfect follow-up to his Munnabhai series, maintaining the entertain+think approach with new actors, new scenarios and new lessons.

My only complaint with this venture is its over-publicity. The promos of this movie on TV certainly dampened my enthusiasm a bit, although I can safely say that the promos do not disclose as much of the movie as I had feared. Whether Aamir Khan's recent off-screen antics were truly done for this film's publicity or were his personal endeavours, this film certainly does not need them. The director had me won with his cast and his reputation.

Amit

Love Aaj Kal--the review

The software industry, the automobile industry and movie characters work similarly--a new model every 5-6 years, and simple rehashes of the same old thing in between. Welcome to Saif's Love Aaj Kal.

This character is yet another rehash from DCH: confused lover boy who is the last person on earth (including the movie world and the real world) to realize he's in love with someone. It may have been presented in different versions of modernism: DCH, Salaam Namaste, Hum Tum, etc., but the message is the same. What's more, in this movie he gets to play lover boy twice!

Love Aaj Kal is the story of two NRI's in the UK who date each other for two years, and then split amicably because one of them is about to move to India, while the other plans to move to the US. A split worked out like a business strategy sees both of them wanting to be each other's "friends" and help get over each other! A Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na breeze takes over as each finds someone else, only in this case the new "other halves" are neither stupid nor abusive. Our "friends" have no qualms meeting and socializing with each other behind the backs of their newly found loves, but one of them finally sees the smoke clearing when she's about to get married. Sanity at last? Nope, their longing for each other continues, until the movie reaches its predictable end.

There are several messages in this story as portrayed by this movie: Everything is really fair in love, be it "pseudo-cheating" or even breaking up marriages. Practical thinking never works when it comes to matters of the heart. There is no such things as being friends after breaking up. The price of the ticket may go up, but the character won't evolve. This is what our generation has come to.

First of all the movie should have been named "Love Kal Parso", because it seemed a bit out there. Am I really part of a generation that can be so fickle and yet think they are the smartest and most practical? It seemed more like Love Story 2050 to me--I could not relate to most of it. To be fair, the first 45 minutes or so did seem fresh and interesting. A lover boy of yesteryears coaching a lover boy of our time, trying to knock some sense into the practical-minded buffoon. After that it started becoming more and more predictable (you know what's going to happen if one of the lead actors gets married, and its not the end of the movie).

About the cast--Saif Ali Khan cannot go wrong with a mould that he has so preciously carved for himself over the last 7-8 years. His make-up keeps getting better as he really looks the authentic Sardarjee in his other role. Was Deepika Padukone's voice always this irritating? Somehow I don't remember noticing it in Om Shanti Om. Rishi Kapoor plays more or less his Hum Tum character with a turban and a different heroine of the yesteryears as his wife. The Brazilian actor was a revelation! (No, not the younger Saif's second girlfriend, the older Saif's love interest!) Her face has enough plasticity to qualify her as a model-turned-actress, but boy did she look her part!

All in all--a mediocre movie. The storytelling from Jab We Met may have been present, but the uniqueness of the script wasn't. Or at least the uniqueness wasn't pleasant.

An ashamed electron

"There I was...many decades ago, undiscovered and revolving in my own little world. Completely satisfied in fulfilling my worldly duties while hidden from the world. Until humans finally discovered me. I changed the world, one circuit at a time. And how proud I was! Hi--I'm an electron, and I'm currently being enslaved and made to do embarrassing things, like relaying messages like these:

http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/08/11/twitter.childbirth.sara/index.html "

I guess I'm simply missing the "curiosity" gene. Why, oh why, would I want to receive any form of instant message that gives me these details? And worse yet if I did, why oh why do I know people like them? Twittering and texting while in labour! I knew childbirth was extremely stressful, but I didn't know going crazy was a likely symptom! I can just imagine people choosing hospitals by signal strength!

Silly phenomena give rise to sillier explanations. "Sharing the pain so that I don't feel it as much, others feel it with me too"?? I can imagine the pain all right.

Kinda puts more pressure on us engineeers though, doesn't it? Imagine the lawsuit on RIM if their blackberry stopped working at that point (a critical, possibly once-in-a-lifetime event), leading to emotional stress and trauma! Or there is a ...ahem... software bug in the time-measuring iPhone app that is being used to measure contractions?

The most hilarious part of the above article is Kickbee: a product that supposedly wraps around a pregnant belly with a belt, and sends a tweet (like a small text message for the uninitiated) every time the baby kicks. That would be one embarrassing childhood story--my kicks caused tweets! Maybe one day technology would advance so that the baby could tweet the due date!