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I certainly do not belong to my Guru SDM's generation...he was 30 years older to me and participated in our Freedom Struggle in his own way...which was to prove to the world that slavery under the 'gora babus' for a couple of centuries had not sapped the Indians of their originality. Which meant that the physicists of the time never bothered about the number of publications they 'produced' but only about how good their papers were. S N Bose, the only Indian physicist to have a class of elementary particles named for him, didn't produce too many papers but enthused youngsters like SDM by his very presence in their midst to do quality work that can compete with the best of the West.
So sorry, Aniket, I filched your intended blog...
I remember having read somewhere that Feynman suspected that he had a brain clot or tumor while delivering a lecture since, like with Alice, it was coming out "not quite right".
My third sister's husband, Dr L V K Moorthy, the one who wrote a nice Foreword to the Second Ishani Booklet, did only MBBS and nothing more. And built up, as a GP, a huge practice in a small town in Madurai District and rose to become the elected President of IMA (TN Chapter).
One fine morning, he discovered that one corner of his left visual field of view was getting blurred. He didn't go to any MRI but at once diagnosed himself as having a tumor in his brain. It was confirmed by a scan at Madras and he went all the way to AIIMS, Delhi, to get it incised by a Gamma Knife (new to me) available only there .
It is now a decade when he went under the knife and he is perfectly alright and is now in the UK, where his son and daughter are both flourishing medicos. His son did his MBBS and MD and was asked by his dad to 'look after' his practice while he was ill...and the entire lot of his dad's patients had to undergo various tests before he gave them that Rs 5 worth of injection and a syrup at a 'cut-rate'...the son explained to them apologetically that there is none like his dad nowadays who could look at their patients and diagnose them aright.
And here is a mail from Vineet I am lifting without his permission:
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Dear Sir,
Last year, my mother faced exactly the same scenario. Doctor told that even if she had eaten a lot, this level will not go that high. Probably, Doctors might not have taken enough data points regarding this to make a strong conclusion. Two days later, when it was re-measured after genuinely fasting, it was perfectly normal.
Vinit.
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Well, Vinit! Three back-to-back blogs on my ailments is a rarity and is against my norms that say that my posts should be about the brighter side of life and not gloomy...Supratim said that he reads them because they give him 'hope'.
You are right...Hyderabadi labs are not too well-known for the accuracy of their reports...and if you add the complication of feasting instead of fasting, anything can happen and it is not right on my part to blame my GP...I couldn't also avoid cheating since that would spoil all the fun.
What happened during the last four days was indeed funny. After an hour or two of taking his first pill for hypertension, I was reeling once again with the difference that it was not the brain that got confused like earlier, but its container. And I was overcome by a terrific weakness in the legs (where the brain traveled). And my son read my BP and found it had halved to about 100 / 60.
But I didn't desist from taking my GP's pills since, after all, I am also a GP by acronym.
So, this evening when my son and I revisited him, he had a look at my wan smile and said:
"So...your BP has really come down...too low is better than too high...but now I am changing the drug to a much less powerful one"
And he had the humility to ask me to describe in detail my symptoms of hyper- vs hypo- tension "for his benefit" since he himself never had this problem...
Trust your GPs ;-)
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I certainly do not belong to my Guru SDM's generation...he was 30 years older to me and participated in our Freedom Struggle in his own way...which was to prove to the world that slavery under the 'gora babus' for a couple of centuries had not sapped the Indians of their originality. Which meant that the physicists of the time never bothered about the number of publications they 'produced' but only about how good their papers were. S N Bose, the only Indian physicist to have a class of elementary particles named for him, didn't produce too many papers but enthused youngsters like SDM by his very presence in their midst to do quality work that can compete with the best of the West.
So, SDM was quite happy with about an average of one Paper per year. That was the norm. Even in my youth, that was like the norm. When I was interviewed for my penultimate promotion in 1978, I had only about 14 Papers to show for as many years. And the Expert, T Pradhan, a colleague of SDM at SINP (and the Father of IOP, Bhubaneswar) was quite happy with that number.
Somehow or other, a decade later, things changed drastically and a new crop of Indian Physicists took over and the rat race began in right earnest. If I were to apply now for the entry-level post at IIT KGP with my retirement CV, my application would be thrown into the dustbin and I wouldn't even get an Acknowledgment.
Lucky gps!!!
When one enters this rat race, there is in the Indian psyche (I don't know about the West) a weakness to lower guard and fall into a trap and end up with accusations of plagiarism. No need to mention big names.
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So far so good...I ended my career at KGP with a modest list of about 40 publications at an average rate of one per year through thick and thin. And I think I did retire quite honorably.
But my post-retirement publication mania has become insatiable.
It is now 2 AM by when I could get down to my daily dose of blog-fix. And the millennial blog is on its way. And I cheat once in a while and lift mails from my readers and blog them without their permission.
Here is Aniket talking about my addiction:
Here is Aniket talking about my addiction:
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Dear Sir,
The day you announced your intended break from blogging, I was only briefly afraid of missing your blogs, and then realized pretty soon, that you will not be able to live up to your announcement. I don't think you can go a day without blogging anymore :)
Sincerely,
Aniket
The day you announced your intended break from blogging, I was only briefly afraid of missing your blogs, and then realized pretty soon, that you will not be able to live up to your announcement. I don't think you can go a day without blogging anymore :)
Sincerely,
Aniket
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And here he is tonight confessing to his own addiction:
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Dear Sir,
Just finished an exhausting week at work where I could not manage a peek at your blog during breaks, so I actually read up the last few posts on the trot right now. Needless to say, I found your posts titled "Current Account" exciting as usual.
By the way, I did not know that in the olden days doctors used to conduct these tests for suspected brain tumors. I had to go through an MRI scan while at Cornell, and there was a month's waiting period between the time the doctor prescribed the scan and when the only hospital with the facility could accommodate me. In that period, I told no one about it, and went into a shell, and it affected me very badly. Of course, in the end there was no brain tumor.
I am feeling sorely tempted to blog about that experience, but I am too exhausted at the moment.
Sincerely,
Aniket
So sorry, Aniket, I filched your intended blog...
I remember having read somewhere that Feynman suspected that he had a brain clot or tumor while delivering a lecture since, like with Alice, it was coming out "not quite right".
My third sister's husband, Dr L V K Moorthy, the one who wrote a nice Foreword to the Second Ishani Booklet, did only MBBS and nothing more. And built up, as a GP, a huge practice in a small town in Madurai District and rose to become the elected President of IMA (TN Chapter).
One fine morning, he discovered that one corner of his left visual field of view was getting blurred. He didn't go to any MRI but at once diagnosed himself as having a tumor in his brain. It was confirmed by a scan at Madras and he went all the way to AIIMS, Delhi, to get it incised by a Gamma Knife (new to me) available only there .
It is now a decade when he went under the knife and he is perfectly alright and is now in the UK, where his son and daughter are both flourishing medicos. His son did his MBBS and MD and was asked by his dad to 'look after' his practice while he was ill...and the entire lot of his dad's patients had to undergo various tests before he gave them that Rs 5 worth of injection and a syrup at a 'cut-rate'...the son explained to them apologetically that there is none like his dad nowadays who could look at their patients and diagnose them aright.
And here is a mail from Vineet I am lifting without his permission:
******************************************************************************************************
Dear Sir,
I
was just trying to call you. Was expecting episode 4 of your "current
account" blog. I thought you will reveal about triglyceride issue. I am
sure you must be knowing, or have known by now that if you get your
triglyceride tested after eating (and not without fasting), the
triglyceride level that is shown in the report is very high and
completely erroneous.
Last year, my mother faced exactly the same scenario. Doctor told that even if she had eaten a lot, this level will not go that high. Probably, Doctors might not have taken enough data points regarding this to make a strong conclusion. Two days later, when it was re-measured after genuinely fasting, it was perfectly normal.
We make out from your blogs that you must be in good health. Please take care.
Best regards,
*******************************************************************************************************
Well, Vinit! Three back-to-back blogs on my ailments is a rarity and is against my norms that say that my posts should be about the brighter side of life and not gloomy...Supratim said that he reads them because they give him 'hope'.
You are right...Hyderabadi labs are not too well-known for the accuracy of their reports...and if you add the complication of feasting instead of fasting, anything can happen and it is not right on my part to blame my GP...I couldn't also avoid cheating since that would spoil all the fun.
What happened during the last four days was indeed funny. After an hour or two of taking his first pill for hypertension, I was reeling once again with the difference that it was not the brain that got confused like earlier, but its container. And I was overcome by a terrific weakness in the legs (where the brain traveled). And my son read my BP and found it had halved to about 100 / 60.
But I didn't desist from taking my GP's pills since, after all, I am also a GP by acronym.
So, this evening when my son and I revisited him, he had a look at my wan smile and said:
"So...your BP has really come down...too low is better than too high...but now I am changing the drug to a much less powerful one"
And he had the humility to ask me to describe in detail my symptoms of hyper- vs hypo- tension "for his benefit" since he himself never had this problem...
Trust your GPs ;-)
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