drkjshenoyOn the morning of 1st of January when the New Year dawns, we wake up (barring those who wake on 2nd Jan.) there comes a strange feeling of everything being different. Is any thing really different? Just give it a thought. Is it in any way different from the 31st of December?
drkjshenoy It was the summer of 1981 when I met Charlie at London Victoria coach station en route for a package tour of Benelux countries. Charlie, a white man, aged about 70, who looked every inch a destitute and an abandoned soul, asked me to let him carry my baggage to Victoria Railway station fifty yards away in exchange for a few pennies. I declined his assistance as I was a tourist travelling on a shoe-string budget.
By the time I landed back to the Victoria rail station from Europe tour I was precariously low on cash. It was 12.45 P.M. and I had to catch the 1P.M bus for my sister’s place at Newquay for which I had a prepaid return ticket. But I found to, my dismay, that on that Sunday the bus was to start from another place across the street and I didn’t know where it was.
drkjshenoy One of my worst foibles is my inability to recognise faces. Or the failure to connect a familiar face to its identity. And this shortcoming in my persona manifests in two forms- misrecognition and non-recognition. While the former often landed me in a mess, the latter earned me the title of a pompous ass. Let me explain the ‘hows’ and ‘whys’ of it all:
Non-recognition Syndrome: It is not uncommon to see an acquaintance of mine raise his hand to greet me and, having seen no glint of recognition in my eyes, pretend that he was just driving away a mosquito to save his face. And my truant debtors brazenly walk past me secure in the knowledge that I can’t recognise them.
drkjshenoy Have you ever had toothache, particularly one caused by Apical Abscess? Or a renal colic caused by kidney stones? Or one caused by appendicitis? If you did, you would certainly know the kind of ordeal that you pass through. You would cringe, writhe or roll around unable to bear the pain while cursing your stars and wishing the world were free from all kinds of pain.
Bit you can’t wish away the pain caused by some disease. For, if your wish were to be granted by God, your chances of survival on this earth could be seriously jeopardised. Confused? Then read on.
drkjshenoyWhereas two centuries British rule in India has left the legacy of English language, Indians on their own, enriched the language with innovative usages. ‘Prepone’ is a typical Indianism which means to advance or bring (an event) to an earlier date. ‘Your good name please’ is not a usage in standard English but a translation of ‘Aap ka shubh naam’. Similarly Airlifted, pin-drop-silence, ‘I am loving it’ (of Macdonald fame) are but few examples.
drkjshenoy Many of you must have experienced this: You stand at the bus stop awaiting a certain bus. You crane your neck each time a bus comes, to see if that is the one you want. It isn’t.This goes on till you feel that everyone around you is catching the bus. Except you, of coursre. How unfair!
Or you remember about a newspaper article of last week which you wanted to clip and save but forgot to. You search for the back issue in the stack. You find every other issue except the one you are looking for.
These are the happenings that make you wonder if an unknown hand is conspiring agaunst you. This feeling grows stronger when your weekly forecast of winning a lottery turns out a dud, while one predicting ill-health turns out true with a ‘Double Pnuemonia’
drkjshenoyAround the time ‘Kaun Banega Karodpati’ hit the airspace, I had a nagging premonition that I was on the threshhold of a windfall. At that time a special scheme called Britannia-KBC offer invited the viewers to buy the pack of biscuits and use the code inside the wrapper to enter the contest. Once you register, you would get an opportunity to enter the fray oa preferential basis.
drkjshenoy You are on your way to te airport and find yourself caught in a nadty traffeic snarl which shows no sign of abating. You are apprehensive, for, you are on a crucal visit.The anxiety you feel in this case is normal.
Butif your anxiety is excessive and dispropotionate to the triggerong event, then it becomes a morbid anxiety or Anxiety Neurosis
Though the onset of such condition can be at any age it common in adolescents and elderly
One can assume one has the seeds of Anxiety Neurosis if:
# there is over activity of nervous system
# increased heart rate and palpitation
#dryness of mouth, tremors, particularly of hands
#increased sweating and or urination
# poor concentration
#increased rate of breathing
drkjshenoyHow do you spot a cynic? Or in other words how do you define a cynic? Following are the hallmark of a cynic:
Cynic is a person who, on receiving a gift holiday package from an anonymous donor, suspects that someone is planning to burgle his house in his absence,
Or one who thinks that football is a game played by those with eczema of feet and watched by those with glioma of brain.
Or one who considers the telephone to be a thing that rings only when one enters the bath,
Or a wife who, if her husband is back early from office, asks if he had a tiff with the boss and if he is late thinks that he must be having an affair with boss’s secretary,
