Big Tobacco

If you stay in Larissa, you will find peace. You will find a wonderful woman, and you will have sons and daughters, who will have children. And they'll all love you and remember your name. But when your children are dead, and their children after them, your name will be lost... If you go to Troy, glory will be yours. They will write stories about your victories for thousands of years! And the world will remember your name. But if you go to Troy, you will never come back... for your glory walks hand-in-hand with your doom. And I shall never see you again.
- Thetis to Achilles, Troy

Yesterday I lay myself on the bed till 1:30 pm with troublesome thoughts that I had to study for an exam to be written on the following day. The day before that my cousin had explained me that my intestines were swollen and had become very soft that they can't handle if I ate hard or fibrous food. I had to keep myself on a diet of soft and non-spicy food. On 7th when I felt the first signs of illness I took a medicine by myself hoping to regain in a day at most. The next day I had even watched a movie with friends with still some discomfort in my belly. Things became worse on Saturday when I finally told my parents about the problem. By then I had changed the medicines once already. Then my mother made another change. On Sunday my cousin prescribed the medicine which finally worked.

I didn't know it would take so many days out of my schedule. I was not able to concentrate on anything for long and not able to sit with the same posture continuously. I had my mother and father constantly enquiring how I was feeling and asking me for everything they wanted me to do. They were worried. I was worried. I had my exam and I had to drive to that far away place. Then I have my CAT on 18th and I was making no progress for that. And the moment I told about my illness to my parents, I began to feel sick. Until then I was confident and doing well.

My cousin had an off from his hospital's duty on Sunday. He said because of Diwali there were fewer number of patients under him. There were 16 of them he said, and just before Sunday two expired. So, he relatively had less work and he could move out. He is also working on a thesis report in which he is experimenting on the cement used to fill bones when they grow weak. The cement presently being used reacts with the bones in some patients and has side-effects. There is a medicine which is injected separately to cure this side-effect. In his experiment, my cousin is mixing this medicine with the cement itself while introducing it into the bone and he has tested this process positively on some patients already.

Presently there's a presence of a terrible taste on my tongue and it aggravates whenever I eat something or air passes into my mouth. My cousin told me that it is due to the existence of some ring structure in the chemical used to prepare the medicines I am taking. I have forgotten the name he told but I remember that the ring gives the bad taste. Rings sometimes taste bad! And much worse, they make sweet taste bitter.

Today I met with lesser traffic on my way to the college. And the return journey was smoother. I am growing confident with each kilometer I cover and each truck I overtake - from both right and left. The bad roads and fast moving vehicles look like challenges for my patience and Alhamdulillah I have been able to contain it well. Four more such days of around 65 kilometers of driving and I will be done with my exams!

There are some people who don't look happy with my cell phone's number. I have received a couple of calls from the same number and from the same person but for different people. The first time I thought it was some error made by that person. But when he called me the next day I was sure he was upto something else. Then there was a missed call from a new number after 2 am the same day. Then one more at 10:45 pm the next from another number. Before these, I had once received a message asking "Who is this?" I had seen that number for the first time. Then once I received a message "Hi dear whats up?" from another new number.

When my mother heard the bell ring at 2 am and asked me who was calling and I told her that somebody was bugging me, she asked me to change my number. That didn't look like a solution to me. It rather sounded like a step taken under pressure. I don't mind people calling me as long as it doesn't effect my prepaid balance and sleep. It cant effect the balance of course but sleep can find some irritation if this continues. I thought of putting those numbers on the blog but that again didn't look like a solution to me.

I am liking the idea of keeping myself updated with what's happening with the movie 'Om Shanti Om'. Before its release I was desperately hoping that its competitor 'Saawariya' flops and 'Om Shanti Om' turns out as victor. The news that it had even overpowered Tom Criuse's 'Lions For Lambs' was music to my ears and that too by a margin of tens of crores of rupees was topping on the ice. I don't understand why on earth there are still people who don't like Shahrukh Khan. Perhaps because he has always been better than their favorites. All this is just a happiness in itself for me - it would fetch me nothing but only some 'happiness in itself'! And I also remember how just mentioning Shahrukh Khan in my blog once long back fetched me so many visitors. As rightly said by a friend "Shahrukh sells!"

One of my cousins has spread a news that my marriage has been fixed and I was getting engaged on the 10th of November. Initially I thought he has passed this to many of my relatives but I later understood that it was only to my aunt and cousins who live in Mecca. I have been exchanging e-mails with them ever since then explaining them that it was just a joke and that no such thing is in the offing. My aunt also told me that if there was indeed something, it should be in July 2008 when she comes here on a holiday. I had to explain again; along with the reason why my cousin got the idea of that joke in his 'cleaver' brain.