Euthanasia : Interesting Argument

The three main reasons sighted by the pro-euthanasia people are as follows:

1. Unbearable pain
Nearly all pain can be eliminated and - in those rare cases where it can't be eliminated - it can still be reduced significantly if proper treatment is provided. It is a national and international scandal that so many people do not get adequate pain control. But killing is not the answer to that scandal. The solution is to mandate better education of health care professionals on these crucial issues, to expand access to health care, and to inform patients about their rights as consumers. Everyone - whether it be a person with a life-threatening illness or a chronic condition - has the right to pain relief. With modern advances in pain control, no patient should ever be in excruciating pain. However, most doctors have never had a course in pain management so they're unaware of what to do. If a patient who is under a doctor's care is in excruciating pain, there's definitely a need to find a different doctor. But that doctor should be one who will control the pain, not one who will kill the patient. There are board certified specialists in pain management who will not only help alleviate physical pain but are skilled in providing necessary support to deal with emotional suffering and depression that often accompanies physical pain.

2. Demanding a "right to commit suicide"
What we are talking about is not giving a right to the person who is killed, but to the person who does the killing. In other words, euthanasia is not about the right to die. It's about the right to kill. Euthanasia is not about giving rights to the person who dies but, instead, is about changing the law and public policy so that doctors, relatives and others can directly and intentionally end another person's life. People do have the power to commit suicide. Suicide and attempted suicide are not criminalized. Suicide is a tragic, individual act. Euthanasia is not about a private act. It's about letting one person facilitate the death of another. That is a matter of very public concern since it can lead to tremendous abuse, exploitation and erosion of care for the most vulnerable people among us.

3. Should people be forced to stay alive?
Neither the law nor medical ethics requires that "everything be done" to keep a person alive. Insistence, against the patient's wishes, that death be postponed by every means available is contrary to law and practice. It would also be cruel and inhumane. There comes a time when continued attempts to cure are not compassionate, wise, or medically sound. That is the time when all efforts should be placed on making the patient's remaining time comfortable. Then, all interventions should be directed to alleviating pain and other symptoms as well as to the provision of emotional and spiritual support for both the patient and the patient's loved ones.

Yesterday’s Answer: Guy de Maupassant
Yesterday’s Winner: Shub
Today’s Question: We all remember Khartoum (If you don’t, it was the producer’s horse) from Godfather. When was its birthday?

Tsunami Pictures

Click thumbnails for larger view.

A very Happy New Year to all of you.

Yesterday’s Answer: Big B made a guest appearance in all these movies.
Yesterday’s Winner: Aditya (First person account)
Today’s Question: He was born in France and spent the initial years of life studying law. Giving up law after sometime, he worked as a government clerk for 10 years. He later became one of the leading authors of French literature. He produced more than 300 short stories and six novels. But unfortunately, diseased insanity ended the brilliant career of this great genius. (1850-1893) Who am I talking about?

Interpretation Of Dreams

Are sex dreams about women in uniform that common? \../

Yesterday’s Answer: Meatloaf sang the song and acted in the movie Fight Club, Ed Norton directed/acted in Keeping The Faith and also in Fight Club and the book “Invisible Monsters” was written by Chuck Palahniuk who also wrote Fight Club.

Yesterday’s Winner: Tangible Mirage

Today’s Question: What is common to the following hindi movies Chasme Baddoor, Kunwara Baap, Hero Hiraa Lal, Gol-maal, and Choti Si Baat. The list is not exhaustive in nature.

Quizzzzzzzzyyyyy Maahaul : Redux

It had taken me more than six months to come down to 70s but thanks to home-cooked food I am back in the 80s now. No, I am not talking about my hairstyle but about my weight. I have gained an approximate of eight kilograms in the past one month which is astronomical by any standards and not to forget the fact that I have been exercising for about half an hour on a regular basis (almost daily). My vacations are getting over soon and I’ll be returning back to the jungle on the 3^rd of January. I plan to spend a day in Calcutta before going back but that is tentative because of the long train journey that I have to endure before I set foot in the city of joy.

As far as the quizzing is concerned, my move to start a “Question Of The Day” on my blog was harshly criticized by many because the question was googleable. Hence, I have decided that the questions that I post from now on won’t be googleable, yahooable, msnable and so on. This will definitely make the questions a lot tougher.

Yesterday's Answer: They are the only products which are allowed to be permanently promoted on the center-court of Wimbledon.
Today’s Question: Connect the song “I would do anything for love”, the movie “Keeping The Faith” and the book “Invisible Monsters”.

Quizzzzzzzzyyyyy Maahaul

Quizzing is back in fashion. I don’t know about the rest of India but at least in Kharagpur, it is. I got an off-liner from Jyotisko Sinha (one of my teammates) regarding the quizzes that are to be held during the Spring Fest (20^th – 23^rd Jan) and Kshitij (4^th – 6^th Feb). On paper, I am the third best quizzer on campus (Neither am I selling myself short nor am I blowing my own horn) but I cannot say the same thing about my team. This year, I hope to qualify to the finals of the quizzes during SF and Kshitij, which is not going to be easy. The quizmaster for the quizzes in Kshitij is Mr. Arul Mani (VP, Karnataka Quizzers Association). If you have any information about the quizmaster in SF, please leave a comment.

I have decided to introduce a “Question of the day” on my blog. From now on every post of mine will have a question. Name of the first person to answer the question correctly will be quoted in the next post along with a link to his/her blog. I think this is motivation enough for answering a simple question.

Here is the first one:
Ques. In Wimbledon, what is common to Coke, Rolex, Slazenger and Robinsons Barley Water?

Happy Bday Chacha Ghalib

Haazaron kwaashen aisi ke har khwaish pe dam nikle,
Bahut nikle mere armaan, lekin phir bhi kam nikle.

Thousands of desires, tantalizing one and all,
Many a wish have I realised; yet I yearn for more.

Nikalna khuld se aadam, ka sunte aae the lekin,
Bahut be aabroo ho kar tere kuche se ham nikle.

Often have we heard about Adam's exile from Eden,
Humiliating much more was my exit from your door.

Magar likhwae koi usko khat to ham se likhwae,
Hui subah aur kaan par dhar kar qalam nikle.

Those I thought would sympathize with my wretched state,
Turned out to be the victims of an even harsher fate.

Mahabbat mein nahin hai farq jeene aur marne ka,
Usi ko dekh kar jeete hain, jis kaafir pe dam nikle.

There is little difference in life and death when we are in love,
The same infidel sustains our life, for whom we pine to die.

Kahaan maikhana ka darwaaza Ghalib, aur kahaan waiz,
Par itna jante hain kal woh jaata tha ke ham nikle.

The preacher and the tavern door are things wide apart,
Yet yesterday I saw him enter, as I was coming out.

Haazaron kwaashen aisi ke har khwaish pe dam nikle,
Bahut nikle mere armaan, lekin phir bhi kam nikle.

Thousands of desires, tantalizing one and all,
Many a wish have I realised; yet I yearn for more.

Mirza Ghalib
27th December 1797 - 15th February 1869

/****************************************************/

How much does a 80 GB (7200 rpm) hard-disk cost in your town?

Little Help From You

What would you think if I sang out of tune,
Would you stand up and walk out on me.
Lend me your ears and I’ll sing you a song,
And I’ll try not to sing out of key.
I get by with a little help from my friends

I talked about Bharatpur’s location in one of my previous posts and had mentioned that it’s less than 200 kilometers from Delhi. A lot of people visit bharatpur because of the Keoladeo Bird Sanctuary but this year it had a special visitor, TT. I like to think that the reason for TT’s visit was me but I don’t know whether it will be true or not.

She dragged me along to visit the sanctuary which I hadn’t seen for the past many many years because … well.. “ghar ki murgi daal barabar”. There was also …..

Damn!! It is too hard to write about someone whom you like a lot. Over to you TT.

Right Now

Right now, people are having unprotected sex.
Right now opportunity is passing you by.
Right now, justice is being perverted in a court of law.
Right now you could be out side.
Right now, God is killing moms and dogs because he has to.
Right now, guilt is turning someone inside out.
Right now, there's a bomb factory hard at work.
Right now you are sitting too close.
Right now, oil companies and old men are in control.
Right now NOTHING is more EXPENSIVE than REGRET.
Right now is just a space between the ages.
Right now is a good time to repent.
Right now, the truth is being obscured.
Right now, science is building a better tomato.
Right now, pigs are becoming lunch.
Right now, someone is working too hard for minimum wage.
Right now, a convenience store is open.
Right now your parents miss you.
Right now no one is safe from loneliness.
Right now it's cold where someone you love is.
Right now she is going on with her life.
Right now, time is having its way with you.
Right now, forces are aligning against you.
Right now, someone is walking onto a nude beach for the first time.
Right now, you wish you had a larger monitor.
Right now, our government is doing things we think only other countries do.
Right now you aren't doing what you most wish you were.
Right now dogs have it good.
Right now keeps happening.
Right now I must be going.

Arz kiya hai

Sochkar dekha to tum mere bahut nazdeek thi,
Dekhkar socha to faasle nazar aa gaye.

Bharatpur –- Delhi 196 kms
Bharatpur -- Jaipur 185 kms
Bharatpur -- Agra 56 kms
Bharatpur -- Mathura 48 kms

It lies on UP- Rajasthan border and it’s a part of Rajasthan. I think this much is enough to satisfy the queries of people who keep asking me, “Where is this Bharatpur?”

Almost Famous

There are things which each one of us wishes to do but never has the time for them. I don’t say that I am a busy person, to tell the truth, I am one of the idlest persons possible with staring at the ceiling as one of my preferred pastimes. For the past couple of years I wanted to write down a piece for Rock Street Journal (RSJ) but was too lazy to take a step in this direction. My procrastination came to an end couple of days back and prompt came this reply from RSJ:

Dear Ravi,
if you do want to send in articles/concert reviews/audio reviews etc. for the magazine, please do so. if they rock, we'll put them in the magazine, and if we can't fit them in the magazine, we'll post them on the site.
send us something that you have written, and we'll let you know if we can use it.
regards,
RSJ

I was planning to write about Led Zeppelin but they gave a biography of all major rock bands of the 70s in their last two issues. Now I am thinking of “Trying a little bit harder” and going the Joplin way. She is my personal favorite female rock star of all time with Joan Baez a close second. Her songs (Me and Bobby McGee, Mary Jane, Tell Mama, etc.) and stories about her chutzpah during her heydays have impressed me to a great extent. However, I am open to suggestions but when you suggest something do not forget to mention that whether you read / have read RSJ.

For once, I would like to be quoted at some place other than you know what.

Blogroll Update

I think I need to update the Recommendations List (Blogroll). Please leave a comment along with your URL if you fall into any of these categories:

1. You read my blog regularly.
2. You have already blogrolled me.
3. You are willing to blogroll me but only if I do it first. ( yes, there are people like that).
4. You just like seeing your name in the list.

Also, if anyone wants his/her name removed from the list, please mention that in the comments section.

Once again, please nominate me at IndiBloggies.

Un Dos Tres

UN I know that most of the readers here are techno-savvy, so please help me out. I have a Sony Hi-fi system at home but the speakers for the compu are the small Mercury MS 440. Is there any possible way that I can connect the two and listen to the music from the hi-fi speakers.

DOS I am reading "Atlas Shrugged" for the Nth time and here is an extract from the book:
Happiness is the successful state of life, pain is an agent of death.
Happiness is that state of consciousness which proceeds from the achievement of one's values. A morality that dares to tell you to find happiness in the renunciation of your happiness—to value the failure of your values—is an insolent negation of morality. A doctrine that gives you, as an ideal, the role of a sacrificial animal seeking slaughter on the altars of others, is giving you death as your standard. By the grace of reality and the nature of life, man—every man—is an end in himself, he
exists for his own sake, and the achievement of his own happiness is his highest moral purpose."But neither life nor happiness can be achieved by the pursuit of irrational whims. Just as man is free to attempt to survive in any random manner, but will perish unless he lives as his nature requires, so he is free to seek his happiness in any mindless fraud, but the torture of frustration is all he will find, unless he seeks the happiness proper to man. The purpose of morality is to teach you, not to suffer and die, but to enjoy yourself and live.

TRES Please nominate me at IndiBloggies

Thought of the day

The opposite of love is apathy, not hate.

A non-controversial post

For the past couple of days, I was in Delhi and Mathura with family and cousins and I can't say that i enjoyed every bit of it but it did bring me face to face with the things that I missed out on or are different because I live in a place like Kharagpur which is away from any normal college life.

# Safe sex is an issue.
# It does matter if you dont have a mobile phone.
# People still give out their home-address when you say "Mail address."
# People you care about laugh at you when you say you don't know about call-waiting in mobiles.
# Most college students dont use cycles.
# Mallika Sherawat -- HOT, Liv Tyler -- WHO
# If you ask someone "What languages do you know?", the answer will be spanish, english, punjabi, etc. and not C, C++, Java, VB.
# You have to restrict the amount you drink because you have to go back home.
# People prefer to sit and chat in the canteen as compared with the local-chat-rooms (DC++, forum, etc.)
# Everyone has a girlfriend / boyfriend or is in some phase of getting over the past or preparing for the future.

Girls And The City

Warning : This post deals with objectification of women and kolkata bashing.

I was watching KKHH today on the idiot box, watching Television is a luxury for people like me who have spent aeons in the woods of kharagpur, and it did bring back some of the good ol' memories. Not many people used to bunk school in the winter of 99 but KKHH was not just another movie, it was KKHH. My school was not like the one in Hip Hip Hurray and it definitely was not DPS but it wasnt hard to find company for a Karan Johar/Yash Chopra (error regretted) flick.

When I think about high-school the first thing that I am reminded is Thursday morning PT class. Me and PT dont gel well together but if you take an obvious guess you would know why I still remember it. Yes, you are right!! Girls in skirts. After living for such a long time in a land like Kharagpur I have realised that those were the only P.Y.T.s that I will get to see in this lifetime.

IIT Kharagpur, like any other engineering college, scores very low when it is measured on the cutefemalometer. The surprise is Kolkata. Each and every girl I have seen on my numerous trips to kol is either too dark, too fat or just too god damn ugly. The whole concept of bengali-beauty seems like a myth to me. If you are going to counter it with luck or wrong-place-wrong-time argument, I will like to tell you that I have been to all possible places from salt-lake city-center to Nandan to Someplace Else to whatever you are thinking. The average female in my school (Bhartiya Vidya Bhavan's Vidyashram, Jaipur) looked like Gul and now she is one of the most gorgeous females that I have seen in a long time and as far as kolkata girls are concerned, there are enough bloggers from Kolkata whom you know/ have met and I dont think I need to say anything further. Even Bharatpur has better looking girls than Kolkata. I am not talking about Monica Bellucis or Priety Zintas but just someone average (not the kolkata average but the delhi/jaipur average) who can give atleast make the birdwatching worth the effort. The worst part of kolkata girls is that they think they look good and can always be seen in heavy makeup, clothes so tight that you can count the three tires in the tummy region, high heels which they cant carry well and jeans that give a new meaning to Ted Nugent's Thunder Thighs. I think it works on the concept of latitude, the higher the latitude the better are the girls. Do I need to elaborate on a heaven we know as Sector 16 Chandigarh.

No. of hours since last smoke : 100