My mother's 2nd life

It was April 2011, I was still an engineering grad. I lived in Indore, I still do, only now I work as well. 

Didi called me one afternoon and said that our mom was hospitalized in Ranchi that morning only.

What? When did she get sick? She was pretty good, some 100 hours ago. I was stunned. I cursed myself for not talking to mom, everyday. I thought, I was a bad son. I wanted to get to mom ASAP.

But as you know, there is always a rush for tickets especially on the UP-Bihar-Jharkhand-West Bengal route. 

I booked a flight to delhi and reached Ranchi from Delhi with Di, Jiju and their son. Although we rushed to reach to mom, we anticipated it as a usual dehydration thing and were pretty assured that Mummy will be home in a day or two.

But the revelation was shocking. Only after we reached RIMS [Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences], which is a renowned institution of India for medical sciences in Ranchi, we saw the real picture. 

My mother was not good at all. She was thin, pale and somehow looked totally a different person, which I never saw. When I was in train, I was thinking of saying nice things to my mom, to make her feel good and make her laugh or smile. Laughter is still the best medicine.  

But that thought was suppressed by the fact that my mom was in no state to speak or listen to anybody talking to her. She was being treated in a cottage, which RIMS provide to patients who are important enough on their list.

My father managed to get a cottage and the treatment was like home there. Convenient. A night or two passed and things went from bad to worse. My mother was diagnosed and was advised treatment at the ICU only.

We transferred mom to the ICU one afternoon and that's when we realized that we are not at one of India's renowned medical institutions but just another govt. hospital. 

The Intensive Care Unit was dirty, had an uncomfortable bed and had uncountable Rats running around all over the place. My father was unaware of all this circumstances when he alone took her to RIMS, he was in a panic situation and all he could think of is getting my mother treated as soon as possible. 

The fact is that every patient in RIMS is another medical project for their students and they do not care, however they are being treated, all they do is observation and prepare a report out of it.

We were in a catch-22 situation, my mother's condition was being worse every new day and we couldn't take the risk of making her travel, neither by air nor by rail not even road. And one morning, mummy couldn't even breathe properly, thats when we had to take a firm decision.

We knew that firstly, she need to feel strong, then only we will be able to go to Delhi and have a better and specialized treatment.

And the next two days were magical, my mother pushed hard to get up from that long slumber and looked somehow better than weeks that passed. She was determined to get her life back, so she injected confidence in us and said "yes, I can travel" [she started talking a little bit by then].

We took the most comfortable 1st AC in Rajdhani Express and admitted mummy to the "Max Super Speciality Hospital" in Saket, New Delhi within the 2-3 days. 

In a week, my mom could ask for things by saying and not by gesturing. That was so comforting, listening to her. I missed those words for a good 2 to 3 weeks. 

Although there used to be some complications every now and then, but the modern healthcare at Max Hospital had a positive atmosphere, which somehow inspired Mummy to get better every new day.

However, it still took 40 days to reach the day, when my mother could finally say goodbye to hospital. But honestly, this number could have been close to 300 days, had we treated her in Ranchi only.

My mother came home [in delhi] in the first week of June and lived with Di and her family for the next 4 months. She started speaking well, after some weeks, she was able to walk without support and I almost had tears in my eyes, when one day in late 2011, I saw her cooking. 

I felt like a parent, whose infant kid is growing everyday.

I missed my mother, all those 7-8 months, the mother, who doesn't depend on us. But the mother who takes care of every little thing we need. 

In the whole process, one thing changed for sure. My life. I am no longer an irresponsible youngest child of my parents, but a caring son. I call my parents almost every day now. 

This post was pending for a long time. It only came true, when Apollo Hospitals in association with IndiBlogger prompted us to write about our lives touched by Modern Healthcare.

-Amritt Rukhaiyaar

Special 26: Reviews

With great actors like Jimmy Shergill, Manoj Bajpai and Anupam Kher and not Akshay Kumar. I was very sure that Special Chhabis will at least be a good watch. But this film proved be to far better than just good, this film is definitely special. It is not as great as Paan Singh Tomar or Gangs of Wasseypur, but definitely better than many 100 crore club film.

Special Chhabis will not let you leave your seat at any moment. It definitely has the masala of a bollywood film but notably only the masala we like. And it has one of the best climax till date.

This film is based on real life incident about a heist happened in 1987, where a group of conmen raided a jewellery store by posing as CBI officers. The characters are a little bit larger-than-life, which I will consider as a flaw in "Special Chhabis".

I won't talk about the plot much, you gotta see this one yourself. 

Acting is good by the whole cast, and surprisingly Akshay Kumar was somehow one of the best actor in special chhabbis. He may get  a best actor nomination next year. The Scenes were Manoj Bajpai and Akshay Kumar both clashes are actually the best ones according to me.

The Actions are not typical ones but tricky ones, that you will like for sure. Kajal Agarwal, is just useless in the whole film.

Manoj Bajpai, once again stolen the show as Waseem Khan. With every new film, he is establishing as the greatest actor in Indian Cinema.

Neeraj Pandey have raised the bar with his last film "A Wednesday" and special chhabis is definitely lived up to his creator's name.

My Ratings: 7.5/10

-Amrit Rukhaiyaar

Race 2: Reviews

Abbas Mastan is not the duo we look forward to, especially after the disastrous “Players”. But Considering the success of “Race”, you can fall for the trap called “Race 2”.

The film begins with great action scenes, and just when you will anticipate what this movie is all about, you will be punched in the face with a twist, and then more twists, some of the twists were actually great. That is why I am not totally thrashing this film in my review. This film has surely managed to be called a thriller. But the disaster is the result of too much unwanted style and typical use of Bollywood punches.

You may attract to the huge star cast, but beware; I am going to reveal their performances now, Saif is the best though, John is trying hard to be a bad guy, he fails miserably according to me, the ladies, too cute, and acting too dumb, no one can digest them as killers. Anil Kapoor was most irritating of the lot; all his witty jokes were not witty at all, and Amisha Patel, God knows, what is she doing in this film?

Although, there is nothing much wrong with the direction and screenplay, but the plot of the film is directionless, I must remark. Good music is forcefully wasted into a bad film. Had they made a good story, we hardly needed any song.

Race-2 is not a movie you should waste money going to expensive multiplexes, if you are so desperate to watch it, go to a single screen. It is not better than both “Matru ki bijlee ka Mandola” and “Table No. 21” among other 2013 releases.

If you watch movie with noticing details of it rather carefully, you will not like “Race-2” at all. But may be some scenes are likeable, I am not sure with that either. Race-2 is the film, which everyone will talk different of, I wonder how many of them will praise it. You can go for it, if you are looking for a good day out with friends.

My Ratings: 2/5

-Amritt R

Why Shawshank Redemption is one of the best story ever told.

“There must be a con like me in every prison in America. I am the guy who can get it for you, cigarettes, a bag of reefer, if that’s your thing… …bottle of brandy to celebrate your kid’s high school graduation, damn near anything within reason, yes sir ! I am a regular Sears and Roebuck.”

-Morgan Freeman in his ever gentle enigmatic voice…

The film starts with a man, angry enough to shot his wife and her lover, then a scene at his trial at some court, he was sent to a prison for being guilty of killing his wife and her lover for two back to back life imprisonments and then the rest… the rest was called THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION.

Tim Robbins? I never knew him before Shaw shank, nor I have seen his another film after that either But I believe, nobody could have been as good as him as Andy Dufresne, and honestly speaking after I saw The Shaw shank Redemption in 2008, after 14 years of its release and it’s been 5 years and I can’t agree more to say that it is the “BEST STORY” ever told in history.

On the other hand, Ah yes, there is always another hand, a counterpart. Every great thing has at least two ingredients that make it a great substance. The Shaw shank Redemption had Morgan Freeman to fill that gap. The Chemistry between these two men was wiser than any other men pair ever made.

There are several emotions of human nature depicted in this film, but the one that made its mark was HOPE. I have never been hopeless in life after “The Shaw shank Redemption”. “TSR” is a story of friendship, decency and believing in hope. There were many beautiful events in this film that collectively made it become the best film ever made.

Remember the scene, when Red while watching a 1950s classic in the prison’s theater waits for Rita Hayworth to shake her hairs and when she does that, Morgan Freeman creates a magical expression on his face, which showed the helplessness of a common poor man desiring a Hollywood actress almost impossibly.

And when Andy tells Red where Red must go, after being free from prison, and he tells only once and when Red reaches the certain place to find some cash and a letter from Andy. Andy wrote in that letter: “You remember the name of the town, don’t you?” and Red speaks to himself: “Zihuatanejo.” I loved that scene, it actually meant that “if you don’t remember the name of the city, you actually didn't care to listen."

Here is what he wrote in that letter:

“Andy Dufresne: Dear Red. If you're reading this, you've gotten out. And if you've come this far, maybe you're willing to come a little further. You remember the name of the town, don't you?

Red: Zihuatanejo.

Andy Dufresne: I could use a good man to help me get my project on wheels. I'll keep an eye out for you and the chessboard ready. Remember, Red, hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies. I will be hoping that this letter finds you, and finds you well. your friend. Andy.”

Shaw shank Redemption is story of the bonding of 2 men around 2 decades and the wisdom surrounding them. With the film moved its course, you will start feeling the wiser air.

Hats off to Stephen King and Frank Darabont.

Amritt

How the modern day poor understands Indian Politics...? [fiction]

Mr. Saxena, a 55 year old bank employee came out of his office during the tea break when he heard a couple of poor kids talking about “some” holiday.

Mr. Saxena will tell us the whole incident in his own words now.

“Today is 2^nd October, and is a national holiday, and why is it a holiday, because some freedom fighter perhaps died or took birth on this day…”

Those were the words of a Chai-wallah, strange, isn’t it…? I took care of it, and shared an important piece of my knowledge, you see, wisdom needs to spread. Hehehe…

I asked him, “don’t you know the man in your 10 rupees note”

He was excited as he replied “that bald man was born today…?”

I replied affirmatively.

“Who else was born today”, he asked again.

I was about to furnish another piece of my knowledge with pride that Lal Bahadur Shastri was also born on some 2^nd October, when he said “forget it, who cares”…

Those last words struck me…

I thought how an uneducated chai-wallah knows this ultimate truth of the 21^st century… “WHO CARES”… who really cares who was born on this day or another. We only celebrate it as a non-working day.

I wanted to convince him that I care and many others too.

I called him again and said “I don’t know who cares or not, but you should, will you…?”

He smiled and said, “Is he going to give my family an extra meal today?”

I was numb at his strange question.

“No, he won’t”.

“Then I am surely going to remember his birthday from next year.”

“Why is that generosity, by the way?”

“Because I am fed up of the lies, our politicians speak to us, so for a change, I would like to give some respect to this honest bald man.”

“Nice perspective”

“I know”

And thus he left the place with a smile on his face. I still wonder why he was so happy for my description about Mahatma Gandhi. But somehow he felt convinced as if he actually spoke to Gandhi and was told the truth of what he can actually be showered with.

The Chai-wallah wanted the truth and nothing else. The poor wants the truth and nothing else, they don’t want promises. They want to face the truth, if only our Neta could give them the right fact about what they will be able to provide them, they would have planned their ways to get rid of poverty in a better manner. There is nothing wrong with poverty; the only thing which is wrong is the false promises to make them richer. 

-Amritt Rukhaiyaar