Nepotism

Hate it.

Punjabi poetry

I am sitting here listening to some classics by Gurdas Mann. What is about Punjabi love songs that speaks to my soul? Gurdas Mann’s songs express the sentiments that my heart seems to have forgotten but recalls with a little nudge from him.

The longer I live, the more I realise that people seem to have forgotten the real meaning of love. That unconditional, abundant love is scarce nowadays. In a world of abundant sex, easy thrills, fast food, ever lasting love seems like a thing of the past. Why truly love when there are plenty of opportunities? When lust is being satisfied at every corner.

Perhaps I am an old soul. An old soul living in the wrong time. Perhaps what I look for never existed. It must have though because there is a human being in this world who felt what is written below. Now this is true love....

Gurdas Mann - Sajna Ve Sajna with English translation

sajna ve sajna tere shehar wali sanu ., kini sohni lagdi dupehar

Beloved, oh my beloved, the afternoon heat of your city seems so beautiful...

kini changi lagdi dupehar

I really like the afternoon heat...

fer v pata ni kaato, moh jeha aayi jande

Nevertheless, I don’t know why but I feel overwhelmed with love...

bhaave sade sar gaye ne pair, bhaave sade bhuj gaye ne pair

Even though my feet are burnt, even though my feet have been roasted (in the heat of your city)

sajnaa, ve sajna , ve sajna

Beloved, oh beloved, oh beloved.....

maa ne v rokeya, bapu ne v rokeya

Mother stopped me, Father stopped me

naa jaayi mitran de shehar

They said don’t go to your lover’s city

par sadi bhukh sagon dooni chauni hoi jaave

But my hunger to see you increased twofolds, three folds

haul painde rehan chato pair

I felt like I would faint from this hunger

sajnaa, ve sajna , ve sajna

Beloved, oh beloved, oh beloved....

tere shehar kaahi aayi mitra ve meriya

Since I have been in your city my dearest friend.

bhule sab shikve te vair

I have forgotten all bothersome things and enmities..

chit kare kakke kakke reteya nu chum lava

I feel like kissing the hot sand (on which you have walked)

lab kite sajna di pair

Only if I could find my beloved’s footprints 

sajnaa, ve sajna, ve sajna

Beloved, oh beloved, oh beloved

tere shehar vich sab apne hi vasde ne

In your city, everyone is my own

sade pind vasde ne gair

In my own village, they are all strangers

jine mile sanu sab, mile dukhk den wale

All people I have met so far have given me nothing but sadness

ik ne na pushi sadi khair

Not one asked me how I was

sajnaa, ve sajna, ve sajna

Beloved, oh beloved, oh beloved

tere shehar vich asi mangteya barobar

In your city, I am like a beggar

bhaave gurr paade, bhaave zehar

You can give me brown sugar or poison in alms

tere dar uto bhukh naina di mitaavni oye

At your door step, I am going to fullfil the hunger of my eyes

eho sade pakra di khair

This is my one wish to the saints

sajnaa, ve sajna, ve sajna

Beloved, oh beloved, oh beloved

jag bhaave rus jaaye, rab bhaave rus jaaye

The world can get mad at me, God can get mad at me

sanu sade mitran di lehar

I have you (my beloved) to rely upon

maana marjaaneya ki shehar tera vekheya ooye

Maan, now that I have seen your city

saatho bhuli jandi na dupehar

I cannot forget that afternoon heat

sajnaa, ve sajna, ve sajna, ve sajna, ve sajna 

Beloved, oh my beloved, oh beloved, oh beloved, oh beloved

The Black Swan

Just watched “The Black Swan” with Natalie Portman. I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys mental stimulation. It is a psychological thriller that takes you down the road of self perfection.

Self perfection or self destruction.

Thank you God!

Dealing with Rejection Letters: Why Editors Say No to Your Story and What to Do Next

Dealing with Rejection Letters: Why Editors Say No to Your Story and What to Do Next

Still I Rise

You may write me down in history
With your bitter, twisted lies,
You may trod me in the very dirt
But still, like dust, I'll rise.

Does my sassiness upset you?
Why are you beset with gloom?
'Cause I walk like I've got oil wells
Pumping in my living room.

Just like moons and like suns,
With the certainty of tides,
Just like hopes springing high,
Still I'll rise.

Did you want to see me broken?
Bowed head and lowered eyes?
Shoulders falling down like teardrops.
Weakened by my soulful cries.

Does my haughtiness offend you?
Don't you take it awful hard
'Cause I laugh like I've got gold mines
Diggin' in my own back yard.

You may shoot me with your words,
You may cut me with your eyes,
You may kill me with your hatefulness,
But still, like air, I'll rise.

Does my sexiness upset you?
Does it come as a surprise
That I dance like I've got diamonds
At the meeting of my thighs?

Out of the huts of history's shame
I rise
Up from a past that's rooted in pain
I rise
I'm a black ocean, leaping and wide,
Welling and swelling I bear in the tide.
Leaving behind nights of terror and fear
I rise
Into a daybreak that's wondrously clear
I rise
Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave,
I am the dream and the hope of the slave.
I rise
I rise
I rise.

Maya Angelou

Negativity vs Positivity

I know who I am. I know what I have done. I know where I am from. I know where I am going. I don’t know where I will end up. Am I going to let people perturb me. Am I going to let them throw me off balance.

No, for I shall be positive. I shall focus on the lotus and not the swamp. I shall appreciate the rose and not be afraid of the thorns. I shall look for the positive in the midst of negativity.

I shall find my diamonds in the coal mine for that is where they are first found.

Sonnet 116

My definition of love:

SONNET 116

Let me not to the marriage of true minds
Admit impediments. Love is not love
Which alters when it alteration finds,
Or bends with the remover to remove:
O no! it is an ever-fixed mark
That looks on tempests and is never shaken;
It is the star to every wandering bark,
Whose worth's unknown, although his height be taken.
Love's not Time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks
Within his bending sickle's compass come:
Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,
But bears it out even to the edge of doom.
If this be error and upon me proved,
I never writ, nor no man ever loved.

Coffee shops

Why is that it is easier to do work one can’t do at home in a coffee shop?

Something about a coffee shop makes it easier to start a procrastinated task.

Please wash your hands

Beyoncé - Flaws And All

I love the way you lie

I just heard the song “I love the way you lie” by Rihanna. It tells the abuse story of her own life and so many others in relationships that are all consuming.

I feel this song.

CCFP Exam

I just wrote the CCFP exam.

How to ease the Qualifying Examination Part II

Being an expert on the MCCQE II now, I feel comfortable giving advise. Easing this exam is very simple. Get your hands on First Aid to the USMLE step 2 CS. Follow it to the T. Do and say what it says exactly. Two days before the exam test yourself with the 31 cases at the end.

I feel that there is all this “material” that is going around that others advise one to study from. It did not help me. I mean it’s good to know what cases are going to come up. Some always do. For example: know your back, abdominal and neurology exam. Speak while doing your exams. Let them know what you are doing.

As I told one of my fellow examinee, do the stations as if you were teaching a clerk. Try to impress.

Any questions? Just drop me a comment.

Queen of Swords

Queen of Swords

Briefly: Her future lies in learning to trust others again.

Full Meaning: Physically usually (though not always) tall and/or slender woman. Quite often has dark hair. Refined appearance and conservative in dress most of the time. Gracious manner. She prefers sophisticated clothing.
Personality is cautious and clever. Can be cunning, destructive and manipulative. She is often aloof and distant. She keeps her distance and puts up barriers around herself. She displays an air of unemotional responses. She may appear hard, selfish and self-controlled. Beneath her facade she hides much previous emotional pain and/or hardship. She has learnt how to survive. She is a woman alone. She is either a widow, divorced, a spinster or without a loving partner. She may have spent a long time on her own and keeps up her defences and her sword drawn to protect her at all times. She has a fondness for red roses.
She looks good in black clothing. She likes to wear expensive or perhaps antique and conservative jewellery most of the time, though sometimes she wears some bold jewels. She knows she would or could be seduced if she lets her guard down. She is not a social butterfly. She can seem to be unforgiving in some circumstances, but this is her self-defence mechanism being activated to avoid feeling pain and disturbing emotional reactions. She cries in her sleep, and little elsewhere.
She feels more in control if she can avoid having too deep feelings for anyone, lest they puncture her heart and give her reason to despair. She can become big hearted if in the right company and circumstances and when she feels safe and secure. There is hope for her and she is wise enough to know it. She is symbolic of the rose, seductive and potentially dangerous, capable of cutting the skin and making it bleed, yet the soft velvety petals can blossom into the most beautiful arrangement and captivate your heart. She is wistful and reflective, serious yet sensuous, yet always alert. She is capable of being the Goddess or the crucifier.
Occupations suited to her would be the head of a company or large organisation. Also she would make a great surgeon, doctor, police officer, dentist or anything that involves the use of sharp items or weapons. She would make a good soldier, warrior, fighter or leader of a revolution. She knows only one truth, her own.
Her future lies in learning to trust others again. She has been severely betrayed in the past by women and men alike. She may need to take a leaf out of the book of the Queen of Cups, who is more giving, loving and affectionate. She could have a love relationship but only if total trust exists. There is no room for dishonesty or lies. If she is betrayed, she severs her relationships completely and irrevocably and never goes back. Friends are cast off and not seen again should they make the mistake to betray or abuse her. Her goodwill only stretches so far and behind that she may lose some of her sense of compassion, knowing that others should learn to be more self-reliant, like herself. She may go to the extreme of cutting off her husband's head, should he betray or deceive her.
Querent's card. If this is you, then you may be being called to meet the challenge of your strengths and you will meet this head on regardless of whether this produces success or failure. Even in failure, you will learn where you went wrong and this is the ultimate lesson.
If you are not the querent and this card appears, I suggest that you make an ally of this woman, because she can be a powerful opponent if you should cross her. She is loyal and steadfast to those she gets close to, just don't mess with her, because you will wish you hadn't.

Dorain Gray, the 2009 movie

Before I say anything else, I would like to make a confession. I am in love with. No. No. I adore Oscar Wilde. He is epitome of everything I love when it comes to wit, charm and words. I even wrote a note to him and left it at his grave in Cimetiere du Pere-Lachaise. His tomb is covered with lipstick kisses. I am not surprised. He is a man every woman would adore. Among his many plays stands one book, The Picture of Dorian Gray. I read this book first when I was 14 years old. I remember it making quiet an impression on me. So the other day I was browsing online movies when I spotted a 2009 version of Dorain Gray.

Being me, I had to watch it. It is quiet dark. Dorian Gray is obviously gorgeous as he is meant to be. I liked the portrayal of Lord Henry by Colin Firth. I wasn’t sure about the story line though. It seemed as if the screen play had taken some liberties with the story. Going back 16 years, I cannot recall Dorian falling in love with Lord Henry’s daughter. I remember him destroying the portrait himself. I do not recall anyone forcing him to do it. Also I do not recall the actress Sybil. I do not remember him killing the painter who painted him. I do remember however everyone being in love with him for his beauty. Men and women.

I suppose I need to reread the novel to see if my memory is as great as I would like to think it is at times. Even if the movie took liberties with the original story, I would recommend every Oscar Wilde fan to watch the movie. It is very well made. However, I would not recommend this movie instead of the book for a book report on The Picture of Dorian Gray.

I am sure Oscar Wilde would have enjoyed the movie as much as I enjoyed it. Maybe even more. For in the words of my beloved Oscey, “there is only one thing worse than being talked about and that is not being talked about."