Bill Gates : 11 Rules for School Kids

Rule 1: Life is not fair - get used to it!

Rule 2: The world doesn't care about your self-esteem. The world will expect you to accomplish something BEFORE you feel good about yourself.

Rule 3: You will NOT make $60,000 a year right out of high school. You won't be a vice-president with a car phone until you earn both.

Rule 4: If you think your teacher is tough, wait till you get a boss.

Rule 5: Flipping burgers is not beneath your dignity. Your Grandparents had a different word for burger flipping: they called it opportunity.

Rule 6: If you mess up, it's not your parents' fault, so don't whine about your mistakes, learn from them.

Rule 7: Before you were born, your parents weren't as boring as they are now. They got that way from paying your bills, cleaning your clothes and listening to you talk about how cool you thought you were. So before you save the rain forest from the parasites of your parent's generation, try delousing the closet in your own room.

Rule 8: Your school may have done away with winners and losers, but life HAS NOT. In some schools, they have abolished failing grades and they'll give you as MANY TIMES as you want to get the right answer. This doesn't bear the slightest resemblance to ANYTHING in real life.

Rule 9: Life is not divided into semesters. You don't get summers off and very few employers are interested in helping you FIND YOURSELF. Do that on your own time.

Rule 10: Television is NOT real life. In real life people actually have to leave the coffee shop and go to jobs.

Rule 11: Be nice to nerds. Chances are you'll end up working for one.

- Bill Gates

Back to the beach!

Somewhere in Paris..

In Goa and missing Socrates!

The one person I miss most in Bombay is Socrates! :( I hope he can survive for the few days that I'm away. I wanted to put him in a comfortable box and bring him down to Goa but Mom just wouldn't hear of it! :(

Hectic and normal: Bombay

I have no idea why I'm still here but the more times I think of leaving the city, the more I realize I am going to miss it. Bombay/Mumbai can be a really menace with all the traffic jams, pollution, sweat and millions of people. Then again Bombay is only meant for the people seeking the unusual (I have considered myself as part of that category). Bombay is a marvellous assault on all your senses, more so when there is a festival around the corner. Right now the city is in a state of frenzy since both Ganesh Chaturthi and Eid are coming our way soon. What I love about India is how secular the state is. Even though there are so many communal frictions sensationalized on the tele, the same does not hold for the public areas. People are free to practice whatever religion they please. I'm currently trying to find as many religious symbols scattered all over the place. Oh and I also love the architecture here, especially South Bombay is the hub of the city's imperial era buildings!

I was walking around in Dadar and chanced upon a tiny makeshift temple with bold brass bells all around!

ting-ting-ting

The lodges of Bombay can be found in the locality directly opposite Metro cinema (one of Bombay's firsts!). The condition of the lodges is questionable but the building still appeals to me!

A man selling peanuts by the roadside, peanuts are loved by all Mumbaikars! 

One of those old advertisements that often double up as a door. hey look! They have coffee, more specifically French coffee! 

Another old beauty in the Fort area of South Bombay, I can never get tired of staring at these amazing buildings! Viva Bombay!

Eye spy: Retinitis Pigmentosa

A visit to the eye doctor is usually a harrowing one for me. You see my mother's family has a long history with Retinitis Pigmentosa (an inherited retinal disorder that eventually leads to complete blindness). My grandfather was completely blind by the age of 60 and presently my uncle and aunt suffer from deteriorating night vision and peripheral vision. In approximately 50% to 60% of RP cases, there are family members with RP. 

So every time during that never ending process when, the doctor puts those four stinging eye drops to dilate my retina and then flashes that burning bright light into my eyes, then asks me to read the various letters on the eye chart, my mind is thinking where is the next place I have to visit and how I will make do without my eyes, I have to teach my students and how will I get them to experience beautiful words and pictures when I myself cannot see and appreciate what I'm talking about! All these thoughts go through my mind and the palms of my hands are clenched into tight sweaty fists. Then the doctor turns to me and says something that could either change or shatter my life "My dear, you have really healthy eyes, there is no trace of RP whatsoever. Go and lead a happy life!". So this is the response I have been waiting for! My mother is exhilarated, she was even more of a wreck in the waiting room than I was. Instead of being happy that I will have good eyes to carry on my vocation, I'm remembering my aunt. A few years back we were in a similar place and she had the eye drops and the blinding light pass through her retina, but the doctor had a different diagnosis. She was shattered and it just did not seem right for me to celebrate now for my victory of this genetic monster. My aunt was a seamstress and she stitched the most beautiful garments in our little town. I was always the belle of the class because everything I wore as a child was stitched by her. She has never once complained to us about the inconveniences of reduced vision and she's still so hard working and still works hard on her passion for sewing. 

There is still no cure found for Retinitis Pigmentosa. Although various treatments have come into the market, of which none have been successful. However the progression of this disease can be reduced by proper intake of Vitamin A supplementation. Vitamin A gives a small but beneficial boost to your retina and can postpone blindness for a length of 8 to 10 years. Vitamin A can be found naturally in many foods. Following is the chart taken from wikipedia concerning the various amounts of Vitamin A found in foods:

• liver (beef, pork, chicken, turkey, fish) (6500 μg 722%), including cod liver oil
• carrot (835 μg 93%)
• broccoli leaf (800 μg 89%) - According to USDA database broccoli florets have much less.
• sweet potato (709 μg 79%)
• butter (684 μg 76%)
• kale (681 μg 76%)
• spinach (469 μg 52%)
• pumpkin (400 μg 41%)
• collard greens (333 μg 37%)
• Cheddar cheese (265 μg 29%)
• cantaloupe melon (169 μg 19%)
• egg (140 μg 16%)
• apricot (96 μg 11%)
• papaya (55 μg 6%)
• mango (38 μg 4%)
• pea (38 μg 4%)
• broccoli (31 μg 3%)
• milk (28 μg 3%)

Below are two Snellen charts you can use to test your Visual Acuity i.e the acuteness or clearness of vision. The Snellen chart is read while standing 20 ft. away from the chart. Cover one eye with your hand and read. The lowest line on the chart that you can read correctly will be your visual acuity. 

 

A reading challenge

I realised I haven't been reading much lately and I decided since I love challenges, why not take up a reading challenge? Someone is organising an online reading challenge called The Oldies but Goodies. So basically there is no time limit on the reading, all you need to do is READ! and also add a review for each book. 
P.S. I have added a few books to the list which I intended to read previously. 

Books to be read:

To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf
THE CATCHER IN THE RYE by J.D. Salinger 
THE BEAUTIFUL AND DAMNED by F. Scott Fitzgerald
THE SUN ALSO RISES by Ernest Hemingway
MRS. DALLOWAY by Virginia Woolf
GREAT EXPECTATIONS by Charles Dickens
THE TALE OF TWO CITIES by Charles Dickens
NORTHANGER ABBEY by Jane Austen
VICTORY by Joseph Conrad
THE HILLS BEYOND by Thomas Wolfe
THE AWAKENING by Kate Chopin
LES MISERABLES by Victor Hugo
LOve in the time of cholera Gabriel Garcia Marquez
INTRUDER IN THE DUST by William Faulkner
CRIME AND PUNISHMENT by Fyodor Dostoevsky
TO HAVE AND HAVE NOT by Ernest Hemingway
THE GRAPES OF WRATH by John Steinbeck
THE GREAT GATSBY by F. Scott Fitzgerald
HEART OF DARKNESS by Joseph Conrad
INVISIBLE MAN by Ralph Ellison
JANE EYRE by Charlotte Bronte
MOBY DICK by Herman Melville
NATIVE SON by Richard Wright
WUTHERING HEIGHTS by Emily Bronte
LORD OF THE FLIES by William Golding
PRIDE AND PREJUDICE by Jane Austin
THE SOUND AND THE FURY by William Faulkner
THE STRANGER by Albert Camus

Hey there! Sweet cat on the car!

Remembering my father in Dadar West

For no reason, Mum and me decided to visit my dad's home in Dadar west. My dad came from a very humble background, in fact he was brought up in a chawl (run down residential units constructed in major Indian cities in the 19th century to accommodate industrial workers). We had to visit the Bombay Municipal Council (BMC) to obtain his birth certificate and they obviously gave us another date to come and collect it. We then proceeded to see what new changes had come about in the area. and voilà! 

My dad home's now has a view of the Bandra-Worli sea link!

It's officially called the Rajiv Gandhi Sea Link and it cost $$$400 million approx.!! 

There are still some lovely imperial style buildings in the locality!

 I just love how the yellow of the imperial house complements the monsoon green of the tree!

Just by the seaside someone left a lovely frame with the picture of Lord Ganesha embossed on it.

Another house which was beautifully decrepit!

Royal Palace of Naples

Don't listen to what they say, go see!: Napoli

Most travellers, including me are asked to avoid Naples thanks to the (supposed) dangers of the Camorra. But believe me if you're careful enough and if you belive what Dean Martin says, you'll be fine!
''When you dance down the street with a cloud at your feet
You're in love
When you walk down in a dream but you know you're not
Dreaming signore
Scuzza me, but you see, back in old Napoli
That's amore." :)
So yes, in this city right beside the active Mount Vesuvius, you'll meet the Napoletanos who are the nicest and funniest people on earth (generally people get friendlier as you move towards Italy's sunny south) and Napoli is indeed a treat for your senses, the tiny streets are crammed with marvellous chaos, Vespas blare their horns with the same intensity as the locals' voices, you can't miss the laundry that hangs on clotheslines which connects all the grand decadent buildings. Pizza and Spaghetti were born HERE, so your taste buds should be prepared for magic! If you want to feel like royalty, you just visit the Teatro San Carlo and the Royal Palace of Naples (which is strangely always deserted!). I have to admit not everyone enjoys this hectic, grimy and crumbling city. Well that's because it's not made for everyone, only for those people who seek out the unusual, the alluring, the real will feel right at home here. I fell in love with Napoli. Immediately. Intensely.

The interiors of one of many magnificent churches!

In the sketchy quarters of Spaccanapoli, go in search of Gino Sorbillo, he is a magician with pizzas and trust me he can change your life! Above is my Margherita, just before I dovoured it in five minutes.