ATLAS SHRUGGED

there's nothing of any importance in life except how well u do your work.Nothing.The code of Competence is the only system of morality thats on a gold standard.

whatever we are its we who move the world,and its we who will pull it through

It is not advisable to venture unsolicited opinions.You should spare yourself the embarassing discovery of their exact value to your listener

indiscriminate desire and unselective inulgence were possible only to those who regarded sex and themselves as evil

The capacity for unclouded enjoyment, does not belong to irresponsible fools

With his profound respect for money and for its meaning, he despised the squanderer who did not know how to deserve the great gift of inherited wealth

What is morality?
Judgement to distinguish right and wrong, vision to see the truth, courage to act upon it, dedication to that which is good, integrity to stand by the good at any price.But where does one find it?

'he wants to be independent of you!'
'By means of getting from me a salary he cant earn for work he cant do'

We have enough power to carry them along-haven't we?

wasn;t it evil to wish without moving-or to move without aim?

Give me an unobstructed right of way, and i'll show them how to move the earth!

Whatever i am she thought, whatever pride of person I may hold, the pride of my courage, of my work, of my mind, and my freedom-that is what i offer you for the pleasure of your body, that is what i want you to use in your service-and that you want it to serve you is the greatest reward i can have

She could not function to the rule of: Pipe down-keep down-slow down-dont do your best, it is ot wanted!

'Miss Tagart, I can proudly say that in all my life I have never made a profit!'
'..of all the statements a man can make, that is the one I consider most despicable'

"Are you sayin"he asked slowly, "that i rose in your estimation when you found that I wanted you?"
"Of course"
"Most people feel that they rise in their own eyes, if others want them"
"I feel that others live up to me, if they want me"

The worst guilt is to accept an undeserved guilt-and that is what you have been doing all your life

'if you saw Atlas, the giant who holds the world on his shoulders, if you saw that he stood blood runing down his chest, his knees buckling, his arms trembling but still trying to hold the world aloft with the last of his strength, and the greater his effort the heavier the world bore down on his shoulders-what would you tell him to do?'
'To shrug.'

The man who despises himself tries to gain self esteem from sexual adventures-which can't be done, because sex is not the cause, but an effect and an expression of a man's sense of his own value
The man who is proudly certain of his own value, will want the highest type of woman he can find, the woman he admires, the strongest, the hardest to conquer-because only the possession of a heroine will give him the sense of an achievement, not the possession of a brainless slut.

Only the man who extols the purity of a love devoid of desire, is capable of the depravity of a desire devoid of love.

'I believed that love is some static gift which, once granted, need no longer be deserved..'

When one acts on pity against injustice, it is the good whom one punishes for the sake of the evil; when one saves the guilty from suffering, it is the innocent whom one forces to suffer'

it's a sin to sit down and let your life go, without making a try for it

'To me-the foulest man on earth, more contemptible than a criminal, is the employer who rejects men for being too good.'

That special pleasure she had felt in watching him eat the food she had prepared..the pleasure of knowing ..one form of his body's satisfaction had come from her.. There is reason she thought, why a woman would cook for a man.. oh,not as a duty, not as a chronic career... the castrated performance of a sickening drudgery was held to be a woman's proper virtue.. the work of dealing with grease, steam and slimy peelings..was held to be a spiritual matter, an act of compliance with her moral duty-while the meeting of two bodies in a bedroom was held to be a physical indulgence, an act of surrender to an animal instinct, with no glory, meaning or pride of spirit to be claimed by the animals involved

'i mean your understanding..not the fact that you admire my work, but that you admire it for the things I wished to be admired.'

if men understand that reality is an absolute not to be faked, that lies do not work, that the unearned cannot be had, that the undeserved cannot be given, that the destruction of a value which is, will not bring value to that which isn't

No one's happiness but my own is in my power to achieve or to destroy.

People think that a liar gains a victory over his victim.What I've learned is that a lie is an act of self abdiction, because one surrenders one's reality to the person to whom one is lies, making that person one's master... The man who lies to the world, is the world's slave from then on.

To place nothin- Nothing;above the verdict of my own mind.
The knowledge that my life is the highest of values, too high to give up without a fight.

You have sacrificed independence to unity.You have sacrificed reason to faith.You have sacrificed self esteem to self denial.You have sacrificed happiness to duty.

Reason does not work automatically; thinking is not a mechanical process, the connections of logic are not made by instinct.

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 happines is his highest moral purpose.

Self esteem, as his inviolate certainty that his mind is competent to think and his person is worthy of happiness

that all work is creative work if done by a thinking mind, and no work is creative if done by a blank who repeats is uncritical stupor a routine he has learned from others

Love is the expression of one's values, the greatest reward you can earn for the moral qualities you have achieved in your character and person, the emotional price paid by one man for the joy he recieves from the virtues of another.

Power-lust is a weed tht grows only in the vacant lots of an abandoned mind.

The desire not to be anythin, is the desire not to be.

i finally finished my all time favourite book.i just had to share my thoughts in the form of excerpts from the book

the Pink Chaddi Campaign

i read about it in the paper today...its this thing started by 'The consortium of pub going, loose and forward women' ..they are urging women to send pink chaddis(aka underwear) to pramod muthalik,the chief of that bunch of jobless,brainless,chauvinistic and morally retarded organisation THE SRI RAM SENE which beat up young women just coz they were sitting at a pub.brilliant isn't it?!The images i saw on tv continue to haunt me..i think of those men kicking,shoving...pulling them by their hair everytime i walk the street,i am WOmanning a hospital ward on my own or sitting with male colleagues.infact i was discussing the same incident with the latter a few days ago...and well like all 'i m not convservative i m realistic' men ,they had their point of view.. so basicallly in the present semi modern semi conservative male india of today-'what happened was wrong but women need to be careful,after they know how indian society is!!i want to agree with that,and i nod along..but tell me what are the lines???so women should not go to a pub unless accompanied by a male escort,or better still not go at all!!!oh wait also dont travel in a bus with a male colleague from another religion!!actually you will get grabbed either way in a bus,so dont use public transport!!!!oh yeah and what is the need to wear those short skirts!?!?!WHERE ARE THE F***ing LINES?????
i dont blame our parents,or the older generation,i have just come to accept we belong to different planets...but it doesn't fail to frustrate me,how all the sympathy for 'poor girl victim' is always mixed with atleast one odd commment about 'wat was the need to be doing so and so at so and so place at so and so time.
i cant lie,i love all the girl attention too...nd i m no 'bra burning' feminist...so i dont know which side i belong.i am a product of our society and culture ,then whats with the contradictions???!!!

yay i m done!!!!!nd i m a doctor now!!!!!..and i m back home... its alright.... i m just not used to it.. cant wait to start work....
wow i cut myself off for like 2months and seems lke the world has changed... i dont even know where to start ..the mumbai attack happened...barack obama got elected...the economic depression....and now the war rhetoric... i feel like the world was a better place three months ago :-( i have a friend whose mother was at the taj the night of the terrorist attack... and this was right in the middle of our exams.... she was one of the lucky few.but to really experience wat a family member goes through affected me alot.my firend stayed up all night watchin the news,switching from one channel to another for any bit of useful information.i was sittin with her,and all they kept showing for hours were cameras following blood drops at leopold cafe,or on the streets,bodies being carried out of the hotel.i dont blame them i guess,thats news too but it is soo painful and scary to watch for a family member who is prayin for their loved ones safety.i m so glad her mother came out safe the next morning.

i feel like we as the upper middle class society live in a bubble... we all watch the news,it disturbs us.we pray the world wasn't so dangerous,but thats bout it.i dont think any of us ever think that these things will happen to us.we think it only happens to other ppl.a bomb blast in a crowded market that killed a 100vendors or a terrorist attack on parliament.but to think me or my family could be havin dinner at a restaurant and somebody walks in with an ak47 and kills us,is so scary.i know no religion or faith could support such a barabaric attack on ny human being.what makes these ppl do these things??what kind of brain wash convinces a human being to mass murder unsuspecting beings irrespective of their religion or caste or nationality.DO WE ALL HAVE IT IN US???do u think u and me could also be so disturbed by some experiences??!!! do u think our lives and those of the ppl we affect can ever cease to be important to us???!!! WAT MAKES THESE PPL DO THESE THINGS???it was apparently an honour to get selected to carry out this barbaric attack in mumbai,as told by the surviving terrorist to the police..HOW???!!why???WHY IS IT AN HONOUR TO KILL OTHERS???they did it to scare us.the cowards put bombs on bicycles in dustbins ,in children's parks..we didn't budge.they failed to scare us.so they decided to come to our homes,our day to day life.... come face to face and kill us ...but guess what they are still cowards... u brain wash young teenagers..tempt them,lie to them,make false promises and put evil thoughts in their minds.. THAT STILL MAKES U A BLOODY COWARD!!!!!u did not scare me or my country.our life will move on despite the scars.

things i shud do

STRESS STRESS STRESS.... exams suck... i dont know about anyone else but in medical college they really wanna test the limit of the human mind... it is obviously not possible for people to know all that stuff in these huge textbooks and be able to impress an examiner in a half hour viva:-( ..nywayz THIS TOO SHALL PASS .
i have had a lot of free time on my hands lately to think and i cant wait for my exams to get over,so i decided to compile a list of all the fun things i wanna do.. i feel like the stress this year has made me socially challenged in many ways..i missed out on so many things-great books, good movies...plays..etc.i started first with writing down the 'books i should have read by now' list and i cant wait to read them. so here's my list so far-(tell me if i missed out on any other great read)
1.the harry potter series - yea shame on me right!! i have only read 4..
2.shantaram
3.freakonomics
4.atlas shrugged-i read 3/4th and then reread that part coz i loved it,but never finished it
5.the great indian novel
6.god delusions
7.god of small things
8.homer's odyssey
9.the hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy-i have the jumbo novel,its my favourite time pass book.besides it'll be a breather in between the serious ones .
k so thats that.... yes i think it'll take me a while to finish all these ..but yay cant wait .
my list like all good resolution lists,has lots of other things ...like joining a fun exercise class.i hear they have kick boxing classes in delhi.sounds like fun:-) .
i m moving back home after exams....i mean family and home food sounds nice but i m am kinda scared.i have lived away from home for a while now and its different when u live on your own with friends.the generation gap only seems to get bigger as u get older.i m just praying for 'no wars and world peace'..lol. .
k till next time

the day OBSTETRICS bullied PAEDIATRICS

ok... so today was really amusing.. lemme give u a lill background... i m a final year medical student now,and u could say the lowest in the social hierarchy of a medical college,though i insist i felt like that every year:-/... but this year has to be the worst, especially since my exams are in december... literally, like everybody in the various departments(we are takin exams in) is more imp than us,and i mean even the cleaning staff.. god knows who might get pissed and say sumthin mean about u in front of the examiner ...lol.that can make alll the difference,that and some knowledge ofcourse;-)...I know sounds crazy but dude who wants to take the risk!?..Nywayz so as i was saying, we are prettty much nobodys and treated as such, pretty much all of the time:-/..
I m posted in the department of paediatrics these days.being posted means we go to the paediatric wards during the day,observe and examine various paediatric patients and their respective doctors discuss the treatment and all with us.nywayz so in our hospital we have only one paediatric ward..which also doubles up as the POST-NATAL ward...for obvious reasons,still for the unaware- post natal aka 'after birth'..and since usually kids are only born;-) they automatically become paediatric candidates..its all a big medical conspiracy ...lol.lol...
nywayz so our ward has only one class room... today 25 of us were sitting in the class room,all busy readin for an upcoming test..when suddenly an OBSTETRICS proff comes and starts yelling at us...yes in a medical college even 21yr olds get yelled at!!!he yelled at us,for aparently, we were cluttering his classroom and before we knew it,we were sent out!He wanted to take class for 4 second year students!!!!!!!!we all got really mad,and figured we must complain,we figured no PAEDIATRICIAN would take his students getting yelled at by an OGICIAN...obviously in vain,coz our prof didn't seem to care.And even after the class room got empty our teacher insisted we not occupy it,incase they wanna come back with more students!!!!!wtf?!?!so while four second years,two of them asleep and two of them dreaming,sat in a comfortable classroom,obviously not listening..25 final year students were standing nearby around an empty bed frantically taking notes,pushing each other,hoping to catch every word..
I have resigned to my fate:-)...i have heard once you become an intern they upgrade you to ward boy/girl status:-) cant wait :-S
till next time

sinful sundays

i like this sunday..... i m in my room eating pizza..just finished watchin a movie and now readin the sunday paper..i love the sunday paper .the times of india usually has a whole lotta time pass nonsense.... today's magazine cover story is on mistresses..hmm interesting... i just finished watchin 'one flew over the cuckoo's nest' ..hmmmm i hear its a classic... its alright... i mean its a whole lotta crazy ppl doing a whole lotta crazy things... and jack nicholsan did a brilliant job,but then u kinda expect that of him!so no surprises....i wouldn't call it a watse of time ,its just an alright movie.....
i saw 'rock on' omg farhan akhtar is so hot!i loved the music too..and i m not gonna download it ,i will buy the cd instead,i feel like i owe it to them coz they did a good job..and also coz they asked us to, at the end of the movie...lol...i m just a gullible sucker like that!!!!lol
i m going for it again monday.. no its not coz i want to.. i hate watching movies again... i dont get the point of seeing somethin u have seen already again...coz isn't there like sooo much more to see!!! nywayz yeah its a friend's bday thing so i m gonnna go anyway....
hmm k so i m in a dilemna of sorts for the past few days... i m just gonna spell it out here and see if i can make sense of things.. ok so A(female) met B(male) at a party..they kinda clicked,had fun dancing and everything.... so B got A's phone no. and stuff and u know kept in touch and was very interested in meetin next weekend.. they met with friends ,hung out,it seemed like they both had fun.k so now the twist...but basicaly B is always in in this on and off relationship with his ex gf:-/ ..... and so a few days after they met B did not call or nything but was see hangin out with his ex.k so that would be that..except the next day he calls A to explain about why he was out with her and stuff since he was spotted by A's friend.nywayz A kinda likes him,but i donnno wat to tell her,boys are so freakin complicated,such mixed signals..pooor girl..... i donnno its all gettin a lill to messy..
forget it.i m dropping the rest of the story... makin me nauseous to think wat a royal waste of time and net space it is ,writing this out
nywayz thats bout it
i have a test tmw...should hit the books sometime soon
till next time
garima

hot and cold

yesterday a friend of mine was teasing me about how i am always acting so HOT ND COLD with boys i might like,as in i am really sweet sometimes and then at others, i start acting like i couldn't care less....nywayz that got me thinkin about how in a way, borrowing a li'll from the concept of salman rushdie's midnight's children...i had a saleem sinai(the protagonist)moment,as in i feel like INDIA as a country is pretty HOT AND COLD too.k let me elaborate..i opened the mornin paper yesterday and whoa ..it was the attack of the gold..four pages about ABHINAV BINDRA,the guy who won the gold...infact 'times of india' had a gold medal instead of an 'o' on the front page,whoever wrote the article seemed so excited,he has mentioned the word gold like a 100 times,described it like one of those unreal grand hindi movie moments... nywayz dude let me clarify its not like i m not proud... i m just as proud,if not more than the next guy doing bhangra infront of his tv..
but its just that, i feel like, we as a country also, have such transiet yet extreme emotions.. one minute somebody is almost unreal,too good to be true,the answer to all of india's problems,godly(literally..since i m sure wait a few days ,and the poor dude will have a temple or sumthin built for him) and the next,the moment they screw up, we drop them like a hot potato... we criticise,we bitch,and some of us even go the extent of physically harming them and even their families.its funny, we seem to justify it saying..'well we treated them so well earlier so how dare they screw up now'.i think our athletes or nybody for that matter would be just fine ,with just a li less excitement,a lill more respect and maybe also a longer memory.
so well,for my part, i can just promise myelf that even though i wont be part of any bhangra,dhols,cheering or dancing, to celebrate his achievement..but any time(lets hope never)if he is ever havin a rough patch in his career or somthin and ppl just seem to be givin up on him,i will remember the day he made it possible for our national anthem to be played on possibly the world's biggest stage,and wish him luck instead.
nyways for now yay I AM SO PROUD.
till next time
ps-i started playing sudoku,yeah yeah i know that was the craze like last century or sumthin,anyways i love it and i m gettin better everyday...today i solved it in like half an hour:-D yay