Happy Birthday Albert Einstein!!

Happy Birthday Albert Einstein!!

Albert Einstein, 14 March 1879 – 18 April 1955) was a German-born theoretical physicist who discovered the theory of general relativity, affecting a revolution in physics. For this achievement, Einstein is often regarded as the father of modern physics. He received the 1921 Nobel Prize in Physics "for his services to theoretical physics and especially for his discovery of the law of the photoelectric effect".

Near the beginning of his career, Einstein thought that Newtonian mechanics was no longer enough to reconcile the laws of classical mechanics with the laws of the electromagnetic field. This led to the development of his special theory of relativity. He realized, however, that the principle of relativity could also be extended to gravitational fields, and with his subsequent theory of gravitation in 1916, he published a paper on the general theory of relativity. He continued to deal with problems of statistical mechanics and quantum theory, which led to his explanations of particle theory and the motion of molecules. He also investigated the thermal properties of light which laid the foundation of the photon theory of light. In 1917, Einstein applied the general theory of relativity to model the structure of the universe as a whole.

He escaped from Nazi Germany in 1933, where he had been a professor at the Berlin Academy of Sciences, and settled in the U.S., becoming a citizen in 1940. On the eve of World War II, he helped alert President Franklin D. Roosevelt that Germany might be developing an atomic weapon, and recommended that the U.S. begin nuclear research. That research, begun by a newly-established Manhattan Project, resulted in the U.S. becoming the first and only country to possess nuclear weapons during the war. He taught physics at the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton, New Jersey, until his death in 1955.

Einstein published more than 300 scientific papers along with over 150 non-scientific works, and received honorary doctorate degrees in science, medicine and philosophy from many European and American universities; he also wrote about various philosophical and political subjects such as socialism, international relations and the existence of God. His great intelligence and originality has made the word "Einstein" synonymous with genius.

Albert Einstein’s Quotes

• "Any intelligent fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent. It takes a touch of genius -- and a lot of courage -- to move in the opposite direction."
• "Imagination is more important than knowledge."
• "Gravitation is not responsible for people falling in love."
• "I want to know God's thoughts; the rest are details."
• "The hardest thing in the world to understand is the income tax."
• "Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one."
• "The only real valuable thing is intuition."
• "A person starts to live when he can live outside himself."
• "I am convinced that He (God) does not play dice."
• "God is subtle but he is not malicious."
• "Weakness of attitude becomes weakness of character."
• "I never think of the future. It comes soon enough."
• "The eternal mystery of the world is its comprehensibility."
• "Sometimes one pays most for the things one gets for nothing."
• "Science without religion is lame. Religion without science is blind."
• "Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new."
• "Great spirits have often encountered violent opposition from weak minds."
• "Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler."
• "Common sense is the collection of prejudices acquired by age eighteen."
• "Science is a wonderful thing if one does not have to earn one's living at it."
• "The secret to creativity is knowing how to hide your sources."
• "The only thing that interferes with my learning is my education."
• "God does not care about our mathematical difficulties. He integrates empirically."
• "The whole of science is nothing more than a refinement of everyday thinking."
• "Technological progress is like an axe in the hands of a pathological criminal."
• "Peace cannot be kept by force. It can only be achieved by understanding."
• "The most incomprehensible thing about the world is that it is comprehensible."
• "We can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them."
• "Education is what remains after one has forgotten everything he learned in school."
• "The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing."
• "Do not worry about your difficulties in Mathematics. I can assure you mine are still greater."
• "Equations are more important to me, because politics is for the present, but an equation is something for eternity."
• "If A is a success in life, then A equals x plus y plus z. Work is x; y is play; and z is keeping your mouth shut."
• "Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the the universe."
• "As far as the laws of mathematics refer to reality, they are not certain, as far as they are certain, they do not refer to reality."
• "Whoever undertakes to set himself up as a judge of Truth and Knowledge is shipwrecked by the laughter of the gods."
• "I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones."
• "In order to form an immaculate member of a flock of sheep one must, above all, be a sheep."
• "The fear of death is the most unjustified of all fears, for there's no risk of accident for someone who's dead."
• "Too many of us look upon Americans as dollar chasers. This is a cruel libel, even if it is reiterated thoughtlessly by the Americans themselves."
• "Heroism on command, senseless violence, and all the loathsome nonsense that goes by the name of patriotism -- how passionately I hate them!"
• "No, this trick won't work...How on earth are you ever going to explain in terms of chemistry and physics so important a biological phenomenon as first love?"
• "My religion consists of a humble admiration of the illimitable superior spirit who reveals himself in the slight details we are able to perceive with our frail and feeble mind."
• "Yes, we have to divide up our time like that, between our politics and our equations. But to me our equations are far more important, for politics are only a matter of present concern. A mathematical equation stands forever."
• "The release of atom power has changed everything except our way of thinking...the solution to this problem lies in the heart of mankind. If only I had known, I should have become a watchmaker."
• "Great spirits have always found violent opposition from mediocrities. The latter cannot understand it when a man does not thoughtlessly submit to hereditary prejudices but honestly and courageously uses his intelligence."
• "The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and all science. He to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead: his eyes are closed."
• "A man's ethical behavior should be based effectually on sympathy, education, and social ties; no religious basis is necessary. Man would in deeded be in a poor way if he had to be restrained by fear of punishment and hope of reward after death."
• "The further the spiritual evolution of mankind advances, the more certain it seems to me that the path to genuine religiosity does not lie through the fear of life, and the fear of death, and blind faith, but through striving after rational knowledge."
• "Now he has departed from this strange world a little ahead of me. That means nothing. People like us, who believe in physics, know that the distinction between past, present, and future is only a stubbornly persistent illusion."
• "You see, wire telegraph is a kind of a very, very long cat. You pull his tail in New York and his head is meowing in Los Angeles. Do you understand this? And radio operates exactly the same way: you send signals here, they receive them there. The only difference is that there is no cat."
• "One had to cram all this stuff into one's mind for the examinations, whether one liked it or not. This coercion had such a deterring effect on me that, after I had passed the final examination, I found the consideration of any scientific problems distasteful to me for an entire year."
• "...one of the strongest motives that lead men to art and science is escape from everyday life with its painful crudity and hopeless dreariness, from the fetters of one's own ever-shifting desires. A finely tempered nature longs to escape from the personal life into the world of objective perception and thought."
• "He who joyfully marches to music rank and file, has already earned my contempt. He has been given a large brain by mistake, since for him the spinal cord would surely suffice. This disgrace to civilization should be done away with at once. Heroism at command, how violently I hate all this, how despicable and ignoble war is; I would rather be torn to shreds than be a part of so base an action. It is my conviction that killing under the cloak of war is nothing but an act of murder."
• "A human being is a part of a whole, called by us _universe_, a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings as something separated from the rest... a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty."
• "Not everything that counts can be counted and not everything that can be counted counts." (Sign hanging in Einstein's office at Princeton)

Albert Einstein’s Anecdotes

·        

OTTO Neugebauer, the historian of ancient mathematics, told a story about the boy Einstein that he characterises as a "legend," but that seems fairly authentic.)
      As he was a late talker, his parents were worried. At last, at the supper table one night, he broke his silence to say, "The soup is too hot."

Greatly relieved, his parents asked why he had never said a word before.

Albert replied, "Because up to now everything was in order."

EINSTEIN came to Princeton University in 1935 and was asked what he would require for his study. he replied: "A desk, some pads and a pencil, and a large wastebasket to hold all of my mistakes."

ONCE Einstein sent this reply, along with a page full of diagrams, to a fifteen-year-old girl who had written for help on a homework assignment:

"Do not worry about your difficulties in mathematics; I can assure you that mine are much greater."

RIVERSIDE Church in Manhattan planned to put up statues of the eight most famous scientists who ever lived, according to their liking. Einstein was included. When asked how it felt to be an "immortalized" living scientist in this way, Einstein answered,

"From now on, and for the rest of my life, I must be very careful not to commit a scandal."

SPEAKING at the Sorbonne during the 1930s, Einstein said, "If my relativity theory is verified, Germany will proclaim me a German and France will call me a citizen of the world. But if my theory is proved false, France will emphasize that I am a German and Germany will say that I am a Jew."

EINSTEIN went to look at a kibbutz while on a visit to Palestine in 1921. He asked many questions of the 22-year-old girl who was head of the young community. One question was,

"What is the relationship here of men to women?"

Thinking that he was one of the many visitors who thought that women were common property in the kibbutz, she stammered, very embarrassed,

"But, Herr Professor, each man here has one woman."

Einstein's eyes twinkled. He took the girl's hand and said,

"Don't be alarmed at my question - by 'relationship' we physicists understand something rather simple, namely how many men are there and how many women."

EINSTEIN was asked by his hostess at a social gathering to explain his theory of relativity. Said the great mathematician,

"Madam, I was once walking in the country on a hot day with a blind friend, and said that I would like a drink of milk."

"Milk?" said my friend, "Drink I know; but what is milk?"

"A white liquid," I replied.

"Liquid I know; but what is white?"

"The colour of a swan's feathers."

"Feathers I know; what is a swan?"

"A bird with a crooked neck."

"Neck I know; but what is this crooked?"

"Thereupon I lost patience. I seized his arm and straightened it. "That's straight," I said; and then I bent it at the elbow. "That's crooked."

"Ah!" said the blind man, "Now I know what you mean by milk!" [Of]

THE CLASSICAL scholar Gilbert Murray one day encountered Einstein sitting in the quadrangle of Christ Church, Oxford. The exiled scientist was deep in thought, with a serene and cheerful expression on his face. Murray asked him what he was thinking about.

"I am thinking that, after all, this is a very small star," Einstein answered.

ONE DAY during his tenure as a professor, Albert Einstein was visited by a student. "The questions on this year's exam are the same as last year's!" the young man exclaimed.

"Yes," Einstein answereed, "but this year all the answers are different."

THE SCULPTOR Jacob Epstein tells this story:
      "When I was doing Professor Albert Einstein's bust he had many a jibe at the Nazi professors, one hundred of whom had condemned his theory of relativity in a book.

"Were I wrong," he said, "one professor would have been enough." [Of]

EINSTEIN'S wife was once asked if she understood her husband's theory of relativity.

"No," she replied loyally, "but I know my husband and I know he can be trusted."

EINSTEIN once declared that his second greatest idea after the theory of relativity was to add an egg while cooking soup in order to produce a soft-boiled egg without having an extra pot to wash.

IN 1931 Charlie Chaplin invited Albert Einstein, who was visiting Hollywood, to a private screening of his new film City Lights. As the two men drove into town together, passersby waved and cheered. Chaplin turned to his guest and explained:

"The people are applauding you because none of them understands you and applauding me because everybody understands me."

IN 1898, young Albert Einstein applied for admission to the Munich Technical Institute and was turned down. The young man, the Institute declared, "showed no promise" as a student. By 1905, he had formulated his special theory of relativity.

SIR WILLIAM Rothenstein was in Berlin doing a portrait of Einstein. The mathematician was always accompanied to the studio by a solemn, academic looking individual who sat in a corner throughout the sittings. Einstein, not wishing to waste any time, was putting forth certain tentative theories, to which the silent companion replied only by an occasional nod or shake of the head. When the work was concluded, Rothenstein, who was curious, asked Einstein who his companion was.

"That's my mathematician," said Einstein, "who examines problems which I put before him and checks their validity. You see, I am not myself a good mathematician . . ." [Of]

SHORTLY after the publication of Einstein's general theory of relativity in 1915, the Russian mathematician Alexander Friedmann was surprised to discover that Einstein had failed to notice a remarkable prediction made by his equations: that the universe is expanding. This prediction was later confirmed by observations made by Edwin Hubble in the 1920s.

The cause of Einstein's oversight? He had made a stupid error in his calculations: He had divided by zero, which amounts to a big "sin" in mathematics.

"WHEN I was young I found out that the big toe always ends up making a hole in a sock," Einstein once recalled. "So I stopped wearing socks."

ONE OF Einstein's colleagues asked him for his telephone number one day. Einstein reached for a telephone directory and looked it up. "You don't remember your own number?" the man asked, startled.

"No," Einstein answered. "Why should I memorize something I can so easily get from a book?"

In fact, Einstein claimed never to memorize anything which could be looked up in less than two minutes.

From

Prof. Dr. S. Natarajan

and Aditya Jyot Parivar

the Power of thought

Prof.Dr.S. Natarajan's article on Myopia & Diabetic Retinopathy on timeswellness.com

http://www.timeswellness.com/article/1/20110314201103111437176832171f9e/An-overview-of-myopia-.html

 

 

http://www.timeswellness.com/article/1/20110303201103011749438287488bd60/An-overview-of-diabetic-retinopathy.html

Be A Sport

Break the Habit

How to achieve personal success

Up Your Self Esteem

Prof.Dr. S. Natarajan was chief guest at D.G. Khetan International School's 5th Annual Function Saamra

http://www.youtube.com/embed/wi439alkuLQ

Happy Women's Day

Dear Friends,

“Happy Womens Day. Dalai Lama says. “Women have a special capacity to lead us to a more peaceful world with compassion, affection and kindness. Osho says Women are are more tolerant, more accepting. Enjoy Womanhood."

Regards

Prof.Dr.S.Natarajan

GOOD MORNING..

GOOD ONE..


A young man asked Socrates the secret of Success.

 

Socrates told the young  man to meet him near the river the next morning. They met.

Socrates asked the young man to walk with him towards the river. When the water got up to their neck, Socrates took the young man by surprise and ducked him into the water.

The man struggled to get out but Socrates was strong and kept him there until he started turning blue. The young man struggled hard and finally managed to get out and the first thing he did was to gasp and take deep breath.

Socrates asked 'What you wanted the most when you were there?' The man replied 'Air'.

Socrates said  That's the Secret To Success.

When you want Success as Badly as you wanted Air, You Will Get It.

There Is No Other Secret.

Maha Shivratri

Prof. Dr.S. Natarajan attended Robin Sharma's Leadership Workshop at Chennai on 25th February 2011.

Prof. Dr.S. Natarajan Vitreo is Retinal Surgeon. He attended Robin Sharma's Leadership Workshop at Chennai on 25^th February 2011.

Dr. S. Natarajan ia a third generation Ophthalmologist did MBBS from Chennai. In 1982 he completed post graduation in Ophthalmology from Chennai & was trained as a Vitreo Retinal Surgeon, under Dr. S. S. Badrinath, at the Sankara Nethralaya, Chennai. He started his practice since he was 28years, and set up his own Hospital “Aditya Jyot Eye Hospital Pvt. Ltd.” in the year 1990 and continued to serve as Chairman & Managing Director since then.  He is considered as one of the most proficient and high profile young surgeons involved in academics & innovations in clinical practice and have been honored with accolades from around the world. He is recipient of the American Academy achievement Award, Gusi Peace Award, Indira Gandhi Sadbhavna & many more. He holds the record for the 1^st sutureless vitrectomy in the Limca book of records.

Old Patients usually compliment him that “he looks younger, than before but he dint knew the answer. After reading Mr. Robin Sharma's book he realized that he was doing the same. So he says “I am 53years old but I consider myself to be as 18”. He tells his patients that to stay young he eats chilies; he dances and always stays happy. He always tells his patients about Robin Sharma's philosophy that “fear is nothing more than a negative stream of consciousness. When you erase fear from your mind, you start looking younger and health becomes vibrant.”

He is follower of the 3 “F” rule faith, Fear and fraud. Where there is 100% faith, the fear cannot exist. Either there is faith or there is fear but not both together. But When in addition to faith one claims ‘it is human to worry’ it is fraud in totality. It is this fraud or suspicion attached to faith that keeps us sorrowful. Each one has to introspect and do self assessment. Blaming others or calling them frauds is not the right attitude. Be in faith, fear or fraud, each is a manifestation of our inner state and therefore each of them is a thought. Faith is a positive powerful thought. It can create miracles whereas fear, fraud and worry are negative thoughts.

He believe in the maxim “If you rest, you will rust” by Swami Chinmayananda & constantly strive to set new benchmarks, beating own records. He has done more than 25000 complicated vitreoretinal surgeries. He has trained more than 60 ophthalmologists to serve the community through Leadership Development Program at AIOS & AAO. He recently gave a 3 and a half hrs lecture at Welingkar Institute of Management Studies and research on Rajnikanth's philosophy of Management. He also believes in motivation like you do. He is also writing a book named “You Can Do It” to motivate youth. In his talks he always quote Mr. Robin Sharma.

 “The thoughts you are thinking today are creating the life you will be leading tomorrow.”                                                                                     -Robin Sharma

Technique of ridding mind of worry & other negative, life draining influences based on Yogi Raman (also called Opposition thinking)

            - Create a positive, creative mindset within short period

Process is straight forward:

            - Replace undesirable thought which occupies the focal point of your mind, immediately with uplifting one.

This can be achieved by:  Imagine

      - Your mind as slide projector & every thought in your mind as slide.

      - Whenever negative slide comes up on the screen

      - Swift action to replace it with a positive one

Everything is always created twice, first in the mind and then in reality. Start to live with unbridled energy and limitless enthusiasm. Be the person you dream of being.

Fear is nothing more than a negative stream of consciousness. When you erase fear from your mind, you start to look younger and your health becomes more vibrant.

Happiness comes through the progressive realization of a worthy objective of reach a state of perfect health. Ultimately ,you will reach your divine destiny ……for this is your birth-right.

✴  BE A ROCK-STAR AT WORK…….AND YOU DON’T NEED TO HAVE THE BIGGEST TITLE TO DO THE BEST JOB !!!!

✴  “If a man is called to be a street sweeper, he should sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will pause to say, ‘here lived a great street sweeper who did his job well.’”

You can find his movie on http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6rAkTc-h8Kg

What is Love

Deepen Your Awareness

Dont be in a Hurry

Dr. S. Natarajan's lecture at Stanley Medical College on 26th feb 2011

Prof. Dr.S. Natarajan’s lecture at Government Ophthalmic Hospital, Egmore, Chennai on 25th Feb 2011 at 1pm on “Recent advances in surgical Management of Ocular trauma” & Stanley Medical College on 26th Feb 2011 at 12noon on “Innovations in Vitreo Retinal Surgery”.

Feeling Sad? Accept it

Sacred Space

Cupid' s Humour

Rajni in Mumbai for one night

Dr.S.Natarajan Interview on Fever 104

Laugh Out Loud

Aditya Jyot Eye Hospital enters in MOU with Regency Travel and Tours, Qatar for Medical Tourism

Sacred Space

Dr.S.Natarajan in Doha Press

More attention needed to curb ocular trauma Sunday, 28 November 2010 02:43

 Share

By Fazeena Saleem

DOHA: Advanced medical expertise and technology is available in Qatar to handle Ocular Trauma, while more attention should be paid to prevent eye injuries among children and construction workers, say experts.

The Ophthalmology Department at the Hamad Medical Cooperation (HMC) is equipped and the surgeons are skilled to meet the dramatic rise in the number of eye injuries suffered by children and young adults in Qatar, said Dr Szilard Kiss, Assistant Professor of Ophthalmology and Director of Clinical Research, Weill Cornell Medical College.

“It is completely equipped; the equipment is as good as we have in New York and some times even better. The surgeons possess top knowledge and the techniques they use are equal to any other place in the world,” he said on the sidelines of the 2nd Qatari Ophthalmology conference.

This three-day conference emphasised to create public awareness on the measures and tools required to prevent eye injuries at construction sites, schools and at the work place.

“It can give hope to patients who had no hope after any eye injury. What, the doctors and audience will take out of this conference is about undergoing a surgery and getting the vision back,” said Dr Kiss, who is also a visiting surgeon at the Ophthalmology Department, HMC.

The conference saw many presentations and lectures from international eye experts from different parts of the world including USA, Europe, Middle East, India and GCC in addition to the local speakers from the HMC. The Ophthalmology conference had dedicated sessions each day, which dealt at length on the various issues related with ocular trauma and how best to prevent it.

“We should aim at prevention from injuries. We have several deceases to tackle. In case if we can prevent injuries the Ophthalmologist can spend more time on other diseases,” said, Dr S. Natrajan, Chairman, Academic research Committee, All India Ophthalmological Society.

“Children should have adult’s supervision; usually parents leave children with maids or at the play schools. Even at play schools if there is an adult supervision injuries could be prevented,” he said.

Sports injuries and work place injuries occur more because of carelessness and not following the proper safety measures.

“For workers the norms should be followed. Where ever there is a risk, the protection measures are important. Many accidents happen when they are lazy for few minutes,” said Dr Natrajan, who is looking for a clinical and expertise exchange programme.

Immediately after an injury the eye will be malformed. This will be addressed on early stage, to reform the shape of the eye. And often the next is rehabilitation carried out at second and third surgery, to maximise the visual potential, says experts.

However, patients in the Middle East mostly don’t do follow up treatment said Dr Farthy Elsayyad, IRCS, Misiri University for Science and Technology, Cairo Egypt. Only less than five percent of the patients take follow up treatment after an eye injury said Dr Fathy, while sating the real statistics of Ocular Trauma in the Middle East is unaware.

The Peninsula

---

Ocular trauma can be treated, says expert

By Noimot Olayiwola Dr Kiss (second left) listens to a question during the conference People suffering from ocular trauma have hopes of regaining their vision even after several surgeries, a clinical researcher said yesterday. “They might not regain the same level of vision they had before the trauma but potentials for visual recovery are there through many interventions available now,” Weill Cornell Medical Centre Clinical Research director Dr Sziland Kiss said. He was speaking to the Gulf Times on the sidelines of the Second Qatar Ophthalmology Conference on Ocular Trauma, which concluded yesterday. The focus of the conference was on prevention and treatment of ocular trauma as many children and young adults in Qatar and around the world suffer from eye injuries. In the last four years, Qatar has seen a huge increase in serious eye injuries suffered by young people. The Hamad Medical Corporation’s ophthalmologic emergency receives and treats more than 50 cases of ocular injuries every day. “Ocular trauma is a growing problem among people within the working age bracket and the highest incidences occur among people in the construction sector,” Kiss said. However, he said people can also suffer trauma to the eyes in the home setting. “When something strikes the eye or it goes into the eye causing damage or bleeding, that is ocular trauma. The first thing that comes to mind after a trauma is to put the eye together for repair,” he said. Dr Kiss added that the repair of an eye can be likened to the repairing of a punctured balloon. “Just think of a balloon that got shrunk when it is punched, the same thing applies to an eye and what to do is to sew it back into shape. Then after two-three weeks you can do a procedure called pars plana vitrectomy,” he said. “Fortunately, Qatar has most of the advanced technologies to take care of patients in terms of repairing their eyes.” Dr Kiss occasionally attends to patients, most of them diabetics, at the Hamad Hospital in co-operation with the Cornell Medical College. He plans to collaborate soon with the Qatar Foundation on conducting research on diabetes. Speaking at the inaugural session, the ophthalmology department head Dr Fatima al-Mansouri said that annually about half a million post-ocular trauma blindness occurs worldwide. “Ninety percent of these cases occurred due to causes that were preventable and exposure to risks that could have been controlled with simple and effective occupational safety procedures, proper health education or driving precautions,” she said. Dr al-Mansouri said effective management protocols to maintain complications are among measures required to meet the growing problem. She said when the rate of ocular trauma increases without any effective controlling measures, ocular disability rate also increases imposing its negative burden on individuals and communities alike.

Realization of Mahaswami's Dream - Shri Uttara Chidambaram Nataraja Mandir

 

 

 

 

Memorable Trip to Berhampore, West Bengal

My travel to Berhampur

19 Nov 2010 Memorable Trip to Kolkata

My Memorable Trip to Berhampore, West Bengal

My trip to Berhampore started with God disposing off my proposal to leave on the 18^th. Starting with my missing the flight due to traffic, to the breakdown of my car on the way back to Kolkata from Berhampore, my trip was a bitter-sweet experience. I feel that sometimes we are put through “tests” in our daily life and if we maintain our calm and “pass out” of the test without stress, life is indeed sweet.

Let me narrate how I missed my flight but instead attended the wedding of a dear person. After the rotary trust meeting on 18th November, I left for the airport at 6.05 PM, via Dharavi. We changed our route and tried going through LBS marg. But at 7-20 we were still in Kurla and Vinod Mehta had already boarded. We still wanted to make it. We reached Kalina flyover at 7.55 but by then the counter had closed.

We took a quick decision to attend Jaideep’s wedding reception at Kohinoor, Catering college, Prabhadevi. I also changed my ticket for friday morning 6.35 am. On 19^th, my day started at 4 am and I landed at Kolkata at 9.15 am.

It was nice to have Dr.Sukanya Mitra pick me up with Sultan (driver) in Tata Sumo. But I was feverish and could not do without a crocin from Sukanya. We had a good chat during our journey. She had many questions about my achievements, my experience in Sankara Nethralaya, incidents in my life, etc and I was more than happy to narrate it to her.

I recalled several of my personal tragedies, my hardships in Sankara Nethralaya and why I was the blue eyed boy of Dr.SSB, even today. Like many others, she was keen to know how I managed to do my daily routine and still find time for various office bearing responsibilities and how I deal with mental stress. My tales seemed impressive and inspiring to her and she insisted that I must write a book like Bob Asher from AAO.

After having stopped for tea at Krishna Nagar we reached Berhampore at 2.30. I realized that I was still not feeling well and with a live surgery scheduled after lunch, I reached for a combiflam.

I performed a live surgery using Constellation, an eye post cat with IOL done previous day with Hyphaema, sub conj haem, vit haem with rheg rd. I performed 23 g vit with pfcl with fge with endo laser with pfcl air exchange, then C 3 F 8 gas exchange.

My surgeries were highly appreciated and it gave me a great sense of satisfaction to have helped the patients and medical fraternity there.

It was also satisfying to see my own fellows managing VR dept in Susrut Kolkatta (Aniruddha Maiti) and Berhampore Susrut (Anshuman Mukherjee).

Later that day, I met my alumni Soumen mandal, Debapriya Chatterjee Dr. Ashis Bhattacharya, Swati, Bhunia, Tushar Sinha, Partha Biswas and others over dinner. It was a long day for me and I ended it in a memorable way by wishing my son on his 22nd birthday at 12 am. This time, I had special gifts for him, with a magic mug, T shirts with his photo & a beautiful card with photos of his life through the years. When I called him he had received the gifts & I was happy. I went to sleep after wishing him, looking forward to a birthday dinner with him on 20^th.

The next day, 20^th November, again started early for me since I had to leave Berhampore at 7 am. I left with Vinod Mehta in Tata sumo to catch the 2 pm flight from Kolkata. This time we had spiritual conversations. He wanted to know how I could face the everyday stress and still do things perfectly.  I showed my “YOU can do it” presentation in lap top and wanted a copy too.

Our fairly uninterrupted drive was suddenly brought to a halt with the breakdown of our Tata Sumo in a small village at 10.15 am. We had no choice but to off load ourselves and our luggage into a three wheel cycle rickshaw with no top. Vinod wanted to know why I did not reveal my status and identity when we had to move to the cycle rickshaw. The answer is that sometimes, you may be forced to be a “nobody” and therefore it is important to leave the “pride” and “headweight” behind at all times. I like to enjoy moment to moment.

After a short three km ride, the cycle chain slipped but we managed to reach Ranaghat from where we hired Maruti Omni. The whole journey was beautiful and I managed to capture the picturesque countryside in my lens. Our reached the airport safely at 1 PM, in time for the flight. And I used my time in the flight to record my experience on my laptop.

The turmoils and travails in life are small when you look at the bigger picture. Life is beautiful if you are not shaken by the unpleasant events. For me, my commitment to teaching ophthalmology was far greater than my 2-day hectic schedule full of unexpected turn of events. But there is always a silver lining and that was the time I spent with wonderful people, the wonderful place and of course the appreciation for the surgery for which I went.

So don’t question ‘why should we do this? What will I get out of it?’ Many times you cannot fathom the wonderful gifts of God.

Dr. S.Natarajan
Chairman & Managing Director

You never grow Old

Dr.Deepak Chopra says " You never grow Old. You become old when you stop growing"

Happy Birthday Aishwarya