My Hippocampal Vehemence!!!!

“Money is the greatest of all virtues”, I came across this statement in Atlas Shrugged, when Fransisco d’Anconia talks about money as a virtue. As I read past the whole speech that Fransisco makes to Rearden, this one line stuck into my brain. As I linger on this statement I realized that this statement in fact could be debated over endlessly. We as children have had the fortune of witnessing India’s progression from a trouble torn socialist economy flirting occasionally with capitalist virtues and then moving into a liberalized economy. We have our parents and teachers all those who have been a part of yesteryear’s economies telling us how wide the disparity was and how the socialist ideology was driving the country. But is that all over today, I mean how many people agree with the statement that money is greatest of all virtues and do not consider the industrialists to be unethical looters. Probably the number is few but still many people have not been able to come out of the nehruvian socialism which we have nurtured for so long. So till date a person who makes profit and claims that he makes it with no guilt and for the reason of just making one is contemptuously looked upon as a looter for he could not have made profit by simple means and if he is not willing to part off with the money in the name of welfare he is a sinner.

Let us just consider why do we have to tell tales of Narayan Murthy being a simple man, who does the cleaning of his toilet on his own, has a soft corner for charity- to reaffirm that he actually is a great man and that he does great service to the nation through the company’s CSR initiatives, we don’t look at it this ways --that the greatest service he has done to the nation is by launching a profit earning company Infosys which employs close to one lac people.

This effect remains more so with the people born into the ages of our parents who continue to see things in socialist light and the sad part is the current bunch of politicians who are ruling us are all byproducts of that era which has learned to celebrate poverty and treat money with contempt. Though this discussion is bound to be distracted in numerous directions right from populism to socialism. The main point is that whether money and profit are getting their due in society- well I believe things are changing rapidly and for good. Money being regarded as the greatest virtue can still be open for debate, but if at all there was a debate on the greatest inventions of all time- I think Money definitely should win hands down for this is one invention that has changed the course of mankind, with so much energy at our disposal and the evolutions gift to man-- his ability to think, all made it necessary to have something that is the product of this thinking mind and is a means of survival but nevertheless is not a match to the mind. And if it was not for money the endless energies would have been directed to overpowering and killing each other to establish supremacy of one person over the other so if it was not for money it would have been for killing. That’s when I think the discussion is narrowing the gap and the greatest invention starts appealing like the greatest virtue.

It’s not the violence of few but the silence of many that scares me….Martin Luther King
The elections are round the corner and we see election manifestos being released every other day. If you are wondering how elections are related to what Martin Luther King. Read on… if we’ve just cared to pass a glance onto the manifestos of our nationalist parties they are anything but a manifesto instead these are a collection of populist promises which are reflective of the pertinent myopia that our politicians have been nurturing for ages. We claim ourselves to be moving on a path of development but these things are a poor reflection of our current democratic set up and not even a fraction of the maturity or intelligence expected from a would be superpower.
A look at the congress manifesto and it doles out reservations as if it’s a joke. There definitely is a lot that has to be done for the emancipation of rural people and the underdeveloped class but just wiping out your hands by giving reservations is no answer, its infact the easiest way to do nothing and not being held accountable. The perpetuation of the quota system represents a total political and institutional failure since this should be the last resort to build a level playing field but our politicians always understand otherwise. Rather than measures like strengthening primary and secondary education and other investments to create an enabling environment the political honchos choose the easy and populist route. There is reservation for the muslims- is inequality and poverty community partial?
Beyond this we have the announcements of rice at Rs 3 per kg that would place a burden of 5700Crores on the state. Populism doesn’t stop here- there are attempts at intrusion into India inc’s space, where would all this lead India to, when economy stares at recession we expect the politicians to come up with an intelligent manifesto, apart from the NREGA which again is a highly debatable issue the congress manifesto has been a bouquet of disappointment. How do they plan to bear the fiscal deficit that shall arise as a result of these populist measures? What shall be the source of funding these subsidies?
All this is not important for the Indian voter our politicians understand this. Caste which remains a big trump card has been played to the hilt. But with such things in place the country shall prove to be the ultimate loser. But who cares and perhaps these things don’t garner u votes.
It remains clear that socialist underthemes serve the politicians best- they help them win elections, come with no commitment tags and the whole burden lies with the state exchequer. So whether it was obama’s Wall street vs the main street or India’s omnipresent Garibi hatao=amiri hatao socialist and populist promises send our politicians laughing all the way to Vote bank, but what bothers is that such policies shall continue to weaken the nation beyond repair.
Lets wait for the BJP’s manifesto it won’t be any different. We’ll see populism touching new heights these elections, well as of now I can place my bets on BJP announcing a free or Rs2 per Kg rice …wat is ur take!!!
All I can say is- Here in our country the silence of millions would rather scare the shit out of Martin Luther king...meanwhile the FEW continue to be violent on the Nation itself!!!

Whfff….Stress finally I hope to hear less of it once the sem is over…no doubt never before in my life did I get to hear so much of this word.
“Our motive is to create stress” … “u’ll be stressed even further” well I think people in my college have debated the (il)logic behind this too many times; so perhaps I won’t spend my time on a fruitless exercise. Instead I’d offer my two cents on stress as I see it physiologically.
To begin with I picked up my OB book it gave the following gyan on stress: “A pattern of emotional states and physiological reactions occurring in response to demands from within or outside an organization”.
I take this organization to be the human body, so stress here is any reactions occurring in response to demands from within or outside the body. Day to day stress is what arises from within the body when u walk, eat or when u fall ill. Stress is not all bad…yes we all agree. The basic physiological understanding to this is the concept of allostasis- our body maintains stability in response to day to day change, this imparts some balance against this change.
So when does stress become bad- when this allostatic load turns into an overload. The body has a hormone called the epinephrine better known as the stress hormone or even fright, flight and fight hormone. The other group is the cortisols which again helps the body adapt to stress, the epinephrine offers an immediate adaptability within seconds while cortisol upto an hour, beyond that the studies prove it may have a detrimental effect on the brain.
All this just proves that the human physiology is best designed to be exposed to small stresses and that too for short periods of time, as was required by the primitive hunter n survivor but in no way is the physiology so designed to take you continuously without sleep, with the load of deadlines and targets. The worst part is The Hippocampus bears a major part of this brunt, the part responsible for your new memories and your emotions. No doubt such illogical stress may turn off ur emotions and may turn u into nothing less than a target seeking deadline meeting machine.
Or the worse may happen u end up being a hedonistic doesn’t give a damn attitude loser. Any ways the loss is urs- the stressed outs’ and not of the stressor….so where do we draw the line, when life becomes synonymous with stress and my cortisol refuses to be my partner beyond few hours, all I can do to prevent being bowled over by stress is to look for a stress buster- today it was writing …I did that. After all I need to save my hippocampus or else “My Hippocampal Vehemence” may all go for a toss …….

Recently quiet a few of my juniors have been calling up, few of them have got their step 1 scores the others plan to sit for coming slots, but interesting part is that a lot of confusion prevails among a myriad of things on the scores and their interpretation. Today in this blog I shall take up the scores and what it reflects.

The score report that we receive has two numbers on it – a 3 digit score and a 2 digit score. So does it call for a rejoice when I get a 99 as my two digit score, well if you want you may but the fact is that it is not a percentile score as it is commonly referred to. I told this bluntly, the only saving grace was that the person talking to me was on the phone, the next question- what is it? ….Well even if its not a percentile it is definitely a good score (that brings a smile back on his face, I guess so).

No its neither the percentage, let us begin understanding the exam: you attempt 350 questions which entitles you to a maximum score of 300(yes and not 350). The National Board of Examiners has not yet made it clear as to how do they interpret your scores. The score (3 digit) is obtained from your performance in the actual exam, then comes the next step where your performance is compared with the examinees in the previous 3 month slot and the score is also evaluated against the average of native US examinees.

This is how 3 digit score is awarded. The maximum score is 300 and that required for passing is 182. Once the 3 digit score is done ur 2 digit score is computed which is a reflection of the 3 digit score. The passing score is 75 and this cannot logically be a percentage because 75% of 300 is 225, while a score of 75 corresponds to 3 digit score 182.

It is also not percentile because a percentile means in very crude terms no of test takers that have been bettered by you. This is unlike a CAT score where 99 means your score is better than 99% of CAT exam takers that year. To understand this we’ll turn back to the score card, the national board mentions mean score and standard deviation for every slot. Which typically remains as 212-220(mean score) and 20-26(standard deviation). So, when I get a 239/98 what does it mean? Assuming the mean score is 218 and the standard deviation is 20 then this score is 239-218= 21 marks more than the mean score, we obtain the Z score as follows 21/SD= 21/20= 1.05 this means the score 239 was 1.05 standard deviations above the mean score of 218 this corresponds to a value of 0.3531+0.5= 0.8531 or 85 percentile this is certainly not 98 percentile (and I thought I was better than 98% junta).

These distortions and constraints make the 2-digit score an unjust system to rank test-takers and today, most residency programs use the 3-digit score to compare people. Because the 3-digit to 2-digit scale conversion changes every year, it makes sense to stick to the 3-digit scale which makes comparisons between old-timers and new-timers possible.

Anyways 99 percentile in USMLE is no cake walk but yes a 2 digit score of 99 is a job done good, at a score of 245 you get a 99 2 digit so do u get at 277!!!....isn’t it Amazing!!!

….with these insights into USMLE scores I hope you can better evaluate your as well as your friends actual performance, so my advice get out of this high of a 99 score and start preparing for the next step ….best of luck!!!!

By Harsh Chopra

Hope thrives on fear, desire on repulse!
and you understand that
and know how to keep me in captivity.

When you had thus aroused me,
prodded my embers into flame,

You’ve been a master in this game,

teasing me n my desires

On a day when the body douses fires,

Rising tempest fuels this fire,
passions arching, rising higher.

Rainbow glitter douses the mind,
catching flames one last time.

Late night bliss a lover’s call.

Showers flood the burning space,
kisses flow and drench your face.

Desires escape and have their way,
love exposed as we seek and play.
that’s when u leave me…
leave me craving on your doorstep.
…That's the way to keep my love alive and kicking;
that's the nourishment my spirit craves

…. let love be hungry and lean.

the pale drifting clouds all so white fuelled by the nature....

transforming to a charged thunderhead.....…

the fury of which is robbed by the cold breeze that shook the pride of all smouldering....

….bringing the warmth of passions, the phase of self involvement was then punctuated by the silent thud of this cold kiss

…that’s when I look back to see you moving from my summer all up to my autumn..

…and I vest myself into our oldest memory…

in the winter of my dreams…

here I am surrounded and embedded …

secure in the warmth of your eyes….