Ghazi attack ..film review

I saw the bilingual film  Ghazi attack today in hindi .
Many military feats of contemptory indian history are unknown .
Most of us do not know that the Indo pak war of 1971 was preceded by a quiet sinking of Pakistan naval submarine PNS Ghazi off Vizagapatnam .
The PNS ship had come to Indian waters to target INS Vikrant the only aircraft carrier of the Indian navy to cripple it before war was declared  but Indian defence intelligence recognises this and sends S 21 an Indian submarine which is technically inferior to the Pakistani submarine .
The film is all about what happens deep under the  water for 18 days .
The PNS Ghazni fires on an innocent merchant navy ship initially to divert attention .
The pak submarine when detected is fired at by S21 but missed
This exposes the Indian submarine which are hit by mines planted by PNS Ghazni
S21 sinks to bottom
Its brave captain dies and asst takes over
The submarine loses its power to chase the enemy and can only go up or down and to fire its torpadoe it loses the automatic controls and needs a manual torpadoe firing !

How cleverly S21 avoids the PNS Ghazni torpadoeing barrage by quietly adjusting its depths and later manually fires single torpadoe that sinks the Paki vessel is the film taken brilliantly .

Though Pakistan denied this ever happened and said its submarine had sunk because of an accident from its mines stock .

But it started the indo pak war immediately obviously as a revenge .
We all know how it was defeated too .

Such stories becoming film scripts is brilliant in fact they should become part of school text books .

Cold Calculations

COLD CALCULATIONS

I had always been in warm humid places .
Chennai or Madras was famously known for three seasons hot hotter and hottest

Having born into this seething cauldron of a city where sweating was part of life the only time when it was relatively pleasant was the months of December January the mellow Marghazi when children rushed in darkness of dawn to nearby temples and madams to sing hymns and get the much awaited prasdams .

During those pre dawn adventures when one could collide into dark buffaloes frequenting the roads driven by thier equally bullous keeps with trailing milk cans .

The summer months started by march end and slowly the city literally boiled .
In the evenings of may the populace would meander to the marina or santhome beach for a solace as the cool breeze from the sea would to a small extent relieve thier hot humid misery
The rains came in september and lasted for a month of pleasure
The streets were slushy but the pleasure was unimaginable .
Kerala my native place too was warm humid but totally different for one its green roof cooled it to some extent the summers in April and may were still hot and wet but by the middle of may one could see the pregnant clouds gathering strength from the south .

By end of may mostly on june first the south west monsoon would arrive regally wetting the school children in thier brand new uniforms like a ritual of age .
And then for three months it would be a waterworld as incessant rains would fill the green ponds and wells the richoceting of the roof by the rains would be rhymed by the cackle of the happy frogs .
Other than these two places an occasional foray into a hill station or a Delhi in winter was the only experience of cold to me .
Eight years in UAE showed me how hot deserts could be in summmer and how cool it was in winter with a happy 16 degree climate but in Brunei with eqautorial uniformity it was warm humid and rainy on off throughout the year  .

So the cold of a december winter in snow covered Clevland windy Chicago or bone chilling cold of New york put me off a bit .

Warmth definitelly seems less obtrusive now
Iam almost warm to it

And thus one more xmas

And thus comes another christmas
As it does year after year with no great fuss

2000 years back  one kindred soul
Was born for the human race as a whole

A baby an angel  full of innocence
And who never lost it with sense
 goodness and love and forgivance
A life of tireful and tearful penance

Hounded since birth by those who hated
And those  who wanted him negated
Wandering in the desert and the plains
Was it in harsh sun blowing winds or in rain

None knows his childhood or as a teen
Was he mischievous naughty or serene
What and where was he as an young man
Up in high mountains or under the sun with a tan

And when he did come back
There was wisdom in his eyes black
There was a grave sadness in his face
In his concern for the human race

He was in a hurry with little time
He built his disciples to rhyme
He had his message to spread
To all unread and read .

He knew all along the pain to come
He knew of the hatred of some
He knew his future as a vision
He knew the reason for having risen

So he went ahead with no rancour
He did his duty with no anger
 No happiness no hate no sadness
But love pure and with no badness

His pain had come in time
The agony of the flesh and sublime
The tortue of his body and soul
Was seen by the world as a whole

The cross would become the symbol
Of patience suffering and love
The thorns on his crown nails on his flesh
His head encircled on a mesh

And as he left he was born again
For his life was not in vain
He taught us love and what it meant
And that was just what he was sent

Merry xmas

Harimohan

Tissue is the issue

For non medicos Pathology is the study of cells microscopically in diseases states and histology is the same study in normal states !
Histology is microscopic anatomy of the human body at cellular level and is studied as a basic science in medical curriculum ie during the first or second year while pathology is generally done in third or fourth year after starting medicine surgery and gynecology and knowing about diseased states .
Forensic science is the study of dead tissues and post mortem examinations also are a part of pathology but of a more investigative approach associated with criminology and post mortem examination to find cause of death etc a totally different and vast field by itself as a medical student one went through that in fourth year ,

To us working in oncology or cancer medicine ,pathology is vital and pathologists are one of the most important specialists we work with as a team .
In these days of great advances in the molecular level of differentiation's pathology at many times decides on the treatment and the word of the pathologist is sacrosanct .

Getting a pathology or biopsy report for a patient too is very unnerving as it could be a diagnosis which would strike terror into his or her heart or rarely relieve him of his anxiety !

in oncology we always say tissue is the issue

we have in most centers multidisciplinary meets with pathologists to discuss cases as subtle difference can alter the whole management
in these days of highly specialized stains in immuno histochemistry and molecular tests and even genetic mutations the differentiation is so vast .
in the early days it was suffice to get a diagnosis of say in breast cancer what type of tissue it was either from glandular called adenocarcinoma or from connective tissue a type of sarcoma called malignant phylloides whose treatment were diametrically opposite today the sub classifications like the hormone status the aggressiveness by grade or by KI 67 range or specialized targets amenable to treatment like Her 2 or epidermal receptors ,the microscopical invasions into blood vessles lymph nodes or lymphatics or nerves are all vital

in hematology too the sub classifications of lymphomas or leukemia's deserve separate tomes and are in hundreds and each one is important for prognosis or outcomes ,
second opinions are taken at times when pathologists themselves are foxed over certain modulations in tissue

Transformation of the tissue from one type to another as tumor grows certain mutations that confer resistance to certain types of targeted treatment or monoclonal antibodies have all made pathology a highly specialized and meticulous science in oncology .
over the years i still remember some eminent pathologists i had the opportunity to work with

a reputed madam professor in lakeshore hospital in kochi who was very helpful when requested for an early report for those whom we wanted to waste no time to start treatment like in young patients
i still rememebr getting a bone marrow report on same day something which would never happen abroad !!

in Tawam hospital in Al Ain a John Hopkins hospital managed tertiary care center the pathology hematology had a great team there was an Italian hematologist who only specialized in lymphomas and he was an authority on that

in the center i work here now too we have a highly specialized and capable department of pathologists who are the main support structure in the diagnosis of our patient s

with newer forms of tissue sampling like circulating tumor cells and plasma based DNA detection the paucity of sampling from difficult areas like lung will be met better in future

so the kaleidoscopic world of starry cellular wonderland the home of pathologists is dear to us too .

After all tissue is the issue