What just happened?

"I love this show..it's soo awesome" Avnita texted her friend, Suchi. It was almost 1:50 a.m.
Avnita was watching F.R.I.E.N.D.S. She loved the show and could watch it for hours! She also had the habit of sitting up late in the night, chatting, listening to songs or reading novels.She rarely slept before 3! After that she browsed through a few channels. They weren't much strict at home either, she had just turned 18, and deserved a few extra liberties!

Channel 128 HBO: Rocky 2--> not interested.
Channel 129 Pix: 102 Dalmatians--> not seen. Watch watch watch- said the voice in her head!

Few bars of chocolate in one hand, a novel to read during the breaks, her mobile lying by her side, and she got her source of entertainment for the entire night. Her dad did come and call her a few times, but never persuaded her as it was vacations after-all...maybe he should have, he felt later!

She went off to sleep at around 4. Got up at 6, restless. She went ahead to grab the toothbrush and the toothpaste.
A jitter and the next thing she sees, her toothbrush and the paste were lying down. "What happened?!" she wondered! Ignoring it, she went ahead and brushed. Over the past few days, those jitters were recurrent, appeared periodically and randomly. Some days, she spilt the tea all over the place.. some days, it was something else! At times, she found herself staring inattentively and unusually at something. And each time, all she could think was, "WHAT JUST HAPPENED?". It was scary, though  she pretended that it didn't bother her. Until one day, when she finally confided to her parents about what had been happening to her from the past few weeks. An appointment with the general physician, and then a neurologist, and the next thing she knew she had loads of wires stuck to her scalp and was all ready for an EEG, which revealed that she suffered from- Epilepsy. Juvenile Myclonic Epilepsy.

"Huge name!" she thought to herself. He added that, perhaps, she had these seizures before too, but hadn't noticed them until lately. She was told that her late nights, her long hours on the computer, T.V., visit to a discotheque (even if she ever wanted to) should all be avoided. She tried to remember, what was her age? Right, 18. She had a whole life ahead of her, and that moment she had to make a decision- about how she wanted to take the news. She could either crib over it or get over it and move on with life. Her parents regretted for not having noticed it earlier! They empathized, worried and cursed their fate. Avnita knew time healed everything and she would one day learn to live with it too. But the question remains, was it anyone's fault anyway? The answer is NO! Because this form of epilepsy is said to be idiopathic, i.e. has no known cause.

A disease is something nobody really wishes for, however, today the world around us replete with people suffering from disorders- some visible, while, some not so visible. While awareness about disorders such as diabetes, cancer and AIDS have increased to a certain extent, neurological disorders such as epilepsy, Alzheimer's disease, Autism, Dyslexia and soo many more still remain unknown to the masses. There exists about 600 neurological disorders. And in a developing country like ours, most of the time, due to lack of awareness, the neurological disorders are regarded as "madness" or "behavior due to possession by demons". I agree, it ain't easy to make everyone aware about everything. But can't we atleast make an effort? If we do maybe, thousands of other Avnitas too, will gather the courage to look at life with a new perspective. I say this, because, we need to remember disorders do not see money, status or age..they can happen to anyone, anytime. We need not become overly obsessed and panic over small things, but there is no harm in being aware, so that next time we do not ignore even minor recurrent head-aches or back-pains.

Our body always gives us a warning that something is wrong, we must learn to identify and listen to it!

The reason why I chose to write on this topic was, because this is all that I've been reading about in the past few hours:
http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/epilepsy-research-brings-award-to-australian-expert-20120329-1w17i.html
http://tribune.com.ng/index.php/community-news/38383-epilepsy-is-not-madnessneurologist
http://theadvocate.com/utility/homepagestories/2419751-129/a-teens-take-for-march
http://epilepsyfoundation.org/resources/featurestory/John-Olsons-Story.cfm
http://epilepsyfoundation.org/aboutepilepsy/faq.cfm

P.S.: The purpose of this post was NOT to scare anyone! It was solely to bring to light about the existence of epilepsy-probably, a highly misunderstood disorder, just like many others, for that matter.

Regards,
Rithika

Social networking or Show of chutzpah?

Recently, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan delivered a girl. The media's frenzied and desperate attempts to catch glimpses of Beti B, were in vain.  Meanwhile, there was a completely different section of people going ga-ga over the news. Some congratulated, some were delighted (as if it were their own!), some were unperturbed, while some others went into a completely different angle- posting morphed photos, suggesting names, jokes about Salman and Viveik, fake accounts, debates regarding whether or not it was really Abhishek's daughter etc etc.The social networking sites that we log onto everyday give us, let's put it, as a a sense of security of our image of what we are, how we display it and how we handle it. Editing and changing profile pictures makes us look prettier, probably, having loads of friends posting on our walls makes us feel 'special', by changing our privacy settings, we show the world only that side that looks 'good'. If we limit it to that we become like any other person having an account on the site. But what if we crack a joke at the expense of someone else, or make a taunt, or a lot more easier- just take a dig at the latest celeb-news.

Networking- for the better or worse? 

Status: 
Aishwarya Rai gives birth to a girl! :D
Comments:
Dumb person 1: Wonder if it's even because of Abhishek! Acting to karna aata nahi hai! ;)
Dumb person 2: ^ LOL. sahi bola be! ;)

SRK-Karan friendship, Salman being spoilt brat , Viveik's press conference, Amitabh latest endorsement, Kareena-Shahid breakup- the Indian media, leaves no stone unturned in keeping the masses updated with the daily affairs of Bollywood celebs, but do we need to prod over it and talk anything we want to about them or their personal lives?Now, many might say that in the glam-business, nothing remains personal. Says who?If we have the benefit of posting whatever we want about them, why not give them benefit of having a 'little' bit of space? Their being celebrities, does not make them devoid of their rights! No, I'm not on some sort of a celebs ka hakh-mission. It just irks me beyond limit that how do literate people too, end up commenting or posting such stuff! Just because SRK is really close to Karan Johar, he is gay? Just because Abhishek can't act, we question his paternity? Seriously??!!
Once while debating about the existence of casting couch in Bollywood, one of the guys I know claimed that he did not have any respect for a particular actress as he had seen videos of her "casting couch". All the more coming from a guy, who himself had the image of a perv and flirt among girls. I wonder if we would talk the same way about "bhhudha" Amitabh Bachchan, or "gay" SRK or "wannabe" Vidya Balan, if they were right in front at that time! Gossip being posted about starlets, B-grade actor vying for media attention makes sense probably, but why actors who have made a mark and proved a point? They might have hundreds of drawbacks, but the fact remains that at they end of the day they are the ones owning a 15-crore worth vanity van while we sit in front of our laptops and post dirt about them, stuff that they might probably even never come to know. Humor is good, till it makes everyone happy. But why post stuff about someone, just because we know that they are never going to come to know about it? Is that why we even create accounts on social networking sites? Forget "Live and let live" atleast, try the ultimate Golden rule- "A man should treat others, as he would like others to treat him."


"Just because I am an actress, why should anyone dare to assume that I have no morals?" 


- Preity Zinta.


Is it just me, or has this practice indeed affected our sense of sensitivity? Do we really need to stop and think about what do we want to prove? Because if we don't put a check on it, Kapil Sibal surely will! :|
Think about it! 




Regards,
Rithika