Shiran's maiden book

Our gang had few friends who were strongly associated with us but still detached in the public eyes. (May be scared of the notoriety of our gang). They did contribute to our fun-filled days in many ways. Their contribution was in the form of encouraging (pushing!!??) us to contest in elections (for which they had no time or interest), being good spectators when we ragged juniors, listening & adding to the tea time gossips and in giving moral support for the hostel fights. They did remind us of all the internals and exams, which otherwise would have gone unnoticed.

Shiran is one such friend. And today I am here to congratulate him on his maiden book in Medicine. They say writing a book is no child’s play. I can’t agree more. Last year I had a failed attempt at writing a book. That was a combined effort with another friend ‘R’ who turned out to be equally if not more, lazy than me and we had to shelve the plans after getting the offer letter (from the same publishers for which Shiran has written a book now). And that incident got entered into my compilation “Book of lost opportunities because of laziness”.

Well, Shiran’s book is titled “Rapid review in Internal Medicine”, published by Jaypee publishers and is co-authored by Dr Smitha. At this moment I don’t have the information about cost of the book, which I will update at a later date.

Being a childhood friend of Shiran and knowledgeable of his potentials, I can assure you of the high quality of book. William Foster once said, Quality is never an accident; it is always the result of high intention, sincere effort, intelligent direction and skillful execution. I am positive that this book will do justice to the students it is targeted for, ‘The Great Indian Entrance Employees’. Most of us are out of that phase, but please refer it to all of your ‘friends and their girlfriends’ who are still sweating it out there.

[Note: I solemnly state that I neither have stakes in Jaypee publishers, nor any promised commission from Shetty ]

I was supposed to be closer to Shetty, being a childhood friend. It may be surprising fact for you guys that we studied in the same primary school, high school, PU College and finally the medical school. That is more than 18 years of schooling together. But surprisingly enough, we maintained a distance. Something like, not very close and not very far. We can safely blame it on different frequencies and move on rather than grilling the reasons. I have some cherished memories with shetty in my memory. Memories like sipping Banana punch in Sharavathi(an eatout in our good ol’ hamlet), playing badminton in BraSam (It was a building-under-construction which was as attractive as its name) or eyeing Sagar’s pretty babes after settling ourselves in a Friend’s jeweler shop (That friend eventually shut his shop after incurring huge losses, On lot of discussion & introspection we unanimously came to a decision that we were in no way contributed to his losses….. I hope you don’t happen to hear his version of the story) and many more.

Indisputably, a brilliant chap. During school days I was always desirous of his photographic memory. Competitive to the core and had a strong craving to be there at the top always. I used to observe at times. He did change a lot during medical school (for the better!!). But one of his hallmark body language never changed. Observe him when you try to teach him or tell him something important or when he is studying in library or classroom, he keeps looking at surroundings and keeps playing/scribbling with pen or something. It looks as if he is totally uninterested. Beware; he is taking in each and every detail you are blabbering out or from the book. I wonder if this is similar to what Sabeer Bhatia remembers of his meeting with Gates during the hotmail deal. (For the uninitiated, Bhatia says in an interview that Gates showed as if he is absolutely not interested in the deal by incessantly looking around and getting distracted). Never know!! Big people do have things in common. Look at us…..By ‘us’ I meant myself and Da Vinci.. .. I heard Da Vinci used to whine about his procrastination just like me.

Guys, now buy, borrow or steal that book from somewhere and write in a review in the comments section. Don’t ask me to do that job. I hate entrance books. I had them enough. Let my few final days on this earth go in tranquility.

Seeji,
For Z gang

PS: We are planning to meet up in our hamlet this Diwali; For sure we will miss that Friend’s shop.

PPS: I have a happy news right at this moment (At least for me :) ), about which I will write in my next post.