The Nightmares Continue,,,,,

And then there was a silence punctuated by the keening wails of those mourning for their dead, there were tears, for the dead, of the dying and for those left behind, left alone to shoulder a life riddled with guilt and anger. The anger is not so much directed at those who did this, rather it is a kind of helpless rage at the fact that we are so vulnerable, so open to something so violent, so barbaric.

The Politicians go into damage control mode, proposals of a central body to tackle exactly this kind of mindless terror, although chalked out five years back, is yet to see realisation. Lobbies, parties and their self-serving policies never take into consideration the most vital part of this Nation, its teeming masses, ironic right? A democracy which is no longer for the people?

I am running out of words to say, even more ironical, It is time our leaders did something out of their skins,,please, we cannot be made to suffer your inadequacies, your impotence. We can no longer lay down our lives to pave the pathway of your political dreams.

We can no longer wait for you to save our lives, you suck at it.

Reams of print and hours of bytes cannot even begin to scratch the surface of what actually went on those few days, and neither can anyone start to define the extent of vulnerability and unpreparedness this situation found us in, I just hope next time around, God forbid, we are better prepared.

Sitting Ducks

It is a gloomy, cloudy, misty day, full of intermittent rain and chilly. exactly the sort of day I would have revelled in were it not for the horrific events of the past three days, three full days, that is how long it has been since our vulnerability was thrown in our face, we were made aware of how at risk all our near and dear ones are, every day of the week, wherever you may be, whatever you may be doing. What has happened in Mumbai while being very shocking and terrible, is nothing new to any of us, the world as a whole has been targetted to increasing and ever novel episodes of terror wherein the perpetrators manage to catch us sleeping, every single time, without fail, and the worst part tis how delayed our responses are, we tend to go from a state of denial to slow acceptance and then try to figure out how to get things going,,by the time we roll, three days have gone by, hundreds lives lost and a valuable heritage desecrated.

How much is our defence budget made up of? I hardly think we are lagging behind as far as fund allocations and proposals go, when it comes to the actual procuring and buying of stuff, we are made aware of how inadequate our situation is when we see our brave troops go in to face a situation, say like the one that unfolded over these past few days, with Ancient, musket-type guns and then the NSGs are dropped off at the site of action by bus, like tourists on a field trip,, it is only through sheer bravery and grit, combined with the incomparable sacrifice of life and limb by some of the bravest sons of our country, that we are anywhere near to getting control over the situation. How ridiculously under prepared and underarmed we manage to look in comparison to the attackers, I really think our Defence Minister needs to get on the Net and skim through a few brochures for the latest arms or maybe he should set up a meeting with the terrorist who has been caught alive and get some contacts and visiting cards out of him,, put it all to good use so that next time around, it is a much more even match.

People are saying idiotic things that centre around a particular community and one of our neighbouring nations, Stupid thing to do rather than try and secure our homes and lives, we are trying to find scrape-goats,, how does it matter who they are? Terrorists have no face, no religion, no nationality, they are just perpetrators of death and doom, the only way to fight the threat is by improving our defence system, not only at our borders but at our houses, our lanes and our villages. This does not mean subjecting us all to body searches at every street corner and every street store, they are necessary but more importantly, we should have a central body, autonomous of course, in place whose sole purpose would be to take the correct decision, within minutes, the next time we face a threat, any kind of threat, and put it into action, even before the killers realise what retaliation they can expect. That is the only way we will be able to make our lives a little bit safer, a little more secure.

I take my hat off to the brave souls who helped save so many lives, including the staff at the Taj, and I also salute all of them because they have shown the courage to stand up and fight.

My heart goes out to all who have lost their lives and to all their families, it is they who have to live on, with all the pain.

I also sincerely hope our leaders think hard and long before coming out with any sort of soothing messages, and suggest that rather than waste time trying to play any blame games and waste too much time on post-mortems of what we went through, they sit down and think out strategies to make us stronger, safer.

A NATION BLEEDS

Mumbai bleeds, yet again and so do we. We cry tears of blood, every time a dastardly act like this occurs. When do these tears stop? Where do they stop? Mumbai was made the target, yet again, of indiscriminate acts of mayhem and horror, and all that goes through my mind when I see the ghastly visuals and hear the stories of horror, is how unnecessary and seemingly meaningless all this is. Every time this occurs we get to hear of yet another new terror organisation, as if these acts of cowardly violence were some sort of macabre bill-board, on which they advertise their presence, and to what purpose? They are driven by Avarice, Greed and other Psychopathic tendencies, all this bull-shit about Ideologies is utter hogwash, even they know how hollow they sound when they claim themselves to be carrying out a direct decree from the Almighty, when they, along with everyone else know, for a fact that the Almighty is all about Forgiveness, Tolerance and Love. They are not the deluded fanatics they make themselves out to be, the only thing that drives them is greed and lust, lust for money, power and blood, sadistic tendencies that exist in all of us seem to be the most dominating character trait in these people.

Mumbai bleeds, it is the same wherever you cast your eyes, Assam is facing the same threats, on a daily basis, as is Kashmir, different names, different ways but all leading to death and disorder. I come from a small hill-town in Assam, where people left their houses unlocked when they went out, during my childhood days, there just was no need to bar your doors from anyone, there was no threat, now that same place sees at least a killing a day, and because we are far away from the Media eyes, my town bleeds too, albeit a little more silently, but the tears are the same everywhere, bloody and terrible.

The entire nation is being held to ransom by a group of petty people with petty dreams, but the price that we are paying is beyond measure, beyond compare.

At the end of all this I still cannot help but feel how entirely unnecessary this is, how can anything justify this horror? How can anyone see their own die in front of their eyes, in their arms,,and not know why this happened and who is to be blamed?

Mumbai bleeds, A Nation bleeds, we bleed.

Of Kings and Beggars,,

For a change, I get to start the day exactly the way I want to, well maybe not completely exactly (?) because there was no milk in the fridge and I had to go get some, before I settled down in front of the TV with a cup of hot steaming tea, talk of life saving draughts.
As is my wont, I tend to skim the news channels first, and I kind of got stuck on NDTV 24/7 where they were following Jyotiraditya Scindia on his campaign trail in a programme called ‘Follow the Leader’, He is a strong bet for the ruling party, and their slogan states their desire to get closer to the “Aam Aadmi” the “common Man” to those uninitiated in our National Lingo, and after a while of watching him on his trail I couldn’t help feeling I was in an India a few centuries back, for here was a man who belonged to a princely family, hailed wherever he went as “Maharaj-ji”, who traveled along-with his own entourage, which included his family cook and an entire team of helpers, who followed him, in a Gypsy of their own, with all the materials and ingredients that go into making the favorite dishes of their King, just for the simple reason that he does not like food prepared by any one else, it has to be made the way his chef of 15 years does it,, and so the money that goes into his campaign sustains an entire kitchen on the move, among other similar ‘kingly’ whims I am sure. What a way to connect to the ‘Aam Aadmi’ was all that went through my mind when I saw this,, it was so much similar to the way you and I carry a lunch ‘Dabba’ to work, right?
I wonder how he is going to manage his election campaign account books, for I believe it is scrutinized by the EC, strictly at that,, he must be a genius with figures along with being a dashing young ‘King”,.
One more gem this morning, one of my friends’ brother, who is an inveterate egg-lover, devised a novel way towards cholesterol-control, eat ‘just two’ eggs instead of 'six', a day…Great way to go, right?, and we waste so much time on exercise and the right diet when it was so simple, all along. Way to go “Bhaiyya”.
PS. I am waiting for two more days before I get my return tickets because the petroleum ministry has announced sizable fuel price cuts, another Election first, in many ways,, so the Air-tickets have to get cheaper right?
Till next time, it is time for me to get my cape and hood ready, foe me to go and play Super-hero and save Lives.. God be with you.

Living Lies..

“No first use Treaty” Sounds very much like something that two groups of warring neighborhood kids would sign, prior to say, a Cricket match,,
On the contrary, this was rather something said by Asif Ali Zardari, via Videoconferencing during the Leadership Summit held in India,, sounds like a pile of words right? That is exactly what it is,, a useless pile of words that does not mean anything. How can anything as mundane as accountability exist when nuclear weaponry is at stake? How can two Nations who are busy enhancing their Nuclear arsenal (just because they are extremely developmentally motivated, mind you) ,be trusted on this? Do they really think if things reach such a state so as to lead to a show of Nuclear strength, people would leave all other thoughts to investigate who threw the first stone, literally? Just think how such an investigation would ensue and how it would progress in two such countries where justice exists only if you are poor, unconnected and on the faulty side of affairs,, everybody else manages to get away with everything, even murder, so what is a little massacre here and there?
Let us think of some outside agency snooping around, investigating such a case, the only good that would do, is give rise to a whole new group of prejudices, a whole new era of mistrust and needless persecution of the thoroughly undeserving, like what happened post 9/11, and while all this happens, the people who are really guilty sit in their cozy rooms, munching on pop-corn perhaps, while enjoying a close, on-the-scene view of things, thanks to modern information technology and the ever hungry for ‘a-byte’ vampirish new breed of journalists, ,whose jobs seem to depend entirely on how much dirt and tears they can muck up, in comparison to the next channel. While all this unravels, India, whose image is taking a beating already, takes one more, below the belt.
We were a nation of snake-charmers and sadhus who have evolved into a people who roam around with bombs and IEDs under our cloaks casting furtive glances all around, bloody murder on our minds. High time we hire a good PR firm.
Coming back to my original peeve, how can anyone with even an ounce of grey-matter in their skulls, for one moment think that nuclear warfare can be put on hold with such a trivial piece of paper? Can people who are so busy tearing each other to shreds be depended upon to honour such a thing? Can two nations governed by Ex-crooks and criminals really depend on its so-called leaders to do any good? We as a voter have created a Frankenstein-ish being, in the form of our elected representatives. Now we can just wait and watch, the control is out of our hands, we have set the ball rolling, and matters can only go from bad to worse from here, while our leaders count their vote banks in glee and smirk behind genteel grey beards….
PS..To end this,, let me tell you that I was 'not-so-politely' informed, by this 27-28 year old techie-son of one of my patients, that his money pays my salary and that I have to ‘bloody well’ give him my time, whenever he asks for it. More on that in a subsequent post? I still am fuming.

Unwanted Glories !

Back from another Graveyard shift,,Sitting down to write this to the back-ground score of the market update on CNN-IBN (?), and I see that none of the blogs I follow have been updated,,Hey Guys, wake up,,I am feeling extremely lonely here.

There was a comment on one of my recent posts asking why I hated my job, We doctors save lives, said she,,

What can I say? Some how going through her comment, I felt as if the world, or some part of it at least, sees Doctors as some sort of Super heroes,,We are not, super-heroish, I mean,,Being a doctor may be a matter of choice for some, or just a matter of fulfilling long cherished, unfulfilled dreams of their parents for some others..those they could not attain, themselves,,The day we join this supposedly hallowed vocation, we are somehow meant to leave back all traces of human desires and feeling behind us, akin to an Exile. We are meant to be kind, compassionate and gentle, while dealing with patients and their relatives,,but meant to overlook the facts that we have families too, those that look up to us, whose needs are supposed to be met by us, jobs we almost always fail miserably at because of financial restraints,,Finances play a very important part in every Doctors life, contrary to all the nobility associated with us, and the seemingly invaluable services we provide, to humanity, (not my words, I assure you) We are almost at the bottom-most rung of the pay-pyramid amongst all professionals. A graduation takes us six years, six back-breaking, gruelling years of mugging, swotting, toil and tolerating back-stabbing inter-class and inter-institute politics, and at the end of which we are paid far less than say what an Engineer is, or a Management grad is,,Fair? And we are supposed to love what we do?

All my social interactions are limited to people with various ailments and their families,,they are the only people I meet every day.. At the end of the week, you are longing for a conversation that does not deal with the mind-numbing details of these poor people and their ills,,At the end of a "normal" shift, you are so drained, exhausted, mentally and physically, that the only thing you want, desperately, is to crawl into bed and go to sleep, and the dreams that follow, on the days we have them, are filled with weird, scary images,,,,It is no wonder then that so many of us take to drinking as a matter of routine,,nothing else manages to take the edge off.

On the odd lucky day we do manage to get ourselves involved in some sort of a Social-do, there seem to be a horde of people who make a bee-line for you with all the collective ailments of an entire generation,,and you are reduced to a Virtual dust-bin...of sighs, aches and pains.

Bottom line, in-spite of all this we toil on, because we have to, no other choices,,,we are thwarted at every single step by that Power that decides what goes on in this world, that Power who plays us like pawns and we bend to His desires because we are meant to,,, no other choices,,,

Great life, that of a Doctor..I just wish I wasn't one, my parents have so many dreams and desires that need fulfilment, I so want the Tissot watch I saw the other day,,I so need some time-off (a comment which gets a look from my Boss, we do not ask for leaves,,but accept gratefully what is thrown to us,,), I so want to fall in love, get married to some one who isn't a part of this world of Microbes, test-tubes, beeps and monitors,,and I want to stop being seen as a Super-hero,..

PS. The high suicide rates among us Doctors seem to be saying something,,right?

PS..(No I donot Love you)

PS...Most of my thoughts start like this, as if they were post scripts in the long-long monologues I hold with the only person who bothers to listen to me, at all,,,,,,,, well,,'monologue' pretty much gave the game away,,right? My best listener, spectator, audience all rolled into one has always been 'me', 'myself'',,no, Irene does not come into this..... Anyways, as Post-Scripts tend to go,,, they do not hold any continuity with my current thoughts, just arise at random and take the form of my next long talk, till another PS comes along,,that has been the way with me, for quite some time now,,another sign that the Loony-bin beckons, perhaps. I am so used to these one-way ramblings that I tend to get quite lost in them, people wave at me from across the road, and I plod along, a silly smile or a frown on my face, depending on what I am saying to myself,,,quite oblivious.Turning into quite the eccentric, I am, these days,,and for that matter, what an odd way of forming a sentence..
PS..,,Does anyone else find these innumerable 'commas' a little too tiresome?,,
PPS,,,Does anyone else get the origin of the bracketed phrase in the post title? Please

Dostana Roxx,( Sigh!!!!)

This goes out to 'Dostana roxxxx' in my Orkut friends list, hope he reads this,,

I wish I was in Priyanka's shoes in Dostana,,,,Did I ask you to draw your own conclusions? Wicked people, I am surrounded with,,Surely you know that now I am gonna waste some of your time in explaining why I said this,,,,so let me be. Where was I? Yes, in Priyanka's shoes, btw, those Jimmy Choos could feed me for an entire year and sustain an entire Somali village for a week,,but I am rambling again,,I would have loved to be where P was in the movie, not because I would have had two Gorgeous specimens of Guy-hood live with me, imagine what that would have done to my already sagging self-esteem!!! Nor because I would have had THE perfect body and be surrounded by similarly endowed bods, just close your eyes and think Shilpa in the gold bikini,,,neither because I would have a gorgeous pad to live in, with an outdoor pool to boot,,,It wouldn't be for the fact that I would be paid 4 grand a month for 2 rooms, which translates into the salary I get paid by the end of 1 year of this God-Awful work that I do,,,It wouldn't be for the fact that I would be working for a magazine that would need me to look WOW, and go out gadding to Night-clubs and Auctions, in the name of work,,(Sigh, I have a night-shift in 2 hours time),,,,It most certainly would not be for the fact that my wardrobe would be hot, skimpy and cool at the same time,,,,,

It just would have been so good to have two friends who loved me so much,,two people who ended up putting me ahead of themselves, their ambitions and their lives,,friends who gave me great B'day surprises, who saw me out of every single scrape I got into, guys who would go to such lengths, just because they loved me, friends who would be there to wipe away my tears and my fears, friends who would give anythig to see me smile,,see me happy.. That is the one single thing I envy P.... Friendship,

Blue's my favourite color,,,

There's a low pressure area around Vishakapattnam, and this has given Hyderabad an early taste of Winter chills an the form of Squalls, rains and cloudy, gloomy skies.

AM LOVING IT!!!! (That reminds me, I have to shop for winter wear,,)

Enough with the weather update,,A few days back I woke up to James Blunt crooning "you're beautiful' to me,,,nice way to start the day right? It was a call from my past, Yes, my cell was ringing, and that was my ring tone,,,,and an old friend from my days in Dibrugarh was on line. The call took me back to my time in AMC and it was a nice, nostalgic walk down that particular lane...Back to when I had an acid tongue:)

One of the blogs that I follow gave me a great idea, let me try and put down a few things about myself that might explain the paucity of pals in my life,,,shall we start?

1. I have an acid tongue,

2. Combine number 1 with an Inflammable temper,,that makes number 2 a hugely volatile item,,

3. I butt in where I am least wanted and dispense with my unwanted wisdom a little too freely,,

4. I am overly critical of all that i do

5. I have made my Obsessive Compulsiveness into a way of life,

6. Small things get me down, and I am too weak to shrug-off these depressive spells

7. I am selfish and think that the world should revolve around me, and only me..

8. Indecisive and tend to lose track of my targets way too soon and way too easily,,

9. After all that has happened, I still think that I have some control over my life, and that things will go the way I want them to,,

10. I am a sentimental b******

11. I cling on to certain things in life, and find it so very hard to move on,,

12. I talk way too much for one person,,my topics change course and content faster than our politicians change their ideologies.

13. i do not know when to stop,, I should have stopped writing this post right after the first five or six lines,,,,

Horrible Monday!

I hate mondays.

Monday blues? No way, it is rather all the shades ranging from mauve to indigo including cerulean and all the in-batween shades, rather like an Asian paints shade card. add to that the fact that I have another night shift coming up and so I shall have to go through the unendurable torture of a shave,, sigh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Girls are so lucky, just armpits, leg and arm hair to deal with, all of which can be decently and deceptively covered up,, a method hardly likely to work in my case, unless I decide to wear a pot over my face,,maybe a ski-mask?

To add to all the agony is the fact that my laptop just refuses to open the page where I can recharge my DTH service, and I so wanted to watch the ongoing Test, it is the last day of the match wherein we are sure to give the Aussies the drubbing of their lives, plus it is the last time we get to see Sourav on the field. Come 5 pm and I shall have to sally forth, out of my room, to save humanity,,,,Boll****!! At best, I just try to deal with things as they come, all doctors do just that, and keep our fingers crossed that a patients recovery proceeds unhindered by any other complications,,,after all even the best efforts to try and foresee probable hurdles and prevent them, do leave a few loopholes, and I do have a 75 year old lady on my hands, who is, I believe on her last legs, and the family has to make some all important decisions, and I am supposed to help them make the right ones, while not seeming to do their thinking for them,,hardly a job I relish.

So, all in all, it has got all the makings of a great start to what promises to be an even more thrilling (!!) week than the last,,my my, ain't I just salivating at that thought.

(PS- Winter is slowly creeping up (yeah!!), but I am ill prepared to meet it 'coz I do not have my winter apparel ready,,what do you mean by asking what happened to last years' clothes,,? surely you do not want me to wear the same clothes 2 years in a row? )

Saturday Nite Blues,,,,

It is barely 8.30, and I am already bored out of my skull, I guess I could study, but where is the point of adding more boredom than is absolutely necessary to the situation, right?

So,, I am bored. Guess I could go and watch the new Bond flick, but that would mean getting dressed and what an effort that would be, right now,.(by the way Danny boy's by far the best 007, my take.)

Guess I could watch something on TV,, no wait, the installation isn't done yet, these guys have found out I am from Assam and so are putting on an especially 'laahe-laahe' show for my benefit,, just so I do not get too home sick, serves me right for having said that on my blog, oh just maybe like a 1000 times only?

Guess I should order some take out? No, I cannot, the seams of my jeans are going to sue me for Inhuman torture, and I still have to burn those Banana chips I had for lunch..

Guess I should work on my book,,,but one smart-ass person from its pages just is refusing to behave the way I want him to,, so, that too is out, at least till he sees some sense,,.

Some music? But that would remind me that Indian Idol 4 is on today and I do not have my Tv in a ready to watch state..

Finish the book I am reading? Shit,,that would remind me I have other books that I should be reading,,ouch!!

Tidy my room? Again? There are maybe three new dust specks after my last spree, 2 hours back..

Go out for a walk? Don't want to change, and don't want to be caught out by my patients' attendants in my tracks,,it is bad enough that I dress like a mix between a Parisian grunge model and a colour blind cow to work, that reminds me, my Sir has run out of disgusted looks to bestow on my idea of work-place-couture.

Guess I better go to sleep,,Maybe I can finish counting backwards from 1 million tonight...

Wish me luck guys....

Common Bonds,,,,,,,

I just noticed that a friend of mine, whose blog I follow, has been ultra busy over the past few hours, and once I am done with this, am going to settle down to some great reading.

I am a 3rd generation Assamese, and no matter where I go, Assam, her people and her language are never far from my mind. Hyderabad is a pretty long way removed from Assam, and does not feature on its usual migratory picture, people rather prefer Delhi or for that matter even Kolkata or Bangalore (please do not expect me to call it by its new name, lesser said of it the better) with regards to jobs or Education. So imagine my surprise, during my first days here, when I heard the Security personnel at our Hospital discuss the new Doctor, me, in typical Assamese, full of its inherent jargon, and you should have seen them react to my answers, a nice mix of Incredulity, Joy and Disbelief, followed by a little shame at being caught out. A piece of homeland, here!!

I am turning into a regular Agony aunt (!) for them, and find myself addressing odd problems at times, from an erring Fiancee' to a good-for-nothing brother at home who wants a Bike, the problems are varied, and their solutions have to be wel thought out and practical. Tough call.

I am even subjected to conspiratorial winks when they see me overhear discussions of a particular nurses' plus points (trying to put it politely here, I guess you know what I mean). The whole lot of them are young, away from home and in a land where they have to stick together, because of the bond they share.

Wherever I went, wherever I saw security, my ears perked on their own, and I was seldom disappointed. I am so much at home here. I am sure to hear at least a couple of swear words every day,especially a particular one starting with 'K', that translates into a certain wholesome fruit, in Hindi. There are brothers who are trying to get their younger siblings to follow them here, friends arguing over the merits of a job here versus a job back home, fellows bemoaning the increasing demands for money from back home,,,,,many such conversations float into my ears every day, private conversations, I know, but the speakers would not begrudge me overhearing them, because I was one of them, sharing a common unifying bond, that of a same land, a same language, a same longing, to return,,,,return Home.

PS. I am still awaiting the Tata-Sky people who were supposed to install my new DTH, yesterday, so that I could watch Sourav play his last Test,,guess my wait is going to last longer,,Laahe-Laahe anyone?

A Vacuum

In any conventional race, there are some people whose sole aim is to ace it, lead by such a large margin, there is never ever the scare of being overtaken.
There are some who do all they can to upset the plans of the others in the race,
and then there is a large chunk of participants who try hard to push on ahead, if not to the very top of the line, at least ahead of the guy just in front.
Then there are those, like me, who luxuriate in the thought that the race, any race for that matter, is just beyond them.
I , just like every single inhabitant of this planet of ours, am in a race too, and this race does not give you the option of pulling out midway, whether you like it or not, run you must, till the last lap rolls along and the chequered flag comes in sight. All one can do, is plod along. In every race, there will be winners and there will be those who are awarded the consolation prizes, provided they pick themselves up, every single time, and keep running.
This is one race I did not ask to join in, nor am I playing for a prize that I really have my heart set on, I had no choice in the matter, had no say in it, I was pushed in, and asked to run,,,,,,,I am.
But it has become tougher to keep on picking myself up, every time I falter, stumble or just tire , I am scared that I shall not find the courage, the strength, to pick myself up, next time I falter.
I am afraid I shall be the one who stops midway, and just gives up.
I am afraid that I shall lose out on even the Consolation prizes, in this race.

Random 'Rabid' Ravings,,,

I am down, in the dumps.
Anyone who goes, sorry, has to go to the movies by himself/herself is a loser, much like the loners on Prom nights or Friday nights, concepts no longer foreign to us, thanks to our new-found Americanised way of living, something that we have emulated and then implemented better than the Americans themselves, we always were a nation of quick learners.
Anyways I went to watch the new 'X-Files' movie. I never understood why that series did not get a longer run.
I came out feeling terrible, no the movie isn't to blame at all, let me just call it a male version of Bridget Jones'ism that takes over, from time to time.
No cures in sight, as yet.
I come back feeling lower that a rats' belly, and in order to feel good about myself, I go through the one and only testimonial I received, on a Social networking site, and it seems to have worked, I do not feel the urge to drown myself in a plate of fries, for the moment.
There is a girl, barely into her teens, who is dying of a terminal lung malignancy, and there is nothing that we can do, because the parents are just about coming to terms with the supposed inevitability of the whole situation, and even though there may be a place for a little bit of patience in all this, she may just make it through this time, to fight another day, but the overall outcome is not a very hopeful one, and any effort is just going to end up with the parents hoping and praying for a miracle. On top of everything else is the cost factor, mounting on every day and which are bound to be exorbitant, by the end of it all, no matter which way this particular match swings
Hardly an ideal situation, from any point of view. reminds me of the old joke about how LIFE was a Black man's left ass, never fair....
Shit...!