A Special Day To Remember

Birthdays are always special; to be spent with family and friends and have a good time. It would mean parties and lots of kicks as was part of all our celebrations. For me as well it started at midnight with a kick from Mathur (I’ll remember that, as it was intolerably painful) and then calls from all the near and dear. Then of course the planning as to where my party should be as that was what we had been doing for some time. But this time it would turn out to be different; with two beautiful people in my life. I had met them only recently and the relationship that it has turned out be is just wonderful. It already feels like I know them for a very long time.

The day was like the usual ones with me in the office trying to finish off the work and get out early so that I can spend the evening with Tulika and Megha as I had already decided. In the meantime, I was already getting inquiries from people about where the party was and I would politely tell them that we would be having it on the weekend. I also get wishes from my sister who is very smart and had bought me a shirt. She has been an angel and would get me something or the other all the time. I just love her for that as she would never say anything about what she has in mind and would just give it away at the right moment.

Now, I know for sure that these girls had been planning for this day for some time now and I was pretty eager to just meet them up and see what they had been cooking up for all this time. As always when you plan to do something, you get more and more work; and by the evening, I was desperate to get out. And by 6:00 PM, I just make and excuse that I’ll return and complete the stuff, I finally get out. I had to meet them up at 6:30 PM. We meet at the park near my Apartment; and I was genuinely surprised at the time and effort that these girls had spent on making the day so special for me. I’ll always love them for that.

They started by giving me a rose each; a reminder that they had asked me for a rose at an event recently. Tulika had prepared a cake with Megha helping her; she had told me she bakes good cakes and since then I had always wanted to taste one. I kind of knew that this could be my surprise; but believe me, to see it in front of me was a different feeling. They had brought candles; gifts, and boy was I impressed. The only thing that bothered me was that they had accidentally gotten candles that would read 25 instead of 22 (just joking). I cut the cake and take the first bite and then give them their share from my treat. The cake tasted great with all the love and affection that was put into it. I couldn’t have asked for more.

Then was the turn of my gifts and this time I was shocked. To put it in my words, if I were to give any gift, I would just walk into a shop and would pick up something that would interest me. I have never given much thought into a gift. And here I get something that reminds me of my childhood and my present. I am just dumbstruck at the amount of thought these girls have given into the whole thing. I know they would have roamed the city to collect the Reader’s Digest (1989), Hardy Boys, The Famous Five and the Chacha Chowdhary comic book. It is definitely an emotional moment for me now as I see my past in the books and my present in the bike. They had gifted me things that I was passionate about long back and now. Thank you for all of this.

I wanted to have my dinner with Tulika and Megha and was really happy when they agreed. Megha had a family event but was with me for my event. I wanted to take them to some place good where we would be alone; a little bit green and candle light; and I had just two choices, Metropole or Regalis. And since, Tulika likes Regalis; I thought that we would have our evening there. We went to the pool side and I was happy that we got exactly what I had in mind.

We had our dinner chatting away and me pulling Tulika’s leg again and again. I still do not understand why we end up fighting all the time and Megha watching us and trying to stay away from the commotion. Tulika was laughing away and I would comment and that would anger her. Suddenly, with a dash of emotion, she said that she’ll leave; and me believing that she was just saying that to make stop; I replied back that if she wants she can leave. The quietly obliged and to my shock just walked away. I was angry then and didn’t try to stop her, but as she crossed the corridor, I couldn’t stand it anymore and ran behind her to bring her back. It took some time for her to return and then we started again. In all of this we did not realize how late it was and we had to leave. I dropped back Megha by about 10:30 at night and I know that she did get some scolding from her mom.

Apart from the scolding that the girls might have got, the day was great and we did have a good time. I managed to irritate both the girls a bit with Tulika going away till I pull her back and Megha sitting quiet for some time. But I did understand that they do like me pulling their legs and then making it up. I guess the making it up is what they like the most and enjoy it. I am now thankful that they are in my life and we share such a beautiful connection.

Visiting a Dentist

Most of us are scared of dental experiences and when it comes to me I can have nightmares even if someone whom I do not even know talks about going to a dentist; even with the fact that my sister is a dentist. Even though this was my first experience, as far as I can remember, I was scared as hell to get under the drills and it turns out to be one of funniest moments in my life.

Fear of "the dentist" or "dentists" is pretty common. If you've had bad (or not-so-great) experiences with dentists in the past, it is very easy to make the assumption that dentists, in general, are bad people. There's a theory called "construct theory", which states that we have a tendency to ascribe certain attributes to a group of people who have something in common (in this case, dentists), based on our (or others) experiences of this group. However, these constructs (e. g. "evil" as opposed to "kind", "bad" as opposed to "good" and so on) tend to be based on a very small number of observations.

My maxillary second molar was giving me some problems and given my perception and inability to bear pain, I finally decide to visit a dentist. What I had in mind was to have a general check up and some tablets to solve my problem. I look up the possible great dentists in Mysore; through friends; the Internet and any other sources that I could find. I planned to have a list and then rate them to find out the dentist who was known to keep the pain minimum. It turned out that I was only researching for about 6 months and my tooth was not getting any better. [I guess I was hoping that my tooth would heal by itself]. Finally, when I had enough of the discomfort, I go to a dentist who had treated quite some people in my office; and they vouched that the procedures had been painless.

I go to the dentist to have a check up and with much difficulty I sit on the chair and let the dentist have a look inside my mouth. The dentist is nice and makes you comfortable by talking to me a lot. I feel a variety of emotions as he tells me that nothing is amiss however I might require a root canal on my tooth. Now a root canal is a dreadful situation as I felt that this is not happening. The thought of killing a part of my body (my tooth) was equally painful (I am still not sure whether it was about killing my tooth or about the pain I thought I was going to experience). I ended up doing a lot of research about the procedure, from the Internet as well as having long consultations with my sister.

Root canal therapy refers to the process by which a dentist treats the inner aspects of a tooth, specifically that area inside a tooth that is occupied by its "pulp tissue." Most people would probably refer to a tooth's pulp tissue as its "nerve." While a tooth's pulp tissue does contain nerve fibers it is also composed of arteries, veins, lymph vessels, and connective tissue.

Finally when I thought I was prepared, I book an appointment and end up on a dentist’s chair. As I was being prepared, I saw the nurse bringing up a syringe with the local anesthesia, to be stuck up inside my mouth. That was it! I knew I cannot handle this; I just stand up and make a run for it; the run for my life. I could see the expression on the face of the dentist as I run out of his clinic. Once I’m out, my ego strikes back at me as I realize how big a coward I have been and I return back. However, it took the dentist another half an hour before he could actually stick the needle inside. I was genuinely surprised as I did not feel any pain; I could feel the needle going inside but it did not hurt. He then starts his drilling but I was feeling the streaks of pain signaling that the anesthesia was not working; much because of my anxiety and I get another shot of the syringe. I was already feeling like I was in hell; the procedure was taking its toll on me. I kept reminding myself that I am a man and should keep up to it and bear the pain. It takes some time for the procedure to complete and I am happy that it went fine. I believe that I would have been the worst patient that this guy would have ever handled. Once, I’m back at my place, I feel the effects of the anesthesia; I could not feel the right side of my mouth; I pinch hard and had no feeling. Bloody hell, I took too much of the shots just because I was scared. While he was performing his art on me, I could feel my mouth and now I could not. I look up at the heavens and thank my gods that the procedure was not exactly as I had expected. However, I decide and promised myself that I was not getting under any instrument again.

However, I had to visit the dentist again, this time for a routine check-up, so that I could travel without any issues. And guess what, even after knowing that it's not that difficult a thing, I am scared again. But I know that this time I will be more comfortable.

At this point I would say that dental procedures are acutally not that scary as we percieve them to be. But it is the feeling of complete submission that gives the creeps. You feel helpless bound in the chair and that makes things horrific. But dentist are normal people as we are and if you are at a good one, he would make sure that you are most comfortable and would try to make any procedure as painless as possible.

• They gently explain what the patient will soon feel, and for about how long.
• They frequently ask the patient for permission to continue.
• They give the patient the opportunity to stop the procedure at any time the patient feels uncomfortable. They give them a cue, like raise your left hand.
• They make time for breaks as requested.

So, next time you go to a dentist, do not be fearful at all. It's no big deal!