SimpleGal, An absolute delight - thoroughly enjoyed reading what is a cracking piece, though its contents clearly lay beyond the ambit of my academic reach. You piece reminded me of my reading of Jean-Domnique Bauby's moving memoir – The Diving-Bell & The Butterfly, many moons ago. I related the plight of Bauby – a rare case of a medical condition referred to as 'locked-in-syndrome'; paralysed from head to toe after a stroke but with his mind intact; unable to communicate except through blinking of his left eye-lid - to that of your charges, not least because they were prisoners in their own bodies, just like the former. Except of course they could move about, talk or respond unhindered without the visible presence of any physical impairment. I can only imagine the gravity of the task at hand: dealing with such ‘abnormal’ people would have required a fare dose of tact and flexibility on your part, your technical expertise notwithstanding. Nothing could have been more fulfilling than knowing whatever professional help you could muster had added to bettering the lives of those unfortunate few. Now back to Bauby – thanks to his loyal helper who took down his dictation relentlessly, letter by letter during countless sittings (she would read out the alphabet a-z, and he would blink his eyelid at the intended letter); his psychologists, medical professionals and others who made possible for him to ‘write’ what was to become a staggering piece of work in modern literature. No mean feat indeed. Read the book, no? Worth a try if not already read. Pse do excuse the repetition if you have. This book remains one of the most heartrending in all of the biographies/auto that I have read. Really moving – I think, they’ve made it into a mainstream feature film. This is clearly a quality write-up – one that I have read in a good whack of time in Sajha. PPlease do keep them coming. ************* Some random ramblings now: ""A funny sort of challenge was that being of small stature, it was often difficult for me to maintain the air of authority required of my position"" I think, you should come and attend a crash course at the University of Life with the resident Prof Emeritus: he will teach you how to maintain the air of authority:); can give you lessons on a discipline bizarrely termed as 'leadership', one tenet of this involves shouting down the phone at your subordinates if the morning cuppa does not arrive on time.. ahem. How about that? :_) ""After all, a romantic relationship is a quest for the right life partner so everyone dons the psychologist's hat, whether it's done consciously or unwittingly."" Hmm.. is this why I keep failing my tests?? :) All because I am not wearing me ol’ psychologist's hat?? Dementia is its euphemism perhaps, and I could surely do with a tad bit of treatment for its bouts, don't you think? :)) Joking aside, please do keep them coming. A very happy new year – have a good one. ****************** Capt, How're you doing, ol chap? Some non-sense hereunder: ""How much does the physical apperance of a person influence how they are treated by others? Does a cute guy or gal end up getting favorable treatment over a less attractive one even amongst the most educated and thinking people in society whom you would expect would see past such superficial features?"" Don’t worry mate, Napoleon was only five foot two. Or even shorter.. Sorted :) And his fellow Frenchman who wrote quite a bit of rubbish called existentialism, while sipping his cuppa at Café De Flore: Sartre. He too was barely five foot two, I think. Short and ugly with those funny pairs of chashma, and yet he went to bed with a few dozen of Padma Laxmis in his life time.. barsetweard! :) Now I am not going to talk about the other ugly libertines – Picasso, a select few from the Lost Generation era, et al. :))) ""key to being constantly challenged, in my opinion, is to realize the infinite thinking power of the mind and not be hesitant to push new boundaries in thoughts and action."" Right, let's challenge ourselves – yes, you and I! :))) Don't know about 'thoughts' but I know, plenty of 'action’'stuff to 'push new boundaries'! How about sky-diving from 35000 feet??? Don't worry, I will give you a piggy-back during the whole of the dive… and oh, I will get one of those extra jumbo sized pampers from Marks & Spencers (nappies rather!), one for each to put on, in case either of us wanted to go to the toilet. Sorted.. :)) And you know what! We'll land at SimpleGal's roof. I will leave all the cerebral stuff for you to engage with our host – the 'thoughts' part, while I get busy with my 'actions', one of which will be to ransack her fridge for those bottles of super-chilled Chavlis from Bordeux. How's that for pushing the boundaries eh?? :-) Blimey.. Enough woffles. It's been good talking again though.. see you in the new year probly. Have a good one, matey! **** Carpe diem