Medicine Girl

Does any of you have this regular guy in your morning routine who starts off your day wishing you a good morning every single day before ruining it for you by detailing why it really isn’t a good morning? Well, lucky you, if you answered in the negative. I have this crabby colleague I travel to office with, who is perpetually pissed with everything and everyone every-single- damn-day. Nothing, absolutely nothing pleases him- be it the crisp morning air which is to him a grim reminder of the office drudgery to follow or the cheerful Safai worker who very courteously nods at us day after day (reminding him of freeloaders in his society who don’t pay up society maintenance charges leading to inefficient garbage disposal which is the root cause of this city becoming un-livable) or my desperate humorous attempts at   steering away from conversations that can trigger off any of the above! As per him, potholes are meant to be repaired by none less than the Prime Minister himself...

Crowd sourced Blog ..with inputs from multiple rants :)  Dear Mr. Aamir Khan “NOT ALL DOCTORS ARE GREEDY” “THERE IS NO PROFESSION THAT IS ABSOLUTELY CLEAN” “DOCTORS ARE OBLIGED TO SERVE BY CHOICE, NOT BY COMPULSION” Sir, I have been a big fan or your work, life and principles. I am also a fan of ‘Satyamev Jayate’. But I was shocked to see the episode on 27th May, 2012. You are an Icon. You should have thought well and done the homework before doing such a biased show. There are only two people in the film industry that are being taken seriously by the thinking class of society, You and Amitabh Bacchhan. So, when you give such a biased and one sided version of a story, it hurts. Speaking about such a thing on a “commercial” TV show is bad. (I am sure you have taken a big amount, only doctor are supposed to do charity and social work, not actors!!! Right!) I want to highlight few important points here. And yes I am qualified to make observations as I am a medical s...

This weekend I visited Drushtikon - a photography exhibition.   Now I am not really one of those ‘arty’ kinds or one of those who can appreciate the play of sun and shadows in a photograph. To me a school going kid is a kid, is a kid and will remain just that- a kid. Rarely would I have noticed, if ever,   the mehendi design on his palm. An old man squatting against a wall wouldn’t have merited a second glance earlier. But yesterday the frame urged me to contrast the old fellow’s strong gaze versus his frail physique! The very procession I was once part of per force, en route my native place, was right in my face, albeit in a splendid golden hue that I couldn’t but help resolve to visit Jejuri again. Drushtikon re-introduced me to myself in a hundred different ways. I discovered I could be at peace by myself in the midst of a sea of humanity, with absolute no self-consciousness what so ever. Those who know me would raise a toast to that I am sure. I lear...

In all my 8-9 years of clinical practice I am yet to see a cancer survivor. Maybe my definition of a Survivor is wrong. Or maybe I havent seen enough patients with Cancer around. Or maybe only the ones I knew were suffering- didnt make it. Who knows. In the last year and a half I had the misfortune of following up for three cancer patients -people very close to my heart. Three different people with three drasticaly different approaches to life after their cancers were detected. In their own ways each of them taught me cancer kills. However it only kills the physical you.. it revives dead relationships, it brings to life long forgotten ambitions & dreams, it brings alive your spirit to go for it. So is it that bad after all...? Cancer turned out to be a great teacher as well. Cancer taught me to be humble. The end is closer than it appears. It taught me to be thankful for small things I can do without having to be dependant on others. Cancer taught me to be strong. In the end you ar...