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Friday, December 30, 2011

Do you suffer with LYGOPHOBIA?


The rustles of raw emotions creeping in your mind stir you. You turn back and take few deep breaths; you realize the clock is giving you a gawky look straight in your face. Its Midnight. You start thinking what all choices you are left with? Brew a coffee? Open that unfinished novella? Browse activities tab? You experience a sinking feeling; you look around with confounded eyes. The room is all dark, so duteous to the rituals of night. It is so dark that you can actually see the darkness, feel it close to your cheeks, infiltrating into your sinuses. You start getting uncomfortable. You start getting algophobic. You can feel your heartbeats, pounding as if targeting to crush your own heart. You stand up and your fingers have already begin to search for that light switch, even before the idea came to your conscious mind. You hum to yourself, consciously trying your best to not to make eye contact with anything but the cold, hard ceramic floor.

You turn on the light. Something evaporates out. You feel relieved to a great extent. As if you were caught with your hands in the cookie jar moments back. You fail yourself by sheer reminiscence of those ghastly moments. You question your courage but quickly retract; you know it pretty well that the night is not meant to be evaluated with ordinary five senses. Acronycal legacy spells words that are beyond common taste or comprehension. You remember the night, weeks back, when you were engaged in deadly combat with the unidentified during the hypnagogic phase; and when you woke up, you were able to feel the susurrate of the unknown, the mighty unknown.

Night is to sleep. Night is to take a leap, if you don’t wish to sleep.

PS: If you have a fear of the darkness or of the night, you probably suffer with lygophobia. That’s what they say in medical journals.


ReSOLUTION Time. Choose Yours.


For every problem that caused you melee, there is a resolution to be taken. The cumulative exercise of taking resolutions at the eve of a New Year sees a pragmatic height as the transition from dusk to dawn happens this beautiful day. 2011 is a passé. It won’t come back ever, unless of course we happen to experience an odyssey in a space machine. I am sure our resolutions don’t come in packaging; they can range from being simple to being rodomontade personified. I am listing some of the most common resolutions that I have mentioned just out of my experience while interacting with a lot of people last fortnight.

Adolescents:

  • I will make my facebook friends’ list swell to the maximum capacity of 5000. (and that must include all the beautiful girls in the town / handsome hunks in the town)
  • I will add to my already existing guinea-pig charm. (and I will add husk to my olive-oil coated voice)
  • I will learn to play guitar. (for the more hilly-billy sorta, replace guitar with drums)
  • I will participate in that reality show. (I have pacified Mom for that and Papa is not a problem till the time Mom understands my emotions)
  • I will join the gym and sculpt my exterior appearance. (You are either born with a bunch of packs or you develop them; sadly there is no other way for boys. For girls, toning is important. Peer pressure, you know)
  • I will loose weight / I will gain weight. (My physical appearance is the biggest hurdle in me not getting the desired attention of opposite sex)
  • I will quit smoking. (before the world knows that I, actually, smoke)
  • I will get a new GF / BF. (All those pick-up lines that I memorized can’t go in vain)

Young Males / Females:

  • I will get the cupid pay some attention to me. (I just need a little bit of grooming, that polished accent and a fatter wallet)
  • I will visit the exotic islands of Lakshdeep.
  • I will send my video-recorded performance to the e-auditions of that newly formed production house. (I have the talent, and you don’t preach me anything else)
  • I will change this job. It sucks. (I am not a robot to continue working when all my crushes have either left or are planning to leave the place)
  • I will quit smoking. (I really don’t want to, but they say it can cause me cancer)
  • I will loose weight / I will gain weight. (The neighborhood health club has offered some irresistible discount offers)
  • I will start my own business. (Where will the money come from?)
  • I will go on a road trip to Laddakh with my bunch of pals. (Being a rubbernecker evokes me)

Middle aged Males / Females:

  • I will reduce my time in front of idiot-box. (enough of mumbo-jumbo. And it is not so cool to announce that you actually are a TV buff)
  • I will resist eating sweets, deep fried stuff and reduce on my junk diet. (my doctors, I fear, would refuse seeing me if I continue to wolf down like a pig)
  • I will devote time to my leisure pursuit e.g. Photography, Clay modeling, Writing, Learning to cook Italian etc. (Life is meant for what else than to hone what your soul cherishes)
  • I will pay a visit to my parents every 3 months. (I love my parents)
  • I will quit smoking. I will limit my alcohol intake. (Do you know the effective ways of achieving abstinence; I have tried a lot of times, unsuccessfully)
  • I will be nice to my kids, and to my spouse too. (I am their world. I must protect them and provide them the unending love. I just wish my spouse was little more understanding)
  • I will plan for my post-retirement life. (My back hurts when I sit for more than 1 hour at stretch; I, possibly, can’t work for more than 5-10 years)
  • I will learn Power Yoga. (What is the meaning of all the money if I don’t have mental solace?)

Seniors:

  • I will know myself. (What is the purpose of my birth?)
  • I will keep the fabrics of the family tied together. (They look like a bunch of morons sometimes, constantly bad-mouthing about each other. I never thought they will turn like this.)
  • I will take my medicines on time. (Now do I have another choice?)
  • I will learn to chat on skype / send e mail / operate a facebook account. My grandkids have been pressing for the same. (I love my little brats. They are a hundred times better than their Dads / Moms)
  • I will go in the neighborhood park daily for that morning and evening walk. (No one bothers to company me at home.)
  • I will know the methods to attain celibate state. (I don’t want to die. I don’t want to take rebirth if I die. I want to experience the bliss of soul. Is it possible to get away from all the pains, all the expectations, all the worries?)
  • I will visit my village every year to have a laid-back vacation. (I should not have neglected the place where I got my roots. It’s most peaceful out there only)



Breaking News: Khetarpal Hospital Is Expanding


Khetarpal Hospital would be entering its 20th year of life after 3 months. The end of teen years; what could have been a better occasion to expand its horizons.

I had been planning to inflate the size of my hospital for a long time. It’s finally turns a reality; I have acquired the adjoining building and the process of turning it into a cathedral of health care embellishments has started with a dash. The architectural layout has been finalized and construction work has commenced. The bricks, the mortar and the unending yells of chisels and hammers; I am glowing in sang froid.

I visit the portion many times a day, taking two steps at a time. The habit has failed to desert me, even in the wrong side of fifties. I seldom stand at a solitary spot of the building and visualize the imminent array of activities. The trollies moving around with a frenetic pace, the sound of a nebulizer exhaling the whiff of medicated oxygen, the front office area bristling with activities, the constant squeak of keyboard buttons, bursts of cachinnation, the silent prayers, the miracles, the thanksgiving sessions – I am reveling in the glory of moments on the card.

I would not just increase the number of beds, but also make provisions to incorporate some of the high-end specialties in my hospital. I plan to give the most agile pair of wings to our existence. I feel like a neophyte once again, full of vim and vigor. I feel like I would be able to bring more smiles. I feel so blessed for I am one of the sources by which the suffering people connect with their divine beliefs.

So, right now, it’s all walls and windows for me. What a better way to celebrate the festivities of onset of New Year.


No more moonshine Mr Politician.


Who loves politicians?

I am not a usual follower of real-time dose of news; it just happened that I was switching channels in the night of 29 December 2011 when I came across ‘live footage’ from Rajya Sabha. A heated debate on the current version of Lokpal was stirring with a lot of moonshine, an essential part of politics. I glared the screen for quite a few minutes and then started feeling like being hauled over the coals. I have never understood politics, and I won’t ever will; the subject needs more manipulations than my heart and brain could allow in unison.

I don’t like modern forms of politics in its face. Most of the politicians today will first undress you mentally and then outrage your intellect.

Anna Hazare did an exceptionally hard-hitting work of evoking the common man’s emotions. I don’t think even he ever imagined the amount of dynamic support that he gleefully witnessed during his long-drawn-out fast at Ramlila Maidan, New Delhi. For every fact is not seeable until the onset of divine light. Divine light is the light of knowledge. It is the light that doesn’t hide even a tittle of darkness in the silhouettes of its multiple spectrums. No matter the ideal Lokpal bill becomes a reality sooner or later, my gut feeling says it will see the light of the day in coming years.

Politics is the pith of any country’s dynamism. We must choose our politicians very sensibly and cautiously, for the repercussions would be merciless if we get lenient in our choices. We live in a vast country with a rich farrago of cultures and it’s our duty to keep the legacy going.

Elections are at a stone’s throw distance. I will practice my electoral right with wired conscience and hyperactive senses. No knee-jerk reflexes and no suspended animation; I must out-perform as a citizen to give my bit in the extended prosperity. Mere cosmetic correction won’t really do; what our politics needs is a comprehensive remodeling.

Wednesday, December 28, 2011

08:00 AM to 08:00 PM. I love the mesh-work of my moments.


A day is so long. You can accomplish a lot of things in a day’s span. Yet some of us crib about the seemingly short length of the day. They wish it was longer. I feel the day is just enough in duration to give you the best opportunity to get your tasks done. Yet for some of us, most often the teenagers and the ones who have lost their drive to work, the day’s affairs are sitting on the fence and prevaricate the things to the best possible extent. For them the day starts late and ends early. And the time in between is just sufficient for them to eat, take rest and indulge in day-dreaming. For the starry-eyed amateur, the world has just opened its wings. Learning to fly comes later in life and requires tenacity in the attitude.

There are people who are accomplished multi-taskers. For them the day is an opportunity. For them the dawn is the opening of gates of life and the dusk is the hard-earned reward. Females, as they say and now proven by scientific researches also, are born multi-taskers. The connecting strand between their two cerebral hemispheres is roughly 20%-30% thicker than that of their counterparts, and that gives them to simultaneously perform a feast of activities. That’s why they can manage small kids at home with more vigor than that of a newly trained nanny, cook meals with the precision of a gastronomic aficionado, take shots at knitting and designing their own fashion-ware, satisfy their gossiping-genes to the abyssal heights and give a new meaning to the sulking relationships of peers in the family by reinventing them. A day is a clay mould; you put your life in it with a focused effort and you get back the result of your choice.

I feel good when I am working at a nightmarish pace. There are times when I perform 12 surgeries, give consultation to 50 odd patients, take 8 hourly ward rounds in my 45 bedded hospital, attend close to a hundred phone calls and still feel like a neophyte when it comes to the energy levels. It all lies in the mind. You can opt to live you life without complaining or you can be in a huff with no rewards. You become what you think. The mesh-work of moments admires those who are dab hands at the theory of relativity. The length of the day is fixed; you make it longer and you make it shorter. 

Why this Kolaveri Di?


Why are people so impatient today? Why are they so monotonous and preoccupied? Why don’t people spare some quality time holding hands, leaning on shoulders and wiping away tears? Why this paroxysm of uncontained angst (read 'Why this Kolaveri')? Why those choleric glances? Why that waspish statement? Why that splenetic attitude? Are we meant for anything else but to love, care and spread happiness?

People are fast becoming raring to go to any horizon to keep the appetite of their ego satisfied. They become myopic and commit heinous follies. They overlook the broader picture, they get hurt easily and the only solution, for releasing the angst of getting bruised, they come across is to cause emotional asphyxia to the person involved. Stumbling-blocks are getting a bit too many in our daily lives. You drive on a road and you rarely ever witness a smiling and content person behind the steering. People honk ear-splittingly as if you carelessly stepped over their toes. I just came across an infographic that stated that every 60 seconds, 11 million conversations happen in the instant messengers; I am afraid no one has ever calculated the amount of swear words that take birth every 60 seconds. I am sure the figure must be as high as a billion. Why this fetid temperament? Whom do you curse? Does it take so much energy to visualize a situation from a different perspective?

Relationships get sour before reaching their maturity point. People don’t really value relationships much; to satisfy the ego takes priority and everything else gets the consolation of back-seat. People put in abrupt responses with a masterly spunk. People feel as if the world is an asylum and all the insanity is pondering over them. Why this brutal rage? Where have gone the days when people used to live life. What I see these days, most of the folks are busy spending their times in one or the other worldly thing. When you refrain from scheduling your life, you are taken for a toss. In the short run, you won’t really understand the importance of planning and execution, but in the long run, you experience the early fall of autumn in your life. So live as if you were always meant for living; Don’t embarrass God by puking out the abhorrent emotions and indulging in ruthlessly cold actions. Live life. Be an amulet. Be simon-pure.

Sunday, December 25, 2011

10 Random things that Doctors hate.


You discover that home made sweets are being smuggled in for the patient by the attendants, in spite of the fact that the patient is a known diabetic and admitted with Ketoacidosis.

Your patient is in evident septicemia and in spite of your best intuition & clinical wisdom, you don’t really get the cultures positive.

That X Ray Chest film is in rotation again.

You smell that the I/O (Intake/Output) chart is crooked by some of the lazy staff on duty.

The old gentleman in the ICU got very sick again and no attendants are being traceable. Even the provided cell numbers are in sleeping mode (read switched off).

A hematological test, carried out at ABC lab, provides an unexpectedly bizarre value. You want to be reconfirmed so this time you send a fresh sample to another high profile lab, let’s say XYZ. To your amazement and mounting frustration, this time again the values are bizarre, just on the opposite pole.

A chronically non-compliant patient gets admitted in a bad shape. He holds a history of being treated for pulmonary tuberculosis on a number of occasions at different places; and to make the matters worse, he never really finished the treatment as per his doctors’ advices. This time he is diagnosed to be having MDR (Multi Drug Resistant Tuberculosis). You feel bad.

You have just 30 minutes of your OPD Consultation time left for the day and 18 patients are scheduled in the waiting list.

Your JR signed of the discharge slip without taking heed of the fact that Tab Crocin can’t be taken 2 tea-spoons full.

One of the attendants tries to judge your clinical and academic knowledge by making his internet-acquired-medical-knowledge the standards of excellence.

Is there an EXPIRY DATE of your charm?


I am at Udaipur as of now. The event is Golden Jubilee Celebration of RNT Medical College, Udaipur. I entered this college with the typical bewilderment of a post-pubescent young male way back in 1970s; that was the era when our existential spaces were not serenaded by the insane communicational devices. We were not having the luxury of 'sending friend request' to that bewitching beauty in the neighborhood; we used to have the only choice - to face the music in person, with no indirect references. No days were alike, no nights were similar. Our thoughts raced faster than some of the processors available these days.

Those were the times of paradisiacal joys that never came alone. The coarse appearances on the exterior were giving shelters to the brooding hopes and bludgeoning aspirations. We used to make merry as if we were the last inhabitants of this mortal world. We used to think rationally, irrationally and, at times, from the diagonal aspect as well. There was this olive oil coated voice to be served to opposite sex and those harsh swear words to be served to the denizens of male dominion, with little conscious effort.

The classes were boring as usual, compensating for the abyssal fun experienced during clinics, dinner-halls, playgrounds, lanes of Udaipur and occasional road trips. Little did I realize that, like every other medical student, I would be missing those easygoing and undemanding days for the rest of my life? Today, I feel content. I see a lot of my college folks gathered for this saturnalia. Wrinkles have appeared, crow feet have crept in, but not to replace that sparkling voodoo; someone rightly said, charm doesn’t come with an expiry date.

What are you doing this Christmas?

  1.              Be the wax that supports the fabric thread in spreading radiance of light.
    2.       Be the ‘Santa Claus’ that gallops down the chimneys to give surprise gifts.
    3.       Bake a cake and get caught red-handed savoring its tender taste.
    4.   Reply to every SMS by creating an individual reply; you are only investing in the jungle of spry optimism.
    5.       Be a lenient host. Stuff your guests with the most exotic delicacies.
    6.       Learn to tend the bar (one in your home) with that guinea-pig charm.
    7.       Smell the whiff of the X-Mas cards sent to you.
    8.       Enjoy the elysian afternoon with that outlandish lunch.
    9.       Learn to wrap the gifts by the most fluorescent and loud-in-your-face sheets.
    10.   Make a wish silently and announce the blessings vociferously.
    11.  Watch the flickering flame of a candle and think about your existence. Be aware of the eternal celibacy.
    12.   Don’t watch your steps as you walk. Show the world what all are you capable of with two left feet.
    13.   Sing Christmas rhyme with notable lust for getting the right notes, right loudness and right rhythm.
    14.   Invest in buying chocolates; how else can you distribute them to the peppy kids all around?
    15.   Say your kids a story; it doesn’t really matter if your project yourself as the superhero. The thing is in.

Wednesday, December 21, 2011

Who kicked the hornet's nest? Don't target Bhagwad Gita.


The controversy over Bhagwad Gita is unholy and unexpected. I don’t purchase the theory that Bhagwad Gita is biased in its interpretation of life and its true meaning, leave aside of allegations that it contains inflammatory scriptures. What I collect is that the controversy is more due to anti-ISKCON stance of some mighty forces in Russia than due to the neutral teachings of our holy book. The matter is interspersed with a lot of indwelling hullabaloo; while the prosecutor says that his plea gains its status based on the expert opinion of the concerned officials related to Tomsk State University, the irony is that the so called ‘expert officials’ deny their opinion as being the official word. They render it to their own personal estimation.

The whole basis of stigmatizing Bhagwad Gita takes its birth from the interpretation of the scripture by Swami Prabhupada. Some have termed the explanations to be potent enough to cause religious divisions and some also travel to the extent that abusive words have been used for the folks who display no faith in Lord Krishna’s teachings. I have this deep insight that things are being manipulated and there are some gains on offer for the people responsible for stirring the hornet’s nest.

We, the Indians, have absorbed moral values, tranquility and wisdom by following the teachings of Bhagwad Gita ad infinitum. And why just Indians, I am sure a lot of our global citizens have seen their lives being catapulted to higher spheres just by pouring unconditional faith over the knowledge shared in Bhagwad Gita. Bhagwad Gita has been and would remain a favorite with scholars, sages and wise people all over the world. Leo Tolstoy was an ardent aficionado of our holy book; its first Russian translation took place about 225 years ago. The knowledge has no boundaries; its always on the self propogative spree, enlightening everyone that comes across its path. It would be best if this storm is resolved as soon as possible and I am sure the government of Russia would act in an exemplary way. 

7 ways to win hearts of your patients

Be courteous. Politeness travels a long way and helps disseminating your reputation to the remotest of places. Well-mannered words are the best emollient to soothe the nerves of your already irritated and depressed patient; so take a leap to travel the extra way.

Don’t make them wait as long as it’s in your hands. Shed the temptation of that freshly brewed coffee, of that nicotine break and of that cat nap when it’s the stipulated time to see your patients; provide your best in reducing the sufferings and that just doesn’t include rendering medical consultation. Behave as if you really care, as if they mean the world to you.

Don’t hide any fact. May it be a fact related to the prognosis, cost implications, disease course, expected duration of hospital stay, the fine words in treatment consent form. Don’t hide anything. A patient has no choice but to put the faith of his life to you; and you must come out a winner in helping him negotiating his illness in the most transparent manner.

Practice ethically. One must not indulge in accepting gifts from corporate that in turn want the return favors. One must adhere to the regulations laid by the respected councils of medical constitutional bodies. I am sure we can reduce the rate of nosocomial infections a great deal if we start following the protocols strictly. We can find innumerate faults in the system, but to say the fundamental fact, the cleaning of the system starts from the self.

Offer out-of-the-way help to the deserving patients. You came across a poor patient and you refused to take your charges; you have won a heart forever. You tried your level best to dwell deep in latest scientific literature to find out the best treatment modality for a patient suffering with a very uncommon disorder. You must not behave as robots while sitting in your OPD chamber; add a human touch and be sympathetic. The rest of the things will automatically follow a great deal.

See the world from the patients’ eyes. It can help you allay your feelings of frustration that you come across so frequently while taking rounds or while catering to a patient immune to all the counseling. Circumspect the circumstances of your patients and you might start feeling a sense of belonging to them. You are there to heal, not just to write a prescription and leave.

Remain approachable. For your patient, you are the God personified. Though I must say these definitions are getting a jolt every passing day but still, ethically, you hold a very responsible position in the context of your patients. Don’t refuse to see any patient who adamantly seeks your consultation. Help, just like hope, follows the trajectory of a boomerang. The more you give, the more it comes back to you.

Do you really care for your shadow?


‘A person without a shadow is a Satan’ ---- English Proverb


We, the humans, are the most capable animate beings in the world. We hold distinct advantage from the animals, birds, insects in being able to express, feel, relate and accomplish. But still a majority of us feels monotonous and devoid of vigor; why is that so? The supreme creature that holds enormous power to unlock the mystical secrets and to invent the most insurrectionary techniques and methods should be content from inside, but that rarely is a reality. The blinding question is a big ‘WHY’.

As sage ‘Patanjali’ clearly said that one of the biggest reasons for failures and sorrow is the fact that we have this innate fear for being mortals. We fear death. We fear losing our dear ones. We fear a day will come when we will turn old, frail and powerless. This fear is the biggest detractor; we must out limit it to experience the raptures of life.

Do you ever get disturbed when your shadow appears smaller than the other person’s shadow? Do you ever feel perturbed when your shadow falls at an unhygienic place? Do you ever bother to find where your shadow is when you are in the middle of a very significant meeting? I am sure most of you will answer with a vocal ‘NO’. You are right. No one really bothers what happens to the shadow; we are just concerned with our bodies. Here lies on of the greatest treasures of life. Our physical bodies are the shadows of our souls, and we denote our souls, not our bodies. So why to take pain when our bodies suffer; they are mere shadows of our existence. Realize this truth and herald your journey to bliss.

Sunday, December 18, 2011

The World is a Canvas; and I hold the Brush.


The darker days in our lives help us shedding away the myopic view of the world. One must be having a visionary stance on the finer nuances of life, so close to us yet so esoteric. I saw a new world when I was passing through the roughest patch of my life. Many a folks who used to frequent me like I have been their diurnal source of oxygen, vanished in oblivion. Many a folks started believing that I must have done some sins in my present life to have reaped the bad days which swallowed me those days. But I felt stronger because my family and my close-knit friends, who had knew every inch of my life, provided me rock-solid support.

The reticulum of intuitions came into play and all of us were connected even when we were at far ahead distances and chose to remain mute at our respective places. Such is the power of faith and belief, when you start experiencing it, you start seeing the world from an entirely different perspective. And this is what the real call of life is. I don’t think we are born just to earn, eat, make merry, shed tears, sleep and then die in isolation one fine morning. Life is meant for something bigger, something of a grandeur measure. It’s a journey to refine one’s soul and to escalate it to higher echelons of spiritual plane. God lies in methods and our methods must be godly. The fabric, its threads and its patches are all important for the essence of a cloth; in the similar spree, life, along with its limitations, unsolved quests and riddles and confusing questions are all important for the essence of a soul's journey through the mortal world.



Have You Came Across God-Like-Particle?


 If universe is the answer, what is the question?

If Xenoglossia (a condition in which people start speaking in languages that have been unknown to them, though the languages exist. This is most frequently found in children) is the answer, what is the question?

If death is the answer, what is the question?
Does a logic exists that has universal applicability?

You chase your destiny willfully or you get trapped in the lanes that point to it?

God-like-particle is in the way of being discovered. What next? The final decoding?

You catch hold of an extremely engrossing book, one vivid evening. Is this a coincidence, or is this something else?

If religion is the answer, what is the question?
If dream is the catalyst, what is the reaction?

Mental anesthesia has been a reality. In later part of 19th century, a Scottish doctor operated more than 300 patients in Bengal without giving any form of traditional anesthesia that involved exposure to an agent. All he did was to hypnotize his patients and not even in a single case did any of his patients complained of any discomfort. The variety of surgeries that he performed was overwhelming; brain tumor surgery, abdominal surgery etc. So, if pain is the question, what is the answer?

In the marriage of Sensory Nervous System & Motor Nervous System, who plays the cupid? My choice is Autonomic Nervous System. Who bears the biggest brunt out of all these?

We are not born equal. Congenital illnesses prove this. Is the celestial constitution biased?

I love my addictions.

Writing is my newly found addiction. The list of my addictions has displayed a remarkable variation all these years; it is tough to contain me in a bunch of hackneyed words. There was a time when I was addicted to taking lighthearted laps with full throttle in the town with a bunch of friends; it was frolicsome and the involved exhilaration came as an added reward. There was a time when I was addicted to chewing rolled betel leafs, containing a mishmash of areca nut and slaked lime paste with a heavy coating of aromatic kattha. There was a time when I was addicted to learning the nuances of Microsoft Office; precisely it was the time when Pentium 3 processors were considered to be the most potential candidates, able to overpower an ordinary human brain one day.

There was a time, in my adolescent days, when I was addicted to watching Mumtaz, the silver screen starlet, on celluloid. Like every other teenager, belonging to heartland of India, my heart too swayed with the mischievous movements of her eyelashes. There was a time when I was addicted to perform surgeries at a stretch. In one of those golden sprees, I had performed 34 laparoscopic cholecystectomies (surgery for gall bladder stone) before sun could rise twice. The place was Muktsar, Punjab and 20th centuary was dusking away. There was a time when I was addicted to listening to the breath-taking songs of Adnan Sami. My favorite ones were ‘Kabhi to nazar milao’, ‘Nakhra uska garam masala’ and ‘Bheegi bheegi raaton mein’. With the pacing velocity of time, as Adnan Sami lost considerable weight, his news songs failed to evoke that signature charm.

There was a time when I was addicted to learn the Piano and every night I used to practice on the keyboard till my distal phalanges could contain their anguish. My music teacher, Vineet, a young lad with a remarkable hold over his practiced dominion used to teach me with grand vigor and it was his very subtle and soulful approach to music that I finally learned to make some music. Addictions are for indulgence and I am sure everyone has them. Your personality and the state of your subconscious mind attract certain habits, certain actions to you, and in the long run they metamorphose to be called as addictions. For some, love is the addiction; as for me meditating in the kingdom of Lord Krishna is my latest addiction.

Wednesday, December 14, 2011

You can't censor my thoughts. Can you?


Why do people have to judge incessantly? Why do people have insecurities that drive them to think in egregiously biased manners? Why cant people just sit back and observe with an open mind?

Can you really imagine your posts, your pics being subjected to scrutiny before you are able to upload them? To me it sounds something bizarre to say the least, and I am sure most of the geeks out there would share an opinion like that. To deal with a small bunch of nuisance-makers, this would rather be a tough blow to the ordinary social media user.

Unpractical, flawed and undemocratic.

And I just read at one of the credible portals that Indian ministers want the scrutiny process to be done manually. So if that ever comes to see the light of the day, the honest taxpayer would be someone at highest loss. There are a lot of brighter ways to spend the national resources; invest in strengthening infrastructure, create more chances for the betterment of life-quality, make food cheaper and most widely available, check out the tentacles of corruption, fight inflation, give wings to the dreams of underprivileged and what not?

Our facebook profiles should not get unnecessarily poked; the right to express must not be compromised. More than 35 million tweets are sent by Indians per day and you want to scan those using human methods before they get posted. That typically mars the basic usability of such commendable web portal.

In the times of calamities, twitterati have used the site to provide commendable help resources in very short time. Facebook provides a working vent for all of us suffering with emotional fatigue. Now just imagine, can you really wait for your family album to get a nod from some of the authorities before you decide to share it with your close friends?

Please don’t snatch our rights of speaking and be heard to. It would not help to screen our social media content before we post them. Not only does it sound rude, it also defies some of the basic rights that we possess as humans.

Where is the FUSE of your body?


Tragedies are weapons of destiny that don’t intend to harm you; they announce their presence in your lives to make you learn the art of self defense. They make you stronger and help you reinforcing your faith in the supreme spiritual power. Within your subconscious depths lie infinite wisdom, abyssal power, an unbridled supply of all that is so necessary for your existence. It is waiting there for you to give it the wings of expression and development. 

When you begin to recognize these potentialities of your deeper mind, your subconscious mind, they will all take form in the world and will reinforce your beliefs and help you coping up with the drastic times. Many a times, I have witnessed power of the sub conscious realms lifting people up out of their immensely incapacitated states, providing them plenteous health and vitality once again. Many a folks are able to discern their past life information by processing their subconscious mind, using correct psychic techniques. I am sure a lot of us have read about 'Past Life Regression' and some of us believe in it as well. As far as I am concerned, I am a staunch believer in reincarnation, importance of Karma and abyssal power of subconscious mind.

I believe there is a miracle-working curative force within your mind; it lies in your subconscious sphere and can heal the troubled mind and many other ailments of body that have a mind-body-soul axis. The moment you reckon the force from the mundane and simpleton suggestions, imparted to you in mighty proportions by nature and its forces in your everyday's life, you would enter a plane that embodies 'nothingness'. Crack the convolutions and embrace the emptiness. The joy lies with the 'Nought'.

Monday, December 12, 2011

A Nurse. An Angel In Motion.


  • They have taken care of my patients as if they were their own kids.
  • They have spent sleepless nights in the wards, ICU and Casualty so that the patients can bear a sound sleep.
  • They have stricken friendship with desolate patients so that they don’t feel homesick.
  • They have refused to leave from duty if an emergency arrived in the waning end of their shifts.
  • They have made sure that every nook and corner of the hospital looks spick and span.
  • They have abandoned visiting their home towns if there was a shortage of equivalent man power in the hospital.
  • They always brought home cooked delicacies when they returned from their ritual of once a year visit at their native place.
  • They have cleaned the spilled vomitus and blood stains when the ward boy was not in sight.
  • They have juggled hard to learn computers so that they can help the hospital’s vision of keeping the systems as per the advanced standard protocol.
  • They have attended their duties even when they are down with viral fever or acute gastritis.
  • They have cold sponged the infant suffering with ‘febrile convulsions’, even when the child’s parents slowly drifted into sleep.


Just observing them at work makes me retrospect and realize that I have been bestowed with tons of knowledge by all the staff nurses I ever came in contact with. They have this altruistic attitude to life, and they never make qualms about petty things. A doctor is incomplete without an equally capable army of allied nurses; patient management is a comprehensive process. A nurse is someone most close to God; a mother figure, a sage in motion, an emotional healer. I wish every person of the world gets to know that the nurses sacrifice a lot to make sure that the ailing ones start gaining health again. I don’t think I can do anything that can ever match the favors that have been bestowed over me by nurses. One needs to have this in her soul, in her tissues to be as selfless as a nurse is.

A Nurse is one of the most divine animate beings. I salute to their spirit and their cause.

I am Immortal. Are You?


I have learnt some of the best lessons of my life in the courtyard of Lord Krishna’s temple in Vrindavan. The importance of self-discovery and meaning of physical existence was oblivion to me years back. Then the rendezvous happened, a transcendental one, a stirring one. There is more meaning to the basis of our existence than to earn, eat and die solemnly a fine evening. Why at all we take birth in a cosmos full of nebulous hints? As I embraced Lord Krishna, my soul found a conduit that was full of light and at the end of it, there was nothing but magical and ecstatic easiness. The moment one comes across the aim of taking birth, fears alleviate.

I have experienced the profound power of being at the center of celestial orbits when sitting solitarily infront of Lord Krishna’s idol, enjoying the nothingness of inner self. The quintessence of consummation is realization of self. It is rhapsodic to say the least. A soul is free from general emotions of guilt, hatred, anger etc. and the moment we start feeling ourselves not as physical bodies but as wandering souls, we attract cosmic blessings. A blessing is nothing but shared enlightenment. This is why we live; to understand the course of our trajectory, to perform better in the world that we inhabit. I often see people perturbed at the very thought of death; in fact death is the opening door. When someone dies, he just switches his place. A soul is immune to death, so why worry? You can never die; you are immortal. So why not plan a journey keeping in account of your soul? I believe in Lord Krishna, someone else believes in Jesus and so on. We have different idols, different faiths but the essence is the SAME.

Thursday, December 8, 2011

'Observations' have been my best buddies.


Serendipitous observations have always been my thick friends. As my profession demands, I have to spend a lot of time observing my patients’ gestures and expressions in the hope of getting a vital clue about the indwelling disease. This way I am blessed, for the requirements of my profession and my personal interest blend in perfectly. To observe is the prerequisite to learn, and eventually to grow.

I hold this deep-seated belief that by keenly observing a person, or a situation, or a mere thought, we allow our energy fields to get closer to that of our subject of observation. And this gives us power to reach a state where the intervening lines no longer exist; you reach as close to your subject as you are to yourself. And this is precisely the point where you start producing the desirable changes, the changes of betterment. Observations start touching the key-points when your intuitive abilities have outgrown the ordinary standards.

To enhance your intuitive powers, you have to know and put your faith on the virtue called ‘belief’. If your subconscious gets to know your belief, it turns the desire into the reality. But then the belief should not be an artificial one, or one with fragile integrity. Nothing is a miracle. The cosmic reality is all studded with the mutual arrangements and reactions of energy fields. Your thought is a cloud of specified energy; energy that has power to transform. Prayers get answered when the faith is unalloyed, because the subconscious perceives this as your deep desire and the natural forces act in accordance to make your desires see the light of the day. So strengthen the roots of your existence; start practicing faith and stop worrying.

New Kid in the Block. Welcome Doctor.


A lot of young doctors are joining the existing brigade of healthcare professional every day. This profession can be very demanding and tiresome; even confusing at times. To be a successful doctor, an intern or a newly crowned resident doctor must adhere to some basic tenets and the glory would be on its way to greet with open arms.

  • Plan your day ahead. It would be awesome if you can divide the day in the chunks of 2 hours each; that will give you greater flexibility and clarity over the acts, their courses and end results.
  • Don’t lose your sleep. A healthy mind needs your daily quota of hypnotic trance. 
  • Talk to your patients. Talk a lot. Make moves to understand their insights.
  • Don’t hide any fact from your patient. You sit in the seat just next to that of the God in your patient’s eyes. Do your best to keep up to the heightened expectations.
  • Always take consents as per the protocol. On a bad day it would save your skin as well.
  • Follow sanitation standards. Wash your hands as per the WHO recommended protocol. Don’t abridge the minutes passed practicing hand washing.
  • Take Hepatitis B vaccination. Everyone tries to be smart enough to avoid a needle prick injury, but one can never predict a bad moment. One stitch in time saves nine.
  • Take complete history of the patient. Remember to include allergy history, family history and past medical history as feverishly as you take history of present ailments. The deeper you dig, higher you soar.
  • When in doubt, take help from the seniors.
  • Respect the nurses and allied healthcare staff. You can learn a lot from them just by observing them closely.
  • Give wings to your lateral thinking. Why this? Why not that? Keep the handy versions of your reference books always available.
  • Get access of the medical and surgical journals of your choice. The more you read, the better you know. You get to know a lot of latest modifications in the standard regimens of treatment when you read journals.
  • Be acquainted with a patient by his name (not his bed number or room number).
  • Write legibly.
  • Never write about the clinical state of the patient in the case sheet unless you have examined him.
  • Participate in the academic activities. Get enrolled for seminar, workshops, conferences etc.
  • Co-operate with the quality control team of the organization you work with. They are not your enemies; they just want to make patient care more effective.
  • Go slow on stimulants.
  • Practice meditation.
  • Try not to get irritated even in the adverse settings. No one comes to the hospital in a serene mental state.
  • Write notes about the key things that you learned. Maintain a diary, if possible.
  • Wear clean uniform.
  • Sport that warm smile more often.
  • Love your profession.

All Random Events have Planned Motives.


I have always placed a rock-strong belief in the concept of reincarnation; and every time I come across a book written by Dr Brian Weiss, my belief increases manifolds. As a kid I was told about the concepts of reincarnation, karma, prayers and related spiritual subjects by my parents. Even though many questions were left unanswered due to lack of credible explanation, my heart abided the teachings. I definitely placed my belief in the theory that your destiny is the result of your karmas and when you take re-birth, its just another chance to get away from the cycle of life and death and attain the ‘brahm’ state.

Dr Brain Weiss, according to me, is an immensely talented, insightful, knowledgeable and courageous person, who kept his questioning cells free from any restrictions. Life is what other than the state of utter liberty? As I have grown up spiritually reading his books, I take no exceptions in instating that his observations and findings make sense. Our karmas, our relationships and our thoughts make tangled knots in our subconscious mind, which eventually exhibit in the form of physical symptoms. For every phobia, déjà vu, string of strange but related incidents, there lie a lot of spiritual and karmic connections. What we perceive as random events or moments in our lives are planned ones, with detailed and precise motives. The power of soul is unparalleled, and in most instances, unexplored.

Meditate a lot. Learn to align the axis of your mind, body and soul and all your fears, insecurities, negative emotions would go for a toss. You will feel liberated. You will feel elated. You will feel close to God.

Thursday, December 1, 2011

Do You Require An Electromagnetic Helmet?


We are living in the era of scientific ecstasy. Our thinking neurons have taken a leap from Pre-Neanderthal era to that of the modern day, where zippiest telecommunication is the call of the hour. I am sure if you ever happen to pass by a congested lane in Old Delhi, and you happen to appreciate the sky, all that you see is the patches of sky blue bruised badly by an array of electric wires. Now this is the truth that is visible to the eyes. The reality is far more ugly, and horrid as well.

Millions of cell phones that enjoy closest proximity to human bodies that any electronic appliance ever did; lacs of giant cell phone towers dispersed everywhere. How much electromagnetic radiations to you think you have to eat everyday because of these technical expansions?

Your home has a TV, a satellite direct-to-home transmission service, desktops / laptops with internet facilities, refrigerator, washing machine, stereo system, microwave oven and what not. If you happen to see all those electromagnetic waves piercing your bodies, I am sure you would faint in gross disbelief. These electromagnetic waves have energy, and that energy must be doing something with our bodies, and our minds. What do you think? Are you sure they are non-interfering? Has anyone measured susceptibility of a DNA to the riot of electromagnetic waves?

Offers, and some more offers. Electronic devices have become a lot more affordable than they used to be a decade back. That means an even distribution of intruding electromagnetic energy in our households, society and world at large. Someone mentioned, ‘faith is blind’; how true indeed. A case of mass myopia, or a case of exaggerated, unrealistic hopes? How much maneuvering does the nature allows?


Are we digging our own graves?

Make Your Kids Aware About SEX. Educate Them.


Its an entangled world. An overtly complicated one. Different cultures, different styles, different education modes, different standards of living, different expectations, different choices, different moods, different mindsets, different beliefs and the list is unending. The differentiation between good and bad and the explanation of everything that lies in between is of crucial importance. Armour your kids with a good dose of sex education so that they face the world with wisdom, clarity and courage. 

  1. Keep your talking style very natural. Don’t appear like you have rehearsed a lot for the final talks; kids are way too smart to judge the difference between natural and artificial. A natural talk would evoke more interest and reliability.
  2. Avoid complex description of sexual anatomy. The motive is to simplify things for adolescents or kids, not to make the seemingly difficult puzzle an unconquerable one.
  3. Speak about sexual maturation, menstruation, onset of secondary sexual characters before the onset of events so that the kids embrace these events with an enlightened psyche. If you don’t feel comfortable enough, ask a psychologist about the proper way to do this. Remember, a parent is the best person to give the child some sensible education about sex and the allied paraphernalia.
  4. A child, in all possibilities, would ask you strange, sometimes embarrassing, questions about sexuality; the best you can do is to provide a real answer in the most comprehensible way. Don’t just attempt to make your child loose hold the topic so that you don’t have to answer the queries. An unanswered question might never be raised again by your child and a wrong answer, gathered from dubious sources, can be detrimental.
  5. Encourage the child to ask anything that comes to his mind.
  6. Ensure free spirited, knowledgeable talks when you are imparting sex education to your kids. They must not feel inhibited morally to raise questions.
  7. Involve your spouse in the process. Kids can ask a question related to sexuality to anyone in the family; and if all the answers are given by one parent, the kids may smell that talks are scripted.
  8. Kids should be told about the line that separates affection from sexual abuse. They must be explained when to say a ‘no’ and when to report the things to parents and teachers. You can’t take chances with your child’s emotional and mental health; and with the rising incidences of child abuse, it would be just apt to make your child well prepared to shield himself.
  9. Keep a check on the quality of video games that your kid adores. Sometimes these may contain explicit material, ambiguous gestures, provocative body language or simple misinterpretation of the sexualities, by which your child might be affected in an adverse way.
  10. Keep your internet settings in parental control mode. Remember, a kid’s mind is very pliable and an access to pornographic sites can be extremely ruinous.