Mammilapanatapai

i love the word "mammilapanatapai"... it's from the Agan language which is now a dead language but it was spoken in the southern most part of south america. i've never heard the word spoken, but the meaning is very beautiful. it means that moment of feeling when two people want to initiate something but neither wants to be the one to start it. it can be, perhaps two tribal leaders wanting to make peace but neither wanting to be the one to begin it. or it could be two people in a party wanting to approach each other but neither quite brave enough to make the first move...

Death, a question...

in my short career-span as a doctor, i have declared many patients dead... and probably this is the first time that i have pondered over it. the ancient Greeks suggested waiting for 3 days and the Romans 9 days, to ensure the person was indeed dead!!! Indian literature mentions cutting a finger or observing if ghee placed on the forehead melts... someone rightly said, "so uncertain is men's judgement that they cannot determine even death itself"...

amir's miss...

Dear Amir Khan, Simply shouting "stop female foeticide" is not the answer. First tackle the problems which sends shudders through a would-be father's mind whenever he expects a girl child. The fear is not just dowry, my friend. Her vulnerability at the hooligan stricken Indian roads, her vulnerability to be labeled "loose" by the Indian society at the slightest of pretext, her burden of innumerable social rules, they all fall on a father's shoulder to tackle... So naturally his "disinterest" to raise a girl child. But I believe Aamir Khan missed the fine prints... Similarly, expecting doctors to stop being professionals and start doing charity is preposterous. The cut system is an western import and not an evil endemic to India alone to be seen with raised eyebrows. Maybe you have quoted a few points but you missed that a doctor is given the right to determine his own fees and a patient is obliged to pay it... Dictors offer their expertise which they gain after herculean hard work. Indian health care system is much much cheaper than the west. But the western system functions smoothly because the government ensures that everybody has health insurance. They don't plead doctors to do charity. Doctors there remain the highest paid professionals... It's good that you want to make a change, but beating around the bush won't work... You are not here with the solution, but rather being a part of the problem...

Edith Piaf

she was abandoned by her alcoholic, drug addict mother as soon as she was born... her maternal grandmother rarely fed or washed her, instead put her to sleep with wine whenever she cried... she was then sent off to her paternal grandmother who ran a brothel, which came to be her home... she was blinded by keratitis from the age of 3 to 7... at age 17 she bore a child who died two years later of meningitis... she stood just 4 ft 10 inches and was rightly dubbed "Piaf" meaning sparrow in French... her career peaked during WW II... she performed for the Germans at the top luxury brothel called One Two Two Club... the Germans allowed Piaf to pose with the French POWs to boost their morale, who subsequently managed to cut out their own image to forge identity papers and escape... she battled pathetic health issues and morphine dependency and three major car accidents... but nonetheless, she was one of France's finest singer performers whose songs still rule the radio waves... this is an example of how an underprivileged, brothel-raised street girl can fight the tyrannical world of sexual abuse and emerge a glorious singing sensation... the French sky cannot exist without Edith Piaf...

Her price!!!

She is the middling second or third daughter of the deprived family... she is from one of the ‘poorer’ states of our country... he is just another man from her village... he befriends her, inveigles her and elopes with her... he brings her to a north-western state of our country where sex ratio still is in the six-hundreds... sells her to another man for the sum of 50,000 INR... the buyer marries her but not in the true sense of the term... he has another three brothers and two uncles... every night, they take turns to have sex with her... she has given up resistance... a year later, she is re-sold... for the price of 20,000 INR... the lower price is because she’s “used”!!! The first step against human trafficking in India is to understand what it is and how this vice is affecting 20 to 60 million Indians and gathering the audacity to raise a finger against it!!! P.S: above mentioned is not a rare incident but perhaps, the commonest and ‘softer’ versions available with me...

The ill-pill...

As a doctor, I always make an effort to keep my prescriptions small and restricted. And on instances even sending back patients, discontented, telling them they do not need medications for their complaints. The reason is, in India, there are hundreds, if not thousands, of drugs which are useless, if not dangerous... Worthless drugs include STATINS, the most fashionable and doctor-friendly anti-cholesterol drug. Similarly, many anti-inflammatory drugs, pain-killers, cardio-vascular drugs, anti-diabetics, drugs for osteoporosis, contraception, muscular cramps and tobacco addiction are futile... the reason they’re doing the rounds is because of the pharmaceutical companies who keep this drugs moving for their own profit... Wall Street has three major players – Pharmaceuticals, Oil and Banking... and the pharma industry is the most lucrative, the most cynical and the least ethical of all the industries... There is no pill for every ill but there is definitely an ill following every pill...

Rise up, woman!!!

Dear woman, I don’t know what you are doing! Figures by the United Nations tell me that even though you are half of the world’s population, you do 2/3rd of the world’s work, earn only 1/10th of the world’s income and own just a meagre 1/100th of the world’s property!!! Of the world’s 1.3 billion poor, you comprise 70%! Of the world’s 1 billion illiterate, you comprise 2/3rd! And you hold only 10.5% of the seats in the world’s parliament... You carry man in your womb for nine months; so that he may later rape you, exploit you??? What is your silence for??? What do you fear??? I was in a busy Delhi market recently when I saw a man offensively brush by a lady in the crowd. Like as if an instant reaction, she pulled the man by his sweater and landed a tight slap on his face... her friend was quick to utter a “very good” and they moved on with their work... all wrapped up within a few seconds!!! Justice delivered... I am ashamed to call myself a man... I belong to the kind who rapes, who tortures, who exploits! I am worthless... I can do nothing for you... Only you can! Because you are the one who gives birth, who nurtures, who cares and who brings beauty to everything... Now, it’s time you yielded the sword!!! Don’t be happy at being sung about by Honey Singh who talks about your “freshness”... Don’t be about your ‘rack’ or ‘hump’... Don’t be a ‘chick’ or ‘babe’... Don’t go to college just to get a good husband... Men have ‘bro-code’, while you don’t; you have ‘bitching’, which men don’t... Stop being rivals and unite!!! Your place is not in the kitchen, but the board-room. Your face should not be behind the veil, but on the cover of Forbes. Your gaze should not be down; it should be sky-wards... the place where you used to be!!! Don’t give all only to looking beautiful and charming, rather, bring out the Durga, the Kali in you and give all to becoming potent and prevailing... (and you know how)