Happy to help! ?Always Doctor

Being a doctor is very rewarding, mostly! Sometimes friends and relatives fall sick, where one is partially emotionally involved. This is the time when one's character is tested. A precarious balance needs to be maintained. In the beginning, one may go forth with complete support but that often leads to the patient becoming dependent on you. After that, how far one is happy to go, varies with each situation. If the ailment belongs to one's specialization, one can often take it to it's final conclusion, optimistically, cure in many situations. However, one's treatment may not always provide relief to the patient. In that situation, one should objectively re-evaluate and try to find out what went wrong. If one is not able to find a cause, it is better to refer to a more experienced person. It is important not to get egoistic about it and keep on seeing the situation objectively. Educating the patient about technical aspects more than what is required may backfire and should always be balanced.

If the ailment is not of one's specialization and the patient is not immediate family then the patient should be gently steered to someone who is most appropriate for that particular disease and person. In doing that, one must facilitate the process, if that can make it convenient for the patient. Often, both, the patient and the doctor referred to would be grateful. The word 'often' is again important. Most of the people tend to be grateful for any help extended and may not really remember it but generally maintain a positive outlook.

Being a doctor sometimes one starts believing what your patients say, "Doctor is God". What keeps one on ground are certain reality checks that serve well to remind that one is very much a mortal being! Life, always comes with an expiry date and if one, as a doctor, is unfortunate to come in that line, it can be disturbing. When a doctor feels that he went out of the way to help without any selfish interest but still is at the receiving end because the outcome is adverse, it can really play havoc with whole psyche of a doctor. It can specially be so in diseases that have a poor prognosis. The same friend or relative, who at the time of initial diagnosis, considered the doctor as a God-sent angel, may look upon you as a devil as the disease worsens, and you struggle to help. Worse is when the patient ascribes the whole illness to be because of the failing doctor-friend. Though they don't say it but somewhere in their mind they hold you responsible for their illness, as you failed to cure them or get them cured. The negativity that generates may last for long, sometimes life-long! To objectively put up with that is the challenge. Not to let it affect your relation with other friends and lay patients is what separates chalk from cheese! Obviously, only a small number of situations will push the doctor against the wall but to let the effect also be small and not snow-ball itself into a mammoth trauma that can spoil the greatness of a physician is the trick. And for that it is important that the doctor keeps himself or herself happy and satisfied otherwise also. Then only one can really grow above such situations and maintain a psyche desired of a healing hand! It serves well to remember that a doctor is a human being capable of being wrong in very easy situations.

I am a wonderful person.....otherwise also!

"Medicine is the most secure career", said father of my daughter's friend, who is an Engineer. He was replying to my question of as to why he contemplated his daughter to take up Medicine as a career. He reasoned that he was struggling in spite of having graduated as an Engineer from a good university and most of his fellow students were in an even worse situation from career perspective. I thought that I consider Medicine to be a bad choice as a career as it takes long to settle down and the remuneration is not as per your social status that leads to a frustrating imbalance in practical life especially in day to day dealings with people from other walks of life. May be the grass is always greener on the other side!

Definitely, being a doctor one inspires awe in lay public. People wonder that you know more about their bodies than they themselves know. There are lot of social aspects of being a doctor, one of them is how people solicit medical advice, when they feel they can get it for free. In fact, it makes one feel great to get people to hear you so carefully and many a times it feels like being a 'guru', whose every word is sacrosanct. Or so we think!

The other day I hired a cab to go to my hospital. After 2 minutes into the ride, when I had settled down, the driver first confirmed whether I am a Doctor and then showed me an ointment tube and asked whether it was appropriate for his knee pain. I told him that probably it was but am not sure as I am a respiratory doctor and he needs to consult an orthopedician. I even offered him to get an appointment. He told me not to bother. Probably he would wait for an orthopedician to be his client one day! If I go for a morning walk, people often greet me in first round and by second round it has dawned upon them that an opportunity is making rounds. They stop me and ask leading questions about their health. Sometimes I suggest them to make a group where we can have a group discussion on their medical problems. One of the most annoying situations are when you have gone for a social party like marriage. I can not ask "how are you?" as people don't understand that it is a customary greeting and take it literally. The other day in a marriage, a distant aunt was merrily laughing away with someone. She was nicely dressed up and seemed to be in a very good mood. On approaching her, I greeted her, "How are you?' She looked at me and her face was suddenly sullen. She replied, "I have lot of pain, consulted many people, you tell me what should I do?" I was distressed and at the cost of being rude I spoke to her. "I feel so sorry for myself! The moment you see me, you don't see me as a person, just as a doctor. You forget all the joy and are reminded of your ailments. I have become a reminder of your sufferings. I am sure you don't need my medical advice, nor are you going to use it, had that been the case you would have contacted me! Even then if you really need my advice, you are most welcome to come to my clinic and I shall do all possible for free. You have come to the party for a change from your routine and so have I! You were having a good time till you saw me. Can we avoid talking about diseases? You can talk to me about anything else movies, politics, mythology, social issues, sports, relations, careers.....anything! Why do you limit your vision  to see me only as a doctor." "No, I just asked because you are a wonderful doctor", she explained. "I am a wonderful person otherwise also! Kuchh aur baat kar ke to dekho!"

The Pillow Mystery

My wife uses a flatter and harder pillow, while I use a more fuller and softer one. Clearly indicating that I am the more indulgent one! But a mysterious thing kept happening with me. At bedtime, when I would retire I would see the flatter pillow on my side of bed while the fatter one on her side. I would switch the pillows and sleep. In case she had slept before me, I would snatch it from below her head. However, the next day the pillows would be swapped again when I would hit the bed. Knowing well, that my wife doesn't have a preference for any pillow, I would think that she took it inadvertently. It was possible as the pillow covers would always be the same, again, as per my wife's designs. I asked her one evening whether she had changed the pillows as they are not known to shift spontaneously, she simply said, "What's the difference?", without even thinking about it as an issue. I kept wondering that how the pillow that was left on right in the morning had left for the left by evening, something was not right!Then I got it! My children must be playing prank on me. At this age they do love these kinds of mischief. In a disguised manner, I inquired the matter, without giving them another fodder for a prank, were they not already at it. Asking a leading question would not have elicited a trustworthy response either. I gauged that probably it was not their handy-work. I decided to do a longitudinal observational study. Without fail, it kept occurring every day. For everybody else, it was not a matter of any concern but my curiosity kept growing. Then I thought of an interventional design. After getting up in the morning, I switched the pillows and kept the flatter one on my side and the fuller one on her side. Lo behold! They were again switched by evening and this time the fuller one was on  my side. My intervention had worked but I became more inquisitive! Next day was a Sunday and we were home. During the daytime, while I was busy with some of my paperwork, the mystery was solved. Our house-help came and I noticed her making the bed. She lifted the pillow on right, straightened it out, kept it on left and picked up the left one and placed it on right. She did so with the folded sheets also, but since they were exactly the same, it didn't make a difference. I called my wife and told her about the unraveling of the mystery. We had a hearty laugh. I asked our help that why she was switching the pillows? She counter-questioned, 'Are they different?' All burst out laughing at my finickiness.  

Myth & Reality

To reach to the senses of a newborn, the mother uses the warmth of her touch. As the child grows, humming and then lullabies are sung, and then come stories! These stories feed to the inquisitiveness of a child and nurture it also. It is these stories that are one of the best and most often used methods to teach. Stories help the young minds to understand right from wrong by examples, the cause and effect can be grasped. So, whether it is a mother, man or God, the preceptor has to stoop to the level of the pupil to reach him, like one has to bend to catch the tender finger of a young child to guide him. When a child is introduced to letters of alphabet, they are drawn large and clear. A size that we do not normally use in our day to day writing. Similarly children are taught stories of superheroes who have superhuman powers to  make them understand various virtues. By making them larger than life a visual impression can be created in the young minds, which is a known and easy route to reach the depths of the brain. Our mythology is that only! These are the stories that exemplify that why what is right is correct. Like the big letters of alphabet, there are supernatural situations that create a pictorial impression to reach the realm of cognition. In spite of understanding broad principles, we may not be able to apply them to the countless situations that we face in life; that is why we have such a voluminous mythology. One that can spring almost a similar situation as a man may be in, to help  decide which course to take, what action to perform. 

Another lesson that mythology tells us is that the dilemmas we face are the same that man faced thousands of years ago. The way we live and conduct ourselves may have changed drastically but the values do not change as the instincts of human behaviour do not change over time.  Also does not change the way we perceive various situations. This perpetuity of perception is what keeps the mythology pertinent forever. 

However, our mythology is that large alphabet from which the child is gradually taken to more practical script by the teacher. Imagine, what would happen if the grown up child continues to use large letters! For various reasons, as a society somewhere we have failed to grow up and correctly interpret the mythology as applicable to our day to day life. Whether these are linguistic barriers, ability to decipher, financial constraints or even the awareness that such an asset exists, these pearls are not within the grasp of everyone. A guide, a bridge is needed to understand and interpret our mythology correctly. 'Myth & Reality' is that guide! The series 'Myth & Reality' brings our mythology to the threshold of our cognition. Written in simple English, each chapter succinctly narrates an episode from our Epics & Puranas and has unswerving interpretation. As one goes through the book, becoming familiar with our own religious literature feels like the smallest gain. The episodes that one might have hardly hitherto known, after reading one is soaked in its essence. While being a part of the continuum, each chapter is complete in its message, its revelation. The first three volumes dealt with various avtaars and perspectives of Vishnu and Shiva, the present volumes delve deeper into less well known aspects and are more evolved philosophically.
What seems impossible, if performed, is referred to as magic in modern stories. As one goes through this series one realizes that there are impossible feats almost in all episodes yet they are never called magic. One observes that either 'Devas', who are the beings with positive qualities, are endowed with seemingly supernatural powers or others like Human Beings or Asurs, Daityas and Rakshasas can acquire them through hard penance. The given interpretation makes one understand that these supernatural powers are nothing but good qualities that are so difficult to adhere to by a mind that gets inveigled by smallest of pleasures. To practice controlling one's own senses is the penance and thus any mortal being can have powers that may seem out of this world by reining in mind. That is why these seemingly supernatural feats are not called magic in our mythology.
This series, by coupling 'myth' and 'reality' has the potential to enlighten us, the common people, so that we can perceive the supernatural ensconced within all of us, and awaken its energy to perform feats that are considered to be impossible in the mundane way of life!