European odyssey!

All set to go!!

Few seat adjustments and we were cozily seated in three plus one arrangement. I was happy with my aisle seat and my wife with her window seat right behind the wing of the aeroplane. I wondered, for how long will the window views from a plane continue to fancy her. It is not that I did not like the amazing scenes that one sees from the window of an airplane, but being able to stretch my legs in the aisle had taken priority, also one could get up any number of times without having to judge the fellow travelers facial expression. Aeroplanes have always caught the fancy of my wife. She is amazed that while a man can not fly, this machine takes hundreds of people so high and so far. Before boarding, at Milan airport, she kept on looking at planes taking the runway and flying off and could have watched the same thing over and over again, had there been no flight to catch. 

In the flight my kids got busy watching movies, while I wanted to make the best of my newly learned skill, that is to be able to catch a nap while sitting. My wife was still busy at the window. Soon, I was dreaming! Various scenes from our trip were crossing my mind. Then, I could smell something, I ignored it. The smell persisted, I was awakened by the realization that if it increases it may cause breathing difficulty. I looked at my son and made a sniffing gesture, expecting a reply if he was also finding a pungent smell. He looked at me but didn't react.  I checked with the lady sitting behind me whether she could smell anything and she confirmed that there was a pungent smell. I tried to figure out in my mind what it could be...... PNG, CNG, Helium???? I immediately got up and went to the nearest air-hostess and informed her about it. She was a charming lady, who immediately along with her colleague came to my seat and affirmed that there was a smell. She suggested, "like a balloon gas"! Then she paced up and down the aisle to scan the extent of smell, that was limited to five-six rows around me. She opened the overhead bins and then wiped them with a wet tissue and observed for any colour changes. Then she asked us whether we could see any fumes. I was trying to talk in a hushed tone to avoid panic. After few minutes, she asked me, whether it was still there and I told that it was less obvious then. One Chinese passenger told her that he had opened a food packet few minutes back and made her smell the packet to see whether we were talking about the same smell. She felt that it was different. Then she requested me to stand at the back for sometime to desensitize my nose and then come back to  my seat and check whether the smell persisted. It had gone! I settled in my seat again. Then she came and asked all the window passengers to look at the wing on our side. We were wondering why so?? After few minutes my wife noticed that there was some blackening on the wing. She alerted me. In my mind, I thought it must be her apprehension! I checked and found that there was a real triangular blackening. I thought, it might already have been there, but informed another crew member, who rushed to see that. She was alarmed. I was not! I had not seen any flames or fumes and thought that it must be something innocuous. After few minutes, my wife told me that the blackening was increasing. "She is morbidly afraid!", I thought. I checked and found that it had in fact, enlarged. I rushed to inform the air-hostess. She came to the window and exclaimed 'Oh My God!' and ran towards the cockpit. My wife was petrified and so were few passengers who knew what was happening. A lady sitting ahead of me, asked me' "What's the matter?" I brushed it aside, "nothing"! She was annoyed! I was still unperturbed as I thought that since we are over land, we can soon make a landing and all shall be well. 

Then suddenly a gentleman sitting behind my wife announced, "it is moving, it's a shadow!" I immediately checked and realized that it was a shadow indeed. I rushed to tell the air-hostess that the matter had been resolved. She saw through the window and heaved a sigh of relief. The sequence of events had created a small commotion in few seats but now all were relaxed. Then she came and talked to us. We asked her that why had she asked us to keep looking at the wing? She told us that she was informing all events to the captain and wing had to be observed for any fumes or flames. The captain had in fact suggested that the blackening might be shadow of the tail and that's why he had asked to check again while he was turning the plane. We were still chatting and laughing that suddenly the pungent odor could be smelt again. The charming hostess checked and found that the Chinese had opened another packet of crackers and that was the preservative gas. We were amused! 

We had many interesting experiences on our trip!

Bedtime stories -1- Ek Baccha Tha

I have always loved spending time with kids. Even when I was a grown up child, I would play with little children. In a public gathering I prefer to interact with children. It gives me unparalleled joy! Their approach to a situation, their thoughts about various happenings marvel me. This pleasure continued as I was blessed with two twins born an year apart. A girl and a boy! I would talk to them even when they were supposed to understand only mother's touch. I think it's only normal to babble, lisp or stutter when one talks to a small baby. Gradually I could notice that they started fixing their gaze on my face as I spoke. I understood that they were really listening. That is when I started narrating stories to them. I always wanted that my stories should be simple, the milieu should be basic for a child to enjoy, but I wished that each time their should be a novel element in them. My earlier stories were only few sentences, which would evolve as they would be repeated with addition of new content. As kids grew they started developing interest in the content of the stories. While earlier, my stories would last only as long as they finished their bottle of milk and passed to slumber, later, kids would look forward to what happened next and remain awake after finishing their bottles. That, in fact, was a problem as it needed a fresh effort to put them to sleep. So I would try winding up the story before the milk vanished from the bottle. The earliest story that I can recall is narrated below. It even developed a climax in its reruns.

" Ek baccha tha. Wo bohat pyara tha. Wo doodu peeta tha. (Repeated umpteen number of times)... (then content started getting added)

....wo sussu karta tha, wo potty karta tha ( actually added because of their doings)......

(Now kids started getting bored and looked forward to newer content.....)

.....ek baar wo jungle mein gaya, wahan wo rone laga. Tabhi wahan ek hiran aaya, usne poocha,'तुम क्यों रो रहे हो? वो रोते-रोते बोला, 'भूखी लगी है'! हिरन बोला 'बस इतनी सी बात! बतायो तुम्हें क्या चाहिए है? मेरे जंगल में बहुत फ़्रूट्स हैं!' बच्चा बोला, 'लेकिन मैं तो सिर्फ़ duddhu पीता हूँ!' हिरन सोचने लगा वो क्या होता है? फिर वो बोला 'तुम मेरे साथ चलो। हमारे जंगल में एक ऐसा जादुई तालाब है जिससे सबकी भूख मिट जाती है'। फिर वो दोनो उस तालाब के पास गए। वो तालाब एक दम साफ़ था और उसका पानी एक दम सफ़ेद (as I had safety issues in my mind about a child drinking from a pond.....suddenly I realized that it was time to wind up...) बच्चे ने उस तालाब से पानी पिया और ख़ुश हो गया और बोला 'अर्रे! इसे ही तो हम duddhu बोलते हैं, ये तो dudhu का तालाब है! And thus evolved the title of this story... "Dudhu Ka talaab".

As kids started talking, they would get irritated at the very mention of "ek Baccha tha" and they didn't want the story with the same set up with little twists. They probably needed something more complex as their brain was getting developed. And that is how evolved the series of stories, that started with the setting of Jungle Book, but I wanted to weave in the folk tales, mythology, historical content and yet keep it realistic and new. So came the story of 'Virbhadra'........

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!

My morning walk!

Concretization of cities is not limited to physical infrastructure but tends to encroach upon human organs like heart, that were hitherto made of flesh and blood. Besides that it has many less philosophical effects also. What is difficult to find in large cities are open spaces and time. And both of these are needed for what was once called 'Morning walk'! Though the younger generation in cities may not be familiar with the term but the references can be found in older literature and heads of older people. I think older people lost it with their hair.

The other day a kid asked me 'what is nature?' I looked around in my office for something to show him, then walked out in the crowded corridor that has now been covered and then to a place in between two buildings and pointed towards the small hiatus between the tops of the two buildings. "So sky is nature!", he concluded. I thought for a while and looked around. Our hospital was built in British era as a small building that was surrounded by large open spaces. Gradually, as we 'progressed', more buildings cropped up in the open spaces. As the stressed-out poor population had no other means of, and time for entertainment, the population increased further. That lead to increasing pressure in the hospitals and more 'infrastructure' was developed. Infrastructure: structure that makes life inferior! Lately, as trees were not allowed to be cut, architects got a chance to be more creative and we see tree trunks and branches in corridors and offices. Essentially, its only the physical Xylem and Phloem that remain, as if the nature is alive on a ventilator.

I brought the kid back to my office, and chided him for not knowing the difference between 'sky' and 'nature'. I immediately asked him to sit in front of my desktop and googled "nature" and voila! There the nature was!!

 "See, there is even a Journal by that name, one of the best Journals and you should dream of getting published in that one day!", I told him. To educate him further, I showed him 'Nature' on wikipedia also.

But these days children don't read and he just looked at the pictures and said, "Wow! so waterfall and lightening are nature. But is 'Nature' found only in Australia? Can we go there to see nature!" 'Another excuse for travelling abroad', I muttered!

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There is still an inconspicuous and neglected piece of land in our hospital campus. There are trees, not so dense but good enough to keep the area shaded. As it is an 'unmaintained' area, there are lot of fallen leaves and flowers, small dried twigs and half-eaten fruits that can be seen on the ground. The ground has grass at places and  barren clay at others. There are many small shrubs. There is a trail that goes through it as people try to find shorter routes to reach faster, but not many walk through it as one may 'contaminate' one's shoes with mud here. This trail is my morning walk, my tete-e-tete with nature!! After parking my car, I use this 'mud-path', 'pagdandi', to remain in touch with nature. As I walk through this, my pace gets slower, I forget that there are people jostling in the OPD for their turn! I hear sounds of certain birds, that I can not see. I see glimpses of certain others who would not sit on a branch steady. However, a small deep shiny blue bird keeps fluttering her wings in air as if to model for me. There are squirrels racing to find a juicy seed of a flower. There is an odd butterfly and a wasp, both oblivious of the nearby mortuary. Leaves, are the kindest, and fall as an artistic diver dives from the springboard, twisting and twirling and gliding smoothly onto the bottom. There are small palm trees sprawling their leaves. Suddenly, a fleshy Semal (Shalmali) flower falls with a 'chhap' on the parched leaves. As one looks up to see the source, one sees branches of the tree with plenty of flowers that still look barren as they have no leaves. One tree harbours a nest, high up there, while another one has a large beehive. Rays of Sun beam through the branches as wind makes them play hide and seek. For those few moments, I am soaked in nature! I come out rejuvenated with curves on my forehead descending onto my lips, a happier person.

"Why are you hiding in between the trees?", my friend asked me the other morning as he saw me coming out. I said, "No, I was just coming through them". "Arrey! There is such a broad and clean road and even a fragmented footpath alongside, why do you have to come through that 'muck'? See! even your shoes have got all muddied!" I lifted my right foot to look at my shoe, indeed it was all covered in light brown dust. "Oh! right you are!", I said smiling. 'My small daily dose of nature', I thought, still smiling!!😄😄