What gives

Moses was chosen of God for a very special task.Even as the spotlight falls on him in the word,one sees the hand of God in the troughs and crests of his life all the time .Each time ,rubbing into his character, traits which were of use to the lord for the task he had set before this man.His life although extraordinary goes through the rigours of changes that take place in most ordinary lives.The process through which it occurs although is extra-ordinary no doubt. This Hebrew child has to be abandoned so his life can be saved.He grows up in the palace of the Pharoah with the best that the world can provide and yet he does not forget his roots .In the process he rejects the best the world has to provide to claim what the Jehovah had promised his ancesters.The promise was not tangible then.He is called by God,this faltering man and he obeys.His obedience takes it’s pound of flesh. Every step of the way he has to depend on God and his providence.The people he is called to lead are ignora...

The sound of the first monsoon cascade- through the clouds warring, on the tinned roof,the metal window ledges, the glass pane and the path just outside my window- cleaning,clearing the windshields of my dusty memories painful yet warm luring me back to the time which does not exist anymore. Momentary flashes of light,thundering clouds grand, pregnant with memories- overflowing,pushing,shovelling,demanding presence in my today. When I have settled the matter with me I sit back to watch and celebrate the play of the nature - the colour,the vigour,the flashes of energy from a distance- a mere spectator watching the beauty of creation in it's passionate tyrst.

I feel blessed to be a doctor in a rural set-up. Just sitting in my clinic on a busy monday morning brings in a hundred and eighty colourful characters with stories of their own.Some of them endearing to say the least. Gopal Chaurasia,a strapping 26 yrs old is brought in to my OPD.I know Gopal from a few years ago when he was diagnosed to have pleural effusion and was treated with DOTS.He responded well. He had developed a bout of haemoptysis . A repeat X-ray of the chest showed a fresh pneumonic patch. My line of questioning went along a predictable route but you never know where it is going to lead when you have innocence personified on the receiving end. Have you ever migrated for work elsewhere? Gopal's mother-No never!-He is my good son who never goes out of my sight.His daily routine varies between going to the sweet shop where he sells them and coming back home. Are you married? Gopal's mother-How can he be married when he hasn't been getting any proposals. How come?...

It is the season of lent. The intense pain of sin drips down ...drop by drop! Borrowed ,misplaced,displaced. Struggling to drink the bitter cup. Is this sin mine ?Is it yours? Do I own it? Is it Gethsemene? Or is it just me?

2008-Feb-March It was the strangest of times.The communists in Bengal had gone wild.Budhadeb,the progressive face of the red was marking out special economic zones .The public in feeble attempts to stop the industrial houses were protesting in the opposition's platform and their voices.Momta di was the messiah.Comrades went over-board trying to supress the voices of dissent.Their excesses in Nandigram saw repercussions in the adjacent states.The headlines spelt doom for Budhadeb. In Jharkhand, the elections were on .The police,the politicians and the jungle were a law in itself.The last but a week of March withnessed a complete stand-still as far as any kind of work being done was concerned.Everything that moved were carted to the politician's rally.The jungle law seemed abnormally near.People you talked to everyday,people who greeted you with their hands on their heart were being fried away with smuggled guns.The reality of India shining,an upwardly mobile India with everythin...