What gives

I was sitting in the home of a kindly senior couple who had invited us for dinner when a family breezed in.The young kid had just finished his tenth with a 65% marks and was in a delimna because the school he had applied for needed him to get a higher marks for the science stream he wanted to take up.I was requested to counsel the kid as to what he should go about doing.Even as I started putting the various options before him every nerve in my body protested but I continued nevertheless saying what I thought was the safe thing . Even as the board exam results are out and there is a lot of hue and cry as to who has passed and who has not and I see a lot of parents tensed up for their wards I watch it all in a relatively detatched manner and pity the children who seem to have no idea as to where it is all leading them. Strangely enough the picture of a group of skulls standing in a queue....getting up in the morning,going for walk,coming back,...

I had a lovely weekend with the Eicher's in Landour. The family was enjoying their much deserved break and was generous enough to accomodate me in their time together.The kids were a joy as always startling one with their candour and alarming wisdom which sometimes leaves you speechless. We had an evening of colours with Stephen encouraging us to experiment with shades..it was an engaging time. The next day while walking through the figure of eight in Landour I was pointing out my painting to Sheba in the woods below. At the last minute we decided to attend the FOG church (friends of garhwal) which is just below the hospital.it happened to be a youth sunday.The worship was an awkward affair,the youth not really comfortable leading the worship.I was dumbstruck and deeply touched by the sharing.There were groups of youngsters spread out all over the church fidgety,giggling and restless.The leader reprimended some of them for chewing gums and leaving the paper inside the church.F...

"Ghaziabad: Murdered teenager Aarushi Talwar's parents, Nupur and Rajesh, have been charged with murder, destruction of evidence and conspiracy in the sensational double murder case in which their domestic help was also found dead. Rajesh Talwar has also been charged with misleading the investigation in the double murder case.  "-CNN IBN live This morning ,during my quiet time I found myself sobbing my heart out to the Lord...somethings I think had upset me.One was the news of that young child Aarushi,her grotesque murder and the horribly twisted conclusion to the whole case scenario...this whole episode has kept me upset right from the onset. I look around at the world around me and see the potential and the stimulus for evil.My heart aches for the young kids growing up in a world like this. The gospel needs to be preached and there is no alternative to it. The gospel is  spirit breathed and is the Word of God.It has the power to sanctify. It has the power to hea...

There are few lesson life teaches you that leaves an impact on your life forever.I have a few junior doctors working with me,youngsters who have seen a lot less of life than I have.Some a decade and some,four or five years younger and I often ,these last few days, find myself taking my learnings of the years out of my kitty and sharing with them.This was not so five years ago.My juniors were much more world-savvy than I am and were friends I literally grew up with.They used to label me 'naive' then, I wonder what they would think now-most of them have moved on in life and must have got savvier by dozen. The other day,I found myself giving my juniors a lesson from life I had learnt first hand ,as well as vicariously about patient management. Every now and then we get an over-anxious set of relatives and equally over anxious set of patients who literally leave you flaggerbasted.My juniors came to me to discuss one such patient.They clearly looked harassed.Ten years ago I woul...

I got a mail from my sister the other day.She has just lost her mother-in-law,needless to say she was a pillar of strength for her.She told me one thing which struck me .She said she was still fragile!! Our chidhood was a protected one .I had not seen death in my family till I was in my late twenties and that was of a dear uncle,well-loved and truly missed.Life was one picnic with the greatest struggles being the exams one had to sit through and occasional skirmishes with friends in the boarding school. I literally grew up in Tumbagara! In Tumbagara,a small village with a hospital which I guess is all it can boast of even now,I learnt the ABCs of life....I saw life in all it's gory detail....lived it,lost it and perhaps ...somewhere along the way it struck me that this was actually life we were living.... ..if ten years ago my sister would have used the word 'fragile' to describe a state of mind it would have gone over my head...now I sort of understand. Fragile!,wh...

Whenever I drive back from the station after a brief stint away from the hospital I make it a point to chat with the driver...they let me know about the going ons in and around the place.My first question was ofcourse about the operation green-hunt...he said everyone in the villages know the term regardless of whether they know what it stands for or not.He hasn't been hearing about too many actions though.The next question i asked him was about the water situation in the area and he had his own way of describing it.I believe the Parhayas of Salaiya have this practise of digging the ground near the river with their bare hands to get themselves drinking water..this year he says they had had to dig deep and dig hard for the water.

One of our seniors was visiting from abroad. While speaking in one of the devotions,he was reminding us how fortunate we were to start off a day's work with the morning prayer.He asked us if we were aware of it. Having worked in a mission hospital for most of my adult life it is a norm but for me every day,a good time of corporate worship with devotion before the work starts off continues to be precious.I remember during my post-grad days running to the chapel early in the morning to sit on the cold cement ground of the ODC chapel to listen to the nursing students singing those melodiously beautiful Malyali and Tamil songs ,not that I understood too much of it ,but it used to be ethereal.Even now in HCH,the OPD staffs lead the worship to some out of the worship songs accompanied by beautiful indian and western instruments.Songs like 'Fazal tera hum par prabhu,reham tera hum par'...so typically folkish and heavenly ,it has the ability to export us to another world alltoge...

Have been mentally trying to go through my NJH kitty to see what I can fish out from my years there.The memories that are fondest in my heart it seems,are the times I spent in the villages around NJH and with the villagers in the numerous get-togethers we organised.Just making them feel comfortable,seeing the joy in the faces of the boys at the arrivals,their heartfelt and absolute commitment to the cause,their unquestioning trust in us and the relationship we shared as a community inspite of the great disparity.They were a generous lot..giving of their time,which must have been costly for them. We conducted a camp in Serendagh,which is the hub of naxal activity. Drove all the way in the hospital van,deep into the jungle blowing the horn every now and then.I remember half way through the trip being stopped by a battalion of young kids with hard faces in green get-up with guns slung over their shoulder.We stopped the van while the two of them walked up,there were a few 'Lal salaa...

Was it God speaking,communicating…? Reiterating ….waiting …..forgiving….weeping …dying… ….living…healing....reconciling….restoring…..embracing…. Have you….waited…been forgiven…..wept….died….lived…been healed….reconciled…….restored…and embraced? Are you …reiterating…waiting…forgiving…weeping…dying….healing…living…reconciling….restoring …and embracing… Can you hear God speaking,communicating? Reiterating…waiting…forgiving…weeping…dying… …healing…living…reconciling….restoring….and …embracing?