What gives

It is coming to be a fortnight of working in Kachwa.It has been a period of hit and misses.My medical skills as usual are thoroughly tested in these waters.I am flooded with gynaec and obstetric patients in the out-patient and paediatric patients in the in-patient.Most bystanders are tall bullies who just drown you out with their bullying ways.I am still adjusting to the climate so much so that I have not even got around to arranging the kitchen with the scattered bits and bobs I have gathered from Benaras and around.My pressure cooker is still in it's cartoon,I realised today. At home my mother is still struggling to swallow the multiple pills she has been prescribed.She is taking her vitamin D satchets weekly with another pill to keep the Calcium and phosphate in check everyday and an anti-gout medicine.She was also prescribed sodium bicarbonate tablets which I have stopped for now because she is struggling to swallow the umpteen number of pills.Her appetite is gone for a sixer ...

So far I have been hit by the reality of poverty of UP.I have met people and more people ,layers of them everywhere.It has been a walk on a tight rope with daily update from home about mom's health.I came to Kachwa with a sixteen kilogram suitcase ,a backpack and a guitar.Somehow I managed the first week living off my suitcase. With a mind to pick up some household items from 'big bazaar I travelled to Varanasi and I was overwhelmed with more humanity and layers of them.Relaxed and satisfied crowd in the city,one person on a bike in the traffic suddenly took a fancy to the modified bolero pickup and while the traffic was moving ,put his head into the driver's side and earnestly wanted to know the price of the vehicle.He was on a scooter by the way.Where in the world would you find such class acts? Waiting for the car to drive in from the parking lot I sat in a shed where a couple of men were sitting whiling time.I asked them a couple of questions about the city and an eld...

She stumbled into our lives somewhere in midschool.She was beautiful,kind,very large hearted and the BIGGEST fan of Imran Khan when we were hardly cricket educated.She was my older sister's friend,and my friend,a warm soul who patiently used to take us youngsters along.I remember her singing 'Stumbling in'with one of her friends in one of the school functions,I remember our principal singling her out oneday for being caught on television watching a cricket match in Siliguri during one of the holidays. Everyone used to pull her leg about her soft spot for the fancy cricketer. I remember many a times tagging along with her to her father's office in Gangtok to collect her pocket money.She always gave us a treat after that.Once in Siliguri,she came to pick me up onroute home.I met her mother who fed us a wonderful meal and a lot of mangoes. Growing up is a process,I do not remember exactly where and when we lost touch.I don't even remember if she continued in our sch...

My phone saga says a lot of things about me.I have had my share of mobile telephones since the contraption is become available in the Indian market.That could go back well above a decade. There are few of them that is engraved in my mind forever. One of my earlier phone was a nokia 1000.It was supposed to be known for it's toughness and was one of the cheapest phones available. I have this fantastic tendency to drop things from my hand from time to time. Everyone and their brother used to watch in stunned silence as my phone used to drop from my hand and used to get seperated into six different pieces.While they looked on in concern I used to give them a smile and pick up the pieces,put them together and get on with my life.The phone suited me.It was capable of receiving umpteen number of official calls I used to make and get while I was in Satbarwa. One of the memories I have is of one of my professors in the UK sitting in the car chaffeuring me and patiently putting the pie...

These are times when the Lord is teaching me humility through periods of responsibilities that is nearer home.I am having to dabble with issues of old-age and medical problems in a place where a good medical facility is a laugh to say the least.In whole of Sikkim there is no nephrologist and there is but one in Siliguri whose appointment apparently is hard to come by but a help from a cousin's friend made it possible.After four hours of wait for a nephrologist who seem to be managing emergency,wards,couselling and I don't know what ,he was kind enough to see my mother first.He gave some good advice.Then I found myself staring at a very borderline,early renal failure with high parathormone levels.By God's grace all the electrolytes were normal.Rest of the results are awaited.It could not be secondary to early CKD so am dabbling with an endocrine issues too now.Thanks to a senior , guiding me through this.Hopefully I will hear from my endocrine colleagues too,soon enough. In...