What gives

Now that it looks like I will be leaving the hills of Palamu for other shores,I have been trying to sit down assimilate and figure out the things I will surely miss. On top of the list definately were the faces of two old ladies who come regularly to collect their medicines ,one a diabetic and the other a patient of heart disease .Both of them live two districts away and they make their journey through trains and busses every three months to collect their medicine stock.I have tried so many times to pursuade them to buy their medicines from a place near where they live ,they insist on travelling to the hospital every month-their arguement is that the medicines they get here are hard to get elsewhere.Hard to believe but they do bring joy to my heart whenever they show their faces. Gunjar Devi could be sixty or ninety.She barely has any teeth left.She has pierced two big holes in her ear lobes where she dangles a big silver ear-stud around three inches big.She addresses me as her ...

The last week ,for the avid follower of the nonsense that makes up the news in the TV channels, were the war of words between politicians,filmstars for issues and non-issues.'My name is khan' releases this weekend.Since the onset of the hulla-bulla sorrounding the movie,controversies have dogged it -to it's opening on friday. SRK who is the lead in the movie has gambled and gambled hard right from the out-set.While his contemporary Khan's have chosen more universal subjects(therefore safe) to make movies on ,SRK has brought to the forefront a theme that has dared to address the issues of his identity and has struck at the heart of the issue.You need guts to give a face to a voice-a voice that speaks the truth but has been more than often misunderstood in the recent past. Kudos to KJo,SRK and whoever are responsible for movies like these. Such efforts have to be lauded,especially in these times when the trend is to sweep uncomfortable truths under the carpet and act l...

I watched the beating retreat on TV the other day....most times I have been in Delhi,witnessing the fireworks from South Avenue or watching my uncle and aunty get ready to attend the president's dinner in Raisina hill. I realised,I hadn't ever sat through the event earlier. The ceremony was poignant,to say the least. It was hard not to feel an element of pride to see the forces march to those lovely beat.What a perfect rythemn I thought,not one out of place. It was a mixture of beauty,discipline,vulnerabilty(Abide with me..) and most of all the love of the land which is India.Sareh jahan se accha-Hindosata hamara!!

I was in the out-patient busyly involved in my usual knick-knacks,Prabha entered the OPD,tears streaming,hair dishevelled in her night-gown with Christochit folowing closely with their six month old baby in his arms ,eyes full of tears.The little baby girl sat triumphantly on Christochit's arm smiling from ear to ear oblivious of the chaos. She had apparently fallen from the bed and had cried continuosly which had brought P and C to the state. I surprised myself when I found myself calmly telling Prabha and Christo -'Congrats you have become parents!' P and C have been married for almost a decade.Unable to conceive,they finally gave in to this urge by adopting a pretty little new-born from Himachal,two months ago.After some soul-searching,P was allowed a maternity leave by the organisation and it has made a dramatic difference to the child ,in the one month that Prabha has been on leave one can visibly see that the child has entered that miraculous circle of life,only lo...

I had not cried like I did while I read a book as much as I did when I read this piece by Ellias Chacor.I read it in a single sitting on 26th of January,India’s republic day. It’s a real life anecdote of a Palestinian Christian and the story behind the middle-east crisis from the other point of view.I thought the book was great,not because it stimulated my tear-ducts but it brought afresh the realization of the ‘Love at the cross’ and the renewed awareness of it’s worth. It’s a beautiful book.

I have been meaning to write about the Newman's ventilator which has fascinated me to no end. At a time when the cost of ventilators were not less than five lakh of rupees,our then executive dirctor introduced us to this quiet ,unpretentious anaesthetist from some part of Maharastra who had assembled this piece of machine,that would cost just Rs 60,000 and would save countless lives in a rural set-up. Taking our ED's word for it, but with some reservations which I did not express at that time, we bought the machine and planted it in our low-cost ACU. The machine could not be more basic,and yet over the years I marvel when I look back at the countless lives that have been saved by it. Each time a patient with respiratory paralysis walks out of the hospital in one piece,and believe me there are hordes of them,I bless the man,I don't remember his name but I remember his offer,'if the machine conks off,just let us know we will replace it with a new one'.It's six...

I found myself in a unique position of trying to connect several generations of individuals that seem to make up the Nav-jivan. Jeevan,who joins us next year,has a burden for the area and has energy and the passion for the place and is comitted to boot,was visiting to help us with a few project matters.Dr Binks was due at the same time ,i had to do a bit of acrobatics to connect them somehow.All of a sudden the founding missonary of the place landed up.i did not have the time to sit back and reflect at the timing of it all.Praise God for His providence!!