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"We all want to believe that what we do is very important. That people hang onto our every word, that they care what we think.
 The truth is, you should consider yourself lucky if you even occasionally get to make someone... anyone... feel a little better."
 - John Dorian, "My finale", Scrubs.

Desh ki Dhadkan

Sunday 25 March 2007


Ooh aah India. Aa yaa India.
Come on guys. Sing with me.. Ooh aah India. Aa yaa India.
Don't be mad. So they lost a couple of matches. Yes yes, I know. They lost badly. So they're basically out of the world cup. So our neighours whipped our asses.
It ain't the end of the world.
Come on, shout out loud.. Ooh aah India. aa yaa India. We are the blue billion.
Good times and bad times, we stick together. So what if we stayed up till 2am to watch them get humiliated ? So what if companies and sponsors stand to lose billions while the cricketers get paid in lakhs? The important thing is, they played for us. They played to defend our name. So now, shout loud - Ooh aah India. Aa yaa India. One more time - Ooh aah India. Aa yaa India. That's the spirit. Keep saying it out loud for an hour or two. Feel the national pride. The pride of an Indian being represented in a world cup. Deep breath in.... Deep breath out. Oooooh aaaaah Indiiaaa. Aaaa yaaaa Indiiaaa. That's better. Keep chanting.....
In the meantime, I'll just take this sack of rocks and pop by Sachin and Dhoni's house. And remember, if the police ask, I was with you all afternoon, ok ?!!

Ooh Aah India, MY ASS !!

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Satara ra ra ra

Sunday 18 March 2007

2 weeks down and I'm getting the hang of the fine art of this city.. or so I'd like to imagine. While work undyingly takes away anything resembling daytime and I now find myself getting used to the blue scrubs , it's important to point out what I've learned outside the operation theatre till date :

  • My Luck : Remains God's favourite pass time. Sample this. I'm in the pre-op room looking over a case and the phone keeps ringing. Twice I attend it and twice it's for a nurse. I relay the message to her where she is only to be reminded by my superior that I'm not a P.A. and next time such a call comes, tell the guy to call on another line. So naturally, when call 3 comes, I swagger and tell the dude on the other side that I can't bother with his request to go fetch a nurse as I am ( drumbeats) the new anasthesia resident, not some bell boy. Only to be informed by 'dude' that he is the senior surgeon in the hospital and I better do damn well as he pleases OR ELSE. Long story short, I nearly carried the nurse to the phone and I have yet to enter an Ot in which 'dude' is operating.
  • Respect : It is integral here, unlike what we're so used to 'down unda'. Everything works on the basis of respect. You treat everyone with respect, everyone treats you with respect. Everyone is 'bhai saab' and 'madam' till proven otherwise. Of course, that's hard to get used to inside the OT where I have to call even my senior Pgs as Sir and Madam. But then as surgeon-to-be Shaff pointed out, in first year Pg, we're everyone's slut!!!!
  • Tea : I finally understand the whole tea vs coffee battle. Before, it was a no brainer with coffee winnin' hands down anyday. But since coming here, it's become apparent why tea is so hot ( no pun intended ).. the teas are so awesome up here. Even the local 2 rupee vendor tea is at the minimum, cardamo flavoured and great at that !!!! On a day when breakfast has to be given a miss, 2 cupsa chai just do enough to keep me standing and genuflecting till lunch.
  • Scary chicks : My dream of reducing the Satara road chicken population has come to naught. Heady prices, lack of time and poor exhaustion work to save their lives. Or mine. I'm not sure, but the last time I walked past a bunch of them, they had their eye on me - and one of them slurped. I swear.
  • Sour seeds : Of course, for that I move in different culinary circles . I won't mention a lot more on these high standards I maintain, but yesterday the water melon vendor mentioned that if I didn't have change, he didn't mind as he'd just put it on my tab. In my defence, fruits are good for you, I hear.
  • Horrors : Spoilt for choices with movies too, every Sunday finds me and Arjun ( co -PG ) either at M.G. Road or Adlabs across town to watch some movie ( Ekalavya and 300 - bothexcellent cinematography, both slow ), while scarfing momos, the Mc Maharaja burger, the Baskin Robbins alphanso or just.. well, that's the last point in this post, so wait a while. In the mean time, Arjun awaits the opening of the 'bathroom singer' recording booth at Adlabs to make his own album. I'm looking for new ghosts.. I went to the House of Horrors. The ghosts got spooked and ran out !!! ( Ok ok. Ol' joke, but I couldn't resist.)
  • Sigh !!! : How can I not mention the goddesses ? In the random surveys I and Arjun have done in our brief travels outside the hospital, we have learned this to be true - there are two types of women in Pune : the goddesses you can take home to mommy and the goddesses you can take home.. and ask "Who's your daddy!!!!" So many times, the urge to just walk up to a girl, hand her a flower and say "this is for being so beautiful. Nothing else. No strings attached" hit the two of us, it was sad. Who knows, we may work up the nerve with time. Till then, we'll suffice with just saying "I don't know about God, but there sure are divine angels on Earth."

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Unsedated..

Wednesday 14 March 2007


"No madam, I never copied from his book."
"I didn't eat the last chocolate, dad. Seriously. You told me not to na."
"I have no idea how that magazine got into my room."
"No dear, I was just staring at her throat and wondering if she had a thyroid condition."
"I don't drink. It's a bad habit."

It's funny how we follow paths set by others all our lives, isn't it ? The moral pathway, where we remain incapable of any wrongdoing and seek to remain forever the apple of someone's eye, whether it is a parent, a friend, a peer or a lover. Yet this pathway is so full of those forbidden fruits that we do find ourselves staring, reaching forward, seeking the fruit... till the rubber band of our morality either slaps us back into reality.. or snaps. And then we realise something - we no longer are the golden child, the dream lover, the bosom buddy. In seeking a new road, a tie is gone forever and we are left wondering the eternal question everyone needs to ask at some stage of their life - WAS IT WORTH IT ? Was deviating from the said path worth the effort and pain ? Where to from here ?
A simple saying comes to mind -" we don't get to choose how we die, only how we live." So if you find, you have fallen - get up. The race never ended. We're still in it. No amount of pain is worth giving up on life , because more often than not, you find that when you at the worst moment of your life - things will turn around. Stop yearning for the sun and the stars will start to be more visible.. There is always a brighter day ahead. Just keep riding through the night. You'll make it. We'll make it. And if my sources are right, beyond the pearly gates, God's arranging a Hawai hulla dance for all of us with a young Elvis and a young Britney. What more can you ask for ?
A final thought - what motivates you more when you pray - the fear of punishment for your sins or the love of God ?
STOP !!! Don't gimme the expected answer. That was the whole point of the first few lines of this post. Think a good hour and when you know the truth, then come back and reply..

P.S. I'm not depressed, don't worry. This post is based on the history of a patient I was looking after in Pune who seemed so desperately lost with his personal life crisis and his health all falling apart. He had made a mistake in his personal life, which kept haunting him and sadly, a disease chose to manifest itself simultaneously. Hence our meeting. And while we can assist in healing the disease, it would have been futile if he had not found a glimmer of hope , a reason to live for himself.
He did. He found his ray of light before he entered the operation theatre in the form of forgiveness - for his sin and also, along with that, the strength to carry on with life from here on in. To look to make amends and when he can't, solder on. Because no matter what, he realised the basic fact of life - you never , never give up.
Coincidentally, the operation was a success ( inspite of me and my bumbling drug ampule breaking skills!!! ). You see, boys and girls, that's called divine intervention !

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My Original - YMC'99

Sunday 4 March 2007

I'd posted this earlier,a tribute to my college batch but it kinda disappeared so I had to re-post it..ho hum.

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Endgame : Touched by an Angel

Thursday 1 March 2007

The pain of the heart gnaws. It doesn't just burn once and flee. It stays, insidiously working its way through your spirit. It works to douse that inner fire that keeps you going, striking over and over again within the recesses of your mind till a stage arrives when embracing a new day with joy seems impossible. It is at this crucial stage that you need someone to raise you and carry you through, to save you from the stigmata you keep suffering. Just as every misdeed is attributed to the devil, so too every time we survive, there is a whisper of God at our lips.

I have always seen God in the people I come across in this journey and though I often fail to differentiate the demon from the angel, I find that it becomes irrelevant. Both exist within all of us and which part we are destined to meet can end up either breaking us down .. or giving us wings.

I had a letter from one of the first friends I made when I first came to India recently. She is, in part, responsible for some of the major personality changes that shaped my life. ( from geek introvert to geek extrovert !) A decade and more has passed and our relationship has dwindled, no doubt, with the winds & vagaries of time, but her letter in reply to my own surprised me. For, more accurately than anyone else, she identified the demon that haunts me the most today and in doing so, showed me the way ahead, and how to face life head on in my new journey, how not to be afraid of what the future holds & most importantly, how to trust in my judgement again. Because I will need this strength from here on in. Lives depend on it. A doc's work is never done, right ?

Thank you, dear. It's good to know that I can find my Gods and direction amongst friends itself. That, more than anything else, is my redemption.
And it is my wish that you all too find your human crutches who will be there to carry you when a step further appears to be a step too far away for you. Who will relight the inner flame in you when adversity has blown it away. Who will show you that God exists.. and he doesn't always sport glowing robes or many arms or have a book/ channel saying "I'm God"... he's everyone who takes the time to help you, the time to save you.

Finally, It didn't seem right to leave Godyears without a final joust with God. So I figured I'd throw caution to the wind and go for it, hammer and tongs. As with most of my longer narratives ( Broken Roads, Chasing August ), this too is relegated to my walk-in closet, Brokenroads.
Anyway, hope you enjoy it.
Presenting, my Experience with the Big Guy -
Oops !! My karma ran over you dogma, Mr God !! ( Warning : Blasphemy Alert. )
Ye who get easily offended, kindly desist. For others, well, shall we dance one last time ?

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Enchanting Kerala

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Dr Roshan R
Worry never robs tomorrow of it's sorrow... it only drains today of it's joy
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