Unbearable Suppression

Tears streamed down- purged emotional incontinence
Reports streaming in- a common phenomenon across the continents

The shot, a six, rang out loud- captain courageous nonchalant
Floodgates opened-no dry eyes, machismo irrelevant

Mass hysteria, unbridled exuberance
Victory- mass tonic, aphrodisiac for suspended impotence

A blank, vacant stare
Sudden release, now nothing to snare
Euphoria, ecstasy and now depression
A wait of four years- unbearable suppression.

" The Late " came early

Damn the wisdom pearly,
It got late, so early.

Wasn't it only yesterday
The school declared a holiday?
The sudden release
Wished it happened, everyday

Wasn't it only yesterday ?
The royal miscarriage
The ride in horse driven carriage
To the altar of marriage
It sure wasn't the age
For such a rough passage

Wasn't it only yesterday?
The little one had raging fever
The fear held the mirror
A kick in the rear
For an unplanned howler

Honestly, it was only yesterday
It happened what all along had doubted
The first grey suddenly sprouted
Then some more, in the places scouted
Brow pencil and hair dye flaunted
Lips perfectly sculpted, pouted
Nature's rules royally flouted

And then it was only yesterday
The bubble of youth burst
Vanity bit the dust
My proud bust, went bust
The lithe lass in the queue quipped, if she must
" Beta, wish doctor UNCLE, first !"

The dog and the child.

Elsa, my neighbour's pet, like all females, is perennially hungry and greedy for attention.I talk to her a lot and she tolerates the gibberish for exactly the same amount of time, as my female acquaintances do. Her need to be heard is much greater than being spoken to, like....... As Labrador's playfulness goes, she is hugely fond of kids and every evening plays to the gallery, when she is the cynosure of all eyes.


I am privy to all her antics from my bathroom window which allows unilateral interaction from my side. She as yet, has not been able to spot me. Yesterday morning around 9, two sisters, 11 and 5 respectively, who are die hard fans of Elsa, were awaiting the arrival of their school bus.There could not be a livelier mode to chase the blues of school going, away, than a few moments with a dog.


Elsa spotted them from far and craned her neck out through the gaps in the metal bars of the gate.The kids started their routine of telling her sweet nothings and patting her. Elsa, as always, wanted to lick the kids' hands.The elder and more learned sister informed the younger one that dogs sweat through their tongue and stick it out more in summer.All through this explanation there was this quizzical look on Elsa's face.And then it happened. The younger kid, at her charitable best, opened the water bottle and offered water to Elsa to quench her thirst. Elsa pounced on the opportunity, clasped the mouth of the bottle between her fierce jaws and took long swigs.She would not let go of the bottle despite brave attempts by the young kid. Ultimately, the older one succeeded in snatching it away. Lo and behold ! The younger kid, immediately put the bottle to her mouth and had a couple of gulps. The elder one was scandalised.Before she could finish her reprimand, the younger one said," It's already hot. I was only checking whether the water was cold enough. It is !" With that she again offered the bottle to Elsa, who greedily started slurping it all over again. The elder sister just walked away........



I have not informed the kid's parents of this encounter and am in no mood to disrupt the bonhomie and the bond between childhood innocence and the canine greed for attention.

Growing old- God's graffiti.

Danced and sang
Dined and drank, had a bang
Satiated to the core, no pang
If death came knocking,
The doorbell rang
God asked," Heaven or hell?"
"Whatever, care a hang!"

Old age did not happen
Old age was earned
Fine, if nothing was learned
For the heart is still young
As the candle at both ends burned

Come, grow old with me
The best is yet to be
Before the last hurrah,
Before the final curtain
The weary eyes are certain
The grand spectacle awaits
You see !

Heal With Heart.

When the rusty and creaky door handle of the hostel room is ruthlessly banged tonight, the greenhorn shall be rudely startled. Yanked off from the cosy comfort of his sleep, he shall be hard pressed to gather the wits about him. Still very wet behind the ears, he shall be the first port of call. Unlike when he was a medical student, as a first-year doctor, he will not be able to deflect every question with a list of hypothetical answers, ( all duly crammed and mugged up and ready to rattle off ).Because when a patient is unwell, he will need to act quickly, with conviction and offer practical solutions to a restless, anxious soul.To offer medical knowledge that he has gathered at the training, is what he shall eagerly and enthusiastically carry out to YET ANOTHER PATIENT. He could be caught up treating asthma or stroke or angina, rather than a nervous, edgy and vulnerable Ms.Kothari or Mr.Trivedi or a Mr.Chopra.

In the never ending night, he will probably need to pacify a querulous relative, attend a cardiac arrest, deal with a recalcitrant alcoholic and chart the right dose of a painkiller. Like every other intern, he will probably stay late and wonder how he didn't even get to the loo or grab a bite. These very nights, used to end in a blink, when he was shaking a leg as the beau of her beloved.Now they have thrown every little biological rhythm of his, out of gear.

Agile processing and critical reasoning, these skills will take time to develop. Internship is all about finding your place again - at the bottom of a hierarchy. It is about being receptive to a tsunami of information, but instead of being stymied by it, embracing what you need to better yourself. It involves a lot of mindful observation about what goes on around you and how you can adapt it to your temperament and needs.

As interns begin this challenging rite of passage, it is an apt time to ask what a society, which invests so heavily in its doctors, is entitled to expect from interns, who are the effective gatekeepers in a public hospital system.

Having a diligent and caring intern is what patients often nominate as having made the difference to their hospital stay. This is because interns still spend the most face time with patients compared with more senior doctors, who have to contend with clinical and administrative duties. Interns are the first contact for the majority of concerns, and while they may not consider themselves much more than a highly qualified scribe, they underestimate their own worth to a patient.

It is a reasonable assumption that successful graduates will be safe practitioners. But the real question should be whether we are producing interns who carry anything more than facts and statistics in their heads and can also think with their hearts.Think with hearts and feel with their heads !

How does a sick, frail or dying pin all their hopes on a bunch of novices, caught giggling on their cell phones, a minute ago? How would an alert and sceptical relative of the dying, put his faith in that intern? Will the patient allow his day to day well being in the hands of a fidgety, overzealous bloke who has a slew of medications for every complaint?

A patient will trust a doctor who will listen more and assume less, all the while being sensitive, compassionate and responsive.Where have all of them gone? Are these fresh from the oven, but half baked interns trained TO FEEL? Is a novice geared to lessen the anxiety, create security and offer peace, when all he exudes are immense restlessness and the need TO DO rather than observe, analyse and still bide time not to act or wait? Will he not get rattled by the incessant barrage of questions from the never ending posse of relatives? Shall he exude calmness and offer confidence when he himself is grappling exactly with the lack of both these? Who ever taught him to return only the calls that make sense, provide holistic view about the patient's present and future? Is he taught to switch sides and feel all that the poor soul in a tizzy, at the mercy of a non- existing system and half baked knowledge, going through? Would he be ready to learn to ask the questions that are common to every patient and his relative and the neighbour's dog?

. Ask any doctor about the motivation to be a healer. On top of the list, is the desire to help others. Ask any intern what the most satisfying part of the job is and you will be told it is the doctor-patient interaction.Does he remain polite and bereft of all the fluff that usually occupies the head of fresh or experienced doctors? Learn to feel.Only then shall he perceive the helplessness and the incessant questions of the patient.

I am almost certain." The doctor" has become jaded and insensitive. In part this is due to the chronic engagement with the sick. The sob stories of the children of the lesser God,have lost their meaning or worse, their impact. It is a wishful thinking and a proven, unrealistic approach that by simply submitting interns to long hours and more fact-based teaching, we will turn them into better doctors.

Bend a little bit more or else we shall break, break the intangible yet very holy that governs the doctor- patient relationship. Break all that is left of the trust and faith that the patients, unfortunately are forced to put in us and the dismal healthcare we offer.

A more flexible curriculum shall truly nurture our interns to become better communicators about a whole range of subjects that cause anguish to patients. Some common things that our patients expect us to do better at include breaking bad news, dealing with a health setback, discussing the end of life and registering their priorities without inserting our own.And on top of all these is the readiness to LISTEN and not butt in. Do not offer solutions to the problems that are not possible to cure. More often than not patients need to BE HEARD.

A patient carries an indelible impression of doctor's humanity and personal touch. The urgent need to correct what is obvious and shouting out loud as the sure shot symptom and sign of a disease may earn only a few brownie points. To deal with a human being in strife, rather than attend only the strife requires lot of maturity and soft skills. Yet fostering these skills is still considered an optional extra in the making of a doctor.

In their lifetime the doctors are likely to see some extraordinary discoveries. Somewhere today, there may be an overworked intern who may one day find the cure for cancer or diabetes or multiple sclerosis.

For now, they would do well to remember that when it comes to being a good doctor, caring can be just as important as curing.

Alimony.

Alimony?
An aftermath of a failed matrimony
It ain't enough, the separation ignominy
Cough up money
More than when in matrimony
Every little dime and penny

It's the devil's due, the ransom
A pension for life, ( the pun rife)
To an erstwhile wife, not handsome
In life you win some and lose some
Alimony, you lose all and you're lonesome

Even before the marriage, the jury was out, right?
It just didn't work, tried with all your might
Two wrongs, couldn't make it right
Life together was a sorry plight
Now,
Feeding oats to the dead horse, day and night
Small mercy,
Got for company, a fist open, tight !

Man- the growing pain !

Man, eternally in adolescence
Doesn't he have a conscience?

Woman has a reason to pause
Stupid, now it's menopause!
Man too has a clause
It's andropause
Testosterone, about to close
Yet the adrenaline always flows
This man, he ever grows?

What laughter is to childhood
Sex is to adolescence
What maturity is to womanhood
Immaturity and insolence
Adolescence and then obsolescence, ( but sex always ), is to manhood !

Ask any woman,
Little children- a headache
Ask any woman
These big children?- a heartache!
Little children disturb woman's sleep
Big children, her life- the creeps !