Doctors

Long ago i was walking in trivandrum during the night and the street lights were off . Very few vehicles and no other people on the road . Suddenly a motorbike which had just passed me with two six foot men turned around after a few metres and approached me . I was a little scared considering that it was a place in trivandrum known for gangsters . I looked at them and both of them were smiling at me : two complete strangers .  Apparently one of them was admitted at the ward where i was the medical student and they just wanted to say hello .I was very happy  .  Thinking back ,  i  can only  think  about  very few professions which gets this respect from total strangers .
                                                                                    To this moment i strongly believe a doctors profession is one of the noblest professions . But due to the tremendous changes in the society in last two decades i feel its one of the most "challenging " professions to be in these days . (and i dont mean in a positive sense )  . Its most challenging for the people at the frontline of medicine  --paediatricians ,gynaecologists etc .  Whenever a person  dies unless he is very old and "expected to die "  it is the onus of the doctor to prove that the death is not caused due to his neglect .  I have observed on numerous hospitals that the skill of the doctor is more in predicting death than saving the life .  And if by misfortune any medication has been given in the preceding 30 minutes before his death its a case of wrong medicine injected (concluded by the public)  .
                                                                         Recently i had a discussion with a few radiology  postgraduate students  about the trends in specialty choice last few years . It has been radiology ,radiology,radiology  for the top rank holders . There are many reasons for this choice but one of the reason is this specialty offers more rewards than the frontline specialties of medicine .  I still believe that the unique reward of intense patient contact is missing in radiology . But still this speciality also safeguards to a large extent from the intense contact with the public many of whom are arrogant , ignorant and even physically abusive to frontline doctors these days . These young postgraduate students were telling that when they were doing housesurgeoncy an infant death or maternal death means sure physical abuse . Now they are all happy that those days are behind them .
 Paradoxically thanks to modern medicine  the maternal mortality and infant mortality has reduced almost ten times in the last 50 years . And 50 years ago when numerous women and infants used to die  the doctors were respected not abused .

  Even in the primitive tribes the witch-doctor was one of the most respected person in the community along with the village chieftain inspite of many of his patients dying .  Probably the expectations of modern man with his dreams of 100 % survival till 100 years is not being fulfilled by present day doctors  . Or the vast technological strides has made us so egoistic that we think we can control death and disease fully . Coming to think of it in natural disasters like tsunami there is no use of blaming anyone while in any hospital death (people still die in hospitals ) they need to vent their anger at someone for the "failure " . I think even the anger felt towards doctors is a time for deep introspection about us on what we expect out of our unpredicatable life (medicine just reflects that unpredictability even this day ) .
                           
                                                                            Though there are blacksheep among doctors like all other professions, overall i feel they do  a much better job considering the society in which they operates .  And its high time they are given their respect due or as i fear its not long before the best students do not opt for this noble profession and patients are left in the mercy of doctors who are as ignorant as them ...





                                                   
                                                                       
                                                                                   
                                                                       

howrah bridge kolkata

Usually i visit a place by taxi , get down spend a couple of hours there and come back by another taxi . But when you are visiting a bridge this doesnt apply . Especially when it starts raining . Nevertheless it was a nice trip . I started from alipore in the iconic yellow ambassador taxi of kolkata and told the taxi driver to take me to the old howrah bridge across the Hoogly river . When he suggested why not he take me to the old as well as new bridge i thought ---ok why not . We first passed through the new Howrah bridge a huge steel structure impressive on its own right . I took some snaps and i could see the old Howrah bridge from there a few kilometres away . On the way  we passed through the rail museum of Howrah (will visit it next time ) with a steam engines front visible from the road . We passed near the huge Howrah railway station one of the oldest railway stations in india . A few minutes passed and there it was the old Howrah bridge standing in all its glory in the evening .Apparently made during the British era (wikipedia for more details )  it is an engineering marvel . It was the third longest bridge of cantilever type when it was made in the world and even now it is the 6 th longest in the world . It took more than 30000 tons of steel to make it and it doesnt have a single nut or bolt in it --the entire structure is riveted . The old howrah bridge is iconic of kolkata and has been in so many movies too latest being Kahaani . From the distance i can see modern yachts as well as traditional boats in the river showing the different facets of this ancient-modern mix city . On my return i passed through Victoria Memorial (had visited it last time ) and  reached back Alipore .

Thinking back i started to compare the new and the old bridge  a few kilometres apart both very impressive structures . Which is best ? No doubt the old bridge  as it was made 70 years back almost and is as impressive as the modern bridge  .  Has the bridge frozen in time ??  I dont know  ..

from vienna with love

                                                                 Do you wish you could visit a beautiful city by just closing your eyes . You could if you sleep for four hours in a car back seat and doze off just after leaving munich . Thats what happened to me . Sleepy after late partying in munich till 4 am i was sleepy when i got into the backseat of a car enroute to vienna from munich . My friend afsal had arranged for a carshare at the cost of 25 euros .. That way i could see the autobahn too where there are no speedlimits . It was spectacular to be in a car cruising at 150 kmph through german autobahn . And as i told earlier i slept off soon . Except for a short while when the car was passing near the alps when groggily i clicked some pics i slept off . When i woke up i was in Vienna , Austria . Being a radiologist myself Vienna is a mecca for me more than a mere tourist place . Its where all latest things in radiology comes every year in the form of European Congress of Radiology Conference . But today i am here as a tourist seeing the beautiful city full of beautiful buildings of the past well maintained . The main street is a tourist delight . You just keep on walking from the main train station and at each junction you have to pause where there is a beautiful building at each street corner and you enjoy the site take a pic and move on . I think they makers of this city planned it that way. I dont know however whether they had cameras when these buildings were first made . There are beautiful statues ,fountains , huge cathedrals and cafes along the way .

those indians of yesterday ...

Those indians of yesterday ……

                                                        There was a young prince who was married to a beautiful  princess and had a child in ancient india . But over the years the prince go increasingly disenchanted with life seeing the death , old age and suffering . The princes father the king tried his best to shield his son from these facts of life . One fine night the prince left his beautiful wife and child and chose the life of a monk . Without knowing who he is many of our first reaction would be how silly he was .  But history proved otherswise that this great Indian found out a way of life which we now calls Buddhism . The prince was Gautama Buddha .

Then there was a great king who wanted to expand his kingdom like many great kings . A great warrior his kingdom expanded to the whole of india almost . Except there was one state which he was not able to conquer . But once in a fierce battle  he conquered his ultimate dream of conquering this neighbouring state . In that victorious battle so many lives were lost . He visited the battlefield on the night of the victory . Strewn with dead bodies of his enemy kingdom and wailing family members of the slain men the king realized that in a way his victory was a sort of defeat . From that day on , he decided never to kill not only men but even animals . History showed him as the greatest emperor of india Asoka and the battle of Kalinga made this transformation in him .

In the olden days there was a curious practice . Once the husband of a woman was dead she was expected to jump on the funeral pyre and kill herself . This practice was called Sati . Firmly entrenched in beliefs this practice was opposed by a great man . It took great courage to stand up against the societal norms that too one firmly entrenched in religion . This man was Raja Ram Mohan Roy a great Indian scholar and social reformist .

Though definitely not the last one there was a small king in india . Though puny in front of one of the greatest commanders on earth Alexander the great , this king stood up against the mighty Alexanders forces instead of outright surrender like so many did during Alexanders conquests . History tells that though Porus the king of india was defeated Alexander was so impressed with his bravery that he gave him back his kingdom .

Each time when I look back in history I cannot but be proud (in a good sense of  course ) that I am born into one of the greatest countries on earth –India 

when in doubt ---ask your teacher

Jetlags occur even for trips to europe  . It also became a blessing in disguise as i automatically woke up  early in the morning and slept early at night .  When your mercedes benz
taxi arrives at 7:30 am  i am more than punctual because of the jetlag effect of early morning waking up  . 
Summer and mornings have a magical charm too .  It was funny when on one of the days my daily driver of taxi apologized for being himself late .  Guess what was the time he came ?   7:34  am  . he was 4 minutes late  .
My guesthouse this time didnt have a complimentary breakfast and being in the residential area and not knowing that the neighbouring bakery opened early i starved for initial two days in the morning till 11 am . Not a big deal for me  as i eat a heavy dinner  and a  light breakfast . But 2 boxes of chocolates and one box of assorted cream biscuits and apple and orange juices with excellent coffee at 11 am more than made up for this at 11 am ... They called it a "coffee break "

Lunch during the training days were at office canteen  .  I wont forget my roots -- i love indian food and i love my mumbai office food very much . But that doesnt mean that  i didnt experiment with german food . Dont ask me the names  but  it was excellent  .  Asparagus was in season and the asparagus soup and asparagus dishes with spinach etc were very tasty though not spicy at all . I realised something which is non spicy could also be tasty in its own right.  Turkey and other poultry grilled served with some exotic sauces , beef etc were good . And being a land with many berries not limited to strawberries and rasberries the mixed juices were good . Usually polite in completing food in a decent half hour , this time i took the full one hour of the break eating continuously the unchartered german food territory while my poor colleeague from tunisia a dieting man watched for the extra half hour without complaining ...

My trainers were excellent and in the afternoon  one of them called me to her desk . I was thinking why she was calling me as she had answered all the questions during the training . I was amused that she was busy drawing a map of the best restaurant at erlangen for getting beef steak  . And of course i had asked her regarding this....So when in doubt ---ask your teacher :)

Aus deutschland---from germany

I returned from germany early morning today  .  As promised writing a few blogs on germany , Austria .  Though a short trip of one week ,  it gave me  few experiences which made this second visit to germany more memorable than the first one done 2.5 years back  .
                                                                             I arrived in germany by Lufthansa the official carrier of germany . Having read a few bad reviews of this airline i was skeptical but was pleasantly surprised by an excellent service and nice food  . They had even arranged tamil speaking person to help passengers in transit at frankfurt airport  as flight took off from chennai airport . I would have loved if the food was german but since most of my co-passengers are not the "experimenters "  it was nice welcoming gesture that they served delicious indian food served by german airhostesses . I arrived in the historic city of Nuremberg where the famous  Nuremberg trials of world war 2 took place .  And i was travelling through the heart of Bavaria ...
                                                   My training was in Erlangen a small "village " around 25 kms from Nuremberg . It was not the lego brick houses and the lush greenery on either side of the roads that attracted me more but that every other car was a BMW or an Audi  . Nothing unexpected for this was Germany the land od das Auto where these cars are manufactured . Gotta buy one next time i land  (this time didnt take that much money:)  )

I reached my guesthouse on the outskirts of Erlangen in a residential area . This time so many things went wrong but they were all blessings in disguise . For one my map which i got from airport was irrelevant as my guesthouse was just outside the map in Erlangen . That made me observe the excellent public transport system in erlangen with buses every 19 minutes . You read that correctly , being a time obsessed culture buses and trains  go by  the minute  .  Germany has changed to some extent according to oldtimers who say you could correct your watch by observing train or bus  but still punctuality is top priority  .

There was a superb cafe nearby  with pretzels and nice cappucchino coffee . In addition they had a great variety of hamburger like things stuffed with a variety of fillings  .  Pastries were amazing as i was doubting whether i was eating strawberries or pastry . Surprises again  every establishment i went the staff were very courteous though many places they didnt speak english . But the HALLO (hello in german )  told with a warm smile was everywhere and though ages have passed you should appreciate that this is Bavaria  where the Nazi party was formed .  And age has shown me how to recognise whether you were welcome by the tone and body language of the HALLO . I was welcome everywhere .  But just a warning though ..dont expect  the  "where are you from ? etc etc "  as  in germany stranger ,aquaintance and friendship is different like gears of a bmw ...So you will enjoy your stay if you keep your expectations culturally relevant .  There is  not the plastic smile  which can be encountered in sales establishments of some countries and if interpreted correctly its a sign of honesty ... germans are generally more honest than many cultures .

Purely from the internet (i havent tried it  )  ... Its said if you weigh 200 kg and ask a german date how do you look  dont be surprised or sad that she told you you are overweight  .  Its plain honesty  and you asked for it  ....:)