Between thoughts and words

  Mr. G is a resident of our village and rarely comes to our clinic for some minor ailments. He makes it clear to us that the only reason he comes to our clinic is because it is very close to his home. He takes treatment for his diabetes, hypertension and heart disease in a private hospital far away from our village. Whenever I try to ask him details of his other treatments he retorts, “Why do you want to know those details? My doctor is very good and he will take care of those problems. I came only for this cold. Just give me cold medicines.” We are a small community-based clinic and Mr. G is also a member of our community advisory board. I explained to him one time that it is important to know details of other treatments that patients are taking even if I am giving ‘just cold medicines’. But Mr. G did not want to share any details.    Last week Mr. G came with a dry cough, low grade fever, body aches and headache. This is a season for influenza like illness in our area ...

  Deepavali is a complicated time of the year. It is marked by overcrowded textile shops and shopping centers and the inordinate traffic jams on roads. People from all over Tamil Nadu try desperately to get buses and other transports to reach their hometowns to be with their family for the festival. When I was growing up, we used to carry boxes and baskets of sweets and savories and visit friends and relatives wearing our new clothes. An essential part of Deepavali would be elaborate discussions on the new sarees and dresses that were worn on that day. Today there are very few visits to friends and relatives, but these are replaced by photo ops which are shared on social media.    Deepavali has always been a commercial festival. As a child, I remember the social gradient in school, when all children would be allowed to wear and display their new clothes on the day after Deepavali. The dresses, the designs, the colors, the shine of the clothes would be so different for dif...

  Being kind is often organic and effortless. However, when the kindness is taken for granted, misunderstood as weakness, or exploited for selfish gains, it takes immense efforts to continue being kind. In this blog I want to reflect on kindness and the challenges of being kind.    I had a conversation with a senior professor yesterday. She was very polite and courteous. But she was not kind. I was supposed to travel to her university to teach. But I did not get train ticket reservations. I am a very light sleeper with low back pain issues. So, I prefer to take a day train when traveling because it helps me get a night’s rest after the travel so that I can be ready for the teaching session the next morning. But all trains were fully booked and so I did not get a proper train reservation. I was explaining this to the professor. But she kept insisting that I travel somehow. She suggested that I should travel by night train or I should take a bus. She kept missing the issues...

Jane Goodall, the primatologist, conservationist and educator who died on 01 October 2025, said, “You cannot get through a single day without having an impact on the world around you... What you do makes a difference, and you have to decide what kind of difference you want to make,” I heard her say these words today in a Netflix documentary titled “Famous Last Words”. It is the last interview given by her and released posthumously, as the Famous last words from her to the world. She lived her life by these words and what a great play of destiny that I had to hear these words today.     I was feeling extremely low and sorry for myself in certain ways since afternoon. I had a class to teach this afternoon. The audience were post graduate residents of various medical colleges attending a research methods course. I had to teach two topics very interesting to me, ‘biases in research’ and ‘qualitative research’. I went well prepared and I think I delivered two well-rehearsed lecture...

Unique issues arise when we run outpatient clinics on Sundays. Usually Sundays are holidays for most working people, and they prefer to come to see the doctor. Working sons and daughters also find it convenient to accompany their elderly parents to the clinic. Public transport is relatively free in rural areas on Sundays. Those who work for weekly wages receive it on Saturday and they have dispensable money in hand to bring to the clinic. However, Sundays are also the only day of the week when working people catch up with personal household chores like washing clothes, cleaning the house etc., the day of the most elaborate meat-based meal in the afternoon and the day to catch up on an afternoon siesta or television, friends or family time. So having come to the clinic, everyone wants to leave as soon as possible to catch up with all this. So, Sunday clinics are a recipe for crowds, impatient and irritable.     Yesterday was no exception! When I entered the clinic at 8.40 AM, t...

  “Do something and take it out…I cannot deal with this anymore. It is such a nuisance...” she yelled as she entered the clinic. Mrs. V , a 72 year old lady, lives alone in the nearby village. There have been many ways to start a clinic. Some days start lazy, I sit with a book, or with a notebook reading or writing for some time before the first patient comes. Many days, there is a quiet queue of patients waiting outside and they come in one by one in an orderly manner. It is later in the day that people become impatient and peep inside or barge inside even as the previous patient is still sitting with me. But this was a strange start. Mrs. V stormed inside, yelled and planted herself firmly in the chair in front of me. She is a thin built lady with a slouched back. There are more wrinkles on her face than a piece of dried grapes. She must have been a beautiful woman in her prime, the vestiges of which are lingering on her weatherbeaten skin and face. The frown on her forehead was ...