"What happens when an irresistible force meets an immovable object?" A young priest fresh out of seminary once asked me, when he learned that I was a fan of philosophy and other arcane things. I remember the delight on his face, watching me struggle to come up with an answer. He did not give me [...]
Non-Negotiable
All of us have non-negotiables. 11 years ago, fresh out of home, when I went to college, my religious beliefs were non-negotiable. "There is one God eternally existent in three persons, the Bible is His word and The Brethren ( my church) understand it best" In a year, the last part eroded away. Then the [...]
The glorious battle
Remember that part in the new karate kid movie when Jackie Chan makes Will Smith's son put on and take off his jacket again and again and again and in the end it all makes sense because he was teaching him the greater lessons about kung fu? And how in the end he uses this [...]
Lazy
Every time you do, you become better. When you do the dishes tonight even though are bone tired, your tomorrow begins better. When, after having wasted the whole day preparing to write your assignment, you force yourself to write one paragraph even though you just want to sleep in shame; the assignment has one less [...]
Hierarchies
There is a hierarchy of needs. A hierarchy might not imply one is more important than the other, but it often implies one is more urgent than the other.Roti, kapda, makaan, (survival) always gets more attention than freedom and equality. For a society to reach a place where a "higher" goal becomes important, the "lower" [...]
Whole wheat pancakes: quick meals for the time-deficient
It's not a super quick meal, because what we often forget is that while something might be quick to make, eating too fast to enjoy it is counterproductive. Want a fast meal like that? grab a samosa or something. Prep time: 10 minutes Cooking time: 10 minutes Eating time: 30 minutes minimum Ingredients Whole wheat [...]
Stories
I once met a very old man who said he knew every story that Aesop put in his fables, "it's just that he wrote all of them down, that's all". This is the main difference between a blog and a bestseller. Write it (all) down.
Long Form Indian writing Digest 003
India's Gold hope in the upcoming Olympics is interviewed by Rahul Bhattacharya But next to Mary, these other girls were ponderous. Their feet were sluggish, their positioning not so clever. She could fight with her guard down, testing her reflexes by offering them her bare chin as a target, and counter-attacking in angles unfamiliar to [...]
Fixing the healthcare mess; Satyameva Jayate or showmanship?
Dear fellow Doctor; from your Facebook posts, emails to me and tweets, it is obvious to me that the Satyamev Jayate episode on corruption in healthcare worried you deeply. some of you were happy that such an exposé happened, but most of you were worried that there was over-dramatization and untruth in the presentation, and that [...]
Introducing What’s Up Doc? A column at eSocialSciences.org
I am giddy with glee to announce that I will be writing a monthly column about the practice of medicine and related issues at eSocialSciences, a "region-focused repository and a new and yet evolving publication space for easy and quick dissemination of scholarly work that can be a space for discourse among researchers, policy makers [...]