Friday, July 22, 2011

A Poet's dependence



Fisher Space Pen, Bullet Space Pen, Chrome Finish, Gift Boxed (400)
This pen has become rusty with age,
It needs consistent companionship of a hand,
Lest it rust in rest,
Best for it is turmoil and work,
I fear when it stops to display a comma or an apostrophe,
Especially the full stop cuts my breath,
I fear to be deserted once again,
The last experience I could barely take,
The lines it carves in my blood,
Make my way to dusty death,
In it lies my destiny,
For what is destiny without a friend?
All the pages of my life it bled,
Are a proof of its faithfulness,
Sometimes I wonder a cage is it? Or its me?
My dependence on it answers this,
But then it has become rusty with age,
It too needs consistent companionship of a hand.


Dr.Q
Copyright ©2009  Dr.Q
Protected by Copyscape Duplicate Content Tool

We didn't start the fire?!





A friend of mine from the USA told me a couple of days back that there was another tornado warning for her area. This being a second episode that I had come across for her area I told her that maybe it was time for them to move out of that area. Then she said” where to?”
Yes that’s a major question that confronts any homemaker…where to go, where to settle, where to raise a family. It was all nice a dandy when we were kids… all these questions our parents or guardians took care of and we just went with the flow enjoying the little things in life. Now the world has become much smaller what with the media, twitter, facebook and many more advancements boring a hole in our stomachs. Giving us sleepless nights. Let’s face it most of us will tweet or use some form of technology before going to bed. I know I do and have to break this habit…a work in progress.
We are handicapped with our own inventions. Our fingers will soon become stronger than our legs and a new species will be born…that is if we don’t kill each other before then.
So as I was saying where can we go to settle down. Every time I think of buying another property to settle rather than as an investment this is the dilemma I face. I cannot find any place on earth which isn’t being threatened either by a natural disaster or by man’s ignorance and hatred.
Now let’s take South Africa as an example. It is truly heaven on earth. Where on earth will you find such diversity in fauna and verdure. Where on earth will you find so much forest and greenery still bearing the brunt of humanity and winning. A country with a beautiful horizon and landmarks and a smashing weather forecast that makes you want to sing every day. A country where you wake up with the beautiful chirping gossip of such colorful birds as you have never seen before. But alas our days here are short. You cannot take long walks after the sunsets without being hounded by shadows which lurk ready to cut your pockets and throats without an ounce of mercy. These shadows seem to become braver everyday and some have taken to daytime hunting. Bullets flay in towns hurting innocent people as police go hunting for these shadows. Hijackings go bad frequently with patients swarming in with high caliber GSWs.
Yes you start a family in this world yet you cannot keep them safe…..America being swept with their lot of tornadoes and heat waves. Tsunamis sweeping in from all sides. Volcanoes erupting their galore. Earthquakes crumpling some of our spirits. Revolutions shaking countries foundations. Draughts sucking our lives out…..and on and on it goes.
Innocent Monster
Sir Billy Joel put it very well in his song “WE didn’t start the fire”:
Ø  "Wheel of Fortune", Sally Ride, heavy metal, suicide,
Foreign debts, homeless vets, AIDS, crack, Bernie Goetz,
Hypodermics on the shores, China's under martial law,
Rock and roller cola wars, I can't take it anymore

We didn't start the fire
But when we are gone
Will it still burn on, and on, and on, and on

Friday, July 15, 2011

A Cup of Coffee with a King

There are reasons why certain things have a more profound impact in our lives than others. There are reasons why we tend to remember our tragedies more easily than the good times in our lives. It’s for survival.
Fred & Friends Fisticup Metallic-Handled Ceramic Mug For survival we remember that touching a hot steaming cup of coffee can burn us. Same way tragic events are imbedded into our nervous system to be easily accessed to prevent future calamity and hence for our survival. We have to teach ourselves everyday to remember the good in our life. Whereas  when asked what was our worst experience a light bulb starts flashing immediately on top of our heads and we start prating away the list of horrible things that have led us to be as we are now. But it’s not only the bad that has happened to us that make us. We are who we are not because of the experience but because of the way we let these experiences make us feel.
There was a time when someone screaming at me would have made my blood boil into my eyes till I saw red….yes those teenage years when you are hormonally challenged more than ever. Days when most teenagers journals would read as follows:
“Oo thorn burrow so fast
Thorn burrow deep
My finger move not alas
As I lay in a heap
Of agony and turmoil
Twisting pain rising up bile
As the anger plots schemes so foil
Avenge thee I will and then smile
Till then a dark mask for my face
Hover I will like death fallen from grace”.

 No amount of education be it from your high school or college or university, teaches us how to manage life and our emotions in a constructive way. We learn it along our meandering path of life and die still learning. Our MBA’s, MDs, PhDs stand no chance in weathering this life successfully if we cannot learn the most important thing in life that no normal school teaches. Our daily newspaper or news stations on TV are a testimony to that. WE very easily fall for the easy way out to explain our short comings…our short fuses. And our usual explanation is that “We are humans”. What we forget is that every species must evolve for survival. Every species must improve itself, must learn the most important lesson of life...  A lesson that holds the answer to all our riddles, to control our feelings and reactions. They say “He is King who can conquer his own mind”. So are you "him"?

Sunday, July 3, 2011

The Punch





There are reasons why doctors go to the gym. To the lay person we give the excuse that its good for the health and increases our stamina therefore makes us perform better at our jobs. To me it is all about watching  my feet running on the tread mill. The steady thump thump of my footsteps as I am jogging my heart to a monotonous music  puts me in a trance. Then comes the step machine which always seems like a piece of cake to me till I have passed the 5 minutes notch when a fire starts raging in my chest…..my legs crave for more n my chest always battles to keep up in between the gulps of cool water running down my throat.  Then a few minutes further I know I have to stop when I no longer feel the cool trickle down my throat. Water just hisses and evaporates in my chest ……my head seems light n I float off the machine and find myself gliding towards the rowing machine. By this time I am in the perfect state of mind….hypnotized….just what the doctor ordered. Thereafter I am oblivious to anyone around me save for the drumming in my ears…its voodoo music. I am reminded I am in Africa….no sorry South Africa. Where outside people, including my overseas friends, think people still live in trees and still bash women in the head and drag them off for a night cap. A place where lions roam freely and elephants are the means of transport. Food is wild game and leaves are the in fashion.
Then I see someone slamming a punching bag. I watch the biceps tense with each punch and I know it feels good. It feels good to be alive. Its nice to have a punching bag close at hand. One punch for the slow coach on the fast lane, wasted 10 minutes of my time to work.  One punch for the  lady putting makeup in her car….I know I will be checking her in A&E(Accident & Emergency department) soon. One punch for every arm hanging out of a car window…..they too will be coming to A&E . One punch for the guy talking on his cellphone while crossing the road…I did see him in A&E. One punch for the guy who always parks in my paid parking bay. One punch for the patient coming to A&E and refusing treatment wasting other patients time. One punch for every “F” word uttered by a patient. One punch for a specialist’s consult on the phone who refuses to come out for a patient. One punch for the specialist who came out just to confirm my diagnosis and wrote no notes and asked me to do his job as he is too busy with 2 cases in theater….when the A&E was busy! One punch for the lurking escort sneaking behind me every minute and not listening to the staff or guards. One punch for the punch on my colleague’s face.
Yes we all go to the gym for all good reasons.
We are doctors and we have to set an example to society and do no harm. We punch in the gyms and come nice and hypnotized by the Hippocratic oath to work.  …..to be a punching bag for others….IRONIC!