Santhosh's ramblings

The pandemic and its impact on our lives have been an eye opener. With many known people passing on, many still struggling to come out of their various health and broader issues due to pandemic - the issues that I have been challenged about in the past no longer seems important. Of many issues, three stand out with fast losing priority in life. Yesterday I would have struggled with it, today it seems irrelevant. One - personality differences. People who see, think and behave differently from what I think they should, always was a challenge. But today this does not seem so important. These people are to be celebrated and encouraged because one does not know who might suddenly face a crises and move on.  This is what Jesus did too - got 12 people with totally different personalities and celebrated life together with times of meals, washing feet, retreats etc.  Two - the perspective differences on issues that matter to me. Today it seems very irrelevant. I have strongly disagreed...

I had heard about Father Stan but did not know much about him. Yesterday, attending his funeral was a challenging and encouraging time. Challenging because, listening to his life over last two years, I was wondering how an 84-year-old frail man with Parkinsonism can be considered as “dangerous” and imprisoned.   One knows that such a person with multiple comorbidities have no reasonable chance of survival in Indian prisons! Encouraging because, here was a man who intellectually analyzed situation (Social analysis) and lived out a life that makes a difference in the lives of the people who had come to adopt as his brothers and sisters, or in one sense his family! Last year or so, the information about his life and what he shared prior to his imprisonment, was very encouraging. A man who had the clarity of thought, convictions that moved him, courage to live out that convictions, and compassion that drove him to the very end, despite being labelled as a criminal! Why were the p...

I came back after spending a few days with some Good Doctors. Yes, there are good doctors these days too. These days when doctors are being beaten up supposedly for their misdeeds! How did I label these doctors as good ones? Let me take you through 6 sets of criteria. Why are these people in Medicine ? They have a sense of fulfillment! They are there, yes for a job, they do receive a salary, they have a job satisfaction, not because of the salary they get only but things beyond the salary. They are some of best in their field among their peers in college! Though working in not so well-known locations, they are doing much in their career, bur career advancement is not what gives them the fulfillment. They see the career and job as a platform to care for those who do not have easy access to health care. And they find fulfillment in the fact that Medicine is a vocation – to be part of something bigger than just a job or career, though these are important. Where do they practice...

Growing up, we never had these days of remembrances! Father’s Day, Mother’s Day, Daughter’s Day Son’s Day etc. You were expected to remember each other every day and even if you did nor want, there was not much option! Especially between fathers and sons! You were dependent on each other, one for support, growth and sustenance other for significance, fulfillment and expression of his love…So it was taken for granted that you need each other, and you need to remember each other to move forward in this life…. As I grew up and moved out,  with my own family and children, becoming a father myself, I needed to be reminded, to remember my father off and on. There were days, in the business of being a father, a professional, a team leader, and engaged in various other busy roles, that I needed to be reminded to remember your father well! Not that he was forgotten, I will call and ask how he is, and keep in touch, but to remember is to remember well. Remembering well takes a bit of refle...

Observing the health care systems going through changes in the current pandemic is déjà vu if you know the history of health care. There was a day, when we had leprosy hospitals, TB hospitals and in the recent past HIV hospitals because we were afraid that these patients will infect others or there was stigma associated! Soon the mainstreaming concept came in and slowly TB, HIV and to some extend Leprosy got mainstreamed, of course with infection control practices, isolation wards for MDR TB etc. being part of regular health care system. This season is one for creating COVID-19 wards, hospitals, and care centers. I am sure once COVID-19 becomes an endemic, we will get back into mainstreaming of COVID19 care and setting up systems for infection control, respiratory illness isolation systems etc. Similarly, there is the déjà vu of health care systems. With increasing complexity of care, in COVID19, nurses are coming to the forefront and wards and systems are being managed by nurses. ...

There are few realties that we need to hold on as we go through this season. One – the Present painful reality of this season - reality of pain and suffering in our midst. The pain of bereavement, and loss many families are going through. The post covid infection challenges, the ongoing disease related and larger impacts of the pandemic on lives of many.  Especially the families from lower socio economic strata, whose stories that hardly reach the media. Numbers should not numb us https://santhoshsramblings.blogspot.com/2021/05/let-not-numbers-numb.html , but should move us with compassion. I am reminded of 2 quotes from Henry Nouwen “ Nobody escapes being wounded. We are all wounded people, whether physically, emotionally, mentally, or spiritually. The main question is not, 'How can we hide our wounds?' so we don't have to be embarrassed, but 'How can we put our woundedness in the service of others?' When our wounds cease to be a source of shame, and become ...

The spat between the international media and powers that be in our nation is quite disturbing. Yes, it is about who is right who is wrong, but in their spats, it appears as if these “numbers” about which they are fighting about had no life in them! They are just statistics. I am talking about two reports on  numbers of death in our nation. See links to the reports here. Just How Big Could India’s True Covid-19 Case and Death Toll Be? - The New York Times (nytimes.com) And the rebuttal from the authorities  today. https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/no-basis-at-all-centre-trashes-new-york-times-report-on-covid-deaths-2450596?pfrom=home-ndtv_topscroll Statements like these ” …. asserted that a strong mortality tracking system was in place and "a so-called prestigious newspaper" should not have published such a piece. ”, "There may be some late reporting of deaths but there's no intent of any state or the Centre . ” are made to convey reality from the data that is ...