Santhosh's ramblings

Recent conversations with some family members, sorting through the nuances of a positive NIPT screening test and the subsequent termination of pregnancy due to life-incompatible deformities were quite challenging and confusing. The conversations were mostly about their interactions with health care professionals and their processing of information. Given below are a few observations from my reflections on these conversations. The power equations in health care : we as health care professionals can no longer live with the power of our knowledge. We have for centuries lived with the power that comes from our knowledge. We are experts because we think we have more knowledge than the average human being (which might be true), and this gives us power over "them." We need to move from this knowledge- and expertise-based power equation and recognise that we are co-experts working together to find the best solution. The family and the patient are experts in what they want and know wh...

  It was theirs A few decades back Before the occupiers Drove them back Into the green belts Polluted air Cramped spaces Residing in fear They come in groups Early in the morning Trot around like Kings Before sun rising Remembering the days Past gone bye Survey their lands Dream of a future Created to care Rule over creation To flourish and live In harmonious relation Destroyed by greed Progress and power Nature ignored Relationships sour I dare to dream A day in future A renewed Kingdom With restored nature Humanity reigns Servants of the King Restored relationships Corulers of the King  

  A bird I saw Perched high Branches and leaves Rising above Perched high Resting alone Rising above Surveying scene   Resting alone Sun awaited Surveying scene Restfully waiting   Sun awaited Shadow I saw Surveying scene Falling on bird Shadow I saw Frightening heart Falling on bird Flying away Frightening heart Joined by flock Flying away Family to fly with   Joined by flock, Protection ensured Family to fly with To the rising sun…  

It has been few months since I returned from visiting a location of our nation, which is not too visible for most of us in the visible, incredible and promoted India. Physically I am back, but like the story of the porters in Africa who felt the speed has been too much and they were waiting for their souls to catch up, 1 my soul is still some where there, in the valleys beyond the Eastern Ghats. My mind is still processing the various things I saw and heard. As I left the airport from the nearest city, the concrete jungles with huge billboards, the large worship places of free market economy, the malls, with its own beauty, I was treated to another beauty. The beauty of, the jungles, hills and valleys and 6 hours of flying through the bumps, hairpin bends with no net connectivity. The person who was driving me, was in his early twenties, a recently married young local man. After couple of hours of flying through these roads, he asked me, can I talk to you about something. The quest...

It was the day after international women’s day (IWD). These women were shifting soil from  a kilometer away to clean their small village. Because the nearby land owner would not allow them to touch their land! To fill up the water puddles and make the village more hygienic. They have been doing it for a few days, on IWD too.  Why were they doing it? They had lost all livelihood opportunities over the last two years. Men had come back from the various cities they were in, because of lock down. Men had returned back to their cities but not much money was coming in. They had to survive.  A well-meaning civil society organization came up with this plan. Clean up your village for 8 hours a day,  Rs 300/- will be paid for those 8 hours. Cash for work, a well-known program. Listening to their stories were disturbing. 4-5 generations back they had migrated from a nearby district to this location. 5 or 6 families in the periphery of a jungle and beside a river, setting up the...

The Cause of War Every war, there is always justification. Most times justified as a right cause by the perpetuator or the one who starts the aggression. Right in their perspective but seen differently by the one who is at the receiving end. There will be historical issues of divisions based on land borders, language, religion, tribes, or other perceived wrongs. Some of those memories are still raw. The wrongs done by either one in the past or a third party in the past, which needs to be sorted out and finally. Issues from the past are usually extraordinarily complex and simple solutions can not be found for such complex situations. Nations try to sort it out by what they believe is the best way! But at best it is always us vs them. We are right they are wrong, and we have to teach them a lesson. But in this us vs them we forget that as humanity we share a common origin, we carry a shared image, the image of God, and a common destiny of death and for those who believe in life after d...

Two years have passed since the start of the pandemic. I remember in 2020 February, traveling in South East Asia, and listening to some leaders who were sure that this pandemic was a conspiracy by certain nations. Two years down the line, we are still are unclear and WHO is requesting for stronger collaboration to sort this issue out!   I remember while in the airport, my family forcing me to buy a N95 mask at an exorbitant price, to protect from something we did not know then well. Today we know somethings better but there are still many unknowns! Few weeks later in early March, out in a rural hospital in North India, we were having challenging conversations. Listening to the stories coming from New York hospitals, stories of many dying, health care professionals succumbing to the illness, systems overwhelmed by the numbers, we were wondering what would happen to us and our communities where there were no masks, PPEs or systems to care.  Then the lockdown happened. Governmen...