Window Seat Scribbles

  For weeks on end now, Indian news channels have followed – or rather, hounded- the case of an unfortunate and untimely death of a movie star with the persistence of a bank exceutive trying to sell you a credit card and the sensitivity of a sledgehammer. Many articles have since cropped up on both sides of the table-debating, analysing and ultimately ruing at what has come to pass for “journalism” these days- and with news channels crossing every ethical limit possible, the reproach is somewhat understandable. The antics of the anchors on the primetime news vary from outrageous, absurd, scandalous, sleazy to downright unintentionally comic, but this is hardly surprising to anyone who has been following popular Indian news channels for a few years now.   I have stopped watching primetime news altogether simply because I acknowledge that almost all of it is politically sponspored propaganda one way or the other aimed to distract people from asking real questions about real issu...

Ever since Covid-19 broke out and disrupted our lives as we knew it, there has been an outpouring of gratitude for healthcare workers all over the world. It has been no different in India. From banging vessels to showering flowers, we have been at the receiving end of it all. One would think that would make us feel nice that our efforts are (finally) acknowledged. Unfortunately, it doesn’t.  It’s not about working without adequate protective gear. Many of us realise that PPE is a genuine logistical nightmare for even some of the first world countries , and to get PPEs for all doctors in a country with a doctor patient ratio as screwed up as ours was never going to be a cakewalk. It also isn’t about doctors or nurses being thrown out of their homes by landlords, nor is it about stones and abuses being hurled at healthcare workers responsible for community screening. Simply because doctors in India have always been so demonised, so deeply mistrusted, so taken for granted that a...

It is a Sunday morning. I wake up lazily around 8.30 am (which is two hours later than my usual), not sleep deprived and groggy for a change. A relaxed breakfast with the husband over discussions about the morning news followed by some chores and on to cooking a typical Sunday lunch of mutton curry and rice, which compels us to give in to the temptation of an afternoon siesta. The evening is spent enjoying some me-time – reading or calling up friends and family. Sounds like any usual Sunday, doesn’t it? Not for us. This, is something I haven’t been able to do (with or without Covid-19 wreaking havoc worldwide) for the longest time. For those who don’t know me, I and my husband are doctors currently working in Kerala. We moved here around 7 months ago from Assam for my husband’s three year superspeciality course. What with him being a first year DM resident and me working as an Assistant Professor in a medical college here, we both hardly get any time to spend with each other. Th...