The Cotton Candy Reward

In the hustle and bustle of work, there’s so much we tend to forget. But there's a few things that stay behind, leave an impression on us that lasts long after we've left the casualty. Some patients might make you question, why in the world did you choose this profession, but others would  just provide you with an answer. In barely 48 hours of casualty/emergency room duty, I can revisit countless anecdotes, with many more to come and many more to cherish.

Day two of casualty duty and among the numerous cases that came, there was a man, assaulted. Broken teeth, a bone or two broken but what stood out was his broken spirit. We called the orthopedician, tried to calm him down and also his family/friends. In a while, all preliminaries done, he was sent for a confirmation x-ray and then shifted to the ward for further treatment, while we quickly hopped on to the next case, forgetting the last, and followed much of the same routine.

At 3 am, tired and wanting a break, we decided to go for a stroll. With that very patient's party were two giant sticks with cotton candy packets, to which we were drawn, quite literally like kids in a candy store! (Being a bunch of “just” 24 year olds). Drooling, I went with a 10 rupee note, asking for as many packets it would get us (knowing it won't be more than 3 to 4). Those people, overjoyed to see the Doctors who saved their friends life, gave us not just a packet, but loads of them. They even refused a mere sum we  offered (which we later forced them to take).

The next statement from them is probably the reason being a doctor is considered so satisfying.

“Aap Toh bhagwan hain hamare liye“
(You are like God to us)

Being in the middle of it all, a cog in the machine, sometimes we forget that patients are people and not just work. These humbling words were a reminder of how Medicine IS a noble profession, how we save lives. And even though it's become more of a business, but when a patient comes back to you, recovered or even recovering, his words are so so much sweeter than cotton candy!

P.S. many thanks to Ramakrishnan Dindigal for the editing :)

#55wordstory:Naughty

He was nice to all the other kids, finished his homework on time and gobbled up his vegetables. Everything leading to this day.

It had been 365 days since the last visit. But this time it would be different.

His eyes sparkling, anticipating the "bestest" present! No chance that Santa could call him naughty this time.

#55wordstory:Meet again as strangers

Two bodies but a conjoint soul they were. In their journey from juvenile beings to responsible adults, they had learnt everything together. Even to love.

A year after their separation, they sat hand in hand watching the sunset. It was all same to a passerby. But deep down they both knew, they were just strangers.

My White Canvas

A touch of blood or a whiff of blue,
A drop of green to add to the hue.
The pride in violet or a little black
For all the darkness in my head, in the back.

The grey of the burnings,
Or the Orange is it, cry the flame within
Or should I stick to bliss
With the pink of the skin.

If with all these shades, is a canvas,
Keeping the painter arise
It Should be a window
Into a task yet to surprise.

But here I stand clueless (a complete blank)
The brush in one
And holding the palette in another,
My empty mind failing to slither.

What should be my first stroke?
Do I have no start?
Or have I exhausted my options?
Have I done nothing so far?

(But wait)
Is the canvas actually blank?
Seems like I've done this all before,
The white staring at me, is it emptiness
Or a reflection of all the shades from the base to the core.

When Thunder Strikes

Thunder and light
Strike with all their might,
Creatures below, all of them mellow.
The senile, their brows with furrows,
The younger for safety digging burrows.
Weaklings go helter skeltor,
And the mother searches for her kids, some shelter.

When thunder and light
Strike with all their might,
Amongst the chaos, is a being
Pristine yet, with eyes too keen.
Pitch dark,
But when it strikes (wow)
The lightening makes everything bright!
Awed at the sight, he finds his way
Its not havoc, its light, it's a ray.

To others how can he explain,
The beauty of nature you can't untangle,
But isnt it just so plain.
Hoping everyone too can see,
The silver line, oh! its just so fine.
When theres thunder and light,
Striking with all its might,
Its nothing to be afraid
Because its such a marvelous sight!

Clearing the webs off this forgotten desk

I wrote something a few months back hoping it would publish in the college magazine and then ill publish it here. But that didn't happen so this didn't either.
Looking at the date stamp off my last post I'm shocked. It took me a while before I could successfully playback the events in my head that happened since then. (Will make one hell of a story!)

Won't call it resurrection, although this place seems virtually like a death bed. But lets just say I'm gonna clean the desk and clear off the spider webs off my workspace!

An Animal Of The Zoo

This post has been long overdue. About 6 months. And at the time I wrote it, I was as heart broken and sad as the cub. As usual time healed wounds and altered my thought process but what I had felt would never do. So here goes...

Criss-crossed wires made of metal
Pedestals here and there
With cosy spots to settle.
A familiar face that I saw every day,
And lots of visitors, too, came their way.

All I had to do was purrr,
Smile a lot and not dirty my fur.
A growl, a paw up in the air,
People are awed, it added to my flare.
A pat on the head, a scratch on the back
Food at a snap and all the attention of what I could dream.
I'm an animal of the zoo,
Love is my greed.

A cub yet to be moulded
All my wants could have been folded.
So To be sent away, I was boxed,
The other animals, had just mocked.
The last that I saw were big pitiful eyes,
Felt like I was the only one who could hear my cries.

Left alone in the forest
Unfathomable was the grief I felt,
The scary nights, how could have anyone dealt.
A cage to hold, someone to preen,
Eyes full of love and food is what I need.
Because,
I'm an animal of the zoo,
Love is my greed.

How could I sleep
When dangers loomed around,
How could I hunt, when I was taught to love.
Where could I have run,
When I thought my life here was done.
How could I even fight back
When I was left there to bleed
I was an animal of the zoo,
Love had always been my greed.

To Getting back on the Feet

A teacher of mine used to say "a cluttered table means a cluttered mind" (some of you know who I'm talking about, and I'd be glad if you stop fantasizing). But the point is my table's been pretty cluttered lately. There is so much going on, and there is much more going on in my mind. I have lots to do (but so do others), I'm sort of under pressure to perform and i have deadlines lingering, still in reality the sky isn't falling upon me right now but in my mind its the dooms day, everyday.

i have been wanting to write from so long, wanting to vent it out, "to share and lessen the bear" but I've made up my mind that i don't have the time to neatly arrange things in a pile too. Which is the permanent damage Ive brought upon myself, like so many other things that i drive myself crazy with. So today i decided "to hell with everything". i decided give it in "procrastination's" face and take the step, which started with reading Firas' post. And now here i am writing my own. It might be among the bad ones (i know there are worst), it might not be fancy enough to cover up for the famine months that went by but it sure is my my metaphor for walking ahead. To my new found ray of light,




Charred up trees, singed old leaves
The bleak scenery and the spider weaves.
What had stood, rose in smoke
Blistered feet without much hope
Scared were the people, to open the eyes
As dreary clouds had filled the skies.
There was cast, a holocaust
Souls without the bodies had died.
But they couldn't, what he could see,
On the horizon, looming oh so far
'fear not the flames' he affirmed
As from them, a phoenix is about to rise.

With the wind

When she told the winds to send you her love
did they stop by and rustle in your ear?
Could u tell
Of what they smelt,
If it was rain or her tears?
Was it pain or just a cry
Calling you oh, so near?
Meet me, she had said,
Meet me at the pier.
Just a glance, a touch, a kiss
demands that seemed so mere.
Yet you couldn't fulfill
Something that to both of you was clear.
Did you not long for her anymore
or was losing love a fear?
When she told the winds to send you all her love
did they really stop by and rustle in your ear?

The mind's play day

There is everything around us. And sometimes there are incidents that change you inside. And its then that u start paying attention to everything that has been staring at you forever.  There are things you want and things that you want from life. I got somethin, as its said, prematurely. Inevitable as it is I couldn't have it. Didn't even want getting it at this point of life, rather hated what I would have loved having had it been a few years down the line.

Now when its gone, when it was made to go why does it feel wrong. Why Is the, then correct ,choice I made making me hollow. Every path that I take, every single turn and every little stop points to what I lost. Whenever I feel I've forgotten and I'm moving on all of it just somehow presents itself to me and there occurs a reverie.
There was nothing else that could have been done. It was a dead end so then It shouldn't, but it does feel wrong.

Not tired but ya I do want a break from searching the answers. May b I just ask myself too many questions.