I’m excited to announce my new blog and website called The Med Bag. It’s a place where people from all walks of life can share their experiences and insights related to the medical field– sort of like medical reality TV but in the magazine form.
Do check it out, share and subscribe. Contributions are welcome! You can also click on the link right above this blog.
1: Love Affair
“Phew!” Shaan threw his pencil down and leaned back in his chair. “Finally. No more of this dumb scutwork. I’m done. Now I can concentrate on what I really want to do.” He glanced at his cell-phone. He hadn’t had to charge it in 48 hrs. Yes! The goddamn thing is working! He pushed his chair back, and ambled up to the single window of his office cum lab. Not a single celestial body marred the inky black sky. Even if he screwed his eyes, it was tough to decipher the outline of the spruce grove that surrounded the cottage.
I wish Rich and Spacegenics had capitulated earlier, he thought. They should’ve realized long ago I wasn’t the one they were looking for. It was someone higher up. Someone with the ways and means to infiltrate the entire network and manipulate it to suit her ends. They compensated me pretty good though. I’m not complaining. But why the public apology. That must’ve cost Rich something. Humility doesn’t come easily to that bastard.
As Shaan wrestled with the puzzle just like he’d done an infinite number of times in the past, the powerful motion-sensing exterior lights snapped on suddenly, blinding him. Something or someone had triggered them. Shading his eyes, he scanned the perimeter. He couldn’t see anything beyond the white arch of the lights. He’d installed them this past Spring at the behest of his neighbor, Bob. For a man of few words he’d been very insistent. “To keep the bears away,” he’d said. Bob had also made Shaan install a heavy duty chain link enclosure in the back for the garbage cans. Shaan had thought it was going a little overboard yet he’d humored the older man. After all he had much experience living in the mountains just like Andy Sr. had with women. The thought evoked certain memories making Shaan smile.
Domestic abuse is a grave ill that doesn’t spare any strata of society. Almost all of us have been touched by it either directly or indirectly. Women, even those who are highly educated and one would expect independent, are subject to domestic abuse. A couple of my own colleagues, physicians I know had been suffering silently for years. It makes sense when you think about it.
It’s not just the woman who’s involved but the rest of the family, particularly the children who are used as pawns by the abusive partners. The abusers maintain a strict and severe psychological hold on their victims which prevents them from escaping even when help is available. I’ve seen women who are brought to the ER with telltale bruises and fractures but when asked they provide excuses and are terrified of registering complaints against their abusers. To escape takes enormous effort and courage yet often the trauma continues afterwards and has lasting effects that can be disabling and interfere with rehabilitation. When you think you’ve made it across the bridge, you find there’s still a mountain left to climb.
In her memoir Falling Perfectly Without Trying Jenny Delos Santos writes of what starts as an innocent tale of love but then transforms into an account of unimaginable horror. She shares a deeply personal account of how she overcame domestic abuse and the deep scars it left behind and is still continuing to do so. Her story is filled with incredible pain yet at the same time tremendous grit and hope that readers will find inspiration from. It touched my heart and so will it yours.
Buy Links:
According to me one of the most spectacular scenes of nature is the play of the sun across the horizon. I’ve been lucky to watch the sunset often–over the Rockies and the ocean (whenever I visit the California coast) but not as often as the sunrise. The reason is quite obvious. I’m not an early riser, unfortunately.
Today, however I had to get up quite early to drive to the bus stop to pick up my husband (better than the 40 min haul to and from the airport). On the way back, I witnessed the most ordinary yet extraordinary phenomenon–the advent of dawn. First, the burgundy tint to the clouds in the east, followed by the gradual lightening of the skies and then the most spectacular of all– orange flames consuming the horizon. I was mesmerized. Who wouldn’t be? If you think about it there’s no other message more powerful than of a new day. It’s the message of hope, of change, of renewal, of revival. No wonder native people around the world worship the Sun and have done so for millenia including those from my country.
Surya namaskar (Salutations to the Sun)
In the Vedas (ancient Hindu scriptures) Surya also known as Aditya is the Sun God. He first appears in literature in the Rig Veda (the oldest among the Hindu texts composed between 1500 and 1000 BC). He travels across the sky in a massive chariot pulled by seven horses representing the seven colors of the rainbow. He is also the creator of the material universe or prakriti. Those familiar with the practice of Yoga are familiar with Surya Namaskar or Sun salutation; a sequence of twelve poses, performed in the early morning on an empty stomach facing the east. They provide an excellent whole body stretching routine and cardiovascular workout. The purpose of this most famous yoga sequence which is in practice for thousands of years is to express gratitude to the Sun, the giver of life and the source of energy. According to Hindu tradition, different parts of the body are governed by divine impulses. One of these, the solar plexus (also called the second brain) is located in the center of the body and is connected to the Sun. The regular practice of Surya Namaskar enhances it thereby increasing our creativity and intuition. The notion is very tempting. Enough (I hope) to nudge me awake every morning 🙂
Prologue
I was obsessed with her. I was her toy. Her fool. She could do anything she wanted with me and she did. She used me to the hilt. Ruhi darling, I’m telling you all this now because I know you won’t judge me. You love me with all your being and you take me with all my faults. Your love gives me strength and this is my confession.
I’ve been carrying this burden with me for a very long time. Ever since you came into my life and I fell head over heels in love with you. But I was afraid to tell you what a sorry excuse of a man I am.
tbc 🙂
If you want to read Shaan’s and Ruhi’s story check out:
As a physician working in acute care I’ve seen many things that few others have and which are perhaps beyond a lay person’s imagination. Among these are few encounters that are etched in my mind. They have moved me, exposed me to my vulnerability and changed me permanently. I’ve learned so much.
I share a few of those encounters in my upcoming book ‘Under the Shade of The Banyan Tree’. Here’s one of them :–
Changes
Yesterday I met a young man in the hospital. I had seen him before, maybe a few months ago. He had an odd name, a name you don’t expect to forget easily, but I did somehow. I must be getting old, I think.
His name didn’t strike a bell when the ER doc told me about him, but I remembered his face.
“He’s a nice guy;” the ER doc said. “He really is,” he reiterated.
That had me curious. We don’t speak like that often. We physicians are a cynical bunch, you see.
I recognized the young man right away, and it was a shock. He didn’t look at all like he had just a month or so ago. He had shrunk. Literally deflated by several pounds and he had grown a beard to disguise his gaunt face.
He had been a young man in the prime of his life. Big, muscular, strong. Still hopeful and smiling, even after a heart attack at thirty-two. Still hopeful and smoking.
He was still smiling now, but it was a different kind of smile. There was diffidence in it and fear and uncertainty. There was also hope, but it was fading fast. It’s astounding how clearly I perceived it without him having to say a word.
Instinctively, I clasped his hand. It was perhaps the most spontaneous thing I’ve done. It was the best way I could express myself other than crying for this man’s life. That’d be a terrible thing to do.
He had given up smoking after the surgery. Ever since they told him he had cancer. We talked some more. I explained why he was here. The spots in his lungs could be pneumonia.
“Maybe they are,” he said and smiled. He’d become adept at dealing with bad news. He had aged beyond his years in such a short time. My heart wept for him.
I’m offering ALL MY BOOKS (different titles on different days) for #FREE on #KINDLE over the next four days (October 21 through 24). After this period they won’t be available on Kindle anymore. So get them before they’re gone! And tell other bookworms too!
Please note the dates below:–
October 21 and 22– Inconvenient Relations and Now and Forever (Inconvenient Relations Book 2)
October 23 and 24 — The Accidental Wife and Milan
GET THEM HERE!
A collection of poems, rants and short stories.
Street Performer (SF- China town)
Apne dhun mein magan (lost in one’s tune)