"HOME CALLING.. "

"HOME CALLING..."

"Sir, it's been 45 days.. I want to go back home!", Mr. Jayesh asked Dr. Rahul with tears rolling down his face.
"Oh. Very soon..", Dr. Rahul replied without making an eye contact.
ETEC- I/M,
a shorthand for Eye to Eye contact- initiated and maintained,
Dr. Rahul had written in the mental status examination of Mr. Jayesh, a couple of hours ago; a clear sign suggestive of improvement in patient's mental condition.
Mr. Jayesh used to work at a bookshop 3 years ago when was diagnosed with Schizophrenia.
Like a random bullet being fired from the gun of terrorist in a crowded space, the bullet of Schizophrenia had hit him. There was no answer to why only me? Even the terrorist had no idea who he was shooting. Worse still, we are yet to confirm which terrorist organization fires the bullet of Schizophrenia.
This was the second time Mr. Jayesh had been admitted in Psychiatry ward after his Schizophrenia worsened on medication. He had again started hearing voices of unknown males wanting to harm him and kill him which had caused him much distress. He was diagnosed as a case of resistant Schizophrenia this time and was given 9 ECTs after which he was stabilized on Clozapine.
"When will I get to go home?", Mr. Jayesh asked again.
This was a question which often dreaded Dr. Rahul for there was no clear answer to the question when a psychiatric patient would be allowed to go back home.
The only way to respond to this question as Dr. Rahul had learnt was to ask another unrelated question.
"Are you still hearing the voices?", Dr. Rahul asked coldly.
"Well, I think the voice from inside is stronger this time.." Mr. Jayesh replied.
"Wait. Have the hallucinations changed? Shit.." Dr. Rahul asked finally establishing an eye to eye contact.
A wry smile played on the lips of Mr. Jayesh.
"Don't worry, doc. It's not hallucination. It's the voice from within. The voice which exists inside all of us but which gets muffled by the noise outside us..."
"And what does that voice say?", Dr. Rahul asked curiously.
"Well, it says different things at different times. But usually it's always right.. Right now it is asking me to go back home.."
Home. The place which Dr. Rahul had not been to for 1 and half months now after coming to Mumbai for his residency. It had been a tough decision to leave home for a better institute 400 km away. But he was sure this was a decision which would pay off well 3 years down the line. Suddenly, he was filled with a longing to go back home. And usually when a man develops a desire to go back home, he will go back regardless of the oceans he has to cross. Vir Savarkar had jumped into an unknown ocean, Aron Ralston cut his arm off in a canyon to free himself; all for that one desire- of wanting to go back home.
The next morning as Dr. Rahul got ready to attend the rounds, sensing his professor in a jolly mood gently asked him if he could be allowed 2 days leave to go back home. To his utter delight the professor had nodded his head in approval.
At that same time, the nurse came running to Dr.  Rahul.
"Dr. Rahul there is something I want to tell you. Mr Jayesh is not on cot since morning. I think he has absconded.."
Dr. Rahul smiled.
"Don't worry, I will complete the formalities soon.", saying so Dr. Rahul sat down to write a leter informing Mr. Jayesh's abscondence to Chief Medical Officer.
After some time he sat down again to write his leave letter and mailed it to his professor.
After 45 days, Mr. Jayesh and Dr. Rahul were leaving for home.
"What would you do after going back home?", Dr. Rahul had asked Mr. Jayesh a day earlier.
"For now I haven't thought about anything beyond going back home..", Mr. Jayesh had replied.
In the 200 thousand years of human existence on this planet, is it not surprising that we have failed to create anything more gratifying than the feeling of going back home...?

~ Devashish Palkar
#PsychiDiaries #PsychiaTRYST

DOCTOR'S DAY

DOCTOR'S DAY..

"This is bleeding heavily.. Bring the dressing tray.. Fast!",  Dr. Ravi shouts while applying pressure over the blood oozing from the deep wound on the patient's forearm..
The nurse picks up pace and brings the sutures and dressing tray.
"Tring tring.."
Dr. Ravi's phone rings. It's in his pocket and since he has worn sterile gloves, he asks the nurse to pick it from his pocket.
"Should I pick it up?", the nurse asks.
"Who the ghost wants to talk to me at 3 AM?", Dr. Ravi shouts while still trying to control the bleeding.
The nurse shows him the phone.
It reads Rakesh calling.
"Ahh. Let it be. He is my college friend. That stupid Suarez fan. Just wants to pull my leg over Portugal's defeat. Ahh Ronaldo. Why did you have to lose? Anyway, just forget it. Let's get done with this first, sister.", Dr. Ravi asks the nurse gathering his thoughts over the task at hand.
As he bends nearer, he smells of alcohol from the mouth of his patient.
"Fucker!", he curses silently.
Just then a policeman comes running.
"Is he stable?", He asks.
"He is bleeding heavily and not keeping his blood pressure well. I suspect he has internal bleeding.. We are waiting for the intern to bring the USG machine. Till then I am managing the external wounds.", Dr Ravi replies.
"Its a medico legal case. He was driving his Mercedes on the racecourse road under influence of alcohol and crashed into a bike coming from the other side of the road. The person driving the bike died on spot.", The police informs.
"Ahh. That's too bad but nothing new. We see such cases daily.!", Dr. Ravi replies.
Just then an intern brings in the portable USG machine and the radiology resident performs FAST(Focused Abdominal Sonography in Trauma).
He quickly does the scan and informs Dr. Ravi that there is an active bleeding in the abdomen and that an emergency OT needs to be done to save the life of the patient.
Dr. Ravi asks his juniors to get the OT ready  urgently. He switches off his phone and goes to the change room to get himself scrubbed.
In the OT, Dr. Ravi who has not slept for last 30 hours, is all charged up to save the patient. There are only few things other than watching his favorite footballer Ronaldo play which make him excited. Emergency OT is one such thing.
It's 6 am and finally Dr. Ravi comes out of the OT, tired but relieved that he has managed to save the patient.
He switches on his mobile.
There are 11 missed calls from Rakesh.
"Fucker. I know Ronaldo lost.!", Dr. Ravi curses under his breath.
He orders tea and sits down to call Rakesh back.
"Yes, fucker I know Ronaldo lost.", Dr. Ravi shouts on the phone.
"That's not what I called you for. Something terrible happened last night. Rahul and I were out to have tea at 2 AM to celebrate Uruguay's win on our bike and...", Rakesh breaks down and starts crying..
"And what? Tell me fast", panick all palpable in Dr. Ravi's voice now.
"A Mercedes crashed into our bike and.... Rahul...", He mumbles and again starts crying.
"Fuck. Fuck. No.. Where did this happen? On racecourse road?", Dr. Ravi asks.
"Yea. How do you know?", Rakesh asks with a sense of astonishment.
"Where are you.? And how are you?"
"No. I was lucky. I am okay. We are at Rahul's house. The funeral is at 10. Are you coming?", Rakesh asks.
"Yea. I am rushing..", Dr. Ravi hangs up the phone.
Just then the wardboy arrives with the cup of tea.
"Here's your tea, sir.
Happy Doctor's day, sir".
Dr. Ravi looks up with tears rolling down his face.

~© Dr. Devashish Palkar

THE FARMERS MARCHED

THE FARMERS MARCHED


Last week, India woke up to something spectacular. A huge, peaceful rally of the poorest farmers, marching all the way from Nashik to Mumbai to make their demands heard. The march itself was special, because it included zero violence, zero breaking of public property, much to the chagrin of the Opposition.
Here is my small effort to paint the happenings of that day in the form of a poem..


"In the heat of March,
The farmers marched,
The fire in their hungry belly burning,
The anger in their eyes raging..
Yet they marched with poise and grace,
Silently, to not disturb the human race..

The farmers marched..

The city woke up to their silent steps,
Aghast and in wonder..
Red they wore,
Red they carried..
Feet bled
And flags fluttered..

The dirty politics had found a new colour..
In the dirt and blood that covered their feet,
Alas.. The sweat had been conveniently forgotten..

But behold.
The red on the streets that flowed was real,
The red in the air that fluttered was unreal...

In between the two reds,
We forgot to read,
Which red mattered and which did not..

For a day, the city turned red,
Woke from their bed,
Out of guilt and compassion,
Offered to the hungry farmers a morsel of bread..
The bread, made from the wheat
Had been irrigated with the farmer's sweat..

The authority offered then a rose,
And once again in the red beauty of the rose,
The thorns were forgotten..

For a day, the city turned red.
And then they all went to bed..
As though nothing had ever happened..
Well, on most nights they did the same anyway..

The farmers marched.
Back to their fields parched..
The media smiled..
The politicians smirked.
And the irony laughed.."


~ Devashish Palkar

The forgotten revolutionary writers of India

While it is a known fact that our revolutionaries were men of exemplary courage, they were equally skilled at using a pen. And I am sure when you read this line, Gandhi ji and Nehru's writings are flashing in front of your eyes. And that's the exact reason why I want to write about the forgotten revolutionary writers of India..

There are 2 letters in Indian history which had deep impact on my mind as a kid.
One of the letters was definitely more famous-
The letter Gandhiji wrote to his father accepting his flaws and deciding to become a better person. That was really something I admired because speaking out truth definitely needed courage.

But equally courageous if not more was a letter Bhagat Singh wrote to his father stating, "Meri dulhan to Azaadi hai!'' I was blown apart reading that letter. It gave me goosebumps. It made me cry.
Equally powerful was Bhagat Singh's essay where he tried explaining why he turned atheist and took up armed violence. Also, while in prison Sukhdev once contemplated suicide and Bhagat Singh wrote him a powerful letter to dissuade him from taking such a step.
And unfortunately all these writings of Bhagat Singh were never a part of our school curriculum and hence for many people Gandhiji's letters and Nehru's letters to Indira are the only ones which come to mind when I talk about their favourite writings from the freedom movement.

Vinayak Damodar Savarkar wrote many emotional poems(most of them in Marathi) while he was in Andaman jail but many have no idea about it..

Then there are writings of Ram Prasad Bismil, the stellar works of Ashfaqullah Khan and many more revolutionaries which have been forgotten by time and history..

Many people asked me today why I oppose Gandhi ji. My answer is- I don't hate him, I respect him for a person that he was but somehow in the shadow of Gandhi we have forgotten countless other revolutionaries who contributed much more than Gandhi ever could for the freedom of the country..
While we build memorials for Gandhi ji and continue to bear the burden of another Gandhi family, let us not forget the contributions of those whose birthdays are not celebrated as National holidays..

On Gandhi Jayanti, let us not forget that Gandhi wasn't the only one. No, the Azaadi didn't come, "Bina khadag, Bina Dhaal!"

JAY HIND.

~ Devashish Palkar

P.S. I have included only those revolutionaries whose writings I have had the pleasure of reading and I am sure there are many which are not a part of the list. If you know any apart from these, feel free to share your thoughts in the comments below.. Thank you. 

NEWTON

In times when I am preparing for my Entrance exam, I can't afford to watch many movies. I had vowed myself to only watch one movie between my birthday and my exams in December, and that was going to be a toss up between NEWTON and LUCKNOW CENTRAL(which features my favourite, Farhan Akhtar.) Thanks to bad reviews of LUCKNOW CENTRAL, I decided to give it a miss and I am happy i could watch NEWTON because of that.
India's official entry to the Oscars, NEWTON is a terrific movie which compels us to view India from a perspective and a place where the concept of India itself is unknown.
And it is not even the peripheral India that we are talking about but the heart of India- the dangerous Dandakaranya forests in Madhya Pradesh, Chhatisgarh, Jharkhand along regions where not just state borders but even the concept of democracy blurs out.. It doesn't make sense to the villagers and why would it? It doesn't make sense to us, and why would it? We have never interacted before. We only have misconceptions and stereotypes about each other. For them we are infiltrators and for us they are terrorists and the movie attempts to break this concept.
These villagers are trapped between two groups who are hell bent on establishing their supremacy - the Naxalites and the Indian army, even if it means burning down entire villages to 'mark their territories', operating on the same concept which the wild animals around them have taught them.
And in this gory, never ending battle are trapped some of India's most underdeveloped villages, which only exist on the map- nobody- no government, no politician dares to visit these places.
Communication is a problem for they speak a dialect which is not understandable to our men in uniform and suspicion always overpowers humanity in the jungle.
And in this place are caught two strong men hell bent on carrying out their duties- a young government officer, Nutan Kumar who calls himself NEWTON and Aatma Singh, a representative of our men in uniform.
While Nutan or NEWTON is a novice, 25 year old educated, hard working and honest to a fault presiding officer tasked with the job of carrying out elections for the first time in village with only 76 voters, he is up against Aatma Singh, the man whose concept of a successful day means ' a day without casualities' which in itself is rare in these areas. They both clash as they both want to do their duty- the polling booth is 8 km deep from the army base camp and it means treading through the dangerous forests on foot where even the break of tiny branch from a tree in broad daylight is met with a suspicion and highalert and Aatma Singh is in no mood to risk his jawans just for the sake of elections which he tries to convince NEWTON are going to do no good to democracy or the villagers. But NEWTON is a novice who comes from urban India and like the movie watcher he must discover this concept 'different India' to believe it. There are risks involved but for NEWTON, honesty and integrity come before life and death and he is in no mood to go back with 0% voter turnout. NEWTON is representative of the soul of everyday Indian who has grown up watching TV and what media wanted us to see. He finds the reality to be very different. For a firm believer in the concept of democracy, every frame brings with it a new shock, a new realization and sort of enlightenment as he puts on a bulletproof jacket and decides to venture through the jungles with only one mission- to carry out elections.
Rajkummar Rao speaks less but whenever he speaks he has only questions and it annoys Aatma Singh until he puts a condition that he can't ask him any question in the jungle. There is humor, dark comedy, there is sarcasm and there is subtlety and finally realization that India can't change overnight- but day by day if we all follow NEWTON- a scientist who gave the concept that laws of gravity and motion are honest and equal for every person, animal or thing on this earth and you can neither deny nor claim to own these laws but have to abide by them. Hum sab mein ek NEWTON hai jo imaandari se kaam karna chahta hai par woh kahi chhup gaya hai. These are the concepts around which the movie revolves.

 It is not a movie about providing answers but an honest attempt at asking the right questions.
The performances of every character are top notch but the plot and the surrounding are real heroes in this 'Day in the life of an election officer in Dandakaranya' rather than a movie. Watch it only if you have patience and an open mind. And yes make sure to carry your brains along for this one, an idea which is otherwise considered dangerous if you are watching a typical Bollywood no-brainer..
P.S. It's not a movie to be enjoyed with popcorn and cola So avoid it if that's your only thing..

~ Devashish Palkar

LEARNINGS FROM STAPHYLOCOCCUS AUREUS

"Some of the rituals and customs in our culture were meant to protect us during those times but unfortunately we have continued with these downtrodden practices for far too long..
For example, earlier it was followed in our culture that women wouldn't be allowed to visit temples during their periods. There was a logical reasoning behind it which nobody noticed. I came to know about it only after I watched one of Sadhguru's lectures on YouTube. He said that this practice was followed because in those times, temples were invariably in a jungle or a hill top where people would need to travel on foot which would mean that they were always at a threat of being attacked by animals in the wild. And taking a woman who was in her periods along would mean that the risk would only multiply since wild animals would be attracted to the smell of human blood. Also, more importantly during the periods, women tend to feel weak and thus climbing mountains or walking barefoot in jungles for a visit to temple would be illogical for her health.
To allow her a rest, this practice was followed. But now, there are no forests left thanks to our wanton destruction and hardly nobody travels through jungles on foot these days for a visit to temple hence Sadhguru says, the time has come to give up this practice and allow women to go to temples whenever they want..
This is just one example..
But still on some levels, we have failed to evolve with time..
We, as humans, need to learn from Staphylococcus aureus.
Many of the bacteria produce peroxidase which provides a kind of safety net for their growth but it ultimately generates free radicals and kills its own cells..
Now this could be dangerous..
But Staphylococcus is smart. It produces an enzyme catalase to destroy the peroxidase whenever its levels increase above permissible values. And thus Staphylococcus continues to rule the world of microbiology being the single largest group of disease forming bacteria in the human body.
Those who remain trapped in the security of safety, don't run a long race..
Life only begins when we move out of our peroxidase, our comfort zone.
High time we, humans, developed CATALASE, isn't it??"
P.S. The only reason why bacteria and viruses have outlived everyone on this planet is because of its ability to adapt and not remain trapped in its own 'paramparas' and 'rituals'. A lesson for humanity?

~Devashish Palkar

VIKAS and the BULLET TRAIN

A liberal goes to a restaurant with his friend.
The waiter comes up and asks,
"Sir, Pani- Regular ya Mineral, sir?"
"Of course, Mineral!" exclaims the liberal.
"Ok, sir. Order?"
"We Will have some beef curry and mutton pulao."
The waiter goes to the kitchen with the order..
The conversation starts..
Liberal 1- "So, you checked the news.? About the Bullet train thing?"
Liberal 2- "Yea man. So pathetic. I mean this is hypocrisy by Modi Govt and nothing more.
I mean there are so many railway accidents occuring and all they care for are the cows and Bullet trains!"
Liberal 1- "Yes. And there are so many people who can't even afford the normal trains. This is bad. We must protest. I will not use Bullet train."
Liberal 2- "Aye. Aye. Me too.. Let's protest. Let's take down this COW-munal Government! Ha ha. Come on"
Meanwhile, the waiter arrives and fills their glasses with the jug he has brought instead of the packaged drinking water.
Both liberals in unison- "What the heck are you doing? We asked for a packaged drinking water, didn't we?"
Waiter- "Sorry, sir. I just checked the refrigerator. We have run out of stock!"
Both liberals in unison- "Oh no. What will we do now?"
A person who was silently listening to the conversation so far, stands up from across the table and says "Guys, you know, 40% Indians don't get sufficient potable water. 99% Indians don't drink packaged drinking water. So, does that mean we stop all the factories making packaged drinking water?
You guys are amazing. You don't want to let us construct Bullet trains but at the same time you want VIKAS? How's that humanly possible?
Should we stop hosting IPL until Sunil Chhetri gets a multi-million dollar offer from Manchester United? Would you stop drinking packaged drinking water till every single person gets potable water in this country?
Progress should not and does not stop just because there's poverty on one side of the spectrum. If America had waited for all of its citizens to buy Rolls Royce before investing in space shuttles, Neil Armstrong wouldn't have taken that 'giant leap'! We all know Bullet train is not the only definition of progress. But at least it sets our vision clear on the path to progress. It is a small beginning but may be when we look at it retrospectively 10 years later, we will realize it was a giant step indeed!"

~ Devashish Palkar.

Dedicated to all people who are missing VIKAS. ✌