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Don't let the animals lose the fight against summer

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    The recent death of a few animals in my locality  due to severe dehydration has moved me to tears, and I urge people to have a heart and respond.      The relevance of stray dogs in the food chain and our communities is a matter of never-ending debate among pro and anti-canine speakers. Keeping that argument aside, if evolution and the laws of nature have permitted the birth of puppies to a stray bitch, it is inhuman on our part to deprive the animal of its right to thrive on this earth. A recent ruling from the Delhi High Court penalizing the act of killing stray dogs is commendable. It portrays the humanitarian angle adopted by the legal system after analysing the importance of dogs in our ecosystem. You need not always have to do or commit something to kill someone. Being right there but not doing something that can prevent an animal from dying is a vicious  mens rea  for its killing.      I found a two-month-old unconscious puppy lying uncared by its mother and people of my own
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Confluence

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He liked her, but With complicated emotions While she drifted in the wind, Never to touch the ground  Unsure of his feelings, He struggled to mention Silence did hurt them, but none Dared to make a sound.  Each lived their share Of attachment and happiness Some yellow days, love smiled Like the warm sunshine.  Some grey days, some nightmares When tears were instantaneous. Sharing their stories for a while He wished - "If she was mine!" Her words were few, and only Answers to his questions.  He's smitten, she knew, but Of the unknown, she feared.  Life often changes suddenly, and Strangers get closer than friends.  All the more so when you shut Your haunted psychosphere. The girl he once loved, now resides Continents apart, and happy.  Often in her seas, his mind drifts away Dancing with her waves, but never Dropped an anchor at her seaside.  Though forever wasn't meant to be, Those days he lived a fairytale. Until a confluence comes for every river, To change directio
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Happy New Ear

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It's another Jan 01 and the inboxes of all my social network sites are flooding with new year wishes from friends and relatives. Sometimes, I think if it's worth wishing them back (though, I do wish them all, maybe mechanically). There are some people whom you want to wish something specific in their lives, good or bad. But, the question is - who's listening to you? Our ears are either plugged with earphones most of the time or blocked with impacted wax that needs a forceps to be extracted out. Most often, the ear canals are just tubes with blind ends that don't reach the grey matter inside our skull. The end result of such ignominious anatomy of our ears is that we don't understand half the things we hear. Rather, we hear. But don't listen. You would exercise better control over your anger if we could take some time out to listen to the meanings of sounds. Listening requires thinking. It doesn't come to everyone. So, this morning, I was typing a reply
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Living near the Indus

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After a satisfying year at Dehradun, I have been posted to Leh. Though the journey to Leh through Chandigarh was more time consuming than it should have been, landing here makes me feel it was worth the effort. I'm living in a small room with basic amenities and no luxury. But there are larger blessings on offer. River Indus is flowing in all its glory right in front of my quarter. The constant turbulence of the river is a pleasure to the eyes and it's constant burble rings round the clock in my ears. The rocks and pebbles here are smooth and rounded. Himalayan mountains stand as mute witness to the immaculate flow of the river. I can capture the mountains, their snow-clad peaks, clouds wandering through the sunrays, pine trees in rich foliage and the Indus flowing in elegance with my eyes. I'm standing at the very place where time stood testimony to mankind, at the cradle of the Indus Valley Civilization.
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Hardwork pays off

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Years 2016 and 2017 have proved to be the turning points in my life. Chronologically, I cleared my MD exam in Nov 2016, worked in the State Institute of Health and Family Welfare, Bangalore for 6 months and then came the bumper draw. I cleared the Short Service Commission interview. This was my fifth stint at the selection but the joy of clearing the interview and physical examination is certainly long-lasting. Today, I'm a Medical Officer in the world's second largest army and ninth largest employer, the Indian Army. I got commissioned to the rank of Captain on July 12, 2017. You never know what life has in store for you. Keep believing in yourself and work hard. You deserve the best.
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Public Health Surveillance - a dynamic tool

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Alexander Langmuir, expert in public health surveillance and intelligence     Alexander Langmuir, the man behind epidemiologic intelligence, gave a crystal clear definition of surveillance as it applies to public health. He defined it as the continued watchfulness, systematic collection, consolidation and interpretation of public health data, and dissemination of this information to people who are in a position to take action. Surveillance is not static, but dynamic. Surveillance system must be flexible. It should adapt itself to the changing epidemiology of the problem under surveillance. There was an era when measles in India was under event-based surveillance. But it is now realized that in order to achieve elimination of measles, we should move on to case-based surveillance where every case of measles has to be investigated and control measures promptly instituted. Though not in the literal sense, surveillance can afford to be less rigorous when the disease has a low killi
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Perennially Confused

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     I'm one among hundreds of post-graduate students who were admitted into our courses late in the year 2013. Consequently, there has been a lot of confusion regarding our eligibility for the regular examinations and the validity of our masters degree if at all we pass the exam. MCI has set its rules straight in its post-graduate medical education regulations that were formulated in the year 2000 and subsequently amended. According to the regulations, prematurely terminating the course and obtaining the degree thereafter are deemed invalid. (Image courtesy: Google Images and the blind artist who created this. icanbecreative.com acknowledged.)      In the light of these factors, today I have finally come to a decision that I am going to boycott the regular exam which is merely six days away while I'm writing this post. Our university has been largely insensitive to the concerns of some three hundred and odd students who were admitted during August 2013. The validity o
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