The precious family times!

When out of no where this photo cropped up, I went down memory lane! Oh what times those.

That was an yearly routine. Every year, we went out at least once. For 3-4 days. Away from the mad rush called life. Away from the 24*7 doctor life my mom lived. Away from the patients. Away from the phone calls. Away from everything. It was just us. Year after year after year. This was a routine.From Kodaikanal to Ooty to mahabs to Rameshwaram to munaar to the interior jungles of Jharkand, we have done it all.

We pulled each other's legs. Laughed out loud. Walked miles with hands over shoulders in to the distant night. Gossiped. Fought about the changes the country needs. Fought on various other issues. Spoke about boy friends/ girl friends like best friends do. Tried different kinds of Ice creams. Took crazy drives. Slept on each other. Played pranks. smelt rain. Built sand dunes. Drenched in rain. And did every crazy thing we could do, together!

So, during the night family prayers we would laugh and we laughed. Pulled out half way through. Pointed fingers at each other. And the laughing often went till midnight. Much to the "Early to bed - Early from bed" Dad's irritation. And that added to the fun. To let him sleep and then to wake him up.

Often the long drives would be debates. Sometimes the usual Dad sermons. But most times pulling his legs. And we would start laughing again. The last of it was Rameshwaram. And as usual we laughed over the family prayer. Laughed so much that I puked. And then laughed all over again.

Is there any better this world can give than quality family time? Ah! the innocence and purity of love those times had

The Farce called 'Development'!

So, we had this dinner meeting in the GRT star hotels; We all met to discuss the cancer screening project which is being piloted by us along with another department in some interior villages of Madhya Pradesh and Chattisgarh.

And with a beer in his hand, the sponsor who had funded this project, hailing from a western country asks this question; "What do you think about the modern developed India?"

Modern Developed India? I looked at him. An old man! Should be in his 60s. A nice man. He means good for the country of India; He means good for the human race;

Am I not used to this word by now? Still, coming from a foreigner it took me by surprise.

So, sir, how do we define development, I shot back? So all these big IT companies, the big industrial estates, the bridges in the cities, and the roads in the towns are all the development we are talking about! Isn't it sir? I asked. Ya, I know, there is poverty but still....he lingered on. I know, what he was driving unto.

I am suddenly realising how a farce image of this development is being throttled in to our throats. Any country for it to be developed, should give education(Atleast till the school level) and health care to every single citizen of it, without any money or with money which is affordable to every single one of them. And India, has not even started that process. Without, giving health care and education, every other development for me is farce!

Tax me all you can. Every where you can. But give me good quality, honest, education and health care, at affordable cost without any delay, I consider that development.

And for all of you who rave about Indian development in the modern era, twenty years from now, we cannot trust any private health care professional in this country for the simple reason, we won't know where did he do his degree. And ten years from now, we will be paying our blood for our children's education just because, our government's educational machinery has failed and the private players are going to rip you to the barest bone.

I don't mind driving along a bad road to drop my kid to a good quality government school or to take my parents to a hospital whom I can trust and whom I can afford; I would prefer that any day than to drive in a four lane expressway to a school who will fleece me, or to a hospital whom I cannot trust.

Don't get me wrong. Not that I don't want the economic development and the good roads and the newly developed cities. Just that I would prefer we also think of the educational and the health sector when it comes to development.

I know my voice is shrill and frail in this constant bombardment of the word development by the newly elected government. I understand the world looks at development very differently than how I look at it. But still, this is my idea of development. And I truly believe without this, we have no hope for development.

And after this discussion, we went back to our goal of preventing cancer in the interior villages of MP and Chattisgarh. And that is the irony of our development.

Genius, takes your breath away!

How many of you played a sport in school? I did; Every single day of my school life. In fact that was my solace. Most of my present day memory revolves around the ground. Either the cricket field or the basketball ground.

And always, there was this boy who made playing sport look ridiculously easy. When the most talented among us, huffed and puffed through an inning, he would walk straight in and hit that remarkable cover drive, which made us all look pedestrian. There were many many days when I had opened batting with one such guy, and you have to keep telling yourself that you cannot do what he is doing. 

That is what separates the men from the boys! The most talented from the genius. And watching the genius perform his art, is among the greatest joys of sport. 

And what if at the same time, two genius perform their art together!They take your breath apart. They are too much to fathom. A sight which happens once in a blue moon. Imagine Magic Johnson and Michael Jordan playing on the same team? When Sachin at his peak is partnered by Viv Richards at the crease? What if, Roger Federer and Pete Sampras play each other? Or Serena play alongside Steffi Graf? 

That was what we witnessed when the unbelievable Virat Kohli plays alongside the irresistible De Villiers. Whoh! What stroke play. They made Dwayne Bravo, the greatest exponent of death bowling in the modern generation look ridiculously stupid.  

For all I abhor IPL, its greatest achievement for me is making these two bat together. And when they are in the mood. Make way and have fun! For genius, should stand alone. And when two of them stand together. We better watch out.