songs

During my seemingly interminable commute, I came upon this hauntingly beautiful song that I have to share with you, its from Bagdad Cafe.
This is just one of those songs that keeps haunting you- makes me want to go to see the movie which is a cult hit, I was told.
Then I went on to listen to Jeff Buckley who is am amazing artist- wish you were here.
A nice, atomospheric sort of weekend for me, but one which makes me ask- am I going through a mid-life crisis?

slumdog and others like it

Disclaimer- I have not yet seen Slumdog Millionaire.
People have been constantly mentioning Slumdog to me (probably,because I am Indian)- even patients I see in clinic want to know if I have seen the movie,and if I liked it. Most people say they thought it was great. I, obviously, do not know what to think about it. All I tell folks is that it is not really an Indian movie, financed by the French, brought about by a British team but it is Indian in that it was shot on site at Dharavi and it did have an Indian crew.
I am pleased that it makes people think about poverty, which we have plenty of, in India. It brings attention and that is good, just as "Smile Pinki" does. It may make us do more and that is all good.
Amongst the category of Indian films, sort of at least, which are Oscar winners is another documentary called "Born into Brothels". I have seen this one and it is probably one of the more hopeful documentaries/docudramas that I have seen. It made me appreciate the human spirit and not to take things at face value, as all of us sometimes do. See it, if you can.

"Keep calm and carry on"

I was driving to work one day and I heard this on NPR; it seems there is this poster from the World War 11, which has becomes seriously popular in these diificult times. This really resonated with me at that particular moment- I was driving to the outpatient clinic which is about 25 miles away from the hospital where I had rounded on a few seriously sick people and while on my way, I was called to let me know that my two year old had high fever.
I repeated to myself- keep calm and carry on....it did seem to help a little.
Check this out for the real thing .

men are from mars....

I feel it diminishes the human being when we talk about the differences in the sexes as being so important.I also think gross generalizations are not useful and do not help us, as people, to do better in our life.
But, this is a rant against the unfairness of life. I was talking to my husband, and just casually mentioned that I told somebody at work that I was really happy I could make it to my son's school for a pizza lunch when he has an early closure. He started off by chiding me...its not good to be so openly personal at work, I really should not be talking so much about my children and especially, going off to see my son when I am doing lunch.
It got me thinking of the ridiculousness of the whole situation, he can talk about his children, even down to discussing how our two year old has been difficult to wean off the breast- that just shows the world that he is a stable, family man while if I do something similar I may be painted as undependable.
I am still seething....

Yoga and Meditation

For the past two months I have been doing Yoga and Meditation- that was more than four months ago. Since then, I have, as my patients would say- "fallen off the wagon". I did notice I have gained about 10 lbs. Lack of mindfulness- I am chalk my weight gain to. So, I have starting walking/ running 2-3 times a day, re-started yoga, cooking more often, eating more vegetarian food. I have become leaner, but I have miles to go....to think I was 120 lbs once...

What is wrong with health care?

I have tried very hard not to talk about this- because it always gets me sad and annoyed- but I feel I have to. I was working today-on a Saturday, which is never good (I am a primary care doc- and usually quite proud of it)-everytime I see a patient who,usually has multiple medical problems and is struggling to make this complicated healthcare system work- I think to myself-there has to be better way!
My patients ask my about copays for meds-I am never sure.Charges for blood draws- I do not know. Why is medicine a profit making institution? There has to be a simpler way.Day in and day out,I see people struggle with costs for their health care and I am sure it adds to considerably to their stress. Nothing about the financial aspect of healthcare is transparent.I wish it was'nt so...

A day off

I had to take my son to the pediatrician's this morning- nothing urgent-just a well child exam, one shot, height and weight. But, going to the doctor's means waiting and waiting....not really sure why. So, the appointment was at 9:30 am, by the time we left, it was 11am. Anyways, luckily I had asked for a day off, so now I am sitting in the local library, typing this and feeling reasonably happy. Time to myself- wonderful.
Work remains to be done at home- more dishes, picking up toys, clothes and getting rid of junkmail- but for now I am left to my own devices. Glorious day.
I should do real work but I do not want to- I want to laze around and do whatever I want to in the next couple hours until I have to pick up my children.
What has really been bothering me is how much housework I have to do in comparison to my husband- life is really unfair- I should have clarified all this before I got hitched. Too late now, after two kids, though- we will just have to plod through, the best we can.