Doctor Calling!

This one goes out to all those people who believe in self medication, and/or not going to the doctor at all in order to seek remedies for common or uncommon maladies. There is a reason why medicine is a separate and dense branch of study, which further breaks out into multiple sub-branches so as to cover, in detail, every aspect of the human anatomy. We may have a lot granny's homemade cures for a lot of things, and they are effective too. The trouble begins when we start experimenting with medicines instead of kitchen ingredients.

I do not place blind faith any medical practitioner per se, and it is always a wise thing to take a second, probably even a  third opinion regarding a given medical condition; but self medication is a very unsafe practice. Sadly, a very common one too. I have known a few instances where people have adopted this fallacy, and eventually said goodbye to the world. Makes me wonder, was it really worth it? Life is a precious gift. Do not treat it so callously. A lot of people take it as a strike on their ego to have to visit a doctor for something which is not life threatening. The fatal consequences of self medication arise out of inappropriate drugs administered for seemingly harmless issues.

It is important to understand that there are some people out there who have dedicated their life to study the complexities that reside within our body. They are not just qualified on paper, but have also been thoroughly trained and have gained experience throughout the course of their work to treat what is not right in the human body. If you have any regard for yourself or for your near and dear ones, value your life. Do not self-medicate, and dissuade others who may do it. Also, do not let anybody prescribe medicines off hand to you. Nothing infuriates me more than people who impose their unqualified prescriptions on every one they set their eyes on. Every disease and ailment, and thus every medicine correpsonds differently to a set of symptoms and also affects different people differently. The after effects too differ in nature and magnitude. Just because you or someone you know were treated for some disease with a lot of exposure to various drugs, you do not qualify as a medical practitioner of any sort.

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At Home

Spontaneity seems to be the new permanent thing in my life. That explains a trip back home planned out of nowhere. This was an unusual week where I had almost no classes, so without a second thought I flew home. I was in time for the Navami Darshan, after two years. I have never been to Calcutta during pujo, or otherwise. From what I have heard and seen on TV, the city assumes an amazing form. However, for me, Bombay during Navratri is very special. Dandiya and Garba are more popular here than Durga Puja, but the city lights up brilliantly and it is a wonderful span of 9 days. Being Navami, the last day of the navratras, it seemed that the entire city was out on the roads. It took me nearly an hour to get home, which is double of what it takes usually.

Telepathy is a strange thing. My son - to the world he may be my pet dog, to me he is my child and much much more - had sensed something, as he does every time I return home. He had not left the sight of the door since the time I had left from my campus in Nagpur. After crawling through the traffic for so long, and in the meantime having fought thrice and laughed like a maniac all through the way with my kid sister in the car, I finally reached home. He could not wait for the door to be opened. If he could, he would have darted straight out of it. As my mother struggled with him to open the door, he came rushing straight into me and I also spotted our resident cat hopping with little concealed enthusiasm. She would never openly confess, though, that she was happy at my arrival. The next thing I knew was that my son was talking animatedly to me in his own language, which I justifiably claim to completely understand, and we were on the floor, face to face. I couldn't help welling up a little when my sister said that this was the happiest they'd seen him in a very long time. I just stood there and watched him going ballistic with our cat who also was in the prime of her excitement with all the activity. I had to sneak out a brief second to wish my mother who was beaming at the chaos. It was the best homecoming, as it is every time.
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