Serving the Rural Poor

Its been long awaited post archived in my drive, finally got time to shape this and to put the last full stop.

2009 hasn’t been the best year; especially since it was only a year ago that we were still basking in the glory of “India Shining” a catch phrase coined at the outset of the new millennium and blatantly abused ever since, to convince believers and cynics alike.

The cynics interjected: Is India shining? Rampant farmer suicides littered the tiny food producing villages across the country as the Sensex crossed 20,000 points, but expectations of the future were hardly dampened. Still, in the global economic meltdown, the fact that agriculture and its allied industries account for about 60 per cent of jobs in India, might just have kept us afloat.

Even if the two refer to the same expanse of land, the realities of India are entirely different and their fates, inextricably intertwined. But could you care less about the trials of a distant and unknown community when you are struggling to become a consummate professional and justify the monetary and emotional investments your parents have made towards your education? As you wade through the diminishing Jobs Classifieds, or struggle to hold on to one you already have, you can hardly be expected to bear the weight of the nation. There are those who have managed to find the balance ensuring they do their bit to propel the nation forward. These professionals are nation builders. Still, more are needed.

The healthcare industry in India is said to be worth US $35million and is expected to grow further, due to the low healthcare costs and professional excellence found here. In fact, medical tourism flourished on account of the stellar reputation of Indian doctors, and as international patients realized they could afford complex surgeries at $ 6000 in India, as opposed to $30,000 in their home country.

However, for many in far flung rural areas, health care is as inaccessible as ever. While the number of primary health centers, sub-centers and community health centers continues to grow, as always, few medical professionals are willing to man these centers. Factors for this trend include the exodus of qualified medical staff both nurses and doctors to countries like the US and UK (more than 30 per cent of doctors in the US are Indian) and the unwillingness of doctors to work in rural areas due to poor amenities.

A former Dean of Sion Hospital, explains why rural locations are not popular with medical students, saying, firstly when you make something compulsory you start off on the wrong foot. You don’t give them the right to choose. Secondly, if students are sent to a preplanned primary health center, they are not welcomed in that area by the people within the center itself. These people are from, the government service, and have their own processes in place. Even the amenities provided there are poor. Also, because students have to take the CET to make it to a post graduation program a tough process they prefer to use the internship period to study.

Experience in a rural areas is of immerse importance. There is an example of a group of AIIMS students, who, after working in tribal areas were inspired to start their own NGOs. When people are exposed to that life, a small percentage may be inspired to continue in that line. Most doctors will do it if they think it will make a difference to people’s lives.

Here are others as well, who has devised a way to be of service to the poorer sections, while pursuing their individual goals. A dentistry student at a college in rural, Maharasthra reveals, there are many students who run two clinics after their internship, one in a rural area, and one over the weekends in a larger town or city.

Mind can defy laws of universe

Remember that your mind can defy the laws of the universe in one crucial way. It can go backward. Time can’t, nor can events – but your mind can. Let’s say you go into your office, and the first thing you notice is that an important report you needed was not written. The incomplete report tends to put in a less than resourceful state. You feel mad. You feel frustrated. You’re ready to go out and scream at your secretary. But screaming won’t produce the result you want. It will only make a bad situation worse. The key is to change your state, to back up and put yourself in a state that will allow you to get things done. That’s what you can do by rearranging your internal representations.

You are a sovereign, being in control, running your own brain. Now you are seeing the way to do it. In just some few exercises one can see that one has the ability to totally control your own state. Think what your life would be like if you remembered all your good experiences as looking bright, close, and colorful as sounding joyous, rhythmic, and melodic; as feelings soft, warm, and nurturing. And what if you stored your bad experiences as fuzzy little framed images with almost inaudible voices and insubstantial forms you could not feel because they were far away from you? Successful people do this unconsciously. They know how to turn up the volume of the things that help them and turn off the sound of the things that don’t.

It is suggested you ignore problems. Some things need to be addressed. We all know people who can go through a day in which ninety-nine things worked out right and come home totally depressed. Why? Well, one thing went wrong. They may have turned the one thing that went wrong into a big, bright, blustery image and turned the others into small, murky, quiet insubstantial ones.

Lot of people spend their whole lives like this. There are people who keep telling, “I’m depressed”. They almost say it with pride, because it’s become so much a part of their world view. Well, many therapists would begin with the long, arduous task of unearthing the causes of that depression. They’d let the patient talk for hours about his depression. They’d rummage through the patient’s mental garbage bin to uncover seminal experiences of gloom and past emotional abuse. Of such techniques are very long and very expensive therapeutic relationship s made.

No one is always depressed. Depression is not a permanent condition like losing a leg. It is a state that people can pop into and out of. In fact, most people who are experiencing depression have had many happy experiences in their lives – may be even as many or more than the average person. They just don’t represent these experiences to themselves in a bright, large, associated way. They may also represent happy times as far away instead of close. Take a moment now and remember an event that happened last week and push it far away. Does it seem as recent an experience to you anymore? What if you bring it closer? Doesn’t it now seem more recent? Some people take their happy experiences of the moment and push them far away so they seem like long ago, and store their problems up close. Haven’t you ever heard a person say I just need to get some distance from my problems? You don’t have to fly to some distant land to do this. Just push them far away from you in your mind and notice the difference. People who feel depressed often have their brains filled to capacity with big, loud, close, heavy, insistent images of the bad times and only thin, gray wafers for the good times. The way to changer isn’t to wallow in the bad memories; it’s to change the sub-modalities, the very structure of the memories themselves. Next, link what used to make you feel bad to new representations that make you feel like taking the challenges of life with vigor, humor, patience, and strength.

I will continue this post with quoting examples and making it simple with the concepts of Buddhism, Watch out this place for ENLIGHTENMENT.

Marvelous Medicos

The World Health Organization (WHO) has stated that more than 220 million people worldwide are afflicted with diabetes with 50.8 million of these from India alone – the largest diabetic population in the world. With one diabetes related death occurring every 10 seconds this silent epidemic has now become a matter of serious concern for health professionals.

Diabetology is a branch of internal medicine that can be pursued after a student completes his MBBS. The two year residency program is affiliated to medical colleges, and students can pursue it after appearing for an open entrance exam. The course covers all areas that aspiring diabetologists must be familiar with, as diabetes can lead to other complications namely retinopathy, nepthropathy, diabetic foot, cardio and neuro.

Diabetologists also have a role to play in the counseling OPD, wherein they help patients to come to terms with chronic illness, and make the required lifestyle adjustments. Diabetologists will provide dietary advice personal/skin care advice and even counsel patient to self monitor their condition and adjust dosage accordingly.

Countering cancer:

Oncology>>

Cancer accounts for 13 per cent of all deaths worldwide and there are 1.5 to two million cases of cancer in India at any given time. Oncologists deal with tumors or cancer, and must deal with the whole spectrum of services for cancer patients, i.e diagnosis treatment – surgical oncology, radiation oncology, chemotherapy, and finally palliative care (terminal cases and post treatment recovery). Oncology consists of treatment of patients in four different ways: surgical oncology involves a simple or complex procedure for removal of tumor, radiation oncology involves using radiation from the outside (Teletherapy) or from close to the tumor (brachytherapy), medical oncology or chemotherapy employs chemicals that are injected or ingested as well as biological therapy to intercept the pathway of tumor development.

Other areas include onco-pathology (diagnosis using various markers) anaesthesia, biochemistry radio diagnosis, and preventive oncology. For surgical oncology a student should have completed his MS in General Surgery or in a specific surgical field, and then go on to pursue the MCh in surgical Oncology, focusing on cancer treatment in the area of his MS. For radiation oncology students will have to pursue MD in Radiotherapy while medical oncologists must have an MD in Medicine, and then a DM in medical Oncology.

Seeing Straight:

Ophthalmology>>

The average urban Indian’s life has changed. We spend hours chained to our work desks focusing on a computer screen, or have excessive exposure to dust and pollution while traveling. But these aren’t the primary reasons for the tremendous growth opportunities for ophthalmologists. The biggest growth in the ophthalmology field is possibly in cosmetic areas – laser correction surgery has become extremely commercialized and is a very lucrative business. We are also witnessing an increasing number of diabetic patients consulting ophthalmpologists concerned about retinopathy. And obviously cataracts are the bread and butter for most ophthalmologists every individual needs a cataract operation at least once in life.

To pursue ophthalmology, students must complete an MS in Ophthalmology after their MBBS and develop their expertise in a sub-specialty by working with a surgeon after their MS. Sub-specialties under ophthalmology can include glaucoma, cornea (laser surgery), oculoplasty (eyelids and cosmetic botox) as well as vitreo retinal surgery among others.

Bone of Contention:

Orthopaedics>>

With increasing instances of osteoporosis and arthritis, besides other common accident related bone and joint treatments, orthopaedics is a specialty that will continue to grow. As the number of vehicles on city roads multiplies, the number of accidents has also grown.

Though orthopaedics is a surgical branch, orthopaedic surgeons can use both surgical and non-surgical methods to treat musculoskeletal trauma, degenerative bone diseases, tumors, sports injuries. Orthopaedics can concern themselves with with a certain part of the body specializing in spine surgery, hand surgery, joint replacement surgery, oncology orthopaedics, pediatric orthopedics and even sports injuries.

Students need to pursue an MS in Orthopaedics after their MBBS to pursue a career in the field.

Institute Indicator:

1) All India Institute of Medical Science , New Delhi
2) Jawaharlal Nehru Institute Medical education and research, Puducherry
3) Christian Medical College , Vellore
4) Manipal University, Manipal

Swine flu

Swine flu has killed over 60 Indians so far, and may soon claim hundreds, even thousands. That is a tragedy. Even so, swine flu remains a very minor cause of death, far behind other diseases that kill millions. The panic generated by the media is unwarranted, and is worsening health outcomes.

In 2001-03, the Registrar General conducted a survey to gauge the main causes of deaths in India. Heart disease came first (19%), followed by respiratory diseases like asthma (9%), diarrhea (8%), respiratory infections like pneumonia (6.2%), tuberculosis (6%), and cancer (5.7%).

Applying these percentages to India’s annual deaths of around 9 million, we find that 1.37 million people die annually of respiratory diseases and infections, 720,000 of diarrhea, and 540,000 of TB. These are staggering numbers. They imply that on an average day, 3,753 people die of respiratory diseases and infections, 1,973 of diarrhea, and 1,479 of tuberculosis.

Seen in this light, 20-odd swine flu deaths are almost laughably trivial. I do not laugh, because every death is a tragedy. But I am infinitely sadder for the millions whose plight has been swept out of public view, and is actually being worsened by upper-class panic.

Make no mistake, swine flu panic is substantially an upper class worry. Why do the media overflow with news of swine flu while ignoring other diseases that kill thousands every day? Because those everyday diseases are the problems of the poorer half of India, and the media target the upper half. Some upper class folk do get asthma or TB, but they are quickly treated and rarely die of these diseases. The millions who die come from the bottom half, lacking access to doctors and medicines. They die so regularly in millions that their deaths are no longer considered news.

Then along comes swine flu. It is a new disease, and that itself commands media attention. The richer half is terrified that not even its money and access to doctors provides safety. As a disease carried by air travelers, swine flu is a quintessential elite concern. Elite panic soon spreads to lower rungs of society, as the media project a new apocalypse. This is true across the world. Globally, swine flu has infected 177,000 people and killed 1,126. The numbers are trivial compared with deaths from malaria, respiratory disease or diarrhea. Yet the global media focus on swine flu.

Panic over a new disease of limited impact is hardly new. The 2002-03 epidemic of SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) hogged global headlines for almost a year. Yet WHO data between November 2002 and July 2003 listed only 8,096 infections and 774 SARS deaths globally.

India had a plague panic starting in Surat in 1994. Half a million people fled Surat, and more fled Mumbai and other cities in Gujarat and Maharashtra. Schools and businesses closed down across India. Business losses in Surat alone were $ 260 million. Foreign countries stopped buying Indian agricultural exports, causing losses of $ 420 million. Foreign investors pulled out of stock markets, 45,000 foreign tourists cancelled their trips to India, and some international airlines stopped flying to India.

The media duly reported these economic costs. Yet arguably the greatest costs were borne, unseen, by the poor. Tetracycline, a cheap antibiotic popular with the poor, disappeared from chemists shops because of panic buying by plague suspects. Hospitals everywhere were inundated with lakhs of citizens wanting to be checked for plague. Only a handful of these were found infected. Indeed, only 53 deaths were ultimately attributed to plague, and some experts cast doubt on whether even these were plague cases. But doctors and hospitals across India were overwhelmed by plague suspects, and so had no space, time or medicine for those dying of other everyday diseases. This suffering, mainly of the bottom half of society, attracted no media attention whatsoever.

In dealing with swine flu, we must remember lessons from the plague panic of 1994. The media must put swine flu deaths in perspective by also reporting how many people are dying of other diseases. Politicians and the media must repeatedly highlight lessons to be learned from the plague panic: how it hugely inflated fears and death estimates, how it crowded out medical attention to sufferers of other killer diseases, and how it imposed huge financial and psychological costs unnecessarily. The Prime Minister has appealed to the media not to spread panic. Yet panic is inevitable when the Health Minister says in a Times of India interview that one-third of all Indians could ultimately be infected. We need cool heads and discreet tongues.

Free hugs - Life is beautiful

I don't mind where you come from
As long as you come to me
I don't like illusions I can't see
Them clearly

I don't care no I wouldn't dare
To fix the twist in you
You've shown me eventually
What you'll do

I don't mind...
I don't care...
As long are you're here

Go ahead tell me you'll leave again
You'll just come back running
Holding your scarred heart in hand
It's all the same
And I'll take you for who you are
If you take me for everything
Do it all over again
It's all the same

Hours slide and days go by
Till you decide to come
And in between it always seems too long
All of a sudden

And I have the skill, yeah I have the will
To breathe you in while I can
However long you stay
Is all that I am

I don't mind...
I don't care...
As long are you're here

Go ahead tell me you'll leave again
You'll just come back running
Holding your scarred heart in hand
It's all the same
And I'll take you for who you are
If you take me for everything
Do it all over again
It's always the same

Wrong or right
Black or white
If I close my eyes
I's all the same

In my life
The compromise
I close my eyes
It's all the same

Go ahead say it you're leaving
You'll just come back running
Holding your scarred heart in hand
It's all the same
And I'll take you for who you are
If you take me for everything
Do it all over again
It's all the same

If Everyone cared

Today we sang a song by -Nickel Back

"If Everyone Cared"
From underneath the trees, we watch the sky
Confusing stars for satellites
I never dreamed that you'd be mine
But here we are, we're here tonight

Singing Amen, I, I'm alive
Singing Amen, I, I'm alive

[Chorus:]
If everyone cared and nobody cried
If everyone loved and nobody lied
If everyone shared and swallowed their pride
Then we'd see the day when nobody died

And I'm singing

Amen I, Amen I, I'm alive
Amen I, Amen I, Amen I, I'm alive

And in the air the fireflies
Our only light in paradise
We'll show the world they were wrong
And teach them all to sing along

Singing Amen, I, I'm alive
Singing Amen, I, I'm alive
(I'm alive)

[Chorus x2]

And as we lie beneath the stars
We realize how small we are
If they could love like you and me
Imagine what the world could be

If everyone cared and nobody cried
If everyone loved and nobody lied
If everyone shared and swallowed their pride
Then we'd see the day when nobody died
When nobody died...

[Chorus]

We'd see the day, we'd see the day
When nobody died
We'd see the day, we'd see the day
When nobody died
We'd see the day when nobody died

Pub Rock Fest

Rock Street Journal is proud to present this year’s edition of the Kingfisher Pub Rock fest. With a successful series of shows last year, we here at RSJ aim to bring you a larger and louder festival this year with over 75 gigs’s spread over 19 cities in India in association with Romanov Red as a co-sponsor.

The festival kicks off on the 1st of August with Galeej Gurus, October and Lazy River at Mocha Bar in Nehru Place. The festival promises to be a platform for up and coming musicians as well as new talent to play on the same stage and perform to the masses of the country. The festival also aims at spreading live music in Pubs and venues around the country with a mix of genres and styles that form the core of the India music scene.

Schedule for North Zone -Dilli

DATE	CITY	VENUE	BANDS	TICKET PRICE
01/08/09	Delhi	Mocha Bar	Galeej Guru's, Lazy River, October	Rs. 150/-
02/08/09	Delhi	The Mezz	Undying Inc. Scribe, Artillerie, Rabbit is Rich	Rs. 150/-
05/08/09	Gurgaon	Turquoise Cottage	Indigo Children, The Circus, SHM	FREE
06/08/09	Delhi	Mocha Bar	Teddy Boy Kill, Higher Conscience	Rs. 150/-
08/08/09	Delhi	Haze	Lou Mojaw(Acoustic Set), HFT	Rs. 150/-
09/08/09	Gurgaon	Club 18	The Great Society, Five8, English Wine Shop	FREE
14/08/09	Noida	Chicane	Gates of Assault, Undying Inc. Bhayanak Maut	Rs. 150/-
16/08/09	Delhi	Cafe Morrison	Half Step Down, Lucid Recess, Jester	Rs. 150/-
23/08/09	Delhi	Cafe Morrison	Spark, The Supersonics, Under Siege	Rs. 150/-
28/08/09	Lucknow	Zero Degree	Raghu Dixit Project, Warm/ H. Ex	TBA
28/08/09	Jaipur	The Rock	Half Step Down	TBA
29/08/09	Jaipur	The Rock	Faridkot	TBA
29/08/09	Lucknow	Aura	Feedback, Swarathma	TBA
30/08/09	Lucknow	Aura	Faridkot, The Original Brats	TBA
30/08/09	Delhi	Opus	The Supersonics, Cyanide	Rs. 150/-
02/09/09	Jaipur	The Rock	Half Step Down	TBA
03/09/09	Gurgaon	Xtreme Sports Bar	Sajid Akbar, Zinc, Constellation Project	FREE
06/09/09	Delhi	Mezz	Demonic Ressurection, Guillotine, Acrid Semblance	Rs. 150/-
09/09/09	Noida	Chicane	Prestorika, Tearcube, IIIrd Sovereign	Rs. 150/-
11/09/09	Delhi	Quash Qai	Parikrama, Seven Degrees, Bridge to Elsewhere, Hypnosis	Rs. 150/-
13/09/09	Noida	Superstars	Frequency, IAFWAY, Paradigm Shift	FREE
07/10/09	Chandigarh	Score	Them Clones, Annus the Menace, Harmonic Friction	TBA
08/10/09	Chandigarh	Score	Half Step Down, 21st Rebel Street, OST	TBA
09/10/09	Shimla	Ritz Complex	The Circus, Anus the Menace	TBA
11/10/09	Chandigarh	Score	21st Rebel Street, The Circus, Area 231	TBA

May your head swings, banged, rock n roll over the place.

When you feel Lonely on this planet !!!

Define loneliness, he asked himself

“Loneliness : when you scroll the phone book of your cellphone only to find that you got no one to talk to”

As the moments turn into hours, hours into day, days into year and years into perhaps life, one cannot reconcile with the fact that he is alone. Its like stary sky where moon seems to be crowded with stars but in fact he is alone.

Things are going strange lately, even language seems to have left me.

Many silent long walk in the nights are also not helping a bit. Its so strange that with each passing year, as you age more, it feels like I am disintegrating. Living life in abeyance has started to show signs of permanency.

Stealer - STUD- Male Chauvinism

Ever had a crush on a woman, and found out that she was already seeing someone? What did you do next, went home and cried, pussy boy? Losers aside, here are a few things that determined men do. They steal girlfriends. So if you think you’re ready to sweep the girl of your dreams from right under her guy’s nose, here’s Confetti, raising a toast to you, you… you little desperado.

So here we go again, on this exciting voyage of being the player and the best man to have existed on the face of this Earth. Casanova is history. So let’s hit first base here. You like a girl. And cupid’s struck the wrong butt… again. And you’re left in the dark. She’s with another guy. Alright, life can be a bit harsh at times. So will you stop with your whining and crying already?! For crying out loud, there’s a way to have her. Thankfully. And it’s all in my, as Chris Gardner says in ‘The Pursuit of Happyness’, “Ten Gallon Head”. Once you’re done blowing your nose and sticking the snot under the couch, let’s get to the deep, dark world of girlfriend stealing. Brr... I can feel the adrenalin already, that sick taste in the mouth and the annoying hair on the back of your neck that stands on end. Girlfriend stealing is an art, not some club swinging clumsy hit-and-miss techniques used by the lesser mortals. So sharpen your mind, and play it smooth, playboy.

Shut the doors, and keep everyone out. This lost art is the final nail on any boyfriend’s coffin. Have you ever come across any guy who could always get any girl he wanted, even if she’s been going out with her guy since the last millennium? It doesn’t matter if you’re a dodo who hasn’t noticed that yet, or if you’ve got so few friends that you don’t have one smooth talker around you, because in just a few minutes you’re going to be able to hold that coveted title in your very own hands. This is unlike me, helping a guy shatter another guy’s heart, but I’ve been hounded by guys who’ve wanted to know how to go out with a girl who’s already been taken, because they’re just so madly in love with them. It may have been the hardest thing on planet earth but with these little pointers, stealing girlfriends could just turn out to be as easy as stealing coins from a genuine blind beggar! So cheer up, lift your chin out of the dirt and keep your eyes peeled if you want that special girl. And if you’re a man who’s going out with a girl already, don’t hate the player, buddy, hate the game!