King's Speech

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 A temperate monsoon evening, with 'load shedding holiday' must have brought some delights to much of Kathmanduities. An unrelated but yet anticipated event was the interview with our former King that was to be broadcasted at nine. Having myself watched the sixty minutes interview, i wondered what could a layman audience, like me, with extremely liberal political views make out of the royal interview?

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The impression of a King, although dethroned, was expected to be a heroic figure, with clarity and command of speech, a clinging royal aura and to make a point, without being unduly controversial. It did not turn out completely as per the expectations, probably some part due to poor versed nepali spoken language of our former King. The ambiguity of answers by the King and the incompetence on the interviewer's part to extract the much awaited, occult scoops made the program, but a dull one. Analysts would definitely make a lot of verdicts and extrapolations about the dialogue, but personally for me, it probably was a dull and anticlimatic phenomenon.Sometimes , i wonder if our country are at scarce of good speaking men who have the capacity to spellbound the listener. Laymen, like us remained unchanted and  unthrilled!!!

Confessions of a Seeker

And when things have begun to make sense slowly, with each passing moment I wonder if it is the right time (destiny; karma) or the incessant perserverance, that is the key to unlock the eternal truth of existence , to discover the light to self-awareness, to unravel the mysteries of divinity and to connect to our personal and supreme self.

Having lived almost about half the life expectancy of an average person, it sometimes fills me with utter despair, deep restlessness and helplessness to find myself in the middle of nowhere. It is like, my conscience is oscillating like a pendulum, my soul is trapped in the state of limbo in the pool of eternity, in between the worlds of materialism and spirituality.

whatever you may call it, my delusion or a strong conviction developed through time, out of myriad of life experiences of myself and other influential figures of the world, I hold this firm belief that the most wonderful and the most beautiful things in this universe which includes the blissful self awareness are or rather should be omnipresent, within an easy and effortless reach of all men. God, who I  refer to, as the highest force governing and sustaining the world, I believe, has or must have made these fruits of nature within easy access for all of its beings to taste, enjoy and to nurture themselves with.

Experts of the hindu mythology claim, as they’ve done with numerous examples dating back to the Satya-yuga,  the need of a guru, the learned one in guiding a disciple to learn the right method and travel these paths of self discovery to attain the ultimate state of self awareness, in which they are finally able to dissolve themselves into the universal space, being in full harmony and being one with the supreme self.

Is  the presence of a Guru a must, a prerequisite or is it the right time that matures the disciple to  reap the fruits of his efforts on the paths of self-discovery?

Stethescope Ritual

A  smart, preferably middle or old aged (if young, you have to be much much more smarter ;-) ; some grey hairs and a pair of glasses would do wonders), listening with patience to all the woes, interrogating equally precisely, expressing ample empathetic gestures, examining with leisure and in details, with the magical circular instrument that conveys the rightful message of the heart and soul of the patient  to the keen ears of the doctor, thereby interpreting an accurate diagnosis and prescribing an appropriate treatment probably constitutes the essence of an ideal medical cure. This is the scene that most of us expect to happen to ourselves, if we were to fall ill. Having been a doctor myself, i personally would have the threshold of expectations much higher for myself and my kin. The whole process reminds me of some classic black and white movies watched during my early childhood days that portrayed some short but influential roles of a physician. So far, we have emphasized on the art of medicine, which would be meaning and effectless, without the scientific aspects associated methodology of examination, interpreting clinical signs, rationale of differentials, ordering labs and prescribing the most appropriate cure.

So, what constitutes a good doctor? The first and foremost quality is without doubt, the soul or character and the ingredients of a good human being, and I guess that is where most of us fail to claim, if we were to be very true to ourselves. A good command over both the art and science of medicine is the next and indispensable. Ages of experience is indeed a bonus. Just to supplement to the diagnostic algorithm are multiple investigative modalities. Our magical elastic coils with a couple of ear-pieces is one of the classics, amongst all and by far carries the most important impression on patients. Much miracles have been done with stethoscope dating the years after its invention and it still continues to do so. The biggest magic however has been cast on the patients’ mindset, signifying as the wizard’s magic stick to override the spells. Physicians too have utilized its symbolic glory enthusiastically on their part. There have been medical humors about over-enthusiastic doctors poking with their steths on sites wherever patient complaints, including areas like head, legs and arms, just for taking care of the psychological part of healing.
On the part of patients, whatever their illness maybe, auscultation with steth remains an important aspect of cure, irrespective of its actual need. Having said that, medically the wizard stick has its uses beyond the conventional chest, cardiac and alimentary system examination and a medical student might add some more to the diagnostic benefits offered by the steth.

However, with increasing sophistication of medical technologies that have enhanced the diagnostic accuracy and minimized the possibility of errors ( radiographs, CT Scans), and with doctors relying less and less on this emblem of cure, is stethoscope losing its significance as ‘the weapon’ for disease diagnosis? Have we forgotten the magic of this wonderful instrument and made it just as an emblem? Is this important, age old ritual on the verge of a gradual extinction? Something to ponder upon.