Is your doctor good ?

Almost all people go to doctors at some point of their lives, though most of the times, is for common illnesses. And simple treatments are adequate for most of the problems. But still I am not sure of the factors that help the patients in choosing a doctor. Most cases, it is still the 'kai raasi' factor, mostly through hearsay / word of mouth and the degree of "busi'ness of the practice (pun intended)

The practice of the doctors is considered to be proportionate to their skills and knowledge; but most of the time its unfortunately untrue. It's got to do more with their PR skills most of the time and the way they flaunt their degrees, the validity of some of which are not known! But there are also some really good doctors who have huge crowds, because they are genuinely good!

There is no real objective way to assess how good a doctor is , from the patient's point of view; and there is no system like ICC / ATP rankings to rate the docs , thought people still ask if a so and so doc is the number 1, much to my amusement and embarrassment!

Being a doc myself (though belonging to the most hated fraternity among the doctors themselves), I feel there are certain clues to identify the nature of your doc

1. Those that resort to injections for all sorts of fever, as the first line of management

2. Those who charge the same fees for follow up consultation even within 3-5 days

3. Those who insist on getting investigations done at specific places only

4. Those who insist on buying specific drug brands only in spite of cheaper and equally good options

5. Those who own the pharmacies, where profit margins are mostly double (its never passed on to the patients

6. Those who talk ill about the other doctors in front of patients

7. Those who ask for concession for costly investigations, specifically mentioning a figure, without asking for maximal concession (they would still be getting their usually exorbitant commission, by inflating the charges!

8. Those who admit patients in their small nursing homes, more often than not

9. Those who send their sick in patients for investigations , without the care of a doctor / trained nurse

There are a lot more , which I will keep adding!

MY SKY ART

Search stages

I always thought that searching for a life partner was a single step procedure, in the sense that once your set of criteria matches, things would naturally fall into place. But from the first as well as second hand experiences that I have had, the search process usually could be divided into at least four parts, especially, if your horoscope is a little screwed up.

The stages could be named finicky, relaxation, rationalization and desperation; names being self explanatory! Umpteen criteria from looks to the family to the place to the education / job to a lot more trivial things are kept as an initial filter, which would, in most cases be unfulfilled. Non matching of even a single criterion is not tolerated. At least six to twelve months go in this screening, by which time; they would be ready to pass on to the next stage

Next is the stage of relaxation when a couple of non essential variables are relaxed, to widen the ‘catchment’ options; still the rigidity in the essential items is not removed. This search goes on for another six months; a lucky few get a result with this manoeuver; rest are to pass through to the next stage which is ‘rationalization’ where a few of the previously uncompromisable factors are relaxed and search is continued. That ‘s when the people concerned , realize the futility of looking for that perfect match; common sense prevails ; but by then quite a few matches that would have fit the present criteria would have gone along . But some people get the chance to go back to previously rejected matches to make amends and solemnize the relation

And the worst thing is for those who are option less even after ‘rationalization’, who never the less go into the stage of desperation, especially for the reason of warding off towards the wrong end of twenties. That’s when, everyone concerned hurtle hurriedly towards any option, that comes their way, compromising a lot of supposedly very significant variables

I am forced to wonder, how it would be, if there was rationalization at initial part of the search, itself, minimizing the heartburns and disappointments associated with the search

Professional critics

I was thinking of the easy jobs that are available , which at the same time could influence a lot of lives. Being a professional film critic, seemed one of the cool jobs , considering that you get to watch the movies , first day , first show and write whatever you "feel" without any restraint; thereby having an ability to influence the lives of lots of families associated with the production of the movie, but mostly in the negative sense.

I have experienced many instances where the films have been written of by the arm chair critics- yes arm chair - in that they have never involved themselves in the aspects of movie making , but the movies have gone on to become big hits . They are really ones , that push the costly blockbusters into the valley , without a thought to what happens to the people involved. I suppose they are as big a threat to the film world as the video piracy. Video piracy at least ensures that , people at least see the movie, thereby at least giving the director / actors professional / emotional satisfaction . And people ,would eventually venture out to see the movie on the big screen , after deciding for themselves , if the content is good. However poor reviews about the movies ensure that no one likes to watch them even on a DVD.

Any thing negative always gets more attention and gets stuck on the readers However , this being a democratic country , any wrong done within the legal confines or associated with freedom of expression, cannot be questioned!! If i were a member of the industry I would like to quell the reviews of movies being written in the first fortnight by the "professional" critics. Let the people see for themselves and let the publicity spread by word of mouth, which would be more just towards the makers. All movies have something good , that might not be appreciated by all ; hence it's proper that people themselves see and decide !!

A tall one gone with least damage!

Inglorious Baste(a)rds

Inspired by the Hollywood title of the recent Brad Pitt movie , i ventured to write my own list of inglorious baste(a)rds , whom I love to hate! People who occupy the places of pride in them are,

The evil souls who carelessly puff way on the roads/ public places with scant regard for the safety of the co pedestrians!

The hurried rushers who don't care to even respect the signal at the stroke of ten in the night , without even an iota of concern for the pedestrians

Those horrible morons who ride their vehicles holding mobiles between their neck and trunk as if they have severe torticollis or in one hand, putting their as well as others’ lives at risk

Those who spit on the window sills of trains and buses, not realizing that such an act could lead them to spend time behind the bars in a strict country

Those idiots who drive on the opposite side of the road in full throttle, not bothering about ignorant people standing on the sides thinking they are safe

Those who drive at full speed on the roads without switching the headlights on / with such bright headlights that, others facing it are blinded like bats

Those so called noble men, in the name of medical doctors, who squeeze out money out of their patients in the form of cuts / commission

There are obviously lot more honourables , to be added to this list , but these are just the ones I got in my mind immediately

Scaredevils

Don't get excited about whether this is another new IPL team on the anvil, probably headed by another Bollywood star( considering the hot , but not so successful romance between the IPL and Bollywood) . This is also not one of the new horrible horror movies that Hollywood keeps churning out with alarmingly regular frequency.This is something that we see every month on the roads on the new moon day in most parts of Tamil nadu; I am not sure of the other places in India. The plump green member of the gourd family , though not preferred on most days , in spite of its high fibre content , suddenly finds itself a hot property on the last days of lunar calendar. The plump thing with resemblance to a round head is given a face by drawing facial features using vermilion, though only to mimic a scary devil face. And these are thrashed on the road in the mornings with a view to ward of the evil eyes that have been laid upon the family or the business. Most shops , small and big are no exceptions to this ! I am not sure if these are potent enough to chase the evils , but I am sure they are quite good enough to skid the forms , next only to devils in the degree of polluted minds - the human beings! The juicy slippery injured and split gourd is as efficient in skidding a two wheeler, as would a banana skin be in tumbling a pedestrian ! And their presence at every ten feet on the road on the specified day, would turn the roads into an effective test course for obstacle challenge course for riders. Ones avoiding all those 'scare devils' and also not hurting any other co road users would definitely qualify for competitive obstacle challenge ! I have been lucky enough to have avoided both so far ! The dark new moon days , complicated by poor/ absent street lighting , transforms these supposedly devil scarers into devils themselves for the uninitiated as well as frequent users of the road . I don't know how a gourd can ward of the evil and even if people feel, they have the right to believe in whatever they wish, they should be sensible enough to understand that they cannot put others' lives and limbs at risk to get a false satisfaction of having protected themselves. Owing to the fact that our people have a very low civic sense , I presume it's time government does something to ban their breaking on the roads !!