THE PONDERING PEDIATRICIAN

April 24th to April 30th is celebrated as World Immunization Week. Immunization saves so many lives every year and is among world’s most cost-effective health interventions. Yet, there are still nearly 20 million un-vaccinated and under-vaccinated children in the world today! The theme of this year’s campaign is " Protected Together: Vaccines Work! " , and the campaign will celebrate Vaccine Heroes from around the world – from parents and community members to health workers and innovators – who help ensure we are all protected, at all ages, through the power of vaccines. Here is my small contribution to this great worldwide program. It may be a drop in the ocean, but many drops  can create an ocean!  A DESPERATE PLEA Attacked and invaded; my tiny body fails, Paralyzed and choked; my skin pales, I accept defeat; no more can I run, Goodbye Grandpa, Diphtheria has won! I wish I could, just fulfill my dream, Climb up the hills; enjoy a swim; Here

RADIANT RESURRECTION The passion week has come to a close and it’s the Resurrection Sunday today, better known as Easter. The passion and love of Jesus Christ, which granted mankind the precious gift of salvation, is the theme resonating in the background. There are people who observe and celebrate this week with much reverence. There are some who have made it yet another festival to be commercialized. And there are some like me, who believe that the message of Good Friday and Easter is not something to be illuminated once a year, but something that illuminates your spirit and soul every second of every day. The radiance of divine resurrection irradiates mankind. It`s the message that gave my life a whole new meaning. The following is a poem I wrote sometime back, when this message of Christ`s passion and love filled me up beyond the brim, and overflowed as words. You forsook majesty, came in search of me, Bore my transgressions, crucified to set me free, The agony

TH E ENGLISH SKIRMISH “Yes Madam, can you tell me what is wrong with the baby?”   I looked up at the enquirer, wondering who was it that spoke in English. “May I know who you are?”, I asked in the local language. I was at the NICU counselling room of the hospital where I was a resident.   In a government hospital, which catered to the poorer sections of the society, rarely would anyone hear a patient or his relatives talking in English. So rare, that the patient would be referred to as the ‘English speaking patient’ or the ‘English party’ from admission till discharge, albeit with a bit of sarcasm. The speaker was a young man in his twenties, wearing a white t-shirt and jeans, and a sunglass hung from his jeans pocket, just enough to be identified. I sighed. Another one of those t-shirt-jeans-sunglass-English machan!! I knew what was to follow! Do not mistake me, not that talking English was a problem, just that it was very rare and largely not required. Do

PERFECTION  IN  IMPERFECTION “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud .     It does not dishonour others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.   Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth .   It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.   Love never fails.”                                                                                                             1 Corinthians 13: 4-8 The crowd was huge and unruly, and covered me from all directions. Fathers, mothers, grandparents, great grandparents, uncles, aunts and siblings teemed the neonatal outpatient department (OPD) in various permutations and combinations. The common factor was the presence of infants of various ages and sizes that they carried. The Neonatal OPD catered to newborns less than 28 days of age, as well as babies discharged from our NICU (Neonatal Intensive Care Unit) af