It is Everywhere

She was fed up of the fever. It had gone undiagnosed for more than a week, but tapered off after she swallowed some antibiotics.When it recurred three weeks later, she wondered if rather than suffer again, it wasn't better to just asphyxiate under the coverlet.

"Let's check out this doctor my friend recommended. He sees in the best hospital in the city," her husband recommended.

Reluctantly, she went to meet the doctor. He checked her, heard her case history and said, "Typhoid and Malaria can go undetected. We will also check for TB. All these can relapse if not treated properly. But we will anyway start treatment, IV this time."

When she found her fever under control, her optimism returned. And when the doctor's speculation was confirmed by the test reports, she felt her confidence in the doctor increasing. This was the third time in a month and a half she was getting all the tests repeated. But so long as she was healed, she didn't mind.

The last dose of IV over, she went with her mother and husband to meet the doctor. He checked her pulse, her BP, her chest and smiled. Then he got up and came up behind her. He touched the points under her earlobes. She couldn't see him now, but she could see her mother and husband, both seemed visibly shaken.

The doctor came around, looking obviously worried. "Swelling - normal during infection, but it seems too hard. Let's get it checked up."

Her mother looked panic stricken. Even without the doctor mentioning it, it looked like she was suspected of having cancer! When her mother opened her mouth to ask, he quickly dialled a number and asked for a doctor. As he waited on the line, he told the husband, "He is a leading oncologist." Then turning back to the phone, he asked, "What? He is not in town! Then get me the hematologist. No, I want this appointment right now!"

The three panicked. Not the C word! "You are lucky. He can see you tomorrow at 6."

"Is it that urgent?" she ventured boldly. From fire into frying pan! Her heart beat fast.

The doctor looked at her gravely. "The earlier the better, ma."

With a heavy heart, husband and wife went to meet the hematologist. The man frowned as he touched the points mentioned. The husband started to ask if it was serious when he was shushed. The doctor asked the wife for a series of symptoms. She had suffered those because of the fever, but how could she be sure now!

Seeing her doubtful, the doctor said, "Let's start with some tests and an ultrasound."

"But I got one done just last week."

The doctor quelled her with one look. "You can pay at the counter and then get the tests done. The moment you get the results... wait." He dialled a number and asked when the reports would be ready by. "Reach them to me directly." He looked at them and gave a date a week away. "Meet me then," he said and the couple noticed he put a star against her name.

The lady submitted herself to tests - which looked very similar to the one she had got done the week before - and then headed for ultra sound, the only new element.

The radiologist asked her for the reason and she said, in near tears, "I had typhoid and now... these nodes."

The man frowned. "This is swollen, no doubt. But that is normal during infection. Anyway, if the doctor has asked you to..." he shrugged. She looked at her husband with some hope.

They went a week later. The doctor looked up and said, "All clear."

"The nodes... do they swell during infection?"

"Yes, of course. Considering she suffered from typhoid and malaria, that was to be expected. But because your doctor suspected tumour, it was only right to eliminate the possibility completely."

A week of agony, uncertainty and futile expenditure. The doctor could have said this before, and waited for her to recover completely!

Little did the couple know that the two doctors received a bonus yet again for referring them!

It Begins Early

"Finally I got admission for my child in the school I was trying!" Father said proudly to friend.

"Oh really! How wonderful! LKG, right?" asked the friend.

Father nodded. "Paid Rs 1.25 lakh."

The friend gaped. "Oh!"

"They have said the moment they have a seat free, they will give my daughter a seat too, in class II."

"And how much for that?"

"Oh, the school is very reasonable. The same Rs. 1.25 lakh."

The friend gulped. His child was eight months old. If he had to try for admission in this school two years down the line, he wondered how much he would have to pay!

When the daughter got through too, the father was ecstatic.
**

A year later, the father came to the friend. "Do you remember a school your sister mentioned - where they have mixed class groups for normal and borderline children?"

The friend frowned. "Yes..." he said puzzled. "Someone looking for such a school?" He noticed the care lines on his friend's face. "Why are you looking so down?" he asked.

The man shook his head. "My daughter... She is not able to cope with the syllabus. She is too playful, it seems, and doesn't pay attention in class. The teacher suggested I consult a counselor. The counselor did a test on her and she said my daughter may be hyperactive."

The friend frowned. The symptoms sounded just like the Father had been when he was a student. "Why don't you get a second opinion?"

"I did," the father said, dejected. "But that lady gave an inconclusive report and the school punched holes in that."

"So?"

"I don't want my daughter to struggle and feel she is a failure," the father said.

The friend felt that she had already been branded one. "So?"

"So, the school suggested I find another school for her. They had the best interest of the child in mind."

The friend inhaled deeply. Whose best interests, he wondered. The school would replace this child with another, and pocket another 1.25 lakh, if that was still the going rate. "So you want to go with their verdict?"

The father turned to him with a haunted look. "My wife is unable to cope with the complaints from school. We are so focused on her that we almost neglect our son."

The friend shook his head in sympathy. "I will find out," he assured the father.

The relief in the father's eyes when the second school accepted the child was so immense, that he didn't even mind paying Rs 50000 for getting admission in class 4 for his daughter.

Are We Really Against Corruption?

Am I a cynic? I don't know. I should join in the applause to the way the average Indian Middle Class has risen up to the occasion and joined in the anti corruption movement. But somehow, when I see some of the people joining in... I am not sure we even understand what corruption is.

I believe doctors and school students are part of the campaign. And yet, hospitals, the entire medical system, the educational institutions - are they ready to clean up their acts before pointing fingers?

And then,  maybe 200 crores happens in the top levels. But the 100-200 happens at the bottom. It is people like the maids and the other with basic education that end up paying and taking money. Are they part of this movement? Are they aware? Will they want to be part of this movement since this is how they fulfill their aspirations?

Am I justifying bribes then? Or anti anti-corruption? Neither. I am just confused.

I feel it is not only about a change in the system, but also a change from within. Are we ready for this? Are we ready to wait patiently at signals, wait our turn in queues, abide by a law even if it is not in our favour, and not run after loopholes to our advantage? Are we ready not to go for the best hospital, best school, best seat, if it means paying money - whatever its name?

It is good, what Anna Hazare is doing. He is conscientious, and has high personal standards. His wants are  minimal and therefore, his transgressions- if any - would be unwitting. I have no doubt about that, or what he is fighting for.

But I believe that even while we must congregate in large numbers to show our support for the movement, we must also stand up in our own small worlds for causes that matter. We must also say - if this is right, I must and will do it. I am not sure I have that courage still, that I am not prevaricating a decision simply because it may not be convenient for me.

I hope that even while raising the cleanliness level in the political institutions, this movement cleans us up as people and makes us assess our priorities and change them for the greater good.

Anubavangal: Kurangilirundu pirantha manithan

Anubavangal: Kurangilirundu pirantha manithan: மரம் தாவி . நொடிக்கு ஒரு வித்தை காட்டி ஒரு நிமிடம் நேரே மறு நிமிடம் தலை கீழே சாய்த்து இது குரங்கா, மனமா? குரங்குபோல் மனமா? ஒரு சிந்தனையில் ...

One Earth: Birds Drop Dead

One Earth: Birds Drop Dead: "'Birds began falling out of the sky' This is from a book on Iraqi Kurdistan, 'Love in a Torn Land'. The use of chemicals to kill Kurdis..."

All for Big Bucks

I am not a political writer, or too savvy about developments in the political world. My newspaper reading is cursory at best, and many a times, comics are the only things I read.

I received a mail today from an organisation that conducted a debate on the need for Lokpal Bill. The summary points further summarised - we already have laws to deal with bribes. Implement them. Lokpal Bill only adds a layer and can go the same way as CVC and the investigative agencies. It ends by lauding Anna Hazare for bringing the issue of corruption to the forefront.

Indeed, today he is in preventive custody. The government - the president and the prime minister - are playing with words. The government is finding excuses, digging up dirt just to weaken the movement. But the question is, to what end? Will the people of India, now coming together as India Against Corruption sit quietly if Hazare is removed? Well, in one way, the government has added teeth to the movement. Talk of cutting one's nose to spite one's face!

What shakes me up is the question - is the government so weak that it is scared to tighten its belt, take action and deal with corruption? Is it enough to put Raja and Kalmadi behind bars?

Again and again, only one image comes up in my mind... the dhoti clad Indian politician rolling in wealth and then dying amidst all that money in sheer joy. How will he transport it to the next world then! If we Indians believe in destiny and fate, weren't we also taught about karma - the other, bigger ledger maintained by Chitragupta? Maybe it is unfashionable to believe in gods these days, but at least that kept us in check to some extent. Now we neither believe in gods, nor our own conscience... It's all about money, honey.

Anubavangal: Porulaathaaram irunthum manathil ethu thaaraalam? ...

Anubavangal: Porulaathaaram irunthum manathil ethu thaaraalam? ...: "நான் நமது நாட்டு தலைவரின் சுதந்திர தின பேச்சை நான் கேட்கவில்லை. ஆனால் ஹிந்துப்பத்திரிகையில் தலைப்பு படித்தேன். லஞ்சத்திற்கு எதிரான போராட்டத..."