All in a day’s work
Life as a pathologist is very interesting. You are trained to look out for the abnormal. Normal is boring. But there are times when you are caught on the wrong foot. Here are two incidents which taught…
The story of Kary Mullis and the invention of PCR
Some stories from science are fascinating. The story of Kary Mullis and his eureka moment which led to the invention of the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) is one such story which I love reading about. For people…
Gulzar: A wizard with words
It is very difficult for me to describe what makes Gulzar stand out. He uses everyday words, and then weaves magic out of them. Gulzar is a writer who can make the most mundane things seem extraordinary…
The curse of my black tongue
We were walking back home from the hospital- I, Subodh and my nephew. Sevagram is a sleepy hamlet. There is one main road which runs parallel to the hospital, and most of the people here are usually…
The man with the pause has finally paused
If there is anything I will remember Atal Bihari Vajpayee for, it will be for his fantastic oratory. He would leave everyone spell-bound with his poetic choice of words. Equally memorable was his style of using the…
When patriotic songs rent the air
It is the 15th of August. India is bathed in the colours of the tricolour- saffron, white and green- as it celebrates its anniversary of freedom from the British imperial powers. From dawn to dusk, you hear…
Sharing her happiness
It was Khushi’s birthday. She is my niece’s daughter. And we were in Nagpur for the celebrations. It was her eighth birthday. As people walked in I observed Khushi’s guest list curiously. She had decided who she…
The Intruder in my Dreams
I am a dreamer. I dream every night. They are long-winding technicolour dreams. And the best part is- I remember my dreams vividly. Just this morning I was dreaming a multi-part dream (they do exist, if you…
The pensive pen stories
We were on vacation in Ootacamund that summer. Ooty. We were staying at Lawrence School, Lovedale, where Do aur Do Paanch was recently shot. My father was attending a summer training there and we accompanied him to…
The loony goon
I was assisting an appendicectomy in the middle of the night in the operating room, when a senior colleague came up and offered to take my place. ‘There’s a message from the casualty,” he said, “They are…
