Digital Healthcare : The new ‘Safety Valve’ of India

Even as the world is reeling under the healthcare challenges posed by Covid -19, digital healthcare has emerged as a beacon of hope in this unprecedented situation. Although the technology was there for past two decades, it is more relevant now than ever. In a developing country like India where there is 1 doctor per 1500 people, telemedicine is reducing the burden on medical staff, ensuring that only the critically ill patients visit the hospital or clinic.            Pic:Wikicommons

Today a plethora of healthcare apps are available like Aarogya Setu, Practo, Docprime, Medlife etc. that can help you monitor health, get online consultation in the comfort of your home or get medicines delivered at your doorstep. And what’s endearing is that Indians, who are traditionally used to getting consultation in a clinic and in-person, are adapting quickly to these new-age norms.

Infact, data supports this transition. India ranks second in the world, next only to China, with maximum number of internet subscribers (560 million), surpassing even USA! According to a Pricewaterhouse Cooper 2014 report, 80% of Indians would have access to the internet by 2034, and much of it will be rural Internet users, which are growing annually at 58%. Besides, the political will exhibited by the government with projects like National Digital Health Mission would further boost telemedicine growth in India, which is expected to hit $5.4billion in next five years.

Amidst these positive indicators, telemedicine can become the aorta of India’s heart, a safety valve that can unburden the current strained medical ecosystem, and extend urban medical facilities to rural areas. It can save poor man’s money and time on travel to cities, lest he gets timely diagnosis and right prescription at the beginning of a disease by a certified medical practitioner. In case of pandemics, telehealth apps and network can work in collaboration with government to disseminate authentic information and real time trends. Furthermore, their role will evolve from online consultations to patient care, education, and eventually incorporate research and public health administration too.Pic:GlobalGiving.org

However, this great responsibility is not without challenges. Ensuring patient data security, compliance with digital health standards set by NABH & MoHFW, and doing due diligence before listing doctors on the apps/online portals are imperative measures. Thankfully the telemedicine industry is already geared up to ride the wave with panache! What do you think?

The Uncanny Resemblance Of Darwin's Theory Of Evolution With Vishnu's 10 Avatars Will Raise Your Eyebrows!

Looks like Indian mythology is more than just a myth. It is rooted in logic and science. The other day while I was reading up more on the intriguing avatars of Lord Vishnu, the biology lover inside me yelped in excitement. To me, they resembled more like Darwin’s Theory Of Evolution, only given 1000 of years before.

Darwin's Theory of Evolution states that human beings have descended from a common ancestor. This means complex living beings have evolved from simplistic creatures like fish, amphibians, reptiles etc. naturally over time. Owing to genetic mutations, the beneficial mutations are preserved because they aid survival. This is called 'natural selection.'
 
In a nutshell, Darwin's theory says that life first emerged in water. Gradually, amphibians arrived who could survive both on land as well as in water. This, the process continued to become more complex with the evolution of mammals. Slowly, one species of apes evolved to stand on two feet rather than walking on four limbs. The earliest of humans were short in height, and gradually became taller with time.
 
Now let us compare this with different avatars of Lord Vishnu.
 
First avatar: Matsya or Fish
Lord Vishnu's first avatar on Earth was in the form of a fish during the Satyug. According to Darwin, life first originated in water and then moved to land.

Second avatar: Kurma or Turtle

This incarnation of Vishnu can be compared with the organisms advancing to amphibians. A turtle can survive both on land and in water.

Third avatar: Varaha or Boar
Boar is a mammal that lives on land and walks on all four limbs. In this avatar, Lord Vishnu slayed the demon Hiranyaksha.

This avatar suggests that advanced life is terrestrial and quadruped.

Fourth avatar: Narasimha
Now, this avatar of Vishnu is half animal and half human, suggesting the natural course of evolution that would give rise to human race.

Fifth avatar: Vamana or Dwarf
This was the first incarnation of Lord Vishnu as a human being. This happened in the Treta yuga. Vamana was small built, with short limbs and body.

Sixth avatar: Parshuram
This avatar of Lord Vishnu is a full grown man, but he is ferocious in nature, lives in wild, and leads a secluded life. He can be compared to an early man. This signifies that although man has evolved now, his qualities are not refined yet. 

Seventh avatar: Lord Rama
In this avatar, Lord Vishnu incarnates as human with refined manners and emotions. Lord Rama is a family man, has wife and kids. As the king of Ayodhaya, he is 'maryada purushotam' and straight-forward in giving judgment.

Eighth avatar: Lord Krishna
This avatar of Lord Vishnu came in Dwapar yug. Now, Lord Krishna is shrewd and clever minded. He does not hesitate in playing tricks on people or double-crossing them when it comes to making war strategies. He is diplomatic rather than an idealist. This shows mental evolution of human beings.

Ninth avatar: Buddha
Some religious texts consider Buddha as the ninth avatar of Lord Vishnu. He propagates peace in a world where violence is slowly taking roots. Totally relevant to what is happening in present times!

Tenth avatar: Kalki
Kalki is touted to be the last avatar of Vishnu, who would appear to restore order and dharma in the world. Interestingly, some features of this avatar are stated in Bhagwad Geeta. Let’s see what he would look like:

He will be short in height, with a pot belly, curly hair and piercing sharp eyes. His face and lips will at times be of the color copper, black, yellow and rose. His feet will look like that of a young woman.

To read this article in detail and know how the FUTURE MAN WILL LOOK LIKE, click here.

TOP 5 Female Centric Movies that always liberate me!

“Empty and dark shall I raise my lantern.

And the guardian of the night shall fill it with oil

And he shall light it also.”

-   Kahlil Gibran

Just replace ‘he’ with ‘she’ and you’ve got my mantra of life. When things go wrong, as they sometimes do, I just turn on these movies. Then somewhere along the path of escapism into celluloid, I discover the light that leads me to the end of the tunnel.

Here's my pick of top 5 

5. CHITRALEKHA

It’s a movie adaptation of the book that I sneaked out of my mother’s library. It was one of those books that I wasn’t allowed to read as a kid because of my ‘impressionable’ mind.

It was the love-story of Chandra Gupta Murya, the great Indian king of Maurya Empire and his courtesan Chitralekha. That’s what it was.

For me however, it was the story of Chitralekha- a girl who had a mind of her own in 340 BCE, India - a girl who never followed anything out of devotion, a girl who raised questions, followed logic, a dancer who dared to challenge Pundits & their isms.

For me, the most inspiring part is where a great hermit has a face- off with Chitralekha. He comes to her, insults her mannerisms, preaching her morality; she presents an elegant dance dissing his ways with a beautiful smile. 

She demands to know-

“What is a sin?

What is virtue?

Stamp of religion on traditions.

But, don’t religions change in every century?

How can you make them your ideals?”

These questions that she raised, added a prism to my vision and suddenly things weren’t about white light & darkness but an arch of rainbow colors!

This vision threshes the situation makes it naked. It sifts it free from husks of social norms, suddenly the problematic knot untangles.

4. Belle De Jour

Long before 50 Fifty Shades of Grey, there was Belle De Jour, Catherine Deneuve. I will be honest with you. I watched the movie because I HEART those Roger Vivier courts that she wears. I am a 90s child, growing up with Victoria Beckham’s knee-aching heels, idolizing Sarah Jessica Parker’s impractical stilettos, I was shocked at her choice to wear mid-heels to essay a super sensuous character. This knowledge that I don’t have to twist my ankles to be sexy appealed to me. The movie took this liberation one notch up.

It just puts female sexuality on front line. A perfect woman, with a perfect husband, embraces prostitution to fulfill her sexual desires.

The essence is not the ‘no..no..yes..Yes..God Yes. YEEEEES’, but it penetrates further. We live in a society where people wear two masks, pretend to be someone else to please others. How amazing it would be to see ourselves for who we are, how liberating it would be to come out of our repression & shed our hypocrisy?!

3. Shrek (Part 1)

If you ever meet me, you will remember me for the rest of your life- because I am a ‘Clutz’illa. I break & bang things in a super human way! Thankfully I’ve always gotten away with it because people think it’s kinda cute. But a big fear in my life was that one day I’ll stop being pretty and then people would stop being accommodating of my clumsy ways. The day beauty will go, loneliness will creep in. Princess Fiona without her magic wand liberated me of this anxiety. I don’t have to be pretty to be loved, I don’t have to be anything, I just have to be me to have my Happily Ever After.

2. Wadja

Wadja as a movie can be an incident that may create history.

It is about a girl craving for freedom. All 10-year-old Wadjda wants is a cycle; something that she won’t be able to ride when she grows into a woman.

The movie is set in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, where women are forbidden to walk un-chaperoned or uncovered in the streets. So, the film’s director, Haifaa Al-Mansour, had to instruct her cast and crew on walkie-talkie, from inside a van! It is the first movie ever to be shot by a Saudi woman. This movie always reinforces my belief that things may not be right now, but someday they will be. But, we woman, need to act on that wish like Haifaa (the director of Wadja) did.

And, the no.1 movie that resonates with liberation is:

1   

                  Kill Bill

It’s Rambo, Rocky, Die-Heart all in one for me. What better way to lift spirits than to kick some ass. When everything else fails, there’s a solace in the fact that I am woman, I am entitled to have world at the tip of my sword, I just need to gather myself up & claim it.

Ignorance

She adjusted her crisp white shirt, careful to hide yesterday's love bite. It had now developed a deep purple colour. With a sweep of a hand, she gently pushed her curly tresses on one side of the neck. He was sitting across the table, smiling, watching her curls bang against her soft peach cheeks. She examined his warm expressions, wondering what to say or how to say. Afterall, she was meeting her fiance for the first time today, in six months.

For the love of Rumi

Poems that made me surrender my Soul to Rumi

I’ve been fascinated with the Sufi saint Rumi long before he became a vogue in the West or even before film director Imtiaz Ali used his couplet as the essence of his hit movie ‘Rockstar’. 

My love for Rumi's work runs more visceral- (We also share our birthday you see!*beaming*)

Perhaps, that was one reasons why I first Googled up his work long ago, and little did I know that it would change my outlook towards life and love forever. I bow to the grandeur of his poems. This grandeur comes from his full prostration to Shams. He wants us to do the same- to surrender to love. I surrender to him. 

Here’s top 5 reasons (read Poems) why:

Rumi wrote seamlessly- his poems had no titles. So, the titles I use here come from the feelings they evoke in me.

5. Nomadic Impulses

What’s truly alive is always changing. Rumi’s wanderings are beyond fields, the moon, the sky, even sex and orgasms, they are more aware and yet, they are more free-

You’ve so distracted me,

Your absence fans my love.

Don’t ask how.

Then you come near.

                                                               “Do not…” I say, and   

“Do not…”,you answer.

Don’t ask why

This delights me.

4. Making Meera out of Me

Poetry, especially a good one, is a very tricky thing. For it gives us an illusion of experiencing emotions without having to live them. The way Rumi writes, it forces us to shudder with love in the way my Meera or his Zuliekha did-

Zuleikha let everything be the name of Joseph,

from celery seeds to aloes wood. She loved him

So much she concealed his name in many phrases,

the inner meanings known only to her…..

Any complaint, it’s his being away.

When she’s hungry, it’s for him.

Thirsty, his name is a sherbet.

Cold, he’s fur. This is what

The Friend can do when one is in such love.

When one is united to the core of another,

To speak of that is to breathe the name Hu,

Empty of self & filled with love.

3. Refuge in Silence

Close the mouth, open the eyes. The light of the divine won’t use the door, only the window. To understand Rumi’s scriptures with his advocacy of the non-verbal, it is essential to taste silence. With that taste, comes a revelation that the divine presence and refuge in love, comes in a language more experiential-

There is some kiss we want

With our whole lives, the touch

of spirit on the body. Seawater

begs the pearl to break its shell.

At night, I open the window and ask the moon to come and press its

Face against mine.

Breathe into me. Close

The language door and open the love window.

The moon won’t use the door,

only the window.

2. Miracle

It’s rare, but when heart dissolves in love, a new love builds and there are miracles all around-

The way of love is not

a subtle argument.

The door there

is devastation.

Birds make great sky-circles

of their freedom.

How do they learn that?

They fall, and falling,

they’re given wings.

      But the no.1 poem that made me surrender to Rumi is

Sublime saloon
Have you ever been absent and present at the same time? Felt sobriety that contains all drunkenness Think about it, every revision of this vision will open a new chapter for you. I can say this with confidence because it happened to me-

You bind me, and I tear away in a rage

To open out into air, a round

Brightness, a candlepoint,

All reason, all love.

This confusing joy, your doing,

This hangover, your tender thorn.

You turn to look, I turn.

I’m not saying this right.

I am a jailed crazy who ties up spirit-woman.

What goes comes baack. Come back.

We never left each other.

A disbeliever hides disbelief,

But I will say his secret.

More and more awake, getting up at night,

Spinning and falling in love with Shams.

Catharsis

Where did I lose it?

Is it here, is it there?

Or is it anywhere?!

What are you looking for,

Says the look in his eyes

I fish for it in every nook,

And what I get back, is an opaque look

Doesn’t the amber lasts forever?

Yes, but only in books.

Are you hidden in there?

I ask his silent heart

It doesn’t skip a beat, nor races fast

I feel a lump go down the throat

But mind plays game

‘Search for it again, without any shame’

The search begins again

This time around his arms,

For that same feeling

But where’s the warmth?

Those sweet li’l nothings

That meant so much

Suddenly come across

As a stupid bunch,

And I search this bunch

For it once had my vice,

Yes, my love, labeled as vice

Because with time, greed took its side.

So what if love is vice, give it a thought

‘But I’ve other plans, tag along or not’

In these words of his,

I still search for a hint

A hope that it might be there

For it was there in the past,

In words, in action, in everything that passed

Now I don't know if it is gone

Gone with the wind

I’ve got sand in my shoes

And memories of a beautiful walk

Of togetherness, of bliss...

But this poem, my friend,

It is mere catharsis.

Learning Dancing Vocabulary

Sometime back I had an opportunity to witness Indian contemporary choreographer Padamshree Astad Deboo's performance. It was a performance-cum-lecture organized by my former teacher. Deboo stunned me with his choreography skills and use of space to communicate an array of human experience! It led me and my friends to ‘see’ things differently. Deboo challenges different forms of dance and theatre conventions in his work. Well travelled that he is, he incorporated diverse forms of dances from worldover (Martha school of dancing, Japanese form, Manipuri) and created a new genre of modern contemporary dance in India. He delivers with emotional intelligence. 

·        In ‘Rhythm Divine’, his choreography of foetus’ movement in mother’s womb exudes class and style. The movement of body can be infinite in a finite space. The drummers of Manipur lighten up the stage with acrobatic twirls in air when the foetus is ready to come out in the world!

·       Whereby one is intrigued by the whole concept, the dance is open to interpretations. Simply loved it.

Astad Deboo 

Some 'nutty' stuff

On my recent trip to Vaishno Devi, we got a lot of walnut prasad. So one fine lazy Saturday morning when I had nothing better to do than watch TV and crack nuts, some creative ideas struck my mind.

                                                                                                  And off to sail....!

Baby crib

Made the baby out of marble, beads and hair with thread...

The much loved piggy by all! Liked its tail most of all!

Floating diyas out of walnut shells.

Down came the rain

He was tired of the wet, cloudy weather he was enduring ever since his stay in the new country. The smell of the damp earth just before the rain was not inviting anymore. As the clouds rumbled outside and the sky burst into tears, he laid on his back, staring up at the roof. A pearl tricked down the corner of his eyes. "Remember to find me, in those foreign drops," his beloved had said. He closed his eyes, and went to sleep.

A wish

I want to ride a cloud
up in the sky so high
let go of everything
bid all the worries goodbye.

The day so tiring
work so exhausting
a bed so inviting
sleep so craddling
Change that for a day
barter everything away
Give me a cloud to ride
to feel blastingly light...

I want to have wings
a birds eye view
an experience so new!
With no strings attached
I want to watch the world go past
The melancholy of life
would find a unique respite
If only I had a cloud
A cloud to ride.

Left, right, centre of life

Time to let go of rose tinted glasses??

Recently, I celebrated my 27^th birthday. The realization of leaving the comfort of 26 ( the year in which you allow yourself the illusion of still being 25), was as unsubtle as the break of puberty…like the day when you had your first periods or when you had a pimple outbreak on your first date. Freakkkyyyy….........
It suddenly felt that—OMG 27! Such a big number! Just 3 years shy of 30 and yet so much to be achieved in life!

Also, I realized that now there are certain things which you can NOT do with solace anymore, and some things that change without blowing off a caution alarm. Let’s see what they are-

        1. You cannot listen to Taylor Swift, Miley Cyrus, Justin Beiber or Selena Gomez songs without being judged.

        2. You cannot read Harry Potter or Enid Blyton in public lest people assume you are a pedophile; or Chetan Bhagat novels lest people assume your IQ is below 27.

        3. You cannot visit any wedding function without escaping queer glances or questions of relatives (especially the inquisitive aunties) that wonder what could be mortally wrong with you to not have found a suitable match till now.

        4. If you happen to be single, your sexual orientation comes under the scanner, even if it is from your best friends’ boyfriends

        5. Your parents start giving good business to the local temple pandit or any astrologer that crosses their way, to scrutinize planetary aspects responsible for your marriage or lack of it.

        6. If you don’t adorn the numerous rings with precious or semi-precious stones on your fingers, around your neck or around the arm, you are labeled as a rebel. Your mom will frown upon you henceforth with every opportunity she gets! 

        7. One thing which I can do, still cannot manage to do at 27 is to have liquor in pubs without showing id or get an entry into a theater running an A-rated movie.

27, however, is a time to shed inhibitions of the primes and take on the tasks with courage so that you enter your 30s without any regrets. Things I would like to do before I reach 30-

1.  Pursue another masters degree from a good university abroad.

2.  Learn to swim properly

               3.  Make a documentary or a short film

               4. Find the cupid that stuck me with its arrow and shoot it

So while I get busy with these tasks, here’s hoping that you make the most of your 20s, because it is the most awesome time to be crazy, make mistakes, learn from them and rise like a phoenix!

Happy resurrection!

In night's cradle

The night lingers on
she lets herself loose
Her favourite part of day
soothing her down.

Possessed in its embrace

She lets out a cry

feelings swarm over

but mind and soul still dry.

Bruises of passion,

here and there

tell a saga

of debauchery, betrayal.

But night is good,

it lets you be

It is the day that judges you

with frown, scorn or glee.

The night soothes her down

her cries now pronounced

The soul is dampened

with tears unannounced.

Serpentine memories,

crawl over head

the saccharine love,

now on a death bed.

But it’s a lesson learnt well,

never to succumb

In life the best moments are,

When you think the best is yet to come!

Wrapping up her memories

she takes a mental leap

she lets go of love,

the painful heap.

A few hours to go

the day will test her judgement

Until then, the night lingers on…

and soothes her down.