After Seattle
Here not a sea gull
Albatross is elusive
Nene reclusive
Volcanoes barren
Exteriors not frozen
Lahaina no more a whale hunter’s paradise
Ever since fossil fuel did materialise
They can breed here in peace
A refreshing new lease
Once the calves arrived
The humpbacks for Alaska have departed
Now back in Washington
It is my intention
To sight them before they disappear onwards into British Columbia
Perhaps they could just be touching sunny California
It’s a real long way from Maui
In Hawaii…
Being a Woman Surgeon (edited by Dr Preeti R John) is not a commonplace theme at diversity forums. Glancing through the July 2015 Bulletin of American College of Surgeons, I pick this very interesting insight. Dr David B Hoyt, Executive Director, alludes to the book with the same title and shares his thoughts in his editorial.
Women have practiced surgery since the profession’s inception. Nonetheless, women continue to be underrepresented in surgery. Unfortunately, there are signs that fewer women will be entering the surgical workforce in the coming years as the number of women medical school graduates slowly declines in the US, he laments. In 2005, 49.5 percent of medical school graduates were women, but in 2014, less than 47.5 percent of medical school graduates were women. Furthermore, only 21.3 percent of all surgeons in the US are women.
In all, 60 women surgeons describe in essays, poems, and interviews how they have dealt with the challenges, joys, frustrations, and rewards of being a woman in surgery. Their stories range from the humorous to the heartbreaking and make for inspiring reading, he says.
As the authors note, surgical training and practice are challenging for all of us, but some of these difficulties are compounded by gender. Starting a family, for instance, creates specific obstacles for women in surgery simply because of the fact that they are child bearers. As a result, women surgeons have had to give more thought to whether and when to have children. Several authors opted not to have children. For those who did – once the babies arrived new challenges emerged.
Many women in the book also recount their encounters with sexism, ranging from the subtle to the blatant. Some gender stereotypes, on the hand, actually seem to have worked in favor of these women surgeons. Many of their patients say that women surgeons are better communicators and more empathetic than their male counterparts.
In fact, most of the authors point to many men surgeons who were willing to give women an opportunity to train at their institutions and who fostered the professional development of all their trainees – regardless of gender.
Most surgeons, including the women who share their stories in this collection, say that they didn’t choose surgery so much as it chose them. They knew from the first time they witnessed an operation that they wanted to be surgeons. As one author writes, “There is only one requirement to be a truly great surgeon – passion. You have to love it with your heart and soul.”
Anyone who agrees with that statement – male or female – will surely enjoy reading Being a Woman Surgeon, and hopefully, this book will make its way into the hands of medical students and encourage more women to pursue a surgical career. We need them now more than ever, emphasizes Dave. Imagine if we are not making the optimum search for the best of surgeon material in all of the potential talent pool, men and women put together, how much are we denying the humanity from its rightful healing touch?
Duryodhana by Dr. V Raghunathan (Raghu), though based on the Mahabharatha, is indeed a product of the author’s vivid imagination. While most popular versions of the epic portray Duryodhana as the perpetrator of all that is wrong, as one who likes to side with the underdog, Raghu sees a good reason to view him as the wronged party instead.
The human race is not so much black or white as grey is how the prologue of the book begins. Duryodhana starts by saying the title of the chief villain of Mahabharatha belongs unequivocally to him. Why? Did it sway too much towards how the victors of the climactic war at Kurukshetra wanted it told? After all, it is human nature to find everything about the vanquished a vicious black. As the author builds on this perspective, the narrative of the story as has been told over and over completely changes.
Suyodhana , which is what the central character of the book claims to be his original name, extols the values on which he was nurtured. Raghu gives him all the fire power to rationalize his actions and omissions right from his childhood up to getting battle ready for Kurukshetra. The end game – he carries no burden of Kurukshetra!
While reading through the pages, thanks to the masterly story-telling, you almost begin to sympathise with Duryodhana’s cause and woes as he successfully muddies the water. Be it the necessity to eliminate Bhima or later the Pandavas and Kunti – it is all for the Rajdharma. His paranoia driven by the malafide ways of Kunti in pushing the case of Pandavas. The spin on Krishna’s complicity; societal inconsistencies leading to unfair treatment meted out to Karna and Eklavya by Drona. Not to miss the need to displace his blind father from the throne.
The Panchali swayamvar and the injustice to Karna; creation of Indraprastha; the chink in Yudhishthira’s character given his proclivity towards gambling and his focus on the rights of a king alone rather than his duty as a husband or brother or king. Raghu makes the case for Duryodhana so compelling that you also begin to believe into the villainy of Yudhisthira. While he weaves the drama of Shakuni’s machinations with the dice play, the senior most Pandava is made to look a weakling.
As the game of dice climaxes the author kicks up a mighty resurging tsunami of a passion for Panchali. The need to end the story with the battle scene is obviated by the foreplay of the war raging in the head and heart of the chief character. Raghu keeps Krishna merged in the backdrop, emerging only when Panchali shouts for his help.
So overpowering is the effect that Raghu lets Duryodhana succeed in making everything and everyone look and feel grey. It leaves a hangover that refuses to clear easily. A unique experiment worth undergoing whether or not you are a believer. And for sure a great script to enact on the stage!
The flight of the butterflies at Jambudi
Is pure delight
On the foothills of Pavagadh, home of Goddess Kalika
In whose glory is performed the Garba
These colorful winged creatures
Seem to be its originators
Fluttering and dancing to an inaudible rhapsody
With no trace of cacophony
Once the sun sets and the skies begin to get starry
It’s now the turn for something gently fiery
The fireflies take over the theatre
A spectacle increasingly rare
Perhaps as a tribute to the volcano
That was aglow 500 million years ago!
The Diversity Blog 