Closing of a Chapter........

After a tearful farewell in Dawki , i have joined in my new hospital and finally my things were shifted and arrived home. And today i recall my first day when i had gone to Dawki.....a fresh graduate , updated with the latest in dentistry, very enthusiastic and looking forward to my job , all eager to put to practice what ever i had mastered in college.....the best part was that here i would be my own boss. No more running over to the head of the department for every small permission. I could not wait to start off. I was given a quater and so brought my stuff what ever i would need to turn that little cold whitewashed 3 roomed place into a livible one. After all this was going to be my home for the next , God knows , how many years . And i did turn it into a very cozy home. I had a constant flow of visitors......my friends would come from far and near and spent a weekend......and would enjoy like no body's business. By the end of their stay , they would all leave recharged......lol. In the hospital , i started seeing patients and i remember they could not understand my language....so i thought , if i had to reach out to them , i needed to learn their local language......and i did . My teachers were all the kids in the area. I would spent hours with them and thats how i picked up the language and by the end of 6mths i could converse well enough with the patients. It was my first stay in a rural area.....i started observing their lifestyle.....their occupation.....their habits......well no where did dentistry figure in their life. How was i going to talk to them about cosmetic dentistry when some of them have never used a toothbrush in their lives. I suddenly realized i had a big challenge in front of me ......so all the classroom talks took a back seat. I had to get to the root problem first....create an awareness among them.,introduce them to dentistry. The hospital had many programmes. I got involved in them and when ever we had a health camp i saw to it that i could speak something to crowd about teeth.This paid off in a big way. But apart from that , I learnt a lot about rural life.....saw their hardships....saw the many elections where the candidate comes and makes promises and then forgotten for the next 5 yrs.I saw the simplicity of the people , their kindness, their trust on me, their warmness....all that they have given to me in the past years. I am grateful to each one of them. Today as i stand and bid them good bye , i could only say a thankyou to them.
A chapter has closed in my life........and whenever i open this page i would always recall my days here with fond memories.

Keep Me Safe Please.......

The Candle March today brought back fresh memories of that fateful night when the nightmare started. An sms was all that was needed to rob our sleep....Terror has struck Mumbai. And with it came back more memories.......the delhi blasts ....the gauhati blasts all in the past consecutive months....... the memory of the nine year old in delhi .......the children who lost their parents in gauhati...... the father who could never get out of the driver's seat.....the last phone call of a loved one still haunts us......well the list goes on.....what is the future???......when will the blame game stop?????...... what answer can we give to this young child when he asks why do we light candles here...... who are those people???......why do they hate us ????......and so many endless questions that arises in his little mind. And will we ever we able to give him any surety when he looks up to you and says with all innocence and hope "Keep me safe please ". Lets all join hands and work for a better future.....a safer future......a brighter future for the children of tomorrow.