Wednesday 30 May 2018

MY CONCEPT OF CENTENARY CELEBRATIONS




While we are gearing up for the centenary celebrations of our Alma-mater, King George's Medical College, Lucknow in December 2011, have we clearly understood the significance of the occasion, or are we, in the midst of all the busy meetings and detailed planning sessions, forgotten that this is an occasion which has come after hundred years, and none of us would be around in this world to see the next one!

Whenever a really big occasion beckons us, we have a tendency to get lost in its magnum opus and forget a simple thing….how will the future remember this occasion and gauge us? Will they consider our effort as a really worthy one, or will the say that we fizzled away the glorious opportunity? Yes, we need a big party, a 3 day cultural and academic extravaganza, but is that all we need to do to celebrate 100 years of existence of our Alma-mater?

Think about it! Should we not leave behind a legacy, so that our successors look back and feel proud of us? Every monumental occasion needs a legacy planning and I am not sure we have one so far.

What is legacy?
Legacy is ensuring that as many sustainable benefits as possible are generated by the event for the institution, the city, the region and the country
Legacy is delivering these benefits well before, during and long after the event for all stakeholders and communities
Having a legacy vision and plan to leverage every possible opportunity is the hallmark of a good organizing committee. Merely gloating that we are a breed apart and the very best of the best is not and will not be good enough.
Celebrations without a social cause looks very selfish and self centred. We must think that on the occasion of the Centenary of our Alma-mater what we are offering to the city of Lucknow, the state of Uttar Pradesh and to India.

A. To the city:
1. The city lacks a trauma pick up system and we could arrange for a fleet of ambulances fully equipped with life saving devices to pick up trauma victims from anywhere within a radius of 50 Km from our Trauma Centre.
2. We could start a Centenary School Health Education Programme in which we could adopt certain Government and Non Government schools and arrange for some useful and interesting interactions with students on various health related topics like sanitation, safe drinking water, nutritious diet, tobacco usage, safe driving, breast self examination etc.
3. We could adopt the poorest village in our district and cater to all its health needs
B. To the State:
1. The most burning health issue of the State is the Japanese Encephalitis endemic. We can start a JE eradication programme, complete with research and clinical wings so that we can be of best use to the State.
2. We can initiate a Centenary Polio and Cerebral Palsy rehabilitation programme with the dual aim to make the State polio free and to make every disabled person live a respectable and dignified life
3. We can initiate a Centenary Stroke Station which will pick up patients from home, treat them, rehabilitate them and reintegrate them in the society
4. We can initiate a Centenary Beating Heart programme to educate the masses, detect risk factors early, inculcate the concept of cardiac safety in the people of the state and offer world class treatment for one and all.

C. To the country:
1. If one KGMC / CSMMU could teach so many students in the last 100 years imagine how much we can contribute to the developing world by starting our satellite institutions in Nepal, Maldives, Mauritius, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and countries of Sub-Saharan Africa. If IIMs less than 50 years old can open newer campuses in Colombo and Dhaka, if Apollo group can open hospitals in Colombo and Dhaka, why can we not do the same? Have we put forward this idea to the State Government? I do not think they will be terribly disinterested in opening institutions of excellence overseas, if they bear their chosen iconic names and statues.
2. The country needs to earn revenue from the competitive medical tourism market. Let us help this process by standardizing our various departments so that we turn out to be the number one destination of medical tourism in our country by opening wards exclusively for this purpose in the target departments.
3. Research is always a long term investment and areas of future successes like stem cell research and nano-technology need to be identified and on the occasion of the centenary we should be able to initiate work towards achieving these research goals.

D. To the Institution:
Centenary global integration programme: If we are the premier medical institution that we claim to be, and we are 100 years old, then what should we be looking like? Hundred year old institutions look like Oxford, Cambridge and Harvard, so why are we not in that same league? We are not because we have chosen to stay in isolation and not integrated with the world. And in today’s world of globalization, isolationism is a curse. We have to integrate with other medical institutions, both public and private and, both within our country and overseas. No department in itself can be considered complete but when post graduates from one unit go to another one, they are exposed to newer ideas, newer gadgets and newer way of doing things. This cross-pollination of ideas is vital for the development of any individual or institution. Inbreeding can only weaken the progeny. Not only at student level, but even at the faculty level this cross-pollination must be allowed. If Team India can have coaches from South Africa, Australia and Zimbabwe, why can we not have teachers from overseas? Our own alumni will help the Institution to arrange for the best teachers.



As a responsible organization, we must ensure that the city, the state and their residents are left with the most positive legacy in terms of services, infrastructure, expertise and experience from our Centenary celebrations!

Monday 21 May 2018

MY FATHER’S GUIDE TO BUY FRESH FISH







I am a Bengali who brought up on ‘Macher jhol and bhat’, that is fish curry and rice for you all. We have fish in both the meals and of more than one variety on holidays and when entertaining guests. So it is quite natural that I am expected to identify the best fish in the market and purchase it. But this quality was not ingrained in my genes; I learned it from my father during our weekend trips to the fish market.


This story is about my bonding with my father and how I could pick up the pearls of wisdom just by looking at him and asking him silly questions. When we were young the father and son bond was a more distant one based on respect, of course not without its share of love. Yet, there was a kind distance based on a mix of fear and respect which had its advantages but also the fact that there was an emotional gap in the bond that was tough to bridge. These days, however, with younger men becoming dads, the relation has met with a dynamic change. Younger dads today remember the equation which they shared with their own fathers and are making an effort to not repeat the same faults they noticed. But are they taking their children, both boys and girls, to the fish market to make them worldly wise? I doubt. I don’t see children tagging along their dads in the fish market any more. They stay in sanitized home environment, play virtual games on cell phones and watch unimaginative Kid’s TV. The social introduction of the child to the outside world is a father’s responsibility and my father did it amazingly well.


So how do we buy the best fish? There are some thumb rules that you need to follow while buying fish and making sure that it is fresh.

1.      Go to a reputable store or fishmonger.
2.      Ask what is the freshest or check what the catch of the day is.
3.      Don't be misguided by the term "fresh." Most landlocked areas selling fish usually have two types of fish - thawed or frozen, unless it is an upstanding vendor who really likes freshness.
4.      The smell of fresh fish is specific to its origin (sea, lake, river, fish pond) and it is pleasant and neutral. Spoiled fish has an unpleasant, sharp smell of trimethylamine (bad fish) and rot.
5.      Check the eyes: Eyes of fresh fish are bulging and shiny. Eyes of old fish are cloudy and sunken into the head. Before you handle the fish, check the eyes. They should be crystal-clear, plump, wet, and shiny, with no sunken features. If the eyes look good, you can bet with reasonable confidence that the fish is fresh and healthy. Once the fish begins to deteriorate, the eyes dry out, become cloudy, and sink in or shrivel away. This indicates an unhealthy or improperly-handled fish 
6.      Check the Fins - The tail and dorsal fins of the fish should be healthy-looking, wet, and intact. A fish that's been mishandled will have torn or ragged fins, while an older fish's fins will be dry and brittle. Torn and ragged fins probably belong to a fish that was netted or held for too long. 
7.      Check the Gills – The gills of fresh fish are moist. In old fish they are dry, covered with sticky slime, grayish-brown in color and smell bad. Healthy gills are of a nice, bright red color. A truly fresh fish should have gills that are vibrant red, not brown. When first caught, a fish's gills appear bright red, and slowly darken over time. The brighter the color, the fresher the fish. The gills should also feel clean and cold, not slimy. Mucus will build as time passes, too, so as the fish ages.

Healthy fish has moist bright red gills which are moist but not slimy


8.      Check the Skin- The skin in live and fresh fish is moist, must be unharmed and have a naturally metallic glow. Scales must be tightly attached to the body. The surface of healthy, fresh fish must be tight and shiny so that fish slides out of your hands. Discoloration and cracked skin are signs of rotting fish. Old or bad fish has already started losing its scales. When no longer fresh, the flesh becomes soft and tends to fall apart. The appearance of a fresh fish should be shiny and wet.
9.      Slime is equally distributed over the fish, it is clear and odorless. With time, slime gets increased, murky and dirty and has a sour smell.
10. Poke the flesh - The body of a fresh fish is firm and has a specific consistency and appearance. When pressed it should bounce back. Soft, grey and inelastic fish is old or bad. The fish should feel cold, wet, and slippery, but not sticky. When pressed, it should spring back to its natural shape, just like if you were to press on your own flesh. If it doesn't spring back, it is a sure sign that the meat has softened and and is no longer worthy of your money. Fish that has lost its firm shape is no longer fresh.
11. Touch the scales: Scales are designed to protect the fish from a harsh watery environment. When a fish is fresh, the scales will be shiny and firm, a veritable armor against the elements. Less-fresh fish will often shed scales as you run your hand over them, and they may appear dry and flaky.
12. Belly of a live and fresh fish is shiny and undamaged, and the anal opening is tight. Anal opening of old and bad fish sticks out and is yellow-brown in color.

Buy whole fish whenever possible – It is easier to determine the freshness of a whole fish rather than a previously cut fish. My father used to say that if I do not see the head of the fish still attached to the body it is not worth wasting time on it. Once purchased the fish seller will fillet it for you the way you would like. To keep fish fresh for longer, transport it in an insulated cooler bag. Fish should be the last thing you buy in a bazaar and after that go straight home. As soon as you get it home, carefully remove any guts, rinse it under running water then pat dry. Ideally you should put the masala on and cook it the same day. If that is not possible then add salt and turmeric and store in the refrigerator until the next day.


Buying butchered fish – If you have a small family then buying a large fish may be uneconomical. But gauging the freshness of a fish that has not been cut in front of your own eyes is difficult. If you prefer to buy filleted fish, these tips will help you choose the freshest product. For the most part, visual cues are enough to indicate a fresh piece of fish, but some tactile clues may help as well.

1.      Look for cracks, breaks, and pooling water - Look for cracks in the filet that run between the muscles and collagen sheaths (the white lines running through the fish). Breaks in the muscle itself tend to indicate mishandling. Natural separation of the muscles along the collagen sheaths indicate that the fish is not very fresh because enzymes naturally present in the muscle tissue are degrading the collagen, causing the muscles to start to tear under their own weight. Pooling water inside the container usually indicates that the fish is aging and losing its ability to hold moisture. 
2.      Inspect the color and consistency of the flesh - For white fish, such as rohu or pabda, the meat should look fairly translucent. If it is very opaque and extremely white, it's a sign that the flesh is not fresh. 
3.      For all fish, make sure the flesh is wet and glossy. Fish that is sticky, dry, or chalky has likely been handled improperly (held at warm temperatures), frozen and thawed several times, or is just plain old.
4.      Colour - the flesh should be bright and very saturated in color. Look for a clear color contrast between the fat and the muscle as this is the best indication of a fresh butchered fish. 

Next time you go to the fish market take your children along with you and pass on your knowledge to them. Listen closely to the fish seller; he will invariably be keen to teach your children and you a thing or two. Whenever I go to the Kaisarbag fish market in Lucknow I am always welcomed by loud greetings from fish sellers and their now elderly present generation successors, because they have known me since I was a child. And this acquaintance and old friendship is the surest guarantee of the freshness of the fish I purchase.

Tuesday 8 May 2018

FATHER AND SON QUALITY WATERMELON TIME







Whether we know it or not, our sons learn about being a man primarily by watching their fathers. A father's influence on his son's personal development is often unseen but nonetheless real. As a young man watches his father interact with his mother, he learns about respect (or disrespect), about how men and women interact and about how men should deal with conflict and differences. As he watches his dad interact with other men, he will learn how men talk, how they relate with one another and how they deal with masculine issues. Alas with work pressures and financial woes mounting father and son bonding is becoming a thing of the past.

Human beings are social animals and we learn by modeling behavior. In fact, all primates learn how to survive and function successfully in the world through social imitation. Those early patterns of interaction are all children know, and it is those patterns that effect how they feel about themselves, and how they develop. A child is vulnerable to those early patterns and incorporates those behavioral qualities in his/her repertoire of social exchange.

The father-son relationship can be complex. Fathers and sons with widely different interests can find it hard to relate to one another. Sometimes dads and sons feel competitive against one another. Sometimes their male tendencies to not communicate feelings are compounded as both want a better father-son relationship but neither one quite knows how to go about it. Understanding that a father's influence on his son is unmatched will help fathers think more deeply about their relationship with their sons and take that relationship more seriously. Focusing on our sons, spending positive time together and talking about life lessons, scattered with a large dose of quiet and engaged listening, will help fathers and sons develop nurturing and meaningful relationships and help our sons form attitudes which will allow them to develop into men in the richest sense of that term.

Today when I look back I can say with certainty that my father did a far better job of fathering than I did. His lessons were hands on and of everyday use. ‘Quality time’ did not come announced; it was there every time we were together and it left an indelible impression on my mind and helped me become a better person.

I would accompany him to the bazaar every Sunday for purchasing vegetables, fruits and groceries. One thing which always astonished me was he knew almost everybody he interacted by their first name! Not only that, he also knew whose mother was not keeping well, whose son was appearing in High School examinations and whose daughter was getting married. He would stop and talk to everybody, whether he was buying something from them or not and I was supposed to greet everyone with a polite ‘Namashkar’.

On one such day in the bazaar he taught me how to purchase the sweetest watermelon! Watermelons are one of my favorite summer foods, and to my mind, nothing tastes better in the Lucknow summer like a sweet and crunchy watermelon. On the other hand, there's nothing quite like the disappointment of biting into what you thought was a ripe watermelon, only to be rewarded by the bland and flavorless taste of an unripe melon. To reduce the disappointment of eating an unripe melon how can you pick the best watermelon from the heap? You won’t know if your father didn’t tell you!

So here are the tips which my father gave to me to choose the sweetest watermelons. Try them, they have never failed me:

1.      Look at its belly: Watermelons have an underside, or belly, which is in contact with the ground throughout its growth.  This is called a 'field spot' or ‘yellow spot’. This spot on a ripe watermelon will be yellowish (sometimes referred to as "buttery"), and not white, which indicates an unripe melon.
2.      Dull not shiny: The watermelon should not look shiny, that is a feature of unripe fruit. If should be dull in colour
3.      Round not oblong: Perfectly round watermelons are sweeter than the oblong ones which tend to be a bit watery
4.      Look for webbing: These web-like brown spots on the watermelon mean that bees touched the pollinating parts of the flower many times. The more pollination, the sweeter the fruit is.
5.      Thump it: Using your knuckles, rap on the middle of the watermelon while holding it up to your ear, or flick it with your finger (like flicking a crumb off your shirt). A ripe watermelon will have a hollow sound when knocked, which sounds more like a 'plunk' than a 'thwack'. An unripe watermelon will have more of a higher pitched sound, while an overripe one will make a 'thud' or a lower-pitched sound. Learning the difference between the sounds of an unripe vs. a ripe watermelon takes a bit of practice.
6.      Sniff it: Pick up the watermelon and carry it a little bit away from the rest of the melons (so you don't pick up the smell of other melons), and give it a good sniff. A ripe watermelon should smell slightly sweet, and similar to what a melon tastes like, but not overly sweet (which can indicate an overripe watermelon).
7.      Squeeze it: Gently squeeze the side of the watermelon to see if there's a bit of 'give' to it. The rind of the melon shouldn't be soft, as the skin of some fruits get when ripe, but it also shouldn't be hard as a rock, with no give to it at all.
8.      Check the approximate weight on your palm, for a similar size watermelon the ripe one would be heavier than the unripe one.
9.      Look at connection to the mother vine. A ripe watermelon can be plucked off the vine leaving no part of the vine attached to it, whereas an unripe watermelon invariably carries a part of the torn vine along with it.  A dried tail indicates that the watermelon is ripe. However, if the tail is green, it probably means that the watermelon was picked too soon and will not be ripe.


Now tell me, if your father did not teach you this, who else is going to impart this invaluable knowledge to you!

Helping a son be grounded spiritually is an important role for a father. Whatever your faith tradition, help your son understand the deeper meaning of life. If you don't have a faith tradition, help him reach for his inner self and try to have a perspective that will help him look at things deeper than on the surface. As a young man gets in tune with nature, God and himself, he will have a pattern in his life that will help him endure hardship and thrive personally. Buying a ripe watermelon was just something I am reminded of every summer but developing inter personal relationships in this world was a far more valuable lesson that I learned from my father during these trips to the bazaar.


One of these days I am going to tell you how to buy fresh fish!!