RIFLE RANGE BOY

  https://borderlessjournal.com/2024/09/16/finding-the-fulcrum/ I decided to care for my ailing octogenarian mother, not because she willed me a great fortune or because I have a great liking to care for the sick. Neither do I want to gaslight her for all the not-so-nice things she said about me and my family in better health all through her healthy life. This work is licensed under a  Creative Commons 

Sharp Objects (HBO, 8-part miniseries; 2018) They are there more than you think exist. How they smother you with love. They go out of their way to do things for you. Then they make you dependant on them. You think that they are indispensable. You cannot function without them by your side. You cannot make decisions. Simple decisions. They make you incapacitated. They make themselves valuable and liked.   In the eyes of the public, they are the exemplary guardian. They have the reputation of going that extra mile to fulfil their motherly duties. They are warm and fuzzy to the general public, but to you, they are toxic. They never give you breathing space. It is either their way or the highway; one way and no other way. With their power of quick thinking, wit and charm, they win arguments. You are helpless in their presence. They brought you up that way. Your knees buckle by the mere mention of their name. You are stunted. You like it. It makes things easy. You do not have to...

Here I lie, on the hospital bed, with tubes from all my orifices. Every movement of my body reminds me that I am still alive! The nagging pains, the squeaky joints and the laboured breaths are testimony of my continued existence. Alive but barely alive. Of course I want to be alive as long as I can and would like to postpone the Reaper's appointment as much as I can. I realise that all the people that I have hurt and the people who cursed under their breaths for my annihilation are the same people who are by my side, attending to my needs. The hurtful incisive expletives hurled at me for my ruin in the most cruel way and me to them, have all been forgotten. In its place are prayers for the Maker to ease my pain. Words are just words. Most of the time, people do not say what they mean and mean what they say. At the spur of the moment, we all say so many things. Lest we forget, sorry does not miraculously reattach a shattered china no matter how many times we apologise or roll out ...

In 1988, during my housemanship, LKH, a dedicated doctor who was excellent with his ears and eyes, related to me his experience in a medical rounds taken by his professor during his medical school days. The professor was describing the methodical but laborious ways to examine the chest and to appreciate the various sounds that were audible via a sthesthoscope. An American medical student doing his elective posting, who was amongst them, raised his hand to suggest, "Professor, wouldn't it be easier if we just ask for a Chest X-Ray to be done?"I am afraid we have come to this. Gone are the days where a proper medical examination starts with a good history taking. After developing a rapport and trust, the ancillary tests aid diagnosis, not the way to diagnose a condition! Now, it appears that patients or symptoms are triaged to undergo complicated tests and imaging before a proper examination is done. Furthermore, simple Roentgenogram (Xrays) are deemed worthless now. Why d...

No, I am not referring to the character in Roman alphabets or in any other language. Neither am I referring to characters in a play or caricature nor to certain traits of human, physical, chemical or biological object. I am humbly referring to some characters with whom you have make small chats in a party! Lionel Hutz from 'The Simpsons' of the law firm “I Can’t Believe It’s A Law Firm!” As we get further and further away from the only day that our mothers smile to see us cry (to quote AKJ Kalam), as did as our forefathers before us, we fret about the generation which about to take over the rein of leadership of the nation and world arena. Everything they do seem to be counter productive and heading to doom. Like that, a conversation came forth... Generation Y and their antics. This guy was telling his newbies are forever trying to cut corners with their designated duties; how they are last to come and first to leave irrespective if he (the boss) is still around. ...

Many years (a quarter of a century) ago, when I was still in training, there was a patient who used to stay in the wards for weeks on end for asthma. Even though he may be moving around the ward, chit-chatting and carrying tales from patient to patient to create territorial animosity between chronic long-staying patients, when it comes to morning rounds, he would be wrapped in blanket sweating like a pig creating wheezy noisy breathing insisting that he was still unwell to return home. It went on for some time until the senior officer of the ward, aware of chronic asthmatics' ability to feign a wheezing sound of an asthmatic attack, managed to coax him to return to his worldly duties like working for a living! I can swear by the look that he had on face, he was screaming ala Arnold Schwarzenegger avenging to be back -"Hasta la vista baby!" Frank Gardner, a disabled skier In our daily life too, we see many able bodies running their lives as if theirs is the ...