Dr Rajiv Desai
An Educational Blog
CLOTHING
CLOTHING: _ Duchess Kate Middleton, “queen of style” crowned best dressed woman of 2011. _ Prologue: After writing many articles on science, and trying to bring science in religion, crime, entertainment and superstitions, I thought why not write about our clothing. Personally speaking, I have a poor sense of clothing. Before writing this article, I wasn’t aware of all the different fabrics and their qualities. To me it clearly didn’t matter what fabric a garment was made of (so long as it looked good of course) and price was a far more important factor. Singularly criticized by fashionista Sonam kapoor for not appreciating beauty of body and castigated by supermodel Julia Stegner for not knowing what to wear in which profession, I am at a receiving end for not knowing beauty, fashion, style and dress sense. The only way out is to improvise and write on clothing, fashion and […]
FEVER
FEVER: _ _ Prologue: “Humanity has but three great enemies: fever, famine, and war. Of these, by far the greatest, by far the most terrible, is fever.” – Sir William Osler. For last 20 years, I have been treating fever and my patients included everybody from poor to wealthy; from honest to corrupt; and from politician to bureaucrat. I fully agree with Sir William Osler. No matter how high or low socioeconomic status and no matter how good or bad the person is, fever make them very helpless, very fearful, very vulnerable and very apprehensive. I have seen patients coming to hospital in ambulance with fever for one day; relatives pleading to save life and next day patients are fine & discharged. Fever is a common complaint leading families to seek medical attention. When I wrote on “Heat illness”, I thought I would follow it up with article on fever […]
TORTURE
TORTURE: _ _ Mohammed C., a Chadian born in Saudi Arabia, was just 14 when arrested in Pakistan in October 2001. After three weeks he was handed to US officials. He says he was hooded, shackled, beaten and threatened with death. In January 2002 he was transferred to Guantánamo Bay, where he says he was beaten, deprived of sleep, racially abused and burned with a cigarette. In September 2005 Mohammed, by now an adult, was still being held without charge in Guantánamo Bay. Torture is one of the most extreme forms of human violence, resulting in both physical and psychological consequences. Torture has been used for thousands of years, and is still widespread, occurring throughout much of the world (Amnesty International, 2009). Research has shown that torture can have enduring negative effects on both survivors and perpetrators, and is ineffective for obtaining reliable information in interrogation. Survivors of torture […]
SUPERSTITIONS
SUPERSTITIONS: _ _ Prologue: I was traveling from Yanbu to Jeddah by plane and it was my first experience with Saudi Airline. Just before takeoff, as plane was standstill, I heard “Allāhu Akbar (الل أكبر)” [god is greatest] thrice and then plane took off. I never heard similar thing in Indian airlines planes praying Hindu Gods. Is Indian Airlines plane less safe than Saudi Airlines plane simply because a prayer is not recited before takeoff? Has superstition become pervasive in contemporary culture? Did you know that insects could be tried for criminal acts in pre-industrial Europe, that the dead could be executed, that statues could be subjected to public humiliation, or that it was widely accepted that corpses could return to life? What made reasonable educated men and women behave in ways that seem utterly nonsensical to us today? Strange histories present a serious account of some of the most […]
THE PAIN
THE PAIN: _ _ Prologue: Pain, as a proper subject of scientific observation and study, has long been neglected by medical science. Perhaps, like death, it reminds us too much of our failures as physicians. Or perhaps, like sex, it was seen as too private or subjective a subject for objective analysis. Whatever the reason, pain was never mentioned as a topic in my medical school, residency, or internship training. Pain is the most common symptom of disease and the request for its relief probably the most common demand placed on the doctor. Pain is too important a topic to continue to be ignored. Pain is clearly a multidimensional experience. It is neurophysiological, biochemical, psychological, ethnocultural, religious, cognitive, affective and environmental. The topic of pain is extremely complex to say the least. Pain is that pervasive, invasive, all-encompassing personal warning that something-is-wrong signal. Pain is associated with a wide range […]
