Dr Rajiv Desai
An Educational Blog
THE NANO WORLD
THE NANO WORLD Prologue: Can you identify what is this? A group of scientists discovered that placing gold nanoparticles within the leaves of trees causes them to give off a luminous reddish glow. The idea of using trees to replace street lights is an ingenious one – not only would it save on electricity costs and cut carbon dioxide emissions, but it could also greatly reduce light pollution in major cities. The picture speaks louder than the words. Majority people of the world know very little about nanotechnology & nanoparticles but we are ushering in an era of nano-revolution which is going to change our lives for ever. I myself was as ignorant as you on this subject until I decided to welcome the year 2011 with a novelty. Nano (symbol n) is a prefix in the metric system denoting a factor of 10 – 9 or 0.000000001. The […]
ECONOMY FOR PEOPLE
ECONOMY FOR PEOPLE: Prologue: Despite being an intelligent doctor, I could not become rich because I did not compromise between my way of thinking and the thinking of others in my environment no matter whether others include spouse or family members or patients or friends or courts. I could not become corrupt no matter how many opportunities came in life. I know of many doctors who became rich by simply buying and selling lands rather than medical acumen but I could not even do that. I was perceived to be weak in economics by both friends and foes alike. I work in government hospital on contract basis and get rupees 30,000 per month as salary wages. I earn this money because I got MD degree and 23 years of experience in treating human illnesses. The money is paid by the people of India. Do all the people pay? No. […]
THE DEATH
THE DEATH Prologue: As a student of medicine, since I joined medical college in the year 1978, I have been a witness to death either in the form of dissecting a dead body or declaring someone dead. The dissecting cadaver (corpse) is a critical component of every medical education. Without the anatomical understanding of the human body that is afforded by dissection, much of modern medicine would simply not exist. I also remember a very difficult task of informing a crying mother that her only son died of poisoning. Hundreds of patients have died before me in my experience as a doctor. Many times my junior doctors have expressed apprehension of declaring someone dead because they were afraid that patient may still be alive and I used to teach them signs of death like unconsciousness, no response to any stimulus, no breathing, no pulse and no heart beat on […]
GENETICALLY MODIFIED
GENETICALLY MODIFIED (GM): Prologue: A year 2006 study of the global impact of GM crops, published by the UK consultancy PG Economics and funded by Illinois-Missouri Biotechnology Alliance concluded that globally, the technology reduced pesticide spraying by 286,000 tons in 2006, decreasing the environmental impact of herbicides and pesticides by 15%. On the other hand, a year 2009 study published by the Organic Center stated that the use of genetically engineered corn, soybean, and cotton increased the use of herbicides by 383 million pounds, and pesticide use by 318.4 million pounds. Whom to trust? This is the paradox about GM food. There are thousands of studies and research works on GM whose conclusions contradict each other. People are caught in the cross-fire between pro-GM lobby and anti-GM lobby. I do not know the truth but I will try to educate people on the most controversial issue of 21’st century. […]
HUMAN ERROR
HUMAN ERROR Prologue: On 10’th December 1996, the Mumbai high court passed an ex-party order asking me to pay rupees 10,000 every month to estranged wife on the ground that my lawyer was absent in the court-room. I immediately appealed to the divisional bench of Mumbai high court. The divisional bench of two judges heard my appeal and reduced the amount to rupees 7,000 in the open court in front of everybody present and dictated the court typist to type the new order. The court then got busy with many other matters pending before it. However the court typist typed rupees 10,000 in the new order. Later on, my lawyer met the judges in their chamber and pointed out the typographical error. The judges refused to accept human error and said that due to inflation, cost of living is more and therefore rupees 10000 is appropriate. Till today, I […]
