By Anu Dev “There is nothing like returning to a place that remains unchanged to find the ways in which you yourself have altered.” – Nelson Mandela Now don’t get me wrong after you read the quote above. It’s not as if I spent the last 27 years on Robbins Island. Or even that I was locked away for the four months I was away in Trinidad – with armed guards patrolling the perimeter of the UWI Medical School! But I’ll tell you what: like prisons, medical schools (and all…
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Resolutions
By Anu Dev The new year is well and truly underway. Many of us marked the New Year with resolutions to change some of the things we weren’t quite happy with last year. Unfortunately, (but most likely) most of us haven’t managed to keep all of our resolutions. The mind is willing but the flesh is weak! I know I usually have the habit of being overly ambitious in my goals – planning to complete huge amounts of things in one day that realistically, I probably won’t be able to…
Read MoreTrying to turn the tide
A few months ago, I saw the documentary “Sicko”. It’s directed by Michael Moore and compared the American healthcare industry with that of other nations. The Americans are finally grappling with universal health insurance…now dubbed “Obamacare”. Even though I was horrified by the revelation that insurance companies in the U.S. have warped the healthcare system to such an extent that it’s geared towards churning out billions of dollars in profits instead of providing healthcare, I was even more troubled by the section of the movie that detailed Hillary Clinton’s healthcare…
Read MoreHoliday musings
By Anu Dev Well 2013 is finally coming to an end. The year is wrapping up and we’re being propelled towards January 1st, 2014. Our thoughts inevitably become a bit reflective as we think about what the past year has been like. We can’t do much about the process, since as humans we’re driven to create narratives. The point is: what kind of narrative are we going to create? For me, the past year’s been one of my most momentous – graduating from high school, moving to a different country…
Read MoreHome at Last
By Anu Dev “I’m coming home… Tell the world I’m coming home” –I’m coming home by JCole featuring Skylar Grey Well, the deed is done! I can finally say (shout?) that I’ve survived my first semester at med school. I’ve persevered through their gruelling exams – which are obviously designed to test one’s endurance more than anything – and lived to tell about it. It hasn’t been easy, I’ll tell you. But I got through it by keeping my eyes on the prize. The prize being of course, home-cooked meals…
Read MoreNew Perspectives
By Anu Dev When I was doing my CXC’s and chose to write 16 subjects, many persons thought that there was no point in doing subjects like history, for instance, since I’d already pretty much settled on going into medicine. But I’d found the subjects interesting and just enjoyed history especially, since it allowed me to get a glimpse of how our societies have become what it has, in the Caribbean. I also agreed with Marx’s point that the present can only be understood historically: everything is the consequence of…
Read MoreHealth
By Anu Dev Well, some may think it’s the time to be jolly and all that but for others it’s that time of the year when the denizens of universities are gearing up for finals. Trying to force in all of the work from the semester into the old grey matter. No jollity here, I can tell you! It’s times like these that I miss QC’s tradition of only having course-work for the first term. But up to now (three whole months!) medicine is fascinating. And I haven’t been grossed…
Read MoreReading: It’s a whole new dimension
By Anu Dev I snap my book shut; take a deep breath and struggle to extricate myself from the recliner I was crumpled-up in for the past few hours. I wander downstairs with that happy glow only reading a really good book can give you. I wonder how many persons in this hitech (read: TV) age are doing this right now. Not too many, I conclude ruefully. My family doesn’t look at regular TV programming. But we sure take in a lot of movies – some even before they’re released…
Read MoreThe rains are here
By Anu Dev Rain is grace; rain is the sky descending to the earth; without rain, there would be no life. – John Updike I must confess that I love the rain. Not to walk in the rain or anything like that… even though libraries are filled with poetry about that experience. I just love the rain when I’m in bed. Really! Some of the most pleasurable moments of my life have been waking up when the rain’s just started to fall and then burrowing down into the sheets for…
Read MorePassing Judegement
By Anu Dev Most of us do it every day – we judge the people around us. And we do so through the lenses of whatever prejudices and perceptions we might have of that person. We really don’t take the time to put ourselves into their shoes. Even Simba couldn’t help but leap to conclusions about Kovu in “The Lion King 2”. We had a class this week about empathy, what it means to be empathetic and the neuroscience behind empathy. It was an amazing lecture; it really gave me…
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